Brevity is the soul of wit

Cheryl I learnt a new phrase from the book you bought me! Doesn't it sound so intelligent haha?

I'm sitting here at my desk, with an awesome view of Tanjong Pagar/Chinatown, counting down the hours to the end of my internship with CC. Its been an enjoyable 4 weeks - the work wasn't as heavy as I expected (and I'm quite glad for that really, although zipping out of the office prompty at 5.30 most days made me feel rather guilty), but I do have a better idea of what corporate work is like, and it isn't as mind-numbingly painful as I thought. So it isn't exactly "fun", but only the most passionate litigators would find their jobs fun so...

The international bit is great. Initially I felt a tad intimidated, and to an extent I still feel like a relative outsider, but everyone is friendly and the Brits... gotta love the Brits. Their accents, their turn of phrase, their sharp witticisms, their ability to make the most mundane or matter-of-fact statements/observations funny, their dry humour. I love it. Don't think it'd be the same in a local law firm really, although I hope to be proved wrong on that count.

So what have I learnt? In terms of the hard law, I've picked up dribs and drabs, everything will probably be forgotten over the weekend. But in terms of work skills, I think (hope?) I've picked up two things.

(1) Sometimes, no matter how exhaustive your research, you won't be able to find anything on point, because there is nothing on point. Don't beat yourself up to much over it.
(2) Don't use (1) as an excuse for shoddy research, becasue these things can really bite you in the ass. Occasionally the answer is there if you look hard enough.

That may sound very banal, but I think anyone who has done a spot of legal research will understand what I'm talking about. It's important to approach a research task with the attitude that there IS something out there to be found, and not to think from the start, 'eh I don't think I'll find anything' (which I am guilty of). But if you've actually done proper research and nothing comes up, its equally important to realize that its not because of some deficiency or shortcoming in your abilities (guilty as charged too).

I hope to take these lessons with me, even as I move on to the next phase of my holidays, i.e. the bit where I slack and laze around idly for 2 weeks.

And then Taiwan and Vietnam, and then Drew, and then I leave. Gosh its all coming to an end so quickly, although I like the fact that I can say 'I'm seeing Britney live next month!!'

Later.