We took a tour of the east wing of the White House today. The end of the tour consisted of exiting through the north entrance (the traditional front of the building with the columns). They finished a big construction project around a year ago which closed PA avenue off from traffic, so now tourist groups hover around the huge fence which separates the WH lawn from the closed off road. Tourists take pictures, watch protestors camped out in the park, and generally peer through the lawn shrubbery toward the white house (~200 feet?).

So as we were walking through the exit, my friend stops walking and briefly waived to the tourists several hundred feet away.

They started screaming like he was the President.

It was SO funny. He actually felt kind of bad about it, and he took off his jacket with the hopes that they wouldn't recognize him because of course, we eventually had to cross their path to get back to the office. And it wasn't crazy for the tourists to assume we were some group of political officials-- we were all wearing suits and such.

I told a firm secretary about it, and she said, "From that far away [with his bald head], they probably thought that he was Michael Jordan or something!"

cursing love.

The fact that the CNN headline today is about a microphone picking up the President saying the word "shit" to Tony Blair demonstrates how stupid the mainstream media tends to be. Especially considering everything else going on these days in international affairs.

The fact that I got a distinct feeling of pleasure while watching said video demonstrates my similar quality.

My favorite part of the CNN headline: "Bush to Blair: candid, open, uncensored"

HA!

If I were ever President, I would make a point of cursing like a sailor from the get-go. This would not only let the public get to know the real me (transparency in politics, love it), but it would also serve to undercut the stereotype of the weak government lady. Margaret Thatcher took lessons to lower her voice, I would simply relive my high school days (I have gotten slightly classier since then, although you can take the small town girl out of the midwest, but you can't take the midwest out of the girl) and I would stun/charm everyone with my eloquent use of the phrase, "What the fuck is going on in the mideast?!?!"

facts

1. i eat beef noodle soup (AKA pho) at least once a week.

2. my secret food love as of late (so unhealthy!) is salami and fresh mozzarella. i also like cherries and corn on the cob.

3. my high school was more challenging than undergrad and law school combined. this disappoints me a lot.

4. i love reading periodicals.

5. i was raised pentecostal. but no denim skirts, thank god.

6. i once won 52 pints of ben & jerry's ice cream by registering young voters.

so... i am obsessed with the washington post food critic's weekly chat, especially after i submitted a question and a month later, it was published in the express!

now, more dc food gossip: here.

favorite dc restaurant as of late: ROSA MEXICANO. technically it is a chain, but that is because it is so good. Oh, and I love Fogo de Chao, although I think it made me sick on my b-day on Friday (everyone else felt sick too).

in other news, my best friend from when we 11 through 19 randomly contacted me today... it had been years. i sat on a blanket out in the grass and we talked on the phone for two and a half hours. so much fun to reconnect and discover that at the core, we have not changed.

two links i love right now

public interest= lots of time to play on the internet.

1. cancelling AOL

2. maopost.com (click the link on the right hand side of the page to get your face painted into a piece of communist propoganda art!!)

lawyer joke

A young lawyer died and went up to face his final appeal, if you will. When he got there, St. Peter glanced at his records and thought for a second, then said to him "young man, it seems you've led a very good life, yet you're a lawyer and we typically send them 'downstairs', so to speak. This is quite a conundrum, so I've talked it over with God and we've decided to make you a deal: we'll show you both heaven and hell and you can make your own decision about where you'd like to spend eternity."

Now the lawyer thought this was pretty strange, but he wasn't about to argue with the Big Guy so he said okay. St. Peter immediately led the way to hell and he peeked inside the flaming gates.

All around him were people partying and laughing, drinking top shelf cocktails from an open bar and flirting wildly with each other as they danced to music played live by all the dead rock stars. The lawyer looked around and thought to himself "Holy s--t, if this is hell, then imagine what heaven must be like! This is going to be great!"

Then he stepped back outside and allowed Peter to lead the way to the pearly gates. Only this time, when he peaked inside their splendor, he saw only people in comfortable business clothes sitting at desks and cheerfully working away. He watched for a moment, puzzled at the apparent calm-but-diligent atmosphere, then turned back to Peter.

"Well," he began, "I never thought I'd say this, but I think I'm going to go to hell, if you don't mind." Peter smiled and nodded, adding a quick "Yeah, most attorneys choose that place" before he led the way back to hell and opened the gates, this time forever. The lawyer ducked inside eagerly, ready to party, but instead found himself knee deep in documents, surrounded by groaning young workers who were struggling to stay upright at their desks while older devils smoking cigars stood over them with whips. "What happened?!!" He yelled to the devil who grabbed him by the collar to lead him to his new life. "I was here just a little while ago and everyone looked so happy!"

The devil just smiled and nodded, "Ah, yes," the devil chuckled. "That was our summer associate program."

can't stop listening

that echo chorus lied to me with its
hold on hold on hold on hold on

my favorite summer associate friend explained the unexplainable: the reason I have struggled and somewhat disliked direct legal services is because you take the role of the client and... it sucks. it sucks to be poor and have legal needs and have to beg to get the public benefits you need or beg for some sort of justice for a wrongful termination based on HIV discrimination. i love doj and the firm because there's power, it's easy to get things done and still intellectually challenging. you are disconnected from the bureaucracy. as she said this, it completely overwhelmed my brain... suddenly so much made sense. and suddenly i was a little embarassed too.

i've figured out that i still like public interest, but i like the public policy and impact litigation parts of it... not so much being in the trenches and the routine application for public benefits and such.

1. As I have said, I love, love Alison Bechdel: ny times review

2. this was so hilarious to me that I emailed it to myself at work:
Governor Daniels, who flew back from a trade mission to Asia to attend the ceremony marking the announcement, said Honda's decision was exciting for his state.

"These are the jobs we seek for Hoosiers most avidly — high paying jobs, stable jobs," Governor Daniels said. "These are the jobs that Hoosiers admire most."

article
umm... i beg to differ.

again, a crosspost

So it appears that when it becomes hot in DC, all the homeless people get umbrellas. I was walking along K Street yesterday and all of this sudden this homeless lady emerges from underneath the umbrella and barks at me: "Buy me a Coke!"

That is SO what I would say if I were homeless and down on my luck!


also a true life overheard in dc:

Sorority girl to her friend: I really like monogrammed stuff, but my initials are ANS, which sounds too much like anus... so that would make me uncomfortable.
Friend: but actually if it were monogrammed it would be little A, big S, little N.
...
Sorority girl: hmm, I had never thought of that before.
--Tenleytown metro station

so long, civil rights

i meant to post this last week--

This is so disturbing. This is the second of two Supreme Court decisions that came out after exams which would have changed some of what I was taught this past semester (the other was an evidence related case about 911 calls being admissible).

and you know you are in law school when you read the summary of the majority opinion and think in your head exactly what you later discover the dissent said.

fucking awesome

(crossposted from my other blog)

Pope Makes First Papal Visit to Six Flags

In other news, H is gone until Sunday, so I am going to spend the rest of the week unpacking, getting my hair cut, going out to dinner with S, and doing all the DC type things I love to do (like shopping in Georgetown.... I have money to spend!).

i'm in a computer lab, as the internet has not worked in my new apartment yet since i moved in this weekend. i keep thinking of amazing blog topics, but i have of course forgotten them all.

i am going fishing tomorrow with the firm. and by "fishing" i mean, sitting on a boat and drinking beer while the rest of the people kill animals in sport. :-) although i do think someone will end up eating the fish, which evens out everything.

this story makes me laugh so much. and last week cnn had a video of a cat that chased a bear into a tree. there's a photo where the bear is a 100 feet high, looking down in terror, and at the bottom of the tree is this tiny little orange cat. my childhood cat (the one with three legs who is actually still alive) used to chase deer, but then the deer would figure out the size differences and the chase would be reversed.

this book is amazing. i met her last week and she signed my book with an exclamation point... so cute.

FUN HOME ALISON BECHDEL As a little girl, Bechdel knew that her father, an English teacher in small-town Pennsylvania, was odd. He was withdrawn, he decorated their house too much, he moonlighted as an undertaker. But she didn't realize he was gay and seducing his young students, and she certainly didn't expect him to kill himself at 44 years old. In this brilliant, bleakly hilarious memoir in comic-book form, Bechdel combines stories from her emotionally barren but weirdly fascinating childhood with elegant allusions to Proust and Joyce to make a gripping story of filial sleuthery and, in the end, hard-earned acceptance of how much of her father she finds in herself.
from here.



the firm is taking us on vacation starting tomorrow. time to go pack the seersucker and linen clothes.

peace like a river
joy like a fountain
love like an ocean

back home again

well, i am here in my hometown for my brother's graduation. i ate the world's best bagels. it's really nice to be in a real house and have a big kitchen and a yard and such. the cost of living here is amazing. tomorrow is a cookout at the open house and hopefully sitting on the front porch swing and reading. i miss having the space to house all my books.

i have no commentary on... anything. my life is currently jam-packed with a million things. it's going to slow down shortly i think. much love!

this is my childhood:

--frozen cokes (@ Hills)
--the plastic smell of My Little Pony
--Bert & Ernie swing set
--filling sand buckets with rosebud tree blossoms
--having an address that was "rural route __, box __"
--Mash and the A-Team
--special trips to the mall
--The Facts of Life (my root)
--my black cat named Pokey
--plastic over the screened in front porch
--legos
--talking Alf doll
--being scared of Operation (the game)and the posters on my wall at night (I thought the figures in the posters moved)
--falling asleep to the American Tail soundtrack
--stranding on my tiptoes at the snack bar at the country club: "charge it to d__ b______ (my father)."
--Hardees breakfast and playing with the calculator with the written tape at my dad's work on Saturday mornings
--getting groceries at Cub Foods
--my dad lining the back of the truck with plastic and filling it up with the hose so i could swim
--saying the pledge to the christian flag in kindergarten
--having a boy doll whose arms folded in prayer with velcro
--crocodile mile and slip & slide!
--being little chief red cloud at girl scout camp

schadenfreude

nice job, bow tie boy. plus he is a law student!

dare i say

i am actually enjoying full-time work. it is nice to be able to come home and be DONE for the day: most of my law school days end with me reading the assignment due the next morning, and cursing myself for not finishing it earlier. even if i don't get home until 7-8PM (and that is reduced hours because i am not a real lawyer yet), at least those few hours left in the day are mine completely.

also you have to love a firm where an attorney comes over to you just to ask, "did you watch shalom in the home last night?!?"

i tivoed it.

also my new favorite dc restaurant: ten pehn. yum.

so i think i have read around 12 magazines in the past three days. i am catching up on the ones i didn't have time to read over finals. now i get all the jokes in the blogs: "the decider"-- hilarious!

indiana politics

make sure to scroll to near the end: republican primary.

the two party system and primary system in general always brings out the best people. gotta love the flogging.

awesome

so i take back that last entry. stress, you know. for some reason on the way to take my third final this morning, i started feeling like my old self: i'm a rockstar again. i think this feeling coincides with the end of this huge to do list as far as interviews, luncheons, traveling, outlines, etc.

in the middle of my exam, my power cord somehow got in that joint where the chairs connect, so when i pushed my chair back to turn my exam in, it snapped the wires. not so good considering i have one more exam in less than 24 hours. but one of my classmates is going to let me borrow hers tomorrow afternoon, hopefully that will all work out (still a bit nerve wracking, as my computer currently has only two hours and fifty six minutes left in battery power-- and it's a three hour exam).

i'm feeling great because the end is near, and by the end, i do not mean the Second Coming of our lord and savior... i mean finals. even though monday is definitely a new beginning: i start my summer job. oh powersuit, you're such a dear old friend.