* moosie *

Movin'

2007-08-09T17:54:00.000-04:00

I've moved:

moosie22.wordpress.com

I got a new Mac notebook, which has convinced me to fall in love with it. I switched over to Wordpress for my blog because i can't change text color and add code on blogger anymore, and I'm too lazy and unmotivated to figure out how to make it work with my Mac. The Mac that I love.

All the other posts were imported over at the new site, so everything is there and archived.

Update your bookmarks :)

Let the Lazy Begin

2007-08-09T11:16:00.001-04:00

So, i'm back. Back from the bar, back from California, back from the beach...and being back home without the threat of the bar exam dangling over my head like some swaying grand piano is pretty nice. I am taking "lazy bum" to new heights, and I refuse to feel bad about it, as I'll have enough to keep me busy when school starts (again!) in a few weeks :)

In the meantime, I'll also be busy trying not to melt. It's just so ridiculously hot. Murphy likes to bolt out of the door whenever we open it so he can eat all the vegetation within a five foot radius of the house. He generally withstands considerable heat to do so, but today, he bolted out, pranced around on the pavement for about ten seconds, and ran right back into the house. He's currently passed out on the tile in the kitchen, trying to cool down. I doubt it's working very well since the heat is just seeping into everything. The (very) slight tan I happened to accumulate over five days of being in the sun is certain to disappear now that I've become a prisoner to the AC.

Why Continental Stinks

2007-07-30T10:24:00.001-04:00

Hello my dears! The Bar exam is finally over, and I'm currently living in that surreal place where there is no studying to do and my dreams aren't haunted by the 14th Amendment. The actual test itself was as horrifying and bizarre as I expected it to be, but there were no mental or emotional breakdowns in my testing area to speak of. At least from me. It was very much like a strange little communist world, where we did everything in unison and obeyed one barking voice over an intercom system. Pencils down. Stand up. Return in an hour and a half. Etc., etc. But it's done...and the overwhelming relief is still catching up to me.

After the bar, we didn't quite make it out to a REAL bar because we had to drive back down to VA early in the morning. On Saturday, we were flying out to sunny Santa Rosa, California, to see Jer's parents and to make good on the promise/threat of helping Clare pack up the house. However, Continental Airlines was hell-bent on making our cross country trip miserable.

We had a 50 minute connection time in Houston, which we managed to miss because of being delayed for 56 minutes for "crew rest" and our stupid, stupid Captain. He apparently not only needed rest, but he needed to hold us up 15 minutes more because he thought it was a brilliant idea to wait in line for donuts. DONUTS.

Because he made up time in the air, but not enough, we managed to miss our connection by ten minutes. Which meant we were stuck in Houston for another 10 hours, because I guess Continental is even more worthless than previously thought and didn't fly much to Northern California.

Then they lost our luggage.

And then we remembered my beloved cameras, left behind on the security conveyor belt back in Dulles. I had a breakdown then, I can tell you that much, until Jer called and discovered they had them and would hold them for us. So, unfortunately, there will be no pictures of wine country. And thankfully, there wasn't a security crisis in the airport from my "unattended luggage."

We managed to get into California about 7 hours later than expected, but I did have something that helped to make it better: In-N-Out. I can't believe how jam packed that place is every time and every where I go into one, but I get it. I really do. For those of you not blessed enough to have had a burger from here, I can't possibly explain to you what it is other than the fact that I immediately start salivating when I think of one.

I'm just now beginning to relax, and wine tasting is tomorrow...which I can only expect will be fantastic!

I need a real Bar. Not the crappy test kind.

2007-07-12T20:37:00.000-04:00

Bar study is in crazy, hyper-active mode. Tomorrow, I have yet another simulated multi-state exam (200 multiple choice monstrosities, 6 hours of titillating fun!), and then it's study until the 23rd when the drive up to Albany commences. I have been M.I.A because I've been held hostage by heavy, demanding books and outlines, and it doesn't look to get any better before I have to actually take the test...so if, after reading this, you don't check back until, say, July 27th, you won't be missing much.

In other happy news, ye olde Georgetown University finally decided to open its arms to me and accepted me into their graduate LLM program. For those of you unaware that someone would possibly want to continue judicial education beyond obtaining a JD degree, the LLM is like the next level up. The Masters of Law, if you will. I've been waiting (patiently, impatiently) for a response, and Jer was the lovely soul that delivered the happy acceptance letter.

So, after the bar, I can look forward to another year of legal study. In a subject matter I'm actually intersted in, this time!

We are not discussing this anymore. It's a moo point.

2007-07-02T23:27:00.000-04:00

This weekend was, quite possibly, the most boring weekend of my life. There are weekends where you do nothing...you know, sit around. Watch tv. Snooze. Whatever. They may be boring, per se, but not altogether unbearable. This weekend was unbearably boring. We had 6 hours of multiple choice hell on Friday for our practice Multi-state, and then 6 hours of question by question analysis on Saturday and Sunday. Unless you're doing it (or have done it), you can't imagine how much I wanted to pluck every hair out of my head just to make sure I was still conscious. My brain was fusing to my skull.

On a happier note, it was gorgeous outside today. There aren't a whole lot of non-humid, sunny days in a D.C. summer, but when you get one, hoo boy. It almost makes all those other hot suffocating blanket days worthwhile. Almost.

So, now I'm generic.

2007-06-26T18:18:00.000-04:00

My old license plate has been retired, and I'm now the owner of a new, generically numbered one (but I'm also animal friendly! - my license plate funds are used to support sterilization programs for dogs and cats). Virginia is apparently the capital of personalized plates, and I feel a bit left out now, but I had good reason. The old one said "HEY SUE" because I'm Sue, and this is how people always get my attention.

"Hey, Sue! How ya doin?"

"Hey, Sue, can you come here for a second?"

"Hey, Sue, can you shut the hell up?"

Etc., etc.

Now that I'm a soon-to-be lawyer, however, running around with a license plate that not only refers to my name but also may be interpreted as a glorified endorsement to sue people left and right was probably not a good idea.

In approximately one month, I'll have completed the bar exam. This both terrifies and thrills me. I'm mostly terrified because I have retained nothing of substance from hours of class, and it thrills me because I won't have to spend time laboring over the levels of comparative negligence in tort cases. Until then, though, I have to go through the motions, which include classes both Saturday and Sunday this week. Gross.

In which the Yankees get made fun of. Repeatedly.

2007-06-23T18:58:00.000-04:00

I enjoy shopping at Target. It is one of my vices (along with reading my weekly smut, a.k.a., US Weekly and circling all the things in Vogue I want but would never wear) because I can roam the store and find nearly a dozen reasons why I need everything in there. I was in there today, and instead of buying the store, I managed to pull one of my patented fake-out moves instead.

In law school, I never spoke up unless I knew exactly what I was talking about and that I was 100% sure I had the right answer. Because of this, I would concentrate my attention fully on some obscure law because I knew I would end up being the only one volunteering during class. This led people to believe I was actually much smarter than I was, and the fake-out move saved me from being called on in the future.

I also use this fake-out move in every day life; today, for instance, in Target. I was wandering down the aisle, when an old man kindly moved out of my way so I could get to the Tylenol. He smiled and said, "I'll let you go, even though I normally wouldn't do it for a Yankees fan." I, of course, was wearing Jeremy's Yankee hat.

For some reason or another, this old man took it upon himself to say "your Yankees aren't doing too well this year, are they?"

Now, I love sports. I also absolutely hate it when people wear hats of teams they know nothing about just because it's "fashionable." However, my knowledge of sports is limited to surface facts (i.e., the Yankees play in New York; the Mets do, too), and I almost panicked that I would appear to this man as one of those nit wit girls that wears Yankee hats because Derek Jeter looks hot in uniform.

I was saved because of my fake-out move and the fact that Jeremy is an atlas for sports information. He knows who hit the third homerun in the second game of the 18th World Series. He knows what size shoe Brett Favre wears and how fast Jerry Rice can run the mile. Seriously. Obscure, crazy stuff. When he talks sports, I tend to zone in on the less intricate details of sports news. Like, that the Yankees pitching is going down the shitter. Which I said to the old man.

The old man seemed impressed with me, and proceeded to talk to me further. The only other tidbit of knowledge I had pertaining to the Yankees had something to do with Roger Clements and the fact that he was getting a boatload of money, so I said "I don't think paying Roger Clements $1million a game will help."

I think the old man was in love with me at this point. Apparently, that was completely relevant to what we were talking about. Then, sadly, his wife pulled him to another aisle. He waved goodbye to me. We were kindred spirits at that point.

I'm not sure the fake-out move will help me on the bar, so off for more studying.

Shoe mania

2007-06-21T21:14:00.001-04:00

The other day, Rach and I were wandering around DSW, looking for a pair of shoes for her to wear to the Kennedy Center (a single, solitary pair. This is the best example of restraint I've ever seen the two of us exhibit). I always get in the zone when I'm looking at shoes, especially when I'm looking at shoes in a warehouse that has nothing but shoes in it. The shoes and I, well, we share a special bond. I'd have about 8 trillion pairs if I had the space for them.

Anyway, we're walking around, and I am brought out of the "shoe zone" because I'm confronted with a shining example of true love. This bubbly, terribly cheery young woman was prancing down the aisles, picking up shoes and cooing at them, eyeing them from all angles before putting them down and fluttering over to a different pair. She had significant energy. She was purchasing a significant number of shoes. And behind her, holding a large, shoe-filled basket, was her significant other.

He seemed a touch perplexed. He was the only man in the store, but he had his game face on. It was shoe time, and estrogen-filled warehouse be damned, he was going to carry all her shoes for her until she had her fill. He followed her around and would smile and nod at every pair she held up for him, even though the minute she turned her back, his face would show a mix of desperation and exhaustion. If true love isn't found in a man that will sacrifice a weekend to follow his girl around a shoe store, I don't know where you could find it.

It was a sad day for us, by the way. We left empty handed.

Happy Father's Day!

2007-06-17T16:47:00.001-04:00

I had brunch with Bethie this morning at the Peacock Cafe in Georgetown, and we had a much needed gossip-fest while people watching outside. There are some people that I walk about the law with, and there are some people I can enjoy a concert with when I don't really have to talk too much, and then there's Bethie, who always has the interesting stories. If she brought pictures with her, she'd be a People Magazine. I would subscribe to her weekly, if our schedules allowed us to do it.

Regardless of the interesting chatter, we had a nice little brunch. I became a huge fan of the place when they brought out my breakfast potatoes with a sweet little dollop of sour cream in the middle. And a mimosa is always a nice touch to a Sunday...

Of course, a Happy Father's Day to my dad! He taught me how to ride a bike in front of our apartment in Germany, and he always played catch with me, even without laughing when i broke my nail once and started to cry. He can carry a Christmas tree better than anyone on the planet :) and occasionally, I can get him to smile in pictures:

Cars, cars and more cars!

2007-06-12T23:08:00.000-04:00

Since the commute from our current residence to the ever so lovely District is a one and a half hour crawl, we've come to notice that we are inching along the pavement with the same people every morning. I can recognize them by their cars, their license plates, their bumper stickers. I have a man I call my "Dr. Burke," since he looks just like Dr. Burke from (well, now, formely of) Grey's Anatomy and drives the most beautiful silver Range Rover I've seen. He's never HOV. He always looks irritated. He always looks like he's in a hurry. But he always looks mighty nice in his car.

There's also the Liberal, who we always manage to catch a glimpse of as we're just crossing the Roosevelt bridge into the city. She has a shock of crazy curly hair and a bumper sticker that says "I miss Bill." I chuckle everytime I think about it. She looks irritated, too.

I always want to wave at these people, our little group of frazzled, rush hour buddies, so they know that not everyone will be completely idiotic and cut them off at the last minute just to get onto 495. Come to think of it, we all probably look a bit irritated and frazzled, as we're probably all minutes away from going completely apeshit and running over traffic a la Marge Simpson, but this is the risk we take driving in the DC Metro area.

little retreat

2007-06-09T16:12:00.001-04:00

I love D.C. I get such a fuzzy happy feeling walking around it. J had set up a trip to a bed and breakfast in NW for part of my graduation present, and it was beautiful: wonderfully inviting and relaxing.

The second part of my present was dinner in Dupont. I love that area. I could sit around that fountain (and have!) for forever, just watching all the people. It's one of my favorite people watching places...and since I am someone who enjoys other people's drama far more than my own, I take great joy in watching other people go bonkers in public. It happens way more than you would think civilized people would allow, but I guess sometimes you have to yell, no matter where you are at the time.

Upon returning to our little bed and breakfast, we chatted a bit with Sandy, the owner, who made some of the greatest banana bread I've ever had. The thunderstorm that rattled over DC yesterday rattled all the power out of the place, but it was fun wandering through a beautiful old home with candles to light everything. It's like visiting colonial Williamsburg without having to make the drive.

Meanwhile, our little muffin was at home, no doubt spying on our neighbors from the bedroom window:

Sneeze happy

2007-06-05T19:06:00.001-04:00

Lookin' out, originally uploaded by *moosie*.

I don't generally have allergies. My only allergy was, ironically enough, to cats. One of my childhood best friends had a beautiful black cat, and everytime I spent the night at her house, Sooty would sleep sprawled across my neck. I would wake up with a cat shawl and barely able to breathe, though I'd never move her because I thought she'd get bitey on me.

This allergy I overcame through sheer force of will last summer in Queens when we brought M Cat home: I would either get over it or forever live with puffy eyes, sneezing, and a running nose. Happily I got over it, and thought I was allergy free! No more sniffles! No more itchy eyes! I wouldn't need over-the-counter medicine to calm my frazzled sinuses!

That is until I moved back to pollen country. And, apparently, developed a pollen allergy.

I sneeze at a lovely little clip now...and I nearly give Jeremy a heart attack every time I do. I'm told that the force of my sneezes rivals fog horns in volume. I really try to keep it quiet but I just can't. If I try too hard, I end up making a strange "ahhh...ahhh-crkkkk!!!" noise that I figure is less becoming than my elephant trumpet.

The bar exam study is going as well as it could be. Sometimes I'm so bored out of my mind that I don't think I can take it. My concentration is absolutely worthless. Today, I did discover that my Flickr account lets me post pictures directly to the blog. I have no idea how I've been on it for so long and didn't notice...but I'm certainly going to use it now!

When moosie became a bum

2007-05-31T20:40:00.000-04:00

So, I've reached that point where I'm thisclose to giving up on taking the Bar and searching for a job that doesn't require killing myself for six weeks this summer. I have completely lost all motivation to do anything that even remotely resembles studying for the Bar exam. I hear someone say the word "jurisdiction," and I cringe. If Law and Order is on and someone says "larceny," I want to put my foot through the screen.

In happier news, I've grown quite accustomed to good food (mmmm, Chipotle), a nice gym, and an actual, for real, charcoal grill. There is nothing like a charcoal grill, and I refuse to think propane is any good anywhere near your food. Black lumps of flammable substance, on the other hand... Everything is better once it's been on the grill. Whatever it is, I'll probably eat it, just for that smokey goodness. Chicken. Hamburgers. Steaks. Veggies. That piece of hot dog that fell through the rack and onto the coals? I'll eat it. The green bell pepper scorched to an unrecognizable black lump? Let me at it. The grill can do no wrong, and now that I have access to one that isn't a fire code violation, I'm in heaven.

When I'm not spending time drooling over the grill, I dream often of what I would do with my life if I just quit my studies and took up life on the lam. Because, seriously, I'm not going to have the joy of not studying for the Bar coupled with shouldering the burden of paying off law school debts that are nearly at this level. That would defeat the purpose entirely, so I figured I can just move to Italy and become a gypsy. A wine-drinking, pasta-eating, sun-loving gypsy. That certainly beats what I'm doin now.

I'm back. I promise.

2007-05-28T16:49:00.000-04:00

I'm finally settled in at B's place, and I'm finally home, home, home! I've found myself telling people that Syracuse wasn't TOO bad, but this is mostly due to the fact that I'm no longer in it. Graduation weekend was a whirlwind of activity, and it took nearly 1/10th of the time to move out of our apartment than it would have if it were just me and J because we had everyone helping. God bless the burden of family ties to force people into hard labor :) The actual graduation ceremony was pretty nice (surprisingly), and we all made it home in one piece.

J and I took a jog around B's neighborhood the other day, and I nearly wept at being back in an area where I didn't fear for my life anytime after 6pm, and where the air smelled so, so sweet. I had no idea how much I missed a really good grocery store until we went to the Whole Foods the other day, and I'm positive we could have bought everything in the store. I am a poster child for Type A personalities, and I'm a sucker for good packaging, so the beautiful way everything is displayed there makes me goosebump-y. The man over at the seafood section even gave us extra shrimp, just because! We didn't have to bribe or haggle or beg or anything! Hooray for friendly, un-grumpy people!

In addition to my "thank god I have a nice grocery store and a friendly neighborhood" utopia, I have eaten out maybe five times in the last five days, and I have loved it. Never at the same place, and always yummy.

Jer had his birthday festivities this past weekend. It actually started at the Clyde's of Gallery Place which is bee-yoo-ti-ful, on Wednesday, and then moved out to Reston Town Center and then to Camden Yards for a sweltering hot baseball game. And, of course, in the middle of all of this, we're going to our Bar review class in D.C. everyday (woo hoo, Crim Law!). Speaking of, we should be studying, and studying madly.

And, for all your patience, a picture scroll:

This is what happens when you cram.

I can't believe they let me graduate, either!

Yum. Post-graduation dinner

Jer and Chris

We're discussing something important, I'm sure

The birthday boy

At the ballgame

PMS...I

2007-05-13T23:30:00.000-04:00

If I have to read any more about purchase money security interests, I will spend the rest of my life hunting down the man that wrote the Uniform Commercial Code and strangle him until his head bursts, just like mine is about to do. I've been rooted to the same place, studying all day, and there would be a butt groove in this chair if it weren't made of the hardest. Material. In. Existence.

Do not suggest a pillow, dear. I do not have the sense to protect my fanny with a pillow as all my sense has been consumed by the overarching panic that I will fail this exam. My Commercial Transactions professor has done nothing other than confuse our entire class, which just means we're all fending for ourselves now.

J is cheering me on from the oh-so-comfy couch as he plays solitaire, watches basketball and cuddles with the cat. I would strangle him, too, if it weren't for the food he made me for dinner, and the fact that the only reason I've had sustenance in the last few days is because he's cooked. He made a cake for me today because I nearly threw a hissy about how much I hated Commercial Transactions, and how hard it was, and how "Oh my god I can't believe I didn't pass/fail this and I'm actually taking it for a GRADE." The cake was delicious and beautiful and fluffy and sweet. Unlike the finals that are greeting me at the end of law school, which are turning out to be gross and ugly and flat and bitter.

But we're almost done!! Almost almost!!! The end is in sight!!

Mother Knows Best

2007-05-12T14:40:00.000-04:00

Finals are killing me, slowly but surely. My brain is completely empty and void of any information, so you'll have to forgive me for being absent for a bit. To help make up for my absence, enjoy a picture scroll:

I did manage to NOT kill a 1L yesterday afternoon, which should be considered a heroic feat. Especially since he obviously considered himself trendy enough to leave his cell phone on full volume so that when it rang, it would blare techno music. At least 4 times. Over the span of an hour.

J and I have begun to really pack now, and the amount of dust in this place is astonishing. I actually dust once a week (that thump you hear is the sound of my mother passing out, since I HATED dusting when I was asked to do chores way back when), but it still seems like it just settles everywhere and is only now stirring up to wreak havoc.

Speaking of mothers, a happy early Mother's Day to mine! Thank you for feeding me (always good, and always plenty!), for taking care of me when I was sick (Jer still has to make trips to the grocery story for Sprite, as nothing else will do), for checking up on me when you know I'm probably not taking good care of myself, and for always sticking by me, even when I'm an idiot! Love you :)

I need a beer

2007-05-07T21:47:00.000-04:00

I was standing in line at the local grocery store today, feeling old and un-cool. In front of me stood a boy (really, a boy. He had curly hair and the rosy cheeks and everything) with a cart that was filled, filled to the brim with beer. There were at least 5 cases of 30-can, horrible generic beer in his cart, overflowing the sides and poking out from the bottom. And one package of those ever-so-distinct red dixie cups. No chips, no hamburger patties, no bread. Just beer and cups - right down to business, so to speak.

The boy behind me had a cart full of gatorade and water. They chatted about one thing or another around me, and I assumed I had interrupted their assembly line of beer and hangover cures, and i felt a bit foolish. I mean, it was 9 o'clock at night on a Monday, and here I was, without the common decency of a college student to have at least a six pack of Bud Light or something.

My entire purchase consisted of a carton of strawberry ice cream (for J), a carton of chocolate ice cream (for me) and a package of Claritin (for the boy I live with that sneezes from morning to night). I remember the days when beer used to be the main purchase of all grocery store runs. I remember being a flip cup champion and being "one" with the red dixie cup...but those days are here no longer. If this grocery run wasn't a clear indication that I'm no longer an undergrad, I don't know what would be.

Law in real life

2007-05-06T17:41:00.000-04:00

I'm hunkered down in a cubicle on the top floor of our law library, wishing wishing wishing that finals were over and that my brain hadn't jumped ship hours ago. I've read the same sentence about 6 times ("to alleviate multiple taxation at the corporate level, corporate shareholders generally may deduct 70% of dividends received from other domestic corporations") and I've heard the same maniacal chuckling from the girl behind me for about ten minutes now.

We all got together for brunch today, sort of a farewell to the used-to-be-weekly dinners we used to have. The most interesting part of the brunch happened well before we even got to the restaurant.

Syracuse holds an annual race that conveniently shuts down every major road around our neighborhood. I’ve had the joy and luck of being caught in this maddening race three years in a row. It is essentially impossible to get to the law school until the race is over, and over the past two years, it took me nearly an hour to get there when it should normally take me 15 minutes.

This year, we were heading to brunch downtown, but we still managed to get cut off at every possible intersection by bitter, moody cops waving at us frantically as if we were going to hit them with our cars…which is exactly what we ended up seeing. Except it was a regular man on a bike and it was a different college student doing the hitting.

Because of the race and the detours we needed to take, we were sitting at an intersection about 490809 miles from where we needed to be going. Lo and behold, we hear the screeching of tires and I look up just in time to see a young girl driving an old Volvo careen into a man on a bike crossing the street. The bike stopped in the middle of the road, but the man kept going and flew over the hood and onto the street.

The girl pulled over, and the man got up and started cursing at her, although he did look a bit dazed as he was doing it. A few other cars pulled over, and this occurred directly in front of a firehouse, and so we assumed that it was ok to just keep going on to downtown. And because we’re law students and our lives have been reduced to pinpointing liability in every real life scenario that confronts us, we all discussed whether we, as witnesses, could be liable for not stopping to help. You’ll be happy to know that we wouldn’t be.

Sleep is for the Weak

2007-05-05T21:19:00.000-04:00

J brought me flowers the other day, and it's little bits of sweetness like this that brighten my day. However, our cat enjoys the flowers almost more than I do, and will perform great feats of acrobatic daring just to chew on some petals. He's succeeded in knocking over our "vase" more than once (because I had enough foresight to pack up the vases but not enough foresight to know J would bring home flowers, we're using a milk jug. That's as down-home country as you can get) and every once and a while you'll hear one of us screeching for Murphy to get off the counter ("Murphy!! NO! BAD CAT!").

After cleaning up messes two days in a row, the flowers have taken up permanent residence in the kitchen sink where if they're knocked over, at least there's a drain nearby. It's heartwarming and a little bit sad to see our hardy little flowers growing in the sink, but this is what we've been reduced to.

It was a long day of studying, and I took little breaks at school by doing some recreational reading (no internet access, courtesy of Old Bitchy). I'm reading Jane Eyre, which is my comfort book. My parents gave the book to me for Christmas when I was 11, and it is my "go to" book for when I just want to calm my brain down and feel happy. I have at least 3 copies of it, since the original one I received was read so much that the pages started falling out of it. I, however, refuse to watch any movie and/or miniseries about it.

I can't stand anyone making beloved books into movies, and if I were brilliant enough to write a fictional masterpiece, I'd be rolling in my grave if Gwyneth Paltrow were acting like some British tart as the lead character of one of my books (another reason I'll never name my daughter Emma). I almost always hate the movie more than the book (Exhibit #2: Kirsten Dunst forever ruining the Virgin Suicides for me), and savor the fact that Jane Eyre hasn't been made to suffer the same travesty on a grand scale.

In other news, Dunkin' Donuts is one of the greatest places ever. I'm almost certain that the current state of my life would be far less coherent if it weren't for their toasted coconut coffee. Starbucks is also proving helpful with their sweetened black iced tea, and I've had at least one of each since the day started. I'm a bit jittery, but man, I'm A-W-A-K-E.

I Have a Sentimental Heart That Beats and I Don't Really Mind That It's Starting To Get To Me

2007-05-04T18:22:00.000-04:00

It's sunny and luscious outside, and I spent the majority of it inside learning about the ins and outs of corporate tax. This is usually something I enjoy (the tax...just accept it at this point), but when it's sunny and luscious outside...well, you know. I don't want to be cooped up in a dusty cubicle listening to other people shuffle papers and deal with the sniffles and weep in little, panicky puddles about exams that can determine their entire careers.

For flashback Friday, in celebration of sunnier, outdoorsier times:

Here I am in January of 2003, when I left a U.S. winter for a trip to a summer Australia with my Aussie. She and I were outside, enjoying the heat (all the while knowing our peers were back home suffering in the snow) and drinking mango orange juice in the shadow of the Opera House.

I did get a touch sentimental today as I drove through Syracuse on my way home. However, this sentimentality should, by no means, be confused with any sort of admiration for the city. I'll miss things like taking coffee breaks with JL whenever we want to and having a drink with a favorite professor. New York can keep the city!

Fluff

2007-05-03T13:00:00.001-04:00

My life is generally low-drama, happy and enjoyable. Occasionally, it’s inevitably interrupted by little fights I like to call “fluff fights,” since they have no bearing on anything, are absolutely pointless, and most often are used just to yell a bit and release stress.

So, J and I got into a fluff fight the other day, and it all started because he had the audacity to feed the cat at 3:30 instead of 5. Of course, most human beings would not greet this revelation with a banshee like melt-down, and on a non-fluff fight day, this would not bother me. However, tack on the combined facts of:

1) I’m type A and generally like things organized and on time;
2) I would suffer the pointy wrath of a very hungry cat an hour and a half earlier than normal the next morning because Murphy is always on time when it comes to food;
3) I was secretly annoyed with J then, not because he had done anything particularly egregious during the day but really just because I was in “a mood;” and
4) I am constantly stressed,

And fluff fights commence. Point number 1, 3 and 4, of course, are illegitimate reasons for yelling at a loved one, but all those combined with a very painful point number 2 was enough to send me into a tizzy.

Thankfully, we’re out of that and now living in harmony again. It’s also nice to know that if finals week (starting in 4 days!) doesn’t make us kill each other, there isn’t much more that would do it.

I'm Ready to Go, Folks

2007-04-30T21:50:00.000-04:00

It was a nice, do nothing day today. The weather wasn't crappy (surprise!) and this is the last week of classes. How can it NOT be a good day?? I had a coffee break that lasted an hour or so. I finished one of my three classes for the year. Murphy, while initially bitter and bitey about us leaving him this weekend, has stopped clawing us to shreds and has reverted back to cuddly food monster.

I do realize, though, that just because I've mentally checked out of Syracuse (perhaps months ago), this is not leave to simply stop working altogether, fail my classes and substantially embarrass my family and/or friends when they show up from all over the country for graduation. On the other hand...I mentally checked out of Syracuse (perhaps months ago), which makes it hard for me to be motivated to do any more than breathe.

In other news, while I was home this weekend, B gave me Old Bitchy to use during exams. For those of you not "in the know," Old Bitchy is my Dell laptop computer. She is high maintenance, expensive, finicky, pissy, and doesn't like it when you get anywhere near her. She's anti-social. And she hates my guts.

I thought Old Bitchy had been cured by B. I was so very wrong. She's already frozen on me once and absolutely refuses to allow me on the internet more than once a day. It’s taken me about half an hour just to reconnect long enough to post.

I'm hardly in a place to take a stand since I'm at her mercy for our exams (which, bless the 'Cuse, are mostly all on computer). Fingers crossed that I don't end up chucking her out the window.

We Hope You Enjoy Your Stay

2007-04-28T20:59:00.000-04:00

So, I've been MIA for the past few days because day 1 of the Great Move started on Thursday morning. J and I woke up early (seriously, it was 6 a.m. I know early to me sometimes means anytime before noon, but this was legitimately early!).

As if on cue, Syracuse blessed us with a crappy, misty morning in which we could load the rental truck, and it took us nearly two hours to drag every heavy, ridiculously proportioned box down the flight of stairs, down the walkway and into the back of the rental. Trust me when I tell you that moves like this make me wish I could be a tree of some sort where I would always remain firmly rooted in one spot.

Anywho, we made it in pretty good time (even though the truck capped out at a blindingly fast 75 m.p.h.) and when we got to B's place, we managed to unload the truck in approximately twenty minutes. The advantages of being able to pull up straight into a garage versus having to stagger down a flight of stairs and walk down a long walkway are clear. After spending some time vegging out, J and I met up with Rach and her friend Rb for the real purpose of the trip:

the Killers concert at the Patriot Center!

It was amazing. I can't really explain it better than that, but I highly encourage every one of you to run out to your nearest entertainment arena and watch them if at all possible. They were just fantastic. The three girls swooned and cooed at the lead singer (who I'm sure could totally hear us. You know, over the other 15,000 screaming fans), we all sang along, and we all loved it. I can't say enough about it. Just unbelievably good.

Their opener was almost worth the price of the ticket themselves. They're called the Silver Beats and hail from Tokyo, Japan. I loved them. They were cute and adorable and good. They were energetic and got us pumped up. They thanked us about thirty thousand times, and bowed to us nearly as much.

We also got to enjoy the antics of a particularly drunk young lady who slopped beer over herself, gave gum to everyone she could reach, and flashed the peace sign around like some crazed hippie:

Her friends were not quite sure what to do with her. We just enjoyed watching the trainwreck. She was off to a good start before anything even started! I think that's her fourth beer...and we had a good three and a half hours to go.

Friday night, J and I met up with beautiful BE and her boy, BK. This was after we drove around northern Virginia, almost Maryland, and D.C. We got lost because construction had erased the exit on the highway I was used to taking three years ago, and then I subsequently got sucked into the vortex that is the Capitol Beltway.

Bless your soul if you're ever on that and don't know EXACTLY where you're going. I ended up in southeast DC before BK saved us both and talked us through our misery and into Shirlington.

Now we're back in the 'Cuse, trying to get mentally prepared for the three week circus ahead of us. Hopefully, it will go by just as fast as everyone is promising us it will, and we'll be on our way to become real, flesh-and-bones lawyers. God save the rest of you :)

Pack pack pack

2007-04-23T22:59:00.000-04:00

I'm pooped. I want to crawl into bed and sleep, or, conversely, just pass out on the floor. I've just spent the last hour or two packing up more of our stuff to get it ready for the Great Move. I don't understand how two people that are clearly in more debt than you can imagine could possibly have amassed so much crap. It's really quite impressive, but only if you don't have to pack it up.

Since Moving Day #1 of the Great Move will soon be upon us, I should note that I'm looking forward to it about as much as I look forward to taking the Bar. I hate moving. I blame this, partly, on the fact that I grew up in a military family and we moved a lot (though, I can thank that experience for how I pack...you learn to pack well and pack fast when you're doing it every two years) and partly because being a college student requires you pack up and move every year or so.

I hate packing things into brown, boring boxes and lugging those two ton monstrosities out to the truck one by one. I hate going up and down flights of stairs with furniture and clothes and dishes and books. I hate that my voice nearly makes me deaf from the echo because all of our pictures are down and there's nothing on the walls or in the rooms anymore.

I do, however, enjoy that the Countdown to Cuttin' Out of the 'Cuse has started. It's not that I hate this place (well, obviously I do), I just don't enjoy it. I'm bored here. There is not a lot to do when you're broke. A lot of the people are icky. I heard one of our neighbors refer to his son as a "fat, lazy boy" at the top of his lungs the other day and it still makes me cringe thinking about it.

Don't get me wrong, there are some good parts. My classmates help me survive. Bubble tea makes for a nice break, and some restaurants here I'll miss. Nice days like today make our area look purty. But I'm still looking forward to going back to DC!

Crazy God-Man Delivers Spring

2007-04-22T12:31:00.000-04:00

It's spring in Syracuse. Much like Punxsutawney Phil helps cement the days to count down before spring comes, spring is announced in the 'Cuse, loudly, by the appearance of Crazy God-Man. I went to coffee with my favorite Chinese import, Ms. JL, and this is where we saw him. The sun was shining, it was beautifully warm and just shy of humid, and JL and I were sitting outside, enjoying our ridiculously priced Starbucks beverages.

Not long into our conversation, I heard a yelling. A hoarse, consistent preachy yelling from behind me. JL and I both swiveled around to look, and sure enough, there was Crazy God-Man, screaming...screaming for our souls. Sandwiched between two posterboards telling me Jesus died for me and that I was on a straight path to hell, our jolly spring-bearer began yelling about the sinning nature of everyone within earshot.

We weren't annoyed, mind you. Oh no, we've had the joy of being yelled at for three years, and he's now become one of those fixtures that your life would feel strange without. The winter comes, and he goes into hibernation. Spring comes, and he's back with gusto. I admire his perseverance, trying to save the souls of college students just a block from sorority and fraternity row.

I talked to a long-lost friend yesterday. PB and I had been attached at the hip for the longest time (I call her PB because of our homemade jingle about peanut butter and jelly. We were fifth graders...give us a break!). She was the first friendly face I had in Virginia, and she and I might as well have been sisters. Her parents are my parents. My parents are her parents. We've known each other for forever.

In recent years, though, we've just drifted apart. Me being in a different state than her didn't help matters much, but she and I had a long phone conversation yesterday that makes me glad she's still PB, even though we're "grown-up" and have to deal with crap like car payments instead of what's going on at school.

One of the great things about PB is that whenever we do meet up, no matter how much time has passed between us, it's like we never lost sight of each other in the first place. She's my eternal optimist, even when things are less than sunshiny.

Today, I'm doing homework at school. This is astonishing since I haven't been in the school on a weekend, voluntarily, since last spring. I have a paper to write. I have commercial transactions to transact. I also have only a week and a half or so of classes left. The noose is tightening over here, and I have to stop being such a lazy bum and get on with it.

The sun was actually here today

2007-04-19T22:50:00.000-04:00

Three days ago, I woke up to see this outside the window:

Today, it looks like this:

About nine inches of snow dumped on us, buried the car so much that the poor maintenance man had to shovel us out, melted into large, drippy puddles, and is now completely gone. This in the span of three days. The weather is becoming nearly as crazy as the rest of us, which is some small measure of comfort.

When the days go and get nice on us, Murphy enjoys being out on the porch. He does, however, look out between the slats as if he's looking out from a prison, but he has it good here. He gets fed all the time. He gets treats for doing absolutely nothing other than existing. We play 'mouse' with him. We coo and pet and dote on him as if he were a king. Don't let that face fool you. He's got it good.

...

2007-04-17T11:53:00.001-04:00

VA Tech

2007-04-16T21:27:00.000-04:00

I know that I'm 6 years removed from when I was last at VA Tech. I know that all of my friends and loved ones have since graduated and left Blacksburg, but today struck me almost as much as it would have if I were still there.

My family is Hokie-indoctrinated. I'm still as obsessed about my Hokies as I was the day I set foot on campus. I own more gear from VA Tech than from any other college I attended. I watch every game and every interview and every documentary about the school that I can get up here.

The shooting in the dormitory happened in the dorm I lived in. I had class in Norris. One of the last times I ran across the drill field, I was running past the cadets playing war games, not S.W.A.T team members crouched in the bushes with loaded guns.

I've been watching the news with the same sense of dread and sorrow I felt watching 9/11. I mourn the students and I mourn that it will never be the same there, that no one will look at that beloved place the same ever again. This is how people in Columbine must feel: the intense, sorrowful weight that their entire existence is now defined by the tragedy that befell them instead of what was really there, what it's really like.

I know the real Tech, for however short of a time I was there, I know the Tech before it was stained with tragedy and pain. It's one of the worst feelings for me to know that from now on, Tech will be known so notoriously for being the site of the deadliest shooting in the U.S., instead of being the school with the greatest football team, the greatest dining hall, the greatest parties, the greatest little dive bars.

My firery little salamander tattoo was inked in a parlor right off of Tech's campus just after I turned 18. I got it because, well, I wanted one desperately (and I've never regretted him, not one bit!) but also because salamanders are mythical creatures that are able to withstand fire, to quench it and beat it.

I know that my Tech will be just like that, forced through this wringer of fire but able to survive it, and made stronger by it.

It's almost too much to bear, though, that Tech has to fight through the fire in the first place.

cocktail parties

2007-04-15T15:18:00.000-04:00

We're getting lots of snow today. This is the payback I predicted earlier, and we might, if we're ever so lucky, be ushered out of the 'Cuse almost the same way we were welcomed: with a bunch o' snow.

Because we are so loved, last night the school held a Cocktail Party for all of us graduating students. It felt like a homecoming dance more than a cocktail party, but beggars can't be choosers, and it was nice to see some of the people there.

Generally speaking, I tend to be the photographer rather than the photographee, and when I post pictures of myself, it's usually the only one out of 150. That is, of course, unless I assault people with my "self-potrait" pose, OR I demand J take some pictures himself.

It turns out that the first method is the most efficient, since J (bless his heart) always forgets he even has the camera in his coat pocket and will either never take any pictures at all or gets so flustered with me harping on him to take them that he just hands me the camera.

Anyway, here is a self-portrait of us before heading out to the cocktail party:

As for today, it's been a typical, lazy Sunday. The weather is absoultely crummy, and I've been packing up boxes here and there:

This is one corner of the messy study that has become the temporary holding pad for all the things we're U-Hauling to VA in a couple of weeks. I actually enjoy packing somewhat, because 1) it isn't studying and 2) it's proof that we're leaving the 'Cuse sooner rather than later.

To Hell with this, we're taking the cows

2007-04-10T22:22:00.000-04:00

The law is not nearly as glamorous as I was led to believe. I have done nothing this week but read about cows and old Chevys and terribly pissy divorces...you would think I was studying how to write country music!

In other news, we've begun the packing process. It's something I nearly stopped right as I started, since it's overwhelming to box up what is clearly 8 million tons of stuff and cart it back down to DC. J sat and delivered final verdicts as to what I should and should not pack away until winter in regards to my clothing and shoes. I gave up shoes, people. I had to sort through my shoes!

I've also noticed that I have become addicted to sleep. I enjoy a good nap. I enjoy a good nap even more when it lasts longer than thirty minutes and it's on a bed with a feather comforter and a pretty little slice of sunshine coming in through the window. J thinks I'm sleeping far too much for a normal person and demands I see a doctor (my family would be pleased to know anyone thinks I'm capable of being "normal" ;)

However, because I haven't reached the "I have a problem" phase of my addiction, and because the internet is such a wonderful tool, I decided to forego a clinical opinion and diagnose myself. The internet, in all its glory, told me I have mild/moderate depression.

Here are "my" symptoms:

1. Depressed mood - Feeling hopeless, sad, discouraged
2. Loss of interest or pleasure - Nothing seems to interest you anymore
3. Sleep changes - Insomnia or oversleeping
4. Fatigue or loss of energy
5. Concentration problems - Inability to focus. Can’t “think straight.” Memory problems
6. Irritability - Grouchy, easily annoyed, and frustrated by little things
7. Aches and pains - Depression can cause many physical symptoms, including headaches, backaches, abdominal pain, and aching joints

I underscore that if I have depresssion, nearly every third year law student I know has depression right along with me. Is there environmentally-induced depression? Is depression really just senioritis? I haven't succumbed to another common depression symptom, though, in that my appetite is boisterous. I'm still a stark raving lunatic when it comes to eating and hoarding chocolate and pasta, don't worry.

Speaking of food, I was perusing through washingtonpost.com today to take a peaky at the delightful cuisine that awaits me. I look forward to taking J to Bistro Francais in Georgetown to experience not only their delightfully rude french waitstaff, but to have a nice plate of their pate at 1 in the morning like I used to do in undergrad. Of course, I look forward to Mobys...but who doesnt?! I'm making a list of the places to go to. Seriously. This moving will all be worthwhile for the food.

And my family and loved ones, of course :)

Fuzzy Sheep

2007-04-05T20:32:00.000-04:00

Day One of the great cat experiment is dashing my hopes that Murphy just favors the left side of the bed when he's hungry. This morning, he walked over to where J slept and performed his morning dance of flop/purring/scratch/bite, to no avail. So, he found me. And proceeded to maul me until I got up to feed him. Hopefully Day Two will deliver more promising results.

Today, while we were driving through the campus to get home, I noticed that a majority of the female undergrads here looked the same. If you'd like a mental picture: they all have stick straight blond highlighted hair, large face-encompassing sun glasses, puffy knee-length jackets and Ugg boots. And they walk around with what Jer calls "a ridiculous sense of entitlement." I'm not kidding when I say 75% of the girls look like that. I can't tell them apart!

I do love my Ugg boots, however. I understand the irony of loving one of the very symbols of young, spoiled Hollywood (and, apparently, Syracuse), but I refuse to feel bad about them. Living in the artic circle makes them even more beautiful than you could imagine. I bless the sheep that sacrificed their fuzz for the comfort and warmth of my feet.

The Great Experiment

2007-04-04T23:54:00.000-04:00

My cell phone can capture magnificent moments of domestic bliss when I don't happen to have my actual camera handy, and this is a prime example:

Murphy likes to watch t.v. on Daddy's lap, and likes to stretch like a dog to have his belly rubbed while he's still got his eye on the t.v. screen. I'm convinced that he actually is a dog trapped in the stretchy body of a feline, and I'm okay with that. Except when he bites me in the morning with little razor fangs because he's a starving beast (apparently).

Tonight, an experiment is being conducted. Murphy only comes to pester me in the morning when he's hungry. He never even glances at J, but insists on flopping around on my stomach and biting my arms/shoulders/face until I get up and feed him. He is persistent and refuses to take no for an answer.

So, I'm switching to the other side of the bed. This is to see if he just comes to me because I drew the short-stick on choosing the side of the bed and he just always pesters the person on the left, or if it's because he knows that it'll take a team of horses to draw J out of bed when he's asleep while it will take significantly less to get me moving.

Results soon!

you tease.

2007-04-02T19:05:00.000-04:00

I am dreadfully uncomfortable in situations where people are being heckled incessantly. This is a byproduct of the fact that 1) I'm sensitive about everything, and 2) that I was teased mercilessly (but lovingly) by my family. For some time, I was the only female child in the family, and this apparently induced family members (from my mid-western, Norwegian granparents to my southern South Korean aunts and uncles) to tease me about anything and everything. I did not take well to it (see fact #1, above) and became red and bitter and cried cried cried. My father takes time to point out to me that I doomed myself by doing this, as there is nothing a teaser likes more than to get a reaction. A tearful, indignant, foot stomping reaction.

The teasing has pretty much dropped off (this is due, mostly, to my spectacular hissy fit/breakdown at Thanksgiving when I was the tender age of eighteen), but I still get fidgety when anyone else is being ribbed in the same fashion. John Ashcroft came to visit our illustrious University a few days ago. While I generally hold little, if any, of the same political and personal beliefs as he does, I can still sympathize with the man when people are heckling him to death. What's the point of the insults, I wonder?

In other news, I'm looking forward to the promised land of graduation with more excitment than ever. I'm not particularly looking forward to having to walk across a stage and receive the standard bit o' paper from the "Dean", but I am looking forward to the magnificent panoply of joy that will shower down on all of us when we're freed from the shackles of the school and will be bitter law students no longer.

B-A-H

2007-03-31T14:03:00.000-04:00

I know I've been wretched at updating the blog, but you should be happy I'm still breathing. With the amount of brain power I've had to expend in the last 48 hours, I'm amazed I have enough sense to function. With the stress of the upcoming months bearing down on me, a statue on campus shows pretty much the extent of how I feel:

The cause of all this mental wreckage is the fact that we've started studying a little bit for the Bar on weekends, which has done little to prepare me for the test and much to instill panic and fear. Yesterday consisted of a practice test. A 200 question practice test. A 6 hour, 200 question practice test. Followed by two days, six hours each, where we review the questions. All 200 of them. Individually. One by one.

The car ride home from our testing marathon yesterday consisted of no conversation because I think we left our brains on the desks back at school. I couldn't splice a coherent sentence together if I tried. We were tested on our knowledge of about six areas of law, and I can tell you right now that after three years of law school, I know about as much as you do. I don't know the elements of larceny. I couldn't tell you the difference between the M'Naghten insanity test and the A.L.I./MPC insanity test. I don't know what the States can and can't do about Federal law. I don't understand what your rights are if you live by a river and start diverting water so that your neighbor downstream gets nothing.

They did tell us, however, that we SHOULDN'T be panicking. In a much heralded piece of news that I'm sure will generate even more trust in lawyers than you already have, we're not shooting to excel here, we're only shooting to pass. Part of their advice was to leave our A Type personality traits at the door and just aim for that D- ("You only need to get 60% right! Isn't that fantastic?! What other test allowed you to get 60% right and be happy?!"). That's all we need to become a licensed, practicing lawyer. Aren't you excited? We just need to do slightly better than failing to be able to advise you on your legal rights and hopefully keep your butt out of jail.

In other news, since I missed Flashback Friday, here's a more recent picture of me and J, taken at AG's birthday the other weekend:

It's time to start working again. If I'm not back by Monday, send the search party.

Thunder

2007-03-26T16:59:00.000-04:00

There's a thunderstorm goin on outside, and I like it. What I don't like is spending money on things that are of no immediate use to me. I appreciate immediate gratification. I appreciate its simplicity. When I have to buy things today that really have no use for me until tomorrow, I tend to become a Bitter Betty.

Today, I paid $250 to apply for the "privilege" of taking the Bar Exam in July. Voluntarily paying $250 to be allowed to subject myself to a tortuous, two day hell-fest makes me seriously second guess the sanity of my decision to pursue a law degree.

This is on top of the $2,500 I'm shelling out to take the two month refresher course that promises to prepare me for the Bar. Currently, with homework and loans looming ahead of me, the only Bar I want to be sitting for is one that brings me pretty pink drinks with cherries speared on those little plastic swords. However, I probably won't see one of those bars until well after July.

In better news, Murphy Cat has been spared the poisons of tainted cat food. I'm almost positive that he would have survived such a poisoning if only in anticipation for his next meal. I don't starve my cat, but he acts like I do. When I open the cabinet in the kitchen where his food and treats are stored, he comes scampering in, mewing and rubbing against my legs thinking that this will a) get him fed; b) get him a treat; or c) get him both. Generally, it works, and I succumb to his cutie, be-whiskered face and give him one or the other, every time. J thinks I'm creating a leviathan of a cat, but I disagree. I'm simply helping a growing boy.

Cooking debacle

2007-03-24T21:55:00.000-04:00

I'm not a bad cook. In fact, I can make quite a delicious batch of chocolate chip cookies and a mean kimchi soup (thanks, mom). Apparently, though, I can't do either without hurting myself in the process. I still have a scar from when I was about 12 and burned my arm pulling said cookies out of the oven. I have suffered many a cut. Jer, of course, didn't know about any of this until recently.

The first time J had to administer first aid during a kitchen massacre was about a year ago. I, as he put it, had sucked the air out the room when the knife I was chopping with slipped out of my right hand and sliced up the left. He came running into the kitchen in complete terror (expecting to find me dead on the floor, probably) and then cooed and petted me while I cried over my finger.

The second time this happened, the knife didn't actually slip onto my finger but jarringly stopped on my nail, where I cursed like a sailor and subsequently got a teensy bruise and a sore finger. J just looked at it and said I'd survive.

Today, I was making a chicken/tomato pasta sauce dish that involved a lot of chopping and throwing ingredients into a big stock pot. I chopped carrots and celery and basil and parsley without incident. Jer has taken to shuttling off into the living room while I cook because he can't stand to watch me yielding a knife like it's a hammer. Today, however, the knife was my friend. It took no bites out of me.

What got me was the tomatoes.

Tomatoes are round, soft things that pose a threat only if they're beaned at your head, and even then it's nothing to whine about. Their threatening nature is essentially non-existent, unless the tomatoes are peeled and coming out of a 28 ounce can from Hunt's. In a fine exhibit of my genetic predisposition, I sliced my finger open on the can lid as I was reaching in to remove one of our plump, lycopene filled friends.

Of course, I tried to play it off. After the initial "sH$*!" I looked around at no one in particular and said "ouch" as if I were saying "pass the butter, please." Ho hum. No big deal. Jer looked up from the couch and after gathering that I hadn't amputated any digits, walked into the bathroom and then came calmly into the kitchen with a band-aid and some neosporin. I got a kiss on my cut the first time it happened. Today, I got a "boy, this kitchen is a mess" as he applied the band-aid and went back to the tv. Another day, another finger.

bunnies

2007-03-22T12:40:00.000-04:00

I'm eating chocolate for breakfast. More specifically, a chocolate bunny. I occasionally come across small little reminders that living on my own is rewarding, and this is one of them. Should Mom decide to place blame somewhere for my poor, poor eating habits today, she should point the finger squarely at my darling brother, who supplied me with said chocolate in the first place. Otherwise, I'm sure I'd be eating toast and Cream of Wheat or something.

I'm supremely thankful, though, for B's thoughfulness. He handed me an Easter basket when we were in DC last weekend because I wouldn't be back in the area until later in April, with these words:

"I made this is for both you and J, so don't eat all of it."

I'm not going to eat ALL of it, silly. I'll just eat MOST of it.

Bleh

2007-03-20T20:44:00.000-04:00

While it is blatantly obvious that Syracuse has none of the excitement, glamor and appeal of Vegas, it's also blatantly obvious that I'm stuck here until May and don't have any real means of escape...except when Murphy sings to me:

He is becoming more and more like a baby, especially on long car rides back and forth from Syracuse to DC. He used to sit half-hunched and miserable on the floor at the passenger's feet, but I made the mistake of pulling him up into my lap and letting him cuddle on my chest for part of the ride. Now he paces and meows like a banshee until whomever isn't driving holds him the same way:

Our little heat machine.

Goodbye, Spring Break

2007-03-18T20:05:00.000-04:00

After a scrumptious week away, it's time to put the ol' nose to the grindstone and work our way to graduation. Of course, the entire time I'm "working" and "studying," I'll be wishing with every ounce of myself that I were back in the record-high temps and sunny bosom of Sin City.

The namesake of our hotel

Waiting outside the airport for the shuttle to freedom, I noticed that my skin was experiencing something that it hadn't in quite some time: actual, real, no kidding warmth. It's wretched that I've forgotten what that feels like. I blame Syracuse. As I blame it for most everything else that irritates and brings me any ounce of annoyance.

After we got to the hotel, and because we were given small, laughable tid bits of things to eat on the plane, we were famished and treated ourselves to Vegas Buffet. I'm almost positive that the buffet eating experience should also be touted as the people-watching extravaganza of the strip. Jeremy was convinced that the lady behind me was actually a man ("100% positive. I'm not even kidding.") and we saw at least three men become disoriented and lost travelling from the buffet back to their tables. The lost souls of dining. One man defiantly stood by a table and announced that he was staying right where he was until his wife showed up. Looks like someone learned their "stay in one place if you get lost" message from kindergarten.

Sunny Caesar's Palace!

As my gambling chops are mediocre at best ("Hit on 18!! No, seriously. Hit."), I spent a good chunk of the daylight hours here:

Mmmm, yes. It was 90 degrees without a cloud in the sky. I could have cried each day I was out there, burning my sweet little skin cells into oblivion and giving my liver the task of dissecting pool-side margaritas. I will dream of those days...starting now, as the snow wisps around outside.

We did get to do the typical Vegas-y stuff. We gambled. We watched the fountains at Bellagio (including the marriage proposal that happened a mere two feet from where we were standing). We saw a Cirque du Soleil show (Zumanity, and it was fantastic). We had amazing dinners (I think Wolfgang Puck has my vote simply because his food is beautiful when it comes to the table). We even saw a wedding at one of the outdoor chapels at the hotel. All in all, it was a fantastic trip.

We came home for a brief (very brief!) St. Patty's day in D.C.

Rach and EM - sprightly little leprachauns!

These coins showed up everywhere. Even this morning, at B's house.

He's Irish, you know. I'm supposed to kiss the Irish.

Now we're back in Syracuse, winding down and preparing for the last haul before May!

:)

2007-03-11T15:04:00.000-04:00

Gorgeous...

Flashback Friday

2007-03-09T16:43:00.000-05:00

I walked outside this morning, and my first thought was "hey! it's pretty nice out here." I almost stopped in my tracks at that thought because I hadn't had one like it since our stupefying warm spell in January. Could this possibly be the break in the craptacular cold weather March has given us so far? My skin hadn't tried desperately to suck into my bones to escape the bite of the wind the second I stepped outside. My fingers didn't feel like they would fall off from exposure. Upon starting up the car, I saw that the temperature was...12 degrees. I know I'm as crazy as everyone says now, because if 12 degrees feels balmy, there is no other explanation for it.

After class this morning, I proceeded to buck convention and do very grown-up things that my parents would be proud of. I took some clothes to the Salvation Army that had been sitting in the corner of the bedroom for MONTHS. I went shopping, but bought boring, responsible things like kitty litter and paper towels. I recycled the mountain of magazines and newspapers teetering in the living room. I cleaned the kitchen, people. And I mean cleaned it: behind/underneath the microwave, the stove, mopped, etc. It's disgusting really, so I intend on spending the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing. Take that, adulthood. I'm going to eat cookies for dinner and watch cartoons all night.

Christmastime, 2004
What a good boy, Max!

Brrr

2007-03-08T19:53:00.000-05:00

In my 25 years of existence, I've only truly lived by myself for a few months or so, and that was over a year ago. Therefore, I haven't been exposed to dealing with a lot of 'home' things on my own, namely, dealing with the creepy crawly things that appear out of nowhere. I was minding my own business today, drying myself off after my shower, when a festive little creature crawled near my foot and disappeared in a crack in the corner of the bathroom. Now I'm completely paranoid that he's gone off to bring back a boat load of friends to torment me while I lay in bed tonight. There's no J here to squash the army of bugs. My cat is absolutely useless because he's either eating, sleeping, or clawing my legs. I'm living in fear.

On the bright side, the Post's front page today previewed one of my favorite times of the year: Cherry Blossom! Being in the armpit of NY state for the better part of three years means that I haven't been able to see the blooms or enjoy all the festivities that go along with them. I haven't decided if I can stomach another 12 hour round trip car ride after doing it in a few days for spring break, but it is awfully tempting.

Tomorrow, I just have to get through one more class, then the break is here! Freedom is just around the corner! Nevermind that I'll have to risk breaking my neck on the ice still lurking everywhere...in a mere 5 days I'll be in sunny, sunny Las Vegas losing my money in droves and roasting like a rotisserie chicken by the pool.

almost friday!

2007-03-07T19:31:00.000-05:00

Reasons why today sucked:
J leaves tomorrow.

Murphy Cat, who is by far the clumsiest cat I've ever seen, fell off the bed this morning by misjudging his distance to the edge and stretching too far. To recover from this embarrassment, he proceeded to bite and claw his way to redemption, using my sleeping torso as a target. This is not the way to wake up in the morning.

I was late to my Commercial Transactions class because I value toasted coconut doughnuts and coffee more than I value the opportunity to be at class on time. To hell with the Uniform Commercial Code, what has it done for me lately? Other than give me hernias from having to schlep its tonnage around, of course.

We forgot lunch on the dining room table and I had to shell out $5 for an un-melted "grilled" cheese sandwich that made me weepy for the ones my mom used to make. It should be a crime to feed a starving law student something that tastes like nothing sandwiched in between crunchy, toasted cardboard.

Reasons why today didn't suck:
The Girl Scout cookie season is here, and Bif (bless her heart!) sent me three boxes. I hated being a Girl Scout. I hated making houses out of popsicle sticks and I hated camping with girls that screamed at everything and I hated going to weekly meetings in the basements of community buildings like I was attending Alcoholics Anonymous. However, my love for the Samoa Girl Scout cookie (or, as they're inexplicably called in certain locales, Caramel deLites) knows no bounds, and for that, I fully endorse the Girl Scout organization.

Spring Break is (nearly) here.

I don't have class tomorrow. The only thing on the agenda is to have my head measured so that the delightful mortar board that tops off our graduation attire doesn't fall off on graduation day.

Youch!

2007-03-06T13:01:00.000-05:00

Oh, Murphy Cat...the air outside makes me scream, too. It was a pleasant 0 degrees this morning (wind chill of -22. You're not mistaken, dear reader. There's a negative sign in front of that 22). It makes my skin hurt just to think of walking outside. Thankfully, I haven't had to yet. I'm perfecting my hermit skills by diving under the covers with the cat while Jeremy texts me from the car with sad, freezing laments ("The car thermostate reads the temperature as 2" etc.). It snowed a bunch last night, but what kind of news is that? Snow in Syracuse, in March? Pshh. Old stuff.

I've added a new subscription feature to the blog so that you can be updated once a day if I post. Just so you don't have to randomly keep checking...it sends an email reminder to you when I've posted. It doesn't send it immediately after I post, I think it sends an email once every morning if I've updated at all the previous day. I've added this feature for convenience, and also because I'm a lazy, lazy girl and don't want to do my homework.

My Patriots aren't going to the Big Dance this year, and I think it hurt most that ESPN chose to rub this in my face mere seconds after their loss to VCU by making it their front page news. I don't need to know that the slipper doesn't fit this year, you yahoos! I get it! Sheesh. I had received a happy, excited phone call from my Bethie earlier, and we had such high hopes...but she and I can cheer on VT still. Our next Cinderella.

I listened to Hillary taking on the southern drawl the other day. As one who generally slips into a southern twang when I'm tired and all the time for certain words ("Alhambra" becomes "Al-ha-yam-bra"), I understand her trying to "fit in" with her Southern supporters. However, I'm honestly surprised she didn't test it out in front a mirror first, since she comes off sounding like an idiot. I know, I know, she lived in Arkansas for 17 years. That doesn't make her sound any better.

Discontent

2007-03-05T13:21:00.000-05:00

It appears that I'm not the only one feeling this way, and this student's article summarizes the feeling a little more succinctly. I can just imagine the hell that will rain down for such negative publicity, if past years are any indication (you don't pay my salary! etc., etc.). With graduation almost upon us, I guess the necessity of niceities is going down the toilet. The backlash from the administration should be coming any day now.

I set my alarm to wake me up early this morning so I could frantically finish an assignment for my first class (I am a procrastinator. A professional procrastinator, as I've been honing my craft for years), and woke up to the radio telling me to expect SQUALLS of snow today. That doesn't exactly start you off looking forward to the day.

Jeremy blamed me this morning for his bizarre dreams, but it's really his fault entirely. He was a gentleman, held the door open and allowed me to enter the laundry room before him. I thought this was sweet, until he told me that he was doing that so that I would be feasted upon first by the boogy man he was convinced was lurking in the unlit utility room just down the hallway from the laundry machines. I then thought it appropriate to retaliate by telling him someone was probably lurking in our closet, ready to chomp on him the second he fell asleep. We really do love each other. It's just that we wouldn't think twice to sacrifice one another to the chomping jaws of the monsters in our closets.

Buffalo. Blah.

2007-03-03T22:17:00.000-05:00

I think Buffalo, NY is a hell of a town, as long as my exposure to it is limited to the Hyatt hotel and the bar in the Century Grill across the street. The tax trial competition started in Buffalo this Thursday, and aside from the terror involved in arguing for the Commissioner of the IRS in front of a panel of judges doing nothing but pelting me with question after question, I had a great time.

Our hotel was also housing some Teachers' Union conference, which meant that I did get to see about 100 or so absolutely tanked teachers partying it up in the hotel bar and lobby. They started sometime before 5pm and were still going strong well after midnight...it was entertaining to imagine that my elementary school teachers might have participated in such debauchery.

J is watching the Ultimate Fighting Championship on tv, which, for those of you un-indoctrinated into the sport, it's essentially two men in a cage beating the absolute living crap out of each other. The winner of the first round nearly knocked his opponent's head right off his neck, and the first person he thanks in his winners' speech is: Jesus. I thought it was hysterical and a little bit perplexing that a man who had just finished pummeling his opponent's face into ground chuck would thank peaceful, non-violent Jesus. Jeremy turned to me and said "I don't think Jesus would condone what he just did to that guy."

I had lofty goals this weekend to work, work, work. However, the prospect of spring break and sunny, super Las Vegas is distracting me. I'll just call today a wash, and start brand spankin' new tomorrow :)

Brain Dump

2007-02-28T21:37:00.000-05:00

My brain generally reserves its space for things like:

useless databases of legal terminology (res ipsa loquitor! amicus curiae! etc., etc.),
generating excessive emotion in response to the plight of homeless animals,
the IRC (I mean, it will be my profession...cut me some slack!),
very very random bits of sports trivia,
remembering birthdays and the interesting details about the people attached to them, and
how to make the shortest drive to places that serve the food I like best.

By necessity, this means that almost everything else that tries to enter my grey matter is really just superfluous and finds itself being shoved right back out. Today was a prime example of this. I have no recollection of any substantive piece of information I might have heard today during my approximately 9 hours of class/study time other than the info from my one hour Tax class.

I hear the sad mews of a starving animal in the living room, and since Murphy is in here with me, I can only assume Jeremy is hungry... off to scramble for a late dinner.

BE's Big Birthday

2007-02-27T15:13:00.000-05:00

After a brief posting hiatus, I'm back, and with pictures! Saturday was the celebration of BE's birthday, and we toasted it at none other than Irish Times. Irish Times is an old haunt of ours that holds a special place in our hearts, so it was fun to get back to it during my weekend visit.

The birthday girl, looking sprightly as ever :)

EM and Rach

Dustin -- I'm reacting to something EM is doing

off camera...Dustin rarely looks at a camera without

making a funny face, and of course the one time he's

not making one, I'm making the funny face instead

The drive home was horrendous. This is due in part to the fact that I was faced with a 6 hour drive back to Syracuse. It's also because the Midwest gave us their wintery weather, and dumped several inches of snow on NoVa in about two hours. For those of you unaccustomed to NoVa and sudden snow, this is equivalent to armageddon. People were skidding everywhere, I think I saw at least 5 accidents, and it took nearly two hours to get out of the metro area.

This is what 3/4 of my drive back to the 'Cuse looked like,

as the storm kindly stayed one step ahead of me into

Marlyand/Pennsylvania/New York

If you're wondering how I could have possibly taken this picture and not driven helter skelter off the road, don't worry. We were only going 5 mph. Ironically, the only NON-snowy place was: Syracuse, NY. I'm sure I'll find that funny later.

In better news, I got an update on one of my clients from the Tax clinic. This person was in a world of trouble with the IRS, and after some work, their $12,000 debt became a refund check for $5,800! I got a congratulatory message from my tax professor, and now I'm feeling quite warm and fuzzy. Sadly, I'm about to butcher that feeling by going off now and doing homework...

pleh

2007-02-22T15:43:00.000-05:00

You Are 8% California

You are a bogus Californian. Go back to the East Coast.

Well, I think thats a bit harsh. Speaking of the East Coast, I'm now enjoying one of its finer areas, back in my old stomping grounds of Northern VA for Bethie's birthday!

I left my poor J back in the 'Cuse, but I left him with all the Murphy attention he can handle. J is my life boat in many ways, and I realized this even more during my drive today. In the long-trip context, he's my stability because he always does all the driving for me, buys me sugary snacks to perk me up, calms my frazzled nerves when the 800th driver has exhibiting a startling lack of sanity by careening into our lane, and talks to me to keep me awake. As opposed to when I'm alone on the drive, and just talk to myself.

Had dinner with Rach at Moby's, and it was deeelish as usual. We had a nice long chat about all the things that aren't as fun to talk about unless you're in person, and then I made the last leg of my trip and landed on B's doorstep. More later when I'm more awake!

Mugs-R-Us

2007-02-21T12:15:00.000-05:00

Campus Alerts from Syracuse University:

On Tuesday, Feb. 20, at about 1:30 p.m., in the Stadium Place parking lot at Stadium Place and Raynor Avenue, an employee of the Veterans Administration Medical Center, 800 Irving Ave., who had just exited his vehicle was approached by an unknown man. The suspect exhibited a handgun, demanded money from the victim’s wallet, and ran away in a westerly direction towards Almond Street.

Tuesday night a student reported to DPS that as he walked along the sidewalk between the Women’s Building and the tennis courts earlier that day, at about 12:30 p.m., he was approached from behind by an unknown male. The subject placed a blunt object in his back and demanded his wallet. After taking the victim’s wallet, the suspect ran towards College Place and then in a westerly direction down Sims Drive.

I think it's nice, though, that they give us all these little alerts and never tell us what becomes of them. Who knows! I could be sitting next to the robber in class! I could be listening to the robber lecture me about the ups and downs of the New York judicial system!

I'm currently indulging in a cupcake, which is making me feel better about all this gun-prodding and cash exchanging. It's quite a nice little cupcake, and if I had no impulse control whatsoever, I might eat five all at once. If I balloon into a massively obese, cup-cake eating monster, I'm totally blaming it on the crime rate in Syracuse.

Un-civil practice

2007-02-20T22:35:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading 42 pages of my "Civil Litigation in New York" text and cannot tell you one substantive thing I have learned from it. I don't think you should underestimate the utter and massively complete boredom associated with this topic. Let's compare it to, say, sitting in a boring, windowless room on a boring chair with a boring person droning on about boring things. For days. I still have 18 more pages to go, but I simply cannot do it. My brain will burst free of my skull and scamper off in search of stimulation if I even threaten it with the idea.

The class, unfortunately, is not much better. It's 2 hours and 45 minutes long, smack in the middle of the week, and I learn next to nothing. I do enjoy spending this time staring into space. Or, eating a Twix bar. Or, should neither of those options seem particularly appealing, I also estimate how long I can last this semester before I fake a bathroom break just to get out of the room. I, to my credit, have only done this twice in my law school career.

The first time I did this, I was in a contracts class and I felt so guilty about it that I actually walked into the bathroom, then walked right back to class. Total fake away time: not even two minutes. The second time, I was in my international law class and took the time to go to the cafeteria, get a breakfast sandwich, have a small conversation with a fellow classmate in the hall (while eating said sandwich), and then made it back to class. Total trip time: maybe a good 10 minutes.

My guess is I'll make it til about mid-April before the fake bathroom trip hits again.

Monotonous Moody Monstrous Monday

2007-02-19T21:22:00.000-05:00

I am neither manic nor do I have a case of the "mondays" today, which is all well and good but doesn't leave for very exciting posting. I had a dream last night that I had been accepted to Georgetown. While I was initially excited, I was very quickly overwhelmed by the sudden certainty of becoming forever associated with the word "Hoya."

This apparently horrified me enough in dreamscapes to scream "NOOOO!" at the admissions committee member who called to congratulate me on the phone. Maybe the prospect of having to try and explain yet another nonesensical "H" mascot was too much for my convoluted Hokie mind to manage. Maybe "Hoya" is too close to "Goya," and god forbid I'm mistaken for canned black beans. Whatever the case was, I successfully quashed any chance of attending that esteemed University.

I woke up not quite sure how to interpret this, but I blamed it on the Taco Bell meal I had the day before. I blame fast food for all my crazy-ish dreams, which is why I'm trying to cut back. McDonalds and I can't look at each other the same since I managed to cut it out in one bold move. I told Jeremy one day that I was no longer going to eat at the Golden Arches to protect my red, red heart, and I've been surprisingly successful...unlike me swearing that I'd limit soda consumption to one a day, and then promptly downing three cans. I just couldn't resist those nachos. If I were completely insane, I'd sue Taco Bell for my liquid cheese addiction, similar to this crack-pot and IBM.

Break #1

2007-02-18T13:35:00.000-05:00

I'm going to go back on one of my first New Year's resolutions, but only after some thought: my picture taking escapades will be scaled back from daily to, essentially, whenever I feel like it. This is due in part to the fact that I'm in Syracuse and I have no interest in documenting this place any further. This is also due in part to the fact that currently the majority of my life consists of reading and occasionally sleeping. This isn't to say that there will be no more pictures, but they'll only pop up every once and a while.

So, since there are no pictures today to entertain you with, here are some other things:
My Favorite Word: benevolent
My Least Favorite Word: anachronistic
Noise I love: Calmed-down-cat purrs
Noise I hate: the phone ringing
Profession(s) I would like to attempt: chef, astronaut (the non-crazy, non-murderous kind), farmer, muse
Profession(s) I would hate: truck driver, CEO

Onto the Facts:
-- I am obsessed with paper. I have about 3 1/2 empty journals and 4 different kinds of stationary sitting around, waiting for correspondence. This is one of my favorite stores in NYC and one of my favorite online stores...I could spend hours here.

-- I used to think Fiji was a fictional place until I saw The Truman Show

-- I constantly think about the state of my cat's emotional well-being

-- I enjoy drinking orange juice straight from the carton

-- My grandfather makes everything better

-- Feet make me uneasy

-- There is not a single potato I have met that I didn't like

-- When I was 7, my best friend's name was Anne. We were convinced there were dinosaur fossils in the gigantic boulders in the park and we would chip away at them for hours, but we never found anything.

-- I lived in Ft. Campbell, KY
I lived in San Diego, CA
I lived in Warrenton, VA
I lived in Schweinfurt, Germany
I lived in Queens, NY

-- I learned to sew in 5th grade. My dad taught me, and the first thing I did was I made a bald eagle for a school project out of a sock and my dad's old brown army shirt, stuffed with cotton. I did this because it's my dad's favorite animal

-- My favorite Shakespeare Sonnet is Sonnet 23

-- Jeremy is the source of sweetness

-- My brother is my hero

-- I think the color orange is ill-suited for everyday wear

-- I have zero tolerance for the 'skin' on top of cold soup

-- My mom is the greatest cook I have ever met

-- My dad is a Harley owner that hugs better than anyone

-- Modern, abstract art confuses me. My favorite painter is Girodet; his paintings make more sense to me

-- I have a tattoo of a salamander on my lower right back named Fritz. I've never regretted him

-- I found out Santa wasn't real after reading SuperFudge by Judy Bloom

-- My best friend Rachel has the most fantastic laugh in existence

-- My best friend Josh looks better in a grass skirt than most everyone

-- I enjoy sleeping in patches of sun, regardless if the only place it exists is on a small sliver of carpet on the living room floor

Niagara

2007-02-17T16:48:00.000-05:00

While I'm tempted to weigh in on the train wreck that is Britney Spears, suffice it to say that I'm utterly befuddled that someone who is undoubtedly surrounded by a gaggle of PR personnel can derail so spectacularly in such a short time.

As for non-tabloid fodder, for our postponed Valentine's Day celebration, J and I finally made it up to Niagara Falls. We arrived Thursday night, and had dinner at our hotel's restaurant, which, might I add, was SUPER. I'm a meat and potatoes kind of girl, and when I get both for dinner, I'm pretty damn happy.

February 15, 2007
Handsome J

February 16, 2007 (1)
Bundled up

The view from our hotel room was unbelievable. We travelled over to the Canadian side and set up camp in a hotel that's a mere 300 or so yards away from the falls, and our room was graced with an almost ceiling to floor wall of windows. It was breathtaking, and it was totally worth the trip.

February 16, 2007 (2)
The falls at daybreak

February 16, 2007 (3)
Icy!

Back in the 'Cuse, it's life as usual. We had another Bar review class today, and I'm convinced that I should have just taken these little reviews and THEN the bar, rather than coughing up $150K to a University that is hell bent on making me suffer. That degree in May is tantalizingly close!

February 17, 2007
My friend, the Syracuse Snowman. Erected just outside

of our apartment, he exemplifies the class and physical

proportion of many that I encounter in this beautiful city.

Happy Love Day!

2007-02-14T08:18:00.000-05:00

Happy Love Day, everyone! I hope that you're all hunkered down and bracing the cold with loved ones (or, warm thoughts of loved ones), unless you live in L.A. or *coughSantaRosacough* where your weather is poised to be in the high 60s today. In that case, YOUR loved one is the weather and there's no shred of sympathy for your lack of subzero temperature.

February 14, 2007
True love

It's snowing like mad here, and our illustrious university administration has decided to keep school open! However, our smarter, wiser professors have begun to cancel class for us instead. I almost wept when I looked out the window this morning and saw that a foot (literally, 12 inches) of snow had fallen over night, and that it was still snowing. Not because of the overwhelming beauty (and it is beautiful). Not because of the freezing cold. But because if I were in DC, I'd be out of school for at least a week. But not here.

Julie thinks the 'Cuse is working off of some deep-seeded issues (Not enough love from Mother? Not enough attention from Daddy?) and refuses to cancel school for pride's sake. I think the 'Cuse is a gambling addict and wants to see how many of use will be stupid enough to risk our necks and try to make it to class through this:

This is us. Smack dab in the middle of Heavy Snow. And, at the same time, enjoying this:

I just witnessed a neighbor of mine using an actual shovel to, appropriately, shovel the snow off of his car. He stood in snow up to his knees while he worked, and subsequently tried to back out of his space. He made it about three inches before pulling forward, and trying again. He gave up after the fourth attempt, stood outside his car, lit a cigarette, and looked at the snow a bit perplexed. His Florida plates made me empathize. He probably doesn't know what the hell is happening.

To kill time on the assumption that my classes will not be happening today, I took a quiz to see what Supreme Court Justice I would be, should I have been so lucky to have been one. Lo and behold, I would have been my favorite one of all, Antonin himself! I don't necessarily agree with what he says most of the time, but I love him because he's entertaining. His opinions are the best ones to read, and that makes me a fan:

You're Antonin Scalia! Boy how those Democrats regret unanimously confirming you. You're constantly a thorn in the side of all your liberal colleagues, you completely control your closest allies, and your wit and charm cover up the fact that you are pure evil. Everyone loves you... at least, those who aren't scared to death of you.

P.S...
Because it's Valentine's, it's also appropriate to note those whose hearts may be broken today. Most notably, North Carolina, for their loss to my HOKIES in overtime last night. Dowdell is becoming the Michael Vick of Tech basketball and I must say I'm enjoying every last minute of it.

AP Photo/Sara D. Davis

V-day

2007-02-13T12:53:00.000-05:00

Valentine's Day is tomorrow, and the protest against lovers everywhere is in full swing. The day of cupid and hearts is under attack. I'm amused. However, I'm still going to unabashedly enjoy the holiday myself. Even if I had no significant other to woo me, I would have been just as content getting love-grams from family and friends (which I have! and which I love!). There's no use in being bitter about love, when there are so many other things I can use my bitterness on. Being in Syracuse, for example.

February 12, 2007
Fuzzy wine

Thursday is going to be hailed as the day Susan Made Jeremy Enjoy National Landmarks. Nevermind that we'll be enjoying this national landmark from the Canadian side, at least we're going.

February 13, 2007
Grandpa's carving

In other exciting news, the newest addition to my photographic family came today. He is my digital SLR, and it was love at first sight. Jeremy is dreading this development since he and the Cat will become my primary focus until the weather loosens its death grip on the city. Hopefully, that'll be before I've amassed 8 trillion pictures of the both of them.

Cat day

2007-02-11T18:27:00.000-05:00

I fell asleep nearly twice during the Bar review yesterday, and I can't imagine that this will facilitate any sort of learning. I blame this mostly on waking up (relatively) early and making our way to the Eggplant to have breakfast with everyone before making it to school. On the other hand, I had a good time at breakfast, so I probably shouldn't be blaming it.

February 10, 2007
Mr. Cat

I've decided to put my foot down about getting out of the apartment, cold weather be damned. I think the first thing on the agenda will be Niagara Falls...which, I might add, Jeremy is now excited about. I don't want to think it's because of the casino that's next to the hotel, but I hardly believe he's excited about the natural splendor of 750,000 gallons of water flowing over the brink.

February 11, 2007
The Sphinx

No end in sight...

2007-02-09T14:37:00.000-05:00

We're national news! The snow is endless. The cold is bitter. But I'm inside, warm, surrounded by boy and cat and things are looking pretty nice from here. I trekked out to school this morning and had the thought that when I get back to VA, I'll be the Supreme Master of Snow Day Driving. If it looked even remotely like this down in VA, the horror and devastation that would ensue is undescribable. Here, though, it's like it's just another day. Some 6 feet of snow? Eh. Sub-zero temperature? Blah.

Flashback, 2003
One of my favorites of Dad and Mom...when I miss them and

conjure them up in my mind, this is how I see them: laughy and happy

February 7, 2007
The hallway nightlight

We have to venture out tomorrow for a Bar review class. I look forward to waking up, shovelling some good 15 inches of snow off of the car, and sitting through a 3 hour lecture about New York Corporations Law. This is what I've been reduced to: studying, Bar review, trying not to kill myself getting to school, and sleeping. Sometimes eating. Just kidding, mom. All the time eating.

February 8, 2007
So. Much. Snow.

February 9, 2007
They were just SO tuckered...

I'm Dying of Cold

2007-02-06T23:23:00.000-05:00

So here we are. I knew this day would come, and it continues to arrive every morning on the doorstep: negative degree weather. I am literally exhausted walking from the car to the apartment - my body completely tenses up and shivers enough to chatter the teeth out of my head because the cold is unbearable. One of my professors even told me humans don't belong in Syracuse. Polar bears belong in Syracuse.

February 3, 2007
Another day, another box.

February 4, 2007
Superbowl Sunday - Kris and Marty

February 5, 2007
Snow drifts

February 6, 2007 (1)
Jer - I think this is one of my favorite pictures so far

February 6, 2007 (2 & 3)
This is what I referred to in the last post: 1) first the taunting; and 2) then the biting

Flashback Friday

2007-02-02T21:34:00.000-05:00

So, since most of the people I love are NOT present in Syracuse to have their pictures gratuitously taken at my whim on a daily basis, I'm instituting "Flashback Friday" to try and incorporate their lovely faces into my blog. These little flashbacks will consist of any picture taken prior to January 1st of this year, and since I'm training to be employed in one of the most ego-maniacal professions imaginable, it's only fitting that the first 'flashback' is of me:

Flashback, undated
Oh yes. I'm comfy.

I'm indulging in Lifetime television. I generally only do this when Jeremy isn't around to groan about being stuck watching chick-o-vision, and he's out to a movie...soooo I've got a sleeping cat at my feet and perfectly unrealistic drama that isn't my own.

Speaking of sleeping cat, he was absolutley going insane just a few minutes prior. I blame this, not surprisingly, on Jeremy. Before leaving for his cinematic enjoyment, Jeremy found it necessary to rile Murphy up by stalking him around the bed and waving his hands at him while trying to meow. Murphy didn't take kindly to this, and since the main perpetrator left, he took it out on me. You know. Clawing. Hunting. REAL meowing. Biting. The usual.

January 30, 2007
Entrance to the apartment complex

January 31, 2007
Jer the study worm

Thursday dinners continue, this week at Josh's place. Jules didn't try to cover her face, and the atmosphere was distinctly non-academic, which is something I think we all needed. We're all so burnt out that any reason to not stare at legal terminology is a welcome one.

February 1, 2007 (1)
Dinner is comin'!

February 1, 2007 (2)
Moonlight

I got a letter from Gtown today. Thin. Single envelope. Surprisingly, NOT a rejection letter. Simply a heart-attack inducing "we need more info from you before we can make a decision." Aw, thanks a bunch, Gtown, I enjoyed opening that envelope with shaking fingers while Jer was desperately trying to look non-interested so that I could have that moment to myself. So, no new news, yet.

February 2, 2007
My cell phone takes pretty nice pics...

Today's entree: low-fat!

2007-01-29T19:25:00.000-05:00

I'm being indoctrinated into a healthier eating lifestyle for which I can thank (or blame on, as the case may be) my in-house Californian. For instance, I'm a firm believer in the idea that if you're going to eat ice cream, there's really no point in pansying out of it by buying "low-fat," because really, you're eating it for that sinfully delicious bad-for-you taste. What would be the point of ruining it by eating saccharin, low-fat yucky? Same goes for potato chips with 0 trans fat and low calories. It's potato chips, not carrots. Websters defines it as "thin slices of raw potato fried crisp." You don't fry something and expect it to be healthy when you eat it.

HOWEVER...Jeremy is trying to save my poor, struggling high-cholesterol heart, awash in pools of artery clogging fat. He brought home both of those offendors, low-fat ice cream AND low-fat potato chips (I know, he had to prepare me for the sight before I even pulled them from the grocery bags). He thinks that he can make them both more appealing by shoving huge gobs of them into his mouth, chewing for a second and then going "Wow! I can't even tell the difference!" I'm onto you, Sir. And while I stand by my maxim of "go fat or go home" when it comes to certain foods, I didn't mind the taste. I can tell the difference, but it isn't as stark as it used to be when low-fat foods first hit the market. And since my cholesterol will thank me later, I'll thank my Jer now for trying to do what's best for both of us.

January 29, 2007 (1)
Curtain Cat

The weather man greeted us this morning with the cheery news that we will be receiving about 10 inches of snow tonight. While the roads up here in the 'Cuse are plowed with amazing alacrity, that doesn't mean I'm looking forward to driving around with all the panicked hordes in the morning. I guess that's something that translates from city to city: bad drivers in even worse weather.

January 29, 2007 (2)
Sunny icicle

Wheres my football??

2007-01-28T18:35:00.000-05:00

I'm lamenting the end of the NFL and NCAA Football seasons. Sundays were my days, people. I could lounge in front of the tv and watch several rounds of gridiron magic, and now all I'm left with is that soap opera of a show, Two-A-Days (on MTV), and let me tell you, that is not what I mean when I say "football."

January 28, 2007 (1)
Happy J

January 28, 2007 (2)
Suspicious Cat

ASPCA

2007-01-27T14:17:00.000-05:00

Murphy Cat has his own web page (here), and he's doing it to help the ASPCA. What a good boy! Since our little button was a rescue kitty, he feels it's only appropriate to do everything he can to help all those other little buttons that still have no homes and those that are being mistreated. I try to donate what I can of my moolah to the ASPCA, and if you'd like to jump on board, you can help all those other homeless Murphy Cats or Duke/Max Puppies by donating to the ASPCA here.

January 24, 2007 (1)
There's room for you in here. I promise.

Classes this week took a bit out of me. I feel a little more tired than usual, but I'm still eating just fine (calm down, Mom) and trying to get as much sleep as I can tolerate. Jer and I have been trying to pin down more details of Operation Big Move in May, and it makes us a little stressed out, but excited, I think. It's a lot to take on, but I think we're coming to terms with it finally happening. I am already creating a mental check-list of food to eat and places to see when we finally have the time to do it.

January 24, 2007 (2)
Self-portraits

Our dining Thursdays continue this semester, and this week it was at our apartment. Jeremy made a wonderful spaghetti, and I contributed with a red velvet cake. I continue my reign as the pastry/baking Queen, and Jeremy continues to leave me in the dust as the "I Cook Everything Else" King. Well, I did make the salad, which counts, right? Even if it did come from a bag. So there.

January 25, 2007
Get that camera out of here

There's been a "snap" in the cold weather: we moved from a chattering 8 degrees to a rather tasty 27. Unfortunately, I barely noticed the difference, as the wind chill makes it difficult to feel anything other than my fingers snapping off. It wouldn't be Syracuse without the "holy crap, it's freeeezing" weather.

January 26, 2007
I know, I'm as cute as they come.

I think that my brain is starting to work now. I contribute this to the New York Times, recreational reading, and Jeremy filling in the blanks. I talked a bit to my dear Paul, who is serving his country over near Baghdad, and he says that at least they get all the news out there. So, he's keeping up with day to day life over here and getting the same benefits I am. Here's to hoping he comes home soon, and safe.

January 27, 2007
Flowers from J

Classy

2007-01-23T22:12:00.000-05:00

We're going into the salt business soon. The snow has resulted in growing piles of salt being deposited on sidewalkes, driveways and subsequently, our carpets. Every once and a while I'll find these massive crystals of salt all over the place: stuck to my jeans, underneath the desk, skittering around the kitchen linoleum. Winter is here, and it just lulled us into being happy with unseasonable warmth before beating us over the head with a few snow storms.

January 21, 2007
I can't believe I ate all those IAMS.

After a trip to the mall today, I've become even more certain that the 'Cuse has bred a rather interesting form of townie. Take, for example, the old lady driving her even older mother the wrong way down a one way lane. She proceeded to give us a clear view of her middle finger after we had to come to a stop to avoid her plowing into us with her boat. Class with a capital “C.” This place gives me the heebie jeebies.

January 22, 2007
That poor carcass of a mouse had no chance

On a happier note, I’m ecstatic that Peyton Manning is finally going to a Superbowl. I’m not sure that he could have tolerated another loss, and I’m convinced that he would have just spontaneously combusted on the sideline if Jackson hadn't intercepted and Brady somehow completed a miracle run down the field.

We just finished watching the State of the Union Address. The tone was definitely different than what I remember of the last one, and since today I have too much work to do to become embroiled in heated political discussion with the people I love, the only thing I'll comment on for now is that women should never wear double breasted suits, ever. Especially bright pink ones with big, gold buttons.

January 23, 2007
At least one of us is (pretending to be) studying

Happy Saturday!

2007-01-20T21:27:00.000-05:00

My brain is being slow today. I circled around a grocery store for 20 minutes looking for flat-leaf parsely and found it in a place I had passed a good 15 times. I was filling out a rebate form and couldn't remember my brother's address even though it's my permanent address and I've written/typed/recited it a trillion times. I'm chalking it up to the fact that everything is frozen here, and so my brain might as well join in.

January 19th, 2007
I watch tv just as much as you do.

There was a smattering of snow today. I actually tried to be optimistic about the weather ("17 degrees really isn't THAT bad when the wind isn't blowing!") and maintain this simply because I'm inside where it's warm and I don't have reason to leave until Monday sometime.

January 20th, 2007 (1)
Snow

My classes are entertaining, and only because of the hooligans that are taking them with me. Speaking of hooligans, the downstairs neighbors continue their barrage of war tactics aimed at each other, which include screaming, slamming doors, and vacuuming at odd hours of the night. They're driving each other crazy (as I've heard the man yell at the woman. Several times. Our walls are thin.) and they're coming close to driving Jer and I there as well. It's a bit sad, really, since the man downstairs seems to be incredibly nice when we bump into each other and he roots for the same football teams as I do, as I can hear him cheering while he watches the games on Sunday.

Jer just came in, bearing treats. I think I'll go out and share them with him.

January 20th, 2007 (2)
Murphy Cat

Yay classes.

2007-01-18T13:37:00.000-05:00

January 17th, 2007
Me and the cuddle monster

I have uncovered another innocuous obsession of mine: artichokes. I generally could pass on the artichokes that are used to garnish salads, and those in soups, and those on hamburgers, but the artichokes the way Jeremy makes them (where you peel off each layered piece, dip it in butter, and chew off the tender, meaty part at the end) makes me swoony. We had our first taste of them this year for dinner, and at least we know that I can eat piles of them like there's no tomorrow. I scavenge for leftover pieces. I suffer the wrath of their pointy ends to taste just a little bit more. And, I've been promised my green addiction as part of dinner on Friday. This is becoming the highlight of the week.

The first day of classes went pretty well, even if I got home at 9pm and felt like melting into the couch. I did nothing productive with my evening, unless you count sleeping on Jeremy and cuddling with the cat.

Today looks to be more of the same! I like this Not-Having-Class-on-Tuesdays-and-Thursdays thing.

January 18th, 2007
The wine rack

Snow Day

2007-01-16T14:16:00.000-05:00

Picture for January 16th, 2007

Murphy Cat, taking a brief break from watching the snow fall

It's snowing. It looks lovely outside because the snow is still new, still untouched and pristine. I like it this way, before it gets messy and slushy, so I might as well enjoy it while our yo-yo weather continues to wreak havoc on our immune systems. I've finished my list of New Year's Resolutions and present some for your viewing enjoyment:

1) Read a non-law book before going to sleep. My vocabulary has taken a stunning downhill turn, most apparent during actual conversation that looks very much like this:

Me: I just read a study today.

Jeremy: Really? What was it about?

Me: It's about how stress...

Jeremy: ...?

Me: ...you know, when things...when things make something else happen.

Jeremy: ...cause?

Me: [insert frustration] noo...you know, when one thing happens because of another thing.

Jeremy: Um.

Me: .........They... sort of like the word relate? They...

Jeremy: Correlate?

Me: [insert relief] Yeah!! Correlate. It's about how stress correlates to losing hair.

I managed to attain a pretty reasonable vocabulary through reading when I was younger, so I'm hoping to slow the process of mental "down hill slide-ism" this way.

2) Work out. Ha ha, you say. Fat Chance, you say. Good luck, buster, you say. You just wait.

3) Take naps. I used to hold onto an irrational belief that those delicious afternoon siestas are bad, but I've come to the conclusion that if a 20 minute cat-nap revives me and allows me to be more efficient (in work and play!) then to hell with my preconceived notions of the naughtiness of a few minutes of extra sleep.

4) Resume our Crossword Sundays. I loved this about when Jeremy and I first got together, and I reminisce about it with misty eyes (kidding, dear). It was our own little Sunday ritual, sipping warmth in a busy coffee shop and tackling the crossword together. It would be that much better to resume it again now since we've lost the awkwardness of being new and can divvy up the paper because we know each other's likes (a stack of my sections, a stack of his), and I want to be able to enjoy this time again.

5) Buy no more ridiculously priced items. I cannot buy a single item that costs more than the gross national product of a small country, no matter how fabulous it makes my calves look. I will resist! I will resist!

6) See Niagara Falls. Jeremy has zero interest in seeing this. I, however, think it a personal travesty for anyone to have lived in Arizona for 4 years and not have seen the Grand Canyon (a flyover does NOT count). I'll infuse him with national monuments other people dream to see whether he likes it or not. I mean, it's not like I'm going to push him into a barrel and fling him over the side. I think it would be a nice thing to see, we're so close and I hear the Canadian side is the fun side. Can we hear a "yee haw" for "international" travel?

7) Pass the bar. *fingers crossed*

That's it for now. If anymore come up, I'll post them.

Icy

2007-01-15T17:34:00.000-05:00

Picture for January 15th, 2007
A cold tree in the cemetery by our apartment

Dreary, today. According to every media outlet we've encountered thus far, it's only supposed to get worse. I should note, however, that it still isn't as bad as I thought it would be here, other than the fact that we're still in school and it's still the 'Cuse.

I'm feeling prematurely lethargic towards my schoolwork (piled up as it is already). The cat is one of my "creature" comforts...sporadic hugs and kisses from J are another.

I've been procrastinating by generating a list of my New Year's Resolutions. I noticed that it's harder to make this sort of list seeing as I don't necessarily want to list things that, while I would love to accomplish them, I'm also fully aware have a 95% chance of failure (i.e., do my homework on time, every time). Once I've finished it, though, I'll share some of them, and hopefully by the end of the year will have done most of them.

2007-01-14T17:44:00.000-05:00

There's been a bit of a hiatus due to the glory of winter break, but the blog should be back in full swing now. While I have yet to purchase the doozy of a digital SLR, I did receive a new point and shoot digital Canon for Christmas (thank you, mom and dad!) that allows for creativity. One of my New Year's Resolutions was to try and take a picture each day (I know, it probably will drop off to every other day, than every week, then every other week by February, but I'll try my hardest), so here is the first batch, starting from New Year's Day in San Francisco.

January 1st, 2007

This is part of a fountain down in Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco. The weather was amazing, which helped make the tour of the city that much better.

This is Jer and I standing on the other side of the fountain. I look slightly bleary eyed because although it's a mere 11:30 or so in the morning, we had started our day off with some famous Irish Coffees (plural, mind you) down at the Buena Vista Cafe. If you're ever down in San Francisco, go here! Trust me, it's worth the stop. Their potatoes and eggs aren't bad, either.

A foggy Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was starting to really come out now, and it was burning the fog right off the Bay. Lovely.

January 2nd, 2007

Jeremy (and that's Clare behind the fridge door) making dinner. We're back in Santa Rosa now, after a few whirlwind travel days.

January 3rd, 2007

This is the view outside of Clare's house in Santa Rosa. I love that hill...the deer are always coming down it and munching on the greenery right outside the windows. Murphy loved it!

January 4th, 2007

During a break in the home renovations that were underway, Jeremy and I headed up to a winery called Paradise Ridge for a picnic. This is the tree that greeted us, and i liked the way its branches looked

Free advertising for the winery...

This is the view from our perch outside during our picnic up at Paradise Ridge. A storm had just blown through, and those big, fluffy clouds were following it. It looked almost like a fake backdrop, it was just so perfect.

Self-portraits up at Paradise Ridge.

January 5th, 2007

A goose enjoying a beautiful day in one of Santa Rosa's parks.

January 6th, 2007

Murphy enjoying the deer outside the bathroom window.

January 7th, 2007

Serious contemplation before bedtime.

January 8th, 2007

The view from the plane during our descent into Virginia...I had to do something with myself that didn't involve panicking.

January 9th, 2007

In addition to watching wildlife, chasing mice, and long walks on the beach, Murphy Cat enjoys being cuddled underneath a heat blanket.

January 10th, 2007

We happened to be so lucky as to land in D.C. during its Restaurant Week and went to the Colvin Run Tavern for dinner. It was amazing and well worth the price.

January 11th, 2007

After a night at the Kennedy Center to watch a performance by the NSO (thank you, Rach, for such a great present), we headed down into Dupont to catch up with Josh and Sass at my favorite bookstore, Kramers. This is just a shot of the street as we were walking back to the car after filling up on yummy dessert.

January 12th, 2007

Murphy has become the victim of my shopping mania. The poor dear is being pictured suffering the unknown feeling of a blue, argyle turtleneck, but is handling it fairly well, especially since we're all laughing hysterically while Rach tries to take pictures.

Almost done!

What a handsome boy!

January 13th, 2007

Our little cuddly muffin...trying to relax during the 6 hour or so ride back to the 'Cuse.

January 14th, 2007

Back in familiar territory...and while we don't have a warm water bed or a heating blanket, the heat from Jeremy's laptop will have to do.

P.S. And even though this isn't a pic I took (thank you, ESPN), congrats to my Hokies for stunning college basketball this week by beating UNC (and Duke, earlier!)!

Leftovers

2006-12-27T19:41:00.000-05:00

I know that sometimes leftovers are the unwanted tupperware residents of our fridges, but they suit my culinary tastes just fine. There's hardly a thing I like better than grazing on some leftover Christmas ham, some cranberry sauce (the "ridged" kind, of course) and some potatoes in front of a fire a few days after the holidays.

I used up one of my Christmas presents today: an hour massage. I think my back is thankful for the attention, though I feel like my shoulders have just been put through the wringer. The masseuse asked if I wanted deep-tissue pressure, to which I said "I don't generally like that much pressure." I probably should have been more specific, as in "please don't pinch my muscle out of my skin," but I still don't know how it's even remotely possible to get a deep tissue massage without flinching the entire time. Don't get me wrong, I felt like a rubber band walking out of there, but still.

I think I hear some eggnog calling.

Post-Christmas Post

2006-12-26T17:47:00.000-05:00

Merry Day-After-Christmas =)

It was a Merry Christmas here in Atlanta, and if we were a few degrees cooler we would actually have had a white Christmas instead of a rainy one! I really do enjoy being home, it's nice to wake up late and be fed more food than you would think it's possible to stuff into anyone's body. After opening presents and reveling in our loot, we all got up and helped make sausage and gravy, a good ol' southern favorite, for breakfast. Using the handy new digital camera I got for Christmas, I caught B tending to the yummy:

I'm down in the basement typing up this post, and every once and a while I can hear the little click clacking of doggy paws as they race back and forth over the hardwood floors down here. I miss my dear Murphy Cat and miss my J even more, but having these little bozos for entertainment is almost as good.

Tomorrow, I get to utilize a gift Santa left in my stocking, which is an hour long massage at a local spa. I love those things! Today, I tested out some anti-anxiety sleeping pills that I'll be using on my cross-country flight to J, and managed to get in a nice 6 hour nap, in addition to feeling uber calm and slightly drunk for half of the day. I guess they work...lets just hope I don't stay passed out during my layover in Phoenix, or God knows where I'll end up.

Exam Eve

2006-12-18T20:03:00.000-05:00

The eve of my first exam is upon me, and I can't say that I'm feeling the characteristic rush of panic that is nearly always associated with not enough studying and not enough time. I'm actually feeling confident, which I can only take as a bad sign since my ratio of confidence to correct answers on exams isn't exactly a stellar one. Anywho.

Today was Murphy's first visit to the vet since the "Because I was just abandoned and came to you from a steel cage amidst a dozen other mangy cats, I'm not eating, you chumps" debacle that was experienced in Queens. As for our trip today, I think he knew we were taking him to the vet, though J and I carefully tiptoed around the subject by spelling it out a few days before ("what time are we taking C-A-T to the V-E-T?") and taking care not to even mention it at all today. I'm convinced that even though Murphy doesn't understand (or care to understand) me screeching "Murphy!! NO!!" when he's shredding the couch, he can perfectly decipher our veterinary intentions. He was a good boy, though, getting his prescription for sedatives for his upcoming cross-country travels and his rabies shot. We fared almost as well, seeing as I suffered only a minor laceration from panicked, sharp claws as I was attempting to finagle a slippery cat head first into his carrying case.

It is also the revered day of the week in the Turnbaugh/Dorfman household: Monday. Why is it so revered? Monday Night Football, of course. Theres nothing more I love in a sport than cracking helmets and quarterbacks with laser rocket arms :) I do, however, hate that MNF chooses to tease me with 4 of the worst (and some would say this makes them the best) hits of the week in the countdown's patented "Jacked Up" segment, but reserve the number one hit for halftime. Now, I'll be sitting on the same spot on the couch at halftime as I am right now, watching the intro, but I don't want to wait. I'm not a waiter.

By the way: Simon says, snap the damn ball!

Sad eBay day

2006-12-14T23:57:00.000-05:00

I don't know what the hell is going on with the weather, but I intend to enjoy it until the apocalypse is upon us and I can't leave the apartment without getting buried in snow. It was 57 degrees today. 57 degrees, people! I normally don't constantly talk about the weather as if I were 85 years old and sitting in a rocking chair on some veranda drinking moonshine. But it's just too strange for it to be December, in Syracuse, and not to be buried in snow up to our ears. Granted, we did get a "freak" snow shower that limited my movement to my southern home:

but I'm not sure what the 'Cuse is trying to pull here. I'll just enjoy it for now. I promise.

J and I went to see the Polar Express at the local IMAX theatre today. I hadn't been to an IMAX movie in so long, I can't even remember what country I was in when I saw it. But this was wonderful, and this movie has now made it possible for me to burst into tears the very second Josh Groban starts to sing anything. I'd like to thank Tom Hanks for my leaky faucet.

I've also sold my 35mm film SLR camera, my Canon EOS Elan 7NE, on eBay today. I'm upgrading to digital SLR, which will give me the creative freedom of manual focus but in digital form so I can bombard you, the reader, with more pictures than you'd care to see. I base this on a few assumptions: 1) this camera is good for amateurs in the SLR photography arena, and I'm still an amateur photographer; 2) I needed to sell one to get one, because I can't justify dishing out $$ when I am getting zero intake; and 3) my plans call for me being rich someday, and this will allow me to buy another, newer better film SLR and a newer, better digital down the road. I still enjoy nothing more than the smell of film as it comes out of the canister and the calmness that comes with being in a darkroom and watching your pictures come to life on paper in a vat of developer, but I have neither the time nor the funds to continue developing things by hand, and so digital is the way to go. After I sold my Canon, I was distressed and mopey for some time. I don't like parting with my photography equipment, even when the golden promise of newer toys is on the horizon. However, since I've picked out my newest addition already, I am merely waiting for his arrival and this will make me feel better, I'm sure.

Shoppin'

2006-12-10T21:27:00.000-05:00

Mood: good

I didn't get to drive through the snow and the hordes of idiotic drivers in the D.C. metro area to see my Rachel graduate with her Masters degree this weekend, but I'm still in alarmingly good spirits. This can be attributed to a few things:

1) I don't have class tomorrow, or the day after that, or the day after that. In fact, my next class will be on the third Wednesday in January '07. While class will start for most on that third Tuesday, I managed to plan a schedule that has me in class Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but out of class Tuesdays and Thursdays. That equals four vacation days a week. Blissful.

2) Jeremy made his orange marmalade pork chops for dinner. Yum!

3) Murphy. Normally, I'm awakened not by the sweet purrs of an affectionate kitty, but the clawing/gnashing terror of a furry menace. Jeremy had rubbed my arm earlier this afternoon and said "my, your arms are dry." That's not dryness, sweetheart. That's scabbed over claw marks. But this morning, Murphy nuzzled and purred and gave kisses, rather than "massaging me with his teeth," until I got up to feed him. It was a nice way to wake up, even if it was at 7 in the morning.

4) My Christmas shopping is done. I'm impressed with my own foresight.

I miss my digital camera. I was cleaning out the study and stumbled across its corpse, the sad little whirring sound it made when I tried to turn it on was almost too much to take. This means that my next move for today, rather than actually work (i mean, let's get serious, people), is to search for a replacement. I am anticipating a financial sacrifice that will rival what I normally give up for a sweater or a pair of shoes, but I'm willing to do it...if that's any surprise :)

Snow!

2006-12-06T22:24:00.000-05:00

Mood: loved

It finally snowed in Syracuse. We were beginning to think that the day would never come...it was gorgeous into Thanksgiving, downright sunshiny and warm, so unlike the misery that the 'Cuse usually wallops us with somewhere in late October. The first snowflake didn't actually fall until December was upon us, and I was actually happy to see it. Someone remind me of this post in March when I'm up to my ears in snowdrifts, but I was starting to miss everything blanketed in white. I was starting to miss the cold that nips at your extremities and that unique kind of quiet that comes just after the snow falls.

This feeling, I predict, won't last too long. We woke up this morning to the wind howling like rabid banshees outside our window, and a cat whose nerves were shot because of it. I'm not sure if those three pigs have any more room in their brick house, because this apartment of sticks feels like it's going to blow over any minute. Subsequently, the judgment was made that it was well worth the higher electric bill to warm up the apartment, and I proceeded to turn up the thermostat a few degrees. I've begun to notice little milestones that I celebrate (or, conversely, weep over) on my journey to feeling like a "real grown-up." This was one of them: wearing sweaters indoors rather than turning up the heat like a fiscally responsible adult, until it was judged appropriate to sacrifice for warmth. Another similar milestone I noticed not too long ago was that I have begun to lust after a new washer and dryer, which I blame partly on battling the crap machines that reside in our building.

The Christmas tree went up this weekend, which is always something that puts joy in my heart. Something that puts it there even more is seeing a Murphy Cat enjoying it himself. He hasn't left the tree's side much since it has been constructed and decorated, and I'm sure he'll be heartbroken once it comes down:

Thanksgiving pics

2006-12-04T10:07:00.000-05:00

Mood: blank

Here are some pictures from the Thanksgiving weekend...

Clare and Jeremy

Murphy Cat in his quarantine

Walking up to campus

The fam (incl. puppies!)

Cat burglar

2006-11-29T17:09:00.000-05:00

Mood: scared

The wind is howling outside, and it's, to steal a word from someone who shall remain nameless, a harbinger of the weather to come. Let me elaborate. We've been experiencing unseasonable warmth here in Syracuse. My parents, on their first visit to the land of snow and wind over Thanksgiving break, commented on how mild it was as we walked around in the sunshine and high 50s-60 degree air. They think I'm making up stories about the biting cold and 6 foot snow drifts, but I wasn't lying. Case in point:

Notice the 64 degree day we're having tomorrow...before the 'Cuse brings down the sledgehammer and gives us day after day of snow/sleet/rain. This is the punishment I predicted, a mere few posts prior. Here comes the wrath.

On a different note, I've discovered that my boyfriend is a cat burglar. I was 'dozing' on the couch with a warm, fuzzy blanket over me and a warm, fuzzy Murphy Cat sleeping in my lap (it seems that after his quarantine during the Thanksgiving break, he has become uber affectionate and insists on lap time). Here comes Jeremy, tapping me on the shoulder and telling me it's time to wake up so that I can get some work done. I slide myself out from under the blanket so as not to disturb Cat, and leave him there to continue his snooze on the couch while I go into the study. I come out a scant five minutes later to see Jer has usurped my position and nuzzled under the blanket without disturbing Murphy and is now enjoying Cat Time. Here is a picture of sleeping Murphy on said fuzzy blanket:

Here is pictoral evidence of a happy usurper:

J tried to deny it. J eventually stopped bothering. J thinks he's mighty funny.

Anyway, Murphy got a new present today: a collar and tag!

This is precautionary, of course, just in case the darling manages to wrangle himself loose while Jeremy is trying to carry him through airport security this winter break. Murphy has taken some time to try to claw and bite it off of himself, but Mommy is persistent and will continue yelling and putting it back on his dear little head until he gets used to it.

2006-11-19T17:43:00.000-05:00

Mood: excited

Murphy Cat is content to sail his ship somewhere, while the rest of us wait for Thanksgiving:

Finally Friday

2006-11-16T23:03:00.000-05:00

Mood: awake

Technically, I suppose this is a Thursday, but since my classes are done for the week, my weekend comes early...well before you working suckers get to start yours. However, I AM in the 'Cuse, so I suppose that evens us out.

The good today: J found the "All Christmas music, all the time" local music station just a few days ago, and I feel only a tiny bit guilty that I'm singing about red nosed reindeer when I haven't even carved up the bird. But only a tiny bit, as I refuse to have my holiday cheer dampened by the small fact that my holiday cheer may be a tad premature.

The bad today: I almost murdered a classmate, and he didn't even know it. Professor #1 let us out of class 20 minutes early, which gave me 35 minutes (instead of the 15 I was originally anticipating) to speed read a tome on the Constitution for Professor #2's class. Granted, it's really my own fault that I was behind and frantic in the first place, but look back at previous posts. Slacking and speed reading is my MO.

Anyhow, Classmate approached me, ventured a nice little hello and asked how I was doing. I should note that Classmate is notoriously socially unaware of people and their need to be doing other things, but he has always been nice as pie to me and I usually try to return the favor. This often proves difficult when I have, many, many times, been cornered for lengthy intervals to hear about the new video games or the pluses and minuses of having a Star Wars themed wedding.

Today, I looked up and said in the nicest tone possible, "Hello, Classmate, I'm just trying to get this reading done before Class #2 starts and I don't have much time." I buried my face even further into the highs and lows of the Supreme Court trying to get the Constitution right, and Classmate then sat down in front of me. He proceeded to talk about everything from the joys of air travel to the lack of good movies in the theaters. I haven't looked at him since the initial encounter, and am afraid that if I do, I'll either turn to stone or shank him in the neck with my pen. I'm really not a violent person...but when awkward social encounter builds on awkward social encounter, my patience runs mighty thin. Classmate eventually gets the point and says "well, I'll talk to you later, good luck in Class #2!" as he leaves. When I say "eventually gets the point," I mean 20 minutes later.

More good today: it's been balmy. However, I'm terrified of this warm weather, and I'll tell you why: Syracuse will not give us a 65 degree day in the middle of November without punishing us later, and punishing us good. We will have bad, frostbite weather very soon and we will be wretched and remorseful for ever enjoying "that warm day" that one week in November. I, however, am prepared. I have a wonderful boyfriend who will scrape the ice off the car in the morning and the longest cat in the world to keep my feet warm:

Warm

2006-11-15T11:23:00.000-05:00

Mood: warm

It's that time of year again...I enjoyed my second red Starbucks coffee cup of the season yesterday (filled to the brim with the coffee to top all coffees: the peppermint mocha) on the way back from Connecticut. Nothing makes a rainy, sleepy drive back from a Tax conference perk up like that cheery little cup filled with warm goodness.

The rest of the week will be spent catching up with things I completely neglected while I was gone. This will prove difficult since Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I couldn't possibly care less about the implications of the Fifth Amendment in criminal trials or forclosure proceedings.

There are some announcements that need to be given out today. First, sympathy to my poor brother, who now types with a bit of an impediment since breaking his pinky playing football last weekend:

That looks painful and cumbersome. We call it The Club...but at least he doesn't need surgery!

And most heartfelt condolences for everyone who loved Pooh, for he left us too soon. :(

Rach and wine, wine, wine

2006-11-12T16:45:00.000-05:00

Mood: warm
Current state of the SUCCUBUS:

This weekend, my beautiful Rachel came up for a visit. Aside from knowing her for more than half of my life (a statistic that the two of us shuddered over while drinking some chardonnay), she is one of the big reasons I'm working like a mad-woman to get back to my beloved Virginia. She and I share a common Virginian trait: we have a strong, if irrational, love for all things VA. This includes calling people from Maryland "those folks that live on the wrong side of the river." Jer made the mistake of asking what was so wrong with living in Maryland and was quickly put in his place by Rach. I doubt he will make the mistake of asking the same question when only Virginia residents are in his presence.

She arrived on Friday night, and we went out to dinner at one of the kitchiest Italian restaurants that this city has to offer. After stuffing ourselves and then rolling ourselves back to the apartment, we ventured out again to one of the local bars where we met up with Marty, Ed and Kris. We imbibed a few and talked about everything from law school to spring break, which I assume aren't really too far removed from each other.

Rach!

Jer, Marty, Ed and Kris

Saturday, we woke up bright and early (and by bright and early, I mean prior to noon) and headed out to the lakes for some wine tasting. Rach is new on the wine scene. I, too, was once a newbie. Between you and I, I still am, seeing as I couldn't tell the difference between a cabernet and a merlot just yet. I like Virginia wine if only because I'm from there (see illogical argument above):

However, in all honesty, they all taste the bloody same to me. I am incredibly fond of CA wine, mostly because everyone and everything I've been exposed to in terms of CA wine country has been lovely and pleasant and the wines taste yummy to me, which i suppose is reason enough. Anyway, we decided to hit approximately six wineries here for a nice leisurely tour of the the state's varietals.

After meeting a few rather friendly goats:

(and something that was, or was not, an incredibly shaggy cow), we tasted our fair share of pinots, merlots, chardonnays, and everything else you're supposed to taste. We did have the good fortune of hearing the history of one of the vineyards from a rather sloshed employee, which was amusing. The fact that she was heavily intoxicated can be attributed to the fact that the wineries around here have very generous pours in their tasting rooms. Because of this, I should note that it would be wise to have a designated driver, for which I thank Jer and his eternal good humor when his wards begin to wander in opposite directions.

Our last stop of the day was at CJS Winery, one of Jer and I's favorites. I love it because the proprietors are the nicest people you could meet and they take the time to actually explain their wines rather than trying to push them down your throat. We came home warm and happy :)

This morning, we went to breakfast at a little place J and I found last year. It's always packed, relatively cheap, and deliciously greasy. Rach seemed to enjoy herself:

After our full weekend, now Rach is on her way home, and we're shuffling in between football and homework. The next week will be a full one, and the week after that is Thanksgiving! I can't wait for both of our families to get here. I can't wait for the puppies. I can't wait for the food. But that's what I'll be doing, if only because i have to.

Boooo

2006-11-06T17:53:00.000-05:00

Mood: meh
Current state of the SUCCUBUS:

Today is registration day. Registration for what, you ask? For classes...the very classes that nearly caused an epileptic fit on my part a few posts back, and now I have the joy of registering for them in approximately 13 minutes. In addition to my general SUCCUBUS annoyance, I am also suffering from the moodiness that comes from being ravenously hungry. And yet here I remain, typing up a post.

Otherwise, my day was a good one. I actually managed to finish my reading assignments prior to the frantic speed reading I normally do while class is actually going on. I also secured funding from the SUCCUBUS (I know...these strange little morsels of good fortune are starting to throw me for a loop) for a National Tax Competition that is held in March in Buffalo, of which I hope to be attending. This is exciting because 1) I'm a dork and enjoy Tax; 2) it's an actual appellate competition for an actual Tax problem; and 3) I wouldn't have to pay to go. Win win!

I have a gigantic craving for an ice cream shake I had at Jack in the Box when I was in CA last year. I would also kill a man for an In and Out burger, animal style. I commend myself everyday for tolerating the lack of good food choices here in SUCCUBUS country, and I would act on my impulse to drive down to NoVa tonight for some Moby Dick's kabob if I thought I had a snowball's chance in hell of making it down there before it closed.

Maybe I should go eat something.

VT!

2006-11-05T11:09:00.000-05:00

Mood: content
Current state of the SUCCUBUS:

Another weekend gone, another week to look forward to. Saturday was the day of our MPRE test, and I think the consensus of everyone there was that 1) apparently none of us have ethics, and 2) we're all taking it again in March. I'm sure it won't be as dire as that for most of us, but we'll just have to wait and see since it's graded on a curve. After I completely passed out on J while we were lying on the couch afterwards, we went to the Syracuse Invitational (can we get a little cheer for year number 2?) to watch a sport I know next to nothing about but that's terribly entertaining. Except for a scare when one of the riders fell and had to be put on a backboard, it was a good time.

I'm not quite sure who this is, but this is the first gate they had to jump over. I particularly enjoyed that the Shamu gate had returned again this year.

Watching in the stands

And I guess the Invitational, sponsored by Budweiser, wouldn't be complete without the Clydesdales...and believe me when I say they are monstrously big (but friendly!)

Yesterday was also a great day football wise...both VT and Arizona managed to get wins over teams that they weren't expected to even challenge. Since there's a blatant East Coast bias on the East Coast (go figure), we got to catch the tail end of the VT/Miami game and no highlights whatsoever of the Arizona game. However, a win is still a wonderful thing, even if you can't watch it happening.

Today is catch-up day. I've gotten seriously behind on everything since I was "studying" to take an ethics exam. I need to learn how to multi-task. I guess what I really need to do is actually be motivated to do anything when I figure out how to multi-task. There are several things on my lists of things I want to do:

1) Figure out holiday logistics
2) Go to a Syracuse football game, since Jer hasn't been to one yet (and seriously, why not?!)
3) Take pictures of Syracuse with the Canon to actually keep a memory of this place when we're somewhere thats slightly warmer
4) Squeeze in time for violin lessons again
5) Finish my homework*

*listed in order of importance, of course.

And what could possibly be distracting me now? Rach is coming to town! She gets in on Friday and is staying for the weekend, and this is just my free pass for zero responsibility and frolicking through NY wine country. I know, I need to focus. I need to get things done so that I'm not panicky next Sunday after Rach leaves. But even if Rach weren't coming, I couldn't focus with Fat Cat trying to eat everything in sight:

Haaaalloweeny

2006-10-30T20:28:00.000-05:00

Mood: chilly
Current state of the SUCCUBUS:

The school week has started again and I'm slightly ahead of myself in terms of getting things done! And by slightly ahead, I mean not hideously behind.

The weekend was a good one, starting with J and I going to see Carmen on Friday. We were opera newbies (though I do suppose I cannot claim complete ignorance as I had the joy of listening to my Rach sing at her recitals. Well, the ones I made it to, anyway) and this was a nice way to ease ourselves into it. Sadly, our local theatre company botched the translations that were conveniently being shown on a small screen above the stage. While I'm not what you would call fluent in the Frenchy poo language, I certainly know that when Carmen is singing and twirling about the stage while throwing roses around she certainly isn't saying "We soldiers enjoy watching the pretty girls from the cigarette factory."

Saturday morning, after playing flag football in a torrential downpour, it was time for the annual Halloween party. Some pictures:

The convict and the policewoman. How very appropriate.

The prom queen, Astha!

I am a fan of NASCAR. But only in this context.

Sarah bites. And Marty was most likely frozen.

SUCCUBUS update...over lunch today, I listened to one of our dear friends bemoan the squicky new development of the administration going back on its promise to fund teams to go to national trial competitions. Hopefully this will be resolved before a mutiny occurs, and J pointed out in the car ride home that there is hardly a happy face in the school when the adminstration is brought up.

Anyway, this week, I look forward to joining the mass panic as everyone commences studying for the MPRE test this Saturday, also known as the ethics exam. I understand it seems a bit frightful that the lawyers that might possibly be representing you in the future would be panicking about their ethics, but there you have it.

Happy Eid El Fetr

2006-10-25T09:07:00.000-04:00

Current mood: content
Current state of the SUCCUBUS:

Bless our Muslim friends. It's the end of Ramadan! SUCCUBUS, in a surprising show of good fortune, has given us the day off, sending our Tuesday classes the way of Monday Labor Days and Good Fridays. And what did I do with my free Tuesday, my ticket to partying on a Monday night like an undergrad and sleeping in til 2 in the afternoon? I went to sleep at midnight and woke up at 9:30. I hate myself sometimes (though I'll blame the cat for the earlier wake up. Our large and fat you-seem-to-only-feed-me-sawdust-and-therefore-I-must-constantly-eat-it-to-feel-full cat).

I did not do homework today. I wouldn't even think to insult the somewhat unexpected gift of free time in that fashion. Instead, I watched my smutty television for three hours straight and bought shoes. I also indulged with Ms. JL in some Thai food and some fried banana and ice cream deliciousness that I'm sure did wonders on my already high cholesterol. I'm currently eyeing my "Understanding Corporate Taxation" book and thinking of ways not to have to open it.

SUCCUBUS rant

2006-10-24T01:02:00.000-04:00

Another day, another blog. The updates to blogger enticed me to switch to the new Beta, which successfully wiped my old blogs off the planet. So here we are again.

Anyway, this past weekend was a wonderfully relaxing one. Mostly it involved avoiding the sleet and pneumonia and watching football. Murphy enjoyed sleeping all over the place:

A bunch of us did have a bar review class on Saturday, offered by a bar preparation company. It was a 5 hour course on Ethics (stop laughing) as we're taking our Ethics portion of the bar exam on November 4 (seriously, stop laughing).

The only thing that really bummed me out came today. I feel like the current institution I'm attending, also known as "Sadly Unorganized, Currently Convoluted, UnBelievably and Utterly Senseless," (the SUCCUBUS) is trumping any of its own good traits with the insanely inane/irritating. The administration is blatant in their disregard for students. The scheduling is horrendous (as explained below). And our football team gives me heartache.

Our Spring schedule came out today. Law school is a place to learn the law...particularly the law on the bar exam so that we can take that test, pass it and subsequently start practicing. However, I am greeted today with things like "Interdisciplinary Approach to Aging Issues" and "Law & Colonialism: Lawfare in Iraq and the Indian Nations" and "Scientific Research, Commercialization, Economic Development & Anything Else We Can Slam Into One Class," none of which are even remotely on the bar. I don't, however, see "Agency", or "Partnership", or "Worker's Comp.", all of which are on the bar. Classes that we DO want to take that are on the bar are scheduled so idiotically that they overlap by ten minutes and so we can't take them all in the same semester and we have to choose between them.

When I graduate, I will have succeeded, in effect, in dumping $50,000 a year into SUCCUBUS Law and receiving little more from them than utter disregard on their part, now that they have my money and I can't get it back.

This may sound like normal law student bitching. The level of my irritation, however can be summed up thusly: my subletter from the summer asked me how I liked SUCCUBUS Law, and whether or not I would recommend it as he is thinking of attending. I have told him to run screaming for the hills, as I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy, in the current condition in which it is. And if you don't believe that I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy, he goes to Notre Dame. Which should say it all.