The (Long) Road to the Final Four

Live blog from Newark Airport in New Jersey!

Who knew that when Alex picked me up at 4am this morning that our path to the Final Four would be even more endurance-testing than it would be for the Bruins.

After getting to the airport for our 6:20am flight, we found out that our flight from Baltimore to Newark was delayed because of weather. Consequently, we missed our connection to Austin and spent the next hour working with the ticket agent to get us to Austin or San Antonio (only about an hour apart). Ultimately, she found one ticket from Newark to San Antonio, which she gave to me. She put Alex on stand-by for my flight, and also booked him a ticket from Newark to Austin which would leave later. Not ideal, but we had few options.

After a few hours in Newark, we find out that not only are they not taking any standby people on my flight, they are overbooked. Since Alex and I preferred not to get separated anyway, the attendants found us two tickets into Austin (that actually would get us in earlier than Alex's rebooked flight), and I gave up my seat to San Antonio for the Austin flight to get a $300 voucher and meal money.

Though it has been a long day, we were highly entertained when "Do you know how I am- Chief Investigative Correspondent for CBS" started yelling at the gate attendants because he came late and lost his seat due to overbooking.
He started yelling things like "You're going to be sorry!" "I'm an Elite member, I fly First Class!" and for some reason pointed at Alex and I because he claimed that since we gave up our seats, he should be able to get on. They tried to explain that only I gave up my seat because Alex never had one to no avail.

Dear Mr. Keteyian-

If you are going to start yelling at workers and busting our your title, know that little bloggers will document your temper tantrums. We don't necessary care that you have 8 Emmys because we just want to get to the Final Four too. Plus, we are stuck in NJ and therefore have nothing else to do.

-Kristina & Alex

Res ipsa loquitur

In San Antonio for the Final Four. Be back Tuesday, hopefully with a championship. Go Bruins!

Edit, Edit, Edit

As evidenced by this blog,* my writing is far from perfect. My grammar needs work, my diction is sometimes off, and I need to proofread more. A lot more.

Nonetheless, I feel as though law school has turned me into a writing snob. In the past weeks, I have:

• Graded thirty ten-page short write-on submissions for law journal
• Line-edited (made changes line-by-line and corrected footnotes) a twenty-five page article on net neutrality regulation for journal
  
• Line-edited one paper for my Public Employment seminar
• Read over and gave general feedback for five papers for my seminar
  

After looking at so many papers with a discerning eye, I am started to correct everything around me. Everywhere I look, I see and cringe at the passive voice. I even started to line-edit the dozens of Dean's Fellow cover letters I was simply supposed to read. Although I stopped marking up cover letters, I do know that the quality of the cover letters did influence my ultimate recommendations for the positions even though the jobs are not directly related to teaching writing.

1Ls often ask me what was the most important piece of advice someone told me in law school. I do not know who it was, but someone told me to keep writing. Whether you join a journal or law brief, or take another writing class, find a way to write and receive feedback. It does not matter how developed your arguments are if your grammar is poor or your footnotes are horrible.

This point may seem obvious, but you would be surprised with some of the writing that comes from law school students. One short write-on I graded actually used the word "legit." Someone suggested that I respond with: "time 2 quit."

*My writing for class/journal is far better than these late night blogs that I usually write while in bed.

Fighting for Fish Tacos

One Friday during Lent, Alex and I decided to grab lunch at California Tortilla because I remembered that they had fish tacos. When I looked at the menu, I tragically discovered that the fish tacos were a previous month's special rather than a staple.

Being the proactive citizen that I am, I went home and emailed California Tortilla. Even though it is a chain, California Tortilla goes out of its way to be Mom and Pop-ish-- sending out funny monthly newsletters, doing crazy promotions (ie: make an animal noise on Wednesdays, get free chips and salsa), and encouraging feedback. Therefore, I was surprised and saddened when I did not get a response from Pam, the taco lady.

Then this morning, I open up my inbox to find a Taco Talk newsletter reporting:

You called. You emailed. You hung out of buildings and screamed. You did whatever it took to make it happen (see last entry of previous column) and now all of your efforts are paying off: Fish tacos are back!

Victory! Now if only our elected officials were this responsive to constituent letters.

San Antonio, Here We Come

My last name has practically become an adjective with my friends and Alex. Doans are doers. Doans are planners. Doans are winners. What Doans are not are spontaneous people, unless you are talking about my brother.

So I think a lot of people were surprised when I decided last Saturday that I wanted to go to the Final Four in San Antonio in a week. In part it was a spontaneous decision, encouraged my by roommate and some other friends. Surprising to many is that Alex did not push this issue at all.

However, I did think about a lot of things, even within a short period of deciding. I always need to rationalize my decisions, both before and after. Here's what goes through my head:

• I missed my opportunity to go last year because of oral arguments.
  
• I have a lot of faith in UCLA basketball, but I do not know when they would make it into the Final Four again.
• I only have two in-class finals this semester, am 85% done with my paper for my seminar, and am not behind in my reading. (Plus, I really do not want to go to Wills, Trusts & Estates on Monday.)
  
• This may be the only time I will be able to see Kevin Love play as a Bruin.
  
• This is a historic Final Four with all number 1 seeds.
• Austin (where we are flying in) and San Antonio are fun, and I have never been in Texas without counting the airports.
  
• This will be an early anniversary trip for Alex and I, which will be especially nice since we will be separated this summer.
• I think I am getting a stimulus check. And even if not, I will actually have an income and cheap rent this summer.
  
• We will be able to see a lot of our friends from UCLA.
  
• Without class on Fridays, a real job, or major responsibilities like a family, I can be a little spontaneous . . . or at least look like it.
  

So that is it. Today I bought our plane tickets and our friends procured a nice hotel with their bonus points. No turning back now.

Friendships

Today, I met up with one of my friends from UCLA, who was visiting from Chicago. As we sipped our delicious chai from Teaism, my friend noted that she feels that her friendships are much stronger post-college because they require much more work. I admire her because she is good at working on those friendships, she takes initiative to visit towns to see people and makes concrete plans.

As much initiative as I take in many areas of my life, I would say that I am not that great pro-actively sustaining "deep" friendships. It cannot simply be my fear of the phone, my busy law school schedule, or the fact that I rather spend time with my family when I am at home. There must be some other reason why I am friends with many people, but have more meaningful friendships with a very small number of individuals. Oh commitment issues.

Honestly, this problem does not keep me up late at night though. I do prefer quality over quantity of friends, but it was just a thought and a personal reminder of something I know I need to work on at least a little.

Happy List

....because I'm too tired to write thoughts in complete paragraphs, a list of what makes me happy:

1. Judging the National High School Moot Court competitions, seeing articulate and poised high school students argue Constitutional Law, and being addressed as your honor.
2. Watching the UCLA game with good friends, some free food, and 8-claps. And of course, WINNING, and making it to the Final Four for the third consecutive year.
   
3. Having awesome parents who may help pay for my flight to San Antonio to watch the Final Four, as a congratulations gift for being published.
   
4. Being almost done with grading short write-ons and being able to go to bed earl(ier).