Tracy Clark Flory, really sometimes you overreact. I am not a fan of zealot lactavistas, to be sure, they can wreak alot of havoc among the psyches of women with insufficient milk production.

But I started nursing the first of my three babies just over three years ago, this was already old news. Women knew you can burn up to 600 calories a day breastfeeding on demand-- and no, it isn't a freebie-- you are exhausted, thirsty and hungry from nursing every 3 hours round the clock. It is an earned burn. It is a CONSOLATION prize for the difficulties breastfeeding entails.

Also, breastfeeding causes uterine contractions which help your uterus shrink back to its proper size and position.

Whatever.

Women who opt out of breastfeeding or who cannot produce enough milk to sustain their infant should not let the lactavistas get their goat. People are insane about this issue in the Bay area, to the point of starving their babies rather than conceding that they cannot produce enough milk. Supplement with formula! Babies don't have nipple confusion. That is a lactavista myth. Come to Buffalo NY where breastfeeding is quite common-- but still viewed as a hippie/exotic thing by enough people that you will not get ridiculed for bottle feeding in public or private.

Hey come to think of it, every time I breastfeed my left breast grows two cup sizes larger than my right breast. A canaloupe and a honeydew. I look exhausted and lopsided, leaky and ridiculous.

No one can tell me I am doing this for vanity reasons.

1. Have you already been convicted? If not, make sure to go to court. Argue that it wasn't you speeding it was the guy that forced you into the other lane and sped off. If the officer has proof, like radar, he can present it then. If if the officer fails to show as a witness, maybe you will get off completely. Or hire an attorney who can talk to the prosecuting attorney and plead it down to a parking violation and fee with no points.

2. If you have already been convicted and have the four points, see about taking a defensive driving class to remove the points. EVEN IF YOU HAVEN'T been convicted, I would suggest a safe driving class for you for your peace of mind-- here is why-- in the defensive driving class, you will receive all the justifications you need for driving the speed limit and obeying traffic rules. Everyone else on the road can be properly seen as the potential threat you are protecting yourself from by driving defensively.

You can also discuss the appartent road rage/harrassment you have perceived with the driving course teacher who may give you some good tips on how to manage your reactions to other people's apparent road rage.

3. It is just a ticket, honestly. The reason why tickets are used isn't just to generate revenue-- research shows that most people do obey the laws more closely after getting a ticket and you are proof in the pudding. So realize driving more carefully is the norm. And be grateful you didn't just get in an accident because your commute would be even less enjoyable. Because you would be a complete freak out case.

4. People don't hate you. I mean, some of them might, but surely all of them don't. Most of them are completely indifferent and are just getting around your car so they won't be late to wherever they are going to.

You are projecting.

5. Geggy Tah released a delightful song a few years back that I would hum whenever I was starting to get stressed out in traffic: "All I wanna do is thank you, even though I don't know who you are, you let me change lanes, when I was driving in my car...". Google it if you don't know it and try to listen to it and lighten up. Nice drivers exist. Strive to notice them and to be one yourself and you will be happier.

LW-- are you breastfeeding? If not, can you enlist someone to help you with nighttime feedings so you can get a full night's sleep?

The world's bullshit does not change, but dealing with it while under the cumulative effects newborn-induced sleeplessness is very difficult.

You need to rest. You definitely do not need to go to law school right now, you are teetering on the edge of enough paranoia for one person right now. If you do go to law school, wait until your son is sleeping all the way through the night and consider state school or night school options. Enormous educational debt will only lead you to a feeling of more powerlessness and less control despite all the valuable legal knowledge you will gain You will emerge with your JD feeling like a slave to the university/university lender/law firm industrial complex.

this will maybe be a viral hit. everyone has someone like this in their world. very funny rant, cary.

You are a lawyer, so if no litigator will take your mother's case, then represent her yourself pro bono. If the case was egregious enough, then you should be able to settle it for the full $150K pretty quickly-- sounds like your mum needs the money!! If after a career as a transactional attorney, you are ignorant of how to draft a med mal pleading just do a forms search on the Intertubes and go to the local library and read the applicable pattern jury instructions which will inform you of what you will need to establish, factually.

You may need to pay out of pocket for an expert witness, but again, if the case is justified you will be reimbursed from the monetary settlement.

Good luck.