I got up at 6:30 this morning to start shoveling out my back lot. Due to one fantastic nor'easter, we got like 24-30 inches of snow in just over 24 hours. Unfortunatly, it stopped snowing at like 4 pm yesterday, and got dark shortly there after, so I decided to get up early and shovel today, because I wanted to go skiing (rock on snow day! I love that Boston gets generally less snow then Ithaca, and I have had 2 snow days here, and 2 half days my four years in Ithaca. Rock on Boston!)

I got all dressed up, snow pants and all, and opened my back door. Or rather, I tried to. See, the screen door swings out, or is should. But the snow was half way up the door, so nothing doing. Instead, I went out the front door, walked all the way around the buildings and then realized that no one had plowed the main lot between the road and my little fenced in lot. **sigh** So I wade through HIP DEEP snow alllll the way to my lot, and start digging a path to my back door. As I am digging furiously, I realize a few things:

1. There is no way in hell my car is leaving the lot, regardless of my shoveling efforts, because the main lot will not be cleared anytime soon.

2. I cannot see my car. I see a bump in the snow where my car once was. This is very very weird in my world.

3. I have only one spot I can throw the snow, because everyplace else is used for things like parking and driving.

4. This one spot is becoming a VERY tall pile.

5. Taking a break and swimming in the hip deep snow is very fun. Cold later, but very fun for a break.

6. I miss home. At least there I could chuck the snow all over the front yard. And I could make my brother help me shovel. And we would build a snow fort afterwards.

7. Snow forts are cool.

8. The pile is VERY VERY tall. Like double my height. (Insert short joke here, ha ha in advance...)

9. I really should have stretched a bit before doing this.

10. Lift from the knees. Right. Damn...

11. Nothing tastes better then cocoa after one spends 4 hours shoveling

12. My car is never leaving my lot, but it is pretty and clean, and that is all that matters, right?

13. Snow days still rock.

I love blizzards.

Another weekend goes by, and what have we learned?

1. Food poisoning/stomach flus suck. A lot. No questions asked.

2. When one has said food poisoning/stomach flu, one should give up on any attempts to eat, drink, function as a normal human or try to generally exist for the duration of said illness.

3. Re-emphasizing the no eating part. Seriously, it just makes the puking part worse. Stick with gatoraid. It at least changes the color of the vomit each time.

4. One should also give up on all hopes of taking any sort of drug to counteract the side effects of said illness. If one cannot keep down food or beverage, what makes you think the drugs will stay down long enough to work?

5. One should do everything in ones power to avoid said illness when one has been on a coffee/caffiene binge for 2 weeks. This will only lead to the double whammy of throwing up AND going through caffiene withdrawal at the same time. This leads to looking like a crack whore for the duration of the illness.

6. Once the afforementioned illness subsides, one should slowly sip gatoraid (I said SLOWLY, don't chug it!) until one feels better. Only when the gatoraid stays down for a few hours should one attempt to eat actual solid foods. Stomachs are tricky little blighters, and they like to torture the unsuspecting person with lulls of calm. Don't be fooled. Stick with the gatoraid.

7. I strongly recommend the blue gatoraid. Any blue will do. Not only is it tasty, but blue vomit is much cooler then vomit colored vomit.

Thinking this was a normal day, I sat through alllll of my classes. But a normal day is apparently was not. I got out of my classes and got a call from my mom. She let me know that there are apparently unhappy chinese nationals that crossed into the united states from mexico, and are heading to boston to blow us up. I can only assume that they are displeased with the United States for some reason or another. Maybe we took money from them, or invaded their space. Or maybe they dislike us on principle. What I am wondering is this: if they are really pissed off at the United States...WHY would they blow up BOSTON??? I mean, out of every city in this country, why Boston? I understand NYC (although I don't advocate this) because NYC is the financial capital of this country. It symbolizes the capitalist system that we are rather proud of. I could understand something a little bit closer to Mexico, like LA, Phoenix, Houston, heck pretty much every EVERY OTHER CITY in the COUNTRY is closer to the Mexican border then Boston.

But here's where I really don't get it. If I was a person that hated the United States, it is likely I would hate our esteemed leader, Dubya. Right? If that is the case, WHY would I go to Boston, Massachusetts? I mean, it is not Boston's fault that Dubya is still in office? In fact, Boston is the LAST place I would go to. So I figure it this way. Maybe these are Bush supporting terrorists, out to get the bad people of Boston for daring to defy the reign of Dubya. Or maybe they just got the 2 candidates confused, and they think Bush is from Boston (HA! now that would be funny....) Either way, let me make this clear.... LEAVE BOSTON ALONE!!! It is not OUR fault! We are just a conglomeration of hippy liberals, young professionals, child molesting clergy and irritating college kids.

Wait, maybe the terrorists have the right idea after all...

This past weekend my clinical instructor asked me to prepare an opening statement to present to the civil clinic as a demonstration for the clinic students. And since Connie asked me nice, I said ok. Over the weekend I read the case, and prepared an opening statement. At the same time, I prepared my opening for my Advanced Trial Advocacy. And I spent most of today being nervous, since 2 openings in one day is just a bit much for me. But I did the opening for the clinic, and I THINK I did ok. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get some feedback on the whole thing. But man did it feel good to finish that opening without tripping up, or forgetting something major. Woo!

A whole weekend gone, and I have accomplished nothing. Yeah, I did some reading, but in the end, I have yet to accomplish anything that I can hold up and say "look, this is what I did!" Sadly, I have 2 opening statements to do tomorrow, and I have yet to write one. I seem to lack inspiration. I keep staring at my screen, hoping for that inspiration that will kick start a great opening statement. It is like writers block, only more annoying, since I can explain writers block to other writers when I am writing fiction. But trying to explain that I can't write an opening statement without a creative kick? People tend to give me an odd look. So I will sit here and stare, till something kicks in.

On a different note, my knee is starting to heal, although it is VERY itchy. To re-cap just how I came to wound myself, I slipped on some ice and then scraped myself across the pavement, thus ripping off a chunk of my knee and scraping my shin allllllll up. And now, almost a week later, it is slowly healing. But it itches. Itch itch itch. I feel like a 5 year old, whining about a cut, with a big band aid on. And yet, 20 years later, that 5 year old seems to manage to do the SAME thing to herself. You'd think I would out grow this stuff (or at least do it in a sport or something cool, but noooooooo.....) Ah well. itch itch itch

Since many of you have expressed an interest in seeing the writing that I do to avoid my work, I figured I would post a recent...well, I guess it is a poem. If you like it, let me know. If it sucks, let me know that too (just be nice about it.) And remember, I am not a writer by trade, and I don't really edit it. I write most of my stuff in one draft, and it is generally not good, or not something I share. But maybe I'll do it more in the future if folks like it.

Reflections

As I look in the mirror
And myself looks back at me
I wonder of the person on the other side

Is she my opposite?
When I see the glass as half empty
Does she see it as half full?

Is thinking what I am thinking?
When I ponder my future
Does she ponder it too?

Does she feel what I feel?
When I stub my toe
Does she feel it too?

Does she know what I know?
When I learn the latest laws
Does she learn them too?

Is she me?
Or is she just a reflection?
My appearance, my face, but nothing underneath?

Or am I the reflection,
without substance, a veneer
And she the person beneath.

Classes start tomorrow. My very last semester of law school. Scary, exciting, scary, nerve-wracking, did I mention scary? Why scary? Well, still no job (although aquiring one over the break was highly unlikely...) So I feel a bit unsettled, as I don't know where I will be going in 5 months. Oh, and soooooo many weddings. I feel like the whole world is getting married. And yet, singleness in my world. **sigh** h Although, as it is a new year, I look upon it with hope. After all, I am graduating from one of te top law schools in the country this year. I'll be taking my bar (or 2) and embarking on a new stage in life. I imagine I will not remain single forever (and if I do, it is a good thing I like cats...) And I have a loving, very supportive family and lots of friends I cherish. All and all, 2005 is starting off well (and heck, one of those friends got married on New Year's Day. Congrats Heather!)

And now that I am being a bit sappy, I will leave with rule #1 for the new year: "Whatever it takes."