Another snowy day

Morty's hobby

Yes, I watched the Oscars last night. It's my Superbowl, as I explained to Josh in my frustration at his taking the remote control during the commercial breaks.

I was bouncing in my seat when "The Incredibles" won and cracked up when Edna Mode helped Pierce Brosnan present the award for best costume design.

I didn't care about much except Clive Owen (too bad he didn't win). As for the rest of those "big" awards, I rooted for anything that didn't have to do with "The Aviator." I can't stand Leonardo DiCaprio. He's on my list of "Supposedly Hot Actors I Can't Stand." That list also includes Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe.

I remember when we used to have days off for school. Law school in New York City doesn't yield as many days off as college did. I should be happy, considering this education is a lot more expensive. My school's policy is to stay open when the public schools are open, and if they do close, to make a decision from there.

Of course a law school would make its decisions based on precedent.

Move!

While walking home from DSW in Battery Park, Josh and I took the bridge over the West Side Highway. As we were about to descend the stairs back down to street level, I found a gentleman clad in business attire speaking with a woman standing right in front of the stairs, in the way of anyone wanting to go down. As I squeezed around him with Josh, I said loudly, "It doesn't make much sense to stand at the top of the stairs!"

As we got to the bottom, I asked Josh if the man was still standing in the way. He said he didn't hear if the man said anything (which doesn't answer the question, but who cares). I said, "I don't care if he says anything back. What's he going to say? If he calls me a bitch, I'll call him an asshole for standing in everyone's way!"

Then I said, "Wow, I've gotten mean since I moved to New York." Josh agreed, saying that New Jersey Dora would have muttered quietly to herself down the street instead of yelling at the cause of her frustration.

And not to forget lunch...

Lunch at Blue Water Grill was divine. Josh and I went because we had two $20.05 gift cards that were given to us for coming in during Restaurant Week at the beginning of the month, and the cards were good for the rest of February (I figured I should explain before people think I'm loaded or spending my school loans frivilously).

I was surprised to find that another prix fixe lunch menu was being offered at $20.05, the same price as Restaurant Week. Being dollar-conscious, I went with the prix fixe. Josh ordered from the regular menu and had a smoked salmon and tuna roll followed by lobster avocado salad for his main course.

I started with the oyster sampler. I tried one of Josh's oysters last time and I thought it was delicious, so I wanted to confirm if it was a one-time fluke. The four oysters came with three accompaniments, two of which were different from the sampler Josh had a few weeks ago. There was plum-sake jelly, Meyer lemon ceviche, and ginger mignonette (vinegarish condiment). I tried one oyster plain, loved it, and loved it even more with the ginger mignonette.

For the main course, I had a seafood brochette over mushroom risotto with tomato broth. Although the risotto seemed to be made with barley rather than arborio rice, it was still very tasty.

For dessert, there was a selection of sorbets: mango, coconut-lime, and strawberry (Josh and I shared this).

Yummy!

We are not alone

Morty and Eli are not the first cats to live in this apartment. Today, we discovered signs of the previous cat(s)'s presence.

The kitties have been without their toy mice for a couple weeks now since they were swatted under the stove within a two-hour time period. While using the back end of a fly swatter to retrieve the lost mice, I found four of the sock mice I've bought for Morty and Eli (because those mice are cuter than the weird furry ones) and one dark blue mouse of unknown origins. At that moment, I remembered that my neighbor mentioned that the previous tenant's cat(s) used to watch him through the window like Morty and Eli do.

Needless to say, I tossed the old mouse, which was manky beyond describing.

Here, there, everywhere

Yesterday, I traveled to Brooklyn by myself for the first time. Don't laugh at me and tell me it's not a big deal since I live in Manhattan. I haven't even been to Central Park yet and it's just a short subway ride away. Yes, it's pathetic, but that's law school for you. When I have time, all I want to do is pass out for a few days. I made it to my aunt's house after one subway transfer and one bus transfer. I was a little worried while on the bus because I didn't know where the stops were, so I waited until I saw a landmark close to my aunt's house, got out there, and walked the rest of the way. Yup, good food and good times playing with my kiddie cousins.

I had a productive day today. It started a little later than planned, thanks to Josh and his sleeping schedule, but we arrived in Hoboken (via the PATH) a little after noon to meet with our classmate and his two Cavalier King Charles spaniels. After reviewing Property for three hours, we felt like we'd accomplished something and the three of us said goodbye to the puppies in order to go back to Manhattan for some well-deserved (although bad-for-you) food.

First, we had fish and chips at A Salt and Battery (an appropriately named restaurant for law school students to dine at). The fries weren't as good as Les Halles, but slap on a little salt and vinegar and everything's good. The chip shop is located a couple doors down from Tea and Sympathy, which was packed. I peeked through the window and saw people have tea and little cakes at quaint tables. There's also a British specialty food shop next door. Hmm, there seems to be a concentration of British stuff on that street - I must tell Scott.

After finishing our late lunch/early dinner, we went to Magnolia for some overpriced (but good) cupcakes, after waiting in a line that snaked around the corner in 16-degree weather. Thankfully it moved fast, but as I was in line, I watched the staff constantly bringing in new pans of cupcakes and whisking away the empty pans. We had to wonder how many cupcakes they sell in a day, considering they brought in about 8 pans (we're talking about those half-sheet jelly roll pans) of cupcakes while we were on line.

Oh-ho, but we're not done yet! While walking around, our classmate mentioned this great martini bar that makes its own potato chips, which you get for free, so we had to pop in for a drink. Our bill for two apple martinis, one amaretto sour, and one gin & tonic came to $24, thanks to happy hour (And those potato chips were good).

All in all, it was a good day with good company, and we weren't total slackers.

Brush with fame

While Josh and I were walking back from lunch at Green Bo in Chinatown, we passed the courthouse on Centre Street. There was a camera crew there and there was quite a hubbub as well, so I wondered what important event was happening on the courthouse steps. Josh and I walked by the steps and through the camera crew. I saw those director chairs and figured that we weren't witnessing a news crew in action - someone was filming for TV or a movie. As I walked by the chairs, I read the backs: "Law and Order."

Neat! I've only seen three episodes of "Law and Order" (ha, I'm a law school student but I don't watch "Law and Order"), but it's neat that I just walked through the crew for the show. Josh and I decided to stand on the sidewalk by the crew watching them film. Just as we were getting comfortable, some studio lackey said to us, "You can't stand by the street like that." I bit back the remark, "Are you happy with your job?"

Josh and I obeyed, but we walked about 10 ft. away from the lackey and watched from there. We didn't stay very long because we weren't close enough to hear or figure out the identities of the actors on the courthouse steps.

Train wreck

I can't believe I'm watching the third season of "The Apprentice." I don't think it's worse than the second season, but some of the contestants this season don't seem to know how to conduct themselves in a professional context. Personally, I root for the Street Smarts team (ironically, considering I'm in law school and would therefore fall under Book Smarts) because you have to admire how successful they are without any higher education.

What is wrong with Erin, the lawyer? She can't stop moving or bobbing her head while she talks. How was Danny even selected as a contestant??!! What's with the bow ties, Bren?? Raj pulled it off because... well, he was Raj. How could the Street Smarts team behave like that in front of Trump when he took them out to dinner for their first win? Their swearing was so uncouth and out of place in that fancy, exclusive restaurant. You don't have the job yet, buddies. Everything's an interview until "you're hired!"

After watching the second season, which disappointed me so badly because the first season was great (of course), I lost the desire to watch the show, but I can't stop! It's like watching a train wreck.

Batten down the hatches!

You might not hear back from me for a while; I apologize ahead of time. In the meantime, I'll write a long post.

My Appellate brief is due next week, and I haven't done much work on it beyond the one argument (of two) that was due a couple weeks ago. I didn't do awesome on it, but I didn't suck.

Let the weekend of hell begin as I try to cram in as much reading as possible by Saturday afternoon so I can flesh out my paper for the rest of the day and then write like there's no tomrrow on Sunday.

I've been a good girl with my papers since sophomore year (with just a couple naughty exceptions along the way), always finishing them a day or two early. That holds true for law school, so I'm going to work really hard on this paper so I don't have to worry about it anymore. I swear, it's the only thing on my mind since I got my argument grade back yesterday.

Oh, and my interview? It was disappointing. They were disappointed that I could speak only Cantonese. They asked if I could speak Mandarin. Duh, if I could, it'd be on my resume. They asked if I could read Chinese. Ditto on that one, buddy. The organization has a worthy cause, but I won't be devastated if I don't get it. I am now looking into some non-legal summer work in anticipation of rejection. (When's the last time I sent out a cover letter??)

The bad thing: I got to see what a REAL law school looks like as I made my way to the interview room. NYU law is beautiful... lavish.... extravagant. Their elevators... they work, and they're so quick! They're not slower than that old guy who's creaking along as you're stuck behind him, 5 minutes late to class. Oof, seeing the campus made me jealous and depressed that I'm not smart enough or rich enough to go to NYU.

The good thing: the suit looked awesome.

Perhaps I should explain my fascination with functional elevators. My school consists of 3 buildings, all connected to each other even though some of the floors don't line up; hence, the A building is only connected to the others on the 5th floor. There are a total of 5 1/2 elevators (one only travels to the 5th floor). None of them travels at a decent speed, and they hold from 5 to 12 people (there's one freight elevator we use - that's why we can get about 12 students inside). During class changes, people line up for the elevators and when one finally shows up, it's like watching a sad clown car skit of students with huge bookbags filled with 40 lbs. of casebooks and their laptops cramming into a tiny elevator. I swear, the one in the B building dips 3 inches if 5 people step in.

Take care for now and if you don't hear from me after next Thursday, assume I killed myself because I couldn't finish my brief.

Rescission

I decided I wasn't going to go with Haloscan. I guess I really value being e-mailed when someone makes a comment.

Experimental procrastination

I decided to give Haloscan's commenting service a whirl. I didn't know that it'd erase all my old comments though.

I also didn't know that I won't get e-mail notification for my comments anymore because I'm not a premium member.

If it sucks, I'll try to reset my template again.

Consequences of being an impulse installer, I guess.

I'm a big kid, look what I can do...

I can wear big kid pants too!

I changed my mind about buying a suit, as you can see. I caved in to all the "You want to look professional" advice from fellow law students/lawyer cousins rather than being a hopeless penny pincher. Of course, I decided to go shopping for a suit right after the weekend ended.

The stores down at South Street Seaport close at 7:00, so I left my apartment at 6:20 (unwisely). First, J. Crew, which disappointed me to no end because their website had suit skirts. Then, Ann Taylor, where I thought everything would be seriously out of my price range. Lo and behold, there was a sale sign that my bargain hunting senses homed in on within 2 minutes. I now have a suit that was originally priced at $400 (not including NY's horrifying 8.625% sales tax) for $250 ($230 before the blood curdling tax). Scary.... I'm grown up. I bought a real suit.

I did have some issues with the jacket. Let's just say one was tight across the chest and the next size up was a bag on me. My boobage is always my downfall while shopping. I went with the boob emphasizing jacket in the end, to Josh's approval. Of course, the jacket wasn't the last bump on the road to buying a suit. I realized I left my credit card at home while I was paying as the store was closing. Smooth. S'okay - I paid with my debit card, which will fine me $5 for having insufficient funds in my checking account.

I got my hair cut today, in a pre-Chinese New Year tradition. It was the most painful hair cut I'd ever had. My stylist used this method of holding my hair up and sliding his scissors into it, like when you glide your scissors to cut across a roll of wrapping paper. Every time he did it, the scissors would yank each strand individually. It felt like I had 30 Elis chewing and yanking on my hair at once. I told him to trim my face frames to just above chin length, and I was slightly alarmed when they turned out closer to nose length, but shrugged it off, figuring the hair was wet and would look better when dry. Nope. He wound up trimming some more off at the end, and now I've got long bangs rather than face frames that won't stay behind my ears and if allowed to swing free, tickle me right above my lips. Needless to say, I will be hiding my "bangs" until they grow back out again.

Worst...hair cut.... ever!

Nice people can't be nice

The nightmare wasn't so horrible because it was scary, but because it was realistic. I think I had the nightmare because Josh told me about this story. In response to the story, I told him that it was impossible to do genuinely nice things for strangers anymore because it'll hurt you in the end. If you give your neighbor a cookie, he might eat it and complain to you later that you poisoned him, whether it was your fault or not. I've heard people say that you can't even help an elderly person up if they fall down because they'll probably sue you for causing their harm even if you were only trying to help them to their feet. I guess it's strange to be upset about this because I'm going to law school and may someday be helping that old lady sue the person who only wanted to be kind.

Anyways, my nightmare started with Josh and me walking down a busy street, and I noticed a bunch of homeless people and kept walking, as I normally do. I realize that Josh is no longer walking next to me and I look back, seeing Josh give his leather jacket to a homeless guy. Josh rejoins me and tells me that he felt bad. I become angry with him, saying that giving an expensive jacket away like that only makes him look like he has a lot of money and is potentially an easy mark. Sure enough, the homeless guy is following us. The nightmare jumps and Josh and I are leaving a mall at night. Of course, we're parked far away and the lot isn't very well lit. Fortunately, I've got a flashlight (for some strange reason) and we find the car. Just as we open the doors, the same homeless guy appears and yells at us to close the doors. Instead, we jump into the car and slam the doors shut.

I woke up, and my heart was racing. I didn't want to go back to sleep because I was afraid I'd go back to the same dream.

Calm before the storm

Towards the end of this week, I've been hit by a windfall of luck. I actually scored an interview at the NYU Public Interest Symposium. Granted, the position wasn't my first choice, but if I get the job, I'm sure to learn a lot. I have to buy a suit now (there goes my tax refund money for careless spending), but luckily, NYC has no sales tax on clothing and shoes until Sunday! Mama needs a new pair of shoes! Seriously, I do... my sneakers are wearing through and scraping the skin at the back of my foot.

I went to that meeting I've been dreading with my writing professor who handed back my assignment. Surprisingly, I didn't get the crappy grade I'd been expecting considering the way I'd bungled the assignment.

Yesterday afternoon, Josh and I went to Blue Water Grill for Restaurant Week. I think we'll make it a point to participate in Restaurant Week whenever it happens. I had raw oysters for the first time... but in style! Josh got the oyster tasting and he let me have the green apple mignonette oyster and I thought it was awesome - not fishy at all and tasted very fresh. We received a surprise at the end of the meal: two gift cards worth $20.12 each towards our next lunch during February! Our lunches that day cost $20.12 each and the restaurant was giving the money back to us (granted, to spend at their restaurant again and pay more anyways, but it's my favorite). What a good gimmick to encourage diners to return, not that I need much incentive.

One bad thing this morning: I squashed the kitties in bed so badly that they made funny noises that I'd never heard before.