Day 811: Boomerang

That about describes what I've done today. Seriously.

But I didn't write yesterday, so I shall write for yesterday. It was a pretty good day. I went to school and worked hard. Hung out with friends. Had a lunch meeting with the FCLS, so I got good homemade food for lunch and got to meet some of the new 1Ls, have conversations, that whole dealie. It wasn't too spectacular, except for the big OBA dinner was that night. Now, Dan calls it the open bar association. Actually, it's the Omaha bar association, and for the first time in three years I was excited about going. Now, I'm not much of a networker, and despite Lawyer John's assertion that I'm a decent conversationalist, I always feel spectacularly out of place at events that feature real grown-ups. (At YSA events I feel like we're all still teenagers.)

Angela, Katie, and I managed to talk to one real attorney and score a business card. We talked to professors, had good food, and then Katie and I went in search of Professor Brooks. We ran into Lawyer John from D&D. I ended up hanging out and talking to him. Apparently back at the table where Florida Catie (I know, too many Katies and variants thereof) was hanging out with Angela, real lawyers showed up, but I ended up spending hours just talking to John. He's a nice guy, and he's the new Abraham Lincoln. He never lies. Not even in a game. I thought he worked PD, but as it turns out he actually is a solo practitioner in Juvie law. Since I'm taking Juvie law this year and loving it, I figured I'd talk to him.

We talked so long that by the end me, John, Angela, and Florida Catie were the last ones there (I think the law school students went to that one guy's after party). We took off, almost got killed by Catie in her car, and then I got us lost on the way home (took the wrong 680). Once I reoriented myself, I took Angela by to see the temple, and then took her home, and then pretty much flung myself in bed. Over four hours in high heels does not make Nagi a happy camper, but I wore one of the awesome new suits my mom had made for me in China, and I felt pretty fabulous. Also, my suits are extra awesome because they come with pockets, so I had a pocket dedicated to each of my compatriots so they could store meal tickets and keys and whatnot.

However, the past few days I've been feeling a cold coming on - scratchy throat, lots of sneezing. Yesterday I downed some orange juice, and today I downed some more, but this morning during trial team practice I felt like a freakin' zombie. I hated it. I was slow and lousy and Vanessa gave me a run for my money and then some. I also finished reading DM of the Rings and followed Dan's example and hit up OneManga to start reading Bleach. Which I hear avoids all the lame low points of the anime. I learned that Dan has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and collects martial weapons and anime weapons, so I feel a bit better about myself - not the only geek at the law school (besides Kent).

I didn't get any work even started until about one, but then I managed to blow through three out of four subjects before 4 p.m., much to Angela's dismay. I still need to read and prep for my Wednesday oral argument, which I should do tomorrow since our team's problem comes in this weekend, but I got a lot of work done so I can relax tomorrow. I need to clean house - I'm doing laundry tonight - and other random things. Finish a mock-up of Maleena's birthday present. Play D&D with Tomie and the gang. I got home, practiced some of my drum pieces (Offspring coming well, BOC not so much), and then took off for ninjitsu.

I loved it. Tonight we worked on basics - rolls (which I suck at), balance (which I'm better at than I was as a child), free-sparring (whee! I need to not move my head so much), and combat techniques. For the combat techniques, we had to pair up and try three each, pick one to demonstrate, and then the instructors and older students would take us aside and give us critiques. I'd have passed if it had been belt testing. During the practice I was trying for something a little beyond my reach, so I went for something simple that I was sure about, and it paid off.

Oddly enough, I was the only adult student who showed up besides the instructors and Dan (who is a junior black belt, essentially), so there was no adult class, but I got the short blond sensei (don't know his name, which sucks) to show me what short people should do. If they're picked up. Like Peter did at the last YSA dance. What he showed me was pretty awesome and pretty nasty and a whole lot of fighting dirty. I hate being picked up - it makes me feel like I'm five. Now I know what to do. I might have a chance of getting out of an SOL choke-hold, but who knows, you know? It was raining pretty heavily, so we ended up hanging out in the doorway talking until the rain let up, just me and the teachers, because let's face it, I'm much closer to them in age than I am to the other students in my class. We shot the breeze; they told me about ninjitsu summer camp (crossing rivers, fighting in the woods), and Dan gave me a DVD so I can get up on my hanbo training.

Whee. Nagi is now armed with a three-foot stick.

But getting out there and rolling on concrete (that's how I know my rolls suck - the concrete hurts!), free-sparring, combat - it felt really, really good. So I still have a runny nose, but I feel a heck of a lot better. It's too dark to walk down to the Walgreens for more orange juice, but maybe I'll pick some up at the grocery store tomorrow when I go to get blueberries for the latest batch of muffins for Institute. I started off the morning feeling like myself, and as soon as I got to school my body rebelled. (I also think the pressure headache was from the impending rain.) Now I feel like myself again, and I like it a lot.

I need to get out and train more often. I'm going to the NEIP charity dinner thing I need to go to next weekend, and the weekend after that is the big YSA thing but...I kinda don't want to go. I am sort of thinking of just going to the kid's class, running home and showering and then at least showing up for the dance, because after class I'm sore and tired but wired, and it'd be nice to be able to burn off the energy. (It's not nearly as fun burning energy doing housework, but sometimes those are the breaks, I guess.) I want to get good at this, you know? It's been a while since I've been genuinely proficient at anything besides making things with my hands.

I got calls from my friends the last couple of nights, and hearing their voices always cheers me up.

I'm alive.