Sunday Night

On Saturday, I got to see Robin, one of my roommates from last year. We met in Santa Monica; I was running late, but she was also late, so nobody was really inconvenienced. We spent the next couple of hours reminiscing and looking through the photo album of my UK trip. I also met her new boyfriend, who came a little bit later than she did.

I was able to do some cleaning up around the house. While such things are never fun, it needed to be done, and it's nice to have things in order, at least for a while. I finally organized all of my school papers in a single envelope, and I was able to borrow the vacuum from the RA.

E-Moot-Ing

I've been having the same round of classes, but the tournament also took up some of my time. I was a 'floater' on Thursday, so I had to dress up and be ready to fill a position should the need arise, but the need never arose. At least I got a free meal for my efforts, and I needed to get out early anyway.

The final day of the tournament was today, which (not so) coincidentally is also Parents' Day. The two finalists did a good job, even though the judges were fairly tough on them. Afterwards, the board and the two finalists took photos with the judges, and I met up with my dad, who had watched the round (he was particularly interested in the competition because the 'case' dealt with issues he had written a Law Review article about).

This Is The Subject Line

Monday night was the first night of the Armand Arabian Tournament; as I'm a Moot Court Board member, I had to set up a room and oversee a couple of rounds. Basically, my partner and I escorted the judges to the room before each round, handed the sheet to the volunteer baliff, and sat through the two rounds. The partisipants in the first round were OK, but the second round seemed to go more smoothly. Of course, one of the round 2 participants was a somewhat annoying right-wing talk radio wannabe, but he was somewhat reined in by the cases and facts. Unfortunately, the timekeeper was "crush boy", so I wasn't really able to enjoy the round as much as I might have.

Today was more or less uneventful, but I did drive over to USC, where I saw a nearly finished version of Chrissie's short film. I think it turned out really well, and I hope Chrissie is happy with it!

Saturday Stuff

After turning in the last of my British Pounds at the bank, I decided to try and do some studying done in Santa Monica. However, I later found out that it was a bad day for me to try and do anything in Santa Monica; the place was a zoo, and I would have had trouble parking if I tried. Once I returned, I got a call from my sister, so I drove over to USC to lend support while she worked on editing her 290 film. She ended up setting the 'Tab montage' to this tune, which actually ended up fitting the footage rather well. After the editing room had closed, I went with Chrissie and her friend Laura to the Grove, where we had dinner and went to a screening of Dirty Pretty Things, which was directed by Stephen Frears and featured Audrey Tatou.

Aventuras en la Escuela

I got called on in Tuesday's Evidence course. Because of the work I had done Chrissie's film, I didn't have much time to read and was a bit underprepared despite having done some reading the previous night. I was able to make my way through, at least. I think it appeared more like I was nervous or shy than underprepared, which I suppose is one of the few benefits of being introverted. Afterwards, I had Admin. Law; as the professor was at a conference, the class was taught by a guest speaker. He spoke on the subject of education and the disabled rather than giving a lecture on the curriculum, which was a good change of pace. Later, I had a Moot Court Board meeting, during which some of the members' duties were laid out.

I didn't get much sleep last night, so I was pretty groggy for a large portion of the day. I survived this morning's Corporations class and a mandatory Westlaw training session before getting some coffee and going to a lecture session of my Trial Practice class.

The Tab Variations

Late this morning, I left the school to help Chrissie with her movie. After picking up Natasha, who I had recruited for the film, I drove over to the University Village near USC. A few scenes were filmed during the next few hours, including ones in which Natasha and I blocked Jeremy while moving along an endless line of clothing racks (we changed our outfits between shots). Later, we had a 'cast lunch' over at Subway.

Chrissie still had some shots to do, but she had come up with the idea of doing some sort of instrumental version of the 80's Tab jingle (the commercial is a major plot point) in the closing credits. As Natasha is musically talented, she offered to do one, so we drove over to my place, got a copy of the jingle and my computer's recording equipment, and left for her house. After some practice, she was able to put together an improvised jazzy version, which I gave to Chrissie.

And now I have lots of work to do...

Murphy Colfax Takes on the World

Here are some of the things I created for Chrissie's film.

It's too Late to Think of a Good Title

As I was up late helping Chrissie out on Thursday, I was rather tired on Friday morning. After my class, I took a long nap before going to a Bluebook review session. After the session, I headed over to USC, where Chrissie was shooting her film. She wanted to use my car; in the movie, the protagonist attempts to drive to the post office but the car won't start. Anyhow, I parked outside Chrissie's apartment building and 'offered moral support' as the shoot went on. I also helped out with one shot where the main character's shirt gets caught in the car door. After shooting was done for the day, Chrissie, Matt, Jeremy (the actor, who is also a professional film actor), and I saw the 'dailies', which included the car scenes and early sequences of the character eating chips on the couch. After Jeremy and Matt left, I stayed at Chrissie's apartment while she filmed various shots of the room, which was made disgustingly messy for the movie. Finally, we had some pizza and cake with Jenny, Chrissie's roommate, before I headed back to my room.

I spent most of today doing relatively little. However, things picked up after I got a call from Natasha. She invited me over to listen to a band that was playing at the Roxy theatre on Sunset (she knew the mother of the base player from her volunteer work). Though we weren't there for a long time (a little less than an hour), we both had an enjoyable time, and even got copies of the band's CD. Since we were both a little hungry afterwards, we went over to Jerry's Deli for a late dinner afterwards. I think we both had a pretty good time, and I'm glad that I got to go.

The Ballad of the Thrift Store Umbrella

Yesterday, I had to give my first closing statement for my Trial Practice class; I did alright, though I shouldn't have been as nervous as I was. If nothing else, I think I knew what I was talking about, and my argment was well-structured. I also got a few compliments on my new suit, which was nice.

I'm getting a little bit nervous about interviews. It seems like they're at the front of people's minds, and I worry that I don't have enough prospects at the present time. Hopefully, I'll be able to edit my resume to reflect my NAALJ and research assistant credentials this weekend.

This afternoon, I turned in my subcheck for the NAALJ journal; basically, I had to edit two to three pages in addition to checking the cited sources. Of course, the internet died as I was doing my last-minute checking, so I went from my room to the school computer lab. Naturally, the internet problem was campus-wide. At least it got back up, giving me just enough time to finish the subcheck. My internet access is still erratic, but at least it's better than it was earlier.

Later in the evening, my sister came over so that we could work on a few props and items for her next short film. These included several faux news articles and a book cover (the short is a comedy, which explains the absurdist title). It was fun to do some work in Photoshop, and I think that a lot of the articles came out pretty well. I'll have to wait and see how much detail appears in the finished film.

Anyway, I think it's time for bed.

Specs, Suits, and Stuff

On Monday, I met with the professor I'm working as a research assistant for, and he likes what I've been doing with my case summaries thus far, which is naturally a good thing. Other than that, not much happened aside from the usual routine.

After class today, I drove over to Santa Monica in order to get some backup glasses; that way, I'm not so dependent on contact lenses all the time. While waiting for the glasses to be ready, I got some 'law clothing' to wear on interviews and at jobs. I think I'm in good shape, but I'd still like to get a pair of loafers or other flat shoes. The only nice shoes I have at the moment are boots, which wouldn't always work. Finally, I had dinner over on the Promenade before returning to my room.

I've been able to tidy up my room today, which is something I've needed to do for a while. Though, for obvious reasons, I try to keep common areas tidy, it's easy enough to neglect my own room when I have other things on my mind. Hopefully, I'll be able to borrow the RA's vacuum in a few days.

I also learned that I have an interview with the Riverside DA on the 29th.

I have spent much of the evening testing out the new glasses. They're a tiny bit more awkward than my contacts, but my eyes don't get as dry with them on.

Me with my glasses on:

Weekend and Birthday Wishes

I've been too busy and lazy lately to update lately. This weekend has been fairly hectic, so I haven't gotten as much done as I'd like, but that's not really anything new.

On Friday, I went home where I saw Chrissie, Matt, and the twins (who wanted to come over and swim since they weren't able to go swimming on Labor Day). After hanging out there for a while, and getting a little bit of a sunburn despite my attempts to protect myself with suntan lotion, I went to USC to see the first official screening of Speed Deal, a 13 minute graduate student film which she worked as PA on. Once the screening was finished, we (me, Chrissie, and her friend Laura) stuck around for part of the afterparty before going back to her room to partake of the ice cream birthday cake I had gotten for Chrissie. Since I was pretty exhausted by this point, I left Chrissie and drove home.

Tonight, I went to Chrissie's birthday dinner (her birthday is actually on Monday) at C&O in Venice. The group mostly consisted of USC students; there were ten guests including me. I think everyone had a fun time, though we were seated outside and got a bit chilled by the frigid California weather.

Anyway, happy 20th, Chrissie!

Random News Tidbits:
Simon and Garfunkel Poised for Concert Tour - Yay!
The Justices' Night at the Opera - Three Supreme Court justices take bit roles in a DC production of Die Fledermaus

Martes, Mardi, Dienstag, Martedì...

It seems like last night was a fluke, for the neighbors are back to their obnoxious ways. At least I think I've gotten desensitized enough that I can do a decent amount of reading despite the noise.

Not much happened today. I had the usual round of Tuesday classes as well as a meeting for the NAALJ journal. During the meeting, we went over the subcheck assignment, in which we checked part of an 'article' for various errors and deviations from the proper Bluebook style. I would have liked more samples to guide me before trying my hand at a subcheck assignment, but the editors are placing copies of the sample subcheck in our boxes, so I'll be able to use that as a resource in the future.

Labor Day

This afternoon, I drove home to celebrate Labor Day with several family members (as well as Matt and Chrissie's roommate Jenny). Most of the time was spent following the twins around, but I was also able to see Matt's finished zombie movie, which both Chrissie and I appeared in, for the first time.

In other news, the neighbors were actually quiet tonight! I'm hoping that they got the message and that this isn't just a stroke of luck.

My Stint as an Actress

I got to Chrissie's at around 9:30 last night. After a little dawdling, we picked up Matt, went to dinner, and saw a midnight showing of American Splendor. We dropped Matt off, got the camera equipment from one of Chrissie's classmates, and went to sleep.

Chrissie wanted to start out with a few morning shots, so we got up early. Because I had spent the night, there wasn't a problem with me getting there on time; however, there were a few problems because it made it that much harder for Chrissie to get the bedroom set up for the early shots. Finally, we took the first series of shots, in which I got out of bed and got ready to leave.

We later drove over to pick up Matt before heading to our second location: Balboa Park. These scenes were more complicated, and consisted of me jogging around and Matt following me. Blocking it was a bit difficult, especially since Chrissie had to keep the light levels in mind, but eventually things fell into place. We finished at around 2:00, and went out to a late lunch afterwards.

This was Chrissie's first movie for her class, and she wasn't allowed to use any sound or editing. I think the film turned out pretty well, though, and she did everything in her power to make it work. Congratulations, Chrissie!

I also got a bit of a sunburn from the time I spent in the park...