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Sunday, March 1st, 2009
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10:55 am - In the interest of full disclosure.
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Mark and I are happy to announce that we are engaged!
Facebook status change is forthcoming, but we're still telling the people we don't want to find out via facebook.
He kept the proposal pretty simple - I came home one Sunday from hockey, he wanted to go for a walk, I didn't, we put dinner in the oven and he (finally) convinced me to go for a walk. We walked over to federal hill and sat on a bench and he pulled out the ring box and asked me. In the ring box were two things - my aunt's engagement ring that she had promised me the stone out of, and the plastic polymer model of a ring that he designed himself in the same engineering program he uses to make roller coasters. I really didn't want a ring that was plain, or that other people had - I wanted a ring that reflected me and him together, and I think that the ring that he designed for me really achieves that. The ring is inspired by the Triple Spiral http://www.listphile.com/Celtic_Symbol_Database/Triple_Spiral.
Getting the ring made has been a process, but hopefully I'll have it sometime next week. I can't wait to see what it looks like. I was a little afraid that people wouldn't believe us when we said that we were engaged, but it turns out the ring is really less necessary than bridal magazines would have you believe.
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Hug Me | I've been hugged 3 times!
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| Saturday, October 4th, 2008
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2:43 pm - Usual update
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Things that have happened:
-We have (mostly) unpacked.
-I started classes again, and my journal, and have made exactly 3 friends so far this year. Working on it.
-I interviewed for two jobs and got neither. A girl who interviewed for 12 jobs got none. Our entire class is discouraged.
-Mark and I went to a wedding.
-Mark and I ran a 5k.
-I got drunk on a school night. (First time ever, I think.)
-Took a 4 week course and had the final already. Best decision ever.
Things that will happen:
-I am running the Baltimore Half Marathon next weekend. Despite a recent foot injury this Will Happen.
-Our 5 year high school reunion - this will be fun, and I need more people to RSVP.
-Mark and I are going on a cruise, we think, in the Bahamas in December.
-I have three job interviews at a conference next Friday and Saturday. One is a non-profit in San Francisco, and I really want it but it doesn't pay and a grant would um, not, cover living in San Francisco. But they work with title IX and pay equity and that is what I want experience in. The other two are local - one is a Baltimore public interest group, general practice, and one is the ABA commission on Domestic Violence. I hope any of these go well, because I would like to have a job.
-Making curtains for our apartment. I have been avoiding this because I have not unpacked my sewing table, I don't have fabric, and I'd rather spend my time doing other stuff.
-Midterms - evidence, Biz Orgs, and Family law, I think.
-I will find out whether my RD will get published. I'm betting on No.
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Hug Me | I've been hugged 1 times!
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| Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
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7:09 am - finals
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Finals aren't going well. I will be surprised if I do nearly as well as last semester. On Civ Pro, which is Thursday, I will be stunned if I get a B even. I just don't know/understand this stuff. I'm hoping as I read and reread and hone my model answer, I'll get it.
But you just can't know.
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Hug Me
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| Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
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10:12 pm - Slowly being crushed by the weight of my own future.
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So here's the thing. When I started law school, I didn't care about grades. I knew I would probably get Bs and be middle or maybe upper middle of my class. I knew I didn't want to do firm work. I knew I wanted to "help people". I knew I wanted to become a powerful force for good. I've gotten away from that. Or something. I'm not sure. I've become unbelievably competitive. I swear, I wasn't like this before.
I'm suddenly completely consumed with my need to be the best. Or at least at the top. In history, I only cared about myself, about how I did, or what I understood, or how kickass my paper was.
Now I want to do well, and I want to prove a lot of people wrong - all the people who say that if you do really well your first semester, you are destined to become complacent and fail. That I am destined to do very poorly this semester because I've gotten cocky.
And I should be able to look at that statement and say, "Dude, relax. Just breathe. You aren't complacent. You work hard. You understand what is going on. You study a lot. You know how to issue-spot on an exam. You know what they want now. You can work smarter, not harder. Just breathe."
I should be able to do that. And finals will be much better if I can just chill the hell out. Except that I can't.
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Hug Me | I've been hugged 2 times!
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| Saturday, April 12th, 2008
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11:15 pm - I know this is gross, but I'm hoping one of my trackstar friends can help...
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So, during the race last week I developed blisters on the tips of my toes. Except...I don't think they are blisters. I think they might be callouses.
If when I touch them, they don't hurt and actually I can't feel anything, does that mean its a callous? They are huge - one is almost a centimeter round on the tip of my second toe. They have the appearance of blisters in some respects, because in some ways it seems like you could pop them...
I just don't know. I first developed blisters on the tips of my toes during my nine mile training run two weeks ago, and then the race made them worse. I've had callouses before, especially on my fingers and hands from weight lifting, tying my skate laces, and using a pencil, but they don't look like this.
I don't really care that they're ugly, I'm mostly curious and also wondering if I'm wasting my time bandaging them up before a run, if they aren't actually blisters I don't want to pop.
Also, does this officially make me hardcore?
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Hug Me | I've been hugged 1 times!
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| Saturday, March 8th, 2008
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7:41 am - Oh man...
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Yesterday I met Gloria Steinem. Needless to say, I pretty much feel like that was the coolest thing ever.
If you're totally jealous, you can come over and stroke my now-signed copy of Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions.
I wanted to address something that was brought up at the conference in several different ways, and that is creating a feminist space in law school.
It's hard to sniff out the other feminists in law school. You could certainly tell who the enraged women were on the day we discussed rape in Crim class who were angry at the guys who thought the woman in the date rape case was a case of buyer's remorse.
But you can't always tell who is a feminist. (In my head, I know that almost all of us are feminists, because we are leading feminist lives and believe, deep down in feminism, but I'm talking about self-identifying here.) And I think there must be a better way to out the feminists in law school, to get all the women together to say, "this is my experience in law school and it's happening this way because I'm a woman" because one of the things we were discussing is that the law school experience is very gendered.
Women, apparently, don't volunteer as much in class. This is not something I've ever noticed, because I volunteer a lot in class. Women report feeling more alone and isolated then men in law school, feeling more beaten down and crushed, feeling less like they can succeed. Women feel like they're getting less support.
So how do we, as women, as law students, support each other in a way that helps alleviate the feelings of loneliness, of isolation, of i-can't-do-it-itis? I don't know, but I think its time we start thinking about it and talking about it.
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Hug Me | I've been hugged 3 times!
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| Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
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4:47 am - I have so much extra time to get work done now that I can't sleep
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Why can't I sleep? I stayed up too late last night, and I couldn't get to bed tonight because our neighbors play the TV really really loud starting at about 10pm and they have a kid that cries all the time! Maybe your kid is crying because you're watching TV so loud and they can't sleep either.
I've been up since 3 and I'm trying to outline for contracts class...but I have no idea whats going on and I'm so behind and I'm trying so hard to play catch up in all my classes.
And the Dean keeps being like, "don't fall behind!!". Thanks Man.
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Hug Me
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| Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
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6:14 am - School...
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School is opening at 10 today! Woo! Ordinarily this would not help me, as some days class doesn't start until 10:30, but today is 8:30 Con Law with the Dean! I have no idea if Con Law is delayed or cancelled today.
So now I can sit here, be warm, and study for my Civ Pro unit test and try to get my materials together for my summary judgment, and also finish my application to the Maryland Women's Law Center.
Remember when getting a 2-hr delay meant you could sleep in?
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Hug Me
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| Sunday, February 3rd, 2008
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1:32 pm - Life.
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It's amazing how you can spend most of your weekend doing homework and still feel like you are facing a mountain of it. But then again, I am trying really hard to get ahead in my classes, so in theory I don't have to work this hard...but I get really wiped out during the week, and I plan to spend this week focusing on the 12 page paper/group project (I went to law school so I didn't have to work with people) that I have to write. There's also a lot of other stuff going on - its "public interest" week at UB, including a PI job fair and the annual UB Students for Public Interest auction.
I have to decide what I'm doing this summer by Monday, or at least decide on the one offer I have. So I think I will take the 2-day a week unpaid Criminal law internship I've been offered, and supplement it with class, another internship, or both. It rules out studying abroad, but honestly, right now I'm not feeling the studying abroad. I would love to go again, but since I probably don't/won't do international human rights law, it is probably a waste of time and money at the moment. I would almost be better off studying abroad during the semester instead, because then I'm not losing the time that I have to gain valuable experience.
The only problem is I have already applied to two jobs that I would really like, and if I have to turn down Planned Parenthood I will cry.
Time to read more, and do more homework, and then watch the superbowl. Awesome.
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Hug Me
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| Thursday, January 24th, 2008
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11:37 pm - Discussion
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I pose the follow issues for discussion:
1) Heath Ledger - WTH? I'm very sad about this.
2) FDA saying it's okay to eat cloned meat.
3) FDA saying it's okay to eat cloned meat but taking the better part of two decades to decide that emergency contraception and RU-486 were safe for women. (I missed blog for choice day, so this is it.)
4) Why graduate schools do not have better support for young mothers, and also whether graduate schools should encourage female students to get pregnant while they are in school because it preserves fertility and helps keep women from needing to put their careers on hold later. (Also relates to blog-for-choice day, because what do we do to encourage and discourage choices in society right now?)
5) Whether you or anyone you know owns a condo in Florida I can use in mid-March.
Respond to any and all, have a free-for-all!
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Hug Me
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| Thursday, January 17th, 2008
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7:03 pm - Getting back to it
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So. Back to school it is.
So far, its been an okay week. It's been draining, and I haven't been working as hard as I can, but I'll step it up.
I really need to find a good solid study group. It's a little like dating. All the boys you like don't think that you are good enough and all the boys who like you you don't think are good enough. I did really well on my finals, mostly by studying with the same people I've been studying with. Some of them seem to have lost interest in studying with me though. Most of them don't know how well I did, because its not high school where everybody talks about grades. The people who feel like they got screwed bitch about it, and the rest of us just keep quiet and feel resented and accused.
I find this frustrating. If you find somebody who studying works with, that's fine. But don't blame them for doing better than you. Mostly I just feel like I'm being a little abandoned. It's fine, I can't expect study groups to form in the first week. But the key is to make sure that leeches who will bring you down won't latch on. Study groups also can't become a gossip fest. That's why my group worked so well, but only for certain classes.
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Hug Me | I've been hugged 3 times!
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| Saturday, January 5th, 2008
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12:12 pm - 2007: Looking Back
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This was a big year.
-I graduated from college, with both degrees, on time - something I am pretty proud of, because even though a lot of people manage that, a lot of people don't. I went on to pursue my post-graduate degree right away, which for me, was a smart decision. I understand why other people wait, and if I had been going to a different school I might have taken the year off. But if you know you want to go, and you put off the process because you have a decent job now and you don't want to fill out the applications, that's unwise. You'll get to law school or wherever and feel like you wasted part of your life.
-I spent my summer chilling, temping, moving and traveling. Yeah, it was a fairly wasted summer, but I felt refreshed before law school, which was really good.
-I started law school, which, even though it is incredibly painful and incredibly hard, and about to get worse, is 1/6th of the way done. If I learned anything from undergrad, it is to just keep my head down and keep going, and get through each semester at a time. But you have to enjoy it too. You must take pleasure in your friends, your family, your significant other, and your hobbies. You don't have as much time as you used to, but sometimes its worth it to make the fancy, delicious dinner instead of eating something out of a can or box. It's worth it to spend the hour and half running with a friend. It's worth it to play the game of pickup hockey. It's worth it to sit down and watch How I Met Your Mother on a Monday night. Two of my finals went well, and I should get the other grades eventually.
-I lost twenty pounds, which is a big deal for me. Yes, its the weight I've gained since freshman year, when I thought I was overweight :-p. But its also the weight that's been keeping me from feeling good for the past three years. And it was hard work, and a lot of it, and its not a diet, its a lifestyle change, and I would like to lose a little more, but those last 10-15 pounds are just icing. (Yes, it would be nice if my driver's license stopped being a lie...)
-I started running. I started running races. I've only done two, but they're pretty cool. When I ran the relay for the marathon, I walked away from it thinking, "I just ran six miles in one hour - I didn't know I could do that" and you get this amazing high from realizing you can accomplish something. This year, we are running the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler and quite possibly a half-marathon. We'll probably do the Baltimore Relay again too. I'm so grateful to have such a good running buddy who runs about 10% faster than me and pushes me to push myself. I'm grateful that we moved here, where I have a 7 mile trail in my backyard. I'm also hoping to do a triathlon in the summer here in Columbia. (It's a sprint tri- a .5mi swim, a 17 mile bike ride, and a 5k.) I brought my swimsuit back here, and maybe on Monday I will go to the gym and do some laps.
-Mark and I moved in together and survived a lot of those more tricky things about becoming partners and not just boyfriend-and-girlfriend. We deal with the roommate drama - somebody (who shall remain unnamed) leaves her socks and shoes all over the apartment. Somebody else does laundry improperly sometimes. But we come home to each other every day. He plays Wii while I yell about law school. He makes dinner when I come home at 8:30 or 9:00. We go grocery shopping on Sunday to buy food for the week.
-My sister got engaged. The wedding planning is fun for me, because I like event planning and I like weddings, even though I think the wedding industry is ridiculously overpriced. But the thing about weddings is that ultimately, they are a big huge craft-fest for anybody who loves DIY stuff. Right now I'm working on Margaret's veil. Plus, we get to spend time together. It's a nice perk.
-I had to stop living with three girls who could give me advice on hair, makeup, and clothing choices. Every time we have to go to something fancy, I'm standing in front of Mark wearing two shoes and saying "which ones should I wear?" and he's going "I don't know - wait, are those different shoes?". I miss them terribly, but I know it was time for us to move on.
I know that's not all of it, but that's what's sticking out to me right now.
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Hug Me | I've been hugged 1 times!
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12:01 pm - 2007 in Review (first sentence of first post of each month, last sentence of last post of each month
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January: I could wrap up 2006 any number of ways, a lot of stuff happened, but the truth is that it will forever be the year that both my grandfathers died. I'm going to close with this bumper sticker slogan, which I like a lot: "If you can't trust me with a choice, how can you trust me with a child?"
February: Things are pretty good. What is with the programs crashing and then not getting the hell off my screen?
March: 2-3 pages on humor in Emma. I need to research a female comedian or something related to women in comedy for my Women In Comedy class - it can be anything really, like researching single women on television (except somebody else in my class has that), but I'm reaching for topic ideas and coming up empty.
April: And ultimately nobody will be surprised - my sister recently announced her engagement to Julian; the wedding will be sometime next year. Thoughts, ideas, opinions, yays or nays?
May: Congratulations to those of you who have graduated.
The moral of the story - look where you're going in life, you may already be there.
June: Moving help on Saturday will be repaid with beer, liquor, pizza, food, etc.! Particularly if you can bench your own weight.
July: So we're pretty much moved in - we have a couch, table, chairs, etc. Otherwise I'm just kinda looking for something short-term that pays decently enough and doesn't involve a lot of stress.
August: A week from now, I will be done with orientation and officially be a law student.
I'm going to go to the library today to get some studying done, because then maybe I can do fun stuff tomorrow.
September: I remember a class in Psych 100 about how carbs are used by the brain when it thinks a lot as well as by the body? Or dislike them?
October: I thought I was getting used to the pain, and then they cranked it up a notch. They will never go and then you will be expected to carry them through the exams.
November: I feel like a condemned prisoner eating my last meal.
Fortunately, there are enough contract disputes out there and product liability cases that I don't have to keep hoping that crime continues just so I can feed myself.
December: Joint tortfeasors, forks in the road, and the taking and carrying away of tangible personal property of value by force or threat of force. If you have time this holiday season, I highly recommend either of these movies - especially if there is a wedding in your future.
Because I am not nearly as clever as Catherine, mine did not turn out nearly as funny.
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Hug Me | I've been hugged 1 times!
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| Thursday, December 20th, 2007
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12:13 am - Father of the Bride
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I'm watching the original Spencer Tracy/Elizabeth Taylor version of Father of the Bride, and its stunning how much it is like the remake. What really amazes me is how the house has the same layout and many of the shots are the same way.
Father of the Bride is one of my favorite movies, mostly because I love Franc the wedding coordinator, "Franc thought it would be great to have swans waddling about the tulip border" "we don't have a tulip border" "you will". Also the stealing hot-dog buns scene.
If you have time this holiday season, I highly recommend either of these movies - especially if there is a wedding in your future.
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Hug Me | I've been hugged 5 times!
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| Saturday, December 8th, 2007
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11:09 am - Joint tortfeasors, forks in the road, and the taking and carrying away of tangible personal property
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of value by force or threat of force.
Or as we say, in the Warnken Crim Law closs, the T&C away of TPPOV from ASPI by FOTOF with SIPD. That my friends is the elements of common law robbery. The elements of statutory robbery are simpler - instead of it being tangible personal property of value, it is simply "anything of value".
So far, my exams have been a combination of stress-inducing nerve wracking and okay. If you spend three days studying civil procedure or criminal law nonstop, you're going to know the material. From there, its just a matter of getting everything out. Which is hard. You never have enough time. If you have enough time at the end, something is wrong. You left out something huge. I had too much time after civil procedure, but I couldn't think of anything else to put in. And I wasn't going to say "if this crime had involved the postal service, it would have been in federal district court under statute 1339" just to show I know the statute. Admiralty and maritime? 1333. Bankruptcy? 1334. Patents and copyrights? 1338. Insufficient process? FRCP 12(b)(4) and must be plead in a motion or answer in a timely manner or its waived under 12(h).
I felt okay coming out of the exam. We all did. Because we knew what he wanted and we gave it to him. We weren't the ones that failed that exam, I hope. Because knowing the stuff you have to know and how to use it is 3/4 of the battle for Professor Rees.
Knowing the stuff you need to know is 1/2 the battle for Warnken, and the other half is factually enriched answers. Name the crime, the elements, and then argue both sides for why the facts in the hypo do and don't match the facts in the Maryland Panel Jury Instruction.
It's hard. You'll want to tear your hair out. But its doable.
But now I'm facing Torts and Contracts. Torts is four credits instead of three but its open book. Contracts is three credits but Meyerson makes the class deceptively easy.
Torts is four credits and my professor is so off his rocker that you can't possibly tell what you want. Which is very bad in an industry that is all about giving the partners, the judges, the professors what they want.
Contracts? Just going to be hard to find all of the issues and everything else.
Just gotta get through until Thursday at 4pm. At 4pm this will all be over! By 5pm I will be doing Kareoke with my favorite members of 339.4 and by 8pm I will not remember the names of my favorite members of 339.4.
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Hug Me | I've been hugged 1 times!
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| Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
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2:14 pm - Law Schol can destroy your ability to handle tragedy
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Sean Taylor, a Redskins player, for those of you who don't follow football, died early this morning from a gunshot wound to his leg, which severed his artery.
But when you hear something like this, and you spend three hours a week in Professor Warnken's crim class, you start to wonder if shooting somebody in the leg would count as specific-intent-to-kill murder. Could shooting somebody in the leg even be specific-intent-to-cause-serious-bodily-harm murder? We infer specific intent to kill by the pointing or aiming of a weapon at somebody's vital organs. A leg is not a vital organ. Sometimes shooting somebody isn't even necessarily serious bodily harm. I make this distinction because I am genuinely curious as to whether the murderer in this case intended to kill Taylor.
Then I started to wonder if this could be felony murder because the intruder broke into the house, which could be attempted robbery, and you have a dead body at the end, ergo, felony.
And then other things started to bother me. People keep saying he passed away. Don't say that. Don't even say that. People who are killed do not pass away. When somebody passes away there is an implication of gentleness to it. And we say it like that so that death doesn't sound as painful. But Sean Taylor was killed. Murdered. Shot. He was 24 years old.
But what I am realizing is important to a lawyer is to grasp the idea of murder. Homicide. The killing of a human being by another human being. I have trouble grasping the idea of murder, because I find it difficult to believe that a person could do that to another person. Shit happens, things get out of control and somebody ends up hurt.
But somebody cut this man's phone line, broke into his house, and killed him. And the thing that bothers me is that it is both easy and difficult to forget that this happens every day. Every day. And I'm not trying to make the point that we only care about crime when it happens to famous people. I'm trying to make the point that these people are eventually the people who will be paying the people I go to school with to keep them off the streets. Some of us are there to protect them and some of us are there to put them away.
Fortunately, there are enough contract disputes out there and product liability cases that I don't have to keep hoping that crime continues just so I can feed myself.
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Hug Me | I've been hugged 4 times!
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| Monday, November 26th, 2007
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7:20 am - Organizational Tips
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More in Ellie's Guide To Life:
Organizational tips? From me? A bit rich, you say.
It's two small tips and I'm actually stealing one from Lauren.
1.) Your hairdryer probably has a rubber hole in it so you can hang it from something. Ditto for your straightener. You will be amazed at the bathroom space you save by hanging them up. Double bonus? The cords now can hang straight down to the floor and not risk going into the sink. Triple bonus? The straightener is far away from everything that it won't melt stuff.
2.) Get a folder. An "important things" folder. Put /everything/ that is important in the folder. Put the folder in an obscure-ish place that doesn't get a lot of ordinary traffic, so you won't move the folder. This is especially good for RCRs, prescriptions you have to refill, store credit receipts, warranties, confirmations of stuff, etc. Anything you might need at a significantly later time. If you want more then one folder, that's fine - have a medical folder, a financials folder, a housing folder, whatever. Just don't mix stuff up. I hate when I call my mom and say, for example "I need my social security card" and she says "just give me a few days to find it".
(Why does my mom have it, you ask? Because three years ago I asked her for it and she said "just give me a few days to find it". She then found it and promptly put it into a different folder instead of giving it to me.)
Generally, I'm still monumentally disorganized, but I've not lit the apartment on fire from my straightener yet, and when I need to refill a prescription or find my permission letter to give blood, I know where it is.
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Hug Me | I've been hugged 1 times!
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| Tuesday, November 20th, 2007
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5:20 pm - I miss Europe...
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I am such an American, and I'm happy (or as some of the more patriotic say "proud") to be one, to live here where there is a Costco on my way home from school (they have all their holiday dessert samples out...mmmmm), but I was looking at Sara's pictures of Oxford today and I got all jealous.
Backpacking is fine, 32 countries in 21 days but a big part of me loved having somewhere to call home while I was away. I loved taking classes and having a day to day routine. I loved that it wasn't all about trying to see everything and experience the culture and drink as much of the local wine as possible. I got really homesick, but that's natural, and I thought that when I got home I would be happy to be home and not eager to go back. But I'm eager.
I want to do a law school study abroad program, at least one, but a lot of them are too short or jump around too much. I don't want to see four cities in three weeks. I want an apartment, and a grocery store down the street, a chance to find a good place to run, time to figure out how the bus system works. I want to need to buy a map. I'm considering the merits of doing a full semester program. I'm not sure that I can be away from home for that long, but then again, if not now, when?
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Hug Me
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| Sunday, November 18th, 2007
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1:35 pm
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Christmas Quiz from Mark. Even though it's not Christmas time yet, I'm already gift shopping and looking forward to the holidays.
1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
Egg nog is gross. Don't tell Tom.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Wrapped in the bags they came in...true Brannigan style. I do like to wrap gifts now, but environmentally speaking, wrapping paper is terrible.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
I actually think white lights are classier, especially on the house. My dad likes the colored ones that give you seizures.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No, but raise your hand if you remember my misletoe headband.
5. When do you put your decorations up?
Usually around/after Margaret's birthday (Dec. 7)
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
I love Margaret's mashed potatoes (both types) and my grandma's pasta.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
I think the Christmas we spent in Kenya was pretty amazing. My mom brought a tiny dollhouse tree with lights and we all put our hats under it instead of stockings and we got little puzzles and books and stuff. We spent a number of Christmases in Egypt too - there was one where it rained and we went to Pizza Hut. It was nice growing up to be able to see Christmas as an ordinary day for millions of people, because I think it gave me a real understanding of what a holiday is.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I find it really funny when people who believe in God mock people who believe(d) in Santa - because really, its the same thing. Oh, and then they get all offended. Commence offense.
Truth? What truth? I still believe in Santa the way it was explained in The Little House Books - that Santa is actually the spirit of kindness and giving, and that to enjoy the presence of family and friends and the giving of gifts is the true meaning of Santa and we must take up that burden as we have since Jesus left too. At least so far as I understand Jesus, he did stuff, and then left, and now works through the Church or something, and through us and good works and eternal damnation (I'm not good with theology) and maybe Santa did the same thing - flew around, performed some miraculous gift giving, and now he's retired and we carry on the tradition.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Sometimes we do. We used to do gifts three weeks before Christmas because Santa couldn't come to Egypt.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Lights, ornaments, a smattering of tinsel.
11. Snow: love it or hate it?
Love it. Especially from inside.
12. Can you ice skate?
See LJ icon for more details.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
My parents finally gave me a camera when I was 12 - it was something I'd been asking for for years. One year I got film instead of a camera. I think eventually they got us disposables. But when I was 12 they gave me a Nikon point and shot with zoom. I eventually lost it about 5 years later, but I loved that camera.
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Family, friends, and shopping for the perfect gift for people.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
I like those peppermint chocolate chip meringues and the raspberry swirl cheesecake I make.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Buying a Christmas tree. We run around the lot and each grab a tree we think looks likely. My dad shakes it to see how dry it is, then burns a branch to see how quickly our house will go up if it lights on fire. We then proceed to debate the relative merits of the tree and then load it up on the minivan and take it home.
17. What tops your tree?
A star with lights. They're colored and they blink.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
I love gift giving. I love shopping for people and figuring out what to get them and I keep a running list in the back of my head of what people say they need/wish they had, so its not even that hard.
19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
Just Another Homemade Christmas in Kentucky - Kenny Rodgers. (And the rest of the CD).
20. Candy canes:
I like the flavored ones that are little so I don't get them stuck in my hair or something.
21. Favorite Christmas movie?
I do enjoy the Muppet Christmas Carol, Love Actually, Miracle on 34th Street and the Santa Clause. It's hard to pick a favorite.
22. What do you leave for Santa?
Granola bars so they would be easily portable :-D. And usually a long letter with lots of inquisitive questions about how he goes everywhere in one night.
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Hug Me
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| Tuesday, November 6th, 2007
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7:45 pm - Last week of freedom...
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I feel like a condemned prisoner eating my last meal. This is the last "light week" that I have this semester. This is the last week where I don't have much due, or to do. All I have to do is stay on top of my reading and start getting caught up on my outlining. I'm seeing almost all of my friends this week - the hockey team, the apartment, my law school friends, Mark's friends - and then I have no intention of seeing any of them (law school friends exempted) until final exams. Next week I kick into high gear of rewriting my memo, doing practice exam questions, outlining, and making flash cards. I only have two and a half weeks left of class left. Then it is the four exams that will determine all of my grades. The midterms are worth a scant 0-25% of my grade. The rest is the final exam. And I can't write like they want me to. You can go through your whole life thinking you can write and your first month in law school they will absolutely beat it out of you.
If you do not see me at Thanksgiving, that is why. If you do not hear from me, that is why. If you call me and I do not pick up, its probably because I'm too tired to talk to you. If I call you and I'm crying, its because I'm pathetic, miserable, and constantly inadequate.
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Hug Me | I've been hugged 3 times!
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elliedb06's journal