What? It’s only been two weeks? Second semester is definitely busier for a few reasons:
Jamie and I saw The Uninvited* on Friday night. We used the comp tickets from the Unborn fiasco. The movie theater wasn’t as chaotic, but the girls next to us got into a fight with the movie theater cops. I’ve never heard someone call a police officer a “stupid m-f” to his face. It was impressive, in a “I feel bad for your public defender” sort of way.
The fees hearings took up the bulk of Saturday (noon-6pm-ish). That evening we went to the roller derby:
My camera only gave me two options that night – blurry or dark. Let’s blame the lighting. This was my first time at a roller derby. I didn’t expect it to be so family-friendly. The husbands of the rollergirls had shirts that read “Mr. (Wife’s Nickname)” the best was Mr. Strawberry Snatchcake. Yes. He actually had that on his shirt.
The roller derby was very tame. There were little kids running around everywhere. Brady, Jamie, and I got bored fairly quickly. Joe (who initiated the event) was MIA for the majority of the time. After the roller derby we went to the 19. On the way there I almost slid Charlie-Brown-Style on some black ice. Ugh.
Sunday Jamie and I loitered at Panera. I read this obnoxious case for Civil Procedure where the Supreme Court Justice attempted to compare a modern suit to 18th-century British claims for law and equity… it was dense, confusing, and irritating.
And apparently some of the Justices agreed: two of the concurring opinions said, “Uh guys, why are we doing this? We Justices not historians. We look ignorant, and we are wasting our time…” Yes Indeedy.
After Panera we went to Target and Ikea. I almost bought two (5-foot) palms for my room at Ikea, but when I got to the checkout line the cashier said, “Uh, that’s a display pot you can’t buy that.”
Me: “You mean this plain ceramic pot?”
Cashier: “Yeah. It has the product price tag on it. You can’t buy it.”
Me: “It’s a plain pot from a stack of plain pots. Can you just put the tag on another one?”
Cashier: “No. You need to get another pot”
Me: “Fine. I don’t want either of the plants or pots.”
I didn’t return her bitchy attitude, but I hope she had fun putting back those massive plants and the pots. I got some smaller plants from Home Depot.
I’ve noticed a change in my attitude: I have become more efficient. I realize that I am too busy for certain things, like arguing over an Ikea pot.
In the spirit of efficiency, I will work harder this week at single-tasking. I wasted a full two hours on Wednesday night doing a little bit of everything: scholarship essays, corresponding with professors, updating my calendar, etc – but I was at the library to read Criminal Law – not to do all those other things.
And what was the one thing I didn’t get done? Exactly.
*The Uninvited was an ‘okay’ ghost movie, but uses that cheap, “gotcha/camera trick” common to High Tension and (more recently) my Bloody Valentine.
I love it:
Me: “I think you totally facebook stalk me.”
Jamie: “No, I just know what my boyfriend’s up to.”
Me: “That’s your spin on it?”
Jamie: “I didn’t go to school for PR.”
Jamie stole my camera and…
The first week of 2nd semester is over. Vöt! Here’s a rundown of the courses:
Criminal law: Theory, theory, theory. It feels like a criminal justice class at a community college. No cases yet. Just half-page snippets of punishment theory…rehabilitation, retribution, yada-ya.
There’s way too much class discussion. I had the same issue with Constitutional Law last semester… I prefer the Socratic method because it focuses the discussion. When professors ask for volunteers in law school you get the same 5 people speaking all the time, and a fair amount of irrelevant and unproductive comments. I’ll give this class a few more weeks before it becomes my official blog-reading time.
Corporations: The reading is remarkably quick and interesting. Class is okay, but the professor tends to stick with a single student for 20 minute blocks. It’s not exactly grilling because our professor is really nice, although he does stutter when he makes a joke.
The professor made us buy this 3-inch-thick book of statutes and restatements. I’m returning it. There’s no way I’m carrying that brick of a book around and I look up everything on Westlaw anyway…
Property: The first day of Property I sit down and my classmates on either side of me start talking about how awesome the case was.
Me: “What case?”
Oh, apparently there was a reading assignment. Hah. Silly me. I’m starting off with a bang…
The supposedly awesome-case was about whaling with exploding bullets. Basically, back in the day they shot the whales with these bullet-bombs, watched them sink, and recovered them whenever the whale floated back up. This could take days. So, when someone else found the whale and sold it…well, that’s when we got a case for our casebook.
The only carry-over class from last semester is Civil Procedure, which is still my favorite. I like the predictability and efficiency of Civil Procedure. There’s a schedule, there are no irrelevant discussions or tangents.
No fluff means that I don’t have to wonder what’s important for the exam. I had some classes last year where only a handful of the classes were useful for the final…whereas in Civil Procedure everything is important. Professor V doesn’t waste our time.
Grades come out on Monday at 4pm. There’s a mandatory lecture that afternoon so people don’t drop out. This was the message from the dean:
Welcome Back 1L Students!
As you get back into the swing of things for Spring semester, this is a quick reminder that our 1L Lecture Series kicks off Monday. I’ll be joined by 2L and 3L students and the Career and Professional Development Center for a brief presentation on “Putting Your Grades in Context.” Our goal is to offer concrete ways to learn from and improve upon your Fall semester performance, and to help you understand what your grades mean – and don’t mean – for your professional development.
Best wishes, and have a great weekend.
– The dean
I think the grade delay is a retention ploy. Most of the 1L blawgers seem to have their grades…I really want to know where I stand so I can figure out who to ask for recommendations and what scholarships and jobs are realistic for me.
Anyhoot, I’m ending the week by seeing a somewhat-gory, but totally awesome movie with Jamie. Vöt.
Jamie and I spent the weekend in Bemidji.
Bemidji is a resort town in Northern Minnesota where Jamie went to college. Bemidji State University looks like a grotty, oversized high school.
The university is on the shore of lake Bemidji. The lake is frozen over and dotted with fish houses.
Driving on the lake quickly lost its appeal. We were convinced that the ice would crack and we would drown…and it would be our fault for… well, driving on a lake. Who does that?
We sampled downtown Bemidji’s nightlife on Saturday night. The first bar had a pair of snow-mobilers chatting up a 300-pound female bouncer. Frizzy hair and galoshes. Indeed.
Jamie and I saw “The Spirit” today. Here’s Jamie’s take at Chipotle:
Jamie studying the science of sleep.
I stopped walking and stood in front of the display, mouth agape.
Me: “You have to me shitting me.”
Jamie: “What?”
Me: “Oh hell nah. Come look at this!”
Jamie: “Nothing can shock me.”
Me: “CAMOUFLAGE LINGERIE?! What…why…who would ever…”
Jamie: “Welcome to Minnesota.”
How to tell when your significant other thinks you blog too much:
Jamie: “Are you going to blog about how I made you go on an awkward double date with two of my ex’s that I’m trying to hook up?”
(two hours later)
Jamie: “You’re going to blog about this aren’t you?”
(at the end of the night)
Jamie: “DONT BLOG ABOUT THIS!”
(right now, as he’s reading this over my shoulder)
Jamie: “I THOUGHT YOU WEREN’T GOING TO BLOG ABOUT THIS!”
…blog about what dear?
So what happened in 2008?
I graduated from college. During my last semester I did everything from bowling…
…to exploring haunted missile bases/ insane asylums.
There were also trips to the clubhouse (South Beach, Little Havana, Wilton Manors, etc.)
Jukebox and vintage video games…Jamie and I are having a quiet throwback New Year’s Eve, and it’s pretty much perfect.
So I had my “tuna of the sea” moment…
Jamie: “How’s the pizza going?”
Me: “Fine… how do I know when it’s done?”
Jamie (opening oven): “Uh, you weren’t supposed to cook the breadsticks and the pizza at once…and they are on the wrong trays.”
Me: “What? Why?”
Jamie: “And what temperature are they supposed to be?”
Me: “It says 425 for a regular oven and 400 for a conventional oven…”
Jamie: “Conventional oven?”
Me: “Yeah, and your oven is old so I assumed it was a conventional oven…”
Jamie: “Convection oven. And my oven isn’t a convection oven.”
Me(rereading the instructions): “OH! It does say convection… what’s a convection oven?”
And yes, I looked up convection oven:
Convection ovens or fan ovens or turbo ovens augment a traditional oven by circulating heated air using a fan.
Hmmf. At least I learned something today!
I walk in and Jamie has a look of utter disgust on his face.
Me: “What?”
Jamie: “I can’t believe you got three coffees.”
Me: “Burger King doesn’t have a large size for coffee. Only mediums!”
Jamie: “Issues.”
Me: “Blabla, law student during finals excuse. The school practically provides us with coffee IVs during finals…blabla-excuse-bla… I DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM.”
As if I drink under 5 cups a day anyway… pfft. Crazy talk.
* the video on the screen is “Me and My Imagination” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. It’s my official tort-final song.
I actually have an official song for each final.
For Contracts it was “Mausen” by MIA. and for Conlaw it was “Good Time” by Brazilian Girls.
So the conversation went something like this…
Me: “I want to make a decapitated snowman like Jessie, from Boy in Suit!”
Jamie: “Uh…no. We can’t do that!”
Me: “Why not? It would be the tort snowman! Mr. Palsgraf!”
Jamie: “Too stereotypical for this neighborhood. We have too much crime….too much real blood in the snow for that to be appropriate!”
Me: “But it’s going to be ballin’ outrageous!”
Jamie: “THE FIRST SNOW MAN I MAKE AT MY HOUSE IS NOT GOING TO BE A TORT!”
Me: “Arg! Bitch, moan, plead, interpleader!!”
Jamie: “FINE! MAKE YOUR OWN SNOW MAN!”
So we went outside, and Jamie made his Snow-woman…
That’s a total Charlie Brown pose right there…
Last month Erik and I approached the clubhouse around midnight. It was about 25 degrees, but there were dozens of people smoking outside.
“That’s when you know something is addictive,” I said, “When it has you willingly standing around in the cold.”
Today we can tack coffee onto that list of addictive things…
I’m preparing for my contracts final at Jamie’s house. Jamie, for whatever reason, does not have a coffee machine. Gasp, I know!
It’s 12 degrees, but the coffee was calling… so, I decide to ‘take a brisk walk’ to the convenience store around the corner.
I immediately knew that the Quik Stop didn’t sell coffee (they didn’t even have a soda fountain!) but I asked the clerk anyway…
Quik Stop Clerk: “Coffee? You mean already made Coffee? Pfft. No. We don’t sell that.”
I leave the store, perturbed.
Should I go back? Well, a bit further down the street is a gas station… Surely they sell coffee…
I think “f-it” and walk a few more blocks down the street.
I don’t realize that the gas station is abandoned until I’m immediately in front of it.
Should I go back? Well, a few more blocks down the street is a Subway. Thank god for chains. Subway has to have coffee. Besides, it’s only 12 degrees. That’s like a dozen degrees before zero…
I walk into Subway, absolutely delighted. My hands are together in a mock prayer. (Yes…it’s that serious) The Subway worker gets off the phone and greets me.
Me (big smile): “Please tell me you have coffee!”
Subway Dude: “Coffee? Pfft. No. We don’t sell coffee.”
Me (mortified): “How do you not sell coffee?”
Subway Dude: “We just don’t.”
Me: “Do you know where I can buy coffee around here?”
Subway Dude: “Erm…there’s a gas station two blocks down the road…”
Me: “It’s abandoned.”
Subway Dude: “Oh, well, uh… there’s a gas station four blocks down the other road.”
Me: “Why does no one sell coffee in this neighborhood?”
Random Homeless guy behind me: “Cus black people don’t drink coffee!” **
Me (turning around): “Well THIS black person drinks coffee!”
Four blocks later I come to a hole-in-the-wall independent gas station. They have coffee. Angels sing and confetti falls from the ceiling (at least in my head).
I get two cups, and march back to Jamie’s.
** It’s a black neighborhood.
We just saw Four Christmases. As we entered the theater we saw a few teenagers get chucked out of the theater by the manager and a rent-a-cop…
Two (or however many) hours later, after the movie, we hear screaming outside of the theater. There’s the manager, the rent-a-cop, and two real cops.
And an irate father…
Pissed dad: “TICKET OR NOT YOU CAN’T THROW A BUNCH OF KIDS OUT INTO BELOW ZERO TEMPERATURES!”
Well, apparently they can. And it’s 28 degrees, thank you.
I spent the day outlining contracts.
Jamie built me a fire, because apparently I’m Renee Zellweger.
And yes, those are both my coffees…they were only 20 ounces…
He was sick during the morning so I fetched him some medicine. I then got royally lost on the way back from getting my textbooks…yeah. It was special. I tried SO hard to make it back without calling for directions, but after 45 minutes being lost for a while, I finally called…
Jamie: Uh, Fail. You’re four miles the wrong way. Turn around. Bye.
Oh well…
…Oh! And before the movie we went toilet shopping!
“I don’t know… this only has level three flushing power. I NEED A LOT OF FLUSHING POWER!
“What? This is serious!
Loading the new crapper (sorry I had to) was fun, because trunk door was frozen shut… so we had to chuck the toilet in the back seat. Hm. Yay Minnesota!
Speaking of which…someone sold the movie rights to my life! Renee Zellweger is starring in a movie where she’s a Miami business woman who moves to Minnesota and falls in love with the rugged Minnesotan hunk.
It’s like the story of my life… except my Minnesota hunk takes me toilet shopping…
I’m skating at the downtown ice rink and there’s a group of teenagers playing tag. One of the kids slams into me and I wamp down to the ground – the teen falls face forward, flips over, and smashes into the wall upside down.
It was cartoonish.
I partially break my fall with my elbow…and my shoulder hurts for the rest of the night.
The teens kept playing tag, and Jamie kept muttering dark threats at them… this is how it went:
