Interesting

First: because I haven't written in a while... last week's interview went pretty well, I thought. In 20 minutes it's hard to express your personality and qualifications while being charming, funny and confident. I came out of the interview feeling pretty good about my performance (and relieved that my first law interview is out of the way!), but not at all sure whether I'll get the job. There is one summer position available at that firm, so I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope that I did as well as I thought I did.

Swamped with work as always - nothing new to report on that front. 

More interesting: One of my closest law school friends just got engaged this weekend (yay!) the night of our law school "prom." [Prom was alright but nothing much to talk about - mostly I spent $25 to watch my friends drink and wear uncomfortable heels, but my hair and makeup was pretty]

The point of this is that I think I'm officially a Californian now (terrifying thought, right?). My newly engaged friend was introducing all of us to her sister. She went around the table and for the first time IN MY ADULT LIFE I was not introduced as "the Texan." I've been resisting the idea for a while now, but I think that my identity is no longer inextricably linked to my Texan-ness. Of course, it is a huge part of who I am and how I self-identify, but it is no longer part of my external persona, apparently. That's hard for me to accept. 

I suppose, though, I have lived here for two years now and am attending law school here. Husband works here and probably will for a while, since he's doing a great job at his company still. Also, for tax purposes, we will probably be buying a house in California in 2009 (more on this later). I'm not sure how I feel about this. 

I suppose I'm glad that I am more than just "the girl from Texas." Now I'm "the walking dictionary" or "the girl who knows all that Latin" or even "the one who can edit your memo for grammar," and also "the one ironically nick-named Kiki." I guess this is all part of growing up and moving on... but it will take some getting used to.

K

P.S. Even if I do accept my new California-identity, I don't think I'll EVER get used to hearing the phrase "Governor Schwarzenegger" on the radio...

Success!

Hooray, I found a suit! I bought a smart-looking black suit today at Express (thank you, Express, for carrying size 0!). I am quite relieved. As C pointed out to me, what I wear isn't "that big a deal," but the Career Services office did strongly advocate wearing a business suit to interviews. So now I have one professional-looking black skirt suit that actually fits me and in which I do not look like a child playing dress-up. Whew!

The only negative is that the lining of the skirt is a particularly hideous LEOPARD print... but fortunately the inside of the skirt won't be seen by my interviewer. I'm just glad I have something to wear for Wednesday (and any subsequent interviews that fall in my lap). 

Confession: I skipped Civil Procedure today in the interest of buying a suit while a) the store was open and b) I wouldn't have to spend 3 hours in 5:00 traffic trying to get home. This was my first law school class missed.  It was strange.

Off to study for Torts midterm, which is tomorrow (ungraded, but I want good feedback so I want to be able to write a strong essay). As always, I won a battle (small celebration) and now turn to the massive to-do pile. 

K

Where do tiny women buy business suits?

Despite the immense joy of turning in the memo... law school goes on. That's how it is here. You win little battles and feel good about yourself for about a minute, then the looming pile of work you put off while focusing on the memo comes crashing down upon your head. Sometimes literally. 

The good news is that next week I have a job interview! I bid for an on-campus interview and was accepted last week. This summer job, unlike the other externships I applied for, is a PAYING gig! I'm not sure how many other people were tapped to interview, but I'm excited to have my first law school-related job interview.

This brings me to ultra-frustration #1 in my life, which is buying clothes. For this interview, I really need a suit. One that is smart and fits well and makes me look like a professional. The problem is, people don't make suits in tiny-size. Anywhere. C and I wasted time-that-should-have-been-spent-studying at the mall trying to find a suit that fit me. Any suit. The problem is that at 5'2" and at slim-lbs, I have the body proportions of an extremely short middle schooler (trust me, I taught them. Most were taller than I was/am). The smallest suits I could find were still ridiculously baggy on the top and ridiculously long in the pants (forget skirt suits - I am apparently 7 inches too short to fit into any of those). 

I have three more days to find myself  a decent looking suit. My hope is that I can find something that will pass for Wednesday, then can get a suit that I can tailor to my exact proportions. In a fit of disgust, I ordered 2 suits online from a "petite" clothing store, so hopefully one of those will fit/be tailor-able in the future. However, this doesn't help in the Wednesday-interview department.

The end result of this rant is that I hate wasting time shopping for clothing that doesn't fit. This might be the reason why I always look like a pre-teen. The "grownup" clothes just don't fit. Whenever I go clothing shopping (for regular clothes or suits), I end up getting really bummed and buying workout clothes. Sadly I cannot wear these to my interview...

K

Memo done!

SO I spent 12 hours at the library on Monday, but the memo is done! The next step is writing our appellate brief and presenting our case to the panel of judges... but for now we're just glad to have the memo done. Baby steps.

Rest of the week = catching up on the readings and outlines for the week.

*sigh*

K

P.S. You know it's a good day when... 

... you are stopped at a stop sign and there is a rooster crossing the street at the intersection. No joke.

...though I have no idea why he was crossing. I didn't ask.

MEMO in T-1

Memo day = so gross and rainy and cold. The good news is that it's President's Day, so my commute to school was very tolerable (particularly considering how awful LA drivers are whenever it rains).

I actually feel alright about the memo, so I'm trying to catch up on my readings right now. As soon as my partner gets here I'll finish up the memo and combine sections with her. It's going to be a long day.

Quick note though - I have now been called upon twice by law school friends as a logical "voice of reason." I think that's a reputation I can support! Hopefully it translates to the memo...

I will be so relieved tomorrow when the memo is done. And then we will go out for tacos. That's real incentive.

K

Memo in T-2

Memo is due on Tuesday and it is consuming my current existence. Thank goodness this is a three-day weekend... on Monday the entirety of the 1L class will be in the library feverishly finishing their memos. At this point I have the whole body of work finished (except two concluding paragraphs and my section intro), but I need to revise it to make it sound less-bad. I have today and tomorrow to do this. 

The reading for the rest of the classes has taken a backseat to this massive undertaking. My goal is to read for Tuesday and read Crim Pro for Wednesday, then deal with my readings after the memo is turned in. That will at least get me through the first of the week.

Blah.

K

Law school is taking my sanity

Evidence: 

1. My friends and I have a running inside joke that the HUGE binder holding all the cases for their legal writing project is a person. His name is Bindie. He speaks in a very high-pitched voice and sent one of my friends a Valentine's Day card. We find this hilarious.

2. I am very excited about this weekend because we have Monday off... which I will be spending with my writing partner in the library. The weekends are merely days when our work isn't interrupted by classes. This is not normal. Most people seem to enjoy the time OFF from work on the weekends.

3. C and I have gone one more dates this semester than last time. By "date" I mean we study together in the library. It's extremely romantic.

4. Yesterday morning I had the most awful dreams. Someone was shining a bright light DIRECTLY into my eyes, which was really distracting. Also I think I was in the army. 

I woke up after what felt like an eternity of this dream, and realized that the rising sun was shining off the bedroom mirror in such a way that the light was reflected directly at my face. This was exacerbated by the fact that I sleep with my eyes half-open (if not completely open). Thus I most likely burned holes in my retinas while my brain was sending me ridiculous emergency messages in the form of army-dreams.

Conclusion: I am going a little bit wacky in the brain. Though I do know quite a bit now about strict liability for vaccine manufacturers who produce defectively designed drugs... for what it's worth.

K

The trouble with being a grownup...

... is that you are responsible for everything that goes wrong.

As if my current school situation and C's work/school schedule isn't stressful enough... our car broke on Saturday. We were driving to meet some friends for a late dinner and we had stopped at a light at a very busy intersection near-ish to our house (thank goodness we hadn't made it further!). C tries to put the car into first gear and... nothing... the sickening sound of grinding gears, a couple loud thunks, and our car was going nowhere. Unfortunately we were the very first car before the traffic light and were in the middle lane, so there was no way we could get out of the car or move it off the road. So... we sat.

We called the dealership who promised us a tow truck "within an hour." Meanwhile, people were piling up behind us (even though we had our hazards on). It was actually somewhat amusing to watch the people who raced up to within inches of our bumper (were they not paying attention?) who then had to maneuver their way around us to one of the moving lanes of traffic. Considering the huge snarl we were causing, people were generally understanding - we got very few honks, and one lady even rolled down her window to ask if we were OK.

Finally, a police car came up behind us and blocked the traffic while we waited for the tow truck. After waiting with us for about half an hour, another police car with rubber bumpers arrived, and they pushed us off the road (this actually was pretty fun! Like a very slow uphill roller coaster). Then, the tow truck driver arrived, took our car to the dealership and drove us home. At this point it was almost 10pm, we hadn't had dinner, and we were down to one functioning vehicle (a motorcycle) between the two of us.

Problem-solvers that we are, by Sunday we had our week planned logistically. C would take the motorcycle, of course, since that's his main form of transport anyway. Because school is so far from home, there was no way for us to carpool. Fortunately, one of my law school friends (actually, my legal writing/moot court partner) is letting me stay with her for a few days until the car is fixed. This way I don't miss any school while the car is getting repaired, and C can go to work and school without having to drive over an hour out of his way to drop me off and pick me up.

The good news is that our *relatively* new car is under warranty, so the repair should be free. The bad news is that C is exclusively responsible for arranging the car repairs since I am many miles away without my own car. The bad news is also that I have a major memo due on Tuesday (one week from tomorrow), so car repairs are SO low on my list of things that are important. This is not normal. Law school really overturns one's ordinary priorities, I have learned. Hopefully C takes care of the situation and I can go back home... to study and write like a fiend. 

Good one, fate. 

I'm sure this will be funny later. Much later.

K

**Update** Just spoke to C. We're getting a loaner car tomorrow while they replace our CLUTCH, which should take a couple of days. Gr.... this is not an old car. Glad we get the loaner though.

Random thought

It so rarely happens here in LA, but I do enjoy the occasional rain (it is a nice break from the ever-present sun and cloudless sky!)

I really like the fact that when it rains, the denizens of the neighboring apartment are unable to throw their backyard parties on the weekends, thus freeing me of the incessant Latino music that they insist on BLASTING at ungodly hours while I'm trying to study...

... even as I say it, I feel like I'm an old crotchety cat lady shaking her cane at the young whipper-snappers next door...

February?

It's February already?? We're almost one month back into the second semester of 1L and I'm *finally* starting to feel like I'm settling into a routine. C's Monday and Wednesday evening classes afford me lots of evening time to study - I generally stay in the library until dinner time on M and W, thus getting most of my week's reading done by Tuesday night. This gives me the remaining week nights to work on practice problems for Criminal Procedure (with the really tough professor), or to work on research for Legal Writing (it's slow going). I can't say that I'm on top of my work load yet, but I can say that I have a method for tackling it!

C and I have started doing "weekend study dates." Yesterday we spent six hours at his school in the library - he read his books about Directed Behavior and I read about Intentional Torts (actually these readings were pretty cool - false imprisonment, emotional distress, assault & battery, oh my!). I'm glad that he has work to do now too. Now that he has massive amounts of reading to do as well, I feel that he is slightly more sympathetic to my workload. He definitely makes fewer comments about how "boring" I am when I spend my weekend reading case books...

On the flip side, though, the apartment is more of a wreck than it was last semester. Since we both come home late at least two days a week (sometimes more) and now that both of us have increased work loads, housekeeping is starting to fall on the wayside (is that even a correct phrase? who says that?). I'm learning not to let it bother me. as much. 

Additionally (as if we don't have enough going on), we've decided to begin recreational house-hunting in various neighborhoods, looking at foreclosures and short-sales in an attempt to become homeowners once our lease at this apartment goes up (in August). We figure if we're going to be in CA for at least the next few years, it makes lots of sense to be paying monthly mortgage payments instead of wasting our money on rent. It's a goal. We'll see how it goes. I'll keep blogging about it as I go.

K

P.S. In C's "Directed Behavior" book there was an entire section on personality types. Last night we determined that both he and I are "Type-A" personalities. Go figure!