Light at the End of the Tunnel

I am one of those people who is easily motivated by the carrot on the stick. Show me a reward, and I will work for it. Sometimes it is as easy as telling myself that I can watch an hour of tv if I finish my outline. Other times, it is scheduling activities or reminding myself that I have a lot to look forward to once I get through this next week. My month of motivation:

• 6 days until I am done with finals, minus a paper that just needs to be revised
• 7 days until I get to check out the new Nationals stadium with my friends
• 9 days until I get to go back to the General Counsel's Office (where I actually love working) and will be getting paid for a few weeks (which makes it even better)
• 13 days until the General Counsel's Office's Spring Party
• 15 days until dinner with the new Dean's Fellows
• 16 days until dinner with the graduating Dean's Fellows
• 17 days until my three year anniversary with Alex
• 19 days until Women Bar Association's Woman Lawyer of the Year Soiree
• 26 days until I am back in sunny California
• 29 days until my brother graduates from college
• 31 days until I move into my summer apartment four blocks from the beach
• 32 days until I start my job in Santa Barbara
  

Purgatory Week

At my law school, we have a reading week where we have a whole week off just to study and wait for finals. Although these days are much needed and appreciated, there always comes a point in the week where we just break and feel like we cannot make it through the marathon of finals. I think this is especially true Spring Semester when it is so sunny outside and summer vacation seems so close yet so far.

Yesterday was that day for me. I didn't break down crying or anything, but I felt so mentally and emotionally exhausted. I felt like I would never be able to learn everything that my Wills, Trusts & Estates professor wants or does not want (she takes off points for that too).

However, after going out for two hours (yes, scheduled breaks), seeing Alex, and getting a good night's sleep, I realized that I should be grateful if the most challenging part of my life right now is a law school exam. This does not mean that I will not let myself be frustrated, or even cranky, I just needed a reminder and some perspective to get me through the next week.

Good luck with finals everyone.

Life Lessons

After a few days of studying, I know how to disinherit children, make honorary trusts for people's pets, and keep money from spouses. Only a hundred or more concepts to learn and I will be ready for my final.

Thank you wills, trusts, and estates.

No Tag Backs

My fellow law student (though at Chapman) procrastinating from finals, Helen, tagged me to do this post. So here we go.

The rules:

* link to the person that tagged you
* post the rules on your blog
* share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself
* tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
* let each random person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

My six . . .

1. I read magazines backwards, especially the airline magazines, which I absolutely love.
   
2. I like memorizing weird facts, such as the heights of former Presidents (6'2 = Washington, Jefferson, Clinton, FDR) and world leaders (5'7 = Churchill, 5'8 = Hitler).
3. My favorite part about doing laundry is cleaning the lint out of the lint tray.
4. I categorize and alphabetize everything, including all the websites I bookmark.
5. I used to be envious of Japanese Americans because they seemed to be the more successful and integrated Asians (do not worry, I don't have any inferiority issues now). I also used to think I would make a good German because I am efficient. Axis Alliance anyone?
6. I eat spam. In fact, one of my favorite foods growing up was my dad's fried rice with spam and ketchup.
   

Tag, you're it (too tired to link):
Lauren C.
Joline P.
Helen S.
Jim G.
Aaron R.
Eric D.

Happy Earth Day!

Back in the day, my brother and I competed in 4-H public speaking competitions. When my brother was in 7th grade, his speech was about the environment. Although my brother still fared well in his division, I remember being utterly shocked about the comments the judges gave about environmentalism not being as important as my brother said it was.

Even growing up in a conservative area, everyone seemed on board with the environment. We all watched Captain Planet, heard "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and my third grade class bought an acre of the rain forest. But those judges' comments burst my green bubble.

Nowadays, being green is cool again. First Newt, and now I have discovered that Reverend Pat Robertson is on board with fighting climate change as well.




I try to do what I can--cloth grocery bags and lunch bag, public transportation, and not using my ac/heat much--but I know I can do a lot more. Happy Earth Day.

Jon and Kate Plus 8

One of my favorite reasons for going to church, IKEA, or Costco is to see little kids running around. After spending most of my time with the 22-30 demographic group at law school, I love seeing little kids. So there was no better cure to a long day at the library than coming home to watch Jon and Kate Plus 8.

My roommate and I absolutely love this TLC show. The set of twins and sextuplets are all absolutely adorable hapas and really fun to watch. Watching kids run around, laugh, and wear little glasses (Aaden is my favorite sextuplet) just makes me smile.

I still cannot imagine potty-training six kids at once, cooking every meal for 10 people, or getting through airport security with everyone. It makes studying for finals seem easy.

When It Rains, It Pours

Instead of studying today, I watched the rain pound down on the law library's skylight. As the thunder roared and the rain came down harder, I was just waiting for the skylight to cave-in. Though it did not collapse, there was a long leak in the skylight which provided an surprise two-story waterfall in the middle of the library. It was funny to watch everyone leave their books and all stare by the balcony in amazement. Definitely the highlight of my day.

Also today there was . . .
A tornado in Maryland suburb outside of DC
Flood watch
Two planes struck by lightning
Wind blowing the roof off of a school
A church struck by lightning

My roommate suspected that DC was being punished for too many Pope jokes. I just thought God wanted us to stay inside and study.