Wide world of Apathy

Reading this blog, you might think that nothing has happened in the past 30 days, but lots of stuff has...I have just been too busy, lazy and apathetic to blog about it. I think it might be good that I am spending enough time living life that I don't have energy left to write about it.

We have a new President, and he's got a tough job ahead of himself.

I went to New Orleans, and loved the experience again, especially the friends, legal work and food part.

When I returned from New Orleans, I found that my boyfriend is the recession's newest victim, and we are now much much more impoverished than we were before.

More on all this later. I am in Worker's Comp class right now, and I should be trying to learn some things.

Well well well, who do we have here

It's me! Sorry for the really really long absence, but I just got really really busy! While we were on hiatus, the following happened:

• The boyfriend's sister had a beautiful baby girl.
• I finished the semester.
  
• I took my Real Estate exam. It went OK.
• I took my Tax exam. It was insanely hard. More on that later.
  
• Finished the Court internship. Judge said he would happily give me a reference. Great!
• Holidays were fun. Spent time with family. Mildly irritated by some in-laws.
  
• Got Wii Fit. In pain from Wii Fit.
  
• Tonight is New Year's Eve. Going out to dinner with some wonderful people, than drinks here at the apartment. Still feeling the holiday vibe.
  
• No job yet. Actually, not much available in the way of jobs for me yet, but I knew that choosing gov't or public interest would cause that. Still hanging in there.
  

I keep getting teary-eyed about Obama's win

So, I kinda knew I would cry when Obama won the election. Actually, while I hoped he would win, I was still skeptical that we could pull it off. I think that I was a little burned out after 2 terms with the Moron. I also think that's how I kept getting dragged into phone banking and GOTV calls for him and HeadCount.

What I wasn't expecting is how touched everyone is about this victory. I feel so proud of our country for picking the smarter candidate and seeing past the Republicans' poisonous rhetoric.

I have been watching news shows like crazy (we cancelled our cable TV, effective tomorrow so we could still get election coverage) and every time they show someone else cry about this election, I do too. I even cried watching Jesse Jackson and he gets on my nerves normally Who knew that Oprah's runny mascara could move me so much?

I guess I am the official election crybaby. And damn proud of it.

Obama's grandma passed away

Sometimes, life just isn't fair. After sacrificing for and encouraging Obama so much, his grandma died last night/early this morning.

I can't imagine the terrible and strange mix of grief and anticipation for tomorrow that Barack and family must be feeling. It seems like such a shame that his Grandma won't get to see him become president.

Rest in peace Grandma Dunham.

Justice for workers = exciting for lawyers!

Some deliverymen in New York City were getting ripped off by their employer. The guys were working tons of hours and only getting $520 per month from their employer, the Saigon Grill. Turns out that they only made about $2 an hour. They sued with the help of a public interest law organization and won a multi million dollar verdict.

Check out the New York Times story.

This is the kind of thing that makes me excited to practice law!

So close, yet so far away!

Graduation is less than 6 months away now, but I still have a ton to do.

Found out recently that I might be able to do some updating to my law review article and get it published in a different journal or even the newsletter for an organization I am in. That involves a TON of work, but I might do it.

I also am up to my ears in regular school work because I took a 4 day "vacation" to Detroit to attend that conference. I am planning to stay at the library until 9:30 tonight as part of my "catch up" plan. Same with tomorrow. Hopefully, I can manage not to flunk out before I graduate!

Going to the Motor City

So, I am going to a conference this weekend in Detroit. In a Toyota Corolla. I don't care what the motor city thinks about my foreign car. It gets damn good gas mileage.

I have to laugh about how a momentary decrease in gas prices makes everyone forget that last month, that stuff was $4 a gallon or more. I haven't forgotten, and my hatred for spending money on stuff that is consumed means that I will drive itty bitty cars the rest of my life!

New school year, new jobs, new hope?

So, I am finally quitting my legal research job to work as a project assistant for the school's volunteer lawyer/law student partnership project. I am excited for the new opportunity and because this job enables me to do something other than staple printouts.

I also am working with another student at school to get the law school to offer a new class. We were thinking of "Survey of Public Interest Law." Basically, we are trying to get some clinical profs to teach us a little bit of what we missed when the school decided never ever to offer 80% of the public interest classes listed in their brochure.

An email to two of the professors today yielded really enthusiastic responses. I am really excited about the prospect of being taught stuff I want to learn for once! I hope we can make this happen.

Back on the voter registration bandwagon

So, I am getting back on the horse so to speak, and registering voters again tonight at a show here in town. I said that it was time for me to direct my energies elsewhere, but the org really needed help, and I couldn't say no.

However, I am not sure how I am going to feel watching someone else do the job that I used to have. Ah, nostalgia.

Well, at least this makes me feel like I am doing SOMETHING about this election. Seems like most of my peers, for all their shit-talking, don't get involved at all, in anything, other than just...talking.

Blog readers, post in the comments about how you are getting involved this election season.

Can I please just shut the hell up?

If I am not the one in charge, and the one in charge isn't doing a splendid job, why can't I just shut the hell up? I have no idea, but I really wish I could. It's not my fault that things might be a little screwed up, and I don't have to make sure that every damn thing I am involved in is just exactly perfect. Who the hell died and made me judge? No one, that's who. So I am just going to have to learn how to be a "member" of things, and not in charge of them.

I was the one who wanted to be more employee and less boss. Why is it so hard for me to get used to this?

I am getting published!

An article I co-wrote on debt management is going to appear in my state bar's monthly magazine. I am pretty excited about this development. However, there have been recent changes in the law (the prez recently signed HR 4137 which gives debt relief in exchange for 3 year commitments for prosecutors and public defenders) that aren't covered in the article.

For some odd reason, the bar is publishing it as is.

I am just happy that something I contributed to is getting published.

Dear summer....why did you leave me?

Apparently, summer is packing its bags and is on its way out the door. Why oh why does it have to leave so soon? I was just getting the hang of grilling my meals outside instead of cooking them on a stove. I had just gotten used to spending more time outside my apartment than inside. I was done working and had nothing in front of me but two weeks of relaxation.

Now, I have an afternoon today to get organized before I leave for my vacation. I return Friday to book buying, reading assignments and job hunting. And then school starts.

I am just not ready.