Friday, August 28, 2009

People are people...

Law School.

My first week of Law School has finished. In a sense I'm in awe. This being the first step toward the finish, it's as if the gun just went off and in a sudden rush a small pack of Usain Bolts sprinted. Only, nobody told any of them that they aren't running the 100m; instead they're running a marathon, potentially a triathlon, depending on what path they take.

I'm in the 3rd Doctrinal section. That is, there are 5 different groups of entering law students with approximately 80 students in each section.
In the beginning, before classes got started, some older students, 2Ls, 3Ls told us during orientation that Law School was a bit like reverting back to high school. Big text books you don't want to carry. Lockers. Gossip about others. And, I didn't really get it then. Truly the feeling of high school didn't occur until week one of classes. Placed into class with a bunch of strangers. Trying to feel out who will be the cool people in the class to have as friends. Which of them are better as acquaintances.
Already there is a kid that manages to show up 5 to 15 minutes late to every class. He shows up, sits down uncomfortably (though the professor doesn't make a deal out of it), and at some point he thinks he has something to add to the conversation. Unfortunately, he doesn't. He isn't the cool smart kid who can get away with just about anything because he's learning it all and contributes to the greater educational flow of the classroom. His is a brilliance that seems to exist with the sole intent of stopping academic energy. Questions that have no bearing on the current issue (rather 5 back). Questions that have already been asked. Questions that truly to make everyone in the room stop and think, hmmm, where did that two come from? In the five days of classes, this young master of non-sequiturs managed to miss the final class of the week.
Oh well, thankfully he's not in my legal rhetoric course, as there are only 12 of us and it would be quite close quarters.

Other than that, there are several good folks in the class. Many of whom I don't know yet, but they're probably pretty chill. I've made some decent friends, or advanced acquaintances really as it's only been a week. There's Buckley. He's a real WASP looking guy. 6 foot and change, fit rugby/new england build, married 3 weeks ago, has a confirmed but not rugged jawline, and a strong interest in the law makes him at present the guy I'm probably competing with the most as far as grades go. Basically, he's loud, somewhat obnoxious, and constantly testing how far he can go to be a brown-noser/ over-excited achiever without looking like a total jerk. Admittedly, I wasn't sure how to handle him at first, but he just seems really over-eager in a lot that he does. So, I'm down, I think he's an alright guy...besides, he's been packing teddy grahams at lunch time and sharing them down the table so that's awesome. Plus, as I said, he seems to have a good understanding of what he's reading, and that's always a good player to have on your team.
Chief, a thin dude with crazy red and wild hair seems pretty cool. Honestly, he just seems like an all right kind of guy without much to remark. He gets his stuff, he does his work, and he seems equally as astonished at some of the people that hit up the class an hour and a half early to get the 'good' seats. He joined me for a free trial aikido lesson Friday night at a dojo nearby, so I think he's a pretty good guy.
Mr. B (for balla, I can't think of anything better without using his real name). Recently returning from Afghanistan, this young Indian kid, sporting the trim beard, and aviators at night, has done it. He's basically a smart, cool kid. He already has a Masters in Public Health, and is pursuing a law degree now. Of course, this seems to go against family wishes that he become a doctor (like his father, and everyone else in the family....of course), but they've accepted that he's doing law, and if this should fall through, or he changes his mind, he can still go back to medicine. His ex-girlfriend's brother is the lead singer of MGMT, and there are words floating around about his family being involved with a couple of NGOs. Again, smart, and cool, a guy you want on your team.
These are some cool guys I've been having lunch with, high school. There are other people in the class that are interesting as well. A real Matthew McCaunehey (how do you spell his name anyway?) looking guy. He's hit the popular note and everyone likes him. You have to, he's nice, funny, and so irresistible. There's this cute vegan half-Japanese girl. She seems super nice, interesting, and is in my legal rhetoric class, so that's cool. A stalky and burly looking Californian who sports a pair of key lime pie green headphones everyday--take that iPod Nation! He's in my rhetoric class as well. He's a decent guy though, despite what you may have thought before I said he was decent. Unless you thought he was decent before then in which case just ignore the 'though'.
Let's face it, they're all characters and this list could go on forev...well, for about 80. I don't know most of the other sections that well. Sure there's one or two I've met. Orientation, and lunchtime. Most of them seem to be in the same boat though, some crazy committed classmates, and other who're just chill.

Honestly though, I'm just feeling lazy. Last night was our first week Friday. It was a late night. I hung out with Chief and Mr. B, and met some of Mr. B's old NYU friends. While out we ran into a bunch of other people from the school. It was a familiar experience. Going out to a bar, hanging out with people, then seeing others from class at the bar, acting cool and unexcited to see people, having a good drink together, and then having one more drink together.
Hmm, maybe high school got upgraded to freshman year of college.

Anyway...I'll tell you all more about classes later...it's Saturday morning, and I didn't expect to be up at 10:30, much less writing...so here you go, and think good thoughts while I get myself gathered and ready to go--to the library....ugh, I need some OJ.

Law

PS. I really hate mosquitos.
PPS. That reminds me, I could go for taquitos.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

What a day, What a day, What a mighty mighty good day!

What a day, what a day, what a mighty mighty good day. Sort of.

Well, it's Saturday. Orientation concluded yesterday with the Dean's Barbecue. Barbecue chicken, hot dogs, vegetarian patties, and of course burgers were on the menu. Laid out beautifully for incoming students to choose, right off the two-inch hotel half pans. That is, cafeteria style. The barbecue had to be moved inside because of inclement weather. So, they packed everyone into the dining hall again, though, it wasn't required and was thus a little easier.
Dean G is a man's man, with a thick spanish/chilean accent ( I couldn't tell you the main difference) and a list of accolades longer then the three men closest to you put together. He's been everywhere, speaks at least 4 languages, probably more, and can hit his heartfelt jokes in a tired welcome speech every time. Awesome. Nothing else to say about the man other than he makes any accomplishment you've done pale in comparison.
It's actually a little exciting.
Today's adventure.
It was to be a simple enough day: buy a book from the book store, do some homework, eat a little lunch, meet my student mentor at a bar, let him assuage any fears I may have, return home for dinner.

Book.
After waking, having breakfast, and getting ready for the day, I made my way to the bookstore. My legal rhetoric and research class requires several texts. After having purchased all of them I came to find out yesterday that the store has the wrong book on the shelf. Perfect. I've returned my books once at this point in order to repurchase all of them with a 10% discount; now I'm heading back to return another book. Oh well. I arrive at the store, backpack and smile on. Hit the shelves and find, not to any real surprise, they are out. I guess when 350 students find out that they have the wrong book, most of them will want to pick up the correct one. Oh well. I grabbed a pocket black's law dictionary, a small picture for my empty walls, and an weekly homework planner instead.

Homework.
After returning home from a failed adventure at the bookstore, I managed to hit the books. Really just one book, and after having read the entire 20 pages of my handbook I was exhausted. Well, it was about 1:30 and I figured a little nap wouldn't hurt. So I took one. Really, I took about 3 all jammed together.

Lunch.
I woke up at twenty to four, and was supposed to meet my student mentor at 4. I ate a banana.

Mentor.
The bar we agreed upon was only 3 miles away and so could be easily biked in 20 minutes. Brickskeller, sounded cool enough and they dozens of varieties of bottled beer. So I grabbed my bike and took for the door. It's raining. No, It's more than raining, it's pouring out. Without a lot of time, and dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, I grabbed my helmet and a long-sleeve shirt thinking that the storm would probably let up in ten minutes; the same as the other storms form the week. It didn't. After getting lost, I showed up to Brickskeller at about 4:10 drenched. All of my clothes stuck to me, everywhere. My shorts were now see-through. Upon trying to lock my bike, and realizing I have no idea what my mentor looks like as this'll be the first time I meet him, a dude standing in front of the bar yells at me, "Are you going to the Brickskeller?" Brilliant, I thought, that was a pretty smart move just waiting outside. I said, "yeah", and he informed me that he was my mentor and all that. He then continued to tell me that Brickskeller was closed until 6. On the corner I saw another bar called "the Fireplace" and they had a nice fireplace in the outside wall. I suggested, we agreed, so we hit up the corner fireplace.
After parking my bike, we strolled in. I was dripping everywhere, my clothes were stuck to me, and I was still wearing a helmet. Looking to sit next to the fire we strolled over and after getting a look from the 3 thin curmudgeons at the high table next to it, we sat one table down, close enough to hang my long-sleeve on the fire's glass gate. After the denial I finally noticed the music playing. A darker bar with deep wood tones, high tables and the bar in the center; playing a mix of european electronica and pop-divas. Huh. Everyone likes different music, and you know, I think that the bartender might've had some feminine tendencies. Still sopping, I asked where the restroom was and the well-groomed bartender smiled and pointed the way to the other side of the room. Strange there'd only be one restroom, but it was a small bar.
Stranger still was that this one small restroom had a sign that said gentlemen. Huh. Maybe there was a ladies room around the corner in the hallway nearby. Well, after trying my best to use paper towels to dry up my clothes and self I walked out and caught the eye of more than one gentleman at the bar. Matter of fact, they were only gentlemen at the bar. Matter of fact, there were only gentlemen in the bar. Huh. Every inch of me is covered in sopping wet clothes; I look like something that the cat dragged in, ate, and then spit up again; and I'm just now realizing that most of these men are probably looking at me and my drenched t-shirt. Now I'm feeling a little embarrassed 'cause I know that some of them are thinking, "Ugh, how tacky," and worst of all they're right.
We had a beer there, while I tried unsuccessfully to dry off. I came to find out, through my mentor's friend's text, we had stopped in the 'gayest bar in DC'. I'm not sure if that's true, but the house didn't really get hoppin' until Beyoncé started playing. These men were into it. We talked a bit, and really just talked about a few things here and there, histories and futures. He didn't have any of my professors, and had only heard of one of them--so any fears that I may have had were not necessarily assuaged.

Dinner.
After the Fireplace, we walked to "The Big Hunt". Watched the majority of the Red Sox and Yankees game. I was starving. So along with my double dead-guy ale (thank you rogue on tap), I ordered cajun chicken tenders and fries. Mmmm-mm! Fried chicken tenders sound good. And they were. And after not having saved $20 on dinner like I had originally planned my taste buds were satisfied. My lips were burning a little, but overall my palette was content. Standing up and heading back to my bike, and my mentor's car, I felt like someone had laid down some bricks inside my stomach and then moved into their new home. It was heavy. It was gross. It was not a fun bicycle ride home.

Afterward.
To make my stomach feel better, I joined the family. Everyone having arrived at last, they were partaking in an apero while they prepared a little gazpacho for their dinner. They were making mojitos. It was probably the best way to finish. A little rum, a little mint, some sugar and seltzer water. Everything settled and I had nice chat with the newly returned family. So, in my day where nothing planned went right, it's nice to return home and be able to just sit down with a comfortable drink, in a comfortable chair, and have a nice conversation with the family... even if it is somebody else's.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Orientation Day 1

As with any new matriculation, there is the requisite 'Orientation'. As many of you already know me, and my tastes in people and events, forcing a group of 350 people together and telling them how to socialize is about as fun and exciting as a rope-less jumprope. It is however, required that we show up. Hoo-ray.
On that note, this morning at 8:30 there were 400 or so people packed into the dining room area on the 6th floor of the Law school building. This being Washington DC, and the tuition costing 38000/year, there was air conditioning in the building. Luck was not a lady this morning, instead it was that monster that you wake up next to with buck teeth and hair that's matted and nappy from spilt long island ice teas. The a/c was broken... only in the dining room. Little is the fun that sitting in a room of 400+ people dripping sweat is; the sad relief being that everybody is dripping. Needless to say, hearing the dean speak was an honor unmatched by the 30 following faculty members. Thankfully bananas and blueberry muffins were supplied.

Part 2 (which was actually part 3, but I skipped the financial advice meeting as it was filled with gems exploring the difference in projected average salaries and probable average salaries, given the current state of the economy; and beauties such as stop paying for cable, just get rid of it).
Part 2, The First Year: Students' Perspectives (or some equally inane title)
This was a glorious hour or so made up of the majority of students within my doctrinal section. This is the first exposure I've had in seeing these kids gather together without the dilution of the other 4 sections. After the 2Ls and the one 3L gave their individual spiels on professors and classes they've had in the past (none of which were to be my professors this term) there was an open ended 'q and a' section. The benefit of which was clear, some students just have difficulty understanding what their peers are telling them. A prime example, lesson number 3, don't fret about finals yet, much less the classes that are in the 2L and 3L line-up. Good point. Thankfully there were a few students who didn't really know what they meant. Naturally, these are the brave souls that insist on asking the brave questions. "Does Professor X have a hard final?" "What does it take to get a clerkship when I finish school?" "Do you need to have strong grades to get externships?" Thanks. Yes, we're all concerned about this. Yes, we want to know. No, this isn't the time to ask. Well, at least one bright girl managed to make everyone at ease with her brilliance: "What exactly is the policy on working? Because I saw..."
"You can't work your first year." Lady 2L
"I saw that there is 10 hours allowed. There's an exception and we're allowed 10 hours."
"No, it's written in the ABA and WCL, 1Ls are not allowed to work." Dude 2L
"Oh, well, I saw that there was..."
Bla. Bla. We get it. You don't. Stop asking. Well, at least the room was air conditioned.

Part 3 Getting to know your Professors (or rather, my professors)
Let's see. Prof 5. Cool enough gentleman. Early 50's. Seems to appreciate the change that all 1Ls go through when they reach that certain time in life. Understands that most 1Ls won't be able to understand most of what they're reading.
Prof 2. Italian lady. Maybe not Italian. Nah, she's Italian. Super nice, went over her class and the expectations therein. Not too much to note other than an accent that might be difficult to get over when I'm particularly frustrated.
Prof 4. I didn't pay much attention to her, she's heading our section's legal rhetoric course and we'll be spending about 2 hours with her tomorrow. She really didn't have much to say, other than she'll see everyone tomorrow, where she'll talk about the class.
Prof 5. Very nice guy. Early 40's. Down with modern technology, and apparently has a child in middle school. He seems like he'd be really light, especially when the work load is going to be so heavy.
My point in this is simple, they were nice people and they gave decent descriptions of their courses, except of course Prof 4 who assured everyone in the section that tomorrow would be her day. Thankfully my matriculamates were on the ball again. "Q and A" with the professors. Excellent. "Will you be recording your lectures and making them available as podcasts?" (All right, a decent question.) "I've heard that some professors ban laptops, how do you [four] feel about that?"(Sweet, some redemption after all, maybe I can get down with these people.)
"Prof 4, can you give us a better idea of what to expect from Legal Rhetoric?"
"Well, I'll be going into that more tomorrow..."
"I was hoping that you could tell us just a little more of what to expect though, like the other professors have done?" (Thanks Stewart.)
At least this soul has done some of us a favor, as 15-20 of us are glancing around hoping to find whom would make a good study group. The other 70 are also looking, but they're a little more tactful.
Orientation Day 1 : Complete.


As a brief side note, i tried doing the homework for my Contracts class. I managed to read the words on the page. I managed to turn the pages. I even managed to finish the 9 pages within an hour. I don't know what I read.

As another brief side note, I forgot about this until typing out this blog. Over the weekend I saw a family about to go into the art museum. They were sitting down to try and rest and relax, but it was hot out. The mother says to the family, let's just go inside, (groans), there's a/c." In a flash the middle son popped up off his part of the oversized stoop in front of the museum and was inside. All that was left was Dad, muttering, "Wow son, two letters of the alphabet, a and c, got you goin'. Fastest I ever seen you run. Shoot, shoulda called you a/c." This brought a smile to my face.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Week 3 Pre-Orientation





Here it is another week come and gone. That is, another week of nothing terribly exciting has happened; as I'm waiting for the financial aid office to come through with those thousands of dollars in loans.
They think that their gettin' that cash back....
...
...and they will. With Interest. Lots of interest.
So on the note of having no money, I had a great weekend. Check it out:
I made a trip to the Smithsonian. Well, not the entire Smithsonian. Actually, very little of it.

I managed to get myself out of bed, and into town. I visited the National Museum of African Art. Which had a couple of main exhibits which were somewhat interesting. Honestly though, "Animals in Art" was not so impressive. Yeah, the pieces were all right, but the set-up was less than impressive.
At least they had various examples of African animal art. The rest of the Museum was a much better treat. There were masks,
speaking sticks, and some other small trinkets. Some of the speaking sticks were really more like staffs that were apparently used when communicating between tribes. Cool.
To be truly honest though, I liked the mask of "oloju foforo". It seems to mean "the owner of the deep-set eyes". Naturally an important mask of vision and representation of wisdom. At least, that's how I see it. I like to imagine this mask as a physical representation of myself, with the deep-set eyes and all. Especially since those very noticeable adornments above the holes would serve as enormous eyebrows when looking through the mask. Maybe not.

Then joined up with V and we hit up the Freer Art Museum. She was into the "Tsars and the East" exhibit, and I checked out the "Tale of Shuten Dooji". You know me. It was an interesting tale to learn about, and the prints were really pretty amazing. All of the examples did manage to resemble each other, just in different forms. Some on fans, some on those changing shades. It was a pretty fun little story:
Scary demon on a hill kidnaps girls, local warlord type figure sends out his samurai squad, they find him, cut off his head, bring back the girls who are still alive, and parade through town with the head of Shuten Dooji.
Hooray. Apparently taking photos wasn't allowed inside. I guess they didn't want images of their special exhibit to get out. Understandable.

I uh, found that online. On a different note. Checked out Georgetown a little. I didn't take any photos out there, though it was allowed. There was an old building made of stone, I guess its the oldest self-standing building, or some business like that, built in 1765-ish. The university was super nice, with mighty impressive brick buildings, you know, old churches and whatnot.
After walking around all day, the night ended at Capitol City Brewing Company. The Pale Rider Ale was nice and pale, bitter, but it didn't really hit the spot. I might order it again, but really, one was probably enough.

Thanks guys, I miss you. As for now, classes start next week. That means that tomorrow I'm hitting the books, and should get my homework done before orientation starts up. Yeah, I know, homework already. What's a few pages?

Well I'll tell you. "The Legally Enforceable Promise: Basic and Recurring Themes"
Huh???

Law

Friday, August 14, 2009

Field trip to the Zoo

I thought that I'd let guys in on a little secret. The weather here is not fun. Period.

It's hot. It's humid. It's unenjoyable.

Stuck inside a dungeon is no way to pass the time, while staring out my child-sized window, I realized that I should get outside. So I left my room. I took a beautiful field trip to the Zoo.
At least, it would've been beautiful if I hadn't been sweating for the entire time. It was too hot. Plain and simple. I know, Maybe he's just not used to the weather yet. Maybe. Or maybe it was so hot that any intelligent animal would spend their time inside a temperature monitored room. Well, needless to say aside from animals that were forced to be outside, the elephant, the flamingos, the cheetahs, it was a pretty disappointing trip to the zoo.

It wasn't disappointing, I had a good time. Walking around the zoo,
headphones in, soundtrack to Slumdog playing, and having staring contests with large birds that would probably maim me if there hadn't been a big enough fence in the way.
Don't worry, I'll go back. Once the temperature goes down a little.

PS. The lions and tigers are to be enjoyed between 10 and 4. Showing up in their area at 4:15 doesn't cut it. Thanks National Zoo.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Week 1 is done.

Week 1. is done. I haven't started school yet, but I have been here for awhile and figure I should probably get some of this business down before I forget it all.

So, this is where I live.... It's a pretty swank little place with character.
The most frustrating being the fact that I liv in the basement, where the only daylight I get comes through a 2' x 2' window. This has made adjusting to the time difference pretty difficult. So I'm still waking up at 9:30 disappointed 'cause I missed part of the day and feel like I should sleep in for another couple of hours.
I've been given a box fan, which must have been from the 70's and has subsequently died due to natural causes I'm sure. So I got me a sweet tower fan, one of those thin quiet jobs that's supposed to circulate the air better.
Finally, as far as complaints of my living space, the shower is terrible. With a fancy shower head that has the ability to switch and adjust stream levels using advanced 80's bike gear technology that one must swivel around to find the right spot, the water still drips out. In order to rinse off I have to perform some type of snake charming ritual with my arms and body so that I can maneuver around enough to get clean. All in all, I'm thankful to have it.


This little situation lets me go to school, here. This little gem of a school has given me a rough time already, weeks before the whole thing gets underway. As if trying to get under me and disqualify me from the preliminaries, coincidence has allowed for our schedules to not agree. Living in the home that I have, means that I have to be available from 3:30-6ish. Yes, I'm a babysitter. But it's a fine time to continue my own studies and help with my French.
So, my classes have been scheduled roughly from 3-5, 2 of the 5 days I need to be watching kids do homework, and 5-7 another one of those magical days. Hooray. Simple enough solution though, right? Just change the schedule. After changing my schedule, and being done with it; I was discontented to find an email assuring me that despite my schedule having changed, the school had corrected the problem. I emailed a reply to Ms. D, she wrote back telling me to send a request through the registrar. I sent an email request to the registrar. I received a response from Ms. D, the registrar, telling me that schedule change was not possible. Yikes.
Being here in DC, I tried to go reason my case in person. It paid off, she assured me that she hadn't said "no" yet. Granted it wasn't true, she had written and said it was "not possible". I accepted that response for a glimmer of hope. After a week, a hand-written thank you note to Ms. D, and another email to the registrar, more concerned and desperate than the others, I have received the means to change my schedule.
All I need now are some documents outlining my previous engagements that are to be triple signed, initialed at all of the responsibilities and time-restricting explanations, laminated, and dated 3 weeks before any of the scheduling had occurred.
Thank goodness I can stay.

Law

PS. Sales Tax is not fun, and DC can be pricy.