Fun Fun

I finally tried to personalize the style of my journal somewhat; the background now contains the same theme as my personal page rather than a simple color.

Kudos to Chrissie for taking some pictures before moot court.

Cheerio

I'm feeling better now, though I've still been too lazy for my own good.

I was able to get together with the girl I'm rooming with in London; we coordinated and got our plane tickets (I am leaving in mid-May and coming back in mid-to-late-July). I'm glad we got tickets when we did, since ticket prices have been rising a lot lately. I think it helps that she's enthusiastic about the trip, since it would be easy to put off planning otherwise.

Out of curiosity, do any visitors to or residents of the UK and Europe have any suggestions for places to go? I'm trying to brainstorm, but I figure that it would help to hear from people whe knew the area and could steer me away from the tourist spots.

I'd Like To Thank The Academy...

I had moot court on Saturday. I had asked my partner to get a 'bailiff' earlier, but he wasn't able to gat anybody; fortunately, I roped my sister into doing it, since she'd only have to be there for the very beginning (she had to meet with some people later that day). She was also able to take several pictures of me in my 'business attire' as well of some pictures of me getting ready for the event. It went pretty well; the only problem that I had was some nervousness, and I felt prepared (even though I didn't do a huge amount of post-brief prep).

I didn't do much today except watch the Oscars. I sometimes dislike the big winners, so it was good to have Chicago and The Pianist win the top honors. Adrien Brody deserved his award, though I felt bad for Halle Berry (then again, maybe she's the victim of 'overemotional Oscar moment karma'). I do think the screenwriting award should have gone to Adaptation rather than The Pianist (which drew more on direction than the script). In any case, it was nice just to veg out and watch the ceremony.

I was able to finish my project on Sunday; I met with my partner in the afternoon, and all our work was ready by that evening. I drove out to the Santa Monica Kinko's and made copies (I also had to get the briefs bound and have covers with the right color of paper). It was late on the day before it was due, so invariably there were a few other students there who needed the same thing. My roommate and her partner were even more last-minute, working through the night and needing to go to Kinko's on Monday morning.

After class on Monday, I was able to go down to Santa Monica and get passport photos taken. I also walked around a little, doing some window-shopping and having a bite to eat.

Why Does Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Not Taste As Good As It Did When I Was Seven?

On Friday, I went home; my parents, grandparents, aunt, twin cousins, Chrissie, and Matt all went to Chuck E. Cheese. It was lots of fun but exhausting, since the twins are pretty active, and following them around takes a lot of energy. It was good to see everyone again, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

Today was unproductive, though I did get to work on this.

Sleepytime Tea Never Works

I was up late last night, and so my internal clock is mesed up. I tried going to bed a while ago, but I couldn't; I figured I might as well update my journal.

On Tuesday, I had a TA appointment. Later that day, I went over to Chrissie's, where I met with her, my cousin, my cousin's boyfriend, and my grandparents for dinner. Once dinner was over, Chrissie and I went to a play on campus called Wop; it was written by a friend of Chrissie's (the same person who wrote 'Big Night', which she was in).

Wednesday was a day of work and procrastination. I ended up getting to bed late and waking up early the next morning. Fortunately, I was able to come up with a complete draft of the argument to show my TA, so there's not a huge amount of work to do before the paper's due. I took the rest of the day off as a reward, so I'm pretty relaxed right now.

Now, if only I were tired...

I Have A Headache

I haven't been able to update recently; whenever I've felt like updating, I've been tired and wanted to wait until tomorrow.

I got to see The Pianist on Friday; I've been wanting to see it for a while, so I'm glad I got around to it. The rest of Friday and Saturday ended up being pretty uneventful; I was supposed to meet with my partner on Saturday, but it didn't end up working out.

I met with my partner on Sunday (before meeting with the professor); while I was more prepared than he was, he seemed a bit more on top of things than my wonderful partner from last time. After meeting, I headed over to USC to watch a production of Vinegar Tom that Chrissie was teching for. The play itself was a feminist retelling of 17th century witch hunts that also had elements of a rock opera. In the evening, after Chrissie had finished striking the set, we went along with some of her friends to a bowling event (it was some sort of charity fundraiser).

I had to get more gas today; it cost me $45 to fill up my tank. I really need to get a more fuel-efficient car...

Stumbling

Today went pretty well. I had one class (Property) and a Criminal Procedure exam, which wasn't too bad except for the very limited time we were given. After class, I took a break to watch Our Hospitality (a Buster Keaton film) before going to the 'tea' provided by the London program. I had a better time than I expected to; for whatever reason, I felt more sociable than I sometimes am. After the main tea, several of us boarded a double-decker bus to go to the Pier View (on PCH). Sometimes these events can be a bit awkward, so I'm glad that I had a genuinely good time.

Suitable

On Sunday, I was able to go home to have dinner with my parents and pick up a few items.

Today was pretty productive. I met with the career office about my resume and was also able to go down to Santa Monica and buy a suit, which I'll be needing for interviews and the 'oral arguments' for Legal Research.

My Contracts Prof. on Justice Souter

"Now, Centronics, which is on page... 767. Note that the opinion is written by New Hampshire state court justice David Souter. This is back in the days when Souter was an obscure nothing judge in New Hampshire, which is kind of an obscure nothing place. Now, I know there's going to be somebody from New Hampshire, and they're gonna come up to me after class, and yell and scream, but, you know, that's the facts.

"So you might say, well, gee, uncle Bob, I wonder why David Souter is now a United States Supreme Court Justice if he's so obscure. And the answer is he is a United States Supreme Court Justice precisely because he was obscure. He's this guy... he's innocuous. You know, if you've ever seen Souter. Cute little guy... bow tie... got a little smile... you know. Never said anything to offend anybody. Never wrote anything. Apparently never had a thought. Lived with his mommy. Lived with his mommy in New Hampshire. And he was an attorney general for the state of New Hampshire, was a judge, and became a justice on the court.

"And, you know, George Bush, big George Bush, did not want another Robert Bork or, you know... I mean, a lot of times you nominate somebody like, take Bork or Clarence Thomas, and they really get beaten up pretty good because they've actually expressed opinions of things. So, you know, big George Bush is trying to find a conservative Republican who's never uttered a word in public and who's never upset anybody. So John Sununu is Chief of Staff and he's a screaming right-wing conservative from New Hampshire, former Governor. Says, "Yeah, Souter's your man. You can nominate him. He's never made anybody mad. He's a bright guy, and he'll fly through." And during the confirmation hearings they'd ask Souter questions, and he'd give these really cryptic answers... So he got confirmed a hundred to nothing; nobody could find anything. And then Bush thought "Okay. Now he's gonna get on the court and become a screaming right-wing guy," but, unfortunately, what Souter didn't know was that he was actually quite liberal. So, you know, you try to stack the court with conservative Republicans and you end up with a liberal Republican. Very unfortunate. So that's how David Souter is on the Supreme Court.

"The moral of the story is, if you want to get on the US Supreme Court, don't do anything controversial. Wear bow ties, you know, live with your mom, don't express any opinions, don't write editorials, don't write articles, don't do anything. Just sorta hang out. They called him the stealth candidate... like the stealth bomber. You couldn't detect him. Nobody knew... nobody knew who he was. Nobody had heard of him. He's on the Supreme Court, and I'm not, nor will I ever be. So there is a lesson. Life is not fair. I accept that... I accept that. When you get your grades, I hope you accept that.

"So this is, yes, so this is judge Souter, way, way, back when he was merely a New Hampshire State Supreme Court judge who couldn't have realistically hoped to ever come on the Supreme Court..."

No, we don't go on random tangents in class. Why did you ask?

Stuff & Junk

I was feeling down for much of Thursday; fortunately, I felt better after an early evening nap. After napping a bit, I went to the law school with my roommate to see two moot court rounds (we needed to go for our Legal Research class). It took a considerable amount of time (about three hours including delays and breaks), but it was interesting and worth attending.

After class on Friday, I drove down to USC to watch a student production of The Winter's Tale with Chrissie (who needed to see it) and dad. After the play was over, we took dad back to his car and drove to the 101 Coffee Shop for Chai shakes (I had never had one before, but Chrissie insisted that I try it).

I slacked a bit yesterday, but I still managed to get over half of my reading done. Hopefully I'll be a bit more productive today.