Warning: this is a virtuoso display of grumbling

OK, you can't be sweetness and light all the time. I am definitely not feeling like it today. Three associates on my floor talking about work - or lack thereof - and quality of life - or lack thereof - in the morning made me question why I do the job I do. Periodic questioning of my job is part and parcel of being a lawyer. I do not know of any lawyer who wakes up in the morning screaming, "I feel good!" and does a hula dance. If you find a lawyer who does that, let me know. Actually, if you find anyone who does that, let me know. I want to know what they're taking.

When I was a trainee I asked my boss, a senior associate, what he thought of becoming a partner. He said, "you are either good at delegating work so you become a partner, or you never learn to delegate so you go mad". When I was a newly qualified associate I asked my partner what he thought of being a partner. He said, "you become old, fat and your hair turns grey".

Today is a bad, bad day. Despite the sun shining, despite M. being in town, despite a lot of things I should be really incredibly grateful for, it's the pits for me. I sit here moodily brooding on all the other things I could have become - an astronaut, a painter, an archaeologist. I don't like sitting here. I forget my passwords for internet sites. I grumble. Is it too late to set up a ten year plan to become a world famous bagel baker? Should I enlist to finish all the dive courses in the Red Sea? Why is it that everyone else I know seems to be doing much more glamourous, interesting jobs than me? Grumble, grumble...