Tuesday, May 26, 2009

First Things First

Orientation today at The Big Firm.

I won't be back for five weeks. I've got a public interest fellowship, so I start a new job for the second time in two days tomorrow as I head to the public interest organization. I'm sure working there will great, but I have to admit that the first day of a new job isn't my favorite experience.

Highlight of today's first day:

I'm at lunch with three other summers and our four mentors. We're talking bar trips. One of the mentors describes her six week trip around the world. She took it last year before she started working at The Big Firm. The progression of countries sounds oddly familiar to me.

"Did you do that trip with a friend from Our Law School?"

"Yes."

..."Does she have a blog?"

"Yes."

I was right. It was a blogger that I'd read before starting law school and then some after starting. Small world.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Naked, Part I

I started figure modeling in graduate school. One of the other actors in the program had been doing it for a while, and she recommended it to some of us as a good way to make some money. When I left the administrator's office at the art school, I felt giddy. It seemed so bold and daring, maybe even rebellious. Not that I had anything in particular to rebel against. Maybe just the constrained version of myself.

I was nervous as I drove to my first class. A newly purchased robe lay on the seat next to me, and in a moment of panic, my mind raced over the idea that I would fail. That I would get there and freeze up, unable to remove my clothes.

I spoke with the instructor and she pointed me towards the bathroom, where I undressed and put on my robe. She didn't ask if I had ever done a class before, and I didn't offer up the information, hoping that portraying the image of an old pro would calm my nerves.

Thirteen artists busied themselves in front of their canvases, pulling out paints and erasers and rolls of paper towels, repositioning their paper while chatting with each other about their weekends. The instructor asked me about my temperature preferences and set up a small heater at the base of a small platform.

A reclining pose please.

Because I've Been Watching A Lot of Television

Check out my new poll. It's right there on the side of your screen. :)

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Ode to ISBN

While it seems that summer began a while ago, perhaps when my second year of law school ended, the true beginning of summer happened yesterday.

I went to the public library to check out some reading for pleasure books.

I love public libraries. I love the way the books smell. I love the people there. I love the date due stamp.

Mostly I love the whole idea of a library. Free books. Just pick the ones you want, read them, and bring them back. It's genius. And now there are CDs and DVDs and books on CD. It's like a delightful shopping spree with no buyer's remorse. In other words - Heaven.

But that's not all.

There are books in a public library that you would never find in a bookstore. Bookstores stock what people buy. Libraries stock...well, I don't really know what libraries stock. Just lots and lots of books. Yesterday I found myself standing in front of a shelf looking at White Women, Black Men: Illicit Sex in the Nineteenth-Century South by Martha Hodes - a book I imagine promises to be either highly informative or highly offensive; Love, Marriage, & Sex in Contemporary Japan by Pink Samurai; To Love Honor & Betray: The Secret Lives of Suburban Wives by Stephanie Gertler - whom I assume is in litigation with the creators of Desparate Housewives; and Family Outing by Chastity Bono.

While the titles themselves delight me, what makes it even better is that I came upon this shelf of books while looking on the adjacent shelf for Michael Pollan's Botany of Desire. When in a bookstore would you come up a book about illicit sex while you're standing next to a shelf of books about the life of a plant? Never.

There's one more thing about the MLK Library in DC that I really like. It acts sort of like a shelter during the day. It's chock full of homeless people. They're sleeping in study carrolls, surfing the web, wandering around through the books. But there are also lots of them sitting at tables reading. All sorts of things - mysteries, books on religion, novels. One man, who I think was schizophrenic, seemed to be trying to learn Chinese.

My only problem with the public library is that I really never want to leave.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

we iz gooberz

Too much lolcats and a penchant for silly has destroyed mine and the babe's ability to speak - so much so that on the way home from the park yesterday* the babe turned to me and said, with a note of pride, "We've spoken correct English all day."

Maybe it was finals insanity, maybe the stress of law school in general - who knows. But for whatever reason, a person with their ear against the door of our apartment might hear any number of the following phrases:

I'z tired. I'z redy for bed.

Uz my favorite. Uz da best evah.

I no wants ta do dis no more!

I ruvs u.

Das no gud. Das bad.

Dis poopy.

I think you get the point. We realized it was out of hand when we noticed ourselves and each other saying these things in public. Around other people. Very bad.

So we're trying to cut ourselves off from lolcat/baby talk. It's harder than it seems. But sometimes you just have to suck it up and work hard if you want to keep your friends from throwing up in their mouths every time they see you.

* The park was our longest jaunt out of the apartment since mother's day weekend (when the moms were here). Though it required intense willpower, we peeled ourselves off of the couch and away from the television so that we could enjoy the sunshine.

Monday, May 11, 2009

I'm Thinking Hank Azaria (as in The Birdcage)

Two lesbian females in search of Manservant to perform following activities:

1. Make breakfast/brunch of veggie-filled egg scrambles, french toast, pancakes, coffee, etc and serve two said females in bed, particularly on weekend mornings.
2. Turn off lights when said females got into bed without remembering to turn them off.
3. Check whether front door is locked when said females are in bed and can't remember.
4. Carry said females on back when they are tired after a long walk/hike/day at the beach.
5. Act as jumping hug receiver from said females when something exciting happens.
6. Additional duties assigned during finals on an as-needed basis.
7. Light housework, including unpacking groceries, washing dishes, killing bugs.

Possibility of sperm donation to be discussed at a later date.

Salary negotiable.

Friday, May 8, 2009

I must've done something good

I've been gone. I know. My few faithful followers are sad. But I hope you'll forgive me when you hear that it was for a really good cause - my getting rejuvenated post-awful, awful finals.

I spent 2 1/2 of the greatest days of my life in North Carolina with about 17 of my law school friends.

Imagine, if you will, the following formula:

Best Summer Camp Day - Gross food + Alcohol (for some) + Great All-The-Time Friends - Having To Do Activities You Don't Want

What you get is mine and the babe's recent vacation time. We played more games than I think I've played in the last 10 years - kickball, soccer (I abstained), wiffle ball, croquet, jenga, celebrity (charades on crack), scattergories, taboo, apples to apples. We grilled out. In the rain. We hung out and chatted into the wee hours of the morning. We sat on the front porch and read our books, enjoying the silent companionship.

It was amazing and everything I needed at the end of this 2nd year of law school.

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