My pretty, dimly lit, knotted fantasy

I would say the most exciting thing that happened today was receiving a $1 off coupon at ABP. I know, you can hardly contain your excitement. That's half a croissant! Besides that all I really did was learn Con Law in more depth. I think I've got it down pretty well, but I have another day to sure it up just in case. I could tell you all about neutral laws that incidentally burden speech! But that might not be so exciting for you.

Kanye's new album is downright addictive. But he says some ridiculous things. The most notable one (or the one that is currently on my mind) involves having sex with Egyptian mummies and a sarcophagus. I get the feeling that Kanye West went to the history museum that morning and saw a cool exhibit on ancient Egypt and was like "How can I fit this into my rap on this song I'm recording? Well I can't make a song about mummies - that would be weird next to all the other tracks which have no historical significance whatsoever. And it might be hard to how cool I am into a song about ancient Egypt since I wasn't even there. Let's see here..." But somehow Kanye did manage to put his new-found word into a rap, sarcophagus.

I won't lie, spell check needed to correct sarcophagus the first time I typed it. But now I've got it down. Sarcophagus. Sarcophagus. Rhymes with esophagus, right Kanye??

I guess this is not the best place to address it, but I am becoming concerned with the federal deficit as well. Let's think of ways to deal with the deficit, Mr. President and leaders of Congress. What's that you say: keep income tax cuts in place, add payroll tax cuts, throw in a low estate tax rate, and spend more on unemployment? So you want to have the government take in less money while spending more money and this is supposed to...reduce the deficit? Why yes that makes perfect sense, let's just do some calculations here. Does anyone have a calculator I can borrow? Anyone in Congress have a calculator? No one in Congress does, what a surprise. Alright, I'll just ballpark it. Oh, you mean that basic arithmetic functions do not support this plan as a way of reducing the deficit? Crazy! Someone should alert people to this fact.
If you want to reduce the deficit then do it. If you want to cut taxes because that's what you believe is best for the economy then do it. But do not attempt to sell me something while you are defying basic arithmetic.
End political rant of the week. DC affects me I guess.

Stupid person of the day: my friend who took the U.S. Foreign Relations Law exam with me last night. Today she told me that she didn't know what the word "tenable" meant on the exam so she assumed it meant "impossible." She may be in for a surprise.

Exam 1: Done. Next stop: Exam 2.

First exam of this finals period: completed. Foreign Relations Law. It was a good deal harder than I anticipated. The second question (of two) was the type where you see it on a practice exam and say "maybe I'll skip this one..." only it was actually my final so I couldn't skip it. That harsh reality set in and I ended up with a somewhat creative answer to one of the parts which will either get lots of points or get me laughed at and zero points. So here's hoping. As often is the case, the redeeming factor is that everyone else had that "What the hell just happened?" look on their face as well. So if it was hard for everyone, we'll all do fine. Except the people who don't, as mandated by the curve. Daunting? Perhaps.
The other upside to this is that my confusing study session had little to no impact on the exam. I spent the afternoon with a classmate who did nothing but confuse my understanding of some of the material. I spent the early evening trying to forget the afternoon. What a productive use of my time. That's what I get for study group-ing in this class.

I wish there were other things going on at the moment. But the next thing is Con Law on the horizon (Friday). Anything else? Legolas, what do your elf eyes see? Orcs? No, just more exams. Damn. Nerd.

Facebook emails invade my inbox day!

Do me a favor, listen to the Jay-Z song "December 4th" for me today. It is December 4th after all. Jay-Z's birthday. And someone else's birthday. Who could that be? Conveniently located during study period before finals, a length of time often noted for having law students retreat into the library to freak out. But not I. I remain defiantly and cautiously optimistic; optimistic enough to go out for the evening.

I experienced a Hannukah miracle this morning. I went down to the work out room to lift and run. When I turned on my iPod at the beginning of my workout I noticed that I only had a little bit of battery life left. I'm talking that tiny sliver of red which indicates imminent shut down. But the battery miraculously stayed alive throughout my entire workout. A Hannukah miracle occurred on the treadmill.

This Gun's for Hire

Maybe I'm just 26 years behind, but "Dancing in the Dark" is a great song. It's not like I had never heard it before today; I just had never listened. I had also never seen the music video, which accidentally launched Courtney Cox's career. So if you like Friends, you have Bruce Springsteen to thank. And if you hate Friends, then you have no soul and you have yourself to blame. (I'm not a great Friends enthusiast, but I recognize the goodness of the show.)

Perhaps to make up for yesterday no one got cold called in Corporations today. The more likely explanation for zero cold calls is that it was a review session and my professor miraculously went through the entire course in an hour and fifteen minutes. He spoke very fast. There was no time for interruptions. No time.

I started out the day feeling good about working. I got some work done at home. Then I walked into school and I could just feel the stress withering people around me. It was palpable. People were frantically typing away at their computers, asking questions, and flipping pages. Me? I remained surprisingly calm. To ward of the infective stress I sat with my friend Carl and commented on how manly he was as he ate a fried chicken leg using nothing but his hands and teeth (knives, forks, napkins, and plates are for lesser men than Carl). I will also add that I am so happy not to be a 1L.

"Can You Repeat the Question? Sorry, I have to pass"

Except for one review class tomorrow, today was the last day of classes. Hallelujah. There is nothing more to learn about administrative law; only things to re-learn that I forgot when I blacked out during class. To solemnify the occasion of the last day, the most ridiculous Corporations class ever commenced. My professor cold calls a lot every day. But today a pattern developed: he would call on someone, they would pass, he would call on someone else, they would ask him to repeat the question and then pass, and finally my professor would ask for volunteers. This pattern became uncanny. I thought maybe the class was pulling a fast one that I was not in on. I got called on today and thankfully answered the question correctly. Now, I understand passing in that class; it has around 150 people in it and you don't want to fumble around for the answer and waste everyone's time. But a total of 27 people opted to pass today - my friend counted. That's excluding the 10 or so people who asked him to repeat the question and then answered (usually incorrectly). Apparently next to no one did the reading or could be bothered to listen. It was not a mass conspiracy, it was just absurd.

TSA checked my friend's hair as she was going through security. Her hair was in a bun and apparently it needed a good squeeze to ensure safety.

I think it's time we update coal. You now get a solar panel in your stocking if you have been naughty.

Good day, sir. I said good day!

Curse you, Southwest

No more Mondays this semester. Phew. Last long day is done. You hear me? Done. One of my professors is an ex-State Department official. My mother asked me whether there was any discussion of Wikileaks publishing classified diplomatic cables. No, of course not because it won't be on the final and it could potentially be interesting. There is no place in school for such things. One day back is all it took to regain that cynicism apparently.

Not cool, Wikileaks. Not cool at all.

At the moment Southwest is my enemy. Last night my flight was delayed two hours. In addition to getting back to my apartment later than I'd like, public transportation back to DC shuts down pretty early on Sunday nights which meant that there was a distinct possibility that getting home would have been a real problem. Luckily Reza and Enoch drove me back from the airport, so I am in their debt. My initial reaction to the two hour delay was anger (go figure), but Ronya happened to be in the same terminal at the same time. So we commenced one of my favorite activities: drinking at the airport. Maybe it is the intoxicating smell of jet fuel or the profound calm that comes from watching so many tense people mulling about, but beer at the airport is just about the best thing ever.

How is it that Kanye West can be both so good and so dumb at the same time?

Today at lunch there was a conversation which occurs occasionally, the one where a New Yorker trumpets the accomplishments of his or her city and declares every other place to be irrelevant. For once another New Yorker combated this notion. Apparently he is aware that just because you can get a delicious bagel at 4am does not negate the fact that a homeless man has peed on everything in the city at one point.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So here I am in beautiful, desolate New Paltz for Thanksgiving with the family. As with last year, this was "the family's" decision. I'm along for the ride at this resort-y thing. I've already seen Alan Alda here. He was trying not to crash his car into mine as we passed each other on a particularly narrow stretch of road. That is not a euphemism for anything, by the way, I really saw Alan Alda - from MASH, West Wing...uhhh he played Jack's father on 30 Rock last season. Also, his iTunes library shows up on the shared list. (Now I am entering into stalking territory, but how could I not be curious?) It contains lots of classical music, the audiobook of his book, and voice notes from his iPhone. Happily, I cannot access his voice notes so I am left to imagine what they sound like: "Alan Alda, this is Alan Alda. Please remember to buy a quart of milk at Stop & Shop tomorrow. Thank you, Alan Alda."

My cousin told me a fantastic story. Her friend goes to Brown along with Emma Watson, who plays Hermione in the Harry Potter movies. Emma Watson was in a big lecture class. One day she got called on by the professor and answered a question correctly. Someone in the back of the room souted out "Ten points for Gryffindor!"
That was clearly planned out. The kid thought he was so clever; and he was right because that's hilarious.

Why does this blog post seem like it could be in Us Weekly? I think that's all the celebrity gossip I've got.

Dear North Korea, could you please NOT do that anymore? Kthanksbye. 143.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I am thankful for your friendship. And here on this blog, for your readership. I am also thankful for goat cheese and pumpkin pie, though not together.