Blue, But Not Depressed

I am a huge UCLA fan- I wore my Bruin gear this week, I scheduled in the UCLA game into my Finals Plan of Attack, and I cheered them along today. Of course I wanted us to beat USC today.

But I am also pragmatist. 24-7? Hey, at least we beat the spread. And at least we did not get shut-out or blown-out.

There are some losses that hurt (Notre Dame, Arizona circa 2005, every loss to USC while I was at UCLA), but this one, eh. It was not a pretty game today, but it has been a tough injury-plagued season this entire year.

As they say...there's always next year. And there's also basketball too. Go bruins.

Some Perspective

Per my usual finals procrastinating ways, I was refreshing different news sites this afternoon when I saw that there was a hostage situation at Hillary Clinton's campaign office.

The story was so unbelievable, and the more I learned about the situation, the sadder it also was. Thank goodness no one was hurt, but it turns out that the man taking the office hostage had mental health problems and did this because no one would help him.

We all may joke about how we are going crazy during finals, but we often forget that there are people who have much more serious problems. Finals are surely not fun but at least it will be over in two weeks.

Fishbowl Observations

Today I arrived at school at 8:30am and left at 9:30pm. With the exception of setting up lunch for the Section I mentor and attending my First Amendment class, I pretty much spent my whole day in the "Fishbowl."

The fishbowl is a partially glass-enclosed area that overlooks the first floor of the library. It is a very coveted spot. You can lay out all your stuff on a big table, talk to friends since it is detached from the rest of the library, and best of all, you can people watch.

It is funny how people usually dressed in sweaters and polos start wearing "comfy" clothes like sweatpants and tshirts. I am guilty as well, today I wore a sweatshirt and tennis shoes to school for the first time this year.

Additionally, I noticed that at least half the people I saw today must have had the red holiday Starbucks cups. There are always a lot of coffee drinkers, but coffee consumption must quadruple during finals time.

I am hoping that my own skim milk gingerbread latte with sugar-free syrup (my first Starbucks in months) will wear off soon so I get to sleep and repeat this all again tomorrow.

Finals Re-Pledge...

Exactly one year and one day ago, I wrote this blog entry on my final day of classes. I basically wrote a contract with myself of things I should and should not be doing during the reading period and finals. Though as my friend Lauren pointed out, this pledge is good for law school and life in general.

Even though I have one more class tomorrow, I am already well into finals mode. I have already been churning out the pages for my Higher Education final (23 pages down, at least 3 to go). Therefore, it is time to re-pledge and work towards repeating the success/miracle of last fall.

My Finals Pledge

• I will take care of myself physically. I will sleep at least 7 hours a night, I will continue cooking my meals, I will avoid bad food, I will keep a supply of healthy snacks, I will try to incorporate as much physical activity as possible, I will stay hydrated, I will finally take my vitamins.
  
• I will take care of myself emotionally. I will call my family or friends if I need to talk to someone, I will take little study breaks, I will not completely deprive myself of the things that entertain me like facebook, bad reality tv, IM, or blogging, but instead keep it in moderation.
  
• I will not whine too much. I will remember that I chose to go to law school, knowing that it would be difficult and that I would have difficult exams.
  
• I will not take out my frustration on other people, my fellow classmates (as eccentric as they can be) or people outside the law school bubble. I will remember that it's ok to be frustrated but trying to make other people feel bad accomplishes nothing.
  
• I will be honest with myself. I will not try to fool myself about how much I can accomplish in one day. I won't try to tell myself or others I understand something if I don't.
  
• Oh...and I will have fun once finals are over!

Where in the World?

On Monday, I overheard some people on the shuttle talk about how one of the new young professors at our law school was on "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?"

In addition to being surprised with this information, I was so envious of that professor. I watched the show all the time and absolutely loved the computer game. I remember how exciting it was piecing together clues and looking facts up in the almanac. Yeah, once a nerd always a nerd.

As I have said many times before in this blog, I love edutainment (education + entertainment). My uncle used to work for The Learning Company, the computer software company that eventually bought Carmen Sandiego. I give them so many kudos for making learning fun. The game Gizmos and Gadgets taught me basics about mechanics and engineering, Treasure Mathstorm introduced me to algebra well before I learned it in the classroom (I was a mathlete after all), and there were so many other great games my brother and I enjoyed for free.

Professors nowadays always complain about how kids, and most adults, have such a poor sense of geography. I mean how many kids could identify Iran like these kids did (1 minute into the video)...



Maybe if we should teach geography, and all subjects for that fact, this way...yes, this is the special celebrity edition with Mayim Bialik of Blossom, Tatyana Ali of Fresh Prince, and Jeremy Miller of Growing Pains.


I guess I was lucky that I got to grow up with these shows and games, and had teachers that were creative.

PS. I am on the lookout for a red trench coat. I always wanted to be Carmen Sandiego for Halloween.

Dear Good Samaritan,

Thank you for waking me up at LAX so that I did not miss my red-eye flight. Even though DC is cold, windy, and rainy, I am still glad that I made it home on time.

Kristina, well-rested and now-bundled up

Home Inevitables

Things that happen every time I come home...

• California catches on fire. This time the fires + Santa Ana winds destroyed 49 homes in Malibu. Sad.
  
• I accomplish half as much work as I planned to do and I blame college football.
• My brother does something that reinforces my title as "the good child."
  
• I eat a lot of Asian food, and not just Vietnamese. Our family likes to hit up food from the whole continent: Thai, Chinese, Japanese/Sushi, etc.
  
• My mom and I go shopping, and I try to figure out how I am going to stuff everything in my carry-on suitcase.
  
• I do not want to go back to school or to the bad weather (whether that means going back to DC's swamp like weather in the summer or icy coldness in the winter).