Journal competition has started. I only spent a few hours on it today. Off to a good, highly-motivated start. Of course my Contracts reading suffered from this. But I did my Property reading. Equitable servitudes and real covenants, sounds sexy right? Real covenants? Not fake covenants, what's that about? I think they are fake covenants though. The real covenant is with the Big Man in the Sky.
Also, it occurs to me that journal competition is quite reminiscent of DBQ's (document-based question) from when I took the AP U.S. History exam in junior year of high school. What a throwback. You get a bunch of documents and you have to use them to write an essay. More proof that law school = high school!
Today in the middle of Property the professor started talking about an ice cream store and I decided I wanted nachos for lunch. I needed nachos for lunch. I had a flash of how some corn chips laden with warm melted cheese would taste and I knew there was no alternative. Within two minutes of class ending I found six other people to join me at a restaurant a block away from the law school that has excellent nachos. Of the seven people there four of us got nachos. I finished mine first. And I was so damn happy. I ended those nachos. I went General Sherman on those nachos.
Sharp response of the day:
Me: How do you know I'm not conservative?
Stephanie: Because you've said more than "hello" to me.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
I Have A $2 Bill and I'm Not Sure What To Do With It
Today I got cold called in Contracts. It ended up going fine (I think), but it was odd that I got cold called. I was cold called a few weeks ago, and not everyone else in the class has been cold called in the time between. Also, I went to my professor's office hours yesterday afternoon, so I can't help but wonder if it was some kind of test to see if I really like the class and if I really understand the material. Maybe I'm just being paranoid here, but something was weird about it. He went right for me!
It didn't help that when he called on me I was literally sending a text message and had not yet opened my casebook. Very irresponsible, I know. But it was within the first three minutes of class. I hadn't even signed onto gchat yet! I recovered pretty well, discreetly sliding my phone into my pocket and opening my casebook to page 842 (shazam!) while the professor was talking. Apparently I even sounded like I knew what I was talking about (Restatement section 241, the five factors, a through e, for determining whether a breach is material) (Yeah, pulled that out of nowhere). With luck, he still likes me. With further luck I won't get called on anymore this semester and not doing my reading for Friday's class in preparation for the journal competition will not come back to bite me.
Oh yeah, journal competition starts tomorrow at 4 and goes through Monday at 8. Long story short, I have to read a bunch, do citations, and write. And in return I get the chance to be on a journal, assuming I am selected for one. Being on a journal will get me some academic credit, look good on my resume, and likely bore me to death. Doing a crapton of extra work for all that reward? Let's do it. I'm super psyched. But also, I might be pretty out of commission from tomorrow afternoon until Monday evening.
Yesterday in Trader Joes I was trying to get around in the dairy aisle. I was impeded by some woman who was just staring at the eggs, blocking me from getting the eggs I wanted. I retraced my steps and took another route around the store. Five minutes later I came back to get eggs and this woman was still just looking at the eggs. What are you doing crazy egg-staring lady? I politely said "excuse me," she politely moved out of my way (nothing seemed to be "wrong" with her), and I got my eggs. Then she went back to looking at the eggs. Alright then. I liked her more than 60 year old PDA couple in the frozen aisle. Yeah, exactly what it sounds like. A couple just could not keep there hands off each other in the frozen aisle and then later on two people behind me in line, and they were generally boisterous for no reason (it is Trader Joes, it only gets so exciting...minus the peanut butter-filled pretzels). It was really odd behavior. They kind of reminded me of the couple in "Pulp Fiction" who holds up the diner at the beginning/end of the movie. I kept wanting to say something to them, but I have no idea what I would say. "Could you please keep your affection to yourself a little more? I'm trying to buy produce here." That just seems senselessly awkward. What an odd grocery shopping experience.
Why does my cell phone sometimes cause weird noises in my computer speakers?
Why is Pegasus extinct?
Are those two related? Deep thoughts.
It didn't help that when he called on me I was literally sending a text message and had not yet opened my casebook. Very irresponsible, I know. But it was within the first three minutes of class. I hadn't even signed onto gchat yet! I recovered pretty well, discreetly sliding my phone into my pocket and opening my casebook to page 842 (shazam!) while the professor was talking. Apparently I even sounded like I knew what I was talking about (Restatement section 241, the five factors, a through e, for determining whether a breach is material) (Yeah, pulled that out of nowhere). With luck, he still likes me. With further luck I won't get called on anymore this semester and not doing my reading for Friday's class in preparation for the journal competition will not come back to bite me.
Oh yeah, journal competition starts tomorrow at 4 and goes through Monday at 8. Long story short, I have to read a bunch, do citations, and write. And in return I get the chance to be on a journal, assuming I am selected for one. Being on a journal will get me some academic credit, look good on my resume, and likely bore me to death. Doing a crapton of extra work for all that reward? Let's do it. I'm super psyched. But also, I might be pretty out of commission from tomorrow afternoon until Monday evening.
Yesterday in Trader Joes I was trying to get around in the dairy aisle. I was impeded by some woman who was just staring at the eggs, blocking me from getting the eggs I wanted. I retraced my steps and took another route around the store. Five minutes later I came back to get eggs and this woman was still just looking at the eggs. What are you doing crazy egg-staring lady? I politely said "excuse me," she politely moved out of my way (nothing seemed to be "wrong" with her), and I got my eggs. Then she went back to looking at the eggs. Alright then. I liked her more than 60 year old PDA couple in the frozen aisle. Yeah, exactly what it sounds like. A couple just could not keep there hands off each other in the frozen aisle and then later on two people behind me in line, and they were generally boisterous for no reason (it is Trader Joes, it only gets so exciting...minus the peanut butter-filled pretzels). It was really odd behavior. They kind of reminded me of the couple in "Pulp Fiction" who holds up the diner at the beginning/end of the movie. I kept wanting to say something to them, but I have no idea what I would say. "Could you please keep your affection to yourself a little more? I'm trying to buy produce here." That just seems senselessly awkward. What an odd grocery shopping experience.
Why does my cell phone sometimes cause weird noises in my computer speakers?
Why is Pegasus extinct?
Are those two related? Deep thoughts.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Fire Alarming
Busy week so far. Lots of reading. Lots of wasting time in a 2 hour session on negotiations that my entire section had today in lieu of one LRW class this week. Why? I don't know. (He's on third.) It was actually pretty interesting. I learned that...uhhhh it's better to be cooperative when you negotiate than just being purely confrontational. Or so statistics would tell you. What the statistics won't tell you is that dinosaurs who threaten to bite the other negotiator's head off are far more successful than most cooperative negotiators.
Today was a day where a lot of people asked me annoying questions. The hallmark of all these annoying questions was that the questioner could easily have found out the answer himself, but, rather than take the minimal effort to do so, opted to ask me instead. It's not that my time is so valuable that I can't help out a classmate. It's that I am irritable enough that I don't feel like helping out 5 lazy classmates. Actual interaction from today--> "Will, when is the deadline to submit this form for the journal competition?" "Look right here at your computer screen at the webpage you have pulled up right now. It tells you the answer right there in big, bold letters." He was literally looking at the answer, and rather than process the information it was easier to ask me. Normally I wouldn't mind, but that was the 4th similar type of question of the day. Let's get rolling people. Get that brain working, processing information and retaining it. We are in law school, let's use some research skills, maybe some critical thinking.
Yesterday during Civ Pro my professor literally opened his mouth to say "Good afternoon" and begin class when the fire alarm went off. Bells starting ringing, lights started flashing, and my professor looked more pissed than I've ever seen him. More pissed than when racist kid advocated racism. Fire drill = more proof that law school is high school. We got to stand outside in the drizzle for fifteen minutes talking about Boggle and singing song parodies about the fire drill (me: "Somebody call 9-1-1, shorty fire burning at the law school" - creative I know). We then had the remaining 40 minutes of class where my professor raced through explaining the Seventh Amendment and how it's reliance on common law as of 1791 is a pretty dumb idea, but nonetheless the law. Really though, fun fact, you only have the right to a jury trial in a civil case if you would have had a jury in 1791. But what about all the new laws and new causes of action that have been established since then, you ask? Good question. But don't worry, the Supreme Court is on it. You just sort through all the causes of action that existed in 1791 and find the one that most closely parallels the modern one and if there was a jury in that cause of action, then you get one now. Could that every be problematic and lead to legitimate, well-founded differences of opinion even between the 9 foremost lawyers in the entire country? You bet it could. Yay Seventh Amendment.
I mentioned Boggle before - I am all about Boggle now. I've been playing with Reza and a few other people. Seriously, what a quality game. You could say it boggles the mind how good it is. Ok, I deserve to be dropped out of a second story window for that one. But the window has to be open already - I don't deserve shards of glass.
Today was a day where a lot of people asked me annoying questions. The hallmark of all these annoying questions was that the questioner could easily have found out the answer himself, but, rather than take the minimal effort to do so, opted to ask me instead. It's not that my time is so valuable that I can't help out a classmate. It's that I am irritable enough that I don't feel like helping out 5 lazy classmates. Actual interaction from today--> "Will, when is the deadline to submit this form for the journal competition?" "Look right here at your computer screen at the webpage you have pulled up right now. It tells you the answer right there in big, bold letters." He was literally looking at the answer, and rather than process the information it was easier to ask me. Normally I wouldn't mind, but that was the 4th similar type of question of the day. Let's get rolling people. Get that brain working, processing information and retaining it. We are in law school, let's use some research skills, maybe some critical thinking.
Yesterday during Civ Pro my professor literally opened his mouth to say "Good afternoon" and begin class when the fire alarm went off. Bells starting ringing, lights started flashing, and my professor looked more pissed than I've ever seen him. More pissed than when racist kid advocated racism. Fire drill = more proof that law school is high school. We got to stand outside in the drizzle for fifteen minutes talking about Boggle and singing song parodies about the fire drill (me: "Somebody call 9-1-1, shorty fire burning at the law school" - creative I know). We then had the remaining 40 minutes of class where my professor raced through explaining the Seventh Amendment and how it's reliance on common law as of 1791 is a pretty dumb idea, but nonetheless the law. Really though, fun fact, you only have the right to a jury trial in a civil case if you would have had a jury in 1791. But what about all the new laws and new causes of action that have been established since then, you ask? Good question. But don't worry, the Supreme Court is on it. You just sort through all the causes of action that existed in 1791 and find the one that most closely parallels the modern one and if there was a jury in that cause of action, then you get one now. Could that every be problematic and lead to legitimate, well-founded differences of opinion even between the 9 foremost lawyers in the entire country? You bet it could. Yay Seventh Amendment.
I mentioned Boggle before - I am all about Boggle now. I've been playing with Reza and a few other people. Seriously, what a quality game. You could say it boggles the mind how good it is. Ok, I deserve to be dropped out of a second story window for that one. But the window has to be open already - I don't deserve shards of glass.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Sustained, Sustained.
So 7:15 AM. That's pretty early, especially for a Saturday. But that's what time I got up today, to assist my mock trial team. Luckily I am only a witness so there was little to no pressure on me, and I didn't spend the past 2 weeks stressing about mock trial. But the trial started around 9 AM at DC Superior Court. It was actually pretty neat to watch and be part of a "trial" in a real court room. There was the whole shebang. Pretrial motions, opening statements, examinations of witnesses, and closing statements. Law and Order style - kinda. Sustained sustained! Here's my gavel. Sustained.
Actually, being a witness was kinda fun. I was a dentist, so I had to look like I knew what I was talking about. I clearly know nothing about dentistry (except that candy is bad), and certainly nothing about forensic dentistry (despite taking forensic science for my college science requirement 4 years ago), so I made myself look authoritative by putting on my glasses once I got up on the witness stand. The judges appreciated it (for some reason they mentioned it in the feedback portion to the attorneys), so clearly they knew who was the boss on matters of forensic dentistry. Glasses make people look smart. Woot. Also, during my cross examination, I gave an evasive answer to the opposing attorney who started going through the motions to impeach my testimony. I ain't Bill Clinton, I ain't getting impeached. No sir. I corrected that quickly. Sit down, Ken Starr.
Sustained!
Other than mock trial...I don't really know. I finally got my Torts grade back, 2 and a half months after taking the exam. Thank you professor, I appreciate your punctuality. It demonstrates a clear respect for your students. Everything surrounding Torts was a fiasco it seems. (And not a Lupe Fiasco.) At least it is done and I never have to take that class or that professor again.
Actually, being a witness was kinda fun. I was a dentist, so I had to look like I knew what I was talking about. I clearly know nothing about dentistry (except that candy is bad), and certainly nothing about forensic dentistry (despite taking forensic science for my college science requirement 4 years ago), so I made myself look authoritative by putting on my glasses once I got up on the witness stand. The judges appreciated it (for some reason they mentioned it in the feedback portion to the attorneys), so clearly they knew who was the boss on matters of forensic dentistry. Glasses make people look smart. Woot. Also, during my cross examination, I gave an evasive answer to the opposing attorney who started going through the motions to impeach my testimony. I ain't Bill Clinton, I ain't getting impeached. No sir. I corrected that quickly. Sit down, Ken Starr.
Sustained!
Other than mock trial...I don't really know. I finally got my Torts grade back, 2 and a half months after taking the exam. Thank you professor, I appreciate your punctuality. It demonstrates a clear respect for your students. Everything surrounding Torts was a fiasco it seems. (And not a Lupe Fiasco.) At least it is done and I never have to take that class or that professor again.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Damned if you Do
When it has snowed there is accumulation on the ground which often includes the edges of the sidewalk, causing a narrower than usual path for pedestrian traffic. This is NOT an excuse to 1) have a conversation with your foreign friend where you lazily stroll next to each other discussing some inane topic in an indecipherable accent, or 2) stop abruptly in the middle of the sidewalk to check your blackberry as if an email you are expecting holds the key to saving the world. Due to the increased amount of snow, which I do not feel like trampling through, such activities make walking much slower and more aggravating than it needs to be. Please keep up with the flow of traffic. And if you feel the need to walk slowly, please do so in as unobtrusive a manner as possible. Also, homeless people, it is cold. I don't feel like taking my gloves off to fish through my pockets for change. Call me cold-hearted, but it's true. (In my defense, I gave a homeless guy change outside of CVS on Sunday. That was nice of me.)
Today was one of those days where we just got a dozen due dates thrown at us. It ended up being a bit overwhelming. I made good use of a free stress ball that was randomly being offered at school. Motions, make-up classes, oral arguments - ahhhh! The best stress reliever ended up being going for a run this evening. Of course the problem is that the run energized me, but I've been having trouble sleeping. However, if I hadn't gone for the run, I probably would have trouble sleeping because of the amount of things on my plate. This is a classic damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. All I can tell you is sleeping tonight will be rough, and such situations suck. To Nyquil, or not to Nyquil, that is the question.
I am converting other people to the cult of hating my Torts professor. He isn't helping his own cause. The Kool-Aid that I never drank is wearing off of everyone else. People have started calling the registrar's office complaining, asking when we might expect to receive our grades and just how far past the deadline he is. If I have time tomorrow I may lodge a complaint with the Dean of Students. Just for funsies. Time to show that lazy, disrespectful, arrogant, (many other negative adjectives) doo doo head (by order of the censor) who is boss. When he finds out who is boss, I'd like to know too. I have some other matters I'd like to discuss.
Today was one of those days where we just got a dozen due dates thrown at us. It ended up being a bit overwhelming. I made good use of a free stress ball that was randomly being offered at school. Motions, make-up classes, oral arguments - ahhhh! The best stress reliever ended up being going for a run this evening. Of course the problem is that the run energized me, but I've been having trouble sleeping. However, if I hadn't gone for the run, I probably would have trouble sleeping because of the amount of things on my plate. This is a classic damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. All I can tell you is sleeping tonight will be rough, and such situations suck. To Nyquil, or not to Nyquil, that is the question.
I am converting other people to the cult of hating my Torts professor. He isn't helping his own cause. The Kool-Aid that I never drank is wearing off of everyone else. People have started calling the registrar's office complaining, asking when we might expect to receive our grades and just how far past the deadline he is. If I have time tomorrow I may lodge a complaint with the Dean of Students. Just for funsies. Time to show that lazy, disrespectful, arrogant, (many other negative adjectives) doo doo head (by order of the censor) who is boss. When he finds out who is boss, I'd like to know too. I have some other matters I'd like to discuss.
Monday, February 15, 2010
I shall be released
I guess all that not having school caught up with me. I got sick this weekend, just in time for Eva's visit. Nothing too bad, just a cold. Saturday I was pretty much designated to bed. Sunday I felt a bit better. Today even better, though still not 100% yet. Of course I had the brilliant idea to work out today. After some weights and 15 minutes on the treadmill I felt like I wanted to vomit and die. I didn't. Ignoring your body's protests because you feel like a fat, lazy piece of crap, now that's what I call going rogue!
It was great to have one class on Friday. Property. Contracts was canceled Friday because my professor was at a conference. 1 out of 14 scheduled classes for the week. And my professor was 15 minutes late to class because of weather-related traffic. Good ratios. It'll be interesting to jump back into a full week of classes after that. Also, it's great to see that after a week of nothing, my Torts professor from last semester still has not managed to get us our grades yet. It has been 2 full months now. But why rush? People don't need to use their GPA for anything like applying to jobs.
Having one class on Friday clearly did not stop people from going out on Thursday. There was a concert by some law school bands with horrible law-pun names (Restatement of Rock and Motion to Quash). They were cover bands, and the entire affair was generally fun, though it definitely had the flavor of a high school battle of the bands. Afterward bar review was next door, at a gay sports bar called "Nellie's." The name should have tipped us off. But the dudes making out all over the place was a dead giveaway. A gay sports bar?
In Olympic news, I don't care that much about the winter olympics. I hear Canada messed up the opening ceremonies pretty badly. Eh? And Celine Dion wasn't there. Epic fail. I am not the biggest figure skating fan, particularly not couples figure skating where all of the women look like drag queens in P-Town combined with Las Vegas hookers and the men look like they are in gay sailor costumes designed by a blind fourth grade girl who will never sit at the popular table - not even out of pity for being blind. Come to think of it, if they ever really lose steam, I'd like to see a mash up of fashion week and the winter games. Just to see what they come up with. I'm sure they could find a network to broadcast that - Tool Academy has a second season - how bad could my idea be?
Also, in speed skating they never look like they are actually trying and it pisses me off. They keep their hands behind their backs; it's aerodynamic. Forget that. Pump those arms. Work. Sweat, cry, bleed. This is the friggin' olympics, not Sunday afternoon at the ice rink. I want to know you are trying to earn that medal with everything you've got. Skate like a fresh apple pie is just out of your grasp. (Substitute whatever ethnic food is appropriate for non-American competitors there. For Canadians I guess it is cheap prescription drugs. For Tibet-ians it is freedom - psyche! Plus they don't have an Olympic team.)
I've had "Thunder Road" stuck in my head since Thursday. What a good song.
It was great to have one class on Friday. Property. Contracts was canceled Friday because my professor was at a conference. 1 out of 14 scheduled classes for the week. And my professor was 15 minutes late to class because of weather-related traffic. Good ratios. It'll be interesting to jump back into a full week of classes after that. Also, it's great to see that after a week of nothing, my Torts professor from last semester still has not managed to get us our grades yet. It has been 2 full months now. But why rush? People don't need to use their GPA for anything like applying to jobs.
Having one class on Friday clearly did not stop people from going out on Thursday. There was a concert by some law school bands with horrible law-pun names (Restatement of Rock and Motion to Quash). They were cover bands, and the entire affair was generally fun, though it definitely had the flavor of a high school battle of the bands. Afterward bar review was next door, at a gay sports bar called "Nellie's." The name should have tipped us off. But the dudes making out all over the place was a dead giveaway. A gay sports bar?
In Olympic news, I don't care that much about the winter olympics. I hear Canada messed up the opening ceremonies pretty badly. Eh? And Celine Dion wasn't there. Epic fail. I am not the biggest figure skating fan, particularly not couples figure skating where all of the women look like drag queens in P-Town combined with Las Vegas hookers and the men look like they are in gay sailor costumes designed by a blind fourth grade girl who will never sit at the popular table - not even out of pity for being blind. Come to think of it, if they ever really lose steam, I'd like to see a mash up of fashion week and the winter games. Just to see what they come up with. I'm sure they could find a network to broadcast that - Tool Academy has a second season - how bad could my idea be?
Also, in speed skating they never look like they are actually trying and it pisses me off. They keep their hands behind their backs; it's aerodynamic. Forget that. Pump those arms. Work. Sweat, cry, bleed. This is the friggin' olympics, not Sunday afternoon at the ice rink. I want to know you are trying to earn that medal with everything you've got. Skate like a fresh apple pie is just out of your grasp. (Substitute whatever ethnic food is appropriate for non-American competitors there. For Canadians I guess it is cheap prescription drugs. For Tibet-ians it is freedom - psyche! Plus they don't have an Olympic team.)
I've had "Thunder Road" stuck in my head since Thursday. What a good song.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Waste of Life
Snow Day #4 today. Unstructured time is really messing with me. I have no real deadlines. I've been doing a little reading. A few job applications. But most of my day is consumed by gchat, iTunes shuffle, and pondering whether I should venture to the outside (the answer is inevitably no). It has been very motivation sapping. Of course if I had known that I would be getting this week off I would have gone up to Boston. Or maybe to New Orleans this week. Good week to be there. Boston was supposed to get a snowstorm. That never really happened from what I understand. The meteorologists are all "J/k, j/play." Whoops. Someone fire those meteorologists. Also fire Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe, because he is terrible at life and does not deserve to write about sports in Boston.
I cannot actually believe that Fox News repeatedly said that the snowstorms in Washington disproved global warming. Sorry Al Gore. Are you joking?? Do you understand how science works? Or common sense? No. I knew the answer to that already. Luckily John Stewart and Steven Colbert were on it. But just knowing that a 'media' outlet would be pernicious enough to say that is actually a little faith-shaking. Faith being about humanity, not Fox News. I have less than no faith in them. I have bad faith in them. John-Paul Sartre is so angry at them, they don't even know. Or, alternately, I have Faith No More, and the 90's rock band is so angry at them. There are more faith jokes to be made there (see: George Michaels), but I don't really need to do them right now.
Laura told me I should quit school, move to L.A. and write with her. Is it bad that it was a really tempting offer for about five seconds? Writing sounds like a lot more fun than the academic purgatory that is law school.
I woke up this morning with a sore throat and promptly went out to CVS to get a carton of orange juice to chug. The sore throat might be attributable to a few things: dry air, regular getting sick, sharing cups (see: beirut (NOT BEER PONG)), or lack of sleep (see: beirut again (still not beer pong)). Soup and vitamin C time. And Chinese food tonight? That should cure me. Maybe a strong shot of whiskey (as per the suggestion of Lord John Marbury)? That could be in order. Or an awful choice. Whatever. I'm going rogue. About everything in life. I've decided.
I've also decided that I don't like it when the sponge starts smelling funny. Why does that happen? It's just inconvenient. I know you have to squeeze it out, blah blah blah. But could they invent a never-smelling sponge? I'd buy it. I hate the mildew smell. This is the crap I care about when I'm trapped in my apartment.
I cannot actually believe that Fox News repeatedly said that the snowstorms in Washington disproved global warming. Sorry Al Gore. Are you joking?? Do you understand how science works? Or common sense? No. I knew the answer to that already. Luckily John Stewart and Steven Colbert were on it. But just knowing that a 'media' outlet would be pernicious enough to say that is actually a little faith-shaking. Faith being about humanity, not Fox News. I have less than no faith in them. I have bad faith in them. John-Paul Sartre is so angry at them, they don't even know. Or, alternately, I have Faith No More, and the 90's rock band is so angry at them. There are more faith jokes to be made there (see: George Michaels), but I don't really need to do them right now.
Laura told me I should quit school, move to L.A. and write with her. Is it bad that it was a really tempting offer for about five seconds? Writing sounds like a lot more fun than the academic purgatory that is law school.
I woke up this morning with a sore throat and promptly went out to CVS to get a carton of orange juice to chug. The sore throat might be attributable to a few things: dry air, regular getting sick, sharing cups (see: beirut (NOT BEER PONG)), or lack of sleep (see: beirut again (still not beer pong)). Soup and vitamin C time. And Chinese food tonight? That should cure me. Maybe a strong shot of whiskey (as per the suggestion of Lord John Marbury)? That could be in order. Or an awful choice. Whatever. I'm going rogue. About everything in life. I've decided.
I've also decided that I don't like it when the sponge starts smelling funny. Why does that happen? It's just inconvenient. I know you have to squeeze it out, blah blah blah. But could they invent a never-smelling sponge? I'd buy it. I hate the mildew smell. This is the crap I care about when I'm trapped in my apartment.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Snow Day: This Is Dumb
If you wanna take a ride with me
Need to have snow tires in this city
Oh why is this city shut down?
Hey, they must be wussies.
Like my Nelly parody? I thought of it in the shower. It has not snowed in three days, yet the streets are still a mess and the past two days have been snow days. No school. Most people don't have work. As we say where I come from, this is "wicked retahded." It literally just started snowing again. This time we are expecting 10-20 inches. Oh joy. Snow on top of snow. They simply cannot remove the snow in time. I think their strategy is to wait for it to melt. Now I'm no scientist, but I do see a foil in their plan. It hasn't been above freezing for a little while! So there is no melting going on. At least not enough for it to seriously matter. This is going to end up as snow week. But I'm trying not to tempt fate. I went to school this morning and got my case books so I can do my homework. Because every elementary school child knows that if you count on a snow day and don't do work, you will inevitably have school. And a pop quiz. And you'll fail it and your parents will disown you and you'll be forced onto the street where you will eventually be raised by a pack of wolves and you will found Rome. Ok, that was one time that happened.
In a stroke of brilliance I worked out this afternoon without eating or drinking anything at all since waking up. And I increased my weights. And I was pretty dehydrated. This was not, what they refer to as "a good move." The result was me feeling like I was going to vomit. But it was slightly triumphant, mostly because I didn't vomit. Sometimes it feels good to push yourself. And sometimes it feels like aching muscles.
Yesterday I needed to get out of my apartment, so I wound up reading my previously mentioned book about Cold War diplomats at Starbucks for a couple of hours, listening to Bob Dylan on my iPod. Then I felt like a fifty year old. I wish all fevers were that easy to cure though. (The fever I am referring to here is, of course, cabin fever.) Though I don't know what Scarlet Fever is, but I always assumed it turned out into Miss Scarlet from Clue. I also thought that "Viewers Like You" was a company when I was little (and watching PBS), so judge if you must.
Need to have snow tires in this city
Oh why is this city shut down?
Hey, they must be wussies.
Like my Nelly parody? I thought of it in the shower. It has not snowed in three days, yet the streets are still a mess and the past two days have been snow days. No school. Most people don't have work. As we say where I come from, this is "wicked retahded." It literally just started snowing again. This time we are expecting 10-20 inches. Oh joy. Snow on top of snow. They simply cannot remove the snow in time. I think their strategy is to wait for it to melt. Now I'm no scientist, but I do see a foil in their plan. It hasn't been above freezing for a little while! So there is no melting going on. At least not enough for it to seriously matter. This is going to end up as snow week. But I'm trying not to tempt fate. I went to school this morning and got my case books so I can do my homework. Because every elementary school child knows that if you count on a snow day and don't do work, you will inevitably have school. And a pop quiz. And you'll fail it and your parents will disown you and you'll be forced onto the street where you will eventually be raised by a pack of wolves and you will found Rome. Ok, that was one time that happened.
In a stroke of brilliance I worked out this afternoon without eating or drinking anything at all since waking up. And I increased my weights. And I was pretty dehydrated. This was not, what they refer to as "a good move." The result was me feeling like I was going to vomit. But it was slightly triumphant, mostly because I didn't vomit. Sometimes it feels good to push yourself. And sometimes it feels like aching muscles.
Yesterday I needed to get out of my apartment, so I wound up reading my previously mentioned book about Cold War diplomats at Starbucks for a couple of hours, listening to Bob Dylan on my iPod. Then I felt like a fifty year old. I wish all fevers were that easy to cure though. (The fever I am referring to here is, of course, cabin fever.) Though I don't know what Scarlet Fever is, but I always assumed it turned out into Miss Scarlet from Clue. I also thought that "Viewers Like You" was a company when I was little (and watching PBS), so judge if you must.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Snow Day?!
It hasn't snowed in over 24 hours. Yet today DC is pretty much paralyzed by snow. Class is canceled. Numerous friends have work canceled. The streets have a few inches of snow tightly packed down on them from the cars that were out and about while it was snowing. That, combined with the lack of plows, was a bad move. Vehicles still aren't faring so well. This city is hilarious. They just have no idea what to do about this. And more snow is expected tomorrow.
No school today. Saints won the Super Bowl. Peyton Manning probably cried. Memo is turned in. I literally cannot do school work today since all of my textbooks are at school. Wow. That's pretty good. Better if I had a summer job, but you gotta crawl before you can walk. Unless you are a walking robot that was never programmed to crawl.
No school today. Saints won the Super Bowl. Peyton Manning probably cried. Memo is turned in. I literally cannot do school work today since all of my textbooks are at school. Wow. That's pretty good. Better if I had a summer job, but you gotta crawl before you can walk. Unless you are a walking robot that was never programmed to crawl.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
King of Dupont Circle
Snowpocalypse/Snowmaggedon isn't so bad. Sure we have around 18 inches of snow. Sure most people can't drive. But some things are open. My memo is virtually done. And, most fun, there was a huge snowball fight in Dupont Circle this afternoon. It was organized by facebook and twitter (not that I know anything about twitter), and thousands of people showed up. There were basically three tiers of snowball fighters. First was the people right around the statue in the middle of the circle. Second was the people on the perimeter of the circle, enclosed by benches. And third was the people outside of the benches who were being wussies, just lobbing it into crowds or hitting people in the second tier in the back (that happened to me a lot). There were so many people it was virtually impossible to miss hitting someone. Faces were clearly being targeted. But I didn't see anyone getting legitimately injured. So it was all good, clean, ballsy fun. There was little rhyme or reason to how people got hit. Generally it went like this: someone next to you goes "Hit that guy in the red hat!" And then everyone near him starts targeting that person. Or you threw at people wearing bright colors. Or the guy with the flag. Or someone just because you didn't like the look of him. Arbitrary, harmless violence! Fantastic. There are tons of photos all over the internet, and it made the news. Even the New York Times (the real news)!
Let me see if I can figure out how to post an emblematic picture here... hrmmmmm. Hope that works. First picture ever!
After the fight I went with a few people to my friend's apartment. She has a fireplace (!) and we used it to make s'mores. Of course we didn't have sticks, so we used tin foil to hold the marshmallows in the fire. If I get a weird disease, I'm blaming that.
Let me see if I can figure out how to post an emblematic picture here... hrmmmmm. Hope that works. First picture ever!
After the fight I went with a few people to my friend's apartment. She has a fireplace (!) and we used it to make s'mores. Of course we didn't have sticks, so we used tin foil to hold the marshmallows in the fire. If I get a weird disease, I'm blaming that.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Provisions: A Madhouse
My body woke me up at 8am this morning. Thanks body. After watching the news for half an hour I decided it would be best to go get some food before Snowpocalypse. I checked the Trader Joe's hours of operation. They open at 8. Alright, I'll go food shopping. Everyone should be commuting or at work, right? Wrong. Half of the District of Columbia was in Trader Joe's. While the line was only around the circumference of the store when I got in line, it was down the frozen aisle and looping around by the time I left. I was only in line for about 20 minutes. Not too bad actually. Though my actual time spent shopping was only about 7 minutes. I didn't even buy that much. My favorite part was standing in line near the door. That way I got to see everyone's shocked expression as they realized they had the choice of turning back now or facing a half hour long line to get milk. I wish I had a camera, there were some priceless moments. Also, the store was playing songs like "Keep on Rocking in the Free World" and "Hot For Teacher" which somehow added to my enjoyment. There is something readily amusing about being perfectly calm and watching everyone lose their friggin' minds. Everyone is stocking a bomb shelter or something. My roommate said to me when I got home "In Israel we don't buy this much food when there is a war."
Provisions
Prepare for Snowpocalypse 2010: DC Edition. Allegedly we are supposed to get 1-2 feet of snow. That's right feet. I hate feet. But not the measurement. Though why don't we get on board with the metric system? Because it's un-American, that's why. A senator should have hearings to discover people who use the metric system and their un-American ways. Oh, wait, maybe not a good idea. Back to the point: we are going to get a lot of snow. I usually think meteorologists are little better than crystal ball gazers, but they rarely go out on such a limb. So good chance of snow here. Maybe class will be canceled tomorrow? Maybe the weekend will be canceled? That wouldn't be so fun. Luckily they can't do that! I've been running low on groceries. So what did I do after school today? Run to Trader Joe's? Nope. Run to the liquor store? Correct. Gotta have the essentials. I have a few cans of beans and some rice lying around. That plus eggs should get me through the weekend somehow, I figure. Wow. Taking the label of "poor grad student" to a new level. At least it's not Ramen for two meals a day. Though come to think of it........
Well, Jameson sold for the same price no matter whether you bought the one that included two novelty glasses or not. Clearly I bought the novelty glass included version. I'd say it is a deal, but I'm not so sure. Kind of expensive. But delicious. Irish coffee on Sunday? It is a distinct possibility.
Not because I usually get drunk in the morning/afternoon on Sundays, but because it is Superbowl Sunday AND Memo Hand-In Sunday. What a big day! I can't wait. For the Saints to win. And for this infernal memo to be over with. Though I am making substantial steps. First draft is all done. Now just editing and taking out about 500 words. I'll be good to go.
Today in Civil Procedure my professor played us a song to illustrate the power of federal judges. It is to the tune of "Happy Together" by The Turtles, and it is called "Appointed Forever." It was pretty amusing. It is by a group of singing lawyers in Texas. What??? What is going on here? It was, however, a good way of getting me to pay attention in Civ Pro. Because I was planning on spending my class time reacquainting myself with Hilary Putnam's "Brains In A Vat" problem, which is meant to illustrate the problems posed by skepticism. Quite interesting (if you're a philosophy nerd). Too bad I don't remember everything about semantic externalism, so I can't remember how to get out the brains in a vat problem. Whoopsies. Does that mean I'm stuck as a brain in a vat? Oh no! <-- Lunchtime conversation.
I want to re-read "The Crying of Lot 49" (TCL49), but I really do not have time. Heck, I've got five New Yorker magazines piled up next to my bed to get through. I'm pretty sure that even if I didn't go to law school, there still would not be enough time to get through the New Yorker every week. It's marvelously entertaining, while simultaneously dry and boring. I use it when I have a problem getting to sleep. Or when I feel like I need a little New York pretentiousness in my life, which does happen. (Random TCL49 reference: W.A.S.T.E. I had to get that out of my system. Thank you.)
Well, Jameson sold for the same price no matter whether you bought the one that included two novelty glasses or not. Clearly I bought the novelty glass included version. I'd say it is a deal, but I'm not so sure. Kind of expensive. But delicious. Irish coffee on Sunday? It is a distinct possibility.
Not because I usually get drunk in the morning/afternoon on Sundays, but because it is Superbowl Sunday AND Memo Hand-In Sunday. What a big day! I can't wait. For the Saints to win. And for this infernal memo to be over with. Though I am making substantial steps. First draft is all done. Now just editing and taking out about 500 words. I'll be good to go.
Today in Civil Procedure my professor played us a song to illustrate the power of federal judges. It is to the tune of "Happy Together" by The Turtles, and it is called "Appointed Forever." It was pretty amusing. It is by a group of singing lawyers in Texas. What??? What is going on here? It was, however, a good way of getting me to pay attention in Civ Pro. Because I was planning on spending my class time reacquainting myself with Hilary Putnam's "Brains In A Vat" problem, which is meant to illustrate the problems posed by skepticism. Quite interesting (if you're a philosophy nerd). Too bad I don't remember everything about semantic externalism, so I can't remember how to get out the brains in a vat problem. Whoopsies. Does that mean I'm stuck as a brain in a vat? Oh no! <-- Lunchtime conversation.
I want to re-read "The Crying of Lot 49" (TCL49), but I really do not have time. Heck, I've got five New Yorker magazines piled up next to my bed to get through. I'm pretty sure that even if I didn't go to law school, there still would not be enough time to get through the New Yorker every week. It's marvelously entertaining, while simultaneously dry and boring. I use it when I have a problem getting to sleep. Or when I feel like I need a little New York pretentiousness in my life, which does happen. (Random TCL49 reference: W.A.S.T.E. I had to get that out of my system. Thank you.)
Monday, February 1, 2010
ABC, something something something 1-2-3
9 - the number of hours until my in class oral argument about my memo.
8 - the number of hours until I have to wake up
7 - the number of days (today inclusive) until this memo is due
6 - when multiplied by 111, the number of the beast. AKA the one who designed my LRW curriculum
Let's skip to
1 - the amount I want to continue working on this memo (on a scale to 10, with 10 being the highest)
Now I know my A-B-C's. Next time won't you sing with me? What's that? Those are numbers, not letters? Damn. I got no song for that then.
But I do got a bad attitude...towards Justice Clarence Thomas. He's a moron. There will inevitably be more to come on this topic in the near future. I say that because the kid who last semester advocated racism in Civil Procedure (he's done loads of other stuff too...none of it good, including using oxygen that cooler people could be breathing instead) announced today in Con Law that he has "an affinity" for Justice Thomas's originalist viewpoint. Let me tell YOU something, mister. That viewpoint is insane. In the context of interstate commerce, which conveniently is what we are studying, Justice Thomas announced that he wants to interpret the regulatory power of Congress to be how the Founders envisioned it. Good luck regulating computers! I think most of the commerce the Founders envisioned was muskets and horses. Two frequently traded commodities today. Why just the other day I was looking online at this great musket...oh wait, they didn't envision the internet either so clearly that can't be regulated. Tomorrow in Con Law I might lose my mind.
I wish I really remembered how to speak Spanish. That seems like it would be a useful thing to remember. Though I am still quite familiar with burritos.
8 - the number of hours until I have to wake up
7 - the number of days (today inclusive) until this memo is due
6 - when multiplied by 111, the number of the beast. AKA the one who designed my LRW curriculum
Let's skip to
1 - the amount I want to continue working on this memo (on a scale to 10, with 10 being the highest)
Now I know my A-B-C's. Next time won't you sing with me? What's that? Those are numbers, not letters? Damn. I got no song for that then.
But I do got a bad attitude...towards Justice Clarence Thomas. He's a moron. There will inevitably be more to come on this topic in the near future. I say that because the kid who last semester advocated racism in Civil Procedure (he's done loads of other stuff too...none of it good, including using oxygen that cooler people could be breathing instead) announced today in Con Law that he has "an affinity" for Justice Thomas's originalist viewpoint. Let me tell YOU something, mister. That viewpoint is insane. In the context of interstate commerce, which conveniently is what we are studying, Justice Thomas announced that he wants to interpret the regulatory power of Congress to be how the Founders envisioned it. Good luck regulating computers! I think most of the commerce the Founders envisioned was muskets and horses. Two frequently traded commodities today. Why just the other day I was looking online at this great musket...oh wait, they didn't envision the internet either so clearly that can't be regulated. Tomorrow in Con Law I might lose my mind.
I wish I really remembered how to speak Spanish. That seems like it would be a useful thing to remember. Though I am still quite familiar with burritos.
Suit Up
This weekend was Suit Up weekend. On both Saturday and Sunday I had to suit up. It made me realize I probably should own more than one suit. If only I had money...Anyways, Saturday the suit up occasion was a job fair, aka an exercise in being pretentious and figuring out what people can do for you. What an awful idea, as a general rule. But then again, beggars can't be choosers (someone should tell that to the homeless guy outside CVS in Dupont), so I have to try everything I can. I did table talk with some recruiters, and handed out a few resumes. Of course those resumes are now invalid, having since received a new grade to affect my GPA (still waiting on one) and a new accolade (more to come on that front, see below, but don't hold your breath). There was one woman who I got a nice conversation going with from the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Doing policy advisement for the White House? Yes please, sign me up. I got her business card ("I got her numba, how d'you like dem apples?") so that's a good sign. I'll follow up with her this week.
Today was Suit Up Sunday for the ADR client counseling competition. ADR = alternative dispute resolution. ADR covers client counseling, mediation, negotiation, and arbitration (and maybe some other -ations). The competition format was basically that you and your partner are lawyers meeting with a client for the first time and you have to discover what his story is, what he wants, what the issues are, etc. There isn't a good way to prepare for it. It's mostly picking it up on the fly. It's being a pretend lawyer. Think mock trial (Sustained! Sustained!) only not about litigation.
But anyways, I did well enough (top 30 out of...a lot I think) and I was chosen for ADR Board. What does that mean? In descending order of importance: 1) I did better than people in a competition. 2) I get to put this on my resume. 3) If I choose I can participate in other school-wide and inter-school ADR competitions. Not too bad for about 2 hours of work total. A great low-risk, high-reward situation. And I get rewarded. Because I won. Competitive much? I think so.
The weekend has clearly been law school intensive. Most of the weekend that wasn't spent suiting up was spent writing this brief. I am currently pretty much done with a draft of it, but rewriting a section of it to decrease word count and increase clarity. I'm going to end up with two versions of that section and have to choose. But I have two work products! This is like making me choose between my children! Or not. I'll just choose the one my that fits the format my professor wants. So I guess it's like choosing between my children if one of them cured cancer and the other was a ne'er do well, and not even the good type of ne'er do well, but a fat, slovenly, boring one. No agony there. Perhaps I shouldn't have children, or at least children who turn into fat, slovenly, and boring. So they probably shouldn't take after their father. Hey-oh. I just zinged myself. Oops.
On Friday I had a Bulgarian waiter at a Mexican restaurant. It was odd. And my enchiladas weren't the best. Coincidence? I don't know. But, like the rest of the world, I have no problems pointing fingers at the Eastern Europeans.
Today was Suit Up Sunday for the ADR client counseling competition. ADR = alternative dispute resolution. ADR covers client counseling, mediation, negotiation, and arbitration (and maybe some other -ations). The competition format was basically that you and your partner are lawyers meeting with a client for the first time and you have to discover what his story is, what he wants, what the issues are, etc. There isn't a good way to prepare for it. It's mostly picking it up on the fly. It's being a pretend lawyer. Think mock trial (Sustained! Sustained!) only not about litigation.
But anyways, I did well enough (top 30 out of...a lot I think) and I was chosen for ADR Board. What does that mean? In descending order of importance: 1) I did better than people in a competition. 2) I get to put this on my resume. 3) If I choose I can participate in other school-wide and inter-school ADR competitions. Not too bad for about 2 hours of work total. A great low-risk, high-reward situation. And I get rewarded. Because I won. Competitive much? I think so.
The weekend has clearly been law school intensive. Most of the weekend that wasn't spent suiting up was spent writing this brief. I am currently pretty much done with a draft of it, but rewriting a section of it to decrease word count and increase clarity. I'm going to end up with two versions of that section and have to choose. But I have two work products! This is like making me choose between my children! Or not. I'll just choose the one my that fits the format my professor wants. So I guess it's like choosing between my children if one of them cured cancer and the other was a ne'er do well, and not even the good type of ne'er do well, but a fat, slovenly, boring one. No agony there. Perhaps I shouldn't have children, or at least children who turn into fat, slovenly, and boring. So they probably shouldn't take after their father. Hey-oh. I just zinged myself. Oops.
On Friday I had a Bulgarian waiter at a Mexican restaurant. It was odd. And my enchiladas weren't the best. Coincidence? I don't know. But, like the rest of the world, I have no problems pointing fingers at the Eastern Europeans.
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