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Day 576: Unreal
Feb. 13th, 2008 11:07 pmWow. So...I'm twenty-two now. Have been for almost an entire day.
Last night after legal research a whole bunch of us - Jordan, Brielyn, Stacy, Jason and his daughter Ella, Mark and his three adorable kids, Sylvia, and Aaron - went out to the Mongolian grill near 72d and Pacific. It was an interesting place - very bright and modern. Crowded for a Tuesday night. There were funky white-blue lights and they played loud, bouncy, eighties music. Jason was awesomely nice and sprang for all of us - I was confused about who would pay what - and I was more than willing to pay my fair share - and Jordan told me that Jason had sprung for it all. It was fun, hanging out and talking after classes and just relaxing a bit. I had planned to go home and work on my memo, but I ended up talking to my Mom and Justin on the phone most of the evening. I also talked to Seirra online.
Mom was awesome and gave me money to spend. Just fun money. Won't have to worry about putting it toward food or gas. I'm going to hoard it until I know what I want to buy. My first inclination was to spend it on weapons, but now I'm thinking maybe I'll use it to buy stuff on Amazon. Or maybe I'll head down to the B&N at the Crossroads mall and pretend I have time to read books for fun. Justin - sweet, thoughtful boy that he is - sent me a book on throwing knives (to go with the shiny black knives he gave me for Christmas) and gave me a standing invitation to hang out with him this summer and learn to throw knives (he's making a practice target). Xiao Qian gave me a pretty Chinese purse. Brielyn's gift was super cool. She gave me a Trivia Game because she knows I like (or rather have the odd ability to just) store random information in my head and thought I would like more odd facts to keep rattling around up there to bother Schuldig. The coolest thing of all, though, was the story she wrote. That's right. She wrote me a funny, sweet, altogether hilarious and slightly predictable but totally worth it Mary Sue. (Is it a Mary Sue when you write a friend and not yourself?) She even drew a picture of to go with it. She remembered that I was pretty bummed that I didn't win the short story from Pyper at the YSA auction and she wrote me a story instead. Brielyn is very cool.
What's unreal about today, though? What's unreal was that, at eleven p.m. central time tonight, I finished my memo draft. That's right, I finished it. It's just a rough draft and it'll have to go through the grind stone tomorrow after classes, but I finished it. I fully expected to have to stay up till some ungodly hour working on it.
We had the first mock trial today. It was amazing to watch. I could see clear patterns and certain habits and motions that the students used to subtly frame their issue and sway the jury, and it wasn't all dramatic like people see on TV, but these third-year students were just as professional and eloquent as any Jack McCoy. I was very impressed. I want to be able to do that. I don't know how they weren't scared. I would have been terrified. I was one of the volunteer witnesses. It was fun. I hammed it up a lot because during witness prep the plaintiff counsel told me to, but then I couldn't keep a straight face and had to duck away from the mic so no one would hear me laughing along with the rest of the students. I think a few students thought I was playing it up more and was crying. I can't even take myself seriously sometimes. The trial was two hours long, though, and when I got home I was brain dead.
So what did I do? I watched some Hellsing - finished the series, in fact. I do love Alucard in his various forms and am now looking forward to Vampire Hunter D. Then I took a nap. Then I ate dinner and watched ballroom dancing (because it looks so cool). I attempted to watch Criminal Minds, but it was a rerun, so I buckled down and wrote. I took some breaks - checked email. Called Brielyn to thank her. Danced a little bit. Ate a snack.
But I got the evil memo done. I'm sure it's all kinds of terrible, but right now I don't care.
All that's left is the valentine's story of what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-me. Instead of finishing it long-hand I'm typing it up and hoping the muse hits me. Because it did hit me for the paper, and it also hit me last night for something else entirely. But I need it to hit me for this story. Ack!
Here goes.
Wow. What a whirlwind couple of days.
Last night after legal research a whole bunch of us - Jordan, Brielyn, Stacy, Jason and his daughter Ella, Mark and his three adorable kids, Sylvia, and Aaron - went out to the Mongolian grill near 72d and Pacific. It was an interesting place - very bright and modern. Crowded for a Tuesday night. There were funky white-blue lights and they played loud, bouncy, eighties music. Jason was awesomely nice and sprang for all of us - I was confused about who would pay what - and I was more than willing to pay my fair share - and Jordan told me that Jason had sprung for it all. It was fun, hanging out and talking after classes and just relaxing a bit. I had planned to go home and work on my memo, but I ended up talking to my Mom and Justin on the phone most of the evening. I also talked to Seirra online.
Mom was awesome and gave me money to spend. Just fun money. Won't have to worry about putting it toward food or gas. I'm going to hoard it until I know what I want to buy. My first inclination was to spend it on weapons, but now I'm thinking maybe I'll use it to buy stuff on Amazon. Or maybe I'll head down to the B&N at the Crossroads mall and pretend I have time to read books for fun. Justin - sweet, thoughtful boy that he is - sent me a book on throwing knives (to go with the shiny black knives he gave me for Christmas) and gave me a standing invitation to hang out with him this summer and learn to throw knives (he's making a practice target). Xiao Qian gave me a pretty Chinese purse. Brielyn's gift was super cool. She gave me a Trivia Game because she knows I like (or rather have the odd ability to just) store random information in my head and thought I would like more odd facts to keep rattling around up there to bother Schuldig. The coolest thing of all, though, was the story she wrote. That's right. She wrote me a funny, sweet, altogether hilarious and slightly predictable but totally worth it Mary Sue. (Is it a Mary Sue when you write a friend and not yourself?) She even drew a picture of to go with it. She remembered that I was pretty bummed that I didn't win the short story from Pyper at the YSA auction and she wrote me a story instead. Brielyn is very cool.
What's unreal about today, though? What's unreal was that, at eleven p.m. central time tonight, I finished my memo draft. That's right, I finished it. It's just a rough draft and it'll have to go through the grind stone tomorrow after classes, but I finished it. I fully expected to have to stay up till some ungodly hour working on it.
We had the first mock trial today. It was amazing to watch. I could see clear patterns and certain habits and motions that the students used to subtly frame their issue and sway the jury, and it wasn't all dramatic like people see on TV, but these third-year students were just as professional and eloquent as any Jack McCoy. I was very impressed. I want to be able to do that. I don't know how they weren't scared. I would have been terrified. I was one of the volunteer witnesses. It was fun. I hammed it up a lot because during witness prep the plaintiff counsel told me to, but then I couldn't keep a straight face and had to duck away from the mic so no one would hear me laughing along with the rest of the students. I think a few students thought I was playing it up more and was crying. I can't even take myself seriously sometimes. The trial was two hours long, though, and when I got home I was brain dead.
So what did I do? I watched some Hellsing - finished the series, in fact. I do love Alucard in his various forms and am now looking forward to Vampire Hunter D. Then I took a nap. Then I ate dinner and watched ballroom dancing (because it looks so cool). I attempted to watch Criminal Minds, but it was a rerun, so I buckled down and wrote. I took some breaks - checked email. Called Brielyn to thank her. Danced a little bit. Ate a snack.
But I got the evil memo done. I'm sure it's all kinds of terrible, but right now I don't care.
All that's left is the valentine's story of what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-me. Instead of finishing it long-hand I'm typing it up and hoping the muse hits me. Because it did hit me for the paper, and it also hit me last night for something else entirely. But I need it to hit me for this story. Ack!
Here goes.
Wow. What a whirlwind couple of days.
