Excel-ling my Life

Growing up, I used to see my mom's labortory schedule on the refridgerator. I was always amazed to see the schedules of 30+ lab workers neatly arranged on a grid. There would different codes for when people started working, what kind of schedule they were on, and for each of the departments: blood bank, microbiology, hemotology, chemistry, etc. It all fit together so intricately.

My mom eventually took over the lab scheduling as one of the supervisors. Back then, they still did things by hand and I watched her put together the schedule. My mom tells other people that I wanted to try to do it, so she would let me start filling in those grids. One of my mom's coworkers told me that I seemed suprisingly normal for a kid who wanted schedule a lab.
How little have things changed. I am now in charge of scheduling the office hours for my law school's Dean's Fellows (like teaching assistants). I have to figure out when our weekly meeting is and when our office hours are going to be. Coordinating the schedules of 7 very busy law students with the schedule of first year classes is not an easy task, but I opened up an excel spreadsheet and started filling out grids. Like mother, like daughter.

As you can tell, I am most comfortable when things are arranged neatly in spreadsheets and charts, color-coded and tabbed. When I started getting overwhelmed with my job search for next summer, I opened up a google spreadsheet and put down all the firms I was applying to, what they needed, the application due date, and the status of application. No more scribbling notes in different notebooks or post-its, and forgetting the name of that place that looked really cool.

When my friend Sarah sent me her even more extensive excel spreadsheets as an example of how I could do the Dean's Fellow scheduling, I smiled. You can call me weird or neurotic, but I am not alone.

My Writing Resolution

I have a strange relationship with my writing abilities. The further I go in my education and earn more writing achievements, such as 'writing-on' to law review, the more I question my skills.

Writing has always been my thing, and I have grown accustomed to being complimented on my 'fluid' writing style. Yet, I believe that the growing expectations of others and even moreso, myself, leads to this self doubt. When my constitutional law professor reviewed my law review comment, he pointed out that I have a habit of using dangling modifiers. Although he told me that my piece was overall well researched and written, all I could think about were what other poor writing habits I had. Similarly, when I read a style manual and learned a new grammar rule, I questioned how many grammar rules I did not know. 'Tis the ridiculous curse of being a perfectionist.

I have realized that some of this doubt stems from the fact that legal writing is different from much of the writing that I have done in the past. I need to accept the fact that I still have things to learn in legal writing, and that does not make me an overall bad writer.

As I go back to school-- and more generally, enter a career primarily focused on writing-- I want to stop overanalyzing my own writing and doubting myself. I have never been the speediest writer, but I need to stop belaboring every word and expect that everything must come out perfectly the first time. That is what editing is for, and I need to do that more thoroughly. Moreover, receiving constructive criticism from others is a good thing because there is always more to learn and ways to improve.

In law school, they always stress how important writing is. Few people actually see courtrooms, but almost everyone spends a large amount of time penning documents. If this is what the next 40-50 years of my life is going to be, I better do well and enjoy it.

[Note: My ramblings in this blog are not indicative of the work I produce academically or professionally. I usually write these blogs right before I go to bed and do not revise them as thoroughly as I should.]

I Feel the Earth Move

Of all the California things I expected to experience during my time home, an earthquake was not one of them. Yet at 1am this morning, a 4.6 earthquake struck and woke everyone up in our home, including my uncle visiting from quakeless Chicago.

A 4.6 earthquake is considered moderate. It did close down the bridge near my home because they found cracks, but it was later reopened once they found out there was not structural damage. Usually with earthquakes this size, some things fall off shelves like pictures that fell onto me. Fortunately, they're just in paper frames, and the framed magazine and trophies that I have on shelves near my bed fell on both sides of me.

As stuff was falling on me and I was searching for my glasses this morning, I remembered being woken up 13 years ago during the Northridge Earthquake. We had felt small tremors before, but this one didn't stop after a few seconds. Although the 6.7 earthquake was also considered moderate, "seventy-two people died as a result of the earthquake and over 11,000 were injured. In addition, the earthquake caused an estimated $12.5 billion in damage, making it one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history."

Everytime there are small tremors and moderate earthquakes, I think every Californian lies in bed wondering if this is just a precursor to 'the big one.' The one they have been predicting forever. It makes me wonder about applying to these law firms on the 40th stories of buildings in LA. But that thought usually fleets quickly when I think about how I would have to swim through the humidity or trudge through the snow wearing a suit in any other part of the country.

72 and Sunny

The #1 question that I have been getting since I came back last Friday has been, "Are you planning on moving back to California?" I can now confidentely say yes.

Today in DC, "[t]emperatures hit 102 at Reagan National Airport at 1 p.m., breaking a nearly 80-year-old record by one degree . . . The National Weather Service has been predicting a possible high of 103 degrees, with a heat index of about 105 . . . It is, of course, a Code Orange day, signifying unhealthy air quality." (D.C. Area Heat Breaks 77-Year Record). There are also supposed to be thunderstorms during the week so you can imagine how humid it is.

Conversely, in Santa Clarita, where the weather typically hits the triple digits during the summer, it is 83 degrees. Most importantly, that is dry heat. In Westwood it is 76 degrees and in San Clemente it is 72 degrees. No wonder all the men in San Clemente wear Hawaiian silk shirts to church, its like a holiday there everyday.

Undoubtedly the main reason why I am coming back to California is because of my family and the lifestyle, but I could solely rest my case on the weather.

California Adventures & Closure

Per the suggestion of (translate: harassment by) my old roommate Megan, I finally picked up my diploma from UCLA yesterday. Yes, my undergrad diploma with a shiny seal and signature of our Governator Schwarzenegger. I was never one of those people who had closure issues with college, I moved on pretty quickly and happily, but my diploma makes me officially feel like an alumna.

I had a great day hanging out with other alums today, enjoying everything California. Eating In-n-Out with Megan, sitting out on the patio of Novel Cafe with the girls, strolling through campus to get harassed on Bruinwalk, watching a movie at the famous Bruin Theater, and going to the old bar in Santa Monica that we always went to with the boys. And in true California style, we even had a celebrity sighting: DB Sweeney from the Cutting Edge, a favorite movie of Megan and I.

Last year, even though I was excited to move to DC and start law school, I felt like I was leaving everyone behind. Many of them, including all of my roommates, stayed around Westwood to finish up classes or to work. But now that first year of law school is under my belt and everyone else is going to grad schools across the country or finding jobs that they like, I feel like we're all finding our place and happier.

As one of my co-workers this summer said, it is a lot harder at this age to meet up with old college friends. But I realized that when we can actually all coordinate our schedules, I appreciate being with them even more. And of course having 72 degree and sunny weather makes it even better.

8 for '08

Although I have not written about politics in here much lately, my recent conversations with the guy sitting next to me on my very long plane ride over here and with my uncle have prompted me write an entry about the 2008 Presidential election. No deeply profound thoughts, just eight musings that have been on my mind. (Warning: I have had a lot on my mind, this will be long)

1. I do not have a candidate yet. Last time I jumped on the Kerry wagon early, but since I do not plan on working or donating to anyone, there is no reason to pick anyone now. As Kos (of Daily Kos) said, it is somewhat liberating not being attached to a candidate. Watching the debates and following the news is more interesting when I am not biased and cheering for one particular person. Of course I am not completely objective; I am going to vote for a Democrat and I prefer and dislike some more than others. For example, I have an unexplainable disdain for Mitt Romney; just ask my roommate who hears me rant about him all day.


2. My friends are campaign all-stars. Although I have thus far been a spectator for this upcoming election cycle, I have friends on the Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Biden, Richardson, McCain, and Romney campaigns. I have tremendous respect for people willing to work long hours for little pay, move to the middle of nowhere, or deal with naysayers like me because they believe in someone. It is also entertaining to hear their stories from the road and witness their efforts to lobby me.


3. Orange County is red. So this is not new news. But I was amused to hear that people started flipping off my brother after he put a Barrack Obama sticker on his car. I will be interested to see what stickers people will be slapping onto their Hummers. I have yet to see any GOP stickers, but I have seen a giant Ron Paul banner.


4. The YouTube debate was great. The year that I ran for student government VP, a guy dressed up in a chicken suit ran for President. Although we called him the joke-candidate who had crazy ideas, he actually raised good points at the debate. The point is, good questions can come from a person dressed up as a chicken or a YouTube question from a snowman. "I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman," Romney said. Please, not answering questions from people for an hour is what's demeaning, and there are people on both sides who agree on that.
5. My one prediction. I think I have overthought the Democratic ticket so much that I have a million different combinations of who could be President and Veep. I also do not know who the GOP Presidential nominee is. However, I will go out on a limb and predict that Governor Mike Huckabee from Arkansas will be the GOP VP nominee.


6. My "gut feeling." I cannot see a Democratic ticket of two white males. I do not know how exactly it will work out, but after having a woman, a black, and a Latino in the race at the top, I feel like there would be uproar if we went back to conventional wisdom. The one exception would be of course if Gore decides to run, but he won't.


7. I would love to see a bipartisan cabinet. During the youtube debate, a person asked the Democratic candidates, "If you had to pick any Republican members of Congress or a Republican governor to be your running mate, who would it be?" I know that the candidates were afraid to answer this question, just like any elected Republican or Democrat would be afraid of actually picking a person from the other party to be in their cabinet. But if Socialists will join President Sarkozy's cabinet in France, I hold out hope. This article has some amusing suggestions for bipartisan pairings.


8. West Wing knows all. CJ: "Everybody's stupid in an election year, Charlie." Charlie: "No. Everybody gets treated stupid in an election year, C.J."
   

Home Cookin'

At mass today, the priest talked about the importance of families eating dinner together because it fosters comm- unication. I realized that not only does my family eat together when we are all together, we even cook together.

Whether it be a big Thanksgiving celebration or a summer bbq, my entire family is often in the kitchen preparing part of the meal. Although my friends call us the Asian version of Leave it to Beaver or Pleasantville, we are different because the men-folk are also in the kitchen dicing away. (This is why I am glad Alex cooks, I could never date anyone who was helpless in the kitchen.)

My return to California this weekend was filled with the things that I missed the most: family time, family cooking, and fresh mango salsa. On Saturday, we had the two year memorial of my grandmother's passing, a Buddhist tradition since my dad's side of the family is Buddhist (kind of). The memorial is more of a celebration, and we had large amounts of my favorite Vietnamese foods. My parent's chicken curry, eggrolls, chinese sausage and sticky rice, etc.

Then today, we had a get-together bbq with my mom's side of the family and some other family friends. My immediate family spent the entire day preparing. We even went to the grocery store together to pick out fresh vegetables (California produce- how I have missed thee), salmon, scallops, and chicken to grill up. When we returned home, everyone had their own courses to prepare and the final product (see picture above) came together masterfully. If there were ever a Top Chef or Iron Chef family, we would be the team to beat.