Law schools should give each student a personal assistant

Honestly.  As part of the tuition or something.  I have no problem making it to the doctor appointment or hair appointment or getting to the airport or whatever when I'm told what day and time to be there.  The thing I have a problem doing is calling the doctor's office or the salon or remembering to buy the plane tickets.  I need a person that I can give all the information to - what dates are good to schedule the trip, what appointments need to be made, what my schedule is for either classes or internship (whichever thing I'm doing at the time), and then they can just take over, make the calls, and tell me when I need to be where.

I hope I'll get an assistant when I'm actually working as a lawyer after graduation.  I might not survive without one.

Anyway, I do have the plane tickets for going home in August and just got my hair done last week.  I just have to remember to call the doctor this week.  And the movers for September.  So I guess I'm mostly together.

Le sigh.

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A fabulous Boston day.

OMG, I love this city. I do. So much to see and do and experience. I can't get enough.

Today, Vanessa and I had plans to go to the Phantom Gourmet BBQ Beach Party. Which was really cool, but of course her and I were full after our meal (and the BEST CANNOLI I'VE EVER HAD!) and really had nothing else we could do there since the whole point was to eat food. But we figured we should really do more with our day than just that since we were only there for a few hours. So we went over to where the aquarium is, intending to go there. However, when we got there we saw that there's a whale watching boat ride, which sounded much cooler. After all, we can go to the aquarium anytime, but how many days in Boston are good days to go out into the ocean on a boat? So, we went for the whale watching ride instead. It was so cool! We saw a bunch of whales, including a mother and her calf, one of the whales flung his tail way out of the water and made a huge splash, and another one waved at us with his flipper.

Anyway, the boat ride was about three hours long, so by the time we got back into the harbor it was dinnertime. We went to Legal Sea Food for dinner, and we both decided to get lobster. As in, a whole one, just there on your plate. That certainly made me feel carnivorous, even more than when I go out for sushi. At least sushi is still cut up and stuff. It was kind of awkward to have to just start going at it, but I know how good it tastes from eating lobster rolls and stuff so I wasn't going to let the awkwardness stop me. Guess I'm a real New Englander now. Oh, and they have a really interesting way of running the credit cards, they bring a machine thing to the table with the tab still in it and you swipe the card yourself and type in the tip and stuff. They said it's so that you can keep sight of your card the whole time. It's cool, I think more restaurants should do it.

Well, I've had a full day and I'm exhausted. Time for bed.

Seven Facts

Alright, Jenn didn't tag me but I decided to do this anyway. The idea is to think of seven random facts about me. So, without further ado:

1. I have a love/hate relationship with shoes. I really hate wearing them, the instant I walk in the door when I get home the shoes are off, yet I am strangely drawn to purchasing more pairs. And they're rarely comfortable pairs, either - no, I buy stilettos, high heeled boots, open toed things that give me blisters since I can't wear socks with them, you name it. I don't know what the attraction is. I don't even need to wear heels, I'm 5'9", I'm as tall or taller than most men anyway! The only reason I can think of is, if I have to wear shoes, they may as well be cute.

2. I have a mild case of what is called pectus excavatum, which is basically a funny little dip at the base of my sternum. It's not as extreme as some cases where it's actually kind of embarrassing because it's so noticeable, and it doesn't cause any problems with any of my internal organs (which also can happen in extreme cases), it's just sort of there. I still wear bikinis, most people don't notice at all unless I point it out. And I had a doctor (female, I'll get to that in a second) tell me it gives me great cleavage because it brings everything in a bit, so I can't complain. I think the only issue is that I wish I could find a bra that also dips in because I think it would fit better.

3. I only, only, only visit female doctors, unless I'm in an ER or urgent care or something and have no choice. It's not like I had a bad experience, I've preferred female doctors since I was quite young, as in my mom was always in the room during all doctor visits prior to the time I started strongly expressing this preference. I now see, when I have had to visit emergency rooms, that male doctors do tend to treat women as if they don't really know what's going on with their body. Maybe I just picked up on that attitude from an early age. Makes sense since the only male physician-type person I ever did visit was my chiropractor, but since that generally constitutes alternative (though widely accepted) medicine, maybe that was why he didn't have that same attitude. Anyway, this preference did create some difficulty in finding primary care physicians for a while, but as female doctors are becoming more and more common it's been getting easier.

4. I am afraid of vacuums. I don't exactly run screaming from the room when one is turned on, and I can use them although I prefer not to, but if I am in the room when someone is using one it can't come near my feet.

5. I love to learn. Love it, love it, love it. Big part of why I want to be a lawyer, since it's one profession where you never stop learning. There are always new cases, new precedent, new laws, new changes, new problems your clients come in with that have never actually been sued on, and your job is to gain an understanding about all these things and how they apply to what you're currently trying to do so you can argue your point well enough to win.

6. The last IQ test I took told me I have an IQ of 139. It's really hard for me to say that. I hate talking about anything to do with how intelligent I am because I don't want people to think I'm bragging. I have plenty of utterly stupid moments and make plenty of utterly stupid decisions. I'm terrible with cardinal directions. I have no memory for geography. And since IQ has nothing to do with education, there are plenty of topics I know nothing about that anyone can easily outdo me with their knowledge of it. And there are lots of things that have nothing to do with IQ that I'm no good at, like sports. So really, in no way do I think I'm better than anyone else just because of my IQ score. It's just that my skills mostly reside in my brain.

7. I'm going to coin a new term and call myself a social hermit. I love being social, going out in the world, hanging out with friends, talking to people, traveling...but I forget to DO IT. I almost never call people to see if they want to do something. Someone else calls me and I'm raring to go, but for some reason I can't do it myself. If I'm bored at home, I'll pull out a book, fiddle on my computer, watch TV, play video games, and I'll never think to just pick up the phone and see if one of my friends wants to do something. I won't even walk down to the corner to sit in a coffee shop and read or use the computer there. I have no problem going to movies alone, I don't care what people think when they see me, I just don't leave the house to go, I'd rather wait and have Blockbuster Online send it to me. As for traveling, I've wanted to go to Paris for over 10 years and I don't even have a passport. I have a half-formed plan to go as a graduation present to myself, at least, but I'm pretty sure I won't make it there if I don't find someone to go with me soon because at least if someone else is depending on me to join them I'll go into OCD mode and make sure it actually happens. (Mom? Hint, hint?) I'm pretty certain that due to all of this, when I'm old I'll become that crazy lady with the 30 cats, just because I'll forget to go out and I'll be old so I won't have the energy anyway.

Haha, on the subject of being a "social hermit," Megan just called and asked me to go to a movie. So, I'm going to wrap this up seeing as how I now have a reason to leave the house. Hope you enjoyed learning more about me. =)

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Well...okay...

Alright.  I'll admit it.  I like tax law.  At least, after three weeks I do.  I still have eight weeks to go, so we'll see.  I'm still in the property tax realm because there are so many cases that come through with people claiming their property is overvalued for one reason or another.  But I've been getting some exposure in the big stuff, the kind of stuff I'd be working with if I went into a big firm that specialized in tax litigation, by going in and watching some of the hearings.  There's one going on with some big money.  It's still property taxes...just big property taxes because of the particular entity involved.

I also like the security that working in taxes would give me.  I know it goes back to that old saying, only two things are certain...lol.  But I was talking to an attorney who has been working in taxes for a while and he made a good point - no matter what the economy is like, no matter what is happening in business, in the real estate market, anywhere, tax lawyers will always have plenty of work.

So, I think I might have a plan.  I still really want to do litigation, I did get some civil procedure research projects in these last couple weeks and have realized that all those steps in litigation is still really my favorite thing.  But I hadn't settled on what area of law I wanted to litigate.  So I'm glad I might have figured it out, especially since the application process for summer associate positions for next summer starts in August, and if I get a summer associate position, I'm likely to get a job offer from that same firm.  So I'd like to be able to apply for firms that specialize in something I want to do.

In other news, I've been figuring out some ways of dealing with annoying talker guy.  While talking to a friend, she suggested that maybe I try to make it more clear when I'm focusing on working and when I'm available for conversation.  So I've been trying to specifically participate in conversations when the topic interests me enough, and I've been wearing headphones when I want to return to full concentration on work.  I think it's helping.

Well, that's about it for this week.  Until next time!

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In the manner of a strumpet...

Earlier today I read through an appellant's "motion to recuse appellee's counsel."  Essentially, a motion to say there's a reason the other side shouldn't be using the lawyer they're using.  In this case, he was seemingly contending there was a conflict of interest because he'd used the same firm for some other suit like, 5 years ago.

Anyway, at the end of the guy's motion (he was filing <i>pro se</i>, or sans lawyer for you non-law folks, but I think the guy himself is an attorney...either that or he did a really good job teaching himself civil procedure and legal writing...anywho...) he wrote that he wanted to refer the law firm to the Office of the Bar Counsel for behaving "in the manner of a strumpet."  I literally, seriously, honestly laughed out loud.  By the way, for those of you out there that may be less of a vocab nut than I am, "strumpet" is a fourteenth century term for a prostitute.  I don't think I ever expected to see that term in any modern legal documents whatsoever, least of all in reference to the opposing side's counsel.

Well, other than that amusement, work has been kind of slow.  Apparently I work too fast so I keep having large breaks when my supervisor didn't expect I'd be done so soon and so he has to find something for me to do.  While he's finding something, I get paid to fiddle around online.

I am annoyed with the new intern.  He's eager to the point of irritation, and he keeps going and pestering the commissioners the instant he has nothing to do rather than waiting for our supervisor to come give us all something.  The commissioners are busy men.  They're basically the judges at this particular institution.  Don't overly pester busy people!  Which includes me, by the way.  He seems to like to talk a lot, and yes, I do too, but when I'm focused I don't take kindly to a lot of interruptions.  Ashley (the other intern that started at the same time I did) has picked up on that.  He has not.

Okay, done with the venting.  At least I have Ashley to diffuse my irritation a bit.  But I do have to deal with this guy for another 9 weeks, and while I've learned to control my temper, when someone rubs me the wrong way this early on that control is going to wear reaaaalllly thin, especially when I have nowhere to escape to.  I don't even have a separate desk to escape to, we're all at a table in the middle of the mini-library at the tax board.  Ah, the joys of being an intern.

At least I went out after work so I did enjoy the rest of my Friday.  And now I'm going to sleep.

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Yep, it's a survey...

It was a beautiful day in Boston.  Vanessa and I went to the beach.  I'm a bit dazed from all the sun.  A survey is the most I can accomplish right now.

As an aside, the beach was fun, and now I'm somewhat tan.  And a bit burnt where I missed the sunscreen...

On to the survey.

1. What is your occupation? For the next 10 weeks, I am a legal intern at the Mass. Appellate Tax Board.  But that internship is part of my legal education, so my official occupation is full-time law student.

2. What color are your socks right now? Naked.

3. What are you listening to right now? The hum of the lights in my living room.  I think I need some music.

4. What was the last thing that you drank? Strawberry Smirnoff and Sprite.

5. Can you drive a stick shift? ...ish.  Christen was teaching me before I moved to Boston, I'm past the "getting out of first gear" stage and I was working on the "listening to the car to know when to shift to the next gear" stage but we ran out of time.  And now most of my friends here don't even have a car, those that do have an automatic.  Sigh...

6. What color would you be, if you were a color? I'm guessing this question is assuming people are colorblind and I'm thus not "white."  Or, looking at my skin right now, a kind of soft golden brown.  Um, I don't know.  I think I'd want to be normal skin color, like I am.  My favorite color may be purple but unless everyone else's skin color represents their favorite color I'm not sure I really want to walk around being purple.

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Nessa.  (It's time to play guess the nickname!)

8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Well, it wasn't really "sent," per se, I took it off Ginger's blog.  I like reading her blog, so, yes.

9. How old are you today? 25.142 - thanks to the real age gadget on my iGoogle page.

10. Favorite drink? Okay, I'm breaking it down into categories.  Soda - Cherry Coke.  Fruit juice - lemonade or cranberry juice.  Alcoholic - fruity martinis, especially berry flavors, and wine.  Wine wine wine.  Hot coffee - vanilla latte.  Cold coffee - Thai Iced Coffee or Caramel Frappuccino.  Tea - Tension Tamer.

11. Favorite sport to watch? Baseball.  And speed skating during the winter Olympics, but only if a certain skater is competing...mmm...

12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes, and still do.

13. Pets? One black domestic shorthair cat who goes by the name of Severus Bartholomew.

14. Favorite Food? Ha.  I don't pick favorites when it comes to food.  I love food.  But I usually say strawberries for this.

15. Last movie you watched? Sex and the City.  I enjoyed it because I enjoyed the show, but it had no character development so for people who think they can go if they've never watched the show and understand what's going on...I'm going to suggest that you don't go.

16. What is your favorite time of the year? Late spring.  After it's done being cold but before it gets hot.  I like early fall for the same reason, but I love the smell of a good spring rain...and besides, my birthday is in the spring so I have to favor it a little more.

17. What do you do to vent anger? I try to avoid losing my temper at the person who made me angry, which is very very difficult at times because I have a very quick temper.  I usually go calm down and wait until I'm thinking rationally about the situation, and then go confront the person when all my thoughts are straight and avoid yelling and screaming.  It's much more productive.

18. What was your favorite toy as a child? It has to be Panthro Bear.

19. Cherry or Blueberry? What, pie?  Ice cream?  Candy?  Help me out here.  I guess as to the fruits themselves I do have a preference for blueberries.

20. Do you want your friends to email you back? Or, copy and paste into their own blogs?  Sure, if they feel like it.

21. Who is most likely to respond? Dunno.  Someone who most feels like filling it out.

22. Who is least likely to respond? ***stealing Ginger's answer*** jason mraz....he never responds to my shameless blog-stalking.

23. Living arrangements? Currently, just me and the cat.  In September, I'll be living with Vanessa.

24. When was the last time you cried? Um...a couple weeks ago.

25. Who is the friend you've had the longest that you are sending this to? Of my regular readers I'm pretty sure I can't know anyone else longer than I've known my own mother.

26. Who is the friend you have had the shortest that you are sending this to? Um. The reader that stumbled upon my blog today by chance?

27. Favorite smell? Oh goodness...I can't choose.  Good food, good wine, good coffee.  The smell of really good things that I can in some way consume.

28. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? I don't often eat hamburgers, but in general I'm really not a fan of cheeseburgers so I'd probably go for plain or spicy depending on my mood.

29. Favorite Car you owned? I've only been the owner of one car.  My 1994 Nissan Altima, aka Calamity Jane.  I do love that car though, she might be my favorite even after she's gone.  But currently she's safe and sound at home in Portland.

30. Favorite Dog breed? I don't like dogs, the big ones frighten me and the little ones irritate me.

31. Number of keys on your key ring? Five.  Four that came with the apartment, and one for the car.  Yes, I like to carry my car key even when the car itself is on the other side of the country.

32. How many years at your current job? Um, job?  See above.  Aside from that, I've been at my internship for one week and I've been a law student for a little over 9 months.

33. Favorite day of the week? Friday.

34. How many states have you lived in? 2 - Oregon and Massachusetts.

35. What is your greatest love in life? I don't have just one!  I'm passionate about a lot of things - law, music, photography, books, sociology...and I'm only 25, I'm hoping I haven't run out of passions to discover already.

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