¡Fiesta!

Santa Barbara's annual Fiesta celebration is this week--meaning that my final days in Santa Barbara are filled with a lot of fun. For fiesta they have parades, Spanish dancing, art shows, mariachi bands, and of course really good food.

Fresh corn tortillas with carne asada, carnitas, or chicken, and topped off with cilantro onions, tomatoes, and a squeeze of lime. So good and so simple. I still do not understand how the East Coast cannot get this right. I guess that's why I am enjoying it while I can--the only thing I have eaten in the past two days are tacos.

Adios IV

Tonight is my last night in Isla Vista, and not surprisingly, I am not shedding a tear. It has not been a horrible experience. The weather was great, I had my own room, and between the drunken Irish exchange students and watching the area deal with the blackouts from the fires, I have come away with good stories. Plus my rent was dirt cheap.

But it made me glad that I am not back in college or around the partying environment. I frankly don't care if people get wasted every single day of the week, it was just the complete lack of respect that bothered me the most. Leaving tons of trash around the complex for the maintence crew to clean up. Throwing people's bikes in the pool. Blasting music until the wee hours of the morning. Destroying other people's property. I really hate when people use alcohol as an excuse for making mistakes that they expect others to clean up.

I really look forward to going home for a few weeks and then going back to DC. I also think it will make me appreciate my DC apartment even more--great roommie, clean, cookies in the lobby on Fridays, funny old women, cute toddlers, the doorman, and most importantly- peace and quiet when I want it. I am so old.

Earthquake

Today a 5.4 earthquake hit in the middle of the day. Though it was centered in Chino Hills, we could feel it 130 miles away in Santa Barbara. It was a long and rolling and lasted for at least 10 seconds. I loved how my boss was on the phone with someone on Encino and the the person said "wait one second, I think we're having an earthquake," and then a few seconds later we could feel it.

Even though it did not cause any structural damage or injuries, I feel really bad for those people taking the first day of the California Bar Exam. I know they tell you to be prepared for anything but here is a report that one test-taker posted on Above the Law:

Some pieces of the chandeliers on the ballroom fell. Some people freaked out, others kept typing. Some got under their desks. Most (myself included) sat and stared. Proctors just said to stay calm.

They did not stop the test or give us extra time even through we all lost about 5 minutes (except the crazy gunners who kept typing).

Wildfires, check. Earthquake, check. Celebrity in the office today, check. I think my California summer is complete. I am just hoping "the big one" does not hit while I am here-- or while I am taking the bar exam next year.

Photo courtesy of LAT

Kristina v. the State of California

Today was my first day at court acting as a lawyer-to-be. I was really excited because I have been working on this case for two months and thought my client had a good chance. Even though it was just a settlement hearing, it was still before a judge and I got to sit in one of the counselor's chairs up in front next to my boss and client.

Unfortunately, my excitement died quickly as I had to deal with the moronic lawyers for the State of California. It was quite an eye-opening experience. There are some pretty lousy lawyers out there - or possibly good lawyers working under lousy orders. One comes in late, another saying he does not have settlement authority when the law clearly states the opposite, and they both are extremely stubborn and throwing out desperate arguments. I had to bite my tongue, stifle my laughter, and refrain from rolling my eyes at half of their arguments. Even after the judge told them that she thinks we should win (and consistently shook her head at their incompetency), they were still not willing to settle.

The largest lesson I learned was that reasonableness and justice do not always prevail--at least not right away. I was so sure that this case would have been settled by now but I think I was overly idealistic. This case will now go onto trial, unfortunately without me since I have to go back to school, and if the next judge was like the one we had today, we will win.

(Note 1: Sorry I can't go into details about what this case is about, but at least I can go bed tonight knowing that I fought for the kids. I don't know how those other lawyers feel)
(Note 2: Even though it's easy to pick on government lawyers because of stereotypes, I know bad lawyers exist in public and private practice)

Countdown

12 hours until I go to my first hearing as counsel
5 days until I finish my summer job
12 days until I prove to the CA bar that I am ethical
17 days until I fly back to Washington, DC
29 days until I start my last year of law school

Where did this summer go?

I Want my HGTV

When I clean or do work on my computer, I always like having background TV for some noise. Ideally, background tv should be something interesting but not too interesting as to distract from my work. It also should be something continuous so I do not have to go find something new after half an hour. Top Model, Law & Order, or other similar marathons are ideal, and Food Network also used to be a good standby, but now I cannot stand half of the people who are overexposed on that channel (mainly Rachel Ray, Paula Deen, Guy Fieri).

So my new background tv is HGTV, Home and Garden television. My favorite show is House Hunters, where people visit 3 potential homes to purchase and you guess which ones they'll pick. The international version is really cool, as you see people visit real estate in Buenos Aires, Honduras, Carribean, etc. HGTV's other interior design shows are also addictive. Yes, I am a middle aged woman, but we already knew that.

The bad side about watching all of this is that I want to buy a house now. After living in seven different places in the past six years, I want to have a place where I can buy real furniture and paint the walls. But alas, I will have to wait at least another year, probably more.