A Project...

Goodbye Pedicure 

So there is a long running joke in my family about "projects." When I was little I relished going over to my Aunt's house (here after referred to as Aunt Artsy) in addition to her three kids who I grew up with and regarded as quasi siblings, I loved it when she took care of me because she put together the best art projects. Muffin tin crayons: check, magazine collages: check, egg carton caterpillar: double check. I loved them, I loved her big box of art supplies and the fact that she always sat down and worked with us (to my four year old self the fact that she as a grownup was actually an artist was the most amazing thing i could think of.) The first thing I would ask when I got in her house would be "Aunt Artsy can we do an art project."  Now while I loved the projects even at four I was already goal oriented and task focused so it was typical of me that I would sit down and within ten minutes be done. This meant I would get up holding my completed artwork and stand looking up at her and ask "Aunt Artsy can we do another art project?"
When I grew out of this and got to be a bit older it was a favorite story to retell. How in preparation for my visit my Aunt would spend hours coming up with an idea, collecting supplies, laying stuff out and then I would be through it and ready for a new one in a matter of moments. to this day when I ask for a favor my uncle will frequently say "Aunt Artsy can we do an art project."
Now for my immediate family a project has an entirely different connotation. A project is what happens when my mom decides the house is too settled and something needs to change. Depending on when this mood strikes this could be rearranging furniture (something that happens so frequently that it is a running joke in our family) contact papering drawers, framing things in my sister or my bed room or what my father truly dreads a painting or wall paper "project."

I really can't describe how
ugly these were 

But hopefully you get the idea
(I forgot to take a pre-primer photo)

Growing up it wasn't uncommon to come home from sears with a gallon of paint and plans for a desk, wall or bath room. In high school being involved with set dressing for the theater meant that i got even more experience. And know I say "oh I'll just throw a coat of paint on it and it will be as good as new" with as much ease as my mom does. As a result when my roommate found a set of free bookshelves a couple blocks away I said "sure lets grab them." Even though they were terribly ugly and in really bad shape, it was just a matter of throwing a coat of paint on them.
I wanted to paint one of the walls in my room, it would be easy enough to pain them as well right? Well as was the case with many of the projects of my youth, it wasn't as cheap or easy as I expected, but the results I can be reasonably proud of.
Now getting the bookshelves in the house wasn't easy, we couldn't easily carry them so we ended up propping them up on my roommate Miata and only barely getting them up the steps into the house. And then the week of painting started, of course it was the hottest and most humid we had. And of course it didn't want to stick,and the color was more "brown black" than the "black brown" it claimed to be and matches our furniture but after days and coats and patience we have a completed living room.  

Only two more coats to go...

Mars and Venus

Being completely honest I have never really gotten the whole being friends with boys thing. Well I understood it I just had no desire to do it/was really bad at it. I am mean and snarky (mostly as a defense to cover my warm gooey interior, "sure it is" little voice in my head that sounds like dip girl says.) And it has been my experience that the males of the human species (at least straight ones- Lord knows I have no trouble being friends with gay boys) don't like being made fun of, even if I was being sarcastic (mostly) and witty (at least I think so). 
I have always been one for girlfriends, I knew how to avoid drama, and always felt that my friendship's with girls were much deeper and more significant. It always seemed like boys wanted goofy and fun, and maybe a little stupid bimbo and ego boost, where girls wanted support. I have some amazing friends, and I am devoted to them, I will no questions asked do what I can to support the women who have been my lifeline throughout my life.
Okay so why am I rambling like a lifetime movie? 
I haven't found my girlfriends, and somehow I am falling into easy friendships with the guys in my class. (Gay boys are their usual reliable selves, as amazing in law school as elsewhere.) This is absolutely bizarre for me but I think I know why it is happening.
1) The Boy/Man thing. So Boys in college are boys. Period end of sentence do not cross go do not collect 200 dollars. (The obvious caveat being non-traditional students.) Where as by law school there is an expectation of professionalism that makes the boys pretend to be men. 9I have no doubt that put them back with their buddies and there is no change from their frat house days- then again that may never change.) This means I am not so annoyed with them that I want to kill them five minutes into every conversation (Not that i ever wanted to do that with your 19 year old pledge brother, of course not) 
2) The serous relationship thing. So it feels like everyone here is in a serious long term relationship and it is expected that I am too. I guess this lessens any expectation that exchanges are somehow indicative of something sexual. (Honestly people how many of you are engaged? And no I don't need to see your engagement photo.)
3) Everyone takes this really seriously, it isn't about having fun it is about finding what you can get out of people.
4) The girls seem to have taken that to a whole new level. Cold and competitive and a little bit crazy. (I am looking at you crazy girl who wouldn't let me FREE PRINT after her. and other crazy girl who wouldn't let me use the electrical plug next to her.) Ladies is this cattiness really necessary?   
In summation:
I guess I am growing up, somehow i am able to be friends with boys without giggling about cooties.
I need to find some girl friends because Dip Girl is leaving in less then ten weeks and I won't have any one to drink, gossip and giggle about boys with.     

What a difference three months makes

My commute is not short, in fact it can take me an hour to get to or from school if I hit everything exactly wrong. (It is more like 45 minutes normally.) To get from school to the metro I take a school shuttle, this is in many way the most interesting part of my commute. Sometimes it is infuriating, like yesterday when the driver proceed to wait an extra five minutes despite the fact that we were crammed like sardines in the back and behind schedule. Today riding from school we were nearly empty, probably because I din't leave campus until 10:30, until we picked up undergraduates from the main campus. At this stop a large group of fraternity boys (My Pan-Hellenic and IFC friends would want me to call them men but I stand behind my word choice) got on our bus. They entered and immediately I was back at a fraternity house the smell was so strong. (That makes it sound like they reeked, but that isn't fair, it was nostalgic.)
It is funny how fraternities (and their members) seem to carry the same aura with them everywhere. They smelled of hookah, stale PBR, and rarely laundered clothes. Probably half of them where under the influence of more than one controlled substance, and there was no doubt that they were there, and who was within their group and who wasn't, their voices were raised and they were enjoying themselves.
I was very entertained, but mostly I was relieved. I was so glad that I had moved beyond that and that I would never have to enter a house that smelled like that again while also glad I had Greek life in my past that I knew what their letters where, and which house they had been in on my undergraduate's frat row. Mostly I am glad that I am really enjoying myself and for the first time feel comfortable with where and what I am.  

I SURVIVED!

I made it through my first day (all 11 hours- Mondays are my long day I leave the house at 8:30 and don't get back until 7:30) It was long and tiring. But you know what, I LOVED IT. Honestly it feels like summer camp (only my house is way better than those tents.)
Well more later, now on to bed and Civil Procedure tomorrow.

Orientation week

Well I am now fully oriented, I guess. Honestly I am a little disappointed that I didn't get more information, but I don't feel lost, mostly I feel eager to get started. (Also I feel loaded down with goodies, places love giving you free stuff when you are in law school. I now have two new computer bags, four flash drives and enough , highlighters pens and sticky notes-of course in slightly annoying and hard to use shapes and sizes-to last me a lifetime.
Tuesday was in my backyard, IMBY as we call it because lawyer like everyone else in DC love their acronyms. Which is an event where we are divided into smaller groups to do volunteer work around the city. My group worked along the Anacostia river doing garbage pick up. The group we worked with was really cool. Their mission is to empower the youth that live along the river through taking charge of their neighborhood. (In case you don't know the areas around the Anacostia river are some of the poorest in DC. The river is also one of the most polluted in the country, in part because DC's raw sewage is allowed to run into the river during large storms. Part of what the group does is educate the student on environmental issues but they also teach them "soft employment skills" (what my dad would call essential employability skills) showing up to work on time, working with co-worker, dress, obeying the chain of command. In addition the students also learn teaching skills, they were the ones that lead our group and they teach green collar job skills so that after they leave the program they can get a job. (Here's praying that American does the same for me, although I guess the goal is that in three years I won't have to become a green roofer.)
One of the most moving things was that in the groups headquarters (a converted pump house) they had a wall of all of the students who had been killed. It made me so thankful that I have been give the opportunities I had been given in my life.
Later in the evening all of us met up for what I realize is a law school tradition- drinking. So far I have been pleased with the way people drink, it seems like it is only social lubrication, as apposed to the insanity that is the college drinking scene. Then again maybe everyone was putting their best foot forward and it will all change once we are settled here.
On Wednesday I convinced Dip Girl to play hooky and go to lunch with me. Wee ate at Chef Geof's which was amazing, such good food, another place that had their whole menu offered for restaurant week. I have the lobster roll, which was amazing, but their key lime pie was so good that I had to send off a message to my father and gloat. (He loves key lime pie, we spent our family vacation in th Florida keys going from restaurant to restaurant asking not eating there unless they made their own key lime pie, trying to decide who had the best in the keys. Now Chef Geof's didn't have quite the same aesthetic as the funky side of the highway place we found on maroon key, but the pie was nearly as good.)
After lunch Dip Girl and I went to see Vampires suck. Both of us love true blood, although being that I no longer have a TV (let alone HBO) I won't be watching it; and we have sick fascination with all things twilight (mostly we like to make fun of it.) So we were really excited, not expecting quality but expecting to laugh really hard (there is so much material in the series) we went. And we were really disappointed. There is a ton of material in the books and movies, but mostly it was just awkward. It felt like they were making fun of the actors more than the characters they play, and honestly there is a ton more material from the characters. Dip Girl and I both decided that the originals were a funnier parody of themselves.
Thursday and Friday was orientation. Much of it was information I already knew, and there were more reassurances that we were not going to spontaneously combust from stress than I know what to do with, but maybe some people needed the reassurance. The mock class was great, I made one of those arguments where the pieces all fall together and my professor was really impressed, so that is a good way to start the year. Friday was more of the same, we went to our rhetoric sections, which is a class that I think will be a lot of work but very rewarding.
I met more people after, including a Georgia alumnus who invited me to go to the Lambda (that is our LGBT activist group) barbecue on Saturday. Given my love for gay men, of course I went and had a wonderful time, and was able to meet quite a few more people.
Which leaves toady, my last day of freedom before school starts. I am going to finish cleaning the house, I mopped, swept, swiffer-ed , cleaned the bathroom, dusted and did laundry yesterday. Most of what I have left is cosmetic i.e. windex-ing and daily dishes. Also I need to finish my reading for class. Later the DC parents are coming over to help me finish getting stuff set up, and for dinner. All and all it has been a pretty crazy week, I think it is a sign of things to come.                           

Monday on Friday

It has been a tough week, and I know that it is only going to get more difficult. At least I am comforted by the fact that much of my frustration has been over the fact that my computer is dying and I plan on buying a new one this weekend.
Monday I spent all day with DC dad getting my room set up. After some frustration and a lot of maneuvering we were able to get all of the large pieces assembled. So there are no longer boxes in my room. We didn't get to the side tables or my curtain rods, but hopefully I can get the side tables together on my own and the rest can wait for another time.

Gotta love restaurant week!

Later on Monday I went to dinner with Dip Girl and some other friends. The restaurant, Zengo, was incredibly good, it was an Asian Latin fusion place that funnily enough is right under the building I lived in three years ago. I had wanted to try it then but it never worked out, which is really what restaurant week is for. I had soft shell crabs, which I love and are amazing, scallops, and a chili chocolate cake. I love it when places offer their whole menu as an option and don't pare it down too far.

After dinner I went to the Bed Bath and Beyond which is right next door to pick up a dust buster. I love the thing! It is an amazing tool, especially when you have a dog and hardwood floors.

Finally... last weekend

Ice Cream and Bio-Degradable spoons yes please!

Okay, this has been a long time coming, and I am sorry for that. I actually wrote this post twice but am having some computer difficulties. (Namely my computer is nearing the ripe old age of seven and her- yes I am anthropomorphizing her- hard drive is dying. Thankfully i have everything backed up so it shouldn't be a huge problem but it does mean I know where the last of my graduation money is going.)
But my weekend...
I spent Saturday doing homework (yes real homework, I had to read and brief cases for my contracts classes.) I also cleaned the house. I spent the evening with Dip Girl barbecuing and getting ready for Sunday, namely we baked. We made coco pink couplets, which are amazing, and watched cheesey chick-flicks.  A group of us decided to go wine tasting and do a potluck picnic at one of the vineyards.

Leaving town when the weather finally cleared

It was an AMAZING day, despite the weather, we had two of our group try to back out because of drizzle. But it ended up clearing in time for us to eat and walk around Middleburg and adorable town (kind of like Carmel but with fox hunting instead of golf.)    
Wine tasting in Virginia has been a new experience for me. Growing up where I did I was raised around wine culture and I love going to Napa. When I have done tasting in California I tend to seek out wineries with big bold reds (and sparkling wine, I love Champaign!) I like whites too I just love reds. Now Virginia is pushing he way into the red business, but the weather here isn't conclusive to many of the grapes, (I am not exactly sure why but I am sure I will have a useful comment pop up with some helpful information. I am looking at you Great Legs Wine Goddess, here after GLWG and yes that is sucking up but you get that when you comment.) This means you have to have a really careful wine maker and the red wines tend to be really expensive.  What does this mean for me, well it means that  I am developing my palette for white wines, something that I have really enjoyed so far.

Gotta love an old time soda fountain 

After our wine tasting and wondering around the town, we also stopped in an 80 year old soda fountain and had a lovely afternoon snack.

Coming soon... In My Back Yard, meeting law school people, the computer saga, my furniture, restaurant week and more!

Still nervous, but maybe less so now.

I am so excited to start my contracts class. Let me repeat, I am excited to start my contracts class.
Wait what was that? Did I just talk about excitement and contracts in the same sentence without a hint of irony? Are you reading correctly?
Yes dear reader you are. Now if you are a normal person, or someone who has gone through the first year of law school, you are probably thinking, "what in God's name is she on?"
The first year of law school is notoriously brutal. (In case you don't know 1L- that is the first year of law school- has a pretty standard curriculum across the country based on ABA rules. So most of us will be sitting down to Torts, Contracts and Civil Procedure in a matter of days or week. Most of us will be using the same three books in these classes as well.) And for most people it is contracts that they dread the most.
Now I can't say that I am particularly stoked about the subject matter. (Although who knows I have never taken a contracts class. I have often joked when people ask me what kind of law I am interested in that I may well find that contracts are my passion.) No I am excited about my professor...
In addition to specializing in media and speech issues (areas that I am very interested in) he also serves on the board of trusties for the Campaign for Justice and the Human Rights Campaign, that in addition to helping found the HRC and creating their legal division. If you don't know the CfJ and HRC are two of the biggest organizations looking at the legal issues surrounding gender issues and advocating for the human rights of people in the LGBTQ community. It is an area that has so many hot issues right now, not only is it fascinating but they are issues I feel personally passionate about. (Yea Prop 8 being overturned!) Now who knows if it will ever even come up but maybe it will and hopefully that will be enough to enable me to do really well in contracts this semester.
I also know who my Torts professor is and while I am not nearly as excited, I actually recognized his name because I had read a paper he wrote on environmental law issues. Also he serves on the board for Greenpeace (an organization that while I support their ends I have trouble with their means) and as a group I think they are perceived as being totally outside the law and it would be fascinating to hear from someone who looks at their work from a legal angle.
My Civil Procedure professor is a visiting professor, so the school isn't disposed to give us as much information, but based on his ABA profile, (in case you didn't guess already I have spent the morning crazily stalking these people via my computer) he has done allot of work advocating for law students. (Something that predisposes me to like him.) Although he did assign us reading for the first day (less predisposed) but he is the only professor who has posted his syllabus (more predisposed) and it is clear and far from overwhelming.
All and all I think it is going to be a good semester although, I am a little disappointed by the lack of female faculty teaching 1L classes. Well I will take what I can get. (Or in this case what I am paying through the nose for.)             

What to do when the weather gets bad?

Buy books of course!
Today's weather has been insane. Well maybe not if you are from the East Coast, but for me it is always something that is hard to get used to. I woke up to thunder and lightning, which I love. I get gleeful over counting the time and seeing how far away lightning is striking and I love the sound of rain. To me this is where California weather differs the most from other parts of the world. We have a steady climb to warm weather (although I guess where I am from they haven't had many days even reach the Seventies this summer) and then a steady decline into cold weather and then in the middle of winter we have two months of rain. It is never very extreme, but those winter months do get a little gloomy. There is no quick changeability, it is rare that we get any sort of rain in the summer, and really rare that we ever get thunder and lightning. It was great to be able to enjoy the weather from inside and get some things done.

So I have been working on getting some of the free stuff we have acquired to look presentable (more on that when I can actually upload my photos) but more importantly I was able to buy books. Seeing as class starts in just over a week this really needed to happen. So I went scouring looking for good deals and I did have some luck getting better prices then the campus bookstore. Now I love books, all books, I have a really hard time letting them go. I love the way they smell the way they feel in your hand, how you can watch yourself progress through one via the placement of your bookmark (not that it isn't uncommon for me to finish a book in a sitting.) But I love them as evidenced by my parents house where the majority of the books are mine, being that they are able to clear out clutter, and my father is a Kindle person. (I don't understand Kindle people- I see the appeal, but what would reading be without the page? Your answer: Fanfiction.)So anyway after navigating through sights that want me to "rent" books at a lower price (wait I have to give it back? it has a due date? I can't write in it? So you want me to pay to do what my school library allows me to do for free? No thank you) I don't think I sold back more than  a half dozen of my books for all of undergrad, I love them and after I am done with then I feel like I have formed some sort of strange relationship with them, each of us taking something and leaving our mark. (Wow nerd alert.)
So with all of that in mind I go to buy my books and I end up spending almost as much on them as I did on my Ikea furniture. For four books, nearly 500 dollars, now I am willing to pay it and I am sure, as a book user I will probably get my money's worth, but SERIOUSLY, it was a little painful. Now I just get to stress out over them arriving on time.       

An ode to Ikea

Or maybe a lament...
So I finally have all my furniture. My house came furnished, which was a big plus but it was certainly not completely done. My room had a bed, made comfortable with the addition of a foam topper-thank you mom and dad-and two bedside tables. I also have a miss-matched dresser that belongs in my roommate's set but which she didn't want because she thought it would be too small.  Needless to say not furnished to the point that I could use it easily as a study/living space. So the search was on...
I started on Craig's list which appeals to me not only as a poor graduate student, (yea cheap stuff other people don't want any more, even bigger cheer to free stuff people REALLY don't want any more!) but also as a slightly hippy northern Californian (yea recycling!) But alas there wasn't really anything that struck my fancy. Also while my roommate has a car, it is a miata, as in a teeny little two seater that comfortably sits us and most of our groceries in any given week. So if we want to actually acquire any of the furniture we have to be motivated enough to either rent a zip car (aka free stuff suddenly isn't so free) or I have to beg Dip Girl or Surrogate Parents to use their vehicles. While hunting around looking for deals can make for a fun afternoon, only if it is for your own stuff and if the weather is nice and if gas isn't too expensive. But lets be honest DC gas is almost as expensive as California gas and it has been in the nineties and humid here, not weather that anyone wants to lug furniture around in.
Needless to say I didn't find anything that I liked enough to actually drag someone out of their house to help me get it. We also looked at Goodwill with little luck, a couple local thrift stores and even a salvation army (although it would have taken allot for me to actually spend money there as I ABHOR their discriminatory policies!) Anyway I wasn't having much luck.
I will admit that much of my not having luck probably has something to with the fact that I don't do well with hodge podge, and I get frustrated that places want as much for particle board as they do for solidly constructed wood. So I gave in, much earlier than my roommate who doesn't seem to have quite the same insane need for cleanliness, order and coordination that I do, and called Dip Girl, who has recently acquired a rather large all terrain vehicle so that she can navigate dirt roads during a monsoon (seriously.) So appealing to her friendship and her desire to shop in giant super stores before she is shipped off the the developing world I got her to join me on an Ikea trip.
I love Ikea, honestly it is a little sick, but I do. I love shopping there, the top floor full of little living spaces, each of them so easy to imagine northern European Alexander Skarsgard look a likes popping out of their hip, modern, color coordinated spaces.  Little blonde families, inhabiting the space without any of the clutter that real life brings along. (Like furnished show houses in new developments or people who have done a really good job for an open house.) I also like that they make no bones about what they are selling, attractive pieces that will serve you well but will not last forever. You are paying for functionality and appearance but not art or timelessness. They are also socially responsible. But mostly I just really like that I am able to find a ton of pieces in the same color that won't cost me an arm and a leg. So that I can create a space to come home to that is clean with good light and well ordered.
So Dip Girl and I are waltzing around Ikea, well I am waltzing, making her a bit uncomfortable as I ooh and ahh over the little pieces I love in each room, and test out way more of the spaces than she is comfortable while she is just trying to make like she doesn't know me, I finally decide what I will do with my room. I decide, after much back and forth over which bookcase and which desk, that I will get the desk bookcase option, with optional drawers (which is actually called some unrecognizable Swedish thing that means all of that in one word I am sure.) And a dresser.

My desk (but not in white) 

But Kate don't you have a dresser, you ask. Well sort of, my dresser actually matches my roommate's set and she was letting me have it because she didn't think her things would fit in it. After unpacking she decided that her stuff would fit in it if I wanted to give it back. She continued to hunt for a dresser and I decided that I would get one that matched my desk and give her the one that matches her bed. Finally I have all the furniture I need. Now it is just a matter of loading it onto a cart. (At which point Dip girl and I decided that we both need to work on our upper body strength, and that maybe we don't actually like Ikea as much as we though we did) From the cart we have to check out, where, after heavy lifting, cinnamon buns are being baked as you are rung up just to tempt you. (I am never quite sure if I love or hate this about Ikea.) We decided to be good and resist the baked goods and began to load all of my stuff into Dip Girl's car. After a quick run back in for blackout shades- my room has great natural light, downside it has great natural light at 6:20 when the sun rises, we are ready to go.

The Dresser 

So now the real joy of Ikea begins, the building. Anyone who knew me in high school will tell you that I fell woefully short wherever power tools were concerned. (probably because of my predilection for accidents, I stayed away from set building and stuck to painting, costuming and makeup) Thankfully my DC dad, Jim has power tools, patience and is willing to help me, but for now my boxes sit in a pile in the corner of my room tempting me with how amazing my room will be.

you should meet my family...

So in an effort to keep from repeating myself and making sure that everyone receives the same gems of snarky wit many of you appreciate from me, I have given in and started a blog...we will see how frequently I actually post.
School hasn't actually started yet, so I guess calling myself a law student is a bit presumptuous but hopefully it can be excused. I am in the process of getting my house set up, it is a great place about a block from metro and for the rent I am still waiting to see what the catch is, the place is too great. I have one roommate but we have three bedrooms between us, it is amazing how much more personal space I have compared to undergraduate collective living.
The one catch... when we moved in it hadn't been cleaned. Well it had been, because the cleaners charged our landlord but it wasn't up to my standard of new tenant move in clean. Now  it wasn't fraternity house dirty or (heaven forbid) Argentina house mom dirty, but it needed a little TLC. The floors needed to be mopped, appliances scrubbed, bathroom given a good bleaching and mirrors shined, nothing I couldn't handle. I start scrubbing, and dusting and sweeping and eventually get to the point where I want to move our fridge, oven, and washer/dryer (did I mention we have a washer dryer in the house!) so that I could get to the floor under them. At this point I ask my roommate for help moving them and she looks at me as if I am crazy and says "is that really necessary."
Mollified, I finished what I was doing and went to to my room and called mum. She was supportive and I think happy that after years of enabling me (she had a standard that could only easily met by her own hands) I hadn't become some sort of lazy festering bum unable to clean up after herself. (I promise mum, I will not wallow in my filth, you taught me well.) Anyway after a conversation on the merits of brushes versus sponges when cleaning grout and toilet bowls as well as our mop solution of choice (yes seriously- it seemed less nerdy at the time) I felt redeemed.
Later in the evening however I got a call from a friend from boarding school who is also in DC. Deciding to relate my story, and vindicate myself further I explained what happened. Her response was "Yea Kate you are like the most type A person I know. It can be a little scary at times." Then she reminded me of a school nickname I received for my fastidiousness.
After hanging up I had the nagging desire to explain myself; or at least give her a 'not ugh' listing the members of my family who are considerably more type A than I. As such I have titled my blog "If you think I am type A."
I promise that there will be more information on the house, my attempt to set it up (Yea Ikea, I have my furniture, now I just have to wait for surrogate father Jim to help me set it up) and school, when it finally starts.

The only thing to know is how to use your neurosis.
 Arthur Adamov