Boston Is On Fire

Seriously folks, could I have picked a better time to be in Boston? Aside from the obvious sports-related excitement, I've also positioned myself dangerously close to New Hampshire, which means frequent visits from exciting (or lackluster) politicians and the chance to go see what those nuts actually do when they're deciding the fate of our presidential candidates.

Which, if I had an hour or two to spare, would be a really exciting thing to do!

I've decided that it's all right to be excited about things that I could do, even if I don't do them. The possibility exists, and that is enough.

Others things I have the opportunity, if not the means or time, to do:

• Sample fine Italian cuisine in the North End.
• Take a carriage ride in the public gardens.
• Watch the Celtics play.
• Decide which Irish pub I like best and become a regular there.
• Tour the galleries on Newbury Street, even though I can't afford the art.
• Paint my studio a different color.
• Learn Russian from my neighbors and taste their delicious-smelling homemade bread.
• Learn about plumbing out of necessity while repairing my toilet (I am actually doing this) on a daily basis.
• Go swimming in the Charles (apparently safe, as long as you don't kick up the toxic silt on the bottom).

See, life is good.

Game 4...

Watching (potential) final game of the World Series.

Turned my heat on for the first time today!

Discovered that buses sometimes turn into trains and vice versa in downtown Boston.

Thinking it should be illegal to assign this much contracts homework during the World Series.

Constructive Friday

I'm heading home for the weekend tomorrow, both to see the new baby and to visit the rest of the family and friends in lieu of Thanksgiving. Which means that for me, today is Friday!

In other news, it's Game 2 of the World Series tonight, so Boston is aglow with flushed Irish cheeks (I am not even joking! You can feel the warmth!). My lovely academic institution also happens to host the #2 college football team in the country, and they have a game tonight, too. I have a feeling I won't be missing much tomorrow in class, since we apparently get a free pass on Socratic method when the Sox are in the Series.

We had one of those discussions in class today that reminded me of the bad parts of my undergraduate experience; a room full of 99% white people talking about race and privilege and getting extremely righteous without making any sense whatsoever, while the professor tries to get us to sing Kumbaya. The extremely insightful kernel we got out of a 30-minute discussion: Posner is a racist! No, Posner is not a racist! The jury was racist! We are racist! You are racist! This is not to say that I don't think racism and other forms of discrimination should be ignored or not discussed when we read cases, and of course doesn't mean I don't think there is a huge problem with institutional racism in the law (I do!), but it was one of those self-flagellating, politically-correct and utterly meaningless strings of posturing that made me want to get up and leave. Blargh. I know that's not a very eloquent response, but it's the best I can come up with!

But enough about that, it's Friday!!! And I'm off to a Sox-party. I better go find my red sox.

Lobster and Boston, or What I Do When I Can't Study Anymore

Stranger Things Have Happened

Living in Boston, you pretty much just have to be a Red Sox fan. If you're not, you're in danger.

Therefore, I am weirdly invested in their progress and thus spending my Thursday night reading Torts and watching a baseball game.

Law school is weird, have I mentioned that?

Listing

I realize my blogs of late have been rather cryptic; sorry! The workload is blooming like a beautiful flower (see how I'm being positive there?) and I've had visitors and excitement recently. Thus, another list (I promise I'll write more soon!):

- official name of new nephew? Eli Henry LegalEagle

- official number of days until I see him? 10.5

- official number of cases I printed out today? 17 (or, to put it another way, at least half a tree)

- officially awesome discovery of the weekend? the North End (or, to put it another way, CANNOLI)

- new resolution: go to Boston at least once per week and discover a new area of town

- second resolution: limit number of cannoli consumed so as to still fit into pants/car/seat at school

- third resolution: paint apartment. very depressing blechy/dirty cream color with many marks on it. hopeful about improved mental state with crisp white walls and no spider guts at eye level.

TTFN.

HDGDL.

ROTFLMAO.

IAROOSABICSM (I am running out of silly acronyms, but I can't stop myself)

Baby is here!

As yet unnamed, but mom and baby are doing well!

30-second update!

The baby is coming! The baby is coming! Aly's in the hospital right now! Yaaay!

Other, way less exciting news:

- Tonight is my belated birthday party at a Real. Live. Bar. I feel so old.

- We were knocked out in the finals at negotiations on Tuesday, but we're pretty psyched we got that far! And now we get our evenings back!

- It's raining!

- I never realized how annoying laundrymats are until I had to use them. And that is where I am now headed; have a great weekend! I will post baby news soon!

Finally Fall?

After a lovely weekend, I am back to Boston and real life, and it seems to be finally turning autumn! It's been so hot recently, I had almost forgotten that it was fall; now the leaves appear to be turning a little and it's gray and rainy. Strangely this makes me really happy! I kind of dig putting on sweaters and having foggy glasses every morning, especially when I'm spending a lot of time indoors anyway. This way, I can enjoy snuggling up in the library with lots of wool and coffee, instead of wishing I could be outside enjoying the sunlight. One less reason to procrastinate is always a good thing.

Tomorrow is also the first day of a new exercise class AND the negotiations final, so I'm a little pumped and a little nervous about both. But enough rambling, back to my mocha and contracts reading I must go!

I hope you all had a great long weekend!

C'est le weekend!

(I love that the French don't feel the need to capitalize every noun. That has always made me nuts about German.)

Anyway, linguistics aside, I just thought I'd write a quick post to update you all on my interesting life (haha), which I have described to various people as "reading, reading, negotiating, reading, imbibing in one beer, reading some more and regretting said beer, reading, researching!, and then reading.

But this weekend, I have Grand Plans, which include all sorts of fun non-reading activities like "apple picking" and "getting lots of hugs." I am heading down to upstate New York (heehee) to meet up with my friends from college (most of whom lived on the same dorm floor I did) who are on the East Coast. It will be so great to see them, especially the ones I haven't seen since graduation! I am basically jittering with excitement and unable to concentrate in class today, because in a few short hours, I will be in the presence of the most awesome people I know for 2.5 days!!!

Also, I'm jittering with nervousness about the negotiations finals, which are on Tuesday afternoon IN FRONT OF AN AUDIENCE. You know I don't like public speaking, and my face will be red as a beet! But I've gone this far, I have to go through with it. So at 4 pm on Tuesday, please be thinking of me and wishing me calmness and non-red-facedness.

Hugs and hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Die behaarte Deutschen

The Hairy Germans advance to the finals. Stay tuned for further updates.

PS: Check out this great Boston radio station (they have online feeds); I'm currently in love with it.