![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Day 905: Reality Checking In
May. 12th, 2010 01:40 amSo...graduation really is on its way. I say this because I picked up my parents from the airport tonight, and we talked things like caps and gowns and other scary things. But I must backtrack to the weekend, because the weekend matters.
On Saturday, Angela and I were both running late, but we went to the zoo and got there in good time to see sweet little Curtis, hard at work at his first job. He looked a touch terrified, to be talking to two older women (because to Curtis, that's who we are, older women) in public, so we kept it brief. We got to see the cool new Madagascar display, which was awesome because lemurs are cute, and the monkeys were awake and playful and active, so overall we had a positive zoo experience. After the zoo I came home, watched Angel and worked on lace, then went to D&D. Which was good times. The new emo kids from last time were not there. Tomie and I talked about testing and that they'd gone easy on me, and afterwards Josh and I talked ninjitsu, which is possibly the longest conversation I've ever had with Josh.
Sunday was church, and I ended up taking a nap instead of doing anything seriously super-useful. Perhaps the most awesome part of Sunday was the Team Confiteor group chat on Skype. Sure, it was riddled with dropped lines, weird alien sounds, and interjections from roommates and relatives, but it was awesome. We played cards, we laughed, we made plans and just had an awesome time.
Monday was cold and wet and totally the embodiment of the X Japan song "Endless Rain." I went to the chiropractor - even though my left arm wasn't hurting nearly as bad as it was before testing on Friday - and found out that my left shoulder and my second rib were slightly out of joint. Hoooo boy. So my shoulder is all taped up and I'm on limited mobility until the good doctor says otherwise. Korina also came visiting teaching, which was super awesome. I got my letters written and sent off and my mail redirected, but the rain totally ruined my plan to go hang out at the pedestrian bridge, so I ended up watching House with Amber - which was awesome - and then gaming with the gang. We played at Sam's house. Food and snacks abounded. We were raucous and noisy and I'd planned super destruction for them, but some of them still live at home and had curfews, so I had to cut off the destruction, grant boons, and...yeah. John, Liz's brother, is back in town, and he will take over as DM for D&D while I'm gone. He proved to be surprisingly ruthless. Man...my gamers are good kids, but...their lack of humanity in character could be frightening if I didn't know them better. They just...set an NPC on fire. Poor kid. I mean, it was necessary, but I was hoping to see a bit more angsting over it before they did it. Still, we had good times, and there were hugs and farewells, and I went home.
Today was a good day. It was warmer but just as gray and clouded over. I got a lot of important stuff packed and my apartment scrubbed, and then...then I went to lunch with this sweet guy from my ward, name of Mike. We went to the Mexican place that's within walking distance of my place - although I've never been - and we ate and talked. He bought, and we agreed we could tell Bishop Dallon it was a date if he asked, and we had a good time. Mike's a second year nursing student - third year? - and a really nice guy. He thought I was going away forever, but he's insisted we'll keep up over facebook in the summer and hang out when I get back. I don't know that we'll date, but he'll be a great friend.
Afterwards I went to Caffeine Dreams with Angela and Jenny. We talked boys, life, love...and the future. Angela expressed a certain amount of melancholy at turning 33 this year and feeling old (we do hang around middle schoolers and younger on a regular basis at the dojo), and Jenny pointed out that she's the same age and in a worse place. And then...then we hit upon a plan. Jenny is an appellate litigator non pareil. I love trial litigation. Angela loves transactional law, which neither Jenny nor I care for. We complement each other perfectly...so we're going to open our own law firm! After the bar I'll come back to Nebraska and see about picking up solo work - I talked to Lawyer John at D&D on Saturday night, and he offered to hook me up with some solo buddies of his who might sling work my way - and when I get a decent client base going, Jenny and Angela could be my senior-certified law students. I'd be their supervisor, which would be weird, but it would be awesome! We'd get our own house in Council Bluffs and have an office there, and we'd all be licensed in Nebraska and Iowa and other states on the west coast and midwest, and...yeah. It'd be cool.
After hanging out, I went and got my oil changed, and then I hit up the craft store in hopes of finding a new cutting charm, because I lost my old one, and when I was getting my oil changed I realized I couldn't work on my lace and sank into a definite sulk. After the adventure at the craft store I went to the dojo - stopped for gas on the way - and both the Senseis Raymond were there. They took off to get food, so I changed out and worked on lace and sulked more till they got back. Then...then the only other two who showed up were Josh and Ryan, so we trained for testing. Elder Sensei Raymond got changed out for the first time ever in my memory, and he helped me with sliding side kicks and the barrel roll (right shoulder, punished to compensate for not using left shoulder, woohoo!) and Tomie wasn't kidding - he's a great teacher. I learned quick from him - he was just good at explaining things. It was a pretty casual evening - we got work done; I know what I need to train for for my next rank - and we had fun, talking and laughing. I outranked the other two all night and could have totally abused my power, but I didn't. But I could have. Maybe should have made Ryan hold a kicking shield for me or something.
The best part of the night was watching the brothers Raymond play baseball. Elder Raymond has a bad right shoulder and so was pitching southpaw, some weird little bouncy ball that looked like an eye, and Younger Raymond was batting...with a PVC bo staff. Some of the pitches were wild and hilarious. One time Younger Raymond hit so squarely that the ball stuck to his staff. Then Ryan showed up and had to try (I learned his first name is James, but he refuses to answer to it), and Josh showed up...while we stretched out we talked. I learned that not everyone realizes one must have an undergraduate degree before going to law school or that law school is a type of grad school, and GED stands for Good Enough Degree (not really). I learned that Elder Raymond thought Josh and I go to law school together (he also thought Angela and I were sisters after I informed him I'd been adopted by gweilos), and that Younger Raymond used to blow up D&D miniatures for fun when he was a child. I learned that Josh did not know Angela's name (quote: "I just know her as shirt-ripper").
I also learned that Younger Raymond has a weird theory about Chinese people taking over every dojo in America. Ryan insisted that this was not feasible due to the slow reproduction rate of the Chinese. At which point Younger Raymond pointed me out (struggling with a lead leg inverted front and hating it) and said, "In two years she'll be a black belt," to which I responded, "I don't count - I'm a half-breed," and then Younger Raymond laughed, startled at my rash political incorrectness. They forget I was raised chiefly among the British to be bizarrely polite and apologetic and also politically incorrect.
After training I went food-shopping, cleaned my flat some more, and picked my parents up from the airport. Mom and I talked a bit before she went to bed (dad passed out first, because he was in Thailand yesterday and still has jet lag), and now I...am awake.
Man. Graduation really is on its way. I'm a little nervous - not gonna lie.
I also found out that I will have a roommate this summer, a recent college grad interning at a newspaper; the landlady said she put us together because we're both "professionals". I had not realized the other girls in the house would be fresh out of high school. I am both glad and apprehensive about my future landlady's judgment.
Also, my dad got me a new CTR ring, one in Chinese/Kanji. The awesomeness of it all? That same character also means "Justice". Fitting, given the profession I'm going into.
On Saturday, Angela and I were both running late, but we went to the zoo and got there in good time to see sweet little Curtis, hard at work at his first job. He looked a touch terrified, to be talking to two older women (because to Curtis, that's who we are, older women) in public, so we kept it brief. We got to see the cool new Madagascar display, which was awesome because lemurs are cute, and the monkeys were awake and playful and active, so overall we had a positive zoo experience. After the zoo I came home, watched Angel and worked on lace, then went to D&D. Which was good times. The new emo kids from last time were not there. Tomie and I talked about testing and that they'd gone easy on me, and afterwards Josh and I talked ninjitsu, which is possibly the longest conversation I've ever had with Josh.
Sunday was church, and I ended up taking a nap instead of doing anything seriously super-useful. Perhaps the most awesome part of Sunday was the Team Confiteor group chat on Skype. Sure, it was riddled with dropped lines, weird alien sounds, and interjections from roommates and relatives, but it was awesome. We played cards, we laughed, we made plans and just had an awesome time.
Monday was cold and wet and totally the embodiment of the X Japan song "Endless Rain." I went to the chiropractor - even though my left arm wasn't hurting nearly as bad as it was before testing on Friday - and found out that my left shoulder and my second rib were slightly out of joint. Hoooo boy. So my shoulder is all taped up and I'm on limited mobility until the good doctor says otherwise. Korina also came visiting teaching, which was super awesome. I got my letters written and sent off and my mail redirected, but the rain totally ruined my plan to go hang out at the pedestrian bridge, so I ended up watching House with Amber - which was awesome - and then gaming with the gang. We played at Sam's house. Food and snacks abounded. We were raucous and noisy and I'd planned super destruction for them, but some of them still live at home and had curfews, so I had to cut off the destruction, grant boons, and...yeah. John, Liz's brother, is back in town, and he will take over as DM for D&D while I'm gone. He proved to be surprisingly ruthless. Man...my gamers are good kids, but...their lack of humanity in character could be frightening if I didn't know them better. They just...set an NPC on fire. Poor kid. I mean, it was necessary, but I was hoping to see a bit more angsting over it before they did it. Still, we had good times, and there were hugs and farewells, and I went home.
Today was a good day. It was warmer but just as gray and clouded over. I got a lot of important stuff packed and my apartment scrubbed, and then...then I went to lunch with this sweet guy from my ward, name of Mike. We went to the Mexican place that's within walking distance of my place - although I've never been - and we ate and talked. He bought, and we agreed we could tell Bishop Dallon it was a date if he asked, and we had a good time. Mike's a second year nursing student - third year? - and a really nice guy. He thought I was going away forever, but he's insisted we'll keep up over facebook in the summer and hang out when I get back. I don't know that we'll date, but he'll be a great friend.
Afterwards I went to Caffeine Dreams with Angela and Jenny. We talked boys, life, love...and the future. Angela expressed a certain amount of melancholy at turning 33 this year and feeling old (we do hang around middle schoolers and younger on a regular basis at the dojo), and Jenny pointed out that she's the same age and in a worse place. And then...then we hit upon a plan. Jenny is an appellate litigator non pareil. I love trial litigation. Angela loves transactional law, which neither Jenny nor I care for. We complement each other perfectly...so we're going to open our own law firm! After the bar I'll come back to Nebraska and see about picking up solo work - I talked to Lawyer John at D&D on Saturday night, and he offered to hook me up with some solo buddies of his who might sling work my way - and when I get a decent client base going, Jenny and Angela could be my senior-certified law students. I'd be their supervisor, which would be weird, but it would be awesome! We'd get our own house in Council Bluffs and have an office there, and we'd all be licensed in Nebraska and Iowa and other states on the west coast and midwest, and...yeah. It'd be cool.
After hanging out, I went and got my oil changed, and then I hit up the craft store in hopes of finding a new cutting charm, because I lost my old one, and when I was getting my oil changed I realized I couldn't work on my lace and sank into a definite sulk. After the adventure at the craft store I went to the dojo - stopped for gas on the way - and both the Senseis Raymond were there. They took off to get food, so I changed out and worked on lace and sulked more till they got back. Then...then the only other two who showed up were Josh and Ryan, so we trained for testing. Elder Sensei Raymond got changed out for the first time ever in my memory, and he helped me with sliding side kicks and the barrel roll (right shoulder, punished to compensate for not using left shoulder, woohoo!) and Tomie wasn't kidding - he's a great teacher. I learned quick from him - he was just good at explaining things. It was a pretty casual evening - we got work done; I know what I need to train for for my next rank - and we had fun, talking and laughing. I outranked the other two all night and could have totally abused my power, but I didn't. But I could have. Maybe should have made Ryan hold a kicking shield for me or something.
The best part of the night was watching the brothers Raymond play baseball. Elder Raymond has a bad right shoulder and so was pitching southpaw, some weird little bouncy ball that looked like an eye, and Younger Raymond was batting...with a PVC bo staff. Some of the pitches were wild and hilarious. One time Younger Raymond hit so squarely that the ball stuck to his staff. Then Ryan showed up and had to try (I learned his first name is James, but he refuses to answer to it), and Josh showed up...while we stretched out we talked. I learned that not everyone realizes one must have an undergraduate degree before going to law school or that law school is a type of grad school, and GED stands for Good Enough Degree (not really). I learned that Elder Raymond thought Josh and I go to law school together (he also thought Angela and I were sisters after I informed him I'd been adopted by gweilos), and that Younger Raymond used to blow up D&D miniatures for fun when he was a child. I learned that Josh did not know Angela's name (quote: "I just know her as shirt-ripper").
I also learned that Younger Raymond has a weird theory about Chinese people taking over every dojo in America. Ryan insisted that this was not feasible due to the slow reproduction rate of the Chinese. At which point Younger Raymond pointed me out (struggling with a lead leg inverted front and hating it) and said, "In two years she'll be a black belt," to which I responded, "I don't count - I'm a half-breed," and then Younger Raymond laughed, startled at my rash political incorrectness. They forget I was raised chiefly among the British to be bizarrely polite and apologetic and also politically incorrect.
After training I went food-shopping, cleaned my flat some more, and picked my parents up from the airport. Mom and I talked a bit before she went to bed (dad passed out first, because he was in Thailand yesterday and still has jet lag), and now I...am awake.
Man. Graduation really is on its way. I'm a little nervous - not gonna lie.
I also found out that I will have a roommate this summer, a recent college grad interning at a newspaper; the landlady said she put us together because we're both "professionals". I had not realized the other girls in the house would be fresh out of high school. I am both glad and apprehensive about my future landlady's judgment.
Also, my dad got me a new CTR ring, one in Chinese/Kanji. The awesomeness of it all? That same character also means "Justice". Fitting, given the profession I'm going into.
