Recap

Oh interwebs, I have missed you.  I would like to say that I was kidnapped and held for ransom, and that's why I haven't been writing.  But that would be a lie.  The reasons for my absence are no less exciting, though.

1.  I FINISHED LAW SCHOOL.

2.  After #1, I didn't want to look at my computer anymore.

3.  I went to North Carolina, just like last year, and had a ridiculously wonderful time.  I tie-dyed.  I learned new card games.  I engaged in sing-alongs.  I drank.  I played wiffle ball.  I ran through a sprinkler.  I played in a pond.  I ate tons of yummy food.

4.  I also pulled ticks off myself, my beloved, and the Jamster.

5.  I worked on my bar application.

6.  I GRADUATED.

7.  I GRADUATED.  (In case you missed it the first time.)

8.  I played with my family.

9.  I worked on my bar application.

10.  I cursed my bar application.

11.  I worked on my bar application some more.

12.  I MAILED MY BAR APPLICATION.

So now I can breath again and return to the computer and catch up on all of you and possibly clean my apartment.

Who knew DC was so pretty?

After 8 years in DC, I finally made it down to the National Arboretum.  All I can say is that I'm ashamed and saddened that I never went before.  It was absolutely lovely and incredibly peaceful.

I was tickled by the azalea garden.  In the south, EVERYONE has azaleas in their front yard.  They're everywhere, and I have never really been a fan at all.  They're just sort of messy.  The bushes don't have a shape, and when they're not flowering, they're ugly.  And the white flowers turn brown really quickly, so there were lots of yards with ugly-shaped bushes with brown flowers on them.  Gross.

So I thought it was weird that the National Arboretum had a whole garden devoted to them.  But it turns out that the azaleas were in bloom and actually very beautiful.  I saw some varieties that I had never seen before, which people in Georgia should maybe think about substituting for the white ones in their collections.

And we loved the dogwood garden - so peaceful.  I didn't get very many good pictures, but we thought these two trees had very interesting blooms.

And I enjoyed relaxing on the grass and staring up into the sky.

Then I fell in love with this man.

Probably okay for the babe because I don't actually know who he is.  And he's a man.  But painting out among the trees?  Awesome!

But what was most wonderful, you ask?

The fiddleheads in Fern Valley.  I just adore the little whimsical things.  A whole frond curled up into those tiny little heads.  Love them.

All in all, a completely delightful day in DC.

The day that would never come

Tomorrow morning I take my last law school exam ever.*

I'm so deep in my own crankiness that I can't even imagine what it might feel like when I walk away, but here's hoping that it's something good.

*A little anti-climactic because it's pass/fail, but hey, I still have to pass.

Turn Turn Turn

To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.

The babe and I have a recurring conversation about death - or life - depending on how you look at it.  The babe wants to die in her 80s, and I would like someone to come interview me when I'm 110 because I'm the oldest person around.  The babe's reasons make sense - she doesn't want to live long enough to see all of her loved ones die, and she doesn't want to be alive when she can't really live anymore.

It's not that I want those things to happen - it's just that I need the time.  I cling to stories of people who are bopping around, mowing the lawn and gardening when they're in their 90s. There are so many things that I want to do, and I need all those years if I'm going to get to them all.

There are days when I feel just desperate about the fact that I don't have a garden, not even some herb pots by the window.  I wonder how I can dream of having land and a vegetable garden, how I can delightedly buy myself a copy of The Backyard Homestead when I didn't even make it a priority to rent an apartment with a south-facing window.

I'm daily traumatized by the fact that I don't write regularly, that I haven't acted in years, that I'm not in a choir, that  I haven't started my own baking/crafting business spent more time crafting, that I'm not a mom yet, that I've never learned to speak Spanish.

But then I try to calm myself by remembering back to this post I read a couple of years ago.  I don't have to do everything right now - in fact, I can't.  Asking myself to start a backyard homestead while starting a job at a large law firm would be like asking the universe to make it snow while it's 95 degrees outside.  We can't ask for all four seasons at the same time, but just because it's spring now doesn't mean it will be spring forever.

This is my legal season and realizing that it will not go on forever will allow me to really appreciate it for what it is.  Believing that there will be many, many years and many seasons in the future for me to do all of those things that pull on my heart strings helps me in those moments where I feel panicked about the things I'm not doing.

So I'm holding on to all of my dreams and desires and counting on the fact that I'll be around here long enough for their seasons to come.

Happy Things in the Midst of Finals

Our beautiful orchids (this picture doesn't do them justice). There are three blooming at the same time!

A yummy lunch - tuna sandwich, sugar snap peas, and kettlecorn popcorn. Mmm.mmm. good.

Hanging out (i.e. mutual studying) with the babe close by.

Reward for finishing mediation paper = 30 well-spent minutes at Carpe Librum, the annual mega used book sale.

And of course this guy.

P.S. If anyone can tell me how to post pictures in blogger without it sucking total ass and making you want to stab yourself, I'd appreciate it. Thanks. Okay, back to happy thoughts.

The New Life: I've got a piece of american cheese in my pocket

I pushed fairly hard for a dog, and I was super excited when we were heading down to get Jammer. Nervous, but excited. I knew that all of the struggles of having a new dog would completely fade away in the shadow of my love for him, my complete joy in having a darling puppy in my life. I imagined myself waking up every morning, gleefully hopping out of bed to run over to my puppy and shower him with kisses.

I was wrong. As much joy as Jammer has brought us, he's also brought a lot of stress and some fear and even some regret. That last has been the most painful.

Things like peeing in the house or not walking well on the leash - those things I can relax about. We'll get there. We'll figure that stuff out. But the resource guarding has been really, really hard for me. When I was explaining it to my mom she asked is resource guarding just a yuppie term for biting?

I explained that it's a dog trainer term and that it's sort of a sub-set of aggression. He's not a generally aggressive dog. He hasn't been aggressive with other dogs, and he's not aggressive with us generally. He just gets a little aggressive about his favorite toys and treats. Let's be clear - he hasn't bitten either of us. Or anyone else that we know of. But he makes aggressive moves. He'll get very still, put his paw on his toy and then look up at you like did you think you were going to take this away from me? If we have to, we coax him away with a little special treat. That's now after we've started working with a trainer. In the beginning, before we realized what was going on, he snapped at us a few times.

The first time he snapped at me, my feelings were hurt. I know - he's a dog. I'm not saying it's rational, but all I could think was we rescued you. we're feeding you and loving you, and you're going to try to bite me?! I realize now that it's a normal dog action (not an acceptable one, but a normal one), but somehow I can't help allowing it to affect my relationship with him. This little bit of fear and hurt and disappointment keeps seeping in.

Between that and the kleptomania (which leads to resource guarding) and the separation anxiety (if that's really what it is - there's some question about it), there have been moments where I have wondered if we made a bad choice - Is he not the right dog for us? And then I feel overcome with guilt - this is OUR dog! We love him! I think back to this Dog Whisperer episode that I saw where the woman's dog was aggressive with strangers and had even bitten HER MOM twice, and she was all I guess this is just the life I'm going to have to lead. I mean, that's devotion to your dog.

A moment of clarification again - Jammer is our dog. We love him. That's not going to change.

But this dog ownership business is filled with so many more emotions than I had anticipated. Perhaps that's affected by our close proximity to finals, and perhaps things will settle down a bit afterwards, and perhaps working with our trainer will solve all of these dilemmas. But whatever happens, the last month has definitely been an enormous learning experience - about the difference between expectations and reality and what it means to truly accept another being into your life, faults and all.

Even really dark clouds can still have silver linings

I graduate in 55 days, and I'm finished with finals two weeks before that. This law school adventure is almost over.*

This past Friday night was Barrister's Ball - law school prom, if you will. The babe and I have gone every year and always have a wonderful time. It's like going to a club all dressed up with all our friends. This year, a big group of us squished together to pose for a photo during pre-party festivities. As the little self-timer flash on the camera began to blink and we gleefully yelled at one friend to hurry into position, I thought about how incredibly grateful I am for the wonderful group of friends that I've made in law school. And all of my friends weren't even there.

I have done a lot of complaining while I've been on this journey. A. Lot. And I'm not saying now that all that complaining wasn't valid or that the feelings weren't real - they most definitely were. But as we get closer to graduation and to the start of a new journey which will carry many of my friends far away from me - to California and beyond, I find myself focusing more and more on this particular blessing of law school.

I've done a lot of work, and there have been some really crappy test-taking, paper-writing, forgot-how-much-reading-this-was days. But I've also gone to great dances, had wonderful potlucks, gone camping, played games, enjoyed dinner parties, laughed at lunch time, and spent weekends on vacation together with some of the most fun people I've ever known.

So, thank you, law school. (And enjoy it, because this might be the only time you'll ever hear it from me.)

* Don't speak to me of the bar.

And he looks just like Ellen Page

Meet Jammer.

I apologize if you just fell over and thought you had died from how cute he is. Please know that I feel your pain. It happens to me multiple times every day. He is painfully adorable. And his personality matches. He's just super.

Hold on, though. Before you run out and get one of your own, you should know that I've cried almost every day since we got him a week ago. Having a new dog is HARD.

Go on - all you dog owners out there can snicker away. Laugh at the poor girl who wanted a dog and didn't know how hard it would be. No, seriously. Laugh. I deserve it. I'm not sure what I was thinking, and the babe kept telling me - It's going to be hard. And I was all, we're not getting a new puppy. He'll be housetrained. It won't be that hard.

She's been so good about not saying I told you so.

So we got this little 21 pound guy from a rescue organization in rural Virgina. He's a schnauzer mix of some sort - we've heard various theories about the other part of him, but for now we're just willing to settle on adorable. He's about a year old, and over the last month, he's been with a family that gave him up for economic reasons, in a shelter, with a foster, and now with us. He came to us "crate trained and house trained" and with the name Jammer, which we love. This is what he looked like the night we got him

Still a cute guy, but he smelled like a room full of wet mangey dogs. That grooming was a lifesaver.

So, here are a few of the things I've learned in the last week about adopting a dog:

1. When you stop at petco on the way home, don't give the dog some random treats he's never had before. He'll throw up in the car.

2. When people say that an adopted dog will have a transition period, what they mean is that he WILL DEFINITELY have a transition period. That means YOUR dog, not just other dogs that other people adopt.

3. Transition period does not mean 2 or 3 days. Also, it might involve your dog crying/howling/barking/whining when you leave, which might involve you crying/holding your breath/feeling panicked when you leave.

4. When a rescue organization tells you that your dog is housetrained, plug up your ears and sing la la la la la la so that you can't hear them. If he is in fact housetrained, then you'll be delightfully surprised, but if he isn't, it'll just be what you expected.

5. Your dog being smart may or may not be a good thing. It might mean that he's going to learn to sit really quickly. It might also mean that he's going to learn to move the bottom out of his crate so he can poop on it and shift it out from under him while he's home alone.

6. Not getting a puppy doesn't mean that you're relieved of the need/duty/obligation/compulsion to run home at every possible moment to check on your dog and see whether he's still crying/has pooped in his crate/has peed in his crate/is still as cute as when you left.

7. When you get a new dog who's been in a shelter situation, he might have some issues - like maybe worms. Or an infection on his little man part.

8. You can fall entirely in love with a dog even when you've spent about an hour cleaning his ample poop out of the tiny crevices of a poorly designed crate.

Crotcheting is better than Corporations

This last semester of law school, I'm walking a delicate balance between pretending that I'm not in law school anymore and feeling bad about not doing more work. To be fair, I'm a sort of hard worker in general, so aside from the pass/fail class I'm taking, I do the reading, pay attention in class, and study for exams. I'm just less invested this semester. All of that to say that I'm diving in to some activities that I've really missed while I've been in school - one of which is crocheting. I pulled out my hooks and yarn and started playing with some patterns.

Completely inspired by Lucy over at Attic24, I bought $25 of lovely yarn.


And in the next week or so, I'm planning to get started on this delightful bag so that I have something to put all my yarn in!


PS - For those of you - ahem, Virgin - who have absolutely no interest in all this craftiness, please feel free to skip my crafty posts. But be forewarned, I think (and hope) that there's more to come!

No, you're a nuthatch!

Last week tens of thousands of North American bird watchers tallied up their numbers and submitted lists and photos to The Great Backyard Bird Count. At my last check, they had observed 597 different species.

Song Sparrow

If you had told me 5 years ago that I was going to know what the Great Backyard Bird Count was, much less that I was going to be delighted by it, I probably would've laughed at you. It's not that I don't like birds. I mean, I've always thought they were great. But bird watching? How boring is that?

Yellow Rumpled Warbler

My dad, who has developed into a gifted and devoted bird watcher, graciously showed me the error of my ways. It started with his beautiful photos attached to the ends of emails, then an annual calendar with his best photos, then a wonderful bird feeder* to entice my own little birdie friends, and most recently some wonderful binoculars that the babe and I have loved using when we go hiking.

White Breasted Nuthatch and Pine Warbler

Of course, I'm a super novice bird watcher. I can spot a robin, a house sparrow, a cardinal, maybe a blue jay, a woodpecker. And there are lots of times when they could be flying all around me and I would have no idea, made clear to me when my dad came to visit and saw ten different species outside the window in our 9th floor apartment (which I swore was too high for birds to fly because I had never seen any). I don't imagine that I'll ever be a bird watcher of my dad's caliber**, but I love that my eyes have been opened to the beautiful birds all around me, and I'm always delighted by his gorgeous photos.

Eastern Bluebird

As we're looking ahead towards more winter weather, I thought you all might enjoy some of these photos that my dad took during the recent snow in Georgia.

Northern Cardinal

* The bird feeder is stored away in our apartment, one of those things that I have refused to give away and have demanded closet space for in anticipation of the day that I have a window that looks out on trees where I can watch the birds feed.

** Hikes with my dad often include conversations like this (in a whisper):

my dad: Hear that?

me: What?

my dad: That.

me: What?

my dad: That bird.

me: What bird?

my dad: That ones that's making that sound. tweee...tweeee....tweee...

me: (straining) um...I think so.

my dad: That's a [insert interesting bird name here].

me: Yeah?

or

my dad: (in a whisper) Look!

me: Where?

my dad: (pointing) Right there. In that tree.

me: (peering...clearly not seeing anything)

my dad: (pointing at a tree about 100 yards away) There. On that third branch from the top.

me: Oh yeah. (not actually sure that I see anything while my dad hands me the binoculars)

20 minutes later once I've gotten the binoculars focused in the right place.

my dad: Oh, I think it flew away. That's okay. We'll see another one.

Crafty Things

One of my favorite daily reads is Craftzine's blog, where I learn about all sorts of crafty things going on all over the interwebs. Last week, they featured Craftster: Best of 2009 - the best projects from another crafty website - Craftster. I thought I'd share some of my favorites for those readers who are craftily inclined or just like looking at pretty things.

First, from the reconstructed clothing section, this summertime dress made from an old skirt and a 1970's curtain makes me want to sing Do-re-mi on a hillside with Julie Andrews.

Next, from the machine embroidery section, these absolutely precious owl towels might be the cutest little things I've ever seen. I certainly wouldn't want to wipe my dirty hands on them!

Third, from the dyeing section, is this lovely dragonfly batik-dyed fabric. I have no idea how this actually works, but I always think batik fabrics look so whimsical.

This fabric bowl from the crafty housewares category is just gorgeous. Apparently it's a pretty straightforward technique, but it looks like a lot of hard work to me.

And finally, from the paper crafts category, this delightfully whimsical deck of altered cards that the crafter made for her parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It's an idea that I'm going to store in my brain somewhere until I have the perfect time to use it.

There are dozens more of these beautiful, creative projects if you follow the Best of 2009 link from above, and for those of you who are into crafts, I highly recommend it. I never spend as much time crafting as I'd like, but I really love being inspired by all of these truly creative people out there.

Cocktails, Vermont style

For those who need a recap, when the babe and I go to Vermont, we stay with the babe's old roommate who now lives in a group house with 3 other girls. To call it a "group house" doesn't entirely cover it - it's more like a family than anything else. It reminds me of a house filled with sisters who truly enjoy each other. Among them, they have a friend group that seems to cover the majority of the people in Burlington. They're known for their weekly or bi-weekly potlucks, with a potluck email list with over 100 people. For Thanksgiving this year, they hosted a potluck with about forty people. They've even been featured in the local paper for their amazing potlucks.

So when we come visit, there's often a potluck or gathering. I've written about at least one of these gatherings before. This time, they did something a little different - a little outside the Burlington hippy norm - and hosted a cocktail party. Complete with pina coladas, Vermont maple moo-moos, and party dresses.

Some of the best things about last night's party (and hence, Burlington):

1. There were two guys wearing dresses. And owning it.

2. The Burlington-ers were delighted with themselves to be hippies having a cocktail party.

3. Almost everyone brought along desserts because even though it wasn't billed as a potluck, Burlington-ers are born potluckers.

4. Underneath most of the party dresses, there were leggings or wool tights.

5. My lack of a party dress was not a problem. One of the gals delightfully outfitted me in an 80s style blue party dress and knee-high red boots.

6. We all stood in lines - girls and guys - and learned a Bollywood dance, which was amazing.

7. The Bollywood dance party turned into an 80s dance party thanks to Pandora's 80s Dance Party station.

8. Which turned into a Pandora TLC station party. And nobody there wanted no scrubs.

9. After-party breakfast this morning included amazing breakfast quesadillas - the perfect hangover breakfast.

As always, Vermont delivers.

Haiti

Generally conversations of the following type really bug me:

person 1: ugh. my hair looks like shit today.

person 2: you should be grateful that you have hair. some people don't have hair.

person 1: um...right.

I don't like how person 2 tries to invalidate person 1's feelings. Yes, we should be grateful for the things we have, but it rarely helps to ignore our own feelings.

However, with that said, I'd like to take a moment to recognize that my current struggles (fear of falling on my lovely ski vacation, a long corporations assignment for my excellent corporations class, etc) are, on a scale of one to ten - one being happy millionaire, ten being currently dying - maybe a two point five.

I'm sending my thoughts and prayers to the people of Haiti and remembering how very much I have to be thankful for.

Blessings

The babe and I celebrated two years this weekend in beautiful Charlottesville, Virginia and marveled both at the glorious fall landscapes and at how very much we enjoy each other's company.

As the we were falling asleep last night, the babe said, "I never imagined that I'd want to spend this much time with another person."

Thank goodness for the surprises that love brings.

Towards becoming an overwork atheist

The other day during class, I took out a container of the vegetable fried rice that the babe and I made the night before for dinner and started to eat it. The girl I sit next to turned to me and asked "how do you have time to cook?"

It was more an accusation than a question.

My initial thought was "how would I not have time to cook?" I mean, I have to eat.

What I said: "I just don't do other things."

I don't pretend that I never have those feelings of anger or jealousy when I see that someone else seems to have time for the things that I miss - for crafting or reading or being a member of a choir - all those things that I feel like I've left behind since law school.

It's made me think about a passage from Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:

"Overwork actually has major cachet in a society whose holy trinity is efficiency, productivity, and material acquisition. Complaining about it is the modern equivalent of public prayer."

As miserable as I can get about law school, the truth is that what I do or don't do is the result of my own choices. I choose to cook, and the result is that sometimes I don't do other things. Those other things may be homework; they may be hanging out with friends; they may be sleeping an extra hour; sometimes, it's bathing. (Yes, I'm putting that out there.) The reality is that there are only 24 hours in a day, and I make choices about how to spend them.

I am tired of participating in the ritual complaining. And I'm tired of feeling guilty in the moments where I make the choice to do something nurturing instead of reveling in self-pity at my own "overwork."

There are so many people in the world who are truly overworked, who truly cannot find time to sleep or nurture themselves because they barely have enough time to make enough to house themselves and their families. There are those who work multiple jobs just to eat. And yet, I don't think those are the people complaining. They don't have time.

I complain - a law student with a beautiful apartment, classes four days a week, a job ready for me after graduation, a wonderful girlfriend, and weekly meals that include fresh meat from the local farmers market. Though it may come across as such, I’m not interested here in self-flagellation. I'm not alone in my behavior, and I don't feel the need to condemn myself for it.

What I do want is to recognize reality and give myself permission to walk away from the overwork dogma and the requisite complaining that goes along with it.

I'm sure in the weeks and months to come, you'll find complaints on this blog - I'm human, after all. But I hope that sometimes in the midst of my complaining, I'll remember back to this post and relax a bit.

You make me smile

And cheer.

And feel totally enthralled by something outside myself and law school.

And I love you for it.

If Loving You is Wrong, I Don't Want to Be Right

I've always thought guys were a little weird with their electronics obsession, loving their televisions and their gadgets. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good tv, and I've liked some of my cellphones. I appreciate what technology can do for me.

But I've never loved something electronic.

Until this.

Oh, beautiful computer. You make me swoon.

My laptop is fine, but I never felt this way about it. It always felt heavy and clunky. This one feels svelt and sleek. I can carry it around in one hand. The keys hardly make any noise. Everything is shiny.

I love it. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Tagged: Best and Worst

Laughing tagged me, and to thank her, I proceeded to fall of the face of the planet - as least as my blog was concerned.



I'm back, at least for the moment, and I won't make a bunch of excuses for my absence. I'll just say that I've been insanely busy. And a lot of it has been good. And some of it hasn't. And that leads us right into Laughing's tag - the best and worst of the first. Except for me it was the second.



I thought about it for a while - since she tagged me about 2 weeks ago, and I'm just posting now. What were the best and worst moments of Law School Year Two?



There were a zillion best and worst moments in my personal life, but I'll still with law school life here.



Best: I gave a presentation in my feminist legal theory class with my dear friend T. The topic was prostitution, and as we began our research, I became really interested in what was happening with young girls and the market for virgins. I was borderline obsessed, and I spent way more time researching than was necessarily merited. I watched documentaries and read blogs, and I think the babe got sort of tired of hearing about it. T and I talked about it all the time. And then we put together this totally kick-ass powerpoint presentation with documentary clips and quotes and numbers and pictures and all sorts of stuff. And we created an interactive portion of the presentation so that we could promote discussion about what it means to be a prostitute and whether people would or would not choose the job as compared to other jobs, like being a medical guinea pig or a porn actress or a secretary or a hired killer or a nude model. The presentation went amazingly and the other students were really interested in it. When we finished, one of them said that it was amazing, and I realized that, like me, they hadn't really known about a lot of this or thought about it before. It felt so wonderful to have shared all of that information - to have opened other people's eyes about what goes on with young girls in this country every day, to have really good discussion about the tension points between victimization and autonomy. It was one of the most proud moments I've had.



Worst: It's hard to pick out a worst moment - I think because the whole year sort of blends together in lots of really awful moments. It's easier to pick out a great moment from there. I'm aware that not everyone feels that way about law school. I envy those other people.* At any rate, I think what I'm going to single out as my worst moment was actually two days during reading week of second semester. I got a journal substantiation assignment, and it was the longest one I had ever had. I had been out of town the weekend before, so the only time to do it was the first couple days of reading week (which isn't actually a whole week). I really don't enjoy substantiation in the first place, but this took hours and hours and hours. Somewhere between 12 and 15 total, which maybe doesn't seem like that much. But when every moment I spent on it felt like a moment that I wasn't spending studying for the three exams that I had coming up, it felt very, very long. I finished it; the jury's still out on one of the exams. And the one that I didn't do so well on - well, I can't really say it was the journal's fault. I don't know. But it sure felt that way at the time.

Because I waited so freakin' long, I'm not going to tag anyone, but if anybody decides to do it, let me know.


*By envy, sometimes I mean hate.

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.

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.