Living, Learning, and Loving the Law.

Reading Lolita in Tehran

2011-06-18T00:27:00.000-04:00

Okay. I tried, and I tried, and I tried. It was my pick, if anyone should finish it, I should, right?

I plowed through the first section, on Lolita...but it was a lot of reflections on a book I'd read, so I could more easily comprehend the parallels she was trying to make between life in Iran and the book. Then I got to the next section, which was parallels between life in Iran and The Great Gatsby, which I've never read. Now, it's part of my life goal to read all the classics. I'm still plugging through Anna Karenina two years after I started it (the book is actually very interesting, that's not the problem...I have a whole diatribe on the classics and why people don't read them anymore, but that's for another time). Although The Great Gatsby is obviously included, the fact remains that I haven't gotten to it yet, so this made it really difficult to understand the parallels she was making. The parallels were quite clear in the Lolita section, which is what made it interesting. I didn't even realize that they were only clear because I'd read the book she was referring to until I got to the Gatsby section.

Anyway, so I finished the Gatsby section, but I really had to force myself to do it. After that, I started on the next section and then just gave up. Not having read the books was really getting in the way. I think I may try this book again once I've read some of the other works she talks about, because going by my reaction to the Lolita section, there are many interesting comparisons to the books when you've read them.

I'm a bit disappointed that even I couldn't get through my own pick for book club, but, well, we can't win them all. I have four ideas I'm bouncing around in my head for the next time my turn comes up, so hopefully I'll settle on a good one next time.

Not just idly pondering...

2011-01-19T23:32:00.001-05:00

No siree bob. What I'm about to say is 100% serious. I am genuinely certain that I am going to do this.

I. Am. Starting. A. Law. Firm.

That's right. In a few months, I will be the owner, managing partner, and sole proprietor of the Law Office of Bridgete A. McAuley. I will be taking on my own clients, setting my own fees, balancing my own caseload, and, within reason, deciding how I want to spend the hours of my day.

I've wanted to start a law firm since...I don't even know when, sometime during law school. I'd intended to work for a while, get some experience, and then go into it, but, well, things change. The economy is improving, but not fast enough, and because hiring a new associate is approximately a 3-year investment for a firm (more than 3 years if the firm is fairly small), most law firms aren't quite ready to start hiring just because the economy is finally just barely starting to pick up. Also, I realized that although it's a bit scary to do it now, it might actually be scarier to do it when I've worked for 5 years and have built myself to a decent salary in someone else's firm that I would then have to abandon in order to do this. At least now I'm used to just getting by from month to month, so I can live with that for a while longer while I grow the firm.

As for being inexperienced, well, I've looked at several books and other resources and have discovered that it's really not as much of a problem as I thought. In terms of getting clients, I just have to exude confidence to my clients and they'll trust me. After all, I'm the one with the license to practice law, and I have it after 3 years of work in law school. That's why they're coming to me for help. Inexperienced or not, I still know more than they do. As for doing the work, well, I'll draw on what experience I do have, and I can ask for help from other lawyers when I get stuck. Solo practitioners ask fellow lawyers for help and advice all the time. You're not really in direct competition with each other -- in fact, small firms and solo practitioners are really good for the legal profession -- so other lawyers are ready and willing to offer help to someone going out on their own. And actually, on the subject of not being in direct competition with other firms, often these firms will even more directly help a small firm or solo practitioner by sending them clients or giving them some contract work (document review or discovery requests or something else they might be drowning in).

There's a lot more I could say to really hit it home that I am dead serious about this -- like where I'll get my start-up capital, how I plan to find clients, etc., but really this post is just to tell you all that I'm doing this. Naturally, if you know anyone who needs legal help (in Mass, of course), once I open my doors, send them my way! Oh, I plan to do general litigation for the most part. I was going to specialize more within litigation, but I've been looking at what various small litigation firms in the Boston area do and they seem to just put it out there that they're a litigation firm and then do a variety of work within litigation. The solo practitioners seem to do this the most, they probably all start with an idea like mine... "I just want to litigate!" and then let the specialization happen naturally. I do have access to a huge client base with my connections to the local Brazilian community so I'll probably end up doing quite a bit of immigration work. Marcelo is going to get himself certified as a Portuguese translator to help with that. I'm sure I'll also do some tax work, because I know enough about it, but I'd like to try to mostly focus that on tax litigation (there's not a lot of opportunity for litigation in tax work, but there is some). As for the rest, I'll just see what comes through my door and go from there. So, there you go!

Book Club: Love Walked In

2010-12-30T16:32:00.000-05:00

This book club selection brought to you by Ginger and Jenn. Ginger created the book club, and Jenn picked the book for this round. The book selected was Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos, and I have to say I liked it. Really liked it. Okay, I loved it.

Why did it take me three tries to admit I loved this book? Well, I have a very high bar for truly loving a book. Usually chick lit, while I enjoy it for something light and fun to read in between some heftier stuff, doesn't quite make the cut. But this one was different. Something about the way she drew you in right at the beginning, using first person to narrate Cornelia's voice so that you're immediately connected to her. And then she narrates all Clare's parts in third person so that you really just feel like Cornelia is telling you all this over a cup of coffee -- she's telling you what was going on in her own life and then explaining what was happening to Clare at the same time. And then she throws in such great little twists so that it's not just some story about how she fell in love with Martin and that was that and they had some problems and then it all was okay again. ***SPOILER ALERT: From this point forward, the review is riddled with spoilers*** No. Martin wasn't even the love of her life in the end. He turned out to be kind of shallow and unlikeable, and then just when he was almost getting some depth to himself (such an artful way of writing a shallow character, too...he wasn't just flat on the page, he had life, but you could tell he was just one of those "what you see is what you get" people) he goes and dies. And it was one of those deaths where you just say, "oh well, too bad." No tears...there was no connection for the tears.

I also loved how the Teo and Cornelia relationship developed. Or, rather, slapped Cornelia in the face, since, as she says, there was no process to the falling in love. She just wasn't in love with him and then she was. It sounds odd, even unbelievable, but I believe her. I can believe that if you've known someone forever like that, and you know you love them in a certain way but you think it's just like brother and sister, it could easily happen that you look at them one day and something just shifts. I think that's how it works for people who've known each other forever who suddenly fall in love and there they are. I don't think they could have been in love with each other the whole time...if they had been, why did it take so long? And in the case of people who've known each other since childhood, could they have really been "in love" at the start? Can kids fall in love with each other? We don't know exactly how long Teo had been in love with Cornelia, he doesn't say. He just said it had been so long that he'd learned to hide it. So maybe he did love her when they were children. Either way, I thought this development was pulled off really well. It was perfectly believable, because best friends DO fall in love, but it didn't feel like a cliché. It just felt real.

I also loved how effectively she made us want Clare's mother to return, but then when she did, we weren't sure anymore if we wanted her there. We knew she had to come back because Clare needed her, but they had formed this family unit for Clare that was almost better than what she'd had with just her mother. I think the resolution of this conflict was appropriate. Cornelia definitely couldn't stay as an additional "mom", I think that just would have been weird. I liked the idea when Clare first mentioned it, but then as I thought about it I just thought it was kind of inappropriate now that Clare's mom had returned and was properly medicated. But Clare still needed that network of people she could go to -- another house she could run to any time if anything weird started happening, people who would notice if something was wrong and would DO something, and people who would support Clare and her mom and get them back to a good place in their lives.

It was also good that we didn't have any "input" from Clare's mother. Some authors would have had additional narratives from her, explaining where she was and what was wrong, but I think that would have taken away from the conflicted feeling I ended up with when the mother finally returned. I would have fully wanted her back, knowing what struggles she had gone through to get better and see Clare again, instead of worrying that maybe she wasn't ready to come back, maybe she wasn't truly better.

So, anyway, I really did love this book. Chick lit or not...it's a lovable book. I even got the sequel (which isn't so much a "sequel" as it is another story centering around Cornelia, now married to Teo and recently relocated from NYC to the suburbs, dealing with new struggles and new characters) and I'm pleased to report it has the same effective writing style. So thanks to Ginger and Jenn, without whom I never would have picked up this book. :)

Good, Bad, Happy, Sad

2010-11-03T23:15:00.001-04:00

Aside from my recent book review, I think it's been a while since I posted. It's definitely been a while since I posted about life in general. See, I started this blog at the beginning of law school. It's supposed to be about me, sure, but really it's supposed to be about me and my interaction with the legal profession, and ever since the bar exam ended, my life has been decidedly non-legal. So I would come by to the blog to post some kind of update, recall the essential theme of the blog, and feel sad because I'm still not working as a lawyer. I'm not even a paralegal or a law clerk or something. I'm working in retail. Victoria's Secret, to be exact. As retail goes, it's really not bad, and I'm actually thinking about keeping it as a very, very part-time job even when I find my legal job, but that's not the point. The point is that I'm not doing ANY legal work.

But, I'm hoping that will change very, very soon. I'm pretty sure all of you readers know that I passed the bar exam (!!!) so at least now when I apply for jobs, I can assure them that they won't be taking a gamble when they hire me. It was different before I got the bar exam results, everyone I talked to said it was a "dead zone" for most people because, especially in this economy, employers don't want too many unknowns. And not knowing if this person you're about to hire will even be able to practice law is a HUGE unknown. But, there are still very few job postings out there to apply to, so it's still going to be tough. But I keep saying, all I need is to attract the attention of just ONE employer. I'm pretty good in interviews, so I think the job will come.

Meanwhile, this lack of a legal job is really taking a toll on my finances. So, Marcelo and I are moving. With my little minimum wage job, I can't even come close to my half of the expenses, and he can't cover it anymore. It makes me sad; I've lived here for two years and have really settled in and fallen in love with this wonderful apartment, but today we found another nice place and it's in our budget. It's smaller and it's only one bedroom, but all the stuff we care about having should fit and it's still a nice place. And there's a fitness center at that complex, which should be pretty cool. There's still a pool, and we'd still have a balcony too. And a little gas fireplace -- actually, gas heat and stove too. I'm excited about the gas stove. As for our intent to maintain our separate bedrooms until we were "ready" to combine, well...I guess that's now. The idea of going down to a one bedroom doesn't scare me, and I was the one who was the most concerned about it, so I guess we're as ready as we'll ever be. Besides, even though we're only at the three-month mark in our relationship, we were roommates for six months before that. So we know each other (and our living habits in terms of cleanliness and such) pretty well. And he knows when to leave me alone because I'm busy or feeling quiet or irritable or whatever, he's not going to forget how to do that just because we're in a smaller space. So, it will all be fine. Besides, the move FEELS right, and you all know how much stock I put into what feels right and what feels wrong.

Well, I guess that's all my good/bad/happy/sad stuff lately. I will say, it's a real testament to my eternal optimism that I've been going through all this and I'm still positive about the future. And I'm not utterly depressed about the current state of my life, I'm just accepting it as a rough patch. We all have to deal with those.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

2010-11-01T17:04:00.000-04:00

For Ginger's Book Club for September/October, we read The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. I actually finished it a while ago but I couldn't figure out what I wanted to say in my review. I agree with others who said that the lack of quotation marks drove me crazy, but that's not a review of a book.

I think this review is hard for me to write because on the one hand, the story kept me reading, but on the other hand, the book left me feeling about as empty as Rose's mother's cooking. I think that I, like Jenn, wasn't connecting with the characters. What I think kept me reading was the fact that I wanted, so badly, to connect with this family and so I kept going to see if that connection would happen. But it just didn't.

I also really wanted to connect with the book because I thought I was going to be able to connect with Rose and what she "tastes" in her food. My favorite sense, by far, is taste. I have very discerning taste buds, so if I say food is good, it really is GOOD. I can tell when the measurements were a little off or that milk was almost too old or that substitution you thought would work just didn't quite cut it. This often makes it difficult to eat food made by others, and it also makes it difficult to prepare food for myself. When cooking for myself, I get so wrapped up in trying to make sure the flavors are balanced so that I'll enjoy it when it's done that I can't enjoy the process. I'm stressed and flustered and trying to make sure the onions don't burn while I'm pouring the spices into the measuring spoon because I bought this stupid container without a removable lid so I can't just SCOOP them...and I think, while it's not quite like the way Rose tasted people's feelings, I can taste that frustration in the food when I'm done. The only food I cook that I truly enjoy is the stuff that I can cook from memory and without measurements. Then I am enjoying the process, probably singing and dancing in the kitchen, and I can taste that enjoyment when I'm done too.

As for others' food, I think I've been spoiled by people who can try a recipe once or twice and then do it from memory, because I can tell when someone has tried to do that but they just don't know what they're doing. I've also been spoiled by people who know how a recipe is supposed to look and taste and know what adjustments to make when it's not. So then when I get food from someone who just threw stuff in willy-nilly and now the alfredo sauce is a little more like warmed up cream with some garlic...it's just disappointing. All of you reading this who have cooked for me -- don't worry, this is not my way of saying your food lets me down. Your food is what has spoiled me so that NOW I feel let down by other food. And this other food is not BAD by any means, it's just more like eating to survive, not eating to enjoy.

My point with all this discussion on food is that my discerning taste buds and my attachment to the enjoyment of food really made me want to connect with Rose in the book. I really wanted her to learn something about food because of her special talent, but instead she just ate factory food since it wouldn't taste like feelings. Only at the end did I start connecting with her, when she finally decided to start visiting restaurants and trying to enjoy food and allowing the feelings to be part of the flavor. And then the book was over and I was left hungry for something more.

The New Social Circle

2010-09-26T13:54:00.000-04:00

I remember when the internet first appeared. It was lauded as the new way to bring people together from around the globe. But it didn't really do that as soon as everyone expected. For the business world, yes, it was great, and it was great right away. But for everyday people like you and me, we learned quickly that we had to be careful. Yeah, it was a cool idea, and you might have some "'friends" in chat rooms or bulletin boards (remember when those were the only ways to "connect" outside of email?) but there wasn't much of a connection beyond that. Everyone was wary of sexual predators and serial killers, especially when their teenage children were exploring the internet.

Over time, people got more relaxed. I know my mom has been part of an email movie discussion group called The Balcony for years. She visited friends or had friends visit her when I still thought it was creepy and weird to make friends through the internet. How do you know who these people are? How do you know that the person they're presenting is the real thing? How can you trust them? Of course, this was during my late teens, and I'm a smart one, I knew that I needed to be cautious at that age. But even through college and for a while after, I didn't really branch out. I had an early version of the blog for a while, I think the site was called Diaryland...or maybe that was later. Anyway, the whole idea was that it was similar to your private journal, and you could make it private, semi-private, or public. I remember mine was public, and since I never really kept a diary of private thoughts, it just became a place to talk about my day (kind of like this blog). I had some regular readers whose journals I also read, and I thought it was pretty cool that I sort of knew about all these people writing from all over the world. But I didn't really consider them friends. I always felt like I needed to keep some distance. And eventually I got tired of the servers overloading on that site and I stopped writing. When that happened, I didn't worry about keeping in touch with my readers. A few of them had already gotten sick of the servers or stopped writing for other reasons, and even though we'd been reading each other's journals, we didn't feel THAT close. We were just a bunch of teenagers -- we had our real friends, and our readers were just these people who happened to be permitted to read the minor, sharable details of our lives.

After that, I went back to using social media solely for keeping in touch with people I knew in real life. It was nice to have MSN chat when my friends and I all went to different colleges. I'm not sure I'd even still know my best friend if it hadn't been for chatting online a few times a week. Even just a few years before, college was known as the time when you drift away from your old friends and make the friends that you know you'll have forever. Granted, I certainly made some wonderful friends in college, and I believe I will have them forever. I just didn't end up drifting away from the old friends, and it was all because we could chat online. Why doesn't just calling work, you ask? Well, when you call someone, you feel like you have to talk. When online, especially when you can make a group chat window (which we did all the time), it's more like you're just hanging out. You don't feel like you have to keep the conversation moving the whole time. It might even hit a lull and then you don't talk for a couple hours, but then something funny will happen and if they're still online, you can tell them about it.

So, great. I stayed in touch with my friends who were really still just a few hours away. And I'd have online conversations with some new college friends if it was late at night and we were in our separate dorm rooms. But that's still not connecting "around the globe." Where's that amazing socialization that we were supposed to get?

I know by this point in the post you're all saying, "duh, Bridgete, it's here." And you're right, it is. My mom just told me that she's showing one of her Balcony friends around Portland. Like I said, she had that connection thing long before I did. But now I've connected too. Blogging finally did it. I don't know why blogging is so much different than that online diary I had, whether it's because I'm older or because now most of the people you meet have a blog or two so it's just normal, but it's different. Jenn and Matt are part of my Boston family, and I never would have even met them if it hadn't been for blogging. I'd feel perfectly comfortable flying to Colorado and staying with Ginger or Kate. Bree made her blog private but still welcomed me into the inner circle of permitted readers. And that's just the people I know through the more personal blogs. Then there's the author of You Suck at Craigslist. Those people got me through the bar exam. Well, let's hope they did, they might have just served as a distraction. ;)

I've added these people as friends on Facebook. I stoically add only "real" friends as Facebook friends. So I guess my blog friends are "real" friends. In fact, I don't even distinguish between blog friends and real friends anymore. Sure, certain blog friends are part of a particular circle and they don't really interact with the other circles, except maybe with an occasional reply to someone's comment on one of my statuses. But when I talk about something funny someone said, I just say, "Oh, _____ said the funniest thing the other day!" and that's that. No need to explain that I've never actually met this person. That's not important anymore. We know each other, and that's enough.

Paris, je t'aime...

2010-09-09T21:44:00.000-04:00

Okay. I've been trying to figure out what to say about Paris, other than I loved it, I wanted to stay, and now that I'm home I miss it more than I ever thought I could miss something as simple as a location on the earth. But it's not just "a location". It's Paris. Everything about Paris is beauty in its purest form. The food, the wine, the architecture, the art -- it's all beautiful. The ugliest building in the city was built in the 70s, which was a strange time for architecture everywhere -- even that is at least more attractive than the buildings that appeared in the US at the same time.

And then there's the people. Everyone is quiet and polite. You don't have to holler at the top of your lungs and throw your elbows around to get off the Metro. A single, fairly quiet "pardon" and the crowd parts. All the restaurants and cafes are fairly small with tables crammed in as close as they can be, but you still cannot hear the conversation of the people next to you. Unless they're American tourists -- who I quickly became annoyed with as if I was already Parisian. And oh my goodness, the children. You all know that I don't like children. Well, I had NO problem with Parisian children. And at one restaurant, I learned why -- if the child is throwing a tantrum or otherwise causing a disturbance in public, you know what the parents do? They leave. They go home, taking the fussy child with them, and after a while, the child learns that disruptive behavior in public is not acceptable. I swear to you, even the pigeons were polite. You throw a pigeon a crumb and instead of begging for more or calling out to his 20 friends nearby that he found someone gullible, he'd just eat the crumb, bob his head as if to say, "merci," and move along.

I know you all want to know the specifics, like what we did, what we saw, what we ate. But I just can't make myself reduce Paris into a chronicle of experiences. It was simply THE experience. So, for what we did and saw, you can visit my mom's chronicle on her blog, starting with day one. You can also see what she ate -- I didn't record what I ate. I just ate.

As for photos, my mom has a few in her blog. You can see my photos on Facebook. I've already checked, you will be able to see those photos whether you're my Facebook friend or not.

I now know that I MUST return to Paris as soon as I'm able. So, on that note, to my dear Paris -- À bientôt!

Eating, Praying, Loving

2010-09-03T21:09:00.000-04:00

Well, I finished reading Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, by Elizabeth Gilbert, for the book club that Ginger started. What I found most interesting is not necessarily the book itself (although I definitely enjoyed it), but rather the fact that it was so the right time for me to read this book. Here I was, going on a trip to Paris, where I indulged in food and wine more delicious than anything I've ever had here in the states, even in Boston's most fabulous restaurants (and Bostonians love their food). I ate. While in Paris, I entered Notre Dame Cathedral for the first time in my life and the energy of God or the Universe or whatever you want to call it overwhelmed me, to the point where I had to just sit and let it wash over me. Then I lit a candle to pray for a job and I'm now trying to patiently wait for that to come along. I prayed. And I fell head over heels for my roommate with a sudden rush of feelings so strong I wondered where I'd kept them the past six months. I love.

This book taught me a lot about how to look at those experiences I've just had. First, that allowing pleasure for pleasure's sake, without allowing in worry and regret and whatever else, is an art that, as an American, I may never achieve. But after spending a week in Paris where nearly all I did was go sightseeing, eat, and drink wine, I've learned that I want to try. I want to figure out a way to be a lawyer while still taking time to actually enjoy my lunch, instead of scarfing it down in front of the computer screen because that memo just can't wait for me to digest. I'm not sure how well that will work since I just had to pick a profession that always needs something done yesterday, but both my experience in Paris and my new understanding of true pleasure from the book have made me want to try.

Second, I've been weird about religion for a long time now. I've felt the Universe work for me many times before. One moment that comes to mind is when my mom was almost stuck in Portland for Christmas due to a huge snowstorm in the NW. I remember when she told me her flight was canceled...I hung up the phone and fell to the floor in tears, screaming to the sky that I don't care about the presents, I don't care about anything but having my mom with me for Christmas and DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!?!? About 5 minutes later, she called back and said her flight had been reinstated and she was on her way. Then there was when Severus was really sick last summer. He had a bladder infection, which can be really dangerous in a male cat. I remember getting him on the antibiotics and they just didn't seem to be DOING anything for the first three days. I was terrified, and I didn't know what else to do. So, I prayed. I prayed to anything that I could think of. And he got better. And, most recently, I prayed that Christen would be okay and that her headaches and whatnot would be nothing. Well, the tests all came back healthy, and in the meantime she realized she only felt sick at work. So, she quit, and she's already starting to feel better.

The thing is, my prayers always involve tears. I'm always sobbing about something or other and begging for help. But I guess that's how it started for Liz. And I liked that Liz feels a lot like me in that she knows there are many paths to who she calls God. I also liked that she calls the being God without attaching the Judeo-Christian ideals to it, she just says it's more comfortable and familiar for her. I'd been really struggling with what to say when I'm praying. I've even been struggling with calling it praying. I still don't like organized religion, with all the rules and right and wrong, so the words associated with the most familiar group of organized religions in the US sometimes bother me. But I think I might go ahead and adopt Liz's idea, that I'm just saying God because it's familiar and easy. I think that will help my attempts at prayer, whether I do them every day or just when I need something. On that note, I liked the bit in the book with the petition to resolve the whole divorce thing, and then the resolution came. I mostly liked when Liz said something to the effect of, I can't just go to God when I want something, and her friend said, "why not?" This makes sense to me. If you're always devoted in your heart, if you're always aware of and grateful for the forces at work, helping you out, then what's wrong with only praying when you need or want something? It's like...well, okay, I have wonderful parents who never guilt me into calling more often or whatever, so this comparison may not hold true for everyone, but I'll use it anyway. It's like when I call my mom or dad for help with something, and they just do it. No stipulations (except maybe paying back borrowed money), no guilt, just love. And I don't have to tell them every single day that I love them, they know I love them. It's in my heart, always. So, why can't God be the same? And, even better, help to the greatest extent possible, for God, should be infinite!

And finally. I have loved before. Years ago. I was young and didn't handle it well. And then some things happened and I was intentionally celibate for two years because I couldn't even deal with the idea of sex. The celibacy broke with a little summer fling that I had just before leaving Portland for Boston to come to law school. He was actually a really great guy and the perfect person to have chosen for the purpose he served -- to bring me back to a place where someone can be interested in both physical AND internal beauty (some of the issues from before). Then there were a few "almost lovers," to quote Almost Lover, by A Fine Frenzy, through the three years of law school. Nothing really ever panned out, for a variety of reasons -- sometimes my issues, sometimes the guy's issues, sometimes both. And then there's now. It's been six years since I've been in a RELATIONSHIP. I've grown up a lot. I've learned a lot about myself. I've learned a lot about what I need and what I want, as well as what I don't need and what I don't want. I've fumbled around in the dating world and decided against a lot of potential flings/relationships/etc. because I knew they wouldn't be healthy for me. And then, when I found a person who might be right, I finally gave myself the green light to go ahead and fall again. I finally told myself I'm ready for the unbalancing balance of love. And now I'm here, and I'm happy with my south Brazilian (another coincidental similarity to Liz).

So, thanks for the perfect timing, Ginger. Now, on to the next book!

Update on life

2010-08-21T12:00:00.003-04:00

First of all, I need all my bloggy friends to send prayers/healing thoughts/whatever you prefer to my best friend, Christen. She's been dizzy, nauseous, and has had a headache for about two weeks now. She went to the doctor, they gave her some anti-nausea stuff with directions to use it until Wednesday and directions to call if the symptoms came back...they did. So, she has to go back to the doctor, they have to check more things, and I'm terrified and helpless. So, good thoughts, hope that it's either nothing or something simple, like, maybe she needs a new eyeglass prescription.

In other, happier news...totally dating my roommate now. Crazy, right? Whatever, I've known him for six months now and for most of those six months, the thought was in the back of my mind and I kept finding ways to push it away because I figured it was a bad idea. Who knows, maybe it's still a little crazy, but I couldn't keep ignoring what I felt or inventing things that "annoyed" me so that I could try to push the feelings aside. He's a nice guy, the last few days he's been totally respectful, and before I went ahead with anything I laid all my relationship issues on the table and he was really understanding about it all. We decided to maintain separate bedrooms for a while to try to make it a little less like we're "living together" even though, well, we are. So, there you go.

And, on another happy note, my mom and I depart for PARIS today! I'm so excited. I can't even describe how excited I am about this. On that note, I'd better go pack!

Spicy Taters and Eggs!

2010-08-07T13:45:00.000-04:00

Okay Ginger, here's my recipe for the month. I didn't even think to take a picture, I was just experimenting and then when I was almost done eating it I thought, well, this should be my recipe this month!

So, some background. When I was a kid, my dad used to make this thing for breakfast that he called Taters and Eggs. Like the name indicates, it's sliced up potatoes and scrambled eggs, all mixed up in the pan. Pretty simple, but I've always loved it. I'm not usually a fan of the sweet breakfast foods like pancakes, so when I wanted something "special" this is always what I craved. Well, today I went to make some, but I decided to kick it up a notch and make it a bit spicy. I thought, hey, I like spicy potatoes, and people put Tabasco sauce on their eggs all the time so I can't imagine they'd interfere with the spice. Anyway, it was delicious. So, I'm going to share the recipe.

Ingredients (for one serving):
One medium russet potato (or whatever other kind of potato you'd like to use, just make sure it's approximately the same size as a medium-sized russet potato).
Three eggs
Olive oil, about 1/2 a tablespoon
Chili powder
Paprika
Cayenne pepper

Wash and peel the potato (or don't peel it, whatever). Cut it into lengthwise quarters, and then thinly slice up the quarters. You want the slices to be somewhere around 1/8 inch, thin enough to cook quickly in a frying pan. When you've started slicing the potato, start heating the olive oil in a ten-inch skillet. When it's hot and the potatoes are sliced, throw them in and get them cooking. When they have a nice even coating of the olive oil, grab your chili powder and give your potatoes a nice, even, light coating, then stir the potatoes around to get it all over all of them. Chili powder is a pretty mild spice, as spice goes, so don't worry too much about accidentally going overboard. Take the paprika and lightly coat the potatoes and stir them again, just like with the chili powder. Then take your cayenne pepper and really, really, lightly dust the potatoes with it and stir them around again. The cayenne pepper is the one you want to watch out for, go too crazy and those will be some SPICY potatoes. Of course, if that's what you want, then go for it, just keep in mind that I like spice and even I have nearly out-spiced myself with the cayenne pepper.

Once you've gotten the potatoes all spiced up, keep moving them around every minute or so to make sure they cook evenly. As soon as they're just about fully cooked, turn the heat down to medium and give the pan a minute or two to cool down. Once the pan cools, take your three eggs, whisk them up in a bowl like you would for scrambled eggs, throw in a dash or two of salt and get that mixed into the eggs, then pour them in right on top of the potatoes. Quickly stir the whole mixture and get the eggs fully cooked, for about a minute or so. Immediately remove the pan from heat and serve. Enjoy!

Ginger, I know you can't have eggs. I don't know how you'd improvise scrambled eggs, but you could always just make the spicy potatoes on their own as a side dish. =)

Happy (Late) Independence Day!

2010-07-05T14:13:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since I blogged. I need to get back to the studying since I took basically the whole weekend off for the holiday, but I wanted to quickly post and say hi to everyone.

So, remember the guy that I said I had a date with in my last substantive update? Well, I'm still seeing him. As we can find the time, at least. Between my studying and his job as a paramedic, it's been difficult. But we're still making an effort, at least. So, I'll tell you more about how that's going when he and I get the chance to really spend some time together. So far I like him, but that's about all I know.

I had fun with Jenn and Matt last night at the fireworks. It was weird though, there was this abnormally long gap between the 1812 Overture and the fireworks show. So there we were getting irritated and bored while waiting for the fireworks to start. But it finally started and I got some really good fireworks photos this year. I'll have to remember that spot for later years if I want to go back for more photos. Next year I might stay home and find out how much I can see from my balcony. I've heard from various Quincy residents that if you have a balcony that faces the city (like I do) you have a pretty great view. Not a photographer's view, but now that I finally got the photos I want, that's fine.

What, you want to SEE the photos? Alright, alright, don't get your panties in a twist. Here's my flickr album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bridgetem/sets/72157624238854095/

There are some fireworks from previous years in the same album...you'll know which ones are this year's from my oh-so-creative title on each one: July 4th, 2010. =)

The studying is going quite well. We had a practice MBE (multi-state bar exam...the multiple choice part) the other day. I actually missed physically going in to the practice day because I slept really poorly the night before, but I did it at home and timed myself...and made sure to sit at my desk, rather than on the couch or something. I know, I missed the experience of being in a huge room with a bunch of other test-takers, but it's not like I haven't taken standardized multiple-choice tests before. Anyway, supposedly, the average national score is 105 on the practice day. Passing on the bar exam is roughly 128 (raw score, not scaled). My score on the practice day was 130. So unless being in a room with a bunch of other people is going to distract me more than the cat coming up and meowing at me or climbing in my lap or hopping on the desk and trying to lay on the testing booklet, all I need to do is maintain that score, rather than improve on it. Hooray! As for the essay day, which is Massachusetts only, I'm pretty well set there too. We've been turning in practice essays to barbri for them to grade and give back to us...so far I've gotten a little above a 4 on each essay I've turned in, and the goal score per essay is a 4 or a 5 (out of 7 possible). The score is mostly a reflection of organization and at least demonstrating adequate knowledge of the law. As I've learned from the practice essays, adequate does not mean perfect, because I know both the ones I turned in were not perfect. So, yay!

And, with that, I should go study now, so that I don't lose all this progress. At this point, I probably won't write again until after the exam, so...see you all when it's over!

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Spicy Teriyaki Tuna

2010-06-01T20:17:00.003-04:00

Okay, this is for Ginger's Asian Style Noodles meme. I'll admit, I've never made it with noodles, always with rice. I didn't have time this month to try it with noodles, but since I invented the Spicy Teriyaki Tuna part ages ago, I figured this is the right time to share. So, because the tuna has a teriyaki sauce, I think it will go well with udon or soba noodles. I was personally going to go with soba, had I managed to actually make it this month. I was going to cook them up and then just put the Spicy Tuna Teriyaki on top, sort of like when you go to a bento stand (if any of you have ever done that...).

So, for the main deal, the key to this is actually a specialty package of tuna from StarKist. It's StarKist Tuna Creations - Sweet & Spicy Tuna. My inspiration actually came from the recipe on the back, but I didn't have everything necessary and I was trying to just throw together some food with what I had in the house. So, I looked in the fridge and discovered I had a bottle of Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce. I thought that would work...and it did. It's a kind of thin sauce, so if you like a thicker sauce, you might want to mix it with some cornstarch first. Or just make your own, or find a thicker pre-made sauce. But that's up to you. So now, without further ado, the recipe:

1 package StarKist Tuna Creations - Sweet & Spicy Tuna
1/2 to 1 cup frozen corn (I always just throw it in until it looks right)
2 to 3 cups frozen broccoli cuts (again, I just throw it in until it looks right)
Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce (or your own teriyaki sauce, or any other teriyaki sauce you like)
1 Tbsp. cooking oil - sesame or vegetable oil both work well, but I've used olive oil before when that's what I had and it doesn't end up tasting like olives, so it should be fine.

Prepare noodles according to directions on the box. Set aside. Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet on about medium high. Stir fry the broccoli until it's a bit warm, around two minutes, and then add the corn and warm it up for about a minute. Add the tuna packet and stir fry for one minute, then add the teriyaki sauce. I always just eyeball it, so I don't know exactly how much is in there -- I'd say add sauce until there's enough for it to kind of boil around the tuna and corn, and the broccoli pieces are at least partially covered. Let it simmer for a couple minutes until everything is hot, then remove from heat. Spoon over noodles. My suggestion would be to keep the noodles and tuna separate so everyone can decide on their own sauce-to-noodle proportion...but that's how I like to serve spaghetti too, so maybe that's just me. =)

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And...done.

2010-05-31T18:39:00.001-04:00

Well...I graduated. And now I have to prep for the bar. So...I'm done, but not done. But graduation was a great day. I really did work hard to get there, so even though I now have more work ahead of me, I still feel good about what I've accomplished so far.

All the lawyers here call the state "Pass-achusetts", so I'm hoping that means I shouldn't be concerned. But it's still going to be two more months of intense studying...Pass-achusetts or not, I have to study for it. The only reason so many people pass here is because of how Mass deals with the scoring -- rather than say you failed because you just missed the mark on one part of it (essay or multiple choice), if you can make up for it on the other part and your overall score is good enough, you pass.

In spite of how busy I'm going to be, apparently I have a date...sometime this week. We haven't made the official plan, but he's been texting me and stuff so I don't think he's going to forget about me, lol. I met him last night, he's a friend of Vanessa's...or maybe a friend of one of her friends. Whatever. He's nice and interesting, and he seems intelligent. He's a paramedic, which is pretty cool (and with how often I like to hit my head/sprain my ankle/otherwise injure myself, that could be useful, lol). And when he asked me to dinner, I warned him that I'm not one of those girls who just eats a salad at dinner and he told me he thinks that's hot, lol. I'll just have to warn him that I may be short on time, especially at the end of July. I have this tendency to meet guys when I'm not looking for one because I'm going to be busy or I'm moving across the country or something, so I've learned to just go with it.

Oh! Part of commencement week was a scavenger hunt all over Boston. It was on Tuesday, which was, of course, the hottest day EVER. Okay, not ever, but it got up to like, 90. Anyway, so my team didn't win, we ran out of steam (and so did Abby, Amanda's chihuahua) so we didn't get nearly as much stuff as some of the other teams. BUT, we ended up winning most creative with our interpretations for the photo requirements, so we still each got a $15 iTunes gift card, woo!

Well, I think that's about it. I might be back to complain about bar studying, but I'm not sure. I'll at least try to keep you all posted on the new boy.

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And you all thought I'd fallen off the edge of the world...

2010-05-11T15:08:00.001-04:00

Nope, I'm right here.

I suppose all the readers I know about are also my FB friends...or at least email buddies (hi Nikki!), so you're probably all aware that I didn't actually fall off the edge of the world. But, regardless, I guess it's time for a post.

Let's see, where did I leave you? Oh, right, okay, so I've had two choir concerts since last time. The March one was the fun one, and I got to be part of a group of 10 singers doing "California Dreamin'", so that was a blast. If you'd like to see that (and the rest of the concert), the whole thing can be found on YouTube here. Then our May concert was actually just this last Sunday. For that, we did Brahms' Requiem. It went pretty well, except that about halfway through, apparently some little old lady complained about being cold, so they shut all the windows in the church...nearly killing half the soprano section (those high notes can really make a person light-headed), as well as a few members of the other sections. I'm surprised I wasn't among those who almost fainted...I'm prone to overheating, AND I'm a soprano. Anyway...I mean, I'm all for making sure the audience isn't freezing, but there has to be a better solution than nearly killing the performers. Perhaps by shutting SOME of the windows and finding a Snuggie for the little old lady.

So, that's choir. What else? Oh, the roomie and I are getting along swimmingly. When he's home in the evenings (only Sunday-Tuesday right now because he works in a restaurant) we've taken to sitting in the living room instead of retiring to our separate bedrooms right after dinner. Severus seems to like the company in the daytime, too, so it's good all around. Oh, and he's still cooking and being helpful with cleaning and such...and still doesn't seem to mind my little OCD things. He just puts stuff where I tell him it goes and that's that.

The job search is still pretty fruitless...but I'm staying calm only because I have that possible back-up plan from my 4th internship. A couple weeks ago I mailed in some stuff for what I've been calling the perfect job -- it's a Junior Tax Attorney position at a small, tax-only firm...and they do litigation as well as transactional stuff, so I wouldn't have to give up on getting to litigate just to do tax law! So, we'll see how that goes, I'm crossing my fingers. And I'm checking postings on a weekly basis just to see what's there.

As for school...I'm in my last week of classes, next week is finals, and then the following week is grad week, culminating in commencement on the 28th. It's so close...but it hasn't really hit me yet. I think it might have something to do with the bar exam looming just after. I'm done, but I'm not really done. This would be why the celebratory graduation trip to Paris is in August. Well, that and the fact that BarBri starts the week after graduation. For some, it starts the week OF graduation, but I happened to sign up for the video lectures as opposed to the live ones. Not planned, I just wanted to take the evening class...for two reasons. One, now I get to lay by the pool with my BarBri books piled around me during the day, and two, it really fits better with my studying style, because I know I won't study AFTER going to a class in the morning, but I will study before. Especially if I isolate myself at the pool with no facebook or TV. You'd think all that water might distract a swimmer like myself, but I know from experience that the pool at my apartment isn't really all that warm, so it feels great for about 5 minutes on a really hot day, then I get cold and have to get out and warm up in the sun again.

Speaking of Paris...the trip itself is all paid for, and money from family members has started to appear in my registry on gogift.com for spending purposes once my mom and I are there, so that's exciting. I've been practicing my French -- a friend at school went to Switzerland for one of her internships so we had a "French Lunch" last week. I held my own pretty well...she definitely had to remind me of a few words, and my verb conjugations in actual conversation could use some work (meaning, I know how to conjugate the verb for the pronoun I just used, but I have to think a bit too long about it) but I certainly did better than I thought I would, so that was great.

Umm...oh! My 27th birthday came and went. The Boston party was a blast, as was the birthday weekend in DC. Although getting on a plane twice in 4 days gave me a cold, and then right on the heels of that the pollen count in Boston jumped to record levels (according to various sources), and the pollen in spring is the kind of pollen I'm particularly allergic to, so I've been sniffly, stuffy, and sneezy ever since. But I still had a good birthday so that's what counts! =)

Well, I think that's about all the time we have today. I'll try to write again sometime around graduation...before I start drowning in bar prep.

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Oh goodness! Where have I been?

2010-03-02T16:16:00.001-05:00

Pardon my absence. How long has it been, two months? I think I was busy...now I'm not sure what kept me so busy, I just know my weekends were full for a long time, and weekdays were full with work.

I think I'll give all relevant updates in backwards order...it's easier to remember that way.

Today, I went to the BU Dental School to have my first dentist appointment in...well, years. I didn't know until THIS year that I could sign up for a student dental plan and get cheap dental work...so I could have been going since 1L year, but, oh well, I'm going now. For students in the Boston area, it's $250 to sign up for a year, and then all x-rays, exams, cleanings, and fillings are free. So I got my x-rays last week, and then went in for the exam today. The cleaning comes later. So today, he told me that apparently the reason one tooth has been bothering me is because there's a broken filling. He said he should be able to just fix that without a root canal, hooray! He also assured me that root canals are no big deal if I do need one on that tooth, and it should be really cheap at the dental school (wait till you hear the cost for a crown). Then there are a few teeth that look like they have some small cavities forming so we're going to fix those since that's all free too. And then there's one tooth in the back that has a big filling, it doesn't desperately need a crown but since it's only $200 to do it at the school as opposed to roughly $1000 in the real world, we're going to just take care of it. So, first I'll be going back for the cleaning, then they'll fix that broken filling, then they'll fix the other tiny cavities, then probably at the end of the summer I'll get that crown.

Yesterday was the first day back to class...for my last quarter of law school. I'm taking: Law and Literature, Welfare Law, Employment Law, and Human Rights in the Global Economy. I'm in class from 10:15 to 5, with 15 minute breaks to run to my next class...but then I have NOTHING Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday. Tuesdays and/or Thursdays I'll be doing my cushy work-study job, and Fridays I'll just hang around at home unless a professor uses one of the reschedule periods. Anyway, so I'm actually pretty excited about all my classes. Law and Literature is exactly what it sounds like...reading actual BOOKS and then talking about them. We'll be looking at them from a legal perspective, but still...reading books!!! Hooray! And one of our assigned books is Pride and Prejudice! Hooray again! Welfare Law is with my favorite professor, which is the main reason I signed up for it, but it looks like it's going to be really interesting. Employment Law is going to be good, people seem to often have the question "If I get fired, can I sue?" I already know that usually the answer is no (in the US, at least), but now I'll know when the answer is yes. And Human Rights in the Global Economy is going to be really fascinating, we'll be talking a lot about what human rights actually are (food? shelter? physical/personal security?), and who, in the global sense, has the responsibility to ensure that these rights are honored. As law classes go, it's a pretty "fluffy" quarter...which is exactly what I want for my final quarter.

Speaking of it being my final quarter...well, I still don't have a job after graduation. BUT, the law firm I just finished working at sorta-kinda offered me a job. I say sorta-kinda because it's a small firm, they're not really certain what their hiring needs will be when I'm out of school and done with the bar and everything, so they couldn't make a firm offer. But, they loved me there (my evaluation for school said something about "the suberb lawyer [I] will become"), and both the managing partner (aka, guy with his name on the door) and the office manager encouraged me to check in with them during my job search and apply if there's an opening...so, if the stars align and they have an opening, I should be able to work there. So, it's a half-relief. Oh, and the managing partner said he'll write letters of recommendation for me, so that will give me an edge for anywhere else I apply. Now I need to go to career services and figure out where to look for job openings. I'm still applying for a tax LLM, too, so hopefully I'll get into that and I can do that next year if I end up jobless. If I'm REALLY jobless...I've talked to a lot of people who graduated last year when the legal job market was basically dead (it's currently on life support, but I would no longer call it completely dead) who started their own firm or are considering doing so as new lawyers...it's not the optimal way to do things, but it can work. I want my own firm someday anyway, so if I have to resort to it now, then, okay. So, I'm not in a total panic about still being jobless.

Let's see, so that gets us back to February 19th, which was my last day at my internship. February 6th, my choir did a Cabaret night thing, which is a fun little dinner, and we provide our own entertainment by signing up to perform something. I signed up, and did Defying Gravity from Wicked, and I totally kicked ASS. People were complimenting me all night (I had to go first, some "newbie" rule), and even Monday at rehearsal I was still getting compliments. It was a great feeling, I haven't rocked the house like that in a while. Also on the subject of choir, I'm in a little group of about 10 singing...well, I want to surprise Jenn with the song when she comes, so I'm not telling what it is, let's just say it's going to be awesome. We just did it for the whole choir last night, they said the 10 of us have a really nice blend, so that will be fun. I'll tell you all what song it was (or Jenn can tell you) after the concert on the 14th.

Okay, so going back from February 6th takes me back to February Ist...or, well, actually January 31st...when I FINALLY got a new roommate! He's awesome. He's already picked up on most of my little OCD things (like the "leftover spot" in the fridge), he cooks, he puts dishes right in the dishwasher (I hate when people leave stuff in the sink when the dishwasher is RIGHT THERE...unless it's soaking), he handwashes anything that is too big or otherwise shoudn't go in the dishwasher, he cleans up after himself, he's not noisy, he's nice...it's fantastic. His name is Marcelo, he's from Brazil, he was a physical therapist there, a few years ago he moved here. He's now working on getting a PT license here; he has to take a few classes that they wouldn't transfer from his old school, and then he can take the licensing exam. So, US licensing requirements aside, I basically have a resident physical therapist. Good for me, with all my back problems and my stupid knee that hasn't been the same since I hurt it in 2001. So, anyway, after all the trouble with finding a roommate...well, I guess the universe was just making me wait until the right person was ready to move. Lucky for me my landlord is awesome...well, actually, his uncle was paying through December, January I still just paid my half, so really Kevin only lost out on half the rent in January. With all the vacancies all over the place, I'm pretty sure getting half the rent for just one month was better than making me move out and getting no rent at all. He would have let me stay had I not found someone for February (he told me) but still...better for both of us that I found someone. Paying all the utilities on a rather big condo...in winter...with electric heat...yeah, that was a bitch. Although my new energy-efficient furnace helped with that...but it still sucked.

Um, okay, so, January. I don't think there was any significant news for that month. Just working and stuff. Oh, wait! Work! I went to a trial! It was so cool to watch. It had nothing to do with asbestos litigation (the primary focus of this firm...I think I told you guys that but just in case I didn't). It was a dispute between insured and insurer, we represented the insured, we won, hooray! I also made some good friends at work. So, yeah, January was good.

So, now that I've covered that...here's what's coming up. Tomorrow after class I get to go shopping with Vanessa for a new dress for Barrister's Ball (law school prom). Friday there's another law firm cocktail hour and I still get to go even though I don't work there anymore (I told you they love me!). Saturday Megan and I are going to a wedding. Choir concert is March 14th. In a few weeks, Megan has a birthday dinner. Barrister's Ball is also in a few weeks. And from April 9th-11th I'm going to DC for my own birthday celebration! I'm going to have a local party too, either the weekend before or the weekend after (Jenn, I need your input on that, you tend to be the busiest), but I'm excited to be finally visiting DC! Actually, I need to go reserve my plane tickets...I looked at all my options and it's (oddly) cheaper to fly than take Amtrak, I've already refused to take Greyhound any farther than NYC (after the "fun" of getting to Richmond to see Mraz), and I don't want to drive 10 hours for just a weekend (and I absolutely don't want to drive 10 hours ON my birthday to come back), so flying it is! I'll be staying with my "twin" (the girl I met over the summer), her birthday is the 10th (mine is the 11th, if you forgot) so we thought it would be fun to celebrate together.

Alright, I think I've covered everything. Everyone feel caught up now? Good, because I'm hungry, and I need to study. I should update again soon, now that I'm back in class I can get back into a good blogging rhythm.

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Yes, I'm still here.

2010-01-02T15:45:00.001-05:00

I'm sure you all thought I was just hibernating. It's not that...I was actually more busy than I've been in a long time. Dad here for Thanksgiving, starting new internship, choir performance, Mom here for Christmas...busy busy busy.

I definitely had a great time with each parent during their visits. The new internship is fine, but I'm now certain I don't want to work in asbestos litigation. At least everyone likes me and I'm learning some new stuff, so it'll be fine, but I'll be glad to be done in February. And the choir performance went really well, I was pleased with that.

I know, I could go into more detail on all that, but it's just not in me today.

Oh! My dad gave me a Wii Fit for Christmas, that thing is SO fun! Anyone with a Wii needs to get it. Hell, just get a Wii and then get the Wii Fit too!

It seems this is turning into a broken thought process post...that wasn't really my intent, I guess it's just how my brain is working today.

Oh goodness, my entire Corporations class is pretty upset with how the final went. So not only did we all have to teach ourselves everything because he was useless, but then we get to the final and he went and tested us, in DETAIL, on stuff he glazed over in about a day. I have never been so frustrated in an exam...not one that I'd studied that hard for, at least. So we're petitioning to the dean. One or two students complaining is one thing...everyone (or at least almost everyone) in the class is another. I'm not sure what she'll do in response, but she'll have to do something.

The other classes ended fine. I had to pull an all-nighter to get a paper done, but that's how law school goes sometimes.

Let's see, what did I write in my last post that you all might need updates on?

Oh, yeah, so my landlord's uncle bailed out again. He slept here one other night after that first night, and then my landlord told me he changed his mind yet again. I don't really know what the deal is, I sensed that it's all tangled up in a bunch of family drama so I didn't want to pry. So I'm roommateless again, but my landlord and I are doing what we can to get someone in here. I'm just glad I still only have to pay half the rent, especially since it's not exactly my fault the room is still empty at this point.

Oh, and the whole Mock Trial thing died. One of the people in our team, who we entrusted to do something very important relating to figuring out if funding would be possible before the sign up deadline, totally dropped the ball. I knew I should have just done it myself, being PAD treasurer and all, but I was busy at that time so I was glad he volunteered. Sucks...but oh well.

I thought about going to the grocery store today, but it's been snowing all day. Not hard enough to actually prevent me from going, and the roads are plowed so if I really needed to go I could. But it's enough to deter me right now since I have food, I just wanted to pick up a couple things. So instead...I am going to sit here in my pajamas, watch TV, and play with my Wii Fit.

On that note...I'm going to wrap this up. Hopefully now that the holidays are over I can get back into a regular posting routine again. =)

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Thoughts until finals are over...

2009-11-12T16:46:00.001-05:00

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...

2009-10-28T17:57:00.002-04:00

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

2009-10-23T21:22:00.002-04:00

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

2009-10-17T23:34:00.002-04:00

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.

2009-10-09T16:35:00.002-04:00

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

2009-10-02T22:40:00.003-04:00

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...

2009-09-25T14:41:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-18T21:11:00.001-04:00

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...

2009-09-12T19:20:00.001-04:00

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!

2009-09-05T18:28:00.001-04:00

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

2009-08-15T19:24:00.001-04:00

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

2009-08-06T20:00:00.001-04:00

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...

2009-07-31T17:37:00.001-04:00

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

2009-07-23T20:28:00.001-04:00

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?

2009-07-16T20:59:00.001-04:00

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?

2009-07-07T19:10:00.001-04:00

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!

2009-07-02T20:11:00.002-04:00

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.

2009-06-26T19:53:00.001-04:00

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

2009-06-21T11:21:00.001-04:00

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

2009-06-19T15:44:00.001-04:00

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

2009-06-14T20:59:00.003-04:00

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?

2009-06-12T18:33:00.001-04:00

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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Okay. It can stop now.

2009-06-05T23:10:00.002-04:00

My car broke again on Saturday. After already breaking the week before and getting fixed. I'm selling it and getting something else. I'm just tired of it. I don't even care that I'll get less money by selling it "as is" than if it were working.

But then there was more drama. Had to get to my first day of work on Monday and then work out a plan for transportation from there. Because, of course, I'm working outside of the city and there's no good method of transportation between the commuter rail station and the office. So I was going to rent a car for Monday then talk to people so that I wouldn't have to do that for too long. But then I went to rent a car, and when they went to run a credit check they apparently couldn't find my SSN at Equifax. A bit disconcerting. Even though I made her do it three times, I still suspect that she just did something wrong, maybe at one of the points where she was just entering various codes that had nothing to do with me. But anyway, it was a little weird to basically be told I don't exist.

So then the issue was, once again, how in the hell do I get to work? But, luckily, Amanda was going to be driving down the exact same highway to go to her first day of work so she was able to drop me off Monday morning and then pick me up after. But, that meant sleeping on her couch. Which meant I was EXHAUSTED on my first day. And I didn't really catch up throughout the week so I'm still rather tired.

Oh, and as for getting to work until my car situation is settled, I'm taking the train to the commuter rail and then the other intern is picking me up from the commuter rail. Then to get home he actually just drives me to Cambridge and I catch the regular subway from there because the commuter rail trains that leave in the evening are either 5:42 or 7:40. So we decided to just completely avoid the whole mess of trying to rush to get there in time for the first train.

So, anyway. That's the end of the car stuff at the moment.

But wait. There's more. When I got home from work tonight, I discovered that my cat was having litter box issues. He'd go in, try to pee, meow about it, then leave the box. Then he'd go back a few minutes later and try again. And back and forth. This can be a VERY bad thing for a cat, it can indicate that there's a blockage in their urethra preventing them from going at all. So I had to rush him to the animal hospital. And, due to the lack of car, I had to do this in a cab. So when I called the first thing I asked was if it's okay if I bring the cat in the cab. Actually, I said something that was just a rush of panic and upset, the operator had to ask me to repeat myself, and then I just said "my cat is sick" and she just said, "That's fine, he can go in the cab" and then got one sent out and just basically took care of it. I actually really love the cab company in my little suburb, they're always so nice. And the guy she sent out was fine with the yowling cat in the back. We just chatted about this and that all the way there, which was good, it kept me distracted.

Anyway, so the vet said there was no blockage, which is good. Unfortunately, his bladder was empty so they couldn't run any urine tests. They asked if I wanted to leave him for a few hours while they gave him some fluids to hopefully build up some pee, and I explained that I had to go back in a cab and then would have to come back and then go home again the same way, so they just decided to send me home with a sedative to help him just generally relax so that the muscles around his bladder aren't contracting, and something that's supposed to reduce any inflammation going on in his urethra so that when he does actually have to pee for real, it won't be quite so painful. These meds seem to be helping. He's at least not running back and forth to the box trying to pee. So that will have to do for tonight, and then tomorrow I'm going to walk down to the vet that's just a few blocks away (they're not a 24 hour emergency vet, which is why I couldn't go to them tonight. They were just about to close when I called.) and have them run the urine test, see what's going on there, and do what needs to be done to deal with it.

So. Anyway. I'm done with random crap popping up. I'm not supposed to be stressed when I'm not in classes. Co-op time is supposed to be my time to destress.

Anyway. I'm going to try to sleep. As much as I can while worrying about the cat, at least.

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Broken Thought Process Thursday

2009-05-28T16:33:00.001-04:00

This theme was Jenn's idea.

So last night I pulled out my Knifty Knitter and started a scarf. Then I ran out of yarn about halfway through. I hope I can find the same kind when I go get more yarn. Otherwise I guess I'll finish it off and give it to Severus as a weird, skinny blanket.

I'm so glad So You Think You Can Dance? is on again. It's the only reality show competition thing I like. I even like the initial auditions. Mostly because they don't show too many of the terrible ones. Just enough to give you an idea of what many people honestly seem to think qualifies as dancing. I also like that basically anyone who doesn't make it into the top 20 can come back and try again for a later season when they've had more training.

I've been watching really random stuff on TV this week. I was watching Food Network earlier, until some lady with a really obnoxious Southern accent came on and I had to change it. Now I'm watching Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet (and I just glanced up at the wrong moment, all I saw was a shot of the back of a meerkat with HUGE balls...relative to his size, at least...lol). Yes, I'm a little bored. I've tried to break up the monotony by reading and playing Wii, too, but I'm still bored. But my internship starts on Monday, hooray!

I really wish Comedy Central would fix the episode descriptions for The Daily Show so that TiVo will only record the new episodes like it's supposed to. It's not a TiVo problem, it's Comedy Central not properly indicating whether the episode is a rerun or not. So I have to go in to my list every couple weeks and tell it not to record the ones I know aren't going to be new because they're airing at the wrong time of day.

On the subject of TV, I'm really angry that basically because NBC didn't promote it enough, Kings has been canceled. First I don't get to see more of Ian McShane because HBO canceled Deadwood before finishing the story, but now I get him back in another show, that was actually shaping up to be pretty good, and it gets canceled too! Grrr...

Baby cheetahs! The show on Animal Planet changed and now it's Growing Up Cheetah. As a general rule, I love any animal in the Cat Family -- big, small, wild, domestic, any of them. But Cheetahs are my real favorites. And apparently they're also really sweet and easily domesticated. Yes, you guessed it, I want a cheetah. I know it's really hard to get a license to own a wild animal, and it's really, REALLY hard to get a cheetah because they're not only endangered, but they also don't breed well in captivity...but that doesn't stop me from wanting one.

I'm going to watch the fluffy cheetah kittens now. I hope you enjoyed the journey through my mind on this Broken Thought Process Thursday.

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Ramblings and musings

2009-05-25T18:28:00.001-04:00

I just pre-wrote a post for Father's Day because I was inspired...but obviously it doesn't work here.

I've been feeling very...not withdrawn, necessarily...but something like that. I've been feeling the need to be with myself. I've needed to let my mind quiet down, and to let my body sleep without the assistance of alcohol or medication. I've needed to read novels, and watch TV, and play Wii, and poke around online for hours with no particular goal in mind. I've needed to properly cook for myself instead of eating processed crap to cleanse my body of all that nastiness. I've needed to take walks with my camera. I've needed to sit with my cat. I've needed to clean my entire apartment, exhausted as I may have been afterwards. I've needed to watch thunderstorms that are pratically right on top of me and almost jump out of my chair when lightning strikes right outside my window.

Okay, so that last one was kind of happenstance. But it turns out I really did need to do that, too.

This last term in school left me a giant ball of stress. My sleep was messed up and I couldn't find the right medicine to fix it (still need to get in touch with the doc again and see what we can work out). 15 credits left me almost a shell of who I had been. I still have circles under my eyes. I'm only 26 and I'm pretty sure I have a few faint worry lines. I was so tense I brought back my old whiplash injury, which I got when I was 17. Or maybe 16. It still hurts to tilt my head all the way back, like when I'm gathering my hair for a ponytail. The knots in my shoulders have gone down, but not much.

It's a good thing I only have one year left. I'm not sure how much more I could take.

Oh, but wait. I recently decided that I'm definitely applying to a tax LL.M. program. Which means more school. Why? Because I know that's the law I want to do and if I do the extra work, it'll show that much more commitment to it. Plus most tax lawyers do it eventually, and with the economy the way it is I figure I'll just do it now so that I can have a bit more assurance that I get the job I want. If I get a post-grad job, great, the program can be either part time or full time so I can fit it to my needs. If I need it to be full time so that I have the authorization to borrow (even more) living expenses because, horror of horrors, this next year turns out to not be enough time to lift the hiring freeze in many law firms and other legal jobs, then...well, it's one more year where I'll be at least somewhat covered, even if it is living on more borrowed funds.

But, at least the LL.M. program will be like...a more focused law school. It'll be stuff I really want to learn. Not that I take classes I'm not at least mildly interested in...there's a reason I'm refusing to take intellectual property. But a lot of the time I take classes due to a mixture of interest and because I "should" -- either because of the bar exam or simply because it's good for a well-rounded legal education. This tax LL.M. will be all interest. Being actually interested in a subject when I'm trying to study always reduces my stress.

I think there will also be less *other* stress. I won't be stressing about the bar because I'll have already taken it. And if I don't get a post-grad job, actually being enrolled in the LL.M. program will help while I'm sending out resumes like mad...again because it shows that commitment to the subject. Plus the whole actually having the law degree and having taken and hopefully passed the bar exam should help on the job front too...I would imagine there's probably some level of hesitation in this economy when it comes to making offers to 3Ls who haven't actually finished school AND haven't actually become a licensed attorney. There's always the hope that I'll be doing this part time anyway because I'll have the job. Either way I hope to be less stressed about the whole employment situation too.

Anyway. I got oddly focused on things besides eating today. I ate some...but I have a very high metabolism, "some" is not sufficient. Better go make some dinner before I metabolize all my energy away.

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Shadow Shot Sunday - Seashell

2009-05-17T14:54:00.002-04:00

I just thought it was interesting how something so small and low to the ground still makes a shadow.

By the way, I'm done with my second year of law school. Yay!

Okay, that's all for now. =)

Shadow Shot Sunday - Sunset

2009-05-02T21:09:00.001-04:00

This is the view from my bedroom window. Jealous? =P

Shadow Shot Sunday - Sweet Severus

2009-04-26T10:45:00.002-04:00

So I'm doing this Shadow Shot Sunday thing. I found out about it through Ginger, but I decided to do it because I've recently realized I let law school sort of preempt my art. My art being photography. So I figured if I had to post a photo every week showing the interaction between light and shadows it might get me back into it. =)

So, anyway, this is kind of an old picture of Severus, but I like the way the sunlight is falling across the blanket, and how his nose is the only part of his face that's illuminated.

I love...

2009-04-19T10:49:00.002-04:00

I'm copying Ginger here. I liked the idea of making a list of things that make me happy.

Things I love...
Waking up to find Severus asleep on my stomach.
Severus.
Pajamas.
Days when I have nowhere to go and nothing to do.
Driving with the volume up on the stereo.
Accelerating to highway speed.
My iPhone.
My 3 cameras and their various advantages.
Working in the darkroom.
Singing.
Fresh fruit in the summer.
The perfect summer evening.
The smell of the first spring rain.
Warm sand on my bare feet.
The sound of the ocean.
Good wine with good food.

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26.

2009-04-11T14:55:00.001-04:00

Apparently I'm not allowed to study on my birthday, so I'm going to take the time and write a blog. I'm really conflicted about 26. I'm excited to start a new year of my life, 25 was alright but it really could have been better. I like to think of birthdays as the real "new year." And this year I want to go into it with nothing but positive thoughts about what will come. So, that is good about my birthday. But...I guess I never really thought about how 26 really means that my 20s are winding down. Am I where I wanted to be at this time? I'm happy with where I am, I'm glad I'm heading down a good career path, even if it took me a bit to decide to do it. At least I had a quarter-life crisis at 23 and realized I did NOT want to spend my life working at a collection agency, so I took the initiative and decided to go to law school. And I'll be in my career by the time I'm 30, which is where I would want to be by that time, so career-wise, I'm happy.

As for other life...stuff...well, I've been very undecided about children for a long time so I really didn't think I'd have any by now. Romantically...I don't know. There was a time in my life I thought I'd be married or at least on my way by now. But, I've realized I'm really picky. I was almost engaged twice, and I was the one who ended both relationships. (Yes, I know for a fact that both of them were going to propose. I had a promise ring from one, and the other later informed me that he'd bought a ring.) Actually, I've ended most of my romantic encounters, from friends with benefits to "dating" to actual relationships. Generally a pretty definitive "end," even in the friends with benefits category. So, maybe I thought I'd be married by 26. But maybe it's good that I'm not. Maybe it's better that I'm picky about who I date. Maybe I'm just waiting for it to be right.

On that subject, I am sort of seeing someone right now. I say "sort of" because we're both really busy so it's been difficult to coordinate. He's coming to the birthday festivities tonight though, so that's nice. I do like him. But it's very new, so I don't have a lot to say about it yet. Oh, his name is Matt, which Jenn and I have found very funny.

Anyway. Enough of wondering if I'm where I wanted to be at 26. 26 is here, whether I like it or not. And I think what I want most out of this year is to just have it be good. I want to do well in my remaining classes, have good experiences at my last two internships, enjoy the year, and live it up! And I'm going to start living it up by having a great time at fondue tonight! =)

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Haha, this is awesome...

2009-03-14T16:59:00.002-04:00

The Coolest Bird On The Planet. - video powered by Metacafe

Tired...busy...ugh...

2009-03-09T18:53:00.001-04:00

OMG. 5 classes. 15 credits. What did I do?

Maybe I'm only feeling overwhelmed because I'm so tired today. You know, losing an hour to DST then following it up with 4 classes in one day probably isn't the best combination.

I at least have a partially awesome, partially not awesome schedule. The awesome is that I have no class on Tuesday or Friday, and only one on Thursday, which starts at 3:40 pm. The not awesome is that I have 4 classes on Monday and 5 on Wednesday. But I guess it does balance out more towards the awesomeness, because: a) I won't get too sleep deprived since I only have to get up early 2 days a week and b) I won't be wasting nearly as much study time getting to and from school when I only have to go 3 days a week.

It's still a little insane though. I only meant to take 4 classes, which would have been 12 credits. What happened, you ask? Well, I got wait-listed for trial practice. So my contingency plan was to sign up for international law (which is an open enrollment class - i.e. no wait-list) and then at least if I didn't get off the waitlist for trial practice, I would already know what I was taking instead to make sure I still qualified as a full-time student.

So. I went to the first day of international law. Turns out, it's really interesting. And then I got off the wait-list for trial practice. Which I wasn't about to drop even though I now wanted to take international too. Hence...15 credits.

I suppose I COULD have dropped one of my other classes. But those were all the ones I'd originally wanted to take. Why would I do a crazy thing like drop one of them?

Anyway. So regarding the fact that I have a work-study award as part of my money for...well, you know...food...general living. Well, I decided that unless I got a research assistant position with one of the law professors (which would be flexible enough that I could arrange my schedule week-to-week based on when I need to study) I wasn't going to be able to deal with even the few hours a work-study job would give me PLUS the 15 credits. So I tried to get a research assistant position. Almost had one, but the professor gave it to someone else. I've never been in a class with this professor so it's not like a personal insult, the other person was probably just more qualified. So when that didn't pan out, I went to financial aid, told them I don't think I can possibly handle using my work-study and if there was a way to turn it down and just borrow that much more in loans. They said it was no problem. So, yay.

Well. I have to eat before choir. Speaking of which, I'm so glad rehearsals are only once a week. And since I don't have class on Tuesdays, there is no reason I would ever be studying on a Monday night anyway, so why not go sing my troubles away for a couple hours? =)

Hopefully, I won't be MIA from bloggy-land too often. If I am...you'll know why.

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I rule!

2009-02-18T17:45:00.001-05:00

I can now drive any car you put me in.

I drove my mom's Nissan Sentra, with a MANUAL transmission, home from the airport today. She took off to San Luis Obispo, CA, for her Oscar party, and, as we know, my car is now in Boston. So, my options were: learn the stick shift, or get annoyed by taking the bus everywhere when I've been driving in this city for almost 7 years and therefore KNOW how much shorter my trip is if I can hop on the highway and bypass half the city. Guess which option I wanted. Yeah, that's right. Don't get me wrong, I'll use public transportation when it's the better option, Portland actually has really great public transportation, but let's face it, this is a Western city with a lot of "urban sprawl". So the combination makes it seem really easy to survive without a car...until you have one. Then you wonder how you ever got anywhere.

So anyway. I learned the stick shift. Yes, I killed the car a couple times on the way home. Yes, I peeled out once. The light turned green and I was on a slight hill. Portland is hilly. I can intentionally avoid the big hills, but that's about it.

I'll probably be a pro when my mom returns on Monday.

Anyway, time to relax for a bit before I try to take the car in some real traffic in order to make it to dinner at 6.

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Tell me I don't have the cutest cat in the world...

2009-02-17T01:19:00.002-05:00

Seriously...

From Living, Learning, and Loving the Law.

Just TRY...

From Living, Learning, and Loving the Law.

To tell me...

From Living, Learning, and Loving the Law.

That you've seen...

From Living, Learning, and Loving the Law.

A cuter cat...

From Living, Learning, and Loving the Law.

Than this.

Yep. I'm away from home, and I miss my adorable kitty.

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And now the concert....

2009-02-15T23:53:00.001-05:00

Now that most of you have read about the ordeal involved with getting TO the concert, I feel like I can talk about the show itself.

The opening band was called "Fun," and they were, well, fun!

As for Mraz, this was definitely one of the better shows. It was high energy, he was "chatting" with us a lot, and he did some cute covers (only one of which I recognized so that's the only one included in the set list).

The set this time was:

Make It Mine
Remedy/Wonderwall
If It Kills Me (Here's where Jenn got her concert call)
Only Human
Clockwatching
Beautiful Mess
Unfold
Live High
Dynamo
I'm Yours
Lucky (No girl though, he just had the girls in the audience sing it, which was cute)
(Cover) Build Me Up, Buttercup
No Stopping Us
Butterfly

Aaaaand...I have pictures! Here's a selection of the best ones.

From Mraz 021209

Playing with the zoom. I like this one because you can see how fast his hand was moving.

From Mraz 021209

Nice tushy. ;)

From Mraz 021209

I took some videos too but I don't feel like futzing with them at the moment. They might appear later. ;)

So, anyway, that was my general impression. A nice, high energy night to counteract the rest of the bad luck I had that day. Oh, and the audience was great this time. No cranky people in front of me, no one pushing from behind me, just happiness and good times. Definitely a good show. =)

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It was all about love for Mraz

2009-02-14T12:21:00.001-05:00

Oh, Mr. A-Z, the things I go through for you. Really. Anyone else and I wouldn’t have gone to that concert last night. You want the story?

Well, you see, my car got picked up from Portland, OR on February 2nd, and was being delivered to my home Thursday, February 12th. after a long journey across the country to my current home of Boston, MA. I had been informed that my dear Nissan Altima (aka Calamity Jane) would be arriving between 8 and 11 am. So I thought, okay, that’s perfect, even if they miss the delivery window by a couple hours I’ll still be able to get to The-Middle-of-Nowhere, RI, to see the show at URI. Then my car would be safe and sound while I took off on Friday to go (of all places) back to Portland for a visit during a break from school.

So, it was about 11:30 am and still no sign of the car. I tried to call the driver to get a sense of the ETA at that point and all I hear is a message telling me the number has been temporarily disconnected. And thus began the beginning of my troubles. I immediately contacted the company I had contracted with, a wonderful company who does not actually operate any of the shipping trucks, they simply contract with the shipping companies to get the customer the best deal possible and help with any issues along the way so that the car arrives safe and sound. Well, when I told them that I couldn’t get through to the driver, they immediately took over and figured out where in the world my car actually was. This took a couple hours, so by the time I received a return call it was about 1 pm. The company told me that the driver said they would be delivering the car in 4 to 5 hours. 4 to 5 hours after 1 pm…that means 5 or 6. That means too late to get to the concert from Boston. And my roommate is not available to wait for the car while I drive down in a rental car. Uh oh. I can’t miss the show! I will find a way to you if it kills me!

Luckily, we fans of the Geek in the Pink like to stick together. We feel the Mraz love. I was able to call my friend Jenn, who I met solely because we both read Freshness Factor Five-Thousand (we realized later that we both live in the Boston area), and get it all figured out. Her awesome husband Matt was going to stop at my place and wait patiently for the car while I ran off to the concert. I spoke to the truck driver and arranged for a 7 pm delivery. The driver acted all put out that he couldn’t come right at 6 or so like he was planning, so I got my lawyer-speak going and said that considering the car was supposed to have arrived by 11, arranging for a 7 pm delivery was the best I can do. He said okay and that seemed to be that. I made sure Matt knew where to find everything he needed, my concert companion Megan arrived and we hopped in the Enterprise pick-up vehicle to go get our rental car. Things seemed settled.

But no. Of course not. Apparently instead of Friday the 13th, Thursday the 12th was going to be my unlucky day. We get to the rental location and through some interesting conversations with the guy I learn that you can’t rent a car without either a major credit card or proof of your own car insurance; I had neither. No credit cards out of personal preference, no car insurance because, well, my car was in Oregon, what did I need car insurance for? The car was being insured by my dad; once it got to me I was going to take over. But that didn’t help at this particular moment.

So why couldn’t I rent a car without one of those two things? Apparently it’s because the rental car is technically a loan and it speeds the process along if they verify that you have either a major credit card or car insurance, because you have to be relatively credit-worthy to have either of those. I personally might dispute the level of credit-worthiness to have either car insurance or a credit card these days, but that’s their policy, so, okay. Luckily Megan has a credit card. But that meant that she had to drive the car rather than me. I was the one ready to drive in Boston (a scary proposition to many people, to say the least) but this was the only way to get the car and thus get to the concert, so we decided to just deal with it and Megan would drive. It was a little disappointing since I’d hoped to keep the rental car until about 2:30 and simply drop it off at the airport before my flight, and a little inconvenient for Megan to drop off the car since the drop off location is actually in Quincy where I live, and she lives in Boston. But we figured we could just do a late night drop after the concert and I’d drive her home in my car that would hopefully be there by then. So we got our rental, made our way back to my apartment to get the tickets I nearly forgot, and then, after getting a bit lost simply trying to get to the highway (which isn’t hard from my apartment, but, well, we were stressed and not paying attention) we were on our way. It was a bit later than we would have liked, but we’d left ourselves a large window of time to account for traffic and getting lost. Now we just had to hope we didn’t get lost in Rhode Island and we’d still make it on time.

Well, once we got on the road we made it to the concert without a hitch. Except for the fact that at about 7:30 I got a call from Matt saying that the guy with the car hadn’t shown up yet. Great. So the driver makes a big stink about having to wait until 7, and now he’s not even there? I give Matt the phone number and also call the driver myself. Matt and I eventually work things out with the driver, and I go in to the concert. Megan and I are dancing and singing and having a grand old time, and I’m getting in the “no news is good news” mode. Until I get a text from Matt at 10 pm finally telling me the car is there. 10? He waited until 10?!? Now I’m just angry, because not only did they put me out, but they put out the person I had arranged to wait for them. AND, the driver had said it was going to be impossible to wait until 10 for my roommate. So why he wasn’t there until 10 anyway I’ll never know. Needless to say I am very glad that I’d already decided not to leave any money for a tip with Matt because if the driver didn’t deserve it before, he certainly didn’t deserve it now. As for Matt, well, don’t worry, I know how to appreciate favors from friends, Matt should expect a very nice Oregon gift from me upon my return. Probably some wine, that’s a specialty in my dear home state.

Anyway. The 10 pm arrival wasn’t the only problem. See, I knew from my dad that my car was having some various engine troubles before it left. He tried his hardest to get it in good working order before sending it on its way, but no luck. It should just need a tune up, but of course that takes time. So, anyway. When it arrived, it seems the battery needed a jump. Of course, my jumper cables died, I haven’t set myself up on my mom’s AAA account yet, and my roommate doesn’t have any cables either. Damn, so no luck driving Megan back to her apartment in my car after dropping off the rental. Now what? Quincy is really rather out of her way, she shouldn’t have to pay for a cab from there, but I’m not really supposed to drive the rental car. Hmm. Well, let’s just say we worked it out, the car made it to its late-night drop off, and the cab only cost $10. The rest of the details are in the fabric.

So. Do you see what I mean about the fact that I wouldn’t have bothered to go to the concert if it had been ANYONE else? It doesn’t matter that this was the 7th or 8th time I’ve seen you in concert. Every show is an experience, a treasure, something to be cherished. You emit an energy that makes the whole room burst with joy. We sing. We dance. We share the love. And this show was no different. So, even though I had a terrible experience even trying to get there, once I was there, none of it mattered. I was so filled with joy just being in your presence, soaking up your positive energy. I wouldn’t have missed that for the world.

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Haha!

2009-01-31T14:57:00.001-05:00

Love it.

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I'm gonna sing!

2009-01-28T18:31:00.001-05:00

I think all of you know this (unless maybe I forgot to put it on Twitter...all my readers are either there or on Facebook now!) but anyway, I'm in the choir! I'm so excited! It's so much fun, the people are nice, and I already have a friend that I sit next to and laugh about things like I used to do with Christen and Liz back in high school. They told me when I got in that "it's a family," so now I have something like 90 family members, haha. ;)

Anyway, so in March we're doing a bunch of spiritual songs. They're the fun ones, we used to do stuff like this in high school. Then in May we're doing a piece that is apparently famous for the difficult soprano part - Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. Look it up on iTunes and take a listen. I can guarantee that even in the 30 second "try before you buy" clips you'll hear the lovely high note we have to sing something like 50 bazillion times. I guess I'm just diving right back in to this choir thing! But the group sounds really good even in rehearsal, which makes me happy, I like being in a group that I can feel proud to invite people to.

Speaking of inviting...Jenn, I'll be sure to let you know the exact dates/locations of the March and May concerts. I'll send you a Facebook message or something. Anyone else, if you happen to be in Boston for some random reason in March or May, you're welcome to come too! Or December, for that matter, but we won't start that stuff until after Labor Day.

This group also goes on a trip every other year. They're going to Germany this summer but I had to know on Monday if I could go. I can't exactly decide on the spot that I'll be able to scrounge up the money to go to Germany. I don't even have a passport! So, I'll wait for 2011. =)

In other news, my elbow still hurts. I'm actually going to the doctor tomorrow. I really don't like going to the doctor, so this is a big move for me. It doesn't hurt constantly, but it hurts (a lot) when I do something oddly simple like pushing in a drawer or getting dressed. It doesn't hurt when I type though, so don't worry about me typing this post. =) Anyway, I just figure if it's been a week and it still hurts like this, maybe it's better for a doctor to tell me it's fine rather than just assuming it is. So anyway, I'll let you know if I managed to go a week with a hairline fracture or something ridiculous like that. I do have a high pain tolerance, it's entirely possible.

Well, I'm off to continue being lazy, like I've done all day. Yay for snow days!

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Cheese and Potato Soup

2009-01-24T22:14:00.001-05:00

So, for the first time today, I doctored a recipe until it achieved perfection. Or, at least, perfection according to my taste buds. I figured I should share it with everyone. Especially since it's a nice warm soup, perfect for winter.

I made it in the crockpot because I was going to be gone for the better part of the day, but I'll put the directions for stovetop first and then put a note as to what to alter if you're going to use a crockpot.

****

Cheese and Potato Soup

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. chopped carrot
1/2 c. chopped onion
1-2 tsp. dried thyme
2 c. canned low-sodium chicken broth
2 c. milk
1 large russet potato (10-12 oz), peeled and cut into medium chunks.
Parsley (chopped or dried, to taste)
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped or pressed
1 8 oz pkg of shredded, sharp cheddar cheese
Tabasco sauce (or similar)

Directions:

Heat the oil in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add celery, carrot, onion and 1 tsp of the thyme and saute until the veggies start to get just a little soft - no more than 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the veggies and stir for 2 minutes. Gradually stir in the broth, then the milk. Add the potato and bring the whole thing to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the potato is tender - this will depend on how big your chunks are. Basically, don't cook it until the potatoes are mushy, you want them to be cooked through, but still pretty firm. Check by getting a chunk out, if you can cut through it with a fork pretty easily, then it's ready.

Now add the rest of the thyme, sprinkle in a little parsley, and stir. Add the garlic and stir again. Now start adding the cheese VERY SLOWLY, otherwise you get big gobs of unmelted cheese. Best method I found was to sprinkle it on top until it just starts to cover the surface, then stir it in until it's melted, and repeat. Stop when you've added about 3/4 of the package and taste. It should be pretty cheesy by this point, but if you think you want more cheese then go ahead and add the rest of the package. Now add the Tabasco, as much or as little as you want. For it to be really good you have to add at least a LITTLE Tabasco, it gives it a nice subtle spiciness. Salt and pepper to taste.

FOR CROCKPOT: Set the crockpot on low. In a large frying pan, prepare the celery, carrot, onion, and first tsp of thyme as described above. After you've stirred the flour around on the veggies, plop it all in the crockpot and add the milk, chicken broth, and potato. Let it all sit on low for the day (I was gone for 7 hours and the potatoes were perfect when I got back, but because it was on low I don't think another hour or two would have ruined them). When the potatoes are ready, add the rest of the thyme, the parsley, and the garlic, stir, then add the cheese as described above. I found that switching it to high as soon as the potatoes are ready, i.e. before the thyme and garlic and stuff, helped with the cheese melting process. Finish with the Tabasco, salt, and pepper. Voila!

****

If you're curious, the original recipe had less thyme, no garlic, and the parsley was just a garnish at the end. Oh, and it had ham, but I don't like ham. I suppose I could have added some other meat, but I didn't feel like it. If you do like ham and want to add it, put in 1/2 a cup after the cheese is melted. =)

Follow with a nice cannoli from Mike's Pastry. Okay, so most of you aren't in Boston, so I guess this isn't a requirement, but that's what I did! =P

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Yay, recycling!

2009-01-21T21:00:00.002-05:00

I came home today to find a notice had been deposited at every door in my complex. They're going to start doing recycling pick up! And you can just mix it all together and throw it in the same bin! Yay! I didn't even have to lobby to get it started!

*Does the happy recycling dance*

In other news, the first choir rehearsal was awesome. The audition is actually next Monday, this last Monday I got to hang out and learn the audition piece, as well as a couple other pieces they're currently working on. Even during rehearsal, the group sounds great, and the rehearsals were done in such a way that my limited sight reading is actually more than sufficient. So I think it will be a good fit. I still have to see what happens at the audition, but I feel pretty good about that right now. Yay!

Well, that's about it. Except for the fact that I fell on some stairs earlier today and bruised my butt and my elbow. On my elbow, the bruise is right around my funny bone, I still have some of that weird tingling you get. Can you bruise your funny bone? Anyway, the fall itself was that lovely "graceful" move many of us have done when going down stairs too fast with wet shoes, your foot just slips out from under you and down you go. lol.

Anyway, I'm going to go sit on some ice now. Or maybe I'll just pop outside and sit in one of the knee-deep snowdrifts. =P

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You know you're from Oregon when...

2009-01-18T12:01:00.001-05:00

Alright, Jenn and Ginger both posted one of these for Massachusetts and Colorado, respectively. Even though I now live in Massachusetts, I'll always be an Oregonian at heart, so I sought out the list I knew existed for Oregon and am posting it now.

1. You feel guilty throwing aluminum cans or paper in the trash - Yes. Portland, OR, is currently rated as the Greenest City in the US. But even the people in Central and Eastern Oregon consistently recycle.

2. You use the statement "sun break" and know what it means. - Ah, the sun break is a beautiful thing.

3. You know more than 10 ways to order coffee. - Portland and Seattle sort of fight for the title of "most coffee drinkers per capita."

4. You know more people who own boats than air conditioners. - Haha, yes! AC is not usually necessary, and it's a waste of electricity.

5. You feel overdressed wearing a suit to a nice restaurant. - Yep. Nice restaurant wear MIGHT be Dockers and a button down for a man, probably a skirt and a nice blouse for a woman, or maybe a dress but nothing too fancy.

6. You stand on a deserted corner in the rain waiting for the "Walk" signal. - I have to say, this was a real tough habit to stop when I got to Boston.

7. You consider that if it has no snow or has not recently erupted, it is not a real mountain. - This one's for you Jenn! Told you those aren't real mountains!

8. You know the difference between Chinook, Coho, and Sockeye salmon. - Well, not in a taste-test or anything, but yeah.

9. You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Issaquah, Oregon, Yakima, and Willamette. - I think the only one I might not know is Sequim. I think that one is in Washington. As are Puyallup, Issaquah, and Yakima.

10. You consider swimming an indoor sport. - LOL. For competitive swimming in high school, it's a winter sport done in indoor pools.

11. In winter, you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark—while only working eight-hour days. - I remember this. It's not so much because of the time of sunrise, it's because the clouds hide the fact that the sun is up for a couple hours after it actually starts coming up.

12. You never go camping without waterproof matches and a poncho. - Yep. Even in August.

13. You are not fazed by "Today's forecast: showers followed by rain," and "Tomorrow's forecast: rain followed by showers." - Hehehehehe. Showers and rain are different.

14. You have no concept of humidity without precipitation. - Yet another thing that was weird when I got to Boston.

15. You know that Boring is a town in Oregon and not just a state of mind. - Although it really is boring in Boring.

16. You can point to at least two volcanoes, even if you cannot see through the cloud cover. - Yes and yes.

17. You notice, "The mountain is out" when it is a pretty day and you can actually see it. - This is one of the Portland-centric ones. You can see Mt. Hood anytime you have a clear view of the east as long as it's not cloudy that day.

18. You put on your shorts when the temperature gets above 50, but still wear your hiking boots and parka. - Nah, sometimes you wear your Tevas.

19. You switch to your sandals when it gets about 60, but keep the socks on. - This is true for the men. The women have a little more sense.

20. You have actually used your mountain bike on a mountain. - I haven't, but that's because my mountain bike never worked too well, it had trouble with gear-shifting so it would have been no good on a mountain. Then it got stolen.

21. You think people who use umbrellas are either wimps or people from California. - I did not own an umbrella until I got to Boston. I may have had one when I was a child and promptly lost it.

22. You buy new sunglasses every year, because you cannot find the old ones after such a long time. - I managed to keep sunglasses for a few years once I got this thing that you clip to your sun-visor that holds the sunglasses. By the way, you almost never need them outside of the car.

23. You measure distance in hours. - Or minutes, depending on how far you're going.

24. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day. - If you have AC, see #4.

25. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit under a raincoat. - Naturally.

26. You know all the important seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Raining (Spring), Road Construction (Summer), Deer & Elk season (Fall). - Almost Winter and Winter both consist of pretty constant rain. Or maybe just cloud cover with the threat of rain.

27. "Vacation" means going to Portland for the weekend. - Well, when you're not from Portland. When you are, "Vacation" is usually somewhere like Southern Oregon or Bend (in Central Oregon).

28. Your grandparents drive at 65 mph through a rain storm without flinching. - I've seen my grandfather do this. In a minivan, no less.

29. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked. - Not in the city. But once you get to the small towns, yes. The security lights are just so that you can save energy by having a light turn on automatically when you walk outside.

30. You carry jumper cables in your pickup and your wife knows how to use them. - I had jumper cables in my trunk, and yes, I knew how to use them.

31. There are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at the Bi-Mart store at any given time. - Yeah, probably.

32. Driving is better in the winter because almost everybody stays home. - Yeah, everyone is suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder so they're all depressed and don't feel like going anywhere.

33. You think sexy lingerie is tube socks and flannel pajamas. - Yeah baby. ;)

34. It takes you 3 hours to go to the store for one item even when you're in a rush because you have to stop and talk to everyone in town. - Again, not in the city.

35. You blame everything that's not right on ex-Californians. - Yep. Accident during the first big rain of Fall? Must be one of those Californians.

36. You know what and when the Columbus Day storm was. Bonus for having been there. - I might be too young for this...

37. You go to a coffee bar and see two guys get into a fight over who makes the best India Pale Ale. - Note that it's a coffee bar.

38. You own more than 10 articles of clothing that have microbreweries/brewpubs printed on them. Bonus for embroidered stuff. - Okay, I personally don't like beer, so no, but there is a yearly beerfest, I'm sure they sell shirts, so I don't doubt this.

39. You can recount more than five anecdotes about why the East Side is a crime-infested jungle
... OR ...
You can list more than five reasons why the West Side is a boring, snobby, white-bread suburb. - This is Portland-centric.

40. You know what is in between the East Side and the West Side, and how to pronounce it. - Portland-centric again. It's Will-LA-met. Not Will-la-MET-tee.

41. You are sitting at a red light surrounded by Subaru Legacy Outbacks. - This has probably happened to me, but I didn't notice. Two of my friends have Subaru Foresters though.

42. A tree or mudslide has ever damaged your house or car. - Not quite, but almost. A few branches have fallen off a tree or two near my house.

43. You live equidistant to a symphony hall, a winery, and a volcano. - When I lived in Forest Grove I was a bit closer to the winery than the symphony hall or the volcano, but yeah.

44. Your children learned to walk in Birkenstocks. - I don't have children. I didn't learn to walk in Birkenstocks, but I might be a bit old for that.

45. You complain about Californians as you sell your house to one for twice as much as you originally paid. - Well, before the real estate market died...

46. You only honk your horn if collision is imminent and never for anything else. - I hated this rule and actually refused to follow it. So I can tell you, for a fact, that I've been flipped off for politely tapping my horn when the light has been green for at least 30 seconds. And then the bitch drove 10 miles an hour until she turned about 3 blocks later, just to piss me off. Seriously, that did actually happen to me.

47. You consider "etiquette" a foreign word. - What, obviously it originated in French...so...it's foreign, right?

48. You find a wallet with $500 and give it back to the owner. - Once again, not in the city.

49. You used to live somewhere else but won't admit it publicly. - It's generally alright if you lived in Seattle before, usually we're excited that you've "seen the light" and decided Portland is better.

50. You know a bride & groom that registered at REI. - Well I can almost guarantee you that when my friend Liz gets married, she will.

51. If someone ran your car off the highway, you might drown. - I-5 and I-405 both have a bridge that goes over the Willamette river.

52. You'd be pissed if the store was out of your favorite brand of water. - No, you'd be pissed if the store was out of Brita filters and only had Pur filters.

53. Every day is casual Friday. - Depends on what you consider "casual." But offices that have "business casual" dress codes are still rather casual even on non-Fridays. Friday just means you can wear jeans.

54. Hear the word "ferry" and think of boats and long waits. - This is for your trip up to British Columbia, when you think it might be fun to take the ferry, then on the way back you just drive across.

55. Know at least eight people who work for Intel or Nike, or used to work for Tektronix. - I went to high school with a girl whose dad worked for Nike, my ex worked as an intern at Intel, and I think about 5 of his friends also worked at Intel at some point. And I left the state when I was 24.

56. You think skiing always means being covered from head to toe, in snow or water. - Something is always falling from the sky.

57. You have ever called your insurance agent to ask if your homeowner's policy covers falling trees, flooding, or mud slides. - The people who don't check get screwed and end up on the news.

58. You got your senior pictures done with Carole Meyer. - No, but maybe I'm too young for this one too.

59. You believe swimming is not a sport but a survival skill to prevent boating deaths. - Yep. Being a swim instructor at the local pool is actually a rather lucrative position, and the level that teaches "competition swimming" falls in between a couple of the other levels but is not required for advancement.

60. Obey all traffic laws except "keep right unless passing." - No, it's "chill out in the left lane until someone is tailgating you, pop over to the right lane to let them go, and then go back to the left lane. Repeat as necessary."

61. You are amazed by an accurate weather forecast. - Depends on your definition of accurate. It's not hard to predict rain tomorrow, it is hard to predict how much.

62. You think downtown is "scary" because you were panhandled there....once... - This is for the out-of-towners. Although the panhandlers waiting at traffic signals at the end of the freeway exits are scary. You have to lock the car doors, they've been known to try to open the door if you refuse to give them money.

63. You know that Burgerville has the best hamburgers...ever. - They also have seasonal blackberry and strawberry milkshakes made with fresh Oregon berries. And Walla-Walla onion rings.

64. You have only used 5 main freeways/highways: I-5, 217, 205, 26, and 84. - Yeah. 405 should be in there somewhere but it's kind of a weird branch of I-5 that you only drive on when you absolutely have to.

64. You know that Kindergarten Cop and The Goonies were filmed in Astoria and Cannon Beach, respectively. - And the Shining was filmed at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood.

65. You know where Astoria is. - It's up north, on the bump, by the coast.

66. You think that the Beach is the best place to go for vacation, or just for a day off. - One time I had cabin fever, I think it was February, so I got in my car to go for a drive, and ended up at the beach.

67. You love going to the Original Pancake House....because its original.... - I prefer Elmer's.

68. You take pride in Lewis and Clark and know who Sacagawea is. - Learned all of this in elementary school.

69. You were excited when the Crater lake, Oregon quarter came out. - The deepest lake in the US!

70. You love The Shins...because they live here. - Eh.

71. You love the Decemberists....because they are from here...and live here. - Eh again. The Portland bands aren't really my type of music.

72. You never go to the Tigard theater anymore since they built Bridgeport. - Why would I go all the way to Tigard when there are plenty of theaters in Portland?

73. You think Bridgeport has terrible parking.

74. You went to Washington Square....just to eat lunch at Panda Express...or Scoozi. - No, but I have done this at Lloyd Center. Washington Square is kind of out of the way when there's a perfectly acceptable mall right in the middle of Portland.

75. You love the smell of rain. - And I love how it smells different at different times of the year.

76. You are the only person in the line at the grocery store who asks for paper, not plastic (because while paper "kills trees" it is recyclable, and plastic bags will sit in our landfills for the next millennia). - Well, not when you're in Oregon, but when you're out of the state, yes.

77. You understand the joys of spandex as a layer under pants. - lol, mainly for when you're going skiing.

78. You dress in layers (tank top, t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, jacket, etc). - You have to be able to strip them off depending on the shifts in weather!

79. You know the exact day you had school off because it snowed like....one inch. - Or work.

80. You have been to camp 18...or just driven by it. - I think my mom told me this closed or burned down or something recently. This was how you knew you were halfway to the beach!

81. You listen to KINK FM 102. - I miss KINK. Good station.

82. You remember Ramblin' Rod...and you laugh because you used to watch it....or because you were on it for your birthday. - I was never on it for my birthday, but I did watch it.

83. You play Tony Hawks Pro Skater and recognize Burnside. - I have played Tony Hawk, and I definitely recognize Burnside.

84. You can count the number of movies made here...since there are so many. - I think maybe this is supposed to be "can't." There actually are a lot of movies that were filmed in Oregon, or at least parts were.

85. You are sad during Christmas because it never snows in the valley. - Once every 10 years or so.

86. You know where the valley is. - Yep, it's where all the good wine comes from!

87. You go out of state and wait in your car for someone to pump your gas. - Ha, I have been guilty of this in Washington.

88. Your state and local legislatures are republican but your state executives and national representatives are democrat. - Portland has all the voting power for statewide stuff.

89. You are more concerned about packing a sweatshirt or a jacket when going to the beach than packing a bathing suit. - Yeah, it's windy at the beach.

90. You are aware that "The Shining" was filmed at Timberline Lodge. - Ha, what'd I tell ya?

91. You say "pop" instead of "soda." - I did. Then I moved to Boston and felt a little silly so I changed.

92. You believe that Enchanted Forest is Oregon's disneyland. - Well, that and Oaks Park.

93. You think it looks strange when pedestrian signs do not have hula-hoops around them. - lol, it's supposed to look like the road.

94. The red nose on the 'Made in Oregon" sign starts your holiday season. - Yes indeed. I used to get so excited as a child. That was when it was still the "White Stag" sign.

95. You drive on 'the Banfield'. - And still have no idea why it's called that.

96. You've seen the Elvis impersonator at Saturday Market. - I've been to Saturday Market many times, but I've never seen him.

97. You've been offered pot on Hawthorne. - No, but I have seen "water pipes" for sale at the local convenience store.

98. You've been in or heard about a pillowfight in the middle of downtown. - Too young again?

99. You smile at people you don't know as you walk by them on the sidwalk. - I still do. I scare the Bostonians.

100. People call you a hippie and you just smile because you can't hear them over the grape-nuts. - Well, I'm not a hippie. The true Oregon hippies are pretty damn hard core.

101. You make subtle remarks about Washington drivers, but save your real road rage for California drivers. - Yeah. Washington drivers don't know how to merge and forget u-turns are illegal in Oregon, but I'd still rather drive next to them than one of those Californians.

102. You know The Shane Company's radio commercial word for word. - "Across the freeway from the Washington Square Mall, on the west corner of highway 217 and Scholls Ferry Road. Open Monday through Friday till 8, Saturday and Sunday till 5...also available online at shaneco.com." I can even hear the guy's voice.

103. You've witnessed 300 nude bicyclists just cruising around downtown like its no big deal. - Ha, I've never seen this, but it wouldn't surprise me.

104. You were thrilled that Scott Thomason finally stop putting his face on the back of his cars. - Yeah, now he has some weird cupid thing with a key instead of an arrow.

105. You consider it a good tan when you're no longer "pasty," just "pale." - I tan well and this STILL applied to me.

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Have DVDs ruined TV?

2009-01-16T21:26:00.001-05:00

As I sit here, just about to throw in the third disc of season one of Mad Men, I wonder at the fact that, though I managed to be aware enough to catch all of season two and save it in my TiVo box, I refused to simply start watching at the beginning of that season without ever seeing season one.

The third season of Big Love starts on Sunday. I feel the need to watch all of season two, which is hanging out in HBO On Demand, before the new season starts.

I remember a time when you could turn on the TV, notice a show and say, "hmm, I've heard about that, maybe I'll watch an episode." And you could watch, and at least generally get what's going on, and end up getting into it, never really knowing what you missed in any earlier seasons. Maybe they'd pop up on syndication and you'd get a sense of what was going on. But it wasn't crucial.

Along came DVDs. They're cheaper and more durable than VHS tapes. They're lighter, making them easier to ship. Suddenly you can easily rent movies by mail. So what if we start putting entire seasons of television shows on DVD? Would people buy them? Or at least rent them? How can we best utilize this capitalization opportunity?

I'm not sure what exactly it started with. I seem to remember that when I first noticed television shows on DVD, it was shows like Sex and the City and The Sopranos. The shows that not everyone could access when it was originally aired because they didn't subscribe to the necessary premium channels. Then they started putting what I would call "old favorites" on DVD. The stuff that was doing really well in syndication, so obviously people enjoy "rewatching" them. Things like Friends, Frasier, or Seinfeld. Perhaps around the same time, entire DVD collections of various Britcoms would come out - I think at that time, BBC America was not part of the standard cable package, so again, it was shows that weren't available to all viewers.

After these DVDs began to really sell, and after Netflix started to take off, the TV networks hit upon the ultimate selling point. What if they make the shows so complicated that it's not enjoyable to watch them if you don't know what happened in the prior seasons? That's sort of what was already happening with the HBO and Showtime shows - which, by the way, were winning Emmys and Golden Globes left and right. So maybe it's really the attempts to make high-quality television shows that can compete with the award-winning records of HBO and Showtime that increased the complexity of your average television show. These shows can't just go episode by episode. Can they? Would it have been possible to write a show like Dexter, Mad Men, The Tudors, or any of the other shows available in neat, compact little episodes that don't depend on what happened before? I think it would have. I don't think I ever saw the first season of Buffy, and while the story line certainly carried over from episode to episode, you weren't completely lost. Even The Sopranos wasn't necessarily impossible to follow if you happened upon it in the middle of a season. I started watching in about the middle of season three. I was none the worse for it.

DVDs have ruined the art of making a show that works in nice, compact episodes. This includes sitcoms, which are inherently meant to work in single, compact episodes. How many sitcoms can you think of that are on the air right now? Certainly not nearly as many as there used to be. And don't get me started with On Demand, which makes it possible to miss an episode, even if you don't have TiVo or another DVR, and still go back and catch what you missed if you weren't home that night. Because, of course, you can't catch up on DVD until the season comes out, which is usually just before the new season. Isn't that convenient?

I may be ranting, but I'm not sure I'd really want it any different. I can't dispute the fact that because of this apparent shift in the landscape of television, the overall quality of the shows has increased dramatically. I'm about to go enjoy one of them. I think it will go nicely with a glass of wine and a cat in my lap.

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Singing for my supper

2009-01-12T21:02:00.001-05:00

So I went to the choir audition on Saturday, but unfortunately I don't sight-read well enough for that particular choir. For you non-music people, sight reading is the art of singing by reading the notes on the page, rather than by simply repeating what you hear (like when you sing along with the radio). Really, it's the art of playing any instrument by reading the notes on the page, but most people who play an instrument can sight-read, at least for their own instrument. It generally only poses a problem for singers. Especially sopranos like me, since sopranos almost always (if not always) sing the melody, which is very easy to learn by ear. So anyway, there's your music lesson for the day - back to the audition. The choir director did tell me that while I don't sight-read well enough for that particular choir, he suggested some other choirs that work on the music more before performing it, making sight reading much less important. He also repeatedly complimented my "beautiful voice," which was really nice to hear. Not that other people haven't complimented my voice in recent years, but it's different coming from a fellow musician. At least, for me it is. There was a time when it didn't matter who complimented me, I figured most people listen to enough music to know what sounds good and what doesn't. But, things changed.

I guess it's story time. I usually brush off what happened in college, I don't much like to talk about it, but this choir audition has brought back a bit of my confidence so I guess it's time to air my grievances. See...when I was in college (2001-2005) I started out as a music major. Not just a music major, a vocal performance major. So what happened? Well, at my school, all performance majors had to get approval from the music faculty to advance to the 300 level of lessons. So at the end of your sophomore year, you did a performance in front of the music faculty and they'd vote on whether you had achieved a certain level of quality. For vocalists, "quality" means things like tone, ability to stay on key, expressiveness, and range, among other things. Well, for whatever reason in that combination of factors, I wasn't approved for the 300 level. So, that sort of broke my spirit. I didn't want to be a music major at all if I wasn't a performance major, so I switched to sociology simply because I really enjoyed the intro class I had just taken and the professor told me at the end of the class that I should change majors because I apparently had a talent for the subject and I shouldn't waste it. He was half-joking, but I recalled what he said when I was trying to figure out what major to switch to and I decided that was as good a reason as any (it turns out I loved sociology and learned many fascinating things, so it was a good choice). I didn't even try to get a music minor, even though I only needed 2 more classes to complete it. I stuck with my art minor (with a focus in photography) and haven't taken another music class since. In my senior year some friends convinced me to do "Pacific Idol," which was my school's version of American Idol. I made it to the top 10 and did a lovely, rather sexy performance of Fiona Apple's Criminal. I didn't win, but I didn't really care since I was just doing it for fun at that point. By then I was happy I'd made it to the top 10.

Ever since my Pacific Idol performance, the closest I've gotten to performing is the occasional karaoke night. I'm really not sure what is driving me to rejoin a choir now. I say it's because I miss the simple pleasure of singing for others, but maybe it's more than that. Maybe I need the validation. Maybe I need to reconnect with that hopeful little college freshman (and sophomore) who thought if she was just determined enough, the world of music would lay itself at her feet and she'd be famous. Or maybe I need to reconnect even farther back, to the little girl "performing" out in her cousin's yard, using a tall, flowered weed as a microphone. I don't know. All I know is that I feel the need to sing again.

So, anyway. I'm going to try out for one of the other choirs in the area. Apparently there's one really close to where I live. I checked out the website and it says that sight-reading helps but isn't necessary. So I emailed them and scheduled a brief audition before their rehearsal next Monday. We'll see how it goes. I'll keep you posted.

Anyway, before I go, I have to link to this post by Jenn. Just doing my part to save the environment. Check it out!

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Blocked...

2009-01-08T21:13:00.001-05:00

It's a plague. Going through bloggy-land. It took down Kate. And Ginger. Now me.

It's writer's block.

It's not that nothing interesting has been going on. I just don't really have anything to say about it.

Got the cat on some new food. I learned some things about the long term effects of most cat food due to the fact that they put corn in there because it's cheap. But corn has high sugar content, and cats, as carnivores, don't really process sugar. So eventually it gives them diabetes and their kidneys fail. I don't want that. I switched to something better. This new food also doesn't have "by-products," or, in other words, the sweepings from the slaughterhouse floor. Yum. So, my cat may be eating healthier than I do, which amuses me...but I guess it comes down to the fact that while I have a choice when I decide to put something into my body and know just how healthy or unhealthy it is, the cat does not have that same choice.

So. That's about the most I have for ya. Work is good. I'm trying out for a choir on Saturday, so maybe I'll have more to say about that once I've actually tried out. I'm pretty excited, it's been a long time since I did any singing on a regular basis. You know, aside from dancing and singing while cooking or cleaning.

Well. I guess that's it. Away I go! À bientôt!

(No translation for ya this time...find it on your own!)

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In retrospect...

2008-12-29T18:50:00.001-05:00

No tagging here, I just thought this was entertaining. =)

Where did you begin 2008?
At Christen's house in Portland, unsure of when it was exactly midnight because her cable had gone out and we had no antenna so we had no idea when the ball dropped. We used our cell phones. I then slept a few hours and hopped on a plane back to Boston.

What was your status by Valentine's Day?
Oh so very single.

Were you in school (anytime this year)?
Why yes, I think I was.

Did you have to go to the hospital?
Yes, for some random pain in my side that they thought was gallstones but turned out to be what I've decided to call the mysterious, unexplained pain that never returned.

Did you have any encounters with the police?
Not really, unless you count the ones in Boston holding up traffic so you can cross the street.

Where did you go on vacation?
I would count Bend, OR for Andi's wedding, it's outside of my usual part.

What did you purchase that cost $500 or more?
A new bed!

Did you know anybody who got married?
Quite a few people, actually.

Did you know anybody who passed away?
Yes...my cousin...

Did you move anywhere?
Yes, from part of Boston to a nearby suburb.

What sporting events did you attend?
Red Sox!

What concerts/shows did you go to?
Jason Mraz. Three times. Haha...

Where do you live now?
Near Boston.

Describe your birthday?
Vanessa and I had a "date" (dinner and a movie).

What's the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2008?
Look up a friend from my high school job at Circuit City on MySpace and contact him.

What has/have been your favorite moment(s)?
Finishing 1L year, starting my first internship, succeeding in said internship, being an LF.

What's something you learned about yourself?
I'm better off without him...

Any new additions to your family?
Not my immediate family

What was your best month?
They all had their ups and downs.

What music will you remember 2008 by?
Um, probably We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things, for the most part.

Who has been your best drinking buddy?
Megan and Amanda

Made new friends?
Yes =)

Favorite Night[s] out?
Any time with Megan and Amanda.

Any regrets?
I don't regret anything. I learn from it.

What do you want to change in 2009?
Nothing really.

Overall, how would you rate this year?
Good =)

What would you change about 2008?
Nothing.

Other than home, where did you spend most of your time?
School

Have any life changes in 2008?
Moved, need to sue someone, did my first internship...

Change your hairstyle?
Not really.

Get a new job?
New internships, but all related to my current employment status of "student" so not really.

How old did you turn this year?
25

Do you have a New Year's resolution?
Nope, I don't do those.

Did anything embarrassing?
I fell while running for the T. Then wanted to punch the girl that had to say "you fell" in a snooty voice as I ran by after getting up. She's lucky I caught that train.

Buy anything new from eBay?
Don't think so. Craig's List though.

What was/were your favorite purchase[s]?
Bed, iPhone, iPod =)

Get married or divorced?
Nope

Get arrested?
Nope

Be honest - did you watch American Idol?
No, it hurts me. I did watch "So You Think You Can Dance?" though.

Did you get sick this year?
Just a couple colds. Aside from the mysterious, unexplained pain that never returned.

Start a new hobby?
Nope

Been snowboarding?
Nope

Are you happy to see 2008 go?
It wasn't that bad! But I'm happy to be continuing through life.

Drank Starbucks in 2008?
Yes, I had some this morning.

Been naughty or nice?
Nice, generally ;)

What are you wishing for in 2009?
Get through most of the remainder of law school without losing my mind, get a post-graduation job offer so I can graduate in 2010 in peace.

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C'est francais!

2008-12-27T23:55:00.001-05:00

Alright, so, I know I mentioned a few weeks ago that I'm working on my French again in preparation for my graduation trip to Paris. London is included in that trip package, btw, but I don't need to learn a new language for that as long as I don't try to buy waterproof pants like my friend Liz did..."pants" means "underwear" over there, if you didn't already know. Anywho, so during this week while my mom has been here, we keep ending up near people speaking French. I keep picking up on it, probably due to a heightened awareness since I'm working on relearning it.

Anyway, on to tonight. My mom and I were out for drinks for her last night here. We've just paid the bill, and my mom ran to the bathroom while they were processing the card and all that jazz. While she's gone, I discover that the table of 7 people that had recently been seated near us are all speaking French. I'm guessing they're from Quebec since Massachusetts is rather close. So, I'm listening, not catching much because I've forgotten a lot PLUS I've had two martinis. That's not a TON of alcohol to me, but I was swaying a bit on the walk back to the train station. I'm still having an interesting time typing right now. I have to focus very hard to catch the typos. I'm sure you can tell I'm a little unfocused since I seem to be going off on tangents instead of staying on topic. Anywho. My mom comes back and I whisper to her that they're speaking French and I want to say that I think it's funny since I keep encountering people doing that now that I've started relearning. She says I should. Being somewhere between tipsy and drunk, I do it. But in French. Here's roughly what I said. (Translations as necessary.)

"Un moment...un moment. (One moment...one moment.) C'est interessant, parce que j'ai oublie un peu de mon français, mais je desire... (It's interesting, because I've forgotten a little of my French but I want...) to remember..." (at which point one of the women reminded me what it is, I believe she said souvenir, which is the verb for to remember)...

And then I finished in English by saying "and I keep ending up near people speaking French ever since I started working on it again." My mom added some things in English about how we've ended up near people 3 or 4 times in the past week. And then I said:

"Je desire visiter à Paris en......deux mille...dix. (I want to visit Paris in......two thousand...ten).

One of the men then responded in French to tell me the dollar will be higher at that point (referring to the exchange rate, American dollar will be a little better, basically...). Then I said goodbye and we left.

So, anyway. It wasn't anything brilliant. But I certainly feel that I'll be ready for my Paris trip when summer of 2010 rolls around. They didn't want to kill me. They didn't cringe at my accent (actually, I've known that won't be a problem ever since my 3rd year high school French teacher said I have a perfect accent). They were accommodating when I got stuck and had to switch to English (granted, they were visiting my country so it's a little more acceptable to speak in my own language at that point). They'll probably talk about it for the rest of the evening, but they were pleasant and happy to speak to me and that's what counts at this point.

And now, I feel the need to present you all with the lyrics to a song I wrote when I was still a music major back in my Sophomore year of college...before I switched to Sociology. There's a long story you may never hear...

Dans mon jardin avec mes fleurs, (In my garden with my flowers)
J'attends, j'attends. (I wait, I wait.)
J'attends pour toi (I wait for you)
Mais tu ne viens jamais. (But you never come.)

Et tu mon ange? (Are you my angel?)
Ou un mirage? (Or a mirage?)
Les fleurs sont mort (The flowers died)
Mais j'attends tojours. (But I always wait.)
Et tu ne viens jamais. (And you never come.)

Dans mon jardin avec mes fleurs (In my garden with my flowers)
J'attends pour mon amour, (I wait for my love)
Et il ne viens....
Jamais... (And he never comes...)

Pardon the translation there at the end, gramattically the "ne....jamais" around a verb means never. Ne...pas just negates the verb, like, "je ne condius pas" means I don't drive. And ne...plus means not anymore. There, I just taught you something. Something rather advanced if you can't even conjugate the verbs in the first place, but there you have it. =)

Alright, well, I know my mom and I were out for drinks which provides a bit of an excuse for being up late, but I should head off to bed now. Goodnight all, and I hope you had a wonderful holiday filled with laughter and love. =)

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My Christmas Miracle

2008-12-22T20:49:00.001-05:00

9:00 am, EST - My mother's plane from Portland International Airport (hereinafter "PDX") to Logan International Airport (hereinafter "BOS") was supposed to be arriving from Anchorage, AK but got rerouted to wait in Seattle while PDX dealt with the runways so the plane could land there and then take its passengers to BOS. We retain hope. They're supposed to be on the plane by 8:30 am, PST, which would be 11:30 am, EST.

12:00 pm, EST - I'm about to head to lunch and haven't received the call I was waiting all morning for, telling me that they were getting on the plane. I call my mom, she says the plane is still in Seattle and they're still working on the runways at PDX. I get a little worried because she sounds worried and try to not cry into my chili at lunch since I'm in public and don't cry in front of people. I get back to work at 12:30 and proceed to cry through the first hour of my afternoon alone in my office while begging whatever universal force is out there (the only way an Agnostic can pray) to just send her here. I tell this universal force, again and again, that all I want is to be with my mom on Christmas, I could care less about the other shit.

1:30 pm, EST - I clean myself up because I have to go to a meeting with some attorneys at work. I'm antsy through the whole meeting but still gave some rather useful input for the case we were dealing with, it was a nice break to think about something else and give my input in an important meeting and have the other attorneys say, "oh, yes, that's right, thank you."

3:10 pm, EST - I return to my office and there's a message from my mom telling me they finally started snowplowing the runways (what they were doing for the last 6 hours I'll never know) and they're supposed to be boarding by 12:30 pm PST (3:30 pm, EST, so basically 20 minutes after this call, so I'm figuring by 1 at this point).

6:15 pm, EST - I get home and find that I'd missed a call from my mom about 5 minutes before so I call her back and she tells me the plane is there and all they have to do is get the people off the plane (I'm assuming these are the people from Anchorage who waited in Seattle all day) and then they'll board and they'll be on the way to BOS.

6:45 pm, EST - My world crashes around me when I get another call from my mom telling me the flight was canceled. I'm sobbing so hard I can't even understand what she's telling me when she's explaining why, eventually I discern that they apparently don't have a crew for the plane. She says she's in the rebooking line, she'll tell me when she gets rebooked, and asks me to check online to see if I can find anything in the next couple days. After I hang up, I'm sobbing so hard on my way up the stairs to my room that I sink to the floor about halfway up, hanging on the banister and screaming at the sky that all I wanted was to have my mom here for Christmas. Eventually I get upstairs and get my computer and bring it back downstairs, sobbing the whole time, and sign on and try to check Alaska Air's website to see if I can find out any more information. I talk with my friend Amanda and tell her they canceled the flight and Amanda assures me they will do something to get her here because the airlines try really hard around Christmas. I try to be reassured by this and the sobbing at least reduces to just general crying.

7:05 pm, EST - My mom calls again. I assume it's to tell me the rebooking information. She sounds so excited when I pick up the phone I can barely tell what she's trying to say. I finally understand that they reinstated the flight, that they talked the crew (or a crew, it's hard to tell) into flying the plane and that they're getting on the plane and she'll be here soon. "Soon" meaning in about 5 hours because that's how long it takes to fly from PDX to BOS. I start crying with relief and we hang up, with the assurance that she will not have to call me again until she is in Boston. I tell Amanda it's all better. I continue to cry, now with relief and utter joy, for the next 20 minutes or so.

I've dubbed this chain of events, mostly the moment at 7:05 pm, my own personal Christmas miracle.

I'm now going to calm down with some wine and get a bit of sleep while I wait for the call telling me she's here.

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A challenge!

2008-12-16T22:56:00.002-05:00

1. Pick 16 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions.

Ready...set...GO!

1. Tyrone, you know how much I love watching you work, but I've got my country's 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it; I'm swamped.

2. The world changes, we do not, there lies the irony that finally kills us.

3. Lawyers should never marry other lawyers. This is called in-breeding; from which comes idiot children... and more lawyers.

4. But they showed no corrections of any kind. Not one. He had simply written down music already finished in his head. Page after page of it as if he were just taking dictation. And music, finished as no music is ever finished. Displace one note and there would be diminishment. Displace one phrase and the structure would fall.

5. With a prompter in every cellar window whispering comebacks, shy people would have the last laugh.

6. Lose it? I didn't lose it. It's not like, "Whoops! Where'd my job go?" I QUIT. Someone pass me the asparagus.

7. Your fuckin' family's dug into the Southie projects like ticks. Three-decker men at best. You, however, grew up on the North Shore, huh? Well, la-di-fuckin'-da. You were kind of a double kid, I bet, right? Huh? One kid with your old man, one kid with your mother. You're upper-middle class during the weeks, then you're droppin' your "R"s and you're hangin' in the big, bad Southie projects with your daddy, the fuckin' donkey on the weekends. I got that right? [No answer] Yup. You have different accents? You did, didn't you? You little fuckin' snake. You were like different people.

8. You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it's me, I'm a little fucked up maybe, but I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to fuckin' amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?

9. Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.

10. A - You got into Harvard Law? B - What, like it's hard?

11. I don't want something I need. I want something I want - something pretty.

12. A - One question about your business, boy, or there's no use going: This girl... how far are you willing to go to save her? B - I'd die for her. A - Oh good. No worries then.

13. She's gone. She gave me a pen. I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen.

14. A - What makes you think she's a witch? B - Well, she turned me into a newt! A - A newt? B - I got better...

15. Ma chère mademoiselle. It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight. And now, we invite you to relax, let us pull up a chair, as the dining room proudly presents... your dinner.

16. You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul. What I say is true - anyone can cook... but only the fearless can be great.

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It just hurts me...

2008-12-14T11:08:00.001-05:00

You all know how I am about spelling and grammar and typos.

Really, a single typo is generally fine, unless it's something that should have been thoroughly edited before going out.

Such as this:

Vanity Plates: Creepiness in 8 Characters or Less - I believe in a thing called SPELLING

Honestly. It's one word. On your license plate. Make sure it's spelled right! Or did you forget the old "I before E except after C..." bit?

*curls in a ball and whimpers for a bit*

Okay. I think I've recovered.

This leads me to something I've been thinking about. Why does this bother me so much? I suppose it's because so many people don't even realize how unintelligent they look when they have constant spelling errors, poor sentence structure, or the wrong homonym (their, they're, there). So, like I said, one typo is generally no big deal. I suppose I draw the line between something that is clearly an honest mistake and something that just makes you look stupid. It's not a bright line; if I know your writing and you rarely have errors, I'll shrug off the occasional mistake. We all do it. I actually edit every blog post to avoid being hypocritical by having errors of my own, but I do make them. I've even caught myself doing the things I hate the most, like its vs. it's, or where and wear. I laugh, then fix it.

The reason I hate when people actually cross the line and make themselves look stupid is because they could very well be highly intelligent and all the mistakes are hiding that fact. With the internet allowing anyone and everyone a venue for proudly displaying their poor spelling and misplaced apostrophes, more and more people are looking dumber and dumber when in actuality they're not dumb at all. So why do I care if someone else makes themselves look stupid? Well, it's because they don't seem to care. They don't seem to realize what it looks like to other people to have glaring errors in everything they ever write out. Then they get angry and call you a "grammar Nazi" when you really just want to help them. It's especially hard when the underlying thought process behind what they just wrote clearly shows that they are rather intelligent, and they're getting angry because you just want them to realize that their intelligence would come across much more clearly if they took a little time to check for errors. Or took a little time to learn what is and is not correct, such as with commonly mixed-up homonyms.

So, there you have it. For all my dear bloggy-friends, I hope this post sufficiently demonstrated that any typos you may make fall in the category of forgivable, honest mistakes. I probably wouldn't read your blogs otherwise, it would be too hard.

In other news, I've discovered that just about every Christmas album has a version of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "Silent Night" on it. It gets a little repetitive.

Well, I've been awake for two hours and I am still in my pajamas. I'm off to remedy that, then wait for my new bed! =)

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Quiet! I can't hear the voices in my head!

2008-12-13T12:44:00.003-05:00

It's weird to live in a townhouse where you pay rent so you feel like all your neighbors do too...until they start doing some random remodeling next door so the sound of drills and hammers interrupt your Christmas music. Because you just pay the owner of your one unit, so of course some people might just live in the place they own rather than rent it out. So of course they're allowed to do remodeling.

I was going to run some errands tomorrow, since it's only 28 degrees out right now and tomorrow it's supposed to be closer to 40. But I might need to escape the noise. *shrug* I have more time today anyway...maybe I should. I can enjoy my Christmas music on my iPod instead.

Speaking of which, yes, I still love my new toys. =) Jenn, in response to your question, the iPhone is fantastic. You asked about the Touch, which is different since it's not a phone and therefore isn't hooked up to the 3G network. But any of the applications you can get for the iPhone that don't require an internet connection work on the Touch, and they're a lot of fun. Lots of random games and stuff. And TONS of free applications. I'm actually kind of surprised at how many are free. And many others are only 99 cents. Anyway, if you were talking about upgrading your phone, you definitely should, and if you were talking about just upgrading to the iPod Touch, well, you should do that too. You'll love it, I promise. =)

As for my iPod...I am absolutely amazed at how long the battery lasts. I haven't charged it since I bought it on Sunday, I've listened to it on my way to and from work every day, and it's still about 1/2 full. Not only have I listened to it on my way to and from work, I've also listened to it a bit at home while cooking or cleaning. I would have charged that Zen twice by now.

Oh, and the new iPods (or at least the Nano) have this "genius" playlist thing. You select a song in your music, and tell genius to start, and it creates a playlist to match the song you selected. And it really does deserve the term "genius;" it is the smartest playlist creator I've ever seen. I've only created two lists so far, but all the songs that come up match the selected song REALLY well. The last one I did, I swear it didn't only match the artists, but also the overall tone of the song itself. So, when it was kind of a low-key song, it picked a bunch of other low-key tracks, rather than just going by artists that would match if it had just picked the right song. It's amazing.

Anywho, enough about my new toys. Work was exciting this week. I had a nice breakthrough in looking through some audit files (the collection of documents and charts and whatnot the auditors used in making their determination) on this one case. I'm starting to figure out what happened. Which is great, because it's a really complicated case. We need to do discovery (which, for you non-law people, means we need to get documents and stuff from the other party) but to do that we need to know what evidence will help us prove our case, so we need to know what's going on and what evidence we already have from the auditors. We also need to dismiss part of their claim, and I get to work on the motion to dismiss. That excites me to no end. All this background stuff like dismissals and settlements is the heart of civil litigation, very few cases actually end up at trial, so having the chance to work on this stuff makes me happy. And with how happy it makes me, that just validates the fact that I really, really do want to do civil litigation when I'm out of school.

Anyway, my other case has been in settlement negotiations on all but one of the issues, and they're just about to come to an agreement, when that happens I'll be writing up the settlement memo, which is basically the memo we send up to the big cheeses at the DOR to explain why we think we should settle on those issues and how much we're settling for and stuff.

AAAAAAND, that's as far as I can go in talking about work. But as you can see I was very careful to not mention the names of the companies.

Let's see, what else...oh, since I don't have any homework for the next few months, I'm starting to brush up on my French in anticipation of my graduation trip. Yes, it is brushing up. There was a time in my life when I was JUST on the edge of fluency...but then I stopped taking it because I went to college and it wasn't my major or my minor so I just took one semester to meet the foreign language requirement...then I graduated college...now I'm in law school...anyway, it's been a long time since I actively worked on it, so I've lost a lot of what I used to know. I'm still pretty far beyond basic, but I'd prefer to be able to get along in Paris without needing to say "puis-je parler en anglais, s'il vous plaît?" (may I speak in English, please?) too often. Anyway, I found a podcast that got some good reviews, one of the reviews said it's not very good for "beginner-beginners" so I figured that means it won't annoy me by being overly basic. I've listened to the first two, both had at least one useful tip that I either forgot or never knew, so I'm happy with that. I also found an interesting website with some free worksheets to work on verb conjucation and stuff.

Well, I guess I should get to my errands. Until next time!

**Update: 9:15 pm, EST**

Home from my errands. Christmas shopping is almost done. I am done going to any mall-type places. Although I do still need to go to Target...that might be worse than the mall. But I have this great idea for Chris and Amanda and Target is really the best place to go. Anywho, my mom is done, as is Vanessa, and Megan, Christen and my dad are all online.

Anyway, the best part of the errands: I finally bought myself a new bed! Which I was supposed to do when I moved in September but it just wasn't quite going to happen. Got it at a HUGE sale at Sleep-a-rama (I think they're a Boston business, their website only has Boston and Cambridge locations). They have great customer service, by the way. Anywho, so I go in and I tell the guy that I'm looking for a queen size and I'd like to only spend $700, for delivery and all. He told me they had some specials going on, showed me what I could get for that, then left me alone to lay on all the beds until I decided. I figured the one I almost fell asleep on right there in the store was the one for me. So I'm checking out and the guy showed what the price was normally without the sale - $1200! So basically I just got a great mattress. Finally! I've never had a great mattress like that. Anyway, it's a plush top so it has the support underneath but the squishiness on the top so when I lay on my side (which is how I usually sleep) I won't scrunch my shoulders. And it's one of those with the separate springs that you see the commercials for, with the bowling ball. Beautyrest, I think. I didn't pay as much attention to the details, I just knew that I was falling asleep in the store. =)

So, that's my update on my successful errands. Hooray!

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Just generally...

2008-12-09T21:03:00.002-05:00

Work is going great, but I can't say much about it. Lots of confidentiality. Ya know, working for the Dept. of Revenue, access to people's tax stuff while it's in litigation, learning about things that big name companies have been doing...yadda yadda...

The movers I'm going to sue should have responded to the 30 day demand letter with a reasonable settlement offer by now. They didn't, so this weekend I'm going to work on my complaint.

I passed the MPRE, so that's exciting. Actually, I kicked its ass. A passing score was an 85, I got a 107. Go me!

OH! Most exciting thing is the new toy I bought myself. It's a phone. Made by Apple. With a fun touch screen and lots of cool applications to add (many are free, I'm discovering). Yes. That's right. It's an iPhone. =D It's awfully distracting when I'm at work. Or at home. Or on the T. lol.

Anywho, I also got a cute, little, purple iPod Nano. Yes, I know the iPhone is also an iPod, but the biggest one is 16GB. Considering I usually have about that much in music I want to take with me and then thinking about space for applications and the fact that the stuff that makes the phone work takes up space, so do contacts and text messages and ringtones...I couldn't see it working as more than just a backup iPod. Vanessa has had an iPhone for a while now and she said the same thing. I've also discovered since making the purchase that all the other stuff the phone does really drains the battery. I'm sure it would start to annoy me if I had to charge it every day because I was not only doing phone stuff but listening to music too. So anyway, I only got the 8GB phone to make up for the fact that I was getting an iPod too, and then got the 16GB cute little purple one. Seriously, it's adorable. And purple. I love it. (Did I mention that it's purple? Have you figured out my favorite color yet?)

So, back to the actual reason I needed a new mp3 player of some sort. My Zen (random mp3 player made by Creative) has been acting up for about a month and a half now. Whenever I go to charge it, it only charges about halfway. It can sit there for 6 hours, or all night, and still not get fully charged. And the AC adaptor I'd had died over the summer so in order to leave it charging long enough to even get halfway I had to have it attached to my laptop, therefore leaving the laptop on and usually plugged in since I don't normally sit at the computer that long, therefore not only wasting electricity but also affecting the life of my laptop battery. All signs point to not good. So, I knew the time had come to replace it. And after doing some price and quality comparisons I decided that iPods really are the best value. So, there you have it. I have converted. And I'm quite happy with the battery life so far, much happier than I ever was with that Zen, even when it was new.

Aw...Severus just jumped in my lap and when I went to pet him I mis-timed my movement and hit him in the nose. I must comfort the cat now. I think that's all my news of the week anyway.

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The Magical Land of NUSL

2008-12-06T18:00:00.007-05:00

So, Bree has been rather confused by the way my school works. It's probably somewhat confusing for the rest of you too, since most of you probably expect classes to go from late summer or early fall to late spring or early summer with just a few breaks in between terms. My school is very different from any other law school. It's actually very different from any other university.

Because it's so unique, I may as well just say that I go to Northeastern University School of Law ("NUSL") in Boston, since it would be pretty easy to figure it out after learning how the program works. Just don't stalk me. ;)

Anyway, so, here's a general overview of how NUSL's program works. For your first year of law school, you're just like any other 1L. You start at the end of August, and your first semester is over in mid-December. Spring semester starts in early January and is over in mid-May. The only unique thing you get as a 1L is the LSSC program, which I've talked about before since I just spent my last term as a Lawyering Fellow in the program.

But then your second year starts. And it actually starts the summer right after your first year is done. The reason we're technically in school all year is because of the co-op program. What is co-op, you ask? Well, it's short for cooperative education, meaning that Northeastern University recognized a long time ago that people don't just learn from sitting in a classroom. The undergraduate school has had a co-op program for almost 100 years, and the students actually go to school for 5 years in order to give themselves time to get up to 18 months of full-time experience as an intern in an area of their choosing.

So, when the university added a law school 40 years ago, of course they couldn't abandon the importance of co-op. But how to implement it into a law school and still be ABA-accredited? The ABA has a lot of crazy rules, it's possible a 4-year program wouldn't fly with them, and then the school wouldn't get many students, and the ones that did attend could only sit for the bar in certain states, and the whole great idea of sending the students on co-op so they could get "experiential education" along with their classroom education wouldn't really do much. So, somehow the founders of the law school figured out that they could probably condense the classes for 2Ls and 3Ls (known as Upper Levels or ULs) into 11 weeks, rather than 15, and put the school on a quarter system for those students, rather than semesters like all the other law schools. And then, if they included summer in the school year, they could arrange the year so that every law student does four 11-week full-time internships before they graduate.

So, in order to make sure that every student gets an internship, they needed to balance out some of the competition, both among the students at NUSL and among NUSL students and the rest of the law schools. Fall, winter, and spring quarters are easy because all the other law students in the country are in school so there's only in-school competition. Summer is highly competitive because that's when all the other law students are really trying to get internships. Luckily, at most other law schools, many students don't get an internship the summer right after their first year. Also, there are more available internships in the summer. Plus, NUSL specifically prepares us for working at an internship during our first year which makes us slightly more desirable than 1Ls from other schools. So those various things balance out the competition in the summer. But then you still have to balance out the competition within the school. So, early in your first year you pick a co-op rotation. You either pick fall/spring, meaning you go on co-op during the fall and spring quarters, or you pick summer/winter, and go on co-op during those quarters. Then you are in class during the quarters when you're not on co-op.

Confused? Here's a visual of the UL calendar, with the two rotations side-by-side.

Summer Quarter
Fall Quarter
Winter Quarter
Spring Quarter

Summer/winter
Co-op
Classes
Co-op
Classes

Fall/spring
Classes
Co-op
Classes
Co-op

As you can see, this reduces the in-school competition so that you're only competing with half of your fellow students for your next co-op. And certain co-op employers prefer 2Ls, some prefer 3Ls. Some types of co-op, regardless of the employer preference, are better for first or second co-ops, and some are better for third or fourth co-ops when you've had more experience. So it's really pretty easy to get the internship you want in all terms besides summer.

Now that you know all that, you know what it means when I say I'm on the summer/winter rotation. And you all understand why my classes ended shortly before Thanksgiving and now I'm working for about 3 months. Anyway, the whole co-op program is why I wanted to come to NUSL in the first place. Not only having the opportunity to get not one, not two, but four full-time internships, but actually having those four internships be a requirement for graduation sounded great to me. That requirement means I actually have to look for internships, but it also means that the school is really helpful and makes sure you find an internship. They remind you of application deadlines, they have big mailing days when everyone turns in a set of application packets and they mail all your stuff where it needs to go, then they tell you if you got an interview, they filter all the interview offers once you have an internship all lined up so you're not the one that has to answer the phone and say, "oh, sorry, I already accepted a job."

So, there you go. That is why my school is fantastic.

If you want to look at our website, which just got updated so it's all pretty and new, go here.

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Giving Thanks to the City of Boston

2008-11-30T22:23:00.001-05:00

First of all, Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone!

So, my dad arrived on Wednesday and left this morning and boy were we busy!

Wednesday night when he first arrived we just went and had dinner at this pub I like in downtown, The Kinsale. Good food and drinks and nice quiet atmosphere. I thought it was best for him following a day of traveling.

Thursday was Thanksgiving of course. We made our way over to my friend Amanda's place, arriving at 10 am, thinking we were an hour late for watching the Macy's parade. Turns out since I warned Amanda we were running a little late they made sure to TiVo it and waited for our arrival. We then enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving breakfast of donuts and coffee from Dunkin Donuts while we made fun of the rather unusual camera angles selected for some of the balloons (hi, I don't need to look at Ronald McDonald's ass, thank you).

Following donuts was cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, and chips and dip, served with pumpkin martinis or cosmos while we watched the dog show. Yes, we did indeed start drinking at noon. But with plenty of food to balance it out. During this time various other people started arriving. Eventually we had a representative from almost every law school in Boston - Northeastern, Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, and New England. We were only missing Suffolk. Great conversation was had, mostly around law stuff because, well, that's what we talk about.

At around 5-ish it was time for dinner. All I'll say about that is...Amanda is a fantastic cook. All the traditional stuff was there, of course, but the line between good and fantastic is all around how you flavor the food, and she knows what she's doing.

After digesting for a bit, we had dessert. This meant 5 different pies. We had apple, pumpkin, pecan, derby (chocolate and walnuts) and eggnog. Then we sat and digested those for a bit, talked some more, and everyone finally went home at about 9. All in all it was a great day.

So on Friday it was time for my dad to take the tour of Boston. The most entertaining thing at first was introducing him to the changeable weather here. We left and it was a light rain, barely more than a drizzle. We got to downtown and the rain had stopped. We went on our way, about 1/2 an hour after we started it turned to rain again, then started hailing at which point we sheltered in the entrance to Old City Hall (we were walking the Freedom Trail at the time), the hail stopped after about 10 minutes and turned back to rain, we went to Faneuil Hall for some lunch, and by the time we were finished with lunch the sky was blue with an occasional fluffy white cloud here and there. It was highly amusing to see his reaction to all that.

Anyway, so most of what we did was traverse the Freedom Trail, which is a red line either painted or set in brick through the city, taking you on a path to all the important historical sights. It starts at the Boston Common and ends at Bunker Hill, visiting the Old State House, Faneuil Hall and the Old North Church along the way, to name a few. After the Freedom Trail, we went up to Harvard and MIT, just to look, I showed my dad my favorite view of the city, which is behind MIT on the river bank, and then we went back into downtown and hit the North End for some great Italian food. We then went to the Omni Parker House to have Boston Cream Pie where it was invented, and then we went over to Cheers for a drink. My dad later estimated we walked about 12 miles that day. Clearly we were exhausted.

Saturday we just went to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. That was really interesting. I didn't know much about him so I enjoyed going around and learning about the stuff he did. I plan to take my mom back there because I know she will love it. After the museum I took my dad down to see my school very briefly and then we went back into downtown for some food. We ended up at a very fancy restaurant in the Theatre district, I don't remember the name but I do remember the delicious food and wine.

So, after all that, I was still exhausted today. My dad left this morning and I spent the rest of the day being lazy and eventually made fudge, as is my tradition after Thanksgiving. Can't make Christmas fudge until it's the Christmas season!

And now, in continuation of the laziness, I am going to bed early. Although that's just good sense since I start my winter internship tomorrow and I don't want to be tired.

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The life I've lived...and will live...

2008-11-25T14:55:00.001-05:00

So according to Jenn the original object of this list is to just bold the things you've done, but I like the way she rearranged it into what you have done, what you haven't done yet, and what you'll never do if you can help it. So, here's my arrangement!

Have Done

1. Started your own blog (this one, and it just received an award the other day! More on that to come...)
2. Slept under the stars (on a friend's trampoline. It's a lot of fun!)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
10. Sang a solo
16. Had food poisoning
18. Grown your own vegetables (my dad did, and I helped)
21. Had a pillow fight
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (well, technically I had a hangover...)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (sunset only, I don't get up early enough for sunrise)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (satisfaction can be living with your best friend to save on rent, it's all about perception)
39. Gone rock climbing (I think technically it was bouldering, and I was completely untrained. Lucky I didn't fall...)
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (Off a mountain, no less! Minor fall while skiing, my back hurt, Timberline took "reasonable precautions," put me on a backboard and sent me down in an ambulance. I was fine, nothing broken. Worst part was that I had to pee sometime during the ambulance ride and couldn't get up to go until after the x-rays. The EMTs in the ambulance did offer me a catheter...that was a very firm no.)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (just snorkeling, but I hope to go scuba diving someday)
52. Kissed in the rain
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
57. Started a business (I significantly helped my dad start an e-business, I think that counts)
60. Served at a soup kitchen (it was actually a homeless shelter but the idea is the same)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (just blood)
67. Bounced a check (sorta, it didn't actually "bounce," it just overdrew my account by 7 cents and I got a bunch of fees.)
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (Panthro Bear)
88. Had chickenpox (according to my mom. I was too young to remember.)
89. Saved someone’s life (Not in a big way, but sorta. I was a lifeguard at a pool and a kid couldn't reach the wall. I pulled him over and helped him out.)
91. Met someone famous
93. Lost a loved one
95. Seen the Alamo in person
97. Been involved in a lawsuit (Okay, I haven't filed the complaint yet but I did send a letter informing them that the complaint will be filed if they don't make a reasonable settlement offer within 30 days. 30 days was up on Sunday, therefore the complaint will be filed. Basically, I'm involved.)
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Not Yet

3. Played in a band
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
12. Visited Paris (Post-graduation 2010!)
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France (Part of the plan for 2010)
20. Slept on an overnight train
24. Built a snow fort (not enough snow in Portland)
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
31. Hit a home run (does it count on the Wii?)
32. Been on a cruise
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (that requires a LOT of traveling to visit them all, but I will eventually)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
68. Flown in a helicopter
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car (I've never actually bought a car. Although I do have a car. Funny how things work when you're an only child...)
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
86. Visited the White House
90. Sat on a jury (I'll probably be excused for knowing one of the attorneys or the judge, but you never know)
92. Joined a book club
94. Had a baby (not too sure if I ever want to, but sometimes I do...)
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

No Freaking Way (If I Can Help It)

11. Bungee jumped
15. Adopted a child (considering the fact that I'm not sure I want to have children, if it turns out I can't, I'll take it as a sign)
22. Hitch-hiked (hell no. Even some cab drivers make me nervous.)
27. Run a Marathon
53. Played in the mud (I was a rather clean child)
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies (wasn't a part of that as a child)
65. Gone sky diving
75. Been fired from a job
77. Broken a bone (Not even fractures, just a couple sprains)
85. Read the entire Bible (Wasn't raised that way and now I'm agnostic)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (okay, I may be an omnivore, but ew)

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Recipe for disaster

2008-11-22T13:06:00.001-05:00

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. rhinovirus
2 cups stress
4 cups wicked cold weather

Directions:

1. Find someone with the rhinovirus. Remain near this person for two hours.
2. Add stress 1/2 a cup at a time. Mix well.
3. Fold in half the wicked cold weather.
4. Let sit for a day, fold in the rest of the wicked cold weather.
5. Let sit for another day.
6. Congratulations! You now have a cold!

Grr. This is lame. I don't get sick. Even being around other people who are sick and being stressed usually doesn't do it. But throw in that cold weather...

Oh well. At least the term is over. I still have a bit of editing to do on my paper, but no more researching or actual writing. I like editing anyway.

I'm going to curl up with the cat now.

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Only difference is that my eyes are brown...

2008-11-18T16:46:00.001-05:00

I'm overly critical of my own poetry, so here's some lyrics that say it better than I could.

Seems like just yesterday
You were a part of me
I used to stand so tall
I used to be so strong
Your arms around me tight
Everything, it felt so right
Unbreakable, like nothin' could go wrong
Now I can't breathe
No, I can't sleep
I'm barely hanging on

Here I am, once again
I'm torn into pieces
Can't deny it, can't pretend
Just thought you were the one
Broken up, deep inside
But you won't get to see the tears I cry
Behind these hazel eyes

I told you everything
Opened up and let you in
You made me feel alright
For once in my life
Now all that's left of me
Is what I pretend to be
So together, but so broken up inside
'Cause I can't breathe
No, I can't sleep
I'm barely hangin' on

Here I am, once again
I'm torn into pieces
Can't deny it, can't pretend
Just thought you were the one
Broken up, deep inside
But you won't get to see the tears I cry
Behind these hazel eyes

Swallow me then spit me out
For hating you, I blame myself
Seeing you it kills me now
No, I don't cry on the outside
Anymore...

Here I am, once again
I'm torn into pieces
Can't deny it, can't pretend
Just thought you were the one
Broken up, deep inside
But you won't get to see the tears I cry
Behind these hazel eyes

Here I am, once again
I'm torn into pieces
Can't deny it, can't pretend
Just thought you were the one
Broken up, deep inside
But you won't get to see the tears I cry
Behind these hazel eyes

Kelly Clarkson - Behind these Hazel Eyes

You know who you are...

Yes, over the summer I thought I was over it. But my heart skips a beat when I pass you in the hallway, and then it breaks all over again when the encounter is over with little more than a hello.

I am so, so, not over it. And I'm finally admitting it.

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6 secrets

2008-11-12T19:58:00.001-05:00

I've been tagged to reveal 6 secrets and tag 6 other bloggers to do the same. So here goes.

1. The fact that my heart defies all logic really angers me. Once I've fallen for someone, really fallen for them, no amount of hurt or distance or rejection can stop it. I will feel how I feel forever, until I decide we're incompatible (usually when a relationship has already ensued and then we break up) or until someone comes along that can make me forget.
2. Along with number 1, it's really hard to be the person that makes me forget. I don't usually trust people, and if I don't trust you, I'm not going to fall for you. It's unfortunate that the only people who have gained that trust (in matters of love, at least) have proven themselves to be unworthy of it. But still I yearn...hence my irritation over the lack of logic.
3. I believe in ghosts. I have seen two. I have heard one. I have sensed countless others. Say what you will, but some of what I've experienced is hard to dispute.
4. I don't like sweets but love making dessert. I do it for the compliments.
5. I will stop dead in my tracks for really good music. No matter who it's coming from. You can be the dirtiest street musician I've ever seen playing in the T station, but if you're good, I will pull out my earbuds and listen.
6. This was really hard for me because I don't like to reveal secrets. See number 2.

So now I tag...

Anyone who wants to be tagged. =)

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To hope: lost, and found again.

2008-11-05T17:27:00.001-05:00

November 7, 2000

It was a few months before my 18th birthday. I may have not voted in this one, but I watched the results roll in. I was in the midst of my required Government class in high school, and our teacher was very involved in making sure we understood what the election was all about, who the candidates were, and why it was important to vote. She brought registration forms for all the Seniors who were old enough to register by the deadline. Even if we couldn't vote, she encouraged us to get involved. So I was involved and eager to see the results. Eager to watch democracy work.

I was a bit disappointed when "my" candidate didn't win. I was a bit irritated with the electoral college system when there was a disparity between the popular vote and the electoral votes. Eventually I was furious with Florida for all the problems with the damn "chads." Remember the chads?

But I maintained some hope that maybe, even though the man who got elected seemed rather unintelligent and inarticulate, maybe he wouldn't ruin the country. Maybe it would only be four years and if he messed up, we'd fix it.

I watched his mistakes and misjudgments for the next four years. I became more and more impassioned as it got closer to the end. I fought to make sure those mistakes wouldn't continue for another four years. I debated with friends and relatives. I wore stickers and pins and put up signs. I had hope that the other citizens of this country would see the light. And then...

November 2, 2004

This time I was about halfway in to my 21st year. A senior in college now. Working very hard on a forty page thesis. But that didn't stop me from voting and then watching the results come in.

All I remember of this night was a slow slip into depression as the polls closed and the numbers came in. I remember drinking more alcohol than I should have considering my emotional state. I remember finally turning off the TV when it was clearly all over. I remember double-checking in the morning just to make sure it wasn't all a bad dream. I remember going to my thesis class with my fellow 6 or 7 sociology majors, morosely fidgeting with my Kerry button, so depressed and angry that all I really wanted to do was throw it across the room. We didn't talk about our theses that day.

Most of all, I remember my vehement pledge to leave the country. I decided was going to finish college and then move to France. I looked into it. Very seriously. I was going to be an au pair at first, and then somehow I would find a way to stay. Because I couldn't stay here. I couldn't be in a country where people thought it was a good idea to put a man who had made that many mistakes back in the White House for another four years to make more mistakes. I had lost all hope for this country, and I just wanted out.

Eventually I decided I couldn't leave my family and friends like that. But I also couldn't be involved in politics anymore. Not like I was. I felt like it didn't matter. I felt like there was nothing I could do. I graduated and ended up at a job that I was highly overqualified for, but at least it paid the bills. I got irritated with that job and started looking into ways I could actually use the brains I was blessed with. I decided to go to law school.

I guess some small part of me thought maybe being a lawyer would be a way to make a change. But mostly I just wanted to do something I could feel proud of. I wanted a job that you can only get by being smart and working hard. I learned some things about the ways that the courts can effect change when the people haven't. But I still didn't really have hope. Not anymore.

During my first year of law school, I watched the amazing campaign start. I watched the fight between whether we would have a female candidate or a black candidate. Either would have made history. But I had concerns. One was the divisiveness I saw still lurking in the Democratic party. I knew that whoever became the Democratic candidate, I would back him/her whether or not he/she was the one I voted for in the primaries. But I didn't trust that the rest of my party would do the same.

My other concern was one I didn't like to mention to many people. Which institutionalized bias is worse in this country? We don't talk about sexism. We don't talk about racism. We pretend they're not here. But they are. Which one was going to be easier for people to overcome when they walked into the voting booths? I just didn't know.

I watched Barack Obama rise up as the chosen candidate. I heard inspiring, articulate, beautiful, empowering speeches coming from his heart. I wanted to feel the hope and joy he was trying to spread. But I couldn't let myself hope. Not yet. Even at 25, already I had experienced too many disappointments in this country to dare to dream.

As it got closer to the date, I got a little more involved. I donated about $20 to his campaign, all I could afford as a poor law student. I joined Facebook groups to show my support. I even set up an automatic Facebook update that said I'd donated my status to the campaign. And I encouraged everyone I knew to get out and vote. But I couldn't let myself get more involved than that. I couldn't put that much energy into something when I was too afraid to be disappointed again. I was still afraid to hope.

November 4, 2008

I wake up an hour early because it's the only time I have to go vote. I'm a bit nostalgic for the days I lived in Oregon when I could fill out my ballot in the comfort of my living room and then toss it in the mailbox or a ballot drop box, located at any public library as well as other public locations.

I go to school. I'm in class all day. Tuesdays are my long day. I have a bit of time in between classes to go get my free election day cup of Starbucks coffee. But I'm mostly quiet and reserved. Holding back the hope that's trying to break through. I don't want to jinx it. Not now.

I finally get home a little after 9. I turn on the TV and find CNN. And then I hear it. Obama has taken Ohio. I know what that means. That means it might really be happening. I start to smile. But I don't celebrate. Not quite yet. I'm just not ready.

I switch to Comedy Central at 10. I love Jon Stewart. He's on my list. ;) I laugh at the jokes, cheer when I see all the reports he and Stephen Colbert are announcing showing what states Obama has taken. But since they're not doing an official count, I don't really know exactly how it's going. I know California, Oregon and Washington are safe even though the polls aren't closed. I came from that coast. I know what they're about.

I'm twittering and updating Facebook as I watch. I figure it's going to be a long night. It was the last two times.

And then I hear it. Straight from Jon Stewart's lips.

"At 11 o'clock at night, Eastern Standard time, the President of the United States is Barack Obama."

I start to cry. I start to laugh. I start to feel all the hope I'd lost over the last 8 years. I go get a glass of wine to celebrate. Vanessa comes out of her room to share my joy and gets some celebratory ice cream. I call my mom. We cry together. I watch the respectful concession speech by John McCain for a while, until I get a bit frustrated with the crowd and I decide to watch my TiVoed episode of Jeopardy. I don't want that crowd putting a damper on my mood. I drink my wine. I turn off Jeopardy and find that they're waiting for Obama to come out and make his speech. The speech brings me to tears again. I'm moved by the millions of people chanting in unison - yes we can. I turn off the TV and fall asleep, going to bed with hope in my heart for the first time in 8 years.

I wake up this morning and am overwhelmed by the joy I feel, by the joy I see, by the seeds of hope sprouting everywhere I go. I'm brought to tears by almost everything I see and hear. I go to school, looking out on my country with new eyes. Things are going to change. Things are going to get better.

Yes we can.

To the President-elect, Barack Obama, and to the citizens that got him there, thank you. Thank you for giving me back my hope. Thank you for giving me a reason to be proud of this country again. Thank you.

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Happiness

2008-11-05T11:25:00.001-05:00

I don't have time to write the post I want to write until later this afternoon, but I just wanted to write a quick sentence sharing my happiness with the rest of my bloggy friends.

More to come...just give me a few hours.

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More updates...

2008-10-29T10:32:00.001-04:00

Jenn reminded me that I forgot to update all of you on what is going on with the movers I'm suing.

So, to be quick, I looked more into the statute that I'll be suing under and apparently I have to send a 30 day demand letter before I file the claim. The 30 day demand letter basically cites the statute, explains the problem, explains why the problem falls under the statute, and explains the relief I am seeking. So I sent that on Friday, via Certified Mail with a return receipt so I have proof of when it went out and when it was received, and now they have 30 days to offer a reasonable, good faith settlement. If they don't, then I'll take the case to court and then I am entitled to double or triple damages for their failure to offer a good faith settlement. So there you go, that's my progress as of right now.

Oh, and I stepped into a hairy situation by being treasurer of Phi Alpha Delta, apparently the last treasurer either was not organized or was not informed of unilateral spending decisions so we have less money than he thought we have from SBA, which is the school organization that kind of oversees all the other organizations and distributes the activities funds to the groups (part of tuition is to pay an activities fund, that's where that money comes from). Luckily all the money from fundraising is present and accounted for so we're kind of okay, but I had to jump in and say that all future expenses absolutely have to go through me since our funds are already limited and we have to make it all the way through next summer. And I'm going to push for some major fundraising activities. So, I'm fixing it. But it caused me a fair amount of stress yesterday after I officially took on my position.

So, there's that. I'd better listen in class now... =P

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Lots going on...

2008-10-27T21:42:00.000-04:00

I've been trying to write a post for days, and then I get distracted or run out of time or something.

The most recent development in my life is that I joined Phi Alpha Delta, the international law fraternity. Almost at the same time, I became Treasurer of our chapter. I ran unopposed, probably because most law students don't like numbers. So anyway, I'm excited about that. There are lots of social events and stuff, but also a lot of opportunities for networking because it's so huge. Anyway, since I'm short on time, if you want to know more about what I joined go here.

Other than that, Vanessa and I had a housewarming on Saturday. It was quiet but I had fun with my closest friends. Considering the headache I had most of yesterday, maybe too much fun....lol.

Of course, school has been pretty crazy. I think it's actually settling down a bit soon though. I have to take the MPRE on Nov. 8th, my professional responsibility exam is two days before that (which is really prep for the MPRE but still) so that's going to leave me feeling a bit insane for a couple weeks. But once that's over then one class is done and I only have one other exam. For my LF class I have a paper that explains the project that my students will be taking over in January. When it's all done it gets distributed to them so they understand the background law they need to know to get going with the project. I think I'm in a good place with that, I just need to fill out some of my research on my next draft and then I should be at the final editing stage.

Oh, and teaching the class has been such a wonderful experience. My students are such a fantastic group. I'm sad to be leaving them at the end of the quarter, but I hope that after I'm done being their teacher some of them will look to me as a friend, like I've done with my LFs. They all like to tell me how wonderful I am so I think that's probably likely. =)

Anyway, I have a bit more reading to do before bed, but I needed a break so I wanted to get this out there. Time to get back to it. I can't wait to go back to work...even if it is just an internship.