High School's Over

2003-10-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I was right about my memo first draft. It was really shitty. I got a check minus on it, which will be counted against me on the graded final draft. And, I'm pretty much going to have to rewrite it, or, at least, massively retool the fucker. At least my trip to Trader Joe's yesterday is still making my stomach happy. For those of you uninitated into the Trader Joe's Brigade, TJ's is the best bargain food store I have ever seen. If you're really lazy like I am, they have great frozen food dishes. Over the past two days, I've eaten Saag Paneer and Naan (Indian dish including spinach sauce and cheese, with quality Indian bread) and some killer Chicken Chimichangas from TJ's. I bet the trip there will become a weekly occurrence.

Other than the stupid memo, everything else seems to be going well. We'll see how long that keeps up ;-).

Peace

2003-10-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

Wow. I am terrible at updating this thing. Good thing no one actually reads it. Law school is developing into the expected routine of drudgery. The novelty has really worn off big time. However, it really is only bad on weeks when my writing assignment blows. Like this week. I spent all of my Monday in the library working on my p.o.s. rough draft of a sorry excuse for a memo. It sure felt like an exercise in futility.

Thanks to fall break I had to stop running. It's hard to say whether I'll be able to start up again until the spring. The weather changing towards cold always makes it difficult to keep exercising. Hopefully the Law School hockey team will be revived so I can get some default exercise.

The death of exercise was the only negative of fall break. I got to head up to NYC for a day to audition for Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I passed the test and had a good interview. Now, I just sit back and wait to see if I got picked to go on to the show. The break also afforded me the opportunity to visit everyone back at Case. It was a really sweet weekend. Definitely felt like senior year over again: no work, going out a lot and just acting stupid in general. In between NYC and Cleveland, I got to spend part of a day with my girlfriend in her hometown of Providence. Providence is a good balance of metropolitan and quaint. Brown's campus is really nice as well. Much better than the shithole that was CWRU.

Ahhh, time to sit on my ass and watch more TV.

Peace

2003-09-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

Yup, 20 days since I updated this bad boy. Someone decided that it would take 4 weeks for my computer to get fixed . . . and it still makes that damn noise with the fan. Law school is going pretty well. I don't understand why people are working so hard to memorize every detail of every case. That is clearly not the point. It sure as hell won't be helpful to know the details of Hadley v. Baxendale when I get out into the world.

My social life is at an all-time high . . . I think. I've been having incredible weekends, that almost make the hard work that the week brings seem worth slogging through to get to more fun. I even went clubbing last night. Anyone that knows mean decently at all knows that I am definitely not a clubbing person, but someone asked me to go so I figured why not. I think the high so far was the Harbor Cruise - i.e. Law School Booze Cruise. I got pretty trashed and I walked around a lot, talking to all the people in my section that I hadn't been able to talk to yet.

I finally started running on Wednesday. It took me forever to start, but I feel that I can commit myself to keeping it up at least until the weather gets unbearably terrible. I'm pooped, time to hit the hay early on this Saturday night.

Peace

2003-08-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

OK, so I've been really lazy in updating this pile of crap, but here we go. I started law school this past Monday. I find my time from Sunday-Tuesday being sucked up by the work. As for the rest of the week . . . it was just like college was. Effectively, I have a three day weekend, as I get out of class at 11:30 on Fridays. As for the courses themselves, they're actually going pretty well. I seem to understand what is going on in everything except for Torts, but I feel that is improving as well. And, man, it is great to go to a normal school again. People at CWRU were cool, but we were all weird. Also, the students at BU Law are so laid back, while at the same time getting all of the work done and learning. This is my ideal school/career situation. So, yeah, I'm very pleased that I ended up where I did.

Some dumb stuff happened this past week though. My computer was fried by a storm last Friday . . . the modem and soundcard are not operational, and it is currently at the Best Buy repair center in God knows where. Wednesday, my deadbolt broke. Thursday morning, out of habit I tried to lock it . . . this lead to my key being stuck in the lock and my landlord having to come to let me in. He ended up fixing the lock during the same visit. He probably won't hear from me for a while . . . I think I used up my landlord calls for the semester ;-). Anyways, as long as I get my computer back in the next week or so, everything should be in tip top shape. To those of you at CWRU and back in DC . . . I hope this finds you well, keep fighting the good fight.

Peace

2003-08-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I am finally all moved in to my studio apartment in Boston. I had the pleasure of having a 12 hour ride on Friday from DC to Boston - about 5 hours longer than it should take. We ran into traffic jams outside of Baltimore, in the middle of New Jersey, and in Connecticut. Fortunately, the broken window on the 4Runner had been fixed the day before we left. The first few days here have been a blur as my dad and I have purchased all sorts of furniture and home stuff. I've had the pleasure of assembling several prefab pieces of furniture. My dresser is definitely the crown jewel of the bunch, although one of the drawers decided to fall apart today - I put it back together within seconds. As for my initial impression of Boston . . . it's just about the same as it has been during the 3 times I visited the city since March. There are many more cheap dining options than I thought there would be, and it looks like I may not cook as much as I thought I would. And the women . . . let's just say that I've seen more attractive women here in 3 days than I ever saw at CWRU.

Surprisingly, as I've been driving around here a bit with my dad before he heads back to DC, the drivers have not been as bad as advertised. The driving behavior is just as bad as it is in any other big city. I think DC is just about as bad. I do have one peeve about Boston roads: where have all the road signs gone? We've had to turn around more times than I can count because there are not enough visible road signs around here.

I don't feel any different being here. I'm just the same person in a different place. Of course, I miss DC and Cleveland, but I realize that it's hard to grow up and get wiser if you always stay in your comfort zone, which is why I chose to go to either BU or UC-Hastings in the first place. The places that I loved in both DC and Cleveland will most likely always be there and I'll always be able to go back. Anyways, orientation is on Thursday and Friday and my first class is next Monday. I should feel nervous and anxious, but I just sort of feel indifferent towards the entire thing. I'm just taking it for what it is: 3 more years of school that will hopefully train me for my future career as a legal professional. Finally, one thing that has pleased me about the move is that everything works in the apartment. All the utilities are good, the place was clean when I arrived and Comcast was on time for their appointment - AND I get Fox Sports World here, which is THE international soccer channel. Time to end this ramble.

Peace

2003-08-11T13:53:00.000-07:00

Well, looks like I finally got a bad break. I was at Todd's house last night, and hung out as usual. As I was driving home, I realized that there was a shaking sound coming from the back right side of my car. Much to my displeasure, it turned out that the right window of my trunk had been broken and was falling apart. I made it home and my dad punched the rest of the window into the trunk. It looks like some punk ass kid decided to have some fun and hit the top right corner of the window with a hammer or something. Anyway, this is the worst timing possible, because I am using this automobile to move up to Boston on Friday. Fortunately, it looks as if it will get taken care of by then, which is great. Driving on the highway with a garbage bag duct-taped around one of the car windows is not my idea of a good time. Alrighty, just wanted to vent.

Peace

2003-08-09T22:31:00.000-07:00

Man, I feel totally spent from last night. I started out by meeting Connor, Rob S, and Nick at The Exchange for a party thrown by Connor and Nick's kickball league. All you can drink Miller Lite for $5 so, we did that until about 11. On a side note, Sean and I ran into another friend from Maret, David R, on the ride on the Metro downtown. Always a good person to run into. OK, so after the Exchange, we headed down to Adams Morgan, the place where it seems just about everybody hangs out in DC. We saw two more former Maret people. Surprisingly, one of the two came up to us and talked. She's still pretty cute, and she ran in different social circles than our group did. I guess that confirms the theory that girls that wouldn't have given you the time of day during HS will talk to you a few years after the fact and beyond. I told her I was headed to BU for Law, and she informed me that she was taking the LSAT in the fall, along with what it seems is everyone and their mother.

Mike W met us outside of Felix and we headed off to Bossa Nova for some Capirrinhas (Brazilian rum and lime juice), live music and more conversation. Mike is the fun gay guy that's always a pleasure to hit the bars with. He's cool, talks about anything, and is a complete and utter chick magnet. Anyways, picture this: 6 guys walking into a bar and taking the spot by the window where you sit on pillows. Yes, a little Swingers-esque, but not as funny or as cool. We hung out there for what seemed like forever, and then went to do the stereotypical drunken Jumbo Slice of Pizza that is a requirement of every proper Adams Morgan experience. By the time I got home it was 4:15 and I didn't fall asleep until 5, which means that I'm tired as hell now, but I'll keep rambling.

After talking to Rob for an evening I realized that he may have the coolest job of any of my HS friends. He works on scripts at Paramount . . . one of the people he works for is Tom Cruise. He's having a great time doing it, which is pretty damn important for a job. Nick is doing physics research and will apply to grad school this year . . . he may join me up in beantown at Harvard or MIT. Connor is working an office job and chilling. Sean works for a health care consulting firm. Sounds like a great racket. Alright, finally, time to go to bed.

Peace

2003-08-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

So, yeah, I love DC, but, oh well, gotta go away again soon. Tonight, I headed out to Camden Yards with Todd, his Dad and his dad's friend. The O's totally botched the game on some baserunning and fielding errors, but I had a great time. I love that team and that stadium to death. I made my habitual visit to Boog's BBQ before the game . . . and for the first time, Boog was actually there. He signed my 1966 replica hat, which was awesome. For the uninitiated, Boog Powell was the O's 1B/DH in the late 60's, known for his power. He now runs an amazing BBQ at Camden Yards. I had the usual Pit Beef platter . . . the beef has to be laced with something . . . I mean, it can't possibly taste that good otherwise. I got home, listened to Jets to Brazil, while I smoked a Phillies Blunt outside on the patio behind our house and drank Carlsberg beer. Yeah, so I definitely am easily pleased.

Since I wrote in this last, I set up all of my utilities and called Comcast. I begrudgingly signed up for their digital package that included all the entertainment (fun, but non-movie) channels and HBO. I can't believe how much it's going to cost me per month, but I feel that I will really need it in order to stay sane. It gets things such as Daria and the GAS network, that i tend to watch whenever are on. Now, if only The Critic would be on more often on some channel. Hell, it should have it's own channel even though only 23 episodes were ever made. Alrighty, that's all I can think of for now.

Peace

2003-08-01T22:36:00.000-07:00

Back in DC again. I'm supposed to be resting up before I head off to law school on the 15th, but I haven't been doing a good job of that. I've been productive relative to a completely apathetic person in that I've backed up my hard drive and set up my local phone service for Boston. Tomorrow, my accomplishments will hopefully include mailing off forms and checks for my semester pass for the T and much coveted season tickets for BU Hockey - Frozen Four is at the Fleet Center this year . . . read: this year is a damn good one for the Terriers to break through again. I'm slowly discovering that my apartment in Boston really doesn't include any useful utilities beyond heating - ok, so, heating is going to be very useful in the harsh New England winter. It looks like that will preclude me from getting a cell phone. Next year, I'll try not to get screwed nearly as much . . . the one to three roommates will definitely help in the rent department. If you're looking at law school for next year and know me . . . go to BU ;-). Well, I'm tapped out from staying up until 4 and 3:30 the past two nights.

Peace

2003-07-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, Midwest, time for me to leave you for what appears to be good. Thank you for having me for four years. Sure, you may have been more boring than the coasts, but I'm the one who picked to go to school in Cleveland. It's going to be weird to start over yet again, but as Joe Jackson says, "We kill the pain and relocate". I don't agree with the pain part, but I do agree with the relocate part. Well, short post, because I need to pack this laptop up.

Peace

2003-07-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it's early in the day for me to be posting, but I need to finally write these thoughts on paper. This line of thought was brought to mind by not one, but two families dining with their about-to-go-college children. I've consistently thought about the topic of higher educational systems in the US - sounds boring, but bear with me. More specifically, I've been confronted with the overspecialization that American education perpetuates. I believe that just about any job can be done by anyone intelligent and willing to learn by on the job training. Accountants used to learn hands on straight out of high school. MBAs have not been around for very long. I'll even acknowledge that the degree that I will receive in three years will severely limit my employment options.

The largest triage system that we have in this country is our educational system. If you don't go to college you get x type of job. If you get a college degree but no more you get y. If you get a professional degree you get z. For every 10 options opened up with further studies, and infinite number of possibilities are closed off. I guess that it just pains me to watch so many smart people become one dimensional. Furthermore, what if the tasks that an intelligent person have been trained for become obsolete? That person is perfectly able to take on many occupations, but they will not get the job, because other people have more "related experience" and "related training". The fellow students that I feel for the most are engineers. Engineering is the embodiment of triage . . . at least educationally. These students are forced to pick their major before they head off to school, and in order to finish in 4 or 5 years, they need to stick to a very rigid curriculum. This is very strange, because I've heard that engineers to all sorts of tasks on the job that they were not trained for. I just don't understand how you wouldn't want to find out what classes are out there at a university beyond your major and intended career.

I guess all of this stems from my desire to never be constrained in what I do for my livelihood and leisure. I still want to be so many things. If law doesn't work out, I could see myself becoming a religious studies professor or an archaeologist. Hehe, the easy way out of that dilemma is to practice law pertaining to religion, or to go into archaeology law - yes, this does exist, hey, people have to decide which country or people an artifact belongs to. Furthermore, I would loathe to be limited to a certain geographical area for my work. This is another reason that I chose law for now . . . it is practiced everywhere, but most importantly, on the coasts :-). You're getting bored, so I'll stop. I promise the next entry will be more entertaining.

Peace

2003-07-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

So, this may be a daily occurrence, at least until school begins. As for today, just like one of my most inspirational movie characters of all time Peter Gibbons would say: "I did nothing . . . and it was everyting that I thought it would be". I mean, I only left the house to eat - Subway and Rally's, just had to hit up those seasoned fries one last time. Pretty lazy huh? Hey, at least I was pleasantly suprised by Subway for once. Somehow, the Subway on Lee Road sold Slush Puppies. For those of you that have not inhabited this planet in the past 10 years, Slush Puppies were what some would call a "poor man's" Slurpee. Slush Puppies are awesome. The syrup does not mix well with the slush, so you end up drinking pure, unmitigated (and tasty) sugar. The cup they had at Subway even had the "Paw Points" dealy, which made the Slush Puppie experience authentic. And the sub wasn't the imitation Subway found in CWRU dining services - yes, believe it or not, it is possible to put out second rate Subway sandwiches, pure CWRU.

Come to think of it, I don't even remember what I did in the hours between 1 and 6. I watched the Simpsons at 6, and then most of Midnight Express. I had never seen it before, but it was excellent. My one reservation was that the film was REALLY biased against Turkish people - those who have never seen it . . . main character gets nabbed for smoking up in Istanbul, plot snowballs from there. There were NO Turks in the movie that were portrayed in a positive light. And at 8, Comedy Central mercifully showed Office Space. I have Office Space on DVD, but it is trapped in Bethesda, MD in our family room. I forgot how necessary this movie is. I'm surprised that I did as well in college after seeing it in theaters after senior year of HS. Man, I always seem to peter out in the second paragraph.

Peace

2003-07-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, I waited an ENTIRE DAY to write my second entry. I felt so lazy, and unaccomplished today. All I did was eat lunch, watch soccer, and watch Eddie Murray get inducted into the Baseball HOF. I know that I'm not old, but players that I grew up watching on my teams (read: Capitals, Orioles, Wizards, and Redskins), are starting to get inducted into HOFs of their respective sports. Last year was Rod Langway, and the year before was Mike Gartner - both gracefully went in as Caps. As for Murray's speech: it was one of the humblest, most heartfelt talks I have heard. Although he thanked personnel of other teams he played for, Murray acknowledged us Orioles faithful the most. Furthermore, Murray stood for the workmanship that is not found in sports anymore. Eddie didn't talk to the media and wasn't very outgoing in his playing days. Who cares? He worked his ass off for every team he played for and came to the stadium ready to play every goddamn day. I feel spoiled that I got to see both him and Cal Ripken, Jr play on the Orioles as a child. I don't think that there is a classier duo of teammates in any sport.

I talked to my friend Justin S. today. We've lost him to the West Coast, but hell, I may end up there in three years :-). Everyone seems to be too burnt out to go to more schooling right away except for me. Maybe they're postponing the inevitable. Or maybe I'm just the dumb one who's wearing himself out too soon, but I sincerely doubt that. When we graduated HS together we all knew that undergrad work was just the beginning for just about all of us, which is really strange . . . I don't think I know of too many collective mindsets like that out of HS. I'm done for now.

Peace

2003-07-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I guess this is me giving in to my Case student tendencies. What a bunch of dorks we are at that school. I have no idea how I'll survive at BU when I'm in classes with normal people only. This is the last week of my 4 year stay in Cleveland. I will admit it really isn't as bad as people made it out to be. There is plenty of stuff to do here, and the people are more polite. However, there is no substitute to life on the East or West coast, and Boston will be a cool place to live for at least a few years. That's all I can think of now.

Peace