Kites as Catharsis

Dictionary.com defines catharsis as "a release of emotional tension, as after an overwhelming experience, that restores or refreshes the spirit." Ryan and I chose to release a little tension this weekend by flying a kite at Gas Works Park for about five hours. The "overwhelming experience" I was trying to purge, obviously, is the last year of law school.

It was a beautiful day on Saturday. Breezy sunniness with a scattering of fluffy clouds that kept you from getting too warm. As we flew our little kite (a Parafoil 5, which my mom gave us) and sat on our little blanket with Gus, I focused on a couple of things that I hate about law school, and I released them, thereby restoring and refreshing my spirit :)

The following are a few of the things that I dislike about law school and am hoping to change:

1. I start books and don't finish them. When I am in school, I will start a novel and get about 150 or so pages in and then set it by my bed and forget about it until I hear someone mention it. As a result, I have decided to finish reading all three of the books that I started and didn't finish this last semester (starting with The Sea by John Banville).
2. There is no consistency to one's schedule in law school. This last week, working a regular 8-5 job has been one of the most relaxing things in the world to me. Just knowing what time I will have open and when I can fit personal time into my schedule, knowing that any meeting I have will fit nicely into my work day (no 9:30 pm journal meetings, no 7:30 am oral arguments...). My plan for this issue is to embrace my 8-5ness (really, 5-7ness) and utilize my personal time to its fullest, so that when I head back for my last semester in the fall, I have created positive habits and can look fondly on the summer, knowing that shortly, I will be able to have personal time again (post-bar).
3. Over-processing is a major problem for me in law school. This goes back to the whole qusi-codependency issue my friends and I have. In a typical day I will tell 4+ people about what is giong on with me and in my life. This means that by the time I get home from school and see Ryan, I want to remain completely silent. For example, this is a common conversation at the Eagan/Heffernan abode:
Ry - "Hi. How was your day?"
me - "Fine."
Ry - "How was your interview/meeting/presentation/etc.?"
me - "Fine."
Ry - "Why don't you tell me about your interview/meeting/presentation/etc.?"
me - "I don't want to, I've been talking about it all day."
Ry - "Please, I really want to hear about it."
me - "Tell me about your day."
The result of this conversation is that we will be out with friends and someone will say, "Pretty cool how you got that job/aced that meeting/presentation/won a million dollars," and Ryan will say, "What?!?" And I will say, "Oh yeah, didn't I tell you, we're millionaires." So, I have decided to save little gems of information to share only with Ryan so he feels let in on my professional life, after I tell him, I can tell everyone at school and process away with them.

That's all.

Last weekend

On Saturday, Ryan and I took Gus to the dog park. He had so much fun, but was a little ill behaved. Sunday, we headed to our friend GT's birthday party. The party was at KG's grandmother's house in Maple Valley. It is right on the river looking out into this totally lush, beautiful green belt. Little ducks kept floating by down the river. It was so relaxing to just hang out, eat some good food, and throw the frisbee with friends. Fun times.

^ Gus at the dog park with drool on his face.

We headed to SS's house for a homemade Indian feast later in the evening. Great times talking about two things you are never supposed to talk about with friends -- religion and politics. I for one hate that rule, and think that it should be abolished entirely.


So, all in all a nice relaxing weekend with friends, family, and dog; however, the end to our placid weekend was TOTALLY CRAZY and involved Ryan and I riding in a POLICE CAR at midnight. We parked our car after dinner at SS's and as we were walking down the hill to our apartment, a car came careening down 10th, cruised over the round about, and absolutely destroyed the fence surrounding the construction site near our apartment. I told Ryan to call 911 and we reported the accident. While we were on the phone, the driver of the car got out of the car and switched places with the passenger. The passenger tried to get the car off of the fence, all the while the wheels whirling and screeching.

We were a little terrified that the tires would catch and the car would accelerate in our direction, so we kept our distance (yes mom, we were careful). The car finally came loose and the driver pulled the car to the side of the street. The driver (former passenger) got out of the car and checked the damage. My trained Jedi mind was certain that the two scoundrels were going to take off, so while feigning concern for their safety, I got the license plate. The people gave me the thumbs up and then took off (bastards). We ran inside the apartment and wrote down the license number then bolted back outside to meet the cops.

An officer promptly responded to the call and asked where the car was, we told her they had taken off, were heading east, and handed her the deets on the paper. She sped away. We waited outside with Gus, while being pelted with freezing rain, and waited for the other officers to respond. We gave them our information, and they asked if we would be willing to ID the suspects if they found them, we agreed thinking that they likely wouldn't need us. We went back inside and got ready for bed. Thirty minutes later our door buzzer squealed (our buzzer makes the most discombobulating sound in the world). It was the cops.

We got dressed and drove into the ID in the back of the cop car to identify the suspects-- positive on both counts. The cops drove us home and thanked us for our dedication to justice. The back of the car was really uncomfortable (plastic seats and awkward seat belts, no door handles or window roller-thingies). I secretly hope the whole building saw us getting out of the cop car and lives in fear of what we might do to them. By the time we got home, it was 12:45. I set the alarm for 5:00 am and readied myself for a tired first day at the Senate Committee Services...

Best Day Ever

One of my favorite things about Seattle is the drastic nature/urban dichotomy (SLC is a little like this, too). This is exactly why Friday was the best day ever. I woke up at about 8:30 (with no classes to attend!) and rang SS. She was heading up Mt. Si and invited me along. The hike was really, really great. Almost exactly 8 miles round trip with excellent views -- a perfect day. At the top of Mt. Si, you can look west and see Lake Washington, Capitol Hill, and downtown Seattle floating like a little glistening northwestern mecca. Looking to the southeast you can see Mt. Rainer hovering like a white cloud over the Cascades... so beautiful. (The pictures don't show the views that well, but if you enlarge them you may be able to see the city.)

After the hike, SS and I raced home and got ready for the best evening ever downtown. We were celebrating the birthdays of MD and AW, two delightful women in my book club. We started the evening at the Pink Door, a fantastic restaurant in Post Alley. Amazing food, amazing wine, and amazing friends! After dinner, we headed up to 611 Supreme on Capitol Hill and were joined by some other friends. The night was the most fun, fantastic evening in ages and to that I say, "Yes!"

JhuLa, Brunch, and a state senate

Monday night some friends and I attended the Seattle Reads discussion with Jhumpa Lahiri (or JhuLa as we began to refer to her), the author of Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake (two books I recommend, more so the former). Seattle Reads typifies one of the reasons that I love Seattle. Each year, the Seattle Public Library hosts a major author for a series of free programs. Everyone in Seattle is invited to participate by reading the chosen book and attending the discussions with the author. This 'community reading program' was the first of its kind and has been the catalyst for many similar programs across the country. The discussion was hosted at the MOHAI.

Tuesday, I hosted brunch at my apartment for some girlfriends. We had a lovely time!! I prepared fruit salad, caramelized onion quiche, and mimosas. Delicious!

Today, I had my summer internship training in Olympia, WA. It was so fun to tool around the capital grounds. I found out today I have been assigned to the Natural Resources Committee, which is so awesome I cannot even stand it. Everyone at work seems so nice and my fellow interns will be great, too.

me (+5)

Last night was a going away celebration for three of my closest friends (SS, MD, LG). The party was at this excellent Haitian restaurant and lounge, Waid's. We got to put together a list of people who were allowed in without a cover, which made me feel a little bit like a rock star. The DJ was excellent, and while casually sipping my Stella I began to think about what life would be like without my friends here this summer.

Law school creates weird relationships. There is an element of co-dependency to my law school friendships ("How much are you going to study? How much should I study? Will you read my resume? What should I do this summer? Are you going to read your homework for that class? Should I?"). With my close friends, this co-dependency has left the purely scholarly realm and infiltrated my personal life as well ("Should I buy these shoes? Or the purse? Or both? Should I study, and then go jogging, or should I just go jogging and see how I feel? Are red onions better caramelized, or should I just go with the yellow?"). It's actually kind of weird. My theory is that the general climate of law school is the catalyst for this phenomena. There is so much negative reinforcement in law school, that I sometimes feel as though I have become fearful of making my own decisions on the off chance that I will be reprimanded or do something completely stupid -- better to bring someone down with me.

I also feel frighteningly close to my law school friends. Eight of the nine women in my book group were in our first year section together. What this means, for those not familiar with law school in general, is that we spent every single class, studied for every single test, and went to every single extra curricular activity together for an entire year. I would say that this probably amounted to, on average, 9 hours a day of interactive time with my law school friends for an entire school year (this is more time than I spend with my husband).

So, I am really, really close to these friends (is what I am trying to say). These eight women are some of the most awesome, amazing women that I have ever met. All of them are bright, driven, kind, and interesting in unique ways, and, three of them are leaving for the summer (SS for a whopping 8 months). To me, their departures this summer symbolize an end to the wombesqueness that is law school. In a year's time, some of the best friends that I have ever made are going to scatter across the country to pursue life dreams. This summer is just the prologue. My friend SA would say that this is happy because people will follow dreams and live lives and it will be fantastic, but to me, it is mostly sad.

So this is what I thought about last night between Stella's and dancing and gabbing and laughing.

Ultra vires

I woke up bright and early this morning thinking about the ultra vires doctrine and how it relates to administrative law, the law of business entities, and my life in general. This is unfortunate because I finished my last final on Thursday (meaning I shouldn't be thinking about doctrines better left in Latin). Alas, there I was pontificating power and its limits.

My day has been an endless transition between internet surfing, reading, dog walking, and dog scratching. To most people, this probably sounds like heaven, but to me is absolute purgatory. I have nothing TO DO. Consequently, I decided to start a blog so my family and friends can be informed of my goings on (I also secretly hope that the pressure of blogging will inspire me to lead a more interesting life in general -- one worthy of at least a few paragraphs on the world wide web).