modern acropolis

I found an apartment.  It’s a huge 1 BR with three closets (one walk-in closet that would store all of Sean and I’s clothes in a quarter of the space) and another that’s large enough to be a small craft studio.  It also has all hardwood floors and giant bay windows.  Basically, the interior is the perfect apartment.

It’s not the cutest neighborhood in the city though (if you know the area, it’s Nob Hill, the southern part of the region, not quite Tender Nob though).  It’s safe but lacks the charm that steals my heart.  It is a very quick commute to work though and we can always move to a more expensive, trendy neighborhood in a year.

So, yeah!  We move in two weeks and I start to study for the bar exam.

When I get back to NYC, I’m going to finish up my clerkship applications.  I’m limiting myself geographically so I may be unable to get one but I’d rather be choosy with no clerkship then be sent across the country to Oklahoma or the South, for example.  I’m also making my dress for the law prom.  Our law prom is for graduating 3Ls only and it’s at the Tavern on the Green.  I have to pack our apatment for the movers but I have a fun agenda too: Cloisters, Coney Island, and hopefully, Sean will have be able to take a break from his CBEST studying and join me and Encyclopedia Brown in Central Park to solve some mysteries (I got a set of the first edition books!).

I’m a happy mostly stress-free girl!

Yeah right, I’m yelling!

I am all done with law school.  My crim final was today!  I rule the schools.

In less happy news, I was cutting fabric with my rotary cutter and sliced the hell out of my finger. I sat on the ground screaming with bloody squirting out in giant droplets on my ruler and knee. Sean gave me a wash cloth to wrap around it and took me to the bathroom to clean it. I seriously felt like I was going to throw up. It was lucky that Sean had been there or I might have sat on the floor shrieking and barfed into the nearby trash can. I had no idea how strong a psychological aversion to blood could be.

I’m off to SF tomorrow thru Saturday to look at apartments.

Head on over to Online Onslaught Six and check out the rules/sign up (click on the image below).

This marks the SIXTH summer I have hosted an online writing competition. You don’t team up and make allies like the real Survivor (everyone plays the game with an alias so you are unaware of who you are voting for) but you do vote off your least favorite players.

The game is meant to encourage creative writing by offering you prompts, feedback, and others to compare your work to. If you are a beginner, GREAT! No need to be talented, OO brings out the best in everyone! Dre’s writing career, for example, got jumpstarted by OO2 and now she’s a published writer. You never know what ideas and skills are lurking within you. ALL STYLES of writing — dark, funny, sarcastic, romantic, rambly, lustful, etc. are ENCOURAGED as are all LEVELS OF SKILL! As well as ALL AGES too

You do NOT have to have a blog. This is great chance for you to enter the foray of blogging. You may also FOREVER remain annonymous if you would like. I can never reveal to anyone that you are playing. Anyway, as past contestants have already indicated in comments, it’s really a fun experience and I don’t want anyone to miss out who is interested.

Deadline to sign up is May 17 and the game starts the first in June.

Finally, feel free to advertise in your blogs and the like to spread the word. Last year we had 38 contestants, let’s try increase that this year! If you’d like to see it, the archive of last year’s game is located here.

[a href=”http://www.oosix.blogspot.com/”][img src=”http://athenamat.com/oo4.jpg”][/a] (replace the [ ] with < >)

in the comments.

EDIT: Also check this out. The spelling.

I keep wondering when I will feel grown up. Graduating law school? Having a real job? Getting married? Having kids? I’m not sure when.

But I do know I won’t feel grownup when I lock myself outside my apartment building for an hour in the afternoon and have to ask a neighbor to use his phone while I’m bare footed and wearing pjs.

I prefer to use she as the generic pronoun (i.e., if an employee is terminated, she expects retribution (instead of he)). But it weirds me out when my crim pro book uses she as the neutral pronoun. I don’t like reading, “One argument for disclosure is that the defendant should know … the defendant needs to know exactly what she may have to explain or deny.” Women are not the generic criminal!

I had a serious crush on boy when I lived in Kansas. He was tall with dark hair (I’ve never been attracted to a blonde; I hated Ken and the stigma has never gone away). We were in homeroom together in 6th grade and he helped me earn the nickname of “chatterbox.” I remember that he also thought that Jo should have married Laurie. In English, when we were supposed to re-write “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” his book was “If You Give a Gopher Goggles.” His family owned a farm and they brought us a giant brown paper bag of corn each autumn. I joined swim team in part because I knew he was a swimmer. I swam so hard I puked. We spent hours at track meets sitting on blankets with our snacks and chatting about whatever teenagers talk about.

I never told him how I felt, mostly because I was very good friends with his sister. His mother loved me and I helped their family find their lost dog once. They were one of our best customers every July when we had our fireworks stand.

I haven’t seen him since I moved from Kansas nearly ten years ago. We’re facebook friends but I haven’t really spoken to him. Despite this, he’s frequently a character in my dreams. He doesn’t play a romantic role, he’s just a guy that’s there. Like he’s supposed to be. If I’m at a theme park, riding a roller coaster, he’s there too in the row behind me. If I’m swimming in a pool, he’s the lifeguard. If I’m at a party with a bunch of my friends, he’ll ask me how my law exam went, like we talk every week.

When I wake up, I’m always amused. I have this frozen memory of him, a decade old, that survives only when I’m dreaming. He’s probably nothing like he was when he was 14 but he still plays this role in my subconscious as if we continued to grow up together. I am continually amazed by memory and what mostly seemingly insignificant details are locked in my brain.

Anyone else have a repeat character in dreams that doesn’t really belong?

/I’m sure you can figure out who I’m talking about Dad (and probably Sunny, if you’re reading). Don’t post to make it googe-able

I haven’t played with last.fm the last six months or so but Zach posted in my shoutbox last night so I explored (and ignored my paper editing ….) It’s seriously SO awesome now. I knew there were a lot of free full songs but I didn’t expect that you could make a playlist. How cool is that? I put it up on my sidebar. So when you’re browsing my blog and you’d like to know what I’m currently digging, BAM, last.fm to the rescue. I noticed that The Knife song is a different version that I usually listen to and a few of the songs only have the preview. Still it’s mighty neato. I just threw this list up with some of my favorite indie dance tunes but I will definitely spend way too much time making a new playlist some time in the next month. (If you are a user, friend me: athenamat)

The short version for non-techies: Last.fm is the best internet radio station out there as far as matching your customized preferences. Pandora is pretty awesome too but it’s a bit more generic. Last.fm gives you recommendations and radio stations based on what you play in iTunes.

It’s time for this month’s pando! This is a monthly feature in which I share with you ten tunes I am particularly diggin’. I don’t guarantee that you’ve never heard any of them but I do think that you’ll enjoy them anyway. If you want in, download Pando (software to let you very easily send/recieve files). Then send me an email misshb AT gmail DOT com (please don’t leave a comment) and I’ll send you this month’s MA music picks. Checking out new/cool/fun music has never been so easy!

Please if you have the time, respond and let me know which songs you like or hate because that’s how this is fun for me.

April 2008 Picks

(1) It’ll Be All Right — New Buffalo

Thanks Anna! This band is very Azure Ray. Down tempo but pretty voices and lyrics.

(2) Crazy — Kapena

This song will make you move! I saw Kapena live in Hawaii and there music makes me think of picnic blankets, and Hawaiian families, and sunny days.

(3) click click boom — Ham Sandwich

This is a fun danster song. And I do love chick singers.

(4) While You Were Sleeping — Elvis Perkins

Thanks Greg! These lyrics are so freaking beautiful, it’ll tingle something in your chest.

(5) All I Want Is You — Barry Louis Polisar

One of my faves from the Juno soundtrack. I dig that harmonica …

(6) I Feel It All — Feist

Thanks Sherris! I love the music in this song so much. This is a great walk down the street and jam on your iPod song.

(7) Cursive — The Recluse

This is one of my faves from Pandora. I get so many recommendations from that radio.

(8) The Funeral — Band of Horses

Thanks Bill! This is one of my highest played songs. So good no matter what mood you’re in.

(9) I Like Giants — Kimya Dawson

She was so cool in concert. This songs has some genius lyrics. She’s such a poet.

(10) Flourescent Adolescent — Artic Monkeys

I have a feeling that this is getting a lot of radio play right now. Since I don’t have a radio, I can still love it. Danster all the way!

Pando “Rules:”

(1) Pandos back are ALWAYS welcome. Send me your current fave album or a bundle of some songs that you just keep on playing. I promise I will listen to them all (at least once!) So PPPLEEEASE pando me back. Even if you think I might have heard of them, still send away because I don’t really listen to albums (and I miss stuff).

(2) If you get on my Pando list I will assume you always want to be on it and hit you up each month when I make new picks. You of course don’t have to keep downloading them if you don’t want to but I’ll make it easier on you.

(3) This “offer” is always open until I post next month’s Pando. Email me at any point.

(4) Also, if you let me know you love a particular band, I will send you the other stuff I have of em.

EDIT: 21 pages; 75 footnotes. Still a way to go but very organized and just pushing thru. Maybe an all nighter?

Edit: 22 pages, 85 footnotes (a couple of them contain 20+ citations ;P)

I’ve been puttering away at my employment law paper, falling more in love with the topic, reading 400+ cases, and organizing them carefully. Today, when I discussed the final outline with my professor, he told me that if I could finish by Friday that he’d give me a departmental award. This is super exciting because I haven’t ever gotten any accolades* since I transferred and was ashamed at my resume. This professor is also one of my anticipated clerkship** recommenders. This is scary because I haven’t written a word for this paper yet and I am gone all day tomorrow to D.C. for oral argument on Giles. I am going to try my damnedest though.

*Yes, I do know that word; but I had to google to get correct spelling.
** I have not yet decided if I am going to apply for a clerkship position for a year from now (after one year of firm work).