Blaaaaah

Two weeks from today I will have already taken two finals. That frightens me. And I need to keep making progress on my negotiation and my paper. This semester went veeeeeerrrrrrry slooooowwwlllly in the beginning and nowisgoingcrazyfast.

Shawl

I just spent 30 minutes fixing 9 stitches. Sigh.

November what?

The 9th. That is today. Whew. OK, a few things. 1. I didn't like chrome. There were some things I really liked about it, but believe it or not it didn't play nice with my gmail and it was driving me crazy since I have that open pretty much the entire time I'm on the internet.

2. Where is this semester going? If you find some spare days laying around, let me know. I'd be interested in purchasing your surplus.

3. I'm really getting irritated with people right now. There are a few people who I just want to say "not now" to and let them know I'm kinda at the end of my rope. So just so you know world, I'm not really in the mood. I probably won't be until after finals either.

4. I'm going to see the Nutcracker here in DC again. If you're in town, check it out. It's really cool. They set it in DC instead of Germany and it's really neat. Pretty interesting to see the songs in a new light.

5. I gotta go. This stupid research paper is not going to write itself, no matter how much I beg.

Attention Life

How is it November already? Please slow down. I have a lot to do. Thanks.

Lorelle Pashley

Lorelle Pashley is on facebook. Drop her a line if you'd like to get back in touch. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001758877621

My Wii Fit and I have an uneasy relationship

I believe my Wii Fit does not care for me. It has a great deal of contempt in it's voice when it is talking to me. Especially when it says (with what I feel is a little too much relish) "that's obese!" I KNOW WII FIT! THAT IS WHY I AM USING YOU! Do I not get points for even trying? I'm not looking for "That's still fat, but less fat than last time!" or anything. All I'm asking is that it not announce to a room containing only itself and me every time I use it. Silence would be fine. We both know I'm fat, Wii Fit. You don't have to rub it in.

Tornado Warning Tonight

DC, you be crazy.

New Things

I'm giving Chrome a whirl. You know I love me my Firefox, but I'm test driving Chrome to see how it goes.

Time is flying dangerously fast

The semester is slipping away, as is the time until Christmas. That means my two time pressures, studying and Christmas knitting, are both getting greater and greater. Guess which one I would rather work on?

I've actually been doing OK keeping up with my classes. Not fantastic, but certainly better than last year. My knitting would be going much better if I would stop making myself things I want and start working on stuff for my family.

I also came to a somewhat tragic realization this week. I love buying variegated yarns. I love how the color changes from one to another in the skein and looks perfect just sitting there. But I like knitting with solid (or kettle dyed semi-solids) more. I like doing color work and stripes and cables and actually seeing what I've taken the time to knit. So I guess I need to start liking buying solids more. Or start liking color worked variegated. Or just keep buying yarn that's very "Oh, pretty!" but I'll never knit with.

PS I had a very lovely coworker (who I like actually do like a lot) ask me if I could knit her a hat today if she bought the yarn. It's not that I don't like knitting, or that hats aren't quick, but I've got enough to do on my plate as it is. If I find time to knit I want it to be something I can use, or someone in my family who are crazy awesome. I don't really have time to just be knitting on commission, as fun as that would be. So I offered that if she brought in yarn and needles, I would help her with it at work. She crochets a lot and knits some, so I wouldn't be teaching her to knit just knit in the round and help with this hat pattern. I thought that was a good compromise. I hope she didn't take it personally, but I just don't have the time right now.

So much work to do

I have a lot of work to get done for school/life. I have all my readings (that I'm TOTALLY caught up on.....), my paper that I'm researching but the professor wants updates and all that jazz, job hunting to do, stores I have to go to that all require the metro, Christmas presents to work on, work, and normal-person things to keep me sane. Sigh.

Friday Friday Friday

Whew, what a week! It seemed to drag on but somehow not have enough time for everything.

Working on my PMF application has been taking more of my time than I thought it would. I'd never applied for anything from the federal government so I wasn't really prepared for the awesomeness that is USAJobs. (NOTE: sarcasm) It's such a tedious site to use. I'm still working on the app, though it's due tonight at midnight so I guess for not much longer.

I knit next to not at all this week, but last night I was so just....blah. I had to make something that would be quick and satisfying (giggle). I ended up making this using this in Campbell. I love this yarn something fierce. There's just something about it that I find extraordinarily comforting. I only cast on 80 stitches because this yarn is on the aran side of worsted and it came out pretty perfect. Bonus: It used less than a skein! So I got this super dope hat substitute that I've been craving forever for less than $2.79 and less than 2 hours commitment. That was EXACTLY what I needed last night.

Also, wish me luck this weekend. I need to write an outline for my paper and I'm still collecting sources. I hate outlining without having done my research, so I have to at least skim it all. And there's a lot of it.

Whoo Hoo!

I went to the Supreme Court yesterday. It was a pretty amazing experience the whole way through. Firstly, I had reserved seating through my school. So there was a line of people out front and I got to walk right up to the side door and just go in. Once inside it was run a bit like they expected everyone to already know what they were doing. I'm sure they get a lot of the same DC lawyers coming over and over, but a lot of us were milling aimlessly. I had to ask a person who looked like she knew what she was doing if I was supposed to go somewhere or just wait.

After awhile, they took us upstairs in a big group like we were a well-dressed field trip group. We walked past a tour group and it felt cool to be part of the DC machine, if only just this once. Upstairs I used the lockers. I didn't want to be that girl. You know, the one who carried flip flops into the Supreme Court. The lockers were only a quarter which, in this day and age, I thought was a steal. I was expecting to have to feed multiple quarters in there. I checked in with the Marshall. I don't think he liked me because I was digging out my ID while I was telling him my name. Apparently you don't have to show ID or anything, just say your name. That seems pretty lax and open to problems to me, but whatever works for them. Then more waiting, but in a line behind a rope. Then security again! This time they dug through my purse. (Side note: I beeped both times going through the metal detector. I had on dress slacks and a button down. The only metal I had on my whole person was the hook at the top of my pants and the two safety pins I use as button supplements. Either those things are set really sensitive, or I have mystery metal in me.)

Then we went in and sat down. Inside is set up in a loose U shape with wood benches that look a lot like tall-backed church pews. At the end of every row was a chair. I got the distinct impression that the chairs were added so there would be more seating and the aisles used to be wider. I was seated in court about 20 minutes before the case started, so I had a lot of time to look around and think about where I was. OK, I'm going to lawyer-geek out on you for a minute. It was really emotional for me to be in there. It overwhelmed me a bit to think of all the tremendous cases that have been heard in that building. This is the place of last resort for our ideals. This is where you go with your individual problems and every American finds their rights. I was truly a bit awestruck in a way I hadn't been since I came to DC.

Anyway, I was there to hear Bruesewitz v. Wyeth. It was a complicated case that, I will be frank, I didn't totally understand going into it. Listening to the arguments didn't do a lot to clear up my confusion. There was a lot of talk about surplus language and the definition of unreasonable and similar technical stuff. Which is honestly almost all the Supreme Court does. I didn't have to follow all the arguments to know there was a reason this case made it there. I was shocked at how efficiently it was run. Time limits were time limits were time limits.

In no time at all, the case was over and my time at the Supreme Court was almost over. I ended up being surrounded by a lot of crying women and their comforting husbands. I assume they are parents of children similarly affected like the plaintiff. The lady in front of me was pretty irritating. When the plaintiff was arguing and the justices were grilling him (as they do), she just sat there. But when the defendant was arguing and the justices were grilling him (as they do), she turned to her husband with this stupid smirk on her face like "Take that, other side! I totally agree, Supreme Court! You knock them down a peg!" totally ignoring that they interrogate everyone and in fact just interrogated their side's attorney not 10 minutes ago. I just found it really distracting. Squeeze his hand or something. We're in a dead silent court with everyone paying rapt attention. Could you not whip your head around every 7 seconds with a childishly triumphant look on your face?

After it was over, I just collected my flip flops and walked home. It was such an amazing experience, I'll definitely hold on to the memory forever.

PS: This was one of the cases Kagan recused herself on. At first I was supremely disappointed. She's the brand new Justice! I wanted to see her in my one shot at a glimpse of Supreme Court Glory! But then I thought about it. This is actually cooler, in a dorky, historical way. She will be Justice for many, many years (knock on wood). So hearing her at the court would not be that unique. There are not many times in the history of the court that they have heard cases with only 8 Justices. That is a much rarer occurrence. So I'm looking on the bright side on that one.

Columbus Day

Which we get off. Not that exciting though, because that means Monday classes on Tuesday which is a day I normally have off.

I do get to go to the Supreme Court tomorrow, which is all kinds of awesome but is also tinged with a bit of "only me." When I signed up for the ticket, the school had a column on the sheet where you indicated availability. The Supreme Court hears cases Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings with an additional case in the afternoon if it's needed. I could do Monday and Wednesday mornings and Tuesday all day since I didn't have classes at those times. Monday and Wednesday afternoon, though, I do have a class.

On the day of sign-ups, I went and stood in line, so excited that my place in line combined with my 3L status would virtually guarantee me a place. I looked at the sheet and I was number 22 to sign up, and even then there were 1Ls ahead of me that I knew I would get a ticket before. I very carefully read the sheet and marked that I could do Monday and Wednesday mornings, all day Tuesday, and Monday and Wednesday afternoons as a last resort. I was willing to skip class if necessary, but was earnestly trying to avoid it.

Fast forward to a week later and I get an email from Student Life. I had a ticket! A ticket on a Tuesday for a case that it turns out is actually pretty exciting. I quickly opened my google calendar to add it, barely containing my urge to squee. And then I saw it. Saw what they had done. The school, the school that I attend, the school that puts out the academic calendar that I follow, had given me a ticket for a Tuesday afternoon the Tuesday after Columbus Day. The Tuesday we follow a Monday schedule. Which means I stood in line and very clearly asked for a Tuesday so as not to skip class for them to give me a ticket on an administrative Monday.

My professor was pretty cool about it when I emailed her saying I wouldn't be in class for this reason, but she did also say I could tell the class how it went. Which means I basically have to give my Natural Resources class a lecture on a completely unrelated subject. I guess I had better pay attention beyond my planned "don't freak out, don't freak out, don't freak out."

Starting this baby up again

Cause why not.