Thoughts until finals are over...

I'm sitting in my last corporations class.  Yes, you'd think I should be paying attention.  Instead, for a while I was working on my outline for Basic Income Tax, then I was on Facebook, and now I'm blogging.  I can teach myself about hostile takeovers...along with most other stuff from this class...because the professor has been essentially useless.  After class, I'm off to the bookstore for the commercial outline keyed to our casebook.  Note that this is the first time I have EVER purchased a commercial outline.  Yep, that's how bad the professor is.  It's weird, because I had him for contracts and he was fine.  Oh well.  I at least know from contracts that he's a fair grader, and 1/2 the exam is multiple choice...knowing him, probably drawn directly from CALI lessons.  And I have until next Thursday to study.

Basic Income Tax exam is on Monday.  I was concerned that my treatment of the class as an easy grade for me because of all my experience might have actually been too flippant...but now that I've started my outline, I'm once again confident that I'll be fine.

Sec. 1983 Litigation is completely over.  Our final was a group project, which involved putting together a complaint claiming some civil rights violations and writing a very simple memo that basically just explained our reasoning for who we were suing, what claims we'd bring, etc.

Nonprofit organizations is really the bane of my existence right now, because I have to squeeze in finishing my 15-page paper among studying for tax and corporations. I'm thinking of mixing in most of the work on that this weekend...maybe Saturday I'll take a break from tax, work on the paper all day, then go back to tax on Sunday so that it's fresh in my mind on Monday.  We'll see.  I'll figure something out and get it done.

Do I have any OTHER thoughts not about the end of the quarter?  Not really.  Oh!  Except now my landlord's uncle IS living with me.  He moved in this weekend.  lol.  Yeah, I know, back and forth craziness.  But he's actually there now so it's obviously more settled.  Well, actually he was only there Sunday night through Monday afternoon, then he went back to NY to be with his wife for a couple days, and he's coming back today for...I dunno, a day or so?  Yay for part-time roommates!  So, anyway...the roughly 24 hours he was there was all fine, so I'm sure it won't be a problem.

I've made an itinerary for when my dad's here for Thanksgiving.  Seriously.  He arrives Wednesday, we're going to take his stuff to my house then go to a restaurant in Quincy for dinner.  Thursday is obviously Thanksgiving, we're doing something with Jenn and Matt.  Friday we're going to the MFA and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum because we didn't have time to go when he was here last year, then we have reservations at a restaurant on Newbury St.  He doesn't know we have reservations...but we do...haha.  It's a restaurant in a price range that I can afford as long as I only go occasionally, so he won't have a problem with it.  Anyway, then on Saturday we're driving up to Salem to check it out (I haven't even been yet) and then we're going to a restaurant on the North Shore (same area as Salem) for some good lobster.  He does know about that restaurant...he's the one that suggested lobster, and I'm not about to say no.  I may be in New England, but it still tends to be out of my price range.  =)  Anyway, then he has to leave on Sunday, in the afternoon sometime, so I'm thinking maybe we'll find a place for brunch.

Okay, class ended, and I finished filling out my eval.  I'm going to save this and go buy my commercial outline.  I'll be back...

Okay, so the bookstore didn't have the one for my casebook, but I found something else not specifically keyed to any casebook that should work.  According to Amazon, the one keyed to my casebook isn't very good anyway.

Oh, I almost forgot!  I'm now part of a mock trial team!  Phi Alpha Delta, the international law fraternity, is holding a competition.  Well, that's the plan, they need at least 14 teams so we're crossing our fingers that enough teams will register by the deadline.  Anyway, so we formed our team yesterday and we're in the process of making sure we can get funding from the school for the entry fee, airfare, and hotel/food/etc.  Oh, did I mention it's in VEGAS?  Woo hoo!  I've never been.  Well, I was in the airport once...where there are slot machines...but I was 12 so I couldn't even enjoy that, lol.  So, as long as the school will give us funding and they get enough teams to actually hold the competition, I'm going!  Along with Megan, .  =)  I'm excited.  I mean, it's going to be a lot of work, but whatever, I'm still excited!

Alright, well, I shouldn't waste another minute of valuable study time...so I'm going to get back to that.  See you next Saturday!

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Broken Thoughts a little early this week...

To start, last week I forgot to mention that Howie is now not moving in.  So I'm hunting for a roommate yet again.  But don't worry, my landlord said that Howie agreed to pay for November and December so it's not panic mode yet.  And my landlord is helping me find someone else, he contacted the broker he used before (the one he found Vanessa and I through) which will hopefully work better than the postings I was able to do.  In the meantime, if I hear of anyone who needs a room I'll see if they want it, lol.

So, let's see...my weekend was interesting.  Saturday afternoon, I'm in my apartment, minding my own business, when the alarm system I have never used since I moved in starts beeping.  So, I go try to figure out how to make it shut up.  I thought I remembered the code my landlord gave me, so I tried entering what I thought it was, since I knew it was something fairly simple.  When the first attempt didn't work, I tried some other fairly simple combinations.  Well, eventually, either I played with it too much or it was beeping for too long because all of a sudden the actual alarm went off.  Loudly.  It traumatized the cat and I had to leave the apartment to even hear myself think.  I called my landlord, he didn't answer.  I called the number for the alarm company, they didn't answer (I think it was just the customer service line, I didn't have any other phone numbers for them).  Then I went inside, braved the deafening noise, and opened the cabinet thing that basically runs the alarm to see if there was some kind of button in there.  I didn't find anything, but eventually I managed to touch something on the computer chip I found in there that made it stop the full alarm sound.  It resumed beeping.  And then that stopped on its own.  And then, finally, my landlord called back and gave me the code.  So I put that in for good measure and it hasn't done anything since.

Anyway, later on Saturday, I went out with Jenn and Matt to see this band, The Grownup Noise.  That was a lot of fun, the band was great, I now have their first album.  And Matt showed me how to drive from school AROUND the freeway to get home, so when there's bad traffic I can just do the back roads now.  Hooray!  The only downside is that for some reason Jenn and I were both hungover the next day.  We each only had 3 drinks!  I decided there must have been something in the air there because there is no POSSIBLE way that only 3 of my standard drink would give me that much of a hangover...and I think the same thing goes for Jenn.  Especially since we'd both had food before going to the bar.

So then, on Sunday, I get in the car to go to school and work on a group project, and I turn the key, and...nothing.  I mean absolutely nothing, not even a noise that means the car is trying to start but the battery is dead.  So I try again, and again, and again...and it finally did start (yes, I am aware this sounds like a starter problem) so I went to my meeting.  When I went to go back home it didn't do it again, but I called the mechanic on Monday anyway because obviously something is wrong.  I took the car in on Tuesday and they couldn't make it do it again.  They said it's probably the starter, but since they couldn't make it do it again they asked if I wanted to just go ahead and replace it then, or if I wanted to wait until it's more consistent so that they can be sure.  I decided to wait...even though it seems pretty obvious that's the problem, I'd hate to assume that's it, spend all that money, and then have it be something else entirely.  So anyway, I went and picked up the car (yes, it continued to start) and then this morning it did it again.  Why couldn't it do that yesterday!?  lol.  Anyway, once again it did eventually start and I left for school.  So...we'll see what happens when I try to go home.

So.  That was my weekend.  Exciting, no?

In other news...Monday we had solo auditions for choir, so I tried out.  The director didn't get back to us right away, but I feel like I did pretty well.  I'll let you know when I hear more.  =)

Speaking of choir, I'm really making friends with the ladies I sit by now.  We all sit in the back row, so of course when the sopranos aren't singing we're back there talking and giggling.  And when we are singing, half the time we're laughing at ourselves/each other when we do something weird like make up our own notes or jump the rhythm or something.  Just like high school choir...lol.  I guess some things don't change no matter how old you are.

I have 3 papers due in a span of like, 5 days.  I decided not to go to my classes yesterday so I could work on them.  Two of them are for the same class...but thankfully once those are done, I don't have any more work to do for that class.  The other one actually can just be a rough outline of what I've discovered in my research, without fleshing it out...based on the assumption that I spent all my time in between turning in the paper proposal and the due date of the rough outline doing research.  Which, in reality means...this weekend...haha.  Anyway, the final version of that paper is due at the end of the quarter, which is why this version only has to be a rough sketch.

So, on that note...I should post this and start working on my papers again.  I was taking a much-needed break from writing about strip searches and when they violate the 4th amendment.  Fun, right?  =P

Don't forget to read the other broken thought writers!

Jenn
Ginger
Kate
Bree
KC (aka my mom)

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Thoughts thoughts thoughts

I have the WORST 3L-itis ever.  Everything related to class makes me cranky...I don't want to read, I don't want to go...it doesn't even matter if the material is interesting, I just don't want to.  Really, the problem is that NO ONE is happy with two of my classes (for both, it's the professor more than the content), and then the other two are both in the evening, when I'm tired and just want to go home.  But I don't think any of the issues with the classes themselves would cause as much of a problem if I wasn't feeling like someone should just give me my degree already and let me go be a lawyer.

So I'm doing well on the Good Belly so far.  I've been using it for about a week and I'm really starting to feel a lot better.  The first few days I was actually slightly worse, but the website warned of that so I just kind of dealt with it...I was only feeling a little icky in the evenings anyway so I just sat around at home those first 3 evenings.  By about day 4 I began to notice an improvement, and it's just been getting better and better since then.  Hooray!

I get to see Jenn tomorrow, I'm excited about that, I haven't seen her since...um...July, I think.  We're seeing a band I've never heard, so I may discover some new music too!

Choir is having solo auditions on Monday.  Yes, I'm trying out.  I'll let you know how it goes.  =)

Huh.  I really don't have much else to say.  Well, I mean, there is one other thing from this week that I haven't talked about, but it's kinda private (and possibly TMI) so I'm really only comfortable telling my regular readers, not all of Bloggy-land.  I don't know how many other people read this blog and just don't comment, and I just don't want to share this with all of them.  But, my dear regular readers, if you're curious, you're all on Facebook and/or Twitter, so ask away!

I just realized that the law school Halloween party is on Thursday.  Guess I need to go find those white knee socks and complete the costume, huh?

Well, it's just about time for me to start winding down for the evening.  Until next week!

If you need more randomness, visit these lovely ladies:

Jenn
Ginger
Kate
Bree
KC (aka my mom)

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Saturday thought process

I tried to write this yesterday but I was too tired to have any thoughts.

It was a weird week...I don't exactly know where it all went.  I had a 4-day weekend, went to some classes, then suddenly it was Friday again.  I don't think I did much out of the ordinary.  Sunday my choir had a mini-concert at a little retirement community -- I didn't really mention it because it wasn't really open for just anyone to go and it really was just a bunch of stuff we sang back in March since we only just started rehearsals for December's concert.  Plus it's a little early to be performing anything we have planned for December, haha.

Anyway, other than the concert, the only break in my routine was going to Bar Review (law students gathering at a bar, not anything to do with the Bar Exam).  Which was an adventure for two reasons...one, I finally drove in Downtown Boston (with Megan as my navigator...because I could not do it without either a navigator or a GPS...) and two, shortly before I was going to leave they set up karaoke so I HAD to stay and ended up leaving about 2 hours after I planned to.  And then, to be nice, I drove Megan home...I was leaving two hours later than I'd planned anyway, so why not?  So, anyway, I got home ridiculously late, ate my dinner that had been sitting in the crockpot since noon (it was on low, so I knew it would be fine...and it was delicious!) and went to bed at about 1.  Which made for a very sleepy Friday.

Hmm...what else is new?  Well, I finally had to turn on my heat this week, and discovered that now the furnace is making this loud, low, vibrating noise.  It wasn't doing it last winter, but now it is.  I told my landlord because it's loud to me, for one thing, it bothers the cat, for another, and apparently (because one of them stopped by) even the neighbors can hear it.  So he let the heating guy in on Friday while I was at school to look at it, and apparently the furnace does not seem to be the problem...they think it may be somewhere in the pipe system.  So it's still unresolved, but it will get fixed, because I have an awesome landlord who always makes sure stuff is fixed.

I finally bought the Good Belly juice I mentioned last week, I had it for the first time this morning.  It's tasty, which is good.  Can't tell if it's working yet, this being the first day and all, but I'll keep you posted.

So a couple weeks ago I threatened to just throw my letter jacket on over my clothes (yes, I lettered...in choir) and call myself a high schooler...and then, as it turns out, other people think it's a good idea.  So I'm going to wear a short skirt and knee-high socks with it, just to make it a little more like a costume.  I only need to go out and buy the socks.  Fun, right?  =)

Hmm...I'm thirsty.  Gotta get some water.

Okay, I'm back.

Anything else?  Oh!  Duh!  I went to see Where the Wild Things Are today.  My friend and I drove to a nearby IMAX theater...which is in...of all places...a furniture store.  Jordan's Furniture, to be exact.  Not only is there an IMAX theater, there's also one of those things where you get to fly on a trapeze (with safety ropes attached to you, of course) and various other stuff.  Christine said the other locations have different stuff.  It was so...odd.  But anyway, back to the movie.  It was SO cute!  Just how I imagined it would be.  I was quite pleased.  You all should go see it.  =)

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

Go visit the others for more thought processes!

Jenn
Ginger
Kate
Bree
KC (aka my mom)

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Some thoughts...in a process...perhaps broken, perhaps not.

So...biggest update for today...all the fun health stuff I mentioned a couple weeks ago.  Mostly the tummy stuff because I think I updated the other stuff last week.  So.  Here's the deal.  I went back on Tuesday for my follow-up.  Every single lab test came back normal.  Absolutely, positively, completely, perfectly normal...not even a hint of something that wasn't completely abnormal but wasn't completely normal either.  Fantastic, right?  Well, sorta.  I'm happy I can still eat bread and all other glutinous substances.  But...what the hell IS wrong?  We think it is stress-related...even though in my little food journal I kept saying my stress was low, or at the most moderate...we have to remember that I am a law student and my baseline stress level may be a little higher than most.  So while I may evaluate it as low, it's just low for me.  Combine that with the fact that mentally I handle stress very well, and we have a problem in that my body seems to be reacting to stress I don't even really know I have.  Ugh.  My only idea is to try probiotics, like this stuff Ginger mentioned in a recent post.  So...that's where things stand with that...I'll keep you posted.

The melatonin is still helping me sleep...I think.  The last two nights I woke up in the middle of the night, but I was also excessively warm both times.  I think I put my comforter on my bed too early...but a couple weeks ago it was cold enough for it.  Mother Nature just needs to make up her mind.  I don't really want to get out my lighter quilt that I just washed and put away just to switch back to the comforter again in a couple weeks.  Maybe I'll just crack a window...but that might be TOO cold.  Hmm...

Oh, I have to move...it's almost time for work.

Okay, I moved.  And I'm eating a mini pizza.  Mmmmm...

The strangest thing happened to me the other day.  I was walking through campus, and this group of undergrads (or maybe high school seniors...I'm finding I can't tell the difference anymore) were walking the opposite way.  I was on a little sidewalk thing and they were in the middle of a service road.  All of a sudden one of them came up to the edge of the sidewalk, jumped sideways with BOTH FEET to land right in front of me, which of course stopped me in my tracks, and just said, "Hello."  I raised my eyebrow, said, "hiiiiii...." and then went around him.  And that was it.  People are weird.

Yay, four-day weekend!  Yes, I know it's three for everyone else, but I get four.  The school decided Tuesday is a Monday schedule (we miss a disproportionate amount of Mondays in the fall quarter because the school observes Jewish holidays too) and I don't have classes on Mondays, so I get an extra day!  Hmm...what to do with my time?  Oh...I know...study.  =P

It's so quiet here on Friday afternoon.  The only regularly scheduled class block is from 10-12 or something like that (mine starts at 10:30 but some start earlier) and the rest of the blocks are for make-up classes.  So most people either don't have class, or they only have the one and then they go home or out of town or something.

Hey look...I've been dawdling and talking with my co-worker and now I get to leave in 1/2 an hour!  And then I get to go to my chiropractor, yay!

I'm gonna wrap this up now.  Visit the others!

Jenn
Ginger
Kate
Bree
KC (aka my mom)

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Broken Thought Process

Thursday is no longer a good day for me. I think this will have to temporarily move to either Wednesday or Friday until the term is over. On Thursdays, I tend to study in the morning, and then I have class from 1:40 to 7:30, with a bit of a break during which I'm, again, studying. Then I come home and study for my Friday morning class for a bit...then after that I just want some TV time. But Wednesday and Friday I only have one class, and then I'm just working at the snack table. By working I mean I sit there and essentially act as a guard to the food and cashbox until someone comes up and wants to buy something...then I just take their money and go back to what I'm doing. Gotta love cushy work-study jobs.

Anyway, so I got my winter internship all lined up. I got a little worried, no one was interviewing me...but that is kind of my weird pattern. I apply to all sorts of places and get like, one or two interviews...but out of those one or two, someone gives me an offer. I guess it's that on paper, I'm not overly impressive (unless, at this point, I'm applying for a tax law position) but I do make a really good impression in person. Or, I'm assuming I do, once I actually get the interview I rarely have trouble getting the job.

Oh, so I guess I'll explain what my internship actually is. It's totally different this time. I'm working at a small law firm that focuses on asbestos litigation from the defendant's side. This means they represent the manufacturers and other corporations that have used asbestos. I know, it sounds like it might be more fun to work for the plaintiff's side, but actually, because asbestos used to be in almost everything, there are a lot of frivolous suits from people who don't really have a claim...they didn't really work with it when it was airborne, or something. And I get to do a lot of the mucky litigation stuff like sifting through facts and putting together the basis for our claim, participating in settlements and depositions, and all that litigation stuff I've been wanting to do. And with all my internships, I haven't worked at an actual law firm, so I'm excited to see what that environment is like.

So I made Severus a toy the other day. While I was in Portland, I bought this book with all this stuff to do with old T-shirts, and have become obsessed with cutting up and altering all my T-shirts. Well, not ALL. I will never cut up my Pedroia shirt...I basically sleep in it until it smells, wash it, then sleep in it again. Anyway, so far I've made a fun party shirt out of this GINORMOUS Cuervo shirt I got for free at some bar on some holiday, and a really cute kimono-inspired shirt out of parts of a plain white shirt and a brown shirt that was always a little loose on me (because I acquired it from Christen...with permission), but it's cute because it says Rio on the front and has a little embroidered sunset. I also tried to make this little shrug thing out of a pink long-sleeve T, but it didn't quite work...I expected some sacrifice, what with taking scissors to my T-shirts, so I wasn't too disappointed. Now I just have some pink fabric to lend to other projects. Anyway, various scraps from those projects went to the cat toy, which I stuffed with other scraps and a few pinches of catnip from those bags that always come with the cardboard scratchy things he likes. He's in love. He throws it around and chews on it and nuzzles it...exactly what he does with toys I purchase, but this way I wasn't creating more waste! Gotta love it.

To update you on health things...sleep is getting better...although the cat keeps doing random things like trying to open the cabinets at 5 am or running around like mad, but when he's not making noise I seem to be sleeping through the night. Yay for melatonin! Haven't gone in for follow up tummy stuff, that appointment is Tuesday. I went to my new chiropractor yesterday, he's really nice and he's awesome in that he actually tries to FIX the problem. As in, rather than just popping everything back in place and sending me on my way with a notification that I need to come back 3 times a week for the rest of my life...he works on loosening the muscles and THEN pops stuff back into place, and he taught me some stretches and stuff. So now the end goal is to make sure my muscles don't keep pulling me out of alignment all the time and I don't have to go back to him anymore. That's actually what my former chiropractor used to do (the only thing he didn't do was the stretches, but the goal was always to get me feeling better permanently...it's just been a while and law school has done new and exciting things to my back...note the sarcasm) but he's in Portland...and I think he's retired. Although if I were still in Portland I would have just kept going back to his practice, probably just seeing his daughter instead (I used to substitute her a lot when he was on vacation or something) so really the retired thing isn't quite as significant.

I swear I had another broken thought...but it escaped me.

Visit the other ladies of the broken thought processes!

Jenn
Ginger
Kate
Bree
KC (aka my mom)

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BTP...day...

My head hurts.  I think it's my sinuses.  I'm claiming I don't have a cold...it seems to be working aside from the sinus headaches.

Today I bought a Jamba Juice at the brand-new location on my campus (one of the only two in the entire city of Boston...the other is on BU's campus) and then got to the law school building and promptly dropped the cup on the floor, spilling its contents everywhere.  I'd hardly had two sips.  =(  I guess Jamba was not in my stars today.  I considered going back and acting all sad about dropping it to see if they'd make me a new one for free, but I didn't want to walk across campus just to have them tell me they wouldn't.

Law school is really trying to kill me now.  Even though my schedule is less stressful, it seems my body is finally reacting to the stress of the past two years.  I have stomach issues, back pain, sleeping trouble, still getting migraines...hooray.  I went to the health center, we're dealing with things.  Have to keep a food journal and they ran blood tests for the stomach thing, I'm going back in two weeks.  We're trying melatonin for the sleep since the problem is both falling asleep and staying asleep...the other stuff was fine for falling asleep, but I still woke up at random times.  It's funny because I knew all about melatonin, I think I used it in high school, but for some reason I didn't think to use it now.  Anyway, it seems to be putting me to sleep right away, I have no idea if it's working for staying asleep though.  I've only used it for the last few nights and unfortunately the cat has decided to be noisy in the middle of the night all those nights so I can't tell if I'm waking up from him or from my sleep problem.  But I have until my follow-up appointment in a couple weeks to figure out which it is and if it's not working then we'll try something else.  Oh, and I'm going to a chiropractor on Monday so I should be feeling better soon there too.

 I think that's about as much thought process as you're going to get out of me this week.

Here are the others:

Jenn
Ginger
Kate
Bree
KC (aka my mom)

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A Friday Full of Broken Thoughts

I keep forgetting to link other BTP-ers!  So before I forget again...here they are:

Jenn
Ginger
Kate
Bree
KC (aka my mom)

So, now that that's done, on with the post!

Apparently Raytheon has decided that even interns get PTO.  Which I didn't know about...until I got the check from them cashing it out since I don't work there anymore.  Woo, random $300 I didn't expect!

I finally bought a new laptop battery (mainly because of the above windfall) and it should be here in just a few days!  Yay!  My laptop will be officially portable again!  No more of this waiting for it to hibernate before I unplug it when class is over!  Yeah, it was that bad.  If I unplugged it before it was at least hibernating, it would tell me I shut down improperly.  The computer now says "no battery detected" because it's so dead.  Oh, and I got the battery for about half the price from Laptop Battery Depot.  I went to the site because of...get this...someone's review on DELL'S website!  It was one of those "yeah, thanks Dell, your battery sucks, your computer sucks, I hate you" reviews, but hey, it helped me out!  Even more awesome than the half-price deal is that these batteries have a 45-day money back guarantee and an automatic 2-year warranty.  Way better than Dell can offer.  Hooray!

So there's been a crime ring at the law school the past couple weeks.  Someone coming in with bolt cutters, cutting locks off lockers, and stealing stuff.  Mostly casebooks, which sounds odd, but they'd sell for a lot on Amazon so it's not exactly surprising.  People don't normally leave valuables in their lockers because we all know it really isn't THAT hard to break a lock if you have the opportunity and the tools, but one person did lose a laptop and a wallet.  Anyway, it got really bad, a bunch of people got hit (not me, luckily) and now we actually have security guards posted in the locker rooms until a better solution can be found.  No ideas whether it's an inside or outside job...anyone can just waltz into the law school, and it's sitting RIGHT next to Roxbury, so it's probably an outsider, but you never know.  There's talk of some kind of card access system for the building...some people suggested that for just the locker areas too (there are already doors on one of them, and you could easily install some doors on the other one).  Anyway, so that's been the excitement of the week.

So landlord's uncle (Howie...Herbie...something...yes, I forgot already) came by to meet me the other day.  It will be totally fine.  I have a great people sense and I got no creepy feelings from him, he's nice, he's funny, and he's bringing a table and chairs!  Kevin (landlord) actually was the one who brought up the table and chairs, he was here a little before...let's say Howie for now...and said he liked what I've done with the place (he hadn't been in here since before Vanessa and I moved in) and I said thanks, but that I wished I had a table (the one we had was Vanessa's).  So then Howie gets here and he's asking if I need anything and Kevin says "she could use a table."  lol.  So I'm set with a table now, yay.  More plates and cereal bowls will also be coming...since I only have four of each.  Not exactly enough for two people...and not enough to fill the dishwasher either, which has been quite annoying ever since Vanessa left.  So anyway, I'm glad it's not going to be weird.  I trusted my landlord not to set me up with someone who would make me uncomfortable, but now I have my own instincts to work with too...I trust those more.  Anyway, it's still just me (and Severus) for a few more weeks.

Speaking of Severus...his water dish is getting empty and the fountain motor (yes, he has a fountain water dish) is making burbly noises at me.  I guess I should deal with that, it's rather annoying.  Off I go!

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BTPF...now S...

I started writing this yesterday while at my wonderful work-study job...and then it was time to go home before I was done.  So I'm finishing now.

Second week of 3L year complete.  Still enjoying my classes, and I'm getting back into the swing of study habits.

I purchased my parking pass and driving to school is the ultimate in wonderfulness.  20 minutes to drive.  40 minutes to an hour to take the T, depending on what it feels like doing that day.  I'm all for taking care of the environment.  But when I have to carry 2 or 3 casebooks, plus my laptop, on a potentially crowded train (so I may have to stand with my casebooks and laptop) AND the T's only consistency is its inconsistency...driving just makes more sense.  Oh...and carrying 2 or 3 casebooks plus my laptop is too much for the 15-minute walk to the T station, and there's not a decent sidewalk for part of it so my rolling backpack doesn't work, so when I take the T I drive and park anyway.  This makes paying for the parking pass actually more cost-effective because there's a $5 fee for parking at the T station...so that plus the cost for 3 monthly T passes is WAY more than the $240 I spent on the school parking pass for 3 months.

I've formed a plan for finding a job.  I've discussed it with people, they all think it's a great idea.  See, I've realized that part of the reason I was not all that disappointed when I didn't get any interviews for a summer associate position (which would have put me on the big firm track) is because I don't really WANT to work in a big firm.  Everything I've heard about the work environment is something I DON'T want to do.  I don't want to be cutthroat competitive, every person for him/herself.  I want to work WITH my co-workers, as a team, for a common cause.  Then, there aren't many government places I really want to work for.  I'm going to apply for the Mass. Attorney General's office because it's a good place to get a lot of experience.  Even though it's not exactly "tax" experience, they do deal with some tax matters.  Plus I can still open a solo tax practice later and people will think it's impressive that I've worked for the Mass. AG and they'll want to be my client.  Anyway.  The IRS isn't doing on-campus interviews for third-years at my school right now...but they are doing interviews for the summer program.  That makes me think my chances aren't great...I can apply outside of the on-campus interview system, but I can't rely on that.  I've been checking the Mass. Department of Revenue's website and they haven't been hiring any new attorneys for quite a while.  So that kind of kills any tax-specific government positions.  So what am I left with?  Small and medium firms, or in-house counsel.  Now the problem is...where do these places post these jobs?  Sometimes on your everyday job posting sites (monster.com) but I seem to remember hearing that there are sites specifically for legal job postings...so I need to visit the career center and find out where these sites are.

Once I find out where to look for jobs, it will be time to contact my really awesome contact in the realm of tax practice in Massachusetts.  The "top dog," as it were, at the Appellate Tax Board told me he'd write letters of recommendation for me whenever I need them.  This guy said he knows everyone...and in the internships following that one, I've learned that it may very well be true.  Even if he doesn't actually know everyone, a recommendation from someone like that is high praise indeed.  So, there's my plan.  Yes, the economy still sucks.  Yes, most places still have hiring freezes.  But that doesn't mean I can stop trying.  It actually means I have to try harder.  So that's what I'll do.  And, like one of my professors said, it's not like people are banging down the doors to practice tax law...but you always need tax lawyers.

Watching Mad Men the other day made me think about grandparents.  Since I want people to watch the show, I refuse to ruin any of the twists that come up, so I'll just leave it at that...those of you who watched it know what I'm talking about.  Anyway.  I ended up being very saddened at what I've missed out on in the realm of grandparents.  My mother's father died a short time before I was born.  From what I hear of him from my older cousins, as well as my mom and her siblings, I suspect he would have been that special grandparent.  The one who would have had a great relationship with me, who I would have loved to visit, who would have been overjoyed that I'm in law school and really making something of myself.  I don't get that from my remaining grandparents.  I have to earn their love and I don't think that's fair.  That's not what a grandparent should ask of their grandchild.  A grandchild should be loved no matter what.

Well, that's about all the thoughts I have this week.  Until next time!

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I'm back!

Yep!  Back on Blogger, back in Boston, and back to school!

So I'm going to be living with my landlord's uncle.  Yeah, it sounds a little weird, but over this last year I've actually interacted with my landlord often enough to know that he's a nice, normal guy (actually he's the most awesome landlord ever) and when he asked what I thought he really made sure I felt comfortable with the whole idea.  He also said I can go to him if there's an issue I can't deal with and he'll take care of it.  I don't even have to deal with getting his rent payments, they'll deal with that on their own, so I just have to deal with cable and electric.  Anyway, so the uncle is moving up here from NY to work on starting a business here.  Sure, I might have preferred someone closer to my age, but at this point what's important to me is that I have someone paying half the rent on this place.  I LOVE this apartment and didn't want to be forced to move and it was looking like I might have to.  And this place is huge so we won't even really have to interact all that much if we don't want to.  So, anyway, at least that's settled.

At the moment I still live alone, I don't know exactly when he'll get here...sometime this month, I guess.  Landlord will let me know.  But I only had to pay my normal half of the rent for the month, so that's all I care about right now.  When Vanessa left she kept paying her half until her lease ended, by the way...did I say that?  Anyway, so the panic was really because her lease was up this month...now the panic is gone.

So...I had a quiet visit to Portland.  I think most of the time I didn't leave the house, unless my mom and I did something after she got off work.  I spent a couple days at my dad's, we went out for his birthday, that was nice.  I saw Christen and a couple other close friends, but I didn't even try to see a lot of people.  I was just exhausted after this summer and needed to just sit at home, reading, watching TV, generally decompressing.

School started out well.  I like my classes, and I've decided to err on the side of sanity this quarter.  Only four classes and 13 credits.  Two of them are evening classes, once a week; one is on Tuesday and the other is on Thursday.  And I randomly have Mondays off...because it just happened that way.  AND my work-study job is working for CISP, which is basically this thing the law school does, we sell snacks, used books, sweatshirts, coffee mugs, school supplies, and other such things, and all the profits are allocated to people who have unfunded or underfunded internships.  There's a whole process for getting that allocation, it's not automatic, but it's cool, in any case.  Anyway, the reason having a job with them is cool is because it's the PERFECT work-study job.  It's the job I had hoped I could do in the library...15-30 minutes of actual work and the rest of my shift I'm getting paid to study.  =)

Oh, so if you want to know, I'm taking Basic Income Tax, Corporations, Non-Profit Organizations, and Section 1983 Litigation.  The first three are obvious...Section 1983 is...well, it's a section of the US code, and except for Bree the really thorough explanation will probably lose most of you.  So, I'll just say that it's a big thing in civil rights litigation, mainly for when civil rights have been violated by someone in an official capacity, like a police officer.  Clearly I'm not planning on doing any civil rights litigation, but it sounds like an interesting class, so why not?  It's being taught by a fairly prominent civil rights litigator in the Boston area, he's at the school solely to teach this class, so that's pretty cool too.

I realized the other day that since I had been gone for a little over two weeks, obviously I threw out what was left of my milk and cream before leaving...so I had nothing for my coffee this week.  Luckily I'm actually willing to drink it black if necessary, but I made sure to run out today and get that stuff.  Also bread and bagels...although I forgot the cream cheese.  I have cereal for the weekend but on weekdays I don't like to take the time to have a bowl of cereal in the morning...a bagel can be transported, lol.  So I'll have to go out and get that sometime before Tuesday.

Well, I realize it's Saturday evening, AND I have Monday off (well, everyone does this week, but I always do), but I'm going to continue convincing myself I'd rather space my reading out over the weekend and at least make an effort to read something for class.  Oh, and my cat just crawled into my lap.  Hmm.  I think my books are nearby...or I'll snuggle with Severus for a few minutes and grab the books when he decides to move on.  Speaking of whom, I appreciate my cat so much more after dealing with either my mom's lap hog of a cat, or my dad's anti-lap cat.  Or, rather, his anti-anyone-but-my-dad cat.  My Severus is just right.  =)

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Broken thought process...uhh...Saturday

Hi, my name is Bridgete, do you want to live with me?

I swear I'm about to become some crazy person walking up to strangers saying that.  I've managed to relax a bit after hearing that the French girl decided it's "too far" for her...I BARELY live in a suburb.  And you can actually walk to the T, which is an improvement on most suburbs.  Anyway...I have had some other messages and contacts since then and I think I was mostly just frustrated that I didn't have it lined up before coming to Portland.  But, now I'm here, Amanda has my key to let people in that want to look at the place, and I trust her to determine whether they seem normal (and, of course, I can always Google them and run a Facebook check and whatnot).  I don't know how they'll feel about not getting to meet me, and I'm pretty well-hidden on all the social networking sites...but I guess I'll just hope that they feel like a weird person wouldn't be friends with someone normal like Amanda, and let them see how I am on Facebook and such.  So...we'll see.  If I don't find someone by September 1st, then...maybe within the first week or so it will get worked out.  So, I'm just doing all the same stuff, and sending out the roommate vibes to the universe to bring me the right person, and soon.

So, like I said, I'm in Portland.  Flew out yesterday.  Had several random conversations with people in the airport, that was interesting.  The best one was probably the woman who broke her ankle while rock climbing...which didn't make me want to go any less, it's possible she made me want to go more just by talking with me about it.  That is the adventurous thing I REALLY want to try.  Ever since I did one of those climbing walls at summer camp.  I know it's not anywhere near the same thing, it's just that I got such a rush.  I also once decided that, instead of wading through the river at the bottom of this gorge to get to the waterfall at the end (the standard way), I would sort of go along the rock wall.  No training.  And I did it.  And I loved it.  So anyway, she told me about the best climbing gym in the Boston area, I'll have to look into the classes and stuff there.

I made art with cement today at my mom's artists' group.  We put a leaf on a pile of sand then put cement around the leaf.  It should look really cool because it will pick up the veins in the leaf.  Then I ended up being the only person who didn't actually TOUCH the wet cement with my hands, and my mom told them a funny story about me and my opposition to getting "messy" even when I was little.  One day we were fingerpainting in preschool, and we got our pieces of paper and our blobs of paint, and apparently I took my index finger, smeared through it once, and then held up my finger and said "I'm done!" and wanted my finger cleaned.

The "not getting messy" thing is where my opposition to "messy" food comes from.  I've only recently become willing to eat things like sloppy joes and pulled pork sandwiches...and even now I make a great deal of effort to not make a mess.  I still don't like donuts with any sort of goo in the middle, partly because they're messy and partly because they're too sweet for me.  As a kid I rarely wanted my ice cream in a cone because it would drip everywhere...yuck.  I must have been the one child who never ran up to an adult smearing sticky fingers all over them, because if my fingers ever actually GOT sticky, the only one I was running to was my mom so we could clean them.

We're going to a play of Pride and Prejudice at U of P tonight.  I'm excited, it should be fun.  =)

I apparently forgot to tell basically everyone I was coming to Portland.  It's been that kind of summer.  =P

Severus is having his own version of a vacation in Amanda's boyfriend's house.  We decided it was easier to just load him in the carrier and send him off to someone's house instead of someone going out to my place every day.  Especially since he gets lonely and wants love and pets and to be around people.  Amanda said he's doing well and that a couple of her BF's housemates already adore him.  Naturally, since he's the best cat ever.  ;)

Ha.  My laptop clock still says Boston time.  It's 7:13 there (4:13 here).  It threw me off when I glanced at it because we're supposed to go eat before going to the theatre and if it were really after 7 that would not be happening...

Speaking of time zones, I have a love/hate relationship with flying west.  I love it because I feel like I've been given a gift of 3 hours when I can board a plane at 5:30, fly for 6 hours, and land at 8:30.  But I hate it because then when I'm here I wake up at some ridiculous hour for the first few mornings, which then makes me tired when I'm trying to do stuff in the evening.  Today I was up at 6:30.  And that was after forcing myself to go back to sleep when I first woke up sometime when it was still dark...I'm guessing about 4.  I didn't feel like reaching for my phone to look at it...I just decided "still dark" meant go back to sleep.

But...I just have a hate/hate relationship with flying east again...losing 3 hours AND feeling like I'm being jolted awake at some god-awful hour when my alarm goes off again is just not pleasant in any way, shape, or form.

Well, I should start getting ready to go.  Until next time!

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A Thursday of broken thoughts

I had the most perfect driving moment on my way home today.  Traffic cleared, the sun was out, and my CD switched to "I'm Yours" (which I think of as the ultimate summer song) right as I hit about 70 on the suddenly open freeway.  Windows were down, the only thing that would have made it better is if I had a convertible.  But I at least have a sunroof.

It ended abruptly when I hit more traffic.  But for that moment...I was reminded of why I love driving.

I had the most random week.  Saturday I went out to dinner with Amanda and her new boy, and ended up at a party where I met my "twin."  No resemblance, but personality-wise, we're right there.  And the party was with some of the most fun people I've ever met.

Monday I was IMing with a certain boy and complaining about the whole roommate search.  I jokingly said something about him moving out here so he can be my roommate.  We had some back and forth with that, a few minutes passed, and suddenly he said, "I applied for a job in Westwood, is that near you?"  Until that moment, I thought we were still joking.  I nearly fell out of my chair.  So for that day and the next, we had a few "if I come to Boston" conversations.

Meanwhile, I'd been contacted on one of the roommate finding sites I signed up for recently by someone who is looking for an apartment for 6 months while she does an exchange program from France.  All the roommate things tell you to be wary of people trying to come from foreign countries because there's this rather elaborate scam involving sending a "security deposit" but then saying that now they don't have money for plane fare so can you cover them?  It's sad that people fall for that...anyway.  I did at least reply, it wasn't presented QUITE like the other attempts at a scam that I've received so I thought she deserved some kind of response.  I responded to her questions about the place and then not-so-subtly said, "So, you said you're coming on the 6th?  Have you made arrangements for somewhere to stay while you look for a place?  I'd like to meet with you and ask some questions..."  Wednesday, lo and behold, she replied that she's coming on the 6th (so, today, at this point) and has arranged for a stay in a hostel for 6 days, and would love to get together and meet with me and see the apartment.  I'm meeting her tomorrow.  So, we'll see how that goes.

The only other person that has contacted me in any seriousness was someone who is going to be doing the Ph.D. program at my school.  He contacted me through the off-campus housing website.  But even just through email, he seemed a little odd, so I'm glad this French girl came along.

Oh, this is one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes.  They all sign up for that senior citizen companionship thing, and Elaine gets the woman with the goiter who had the affair with Gandhi.

Anyway, so, current roommate plan is to hope that French girl works out, then formulate a much better roommate searching plan for when she goes back to France in 6 months.  Part of that plan includes advertising all over school, knowing how many poor 1Ls end up having some reason they really need to move halfway through the year (like I said to Jenn, a lot of them break up with their significant other, who they're living with...because 1L year ends relationships...sadly).  And, meanwhile, I'll be encouraging said boy to keep applying to jobs in Boston because even if he gets one while French girl is still here, this apartment is huge, we'll find a place for him and at least his clothes and other necessities until she goes home.

Ah yes.  Kitty in the lap again.  Yes, Severus, I love you too.

Actually, now he's staring at me with an odd look on his face.  Please don't eat me, kitty.

I need to see a chiropractor.  Or get a massage.  Or both.  Ugh.

I'm sleepy.  I'm wrapping up the internship and then I'm off to Portland next Friday before classes start up again.  Anyway, all this tying up loose ends is exhausting.

Speaking of wrapping up...time for me to wind down from my day, watch the season finale of SYTYCD, and go to bed.

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A process of broken thoughts...

I think it may actually be time for a nap. Meh. I don't like to nap this late, I won't get to sleep later. Even though tomorrow is Saturday, I don't really want to throw off my whole sleep schedule that much.

Jenn...you gotta explain something to me. How is it that these Boston drivers can slip themselves into and out of the tightest parallel parking spots I've ever seen in one go, but put them in a parking lot and they seem to forget how the steering wheel works? Especially when backing out of a space...or rather, backing up but not quite making it, pulling forward a little, backing up again, pulling forward again, backing up...oh, now I have room! It's baffling to me.

Wow, I'm really quite sleepy. Maybe I should nap.

I was not successful with recording my broken thoughts throughout the week. I didn't really have any. I did a lot of thinking in the car, as I always do. But nothing that stuck with me enough to write it down in preparation for this post.

I was also not successful in my water drinking effort this week. Gotta work on that. Especially now that it's finally a little more like summer around here...it's at least warm and there have been more frequent sunny days. But still damp and rainy most of the time. That being said...I am SO glad I'm not still in Portland. 109? Seriously? I would have died.

I went crazy and cleaned my entire apartment last weekend. It started because I swept the living room floor. It's not like anything was gross. it's just one of my OCPD things. Oh, I looked up OCPD. While Wikipedia is not the best source, it is useful for nice summaries of things. Their article is here. So...yeah, it's basically a summary of me. Especially the whole bit about wanting things to be clean and/or setting up a plan to keep things clean, but then other tasks take over and so I become a bit messy...until the other things are done taking over and then I go on a cleaning spree again. Although I'm only messy in terms of clutter. Grossness does not fly. And anything that's put away, from food in the fridge/pantry to dishes to clothes, is put away in an organized fashion. The question is whether it actually gets put away at all. Of course, refrigerated food always does. Back to the whole anti-grossness thing. ;)

It's rainy and thunderstormy today. But tomorrow should be a good pool day. Probably Sunday too. I'm really enjoying this whole having a pool at the apartment thing. I wouldn't go to a public pool just to lay in a lounge chair and read, since you have to pay. So then I'd have to swim with all the other people. And...well...having worked at a public pool, let me just say...you don't want to swim there.

I wonder what I should have for dinner. I kind of want something like Thai or Chinese...but I may be going out for Thai tomorrow so I'll hold off for now. Talking about it with Amanda is probably what triggered that desire anyway. Hmm. I'll have to poke around the kitchen and figure out what sounds good. Actually...sushi sounds good. But I don't know how to make that. I miss Megan. =( She's my sushi buddy...we're so compatible that we always just get a bunch of sushi pieces and rolls to share. Of course, I miss her for more than being my sushi buddy...but still.

Oh, here's Severus. He didn't want me to go to work this morning. So I thought when I got home after my half-day Friday he'd want to crawl up in my lap and stay there all afternoon. But it seems he was mad at me for going to work after he yelled at me to not go, so he ignored me for a few hours. Now he is in my lap. Well, as much of it as he can be, sharing with the laptop and all. I think that means I'm done with my broken thoughts for the day. Read more broken thoughts from My mom, Ginger, Kate, Bree, and, of course, Jenn, who started it all.

Broken Thought Process Thursday

I'm thinking I'll just write this as the week goes on and then post on Thursday.  Then it's a collection of broken thoughts from the week.

Some weird little bug bit me at the pool.  It didn't look like a gnat.  It was this almost microscopic black thing.  I tried to look it up, it may have been a flower bug.  Anyway, the initial bite stung like hell, and now it itches.  How irritating.  That same day, some sort of beetle flew into my forehead, then when I shooed it away it kept flying back towards me!  I had to swat at it with my book 3 times before it finally gave up.  The bugs were against me that day, I guess.

While I was trying to figure out what bit me, I happened across a random fact.  Apparently the ladybug is Massachusetts's state insect.  I don't think I knew states had official insects.  Wonder what Oregon's is.  *googles*  Oh pretty!  It's a Swallowtail Butterfly.

I like to think in the car.  Especially during a traffic jam on the highway.  Recently I was thinking about the commercial for the newest iPhone, the 3Gs, and how it has voice-activated options.  Suddenly I thought of a wonderful OS update.  Voice-activated keyboard.  You know people are going to continue trying to text while driving, and with the iPhone and its full keyboard, that's just going to cause a world of problems.  At least with a standard cell phone, if you text often enough and turn on autotext you can often text without looking (yes, I know from experience).  Not so on the iPhone.  So it would at least be a good idea to make it safer for people to do something you know they're going to try anyway.

So apparently Ms. Oregon still has some issues at gas stations here.  For those of you who have no idea why I mention that...Oregon does not allow you to pump your own gas.  Anyway, I made a fool of myself earlier.  I forgot to open the gas door, then opened the trunk instead, then had issues with the whole payment process (even though I've used that station before) and then, to top it all off, I drove off without putting the cap back on.  Luckily that station is really close to my house, so when I got home the cap was still sitting on the trunk, so I didn't lose it.  But, ya know...it's not exactly the best idea to drive around without the gas cap.

I'm a big fan of the windshield wiper settings on my new car.  Yes, that's a funny thing to be happy about.  But back in Portland, I was always so annoyed with my 3 limited options.  Intermittent never seemed to be quite right for the situation, so I either just flicked it on and off myself, or the wipers were all the way on.  Now I have 4 different intermittent settings, and then regular speed and high speed.  It's a beautiful thing.

So the other day I was driving through a lovely traffic jam and I spotted this little sporty looking car with a canoe strapped to the top of it.  I thought it was hysterical.  I wanted a picture but I needed to concentrate on traffic.  Oh well.

So I get the Zits comic in my email.  The other day, this ad in the email said "How to write a book in 14 days or less!"  Yes.  That will be a GREAT book.

I've been making an effort to drink more water this week.  I'm not great at drinking enough water.  I don't like it.  I know, it's weird, water has no taste.  I think that's my problem with it.  It's so boring!  But I'm trying.  I've at least balanced out the coffee and soda.  I've also been trying to at least opt for juice instead of soda.  So, anyway.  It's a process.

Next up:  a general question that was posted on Twitter and my response to it.

jason_mraz:  ? of the day What are you afraid to say? What is your heart's desire?

bridgetem: @jason_mraz The answer to both your questions can be found in the lyrics to If it Kills Me.

Yeah, it's true.  There's this guy.  He's been in my life since well before law school.  As have these damn feelings that won't go away.  I moved 3000 miles away, for heaven's sake.  Do I really think something can happen at this point?  Apparently so.  Sigh...

When I start feeling like this, about this particular guy, I tend to try to focus my energy somewhere else.  When I don't have anyone in my life that I can focus on, often I'll drift into "star fantasies" about the very person I sent the above tweet to.  Well, really, I sent it to his "joyologist" Trisha, since she's the one running Twitter for him, but I digress.  It helps me somehow to focus on him instead of the real focus of my energy.  It's true, I imagine that if I ever were to actually meet him, we'd get along swimmingly.  But I don't delude myself into thinking that would actually happen, so there's nothing to get depressed about when my fantasies don't pan out.  Unlike when I go back to Portland and spend time with the guy in question and he DOESN'T sweep me off my feet...yet again.

So, for Mr. A-Z, here's a song for you.

Anna Nalick - In My Head

Under the weight of your wings
You are a god and whatever I want you to be
And I wonder if truly you are
Nearly as beautiful as I believe

In my head
Your voice
You've got all that I need
And this make believe will get me through
Another lonely night

Under the weight of your wings
Should ever we meet on your side of your stereo
I will pretend I know not of your thoughts
And even the way that they mirror my own
I'll take you away in the way that you take me and go where I go

In my head
Your voice
You've got all that I need
And this make believe will get me through
Another lonely night

Fall away to the sound of my heart to your beat
Melancholy and cool, kind of bitter sweet
Love on repeat
I'm echoing all your philosophies
And as I fall away to the sound of my heart to your beat
Melancholy and cool, kind of bitter sweet
Love on repeat
I'm echoing all your philosophies
And as I...

Oh...

I don't
Wanna be fool-hearted
Baby, I'm out
Numbered in my head
I don't
I don't wanna be fool-hearted
Baby, I'm out
Numbered in my head
My head...

In my head
Your voice
You've got all that I need
And this make believe will get me through
Another night

Yeah, your voice
You've got all that I need
And this make believe will get me through
Another lonely night

Lonely night...

Under the weight of your wings
I make believe you are all that I'll ever need

All that I need...

She played at the Bite of Oregon one year.  When she played this song at the concert she told us she wrote it for another singer she really liked...you know, before she was a singer herself.  So now I listen to it with that in mind, of course...hence why it seems to fit when I decide to go into star fantasy mode.

Alright.  Those are a lot of broken thoughts for you all to process.  I'm done for now.

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Broken Thought Process Thursday already?

Traffic was weird after work today.  I was driving along on 95, and it was slow like normal at first, but it usually frees up around Rt. 9.  Well, today it was kind of slow all the way to Dedham.  Not painfully slow, just kind of slow.  I realize only Jenn will have any idea of the distance between the two points where it usually frees up and where it did free up...but oh well.  Anyway, then when I switched to 93, it was slow almost the whole way, and 93 is usually the best part of my drive.  Then I get off the highway and people IN Quincy are driving all weird and causing funky lockups at the intersections.  I realize this is the Boston area with the world-famous bad drivers, but it's usually not that bad.

Oh, oven timer beeped.  Gonna eat my dinner then get back to ya.

Mmm.  Salmon and brussels sprouts.  Two of my favorite things.

I’ve been under too much stress lately.  I can tell because I’m having lots of physical symptoms.  Headaches.   My acid reflux is back.  Yes, I said back.  I got diagnosed a few years ago, I had to take Pepcid twice a day for an indeterminate amount of time, and I was supposed to avoid caffeine and alcohol (yeah, right).  Eventually it went away, but apparently only temporarily.   Oddly, it doesn’t give me heartburn, just makes me constantly nauseous, especially in the morning.  No, I’m not pregnant.  Going by the last time that would have been possible…I’d be huge by now.  And I haven’t had a random angel show up telling me I’m carrying the next Jesus, so that’s out too.  Anyway, back to the Pepcid, I guess.

I know I just need to chill.  I’ve been trying.  But then something else will stress me out.  It’s just been one thing after another all summer and I’m really exhausted.  I’m generally a strong person and I usually handle stress well, but enough is enough.

I did have a good cry last night.  I don’t cry much, so letting it all out was really helpful.

The cat wants my salmon plate.  But I put all sorts of spices on it, I don't want him licking that stuff up.

There’s this random cat who comes to the pool to visit with people.  She looks healthy, her fur is soft, and she never asks for food, so I think she just lives in one of the apartments.  No collar so I have no idea…maybe she’s chipped, that’s a much better idea with cats because they get out of collars so easily.  Anyway, she really likes me.  Cats always do, actually…I have some sort of natural affinity with them.  The other day she hopped up in the chair with me and curled up in a ball.   According to the lifeguard, she’s never done that before.  Cute.

In other pool news, there are these two girls that have been coming who are from Paris.  They're visiting a family member.  I started trying to eavesdrop on their French.  Not easy because of course they’re speaking too fast for me most of the time.  Anyway, the family member they’re visiting (I think I heard him say to someone else that he’s their uncle) seemed to notice my attempts to eavesdrop so now they know that I quasi-speak French.  We eventually discussed how I’m trying to relearn to prepare for my trip to Paris (in just a little over a year!!!) and he suggested I practice with the girls.   That should be useful, what I really need is more immersion-type practice, I can look up vocab and verb conjugation on an as-needed basis but it’s so hard to practice real conversations.  Anyway, if I were to guess, I’d say the girls are 8 and 13.  The 8-year-old seems to need her older sister to translate for her a lot, but the 13-year-old is pretty good with English.  So we’ll see if I can get some practice with them this summer.

I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning (depending on how you look at it).   It was good.  The only disappointing thing is that the best part of the book is how much of Voldemort’s back story you get, but it’s hard to put that in a movie PLUS all the other stuff they had to put in.  So a lot of that back story stuff is cut out.  But you get the parts that will be important in the next movie, which is about what I expected.  I do think it was better than most of the other movies.  Except maybe the third one, that one is just so well done.  At times I think this one was just too light, in comparison to how dark the book is.  There were certainly light moments in the book, but you still felt the underlying tension, like the lightness is there but it’s covered by a shadow.  I wish there’d been more of that.  I think Alfonso Cuarón (the director of the third movie) would have conveyed that better.  But, overall, it was a good movie.

I'm not really attached to any of the contestants on So You Think You Can Dance this season.  I mean, I like them, and there are a lot of FABULOUS dancers this time, but no one has really grabbed my attention as a favorite.  I don't know why.  A favorite has to have personality AND talent, maybe it's just that everyone seems to have a lot of one and not quite enough of the other.

On that note, the results show will be on soon.  I'm going to go throw my plate in the dishwasher and get settled in.

If you can't wait until next week for more broken thoughts, visit Jenn, Ginger, Kate, Bree, or my mom.

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Broken Thought Process...Tuesday?

Yep.  I moved it.  I could tell my thought process was going to be broken and I really couldn't wait for Thursday.

What do you call a break-up that's not really a break-up because you weren't in a relationship in the first place, you were just sort of seeing each other?  Yeah, whatever that's called.  Bleh.  I really liked him, but he was always busy, eventually I got frustrated, and we agreed that instead of trying to fight through the madness of being 3Ls we should just go our separate ways and maybe see where we both are after graduation.  It sucks.  But I know myself, I may not be "high maintenance" or anything but I do like to actually SEE the person I'm...well...seeing.  So it was going to keep frustrating me.

So, now that the alternator is fixed I'm very happy with the new car.  He still needs a name though.  I've gotten the sense that the car is definitely a "he", but I just don't have the right name yet.  Ginger, I thought about Prince, but it didn't feel right.  Thanks though!

I left work early today to go to the RMV and still almost didn't make it in time because it was SO stormy that at one point the cloud cover was so heavy it felt like I was driving at NIGHT in the pouring rain.  So people were slow...but for good reason.   But anyway, the car is registered now.  And Taxachusetts got some more of my money.  Just doing my part to help the state avoid bankruptcy.  =P

The cat is desperately trying to be in my lap even though my legs are crossed and I'm sitting kind of funky and sideways.

I was buying a bottle of wine yesterday, and I think the lady wasn't going to ask for my ID, but I had it out already so she just took it.  If this were any other state, that wouldn't surprise me, especially since I was still in my work clothes.  But Massachusetts is pretty firm about the whole ID checking thing...which is why I had it out.  So I thought it was weird.  I guess at least she didn't tell me she didn't need it and to put it away.

I'm hungry.  But I'm tired and don't want to cook.  I kind of want to just eat the pint of ice cream in my freezer.  I got it yesterday so I could eat it and mope and watch girly movies, but then I was too full when ice cream time came around.  I probably won't eat it for dinner.  But it's tempting.

I forgot how quickly I tan.  During the few spurts of sun we've had I've gone out by the pool.  And occasionally in, but the water is kind of cool so I only do it when I get too hot in the sun.  I have some very noticeable lines already.  I was even wearing sunscreen.  Only SPF 15, but still.

I'm going to dig around in the fridge for some food now.

As noted before, this whole BTPT thing was brought to you by Jenn. Everyone in my favorite writers list to the side does the BTPT thing too, except for Mraz Man. I think he should though, judging by some of his posts it would be right up his alley. ;)

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Broken Thought Process...hey, it's Thursday!

My state of residence may sometimes be less-than-affectionately called Taxachusetts, but at least the state isn't bankrupt. Hell, even Oregon isn't bankrupt and there's a whole chunk of revenue missing from the lack of sales tax!

I totally have the best internship ever. Not only is it a paid internship, but when I went into my e-timecard to fill it out for the week, I found that tomorrow was automatically put in for 8 hours of holiday time! Score!

It's still. F**king. Raining. The sun made a brief appearance over the weekend. Now it's gone again. I think it's supposed to make another appearance on Saturday, which would be nice considering it's the 4th of freaking July. But regardless, I'm tired of the occasional appearances. It's July.

My keyboard is funky. The w key suddenly has decided it wants to type when I just barely rest my finger on the key. I tend to rest my hands on the keyboard when I'm thinking...it is a laptop, where else are my hands going to go? So I end up typing a bunch of random Ws sometimes. It's irritating.

So I finally got a car...and then unfortunately yesterday something went funky with some kind of electrical thing. Completely out of the blue...it had been checked by a mechanic and they said everything was fine. And I could tell everything was fine. It was starting with NO hesitation, and all automatic-type stuff that uses any kind of electrical charge was working fine. Then yesterday, as I was leaving work, various electric things went haywire, then it died. Yay for AAA, at least. I'm gonna be cranky if it's the alternator. But I told the guy I bought it from that it died. He was genuinely shocked, and told me to tell him what the mechanic says. He's been a pretty awesome guy so far, so maybe he'll continue to be awesome about this whole mess. Especially if it's something that should have been found/fixed before. Oh well. Le sigh.

Anyway. With the rain and yet more time sans car I'm rather mopey today. Nothing more to say for now. I hope everyone has a good 4th. In fact, I hope I have a good 4th. I need it.

For more BTPT, see Jenn, Ginger, Kate, Bree, or ma chère maman.

Friday update: The sun made a brief appearance. I was downtown when it happened so I walked on the Common. It was good. =) I saw some dude playing I'm Yours who, from afar, looked and even SOUNDED so much like Mraz that I had to get pretty damn close before I was sure it wasn't. My heart was about ready to leap out of my chest, I swear. This guy was even wearing a Mraz-esque hat! But it definitely wasn't him. He's supposed to be in Belgium today anyway.

Also, I have my car back. It WAS the alternator. Dammit. Time to go all Lawyer Bridgete, do some research and figure out if I have any recourse. I had a paperwork issue at the RMV so I have to see the guy again anyway. He might be nice and just offer, but if not, and if there's something out there to back me up, I plan to find it. ;)

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Broken Thought Process...Day.

I really meant to post this yesterday.  But the death of the King of Pop really threw me for a loop.  Don't get me wrong, the man had issues.  Or, as my dear friend Amanda would say, he had a subscription.  Pause for you to get the issues/subscription connection...it took me a while.  But I still feel a little sad that the creator of the first mainstream music I ever listened to is gone from this earth.  Before MJ, I was all about the Disney soundtracks.  So...may he rest in peace.

I was reading the Boston Metro this morning, and happened across the following quote:

Boston is suffering through the cloudiest June since 1903.

Fabulous...not.  I thought I left the Pacific Northwest and its cloudiness behind.  Actually, I think even back home June was never so gloomy.  But there was sun today, yay!  There was a bit of mid-afternoon rain, but I was poking around some shops up in Harvard Square at the time so it didn't really interfere with my day.  By the time I got home it was sunny again.  I jumped in my swimsuit and hurried over to the pool before the sun left us again.  It was fabulous.

So there are some ginormous bumblebees around here.  I've never seen such fat bees!  One flew near my leg while I was by the pool.  Normally bumblebees don't bother me but I shied away from this guy because he was just HUGE.  He just continued on his merry way, as bumblebees always do.

Bend..........and snap!  Yes, you know what I'm watching.  ;)

Oh, NOW I'm hungry.  I had a huge lunch up in Cambridge.  So I didn't make dinner at dinnertime.  Now I don't feel like making dinner.  Eh, I think I have some stuff in the freezer that I can throw together quickly.

It surprises me that I don't own Bridget Jones's Diary.  Well, I have the book, and a movie poster, but not the movie.  It's odd that no one has ever decided it would be a great gift or something.

I'd better eat.  Until next week!  Or next time I have something to say.  ;)

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Happy Father's Day

My father's name is not on my birth certificate.  I've known this ever since it became my responsibility to hang onto my various identification documents and keep them safe.  I was recently reminded of this fact when applying for my first passport, since you have to submit your birth certificate as proof that you were born in the United States.

I asked my mother about it when I first saw it.  I don't remember the answer.  I remember it having something to do with my being born out of wedlock.  But it doesn't matter.  The reason I don't remember my mother's answer is because there has never been any room for a single shred of doubt that the man I know of as my father is, in fact, my father.

I have my father's temper.  Because of this, from the time I was a small child, I was one of the only people in the entire world that could, and would, stand up to him.  We're both extraordinarily stubborn when we think we're right.  When I was younger, I was probably wrong much more often.  But I would argue anyway.  As I grew, being right began to occur with more frequency.  Also as I grew, I learned what things to say that would more effectively prove my rightness...even if I ended up being wrong anyway.  Eventually our fights were more like loud, emotional debates.

These days, the most praise I get in law school is for my argumentation skills.  Legal argumentation is usually different from fighting with someone.  It's calmer and more rational.  But because I couldn't win with my dad if I couldn't prove I was right, and I couldn't be right if my argument was a logical failure, without even knowing it I prepared myself for the practice of law by simply arguing with my dad.

Another thing I got from my father is his financial sense.  These days, the only reason I have to call and ask for money is if something unexpected happens.  I would like to avoid doing even that, but unfortunately law school leaves me with a rather small budget so I can't maintain an emergency cushion.  But, emergencies aside, normal expenses are always comfortably within my budget.

The other aspect of my financial sense that I clearly share with him is the desire to have enough money to be happy and comfortable, with high-quality things.  We both know that it actually saves money in the end when you spend more initially -- it is like this with electronics, clothes, cars, anything.  When your stuff lasts forever, it easily makes up for the initial dollar figure.  We're both very unlike his father in this respect.  His father has the financial sense too, but all he does is stow the money away and sit on it.  My father and I do not see the sense in this.  We don't think it adds up to be sitting on thousands upon thousands of dollars and still buying cheap, shitty food at Winco.  I don't even buy cheap, shitty food, and I'm certainly not sitting on thousands upon thousands of dollars.

These are not the only reasons it is clear that I am my father's daughter.  I thankfully got his metabolism, his eyesight, his intelligence (got that from both sides, actually), his logic, and his mathematical abilities.  I'm sometimes thankful I got his OCD (at least things are organized!).  I'm often less than thankful that I got his baby-fine hair (my niece had thicker hair than I did when she was about 7).  I walk like him.  I lose patience like he does.  I drive like him.  We have the same silly (and sometimes immature) sense of humor.  I'm kindly honest, like him (except when mad, then I'm just blatantly honest...also like him).  I work hard and stay busy, like him, but when I need to relax I need to be alone, like him.  When I focus on something, the rest of the world does not exist, like him.

My birth certificate is just a piece of paper.  I don't need it to tell me what I know is true.

I love you, Dude.

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Another late Broken Thought Process Thursday

Yeah, yeah, I know.  But I work 9 hours a day (not counting 1/2 hour lunch in the middle there, so I'm actually at the office for 9.5 hours) until Friday when I only work 4.  With all the mess of dealing with trains instead of driving to work, my commute is about an hour and a half each way, or more.  So I'm out of the house for almost 13 hours every day.  When I get home, I eat, watch TV, and go to bed.  Without my iPhone you wouldn't be seeing me on Facebook or Twitter all week.

I'm looking for a car this weekend.  Finally.  Mostly Sunday.  I might go tomorrow to start the process, but I'd be alone, and I need my moral support (Vanessa and her dad) before I actually decide to take the car with me.  But anyway, hooray!  I'm mostly going to dealers, their prices are really low right now.  Only time a bad economy is good is when you're actually trying to buy something, right?

Severus just sprawled himself across my lap.  He's been fully normal all week.  Except while I was at work today I think he threw up his antibiotics.  I gave him food with it like I'm supposed to so that it doesn't upset his stomach, but maybe it wasn't enough.  Poor guy.  I'd be worried that it messed everything up but we're in the home stretch with the medicine now, he's supposed to be done tomorrow, so it's probably okay.  He also probably absorbed at least a little bit, I think he threw up shortly before I got home.  He was acting a little unhappy and didn't want to eat the food I gave him.  Unlike most cats he gets upset about throwing up, even if it's just a perfectly normal hairball or whatever.  Cats are built to throw up immediately when something doesn't feel right (anything from eating too fast to eating something wrong to having a hairball), so usually they just get on with their day, but Severus here is upset for a bit afterwards.  It's quite strange.

Aww.  He's resting his head on my hand.  Although typing is now quite difficult.

Ahh, he moved it.  Now it's on my arm.   Well, my wrist...but typing is at least easier.

Response to a commercial I just saw:  Gummy multivitamins for adults, huh?  Maybe that will make me take my vitamins.  Remember the Flintstone vitamins?  =)

So normally I'm really weird about the randomness of shuffle on my iPod, I'm very moody about music so the randomness usually brings up something I don't feel like listening to and I just end up spending all my time skipping tracks trying to find something I want.  But this week my mood was random, so shuffle worked.  Since I have a fairly wide range of music, I've had some interesting transitions.  I've also heard songs that I haven't intentionally listened to in years.  Like Garbage.  I'm pretty sure I haven't listened to them much since high school.

I have no idea what that show was.  Apparently 3 pm came and went without me noticing, which means the show changed.  Had to switch.  New background show is now The Sopranos on A&E.  Which means they cut out all the swearing, so it's hard to actually WATCH (Hellooooo, mobsters swear...a lot.  Someone should have thought of that before syndicating it to regular cable.), but using it for background noise should be fine.

Hmm, I'm hungry.  When I got home, I went to the pantry to think about lunch, but couldn't settle on  anything.  So I ended up eating some chips.  Not exactly lunch.  Although I had a ginormous breakfast because Friday is buffet day, so breakfast is the usual breakfast buffet fare.  Today they had chocolate chip pancakes.  Yummy!

Severus has moved, he's now curled up next to me with his paw curled around my arm.  So cute.  I'm still hungry but I don't want to ruin the adorableness.  He'll shift eventually.

I think that may be all.  Later!

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Shadow Shot Sunday - Yes, it's been a while

I know, I've missed a few SSS posts. But I've been a little crazy, and shadow shots weren't presenting themselves to me. Until...this one.


I noticed this when I was laying in bed the other night. Because the light is from a streetlight outside, I knew I'd need the fancy camera and a tripod, otherwise I was never going to get the exposure to come out. I also knew that by the time I got everything all set up, curiosity would have gotten the best of my dear Severus and he would have moved, thus ruining the shot. So I had to remember to set it up before bed another night. He always gets in that same window whenever I open it to let in the cool night air so I didn't think there would be an issue with the pose.

It took me a couple days to remember to set everything up, but I finally did, and then last night the window was open, the cat was perfectly positioned, I had the camera all set on the right shutter speed, f-stop, and "film" speed (for lack of a better term...it's a digital camera but there's a setting for what would be the film speed), so all I had to do was slowly creep out of bed, hit the button (without shaking the camera...I should have set up my cable release too but I didn't think of that) and hope the cat didn't move too much in reaction to the noise of the shutter going off.

Anyway, I'm off to bed now, but I wanted to post this while it was still Sunday. =)

Oh, by the way, go to Hey Harriet for more Shadow Shot Sunday fun.

Broken Thought Process...uh...Thuriday?

Jenn has been doing this on non-Thursdays, and the whole thing is her idea, so it's all good.  I only missed last night because Vanessa suddenly came out of her room, came to my door, and said, "I'm bored, are you bored?  Let's go to the Cheesecake Factory."  Well, I'd be crazy to say no to that just because I wanted to write a blog post, so away we went!

I know I missed BTPT last week, but you all saw why. Cat sick, car sick, too much sick.

Anyway.  Dad's helping me pay for a car now, and we've expanded my budget a bit beyond what I was going to be able to do myself.  I'll pay him back eventually.  So now I just have to find a car, yay!

He and I decided this on Sunday, but because of sick cat I've been very focused on that and haven't really been browsing car ads.  Much.  I'm being a little picky about type of car, I'd prefer to spend my money on a Toyota or Nissan at this point because I need something that I can rely on for a couple years until I'm in a financial place to go do the fun car shopping.  Although even then I'll probably get another Nissan, just much newer than I can go right now.  I've been eying the pretty new Altimas for a couple years now.

As for sick cat, he's been getting better.  I had a really worrisome moment this morning, he seemed to be backtracking because Wednesday and Thursday he was waiting about two hours in between trips to the box, then this morning he suddenly made like, 4 trips in the hour I was getting ready.  But I checked and there was pee in there so it wasn't urgent, and therefore I couldn't stay home because I knew the vet couldn't do anything more than what we'd done (antibiotics and new food) as long as he was still peeing and hadn't gotten blocked.  So, with worry on my brow, I head off to work.  Which turned out to be an adventure this morning.  I was already cranky because I'm not a morning person and I was worried about the cat AND it was nasty and rainy again, and then I ended up forgetting my headphones for the third day in a row.  I really like to block out the other sounds and people and such, unless I'm with a companion on the T, my headphones are key.  But anyway.  To make matters worse, I sat next to this pair of Asian women (I want to say Chinese...there are many Asian groups in Oregon, I have a bit of a sense about the differences in appearance and such, but I'm not always certain) and because of my mood the sound of the language just got to me.  Plus, they were talking awfully loud, considering the fact that it was a little before 7 am and the train was fairly empty.  But even just that would have been fine...until we hit the next stop after I got on the train and the woman announcing what stop was coming up along with various other info (JFK/UMass, change here for Ashmont service and Commuter Rail service) was WAAAAAY too perky.  And loud.  I know sometimes it's hard to understand the announcers, but if you know where you're going (which, at that time on a weekday morning, I can't imagine you DON'T know where you're going) you don't even really need it.  So I'd much rather have one of the normal announcers that kind of mumbles out the information, sounding like they're still pretty much half-asleep just like me.

So anyway.  You'd think that would be the last of my troubles.  Well, then my commuter rail to the town where I'm actually working was 20 minutes late.  Nice.  Luckily, they don't actually care when we get there or when we leave as long as we get the 40 hours a week.  They like us to aim for arrival by 8:30, but it's not set in stone or anything so we're certainly not going to get in trouble for random stuff like late trains.

How'd I get on that anyway?  Oh right.  Back to the cat.  So I did call the vet when they opened just to check in and make sure the random issue in the morning wasn't a sign that maybe we need a different antibiotic.  After telling him the story of having seen improvements and then having them go away, he asked a few questions about the other behavior besides the frequent trips (crying, whether he did pee, etc.) and said that really the medicine and the new food are all we can do for him.  The only thing is if he does look like he's getting a blockage then I have to take him in.  Oh, regarding the new food, so basically it's the cat's version of a person drinking lots of cranberry juice.  It does the same thing for his system that cranberry juice does for ours.

Anyway, I've now been home a few hours, he's back to the more normal bathroom pattern at this point, so who knows what this morning was all about.  It was raining really hard, he gets anxious about how loud it gets on the skylight in the hall, so maybe that had something to do with it.  You never know with animals.

So I have to say that I really enjoy working as in-house corporate counsel.  At least, at a big corporation.  It's busy, but it's clear that even the full-time staff (non-interns) aren't working too much more than 40 hours a week.  And there are lots of perks, at least at this particular place.  We have free coffee until 10:30 every morning, and there's a cafeteria with very reasonably priced food.  And they do different specials every day, along with the standard sandwiches and salad bar and such.  The food is good too.  I've been getting the specials a lot, yesterday I had a taco salad that I'm pretty sure was bigger than my head.  I only managed to eat about half of it.

The company is on "summer hours" right now which means we work 9 hours a day Mon-Thurs and then we work 4 hours on Friday.  The 9 hours are a bit tiring, but it's so worth it when Friday afternoon rolls around and you're already heading home.  So anyway, my lunch was kinda weird.  The cafeteria was still open and I certainly could have gone down and grabbed something, at least eating it at my desk or something, but I had a giant breakfast (Friday is breakfast buffet day so there's eggs and potatoes and breakfast meats, and this morning they had pancakes!) so I wasn't really hungry enough when lunchtime rolled around.  So I ate the remaining half a roll of Ritz I had at my desk (I like to keep desk snacks with me) and some Pringles before leaving.  Then when I got home I ate my cheesecake from last night because Nessa and I decided to take it home since we were about to explode after our dinner.  But you can't go to the Cheesecake Factory and NOT get cheesecake, right?  Now it's close to dinnertime and I think that slice of cheesecake actually left me rather full...I might wait and just eat late.  Ha, that rhymes.

So when I checked the weather earlier in the week it said it was supposed to clear up this weekend, now it's still supposed to be raining AND there might even be lightning.  So I still can't go try out the pool here at my apartment complex.  If it were just rain, but warm rain, I might go, but with the potential lightning it's a really bad idea to be swimming around in an outdoor pool.  Or any body of water.  Lightning will hit water, and then it goes through the whole pool.  Yeah, not a good idea.  Lame.  Maybe next weekend.

Well, I think that's about all the thoughts I've had going on this week.  Until next time!!

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