Silly Texas

Justice Thomas, Supreme Court of the United States, speaking to the Texas Legislature: your law is "uncommonly silly."

Ouch. That's gotta be incredibly embarrasing.

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Rejections of the week: 3.

By the end of the day: 4.

I'm getting used to this feeling. It even becoming humourous.

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to be continued...

Admitted Students' Weekend - year 2

Last year, I skipped work to come down to UVA's admitted students' weekend. Because I hated my job and hadn't come up with anything else better to do, I had already decided (albeit half-heartily) to enroll at Virginia in the fall. (In fact, I signed the lease for my apartment that weekend...) The program was full of mock classes, student panels, welcomes from this person and that, and to get a true taste of UVA, beer and softball. The one notably absent thing: vegetarian food.

The school catered all of our meals. The welcome dinner was a BBQ - pulled pork, chicken, baked beans (with bacon), cole slaw and chocolate chip cookies. Cole slaw for dinner. yum. Lunch the next day: boxed lunches with no vegetarian option. At this point, I approached who I think was the dean of students and politely asked, "is there a vegetarian option?" His face fell. Whoops. The final dinner wasn't any better - there was a section potluck. On the menu: fried chicken and hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill. There might have been some Tostitos lying around. But you get the picture. (Lucky for me, another admit vegetarian student, Bryn, had brought veggie burgers - not my favorite of foods, but at this point I was HUNGRY. Thank you Bryn.)

The feedback form? - "Vegetarian food please"

Which brings me to this year. I'm not hosting a student or otherwise involved with the program. However, when they had breakfast all layed out in Scott Commons this morning, I did feel free to help myself to a bowl of granola with strawberries. I figure they didn't feed me last year. Virginia owes me some food.

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to be continued...

Happy Birthday! (not to me)

First, before I forget (I'm horrible with date-related things): Happy Birthday to my little bro! Well he's not quite so little, towering over me - and now 19 years old. Gasp. I had this "great" idea to get a group of my friends together, dress up as clowns and go wake him up at 7 am with balloon animals and squeeking horns. But someone wiser than me convinced me that might not be the best birthday present. I tried suggesting that the clowns bring a cake, but that didn't seem to redeem the idea either.

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Last night, instead of doing the huge property assignment, I went to bed. Since spring break, this has been all too frequent of an occurrence. I'm not quite at the stage where I'm not doing the work; I did wake up to read it this morning. But, any motivation to read my casebooks closely has flown out the window.

I don't think I'm alone here. To get my property done, I had to get school this morning around 6am. Earlier in the semester, there would already be at least 3 or 4 other people in the reading room at that time. But today - I was the first. The next guy didn't show up for another hour and ten minutes. Though I recognize the flaws in my logic, I'm going to attribute that to the fact that the entire school has lost interest in doing anything law related.

I'm hoping to get myself out of this rut before I need to start studying/preparing for exams (read: this weekend).

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to be continued...

the joys of terry cloth bath robes

After I got out of the shower this morning (more accurately: midday), there was a lot I wanted to do. Sit with the Post and a cup tea, unload the dishwasher, call Christine and Jeremy about getting together this afternoon, and just generally relax. What I didn't want to do: get dressed. I think this desire to abstain from clothing was my way of easing into the day. In putting clothes on, I would be committing to what I was doing for the day. Shorts and a t-shirt to lounge around in. A spring skirt to go to Ash Lawn, or jeans to sit in Barnes & Noble. (I have this irrational thing about not changing clothes in the middle of the day...) That all said, I really didn't want to prance around my apartment naked. It might scare Henry (and my neighbors :)).

What I needed: a terry cloth bath robe to wrap myself in. Soft and plushy. Clean and white. It would have been the perfect garmet to spend the early afternoon in.

I eventually threw on a cotton dress (versital choice - good for hanging out at Christine's, board games at Clare's, and Jason's party tonight) and went about my day.

At the dog park this evening though, this huge St. Benard named Hogan decided it would be a good idea to drool all over my legs. So back in the shower I went. Upon exiting,for the second time today, my mind immediatly turned to that terry cloth bath robe and how fabulously comfortbale it would be.

My mom has two "guest" bathrobes in the spare room of the new house. She might want to keep close tabs on them when I go home next time...

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to be continued...

Kitchen Woes

My kitchen almost always has the same types of food in it. There are those ever enduring staples that I keep around the house: 2-3 boxes of cereal on top of the fridge, applesauce, peanut putter, milk, jam, and honey inside (along with a random assortment of spices/sauces on the door). The cabinets are filled with tea, extra jars of peanut butter, lots of pasta and Lenny Labrioli's marinara sauce.

Notably absent: sweets, alcohol (aside from the wine on the rack), sodas and meat.

But at this very moment, my life has gone upside down.

I'm out of milk, applesauce, jam, and yes peanut butter. This last absence has been driving me crazy. It's been almost a week that I've been out of it. I went to make lunch today - I had no idea what to eat. No peanut butter? My body revolted. But, taking the PB's place in the fridge is a huge amount of beer, cider, soda and juices. I also just made a trip to the ABC store - to the 24 cans of beer (left over from the party two weekends ago), I can now add vodka, gin, and rum.

There are also more sugary foods in my house now that ever were in Willy Wonka's factory (though none of them are chocolate). Adopted apple pie, ice cream (that I bought for Geoff) and wedding cake cookies from Cathy's shower - just as starters. It's ridiculous. But oh so good :)

Plus, yes, there's "meat" in the house. It was only after Henry moved in that I realized that dogs really can't be vegetarian. Or if they could, I'm not willing to specially order the food, especially when the SPCA gives me free food. So I've got 10 lbs of dog food, plus some "marrow treats" --- I don't even want to hear how they make them.

Bottom line, it's been a fun experiment, but the proper balance of the kitchen must be restored. Plus I'm going insane without peanut butter. Chances are, there will be an emergency run to the store this evening....

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in other news, Henry's dog tag came in the mail today. He's been prancing around the living room all evening. I think he's proud of the brass disc hanging from his neck. Or else he's just relieved that all of the visitors have gone (over the past 48 hours he's met 4 of my friends -- and been frightened of each one of them...).

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to be continued...

The Mikes in my life

I missed con law last Friday. (Dad: I had a decent excuse. really.) This means that I didn't get today's reading.

Last night, a section mate sends around an e-mail to a few of us with a request for the reading assignment. But, clearly, I'm of no help. I shoot her an email: Can you forward the assignment to me once someone sends it to you?

It's 11am today. Class is in 2.5 hours. Still no word on the assignment. Low and behold, I notice that one of my section mates, Mike is on-line. G-mail chat becomes the savior of the day. "Hey Mike," I write, "what's the con law reading for today?" A few minutes go by. "uh Sarah," writes Mike, "I have no idea what your con law reading is for the day. Why would I know?"

I check the name. This was Mike-from-Swarthmore I was writing to, not Mike-my-section-mate. Great job Sarah. I let Mike-from-Swarthmore off the hook for not knowing my conlaw assignment. And take off in search of someone who might know.

I strike up a chat with the right Mike, Mike-my-section-mate. "Hey Mike, what's the con law reading for today?" "No idea" he replies. Instantly, I'm calmed by the fact that it's not 2 hours before class and there's someone else who has no idea what the reading is. But this serenity doesn't last too long. I really can't wait much longer for the assignment. So I decide to send an e-mail to the entire section.

"Hey section, what's the con law reading for today?" Thankfully three section mates respond with the reading. Being the good section mate, I forward the assignment on to the woman who had e-mailed me last night and Mike.

Not two minutes later I get an e-mail from another-law-student-Mike asking, "Sarah, why did you send me your con law reading for today?" I had sent the assignment to the wrong Mike.

Parents should come up with more unique names.

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to be continued...

Chilling with the Masters

As I was listening to NPR yesterday on the way to buy Henry's new bed (I'm attempting to reclaim my couch from doggie world), I heard the host of the show advertise their annual fundraising drive. For a $65 gift, the station will give you a CD, "Chillin with Beethoven." Wow. Beethoven's probably laughing right now. Beethoven had serious social difficulties - cloistered himself, fought with his family. Though recognized as a genius, he was socially awkward and perceived as odd. To think that people are now choosing (in fact paying $65) to "chill" with him is kind of funny.

A quick google search also led me to this . Bach for Barbecue: Grillin' and Chillin' with Johann Sebastian. Marketing. oh marketing.

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Also, I REALLY want to write about this. But the prohibition against writing about politics in this blog prevents me. (See Day 1)(How's that for censorship?) Catch me in person, and we'll talk.

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to be continued...

Abstracts

Over the past week, I'd started 3 different posts. But gave up on each of them. But here's a quick summary:

Post 1: I had the pleasure of writing 4 personal statements this weekend. Joy of joys. You'd think after writing upwards of 50 statements over the course of my life, I'd be able to reuse one once in awhile? Hasn't happened.

Post 2: Henry has taken over my couch. But he wooed the hearts of some people at the dog park today. Maybe he'll find a permanent home. He also got a bath today. Smells much better.

Post 3: My apartment was turned into Willy Wonka's Factory this weekend (minus the chocolate). Cathy's bridal shower was Saturday - There were lots of wedding cake shaped cookies and some cheesecake too.

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I had my first visitor from Kuwait today :)

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thoroughly cleaning my apartment this afternoon. Pulling out that Swiffer Hugh gave me for my b-day... It needs it, but I secretly know I'm also procrastinating on my seminar reading.

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to be continued...

Libel Show

Tickets for the Libel Show (the annual mockery of the law school/professors in musical format) went on sale today. The line was ridiculously long, and tickets sell out, some shows on the first day of sales. Additionally, they assign seats, so you have to buy tickets with the people you want to go with so that you can sit together.

I can only go Wednesday, because I'll be out of town for the other shows. So I work my way through the line keeping my eye out for Wednesday people who I would enjoy sitting with. I find Emily, and we stand in line together. I don't have money on me, so we arrainge this scheme where she'll get my ticket for me, and I'll pay her back. (Not really a scheme, per se. But scheme's a much better word than plan.) We get closer to the top of the line.

The conversation turns to ushers - and how if the ushers were good there wouldn't need to be this seat assigning, and people wouldn't have to buy tickets together. The whole process would be simpler.

Then it hit me.

Last week, I had signed up to be an usher. for Wednesday.

I was standing in line for a ticket I already had.

Stupid Sarah.

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to be continued...

weekend entertainment

So I haven't been so good at posting recently. I'll blame it on Geoff. He's been down here since Friday and will leave at some point this afternoon. He doesn't believe in blogging - so he hasn't really allowed me much time to post. But this also means that he'll never read this. Oh the things I could say.... But in his defense, we've been quite busy ski-boarding (I skied; he snowboarded --- this is the hybrid word we coined), visiting Transient Crafters (:)), partying, sightseeing (we even popped into the Bayly), and of course enjoying some fine food (from Mono Loco, to Bodo's (with dad, who was in town, and the bro) --- and cake. yum. lemon bundt cake. Though Geoff never tried it. I savored it :)) Good weekend.

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Have a fairly full week in front of me. All those things I said I was going to get done over break? Yeah. Didn't happen. No biggie.

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off to class...

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to be continued...

Journal Tryout: Day 3

Done. Over. Complete. Ended. Finalized.

I can't decide if I want to read a trashy magazine, sleep in the sun, or take a bike ride.

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to be continued...

Journal Tryout: Day 2

Add to yesterday's tally:

1 (maybe 2) - parking ticket(s)
4 - wasted hours on blogs
0 - trips to yoga or the gym (I'm going insane.... and will be heading there at 7pm today)
[censored] - pages of writing
12 - times I've wished this was all over
24 - hours to go.

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to be continued...

Journal Tryout: Day 1

The confidentiality requirement for the journal tryout is fairly steep. "You should not even comment that the Tryout is "hard," "stupid," "time-consuming," "fun," etc." (p. 3). To avoid an honor code violation, I'll refrain from making any such statements.

Instead, here are some entirely unrelated statistics about the first 24 hours:

2 - times I've brushed my teeth
1 - bowl of cereal (with milk)
2 - liters of water (including 4 mugs of hot tea)
21 - Post-it flags (I can't tell you what they're marking)
1 - borrowed highlighter (I can't tell you want I highlighted)
1 - spot at a table in the Caplin Reading Room and
1 - ridiculous dream about Scalia, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and tri-cycles.

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to be continued....

The World is Doomed

When the Swiss start invading other countries, you know the world's about to come to an end.

I wish the Daily Show was on tonight. They'd have a good time with this one.

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to be continued...

Phonathon

I've spent six hours of the past two days calling alums on behalf of the law school for the annual giving campaign. They enticed me with $60 and some free food. All in all - it was good times. There were the cranky alums, the alums who wanted to know all of my 1L professors, the string of around ten alums all were on medical leave/just had a surgery/on maternity leave/in the hospital for a general ailment/just had a tooth pulled and can't speak on the telephone, and the alum who berated me about how the school isn't making lawyers who want to stay in the state and how it's absconding its responsibility as a state school. I wanted to remind him that the law school gets no funding from the state, and that in-state kids only get a courtesy discount - so shut up. But thought better of it.

The highlight of the phonathon came towards the end though. I was diligently making my calls when my own phone rang. I didn't recognize the number, but I picked it up anyway. "Hello, my name is [____]. I'm calling on behalf of Sprint - together with Nextel, to offer you information about a new service we're providing." Because I myself was in the phonathon business, I decided to hear her out. She continued, "I wanted to let you know that this _________ will not count towards your ________ minutes. _______ free call." She continues on for a few seconds. I hear only every 3rd word.

As I sit there, I'm thinking that this isn't particularly good advertising for my blessed phone company. They are calling me on Sprint phones. And I had 3 bars. Yet I still couldn't make out what she was saying. Still slightly sympathetic, I thanked her for her time, told her I wasn't interested, and wished her a good day.

Sprint better offer me a good incentive to renew my contract this May.

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Spring Break. Now. Writing papers. Oh well.

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to be continued....