BTP...day...

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

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

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

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

Here are the others:

Jenn
Ginger
Kate
Bree
KC (aka my mom)

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A Friday Full of Broken Thoughts

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

Jenn
Ginger
Kate
Bree
KC (aka my mom)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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BTPF...now S...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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I'm back!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Broken thought process...uhh...Saturday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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A Thursday of broken thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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A process of broken thoughts...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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