Tuesday

I had a good/bad Tuesday yesterday. I'm still kind of wiped out from it, or maybe it's a combination of Tuesday and today. Actually, I think it started Monday night.

On Monday night, I couldn't sleep. Something bad happened on one of my cases, about which I will post (maybe) at a later date. But on Monday night, it was as if my brain was wired.

I could not fall asleep, even though I was tired, and then I kept waking up into a "dead" alert, as if I had never fallen asleep at all. This went on all night.

Every time I woke up, it was as if I had never fallen asleep. And every time I woke up, the same thoughts were in my mind, still working themselves out, on the same client's case (that I might or might not discuss at some later point.)

Finally, at 5:00 a.m., I got out of bed, took a shower, and went to the office. I decided to put my sleeplessness to work and prepare for the trial that day. Well, we were scheduled for trial, but I was pretty sure that the other attorney and I were going to help our clients settle the case.

Might as well have gone to trial, for how long it took us to settle only 2/3 of the issues. (We're supposed to go back to court to try to resolve the remaining issues in about 2 months. I think. That's another story.)

I was in court from 8:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., even working through lunch, trying to settle the issues. This is a very intense process. Not only do I have to stay on top of the other attorney, who is probably trying to slip something by me (and which she did almost do at least once that I am aware of), but also I have to keep explaining things to my client and helping him to understand the law. Very intense process.

At about 2:30 p.m., maybe earlier, we arrived at a settlement that settled, like I said, about 2/3 of the issues. We were supposed to go in front of the judge to get everything approved and get a future hearing date to finish resolving the remaining issues. I told my client to go ahead and leave.

While I was waiting for the judge to call our case, I suddenly started feeling, well, not quite sick, but not well. I think it was a combination of not enough sleep and the stress of trying to settle a case for 6 hours straight, that suddenly, I was feeling nauseous, tired, and like I wanted to cry. Not "cry" as if my feelings were hurt or something, but "cry" like I was just totally burnt out.

I told the other attorney, while she was also sitting in court waiting for the judge to call our case, that I wasn't feeling well and had to leave. This never happens to me. :(

(It might not have helped that I ate a roast beef sandwich at the cafeteria plus two large chocolate chip cookies.)

I left my office shortly before 5:00 p.m., which I almost never do, and went home. When I went to bed, at first it felt like I wasn't going to be able to sleep again. My brain suddenly felt wired again, but this time now because of 2 cases, not just one. I was concerned because I didn't want to spend another day feeling like I did the day before.

Luckily, after a few false starts of falling asleep and waking up again, I did finally fall asleep, and I slept soooooo good until 7 a.m.

But then I had another long day of intensity in drafting documents, meeting with a new client that we are going to help, and talking on the phone, that now I am feeling exhausted again.

Sigh. What day is it?