Saturday thought process

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay, I'm back.

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

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

Go visit the others for more thought processes!

Jenn
Ginger
Kate
Bree
KC (aka my mom)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jenn
Ginger
Kate
Bree
KC (aka my mom)

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Broken Thought Process

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

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

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

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

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

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

Visit the other ladies of the broken thought processes!

Jenn
Ginger
Kate
Bree
KC (aka my mom)

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BTP...day...

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

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

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

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

Here are the others:

Jenn
Ginger
Kate
Bree
KC (aka my mom)

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A Friday Full of Broken Thoughts

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

Jenn
Ginger
Kate
Bree
KC (aka my mom)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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BTPF...now S...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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I'm back!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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