Silicon Valley, Here I Come.

This is being written on a plane on the other side of the country, bouncing around way too much for my comfort. This flight cannot land in San Francisco soon enough. I’ve heard that they have good wine out in is area, and I intend to research those claims to be best of my abilities.

The reason I’ve decided to engage in the controlled fall that is better known by the moniker “commercial flight” is that my job has given me the opportunity to go on an expenses paid, week long wine tasting- I mean networking session.  This despite the fact that I HATE flying. I love going to new places, but I hate going to new places. I do my best to avoid mind altering substances (except alcohol), but flying makes me seriously considered stealing some Xanax from my roommate. That said, Virgin America is a hell of an airline. While Richard Branson is a crazy man, his airline is pretty damned sweet.

Planned this week are some dinners and lunches with some people from smallish companies. Twitter and Facebook, among others. Yeah, I name dropped. Feels good to d that. Also, my boss has decided that because I’m in the area, taking me Napa Valley is a good excuse for her to get out of work for a day. While that’s all awesome, the thing I’m most looking forward to is being in a place where the weather is less than 85F. I love DC, but god damn, summers there are the worst.

One final note: There are three flight attendants on this flight to San Francisco, and they’re all gay. Even the hot female. Go figure.

And now, I’m gonna enjoy my second moonmosa of the morning. Google it. They’re delicious.

Worst.Student. Ever.

I’ve been blessed with a good amount of free time this summer. I’m a glorified contractor working for my aunt’s law firm (yay, nepotism!), which takes up about 30 hours a week, most of which is spent at the USPTO. On top of that, I have a night class, which is another 8 hours or so a week. Neither of those obligations is particularly demanding. But, crucially for a rising 3L, I don’t have a full time position, paid or not, doing some sort of legal work. And the kicker is, quite simply, I don’t care.

My grades are decent (I’m on the right side of 3.0), and when I like a class, my work ethic isn’t too bad either. Despite that, I couldn’t motivate myself in my 2L year to find a job. I know the job market is crap, but after seeing that certain classmates of mine* have summer positions, I’m convinced that I could have landed something. Again, I. Don’t. Care.

If I think about it, my approach to law school as a whole is very atypical. Most everyone in my class took time off before signing themselves up for 3 years of expensive hell. Most want to be attorneys. Most work their butts off. I don’t really fit into any of those categories. My approach to law school is that it’s 3 more years that I’m not a productive member of society. I go to class, put in the minimum effort required to get that B, then peace out.

I’m too Type B for this Type A world. I should be worried about job prospects, or lack thereof, after graduation. And I don’t care.

*Including evening students. EVENING STUDENTS. More on this particular breed of numb-skulls later.

MORE SONGZ

No preface, because I’m running out of things to say.

Day 19 – A song from your favorite album: Favorite albums is Tubular Bells II by Mike Oldfield. But you know this. So, another song that isn’t “The Bell” or “Tattoo” – “Sunjammer“

Day 20 – A song that you listen to when you’re angry: It depends on if I want to stay angry (rare) or if I want to calm down. If I want to calm down, I generally listen to something light, like Carbon Leaf or Barenaked Ladies. However, if I want to stay mad, one can’t go wrong with hip-hop. A specific example would be “Remember The Name” by Fort Minor.

Day 21 – A song that you listen to when you’re happy: Easy. “The Boxer” by Carbon Leaf

Day 22 – A song that you listen to when you’re sad: Man, this is difficult to do without copying a previous entry. Ok, so no “Bell” and no “Boxer”, so…. um… hmmmm… oooh, I know! THIS always brings a smile to a face.

Day 23 – A song that you want to play at your wedding: Ummmm, I’m a guy. As far as I know, my only obligation for my wedding day is to show up on time and with pants. I’ve also been told that I have little-to-no control as to what goes on, including what kind of pants I’ll need to wear.

Day 24 – A song that you want to play at your funeral: Heh, this is something I’ve planned already. “Amazing Grace“. And not just ANY version, but specifically the one by Dropkick Murphy’s.

Song Meme Double Post!

I’m bored, so you two readers are in for a treat! Go nuts.

Day 13 – A song that is a guilty pleasure: Heh, this is gonna be embarrassing. Bah, whatever, like a band-aid, might as well get it over with quickly. So, here it is: Tik Tok by Ke$ha. It’s catchy, decent tune, and, well, I’m ashamed of it.

Day 14 – A song that no one would expect you to love: I have made it clear I am no fan of country, but I do like Keith Urban’s “I Told You So”

Day 15 – A song that describes you: Not sure I like being narrowed down to one song. If I had to pick one (and I have to), I’d go with “Daylight” by Matt and Kim. It’s about trying to find the bright side of everything, and it’s something I try to do as much as possible.

Day 16 – A song that you used to love but now hate: “Ants Marching” by Dave Matthews Band. In high school I LOVED DMB. Now I’m kinda turned off to them, and this song especially.

Day 17 – A song that you hear often on the radio: I don’t really listen to the radio, so I’m gonna go with anything by Lady Gaga.

Day 18 – A song that you wish you heard on the radio: Like I said, I don’t listen to the radio much, but if I did, I think it would be cool to hear Deadmau5 on the radio, because it would be AWESOME.

More Songs! Day 4 – I think

Day 10 – A song that makes you fall asleep: Hmm, this is hard. I cannot fall asleep with music on. My overactive brain will try to mentally sing along and conduct the music. The best kind of music is not so much a single song, but a genre: classical music. Specifically, classical music that I don’t know very well.

Day 11 – A song from your favorite band: If you’ve paid any attention to previous posts, you’ll know that I’ve mentioned Mike Oldfield. He’s not a band per se, but more of a musician extraordinaire. He plays EVERY INSTRUMENT on his albums, with the obvious exception of vocals. Here’s another song of his off his wonderful album Tubular Bells II – Tattoo.

Day 12 – A song from a band you hate: Hate is a really strong word. I dislike a lot of bands, but for the life of my, I cannot think of one I ha… oh wait, Justin Beaver. Wow, that was easy. I’m not going to pick out one single song of his for this honor, as that would imply that I like the rest of his slightly more. And I don’t. So my entry for this topic is his entire discography.

Get back to work!

Let me get this out of the way. I am not a huge union fan. However, my mom is a member of a public service union, and that union allows me to be covered by a good health insurance plan, as well as giving me eye and dental care for cheap. So this means that I have a good appreciation of what a well run union can provide.

That said, I know that they have their place. It’s only when they get too powerful, like in the 50′s, 60′s and such. But what is going on in Wisconsin and Indiana is not a case of unions getting too much power. It is a case of them being stripped of the powers necessary to allow them to continue to be effective unions.

But what worries me the most of this whole clusterf*ck, or Charlie-Foxtrot, is the trend of law makers abandoning their jobs and leaving the state. If I had done this at any job I ever had, I’d have been fired, not praised.

And not only that, but the precedent it sets is scary. What if the Dems take control of the state legislatures in 2012? The GOP will just up and leave at the first sign of any bill they do not like. This is what scares me most. I do not want this to become a legitimate strategy. Imagine if it were to happen in THE House and Senate; the government would get even less done than it normally would!

While I stand by the unions in both these cases, I cannot stand with the state legislators who just left. They should have stayed in their state, and done their jobs. If it had meant bills passed that they were not fans of, tough. There are other ways to combat the insanity of Gov. Walker. You can sue him, vote him out of office, or repeal the law at a later date. So, State legislatures, GET BACK TO WORK.

Round 3 of Song Meme

Ok, I don’t feel like re-posting links to where this meme came from, so you two readers can go through my archives and figure this out. It won’t be hard.

Day 07 – A song that reminds you of a certain event: Wow, ok, this is hard. I COULD do “pomp and circumstance” and mention my undergrad’s graduation. But I feel like that is cheating. I’m gonna go with Three Little Birds by Bob Marley. After my high school soccer team won MD’s state championship, we ROCKED OUT to this song on the bus back to school. It was a happy, happy time.

Day 08 – A song that you know all the words to: I know the words to lots of songs. “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, for example. There are also songs I have problems with, like the “A-B-C’s”. But the one I am most proud of is One Week by Barenaked Ladies. I know ALL the words to that one. Seriously. ALL OF THEM.

Day 09 – A song that you can dance to: Let’s get this out of the way. I am white. I am male. Put together, it means I cannot dance. Except under the influence of alcohol. I dance then. Just not well. Sandstorm by Darude is a good one though.

Day 2-ish of Song Meme

Once again, courtesy of The Faux Trixie for bringing this to my attention. As I explained in my first post, I’ve condensed this into 10 days or so, instead of the recommended 30. What can I say, I hate rules…

Day 04 – A song that makes you sad: Moonlight Shadow by Mike Oldfield. This song is just so sad. It really is.

Day 05 – A song that reminds you of someone: Wonderwall by Oasis. This song, by far, is the strongest connection between another person and myself. To find out who, and why, well, you’re just gonna have to go through my blog’s (small) archives.

Day 06 – A song that reminds of you of somewhere: Spring Sun by Girls of Angeli. They’re a small group from Lapland (up in northern Finland/Sweden/Norway), and this song makes me think of my parents’ cabin in the woods of Finland. Not a great song, but the place it reminds me of is wonderful.

NEW MEME! 10 Day Song Challenge

Ok, thanks to Faux Trixie for bringing this to my attention. I don’t have the patience to do this over the course of 30 days, so I’m gonna do three a day, hence my own personal “10 Day” challenge. This also gives me the freedom to skip a day here and there, and still come out a head.

So, here we goooooooooo!

Day 01 – Your favorite song: Well, I covered this in Huma’s challenge, and you can see my reasoning HERE, so all I’m gonna say is that my favorite song is The Bell by Mike Oldfield

Day 02 – Your least favorite song: Wow, this is a hard question. I have no one singular “least” favorite song, so I’m gonna go with genre: on the whole, I dislike country music.

Day 03 – A song that makes you happy: I can’t make this a copy of #1, can I? I suppose that would be cheating… Ok, so, happy song. “You’re So Cool” by Hans Zimmer, from the score of True Romance does the trick… the entire song is just so happy.

 

10 Days of Huma: Picture of yourself

So. Here it is. The final installment of my 10 Days of Huma challenge. The challenge that has started me on my way with a blog. Hopefully it caused one person to laugh along the way, making my effort worth it.

Now, this should have been completed yesterday, but because I was unable to get my laptop online over the weekend, and I didn’t have pictures on my iPad, I’ve had to skip a day. So, as recompense, I give you… TWO pictures of me!

This is me in… what, second grade? maybe first. I really don’t know what the hell is going on. But I have confirmed it by my mom, this really is me.

This is me in NYC. For those of you who are perceptive (or just have working eyes), you will notice that one of the people in the picture is blue. That person is NOT me. That person is someone from the Blue Man Group, who I saw on stage minutes earlier. Fun fact: I was chosen from the audience to be used as a prop on stage. If you go to a BMG show (highly recommend it), and you get asked to participate, DON’T! While a lot of fun, what they had me do was really uncomfortable, and for about 1 minute, I couldn’t even breathe. I’ll let your imaginations run wild with that one…