I'm new to this whole crediting icon's thing, so bear with me if I mess it up.

I got this charming icon from elspethnoir off of homestaricons.

I'm pretty into it.

That is all.

So, I finally broke up with the boy today. We'd had a pretty unsatisfying conversation last week in which I inquired about the state of things and he basically went, "Uh... commitment issues, commitment issues, blah blah blah, and I guess I can agree not to make out with/date other people while I'm dating you."

Surprising to no one, I found this fairly unacceptable. After more roller coastering about him for another week [Him: I'm too tired to see you. Me: I hate you. Him: Let's go out on Tuesday. Me: Yaaaaay!] I finally accepted that it was time to really just cut myself loose. So, I had the talk. He was pretty apologetic and accepted responsibility for being an emotionally immature asshat, so I guess that was nice. And I know this is for the best, in terms of my emotional needs and stability. Nevertheless, the unnatural calm afterwards is sort of dissolving and now I feel like shit. Yes, I was the one who motivated the breakup (he was apparently surprised that it was happening then, so at least I got that going for me), but mainly because he didn't seem to want to be with me enough.

I hate men. Asshats, all of them.

Fucking hell.

Oh, well.

I figure that there's a specific subset of you (and you know who you are) who are versed in the world of costuming, and so I ask your help.

I need fabric paint, specifically fabric paint which will work on a cheapass polyester slip. Sadly, stores like JoAnn's and Michaels do not exist out here in NYC, the land of pre-made, over-priced clothing. Barring someone on the law school listserv responding to my request for local fabric-paint-selling stores (which is about as likely as me getting my 150 pages of Crim Pro read, i.e. nigh impossible), I'm going to have to order it online.

My question is, since I won't be able to grill anyone at a store -- are there any limitations I need to know of beforehand? Like, do not get X brand or paint containing Y product?

I would appreciate any input mucho.

Once in a blue moon* (*where "blue moon" means "4-5 years") I think that buying a fresh pomegranate is a good idea. Hey, they're exotic. They're tasty. They're surely filled with fiber since you have to eat all the seeds, which is good for one's digestion, and we now know that they're chock-full of antioxidants. I hate oxidants as much as the next person.

They're also a Royal Pain in the Ass to eat. The only efficient way of preparing them is to have an unpaid peon shell and detach the pod-things. I remember now that the reason I so rarely buy them is that it takes twice as long to get enough out as it does to then eat it.

But if you were a capricious, malicious Greek god (as they all were -- what, you won't have sex with me? Well, how would you like being RAPED BY A SWAN?!), and in addition you're the God of the Dead -- and let's face it, the dead have got nothing better to do -- then why the hell not be stocked up with pomegranates?

It's brilliant.

I'm going to go wash my fingers and continue being hungry.

Not much to report.

Actually, that's a lie.

From the period between Sept. 9th - Oct. 16th, I will have had a total of 9 guests for 12 nights, concurrently or over consecutive weekends, and been out of town for 6 nights. Cumulatively, this means that every weekend I either had people over or was gone.

I miss my empty apartment. It's not over yet, though. One more weekend (this time visitor = Mom) and then two weekends of free, empty bliss before travelling out of town AGAIN... and then AGAIN three weeks after that.

On top of this, I have work leaking from every available orifice. Right now am behind in my reading for 4 of 4 classes, and by Monday must write a 10-15 page draft of a Recent Development I'm going to publish, and a 1000-2000 word 'opinion' type piece for another class.

In a word, I am 'screwed.'

Am currently in Houston, where I am not seeing anyone at all save for my Mom and the charming interviewers at V&E. Am not even calling my Houston friends (although Tricia might read this -- Hi, Tricia!) because I know I can't go out. Too much work. It's like being under house-arrest, if house-arrest were self-imposed and involved lots of legal research and writing, with the odd textbook reading to break up the monotony.

It's nice to be able to enjoy being at home like this. Such lovely weather this weekend in H-town, too. So I hear, anyhow.

Back to the significance of the FDA's decision to withdraw approval for enrofloxacin use in poultry. It's hot stuff, I tell you. ... Actually, it sort of is. I'm excited to write about it, and especially excited to get published. But I just wish I didn't have to worry about classes as well.

Can someone please get this pestery mosquito away from me?

Fuck.

So, it's only been about... five trillion years since I've updated. This is down from the 10 trillion years between that post and the one before, though, so I figure I'm doing pretty damn well.

Summer is in full swing here in the City. It's hot and humid, just like Texas, and while everyone runs around complaining... well, it's not that I ENJOY it, but this is the weather I've been conditioned to, you know? I understand sticky, sweaty hotness. Cold windiness in April is what really confuses the hell out of me and makes my internal environmental sync-o-meter scream in impotent rage.

Summer work is going pretty awesomely, I must say. Except for that incident today where my supervisor came by and my computer screen was open to a chat window and a large, non-work-related email. Totally sheepish. Our interactions are always somewhat awkward anyhow, so it's not like I could tell anything was off, and in my defense, EVERYONE does non-work-related stuff. I have even seen regular staff with chat windows open. So, here's hoping I haven't forever sullied my good name.

Am going to Montreal for a weekend in a couple of weeks, which I'm stupidly excited about. I'll let you guys know how that goes. It should be an interesting trip, to say the least.

Finally, I saw Batman Begins this evening, and sweet holy mother of god is it amazing. I LOVE it. I'm not super up on my Batman mythology, and I didn't read the comics, so maybe you die-hards out there will object to all kinds of canonical violations, but in terms of it just being an amazingly good, fun action summer movie, it completely rules and I caught myself flinching, gasping, and smiling quite frequently. And did I mention Christian Bale? Hot hot hottie hotness. Well, when he's all self-exiled he is. I don't care too much for the clean-cut look he has going when he returns. But I knew I had a crush on that man for a reason when I was 12. Sweet Jesus, is he a beautiful shaggy man.

Um... that's all.

And finally, for your viewing pleasure, some Matthew Fox:

You scored as Jack. You're Jack! You're ready to step up and take control of a bad situation. You don't let fear in, and you're naturally a good person. </td> Jack 81% Boone 56% Shannon 56% Kate 56% Claire 56% Locke 56% Sawyer 50% Charlie 44% Sun 44% Jin 44% Hurley 44% Sayid 38% Michael 38% Who is your "Lost" alter ego? created with QuizFarm.com

So, I finally logged on for the first time in, oh, 8 months (not true -- I log on occasionally to trace the comings and goings of my friends) and was shamed into writing by Mishmishtee's subtle jab at the lack of posting. (by the way, where did that name come from? Is it in reference to anything?)

To sum up: I currently hate my life, but I'm in the middle of finals, so that's to be expected. I kind of want to get a PhD in linguistics, but since I reached that decision half an hour ago, I'm not going to act on it just yet. I'm sort of having a law school crisis right now, but that could also be due entirely to finals. I think my problem is that, when it comes down to it, really, I hate hate HATE the law school system of grading. Like, you're graded on a curve in all of your classes. You're inherently graded based on how everyone else is doing, and I just don't like that. I've always had this unfortunate trait where, if there's some kind of competition that I know I can't win, I don't even want to participate. And I know that I am not a law school badass. When you're in one of the top 5 law schools in the country, everyone is at least as brilliant as you are, and suddenly it comes to who is actually dedicated and works hard, and that has sadly never been my style. So, I'm trying to work my ass off, generally failing, generally frustrated, and angry at the whole system. And now I want a PhD in linguistics, because that will clearly solve all of my issues. :)

On the plus side, though, I'm super psyched about my summer job -- I'll be working with Environmental Defense, specifically on a project aimed at getting the U.S. to pass stricter regulations about using antibiotics in animal feed and is part of an overall project to reduce antibiotics use; it's actually an issue that I'm really into, so I'm excited that I actually get to take part in it. I mean, come on, people, survival of the fittest. Do we really want a race of super bacteria taking over? I think not. They'd be extremely unpleasant.

No men to speak of. Broke up with most recent boy in January -- long distance from TX to NYC simply wouldn't work long term -- and am currently in search of someone new to fill my cuddling void. Oddly enough, I think perhaps that my biological clock is ticking? I keep seeing kids around, and I ACTUALLY WANT ONE. I don't want one for about 10 years, really, but for the first time, I'm like, "Oh, I could be studying the law and telling little Timmy not to eat everything he picks up off the ground... what a charming scenario! ... STOP." No, I do not want to name any of my children Timmy.

Other than that, I had a dream the other night involving Mishmishtee and R, and it was Halloween or something? R was dressed as a Viking woman, and Mish was dressed as Raggedy Ann or Pippy Longstocking; I'm not sure which (although the Pippy reference would make more sense, given your LJ icon...).

Alright, enough. I must return to studying for my last final: The Administrative and Regulatory State. Basically, studying agencies. It's sad, actually -- I got an article from my supervisor for the summer about the work I'll be doing, and the first half was on the science behind antibiotics and all the dangers behind using them so indiscriminately, which I was completely into, and then the second half was on the agency actions we were trying to get, including discussion of what the FDA had already done about it -- i.e. the LAW part of the project, and the part I'll be working on -- and I was like, "Mmmm... yawn. Time for a nap." Perhaps this is a sign.

Honestly, my life is really pretty awesome; just these past two weeks have been living hell. Maybe I just need a vacation.

So, it's been what, like 5 months since my last posting? I'd be lying if I said not much has happened in that time. Basically, I moved to New York, started law school at NYU (which I LOVE) and have generally been studying not enough, drinking too much, and letting my room slowly sink into the standard state of relative disarray. I think this weekend will have to entail some serious ass-kicking on the productivity front; I've got two projects due next week, not to mention reading and the eternal fear of being cold-called in class -- where the prof. basically calls your name out and grills you about whatever you were supposed to have read. The past two weeks have been pretty fabulous, since some of my prof's keep going out of town, meaning class gets cancelled and I can sleep in.

I feel like I should regale you all with fabulous stories, but in reality they all involve the law, like my current confusion with a cover contract (a term I'm convinced my professor just invented) or the ramifications of using Rule 14(a).

Get this. I feel like this hypothetical we had to work through for class sums up all of the 'joys' of the law:

There's a 3-way car crash between A, B and C. There's reason to believe that any one of them could be liable: A had his car tuned up the day before, but the dealer D ignored the brakes; B has a history of bad driving, and borrowed the car from his friend O (who, under these imaginary laws, is liable since it's his car), and C bought his car from the maker M, and the car has a known drive-shaft problem.

A sues B. We then had to figure out all of the possible lawsuits that could arise out of A suing B.

My group came up with 19. Our professor said there should be 20-25.

Gotta love our litigation-happy society. Sigh.

So, it's 4:30 in the morning -- my brother got back from Taiwan today not at 11:30 p.m. as anticipated but at 3 a.m. The joys of airplane travel. I'm tired and PMSing, and generally annoyed with the world and specifically my little corner of it. My mom's interested questions about Taiwan are especially grating. I really need to move to New York before I go on some completely unprovoked rampage of irrational anger. On the plus side, a completely irrelevant website says that I am Super Cool, so I guess there's something to be happy about:

So, it's been nearly two months, but what a packed 2 months they've been!

Basically, got over the Georgetown dilemma and am happily enrolled at NYU Law. New York City, baby! I practically ooze glee whenever I think about it.

Quit the old job on May 14th, and then took off ass-early the next morning for 2 weeks of sun and silicon breasts in LA. FABULOUS. I did nothing but lay in the sun and enjoy drinks with one of my closest friends from HS, and it was absolutely the best. Apart from the parking, I quite like LA. It's the perfect city to be unemployed in.

Then I went to Seattle for Memorial Day weekend, with a quick pit stop in Portland to see my current favorite musician, Sondre Lerche (SOHN-druh LAIR-key). He's Norwegian, so he doesn't get over to this side of the Atlantic very often. He was absolutely FABULOUS, and is now only second to Don Hertzfeldt on the list of, "You Know, I Wouldn't Normally Be Attracted To You, But Sweet Jesus You're Talented!" men. Basically, I just want to roll around and bask in their creative visions. And I want to feed Don some soup and make sure he gets enough sleep, since it sounds like he periodically needs someone to make sure he does these things.

Another highlight of the Seattle trip was the fact that not one, but TWO of my dorky T-shirts were ACTUALLY RECOGNIZED by random people. Both bartenders, actually. But a bartender in Portland recognized the Generic Fluffy Thing from my Rejected shirt, and a bartender in Seattle recognized my Marshie shirt from Homestar Runner. I was impressed. I would definitely think I was living in the wrong city -- I mean, I KNOW Houston is the wrong city -- except that I hated the cold in Seattle. It actually HAILED while I was there. WTF?! My friend said it was abnormally cold, but even when it got around to normal temperatures I still found it unacceptable for June. I needs me some shorts weather.

And now, I'm unemployed in Houston for the next 2 1/2 months. Currently sort of seeing a fun boy, so that should keep me somewhat more occupied than usual. And visits to Austin, and probably to Colombia to visit the family. But other than that, indolence and sloth, here I come!