Chock full o' koans

The thing you think is keeping you from learning is the thing you need to learn.

Before you start writing, it always feels like it's too early to start writing.

(Alternately: It always feels like it's too early to start writing before you start writing.)

Same name, different location

Most of what I want to write about lately, I don't want to write about for strangers. I've created a new friends-only blog at livejournal. (Just substitute "livejournal" for "blogspot" in the URL.)

If you're a friend or friend-of-friend or longtime reader:

1. Create an LJ account (free)
2. Email me and tell me your account name.
3. I'll add you to my friends list there.

We'll see if this unlocks any deep-held musings...

Trendwatch: Small Fruit

I predict that small fruit will be a trend in the coming years and months. Apples and oranges do not need to be 4 inches in diameter. Bananas do not need to be of Jeff-Strykeresque dimensions. Small fruit. Watch for it.

Ballard Vignette

Me: The hipsters are freaking me out.
S: Activate your disdain centers!
Me: I already have!

Special Guest Blogging from S: Description of Disturbing Hipsters at La Carta Oaxaca

they stood, together yet alone, tragic. hip. pale. emaciated. she: clad in a striped wrap dress and a plaid parka, 80's era chrissie hynde hairstyle. you know, black. layered but overgrown. hanging past her eyebrows and crowding her cheeks. also with the impish face, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the hair, bored, unfocused, expressionless, disaffected gaze. he: striped button down shirt and no jacket. black oblong-framed glasses. same disaffected gaze. brown hair, neither short but long. "textured" with "product." cultivated sense of unease.

ohplease says: i feel bad, because we used to have punks to make us uneasy, but now we only have hipsters. it seems like a loss. i am sad for our culture. oh my god. it's like i'm hillary clinton, speaking about hipsters.

/guest blogging

S: I feel like my hair might be kind of hipster-like.
Me: No, it's not. It's sui generis.
S: [?]
Me: That's a term we use in law school. It means "its own thing."

My entirely non-unique blog conundrum

Part of why I haven't been blogging is that 2L year is excruciatingly boring. However, Mike pointed out that's probably still worth blogging about. But I've also not been writing because I feel like most of the things I would write about now (my hideous fall quarter classes, my wacky law firm's wacky Christmas party, the most annoying woman in law school) would easily serve to identify me, and I'm not sure if I'm OK with that. This wasn't an issue 1L year because the 1L curriculum is pretty much identical everywhere.

So I dunno.

That goddam Mike tagged me with a meme...

...and since I've just drunk an entire bottle of champagne, I'll oblige.

(BTW, I've finally figured out I don't like champagne--too yeasty. I prefer prosecco.)

The meme is "FIVE THINGS YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME," which reminds me of "Two truths and a lie," which my old work team used to use as an ice-breaker. I once "won" two truths with the following statements:

• I was music direcctor at my college radio station.
• In high school, I was vice president of the math club.
• [Some forgettable, yet seemingly in-character lie that I honestly can't remember right now.]

Everyone thought the math club thing was the lie, because (1) Who's that big of a geek? and (2) What the hell math club needs a vice president? Little did they know...

Anyway, 5 things you probably don't know about me, but which are entirely in character:

1. I spent my New Year's Eve at home, alone, cleaning madly, throwing things away, and drinking an entire bottle of champagne by myself. However, due to my solo drunkenness, I still have laundry to fold.
2. I like fruitcake. I especially like fruitcake with champagne (or prosecco). My favorite part of any fruitcake is the candied citron, and some years, I make my own fruitcake, which is surprisingly expensive what with all the liquor and candied fruit. I have a vague intent to some year make not only my own fruitcake, but my own candied fruit. This would require starting the fruitcake process in August or September.
3. I can squaredance.
4. I know all the words to "You're So Vain."
5. I kind of want to go skiing. For the first time since what? 1988??

Magical elves will write my exam!

I have two take-home finals in addition to my two in-class finals, and I've now been working on one of the take-homes for four days. I actually have been working. I worked on it for 7 hours on Thursday, 5 hours on Friday, 6 hours yesterday, and 7 (so far) today. My only prayer at this point is that magical elves will write my exam. (Can the elves turn on my computer, or do I have to leave it on for them?)

My real hope, of course, is that the procrastinator's panic will set in, but my friend R has noted that all of our panic thermostats seem to be out of whack this time around. I'm trying now to just outline as much as I can so that when I can finally write, I won't be wasting time looking stuff up.

And it strikes me that actually, that's my usual law school writing process. Assume there will be horrible procrastination, but do enough advance work so that once the panic sets in, you can take advantage.

I'm going to start thinking of it that way.

Evidently I really believe it's going to happen now.

I just called my insurance weasels to increase my liabililty coverages. I take this to be a sign that I really do think I'm going to be a lawyer now. To worry is to believe.

When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

(Apologies to Dr. Johnson.)

I got done with OCI about a month ago, and I'm finally feeling like maybe I understand something in some of my classes. But it's been ugly, and I've been avoiding work a lot because starting behind and feeling like I'm never going to catch up is stressful, unpleasant, and somewhat overwhelming. So it's a gross, anxious, unproductive cycle of avoidance.

However, see the title. Finals here start December 11. So I've moved into "teach yourself law in two weeks" mode. The past three days, it's been Trademarks, and I should finish my outline tonight. Indian Law is next. Those are the two classes I have regular 3-hour finals in. In Patents and Antitrust, I have take-home exams, and frankly, I have no fucking idea how to prepare for those. I'm hoping once I'm done with my Indian Law outline, I'll have some kind of momentum and I'll be able to figure things out.

(For now, we will ignore the fact that my Bluebooking assignment for Law Review is due next week, and that the prof I'm doing research for is (finally) wrapping up his article and needs me to review a bunch of stuff. Urgh.)

Surprisingly effective, but not particularly classy.

Those of you who know me may recall that my kitchen has no heat. Or maybe you don't. Anyway, no heat in the kitchen.

We're having a bit of a cold snap here, so drafts from the unheated kitchen have been making the living room miserable. My solution? Hang an old wool blanket in the kitchen door to block the draft. I figured this would help a little.

I was wrong--it's totally effective! It's something like 72 degrees in the living room and 38 in the kitchen. Yeah, it looks trashy, but wow!

Blankets: they do a very good job of keeping things warm. Who knew?