Posted by T. Greg Doucette on Nov 26, 2015 in
Randomness Greetings from Virginia Beach! 😃
It’s been 6 years (!) since I posted a Thanksgiving entry, reflecting on the things I’m thankful for and where I was in life 1 / 5 / 10 years ago. Taking the time to reflect is something I started doing back when I had dropped out of college, trying to keep my spirits up when it felt like I was never going to amount to anything.
Whether I’ve actually amounted to anything is up for debate — but at least now my spirit is doing OK 😊
A year ago today, I was here in Virginia Beach with my family. Survived my second full year as a solo practitioner. Excited about an uptick in the practice and recently joining the speakers circuit with a quasi-CLE on starting your own law firm.
I sacrificed Thanksgiving cooking for that 3.333
Five years ago, I learned that I was actually capable of cooking my own Thanksgiving dinner 😂
It was my 2L year at NCCU Law and I decided to stay home for the holiday so I could study for final exams — even though I stood by my belief that grades don’t matter (reaffirmed in this Mailbag entry), I was close enough to a 3.0 that I’d regret not trying to make it.
So I cooked my own turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, and croissant rolls… and a few weeks later made the Dean’s List for the first time since 2005.
And ten years ago, to be honest I don’t remember where I was 😶 I’d just returned to NC State, terrified by Calculus III, and focused on not bombing academically. That was the semester I made Dean’s List. 😄
I’d go through and give you the full list of the things I’m grateful for like I did back in 2009, but the main one is my grandparents. The Thanksgiving meal this year was so different from everything I had growing up — Nan can’t physically cook, so Pops and my Aunt Diane prepared a few things while I handled getting the table prepared (and I’m on deck to mow the lawn and rake the leaves before I leave). It was just the 4 of us. A smaller meal, smaller group of family members. Everything just felt… off. Smaller. Like twilight. It’s tough to accept.
I’m grateful to have the ability to travel up here to be with them. Grateful for a team at TGD Law willing to put up with my idiosyncrasies and family drama. Grateful for friends who’ve texted throughout the day to wish me a happy Thanksgiving.
And grateful for each of you, still stopping by even though I’ve done a terrible job of keeping things up to date.
Thank you. And I hope you’ve had a happy Thanksgiving! â¤ï¸
Tags: About TDot, Nan & Pops, NC State, NCCU Law, Virginia Beach
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 25, 2015 in
The After-3L Life You could probably guess from the “(Part I)” atop the last entry that the financial consequences of driving a 13-year-old car aren’t the only source of life-related drama over the past however-many months.
My family is also a mess.
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Sister of TDot is back in a mental institution. She apparently went voluntarily this time around, which is a switch from her past visits. I’m told schizoaffective disorder is the official diagnosis — basically a combination of schizophrenia and bipolarism — but the particular reasons for her commitment don’t really matter; she gets committed, gets medicated, convinces doctors to release her, immediately stops taking meds, and the cycle of violence and craziness repeats until she’s committed again.
I don’t know what the solution is, but I do know something needs to change or she needs to be cut loose from the rest of the family. Just because she’s not responsible for her mental illness doesn’t mean she’s not responsible for going off her meds knowing what the end result will be. But my family tolerates it because (this is the actual response I get) “what are we supposed to do, let her die?” Like the thousands upon thousands of Americans living reasonably normal lives despite mental health issues are incapable of surviving…
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My mom is (theoretically at least) finally waking up. I’ve obliquely hinted in past entries that I’d had some personal experiences growing up when it came to domestic violence. Evidently things have gotten totally out of control as the situation with my sister has deteriorated.
Mom has been talking about leaving since before I left for NC State — the first time — and I missed several events my 3L year while pacing the hallway listening to her on the phone as she gave me every excuse under the sun for why she just couldn’t get up and start over. And it’s been a once-every-couple-months conversation in the years since I graduated. But she started a GoFundMe page seeking help, which at least means she’s more-seriously thinking about dealing with things than before.
I love both of my parents, but their current environment is toxic as f*ck and they both need to start acting like adults. For better or worse, that likely means splitting up.
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Nan is not doing well 
As callous as it probably sounds as you read it on screen, my heart hurts moreso from that than all the (avoidable) drama with my parents and sister. There have been various hints here and there over the years — her handwriting had gotten steadily worse when she sent birthday cards, for a brief period of time she’d lost a lot of her hair — but it didn’t really sink in until I went home to see Nan and Pops for Easter.
Some of the handrails added to Nan’s & Pops’s house
I usually try to go up 3-4x a year and had just been there for Christmas a few months prior, but when I arrived this most-recent trip I noticed there was a handrail added to the step up from the garage. And another running the length of the hallway. And a quartet of them in the bathroom. Turns out she’s had progressive trouble walking without assistance, had fallen at least once, and needs these to make sure she can move around on her own. Pops also bought a pair of short-wave walkie talkies in case she needed him while he was out in the garage.
The doctors say she needs her thyroid taken out. And then they had to scuttle the operation because of an anomaly in the pre-operation angiogram. A trip to the cardiologist revealed total blockage in one coronary artery and 60% blockage in another. So meds were prescribed for that and now we wait at some point for another trip to the original people to work on the thyroid. It’s a mess.
Now trust me y’all, I do realize I have little real reason to be upset. Nan’s mentally still in good spirits. I think even she would agree that she’s lived a long life. Her mentality towards old age and death is where I largely picked up mine (e.g. she refuses to take the aforementioned medications because they make her feel “yucky” afterwards. “What’s the point of getting older if I’m going to be miserable?” and all). And plenty of friends at younger ages than me don’t have grandparents around anymore — while mine have seen me graduate high school, college, law school, and become more-or-less financially self-sufficient.
But it still sucks. A lot.
The advantage to moving to North Carolina way back in 1998 — being able to escape my family — cuts the other direction when I’m reminded there’s inevitably going to come a day when I’m the only one here. I’m hoping that day is still many years off of course. And I try to deal with it by not thinking about it and pouring myself into my work. It’s just one of those things that weighs on you sometimes, you know?
Anyhow, Part III later this week. Good night y’all!
Tags: About TDot, DVLaw, Nan & Pops, The Parents
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on Aug 21, 2014 in
The After-3L Life Hey y’all 
It’s been two months since the last entry here at law:/dev/null. Things have been busy at TGD Law (which is A Good Thingâ„¢), but frankly I’ve also been wrestling with some personal demons so trying to find the motivation to write has been more of a struggle than just the run-of-the-mill “can’t find the time!” that is usually to blame.
I’m still trying to get myself together. I’m not there yet. But I will be.
Tags: About TDot, Post-L
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 11, 2014 in
Background I’ve learned after writing this blog for almost 5 years now that I have -0- clue what the future is going to hold.
See, e.g., me thinking I might make it to Marine Corps OCS (nope), or me thinking I might become a prosecutor (negative), or my in-retrospect-absurdly-ambitious plans for NC SPICE (LOL).
So I made sure to eschew making any predictions when I got asked the inevitable question of what I looked forward to in my undergraduate alma mater’s future. 
Here’s the last snippet from the interview, followed by some stuff on my history with traffic tickets:
Questions in this Clip:
00:00 – What do you look forward to for the future at NC State?
01:46 – Is there anything else you’d like to talk about?
03:03 – Outtake: Traffic Tickets
And that’s it! Hopefully over these past 9 entries you’ve got a slightly more detailed view of the man-behind-the-blog.
Back to law-related stuff in the weeks ahead 
Hope all of you have had a great weekend, and enjoy the upcoming week!
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From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
Tags: About TDot, NC SPICE, NC State, NCSU Libraries, NCSU Wolfpack, TDot.TV
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 10, 2014 in
Background Many years ago, back during the days-you-couldn’t-pay-me-to-relive when I was a 1L, I wrote this entry on LRA mentioning how my computer science background helped me with studying law (and also how I hated LRA 
).
That was the main topic in the penultimate snippet from my interview with the NCSU Libraries as part of their Student Leadership Initiative — not just how computer science prepared me for law school, but how my NC State education in general factored in.
Before we get to that though, you get to witness me being stumped by a question because the thing I thought was the highlight of my career in Student Senate was dead by the time I had the interview
Questions in this Clip:
00:00 – What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment as a student leader at NC State?
02:11 – Do you think your time at NC State has prepared you so far for law school?
06:07 – Could you talk a little bit about how your time at State has influenced your life more broadly?
Only one more video left, then I’ll get back to law-related stuff Good night y’all!
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From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
Tags: 1L, About TDot, LRA, NC State, NCCU Law, NCSU Libraries, NCSU Student Senate, SG, TDot.TV
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 9, 2014 in
Background Long-time readers of law:/dev/null have likely already come across at least one of the several dozen entries I’ve posted over the years on the UNC Association of Student Governments under our UNCASG tag and the Student Government category
If my time leading the Student Senate was best characterized as a hobby, UNCASG quickly developed into an obsession.
The group had grown so wholly and completely dysfunctional that it was practically begging for unconventional leadership, and I truly felt called to step up and fix it. So I eventually teamed up with the Pickle Princess to burn everything to the ground and start over — with N.C. State as my template.
But first there was the whole issue of running for reelection for the purpose of vanquishing a certain villain…
Questions in this Clip:
00:00 – So what factors influenced your decision to run for reelection?
07:27 – How did you handle both responsibilities as Student Senate President and ASG President?
Hope all of you have had a great week, and enjoy your weekend!
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From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
Tags: About TDot, NC State, NCSU Libraries, NCSU Student Senate, SG, TDot.TV, The Pickle Princess, UNCASG
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 8, 2014 in
Background Every good story needs a good villain, and during my tenure as N.C. State‘s Student Senate President that villain was the Student Body President.
It might have been my own fault, informing the then-President-elect “I’m not taking any sh*t off the Executive Branch” — on the night we got elected
Maybe I never gave him a fair shake because I’d always hated the Office of the Student Body President as an institution.
Or perhaps it really was how I saw it at the time: our two paths diverging over the failed leadership of the statewide UNC Association of Student Governments, and the fissures growing with each misstep from there.
Whatever the reason, the discord was sufficiently epic that it became the single longest response to any question I got asked as part of my interview with the Student Leadership Initiative. Take a look:
Questions in this Clip:
00:00 – Can you describe how you collaborated with other Student Government branches, particularly your relationship with Student Body President Bobby Mills?
Needless to say I wasn’t a member of the fan club
Thanks for watching, have a great night!
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From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
Tags: About TDot, NC State, NCSU Libraries, NCSU Student Senate, NCSU Technician, Race Relations, SG, TDot.TV, UNCASG
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 7, 2014 in
Background So what would you do if you suddenly found yourself elected to public office with a huge mandate… and no platform?
That’s the question-behind-the-question of this next snippet of my interview with the NCSU Libraries Student Leadership Initiative.
Here’s a hint: we did a lot of things for the first time ever, and didn’t give three-tenths of half a damn what the University Administration thought about it
Questions in this Clip:
00:00 – So following your election to the presidency, did you make an effort to instate Hankins as Student Senate President?
02:23 – So you just mentioned the fee referendum, so we’ll talk about that if you don’t mind. Can you describe the student fee referendum and how your administration implemented it?
08:45 – As Student Senate President, you called for Congressional repeal of a bill that limited financial aid given to students with drug convictions. What inspired you to advocate for that issue?
Hope all of you had a great Wednesday! More tomorrow
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From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
Tags: About TDot, NC State, NCSU Libraries, NCSU Student Senate, NCSU Technician, SG, TDot.TV, Tuition & Fees
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 6, 2014 in
Background It’s an odd bit of serendipity that today’s video in the NCSU Student Leadership Initiative snippets I’ve been posting happens to coincide with Election Day nationwide.
When I finally rejoined the N.C. State Student Senate in April 2006, I was the campus equivalent of a snakebitten candidate. My initial spot in the Student Senate was only via appointment; when I ran in my first real election in March 1999, I foolishly filed for Student Senate President (as a 17-year-old) and got walloped. I ran again in March 2000 only to get pulled off the ballot en route to dropping out. Then I tried for a simple Student Senate seat in March 2006, with 4 candidates running for 3 College of Engineering seats…
…and I came in 4th out of 4, losing to a guy who didn’t even campaign
So after starting 0-for-3* in the election arena, I finally had an uncontested race for a Senate seat going into March 2007 and was looking forward to getting my first notch in the “Win” column.
Then I gave it up.
The rest of the story is too crazy for words, so here’s the video:
Questions in this Clip:
0:00:00 – During that time period, the Elections Commission decided to remove Student Senator James Hankins from the Student Senate President ballot. Can you talk about that, and your response to his removal?
Thanks for watching I hope all of your respective candidates won on this particular Primary Election Day!
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From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
- Part 1 of 9: The Backstory (05/03/14)
- Part 2 of 9: In the Beginning… (05/04/14)
- Part 3 of 9: Dropping Out (05/05/14)
- Part 4 of 9: Prelude to Revolution (05/06/14) [this post]
- Part 5 of 9: Party Time in Witherspoon (05/07/14)
- Part 6 of 9: “Collaboration” (05/08/14)
- Part 7 of 9: SSP Round Two and UNCASG (05/09/14)
- Part 8 of 9: Law School (05/10/14)
- Part 9 of 9: Traffic Tickets (05/11/14)
Tags: About TDot, NC State, NCSU Libraries, NCSU Student Senate, NCSU Technician, Serendipity, SG, TDot.TV
Posted by T. Greg Doucette on May 5, 2014 in
Background Most folks I meet don’t believe it when they find out I was once a homeless college dropout. I’ve mentioned it occasionally here at law:/dev/null but I generally don’t talk about it in person — it’s not exactly an uplifting topic!
Well of course that ended up being one of the topics of discussion during my interview with the N.C. State Libraries as part of their Student Leadership Initiative (links to Part 1 and Part 2 are below).
We also chat about me helping to shepherd a few items through the Student Senate on my return, including the creation of a campus LGBT Center.
Enjoy
Questions in this Clip:
00:00 – You’ve spoken about the challenges you faced while you were a student, specifically your time as a self-described “college dropout.” Can you talk a little bit about why you dropped out and what factors influenced your decision to return?
08:21 – As a Student Senator, you authored many bills including the Student Media Independence Referendum and a bill that supported the establishment of a campus LGBT center. Can you talk about your decision to support these bills?
I’m off for a weekly poker night with one of my mentors and his friends Have a great night y’all!
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From the law:/dev/null Student Leadership Initiative-related archives:
- Part 1 of 9: The Backstory (05/03/14)
- Part 2 of 9: In the Beginning… (05/04/14)
- Part 3 of 9: Dropping Out (05/05/14) [this post]
- Part 4 of 9: Prelude to Revolution (05/06/14)
- Part 5 of 9: Party Time in Witherspoon (05/07/14)
- Part 6 of 9: “Collaboration” (05/08/14)
- Part 7 of 9: SSP Round Two and UNCASG (05/09/14)
- Part 8 of 9: Law School (05/10/14)
- Part 9 of 9: Traffic Tickets (05/11/14)
Tags: "Real" world rants..., About TDot, Money Money Money, Nan & Pops, NC State, NCCU Law, NCSU Libraries, TDot.TV, The Parents, Top Gun
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Professors taught students about the campaign in a course on marketing in the College of Management, a course on campaigning in the College of Humanities & Social Sciences, and a course on computer ethics (using Facebook for opposition research) in the College of Engineering. 
