so little else occupying my head

I am totally freaking awesome.

Because only I can stand up quickly in the bar restroom at my last Work Club event, excited that Kaiser Chiefs' "Ruby" was on the PA, and not notice the shiny freaking huge metal handdryer right over the toilet. I hit my head so hard I saw stars, almost threw up, could barely see straight and now have an enormous lump up there. Totally awesome, right? I am so poised it kills me.

So, that's one way to celebrate the end of summer. Another way would've been going out w/ some work friends this evening, as planned, but my head still hurts like hell, so I think I'll just go back to napping (as I have been for the last two hours--don't you envy my rockstar Friday night?). I missed Meerkat Manor's first new ep this season, but it's being re-run in less than an hour (woo), so I think I'll watch that, too. I wanted my summer to end with a bang, but not like this, not like this.

For those keeping track, though, Work Club gave me a job offer today, so they apparently want me back despite the attenuating liability concerns stemming from my abject clutziness. My fierce legal research skillz are worth their weight in potential worker's comp claims, I suppose. Sigh.

just a small town girl

I fail at karaoke.

Seriously. My throat feels shredded right now. I don't know how people do this regularly. I am a choral singer, damnit. I do not belt. I was never meant to belt. I learned good vocal technique at such an early age that I actually had to have belting broken down and explained to me for my sophomore year high school musical. I found it so weirdly foreign--the musical director told me to say a vowel, then to use that same "voice" and extend the noise of the vowel, as though I were singing it, and it was SO HARD and sounded so awkward. I never really got comfortable with it then, and I'm still not very comfortable with it now. I have a very, very small belting range and not a lot of nuance.

But in a noisy karaoke bar? YOU HAVE TO SCREAM TO BE HEARD. So I SCREAMED. And now I hurt, oh, lord, I hurt. And because I am a worry-wart, I can feel the nodes and polyps forming this very moment. Blip. Blip. Blip.

Well, maybe not. I'm drinking water and telling myself that one night of SCREAMING won't really ruin my vocal cords. But it just sucks that there isn't, like, choral-karaoke bar. Where you get together and sing Mozart's Requiem or Handel's Messiah and rock out to the fugues and take turns being the soloists. I like that idea.

And my voice might be tired afterward, but at least it wouldn't HURT. OW.

It's such bitter irony--I love pop music, but I was never meant to perform it in front of an audience, I suppose. Sigh. Anyway. More soon. It's late, I'm tired, and there're at least three more glasses of water with my name on them. Ow ow ow ow ow.

where i find my heaven

hey, kids.

Very tired. And on my way out of town for a couple of days, so this is really just a passing hello, not a long, meaningful greeting. Sorry about that--I am more tired this week than I can remember. I've had a relatively well-rested summer, I suppose. Usually it gets to be around 11:30pm, midnight and I'm not THAT tired, so I stay up and watch sitcom reruns till 2 or whatever. I actually went to bed at 11:15 on Monday night! and I'm still tired! I've been busting my ass at the gym this week, so maybe that's part of it. Those summer lunches will NOT get the best of me if I can help it.

So anyway. I haven't read HP7 yet. If you spoil it for me, I will hunt you down and levicorpus you. or worse. *grrrowls*

I did see a great Amos Lee concert last night, and a great Yankees game this past Sunday, and I get the suspicion that my weekend will be full of great music, as well. In a related piece of business, I would like to hit the TMBG show at the Bowery next weds night, but I do not have a show-going companion--O NYC friends, who would like to join me? pretty please?

For now, though? Going to bed. Have the sneaky suspicion that I'm forgetting something, but that's probably because half of my clothes (sweatshirts, long pants, etc) for the weekend are already in my tent, courtesy of my parents. Provided I don't do something stupid like miss my first train or my connecting train, I will be in the Berkshires by noon.

And oh, I cannot wait.

we've got to save ginny weasley from the basilisk

it's here! I have it!

I'm not staying up all night to read it--I have gotten far too little sleep this week and I want to savor the reading experience. Plus I have to get up early to go to the beach with the Boy and his firm. I may take my little prize possession in my tote bag with me. After all, what's the beach without some beach reading, eh?

Plus, I have to have it finished by FRFF next weekend. That's far too many people in one place to keep from accidently spoiling me. And I will throttle any man, woman or child who spoils the ending. Period. I've been practicing my bat-bogey hex, so just you watch out.

kitten break

because we haven't had one in awhile, and because she's SO CUTE (and cancer-free, still, which is very good news):

shoot an apple off my head

I'm a little behind in my World Series of Pop Culture watching, so I didn't get to Wednesday's ep till now. And though I thrill to the continual Zoolander questions, I feel like they're sort of pandering to me when the answer is actually "Magnum." Sheesh.

Hearing Pat Kiernan deadpan a series of lyrics about backsides, though? Priceless. Man. I'm horrified that neither of the contestants knew the lyrics to "Big Bottom," however. Talk about mudflaps...

Soooo... I'm re-reading HBP in preparation for next Friday night. And there's a lot I love--particularly J.K. Rowling's little gerund-y asides after a line of dialogue, perfectly setting a scene, making me giggle out loud on a Metro-North train crowded with people. But I just can't get behind the Harry/Ginny stuff. Not that I have a better suggestion for a love interest (Draco?), but it just feels forced. Someone (Cassie Clare?) wrote a spot-on essay when HBP came out about it being a plot-driven rather than emotion-driven romance, which is because Rowling comes from a plot-driven perspective, or something like that. Anyway, it made sense at the time, and it helped me to forgive the one wrong note in an otherwise very compelling book--after all the SHOUTING and ANGST and 900 PAGES of OotP, it's truly a triumphant return to form. GoF is probably my fave book so far; I love the puzzles and quest motif and the wholly unexpected shock of a major character dying at the end. HBP is probably second, though, and I have very, very high hopes for our final installment. *giddy*

Oh, back to the World Series--there's a category made for me: "I'm With the Band," wherein they name 3 "lesser" members of a band and you name the band. Easy peasy. Everyone KNOWS Will Champion's in Coldplay. GOSH.

And from Thursday's ep? A category entitled "Those Talented Baldwin Brothers: All of the questions in this category are about Alec Baldwin. ..." *rimshot*

...I'm starting to think I need a World Series of Pop Culture tag. I seriously can't shut up about this show. Should I be embarrassed about this?

(but what's not to like about a show that features an entire category about Weird Al songs?)

a thousand times a day

OMG HAVE TO BLOG:

The World Series of Pop Culture just referenced Zoolander! hooray! (The question: name the movie associated with the quote: "I'm a hand model, mama--a finger jockey. We don't think the same way the face and body boys do.") No matter how many faults I have with this program (WHY would you send someone who admittedly doesn't know 80s songs to answer an entire category about them?!), I definitely love it. and I can't believe it's been a year since the last round. Seriously. where has the time gone?

(YAY for billie jean lyrics! and I can't believe the dude didn't know it. OR the other guy. what idiots!)

(also, you're searching for your LOST SHAKER OF SALT in margaritaville, dude.)

(also pt. 2, I kind of hated Cheetarah by the end of last year's competition, but I really like that they're hosting backstage this year. and Mason from El Chupacabra is a Pop Candy reader! yay for them. I would like to see them do well again this year.)

ANYway. Hi, blog. It's been awhile.

I meant to blog on the 4th. 16 years, 16 years, got a bike accident, got you for 16 years... but instead, I got busy watching the Nathan's hot dog eating contest and the New Pornographers concert in Battery Park (WITH Neko Case, who is AMAZING. I wish I had the power behind her pipes). And then I spent the weekend working a little, and working out a little (BLERG summer food and drink), and watching Avenue Q (yaaaaay), and hitting some balls at the Chelsea Piers driving range... and NOT putting together my list of judges for clerkships. Sigh. I need to do that.

I did do laundry and mop and swiff and dust yesterday, and I should go to bed so I can go to the gym before work again tomorrow morning (like I have for the last week--seriously, I'm so good, it will probably kill me)... but I'm a night person, and I don't want to. There are Frasier reruns to watch and blogs to read! sigh.

So, yeah. I'm still alive (whoa-ho). Less than 5 weeks left in the summer jorb. Then, off to San Fran for a bit (hooray!) and off to Hilton Head for a wedding (whee!), and then 3L starts.

Huh. wasn't I just a 1L? How is next year my 5-year college reunion? Why do I have more wrinkles than I used to? Why isn't my hair as thick as it once was? Why do college kids look so young?

Maybe I should just go to bed. G'nite, kids. More soon. Promise.

we float through each other's lives

There's just... so much. So much to say. Where do I start?

I'm listening to this amazing song right now (Umbrellas, "Ships") and it's bringing tears to my eyes, it's so gorgeous. I heard it on my iPod shuffle this morning on the way to work, possibly for the first time, and I knew it must be from my tentative list of summer mix songs, and I was reminded, more importantly and more insistently, that there is music that I'm neglecting. a LOT of music. My concert-going tendencies have hesitantly made their way into a couple of conversations at Work Club, and I now realize that most people... don't really get into music the way I do. I guess law school might've/should've clued me in to this minor detail, to a certain extent. And it does take energy, a LOT of energy, to keep on top of new music. I get weary by the end of the day, and I'd rather watch Frasier or Friends reruns on the CW late night programming than dig through my file of new music (240 items strong, notwithstanding the 400+ music blog entries since a month ago that I've neglected. F*cking prolific Stereogum). And hey, did you know that the CW shows reruns of the Jeffersons at 2:30 am? I didn't, before last night, when I woke up at 2:30 and couldn't fall back asleep till 5:30. I will also say that Pan's Labyrinth is an amazing film, and you should all watch it if you haven't already (though preferably not at 3 am). Thank heavens my subletter netflix'ed it and erroneously sent it here rather than to her place, or I might never have gotten around to seeing it.

Anyway. I saw a Wilco concert on Monday night, and MAN, do they put on a good show. The best part was a macramé owl that came down from the rafters above the stage for one song (and one song only), and Jeff Tweedy told the crowd that they wanted a whole macramé menagerie, and that we should all send our macramé handiwork to "Wilco, Chicago," and in that moment, I understood why I've been having such a hard time with my mail forwarding--all that damn macramé clogging the system. Seriously, though--they are amazing musicians and I need their new album, like, now. And their live album, too.

What else... went to Six Flags New England last weekend, despite threat of foot amputation from drop rides (seriously, like, what?). Nothing more serious happened than a set of lost keys on a particularly twisty rollercoaster, but... yeah, it was still a set of lost keys, and we had to call a locksmith and everything. We also watched UHF and a ton of YouTube'd Family Guy and Office and SNL clips and played DDR and ate pizza and cookies and generally had a ton of fun. Yay weekend. Yay Six Flags. yay cookies.

Other than that, I just can't believe it's the last week of June. Where has the time gone? I remember when I worked in between college and law school, how quickly weekends snuck by, and how fast the years spun past. I get that sense again. People are already rotating departments, or leaving for other firms, and I still really feel like I just got here. I mean, I've only done laundry here twice! (Granted, I may have more pairs of underwear and socks than the average person.) I also have no food in this apartment. It's pretty sad. Dinner = event, or takeout, and that's about it. I'm even starting to eat breakfast at work (had a tasty banana-orange smoothie this morn). I drink coffee in the mornings and not tea, since that's what's in the big carafes, and I really don't like Lipton, and no one brings to-go cups to work (I did, twice, and felt incredibly awkward both times). I'm trying to go to the gym as much as I can to fight the Work Club spread--I'm lifting still, which makes me feel strong and awesome, and I bust my ass on the elliptical, which has recently been bothering my "good" knee and thus makes me nervous.

...which also reminds me, a week from now is the Fourth. Wow.

Anyway. It feels a lot later than it is, and this is a long, rambly post, and I kind of want to sing, and I kind of want to read, and I'll probably end up watching TV, and hopefully I'll sleep through the night tonight. I just re-read my entries from July '06, and it reminded me that the frigging World Series of Pop Culture is gearing up again (July 9, mark your calendars, o ye gluttons for punishment), and I suppose I'll watch it, just to see if El Chupacabra can win again.

Those old entries also reminded me how much fun I had last summer, how great Chicago is in the summertime, and how great "Chicago" is, too (it came up on my iPod the other day and my heart nearly burst). I hope you kids back home are taking care of my city. I love NYC, too, but it's different. It's a little grittier, a little less personal, a little more intrusive. Chicago just... is. And I do miss it, especially this time of year.

Someone have a big slice of watermelon from the Dominick's stand at the Taste for me, will you please?

it's never too late

BLERG.

So, while I was out at lunch at the House o'Cheese today (that's not what it's called, but as one who worships at the altar of parmesan, it was a little slice of heaven, for sure), I missed a phone call from one of my doorpersons at my Chicago apartment telling me that my mail was "really starting to pile up back there," and politely inquiring when I would pick it up.

UM.

I will be calling tomorrow to tell them that TWICE I have sent mail-forwarding requests to my Local Post Office, and that I've received the confirmation letter in return here in NYC, but that is the ONLY piece of mail I've received since May 12. MAY 12! While I'm relieved that my mail is SOMEwhere (and heck, when do I ever read a timely Time? my apartment literature sell-by date is generally worse than a doctor's waiting room), I kind of have to throw up my hands at this point. It must be the mail carrier's complete obliviousness to my forwarding needs, because I have literally spoken to everyone else in the distribution chain, from my doorman here in NY to the head of the Local Post Office in Chicago. Maybe my Chicago doorperson can smack some sense into my mail carrier and have her PLEASE stop overstuffing my poor Chicago mailbox?

I never had this problem in four years of college mail-fowarding--but then, all my college mail went to a College Mail Depot (we had our own zip code), so they were probably way more used to forwarding summer mail than the Chicago Post Office. I just really, really want a magazine that doesn't talk about April news. Is that too much to ask?

...yes, that clunking sound you hear is my head repeatedly hitting my desk. Sigh. Time to drown my sorrows in Laundry Club, I suppose.

oh, you got me shakin'

hahahahaha.

Okay, so, I don't have time to blog. I need to get to Sleep Club so I can pry my sorry behind out of bed in the morning before work for Gym Club.

But I forgot to share yesterday that I totally Named That Commercial Tune in three notes the other day (it's an ad for Saturn cars; I left a clue in the subject header for the uninformed/curious).

And more importantly? Someone found this blog searching for "chocolate mango frappuccino zoolander." HA.

anyway. to bed! (assuming I can pry my sorry behind away from late night Frasier reruns. oh, that Niles!)

down a whispering well

Work Club heated up a little bit this week--in the broadest, vaguest terms, I got to see some Law In Action yesterday and today, and that? was awesome. Also awesome? finally seeing where Law and Order is filmed! Those iconic steps and columns! hee. I half-expected Sam Waterston or Mariska Hargitay to come charging out at me.

Anyway, we had an event at the Tenement Museum, and I'm breaking the Work Club silence a little bit because it was an incredibly meaningful experience for me. My father's parents were immigrants from Germany--they lived in Brooklyn until he was in grade school, at which point they moved out to rural New Jersey. I made a few trips to that house when I was young, and I remember a Singer sewing machine at the top of the stairs exactly like the one featured on the front page of the website. I remember that house vividly, from the heavy feel of the front room, the chrome-painted fixtures and bright red wallpaper. The old raggedy ann dolls upstairs, the twin beds, the window seat. The little bathroom with the radiator. The porch. The boxwood hedges with that distinctive smell.

The similar feeling of the rooms in the Museum evoked the kind of steely tenacity it must've taken to pack everything up and move to a foreign country, away from family and friends, swapping everything familiar for an entirely new life. The Museum reminded me of how many, many families did just that, how so many of us came from that kind of history. I definitely wasn't expecting that. I'm not sure how many law firm events will come with a side of self-reflection, but I'm very grateful for this little opportunity for quiet time in an otherwise overwhelmingly whirlwind summer.

Sleep club now? Yes, please.

for the fun and the fashion

man, it is HARD to keep up with blogging and Work Club.

In fact, I started this entry an hour ago and got sidetracked. And now it's once more time for Sleep Club.

Suffice it to say that things are good. Grades came out this week--bunnies galore, for which I'm grateful. Nary a squirrel in the bunch. (As Erica already knows, I prefer to think of my grades in terms of Maeby's report card. And I just spent 15 min on youtube trying to find that Arrested Development clip, but... no dice.) Had a bunch of fun law firm events this week as well, which means even less time around my tawny gypsy mac and its simple pleasures (music blogs... facebook... email).

And now I literally cannot keep my eyes open. Sorry I'm so boring lately. As a peace offering, I give you this:

and I have no privacy

Okay, seriously, folks.

THE AUTO TOILETS DIDN'T AUTO FLUSH TODAY.

Like, not once. And I probably went to the bathroom at least four times and used a sampling of stalls (I had a lot of coffee to make up for staying up late last night).

That does it. I guess we don't talk about the toilets at Work Club either.

...though it did yield a positive result. hmm. Boy, I can't FREAKING STAND not getting a huge bonus as a summer associate!

*hopeful*

that's what keeps me down

Hmm.

I didn't really mean for the rule regarding my not talking about Work Club to turn into the rule regarding my not talking about Anything. And I also didn't mean to be up this late. Whoops. (I might have been searching YouTube for Square One TV clips. And I might've found the Mathematics of Love, Draw a Map, Think (About the Problem), the Apple Rap, and my forever-beloved Angle Dance, among others. (I might not have found You Can Count On It or Tesselation, and that kind of really disappoints me.) I would include links, except I'm tired, and the people amongst you who have nostalgia for such things can find them very easily.

Unlike, you know, the perfect, factually-on-point case(s) you need to support the argument that your assigned senior associate/partner wants you to find on your favorite legal search engine. That's a lot harder. But I'm skirting the Work Club with that, so I'll talk about toilets instead.

I cannot FREAKING stand overly sensitive auto-flush toilets. I swear, I don't make wild gesticulations when I'm doing my business. I'm calm, sedate, orderly, whatever. But the toilets at work? Flush at LEAST two, sometimes three (or more!) times while I'm in there. And that's SO unpleasant. There's an annoying building at school with similarly problematic restrooms (ladies, I'm sure you know of what I speak), but I'm not there very often anymore, obviously. I cannot help but frequent my office WC, but I might start needing to take a bag in to cover the sensor or something. Grrr.

Also, I'm sure you cannot believe I stayed up this late just to share that with you all. More Work Club tomorrow, so off to Sleep Club now. whee.

standing in the greeting card aisle

Wow, it's been two weeks since I last blogged. Sorry about that.

Not that I have much to say right now. I mean, I do, but... I don't. Because I've started work, and the first rule about the Work Club is that you do not talk about the Work Club. Suffice it to say that I've spent a day being oriented, I'll spend half of tomorrow being further oriented and possibly starting some Real Work, and then doing various and sundry other things for the rest of the week. The sublet is great and would be perfect but for a HUGE administrative problem with the superintendent that's keeping me from receiving my mail (?!). If I weren't, you know, working full time, I probably could've gotten it totally sorted out today, but as it is, another day has gone by and another issue of Time has probably gone into the garbage. GAH.

It was great spending some time at home with fambly and kitty, though. And new camera! Kitty photos to follow. She goes in for her six-month checkup next week. Here's to hoping for more good news.

Hark! I hear the siren sound of journal work calling me! though I probably should've started before, you know, 12:45am...

time to put these combat boots away

done.

And I feel... okay.

I never know how well I've fared till the grades arrive, anyway. I feel better about some tests than others, and better about some parts of tests than other parts. I saw Mr. Doyle of giant-cat fame as I was turning in my tax exam and I hoped that was an ausipicious sign. (An actual giant cat might've been more auspicious, but I'll take what I can get.)

Anyway, we're doing sushi tonight, which we haven't done in a long while, so I'm happy about that. I'm happy that I can snooze for 90 minutes tomorrow and not feel guilty about it. I'm happy that on Saturday I go home to see the cutest kitty in the world (oh, and my parents too, I guess). And in 12 days? I start earning MONEY, real money, for the first time in nearly two years.

And I'm VERY happy about that.

cycle on your bicycle

Studying's not all fun and games, but it helps when your professor has a sense of humor. I just came across one of my favorite tax powerpoint slides of the semester, which I will attempt to recreate here:


§ 453: Mr. Doyle buys your giant cat for 10% downpayment and installments over the next five years. How are you taxed?

Income each year = payment (*) (gross profit / total contract price)

paradise by the dashboard light

[...aaaaand sorry Brendan, but I'm spent with the dashboard stuff. expect something new next time.]

I didn't get to watch the Kentucky Derby, but I know for certain I would've put my money on Street Sense, because I like the name. Also because I kept calling him "Street Spirit," and I thought it was awesome that someone named their horse after a Radiohead song. I'd totally do that. Anyway, even if his name's a little more pedestrian than I'd hoped, I'd like to see him pull for the Triple Crown. And, you know, not die, like Barbaro. Because the world can only take so many horse churches.

No time for horsies now, though, what with one measly exam to go. Oh, and spring pollen allergies can KISS MY ASS. Seriously, Claritin doesn't seem to help my awful, itchy eyes anymore, and I don't have time to see a doctor. So, collective wisdom of the internet masses: what helps YOUR allergies (eye itching in particular--the runny nose stuff is under control)? Or should I just keep rubbing them and making it worse like I'm doing now, because it feels SO good for about a second and a half before the itching turns to pain?

...anyway. back to work. grr arrrgh arrgh grr arrgh.

the dashboard melted

Per the weather widg: high today of 83, low of... 45.

Seriously? c'mon! I just took my winter coats to the cleaners. This is total craaaap. It dropped 15 degrees while I was trapped in the Lexis Lab doing page proof edits for my journal. I'm glad I brought my cute new umbrella-patterned raincoat to school so I was at least somewhat warm on the way home (though it has not, as of yet, rained today).

Also, I totally checked a woman with my shoulder on my walk back to my apartment from school. She was walking side-by-side with her middle-aged pals on a sidewalk that was already half-filled with tables and chairs (don't get me STARTED on how much I hate friggin' outdoor seating--my favorite part about winter is having full, glorious sidewalk usage), and there was a lamppost on my other side, so I didn't have anywhere else to go. I could have waited... but why should I have to wait when they're the ones who suck? So, yeah. I kind of hoped she'd try to start something. I've been working out (see bench-pressing rockstars, supra). I'm feisty. I'm tough. Come get me!

...yeah, maybe not. Anyway, sidewalk etiquette is something I take seriously, so if you're in violation of the rules, you're gonna get hurt.

And confidential to the lady in high strappy sandals who totally edged out in front of me at the corner while waiting for the light to change: do you really think that even with my heavy-ass backpack I can't walk faster than you? I'm wearing SNEAKERS, I did five miles at the gym this morning, and I felt really, really good about leaving you in my dust. Mwahahahaha.

While I'm still feeling fierce and competitive, it's time to re-attack the employment outline and practice tests. Tomorrow morning, it's on. Yeah. You heard me. It's on.

the photograph on the dashboard

why it pays to use Lexis:

I just bought this with my accumulated Lexis research points. My point total went from over 26,000 to a whopping 31--but man, am I excited.

(I suppose it probably helps that I'm a Lexis Rep. However, I've still got another year of point accumulation ahead of me--and now that Kate Spade is being added to the Lexis store next week... *rubs hands in eager anticipation*)

Anyway, expect more posts with photos in them once it arrives. (Also, expect fewer derisive comments from my friends about my continued use of a *scoff* film camera.)