Make yourself a dang quesadilla!

I was home all alone until about 9pm last night. I ate in complete silence and it was nice.

Got a midterm coming next week and I am going to be studying and trying not to crap my pants everyday until then.

PEACE!

Saturday, what a day

Last Saturday, after enduring a study session at school with a hangover (courtesy of Estoria and peer pressure), Max dragged me out to the Midtown Festival of Arts with him. Granted, I was the one who told him about it and I suggested we go earlier in the week, but I mean, I was hungover.

We still managed to have a really good time. It was a really nice way to enjoy the last hot, sunny day of the year. And, there's nothing like a solo cup filled with some crisp Terrapin Golden Ale to make everything all right again.

Arnold Palmer

Cooler weather is coming in next week, so here's my farewell to summer--a nice, cold Arnold Palmer at Corner Cafe/Buckhead Bread Co.

Tomorrow is Friday and I couldn't be more relieved. Yeeeeeah, shawty.

Week #6

My first closed memo for law school was submitted at 2:45am today. I got into bed a little after 3:00am and I woke up at 6:30am. I was so relieved that my 9:00am class was cancelled, but not in the awesome-I-get-to-go-back-to-bed kind of relieved. I was relieved that I would have extra time to catch up on my readings for my 10:45am and 1:15pm classes. I don't know if it gets any sadder than this.

Everyday I feel less and less like myself, it's like the more I find my stride here, the more I think I am going crazy. Every morning I wake up feeling nervous and question my class-prep from the night before. I often skip breakfast to make sure that I get to school at least 30min before class starts so I can go over my briefs. Every night I contemplate whether or not I have time to eat dinner (and sometimes I don't). More and more everyday I feel so pretentious; In class, I have to speak all "lawyerly" and outside of class, 90% of my conversation with my classmates is made up of even more lawyerly shit (although, this morning at 8:45am, some us got together and just watched some old Family Guy YouTube clips on someone's laptop. Lame, but relaxing in its own lame little way).

I feel like I need to learn to meditate. Or something. Maybe I'm cranky because I've been skipping breakfasts n' dinners n' manicures. It's a strong possibility.

Good thing my Aunt came home today and stocked up on some Chef Boyardee like it's Y2K up in here:

NOTE: No one in my house is a Chef Boyardee fanatic, even my Aunt. Soo, yeah, I have no idea why she decided to go overboard like this (and why there are only two cans of Spaghetti-O's remains a mystery).

Loco for Spam Moco

On Thursday, Thao and I gave the Waikikie Hawaiian BBQ place by our house a little visit. I ate the BBQ chicken curry with rice and macaroni salad--total comfort-food. Thao had the Spam Moco; Four slices of Spam topped with gravy, two fried eggs, two scoops of rice and a scoop of macaroni salad--total heart-attack inducer.

Yesterday was my good friend Sean's birthday. He had a fun house party and now I'm a little hungover today. It wouldn't be such a big deal except that I still have this godforsaken closed memo I have to take care of for school.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

It just takes some time, little girl

Nothing exceptionally bad happened today at school, but I still had a really, stressed-out, crappy-ass day. After about 6 hours of schooling and studying, I raced to MARTA and jumped into my car. I drove silently until I reached the nearest Kroger and I self-checked out a bottle of Diet Mt. Dew. Afterwards, I got back into the car, cranked up some Jimmy Eat World that happened to be playing on the radio (Thank god--I would have driven myself into the opposite direction of traffic if it had been Kings of Leon) and guzzled down my Dew until I made it safely into my garage.

I am now back on track.

Love, peace and chicken grease, everyone.

A Saturday in September

(Excuse my crappy cellphone pictures)

Saturday, Max and I went to Carroll St. Cafe over in East ATL to grab some 6th-year anniversary-type grub. We started with some pretty sweet tapas and a bottle of the house red (not sure what it was, I don't claim to be a wine connoisseur of any sort). I had some amazing curried chicken and Max had a NY strip steak that didn't suck at all. It was a very good dinner.

Later, we decided to take a nice nighttime stroll around Cabbage Town to work off some of my tipsy-ness. Max suggested we take a trip through the cemetery and I suggested we visit our friends Chevy and Daniel's new place nearby instead. After walking (weather has been pretty nice here) and drinking a little more that I night, I went home, feeling thoroughly satisfied. Max and I have not gone on a date like this even long before he left for Los Angeles, and I was reminded of just how much I used to love it.

On an unrelated note, Thao and I played some pretty shitty tennis (I came in there not having practiced in a month) this past Sunday on our first match of the Women's fall season. Good thing we won anyways. I'm sure the fact I was just hitting lobs and at one point shouted "DAAAAAAAMN" when a ball almost hit Thao in the face really threw off our suburban, housewife-y opponents' morale off. Guess no one told them that's how the Nguyen Sisters do. Federer should probably take some notes from us, that damn chump.

Have a lovely week--more fall-like weather is a-comin'!

Bizarro!

(Most recent picture of us. We're at the first GSU football game!)

Today marks me n' Max's 6th year anniversary. I know this is corny, but it feels like it was just yesterday when we first met. And I mean, when we met under more friendly circumstances, not like when we FIRST met for the very first time, when he was a dumb-ass freshman in high school who was mean to me for absolutely no reason that I can think of.

But, all of that is behind us now. It doesn't seem like Max and I have been together for 6 long years because he is my best friend. This is why I often forget that Max and I are even dating; everything just comes naturally between us, knaamean?

We can't do anything to celebrate tonight because I have a lot of reading to do and he has some crazy, all-day interview type thing going on, but we'll get together at some point. No worries.

Bizarro, I love you.

Called out

Whenever people talk to me about law school, they almost always jokingly (I hope) ask, "Is it like Legally Blonde?" I have not seen the movie in quite some time, so I don't remember much of the details, but there is one scene that has stuck with me through the years. It is the scene in which the main character Elle Woods is called on during the first day of school to brief a case for the class. She tells the professor that she wasn't aware that there was an assignment that she had to prepare for and is then promptly asked to leave the classroom by the professor.

In this respect, yes, law school is like Legally Blonde. One of the biggest reasons why students like myself stress out over law school is because of the fear of being called on in class to brief a case (give the facts, holdings, relative legal doctrine, etc. of a case) or answer any questions (usually confusingly worded or very complex) by the professor, and if you are deemed unprepared, you WILL be kicked out of class. How you manage to keep yourself from peeing your pants in utter fear or looking like a complete Neanderthal in front of your peers depends directly on your class prep every night. Now, one may think, "Okay, so do the readings and you're good to go." This is dumb and naive undergrad-type thinking and this sort of thinking will only get you embarrassed.

The cases and case notes that we are forced to read are difficult to decipher, let alone grasp a comprehensive enough understanding to be able to recite in front of an entire classroom. All I can say is that it's a whole different ball-game when you are forced to talk about something that you THOUGHT you understood while trying to sound "lawyerly" at the same time. On top of everything, professors will bombard you with questions like, "And what EXACTLY does in rem jurisdiction mean? How is that different from quasi-in-rem jurisdiction? If so-and-so did THIS instead of THAT, how would that change the outcome? What all was in Justice Brennan's concurrence on this case?" And it goes on, and achingly on. You have no choice but to answer until you are genuinely stumped. At which point you begin to pray silently, "someone please raise their goddamned hand so this mofo will leave me the hell alone!"

So, you don't JUST read; You read critically, desperately analyzing every little sentence until you can't take it anymore and then you read some mo'. The incentive to avoid the suffocation of classroom dead-air brought on by half-assed class prep is VERY strong. If the saying that a lawyer's most valuable asset is her reputation is true, then it is probably best we try not to cultivate a "Omg, what kind of dumbass comes to class unprepared"-type persona this early on in the game.

This whole Socratic method used by all law professors is more troublesome for me than most others. This is so because believe it or not, I get called on in EVERY class since day one. As a matter of fact, I was called on today right after I said to my friend at the beginning of class, "There's no way he's calling on me a fourth time. Nuh-uh, not gonna happen." I think this is largely due to the fact that I am the ONLY Asian female in the class (I think there are a total of 9 Asian students that make up the ENTIRE student body). My theory is that it makes it easier to put the name to the face, creating a sort of natural inclination for professors to call on me, mid-lecturing or right at the start of class.

As a result, I am constantly poring over my reading assignments to ensure that I know every case inside and out (I am still always left unsure about my thoroughness) and coming to class with an almost paralyzing feeling of trepidation. Even my other classmates have noticed that I am always "picked on" by my professors. Although they tease me about it, I can tell that it makes them nervous as they realize it won't be long before their faces are put to their names and they too will have to endure the same torture in the upcoming weeks. Essentially, during every class, I feel like throwing up, and after every class, I stress out about the next class.

However, as often as I am called on I haven't completely struck out yet. Due to my constant apprehension of the certainty of being called on, I am constantly staying on top of my work (I printed out cases to read while on MARTA going to the first GSU football game and while waiting on friends to arrive last Thursday with me and Max's tickets) and therefore am always prepared for class. I guess this is a good thing, but I just hope I don't have a heart attack before all of this is over.

Oh, and I can't lie, I still vividly remember the "bend and snap" scene from Legally Blonde as well. "Is it like Legally Blonde" ... what a bunch of jackasses.

JD-bound Joaney

Having been inspired by Max, I think I'll try to keep up with this blog as well.

It has been a while since I've updated and a lot has happened, most importantly is me getting into and having started law school. I'll take the time to get into everything else later.

I've gotten the third week of law school under my belt and I am still alive.

Law school each week can be compared to a thrilling horror movie in which I am one of the stars, who is terrorized from beginning to end, and by Friday, I am triumphant but barely breathing... Kinda like Brandy's character from I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. I'm well aware that this is a stupid analogy, but after three weeks of the most rigorous and challenging work I have ever encountered throughout my entire academic career, it is safe to say that all of my thinking has been devoted to the law and anything else stemming from my brain for any other purpose is pure fried chicken. Like, KFC double-down fried chicken. Any ounce of intelligence that I have must be saved up and sacrificed to the One L Gods (One L, that's what first year law students are called). You can't be wastin' water in the desert, knaamean?

"If law school is so damn hard, then why are you taking time out to blog?"

To answer that asinine question, I say it is to keep myself sane. I have decided that outside of law school, I will dedicate myself to two things and two things only: ALTA Fall tennis season and writing for leisure.

I have chosen to keep up with tennis because it is my favorite sport and I always end up hating myself for not keeping up with in the past whenever I have let a season go by without picking up my racquet. It'll keep me healthy and competitive outside of the classroom.

Writing for leisure is important to help me decompress without resorting to watching mindless television or stabbing myself in the eye. Writing helps me vent and allows me to discuss what I want to discuss outside of the demanding world of law school. I am constantly writing up case briefs for class and I think it'd be nice to write about other things, keeping myself a well-rounded writer. Or, what would most likely happen is that I end up muddying my writing skills by switching between professional and casual writing...eh, who knows?

Despite how I have made it seem, law school has been pretty exciting; it's nothing like I've ever done before and I hope to do well. I'll be keeping whoever reads this thing posted on my progress or demise. Seriously, I'll be more than happy to turn out like Brandy at the end of the movie--she may be covered in scratches, bruises, cuts and blood, but at least she's alive, dammit!