rather than spending the extra hour engaged in his present histrionics , rather than drinking , probably , every night , and schmoozing with other drinkers while looking for a dui client , rather than cozying up to readfords cops for an accident report , if he had used that time for reading digests and developing arguments on cases that mattered , nita guessed he might have become a decent attorney , instead of a blowhard getting by on looks and blather .