As a bad internet user, I should be standing in solidarity with the black out protest of SOPA and PIPA bills currently in Congress. But I think Wikipedia is far better equipped to get that message out. So here I am with my sporadic blog.

The low down on my classes this semester. The scoop. The quick and dirty.
Separation of Powers - perhaps the first and only class in law school that I actually enjoy. I like the reading and the discussion. I like sitting through class. What's wrong with me? I feel like my heart grew three sizes today, as the law school grinch. But really, what a fun, interesting class with a great professor, my old Civ Pro prof.
Computer Crime - semi-interesting, rapidly-evolving area of law. The professor is entertaining and showed us a scene from "War Games" already. It should be fine. But soon I'll be scolding you (one person in particular) for stealing facebook passwords. Fun fact: my professor defended the "MySpace Killer."
Antitrust Seminar - the first class was just obnoxious name dropping. The second class was much better. Mostly I am amused by how much antitrust knowledge the professor thinks we have, but we totally don't know/remember any of it.
Trust and Estates - I may kill myself out of sheer boredom.

Using CVS Extrabucks (I spend waaaaay too much money at CVS for some reason), I bought fancy hair conditioner. As in something that cost more than $2.09. So far I am afraid to use it. It's like razor blades - why so expensive? But I hope it gives my hair extra shine and bounce. Is that Mitt Romney's secret?

White Collar addiction: activate.
Now I want to learn to how to pick locks. It just seems so cool and useful. I promise I'm not considering becoming a professional art thief after law school. Pinky swear it.

I may soon be royalty. I am purchasing my friend's queen bed because she is moving in with her boyfriend. I'm considering getting sheets with pictures of Freddy Mercury on them.

Firsts

There have been a good amount of firsts going around. Today was the first time I've ever had to shower because I smelled like lamb. Oh, and yesterday was the first day of classes. They were fine...I'm sure they will be further discussed. Nothing too stunning yet - the highlight so far is Clarence Thomas speaking so reckless, as usual. His views are still radical and impractical. But the lamb I roasted was delicious. I've been looking forward to it for a little bit now. Alena ate it with me, and she was quite patient as I figured out just how long it needed to stay in the oven. Want something gross looking? It's lamb drippings. Also, delicious for future gravies or sauces.

Being back at school is a little stressful. Everyone talking about jobs, internships, journal, homework, and skeet shooting. Alright, one of those discussions really added no law school pressure. But the others make me want to not talk with my classmates. If I pretend to be deaf do I get one of those ASL interpreters who can stand next to the professor every class period? That's a heinous abuse and waste of resources, but I kind of want to know. Would you get that?? Whenever I see someone signing along next to a speaker I inevitably look at them despite not understanding sign language. No matter how compelling the speaker, I am drawn to watching. It is entirely unclear why. I don't think I'll keep looking at French subtitles of a film in English.

It's almost college football season: the time of year where I can't watch ESPN anymore on Saturdays because I just don't care that much about any of it.

Law School v. 2.0

Tomorrow is the first day of classes. Holy crap I am so much more prepared for it this time than I was last year. Last year I didn't know anything. I was getting thrown into the deep end with no lifeguard. This time I am swan-diving into the pool, only I mess up the dive a little bit and end up hurting my shoulders and dignity. I am actually excited to learn in my classes (Con Law II, Administrative Law, Corporations, and US Foreign Relations Law), but I am not excited about journal nor the job search. Those are my big downers. Like a New Year's resolution I am sure this won't last, but I really am going to try to maintain a decent work schedule along the 9 to 5 lines. My alarm is set for 8 am, and I am prepared to be cranky but productive in the morning.

The swamp that is DC is still hot. I do not enjoy breaking a sweat walking around outside after the sun has gone down. I feel like ever since I got here I have just been showering constantly. One in the morning, one after I work out, and then a third because I unintentionally got really sweaty just from walking around. Not cool (hot and sweaty, in fact).

This weekend was Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally, so a lot of attendees/tourists were in town. It was pretty easy to pick them out. They were mostly overweight, white, and dumpy-looking. The rally's standard uniform was a tucked-in t-shirt that either had a rally logo on it or just an American Flag - just to show how much they loved America. I was honestly a little scared by these people. I kept wanting to stop and make conversation, just to see how it went. I'm not saying they are bad, ignorant, or bigoted people - I am just interested in how you could be so moved by Glenn Beck that you forfeit your weekend and spend money to come to a three hour rally in the heat on the National Mall. I don't get it. I live here and I couldn't be bothered to attend (granted I 1) had a meeting and 2) disagree with just about everything this rally stands for). I want to know what the motivation is. I think the only way I'd cross state lines to go to a rally is if someone really awesome were there...someone like Tina Fey. Yeah, I'd go see her. Throw in Alec Baldwin and I'm there.
Also, conservatives wake up really early! The rally started at 10 am, that means tens of thousands of people got up, navigated a strange public transportation system, and got settled all by 10 in the morning. There is no way I could manage that.

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.

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.)

Chicken?!

I'm listening to the song "Stupify" by Disturbed. My iTunes tells me it's been at least 2 years since the last time I listened to it. How many songs like that do I have? A crap ton would be my guess. I only have 5,400 songs, which is apparently 14.8 days of music. I could hold my own two week long Woodstock with this baby. Man, computers change everything. They even replaced the distraction gnomes with the internet.

My Torts professor promises us our midterms back tomorrow "if he has to stay up all night to finish them." This makes me doubt he has even looked at them. As he ranted about how grading papers is his least favorite part of teaching he got to slip in a story about when he clerked for Justice Scalia. Did I mention he wears a bow tie? A yellow bow tie was out in full force today. And we are now about 40 pages of reading ahead of the class discussion in Torts, which makes it no different than 2 other classes. This would usually be fine, unless you get called on and asked to discuss the particular facts of a case you read a week and a half ago. My memory is pretty good, but not that good. At this point only the hilarious cases stick in my mind. Like one in contracts where the dispute was, quite literally, about what the word "chicken" meant in a contract. Chicken? This is a job for the federal judiciary!

After school I went with Dan to get buffalo wings (20 cent wing night!) and a beer. Then I came home and worked out. That's really not the best order to do things, I'm aware. The beer wasn't much of an issue since it was well over an hour later. What turned out to be the big problem while I was on the treadmill was the smell of buffalo sauce on my fingers. Gross. That is not what I want to smell while I am sweating and struggling to breath (I'm a bad runner, what do you want? But practice makes perfect!).