Potong Stim?

When we had that dinner 3 nights ago (see previous blog), one of the youngsters used the term “potong stim”. One of the not-so-young asked what that meant. To demonstrate my relative youth I attempted an answer. The youngsters were respectful enough not to challenge my answer. I guess I was right.

That has given me confidence to now use this term to describe how I now feel about my present work. A colleague went on paternity leave on Monday. He was a litigation lawyer. As his files got distributed around, I landed a few – all of them litigation stuff, of course. One was an employment law matter so I was on less strange grounds, having done a little bit of employment law matters recently – enough to avoid looking like a complete goose. The rest were building dispute stuff. I know jack-all about building dispute. There are various types of building and construction contracts, various types of insurance policies for building constructions, even various types of builders warranty insurance. And then there are various bodies, including the Building Commission which itself is governed by a stadium full of rules.

Trying to wrestle with all these issues mean, of course, that my own work suffers. Like…potong stim. On top of that, the boss is his usual savage self in his review of my drafts, not entirely because I was wrong. I am so tired now. I’m tired of battling this sort of stuff.

Yet, I’m thrilled I have these battles. I’m thrilled to have these challenges every day. I guess I have learned (and continue to learn) the lesson of the no-shoe-better-than-no-leg story. Of course I yearn to do other types of legal work. I wish I could do some corporate/ banking/securities law again. Yet, to be able to do this is a blessing. I guess as long as I can, I will battle on. I don’t know how long. I guess I will just plod on for now, potong stim or not.