What Powers Law Students?

My classes begins at 9am...

Purely from observation:


between 15-30 students on any given day (not everyone goes to Starbucks, some are home brew, some from the cafe)


between 5-10 students on any given day (at least most people are going for sugar free...)


between 5-10 students on any given day (Gives me cotton mouth thinking about it)

The caffeine + whatever else consumption really shocked me. I guess it shouldn't surprise me too much, but as a non soda drinker and someone who rarely drinks coffee (when I do, I drink the foofey kind that has a shot of espresso and the rest is sugar and milk) hearing someone crack open a red bull at 9am is going to take some getting used to.

This is what people start the day with, and I've often heard discussions of night caps. The questions becomes, can I get through law school maintaining my limited consumption of caffeine and alcohol while maintaining a healthy dose of the good ole H20? Damn it if I'm not going to try! When it gets cooler I will reintroduce tea into my day, but until then its water all the time.

Law School in Two Words: Time Consuming

No, those are not my books. That would mean I actually had time to build the bookshelf to set them up on, and that I somehow had about 10 less books to read than last week, which sadly isn't true. Pictures forthcoming, but not sure when.

Not being able to move in to my apt. until the first day of orientation has gotten me a bit behind in the whole moving in thing. My kitchen is full of boxes and for someone who likes to cook, that's not a great thing; but honestly I haven't had time. It's a priority for the weekend I assure you.

Orientation week was filled with events, AND classes (we even had homework), and lots of helpful people doling out advice. Lets just hope I can remember it all and then utilize what will work for me.

Law school is unlike anything I've done before, but I am very thankful that I was a Law and Society major because I am not unfamiliar with reading cases, as some of my colleagues are. Also I am most thankful that I was able to take legal writing as an undergrad, which was basically like a little mini legal process class. I consider these experiences invaluable to my success this year, and I know this by day 1.

The reading is daunting in a way I never knew it could be. Its a mind fuck. You get an assignment that is 9 pages long, and yes, we are supposed to read it 2-3 times, but, I never thought it would take me 3+ hours to do what looks like a short assignment...for 1 class!

The first day of classes was surprisingly enjoyable, although I have already discovered the one person in class that you don't want to have sitting next to you. I shall hence forth call him Captain Douche.

If I know anything for sure it is that I never want to get behind in reading/assignments because I can already tell it will be like an avalanche and I would be buried fast.

On a positive note, the campus is pretty diverse...for law school. I make that distinction because there a long history of old white men running things and their well off white male kids attending, and then eventually a bunch of white men and women. So, its getting better if not far to slowly. On a personally specific note, there are two queer 1st year students, a guy in another section who I probably wont see often, and myself. There seems to be a few more queer 2nd and 3rd year students, and one faculty member. As such I got invited to the LGBT alumni association reception and it was really nice. ALL of my professors and the Dean were there in support, and there were a lot of successful alums milling about as well. I cannot complain about that!

Quick Fitness Update:
I hurt myself in one of my last training sessions at the IC, and have been unable to work out for about 2 weeks. It kills my soul. Somehow I separated the abdominal column that runs in between my ribs near the sternum. No fun. I am going to try to go swimming this evening, but I'm sure it will be one of many tests to see if I can in fact get back to the iron.

Hassel the Hoff

No, not that one...this one:



Katie Hoff has been a big disappointment at the Olympic games. It's been talked about a lot, see here, here, and here.

While I do think she chose an overly ambitious program, I think she did it for attention, not because she actually thought she could medal in all of those events. That bothers me. She wasn't talked about a lot prior to the Olympics. Dara Torres and Michael Phelps stole the show, and continue to do so. But guess what? That's life. Get over it.

What really bothers me is that in her quest for attention, she jeopardized her own chances and thus the U.S.'s chances at gold medals. So she earned medals in 3 out of 6 events, but none of them were gold. Maybe if she only raced 3 events, she would have 3 golds instead of a halo of disappointment following her around (for the record, I'm not a gold medal snob, I'll take them in any color really, its just the point of it. I think she could have done better, and I'm not alone).

Don't get me wrong, I think she's a great swimmer. I just wish she would have stuck to the events she wanted to swim and realized she would get more attention sweeping 3 events than having a poor showing at a 3 of 6 events.

I hope if she makes it to the London games she takes a cue from the lovely Natalie Coughlin:


Who's taken a much calmer/more relaxed approach to these games and has swam very well. And hey, I can't help but love the California girls. ;)

Olympic Love...

I have always loved sports so it's no surprise that I love the Olympics. Especially this year when it seems they are always on. Too bad I wont have TV all next week (damn starting law school the same time as the Olympics).

While poking around I came across this and thought it was pretty awesome so I'm sharing the love.

Please to enjoy a fun 4x100 sequence:

The End Is Just The Beginning

So, today was my last regular training session at the IC. I have committed to my trainer that I will come back for a PT session once a month. It's not that far and I think it will keep me honest when I am forced to get my act together with the open gym setup at the new place. Plus I have to get my haircut about that often and I refuse to find a new hair dresser again. Besides, Chrissy kicks ass.

Anyway, some big news...I got my first jumping pull-up! Only fitting I would get it at the end and on my own without "the pull-up club" to cheer me on and share my victory.

As far as stats are concerned:
In my time at the IC, from February - Present I lost 27 lbs and 6% body fat.

Not that I don't have a long way to go, but I can't help but be proud of what I've accomplished in 6 months. It will remind me when I have a bad week that I'm in it for the long haul. Thanks for everyone that has supported me in my fitness pursuits thus far, especially my trainer, girlfriend, ex-roommate, former boss, and fellow bloggers. O, and my mom :)

My Summer at The Greek

I had a great concert filled summer. All of which happened to be at the William Randolph Hearst Greek Theater in Berkeley. This was really nice because it is only a 1.5-mile walk from my apartment (old apartment now, le sad). The Greek is also a sweet venue because you can bring food and drinks as long as they are in plastic and non-alcoholic. Many a picnics were had during the openers…

My first trip to The Greek wasn’t for a concert but my ex-roommates (le sad again) graduation. It was general admission and we sat to the left of the stage on the stadium style concrete seats.

As it was my first trip to The Greek I was ill prepared. My ass hurt because we didn’t bring cushions and I got a pretty toast sunburn.

My next show was with my best friend and now ex-roommate (see above) and my cousin. We did have a blanket and food this time, but no cushion, what can I say I’m a slow learner (sometimes). We ate our food during the opener, Rogue Wave:

They were from Oakland and we hadn’t heard their stuff before (or at least we thought until we realized one of their songs was in one of our favorite shows: Chuck. It was random because my cousin knew who they were (she lives in Seattle) but didn’t know who Death Cab For Cutie was. Go figure.

I had seen Death Cab before at festival type show and that was when I got into their music, but this concert was amazing!

We had general admin seating and because I’m old and creaky we sat just behind the pit area and were able to see fine. I prefer to sit and enjoy the music instead of standing up for 4 hours thinking about how much my legs hurt.

Next up, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. This was an interesting show purely for the fact that this was the first time my mom was meeting my girlfriend. I think all involved were a little nervous, but I had a friend there for a buffer and all turned out well.

We sat in the grass here because tickets were a shitton of dollars. We had binoculars and the sound quality was amazing so no complaints. This time we had cushions and blankets but were still a little chilly. We also had treats from Bakesale Betty…yummy!

On Pride Sunday I took my girlfriend to the True Colors tour. I had gotten her tickets for her birthday and had to buy them before any of the artists were announced. We were mildly disappointed with the released list of performers but it turned out to be a great time.

The B52s are always a party!


For me this was the BEST part of the show. I have always wanted to see Wanda Sykes live, and she wasn’t on the bill so what a great surprise. If Tegan and Sara would have showed up I would have been in lesbian heaven.


Cyndi was great, she really knows how to put on a great show and she came out into the crowd multiple times throughout the night. She’s a true star and with our age difference, my girlfriend and I had a good time listening to her old and new hits.

Last but certainly not least my girlfriend, two of my best friends and I went to the Feist show to celebrate my birthday. We also had general admin tickets for this show and decided to sit in the first row of the stadium seats and had a great view and were very comfortable. Cushions and food, I finally got The Greek down!

I had been to a Fesit show last year and it was great. This was better and different in enjoyable ways.

If you like any of the above artists and have a chance to see them live, I didn’t have a disappointing show so take the opportunity if you get it!

All in all I don’t think there is a bad seat in the house at The Greek. It is definitely one of my favorite venues and I have been to a lot of places, indoor and out, small and large.

Thanks to all of the lovely people that posted pictures of the shows on flickr!

Goodbye Berkeley...

At least for now.

As I close one chapter in my life and look forward to the next I can't help but be a little sentimental. I turned in my apartment keys yesterday morning and no longer have a residence in Berkeley.

"Green City" Mural in the parking lot on Berkeley Way in between Shattuck Ave. and Milvia:

(photo taken with my iPhone (the old model, still trying to get a 3G but thats a story for another post)

I will remember it most as the greenest city I have lived. One filled with great people, great food, and infinite possibilities. Thanks to everyone who made my time in Berkeley unforgettable.