So now I am officially finished with my 1L year of law school, assuming I did not fail anything (knock on wood). That feels fantastic.
Civil Procedure was the last exam. I felt pretty well prepared for it, but my professor's exams are notoriously difficult so I was not cocky. I was, however, focused which is more than I can say about many of my classmates. Almost everyone I talked to said they barely studied for it, or just wanted it to be over and sort of disregarded the exam. The temptation to do that was overwhelming, but somehow it wasn't worth it. Hopefully all that lack of focus helped the curve. That lack of focus is also probably why I had the honor (read that word with dripping sarcasm) of fielding other people's civil procedure questions. Not my job.
Right before the exam my Civil Procedure professor came into the room and gave us a talk. "Do you remember in January I told you about a study that they did about the effects of happiness on productivity? They had three groups of doctors. One was a control group. The second read the Hippocratic Oath. The third they made happy. And the happy group performed 35% better on a complex test. Do you know what they did to make them happy? Gave them candy. That's all." And with that he whipped out big goodie bags full of candy and handed them out to everyone in the room. He told us we'd do well now that we were happy. He also told us that the people at his local CVS were worried for his health and were going to give him a diabetes test. It seems kind of sappy/lame, but in the actual place and time where its a stressful environment leading up to an important test it was really nice of him.
The test itself was alright. Who really knows? I'm kind of banking on the fact that I actually studied a lot and felt like I understood the material well while many people in my section did not. But who knows.
To top off finishing the year, I saw the presidential motorcade leaving the bar on the way to dinner. An Obama sighting is always exciting. That rhymes enough to be a rap lyric.
Also, I correctly predicted the number of pitchers of margaritas the table would drink at dinner. It was eight pitchers for 13 people consuming them. Not too shabby except that I still hate tequila. But I am apparently clairvoyant about its consumption.
RCN screwed me over. Raising my rates without telling me. I get the same internet and cable. But now I get to pay more for it. Thanks RCN. Though by complaining about it to the woman on the phone I got $5 off for the next six months as an incentive to stop me from switching to another provider. Expert negotiator.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Service Matters, yo.
Contracts happened. Whatever. Who knows how it went? Not me. Could be good, could be bad. Probably was fine. One more. A matter of hours. Big study day tomorrow. Moving on.
After the exam I went to Chef Geoffs for Jason's birthday dinner. Happy birthday Jason. Everyone else seemed to have a good time. And it was nice people-wise. However the establishment itself was terrible. I was told that it is known for their burgers, so I got one. A $12 burger. Alright, that's fine, but I hope it's a really good burger. Cooked just right with fantastic toppings and delicious fries. It wasn't. In fact, it was served to me cold, like it had been sitting out waiting for the server to bring it to the table for 10 minutes, which I am sure was the case. That was a lovely thing to be served. After I realized this I wanted to ask if I could at least get warm fries, but the waitress didn't bother to come back over for another ten minutes. I finally flagged her down and asked for new fries and ended up sending the entire thing back. I felt bad, I don't think I've ever sent food back before. I'm always terrified of getting spit in my food, and also it's usually not that big a deal. But I wanted a nice meal after my final, it's a fairly reputable restaurant, and it was a $12 burger. I think I deserved a warm plate at least.
When talking to the waitress I tried as hard as possible to be polite. I channeled Matt Hope talking to people in the service industry, thought happy thoughts, and put on my polite voice. Rachel said it was good and I wasn't mean. So sending back food went as well as is possible I suppose. Of course my food came back to me after everyone was pretty much done eating already. That was fantastic too.
There were further service problems though. Notably when they brought out the food they did the "auction." "Who had the sausage Pizza? Who had the tuna burger?" etc. That's not professional - you should know who ordered what. Also, Rachel's food came out three minutes later than everyone else's, so we all ended up sitting there with food in front of us, not eating, politely waiting until she was served as well. Finally, the wait staff couldn't have cared less whether or not we had any problems. Jason's request for extra ketchup was treated as more of an inconvenience than anything else. While these gripes may seem silly, it is a fairly nice restaurant and one would expect them to be a little more professional, particularly for the prices they have. Also, I think that service matters - you pay for the service when you eat at a restaurant. That's why I didn't go to McDonalds for a hamburger (though they probably would have brought me a fresher one).
Finally, once I did get my food I only ate half of it because I got a stomach ache. Of course. Then when I wanted to take the rest home they gave me a "do it yourself" kit of an aluminum tin and a cover. Have fun scraping it in yourself. Classy joint, that one. I do not believe I will be re-patronizing it any time soon.
Now to learn Civil Procedure...
After the exam I went to Chef Geoffs for Jason's birthday dinner. Happy birthday Jason. Everyone else seemed to have a good time. And it was nice people-wise. However the establishment itself was terrible. I was told that it is known for their burgers, so I got one. A $12 burger. Alright, that's fine, but I hope it's a really good burger. Cooked just right with fantastic toppings and delicious fries. It wasn't. In fact, it was served to me cold, like it had been sitting out waiting for the server to bring it to the table for 10 minutes, which I am sure was the case. That was a lovely thing to be served. After I realized this I wanted to ask if I could at least get warm fries, but the waitress didn't bother to come back over for another ten minutes. I finally flagged her down and asked for new fries and ended up sending the entire thing back. I felt bad, I don't think I've ever sent food back before. I'm always terrified of getting spit in my food, and also it's usually not that big a deal. But I wanted a nice meal after my final, it's a fairly reputable restaurant, and it was a $12 burger. I think I deserved a warm plate at least.
When talking to the waitress I tried as hard as possible to be polite. I channeled Matt Hope talking to people in the service industry, thought happy thoughts, and put on my polite voice. Rachel said it was good and I wasn't mean. So sending back food went as well as is possible I suppose. Of course my food came back to me after everyone was pretty much done eating already. That was fantastic too.
There were further service problems though. Notably when they brought out the food they did the "auction." "Who had the sausage Pizza? Who had the tuna burger?" etc. That's not professional - you should know who ordered what. Also, Rachel's food came out three minutes later than everyone else's, so we all ended up sitting there with food in front of us, not eating, politely waiting until she was served as well. Finally, the wait staff couldn't have cared less whether or not we had any problems. Jason's request for extra ketchup was treated as more of an inconvenience than anything else. While these gripes may seem silly, it is a fairly nice restaurant and one would expect them to be a little more professional, particularly for the prices they have. Also, I think that service matters - you pay for the service when you eat at a restaurant. That's why I didn't go to McDonalds for a hamburger (though they probably would have brought me a fresher one).
Finally, once I did get my food I only ate half of it because I got a stomach ache. Of course. Then when I wanted to take the rest home they gave me a "do it yourself" kit of an aluminum tin and a cover. Have fun scraping it in yourself. Classy joint, that one. I do not believe I will be re-patronizing it any time soon.
Now to learn Civil Procedure...
Monday, April 26, 2010
Contracts Tomorrow - I Am Over It
There is a shop near school called "Tony's Flower's Shop" - wow, that's bad.
The girl who asked whether a treaty was necessary to using the treaty power in the Con Law review session was present and providing some comic relief at today's Contracts review session. It was in the form of asking a very basic question ("What are material damages?") and then asking our professor to explain one of the most clearly written provisions of the Restatement. While perhaps not quite as egregious as her prior errors, everyone agreed that this does not bode well for her exam tomorrow and that she probably has bigger problems than the provision of the Restatement if she is unclear on material damages. At least one person commented that they were "glad to have in in the class to help the curve." Unkind, but....meh.
Is there anything else? Well...the law library is still standing so we can all rest easy knowing that. The...electrical sockets still work. I mean, I didn't try all of them, but I have used a fairly random sampling of them and they have all worked correctly. Well there was one where the socket was out of it. I didn't try that one, but there wasn't a place to plug in so I am assuming it did not work. Without that one, every electrical socket I have inquired into has worked. Now cool you jets - don't get too excited about this. I don't mean to say that school has a perfect record on electricity. There may be some sampling bias involved. For example, I like to sit in seats near windows. It could be that sockets near windows operate better for some reason. Perhaps they get the sunlight they need to grow strong and healthy - like flowers. Who knows, I'm not a socket specialist. But let this paragraph be a lesson to you...about how interesting my activities during finals are.
The girl who asked whether a treaty was necessary to using the treaty power in the Con Law review session was present and providing some comic relief at today's Contracts review session. It was in the form of asking a very basic question ("What are material damages?") and then asking our professor to explain one of the most clearly written provisions of the Restatement. While perhaps not quite as egregious as her prior errors, everyone agreed that this does not bode well for her exam tomorrow and that she probably has bigger problems than the provision of the Restatement if she is unclear on material damages. At least one person commented that they were "glad to have in in the class to help the curve." Unkind, but....meh.
Is there anything else? Well...the law library is still standing so we can all rest easy knowing that. The...electrical sockets still work. I mean, I didn't try all of them, but I have used a fairly random sampling of them and they have all worked correctly. Well there was one where the socket was out of it. I didn't try that one, but there wasn't a place to plug in so I am assuming it did not work. Without that one, every electrical socket I have inquired into has worked. Now cool you jets - don't get too excited about this. I don't mean to say that school has a perfect record on electricity. There may be some sampling bias involved. For example, I like to sit in seats near windows. It could be that sockets near windows operate better for some reason. Perhaps they get the sunlight they need to grow strong and healthy - like flowers. Who knows, I'm not a socket specialist. But let this paragraph be a lesson to you...about how interesting my activities during finals are.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Hosed
Thursday's Property exam went better. The things I didn't want to be on the issue spotter weren't on there (unless I really missed something). I came out of it feeling pretty good, which was a nice change from Con Law. Additionally, my Property professor brought her two kids into the exam beforehand to distribute candy. Taking candy from children - it doesn't sound great. But it's better than giving them free candy. Shouldn't have even brought up this sketchy rabbit hole. Whoops. The point is, that her kids were adorable and, despite being 12, were almost as tall as my professor.
Then back to the library! Once more into the breach! But somehow I'm losing motivation. I hope to regain it today with the immanency of Contracts in two days. But do I really care that much about express and implied warranties? No - but I have to pretend.
Yesterday I got into school on the late side - around 11. On one side of school, a block down, is a meeting at the World Bank. Lots of police, people in suits, cars with diplomatic plates, and generally important very official looking stuff. On the other side of school, in the quad right outside the law school, is a sorority event involving fire hoses, screaming (presumably drunk) undergraduates, and tons of idiocy. I asked someone later and I think it was a fundraiser of some sort, but I have no idea how this could have possibly been anything except organized morons. As far as I could tell they were divided into teams with matching shirts by sorority/frat and there were various events involving fire hoses. The only one of which I really saw or understood was two opposing teams of four people each had to control a fire hose to get a bucket strung up on a line to the other team's side of the line. Why was this an amusing activity? I am unsure. Why were they allowed to use fire hoses? Not clear. Why did they need to scream for three hours straight so that it could be heard literally everywhere in the law school? I have no clue. It was not the best afternoon for studying at school. Though I will say it was a laugh to watch all of this stupidity from a second story window, particularly because the fire hoses made the ground wet and I got to watch people wipe out every two minutes or so trying to run around. There was some cruel solace in that.
I went to a birthday party in SE on Saturday night. They had an ice luge there. Really, that's not just for frat parties? Alright, I'll take it as it comes. I was talking to this guy at the party who works at the State Department. I asked him what he did at state. "Terrorism," he responded. "Oooook. I assume you mean counter-terrorism." "Yeah, that's it, counter-terrorism, mostly focusing on Europe." "Ok, good. That's really cool." Then I talked about Dean Acheson for a little bit because I do love my post-cold war diplomats and I'm a huge nerd.
Dear Red Sox,
Please stop sucking. It's not a big deal, it's only a game. But the hopes of thousands, if not millions, depend on you. There are small boys and old ladies in the hospital who follow you daily. If you don't do well, they may not have the strength to go on. No pressure though. Also, it makes me a sad panda when you lose. That's not that important either. If you didn't know, a fairy dies for every home run you give up or error you commit. Like I said, no pressure. But people in infirmaries, sad pandas, and fairies are kind of taking their cues from you. So if you could at least try a little harder to be good, that would be lovely.
Thanks!
Then back to the library! Once more into the breach! But somehow I'm losing motivation. I hope to regain it today with the immanency of Contracts in two days. But do I really care that much about express and implied warranties? No - but I have to pretend.
Yesterday I got into school on the late side - around 11. On one side of school, a block down, is a meeting at the World Bank. Lots of police, people in suits, cars with diplomatic plates, and generally important very official looking stuff. On the other side of school, in the quad right outside the law school, is a sorority event involving fire hoses, screaming (presumably drunk) undergraduates, and tons of idiocy. I asked someone later and I think it was a fundraiser of some sort, but I have no idea how this could have possibly been anything except organized morons. As far as I could tell they were divided into teams with matching shirts by sorority/frat and there were various events involving fire hoses. The only one of which I really saw or understood was two opposing teams of four people each had to control a fire hose to get a bucket strung up on a line to the other team's side of the line. Why was this an amusing activity? I am unsure. Why were they allowed to use fire hoses? Not clear. Why did they need to scream for three hours straight so that it could be heard literally everywhere in the law school? I have no clue. It was not the best afternoon for studying at school. Though I will say it was a laugh to watch all of this stupidity from a second story window, particularly because the fire hoses made the ground wet and I got to watch people wipe out every two minutes or so trying to run around. There was some cruel solace in that.
I went to a birthday party in SE on Saturday night. They had an ice luge there. Really, that's not just for frat parties? Alright, I'll take it as it comes. I was talking to this guy at the party who works at the State Department. I asked him what he did at state. "Terrorism," he responded. "Oooook. I assume you mean counter-terrorism." "Yeah, that's it, counter-terrorism, mostly focusing on Europe." "Ok, good. That's really cool." Then I talked about Dean Acheson for a little bit because I do love my post-cold war diplomats and I'm a huge nerd.
Dear Red Sox,
Please stop sucking. It's not a big deal, it's only a game. But the hopes of thousands, if not millions, depend on you. There are small boys and old ladies in the hospital who follow you daily. If you don't do well, they may not have the strength to go on. No pressure though. Also, it makes me a sad panda when you lose. That's not that important either. If you didn't know, a fairy dies for every home run you give up or error you commit. Like I said, no pressure. But people in infirmaries, sad pandas, and fairies are kind of taking their cues from you. So if you could at least try a little harder to be good, that would be lovely.
Thanks!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Maybe Not the Best
Con Law final was today. It was less than pleasant. I read through the prompt for question 1, which was an EPA regulation. Then I pretty much blinked back tears. What is this saying??? Then I took a deep breath and read it again. Then again. Then I started writing. Never a good sign that I spent like half an hour reading. There just weren't a lot of issues to spot in the issue spotter. More than half of the stuff I studied was not on the test. Makes me feel like I wasted my time. I'm also afraid that I messed up one of the parts a little bit - which is a bigger deal because there were so few issues. Dammit. The second part, a policy question, went better. But who really knows? That's probably even more subjective. Overall, not the best that ever happened.
The only solace is that everyone felt badly about it. My friend Sarah did actually cry during the test. There's no crying in finals. Pull it together. Afterward everyone headed to the bar. I went with a few people and had a beer. They all also had wings on special. A few months ago I swore to be more careful around chicken wings. Luckily tonight I finally followed through on that! Tracy complained about her stomach later on. Mine was fine. Tortellini that I cooked - much better for my stomach. Then back to school for some property studying. Tomorrow is all-Property day. Very exciting.
Before the exam I remembered something and I'm so happy I did. I remember that This Is Sparta!!! Then the test kicked me into a big pit. Oops.
I truly wish there was something else to report. But not much happens in the library.
The only solace is that everyone felt badly about it. My friend Sarah did actually cry during the test. There's no crying in finals. Pull it together. Afterward everyone headed to the bar. I went with a few people and had a beer. They all also had wings on special. A few months ago I swore to be more careful around chicken wings. Luckily tonight I finally followed through on that! Tracy complained about her stomach later on. Mine was fine. Tortellini that I cooked - much better for my stomach. Then back to school for some property studying. Tomorrow is all-Property day. Very exciting.
Before the exam I remembered something and I'm so happy I did. I remember that This Is Sparta!!! Then the test kicked me into a big pit. Oops.
I truly wish there was something else to report. But not much happens in the library.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Wine Arm
The review session was early in the morning (read: 9:30 am), and I came in bleary eyed with a large cup of coffee. I sit closer to the professor than my usual seat. The professor kept looking at me. I thought it was because I asked a question. Alright professor, whatever you want. I look to Stephanie on my left and something catches my eye. A little splotch of purple. What was that? Oh, it's a wine stain on the sleeve of my sweatshirt, lovely. Glad my professor was probably looking at that. I'm sure he's impressed. It's not even from last night!!! Though Tracy did punch me while I was holding a glass of wine last night, causing me to spill it all over my arm. Thanks for that. Sorry professor. Sorry sweatshirt. Sorry wine arm.
Pain is temporary, "Pride" is a song by U2
First final, Con Law, is tomorrow. I've basically been spending all of my time studying or eating. As such, it felt good to work out today after deciding around 5:30 that I was done studying for the night. Nothing else will come of it. I know all I'm going to know, now I need a night's sleep. And some knowledge of Con Law. Oh well. Of course today started off with a review session with my professor, during which a girl had to be told that there must be a relevant treaty in order for Congress to use the treaty power, and a war for Congress to use the war power. Even if I didn't go to law school I would have known that. Sometimes people need to pause, use a little common sense, and then plunge their head into a bucket of ice water. Lots of people left the review session feeling better due to some of the stupid questions that were asked. Kinda makes me hope that my questions were idiotic...but I'm decently sure they were not - for one thing I'm aware that the treaty power requires a treaty.
Yesterday brought me goodness at lunch in the form of 5 dollars, 12 inches, and 1 meatball marinara sandwich from Subway. It felt good going down. However, the rest of the day wasn't as delightful. Dammit Subway! Then again, it could have been something else...like caffeine. 2 large cups of coffee and a gigantic cup of Diet Coke. I'm lucky my heart didn't explode. Or my brain from all that book learnin' I wuz doin'.
A word about finals, particularly while being graded on a curve. I am not super competitive about the whole thing. I don't care that much about grades; I don't think they reflect that much or matter that much; I also think that amount of studying does not have a strong relationship to performance on the exam - it really comes down to how well you operate in those 3 hours as long as you know the material. But I am not alright with sitting in a room "studying" with eight people, some of whom are watching youtube videos, and explaining to them a basic power of Congress that was explained in the review session literally an hour before and was explained in cases we read and in lecture multiple times. That is not how I want to spend my day before a final. That doesn't make me a bad person or a bad friend, it just makes me the same as everyone else, if slightly better prepared at that moment. Unsurprisingly, this was not a mere hypothetical situation, but something that actually occurred today. Luckily, we got kicked out of that room by a faculty meeting and I relocated to a spot in the library where I could do a practice test without interruption. My recommendation to everyone who is not prepared: turn off gchat and get off facebook when you are studying, and studying will become a lot easier and less time-consuming.
That was what we call venting. Not in the way Coors Light uses the term. Thankfully. Damn those commercials were dumb.
Someone recommended that I run on the treadmill on a slight incline. Wow that was painful advice for my knee, shin, and quad. Why is being healthy so hard? What if pizza was as healthy as a salad? That's the parallel universe I want to live in. Where chicken ceasar wraps count as a serving of fruit, cheeseburgers count as vegetables, and beer is an acceptable grain for daily consumption - even in the morning.
The Red Sox need to do something in order to stop sucking. I'm sorry, but this has been pathetic. They lost 4 times in 3 days without having a double header. Come on!
Jesus. In English, it involves Christianity. In Spanish, it involves conjuring the Greek god of thunder. Conundrum.
Yesterday brought me goodness at lunch in the form of 5 dollars, 12 inches, and 1 meatball marinara sandwich from Subway. It felt good going down. However, the rest of the day wasn't as delightful. Dammit Subway! Then again, it could have been something else...like caffeine. 2 large cups of coffee and a gigantic cup of Diet Coke. I'm lucky my heart didn't explode. Or my brain from all that book learnin' I wuz doin'.
A word about finals, particularly while being graded on a curve. I am not super competitive about the whole thing. I don't care that much about grades; I don't think they reflect that much or matter that much; I also think that amount of studying does not have a strong relationship to performance on the exam - it really comes down to how well you operate in those 3 hours as long as you know the material. But I am not alright with sitting in a room "studying" with eight people, some of whom are watching youtube videos, and explaining to them a basic power of Congress that was explained in the review session literally an hour before and was explained in cases we read and in lecture multiple times. That is not how I want to spend my day before a final. That doesn't make me a bad person or a bad friend, it just makes me the same as everyone else, if slightly better prepared at that moment. Unsurprisingly, this was not a mere hypothetical situation, but something that actually occurred today. Luckily, we got kicked out of that room by a faculty meeting and I relocated to a spot in the library where I could do a practice test without interruption. My recommendation to everyone who is not prepared: turn off gchat and get off facebook when you are studying, and studying will become a lot easier and less time-consuming.
That was what we call venting. Not in the way Coors Light uses the term. Thankfully. Damn those commercials were dumb.
Someone recommended that I run on the treadmill on a slight incline. Wow that was painful advice for my knee, shin, and quad. Why is being healthy so hard? What if pizza was as healthy as a salad? That's the parallel universe I want to live in. Where chicken ceasar wraps count as a serving of fruit, cheeseburgers count as vegetables, and beer is an acceptable grain for daily consumption - even in the morning.
The Red Sox need to do something in order to stop sucking. I'm sorry, but this has been pathetic. They lost 4 times in 3 days without having a double header. Come on!
Jesus. In English, it involves Christianity. In Spanish, it involves conjuring the Greek god of thunder. Conundrum.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Time's Never Wasted
I'm worried that I'm not worried. I feel like I'm on pretty solid ground for finals studying, so I'm pretty relaxed. I still work during the day, but I'm not at school until all hours of the night. Meanwhile most people are library zombies, closing out the library in the evening. My suspicion is that they are actually spending much of their time on facebook and gchat rather than Property and Con Law and that we actually spend similar amounts of time doing actual "work" or maybe they are doing a little more. But I feel like I'm in a good place and I'm definitely not becoming a bookworm...or a mealworm, which are gross.
Today I walked into the library and just felt the stress exuding from everyone around me. I immediately walked out. I still have a few days before my first exam and I feel like I have a pretty decent grasp on everything, so I really don't need to sit in a seeping cesspool of stress.
I would say that Gameday on mlb.com is my biggest distraction at the moment. Damn you baseball season! I'm glad I haven't actually bought mlb.tv yet. That would be even worse for me. It would be like a heroin addiction for my study habits.
Speaking of heroin - Wonder Woman. She's boring. And the wrong kind of heroin. Though if drug dealers were imaginative they would have nicknamed heroin Wonder Woman. Or Jane Eyre. Ew. Jane Eyre sucks. So do the Bronte sisters in general. Flashbacks of sophomore year English in high school.
This evening at 11 some people from school played a game of ultimate frisbee on the quad. Despite being from a small liberal arts school I am not particularly good at frisbee. My catching is fine, my throwing is getting better, but my overall performance (including interest level) leaves something to be desired. Nonetheless, it was pretty fun, if only as a break from the monotony of study days. Bolting past someone to know down a frisbee then rubbing it in their face - what more could you ask for?
Of course this did happen a good four hours after my last shower. So we had to make a sequel. Shower 2: Return of the Shampoo. Shower 2: Loofah of Doom. Shower 2: Live Free or Die Hard. Wait a minute....
Actually I find that title hilarious, "Live Free or Die Hard." It's almost as good as the pseudo-patriotic title of Motley Crue's greatest hits album: "Red, White and Crue."
On tap for tomorrow: becoming a study robot, finding Aristotle's Golden Mean, helping Jason find the Golden Fleece, deciding whether all that glitters is gold, and eating salad. Some of this may not happen, but you need to have big goals to get big results.
Today I walked into the library and just felt the stress exuding from everyone around me. I immediately walked out. I still have a few days before my first exam and I feel like I have a pretty decent grasp on everything, so I really don't need to sit in a seeping cesspool of stress.
I would say that Gameday on mlb.com is my biggest distraction at the moment. Damn you baseball season! I'm glad I haven't actually bought mlb.tv yet. That would be even worse for me. It would be like a heroin addiction for my study habits.
Speaking of heroin - Wonder Woman. She's boring. And the wrong kind of heroin. Though if drug dealers were imaginative they would have nicknamed heroin Wonder Woman. Or Jane Eyre. Ew. Jane Eyre sucks. So do the Bronte sisters in general. Flashbacks of sophomore year English in high school.
This evening at 11 some people from school played a game of ultimate frisbee on the quad. Despite being from a small liberal arts school I am not particularly good at frisbee. My catching is fine, my throwing is getting better, but my overall performance (including interest level) leaves something to be desired. Nonetheless, it was pretty fun, if only as a break from the monotony of study days. Bolting past someone to know down a frisbee then rubbing it in their face - what more could you ask for?
Of course this did happen a good four hours after my last shower. So we had to make a sequel. Shower 2: Return of the Shampoo. Shower 2: Loofah of Doom. Shower 2: Live Free or Die Hard. Wait a minute....
Actually I find that title hilarious, "Live Free or Die Hard." It's almost as good as the pseudo-patriotic title of Motley Crue's greatest hits album: "Red, White and Crue."
On tap for tomorrow: becoming a study robot, finding Aristotle's Golden Mean, helping Jason find the Golden Fleece, deciding whether all that glitters is gold, and eating salad. Some of this may not happen, but you need to have big goals to get big results.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Last Day of Classes!!
Woooooooooo!
Contracts, Civil Procedure, and Property professors all dropped by the bar. Very nice. No more 1L classes! This is the stuff dreams are made of!
OMG, Glee is back on tonight. I can't wait. My facebook and gchat statuses have been about nothing else. NOT. Time for everyone to calm down and remember how old you are. Shaked knows what's up on this front. I know this is a controversial proposition, but everyone needs to bring it down a notch.
If you cannot decide whether the glass is three-quarters empty or one-quarter full, you lose.
"A Man For All Seasons" - pretty good play.
Henry VIII - pretty bad Catholic
You - pretty
See how nice I am. There's no catch. You are just pretty. On the inside at least.
Contracts, Civil Procedure, and Property professors all dropped by the bar. Very nice. No more 1L classes! This is the stuff dreams are made of!
OMG, Glee is back on tonight. I can't wait. My facebook and gchat statuses have been about nothing else. NOT. Time for everyone to calm down and remember how old you are. Shaked knows what's up on this front. I know this is a controversial proposition, but everyone needs to bring it down a notch.
If you cannot decide whether the glass is three-quarters empty or one-quarter full, you lose.
"A Man For All Seasons" - pretty good play.
Henry VIII - pretty bad Catholic
You - pretty
See how nice I am. There's no catch. You are just pretty. On the inside at least.
I Know I Swore Off Starbursts - Starting Tomorrow
If basketballs were Starburst wrappers and hoops were my trashcan and the three-point line were at my desk chair, then I would be eligible for a multi-million dollar contract.
Today in Civil Procedure a classmate of mine, Tommy, came in dressed as my professor with silver hair and everything. As my professor walked down one aisle, Tommy mirrored him walking down the other one. Tommy set up behind the podium and started lecturing as my professor took a seat in the front row. He has the mannerisms down, the doctrine of issue preclusion memorized, and he started cold-calling for the case "In re: Silver Fox" (my professor has been referred to as "The Silver Fox" behind his back by years of adoring female students). Tommy even starting ranting about a particular case that my professor hates, and gave us a stylized motivational speech. My professor just sat there and laughed the entire time - he's got a good sense of humor thankfully. Of course this performance made concentrating very difficult for the rest of class, for my professor as well.
I lost half an hour due to Texts From Last Night in the midst of cleaning up my Property outline.
There was some crazy food and drink event in the law school quad today. They had all kinds of moon-bounce-esk activities including an actual moon bounce, and things with less formal names (boxing with huge, heavy gloves in an inflatable ring, standing on a platform and hitting your opponent with a stick, an inflatable obstacle course, and something which involved being tied together by harnesses and needing to get balls into opposite baskets). That's what all of us here in law school find super amusing, apparently. I know I did. I ate two burgers, some pasta, and a fudgcicle, and then challenged Reza to boxing, stick fighting, and basket-scoring. I think its safe to say I won all three. I'm not gloating though, I do have about 45 pounds on him. It was all fun and games...until I felt like absolute crap because I ate so much. I should have waited 30 minutes before I jumped in the proverbial pool. Ugh. It took the next hour of watching other people compete in fierce, inflatable combat before my stomach stopped hurting.
Today in Civil Procedure a classmate of mine, Tommy, came in dressed as my professor with silver hair and everything. As my professor walked down one aisle, Tommy mirrored him walking down the other one. Tommy set up behind the podium and started lecturing as my professor took a seat in the front row. He has the mannerisms down, the doctrine of issue preclusion memorized, and he started cold-calling for the case "In re: Silver Fox" (my professor has been referred to as "The Silver Fox" behind his back by years of adoring female students). Tommy even starting ranting about a particular case that my professor hates, and gave us a stylized motivational speech. My professor just sat there and laughed the entire time - he's got a good sense of humor thankfully. Of course this performance made concentrating very difficult for the rest of class, for my professor as well.
I lost half an hour due to Texts From Last Night in the midst of cleaning up my Property outline.
There was some crazy food and drink event in the law school quad today. They had all kinds of moon-bounce-esk activities including an actual moon bounce, and things with less formal names (boxing with huge, heavy gloves in an inflatable ring, standing on a platform and hitting your opponent with a stick, an inflatable obstacle course, and something which involved being tied together by harnesses and needing to get balls into opposite baskets). That's what all of us here in law school find super amusing, apparently. I know I did. I ate two burgers, some pasta, and a fudgcicle, and then challenged Reza to boxing, stick fighting, and basket-scoring. I think its safe to say I won all three. I'm not gloating though, I do have about 45 pounds on him. It was all fun and games...until I felt like absolute crap because I ate so much. I should have waited 30 minutes before I jumped in the proverbial pool. Ugh. It took the next hour of watching other people compete in fierce, inflatable combat before my stomach stopped hurting.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Can Something Be "Somewhat Tautological"?
"I want to update my blog," I thought to myself, "but I don't know what to say. This wasn't much of an epic weekend. I finished two outlines and procrastinated for the most part. Hrmmm." I popped another Starburst in my mouth, checked my fantasy baseball team, then unwrapped another Starburst. "Pink. Score!" Wait a minute. Why am I just sitting here eating candy? This is not what I should be doing. At the very least I should be here not eating candy. New goal: stop eating like absolute crap. I realized that if I stop snacking on really unhealthy food (example: Starbursts) and stop drinking, I'd probably be in much better shape. So I'm going to try that on for size. And see if I go down in size. Not that I really need to, it's just a challenge. Things like the powdered dough product I got today from Starbucks, the cinnamon bun I bought from a bake sale on Friday, and the milkshake I got from Johnny Rockets on Thursday could all easily be cut out of my diet with a little will power. Luckily all my power is Will power. Bring it on! Thought that milk shake was delicious and I regret nothing about it.
Friday night I was leaving Stephanie's room. She says "Get home safe." It's a block and a half walk in a safe area, so I jokingly said "Who knows, maybe I'll get stabbed by a homeless man." Then on the way home I was approached by a gentleman who was clearly intoxicated. "Oh crap," I thought. In drunken English he asked me which way the metro was. I pointed him in the right direction. He thanked me vigorously and as a symbol of his gratitude gave me a magnanimous handshake. I was creeped out. I shook his hand, but I really didn't want to. He went to say something else to me, but I walked away. I really didn't want to get stabbed.
Then, Sunday afternoon as I was walking around Dupont with RKG, I made the mistake of catching the eye of one of those guys who doesn't quite look homeless but still wanders around talking to himself angrily using mostly profanity. He looked me right in the eye and started swearing. Thanks guy. There are so many of those people in DC. I like to think that they are all disgruntled former congressional staffers, but I'm probably wrong. It's probably only most of them - not all.
I think this is the only city where when you say "I'm going to the mall" someone needs to ask "shopping or national?"
The professor who wrote my hornbook for Civil Procedure must have been incredibly drunk when he wrote the chapter on the Erie Doctrine. It doesn't matter what that is if you don't know. The chapter literally starts with a 'personal fantasy' which is meant to illustrate Glannon's (the author) fear of explaining Erie. This fantasy includes an archangel coming down to him while he was in Civil Procedure and motivating him to run away to work in a nursery watering plants. What?? Just tell me what I need to know, nutjob. The rest of the book is really helpful, but this chapter just makes no sense.
Of course I mentioned this to Shaked, who has not seen the book, and she explained to me (courtesy of her professor telling her class a story) that Glannon really didn't want to write the chapter on Erie and this was his way of coping. It is absolutely ridiculous that this chapter is infamous enough for Shaked to know what I was talking about. Thus, I think Glannon was drinking heavily.
Friday night I was leaving Stephanie's room. She says "Get home safe." It's a block and a half walk in a safe area, so I jokingly said "Who knows, maybe I'll get stabbed by a homeless man." Then on the way home I was approached by a gentleman who was clearly intoxicated. "Oh crap," I thought. In drunken English he asked me which way the metro was. I pointed him in the right direction. He thanked me vigorously and as a symbol of his gratitude gave me a magnanimous handshake. I was creeped out. I shook his hand, but I really didn't want to. He went to say something else to me, but I walked away. I really didn't want to get stabbed.
Then, Sunday afternoon as I was walking around Dupont with RKG, I made the mistake of catching the eye of one of those guys who doesn't quite look homeless but still wanders around talking to himself angrily using mostly profanity. He looked me right in the eye and started swearing. Thanks guy. There are so many of those people in DC. I like to think that they are all disgruntled former congressional staffers, but I'm probably wrong. It's probably only most of them - not all.
I think this is the only city where when you say "I'm going to the mall" someone needs to ask "shopping or national?"
The professor who wrote my hornbook for Civil Procedure must have been incredibly drunk when he wrote the chapter on the Erie Doctrine. It doesn't matter what that is if you don't know. The chapter literally starts with a 'personal fantasy' which is meant to illustrate Glannon's (the author) fear of explaining Erie. This fantasy includes an archangel coming down to him while he was in Civil Procedure and motivating him to run away to work in a nursery watering plants. What?? Just tell me what I need to know, nutjob. The rest of the book is really helpful, but this chapter just makes no sense.
Of course I mentioned this to Shaked, who has not seen the book, and she explained to me (courtesy of her professor telling her class a story) that Glannon really didn't want to write the chapter on Erie and this was his way of coping. It is absolutely ridiculous that this chapter is infamous enough for Shaked to know what I was talking about. Thus, I think Glannon was drinking heavily.
Friday, April 9, 2010
I want pie
Where did the week go? Last full week of classes of 1L year. So sad (read: best news ever!!). Finding a sublet and finals, that's all I really have to worry about right now. Also the fact that my building refused to turn on the air conditioning despite it reaching 90 this week. That sucked. It felt like being in the swamp that this city was built on. I didn't sleep well for three nights. Don't I have a fan? No; the building has central air. There was absolutely no need for it before and no one warned me. What do I look like, a weather psychic?
Eating bread again was glorious, but getting the food was a fiasco. A Lupe Fiasco. I was planning to go to Pizzeria Paradiso with a friend for pizza and beer - two incredibly non-Passover friendly things. What started as two people turned into 8. I was the one who had to go put my name on the list because everyone else had class. They joined me half an hour later. Pizzeria Paradiso is a popular establishment and I knew this was going to be a bad idea. Whoever thought it was going to take 30 minutes (my friend) was incredibly incorrect. Seating 8 people at a popular restaurant takes a little while. The number went down to 6, then 5, but I still ended up waiting for an hour be seated. I, like many people, get a little grumpy when I am hungry. By the time I got food I was seething with anger. The only thing that made the dinner remotely ok was that I could again eat real pizza and other bread products.
Today is preview day for the law school. "They all look so happy." "They haven't had their souls crushed yet." I couldn't decide which was the best way to mess with the zero-L's (as someone dubbed them), so I just carried on as usual and ignored them. Though I did steal a Starburst that was meant for the zero-L's in a gallant act of defiance. I fought the law.
In Property we did about four classes on intellectual property. There was a lawsuit about post-Napster downloading programs like Morpheus, which I totally had (and was totally illegal - oops). First off, it was weird reading the Supreme Court discussing Modest Mouse and Wilco. Second, after class I asked my property professor about Girl Talk. (Probably legal as a fair use of other people's copyrighted material and since he only uses parts of other songs). My professor responded by talking to me about the Grey Album case. Wow, apparently my professor is one hip lady. She was pretty up on the Black Album...and the White Album, which does not make her hip in any way. Also, she said she's going to look into Girl Talk. Yup, gave her a new music suggestion. I can't wait for her to listen to Girl Talk using a song like "Gettin' Some Head." She'll probably love it.
Eating bread again was glorious, but getting the food was a fiasco. A Lupe Fiasco. I was planning to go to Pizzeria Paradiso with a friend for pizza and beer - two incredibly non-Passover friendly things. What started as two people turned into 8. I was the one who had to go put my name on the list because everyone else had class. They joined me half an hour later. Pizzeria Paradiso is a popular establishment and I knew this was going to be a bad idea. Whoever thought it was going to take 30 minutes (my friend) was incredibly incorrect. Seating 8 people at a popular restaurant takes a little while. The number went down to 6, then 5, but I still ended up waiting for an hour be seated. I, like many people, get a little grumpy when I am hungry. By the time I got food I was seething with anger. The only thing that made the dinner remotely ok was that I could again eat real pizza and other bread products.
Today is preview day for the law school. "They all look so happy." "They haven't had their souls crushed yet." I couldn't decide which was the best way to mess with the zero-L's (as someone dubbed them), so I just carried on as usual and ignored them. Though I did steal a Starburst that was meant for the zero-L's in a gallant act of defiance. I fought the law.
In Property we did about four classes on intellectual property. There was a lawsuit about post-Napster downloading programs like Morpheus, which I totally had (and was totally illegal - oops). First off, it was weird reading the Supreme Court discussing Modest Mouse and Wilco. Second, after class I asked my property professor about Girl Talk. (Probably legal as a fair use of other people's copyrighted material and since he only uses parts of other songs). My professor responded by talking to me about the Grey Album case. Wow, apparently my professor is one hip lady. She was pretty up on the Black Album...and the White Album, which does not make her hip in any way. Also, she said she's going to look into Girl Talk. Yup, gave her a new music suggestion. I can't wait for her to listen to Girl Talk using a song like "Gettin' Some Head." She'll probably love it.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Take Me Out to the Ballgame
It was a very baseball weekend. Saturday Rebecca and I went to Nationals Stadium to see the Nats play an exhibition game against the Red Sox. We just took the metro to the stadium, went to a ticket kiosk, swiped a credit card, and walked in. Wow - that's a whole new concept to me. Being able to get reasonably priced tickets the day of the game? That...that never happens for Red Sox games. It's a whole new paradigm of baseball.
Also notable about the game, there were probably just as many, if not more, people sporting Red Sox gear than Nationals gear. It was ridiculous. Literally everyone who got off the metro with us was wearing Sox hats and jerseys. It was like being on the T getting off at Fenway, only the walk was shorter, the public transportation was cleaner, and everyone was more polite. I felt like starting a "Yankees Suck" cheer just for old times.
Red Sox clearly won. We got to see Wakefield start the game (they helped him stand up without his walker) and the starting lineup go through a couple of times. Youk hit a home run, Drew hit a home run, and, most importantly, Julio Lugo doesn't play for us any more. Thankfully. Also got to see Lowell and Tek hit. The Red Sox have been raiding the old folks home. Since I'm going to be a Nats fan, it was good to see them too. I love Ryan Zimmerman and Ian Desmond. Of course, the Nats still suck so it was rough times for them. But they will not be the worst team in baseball this year! I think that honor will go to the Blue Jays or the Astros.
Then last night was opening day - Yankees vs. Red Sox. I went to a bar to watch the game opposite Reza, who was rooting for the Evil Empire (that's right, he's a communist). We were joined by a number of people who don't care much about baseball, including Tracy who only watches tennis. I told her to go back to Westchester and reexamine her life. After a good game, and some slow reflexes by the ancient/ugly Jorge Posada the good guys won; the bad guys lost; all was right with the world; and it is at last baseball season again!
In honor of baseball season, my projections really quickly. We'll see how this goes.
AL: Yankees, Twins, Mariners, Red Sox (wildcard)
NL: Phillies, Cardinals, Rockies, Braves (wildcard)
World Series: (loyalty pick) Red Sox over Phillies; (real pick) Yankees over Phillies
Stupidest Baseball Team: Astros
ROYs: Heyward (NL) and Matsuz (AL)
Cy Youngs: Halladay (NL) and Felix Hernandez (NL)
MVPs, traditional thinking: Pujols (NL) and Longoria (AL)
MVPs, out on a limb: Votto (NL) and B.J. Upton (AL)
Now that baseball is out of the way...there isn't much else.
Who has time on their hands to protest scientology? There are those people in the Guy Fawkes masks that stand outside protesting it. I mean, sure it's silly and probably a huge fraudulent scheme, but why not let people dumb enough to buy into it just go for it? What exactly are they protesting out there? Making bad ideas? If that's the case, why not protest tequila - always a bad idea. Or building a city on a swamp (DC) - that was a bad idea too.
I get to eat bread and drink beer tomorrow night! You don't know how good you have it until it is taken away. I will be thankful for my newly returned abilities...for at least a week. More if I remember, but I've got a lot on my plate to memorize for finals.
Also notable about the game, there were probably just as many, if not more, people sporting Red Sox gear than Nationals gear. It was ridiculous. Literally everyone who got off the metro with us was wearing Sox hats and jerseys. It was like being on the T getting off at Fenway, only the walk was shorter, the public transportation was cleaner, and everyone was more polite. I felt like starting a "Yankees Suck" cheer just for old times.
Red Sox clearly won. We got to see Wakefield start the game (they helped him stand up without his walker) and the starting lineup go through a couple of times. Youk hit a home run, Drew hit a home run, and, most importantly, Julio Lugo doesn't play for us any more. Thankfully. Also got to see Lowell and Tek hit. The Red Sox have been raiding the old folks home. Since I'm going to be a Nats fan, it was good to see them too. I love Ryan Zimmerman and Ian Desmond. Of course, the Nats still suck so it was rough times for them. But they will not be the worst team in baseball this year! I think that honor will go to the Blue Jays or the Astros.
Then last night was opening day - Yankees vs. Red Sox. I went to a bar to watch the game opposite Reza, who was rooting for the Evil Empire (that's right, he's a communist). We were joined by a number of people who don't care much about baseball, including Tracy who only watches tennis. I told her to go back to Westchester and reexamine her life. After a good game, and some slow reflexes by the ancient/ugly Jorge Posada the good guys won; the bad guys lost; all was right with the world; and it is at last baseball season again!
In honor of baseball season, my projections really quickly. We'll see how this goes.
AL: Yankees, Twins, Mariners, Red Sox (wildcard)
NL: Phillies, Cardinals, Rockies, Braves (wildcard)
World Series: (loyalty pick) Red Sox over Phillies; (real pick) Yankees over Phillies
Stupidest Baseball Team: Astros
ROYs: Heyward (NL) and Matsuz (AL)
Cy Youngs: Halladay (NL) and Felix Hernandez (NL)
MVPs, traditional thinking: Pujols (NL) and Longoria (AL)
MVPs, out on a limb: Votto (NL) and B.J. Upton (AL)
Now that baseball is out of the way...there isn't much else.
Who has time on their hands to protest scientology? There are those people in the Guy Fawkes masks that stand outside protesting it. I mean, sure it's silly and probably a huge fraudulent scheme, but why not let people dumb enough to buy into it just go for it? What exactly are they protesting out there? Making bad ideas? If that's the case, why not protest tequila - always a bad idea. Or building a city on a swamp (DC) - that was a bad idea too.
I get to eat bread and drink beer tomorrow night! You don't know how good you have it until it is taken away. I will be thankful for my newly returned abilities...for at least a week. More if I remember, but I've got a lot on my plate to memorize for finals.
Friday, April 2, 2010
A Gripe
Forgot this. Sunscreen, what the hell is going on?? I put on SPF 30 before going out in the sun today. I put it on my face and arms. Now my face and arms are burned. What happened?? Where were you on that one?? Why did I put on sunscreen if I was just going to get burned? I know I'm pretty pale, but it's not like I didn't make a solid effort to avoid this. I didn't just put a dab on, I lathered it on there. Usually the sun is my enemy. On this one, I'm pinning the blame on sunscreen. Epic fail.
Also, I played with Jen's chinchillas today. They are cute. She called them "noble" creates. I don't think she knows what noble means. Chinchillas can't get wet. If they do their fur can get moldy and they'll die. Chinchillas also cannot be exposed to much heat. If they do they'll have a stroke and die. So heat and water, two extremely common things, cause death in chinchillas. Evolution didn't think this one out too well. Maybe this is evidence against evolution...where's Fox News to break this story?
I think it is impossible to give a correct, non-self-referential definition of "indefinable." I just blew your mind.
It would be ironic if hell was a constant staged reading Sartre's "No Exit" with a bunch of other people.
Also, I played with Jen's chinchillas today. They are cute. She called them "noble" creates. I don't think she knows what noble means. Chinchillas can't get wet. If they do their fur can get moldy and they'll die. Chinchillas also cannot be exposed to much heat. If they do they'll have a stroke and die. So heat and water, two extremely common things, cause death in chinchillas. Evolution didn't think this one out too well. Maybe this is evidence against evolution...where's Fox News to break this story?
I think it is impossible to give a correct, non-self-referential definition of "indefinable." I just blew your mind.
It would be ironic if hell was a constant staged reading Sartre's "No Exit" with a bunch of other people.
Aquaman
Rather than doing anything productive after class today, I went with Reza and Jen to the National Mall and the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms. I did see the cherry blossoms, also lots of tourists. And no one would accept my challenge of $5 to jump into the Tidal Basin. Wussies. Also the girl recklessly climbing the tree didn't even fall out of it into the water for my amusement. However, I did get to see the presidential motorcade (!!!!!!) and Marine One (!!!!!). The motorcade was pretty gangster. They shut down the entire street for about ten minutes before it came, they wouldn't even let pedestrians walk. Then a lot of police, secret service, and the two limos. It was awesome. I said what up to B-Rock. Then an hour later we got the three identical helicopters swooping over the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial. It was so patriotic looking that a bald eagle probably was born at that very moment.
The POTUS-cade (or at least the important part of it):
This morning in the shower I thought that I could be Aquaman, but only in the shower. Just like the real Aquaman, my powers would be useless in the rest of the world. (And I use the term "real" loosely - I am aware Aquaman is actually fictional, and if he weren't I'd ask him to poke around Loch Ness to tell me what's really going on down there.)
The "shuffle" setting on my iTunes really wants me to listen to Toots and the Maytals apparently. I have five songs by them, and they keep coming up, out of over 5,000 songs to choose from. What is going on here?
Last night at bar review everyone gave me funny looks because I was drinking wine. I had to explain to so many people why I wasn't drinking beer and I ended up looking a little pretentious - being the only person in the entire bar with a wine glass. I should have worn a beret and carried a book about art. If you were wondering, the reason is Passover.
The POTUS-cade (or at least the important part of it):
This morning in the shower I thought that I could be Aquaman, but only in the shower. Just like the real Aquaman, my powers would be useless in the rest of the world. (And I use the term "real" loosely - I am aware Aquaman is actually fictional, and if he weren't I'd ask him to poke around Loch Ness to tell me what's really going on down there.)
The "shuffle" setting on my iTunes really wants me to listen to Toots and the Maytals apparently. I have five songs by them, and they keep coming up, out of over 5,000 songs to choose from. What is going on here?
Last night at bar review everyone gave me funny looks because I was drinking wine. I had to explain to so many people why I wasn't drinking beer and I ended up looking a little pretentious - being the only person in the entire bar with a wine glass. I should have worn a beret and carried a book about art. If you were wondering, the reason is Passover.
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