Friends

I wish I had more time to write. These past weeks have been so loaded with work. Like I told you guys the other day I'm working on this high profile case that is taking up so much of my time. Today I will go to church then try to spend most of the day with my family. I've been thinking a lot lately about friends! I don't have many. The few I have say that I'm a good friend. But...lets apply some logic to the situation...If I'm such a good friend, why don't I have more friends? I see people with tons of friends and wonder how..How do they have time to talk or spend time with so many people? I barely get to see my family with all the work I have.
I know a lot of people and i think some view me as their friend. But you and I know what a real friend means.There is a reason (I think) for my small (very small) number of friends. I went to 14 different schools when I was a kid. Some moves where due to my family moving from city or country. Other moves were due to behavior problems and other moves were due to my mom suspecting I was gonna have behavior problems and decided to move me before I embarrassed her again.
The thing is I learned to let go of friends quite easily. There were a few times in which I attended 2 different schools during the same year. I would arrive, meet people, like people, but never put much effort into keeping in touch or anything. That is why I have only 3 childhood friends. I kinda keep in contact with one, I consider him my best friend because I care about him more than any other friend I've ever had.
Remember when you first got a facebook account and began searching for old friends and classmates. Remember the feeling you got when you find people you didn't remember existed and all of a sudden you contact them to be friends again. I go through that a lot. Because I went to so many schools, every time I find a classmate from one of those schools I search their friends list and find people I went to class with for a little while. All of a sudden I remember all their names and even some stories. I went to 2 schools during my 6th grade year. I found a picture of my class at the second school I went to that year. I had never seen that picture. When I saw it last night I remembered that day as if it had happened recently. I remember that I forgot that day was picture day, thus, I didn't ask my dad for money to pay for the picture...result...never got a copy, thus never saw the picture. I found the picture doing a search like the ones I just talked about. I'm sure that the person I took the picture from has no Idea who I am. But thanks anyway. I remember almost all the names and had a great time looking at it.
Here it is, I kinda ruined the picture.. Yeah, I know I look adorable, hugable and lovable but I wasn't looking straight when the picture was taken.

What a week....

Before this past work week began I knew It wouldn’t be easy. I had many cases and a few of them were very emotional,complicated and full of difficult issues and people.
My week began with amazing experiences. Early on in the week, I was able to participate in a case that was so important to me. I worked on this case with another lawyer and we spent so much time preparing for it. We won the case and I was so proud of our work. A great reminder of why I became an attorney. A family was reunited, I was so anxious...The judge gave us his decision at around 9PM. When I got home, my daughters were still awake and I was able to celebrate by kissing them and tucking them in bed. As soon as everyone went to bed that night, I began to review notes since I was starting a murder trial the next day. It’s incredible how you have to switch mindsets, concentration and priorities in a matter of minutes. The murder trial began and it had its ups and downs. No one really wins in these type of cases you know.
By Wednesday I was exhausted. I arrived late again, had a nice dinner and sat down to watch the news. Not a good Idea!! Had trouble sleeping....
Thursday wasn’t supposed to be a tough day. I only had 2 cases in court and was thinking about taking the afternoon off...maybe a nap or something else that would be relaxing.
I woke up with a huge headache on Thursday morning. I slept very little and was really stressed out. I looked at my phone and had a bunch of missed calls from numbers I didn’t recognized. I returned the calls...
I wish I could tell you more...I can’t though...All I can say is that I have just been hired to work on the case I saw on the news the night before....It’s all over the place....
I spent Friday afternoon with my family. I can’t begin to explain how tired and stressed out I was but a few hours with my girls was all I needed....
Amongst all the negative press and comments I’ve been getting a friend sent me a message just told me to pray trust that God has placed me where I’m needed.(thank you V) I thought about it...And I truly believe it....

Long lost friend/client

Today in court I saw a lot of people who came back from summer vacation. Some I like, many I don’t. That’s just how things are around here. To be honest I interact with a lot of people I don’t like. This has taught me patience, tolerance and how to be a a hypocrite from time to time. This I hate, but there’s no way around it. If I tell everyone how I feel about them the following could happen. a. No one will care since the don’t like me either, b. I will have more enemies than your typical defense attorney, c. Things will be more tense than they usually are around the courthouse. So I try to be as nice as I can without feeling stupid. Mainly for my clients sake.
I do like some people... just not many. My secretaries are great and so is my business partner. There are a few lawyers I like. Mostly those that are cordial and don’t take it personal when we go against each other. I usually have great relationships with my clients and with other officers of the court. So my days are not bad.
One great thing about my job is that I get to meet important people. Iv’e been starstruck a few times by celebrities that have hired me to represent them. I get over it after a while but it’s really cool. Not that I have represented many but when I do I try to focus on their case and their problem before I began to ask them about their lives as celebrities.
The other day an athlete that I admired as a teenager came into my office and needed some legal help. I can’t give you the name or the issue but it’s an interesting situation, if you care to know. I love sports and still collect baseball and basketball memorabilia. I have some of this athlete turned client. I can’t wait till the case is over so I can ask for an autograph. If I do it now he might think I’m an idiot.

There’s a little story I wanted to share with you. You might not think much of this but I find it amazing.
Since Facebook and Myspace to over the cyber world I have been able to get in contact with most of my old classmates and childhood friends...well...not really friends, just people I knew. I have found just about everyone I have cared to search for. There is one dude I haven’t been able to contact and the other night I was thinking about him. He was a kid from elementary school. I remember him because his mom would visit us during lunch everyday and bring us snacks and hang with us during our break. This was during grades 1,2,3 but I’ve always thought that her presence at school kept me from getting beat up by the older kids. I was a short kid with a big mouth and really smart (emphasis on was). This got me in trouble sometimes since I usually spoke my mind. But although I remember not being liked by some big tough 5th and 6th graders. They never got to me because my friend’s mom was always around.
So the other night my daughter woke me up at about 3 am and while I was rocking her back to sleep I was thinking about this long lost friend. After putting my baby to sleep, I went to bed and had a weird dream. I dreamt I had found my friend at a party, the thing is that in my dream he looked like a former client. It was a client I represented about 3 years ago and I wasn’t sure of his name.
When I got to my office I searched my secretary’s computer for the file and I couldn’t believe what I was reading. It was him, my lost friend had been my client and I never put the pieces together. I can’t name him for obvious reasons but It was so weird. He was someone I had searched for and googled a few times. I really wanted to see him and see what he had done with his life. He had been in my office many times, we went to court together 6 or 7 times and I never thought he was my friend.
I have called him a few times to tell him but he hasn’t returned my calls. My secretary says he won’t call back because he still owes me some money from the services I provided. I did win his case...

Almost Famous

I was in the seventh grade when I almost became famous...for all the wrong reasons that is. My seventh grade teacher asked us to build something scientific (whatever the hell this means). 90% of my classmates made volcanoes out of clay or something that looked like clay. I remember someone also making a device that was like a remote control with a small light bulb at the end. It had something to do with the Morse Code. Big deal right!
I wanted to do something different and I knew who could help me. My next door neighbor’s dad was in the military and taught him how to built a lot of crazy stuff. Let’s call my neighbor Billy to protect his identity. He was a year older than me. A tall kinda dorky kid. He was smart, or at least he sounded smart most of the time. I thought he was cool because he never let his mom inside his room and she stayed out. I could never have pulled that off.
Billy’s dad had taught him how to make a bomb! That thing was loud,very loud, like a cherry bomb, way louder than a fire cracker. He put a few ingredients in a small cylinder. Like the kind they use at the pharmacy to dispense medications. It had gun powder and other stuff I can’t remember. Anyways...I had seen Billy explode a few and I remember being amazed by it. Ben.... ooops, there goes anonimity.. used a toy rocket launcher to make the thing explode.
So guess what my science project was....I swear I asked the teacher before I decided to bring it to class. For some reason he thought it was safe and said that I could blow up the thing in class.(he didn’t actually say blow up)
The day the project was due I woke up earlier than usual.I Knocked on Ben’s door and went up to his room. He had my project ready and explained to me step by step what I was supposed to do in order to make it work. I remember him saying “please don’t tell anyone who made this”...”Ok” I said, I never did...until now, almost 20 years later. He gave me an index card for my oral presentation. On it he wrote the ingredients and explained the procedure for making it and for exploding it.
Only 2 of my classmates knew about it. They really didn’t understand what I was up to so they didn’t ask much.
The day the project was do I was first on the list to present. Thanks to my last name staring with a B, this was common.
The teacher told the students in the nicest and most CLUELESS voice ever that Rafael had made a “pretend bomb”. He gathered everyone around a large table. I placed my bomb in the center of the table. The classroom was full so there had to be from 20 to 25 students. I introduced myself “Good Morning, my name is Rafael and for my project I made a bomb”...a few students laughed while some of the cool kids were wondering what the hell was this weird puerto rican kid talking about.
As soon as I began to read the ingredients the teacher said. “Are you serious Rafael?...let me see that card”. It took him about a minute before he started yelling at me...”are you trying to kill us?...are you crazy?...everybody stand up and go to the back of the room”. He was sweating and visibly angry. I remember thinking he was gonna hit me. I know he wanted to. He stared at me for about 3 minutes and said..”Do you have problems?” I said “No, I don’t think so”, i was so mad at him for not letting me finish my presentation.
He took me outside of the classroom and told me to get rid of the bomb and that I would get an F on my project. Can you believe this? The dude thought I had brought something really dangerous to class and...just gave it back to me? The bell rang and I packed my bomb back in my bag and headed to French class. I wasn’t sent to the principals office and no one called my parents to tell them what I had done. No one, not even my classmates mentioned the bomb to me during the rest of the day.
When I got home I went to Ben’s house and told him what went on at school. He said “hey... too bad you got an F...do you wanna blow it up now? This is the part that makes me pray and thank the Lord everyday...
That thing was the loudest, messiest, smelliest bomb Ben had ever made. We blew the thing up on top of a piece of wood and I was scared to death when I saw the piece of wood burned black. I mean it looked like it had been burned in someone’s fireplace. There was so much smoke after that thing exploded that I could only think about what COULD HAVE BEEN if I had continued my presentation.

If this had happened today, with the internet and social media sites I would have been all over the news. I would have been called a terrorist or something and CNN would have come to my school and made a big deal about it. Maybe even an interview with Larry King. I said maybe.

Piano Man

Let me begin by thanking those of you who have been sending emails with comments about what you read here. Your emails make my day and I appreciate all your encouragement. I invite you to write your comments about specific posts here on my blog so other readers can react as well.
ON LEGAL STUFF....
Some of you have asked me to talk about my work, my cases and to provide legal info. I wish I could. Trust me, If I told some of my clients' stories I would win major literary prizes. I can't though. Rules of professional conduct (ethics codes) prevent me from doing so.
I might provide a comment regarding a legal issue that I think could be important to talk about but if you want legal advice or my representation call my offices. My secretaries are kinda nice. Set up an appointment, (my assistant might offer you coffee) and we can discuss your legal problems. I will give a piece of random legal advice today...DON'T LIE TO YOUR LAWYERS!!!. It's stupid. Think about it, you are hiring me because you think I can win your case. Do you really think lying to me is gonna help? Do you think making me look stupid when surprises pop up is gonna keep you out of prison?...

I had a good day today. As usual, I woke up with anxiety from all the work that I knew I had. At 7:30 I already had 17 text messages, (11 from the same client) and 9 missed calls. Those are my morning highlights! Some clients just have the need to tell me that they have arrived at the courthouse TWO HOURS EARLY.
After handling my cases in court I had a meeting in San Juan. I was tired but couldn't cancel again so the 1hour 20 min drive was mandatory. The meeting took way too long so afterwards I rewarded myself with a little shopping. I rarely buy anything for myself since my daughters were born.

On my way home I pulled out an old cd. It's a mix I made of a bunch of old songs. On it is Billy Joel's Pianno Man.
The Lyrics

It's nine o'clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There's an old man sitting next to me
Makin' love to his tonic and gin

He says, "Son, can you play me a memory
I'm not really sure how it goes
But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man's clothes."

la la la, di da da
La la, di di da da dum

Chorus:
Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us all feelin' all right

Now John at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks for free
And he's quick with a joke and he'll light up your smoke
But there's some place that he'd rather be
He says, "Bill, I believe this is killing me."
As his smile ran away from his face
"Well I'm sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place"

Oh, la la la, di da da
La la, di da da da dum

Now Paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And he's talkin' with Davy, who's still in the Navy
And probably will be for life

And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessman slowly gets stoned
Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it's better than drinkin' alone

Chorus
sing us a song you're the piano man
sing us a song tonight
well we're all in the mood for a melody
and you got us all feeling alright

It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday
And the manager gives me a smile
'Cause he knows that it's me they've been comin' to see
To forget about their life for a while
And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore
And the microphone smells like a beer
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say, "Man, what are you doin' here?"

Oh, la la la, di da da
La la, di da da da dum

Chorus:
sing us a song you're the piano man
sing us a song tonight
well we're all in the mood for a melody
and you got us all feeling alright

I love this song. It's full of dreaming, wanting and remembering. Everyone in the song prefers to be somewhere else. I feel this way sometimes. The thing is that most of the things we have are things we once really wanted so we shouldn't dwell on the past or possible future. I wish I could play the Piano and make people happy. I make people happy sometimes with my work but it usually means that I won a case and made the looser unhappy.