Yesterday in Evidence a student fainted. He regained consciousness and was alright, don't worry. But it was...jarring. I felt so bad for him. Someone called 911 and an ambulance came. The paramedic had him step outside (he came back in). It must have been super embarrassing. (Also embarrassing - I can't spell embarrassing without a spellchecker.) It was one of the worst ways to lose 10 minutes of class I have ever experienced. I would have far preferred to listen to my professor.
Today I also came across a 2-minute old car accident. I jogged to Safeway to get cranberry sauce and when I came back there was a car in the middle of the road that had just been hit. I missed the exciting part. But what is going on around me this week? The cranberry sauce was used to make a delicious sauce to go with pork tenderloin and mashed potatoes. Delicious. The taste was clearly not marred by the perilous circumstances of the cranberry sauce's acquisition.
Somehow this week I am actually paying attention in classes. Even in Professional Responsibility, which is silly because the MPRE is over. By the way, the MPRE went "meh who knows." As Ron put it, it's the kind of test where you walk out feeling like you failed, but then you pass. I did the first part, I haven't learned about the second part. The first question (of 60) was the juiciest (it wasn't very juicy), about sexual relations with a client. And there was no "good answer," only a "best answer." It isn't good to have an "Oh crap, I don't know" question as your first one. Not a good tone for the rest of the exam. I took the MPRE at American's law school. Across the street they have a Crate & Barrel with a Starbucks inside. I could wait for my latte while shopping for plates. It was the most bourgeois thing ever. It could also be right out of a "Stuff White People Like" post. Hilarious.
After the MPRE, I started reading Game of Thrones again. It is getting crazy. And hard to put down. It was a good call to stop reading when I did.
If you are wondering, the Jay-Z/Kanye West concert was awesome. Jay-Z was better live. He sounds as good, if not better than he does on album. Kanye sounds fine, but his songs have a tendency to be so produced that it just isn't the same live. And he isn't as fast (maybe because he isn't a "real" rapper). They played a lot of stuff from Watch the Throne, and most of their individual hits. I can only think of two Kanye hits they didn't play - Love Lockdown and Through the Wire. But Jesus Walks and Good Life were fantastic live. As were Hard Knock Life, 99 Problems, and Dirt Off Your Should from Jay-Z. It's alright to be jealous in this case. I owe Damien for getting the tickets.
It's time to face the reality that I don't know how iPhones work. Oh, but I said non-phone stuff.
You know whose music is totally unappreciated by my generation? Arlo Guthrie. But he's the man. Huge Alice's Restaurant fan (Thanksgiving tradition to listen to it).
Damn it. I just missed Top Chef.
Does anyone know how to use this damn thing? I feel old - technology is now beyond me. Oh, but not talking about it.
Instead we'll talk about...brunch. The best meal of it week. Really! It's a once-a-week kind of meal. Especially with bottomless mimosas. But it's the best meal. I pretty much discovered that upon moving to DC. They just don't do it the same way in Boston. Stupid Puritan laws. In my youth they still had Sunday Blue Laws! What is that??!! Let the people shop on Sundays. Let them have drink specials! If you were real puritans, you would just insist they run around in those silly buckle hats. I'd be down.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Goodbye Old Phone
Goodbye Old Phone, you served me well. Better than I could have asked for from any phone. I got you in March of 2007. You held up great. You still work...sort of. But it is quite hard to hear on your handset. And your camera does not work. And I have to rubber band your charger in. And your battery life is rapidly diminishing. But enough of the flaws. I'm getting emotional. Let us celebrate the time we had together. You were fantastic. However, it is time that I join the modern age of cell phones. Welcome to my life, iPhone. Please do not consume my too much of my time. Let me remember what it is like to be a person outside of technology as well. Let me people watch on the metro rather than just sit and play Angry Birds.
Goodbye, Old Phone. You will be severely missed.
Onto my fourth phone ever. Numbers one and two were Nokia bricks. Number three was my trusty Sony Ericsson. May number four, the iPhone 4S serve me well. And may Siri not give me too much attitude.
Goodbye, Old Phone. You will be severely missed.
Onto my fourth phone ever. Numbers one and two were Nokia bricks. Number three was my trusty Sony Ericsson. May number four, the iPhone 4S serve me well. And may Siri not give me too much attitude.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
New Phone - iPhone...soon
In a shocking development, I am getting the new iPhone. Mostly so I can harass Siri, the computer-programmed personal assistant. I have so many questions to ask her. The phone will get here in 3-4 weeks. That's nothing; I've had my current phone for about five years. What's another few weeks? While the iPhone isn't "necessary," they don't make good non-smart phones anymore. And I really need a phone where I can 1) hear, and 2) charge it without having to rubber band the charger into place. Oh I'll miss my ghetto phone so. But change is inevitable. I hope this time it really is change we can believe in.
This weekend, everyone was equivocating about Halloween plans, so I decided to make some of my own. I hosted a get together that was organized at least 8 hours in advance. A small Indian man delivered beer for me with a hand truck, and the fixin's for apple pie shots were arranged (rum, apple cider, and cinnamon). Between those two things, you know it was a good time. Plus Kerry baked destructively delicious peanut butter, chocolate rice crispies treats and pumpkin blondies.
Perhaps the most impressive was that my roommate and I actually decorated. And by decorated, I mean bought Halloween-themed Christmas lights (confusing holiday mash up) and then waited for people with better sense to tell us where to hang them.
The MPRE is Saturday. It's an exam on lawyer ethics, which is hilarious in itself. For many states, you need to get an 85 or higher to pass. So when I took my first practice test today and got a decent amount of questions wrong, I was worried. There are only 50 questions, so I didn't feel like I had a lot of room for error. Then I learned that 85 is not a percentage correct. It's just a number somewhere on the curve that the test is graded on. Rather than requiring like 42/50 correct, I only need around 35. See how ethical lawyers have to be? Ethical enough to misrepresent how ethical we have to be.
I see too many wet paint signs, and I feel like dry paint is underrepresented and under appreciated. I am going to start hanging up dry paint signs. Just to let people know it's there.
This weekend, everyone was equivocating about Halloween plans, so I decided to make some of my own. I hosted a get together that was organized at least 8 hours in advance. A small Indian man delivered beer for me with a hand truck, and the fixin's for apple pie shots were arranged (rum, apple cider, and cinnamon). Between those two things, you know it was a good time. Plus Kerry baked destructively delicious peanut butter, chocolate rice crispies treats and pumpkin blondies.
Perhaps the most impressive was that my roommate and I actually decorated. And by decorated, I mean bought Halloween-themed Christmas lights (confusing holiday mash up) and then waited for people with better sense to tell us where to hang them.
The MPRE is Saturday. It's an exam on lawyer ethics, which is hilarious in itself. For many states, you need to get an 85 or higher to pass. So when I took my first practice test today and got a decent amount of questions wrong, I was worried. There are only 50 questions, so I didn't feel like I had a lot of room for error. Then I learned that 85 is not a percentage correct. It's just a number somewhere on the curve that the test is graded on. Rather than requiring like 42/50 correct, I only need around 35. See how ethical lawyers have to be? Ethical enough to misrepresent how ethical we have to be.
I see too many wet paint signs, and I feel like dry paint is underrepresented and under appreciated. I am going to start hanging up dry paint signs. Just to let people know it's there.
Monday, October 17, 2011
PRE-ER
Currently, I am reading for PRE. That's Professional Responsibility and Ethics for people who aren't up on the law school awful yet required course lingo. This reading is only slightly better than what I ended up doing last night - going to the emergency room. Yup. Preface: I'm fine, don't worry. But I woke up around midnight with sharp chest pains that got worse when I took a breath. Let's talk about not fun - it's that. It made me really not want to have a heart attack. I did what any intelligent person of my generation does: WebMD. And boy, that website had a uniform answer for me. Every symptom I clicked on. Chest pain - go to the emergency room. Left side - go to the emergency room. Sharp pain - go to the emergency room. Worse when you breath - go to the emergency room. Alright, alright, I get it. So I spent 1 to 5 am at the emergency room. They ran some tests, determined it was nothing serious, and sent me home with a prescription for some serious ibuprofen. It's just a viral thing, it'll get better. I couldn't help but think "I'm young and I've never smoked...this just cannot be a heart attack."
Was that too personal? I mean...I'm fine! It was just an interesting experience. That needs to be documented for posterity, clearly. Still it's better than half the crap on the internet.
I signed on with the firm. It's go time. And I feel good about it.
Wham bam.
Pumpkin flavored things are fantastic. Which made it even more disappointing when the burger restaurant I went to on Saturday was out of all but one of their pumpkin beers (and octoberfests). They had an extensive beer menu and did flights of three beer samples. But I went through half the damn menu trying to find a beer that the waiter didn't immediately respond "We're out of that." Killing me. But the burger, topped with pulled pork and bbq sauce, was absolutely delicious. It made up for the pissy host who dragged our table closer to the busboy station, the waiter who flat out told our table he didn't want to be there anymore, and for the busboy who almost took out Ryan while trying to handle a tray of dishes.
And they serve a beer float! But of course they were out of the beer that goes into it. Darn it. Gotta remember how good that burger was.
Now I gotta go to sleep. Being awake from 12-6 am really takes it out of you.
Was that too personal? I mean...I'm fine! It was just an interesting experience. That needs to be documented for posterity, clearly. Still it's better than half the crap on the internet.
I signed on with the firm. It's go time. And I feel good about it.
Wham bam.
Pumpkin flavored things are fantastic. Which made it even more disappointing when the burger restaurant I went to on Saturday was out of all but one of their pumpkin beers (and octoberfests). They had an extensive beer menu and did flights of three beer samples. But I went through half the damn menu trying to find a beer that the waiter didn't immediately respond "We're out of that." Killing me. But the burger, topped with pulled pork and bbq sauce, was absolutely delicious. It made up for the pissy host who dragged our table closer to the busboy station, the waiter who flat out told our table he didn't want to be there anymore, and for the busboy who almost took out Ryan while trying to handle a tray of dishes.
And they serve a beer float! But of course they were out of the beer that goes into it. Darn it. Gotta remember how good that burger was.
Now I gotta go to sleep. Being awake from 12-6 am really takes it out of you.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Seasonal Decor
I thought it would be an 'adult' thing to do to purchase seasonal candy and put it in a bowl in my living room. House guests and residents alike can thereby enjoy a small amount of candy, thoughtfully placed near them. But here's the problem: I bought candy corn. A lot of candy corn. And candy corn is strangely addictive. Something about that sugary chemical taste you just can't get enough of. As a result, I keep snacking on candy corn like it's my job. Yesterday I had a self-proclaimed "Day without Candy Corn." And it was difficult! Tonight I've only been home for about two hours, and I've already had...half a bag? Maybe more, but who can say. Let's round down. And it's making my stomach hurt. Every time! My thoughtful, seasonal, adult gesture turned into a monster.
I blame CVS for making bags of candy corn 99 cents.
Today at work I was invited to a meeting. But I was never told the time or location of the meeting, so I went to lunch. When I returned, I found a note on my chair telling me the room number the meeting was in. So I went downstairs and looked around, but none of the rooms had that number on it. A lot of rooms, however, were not numbered at all it seemed. I found a room with a meeting, but I wasn't sure if it was my meeting so I skipped it.
Benefits: attending an informative meeting; making attorneys happy
Detriments: vast potential for embarrassment if that was the wrong meeting.
Choose your own adventure. If you walk in, with confidence go to page 19. If touch the door knob and the slink away silently, go to page 32. I went back upstairs and skipped the meeting. I did not slink!
Hell's Kitchen: a healthy addiction. Much healthier than heroin.
At lunch with about 8 paralegals, there was an argument about the best fast food burritos. It was mostly Chipotle vs. California Tortilla vs. Qdoba. I think Qdoba is disqualified automatically for having a stupid name. But the argument is ultimately futile. All bow down before Anna's Taqueria. It is known.
I blame CVS for making bags of candy corn 99 cents.
Today at work I was invited to a meeting. But I was never told the time or location of the meeting, so I went to lunch. When I returned, I found a note on my chair telling me the room number the meeting was in. So I went downstairs and looked around, but none of the rooms had that number on it. A lot of rooms, however, were not numbered at all it seemed. I found a room with a meeting, but I wasn't sure if it was my meeting so I skipped it.
Benefits: attending an informative meeting; making attorneys happy
Detriments: vast potential for embarrassment if that was the wrong meeting.
Choose your own adventure. If you walk in, with confidence go to page 19. If touch the door knob and the slink away silently, go to page 32. I went back upstairs and skipped the meeting. I did not slink!
Hell's Kitchen: a healthy addiction. Much healthier than heroin.
At lunch with about 8 paralegals, there was an argument about the best fast food burritos. It was mostly Chipotle vs. California Tortilla vs. Qdoba. I think Qdoba is disqualified automatically for having a stupid name. But the argument is ultimately futile. All bow down before Anna's Taqueria. It is known.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Occupy Shawlstreet.
Where does time go? I feel like there is never time to do anything. And I also feel like I never get anything done. Conundrum. Oh, I know. No time!
I want to open an investment bank called "Our Children's Future." The advertising writes itself. And it's so inspiring.
At least I'm not sick anymore. I can do fun things like mimosa brunch (last Sunday with Ryan, Jess, and Kait). Mimosa brunch really messes up the rest of the day. You have only two choices. Take a nap or keep drinking. I had to work on my moot court brief, so napping wasn't an option. I just had to keep drinking beer, watching football, and writing a section of my brief. Of course, the next morning I had to rewrite most of that section. But I got one really good paragraph that I didn't have to change. I must have been really focusing for that one. But the brief is done and turned in. Huge relief.
What will you do now that the brief is done, I was asked. That's a good question. Probably do my regular homework. I'll actually do my reading, rather than simply just looking at the pages. I'll try to teach myself Evidence, since my professor doesn't seem up to the task. And I'll do practical things like laundry and cleaning. I need time for that stuff. It took me a week to replace my toothpaste! I kept doing that thing where you squeeze the heck out of the entire tube just to get enough to brush your teeth. Oral hygiene shouldn't require that much of a struggle.
With Yom Kippur last weekend, I have had four or five days where I was unable to eat solid food in the past three months. That's a lot. I still really appreciate solid food. I take that as an excuse to eat lots of Pop Tarts.
I want to open an investment bank called "Our Children's Future." The advertising writes itself. And it's so inspiring.
At least I'm not sick anymore. I can do fun things like mimosa brunch (last Sunday with Ryan, Jess, and Kait). Mimosa brunch really messes up the rest of the day. You have only two choices. Take a nap or keep drinking. I had to work on my moot court brief, so napping wasn't an option. I just had to keep drinking beer, watching football, and writing a section of my brief. Of course, the next morning I had to rewrite most of that section. But I got one really good paragraph that I didn't have to change. I must have been really focusing for that one. But the brief is done and turned in. Huge relief.
What will you do now that the brief is done, I was asked. That's a good question. Probably do my regular homework. I'll actually do my reading, rather than simply just looking at the pages. I'll try to teach myself Evidence, since my professor doesn't seem up to the task. And I'll do practical things like laundry and cleaning. I need time for that stuff. It took me a week to replace my toothpaste! I kept doing that thing where you squeeze the heck out of the entire tube just to get enough to brush your teeth. Oral hygiene shouldn't require that much of a struggle.
With Yom Kippur last weekend, I have had four or five days where I was unable to eat solid food in the past three months. That's a lot. I still really appreciate solid food. I take that as an excuse to eat lots of Pop Tarts.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Sorry, sorry, I've been sick. More posts to follow.
When you receive $8 in "CVS Extrabucks" you have shopped at CVS too much. I have to go back to buying Trader Joe's brand Rice Krispies, or as my roommate calls it, "poverty cereal." It's so cheap!
As the title indicates, I have basically just been sick this past week. It really sucks. Some day I will return to being a normal person with a normal immune system. But it isn't going to be this week. Today I am feeling a lot better, but that's little reassurance after feeling like crap for six days. I had to call in sick to my internship on Thursday and Friday. That looks really good in the second week.
Last week (the first week) at my internship was pretty good. With one notable exception. So things were going well Thursday and Friday morning. I had research to do, I started writing a memo, and I was generally diving into things. Then on Friday, at 10:30, an attorney from the office stopped by my office to chat. I know the time exactly because there was a time stamp on a message I was waiting to read. I thought it would be a getting to know you chat. Establishing a relationship, ya know, the good kind of chat. And it started out at way. Sort of. The attorney started out by complaining a little bit how some people are a little lazy and lax with their time. They put in the necessary hours and go home, but they don't have a fire to get their work done. Alright, I agree. The conversation moved on. I learned about his life, his law school, his jobs, his problems with the D.C. DMV, his opinions on former co-workers, and so on. I just responded and every once in a while got to say something that wasn't about him. I don't mind that attorneys like to talk about themselves. I mind when they talk about themselves for three hours. That's right, three hours. Three. I was looking at the clock. Around noon (one and a half hours into our "chat") I started getting hungry for lunch. My stomach started rumbling. It's my first week, so I can't exactly excuse myself for lunch. But I started sending him brain waves saying "Leave my office please." That didn't work. I must have sparked his interest with one of my witty, incisive comments (most of what I said was "Oh really?" "Uh huh" and "I see") because he talked for another hour and a half. Three hours of listening to him talk. Remember how the conversation began with him complaining about how some people aren't diligent about doing their work. Ironic, isn't it. Dude, you are an attorney. How do you have THREE HOURS to talk to me? I have work to do; I have a memo to write, and I don't have three hours to listen to your memoirs. What is going on here??? (<-- Three question marks. One for each hour I listened to him.) I was worried that my supervisor would think I was slacking off because every time he walked by my office all he saw was me talking to this guy! Go do some work! Finally, at 1:30 the attorney realized he had detained me for long enough and moved on. I scrambled to the kitchen to heat up my lunch. The rest of the day I rushed to get my memo out. Because from 10:30 to 1:30, I was not allowed to do work.
Also, the attorney said a lot of things I did not agree with. I spoke up about a lot of them, but he never responded well to me and generally pivoted around to ignore what I was saying. So that he could talk about himself some more. For example, hearing I was from Massachusetts, he was incredulous as to how we could elect Ted Kennedy so many times and essentially called him a bad politician. I responded that he was always popular in Massachusetts - he brought home the bacon, he reflected many people's beliefs, he was an institution, and he had the money and connections to keep getting elected. So the attorney pivots to Chappaquiddick. Real original, and has nothing to do with being a good or bad politician. When I pointed out that tons of politicians get reelected after major scandals (not that I'm a Chappaquiddick apologist), he just changed the subject. So after bashing Ted Kennedy without good reason, he just moves on to monopolize my time. Not great.
While I didn't enjoy it, that was easily the most amusing three hour period of my life in the past couple of weeks. Aside from that, it has been sickness, writing my moot court brief, and more sickness. Up for the rest of the weekend: writing my moot court brief and fending off sickness.
I hope everyone is doing well. Doing better than my health. It's in the 50's finally. Fall is here!
As the title indicates, I have basically just been sick this past week. It really sucks. Some day I will return to being a normal person with a normal immune system. But it isn't going to be this week. Today I am feeling a lot better, but that's little reassurance after feeling like crap for six days. I had to call in sick to my internship on Thursday and Friday. That looks really good in the second week.
Last week (the first week) at my internship was pretty good. With one notable exception. So things were going well Thursday and Friday morning. I had research to do, I started writing a memo, and I was generally diving into things. Then on Friday, at 10:30, an attorney from the office stopped by my office to chat. I know the time exactly because there was a time stamp on a message I was waiting to read. I thought it would be a getting to know you chat. Establishing a relationship, ya know, the good kind of chat. And it started out at way. Sort of. The attorney started out by complaining a little bit how some people are a little lazy and lax with their time. They put in the necessary hours and go home, but they don't have a fire to get their work done. Alright, I agree. The conversation moved on. I learned about his life, his law school, his jobs, his problems with the D.C. DMV, his opinions on former co-workers, and so on. I just responded and every once in a while got to say something that wasn't about him. I don't mind that attorneys like to talk about themselves. I mind when they talk about themselves for three hours. That's right, three hours. Three. I was looking at the clock. Around noon (one and a half hours into our "chat") I started getting hungry for lunch. My stomach started rumbling. It's my first week, so I can't exactly excuse myself for lunch. But I started sending him brain waves saying "Leave my office please." That didn't work. I must have sparked his interest with one of my witty, incisive comments (most of what I said was "Oh really?" "Uh huh" and "I see") because he talked for another hour and a half. Three hours of listening to him talk. Remember how the conversation began with him complaining about how some people aren't diligent about doing their work. Ironic, isn't it. Dude, you are an attorney. How do you have THREE HOURS to talk to me? I have work to do; I have a memo to write, and I don't have three hours to listen to your memoirs. What is going on here??? (<-- Three question marks. One for each hour I listened to him.) I was worried that my supervisor would think I was slacking off because every time he walked by my office all he saw was me talking to this guy! Go do some work! Finally, at 1:30 the attorney realized he had detained me for long enough and moved on. I scrambled to the kitchen to heat up my lunch. The rest of the day I rushed to get my memo out. Because from 10:30 to 1:30, I was not allowed to do work.
Also, the attorney said a lot of things I did not agree with. I spoke up about a lot of them, but he never responded well to me and generally pivoted around to ignore what I was saying. So that he could talk about himself some more. For example, hearing I was from Massachusetts, he was incredulous as to how we could elect Ted Kennedy so many times and essentially called him a bad politician. I responded that he was always popular in Massachusetts - he brought home the bacon, he reflected many people's beliefs, he was an institution, and he had the money and connections to keep getting elected. So the attorney pivots to Chappaquiddick. Real original, and has nothing to do with being a good or bad politician. When I pointed out that tons of politicians get reelected after major scandals (not that I'm a Chappaquiddick apologist), he just changed the subject. So after bashing Ted Kennedy without good reason, he just moves on to monopolize my time. Not great.
While I didn't enjoy it, that was easily the most amusing three hour period of my life in the past couple of weeks. Aside from that, it has been sickness, writing my moot court brief, and more sickness. Up for the rest of the weekend: writing my moot court brief and fending off sickness.
I hope everyone is doing well. Doing better than my health. It's in the 50's finally. Fall is here!
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