Abby in Wonderland

"You're supposed to be dead!" "Am I not?"

2012-01-15T11:12:00.002-07:00

So school has begun again, as it must in the vicious cycle of academia. This semester my classes all seem to be exponentially harder than last semester. In almost all of them, I have seriously considered dropping them, thinking there was no way I could hack it in that class. Alas, I decided to go the route of masochism, and stay in all of my classes. Ultimately I decided that I should just step up to the damn plate. Maybe I'll surprise myself. I really hope so.

Anyway, my first class is federal jurisdiction. It's going to be a class about federalism (the different powers afforded to the states and the federal government and the relationship between the two) and about federal courts. That sort of thing. I think I'm going to enjoy it. It's a really small class. There are only like 15 people in that class. I think that'll be good though.

My next class is legal profession. It's a class about legal ethics. It'll be good. In order to be admitted to the bar, you have to take the MPRE which is a test about legal ethics and professional rules of responsibility. So this class will help with that. Plus, it's required, so you know, there's that.

My next class is criminal procedure: investigation. We'll be talking about things like search and seizure, interrogation, that sort of thing. It's a really big class, but I still think it'll be good. My professor is very passionate about criminal procedure, so that makes the class interesting.

My last class is legislative and statutory interpretation. This class, I fear, will be my hardest. It's going to be really interesting though. As implied by the title, it's a class that teaches different ways to read and interpret statutes. You'd think that would be a fairly straightforward endeavor, but I expect if you think that you've never read a statute. Also, we're lawyers. We need to know how to argue that a statute means the exact opposite of whatever our opponent says it means. (I hope you keep that in mind when you hear politicians squabbling about what a certain piece of legislation means. You're probably not getting the full picture from either one of them.) Anyway, I think it'll be a good class. Setting aside the cynicism, it's good to know how to read and interpret statutes. Sometimes (read almost always) they're hard to understand, so I think this class will give me the tools I need to understand legislation better, which is always good.

Anyway, those are my classes this semester. It's gonna be a crazy semester, but I think it'll be good. I'm also doing the moot court trial team. We get started on Monday. I'm pretty excited about that. I think it'll be a lot of fun, so I'll keep you posted on a the adventures I expect will be inherent with the athletic equivalent of law school. :) Hope you're all staying warm!

And keep an eye on the staircases. They like to change.

2011-12-18T10:57:00.003-07:00

Finals are over! I'm so happy. :) Now I'm just hoping I'll still feel as happy when I get my grades...

Friday was the last day of finals, so I'm fairly certain that any ALS student that had not already gone home for the break was on Lark street celebrating. I went out with a few friends, and we ran into several other students while we were out. It was a great time, a much needed un-winding. This semester has been insanely busy; I really haven't had time to hang out with my friends very much, and I've missed them. I tried to make up for all the lost fun time on Friday; I think I came pretty close. :) In any event, hopefully next semester won't be so insane. I even dropped a class in the hopes it would free up my life a bit; we'll see if it actually did or not.

Anyway, yesterday I did nothing. I watched Lord of the Rings until 1 AM and then I slept today until noon. It was glorious. I didn't even have to feel guilty for being so damn lazy. Of course, today I need to get started on all the shit I neglected during finals week, but it's not school work, so I feel super happy about doing it. My brain is definitely ready for a break from school.

I have to work this week, so I'm not flying home until Thursday. I'm a little bit excited for Thursday to hurry up and be here. Barring the possibility that Albany will whip up a winter storm to delay my flight on Thursday, I will see all of you in less than a week!! Not that I'm counting down or anything. :D

"Sixty miles? And you didn't get me a doughnut?"

2011-12-10T22:09:00.004-07:00

2 down, 1 to go! Finals are slowly drawing to a close, and I think I may survive. Of course, the issue of survival is never certain until grades are issued, so ask me again in January... Anyway, I had my evidence exam on Monday and handed in my trial notebook on Thursday. Now I just have my business organizations final to wrestle with...

I'm finding it difficult to study. After an entire semester of having too much shit to do, only having one thing to study for seems to give my brain an excuse to relax. You know, like I've got plenty of time to study, so chill and watch a movie or go out with the friends you haven't seen all damn semester (I did both, in case you wondered). Alas, I must study. Otherwise, I will not survive...

Anyway, in other news, I bought myself a little space heater. My apartment is always ridiculously cold, so I finally bought a damn heater. It was way more adventure than it should have been. The first one I bought turned out to be a propane heater, and I felt like that was probably not the best heater for my apartment. So I took that one back and bought the cheapest electric heater walmart had. When I got home and opened the box, turned out the damn thing was broken. In half. So I went back a third time and got the same heater but one that was not broken. When I finally got home for good, I plugged it in and waited for it to be hot. It didn't ever got hot, but it did trip my breaker (I still don't know how to spell that), so I guess there's that. Anyway, that was Monday. Today I went back to walmart and shelled out the money to get a decent space heater. Thus far, it has not tripped the breaker and it is warming up my living warm, so life is good. I don't even have to wrap myself in a quilt to ward off hypothermia. Definite improvement.

Well folks, I'm going to hit the hay, and in the morning I will once again attempt to convince my brain that I really should stop procrastinating and study for my last damn exam. December 22nd, you cannot come soon enough!

Stop talking about production value; the Air Force is gonna kill us!

2011-12-03T14:03:00.005-07:00

Friends, I am currently in the throes of finals, and I hate everything about life. Except for my cheerful little Christmas tree. It makes me feel better about my impending scholastic doom.Isn't it festive?

Anyway, my evidence final is on Monday, and I am approximately 47% ready. So, not ready at all. I can't wait for all of this hoopla to be finished, so I can come home for two whole weeks! It's going to be glorious.

Other than finals, nothing else is happening. Literally. I mean, I'm sure other things in other people's lives are happening, but not in mine. Just school (though admittedly, I do still have to go to work). Law school can be kind of a downer sometimes.

I officially finished my internship with the court yesterday. I'm kind of sad it's over; I really enjoyed working there. It was a good experience, and I learned a lot. I was really lucky to be able to intern there; hopefully there will be more internships like it in the future!

I feel like I had some cool story to share, but now I can't remember it. Hm. I blame all the evidence floating around my head right now (mostly it's evidence that I have officially lost my mind. Hopefully there's some evidence up there that I know my shit too. A girl can dream.)

Anyway, I hope you are all enjoying the season thus far! I love this time of year (or I will on the 16th at about 1 PM, anyway). Hopefully I'll have more exciting things to talk about next week, assuming, of course, that I am still alive and/or not in the asylum. Fingers crossed!

I see Blue. He looks glorious!

2011-11-19T12:08:00.004-07:00

Thanksgiving is upon us. That fills me with much joy which is shortly followed by heart stopping dread: Thanksgiving means finals are here. Kill me now.

As I have frequently whined, both here and to my dear Mother, this semester has been two inches over the line of "biting off more than you can chew." To be fair, it's my own fault. Also, it's been a good semester. I've learned a lot, or I think I have. Memory of the last four months comes and goes... In any event, it's almost over, and thank heavens for that. I'm still alive!!!! Success. :)

I only have two finals this year, which isn't too bad. I do have to do a trial notebook and write a reflection paper, but the paper shouldn't be too bad. The trial notebook . . . I'm sure it won't be too bad once I figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do. You know, all in a days work. Speaking of which, I'm really enjoying my job which is always a plus. My internship is almost over, and I'm kind of sad about that. It's been a lot of fun interning at the court, and I learned a lot. All things considered, it's been a good semester.

But the next four weeks are going to be a little bit insanity-inducing. I don't envy the 1Ls though. At least I know what's coming. I feel like it's easier to face impending doom if you know how it will show it's ugly face, so in that regard, this year is infinitely better than last year. Seriously though, I'm just worried about finals because I'm always worried about finals. I did fairly well on my midterms and I didn't study at all for either one of those. So hopefully that means if I study for my finals, I'll do just as well. Midterms scores are supposed to be indicative of final scores, right?....

Anyway, I'm coming home for Thanksgiving this year. I really shouldn't because I'll just be studying the whole time, but I'm excited to see my family! It will be very difficult to concentrate on my work when all I want to do is hang with the fam, so I've come up with a plan. I fully intend on putting my nieces and nephews to work researching statutes and finishing my memos. By the time I leave, they'll all be lawyers, and all of my work will be done. Genius? I think so. They're parents can thank me later.

Anyway, in other news, the trial team got the problem for the competition. It's a negligence case, so that will be fun. I'm really excited about being on the team. I think it'll be a good experience, plus I'm a total law nerd and get very excited about participating in pretend litigation. Other than that, I haven't really had any adventures of late. It's been all work and school which has made Abby a very dull girl. So, while my nieces and nephews are slaving away on all of my work, I am going to get all of my playing in. It's gonna be a good week. See you on Tuesday!

Well, I'd like to help, but not as much as I'd like not to

2011-11-14T05:50:00.003-07:00

I never thought I'd be grateful it was Monday, but today I am grateful it is Monday. It has been a ridiculously long weekend, but that's what I get for being on the moot court board.

This weekend was the ABA Negotiations Competition. It was held at Albany Law School this year, and Erin and I were the ones in charge of organizing and running the damn thing. Well, Erin was in charge. I just helped.

Anyway, hosting a competition involves all kinds of headaches. There's the obvious stuff: scheduling rooms, sending the information to the teams, finding a hotel for them to stay at (they make their own reservations, but we had to call the hotel and tell them we needed like 50 rooms or something. I don't remember the exact number, but it was a lot, so they gave us a discount. Or, they gave the teams a discount, rather. Anyway). We also had to find judges for the competition, which is one of the bigger pains in the ass. Not only did we have to find 35 attorneys/judges/arbitrators to come judge for us, but you inevitably have someone drop out at the last minute. We actually did pretty well. No one dropped out at the last minute, but two of our judges did fail to show up. We had enough to cover, though so all was well. And really, only two judge issues? Not too bad.

Anyway, so there was much involved in preparation. We've been getting ready all semester, but last week was particularly busy. We were at the school stuffing envelopes and getting team packets ready on Wednesday, and then we spent all night Friday getting all the last minute stuff done. Erin, and I (and a few of the Moot Court board members) got to the school at 7:15 Saturday morning to get everything set up. And then we were there until 8:30 that night. It was a long damn day. And I, in my infinite wisdom, decided to wear high heels. NEVER AGAIN! My back still hurts.

Sunday was our final round. We got there at 7:30 to get it all set up, and then we were done by 12:30. We got to watch the final round (I was actually the time keeper) which was kind of fun. Afterwards, Erin and I did the clean up and organized the massive amount of paperwork we had. I honestly feel like we should plant a small forest to make up for all the trees we killed for our competition... I actually got home at 4 PM yesterday, which wasn't bad at all. There was another competition going on which Erin and I were planning on staying and helping with, but Dana and Chris (Chair of the competition and Executive director of MC) were nice enough to let us go home. So we did.

Anyway, the competition went smoothly. We had a few issues, but they were solved quickly and mostly without incident. It was kind of fun to get to meet students from other schools. AND one of our teams actually won the competition!! Woot! Go Albany Law! That means they get to go to New Orleans in the Spring for the national competition. We were very proud. :)

Anyway, so it was a long weekend. I now know what it feels like to run a moot court competition and do not feel the desire to do it again. I still have to help with the other competitions, but that's not so bad. I'm glad our competition is over and done, and I'm very glad it's Monday.

My mama always told me someday I'd be good at something. Who'd a guessed that something'd be zombie-killing?

2011-11-05T10:11:00.007-06:00

Happy belated Halloween!!

Last weekend I went to Miami. That's right: Miami.I think I'm gonna move there.

Anyway, I have friends that live down there and they invited me down for the weekend. It was so much fun! I way bad needed a vacation, and that was a perfect place to go. I had so much fun hanging out with my friends, and it was 80 degrees all weekend long.

Friday night was the big Halloween party. I dressed up as Cleopatra this year.What do you think? I thought I made a pretty good lil Queen of the Nile. Anyway, we went to Rita's house for a pregame (Rita's the one in the middle) and then headed to some place called Villa 221 for the party. There was dancing, laughing, and fun had by all. I got to see some of my other friends from Spain, and made a few new friends in the process. A successful evening, I would say. :)

I didn't get back to Kimmie's place until about 4 in the morning, so I slept until noon the next day, but when I did finally drag myself out of bed, Kimmie, Vinnie, and Alejandro showed me around town. We went to South Beach, which was awesome. I know it's ironic because I really hate (read 'am terrified of') the ocean, but I way love the beach. So long as sharks don't grow legs and learn to walk, I could totally be a beach bum. Anyway, it started raining, so we headed indoors. They showed me their school, which was fun to see. There was even a little montage of pictures from Spain. Then we headed back to Kimmie's. The rain was coming down pretty hard, and we soon lost power. We were all starving so we decided to drive around town until we found some place that still had power and ended up at Applebees where I had a Blondie, and life was good. :)

Anyway, it was a great weekend. I had so much fun hanging out with my friends; it was a much needed break. I'm glad I was able to go down! I told them all they needed to come visit me, but there was unanimous consent to wait until winter was over. Who wouldn't want to come visit NY in the winter?... :P

I saw a UFO once, man... It sent me a message, in big bright yellow letters. It told me I was gonna have a good year.

2011-10-22T16:54:00.004-06:00

Oh what a week. Why do I always feel like I need 48 hours in every day but it feels like there are only 12? Does this mean I'm finally grown up? Because if it does, I don't think I like it.

I got the flu this week, so point to Mother Nature for worst timing ever. This Thursday I had my evidence midterm and a preparation for deposition in my fact investigation class. So I took the day off (from both of my jobs, I felt like such a slacker) on Wednesday and rested in the hopes I would feel better for the next day. It worked, mostly. I did feel much better the next day, but apparently not well enough...

On Thursday morning I got up early to go over my notes for fact investigation and evidence. I kept an eye on the clock to make sure I got in the shower at 930 so I would be able to make it to class by 11. Great plan except for one small problem. My class starts at 10. I have no idea why half way through the semester I suddenly felt like class started an hour later than usual. At about 948 it clicked and I started freaking out. I sent an email to my professor that I figured she wouldn't get but better safe than sorry, threw some clothes on, and ran out the door. I managed to make it to class only 15 minutes late. Not too shabby, I'd say. I'm sure my teacher thought I had both of my screws loose when I told her why I was late, but whatevs. I did manage to make it and prep my client for deposition. Sort of.

I really like that we get to do interviews and depositions and the like in that class. I think it's really helpful. It's also a serious dose of humility when you finish and Prof. Shanks rips you to shreds. In a good way, but it still leaves you thinking "Wow. I have no idea what I'm doing." I think that all the time though, so it's not too bad. Anyway, I've learned I have to stop being so polite and start being much more direct. Grow a pair, in other words. Being a law student is always an adventure.

In any event, now it's the weekend, and I'm feeling much better. Taking Wednesday off has caused me to be ridiculously behind, but really when am I ever not behind? So all is well and I will try to not forget what time my classes start.

Now where did it say that on the eighth day He dusteth?

2011-10-15T17:27:00.002-06:00

This week has been insane. I started my job on Monday, after much confusion (mostly my own). I think it'll be good. I'm still trying to figure out all the office protocol; hopefully they don't fire me before I figure it out!

This year I'm on the moot court board. Because I'm on the board, I can't do any of the competitions at the school. I was pretty bummed out about that because I am a complete nerd and was most excited about 2L year because it means we get to do moot court. However, we do have travel teams. So a couple of weeks ago I tried out for the trial team. We had to do a 5-8 minute closing argument on a one page fact pattern. It kind of felt like auditioning for a play, only I had to write my own monologue. Anyway, it was totally terrifying, but I'm glad I tried out. All the judges were really nice, which makes things better. I found out this week that I made the team!! Yay!!! I am so excited. The competition is in March, and it's Boston. That's basically all I know about it. We're supposed to be meeting up in a couple of weeks to talk things over, so I'll know more soon. In any event, I am really very exceedingly excited. And I don't care how nerdy that is.

In other news, last Sunday I went to a pentecostal church. It was quite an experience; I rather enjoyed myself. I don't think I'll be joining anytime soon, but I'm glad I got to go. They sang this fun kind of pop gospel number for like twenty minutes (seriously). I thought that was super cool. I got to sing as loud as I wanted and sway to the music. It was great.

It was a really interesting experience though. My only churchy experiences are Mormons and Catholics, so it was interesting to experience the more, uh, exuberant style of preaching. Some of it I really loved. And it was cool to see how different people expressed their feeling the spirit in different ways. Some people got down and prayed, some people swayed, some people called out; it was really a very eclectic crowd. I also road an Albany City bus for the first time. It was pretty much like every other cities bus system.

So, in sum, I am enjoying work but have no idea what I'm doing, I'm very excited about being on the moot court team but have no idea what I'm doing, and I went to a church where no one knew what they were doing. Are you seeing a trend here? Sigh. I wonder if I'll ever know what I'm doing?

On a more hopeful note, it's been a crazy, sometimes frustrating, semester thus far, but I've been given some pretty amazing opportunities too. I have a job, I have an internship, I made the moot court team, and they haven't kicked me out of my classes yet (which is always a relief). Also, I've just realized I'm obsessed with semi-colons, but that's neither here nor there.

Anyway, all things considered it's been an adventurous week and a pretty damn good one too. I hope all of you have also had a pretty damn good week and that you are enjoying the fall weather! My apartment is a total disaster, so I must now go and clean.

Second shelf is mine. That's where I keep my rootbeers and my double-thick Oreo cookies. Nobody touches the second shelf but me.

2011-10-02T09:42:00.003-06:00

Woo! This week has been one giant shitshow. And it's not over yet. :( Any warm fuzzies sent my way would be much appreciated!

The week was going fairly well until Tuesday night when my computer decided to snap in half. Literally. The screen un-attached itself from the keyboard. So... that seemed like it wasn't supposed to happen. The computer itself works fine, so I figured I could just take it to Best Buy and they could screw it back together or something. Apparently they don't carry Dell parts. So the geek squad fellow recommended some computer store in Latham, so I went there. The guy told me it probably was fixable but it was going to cost, best case scenario, like $300. Oh, and he also informed me I probably wouldn't get my computer back, if they could fix it, for a week and a half. I'm a damn law student. I basically don't exist without my computer. Sigh. Plus, I needed a new battery for my computer (you're supposed to replace them every 2 years. It's been 3...) and one of the USB ports is broken, so you know, kill me now.

Anyway, my dear parental units offered to help me purchase a new computer as it seemed to be the more sensible route (someday when I'm 82 and finally have my student loans paid off, I'll send them on like a dream vacation or something). So I bought the new computer (and an external hard drive. Now if my computer has to be parted from me for more than a few hours, I can plug in my hard drive in a different computer and all will be well) and took it home to try and figure out how to transfer all my shit over. I have a lot of shit, but, with the help of a friend, I think I managed to get it all transferred over. Phew!

Thus far my new lil computer seems to be working pretty well. At any rate, the screen is still attached...

In other news, I got a job! Yay!! I'm very excited about it. I should be able to start on Monday, which is even better. It's quite the story how I managed to get the job (Dean Salkin is going to get twinkled, I'm pretty sure), but the important thing is that I got it. I even have my first project, and I'm pretty excited about it. It should be an interesting job which is always good. I got to meet a few of the people in the office on Friday, and everyone was really nice and friendly, so I think it'll be a good place to work.

So this week started off a little like wishing I was dead, but it's turning out much better. I got a job, and life is good. However, I did fall ridiculously behind on my work (by ridiculously I mean like insanely ridiculously. I had to start a 3rd to do list yesterday because my other 2 were getting to long. 3 to do lists!! Sigh) due to the death of my computer, so I must now go slave away (on my 3 to do lists) in an attempt to get caught up. I hope all of you are well with happy healthy computers and only 1 to do list!

One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach, all the damn vampires.

2011-10-02T08:47:00.002-06:00

Happy October! I can't believe how fast this semester is going. Before I know it, finals will be here, and then I will get to go home!! Yay. :)

I've had a couple of very lawyer-y experiences the last few days. A couple of weeks ago I got an email saying there was a group putting together an effort to offer pro bono legal services to the victims of Hurricane Irene. I decided that would be a good way to be useful to society, so I've been trying to help out. This last Wednesday I was able to go out and help do intake and that sort of thing. It was interesting. For one thing, it was raining. I don't think it will ever stop raining here! The people that were there while I was there were, for the most part, quiet. Filled out the forms and then waited silently for an attorney to be available. I had an opportunity to read through some of the information packets that are given to Hurricane victims. Ridiculous. The hoops these people have to jump through just to get a real human being on the phone is unconscionable. Seriously, I struggle to understand how, as a society, we think it's ok to let these people languish. FEMA is woefully underfunded. I think currently the max these people can get from FEMA, assuming they can even get that far, is like $30,000. That is definitely better than nothing, but if your house has floated down the river, $30,000 won't build you a new one. One woman, who was lucky enough to have her house not float down the river, needed to have the floors in her house replaced. Her house had flooded and the floors were beyond repair. FEMA gave her $272. And because FEMA helped her, the insurance company won't.

And the insurance companies are even worse. That woman probably got more money from FEMA than her insurance company would have given her, if she had insurance. The older I get, the more I think insurance is just a giant ponzi scheme. You pay in your whole life and then when you need it they don't want to give you the money. Ass holes.

So, anyway, I'm glad I'm getting the opportunity to help a bit. I'm basically useless at this point because I don't know very much, but every little bit of help counts I guess. And I think it's really cool that there are attorneys willing to take a day or two off to come and help these people. We're not all bad, you know.

I did notice something I thought was interesting though. There were two attorneys working that day. Both times they came in and were introduced to me, they went straight to me (the woman in the suit) before even acknowledging the client (who wasn't wearing a suit). It made me very uncomfortable. I was grateful to meet these two attorneys, but it seemed strange to me that their first priority was to meet the law student rather than to meet the person there for much needed legal advice. I may have just perceived the entire thing wrong, but I still thought it was interesting, and it still made me a little uncomfortable.

In any event, they're doing a lot of good for these people, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to help!

He wore that finger trap for two years. Mother had to teach him to eat with his feet.

2011-09-19T10:41:00.004-06:00

Larkfest has come and gone, once again and, as always, it was one big, messy adventure. I think there were more people there this year than last year. It felt like there were seventeen million people there! I guess that was good though, more entertainment.

I didn't get there until like 3:30, but luckily the party was still raging on. Considering there were seventeen million people there, I did not feel the desire to attempt to find a parking spot, so I walked. I managed to run into a friend on my way there, so we strolled through the crowds for a bit. I got to look at some of the booths, which was fun. Honestly, the booths aren't that cool. I didn't go all the way down the street, but I only saw one booth of photographs/paintings. Kind of disappointing. Mostly it's just jewelry and sunglasses. That's ok though because the crowd makes up for the lack of crafts.

Larkfest only has two rules: No glass bottles and no coolers. Doesn't seem to be asking to much. I saw a guy who managed to get around those rules, though. He had a cooler, but he had turned it into a stereo. Seriously, he was pulling the thing down the street playing music. It was ridiculous and also very creative. I never would've thought of that. There was also somebody walking around with an old school boombox playing 80's rap. There was a big dance party going on at the intersection of Chestnut and Lark.

One of my friends described it as a giant frat party. That pretty much sums it up. There were people dropping jello shots out of windows and all kinds of crazy things. I didn't get as many pictures as I did last year, but I did get one with a er... very friendly clown dude. He had this fake rat with him. He wouldn't talk to you, but he kept making squeaking noises while he flung the rat around (presumably that was supposed to be the rat running around). He was very strange, so, naturally, I took a picture with him.

Yay for Larkfest. :)

Remember, forget it!

2011-09-12T18:26:00.004-06:00

I got an email from my professor today. For Fact Investigation, we get to do a lot of "pretend-play". Yay... Anyway, this week I get to "pretend-play" giving a client interview. I have no bloody idea how to do a client interview, so... this will be an adventure.

Anyway, the email told us we weren't allowed to use any of the material in our book. Because the case is completely made up, all of the depositions, pleadings, witness statements, etc. are already in our book, giving us complete access to all of that information. However, my professor informed us that she wants these to be as real as possible (except for the whole "the entire class will be watching you" part), so we have to pretend like we don't already know the facts of the case. Right. I dunno, maybe this'll be an advantage. You know, they tell trial lawyers to never ask a question they don't already know the answer too, so there you have it. I'll already know the answer to all of my questions. Unless there's some curve ball in there I don't know about, which is likely. Law school would be way less interesting if they weren't always trying to trick you. Keeps you on your toes, you know...

Anyway, we'll see how my client interview goes. I'm nervous as hell but a little excited too. It'll be a new adventure, and I'm gonna have to learn how to do it eventually. Better sooner than later, I guess. Now if you'll excuse me, I must now go forget.

I gotta go Julia; we got cows.

2011-08-30T19:29:00.008-06:00

As promised, my shitty pictures of Hurricane Irene. Enjoy. Or whatever.

Debris!
My lil supply of food. I had more in the fridge, but this was just in case my house blew up or something. I don't know.
Giant tree that fell down on Woodlawn (that's the street I live on) forthwith knocking out the power to everyone in the neighborhood . . .
. . . and uprooting the sidewalk.

My cat has been petrified! I want to see some punishment!

2011-08-29T19:39:00.002-06:00

I'm alive!!!! I'm so happy! I survived Hurricane Irene (or Tropical Storm Irene, I guess; whatever you call her, I did not like her). It was an adventure, to be sure. Honestly, not as much of an adventure as I originally planned, but I feel ok about that.

The storm kind of got started on Saturday night; that's when it started to rain, anyway. I was pretty nervous about the whole thing, but I tried to make sure I had everything in order, just in case the worst should happen (whatever the hell that means). Anyway, I was ready.

I had a hard time sleeping and woke up several times. Honestly, I was freaking out a little bit. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I've always felt like I could handle pretty much everything. You know, I'm a Brinkerhoff, we're pretty tough, and I can be fairly resourceful. Plus, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'm certainly not the dullest. At any rate, the one thing I never felt like I could handle was a natural disaster. So, of course, here I am in the middle of a natural disaster. I bet mother nature had a good chuckle.

Anyway, when I finally managed to peek out from my covers it was about 9 in the morning. It was raining, but the wind wasn't too bad. My power was out which kind of sucked, but I still had running water. I had everything ready. I had my tub full of water just in case I ran out of running water (I read up on how to prepare oneself for a hurricane. I was ready dammit! He who is prepared shall not fear, right? What a bunch of bullshit. I was terrified.) Anyway, I opened up my blinds so I could see this awful natural disaster that I was certain was going to wipe me off the face of the planet. At least there weren't any sharks. It was kind of cool to see, actually. I got a few pictures, but I was kind of afraid to go outside, so they aren't very good pictures. Sorry. Next time there's a hurricane and/or tropical storm out here, feel free to come visit me and take a picture yourself.

Anyway, I kept checking the weather forecast on my phone and reading the news updates. Some power lady said we should all be prepared to be without power for days. Days, with an s. I hoped she was just being pessimistic. As it turns out, she was. My power came back on at around 1:30 or 2, and I promptly celebrated by taking a nap. It was a glorious little nap, and I slept with all of my lights on. Anyway, the power went out again at about 6, and that's when the wind really picked up, in my neck of the woods anyway. I didn't like it. I closed all of my windows so I couldn't hear it. Of course, I could still hear it, but it made me feel better.

Anyway, I busted out my little flashlights and tried to get some homework done. Called Nationalgrid, again, to tell them my power was out. They had an automated phone message thing. I kind of felt bad; I expect they were pretty busy. Apparently like 90,000 people were without power by 6 o'clock. Apparently some of them still are. Counting my blessings...

Anyway, in a fit of wishful thinking I decided to go downstairs and check my braker (I don't know how to spell that). I knew that the power was out because a tree came down on my street (yes, the whole tree. And it was a very big tree. It actually uprooted the sidewalk. It's still there, so no one is driving on woodlawn. It's been kind of quiet), but I hoped I could just switch the braker and my lights would come on again. So through the torrent of wind and rain I went down into my basement. It stunk. It kind of smelled like a mixture of insecticide and gasoline. So now I was all worried that I had a gas leak and my house was going to blow up. Wouldn't that just be my luck?

I called my dear Father who, I'm certain, wondered what I wanted him to do about it. He told me to call Nationalgrid. So I did. They showed up fairly quickly. Apparently what I was smelling was something horrid that had come up the drain when our basement flooded, but we did actually have a gas leak. So two guys from Nationalgrid stayed here until about midnight fixing our gas leak, and my landlords came today to fix the smell.

When I woke up this morning, my power was still out. Cursing Irene, I walked my ass up to the school library. I needed my computer to do my homework, and my laptop is old - the battery doesn't last very long. Anyway, whilst at the library I got a call saying the power had been restored. Yay!! All was right again in my world.

So, all things considered Irene wasn't too terrible to us. There has been widespread flooding throughout the region, and there are still several flood warnings being issued. There are still people without power, and there are still giant trees blocking the roads, but for the most part Albany is recovering quite nicely. I'm really grateful for the power people who, I'm sure, are getting lots of overtime. I for one am appreciative that they are working so hard. I love electricity!

I was going to post my shitty pictures of Irene, but it's taking to long to load, and I am exceedingly tired. I'll post them tomorrow. Until then may you all be in sunshine only (maybe some shade).

That's no moon, that's a space station!

2011-08-26T20:14:00.003-06:00

Well, I survived the first week of my second year! Though, I may not survive the weekend. The weather channel isn't being very clear on my survival prospects. Anyway, school is good. I like my classes, though I wish my books weren't so damn heavy. Honestly, my arms are sore from carrying my books around. That tells you two very important things: 1) I really need to do some weight training, and 2) my textbooks probably weigh more than I do. Bollocks.

So, my classes. I'm taking fact investigation which is a practical course, so that should be fun. As the name implies, it's a class about investigating facts, an important aspect of any lawyer's job. It'll be fun to pretend to be a lawyer and sift through depositions, and witness statements, and expert testimony, all made up of course, but that's not the point. The point is, I think it's going to be fun.

My next class is business organizations. I have no idea why I'm in that class. I just had this insane thought last semester that I really needed to take it, so I did. I've only been twice, but I rather enjoy it. We'll see if my enjoyment lasts all semester. At any rate, right now we're learning about partnerships. We talked about the difference between a principal and agent relationship and a partnership, and then the difference between a partnership and a creditor relationship. You know, so far pretty basic stuff. Hopefully it stays basic. If not, I will be hitting up my sister Anna. She is very smart at all this business-y stuff. I may just send her my notes, and ask her to translate.

My last class is evidence. Holy shit. So much information! Honestly, I leave that class with an eye twitch every day. Again, it's a very important class, no matter what you do, and I do rather enjoy it. I dunno why; it really is a dense course (mind you I've only been once...) I think it'll be a good class though.

I'm enjoying my internship at the court house. Everyone is super nice, and when I get lost (which I do frequently. Every hallway looks the same!!) there is always someone who is willing to guide me to my destination. Right now I'm just working on briefing an opinion that recently came out of the Supreme Court, but I've gotten to see some hearings and that sort of thing, so that's been fun. And, as I say, everyone is really nice. My supervising attorney is always willing to answer any questions as is the judge I'm interning for. He's also one of my professor's, so that's good. I think.

In any event, school schmool. The REAL news is Hurricane Irene. Aack! I've never been in a hurricane before. I fear this fall may be a bit more adventure than I bargained for. But I have lots of water (hopefully enough) and a shit load of batteries and junk food. yay? I went to wal-mart today after work (it's not really work. I don't get paid). Anyway, I needed to go grocery shopping, and I thought I'd pick up a few things just in case all hell breaks loose this fine Sunday. Holy mother. It was a damn shitshow. There were so many people there, and they were running out of everything, and there was merchandise strewn all over the floor. Bloody hell. I am absolutely certain that I bought things I don't need and forgot to buy things I do need in my haste to get out of there. If I die, I fully intend on suing wal-mart. God will let me do that from Heaven, right? I am going to Heaven, aren't I? Bugger. I better check my karma before this hurricane hits.

The weather people are calling it a tropical storm when it hits Albany. All I know, is there is supposed to be a lot of rain and a lot of wind, and there are a lot of trees in Albany. I am really hoping and praying that we don't have any power outages, and if we do, that they happen while I'm asleep and are over by the morning. At any rate, if I don't blog again in the next five days . . . . the power's still out in Albany.

Hurricane Irene, bring it! I'm ready for a weather adventure! I think. Possibly. Wish me luck!

"Back to school, back to school, to prove to Dad that I'm no fool."

2011-08-21T12:51:00.003-06:00

Back to school. Sigh. I wasn't ready for summer to be over, but alas, over it is. This week began with a very long drive. It actually went by fairly quickly, which is good. I made it to Hays Kansas at about 9:30 Utah time. Not too shabby. I got stuck in the traffic jam from hell in the Rockies, or I would've made it earlier. Oh well. The room was huge. I would've really enjoyed it if I didn't have to get up the next day and head out again. It was kind of nice sleeping in a king size bed. I woke up lying horizontally across the bed; I guess I was really reveling in the extra space to stretch out seeing as the king bed was significantly larger than my lil bed at home.

Anyway, Monday wasn't as long a drive as Sunday, and I made it to Kentucky in one piece. Good thing too. I was a little worried there through Kansas and Illinois. I saw a funnel cloud and drove through the ocean in St. Louis. It was less than pleasant, but I survived, so all was well.

It was SO good to see my parents! They were very nice and waited to have dinner until I got there, even though it was pretty late. We went to Applebees, and I had some yummy veggie pizza. Dad was able to get some time off, so on Wednesday we all headed off for New York. We cut the trip in half, so we didn't make it too Albany until Thursday, but we got here pretty early. Like two, I think.

Anyway, it was so very wonderful to have my parents here for 2 and a half days. Dad gave Ol' Bessie some serious reconstructive surgery. She runs like a charm now. Apparently I drove all the way across the country on a torn timing belt (I hear that's a bad thing...), so I'm very grateful my Dad was willing to do a ton of work so I don't have to worry about my car exploding or anything. He even put on new brakes. I think Ol' Bessie was pretty pleased about her new parts, and so am I.

My Dad bought a TV whilst in Kentucky. I guess he decided he didn't need it anymore, so he gave it to me. I rather enjoy having a tv. Of course I don't have cable; I'm way to cheap to pay for that. But it's fun to watch movies on it. The picture is bigger and the sound is louder than on my computer, so I'm a happy camper. :) We watched a couple of movies on my lil TV while my parents were here; it was fun.

We didn't get to do a lot of tourist-y stuff; I guess I wasn't being a very good host. We got a ton of stuff done though and just relaxed. Honestly, I didn't really care what we were doing. I was just so happy to be able to spend some time with my parents. I was sad they had to leave this morning, but that's life I guess. OPEN INVITATION: feel free to come visit me! I always love to have people over. And parental units: come back soon! :)

Anyway, so school. I'm doing a field placement with a judge this semester, so I went to my orientation for that on Thursday. It was interesting. My supervising attorney is really nice, and I think they're going to be keeping me very busy, so it'll be good. I suspect I'll learn a lot as well, which is always a bonus. Classes technically start tomorrow, but I only have classes Tuesday and Thursday (Well, I have one class on Wednesday, but it doesn't really count). I'm trying to get my homework done; I'm mostly failing. It's difficult to get back into the swing of things, but get back into the swing I must. Oh summer, why must you be so short!

Another summer day has come and gone away, in either Paris or Rome (or Seville)

2011-07-04T10:53:00.002-06:00

On Saturday, I went to Granada with Alejandro. It was absolutely incredible. Alhambra was beautiful, stunning. I highly recommend it. I'm really glad I got to go. Word to the wise though, if you ever go to Granada, plan at least a full day just for Alhambra. That place is really very humongous. Anyway, I'm too lazy to post pics to my blog today, so if you'd like to look at the pictures of Alhambra (and you really should. It's definitely worth a look) click here.

Anyway, it's currently finals week. Finals week is particularly horrible when studying abroad. Trying to study European legal history while in Spain is . . . difficult. It's hard to concentrate. I had my first final today; it was for the comparative womens study class. Bleh. I'm glad it's over, and that's all I have to say about that.

Now I just have to study for my legal history class, and then I'm done. Done with finals. Yay! Done with study abroad. Not so much yay. I've loved Spain. I could live here happily, though I should probably brush up on my Spanish skills before I send for the furniture. I'm really not ready to leave Spain, but I'm ready to come home. I can't even explain to you how much I miss my family. It's a lot.

I'm so glad I got to have this experience, and I would do it again. Who knows? Maybe I will. But today, and yesterday, and I imagine tomorrow, I want to come home. I've been so blessed to be able to have the experiences that I've had. Living in Spain has been incredible. I've learned things about the world and about myself. I even got to join in a protest. Life has been good. I love Spain; I hope to come back someday, but as my day of departure grows nearer, "all I want, is to come home." So you all better be really freaking excited to see me when I get there!! (And I've pretty much lived on tostada and gelato, so if I've gained thirty pounds, please don't say anything.)

Anyway, I love that I'm in Spain; I love that I got to live here; I'd love it if I get to live here again someday. But in the mean time: "Another aeroplane, another sunny place. I'm lucky I know; but I wanna go home. I got to go home."

"Look, stairs"

2011-06-28T08:23:00.005-06:00

Oh air conditioning, how I've missed you! I went to Morocco this weekend, and I was very excited to come back to my little dorm room and sit underneath the AC. Morocco is very warm. Amen.

Despite the Death Valley-esque heat, it was a good weekend. We arrived in Marrakesh on Friday afternoon, and someone from the hostal was waiting to pick us up and take us to the hostal. I quickly realized wearing jeans was a very bad idea, as I was sweating to death. Kimmie and I had brought conservative clothes (and by conservative I mean pants and t-shirts) because Morocco is a conservative country, but the jeans were like a very sweaty death. One of our friends let us borrow some linen pants and a long skirt she had, so I swapped my jeans for the skirt as soon as we got to the hostal. That made it a little bit better.

Vinnie had a friend who happened to be in Morocco at the same time as us, so we met up with him and his friend and headed to the Souks (the markets in Marrakesh). It was quite the adventure. We didn't really stop and shop at all, just looked around. The market is like a maze with shops everywhere. Spices are a big deal there, so there were a lot of spice shops. They also have a lot of leather products and fabrics. Lanterns are also kind of a big deal in Morocco, and they were everywhere. Their lanterns are really cool though, very colorful.That's the lantern in the lounge area at our hostal. They're really cool. Anyway, I bought a dress there because I was really not wanting to wear pants and we only brought one skirt. My first ever haggling experience! I thought I did pretty well. I probably could've gotten it for a cheaper price, but I did all right.

Anyway, the shops were kind of the big thing in Marrakesh. There is the Djamma El Fna square (I think that's how it is spelled). That's kind of where the souks begin. At night, everyone comes out because it isn't quite so hot. The square is really cool then. People come out and play music, and there are a million and two people trying to sell you shit. The key is to not make eye contact. If you make eye contact, they will chase you down the street trying to get you to come into their shop.

The food in Marrakesh was amazing! It was mostly halal food, kebabs and the like. They did have this one dish called a pastilla. It was so ridiculously tasty. It was like a meat pie with a sweet crust and powdered sugar on top. Oh my gosh. It was amazing. I must learn how to cook that when I get home. They also have the best orange juice I've ever had in my life. They literally squeeze the oranges in front of you and then hand you a glass of the juice. It's delicious.

The streets of Marrakesh are dangerous! Seriously, scooters of death everywhere. They don't really have roads, per se. But Moroccans think they have roads. The "roads" are really narrow, and they have shops and people packed into them. Still, people on bikes, bikes with motors attached to them, scooters, motorcycles, cars, even donkey-pulled carts think they can make their way through. We all got very adept at listening for motors or hooves so we would know to get the hell out of the way. We had a few close calls.

On Sunday, Kimmie, Vinnie, and I took a bus out to Essaouira. It's a beach town about three hours from Marrakesh. The bus ride was interesting.Yes, those are goats in a tree. No, it's not photoshopped. When the bus pulled off the road, and I looked out the window I did a total double take. "What the hell" was literally the first thing out of my mouth. The goats eat the fruit of the Argan trees, and then the locals pick up the seeds which are apparently found in the droppings of said goats. The seeds are ground into oils which are used for a variety of purposes one of which is Moroccan peanut butter. Which is amazing, by the way.

I had to google it when I got home: the goats actually climb up into the trees. Apparently food is scarce in the region (who knew?) so the goats, I don't know, evolved into tree-climbers or something. So they climb the Argan trees and chill up there. Weirdest thing I've ever seen, and that's saying something.

Anyway, Essaouira was cool. It wasn't quite so hot because of the breeze from the ocean. We had some Moroccan pizza, which was delicious. Honestly, I'm not sure I've had anything on this trip I didn't think was delicious.... Hm. Yeah, nothing's coming to mind. Anyway, we sort of just wondered around the town for a couple of hours. We went up to some cool fort they had and paid 10 dirhams to get in (that's like 2 dollars). It was cool; it had a great view of the city and a cool little place set up for pictures.While we were up there, I needed to use the bathroom. This is what I found.I decided to wait.

Anyway, there was actually a music festival going on there that weekend, but the concert didn't start until six and we left at five. Bad timing I guess. Oh well.

We didn't ever get to ride camels, which made me kind of sad. We just ran out of time. I WILL ride a camel some day though. I may have to go back to Morocco someday, which I would totally do, by the way. I loved it. It was an adventure for sure. Only, next time I go, I think I might shell out a few extra bucks for a hotel with AC.

Nothing to worry about. Obviously when they build a bridge like this they take into account that elephants will be crossing here.

2011-06-20T08:10:00.012-06:00

Ah Monday, why must you always ruin a perfectly good weekend? Time marches on, I guess. At any rate, I did have an excellent weekend. Most of my friends went to Portugal this weekend. I thought about meeting up with them in Lagos for Saturday and Sunday but ultimately decided to stay and chill in Seville. After seeing their photos, I kind of wish I had gone with them to Portugal... but alas, I did not. And honestly, it was a great weekend. I got to discover Seville a bit and see the major tourist destinations here, so it was good.

Thursday night I went to the Archeological museum with Dean Mirrow and some of the other kids in class. It was pretty cool. They have the second largest collection of Roman law in the world, like actual bronze tablets from the Roman era. I'm such a nerd, but I thought that was pretty damn cool. Stephanie, Jeff, and I wondered around town for a bit after that. We had some amazing pizza, and then almost got run over by some bulls. This Thursday is the Corpus Christi holiday in Spain. The Spaniards take their religious holidays very seriously, and they've already begun processions, apparently. I don't know, maybe it was like a practice run. But they're building some big thing in the middle of town for Corpus Christi.I'm not really sure what it's going to be. I guess I'll find out on Thursday. Anyway, last Thursday, Stephanie, Jeff, and I saw a procession going down the street. Well, it wasn't so much a procession as a really fancy cart. At any rate, here's a picture.Yes, those are bulls pulling the cart. Bulls are kind of a big deal in Spain. There's a bull fighting ring in Seville, but I'm not sure I could watch that, so I haven't gone. I saw the outside of the ring; I think that may be close enough for me. And I got to see these bulls pull a fancy cart across the street, so I'm good I think.

Anyway, Friday I slept through breakfast, so I went to a Cafe by the Cathedral that a friend had suggested had the best chocolate croissants. She may have been right. That was the best damn chocolate croissant I've ever had.Doesn't that look amazing? It was!

My goal for this weekend was to hit El Catedral, El Real Alcazar, and El Torre del Oro. So Friday, after I ate my delicious chocolate croissant, I headed out to the Cathedral. As expected, I got distracted. There's this guy that plays the blues across the street from the Cathedral. He's there almost every day, so when we walk home from school we always pass him. I've wanted to go sit and listen for a while; when I saw that he was out there on Friday, I headed over to enjoy the music. I chilled there for a while. It was wonderful. He's actually quite good, so it was extraordinarily enjoyable. I took a video, but for some reason my blog won't post videos. I'll put it on facebook if you care to look it up.

Anyway, I did a bit of shopping on Friday too. I finally went to the souvenir shops in town. Of course they had all kinds of collectibles, so I finally got me a Spain spoon. Anyway, eventually I meandered my way over to the Cathedral. They actually give student discounts, but I forgot to bring my ID, so I had to pay the full price which made my little heart (and my little pocketbook) sad, but all was made well again when I walked into the building. The outside of the Cathedral is amazing, but the inside is . . . I don't even know. Incredible. Apparently it's the 3rd largest church in the world. It was definitely humongous. And the artwork, the architecture, everything. It was just extraordinary. I took a bunch of pictures (and by "a bunch" I mean like 160. Seriously.). They're all on facebook if you care to view them, but here are a few so you can get a general feel for what it looked like.This is the entrance, or the tourist entrance, anyway. The entrance I went in on Sunday was a different door (I went to mass. More on that lil adventure later.)Apparently that is Christopher Columbus' tomb.That's the main alter. Anyway, isn't it incredible? That's just a few shots of the Cathedral. It was huge. I needed 160 pictures just to get everything. Well, almost everything.

After the Cathedral I went home and took a siesta. Wonderful Spanish tradition that I think Americans should adopt. A lot of the shops in Seville close from about 2:30 - 4:00 for siesta. Everything's closed, might as well take a nap, right? Anyway, after my glorious little siesta, I wondered around Seville for a bit, checked out some of the local boutiques. It was good. I really enjoy wondering around big cities. It's so much fun to see all the different people. Apparently tourist season has started in Seville; there were so many people here this weekend. It was insane, and it was weird to suddenly here English everywhere I went.

Anyway, on Saturday I went to the Alcazar which is the palace here in Seville. It was pretty cool. The best part about it was the gardens where, of course, my camera batteries died. Aarg! I'm going to steal copies of my friends pictures though. The garden was incredible. For one thing, it was huge. We spent at least an hour and a half wondering around the garden and we didn't see the whole thing. For another thing, it was absolutely beautiful. There were so many different kinds of flowers and so many different colors. There were little fountains everywhere (and a few big ones). There were some random peacocks hanging out. We also saw a parakeet and two turtle doves. The garden made the entire thing worth it. I think there is going to be an outside concert there at the end of this month. I want to go; I bet it's beautiful at night with the garden all lit up and everything.

Saturday night I had great ambitions of actually getting some homework done, so I stayed in. Of course, I didn't get any homework done. Oh well. I discovered these ridiculously delicious cookies... I'm pretty sure when I get back to the States I'm going to be 30 pounds heavier. So no one say anything, ok! Anyway, it'll be totally worth it. The gelato is amazing; I eat this delicious toast with marmalade for breakfast everyday. I have a ridiculous amount of carbs everyday (in my defense, that's just how the Spanish eat. Lots of bread, pasta, potatoes, that sort of thing.) And now I have discovered these cookies. I'm definitely bringing this shit home with me. So good! If no one tells me how fat I got in Spain, I might share them with you.

Anyway, Sunday I again slept through breakfast. Big surprise. There's this little donut shop down the street. It looks like a Dunkin Donuts, but it's called Duffin Dagels. I have no idea what a dagel is or what it means for a dagel to be duffin, but anyway. They have these donuts that are like kit kat or cookie hybrid. That's what I decided to have for breakfast. I had a kit kat donut and a cookie donut.So good! It was an awful idea, but they tasted pretty damn good. Anyway, after my sugary-death-guaranteed breakfast, I went on the hunt for camera batteries. I swear I checked every freaking store in this town. When I finally found some, I was so happy I could've kissed the clerk. I didn't though. Anyway, as luck would have it, the shop with the batteries was right across the street from my favorite Spanish blues player. So I went and chilled there for a while again.

I decided to head back to the apt, but when I passed the Cathedral, I noticed the doors were open. In all of my genius I thought "Maybe it's free on Sundays." Anyway, I was all for going in again, so I went through the doors and wandered. I realized quickly though, that the doors were open because it's Sunday, and they still use the Cathedral for worship and they were having mass. I've never been to Mass before, so I thought, why not? They had it roped off and there was a lady there making sure tourists didn't interrupt the service. I asked her if I could go in for Mass and she said of course. So she let me in, and I went to Mass. It was all in Spanish, so I really have no idea what was going on, but it was cool. I missed the beginning of the services, but I was there for the Sacrament. The sacramental prayer was really long, but after the Priest or Father or whatever prays, the priest or father or whatever and some deacons or whatever come down from the main alter to where the pews are. If you want to partake of the sacrament, you go up there. It was interesting. I rather enjoyed it. Not like I feel the need to go again, but I'm glad I went. There was something wonderfully peculiar about worshipping God in a Cathedral that large and that old. I felt a certain solidarity with the other worshippers. You know, even though we don't believe the same things, we were all there to worship the same God. I don't know. I enjoyed it, and I'm glad I went.

It was a good thing, though, that mass isn't very long. Shortly thereafter my body let me know, in no uncertain terms, that I am too old to have donuts for breakfast. Bleh. It was unpleasant and definitely unpretty, but I survived. I was supposed to be meeting Alejandros friend from Paris and showing her around until they all got back from Portugal, so I was getting a little nervous, but I survived the sugary-death-guarantee and was able to meet up with Clara as arranged.

It was fun to get to meet someone new. Clara is very nice, and we had a good time wandering around the city. We initially were following some googlemaps directions to the Golden Tower, but I quickly realized googlemaps is retarded. So we threw out the directions and headed out on our own. To my great surprise, I actually managed to steer us in the right direction and we found the tower. Then we headed to Plaza de Espana. When we first got there, I was a little confused as to why there were so many bloody people there. I quickly realized though, upon remembering that Sunday was the 19th of June, that this was the starting place of the Toma la Calle protest (Take the street). They've been advertising it for weeks now, and it was finally happening, and I was there! Clara is also into the power to the people and peaceful protests, so we had a good time hanging out with the protesters. We even marched with them for a bit, but we had to get back to meet Alejandro.

Anyway, so we returned and met up with our friends and the weekend came to a close. My friends showed me there pictures from Portugal, and I was a little jealous. I'm glad I stayed here though. I had a blast in Seville and had a few adventures of my own. All things considered, it was a damn fine weekend.

It's a blazer out there. You're lucky you got air conditioning like Mother Nature intended.

2011-06-17T10:39:00.007-06:00

Whew! It's been a crazy week. Last weekend we went to Madrid. It was pretty cool; it was fun to be in a new place. We took the train there, and I was really excited about that because I'd never been on a train before. Alejandro hadn't either, so we made sure we got a picture of our first train ride ever!
Honestly, it was kind of anti-climatic, but it was still cool to finally take a train somewhere.

Once we got to Madrid, we all piled onto the subway and were immediately warned by a security guard to watch our stuff very carefully because the pickpocketing was particularly bad that day. Off to a good start... Nevertheless, we all made it to our hostel without incident. I was kind of excited about this too because I've never stayed in a hostel. It was basically like a hotel except it had three beds instead of two. The shower was huge though; I didn't even know what to do with myself. Anyway, our room was pretty nice.

That day we went out and about, sort of just wondered around the city. Our hostel was only a few blocks from Puerta Del Sol which is where the tent city was, so I got a few pictures of that.There were quite a few people there. On Sunday night though, they took a vote and packed up and left the next day. They're coming back on the 19th.

Anyway, that day we went to the Palace in Madrid. It was huge. No big surprises there, but still. I failed to take my camera to that little excursion, so I don't have any pictures of that. I'll steal my friends pictures and post them up later. It was really quite extraordinary. Apparently the royal family still uses that particular palace on occasion for State dinners and that sort of thing.

We went to a club that night. Puerta Del Sol and the surrounding areas are filled with tourists and, therefore, much tourist-y stuff and buildings. The club was pretty cool, but there was a 16 euro cover charge, which is like $24. No thank you. We turned around and were about to leave when a bunch of people from class showed up. One of the kids had some connection, and we all got in free, so that was kind of cool. Anyway, clubs in Madrid are pretty much the same as the clubs in America. Amen.

The next day we wondered around Madrid a bit more and went to the Prado. It's one of the major art museums in Madrid. It was pretty cool. They didn't have any modern art, nothing past the 19th century, I don't think. It was still pretty cool to see.

Monday we did our school field trip stuff. We went to the Constitutional Court in the morning. One of the Laretos (I think that's what he was called; basically the same as a law clerk in America) told us about the Court, so that was kind of cool. The building wasn't what we expected.Later that day we went to the Senate.The Senate building was really cool. I wish they would've let us take pictures inside, but they wouldn't. It was comprised of two buildings: one modern and the other from like 1763 or something like that. We also got to see the Senate library, which was literally breathtaking. It wasn't very big, but it seriously looked like Harry Potter in its design plus the books they had were priceless. They had a first edition Dante. First Edition. They had the first Spanish Grammar book ever written. They even had some book written in a dialect of Chinese that is now extinct. I felt like I was in a temple of books, and they were all very sacred. All that history and knowledge, it was just incredible.

Anyway, then we headed back to Seville. I enjoyed Madrid, but I was happy to be back in Seville. It's crazy how little time it takes for a place to start to feel like home, and Seville has definitely become home to me here in Spain. I wish you all could come visit me, only you'd have to get a hotel because I have no futon for you to sleep on here.

Everything isn't like home. If everything were like home, there would be no reason for leaving home.

2011-06-06T08:15:00.007-06:00

Well I'm still alive, and that's saying something! I've had quite a few adventures here in Spain thus far. I even had an adventure where I got to go to the hospital! I enjoyed that one a little less. I had a blister on my foot that popped and then got infected... It was mildly unpleasant to look at and hurt like hell, so a friend came with me (she was my translator) and we headed to the emergency room. Spain has universal health care, so it was kind of interesting to experience that. I'm sure everyone could tell we were American b/c we were speaking English and they all tried to help and give directions to the right rooms and stuff, even the other patients in the waiting room. The doctor actually spoke English, which was nice, but none of the other staff that we saw did. Anyway, the doctor told me I wasn't dying and proscribed an antibiotic and a painkiller. When we were leaving, Meredith and I stopped and asked a security guard if we had to pay. He laughed and told us that we had to pay him. He was kidding, of course. I'm sure he thought it was strange that we even asked, but it was strange to us to leave a hospital without paying any money! I felt like I was breaking a rule; I kept looking over my shoulder to see if the cops were coming to arrest me for theft of services....It looks less disgusting w/ a bandage on, but you can see where the infection was starting to spread up my foot.... Glad I got that taken care of. It would've really ruined my weekend if I lost a toe or some shit. Anyway, I'm still alive and all is well. And I have all of my toes.

The pharmacy was also an interesting experience. We went to the one at the hospital first. They have like consultation rooms, so you walk into a waiting area and there are three rooms. You wait for someone to come out, and then you go into the room and give your prescription to the pharmacist. It was kind of strange, but anyway, they informed me they didn't have my drugs. So we went to one close to our apts. This one was pretty much exactly like the ones back home, so it was way less exciting.

Anyway, so that was my adventure with the doctor. Then I had a serious and dangerous battle. I usually have a few ants in my room, no big deal. I came home a few nights ago though to find a giant swarm of them all over my door. I was afraid to open my door, but I did it anyway, and they were swarming in my room too. I can't even explain the anger. I was cursing every living ant and all of their ancestors. However, I knew that in order to win this battle, I was going to need a weapon of mass destruction, so I went to the store and bought some insecticide. Oh, I should also mention that there were now lizards running all over the place b/c their entire supply of food was living on my door. It was like a damn zoo only way less exciting and more violent. Anyway, so I won the battle (and the war I assume, no new ants have moved in). I'm fairly certain I killed like three colonies of ants, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Friday night I went out with some friends and Brigett's roommates. It was mucho divertido! We went to this place called Alfalfa and meet some Spanish guys and a random Italian guy. Then we went to a club called Buddha and danced the night away! It was good times for sure.

Saturday we went to the art museum by my house. It was pretty cool. It was interesting to see the Spanish art. I didn't get any pictures b/c I forgot my camera, and at any rate you could only take pictures of like one room. Anyway, it was pretty cool. And free for students!

On Sunday we went to Cadiz. It's a coastal town. It was so much fun! We got there pretty early, like nine ish. There weren't a lot of people on the beach which was nice. We went to this amazing cathedral and went up to the top of one of the towers. It was an incredible view.Anyway, that was pretty cool. We also went to this place called Plaza de Constitucion.Then we headed back to the beach for the day. It was nice. I even got in the water! A couple of times actually, and once I went by myself! And I succeeded in not getting eaten by sharks, so it was actually kind of pleasant. :D

Cadiz was a blast, though I did get a wee bit sunburned... I bought some Aloe Vera today, so hopefully I'll feel better soon.

Anyway, those are the adventures I've been having in Spain thus far. I'm thoroughly enjoying myself and seeing all kinds of fun things and trying all kinds of new things. I even tasted squid. It wasn't too bad. :D

"What's going on?" "I never know what's going on!"

2011-05-29T08:06:00.010-06:00

I am starving to death. And sweating to death. It's been a very perilous two days here in Spain. Anyway, I'm starving to death because I slept through dinner last night and breakfast this morning, so... I've been living on snack packs since yesterday morning. I'm hungry. Needless to say, I was rather excited when one of the girls in the program said she was going to the store and would I like to meet her at her apt and go with her. Um, yes, I would. Plus, there are a couple other things I need to pick up, so I was thinking this was perfection.

Alas, it was not meant to be, I guess. Either google maps is upside down, or my brain is upside down, both being equally likely. At any rate, I got seriously lost. When I realized I was never going to find her apt, I came back to mine to get directions to the store in hopes that I could find her there. So I got directions and headed out. It should not have been hard; it's like a four minute walk from my apt. This is when I realized something was wrong w/ the map and/or my brain. I started noticing the street names I was supposed to find to get to her apt, but they were not in the place they were on the map. I was very confused. Anyway, I didn't find the store either. And I don't have a phone, so I couldn't call her to tell her that I was lost. I feel really bad! I definitely need to get a phone.

Anyway, I was being very annoyed that I was lost in Seville and not able to find my friend. Then I decided, you know, I knew before hand I was going to get lost several times (I'm severely directionally challenged. I get lost frequently). So I thought, while I'm lost I might as well take some pictures. Enjoy.

I think this was a church.I was more lost than I thought...

Anyway, so that's a small sampling of Seville for you. It was a rather enjoyable little jaunt through town even if I did completely fail to find what I was actually looking for. I did find the hotel where rich people stay, but I didn't take a picture; some people were loading luggage into a corvette and talking about golf. It was a nice hotel though, at least on the outside. I also used an ATM without major incident. It took me a minute to figure out where the hell my card went, but once I figured that out the rest was, well, exactly how it is in the US. I almost went to a burger king for lunch but decided not to. It was big, like three stories. I found a little ice cream shop that I'm definitely going to have to go to someday. It's really bloody hot here. Humidity, it's killin' me. yay for AC! I also stumbled upon a Roman hardware store. Not sure what that was all about...

Anyway, so that was my first lost venture in Seville. I suspect there will be a few more in the next five weeks. Maybe next time I'll actually find the supermarket. A girl can dream.

You went half way across the country in the wrong direction!

2011-05-28T05:05:00.003-06:00

Well I made it to Spain. It was mostly smooth sailing. There was a bit of a bump in the plans in Newark. Side note, I really hate that airport. Anyway, I somehow managed to lose my boarding pass but didn't realize it until an hour before my plane was supposed to leave. So I went to customer service and talked to some guy at Continental who printed out a bunch of receipts for me and told me I was going to miss my flight if I didn't run. But then I couldn't find the damn air train that takes you to terminal B. Then I found it, and I guess I tried to get in the wrong line b/c the lady wouldn't let me through. So then I went all the way down to check in where they told me I had to go to terminal B to get a new boarding pass. So I finally found terminal B and then you have to go through security again. At this point, I knew I was going to miss my flight. So I went up to a security guard and explained my situation and asked him where the hell do I go to get a new boarding pass. He very kindly took me to the right place and, basically, informed me I wouldn't miss my flight if he could help it. And he could. We got me a new boarding pass, he rushed me to the front of the line of security, and I then ran through the terminal to my gate holding my computer, carry on, belt, and one shoe. I did make it on my flight. And I was very glad.

Anyway, I did make it to Spain in one piece. And now I am very tired. I think I'll take a nap.

According to the map, we've only gone four inches.

2011-05-08T08:27:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm home. I survived finals, I think. Results aren't in yet, so the survival issue is still iffy. My bro flew out to NY and drove home with me. He came out with me to celebrate the end of the first year for the class of 2013. We had a good time, and he got to meet some of my friends. It was a lot of fun, so I'm glad he was cool with going out. Anyway, while we did have fun, we ended up getting a full three and a half hours of sleep as we wanted to head out at 6 so we could get to Kentucky to see my Dad. I have to say, we are machines. How we managed to drive 700 miles on only 3 1/2 hours of sleep, I'll never know. But we did, and we learned some very important things. Like Wooster is like Rooster but with a W, for instance and that I don't park straight.

Anyway, we made it to Kentucky at about 7:30, so we got to hang out with my Dad for a while. It was really good to see him! But alas, we had to head out the next day. So we got up at five again, and ate breakfast with Dad. Then we hit the open road. Again.

Thursday was kind of a long day... We drove through five states, a total of 900 miles. Again I say, we are machines. But we made it to Colorado and rejoiced to finally be in the West again.

Friday was the last day of traveling. We finished off the last 800 miles in about 12 hours. Go us. It's nice to be home again. And not in a car.

Including those four? That gives us... four

2011-04-24T12:41:00.003-06:00

Anyone who has ever been to the east coast knows that parking here is atrocious. An absolute, unequivocal nightmare. Most places don't have parking lots, so everyone parks on the street. Now, I have a confession to make.... I don't know how to parallel park. I did it once when I took my driving test and was so bad at it I never did it again. That's why I hate to drive here. I only like to drive if my destination includes a parking lot. Which isn't often.

Well, last night my friends and I decided we needed a break from studying. So we went to Andrews house to chill, and I offered to drive. So I picked up Michelle, and we headed down S. Lake. Lo! A parking spot! Almost directly across the street from Andrew's apt. But I would have to parallel park; my nerves were all a flutter.

I decided to give it a go, with Michelle encouraging me and giving me directions. It must have been the good karma because I managed to successfully parallel park on the first try. And my car wasn't even sticking out in the street or anything. I thought about taking a picture to document that life changing moment but decided that was weird. Anyway, I have now successfully parallel parked. You should all be very proud because I sure as hell am.

PS Happy Easter everyone! Someone roll an egg down the hill for me!

Did you just call me a 'loof'?

2011-04-18T19:56:00.003-06:00

Today I did my first ever oral arguments. For my lawyering class, we've been working on this case all year, and the culmination is oral arguments in front of the "Court of Appeals" at the end of the second semester. My group went today. My Court of Appeals consisted of my professor, one of our TA's, and one of Pro. Queenans former TA's. But they all wore robes and we were in a court room; it all felt very official.

Now that it's over, I find I quite enjoyed myself. It's kind of like when I was a kid and we used to go cliff jumping. I always got really nervous before I jumped, but after I did it I couldn't wait to get back up and do it again. I think it's the adrenaline rush. It was the same thing today. I was very close to terrified before our arguments began. Oral arguments are basically an opportunity for the judges to clarify your argument. Each attorney gets up and presents their argument for the alloted time (we had 8 minutes). You have to have a presentation ready, but you never get through it all because the judges ask you questions almost immediately. That's what I was scared of. What if they asked me a question, and I didn't know the answer? Plus, I have a tendency to ramble when I get nervous... Anyway, all things considered, I thought me and my group did pretty damn well. And we all looked super snazzy in our suits.

Anyway, so now I've done an oral argument and found that I rather enjoyed the experience. Maybe I'll do moot court next year. My professor is the advisor for the appellate advocacy competition, and she's been harping on all of us all year to join next year. Maybe I'll take her up on it. It really was quite fun. And with that statement, I believe my transformation to law school nerd is complete.

"I can get you out of here." "How's that? The key's run off."

2011-04-15T09:04:00.002-06:00

It's that time of year. Yes, registration (and finals, of course, but I'm pretending like those don't exist. It's better for my heart.) At Albany Law they randomly assign each student a registration time (No one wants the 4 o'clock time slot...) I got 10 o'clock, so not too shabby. I had this perfect schedule worked out, but alas, the third years get to register before us, and they took all the cool classes. Bastards.

Anyway, so I worked out a second schedule that has less cool classes but still covers some of my requirements, and I'm sure I'll learn a thing or two. In theory, anyway.

So next semester I'm taking evidence, fact investigation, business organizations, and legal profession. Woo!?... It'll be good. All 2Ls have to take evidence, and I've heard good things about my professor, so hopefully that'll be good. Fact investigation will be an interesting class, plus there's no exam. It's a "practice" class which means that instead of a written exam at the end of the semester you have some sort of simulation to see if you actually paid attention all semester. Meh. Better than the four exams I'm currently staring down. Help!

Business organizations. I don't know why, but I had this insane feeling that I should take that class, so I did. We'll see how it goes. The professor I wanted only teaches it in the spring, so hopefully the one I got will be just as good! Legal Profession is a class on ethics. Hopefully I can take that class and then do the MPRE (the ethics portion of the bar) and have done with it. One less thing to worry about it! I keep thinking my legal profession class shouldn't be too bad because, I mean, ethics are mostly common sense, yeah? I dunno though. Lawyers are really good at making up rules....

Anyway, I also waitlisted a class on the international law of war and crime. The waitlist was already 20 people long when I joined the group, so my hopes are not high. Still, it would be an interesting class. We'll see what happens. As it stands, next semester is going to be very... informative. In theory.

It's boogie time

2011-03-26T14:08:00.003-06:00

Last night was Albany Law School's annual barrister's ball (that's fancy lawyer talk for law school prom.) Originally, I wasn't planning on going. I didn't buy a ticket, but then one of my friends wanted to go, and I thought, meh, Why not?

Slight problem, though. They stopped selling tickets like a week ago. So if we wanted to go, we were going to have to find someone who didn't want their ticket. My friend Steven helpfully searched the entire student body, I'm pretty sure, and found us two tickets. Thursday night. Ten points to Steven!

So last night was the prom. I couldn't decide what to wear. I know it's a prom for law students, but I didn't think I wanted to wear a prom dress. Besides, I don't have one. Being a great lover of all clothes comfortable, I have very few fancy schmancy get ups. My coworker was nice enough to bring some of her daughters things to work and told me I could wear one of them, if I wanted. She has some pretty dresses, so I started to get kind of excited about getting all dressed up. :)

Anyway, I ended up not wearing any of those dresses and stuck with one of mine. Michelle told me it looked like I was wearing a sarong, but whatever. I wore my pretty pearl earrings Lukey gave me for Christmas a few years ago. I felt very fancy, even if I was wearing a sarong.This is me and a few friends at a pre-barristers ball party at another friends house. Andrew and Anthony did not go to the prom, but they did come hang out for a while before hand, so that was fun.

The prom itself was . . . not what I expected. I don't really know what I expected, actually. It cost $25 to get in, and then there was supposed to be food and drink galore. Well, there was drinking galore. For some reason, I thought they were going to have like dinner food, but not so. They just had fancy snacks. The bread was pretty good though. There was much dancing, which I always enjoy. It was fun to hang out with friends and remember why I would rather be short than walk around in four inch heels all day. It's always fun to go out with friends and cut loose, as it were. At any rate, I enjoyed the barrister's ball. I may even go again next year.

So everyone's happy and no one went to jail? What a waste.

2011-03-20T13:44:00.011-06:00

Spring Break has come to an end. Sigh. It was a wonderful break from reality. My sister Katie came out to New York for the week, which was wonderful. It's always nice to be able to spend time with family. I loved having my sister here in my neck of the woods, and I miss her already!

We had some crazy adventures while Katie was on the East Coast. We spent a couple of days in Albany. We met the mayor of Lark Street and a guy who was not a bum because he was gay. He needs to rethink his lines. We were going to go on the tour of the capitol building and all that, but we missed the tour by like a minute and a half. But we still got to see this random tunnel and, I don't know how else to describe it, but like a flea market inside. That was new. My sister got to experience the glory that is New York style pizza.Yum!

We also went to Ben and Jerry's ice cream store and went to a glorious little Indian restaurant.

The next day we headed out to New York City!! Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed we were, metaphorical bells on our toes, excitement exuding from our collective anticipation.Ok, we might have been a little tired. But still, our excitement was almost tangible! We drove over the Millenium Bridge, took the bus through New York, and then rode through the Lincoln Tunnel.

I'm a big fan of big cities. I feel safe in assuming that Katie is also a fan. I love the anonymity of them. New York City is so diverse; it doesn't matter who you are, you belong. You belong because you're different, and in being different you're the same. It's a gloriously circular logistic nightmare. Anyway, so I love New York City. I could live there happily.

Anyway, back to Spring Break. The first stop was the metro. We got on the wrong one at first, and some nice man helped us get off the wrong one and find the right one. So, once we got on the right metro we managed to get to our hotel. Which was super nice, by the way. I've always wandered what it would be like to stay in a Hilton; now I know. It's super nice. Anyway, we wasted no time at all! We dropped our stuff off and headed out for MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). We promptly got lost. But eventually we figured out where the hell we were and how the hell we were supposed to get to MOMA. Success!

MOMA was cool. It was huge; we only saw a few of the exhibits they had there. Some of them were incredible, moving, profound. Some of them were . . . less so. One of the exhibits was a giant bale of hay. Just a bale of hay. Perhaps I'm obtuse in my artistic views, but I fail to see how that is artistic at all. It's just a damn bale of hay. But anyway, some of my favorite exhibits were, of course, the ones with words. There was an exhibit that was slightly strange, but it had such a powerful message about what it means to be human and how we view our bodies, our obsession with our bodies.I also really liked this exhibit. We went to the photography area. Some of the pictures were really cool; some were very strange. They also had an entire room dedicated to music. It had music videos, and mini-documentaries on certain songs that had an impact on a generation. Very cool.

After MOMA, we decided we were starving. Katie wanted to experience the street vendors. One of my friends suggested we try the Halal Cart on 52nd street. As luck would have it, 52nd street was right next to our hotel. So we went to the Halal Guys on 52nd street. It was so good! I had to make myself stop eating because I was so full, but I wanted to keep eating it! It was delicious. If you are ever in NYC, go to the Halal Guys on 52nd street (but if they tell you they have coke, they're lying!)

After a, um, quick nap, we took the metro (the right one on the first try!) to a place called Century 21. It's like a TJ Maxx for the big wig designers most of whom I, of course, had never heard of. I am apparently very out of style. That was kind of fun though. We got some fun pictures.I also finally bought a suit. Bleh. But it's Calvin Klein, so that's cool, right? And it was on sale which is definitely cool. Anyway, Century 21 was fun. It was also across the street from the World Trade Center. That was strange. It just looked like construction, nothing special. If there hadn't been a sign, I never would have known that's where the WTC used to be. I'm sure the monument will do more justice to the victims when it's finished.

After Century 21, we went back to our hotel and dropped off our wares and headed out into the night! Katie wanted to see the Empire State Building, which you would think would be easy to find. You would be wrong. We got lost again (the Chrysler Building had us confused for a second). I made the awful mistake of picking a chain restaurant for dinner... I was so hungry! But they had gelato, so that was a plus. We also accidentally stumbled upon Grand Central Station, so that was serendipity.After much adventures, we finally made it to the Empire State Building. It was cool, but kind of anti-climatic, honestly. It cost $21 (and that doesn't even take you to the top) and then you get to look out at the city, which really is kind of cool.This is Katie and I on the observation deck at the Empire State Building. I think it's on the 82nd floor.

After the Empire State Building we went back to our hotel and chilled for a bit. The next day was St. Patrick's Day! St. Patrick's Day is a big deal on the east coast. In NYC they have a big parade, so Katie and I checked out of our hotel room and headed over to see the parade. One of my friends was also in NYC that day, so we met up and he showed us around the city a bit. We got to go to central park, Soho, Greenwich Village, and Nolita I think? Anyway, lots of walking. Then the bus back to Albany. Oh sigh; I miss NYC already.

After we got back to Albany, we went to karaoke night at Elda's! Katie and I rocked the shit out of that joint! So much fun!Katie and I sang some Joan Jett and, of course, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!One of my friends joined us for that show stopper. :D So much fun!

Then it was Friday and I had to take my sister back to the airport. I had some serious sister withdrawals this weekend. It was an awesome spring break, and I'm so glad Katie was able to come out here. The weather was also fairly nice, for New York anyway, so that was a definite plus. It was an excellent week which was, as vacations always are, over far too quickly. May the epic-ness of this spring break live on forever in our hearts!

Parlay?

2011-03-03T11:37:00.003-07:00

So I finally tried Indian food last night. Sorry, no pictures. It tastes better than it looks.

The restaurant was nice though. Our waiter was kind of funny. One of my friends got a dish that was really spicy, and when he asked the waiter if it was how he had ordered it (really spicy) the waiter told him to try it to make sure, so he did. Apparently it was definitely how he had ordered it.

Anyway, they had a DVD playing while we were there. It was like the best music videos of some famous singer in India. It was interesting. It was like flash backs to Grease, West Side Story, even Anything Goes, but Indian style. It was great.

I have no idea what I ordered, but it was pretty good. Something with chicken and spinach I think. And naan. That was so delicious. So ridiculously delicious. I need to learn how to make that.

Anyway, another successful food adventure here in New York. There was a Korean restaurant down the street from the Indian restaurant we went to. I think I'll try that next.

Life is not tried, it's just merely survived if you're standing outside the fire

2011-03-01T10:11:00.004-07:00

Whew. It's been a crazy week. And it's only Tuesday. Oh law school, why must you be so cruel??!!?

I'm getting ridiculously excited for spring break. It'll be nice to have a whole week where I don't have to go to school. I'm really excited to see my sister. We are going to rock the hell out of New York. :)

So my visiting teachers came this Sunday. I know, shocker, I have visiting teachers; they're actually quite nice. Anyway, we were talking about the summer, and I told them I was going to Spain. They asked me if I was going with anyone. When I said no, they acted surprised and told me how brave they thought I was. I was flattered. However, having known myself for 25 years, I wouldn't use the word 'brave.' 'Oblivious' is perhaps a better term.

Of my many faults, I like that I do what I want. My decisions have little to do with what other people think I should do, and I like that. Is that weird? For those who know me well, (which is everyone reading this blog, I assume because why else would you read this shit?) you know that I have always valued my freedom and independence. A lot. It is one of the most important ideas to me, that I am me and no one can take that away. That is such a beautiful phrase, don't you think?

I love that I make my decisions based on me, not you. Nothing personal. I am often grateful that, for the most part, I have shrugged off the societal pressure that is sometimes pushed my way. To hell with that shit. I know people who try very hard to fit in; I also know people who spend most of their time trying to be different, from their peers, or their parents, whatever. I'm not trying to fit in or rebel. Which is good because I don't have the energy, time, or patience for all that shit. Seriously. I want to find my joy in my life, not in superficial things or fleeting emotions, things that don't last. Even though I will get my heart broken, I will be disappointed, I'm willing to take that risk. Ultimately, that's what life is, isn't it? It's not about never falling down; it's about learning how to get back up. And I love that. Except when I fall down. Then I love it a little less. But isn't it incredible to know that, even when you are at your lowest, you always have a choice to drag your ass out of the hole, to take another risk. Life is beautiful, dangerous, and I love it. Most of the time.

Welcome to the Caribbean, love.

2011-02-13T11:08:00.003-07:00

Happy Valentines day everyone! Well, Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow. I've had an excellent V-day. My dad sent me a package of yummy cookies; my mom sent me a nice Valentine's day card, and my sister Marla and her family sent me a card and some yummy candy. I feel very happy about my Valentine's day, even though it technically hasn't happened yet.Pretty cheery, don't you think? I love my family!

In other news, school marches on. I'm trying hard not to get run over. I have a summary judgment memo due at the end of the month, and it is causing me... some stress. I'm also trying not to fall behind in my other classes, and now my car is sick. That is, perhaps, what is causing me the most stress. I feel so isolated and vulnerable without my car. I'm planning on taking it to the mechanic tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be an easy (not very expensive) fix, and me and Ol' Bessie will be back on the road again! Sigh. I really don't want to take the bus.

Well, I think that's all for today. I have mucho research and reading to get done before tomorrow. I hope you all have an excellent Valentine's Day!

We shall have a magnificent garden party, and you're not invited (just kidding, you can come if you want)

2011-02-05T12:57:00.004-07:00

I'm going to Spain. So there.

This summer is going to be incredible, and I wish the snow would just melt already so I could get started! I went to the grocery store today and had to dig my car out. Bleh. I should've taken a picture of that because it's something I hope to never do again, though I will probably have to do it again next week. I briefly considered using an extension cord to get my blow dryer out there to melt the snow, and then I remembered I don't have an extension cord. So I just dug my car out instead. Thanks to my new snow shovel, some rock salt, some clever driving (if I do say so myself) and, I'm certain, a little push from my guardian angel, I managed to make it out of my driveway and to the store. It was quite the adventure. I didn't enjoy it. But, I have food now. And thanks to all of my family freaking me out about ice storms, I bought a bunch of bottled water, so you can all stop worrying about that.

Anyway, my package from FIU (Florida International University, that's the school I'm going through to study abroad) came today. I'm pretty damn excited. I even did a little victory dance. I have my school schedule, complete with field trips, and some general information from the US embassy in Spain. Yeah! and Yeah! I'm so excited. I will be taking a Women and the Law: Comparative and Global Considerations class and a European Legal History class. I have class four days a week, with long weekends to study, of course, and explore Spain. Ms. Trujillo, the lady in charge of the program, told me there are some other students in the program who have opted to stay in the dorms I'm staying in, so that will be a lot of fun. I'm so excited to experience a new culture, meet new people, try new food, try a new language (though, honestly, I don't have a lot of hope in that area). It's going to be incredible.

So that'll be five weeks of my summer, and the rest of my summer will be spent in sunny SG where I have an internship lined up that will also be incredible. I'm pretty excited about that as well. Seriously, this summer is going to be totally jam-packed with nary an inch to breath, but it's going to be awesome, and I can't wait. Alas, it's only the fifth of February. Sigh. At least it's not January anymore.

Look, my first snowball. I love snow so much, my fingers are numb with joy

2011-02-04T16:46:00.012-07:00

There is so much snow. I've been taking pictures to share with all of you fine folk, but I'm just not sure they do justice to the ridiculous amount of cold white stuff on the ground. Ah well, here they are anyway. Enjoy.This is a picture of the courtyard at the law school. I was trying to take a picture of the ridiculous amount of snow falling from the sky, but I was largely unsuccessful in that area as the snowflakes didn't show up very well. You can see how much snow is out there, kind of. The school hasn't shoveled the courtyard at all since the snow started at the beginning of January, so there is a lot of snow out there.
This is a picture of some of the icicles on the ACPH's gym building. Some of the sidewalks are actually roped off because of the giant icicles dripping from the roofs. Apparently they don't want any icicle/human contact, and I totally concur with that. Too bad they don't also strive to avoid snow/human contact. Oh well. Can't have everything I guess.These are just some random pictures of the snow. And I have no idea why my blog has suddenly decided to type in blue and underlined, but it's not a link, so don't click on it.This is a picture of the park by my house. Another place that never gets shoveled.I just thought it was funny that they only cleared one side of the stairs.That is a picture of my front door. The stairs leading up to my front door are under there somewhere.I thought I should end this snowy post with a picture of my school. Kinda pretty, don't you think? It'd be prettier if it wasn't so damn cold. Still, I do go to school in a really cool building (and yes, there is another wing, but I couldn't go back any farther due to the giant snowbank behind me.) Hope you're all staying warm. Happy trails!

I wasn't born of this [frozen tundra] like you [upstate New Yorkers] . . . . My constitution is much more... delicate.

2011-01-24T08:19:00.005-07:00

It is very cold in upstate New York. Very, exceedingly cold. Last week, we had a freezing rain storm. That was weird. The next day when I was scraping the ice off my windshield it got even more strange. There was an inch of solid ice covering my entire car. It wasn't hard to get off though. All I had to do was get my little ice scraper underneath the ice and I could pry the whole thing off. It came off in sheets, big blocks of ice falling off my car. It was bizarre. And very cold. I have this awful habit of not wearing gloves; I really hate them. The problem is, when I'm scraping the ice and snow off my car, my hands get a little... cold. My car actually ended up being stuck in the ice and snow, so I had to walk to my meeting. When I got there, I noticed that I was bleeding. That was when I realized I had cut myself fifteen minutes earlier whilst scraping my car. Awful habit of not wearing gloves whilst scraping ice off my car = frozen hands and total loss of feeling. Next time, I wore gloves.

This weekend, I went to a hockey game with some friends. It was so much fun, but walking from the car to the stadium... holy shit. I don't think I've ever been so cold in my entire life. Until today. This morning I walked to school in -12 degree weather. I had on every piece of winter clothing I could fit onto my little body. The sun is shining and it looks so beautiful and inviting. Lies! If anyone would like to know what hell frozen over looks like, let me know, and I'll take a picture for you. Sigh. I'm cold.

Wow, I know that tone. It's just weird hearing it come from someone with hair.

2011-01-16T11:05:00.005-07:00

Well, first week of the second semester is finished. Phew! Only like 16 to go, or something like that. I'm starting to get anxious about studying abroad this summer. I'm waiting for the Dean to approve my program (which he will because I have the requisite grades. I just wish he would do it faster) so I can send in my application. I'm also getting anxious about my FAFSA because I'm waiting for the hospital to send me my W2 so I know how much I made last year. I hate waiting.

Besides all the anxiety, the first week has been pretty good, a little weird, but pretty good. We had a snow day on Wednesday. Unfortunately for me, I didn't check my email before I left my house. Over the break, the school called me to inform me the facilities were closed due to an ice storm, so I was under the impression they always called if the school was closed. Apparently not. I walked my ass all the way to campus through a foot of snow (and growing) only to find it completely empty save for the janitor. It was kind of weird seeing the school empty like that. It's not even that empty at midnight. But anyway, I turned my ass around and headed home. It was kind of nice to have a snow day, just relax. I enjoyed it. I was extra excited because I only have contracts on Wednesday this semester, so we missed it. Alas, my professor emailed us and said we couldn't afford to miss a class so we will be making it up. Bugger. Anyway, for your viewing pleasure here is a picture of the sidewalks the day after the snow day.

I thought it looked kind of cool, like I was walking between two walls of snow. Anyway....

It was nice to have a long weekend, even though I've only been in school a week... Friday night I went out with some friends to Eldas. I love Eldas. On Thursday nights, they have karaoke. On the weekends, they have a DJ, so you can go dance your little heart out. Which I did. It was a great time. On Saturday night I went to a house party with a friend. Apparently I was supposed to dress nice. I, however, showed up in levis. Oh well. There were a few people there I hadn't seen since before Christmas, so it was fun to get to visit. And then there were two glorious days of procrastination and relaxation. I watched Die Hard. It was beautiful.

Alas, school must start again. I wondered if we'd have a snow day again, but we didn't. They did have an "emergency closure" of the school though. All classes after 4 o'clock were cancelled, so I went to all of my classes (the last one gets over at 3:15. So close!) and walked home in freezing rain, which was kind of a weird experience. It's like 20 degrees outside, but it's raining, but because it's so cold, the rain is frozen. It's like the clouds had a glitch in their system and sent out the wrong material. The ground was all crunchy.

My boots have been holding up nicely, which is good - especially when I walk to school in a blizzard... Or home in freezing rain... This is a weird place.

All I have is the phrase "I have a foolproof plan". Beyond that, I'm wide open.

2011-01-08T10:45:00.003-07:00

Well school has begun again. Bleh. My classes are really hard, so hopefully I'll be up to the challenge. I feel like the professors expect more of us this semester, which makes sense I guess. Still, I spend most of class hoping they don't call on me. So far so good, but it's only Tuesday....

Today I had three classes, so I just took all my books with me to campus. The idea was to study in between classes. Do you have any idea how much four law textbooks weigh? I don't either, but it's a lot. I was waiting for the light to change so I could cross the street, and I thought for sure my backpack was going to rip through my shoulder and split my body in two. I feel like I should never do that again. Tomorrow I also have three classes, so I'll have to think up a different way to study without causing my shoulders to implode on the rest of my body. Seriously, I had to lean forward to prevent myself from falling over. Yikes.

Anyway, my Constitutional Law class is pretty interesting. My teacher is totally crazy, but I think he'll be fun. He seems pretty chill. It's a hard class though. I keep hoping it'll get easier.... I have that class every day but Friday, so I've been doing a lot of reading in that book. We've been talking about judicial review and we're supposed to start discussing standing (whether you have a valid reason to be in court) tomorrow. I did do my reading, briefed my cases and everything, but I think I will still hope he doesn't call on me tomorrow.

My property class is... good? I should probably not be so candid on my blog. The cases we've been reading so far are all from the 17 and 1800's. They're kind of interesting, although some of them I don't really get. Why would you sue someone over a fox? Granted, it's obnoxious for someone to kill a fox you've been chasing all day, but sue them? Some people's kids. Anyway, that class is going to be very hard. I really hope he doesn't call on me, or if he ever does, he just asks me for a definition. I'm pretty handy with a dictionary.

Intro to Lawyering this semester is going to be crazy. We have to write a fact analysis, a persuasive memo, an appellate brief, and then do an oral argument in front of judges (real judges, which just makes it more terrifying). We even get to do a mock negotiation session. That will be kind of fun. It's going to be a lot of work though, for sure. We have more freedom this semester to do our own research instead of using the cases Professor Queenan gave us. That means we get to make our own arguments. Hopefully I don't turn out to be dumb. That will be really embarrassing.

I've only gone to my criminal law class once so far. Mostly we talked about legal and sociological theories of punishment. We read this awful case where these guys kill the cabin boy and eat him to survive (they're shipwrecked and out of food). I realized I am a retributivist because I thought they should go to jail even though it was unlikely to serve as any kind of deterrence, or reform, or anything like that. Then I felt bad because if you're going to spend all that money and time to punish someone, it should probably serve a purpose for the punishee and society. Still, they ate the cabin boy! I suppose that's the classic societal-internal struggle regarding punishment. We're supposed to continue our discussion next class. Should be interesting.

Anyway, my classes are hard, but I think I'm going to enjoy them. This semester's going to be pretty crazy. I have one more class than I did last semester, and the teachers all expect us to know what we're doing now.... Anyway, I plan to spend a large majority of my time this semester in the library. I also plan to start outlining much earlier then, you know, the week before finals. So hopefully all that extra studying will help my brain to keep up with my professors brains. Here's hoping!

After you get where you're going, take off your shoes and your socks then walk around on the rug bare foot and make fists with your toes

2010-12-16T06:37:00.003-07:00

Finals. Are. Over. Good thing to! I wasn't sure if I was going to make it. It was touch and go there for a while. The tests were brutal, but they are over. I'm so happy! And tired. I'm really tired.

Finals, as everything, came with their scandals and gossip. On Friday, after my federal civil procedure final, we got an email from the Dean of Academic Affairs (who also happened to be my civ pro teacher. Anyway). Apparently some people had been caught cheating. You could literally feel the anger coming out of that email. Dean Mayer ended the email by saying that anyone who had cheated should voluntarily withdraw because they do not meet the minimum qualifications to work in this profession. Which is true. If you have "I cheated" on your transcript, the possibility that you will pass the bar are slim to none. Despite what people think about lawyers, we actually do have an ethics code. The bar consists of the actual exam and an ethics exam. You also have to pass an apparently very vigorous ethics shakedown, like a background check but much more personal. At any rate, being a cheater doesn't bode well for passing a very vigorous ethics shakedown. And, though I try to remember mercy and forgiveness and all that, I have to say I think they deserve what they get. Not only did the majority of us work our asses off for these exams, but after the cheaters were caught none of us could go to the bathroom during the exam. They're four hours long!! Oh sigh. I'm so glad they're over. 1 semester down, 5 to go...

Anyway, I'm currently sitting in the Albany airport. Yeah!! It's snowing, so I'm hoping that my flight won't get delayed. It looks like everything is still on schedule, so here's hoping! I can't wait to be home. I'm so excited to see everyone. All my friends were talking about how excited they were to finish finals and go get wasted with their friends back home. I'm sure they thought I was a little dorky when I said I was excited to finish finals and go home and dance around the Christmas tree with the fam. I don't care. There's plenty of time to go party with friends, but I only get to see the fam for three weeks, so we're gonna party Brinkerhoff style! And I'm so excited! I expect much laughing, dancing, playing games, and - of course - dancing. Probably throw some singing in there too. I can't wait to see my sisters and my bro, the kiddies, even the dogs! And of course, my Mom! SG here I come! I hope you're ready; NY has made me a little crazy...

We think of the greatest stuff down here, but then I can never remember any of it later.

2010-12-01T15:47:00.003-07:00

Finals week is upon us!! Not really. It actually starts next week, but it feels like it is upon us. My last class is tomorrow, but I imagine it's going to be pretty low key. Most of us have already checked out of the class-mode in favor of the study-my-brains-out mode. I've been waking up early to get a bit of extra study time in, but this morning I woke up a little earlier than I intended. I, and the rest of the neighborhood, were treated to the dulcet tones of two very angry people. Who knew someone could muster enough energy to be that bloody angry at 5:30 in the damn morning. I mean, honestly. I would have almost been impressed except they weren't even clever. So I was just annoyed. Ah well, I got even more time to study than I originally intended (b/c I couldn't fall back asleep) so I guess it's not a total loss.

Law school exams are definitely more intense than any other test I have ever taken in my entire life. The stress level on campus is.... up. On the advice of my mentor, I have stayed away from the library (that's where all the crazies are). It's probably a good thing too. I've had to woosah myself a few times. Yesterday, I even had to take a break from studying negligence and clean my bathroom b/c I was on the verge of freaking out. But my bathroom is nice and clean though, so you know, that's good.

I'm always amazed at the ability humans have to gossip. It's absolutely incredible how quickly information spreads. The latest information spreading about the school, besides who did well on their exams last year and why they did well, is who has dropped out. I knew there were people in my class who were having a second go at law school. Apparently one of those people has dropped out. Right before finals. And apparently she wasn't doing very well, so everyone is upset that she left b/c she would have helped the curve. You see what law school does to people? Plus, I'm not sure how everyone knows how she did on the research exam. If I did that bad, I wouldn't tell a damn soul. Who knows, it's probably all distorted, but she has been mysteriously absent since Thanksgiving. I hope she didn't get sick on bad turkey! If she did, she has an entire torts class to choose from to represent her. Assuming we all pass.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-27T16:15:00.003-07:00

This week I got to fly down to Kentucky and spend some time with my Dad. It was wonderful! It was so good to see him! He did have to work, but we still got to spend a couple of hours together each day. And it was ok; while he worked I studied. I seriously underestimated how long it would take me to do these outlines....

Anyway, Thanksgiving with my Dad was so good. We ate our Thanksgiving feast at the Ponderosa. I had a strawberry Pepsi to drink. They didn't have cherry flavoring, but they did have strawberry. When the waitress read the order, she said "what?" and looked at me like I was crazy, but it was pretty good. So if you ever want to order a cherry coke/pepsi and they don't have cherry flavoring, ask them if they have strawberry flavoring (like for the lemonade). It'll be an adventure for your taste buds!

I'm getting really excited for Christmas. I decorated my house.... I don't have very many decorations to begin with, and apparently I didn't bring them all. So I have like four decorations up, but it's a tiny splash of Christmas, and that's enough. I'm still hoping for a Christmas miracle this year, that Dad will be able to come home, and we can all be together. I should have set up a skype account for him while I was there, so we could skype on Christmas Day (just in case my miracle doesn't come through.) Maybe I'll send him instructions....

Well at any rate, it was really good to see Dad for Thanksgiving. I needed a bit of a break from Albany, and what better place to steal away to then wherever family is? It was a really great Thanksgiving! I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving as well!

Some guy in a wolf costume with a light saber just said hi to you.

2010-11-18T12:21:00.004-07:00

I can't decide if time is going too slow or too fast. Hm. I can't believe finals is only three weeks away, but it still feels like ages until I get to come home. I think time is going slowly when I think about home and much too quickly when I think about school. Father Time, I shake my fist in your general direction!

I've been working on my Objective Memo for my lawyering class. Bleh. That's due on Tuesday, and then (hopefully) I'll get to zip down to Kentucky and see my Dad for a bit. That would be wonderful! Then, one more week of classes until the dreaded finals week arrives!! I'm freaking out a little about that, but only a little.

Anyway, I have my schedule for next semester! Assuming I don't fail everything this semester, I will be taking: criminal law, constitutional law, property, and then I continue with contracts and intro to lawyering. I'm excited for criminal law and constitutional law! I think those will be fun courses. I'm less excited for property law, but who knows? Maybe it'll turn out to be my favorite subject. Unlikely.

I haven't had many adventures of late. I have been holed up in my apartment since last Friday. Seriously. I go to class, and then I come home and sit on my futon and study. It's so depressing. My living room is a disaster: textbooks, notes, supplemental materials strewn all over the place. I wonder if this is what a mad lawyer's office would look like? You know, like a mad scientist has a lab with chemicals perched precariously in every inch of the room. I wonder if a mad lawyer's office would be like this, legal texts, memos, and case briefs strewn higgledy-piggledy throughout the office. Well, if that's true, I may emerge from law school a totally crazy super genius with glasses and a tweed coat. Totally crazy? check. Super genius?... Well, I've got 2.5 more years for that. Glasses and a tweed coat?... oh what the hell. Why not?

I'm sorry Professor; I must not tell lies.

2010-11-08T15:31:00.009-07:00

It's snowing!! My first snowstorm in Albany. :) I remember in Logan, it would snow like once in November, melt, and then not snow again until late December. I wonder what it will be like here. There is quite a bit of snow out there currently. It's a little ridiculous. I left my house for school this morning thinking it wasn't a big deal. By the time I actually got to school (it takes me like seven minutes to walk to school), it was snowing pretty damn hard. Big fluffy flakes. Bollocks. It's a good thing I always carry my umbrella with me! Anyway, here are some pictures of the winter wonderland in progress.

Sorry they aren't very good pictures, and I obviously have no idea how to organize them on my blog, but still it's snow! I'm actually not that excited about it. It's cold and wet. And I have to walk to school every day. My search for winter boots has moved to the top of my priority list... right after homework, my article, and grocery shopping. Hey, I gotta eat.

Anyway, in other news I chopped off my hair. It was more adventure than I originally bargained for, but it turned out ok I think, so all is well. It's always kind of fun to try a new hairstyle. We'll see how long it takes before I stop doing it.... It looked cute today, at least.

My first final is in less than a month!! I'm kind of excited, mostly because it means it's almost time for me to come home and see everyone! I'm also starting to get a little nervous. Even the professors are starting to address finals more often. It used to be that, generally, the professors wouldn't talk about the finals unless we asked. Now, they bring it up of their own accord. Suspicious.. At any rate, we all have a bit of time left to study our little hearts out. Perhaps that's what I should go do now. Bugger.

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November

2010-11-05T17:38:00.002-06:00

I can't believe it's already November! Less than two months til I get to come home. Hurray! I can't wait to see everyone!!

Anyway, in school news, I did ok on my exam. Not as well as I had hoped, but still a decent score. Just means I need to study harder for my next exams. Anyway, I'm writing another article for The Issue, this time about the Arizona Immigration Law. There were a bunch of clubs that co-sponsored a symposium on the issue. That was last night, and it was interesting. I have so much research and information though, I don't know how I'm going to weed through it all. Hopefully I'll end up with a coherent, informative article!!

I signed up to be part of the pro bono project next semester. I was able to be placed in my first choice (International Human Rights), so I'm really excited about that. I have no idea what exactly I'll be doing, but I know I'll be working with a group called Freedom Now in DC that works to free political prisoners, and that it will be freaking awesome, and fun, and I'll hopefully be useful to society. :D Anyway, I'm going to be very busy next semester, but I'm excited!

I Put a Spell on You!

2010-10-31T20:12:00.003-06:00

Happy Halloween! I did my Halloween stuff yesterday, and it was good times! I dressed up as Abby Scuito from NCIS. I looked pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.

What do you think? I also had on one of those big ass wristbands she wears, but you can't see it in this picture. Anyway, I think I did pretty good for being on a budget. People even recognized me! I was so excited when people would come up and say "Abby Sciuto, right?" Anyway, I had a lot of fun getting all dressed up and dying my hair. I used the spray dye, and it got everywhere! After the party, I went home and took a shower. I should've taken a picture of my bathroom. There was black everywhere: the sink, the bath, the walls, the floor. I don't even know how it managed to get all over everything, but it certainly did, and it was kind of hard to get off the tile, but it was so worth it!

Anyway, a girl in my class had a pre-game, so I went to that with a few friends. Afterwards we headed to the party at the law school. Yeah! It was so fun. They were playing loud club music, and I got to dance my little heart out. It was so fun! I ended my night way too early though. I was at the school for about an hour, and then I just felt like death, so I went home, so that was kind of a bummer.

Still, I got to do everything I wanted this Halloween. I dressed up as Abby Sciuto, and people recognized me without prompting (in fact, a few people came up to me and said "Abby from NCIS, right?", and I said "Yes!" and we'd talk for a few minutes about the show, and then they'd introduce themselves and I'd say, "My name is Abby. Really. My name is Abby."), and I got to go the school party and dance. So even though I ended the evening being violently ill, it was still a pretty good Halloween. Oh, and I watched Hocus Pocus tonight. I love Halloween.

Aim for the flattop!

2010-10-24T16:19:00.004-06:00

Last night I went to a comedy show with Michelle, Mike, and Andrew. We saw Louis CK and some random guy whom opened for him. Louis CK was pretty freaking hilarious. It was good times! The theater was amazing. First of all, it was huge. Second, it was so pretty. It was old school architecture and was extremely aesthetically pleasing. It kind of reminded me of the Eccles theater in Logan only much bigger. Anyway, the show was hilarious. I'm very glad we went! Plus, I got to get all dressed up, which is always fun because I never do it!
It doesn't look like I'm smiling, but really I am! My skin is just glowing too brightly... Anyway, it was a great weekend!

I bet I get a job before Jeff gets out of that coma.

2010-10-21T20:45:00.004-06:00

I had my first real test today (and by real I mean it's actually going to be graded)! I'm so glad it's over! Honestly, I wasn't super stressed about it until after I finished it, but it feels like the whole school has been filling up with tension all week. It's ridiculous. Last night I wanted to go to the library and study, but I ended up waiting until like 9:30 because the library was so crazy. There were a lot of people there arguing over the United States Code and Reporters. I went upstairs and hid in a classroom. I didn't want to catch the fever.
Anyway, the test was... I don't know. It's hard to gage how I feel about it. Law school is in love with the curve, so my grade depends on everyone else's grade. I really hate that. Anyway, it's over now! Now I just have to wait to get my score! I think I'm more nervous about that then I ever was about actually taking the test. Is that weird?

Hakunah Matata

2010-10-10T11:48:00.020-06:00

This weekend I went hiking. Yeah!!! It was so nice to get out of the city for a few hours. The scenery was incredible. Lots of colors. There are a lot of different kinds of trees out here, I noticed.

We went to a place called Partridge Run. We didn't see any Partridges though. In fact, I saw two sparrows and I believe that was all the wildlife we saw the whole hike. Oh well. It was still beautiful scenery and a nice day.

At first glance, it all kind of reminded me of Logan Canyon. After we started our hike, though, I realized it's not quite Logan Canyon; New York has a lot more diversity in their plant life. Well, in every kind of life, come to think of it, but they also have lots of different kinds of trees, as I said earlier. It was really pretty.

Another thing I noticed that was different from home were these little stone walls. Mike said they were built back in the colonial days, or some far away past, and they were meant to mark property lines. They were kind of cool though. They were quite old, as stated, so they were kind of crumbling and some of them had moss growing over the stones.

This is Arnaud posing on one of those cool little walls. I really liked them; they made me feel like I was walking through colonial farm land or something. Anyway, we also crossed this old bridge that had grass growing over it.

That was kind of cool too.

Aside from our colonial construction discoveries, we had some great adventures. We had to cross this creek a couple of times, but usually there was a log or something we could use as a bridge (or an actual bridge). We came to one particular juncture that had no bridge. And no logs. And not enough rocks. So went down stream a bit to see if we could find a better place to cross. No dice. So Arnaud and Mike decided they were going to build a bridge.

It was great. I tried to post some videos, but they wouldn't play once I had them posted. Anyway, they're on facebook if you want to watch them. So, anyway, this man came to tell us we were on private property (not his). He also informed us it was free range, and Michelle thought that meant in regards to guns, like "it's free range out here, so duck and cover." When I explained to her that it had to do with cattle, and the man told us they had bulls, she wasn't feeling much better about it. But we got out of the free range, and all was well. No one got shot or gored (although, just as an aside, apparently in New York you are allowed to target practice in state parks. I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to do that in Utah. Anyway, just FYI...). There was actually a bridge there, but the man told us a storm had come through a bit ago and wiped it out, so the only way we were going to get across was to wade in the water. So we did. And it was cold. Michelle and I made the guys go first; once we saw that they survived, we decided to wade in ourselves. It was kind of fun watching everyone get across. It was less fun on the way back when we had to cross the river again. My pants were almost dry....

It was a great hike, and I had a lot of fun. I'm glad someone finally agreed to go with me! There are actually quite a few hikes in the area, and the Adirondacks are only like an hour or so away, so I'll have to go check those out someday as well! Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from the hike. Enjoy!

Sorry. Could you come back later? We're trying to escape.

2010-10-04T19:03:00.006-06:00

I honked at someone today! I've never honked at anyone in my entire driving life. See what New York has done to me? The light was green, and this schmuck was just sitting there, so I honked at him. I felt so mean, but he moved, so mission accomplished! I can add that to my list of new things I've tried in New York!

This weekend was fun. On Friday, I went down to Massachussetts with a friend to check out this outlet mall. Apparently Massachussetts doesn't have sales tax on clothing. Anyway, it was a little disappointing, but it was still kind of cool to go to another state! They also had this cool clock. Anyway, here's my proof that I went to Massachussetts, bought a shirt sans sales tax, and stood in front of the giant clock!

Michelle and I both agreed that Massachussetts has a different feel to it. Granted, I was only like twenty minutes from the border of New York, but it felt kind of quaint. Albany isn't quaint. It's more.... um.... experienced. Anyway, Boston is only three hours away, so hopefully someday in my three year sojourn here in Albany, I'll make it out to Boston!

This weekend I had my first experience as an attorney! Sort of. I volunteered for the pro se divorce clinic in Mechanicville, NY. I worked with another student, and we filled out divorce papers for clients who couldn't afford attorneys. It was interesting. It was a great experience not only to have to deal with all of that paperwork but also to get to interact with a client and explore that relationship. I've also learned a bit about divorce law, in New York anyway.

It's definitely fall here. My apartment is cold! My landlords control the heat, and they haven't turned it on yet... I am very grateful for the big heavy quilts I have (all of which, by the way, were made for me by a family member. My family is amazing!!!!). I'm so glad my family knows how to make quilts because if they didn't, I'd freeze to death! But I stay nice and warm every night. It's in the morning that I get cold! The library is pretty warm though, so it works out. Anyway, the leaves are starting to change, and it's pretty. Honestly, it kind of reminds me of Logan. I'll take some pictures and post them so you can all see fall in upstate New York.

Anyway, just thought I'd share my driving adventure! I miss all of you!

If I miss that 20 midget free for all, I'm gonna be super pissed.

2010-09-30T16:19:00.010-06:00

So last Saturday I went to Lark Fest. It wasn't quite what I expected. My bro-in-law had me thinking it was an all weekend booze fest with crazy characters galore. He was only half right. Well, two thirds.

Lark Fest is kind of like the art fair, only bigger. Way bigger. I made a comment about how many people there were, and someone told me "There's actually not a very good turn out this year."

These were my humble attempts at showing how many people were there. There's this great spot about half way down lark street where the street starts to go downhill that would have been a great picture, but I was too short to see over everyone's heads. Oh well.

Anyway, so essentially Lark Fest is really just a craft fair. There were people there selling all kinds of stuff: jewelry, clothes, food, hats.

This is a friend and I wearing these cute little animal hats. They were actually really warm... Anyway, so there was lots of selling and buying and I had yummy pizza from a little joint called Soho Pizza.

There were definitely some characters there, though. I saw my first ever tranny. That's probably not the politically correct term, but whatevs. I don't think this person was particularly worried about it. When I asked if I could take a picture, they were more than happy to pose.

There was also this guy carrying an iguana around. I've actually seen him before. Seriously, I'm positive it was the same guy. He's a very good pet owner, taking his lil iguana out into the world to see the sights.

This isn't a very good picture. Sorry... Anyway, it actually wasn't a little iguana; it was rather large. And it looked like there was a little leash around his neck, so....

Albany also has this population of bottle collecters. By the way, tangent, NY doesn't have a sales tax on food, but they do on things in recyclable containers, like coke. Five cents extra for every bottle. Supposedly it's to motivate people to recycle so they can get their five cents back. I do recycle, but I don't get my five cents back. Anyway, so there are quite a few people around that collect bottles so they can turn them in for the money. You'll see them walking down the street with a cart full of bottles and cans or a giant trash bag. They were out in full force at Lark Fest because there were lots of recyclable containers being disposed of.

Again, this isn't a very good picture. Sorry. Next time I'll take my camera instead of just using my phone. Anyway, that entire cart is full of bottles and cans. I guess if law school doesn't work out, I can always be a bottle collecter.

Albany has a.. um... horse force? Anyway, there were a ton of cops at Lark Fest, but at a few of the intersections, there were cops on horses!Kinda cool, right? There were lots of people there taking pictures of themselves petting the horses. I'm not sure how the police felt about the photo op... still, it was kinda cool to see horse cops, or equestrian force, or whatever.

So Lark Fest was definitely an adventure. I'm glad I went! It was a lot of fun. I didn't buy any of the crafts, but it was fun to look at what was there. There were a lot of different booths with lots of different kinds of merchandise. And Nephi, if you ever come out to Albany in September, I'll take you to Lark Fest. We can take your picture with the tranny. Or the iguana.

Wee wee! Pee pee!

2010-09-25T10:49:00.003-06:00

Some of the first apps I downloaded on my wonderful phone that I love were news apps. I have NPR, BBC, and the New York Times. When I eat breakfast in the morning, I read the news. I should stop doing that because it just pisses me off.
I read an article today on npr that made me exceedingly angry. The CEO of CNN got fired (that didn't make me angry. I have no personal feelings about the CEO of CNN, although it does suck for him that he got fired. Anyway), so the article talked about how all of the news channels had a dwindling audience but CNN's audience was dwindling the fastest because people are increasingly gaining a preference for news that has been filtered through strong partisan biases. What? Are you kidding me? People would rather be lied to than hear the truth? Seriously? I can't even grasp that concept. Why would you want filtered bullshit rather than facts?
My poor mother has heard me rant about news talk show hosts for ages. I really hate them. Both sides. I hate that they portray themselves as journalists when they're really just entertainment and they deliver news that has been filtered through strong partisan biases and, a large majority of the time, is complete and total bullshit. And now NPR is telling me that's what people want? People want to be lied to, they want news organizations to spoonfeed them bullshit to further the agendas of a few wealthy men? Why would you want that? It's not even self-serving.
If a well-meaning politician announces that he's supporting a bill that says, I don't know, all eggs must come from free-range chickens, and then the egg companies funnel money into a particular news organization and then have those talk show hosts tell you that this politician is trying to turn your children into pot-smoking hippies (instead of the true motivation that, I dunno, free-range chickens are happy and happy chickens make healthier eggs), you'd rather hear the pot-smoking hippie spin? Even though it's stupid, supported by no empirical data, and told to you by someone who is paid by someone who has millions of dollars to gain by keeping their chickens in cages?
That's what npr is saying to me. People would rather hear something that doesn't even make sense then hear the truth and support something that might actually make healthier eggs or whatever the case may be. Why do people want to hear news filtered through strong partisan biases? On both sides. Conservative, liberal, it doesn't matter, if your information is being filtered through that partisan bias, you're being lied to. Why would you want to be lied to? How can we hold our congresspeople accountable and be active members of our own democratic government if we don't know what's really going on because our news organizations are lying to us?
We get so angry when we find out about politicians who are lining their pockets with money from corporate donors. Shouldn't we have the same standard for our news organizations? Journalists play an extremely important role in government. Their job is to make sure we know what the hell is going on, to make sure that the government knows that they can't screw around because if they do, we'll find out (thanks to the journalists) and march through the streets with their heads on a stick. Their metaphorical heads.
I'm tired of it. I'm tired of politicians being self-serving ass holes. I'm tired of news organizations allowing themselves to be overtaken by corporations, wealthy siblings, and oil tycoons. I'm tired of news talk show hosts lying through their damn teeth to spread an agenda that benefits two people and screws the rest of us. Most of all, I'm tired of people believing the bullshit. If everyone took the intitiative, or Heaven forbid journalists actually did their job, to research out a subject and find the facts, it doesn't mean we would all come to the same conclusion. What it does mean, is that we would all have the facts, the truth of the matter, and we could come together as a community to find the best possible solution, one that we could all live with and maybe even be happy about. We could work together, stop worrying about party lines and all that bullshit, and actually work together to make our community - our society - a better place, a place we could all be happy living. What a damn concept.

You better lose yourself in..the moment you own it

2010-09-22T20:16:00.004-06:00

The other day, I went to the pharmacy to pick up some drugs (legal ones). It's a little, tiny pharmacy like the ones you see in Law and Order sometimes. It's next to an art exhibit and a movie theater that is totally falling apart. I was walking down the street to my car and realized, holy shit. I live in New York. Sometimes I have those moments, where I realize where I am and what I'm doing. And in that moment, I am happy. I am content. I am found. It sounds sentimental, and I suppose it is, but I'm certain I'm where I'm supposed to be. I don't know what it is Albany has to teach me, something fabulous I'm sure.
I just finished reading a friend's blog. She has a little boy and another one on the way. She wrote a blog about how her son is starting the whole potty train adventure. Then I had one of those "I live on a different planet" moments. The type of moment where I don't wonder how my life would be if I had made different choices. I don't wish I could have a different life. And that brings me to the realization moment: I am where I am supposed to be. And I am happy.
I wish I could say that 'happy' in this instance meant jubilance or everlasting joy. I haven't found my calling yet, but it's somewhere and I'm on the right path. Today, happy means being in that moment, the clarity of the knowledge that flutters throughout my mind and my soul. In that moment, I am who I am supposed to be, who I dream of being. The manifestation of that moment, the certainty that I feel, is freeing and beautiful.
It is ironic that I find clarity in moments when I still have no idea what I want to do with my life. I don't think it matters. Today, I'm sure. I'm sure that I'm supposed to be not just at law school, but at this law school, living in this apartment. And that's enough. Today, I'm right where I want to be, right where I need to be. And I'm happy.

Someone ask me during finals week if I still feel happy.... And bring me a bag of candy corn.

Are You A Fan of Delicious Flavor?

2010-09-12T19:57:00.005-06:00

I've been venturing into the world of foreign food a lot since I moved here. I guess I figured if I'm going to be in Wonderland, I might as well try the food. Last night I went to a Vietnamese restaurant. It was pretty good. I would definitely eat there again. I got a chicken salad, so it was pretty basic, but I enjoyed it. It was even aesthetically pleasing!

See? It's like a carrot flower. It was great! Tonight during a little study break, I went to a sushi place with some friends.

Here it is friends, proof that I tried sushi. Ok, I didn't really try sushi; I got California rolls, but they have crab meat in them, so that counts, right? I even tried dipping them in soy sauce. They were awful. My digestive system did not appreciate that particular adventure, all though the edamame (I don't know how to spell it...) was really good. I might even try and make that someday. It seemed pretty simple....

Moral of the story: Vietnamese food=tasty. Sushi=not tasty. In my humble opinion, anyway. So those are my food adventures this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes when I finally try curry!

Let it Rock

2010-09-11T12:49:00.005-06:00

Hello! Sorry it's been so long since I posted; I've been a little busy, believe it or not. I can't believe I've only been here for three weeks! I feel like I've been in Albany for ages. I think I'm starting to figure life out here. New York is weird. In New Yorkers defense, they all think I'm weird. I still get funny looks, or looks of unabashed shock, when I tell people I'm from Utah. There are some people who are shocked I moved so far away from home, and there are some people who don't try to hide their disdain for someone who is from Utah. I have a friend who went to DC for school and told me she got so tired of the responses she got when she told people she was from Utah. She told me next time she moved out of state she was going to tell people she was from DC. Not me. I'm not ashamed to be from Utah. I love Utah! I'm really enjoying my time in New York. It's such an adventure, everything is so different, but I miss home. And it doesn't matter how far I go, or how long I'm gone, Utah will always be my home. And I'm not ashamed of that. So there.

Anyway, now that I've proclaimed my everlasting love for my home, I can tell you how much I'm enjoying New York. I've always wanted to experience something different from what I've known, and I definitely am experiencing something different from what I've known. I'm used to red rock; I'm not sure these people even have rocks, red or otherwise, just lots of trees. It's pretty though. I'm hoping to get some friends together when the leaves turn and hike some trails in the Adirondacks. In SG, night is quiet and you can see the stars. In Albany, the night is not quiet and everyone gathers on Pearl Street or Lark Street or a few other scattered places around town. Albany is never quiet.

Parking in Albany is atrocious. There is no where to park. Most of the apartments don't even have off street parking. Mostly, that means I walk everywhere. People park on the side of the street, but the streets are so narrow that the parked cars almost make the street into a single lane. Sometimes one car will have to stop and inch over so the other car can get around them. And people just stop in the middle of the road. It's so weird. I've learned not to wait because you never know how long they'll be sitting there. People just go around them, sometimes going into the other lane of traffic (usually there isn't anyone coming). If my car survives my 3 year sojourn here in Albany, it'll be a miracle.

I've had some new experiences here in New York. I went to a gay bar. Not as a patron, I just really had to pee and they had the closest bathroom. I've learned you can't smile at people you don't know here. In SG, I smile or say hello to everyone I pass, you know, just being friendly. Here, though, if I smile at a guy I don't know he thinks I'm hitting on him. They're not super charming. Maybe I'm just hard to please. They say really stupid stuff, and it's just awkward. So, I reserve my smiles for people I know. I feel so unfriendly...

I went to a dance club last night. Admittedly, that's not a "new" experience, but it was my first club in New York. All of the people I went with have either lived or visited New York City, and they all informed me that Jillian's was not a club. We're all gonna go to NYC sometime so they can show me what a real club is. I had fun though. I'm really bad at it, but I love to dance, so I had a blast.

I watched a football game on Thursday night. That was new too; I'm not really into football, but it was fun. There was a lot of excitement in the air. The Saints won, so I guess that's good... Everything here is so much more expensive than it is in Utah (Except internet. Random..) I went to a movie last weekend, and it cost me $10.75! That's $3.00 more than Utah. Holy Shit. And they don't even have a student discount. The nerve.

My classes are constantly offering new experiences. Some of the cases we've been reading are really interesting; some, not so much. Some of them make me really angry, and some fill me with a sense of justice served. In Contracts we read a case where a local union sued United States Steel for breach of contract, among other things (they lost); in Torts we've moved on to false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress (Seriously, you can sue people for that.) We read a case about this poor old man who gets accused of stealing an ascot, but he didn't steal it and sues the store for false imprisonment (he won.) In Civil Procedure, we're reading cases about personal jurisdiction (whether a court has the authority to hear the case based on "presence" or "consent"). We read about a case where Arnold Schwarzzaneger sued some poor schmuck from Ohio for using his image without his consent. The schmuck files a motion to dismiss saying California didn't have personal jurisdiction (He won. Schwarzzaneger then sued him in Ohio. I think they settled).

Anyway, all things considered, I'm really enjoying my time here. I'm meeting new people and trying new things. Everyday brings a new adventure, and I love that. It's hard to be so far from home, though, and sometimes I get really homesick. I love to get news from home! (Translation: Feel free to send me pictures, emails, texts, calls, and/or warm fuzzy thoughts!) In conclusion: I love it here; I really miss home; People think Utahns are weird; I don't give a damn that people think Utahns are weird; I'm gonna rock this city! After it's done rocking me. :)

Mrs. Pickles is her full name. Although, I'm not actually sure if cats can marry outside of Boston

2010-08-27T19:27:00.002-06:00

I survived my first week of law school with only minimal injuries, mostly to my pride. Seriously though, it's been a good week. A very full week. I feel like I'm learning a few things. I'm enjoying my classes. I'm still trying to get a feel for them, but so far so good I think.

I only have one class on Fridays and it was cancelled, so today I had zero classes, which was wonderful. I took the time to relax and do nothing. Ok, ok, I did a few things. I got my financial aid check so now I won't starve to death. I'm pretty happy about that. Anyway, I'm sure you're all dying to know what they teach us in law school, so here's a bit about the classes I'm taking (mind you, I've only been in school for a week, so I really have no idea what the hell I'm talking about, but just go with it.)

Ok, in contracts we've started talking about the three basic principles in regards to contract law: bargain, reliance, and restitution. Right now we're reading cases that address, for the most part, the bargain principle. Last class we started discussing the difference between a bargain and a gift. It seems like such an easy distinction to make, but legally it's a damn nightmare. These people are obsessed with definitions. That's one thing I've learned this week, every word counts: how you use them, when you use them, and how you punctuate them. Honestly, even words like 'and' and 'or' can totally change the meaning of a rule. Calls for a very aggressive reading approach. I'm also fairly certain that, upon graduating from law school, I'll have perfect grammar.

Anyway, I'm also taking a torts class. My teacher in this class, Professor Lytton, is very energetic. I really like him. I think he's a good teacher, but he has a very aggressive teaching approach and he gets so animated. It's a little frightening. Anyway, we're learning about the intentional tort of battery right now. It's been pretty interesting. I've been studying for that class tonight, reading the cases for Monday, and I feel like I'm never gonna figure this shit out. But I think I'm starting to understand how to read a case, so that's good.

I'm also taking an introduction to lawyering class. This is the class where we get to take a fictional case from initial client interview to appeal. The first day Professor Queenan sent around a sheet, and we could sign up to represent either the plaintiff or the defendant, without knowing anything about the case. (Not that it would have mattered seeing as that was only our second day of law school). Anyway, I signed up to represent the plaintiff. On Thursday she told us a little bit more about the case. All we know is that it's a case about the whistleblower statute. I'm kind of excited about this and glad I signed up to represent the plaintiff (the whistleblower in this case). I really hope my client doesn't turn out to be an ass hole.

The last class I have is Federal Civil Procedure. Everyone says this is one of the hardest classes your first year. I've only been once, and I can see why. My torts professor has this quote on our class website "The law never is, it is always about to be." Benjamin N. Cardozo. That makes it a difficult thing to learn. There are so many rules: state statutes, federal statutes, case law, and these rules are constantly being amended or reversed. And we're supposed to learn them in civ pro. Whew. It's an exercise for the mind, that's for sure.

All of my professors seem pretty nice, and I've got a study group which will help a ton. Truthfully, I'm enjoying school so far. It's hard. It's kicking my ass, but I feel like I'm learning which is why I'm here, so that's good. I do have to say though, the few cases I've read thus far have convinced me that the world is filled with ass holes and morons. Hopefully next week will read some more encouraging cases.

Report back to me when it makes sense

2010-08-24T18:54:00.004-06:00

Holy shit. It's day two and I feel like I've been here for years. If you're wondering how I have time to write on my blog, the answer is... I don't. I'm procrastinating the day of repentence, er.. the day of federal civil procedure case brief. Sigh. I'm learning a ton. Or at least I think I am. Anyway, today I went to a Thai restaurant for lunch with a friend from my section. I've never eaten Thai food before, so that was an adventure. Maybe a bit too much adventure. The food was actually pretty good, but a piece of chicken got stuck in my throat and I spent about five minutes of my lunch puking my guts out in the bathroom. Kinda gross, which is why I'm sharing it with all of you. :D I felt a little silly when I went back to the table, but conversation resumed and all was well. I did; however, save the rest of my meal for later. I got together with a few other students tonight and had a little study group. It was super helpful, and we will hopefully be getting together again soon! Anyway... I really do need to do this case brief. Bloody homework. :P Anyway, just thought I'd tell everyone about my Thai food adventure. And Lukey, when I come home for Christmas, I might actually go to Benjas with you. :)

It is my intention to commandeer a ship of the fleet, pick up a crew in Tortuga, and raid, plunder, and pillage my weasly black guts out.

2010-08-22T19:25:00.010-06:00

Well, I survived orientation. I'm pretty sure I survived... It was an interesting three days for sure. Albany Law divides each class into sections during their first year, and then you have all your classes with that group of people. I'm in section 7. We have a pretty good section. Everyone seems to get along really well. We had a little BBQ today, sort of a pre-school get-together. It was fun.

It's been interesting getting to know the people in my section. I've gotten some interesting responses when I tell people I'm from Utah. One of the girls in my section told me she watched Big Love. I wanted to say, I'm happy for you? But I didn't. I assured her that I did, in fact, only have one mother.

Anyway, I learned all kinds of things in orientation. We had alumni panels, mental health professionals (I'm not kidding. We had a panel of people from a group called the Lawyering Assistance Program. It deals exclusively to attorneys and law students who suffer from substance abuse or mental illness. Should I be worried?), deans, upperclassmen, and more deans. It was a lot of information. We also had a sample class, which was kind of nice. Law school is so different from anything I've done before, so it's kind of hard to know what to expect. I was glad for the opportunity to kind of experience it before it actually counts. Which is tomorrow. Shit.

Truthfully, I'm kind of excited for school to start. I worked really hard to get here, and I'm ready to work really hard to get everything I can out of the experience. I've started studying for my classes. Hopefully I'm studying enough! One of the guys on the alumni panel told us we should be studying at least 60 hours a week. Everyone else on the panel said we definitely need to study hard and focus on our work, but that guy needed to chill out. I'm going to listen to them. I don't know. I guess 60 hours isn't completely unreasonable. That's only ten hour days, six days a week. Meh. Hopefully I won't need to study that much. If I do, call me on Sundays.

Anyway, tomorrow I have contracts and torts. I've heard good things about my professors for these classes, so that's good. I'm kind of nervous about the whole thing. Class doesn't start until eleven though, so I'll have plenty of time to wake up and do some yoga before class to help me relax and remember to breath. :P But enough about school. I'm starting to adapt to New York. A little. It's just so damn different, there's a lot to get used to. I've managed to find a few more places around town, but I still have to use my GPS on occasion. Today I even got lost. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and passed my street. When I finally realized it, I was like six blocks from the street I should have turned on. I ended up in the middle of a park, a very strange park. The roads were like a maze. I was never sure if I was even in the right lane or if my car was pointed in the right direction. I'm pretty sure it was though. Anyway, Tady had to rescue me then, and she got me safely home. Yeah for GPS!

I love my apartment. It's a nice little place, quiet. No, I take that back. I don't have AC, so I leave my windows open. Albany has a very active night life. Lots of cars, music, cops, and ambulances. I've already started to sleep through it. :D Anyway, I took some pictures of my apartment, so you can all see where I live.

This is my bathroom, obviously. My landlord put in new tile right before I moved in. Doesn't it look nice?

This is my living room. Someday that little tv stand is going to have a tv on it...

Living room again. I really like that little shelf. This is my dining room. It's more of a dining nook, really.Here is my kitchen. It's kinda small, but it suffices. PS I do have an oven, it's just not in the picture. This is my computer/study/second bedroom. Can you see that giant stack of textbooks next to my chair? Now there's something to look forward too. :PMy bedroom is actually kind of big. It's also kind of empty, so I figured one picture was enough. Ignore the unmade bed please...

So there's my apartment. Isn't it lovely? I think so. I should have taken a picture of the doors. They have those old school locks like you see sometimes in movies, like the chains. I had never seen one until I moved in. I don't have any carpet either which makes it so very easy to clean. Anyway, I way love my apartment.

Tomorrow I, officially, begin my new academic adventure. I'm kind of excited. It'll be fun to find out what my classes will be like. There are a few clubs I think might be kind of fun, so I'll go check those out this week. Hopefully, I'll stay pretty busy. Like I say, I worked really hard to get here, and I intend to get the most out of my experience. And hopefully be smart when I'm done.

A Tom Wallbanger Bloody Sunrise on the Beach

2010-08-13T20:08:00.004-06:00

I made it!! I am officially in Albany, NY in my cute little apartment, which I love already. We have had quite the adventure the last couple of days, and I think we are all very grateful to be done driving for a bit. We picked my Dad up in Kentucky, and it's been so nice to have him here. I wish he could stay longer, but alas, work calls and he has to leave on Sunday. I'm glad I get to spend a few days with him, anyway.

Albany is.... bipolar. Or my attitude towards Albany is, rather. I think I'm kind of starting to figure out where things are. I know how to get from my apartment to the school and from my apartment to Wal-mart, so I'm good, right? It can be very confusing, and New Yorkers drive, well, haphazardly. I may drive like a bat out of hell, but I do not stop wherever I like and hope no one hits me. I'll have to learn that fine skill while I'm here. After I learn my way around, of course.

I really love my apartment. A lot. Except that I have no furniture. I'm currently sitting on the floor of my living room, but hopefully tomorrow I'll acquire a couch. I do have a bed. Yeah!! I got a mattress and a frame for $50, and I felt super happy about that, especially because it means I get to sleep in my apartment tonight but don't have to sleep on the floor. Yeah. :) Tomorrow I will be getting a futon and a dresser and hopefully some other stuff. I'm pretty excited about the futon. Now you can all come and visit me and sleep on my futon. :)

Anyway, it has been a full, crazy, very long week. I am exceptionally glad to be in Albany finally. I miss St. George (and all who live there) so much I can feel it in my bones, but I'm glad to be here. It's strange how different everything is, but so far everyone has been nice and I have high hopes that I'll be able to figure out the ins and outs of Albany...eventually. While I'm here, I also hope to teach these fine Easterners what a yard sale is and where it should take place. So I'll teach them some good stuff and they can teach me some good stuff. When it's all over I'll be a glorious mixture of both coasts, I'm sure. Like a Tom wallbanger bloody sunrise on the beach.

Are we there yet?

2010-08-09T21:36:00.002-06:00

I'm alive! We made it all the way to Stratton, Colorado. Twelve bloody hours in the car, but still, we're getting closer! We got in this incredible storm. Twice. It's been like armageddon a bit here in Colorado, but it's been... an adventure. The first Twister worthy storm struck whilst I was driving through the Rockies, which was such a beautiful drive. About seven o'clock the rain started pouring again, hard. It was raining so much I couldn't see. (I slowed down. Speaking of which, today was the first time in my entire life I have ever driven the speed limit on the freeway. And it was before the storm! Someone should build a monument.) Anyway, so it's raining the entire Pacific Ocean, and then this lightening bolt strikes between two clouds right above my damn car. Whew. It was kind of loud.

At any rate, it's been a pretty good day. We made it to our goal destination without incident, saw some beautiful scenery, and experienced what it would feel like to drive through the ocean, except without the sharks. Tomorrow, Kansas. Oh hell.

Drink up me hearties, yo ho!

2010-08-08T23:00:00.003-06:00

Well, here I am, my last day in SG. I'm anxious to get my journey started, but I really don't want to leave. I love St. George, and I love my family. I'm going to miss them so very much. We had a familiy dinner tonight, and it was a lot of fun. Everyone got to come, which was great. We joked and laughed and hugged and even cried a little. I've been so blessed to be a part of this family. They are incredible. Everyone in my family has been so supportive. Phone calls, visits, emails to tell me good luck. It really means a lot to me. It's nice to know, even if they are 2,400 miles away, that there are people who love me. My friends too, have been so supportive. Friends I've had forever and friends I've made since I moved home. I'm going to miss them too.

Friday was my last day at work. It was an almost perfect last day. My coworkers had a luncheon for me, which was a lot of fun, and I really appreciated. The endo (endoscopy) girls gave me a little mug with candy and a card, which I also appreciated. It's nice to be acknowledged. I really liked my job, and I'm going to miss the lab. Mostly.

All in all, there's a lot I'm going to miss. Occupational hazard of moving to the other side of the country, I guess. But hey, go big or go home, right? I'm really excited for this new adventure. I'm nervous about all the newness, the distance, the schoolwork. But I'm excited to get started. There's a very big part of me that thinks I'm going to start law school and turn out to be a moron, but there's a little part of me that thinks maybe I can do this. It's nice to have so much support for the little voice, makes it easier to hear.

This time tomorrow I'll be.... somewhere else. It's very surreal, going from comfort and familiarity to a foreign land with foreign people and foreign food (you should see the size of their pizza. It's bigger than my head. Seriously, who eats that much pizza?). But it's good. Like I say, I love St. George, I always have. It's my home, and I love the scenery. New York is green and pretty, but Southern Utah has red rocks and Aspen forests, Pine Valley and Cedar Mountain, Snow Canyon and Zions. Beat that east coast. Though my love for this land is everlasting, I still have to leave. And as much as I wish I could stay, I feel pretty good about what I'm doing and where I'm going. I have friends and family who love me, even if they're far away. And I know when I'm ready to rip my hair out, I can call them and they will talk me out of any spontaneous balding episodes. Truthfully, I'm getting really excited to start school, and I'm really excited to move into my new apartment. It's gonna be great! It's a beautiful life, and I intend to live it. This is my next big adventure, and I'm definitely ready for a new adventure.

What do you do with a drunken sailor, early in the morning?

2010-08-01T12:06:00.005-06:00

This post has absolutely nothing to do with law school.... But I went on this excellent hike with my bro and my sister, and I thought I should write about it. We went up to Mills Flat on Saturday, up in Pine Valley. It's a beautiful hike. We headed out from Luke's house at about 9:00, and then Katie called, said she had just gotten my text and would love to come. So we jetted on over to her house (side note, if Katie ever gives you directions to her house and tells you to turn left twice, she really means right.) Katie just moved in to this really nice house up behind this really ugly white house. Luke and I have decided that the ugly white house is, in fact, a Scientology compound. Anyway, so we collected Katie and headed out on our adventure.

It's been threatening to rain for like the last four days here in Southern Utah, so it's been a little muggy, and Pine Valley was no different. It was a beautiful day, but it was humid as hell. I guess it was good preparation for moving to the east coast. I told Katie it was a good thing it was so humid and we were sweating so much because that way we didn't ever have to stop and pee. Maybe I shouldn't write that on my blog.... Anyway.... While I may have been preparing for the east coast, I did not sufficiently prepare for our little hike. I decided, in all of my genius, that it was hot and I didn't want to wear hiking boots, so I wore my Chacos instead. I also decided, even though it was hot, I was going to wear pants so my legs didn't get, I don't know, cut by weeds? I'm sure I had a really good reason, but I don't remember what it was. Chacos tend to be worn a little loose, so the straps on my shoes were rubbing against my foot. By the time we got back down from Mills Flat, my feet were totally torn to pieces. I have blisters on my heels, my arches, above my toes, that pointy bone above my arches... seriously, everywhere. On the way down, Luke kept laughing at me because I was kind of waddling down the trail. I'm sure I looked a little funny. It was an awesome hike, but my feet hurt. So, if you ever hike Mills Flat, don't wear Chacos. So that's my warning about footwear.

The hike was really amazing. It was fun to get to spend some time with my bro and my sister, and it really was so pretty. There was a fire up Mills Canyon a few years ago, and it's still pretty burned out. There's a part near the top when you are in the burn zone, and you turn a corner and there are all of these purple flowers by the creek. Purple flowers surrounded by burnt wood. There was something almost hopeful, reviving, about it. It was really pretty. We hung out at the top for a bit and ate lunch. Luke's dogs had a ball in the meadow. Chaco (the dog, not my shoes), likes to play fetch, so Luke was throwing a stick for him. Mocco likes to try and steal Chaco's stick. Anyway, Luke threw the stick right into the creek and Mocco and Chaco went streaking after it. We saw them disappear down the hill and then we heard this big splash. It was hilarious.

On our way back down, it started to rain. It wasn't cold, so the rain really felt pretty good. It did make quite a bit of mud though. All of my pants are too long for me to begin with, so once the bottoms got all wet and covered with mud.... I thought for sure I was gonna lose my pants. I didn't though, so it worked out ok. We were all soaked and covered in mud. I'm sure we looked like hell trudging back to the car with three dirty, tired dogs in tow. And a cow. But we didn't feel like hell. I didn't, anyway. I felt pretty damn good about the whole experience. It was a lot of fun. Here are a couple of pictures of us at the top.

It was a great hike, and I had a lot of fun. Oh, and by the way, you put him in a row boat until he's sober. :D

I feel like I should say something clever..

2010-07-20T18:46:00.002-06:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a schedule. Yeah! My first year of law school, I don't get to pick any of the classes I take, so I've been waiting all summer for them to tell me what horror, er, classes were awaiting me. Let the games begin! My first semester of law school I am taking: Intro to lawyering (this is a year long class where they, essentially, teach us how to be lawyers. Each student takes a hypothetical case from initial client interview to appeal which is done before actual appelate judges, which we do at the end of the year and sounds very scary), torts, contracts, and federal civil procedure.

I'm starting to get really excited about school. It's gonna kick my ass, but it will be good to feel like I'm going in a direction again, hopefully the right one. I love my job, but I don't want to be a lab assistant forever, and I've always wanted to go to law school, even as a little girl. I was a very strange child, but I've wanted to be an attorney since I decided being a cowgirl didn't count as an actual career. Seriously though, this is what I've wanted to be for as long as I can remember, even predating my cowgirl fascination. Now that I'm finally moving toward that dream, I feel...butterflies. Really big ones. And I love it.

Left leg, right leg. Your body will follow. They call it walking.

2010-07-20T07:18:00.003-06:00

So my orientation schedule came in the mail yesterday. My initial reaction when reading through the packet I received was.... well, a lot of expletives. Use your imagination. There are assigned readings for the first week of class. While I had hoped this wouldn't be the case, it wasn't unexpected. However, I didn't expect to have assigned readings for orientation. That's right. Assigned readings for orientation. 37 pages, and that's just the hand out. I also have to read four chapters from a book called Succeeding in Law School. That actually might be a good thing to read...

I've seriously considered abandoning my dream of becoming an attorney and living with my mother forever. Well, maybe not forever. Maybe I'll move out and be a dog lady (I can't be a cat lady. I hate cats.) I'm kind of afraid I'm going to show up at orientation and then everyone will find out that I'm dumb. That would really ruin my weekend.

Truthfully, I think orientation will be good... hopefully. In theory, it's supposed to teach us how to be law students: what to expect, what our professors expect, how to read and brief a case, all that jazz. Plus they have this smarmy swearing in toast scheduled for the end of orientation. So that should be... fun. At any rate, it will give me a chance to meet my fellow classmates and my future professors and learn how to accept a new identity and run with it, as it were. So now that my brain has recovered from all the expletives it was spewing out, I'm getting a little excited about the whole thing. Hopefully I won't turn out to be dumb. If I do, will someone buy me a dog?

Does this make me look fat?

2010-07-14T22:11:00.004-06:00

My time in New York was not only productive; it was educational. I like to travel, but I really hate to pack. It's a pain in the ass to pack a suitcase, but then you have get a carry on ready with all of the regulations about size and content. I mean, really, who needs that kind of stress? Anyway, my sister Katie let me borrow a little Mary Kay bag for my carry on. Note: I use the term 'little' liberally.... Anyway, it was perfect. It was the perfect size. I had enough room to carry an extra outfit in case my luggage got lost plus a book and some snacks (My snacks are infinitely better than plane peanuts) without taking up the entire overhead rack. Perfection. However, as nice as my sister was to borrow her bag to me, it was still her bag, and I had to give it back. I'm already planning for my Christmas vacation... so I decided to find myself a little bag like Katie's that I can use as a carry on. Like a big purse. My Mom and I went to TJ Maxx and found the biggest collection of hideous purses I have ever seen. Seriously.

I'll admit, I'm no fashinista, but seriously? This is the purse I bought. Abomination. I can't believe people actually carry these things around every damn day. I'm pretty sure I could sit in it. Anyway, now I have a little bag to be my carry on, so I'm all ready for my trip home for Christmas...after I move out there. I did wonder though, does this bag make me look fat?

Let the Games Begin!

2010-07-11T21:22:00.000-06:00

Hey! So, I'm moving to Albany, NY in one month. Naturally, that means I have to start a blog. :) I'm going to law school... wish me luck! I start the 23rd of August. My Mom and I are driving out together... um... wish us luck! Anyway, my adventures haven't really begun yet, mostly just the planning. My amazing sister Anna and her amazing husband Nephi went out to Albany with me a few weeks ago to help me find a place and kind of get acquainted with my new home-to-be. It was an awesome trip, and I'm so glad Anna and Nephi were able to go with me. We did find me an apartment, a cute little two bedroom place not far from the school. I'm so excited about it!

That's a picture of the outside. My apartment is the one on the bottom right. It's gonna be great!

My mother and I have started packing, and I have realized I have a lot of shit. A lot. So if you need any furniture or any other assorted items, let me know. I probably have at least one of whatever you need that I will not be taking with me to NY. :) Anyway, that's all for now. Only 29 days!