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Rookie mistakes? OMGI had two years of graduate school and now I was going to be a therapist. I was given a pretty substantial client load, an attic room with yard sale furniture and an expectation that I had a rough idea of what the hell I was doing.Initially I was gaumy, slightly arrogant, nervous as hell, often punching below my weight. Perhaps my greatest strengths were my enthusiasm and willingness to learn from my mistakes. Fortunately my supervisor had me on a short leash and I had seasoned colleagues surrounding me.Mistakes?#1- I spoke too fast and too often. Dead silence scared me; I thought it meant that I was a bad therapist.#2- I took notes, reams of usually useless material. I should have been paying more attention to the client.Listening- not just hearing.#3- Intake was usually filling out the form from hell. On occasion I would forget to ask a client important questions (like suicidality) and would call then at home.#4- My therapist superhero was Sal Minuchin, the founder of Structural Family Therapy. In fact, I wanted to be Minuchin and do the same kind of clever and profound family interventions he did. Needless to say, I wasn’t Minuchin and found out the hard way.#5- Being on time. I had a bad habit of running over in session and was often late for my next client. Every day I would work late, seeing my last client fifteen minutes after the hour, and doing endless progress notes.An old saying: Therapy is both a science and an art. The science is knowing what to say, the art is knowing when to say it. The science we learn, the art we experience. And experience needs mistakes if it is to inform us and make us better clinicians.How can mistakes be avoided? IMHO, they can’t and they shouldn’t. We need our mistakes if we are to learn our craft and learn it well. We also need our mistakes to keep our work interesting, to learn better skills, to discard what doesn’t work or is second rate, to keep us sharp- and to give what we do a little dose of fun on occasion.

He most certainly is.Here's why I believe so:My favourite Paul McCartney album is OFF THE GROUND.I see this album as the end of an era that began with MCCARTNEY II, then crystallized on TUG OF WAR. To wit, Macca shedding the band life of Wings and being his own free agent, as John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr did when The Beatles ended.The 80s were a tough time for Macca—he re-began his solo career on a high with that creative — and now cult favourite — MCCARTNEY II disc and the five-star TUG OF WAR, but then had diminishing returns with TUG's companion album, PIPES OF PEACE, the soundtrack GIVE MY REGARDS TO BROAD STREET, and the wildly experimental PRESS TO PLAY.In a effort to “get back” to his roots, he released the Russian rock ’n' roll covers album CHOBA B CCCP, which kick-started his mojo again for 1989's excellent FLOWERS IN THE DIRT (with Elvis Costello) and finally OFF THE GROUND, his most perfect mix of rockers and ballads.It's interesting to wonder where he might have gone from there had his past not come a-calling:The Beatles’ ANTHOLOGY project. The ultimate “get back” for any former Fab. As Macca has stated, revisiting these old tracks - and recording “new” ones with George Harrison and Ringo Starr from John Lennon demos - got him back to thinking, writing and recording in the same — or similar — economical manner in which The Beatles used to create music.Thus:FLAMING PIE, from 1997, is probably Macca's most Beatles-infused solo album — evidenced with the very first McCartney/Starr co-write on “Really Love You,” as well as the drummer's prominent vocals on the rocking coda of the ballad “Beautiful Night.”On a more somber note, “Little Willow” was a piece written for Ringo's ex-wife, Maureen, who passed away in December, 1994.Elsewhere, the first time I heard “The Song We Were Singing” I swore it was a leftover from SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND. And the title track is a nod to the gobbledygook way John Lennon claimed The Beatles were created!ANTHOLOGY and FLAMING PIE set the template for how Paul McCartney would approach recording from then-on: no half-measures, no short cuts, and perhaps most significantly, a gradual cutting down on the marijuana intake, which Paul now freely admits was blunting his creativity and writing edge. (More on that later.)Sadly, PIE would turn out to be the last disc released in wife Linda McCartney’s lifetime---she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995, and died in April, 1998.Suffice it to say, her passing devastated Paul; his anchor, his rock, his lifelong lover was gone, and he was understandably lost. His kids closely looking after him, his first project after her death was another exercise in “getting back”:With RUN DEVIL RUN, Macca endeavoured to forget his blues with the raucous rock and roll of his youth, including “All Shook Up,” “I Got Stung” and “She Said Yeah.” Macca's take on Chuck Berry’s “Brown-Eyed Handsome Man” is definitive for me.(The video is a United Nations-like hoot!)That and the faithful “No Other Baby” were released as singles.Still the world's leading songwriter, he wasn't shy to add “Try Not To Cry,” “What It Is” (which reads like a rock and roll elegy for Linda), and the tongue-twisting title track in the hopes that they'll one day be remembered as classics.Paul had entered his elder statesman phase. Like Bob Dylan, Elton John, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen, he no longer felt the need to make albums to storm the charts with and get countless hit singles from…he was doing it to please himself.DRIVING RAIN was indeed released to please himself……and his new bride.Whose odious name will not be mentioned in this post.Despite — or perhaps because of — the new Mrs. McCartney’s influence on Paul's outlook, this album has always been a tough sell for me. I admire and respect it now, but it took a long time for me to get there. At one point, I officially dubbed it my least favourite Paul McCartney album — that’s right, I valued it less than more historically-derided discs such as WILD LIFE, BACK TO THE EGG and PRESS TO PLAY.I eventually threw it away.Not proud of that.Usually there's two or three tunes on a McCartney disc that I absolutely fall in love with and can’t stop listening to. I had to struggle to find them here.I'd say the prize goes to “Your Way,” an infectious tune that would have made a great single over the ones that were chosen. Other highlights are the sweet “Your Loving Flame,” the strange and quirky “She's Given Up Talking,” and the eastern-flavoured “Riding Into Jaipur,” which George Harrison would have admired. Sadly, George passed in November, 2001, the same time DRIVING RAIN was released.The album sputtered to U.S. #26 and, even more shocking, an anemic U.K. #46 at home. It seemed I wasn't alone in not caring for RAIN at the time. After purchasing it again years later, my conclusion was that its songs needed to be lived with for awhile to be truly appreciated.I had no such issues four years later with CHAOS AND CREATION IN THE BACKYARD. Famously produced by Nigel Godrich, he had no problems telling his client if a song, vocal, or performance were bullsh*t. Believe me, Macca could have done with a lot more of this blunt honesty in his post-Beatles career, for CHAOS is a splendid blend of the professionalism of BAND ON THE RUN and the homey lo-fi qualities of MCCARTNEY and MCCARTNEY II.No shortage of highlights here: “How Kind Of You,” “Riding To Vanity Fair,” “Friends To Go,” “At The Mercy,” “Too Much Rain”…A special shout-out goes to “Jenny Wren,” slightly reminiscent of another “bird” tune, by The Beatles; “Promise To You Girl” and “Fine Line” are tastefully restrained rockers; Macca saves the best for last with the double outro of “This Never Happened Before” and “Anyway.” The latter is unbearably delightful, and had it been the last song Paul McCartney had ever recorded, it would have ended his career perfectly.As it is, CHAOS ranks right behind OFF THE GROUND as Macca's best album.I'm sorry he didn't continue with Godrich after this, as he went back to complete the disc he'd originally meant to follow up DRIVING RAIN with:Much more upbeat than RAIN (and flashier than CHAOS), MEMORY ALMOST FULL displays a Macca who sounds jaunty, lively, and in a celebratory mood!Mayhap it's that he was about to get a divorce from a particular harpy whom everyone had warned him about? Who's to say?Well, if you believe the Fab conspiracy theorists that if you rearrange the letters of the song “Mister Bellamy,” you'll get “M_ _ _ _ Betray Me,” a coded “f@ck you” to the woman in question, I suppose Paul’s to say!!In any event, the songs here, though rooted in the modern, show a man completely happy about his “Ever Present Past,” a thing that, as the most famous man in the world, you'd better damn well be comfortable about for the sake of your sanity. Head Beach Boy and Macca friend Brian Wilson would be proud of “See Your Sunshine” which sounds like a SMiLE track he forgot to write.Meanwhile, the celebrations continue on the toe-tapping “Dance Tonight”(check out the video with Natalie Portman);“Gratitude” thanks a certain someone for the good times; and raucous closer “Nod Your Head” is…how can I put this? It's a certain sex act…much like “Eat At Home” from RAM back in 1971. (Oh, Macca, you cheeky Jack the Lad, you!)Speaking of the past, Paul delivers an ABBEY ROAD-like medley on the second half of the album (all full-length songs) in the form of the sartorial “Vintage Clothes,” the effectively-literal “That Was Me,” the impatient “Feet In The Clouds,” the frightening side of celebrity on “House Of Wax,” and “End Of The End,” in which Macca writes out his own eulogy.Powerful stuff.Next came a pet project:2012’s KISSES ON THE BOTTOM saw Macca engaging his love for standards, both popular and jazz. The general consensus was that we were surprised he’d never done this sort of thing before! After all, this was the unashamed author of “When I’m Sixty-Four,” “Your Mother Should Know,” “Honey Pie” and “You Gave Me The Answer.” I kept this in mind when listening, fully aware that Rod Stewart indeed shamelessly and pathetically released five albums (and a best-of!!) of standards—all soulless, interchangeable money-makers that really meant nothing to him (or label boss, Clive Davis). They made me lose a great deal of respect for the man. Fortunately, I knew Paul McCartney was too dedicated a songwriter to be lost in a cynical holding pattern like that.To prove it, he slipped in two of his own “standards”: “Only Our Hearts” and the standout “My Valentine,” written for Nancy Shevell, whom he married only months after the release of this album. Diana Krall, Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder, and the London Symphony Orchestra are present as well, and I love Macca’s renditions of “Bye Bye Blackbird,” “The Inchworm,” and “We Three (My Echo, My Shadow And Me).”A year later, it was time to return to full-time songwriting:NEW was a terribly strong collection of tunes. Despite, or because of, four producers — Paul Epworth, Ethan Johns (son of Glyn), Mark Ronson, and executive producer, Giles Martin (son of George) — the album has a distinct uniformity about it. Everything blends together wonderfully: from the fast-paced opener “Save Us” (an instant concert favourite), to the bouncy title song (that sounds so effortless, you’d think Macca dashed it off while brushing his teeth), to the plaintive “hidden track,” “Scared.”Points of interest also include “Alligator,” “Everybody Out There” (another made-for-concert raver), “Get Me Out Of Here,” and “Queenie Eye,” a game Liverpudlian lads and lasses used to play in Paul’s youth.The greatest song, however, is arguably another tune that deals with youth, “Early Days.”(Another beautiful video for you to watch.)Freely speaking about the days of yore when he and John Lennon would roam around their hometown with “two guitars across our backs,” Macca has a dig at all the so-called experts — like me!! — who think they know it all about The Beatles and their personal lives and what they went through. “I don’t see how they can remember when they weren’t where it was at,” he sings with chummy but restrained anger and resentment, suggesting, with John sadly gone, his word is the final word.And why shouldn't it be?What gets to me personally though, is the bridge:“May sweet memories of friends from the past always come to you, when you look for them“And your inspiration, long may it last. May it come to you, time and time again.”That might be the most beautiful sentiment I’ve ever heard in my life.I want to cry when I hear that.And I usually do.All in all, NEW is proof of why, in Paul’s seventh decade of songwriting, he’s still The Master.And EGYPT STATION showed that Macca still wants to compete with anyone and everyone who makes music for a living.Ironic, then, that the album (properly) starts off with “I Don’t Know,” featuring a rare crisis-of-confidence Paul McCartney. We all have days like, “What am I doing? Where am I going?” and having absolutely no answers to these existential questions. The feelings — usually, thankfully — pass, and we get back to business, but they can knock you for a true loop. It’s oddly soothing to know that even Beatle Paul has off days!Same with the anti-bullying sentiment of “Who Cares?” Treading similar ground as 1982’s “Somebody Who Cares,” we find life is full of idiots and bullies always trying to bring you down and humiliate you—and who cares about you?“I DO!”(Emma Stone looks particularly cute in the video as a Raggedy Ann-type psychiatric patient. You can always count on Macca to make ridiculously entertaining vids!)“Back In Brazil” is the obligatory oddball track (with Macca setting a record, playing nine instruments on it!), but it’s closely followed by “Despite Repeated Warnings,” which abruptly changes from “grand Macca ballad” to rocking shuffle to big band swing and back again, all about a metaphorical mutiny at sea!The album’s basest tracks, however, are two horny sides of the same lusty coin: “Come On To Me,” is the mutual pick-up line, and “Fuh You” is…well, remember “Nod Your Head?” As a double A-sided single, Macca reminds us that rock and roll didn’t begin from the neck up…it started from the waist down!Significantly, EGYPT was Macca's first U.S. #1 album since TUG OF WAR!And that’s as good a place to leave things as any: again, Paul McCartney has absolutely nothing left to prove to anyone…but he keeps rocking anyway. Yes, he is definitely on a creative high, having slowly shaken off a few complacent doldrums since the early 90s…some self-induced, as he sings on EGYPT’s “Happy With You”: “I sat around all day, I used to get stoned/I liked to get wasted, but these days I don’t.”Apparently, in this confessional, the gradual lessening of his drug intake as he got older brought about a clarity he’d been lacking, which perhaps accounts for the successive brilliance of each disc in the fourth act of his professional life (Beatles/Wings/pre-ANTHOLOGY solo artist/post-ANTHOLOGY solo artist).All the better for us, as The Greatest Songwriter In The World is no doubt preparing for his next album as we speak.MAMUNIA!!!

Oh, yes. This may be long to read.I was working at a family law firm, fresh out of college with a bach in business, specifically paralegal. Prior to this, every year my school held a “legal night”, where local attorneys would come and spend the evening giving free legal advice to the community. The goal was to have the students do the initial intake and interview on the client, and then grab an attorney who specialized in whatever the client needed. I had worked with this specific attorney over the years, and after I had her meet with this client, she pulled me to the side and asked when I was going to graduate. I informed her I would be done this spring, and she immediately let me know that I have a place at her firm when I am finished with school. I thought this was such amazing news! I let my teachers know and they told everyone in all my classes how great it was that I participated in legal night and landed a job.Fast forward to post graduation, she had me come in to interview with the other attorneys in the office. They all hyped me up and continually reminded me of how excited they were that I was coming to work for them. I reminded them that I was a very green paralegal with much to learn. They claimed they didn't mind.So I quit my previous job, and immediately started at this office. This is where things take a very dramatic turn. From the first day I started in this office, I knew it was a mistake. Often I was asked to draft some simple correspondence to clients to give them a status update on their case; okay, no problem. When I gave the attorney my work, she immediately slammed it down on her desk and asked if I was stupid and who taught me to write like that. That should have been my first sign. But, I thought it would still be a great learning experience so I stayed. But the harassment never ended. She constantly belittled everyone in the office, and blamed her mistakes on everyone else. She would miss court appearances, or ask other attorneys to show up for her last minute, and sometimes she was up to an hour late for her in office appointments. I was constantly reminded of who was in charge, and that I was just a little paralegal with no experience. I was called names, had papers and forms I had worked really hard on ripped up in my face, and I was also reminded that I needed to “dress better”. Every morning before I went in to work I had major anxiety because I just thought “wow, what am I going to mess up today”.After being there a month, one Friday, after being yelled at all day long and being asked to stay late to complete a project, I packed up all my things. I had a pre typed letter to let them know I was quitting effective immediately, and that I expected my pay no later than the following Friday, and that I wanted it mailed to my house. I had truly had enough. The attorney was a flipping psycho.If I had known she had gone through 3 paralegals before me, I never would have taken the job. I was out of work for a month before I found a job closer to home and down the street from where my hubby works. This job is much better.*please excuse any typos.