Hello (perhaps) to the one person in my summer class who mentioned he's read this; and, who knows, of course hello to anyone else in my summer class who reads this, although I'm guessing it's probably just the one.

Today, really, the firm did nothing but validate that I made a perfectly reasonable choice when choosing between firms. I met lots of people I think I like, real lawyers and other summer associates, and none of the forms we filled out or things we saw on our tour threw up any red flags like "this a cult," "these people are monsters," or "evil is lurking everywhere." My usual concern about these first-day things -- in any context, not just this one specifically -- is that I'm usually awfully quiet at first, that I take a little while to get comfortable and adjust, and fear that it comes off as unfriendly or something, when really I'm just nervous and shy -- but I feel like, for me, I did relatively okay today, and ended up talking to a bunch of people and at least trying reasonably hard to be outgoing and meet people and engage. And I met a bunch of nice people. I honestly have nothing but positive things to say about the day, within the confines that the first day of work is never really going to involve more than adminstrative stuff, anywhere, and so how thrilling can it really be. But that's nothing unexpected, and I have nothing but nice things to say.

First we filled out forms. Here's a mix of forms we filled out with forms I'm making up:

1. I-9 immigration form
2. W-2 tax form
3. Denial of liability in case of nuclear attack
4. Emergency contact form
5. Prohibition on insider trading
6. Prohibition on sexual harassment
7. Prohibition on tank tops
8. Prohibition on misplaced commas
9. Prohibition on surfing the web for porn
10. Prohibition on surfing the web not for porn

Then we got offices. I have a nice view.

After lunch we took a tour of the building. Here's a mix of things I saw and things I'm making up:

1. The elevator bank
2. The nice view from the reception area
3. The records office, which has automatic stacks of shelving that can crush someone to death.
4. The library, which has manual stacks of shelving that can crush someone to death.
5. Bruno, the security guard who can crush someone to death.
6. Petty cash
7. Petty theft
8. Deceased race car driver Richard Petty
9. The office that coordinates the secretary pool
10. The indoor swimming pool
11. The pool table
12. Word processing
13. The stapling center
14. The Staples Center
15. The center of a gigantic stapler
16. The cream-filled center of a gigantic Oreo
17. The Taxicopter, which is a tax form combined with a helicopter. Use your imagination.

Then we had a reception, which had food that I couldn't imagine eating since lunch was big and recent.

64 more days!