Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Day 67...

Shit! It's already 11pm here! Not having a morning class, I have to say that I still did very well getting up this morning, but somehow or other the day got ahead of me anyway. I blame the constant rain, thank you very much.

Just a heads up--my forearms are feeling very weak at the moment, so I do not take responsibility for the occasional tpyo of this here email. Today the manager of the climbing gym teetered herself up a 5.12 route...for those of you who don't know, that's downright god-like. (Er, goddess-like, in her case.)

What else? Turns out I've somehow managed to get myself involved as an intricate part of a new school organization presently still in its infancy. (And by 'intricate' I mean, showed uprevious postp to the meeting that ended up having only two other folks there--one of whom is the founder.) Thus, we rallied our forces and headed off to the SBA ('student body association') to beg for a lotta legitimacy, and a little bit a cash. We'll see what happens. The group has a highfalutin title of "Education and Law Policy Organization", and their main claim to fame is that Suspension Revocation Project I mentioned in a . Sounds neato, in my opinion, but now that this will be the 3rd student org I'm getting my hands messy with...well, we'll just see what comes of it.

Anyway, I have so much to do!! I gotta quit you now, sadly enough... 'Till tomorrow!

Faretheewell folks,
-LaW

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Day 66...

Hi there. Today was good--packed full from early morning to late night--but so far this week I've yet to find a stopping point. There's always tomorrow for resting, right? Maybe not, but in my case, I don't have a morning class tomorrow, so i'm just gonna count on it anyway. What other choice do we have?

When it comes straight down to it, though, I've a light at the end of the tunnel--Mike's coming up tomorrow (!!) for the Halloween, as well as his birthday, weekend. And not only that, but the tunnel's not even as dark as you'd think! The posters I designed for school came out lovely, turns out, and all of my dayandnight homework/outlining moments did culminate into a madly successful study group session tonight, so I can at least for one tiny little instant feel good and accomplished. Still, knowing that this weekend it'll be Mike, the next it will be beautiful Katie, and then just one more before it'll be crazy Japan--I feel much better about being thoroughly stressed out now to get everything done, because I'm still earlier enough doing it all that I should be calm and able to be present when the good (er...better) stuff comes around. (Don't quote me on that: it's all 'better', right? But then where the heck's the sense in that?)

Anyway, that's all I's got for you (me), at least for tonight. Lovelovelove, all around.

Fareetheewell folk,
-LaW

P.S. I'm afraid Sierra's becoming one of those anthropomorphized pigs in Animal Farm: these days, she can't even sleep without a pillow... :-0


Monday, October 26, 2009

Day 65...

At around 11:30am today, Grandma Sue passed away. I feel immeasurably grateful that I was given the chance to see her a few weeks ago. At the same time, I realized when I saw dad's text message with the news that this would be one of those truths that take a long time to learn how to believe. I'll miss her humor, her catawampus vocabulary, her keen curiosity for the things she marveled at in this world, her voice, her matter-of-fact politics, how consummately humble she was, her faith, her stories, and every warm knitted thing her hands created with such ridiculous ease...

I wrote a poem for her on my flight back that weekend, when we somehow managed to fill her house with the laughter and easy love of youth. Despite its being choppy and rough-drafted, I thought I'd post it here. (Cuz frankly, i don't dare change it now--so outside of its moment.)


paper-thin, the skin around your steady eyes. clear as ever but for seldom slips of memory. saturated by morphine--oxycontin--any kind of anti-emetic you're still able to choke down. surrounded by each generation you have in part created--but when I mention you refuse the credit and dwell instead on gratitude. you won't admit the miracle yet breathe life into these passing moments--being here now, wherever they might take you later.

looking at your fragile body, i think that we are different. and answering my thoughts, you tell me we're the same. how easily i believe you, too, like delving through a well-loved habit, lending strength on history alone. where i, loving you longer than my reasoning is old, can't help but trust your words. and holding your determined hand--any distinction of our brief conclusions can suddenly be damned.


Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Day 64...

A hard core outlining fool, that's me. I've spent nearly my whole day on the whole mess of this project, and it's really a continuous thing from here on out--at least until the end of exams. (They think they're so fancy, calling them exams instead of finals...bah!) I just hope I get enough good stuff into them before then! Scratch that: before Thanksgiving break, actually, because it looks like I'm going to Japan after all. Did I already mention that?

So anyway, i had this great scheme of a plan today: I was gonna get up and work just a little bit, but of course manage to get everything done and then some, probably before noon. Then I was going to take a few hours off before heading downtown (another one of those fancy words: 'downtown' rather than 'the city'--bah again!) to meet up with Amber from school in order to fit in a mini-study sesh of everything we've been working on for the past two months. This, I figured, would take about two hours or so. (Aren't I an efficient planner?! Nothing wrong with a little ambition, I always say.) And then finally, I would top off the night by heading over to Brooklyn, maybe grabbing a local beer, and watching the all-creative, all-original open mic night performers at Pete's Candy Store. It was gonna be suuuper mellllow, lemme tell you. Then, I'd come home by like, 9ish, and quickly do the fifty or so pages of tomorrow's dense reading, calling it a night by 11 or so.

So! Not bad, eh? How did this lovely agenda play out, you ask? Well, let's just say that it's 11 after 11 right now (make a wish!), and I've pretty much left the house for a sum of approximately 12 minutes. (Cuz I've got a dog, see, and she's got needs you know.) At least I know for sure that the sun came up today, but I couldn't tell you for how long... :P On the up side, I DID get a good amount done--but the problem with outlines is that a shit ton of hours don't typically add up to nearly the progress one would expect. Nor hope, i'm afraid. Thus: meeting with Amber on Tuesday instead; starting tomorrow's homework as we speak; and saving all my brilliant schemes for next weekend, since Mike is blessedly flying out. In the mean time: it's light at the end of the tunnel time, la gente!

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Day 63...

Man! What is it about Saturdays that have them traveling at the speed of sound?! Basically, all I did today was rock-climb, write, and study--and somehow it passed by in a jiffy...

I hereby do solemnly swear to write more than five lines tomorrow night. Amen.

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Friday, October 23, 2009

Day 62...

Yawwwwn... Total self-care day--besides the school in the morning, of course. Got a buncha shit done, which was awesome, and cleaned my room a little bit too. Yay! I even went shopping for actual food, for the first time in three weeks! Good stuff, good stuff. The inspiration was a dish called "Butternut Squash Stir-Fry" that has onions and garlic and cashews and coconut milk in it. Sounds great, right? Well it's not, unfortunately. Fun to make though. :)

I also wrote a bunch tonight, but really need to get back to homework stuffs by tomorrow... But in the words of a dear, dear man: "Show me this tomorrow you speak of! Where is it now?"

Sorry for the lame rendition of my day. Oh! But I also got to video chat at length with lovely Ms. Jessica West, the proud new owner of a webcam. 'Twas marvelous stuff...and it reminds me, the rest of ya'll should get yourselves freakin' webcams by now. Don't you know you've got long-distance family relationships to keep track of!!?

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Day 61...

Today is actually the first day that I didn't have all the reading done for classes... Sheesh! I'm such a slacker!! Proximate causes have something to do with staying up till 3 pseudo-doing homework, as well as other unrelated things, after not getting home until forever late. (Beejeesus! I was at school endlessly yesterday, and the climbed right afterwards, and then got home late and went to the diner with Laura cuz i was starving and nauseous with dehydration all at once... So it was crazy waking up this morning, by and by.) But good news: wasn't that big of a deal. Actually, for the first class we'd yet to finish the cases from the class before, so we hardly even scratched the surface of today's assigned reading. So basically, everyone else is off the hook for homework on Monday, whereas i get an extra weekend to do it. w00t! I'll take it. For Contracts, a little less of a relief since the reading in that class is known to be "a little heavy", but hey, at least i didn't get called on to do a random case that i hadn't finished reading. The trick is to raise your hand and talk a bunch on what little you do know, so when dear Prof gets to the stuff you don't know, he'll be so sick of hearing from you that he won't notice (or mind) your sudden silence. Which is not to say that they haven't caught on to your predictable scheming. :D

Anyway. I think i'll just arbitrarily stop here--since everything's all arbitrary in law and order anyway, and I'm keen to be an apt pupil. One last thing though: the day was a gorgeous one. Fall colors are pretty much just suddenly in bloom all over campus, and the sun today was fairly blazing. Compared with the rain and cold of recent times, I gotta say this for the East Coast--you sure do learn to appreciate the nice days.

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Day 60...

So highlight of the day? (Actually, the freakin' day just went on and on, even though I have to admit that it was damn nice not to have a morning class...of course, i pitter-pattered away my time by sleeping and pretending to do research when i finally got to school, just about an hour and a half class before my afternoon class anyway. Ah well!) Besides sickly rock-climbing and fantastical smiles spread amongst the wealthy and wicked alike (not sure who I'm referring to here, exactly, but I'm definitely stoked on the near-alliteration!), the big to-do (ta-dah?!) was a volunteer training that i attended called the Suspension Revocation Advocates. Fancy-sounding, eh? Actually, the cases are pretty simple: ever hear of the school-to-prison pipeline? The idea is that overpopulated and underfunded schools will more often than we'd like use the suspension of "trouble students" as a tool to basically kick them out of school, often instating suspension terms up to one-year long for minor infractions. (Who in their right mind WOULD go back to a school that did that to you?!) So, our job is basically taking on these kids cases and acting as their advocates during the superintendent hearing that accompanies the sentencing period, after a suspension has been requested by the school for the kid-at-question. Pretty cool work, sounds like, and mostly straight-forward as far as cases go. But great hands-on practice, do be doing them directly!

Okay, that's all i got. Actually, that's kinda too much... My bad!

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Day 59...

(Cold, dude.) So, guess what? Not dead!! Although, still pretty much writhing in "exquisite pain", as my nurse practitioner 'Karen' assured me was typical of middle ear infections. On the upside--not an eardrum issue, so my hearing won't be any more impaired than it naturally is, due to lack of attention, distraction, and other such supporting factors of hearing impairment. Phew-ee!

Besides that, tomorrow will be the first of a series of blissful Wednesday morning, wherein no more of the tedium of Research Labbing will be exacted onto the poor, unsuspecting souls of law students. Let us all rejoice!! Of course, just in time for the conclusion of lab, our first real research assignment is due this Friday, so I'll be researching my little heart out in the library first thing in the morning, anyway... But i don't HAVE to be there, is the thing! (Leave me be--we all need our little victories, okay?!)

Let's see...other things before signing off... I was thinking that I really should be more concrete with this here blog--like, by describing events that actually occur throughout the day, rather than just my impressions of them. (Or, even more indirect, my resultant writing mood, thanks to them...)

Like for instance, how today the weather shot twenty degrees back up from 45 to 65, and all of nature was jubilantly singing. One squirrel even got so excited that she lost her footing and fell from the thin branches of the tree top above me! She fell 20 feet at least, and landed (miraculously unharmed!) atop the picnic bench where I sat studying over my lunch. "Hullo!" I told her. "Where the devil did you come from?!" Not a particularly gracious squirrel, she did a double-take and checked the state of her limbs before shooting off the table and landing right on the truck of the tree from which she just fell--completely ignoring me, mind you.

[Anyway, I figured that story was way better than the one where a girl in my study group duplicitously ducked out--without ever really admitting it--after cancelling a buncha times because she would have preferred to meet on a different day, but wasn't honest about it. Whatevs lady!, I woulda said, you can study anytime, and with anybody you want!! But don't go sneaking around the library with someone else and pretend like you gotta hide it...that's just LaME. And frankly, completely foreign to me. I think that type of indirectness might qualify as a sort of East Coast etiquette--but if so, i be wanting none of that!]

Okay, I'ma gonna quit ranting now. :D Bet you're glad now i usually 'can' the stories! Of course, you didn't exactly ask me not to in the first place... Ah well!

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Monday, October 19, 2009

Day 58...

I have a god-awful, and rather ridiculous update for y'all. I've managed to contract another earache!! Just a couple of weeks after taking care of my right ear, and lo and behold my left ear is suddenly the bane of my existence. And it hurts like a bi-awtch! Like, way worse than i remember the other one hurting...but of course, that's one of those nifty magical powers of pain in general, isn't it? One evolutionary answer for why women continue to bear children, in fact...

Anyway, before anyone gets their cute little panties all bunched up, I've finally managed to track down the sweet, know-it-all lady on campus who explained the ins and outs of the student health insurance package, as well as disclosed the location of the university health center to me. And now i most certainly have an appointment set for as soon as freakin' possible, notwithstanding the unacceptability of missing a class. (Did I use that term correctly?! Ummm, either one...? :) The only problem is that I've been suffering since yesterday and the soonest opening is for tomorrow afternoon, after my last class... Gee-willickers!!

So, IF I survive the torment through all those hours in between, I'll totally let you know what's up with the chronic tragedies of my ears. But if not...I hereby will Sierra to Jake!! (And consider that a final request, sir, so no punking out on me.)

Until then!

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Day 57...

1am: My new favorite time! (Apparently.) Listen, alls I've got time for tonight (this morning?!) is a quick list of the day's events, since pretty much the last 5 hours have been a jumble of friends and family and other sweet folks lending me their precious time--so naturally, all the week's nice homework that I meant to get a healthy head-start on only got partially done. So I'm outtie, almost immediately tonight!

But first: Early rock-climbing! Then lunch; nap; coffee/homework; phone calls galore; dinner with roommate-Laura; dog-walking; more phone calls/emails; this little post; and finally more homework before bed. Can't believe how fast it freakin' flew!! (I blame the two-hour nap...and the waking up blissfully late...(happy) sighs.)

Wish me luck on actually getting up early tomorrow!! I wanna finish a little volunteer project, and maybe work some more on my outlines before morning class... It's possible, I tell ya!!

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Day 56...

A single Stella Artois and a toasted Panini with tomato, basil, & mozzarella--the appetizers to a perfect evening of folk indie rock. w00t! The first band had a stand-up bassist, but I've come to see the second band: Man and Dog, they're called, and faring from Baltimore, thank you very much. And as a matter of fact, they ALSO have a stand-up bassist. Not too shabby!

So after a zillion and a half trains or so, and the magnificent Manhattanian journey from the Bronx to Brooklyn, at last I sit here, all comfy in a small, narrow hallway of a venue called Pete's Candy Store, as I was happily spurred on by my one truluv sometime earlier in the day.

As most places in NYC go, this swanky little bar looks WAY better on the inside than it does on the out--cuz presumably it WAS a tiny candy shop somewhere along the evolutionary track to its growing up and becoming a bar/venue--resplendent with music, poetry readings & lit lectures, comedy & improv, and of course the required Sunday 5pm open mic night opportunity...

WAITWAITWAIT! They're done setting up, sounds like, and starting now...catch you in a bit!


Okay, back. That was the coolest show ever. Afterward, they gave out a few free cds, and being that i was sitting in front and stoked, I was one of the lucky folks to get a CD. Yay! One of the lead singers even said something like, "That was great, you were, like, smiling and jazzed up the whole time...if i was playing for anyone it was for you." (Ahhhh!) So now, you too can enjoy my new favorite band: www.myspace.com/mananddogmusic.

Well then, I would just call it a good night and go home, except that the next band is setting up and it looks like they have a nice lady violinist...so again, I'll have to catch up with you guys later. Happy weekends!

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Friday, October 16, 2009

Day 55...

Sheesh. I am sooo looking forward to a mellow weekend. Maybe my fatigue level will even manage to get back into the East Coast time zone...?

Presently, I'm sitting at my roommate's tiny kitchen table, listening to the bass underlying a Sublime song somewhere in one of the apartments out the window at my back, drinking a warm beer and wondering what the hell everyone's doing out on the town on a 40 degree Friday night?! Whatever their crazy excuse, I simply have yet to acquire enough ball-power to brave such bitter cold...let alone enough stylish layers.

Hey, wanna see a nice picture?! Here you go!:


And with that, we're off! (Oh, except that I think I'm gonna pay to get this darling creature onto a T-Shirt, as a fundraising effort for the animal rights advocacy group at school. Give a shout-out if you just have to have one!)

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Day 54...

Tonight's annual benefit dinner and silent auction for the Women's Justice Center was a muy fancy event indeed! Besides the fact that going there straight from school, and then working it from 5:30 to 10:30pm, was a tad bit crazy-tiring, it was a very interesting experience. Did you have any idea that nonprofit benefits of this sort cost $250 just to get in the door?! And then, once you're there, you're most certainly not finished, oh no! Then you're expected to buy raffle tickets, bid on a crap load of auction items, and schmooze all the live-long day! Sheesh.

My job (mostly) was as a 'Rambling Raffler', which meant that me and one other little girl way out of her league, and to squeeze our way through the thickening crowd and interrupt perfectly good legal conversations to perform our schtick: "Well, hello there! Are you enjoying yourselves? Sorry to interrupt, but we're first-year law student volunteers, and it's our job to go around offering raffle tickets to all of our lovely guests. Any interest?" Quite the range of reactions, as you would imagine--not to mention some pink, sore cheeks from smiling way too big for hours and hours. But generally, our guests were lovely, and some were even supreme court justices! (Which isn't actually as fancy as it sounds, since the last-resort courts for most states call themselves the Supreme Court (as in, of so-and-so state), but are not in fact THE Supreme Court (as in, of the U.S.). Nonetheless! 'Twas a thrill indeed to see them with their big silver badges, and imagine talking with them one day about why all my cases will undoubtedly be so much better than someone else's...

Oh! And last notable: it freakin' SNOWED here yesterday! (To be fair, it only happened for a few minutes, was a cross between snow and hale, melted away nearly immediately with the rain that never ceased, and I didn't even really see it since I was in class. So now that the excitement has officially been struck down as though cruelly kicked behind the knees!...) Everyone, all night, was like, "Can you believe it, snow in the middle of October!" So at least I'm told it's not the norm...phew! This weekend, we're upgrading from sandals, for sure!

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Day 53...

This will have to be another quick one...

(And just for the record, Jake: your email was lovely, and I intend to respond as soon as humanly possible!) (Hi mom! Hope you liked my "hug" the other night... Send Nick and family my love.)

Okay, enough of the parenthetical shout-outs. I went climbing tonight, and actually pseudo-managed a 5.10! (Which is especially great, because New York evidently has a tougher rating system than California... Argh!) Needless to say, now i'm tired and sore and stoked. (But again too tired to notice much of any of these...especially one about being tired!! No clue what I think I'm doing still being awake...)

Right! And now, enough of all the ellipses!! (Is that the right word?) School, school, and more school--basically my life. One thing that'll be interesting tomorrow night, is that I'm volunteering as a server for an annual benefit event for the Women's Justice Center at Pace. So that'll be a nice little aside. But I think I'd better save the details for tomorrow's post, since TECHNICALLY they don't yet exist.

So until then!

Faretheewell folk,
-Laura

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Day 52...

Lemme just say, that this really WAS a productive day. Even though it ended with beer, ice cream, and two episodes of Desperate Housewives before i really got down to homework business--you're just gonna have to take my word on this: PRODUCTIVE.

I mean...I did laundry for chrissakes! And went to Target!! And yes...also didn't manage to get up early enough to start a morning running regime... But I did do the dishes! Among other, very worthwhile and important things... Sleep of which will be the next!

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Monday, October 12, 2009

Day 51...

Geez louise! Daisy dukes!! It's already so late tonight...after 1 in the morning and despite my grainy eyes, i'm wide the heck awake. Something about a bit of jet-lag, not yet worn off...? Or better yet, just the fact that I'm big-time SCHEMING tonight!

So here's where my mind's racing off to, when it's not able to focus on Contracts' readings: Gotta let the truck go! I could save on both gas and the ridiculously almost tripled cost of car insurance on this side of the world (in comparison with 'that', but of course). Also, never again having to worry about being ticketed during the day (which is everyday, were I not driving to school at present)--but trade off for the fact that having a dog means feeling most comfortable with a vehicle by which to transport her... Nonetheless! So far, it hasn't come up. And at least predictably-wise, it should only really come up during extended vacation times--like say winter and summer breaks, when I'll be running back home ASAP. Other than that...?

And even more schemes! I'm trying to work my budget of money and time out so that I might afford both to expend on a little, itsy-bitsy trip to *coughcough!* Japan. *Swallowcough!* Cuz that would be a perfectly sensible Thanksgiving option, I'm thinking.

Anyway! Final scheme of the night? Maybe, instead of getting a real job during the extra time that I don't have, I could just figure out how to use these AdSense dealios to my benefit. Right? I mean, if Dooce could do it. (Not that I'm comparing...cuz let's just not even go there, eh?) So if anyone has any suggestions on how to "join" the "virtual world" of the "blogger" community--ideally without necessitating the embarrassing over-use of quotations--then I'm totally all ears. Or eyes...or something. Don't quote me on that. Unless you feel like linking, too!! (Hmm, this shameless self-aggrandizing stuff ain't so hard as you'd think... First I sell my soul to law school, and now this?! Let's call it a weak economy, shall we? Sigh.)

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Day 50...!!?

Here at last!! "And on the 50th day, she walked in between the two coasts, separated by an entire nation." From John Wayne in Orange Co., Ca., with Katie Sue and her passed-out boo, --> to JFK in NYC, with two Indian businessmen, as lost and stark-struck as children... Till at last the journey ends at my current version of 'home', with me, here on the 50th day, representing both places by unfortunately standing on East Coast soil while still being on West Coast time... Ah well!

This time I really will keep it short, cuz basically it was just a travel day. Good convos with some travel-companion folks--and even a grand book recommendation: "Unto the Daughters" by Karen Tintori. (Sounds good and intense, just how i like it!) But now I'm determined to try to get some sleep, despite the weird jet lag that's got me all but wired. 'Til next time!

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Day 49...

Today was beyond priceless (despite my barely conscious way of dealing with it), and most perfect in its impeccability of timing.

Last night I heard from Mike at least after Grandma had fallen asleep. Unfortunately, he didn't receive my message this morning, so he expected me to be in Huntington Beach that night. I wasn't, of course, but basking in the presence of my grand other--all the flippin' way out here in Hemet. But long story short (cuz I'm tired, no. 1, and no. 2, not-interested-in-divulging too much of what's mine and M's only--regardless of the fact that this here post is on a blog, which by definition is not anonymous....no explanations necessary if you don't get it anyway): I drove out to San Marcos, near San Diego to see the damn gorgeous kid last night--always worth it, even if for just a tiny bit. (What can I say--I'm fuckin' pussy-whipped. :P) (*Shudder. I freakin' hate that term.)

And so, I woke up all the way out there this morning with my most wonderful dad's car. And slowly, after breakfast and much experience fit into a very small time, I drove back to Hemet just behind two sets of my siblings. For the rest of the lovely day, time skipped out its rhythm to the language of writing; math; laughter; and good-intentioned, conspiratorial whispers. "God, I love my family." Every time most of us are together, this is the predominant sentiment influencing my mood. Which was jubilant--despite or because of the situation, it's hard to tell. On the way back here (where Katie-the-amazing drove way the heck out of her way for to drop off her poor, temporaily automobileless siblings at their various need-to-gos), the car at large embarked on a fantabulous convo chalk-full of lifes and deaths and loves and faiths and art and cash. Couldn't have asked for a more appropriate--nor welcome--ending.

Not including the part where I get to go to sleep. Which is this part, here, and I can never really ask for more. (Where would I even put it?!!)

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Friday, October 9, 2009

Day 48...

This morning my dad and I drove up to Grandma Sue's heatstroke-defiant, lively abode, and the expression on her softly surprised face was worth every lost hour of the past day and a half (and then some). All day long, I melled-out and hung-in and absorbed the whole entirety of her being, become more like a child in the setting of life than perhaps since the first days of its rising. But her eyes were very clear, and her voice just as strong as my oldest memories have yet learned how to remember. She talked about jewelry-making and the blasphemy of Obama's Nobel Peace Prize (its pittance compared with the hole in the moon) and the absurdity of how quickly life finally goes away, after being so simply there for so many years.

It felt so right to have come back, despite its pure craziness in form and circumstance. All day long I've been feeling even more blessed than usual: I'm recognizing that having the ability to put our highest priorities up top where they belong, is a most precious gift. What if I physically couldn't do the best, rightest thing, just because of something so ephemeral as money, time or distance? How lucky that I can often make choices with these things in the background--thanks mostly to the people who love me, and who I could never help but love in return. (And tied somehow, all of this, to the blood ever pulsing through our veins? Or rather the fact of its warmth...?

Got to see Aunt Kathy again for the first time in such a long time, too--and boy does that woman work her buns off! She takes care of everyone around her, naturally, and with familiarity of habit, "just cuz she's so used to it." Oh, and I even got to make a rose for Grandma out of 5 single, dollar bills, just like she's been trying to get me to learn the secrets of for at least a couple years. Finally, I found the time to do it--not to mention the undeniably ideal place...

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Day 47...

Despite the fact of a 22-hour day--there's really not much to say tonight. All the drama of the study group dropped away in light of my sudden, emergency of a trip, and I fatalistically stopped worrying about missing a class and a half when the decision was finally made last night. So everything else rolled out nicely after that.

Woke up early to pack this morning, than ran off to class from 9 to 11 where I got to watch my favorite professor perform before running right back home to finish the packing and step out for the almost two-hour public transport trip to La Guardia. Once there, with plenty of time to spare, thank goodness, 'twas just a game of waiting and homework for the next 9 hours. From Terminaling--to flying--to laying over in N.C. (where they have heavy white rocking chairs scattered all over the mall-like design of the airport)--to flying one more time and finally arriving in LAX. Dadda came and got me after the delayed flight arrival of 9:30pm his time (12:30am mine), and alls I gots left to say is dinner, home, sweet & beautiful Katie Sue, some Norman Rockwell is Bleeding comedy, and a bit of an on-the-electric-fence planning session before I just freakin' jumped off and finally went to bed. Here's what we came up with:

Tomorrow, go with dad to Hemet and visit with Grandma, Aunt Kathy, and Uncle Rick. Spend the night; greet Jacob (& Auna?) & Robert (flying in from WA...woo-hoo!), and Katie & Alex too when they all come to join us for a Saturday visit; then possibly catch up with Mike my dear that evening some time? (One can hope!) Next morning, fly back to NYC first freakin' crazy thing. Whoosh! And yes, a bit of homework can and will be fitted into the days, methinks, just barely between the cracks. In Jake's more-or-less words: it's all quite the crazy scheme! I'm still completely convinced that it's worth it, though...

But hell, so much for the "not much to say" promise, eh?

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Day 46...

Okay, so I just have to come out and say it: this started out as a crappy freakin' day. Really, it's not so bad as it coulda been, and nothing ever is, but just to give you an idea I woke up to find a parking ticket for $115 on my windshield. Who's ever heard of such a ridiculous thing!!?

Sheesh, so now I'm fluttering back and forth like a lost moth looking for the moon, deciding first to seize on a crazy little Thanksgiving trip--despite all it's practical downfalls--and then minutes later wishy-washing my way back to a 'life-is-too-hard!!' sorta take on the whole situation. And all the while there's more homework than you would think humanly conceivable, some random self-subjected outling to prepare for a sudden study group session (cuz if you don't, well you might as well just drop out of law school!), a rock-climbing session that must needs be cancelled to get all the work a little closer to done, and even some unanticipated school-girl drama creeping up on me when I least expected it. Ack!!

But get this: all of it boils down to nothing when at the end of the night, the month-old thought of flying down to SoCal to see Grandma Sue before I can't anymore, is quite suddenly a plan, so that now I'm booked to take a flight tomorrow afternoon not too long after my first class. I'm amazed that such a big huge crazy trip can somehow be decided the night before, and then just as quickly happening, as though it were always supposed to. After all, what's 'supposed to happen' can't be defined till after it has--you just have to try and be impressed with it anyway.

Off the hook or not for Friday's outlining--I still got tomorrow morning's Tort class to contend with. So until next time: same time, same place--same old, same old.

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Day 45...

So, even worse than having homework: NOT having homework! It's 1 flippin' AM somehow and i can count on my hangnails how much i actually got done. (And for the record, i don't have any hangnails. (Assuming i know what a 'hangnail' really is, exactly.)) But worse still than all of these? THINKING you have loads of homework all the way home when it's already late--then finding out when you get there that 2 out of the 4 assignments have been postponed till Friday, which clears up tomorrow to do at least one of them! 'Why so awful?', you question while scratching your head? Cuz the ridiculous free space goes straight to your head, just like the wine and tarot cards that come next!! Man, with a lack of foresight this bad, it's a wonder i don't run into walls more often...of course i do with some frequency as it is...

As for not-so ridiculous things, but definitely up there a ways on the list: I'm not even gonna try to be productive tonight. In fact, I hereby determine to get 5 hours of sleep--at least!

What's funny is the waves of things (by the way). How days and days might go by without a peep from my California sist/brethren, and then one night you hear from loads of sweet people through almost as many modes of communication! My text/phone/email has been shooting off all day, with folks who hardly even know each other, but are quite apparently on the same wave-length. (Another reason it's suddenly the middle of the night, perhaps?

Silly stuff. But no time to define it all now! (Cuz suddenly the warmth of the night gives way to the wet of the rain.) Rather, i better jet before i get a hangnail... I mean, before falling asleep... Right?

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Monday, October 5, 2009

Day 44...

Gosh, I'm a down-right, hardcore, pure study-bug machine! There's this little paper, see, and it's the first assignment so far to be really truly graded, and it's very much due first thing tomorrow morning. Aaack! He's the 'ish' (as in, 'issue'...is that an acceptable and super-fresh abbrev., d'you think? Disregarding this aside, of course. Pass it on!): I pretty much had the whole thing finished and looking sexy by Thursday night, and then on Friday the teacher told us that it's best to take a couple-day break before beginning final editing if we want fresh eyes--but that she won't be available to answer questions all weekend in observance of a religious holiday. So then I email her immediately about a little concern I had about the main issue of my paper, and I don't hear back until Sunday night that I should probably consider just scrapping and revamping the whole thing. My oh my.

Anyways, that's the mission for tonight--along with getting the reading done for my two other classes tomorrow, which I have to admit is slightly hellish. But that's alright! Steady progress, slow and painful, just the way my beloved old roomies taught me. And speaking of giving shout-outs! I had some lovely little phone/email conversations with a whole handful of lovelier folks the last coupla nights (not that that was a wise decision, what with the whole paper fiasco), so I gotta give props to all those kids out there working to keep me sane. But in the mean time, I guess I should get back to fighting the good fight...

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Day 43...

Yay, almost done with homework!! Well, more like 'halfway' done with homework, here at 12:36am east coast time... But still a cause of celebration as far as I'm concerned.

Really, i did it to myself. Not only did i stay out way too late last night (after yet another long day of work, mind you), but then i woke up way too freakin' early this morning. Sheesh! See, I had this plan to go to the "Gunks" with some climbing folks, and the trip that was supposed to be from 8am-2pm, ended up lasting four hours past schedule. Not cool! As physically draining and mentally exhausting as the trip was, at least I'm happy to say that i've officially learned how to repel down sheer cliffs of sure doom. w00t! Scary as all hell, as one might imagine--especially considering that I had to down-climb about 7 feet before the rope could safely hold me!! (Without the risk of fraying on a lower ledge, you see...) Basically, after a longish drive there and back, with super-mad traffic on the way home, the time tally was about an hour repel-training and (thank goodness not final) act; an hour actual climbing (once we finally found and set a spot for a decent top-rope; and about four hours hiking, prep-work, and just plain wandering around. (Sorta fits in to that unfortunate 80-20 rule...)

So yeah. Anyway. Moral of the story: next time, either don't save quite as big a chunk of homework for Sunday, or just freakin' sleep-in and skip the temptation of adventure altogether. It's a damn scam, I tell ya! And on that note...

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW

Saturday, October 3, 2009

From August 22st, 2009 to present: Day 42...

(...and the answer to the life, the universe and everything. ;) Can you believe it?! We've surpassed the month mark, and with hardly a peep from me in the mean time. Sheesh, I need to start writing again...which is what I'm doing here, I suppose. Sorta.

Just as a quick recap of the last 42 freakin' days... Scratch that. Too long! We'll call it a flash fiction instead:

Law School. Long-distancing love. Shaking dogs and twin roommates. Warm rain! The back and forth shuddering of every-10-minute trains, right outside the second-floor window. Of an immense apartment building, scented with every type of neighbor's dinner you could ever think to imagine. Care packages and birthday cookies; Stop 'n' Shop and Farmer's Markets and Sleepy's mattresses. Unpacking! The Bronx and its zoo; racing along subways; Van Coordlandt park with its football/track/baseball/soccer fields & its tennis/basketball/handball courts & its golf carts/barbecues/marshlands; walkingwalkingwalking anywhere at all. Beloved visitors: Mom & Sierra/Jared & Mike. Ridiculous trips: Virginia & North Carolina & Santa Cruz. Homework.

That's pretty much it, my story so far. As you can see, it begins and ends with my focus and purpose at the moment up here: Pace University. I'm working out the kinks to be sure, and am even enjoying myself so far (for the most part), in a sad, slowly graying, lonely sorta way. :P My roommate told me a few days ago, after it started to get cold last week, that she figured we'd have one more warm weekend before the mercury of the thermometer starts to drop indefinitely. I was like, "Wha...huh...eh?!! You mean, it's not always gonna eventually get warm again?!" :-( And she was like, "Well, it will get warm again eventually...you'll just have to get used to waiting in terms of months instead of days..." Oh yeah. That's part of the deal, isn't it? Ah well.

(Still don't believe it though.)

Faretheewell folk,
-LaW