One Week Down

The city got crazy with signage and new roadblocks for the inauguration. One of my friends who lives just four blocks from the Capitol would have had to walk three miles to actually get to see anything- DC on Monday was be a maze. I stayed inside to work because I had a lot of work, but I know it was bad because I had to help guide Kels out via phone since she decided to go to her home in VA for MLK day. It was not the best time to leave the city in a car.

This past week I had my first set of classes for the new semester. I am taking a slightly heavier load than last semester- 16 credits instead of 14, but this will allow me to do whatever I want next year (I can take the minimum credits each semester- I don't see myself doing that, but I like options). That said, this semester should be easier than the last. Most of my classes are seminars, so they are small and don't involve exams, which is how I like it. True, I will have to churn out some 60+ pages of legal writing in exchange for not having real exams, but that is a trade I will take any day. At least I have something to show for my efforts when I have to write. I am especially excited about my seminar on Global Cybercrime Law and my Death Penalty Seminar. On the first day of Death Penalty Seminar, our professor gave us all a free copy of his first book (which was based on a paper he wrote while in a death penalty seminar at his law school when he was a student). I have very nice and approachable professors this semester.

Most of last week was spent preparing my street law students for their exam that they are taking on Thursday (I finally finished it on Saturday- it is a monster exam and I hope I am not being too mean to them).  That means this week I don't have to teach class (since it's exam-taking-week). This does not mean I have free time, for this is also the week of many journal requirements. Past-Mike picked all of the most impossible-to-cite sources for his journal note ("I'm sure citing to this appellant brief for an unheard and unpublished case being appealed from a court that has no counterpart in any other state will only take a few minutes!"), so present-Mike is paying for past-Mike's blind ambition. 

But it's okay, because Noah has been making me pancakes with my 10-lb bag of Costco pancake mix.

They really are good pancakes.

On Saturday night, Kels and I went to go see Pete in his role at Medieval Madness in Arlington. It's sort of like a small-scale version of Medieval Times. Pete was the comic relief and played his role brilliantly. The food (which we had to eat with our hands) was delicious (and all made with techniques from the 1400's). And, of course, we were seated at a table full of lawyers. So much for getting away from law in the DC metro area.

And of course, THIS is the one picture that we got out of the night.

Trying to Grade Papers at Kelsey's Apartment

Especially when she is not there, tends to go like this:

New Year

Between travel and work I have not had much time to blog about the past couple of weeks, which is a shame because they have been packed with adventures and blog-worthy items. After returning from a great trip home for Christmas, Kels and I traveled to the middle of nowhere with some of her friends (a group that just happens to include many of my friends, including one of my first Woodberry roommates- small world) to a cabin in the woods. "Cabin" may not be the correct word. "Custom-built wooden mountain mansion" is more accurate. It had a game room with the original Super Mario Brothers, Pac Man, and Galaga in their original arcade cases. It also had a big-screen projector and leather chairs everywhere. It was a good place.

On the first night, everyone dressed as hipsters. 

This is a general overview of the wooden leatheriness of it all.

After New Years, we came back and started preparations for the next semester. I've been working on cover letters for internships (those are super-fun) and starting to lesson-plan for my high school students. But I have been able to have lots of fun, too:

• Meimei and her boyfriend Chris came up to the city and we went to dinner with them and Josh. I've been hearing and reading about Chris for quite a while now, but now I have proof that he is real!
• I had my first trip to Costco. It was wonderful and magical. I came back with a bag of pancake mix that can make 300 pancakes, which was a consolation prize since I really wanted to buy everything in the store.
• I discovered a cheap generic allergy pill that makes me immune to Kelsey's cat Rupert. This was also in Costco, because Costco is the greatest store ever.
• We had a birthday party for Kelsey and Josh for which I used Costco meats and vegetables to create kebabs. It was a great success. 
• Kelsey got me hooked on Downton Abbey, which was a terrible thing for her to do right before school starts. 

And now back to a regular-ish posting schedule.

Merry Christmas, Everyone

What a week! Over the past few days I've finished exams, been to New York, and driven back down to NC. 

Before exams started, Kelsey gave me a few "exam supplies" consisting of a bottle of gummy vitamins and a football "stress-ball" that you squeeze in order to release tension.

 Last day of exams. This is the football. It served its purpose well, until it exploded. 

Not sure it was designed for law school exams.

The gummy vitamins were similarly emptied.

Immediately after my final paper was turned in, Kels and I hopped on a megabus to NYC to see Newsies. I was worried that the show would disappoint me because I am a huge fan of the movie, but for the most part I thought it was really fantastic. The guy who played the Christian Bale role was especially good.

Kels took better pictures with her phone, but I was too impatient to wait for those.

After 25 hours in NYC, we made it down to NC in time for Rachel and Kels to get a pair of matching Christmas Eve pajamas. Rachel made me promise that I would not put the picture that I took up on Facebook. I said I would not.

For the record, this is not Facebook.

Merry Christmas!

Exams, Round 3

Exams are going well, but they are... exams. Not finished until Saturday. Until then, here, have some pictures from less exam-y times that I have been meaning to post for the past few days:

Kels had never been to the Jefferson Memorial and she also needed to run 6 miles as preparation for her half-marathon. Jefferson and back is 7 miles, but I told her it was 6. Efficiency!

Goo arranged for a sing-through of Jesus Christ Superstar for Noah's birthday.

Guess who Noah was.

No, really, guess.

Happy Birthday, Noah.

I got to be Pilate.

Afterwards Goo had the entire "cast" over to her house for pot roast prepared three different ways (if one roast fails, the others will live on!). 

One exam, paper, one Journal Note, and one teaching portfolio to go.

Performance on the first two exams was a solid "somewhere between an A and a F" which is to say that even feeling pretty good about the exams gives no indication as to actual performance.

Happy Samiclaus Day

Since housemate Jeff is Dutch, and Swiss, and occasionally British, we get to experience lots of new and exciting cultural traditions. This Sunday it was Samiclaus day (Sinterklaas Day for the Dutch, as Jeff explained it), a day best known to me due to the essay by David Sedaris in which he explains that the Dutch think that Santa Claus is the former bishop of Turkey who summers in Spain and arrives with an entourage of "six to eight black men" and who may or may not kick naughty Dutch children. Jeff pretty much agreed that this version of the story is correct.

What I did not know from the David Sedaris essay was that on Samiclaus/Sinterklaas day it is traditional in Swiss homes to have something called a raclette meal. The raclette involves a special grill with slots underneath the heating element to place slices of special raclette cheese that crisp instead of melt when subjected to broiling. This cheese is then placed on top of tiny boiled potatoes, chicken, peppers, brussel sprouts, and other things- some of which are grilled on top of the heating element of the raclette machine. 

It is indeed a magical meal. For his generosity in setting this up and sharing his traditions with us, I am almost certain that Jeff will not be kicked nor almost-kicked by the former bishop of Turkey this year.

After dinner, people where kind enough to help me with my final project for negotiations by reading a case that I had prepared and acting it out. Since it is finals week (well, week one of two), all emphasis is on finals projects and studying (mostly for evidence).

Monday night I had dinner with Nell, my friend who was with me in China. We talked about how law school was a lot like just spending three years on a very long series of job applications. 

Joshu-Aid

This morning as a study break I went to move Josh into DC with his new roommate Steph W. Jeff, Goo, and Emmanuel also went to help. I followed instructions, for once, and did not lift things (like the couch) with my back, and so I end the day entirely uninjured. While unloading boxes and things from the moving van, we decided that we were really doing charity work for Josh and so we needed some stereotypical charity work photos.

Look how happy we are that she is handing me a box from the van!

We've got to handle certain items with care.

The photos got a little ridiculous at a certain point.

But it was all worth it to make Josh happy.

Once everything was in the apartment, Josh bought us all pizza because he is a swell guy. I am very glad that he is finally within a reasonable number of metro stops.

Kelsey had work today, and apparently deals with the same student problems that I do. Like, for example, how many of them end up mistakenly plagiarizing because somewhere down the line someone told them that it wasn't plagiarism if you don't lift a direct quotation. When she finished work, she came over and we went on a 5.4 mile run (she is training for a half marathon. I am not, but I try to be supportive). As always, DC is a wonderful place to run because the landmarks are all very round-number distances from my house.

And also from each other. This is a mile away...

And we know that because we were here.

The Smithsonian has put up Christmas lights all around the Mall, which made things that much better. We returned and had chicken korma. Then I made flash cards for evidence, because it is imperative that I know all the reasons why we restrict huge swaths of evidence from trial and also how to sneak every piece of that evidence back in under the guise of acceptable evidence.