Sunday, August 27, 2006

it was for freedom

I've posted a little bit recently, but only about stuff and things, not about what's been happening on this end, so I'm going to try to rectify that now. First of all, greetings to Paul, maintainer of 2sj.com--dunno if you'll stick around or if some awesome act of googling only brought you to my Pluto post, but I support your online endeavors, as well. I'm an irregular lurker at the 2sj message boards, as they're my go-to reference for any tidbits about possible reunion tours, etc. Thanks for stopping by!

Anyhow, it's been a pretty relentless week of interviewing, but the bulk of my OCI duties are over with. I had no idea how exhausting the process would be, nor how busy busy busy my schedule would become (evening receptions, researching firms, hanging around in my suit between interviews, etc). I've had some luck, which is really, really gratifying, but as I've said to myself countless times, callback ≠ job, so I'm hedging my bets for the time being. Much like in bowling, I'm not at all sure what it is I'm doing right. I mean, the Boy and I were at Lucky Strike yesterday and in my first game, I bowled a 126--which is awesome for me--and then followed it up with a 76, which is pretty much par for the course in my book. I couldn't begin to tell you what I did differently between the two games, only that one worked out and one didn't. I feel that way about a lot of these interviews, too--when they go well, it's fantastic, but I don't really know why they go well. I can only hope I can keep doing what I'm doing and be able to report back here in a few weeks with a finalized job offer for next summer.

In other news, I think I'm coming down with a cold. I'm echinacea-ing, zinc lozenge-ing and zicam-ing the heck outta my sinus passages and throat, so hopefully it will be a minor cold and not a kick-me-on-my-ass cold, as I really don't have time for the latter. I blame being in close quarters with dozens of people whom I haven't seen all summer and who have, somewhere along the line, picked up and passed along germs. Blerg. I also can't believe that classes start in a week--well, a little over a week. I'm still wavering on my class schedule, and as of this moment, I'm only definitely taking Business Associations and Negotiations. I'm enrolled in Federal Jurisdiction as well as the U.S. Supreme Court, but I need to drop one or the other of those two. I was all Fed Jur gung-ho at first, but seeing as how I'm going to be verrrrry busy this semester, a challenging class like that might not do wonders for my GPA. The U.S. Supreme Court promises to be a little less demanding and the prof got some stellar course ratings last year--but that was for a seminar, not a lecture, so I don't know if the change in class structure will make a difference. I'm also enrolled in Computers & the Law, whose subject matter is right up my alley, but if I can make Directed Reading & Research work out in conjunction with my journal topic, I'll have to drop the seminar, I think. I'm coming into this semester with 4 credits from the summer Judicial Practicum and it just doesn't make sense to hang onto them and cash them in at a later date. 13-credit semester, here I come.

In more "fun" news, the Boy and I saw Little Miss Sunshine yesterday, and it was great. The theater was packed, too, with latecomers sitting on the floor in the aisles, and this was for a 3:30pm showing! The buzz around this film must be ridiculous. Anyway, it's genuinely funny, and the climax of the film is gasp-out-loud hysterical, but the characters seem real, not merely caricatures, which makes the whole experience a lot more meaningful. Steve Carell is a wonder, to be sure, but the film is generally well-cast (especially Greg Kinnear as the failing motivational speaker). Definitely worth seeing.

Also, my ninth They Might Be Giants concert was this past Friday at the Lincoln Park Zoo. I had no idea what to expect, never having attended a Zoo Show before, but the stage was in an... odd location. I mean, we ended up parking ourselves in a nook between a blanket and some folding chairs right in front of the stage, but some people had to sit waaaaaay off stage right because the lawn seating area was not very deep. First opening act was Tally Hall, who looked young enough to be still in high school but who played a solid quirky-pop set. These guys clearly grew up listening to artists like TMBG and their music reflects similar lyric sensibilities, only with the addition of more harmonies (three of them take turns singing lead vocals). I was pleased enough by their set that I intend on checking them out further--I'm sure they have a myspace, as all the kids these days do.

Second opening act was The Bad Examples. They played an hour and fifteen minutes, which was about an hour too long. They weren't terrible, they just were wholly unremarkable and boring. Enough said.

Anyway, TMBG were awesome. I realized when they whipped out "Dang [sic--it was an all-ages show, friends] Good Times" that I hadn't seen them since '03, so anything off The Spine was totally new-sounding live. The set was resoundingly upbeat--seriously, I think "New York City" was the slowest song. We got some crowd-pleasing faves like "The Guitar" and "No One Knows My Plan" (with Flans getting downright testy about the crowd's inability to either a) conga or b) get out of the way of the conga line), classics (yay for "Birdhouse" and "Don't Let's Start"--but when it came to "Particle Man" and "Istanbul," honestly? John and John sounded bored, but the newbies demand to hear them, I suppose), and some from-left-field choices--"The Famous Polka"? "We're The Replacements"???!! I loved that "Spider" went right into "The Guitar," as that's the way I expect it after hearing those two songs on tape/CD so many times. Also, I don't think I've ever seen them play outside before, nor for quite so all-ages a show, so there was definitely a different energy and enthusiasm than I remember from, say, the string of shows I saw at Toad's back in the day. They mentioned that they're working on new songs, too, which just warms my heart. I mean, these guys were MY first band. Even though I'm not so over-the-top crazy about them as I was ten (or fifteen?!) years ago, I'm still thrilled to see them perform, and I'll still keep buying whatever music they release. I will scream the words to "James K. Polk" (though I do miss the confetti cannon), I will annoy others with my poor imitation of the "Ana Ng" dance, and I will jump and jump and jump through "Twisting," just like the first time I heard it so many years ago.

Wow, this was a long post. Before I go do more firm research, please keep my mommy in your thoughts and prayers. She's having surgery tomorrow and everything should go well, but I worry--and I worry more because I'm far away. I'm going home over Labor Day, though, so I'll see her soon. Thanks, friends.

1 comment:

Rent60 said...

Give your mom my love. Ugh, that sucks that she's having to deal with more surgeries. I hope everything's okay. I'm sure it will all go well! I'll E-mail her soon.