Wow

Things that have made me go 'wow' in the last week and a half:

*The fact that, even though I took out more than what I could've expected to make at a job had I decided to pursue a career with my MPP after graduating instead of going on to more school, my loans were not going to be enough to cover living expenses after tuition and other fees, some I failed to take into account (student health insurance, I'm looking at you), were taken out. I've since fixed this problem by taking out more in loans. At least I want to work in the human rights field once I graduate, thus guaranteeing that paying back these loans will be damn near impossible.

*Overhearing one of my fellow 1L's refer to another girl in her class as "Pockface" to her friends, who then laughed. This girl is in law school, so it's safe to assume that she's at least 22, and this isn't a horrible school, so one would think it'd be safe to assume that she's not a complete idiot. Unfortunately, she is an incredibly immature bitch with some serious insecurities, because the reason she was being so hard on this other girl was because she had the nerve to speak in class. I didn't see who it was, but I hope she fails out or develops a drug problem or contracts a painful (but, OK, curable) STD. Mean? Yes, but I'm in a particularly vengeful mood today.

*How far my house is from the Tenleytown Metro. It's like 1.32 miles, but it seems like a lot longer. I walk this everyday, both ways, since it's just too much money to take the Metro one stop from Friendship Heights (which is a ten-minute walk from my house) to Tenleytown. I can't justify it since I would rather do other things with that money. So instead I start everyday by working up an intense sweat and getting pissed off because I'm sweating, and then end the day the same way, except usually with more sweating since it's the middle of the afternoon when I'm walking home instead of the early morning when the temperature isn't as quite as high. This, however, is much better than walking in the pouring rain, as was confirmed this morning.

*How much some things cost. Law books, hi-speed internet cords, electricity, butter, anything from Whole Foods. The list of things that I think are overpriced is infinite.

*How homesick I am. I'm going home this weekend (I know, I didn't even make it two whole weeks, but this has always been the plan), and I could not be more excited. I'm dropping off boxes I have no room for in my tiny apartment, picking up a few things I wasn't able to stuff into my car or my parents' van on my first moving trip, and seeing friends, family, and Honey. I'm stopping in Richmond tomorrow to see friends I haven't seen in far too long, and I am absolutely giddy with excitement. Well, sometimes giddy, like when I have time to think about it; mostly I've just been stressed, tired, and kind of depressed ever since I got here. So tomorrow will be a good day. I just have to endure the rest of today and my one class in the morning, and then I'll let the giddiness overtake me.

Settled

On Saturday I moved to DC. I've been trying to avoid feeling homesick by keeping myself busy and so far I think I've done a commendable job. I have:

*...been 1/3 of an amazing moving team that also included my dad and my best friend Melissa. When I say amazing I mean, among other things, easily worn out by carrying heavy things up many stairs. Being the forward-thinker that I am, I chose to move into an apartment that requires me to climb three sets of stairs to get from the outside up to my bedroom. The stairs inside my apartment are particularly steep and harrowing, but we managed to move all of my belongings--did I mention that I'm also a packer who is adept at putting as much stuff into one box as humanly possible, thereby ensuring that all boxes are as heavy as can be?--into my room. Melissa proved herself to be the best kind of friend in the world by giving up her entire day to help me with this move, and she has kept me updated on the fact that her legs still hurt. I like to make my friends work for my love, and Melissa, you've totally earned it.

*...gone furniture shopping at IKEA. This also happened on Saturday and my parents and Melissa stuck around to help. I really wouldn't have been able to do it without them since my car is small, I needed a bed, and IKEA doesn't deliver the one I had my eye on. So we went to the wonderland that is IKEA, I picked out a bed, mattress, and TV stand, and we were on our way back to my house to carry yet more heavy crap up those three sets of steps. Then we got to spend the next several hours putting it all together. I love all of my easy-to-assemble furniture.

*...made another trip out to Potomac Mills (where IKEA is) to buy a bookshelf and other necessities from Target, and to stop by Best Buy to get some advice from the Geek Squad about why my computer wouldn't connect to the internet. They were absolutely no help whatsoever. Since I was on my own I had to carry my very heavy bookshelf up in pieces and put it together myself.

*...went on my very first grocery shopping trip now that I'm on my own for good. Food is much too expensive.

*...figured out that I can't for the life of me work my gas stove. I should probably call the landlord about that since my roommate is in Mozambique until Sunday and I would like to cook before then.

*...called Comcast to come fix my internet problems. Two technicians had to come out before they could figure it out, but it's working now and I'm happy for that.

*...walked the two miles to the campus bookstore in order to buy my books. The walk in the heat was almost as much fun as dropping almost $700 on textbooks.

*...put all of my stuff in its place. My room is super cute and almost completely done. I just need to get a dresser and I'll be all set. Until then, I'm partly living out of a suitcase.

*...watched the entire second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD while unpacking and building furniture. I don't have cable so I have to rely mostly on DVD's and TV-on-the-internet to get by. Buffy is as good as I remember it.

I'm still homesick, but that will [hopefully] pass soon enough.

Here is a photo tour of...well, mostly my bedroom, but some of the rest of the apartment, too.

It went from looking like this (with Honey, the best lil' helper ever):

To this (a dresser will eventually be going where that red suitcase is):

My room has a little nook that I've made into an office-type space, but where I have so far spent no time since my room is so hot and my desktop computer has been acting up for the past few weeks:

Here's the front of the building I live in--it's a house that was built in 1900 that's been converted into four apartments:

And I think that's good enough for now. Give me a call or drop me a line if you'd like to visit!

Transition

In two days I will be leaving for DC. Here's a list of everything I'm feeling:

*Excitement. I will finally be on my own, responsible for myself [almost] completely, I won't have to answer to my parents, and I'll be living in one of the biggest cities in the country. I'm excited about decorating my new bedroom and making it my safe haven away from school and everything else, and I'm excited about getting to know my neighborhood and the city as a whole a lot better in the next three years. I'm excited because I'm going to get a bicycle, something I haven't had since I was about ten. I'm excited to start law school and to meet new people and learn new things. I'm excited to start getting a clearer view on what my life is going to be like once I'm finally done with school now that I at least have a general idea of what I want to do. I'm excited to be so close to so many people I know and like already. I'm excited to start this new phase of my life.

*Terror. All the things I just said I'm excited about? They also scare the shit out of me. Well, except for being close to people I know; that's actually quite comforting. With the exception of last summer, I've never really been on my own before, and then I had a light at the end of the tunnel. This time it's forever (at least I hope so, I really do). Having to pay all of my own bills is understandably scary. Having to meet a whole new bunch of people is terrifying. I don't know if you know this, but I'm a little on the shy side. It took me, like, the whole first year to make friends at William and Mary and that was in a program of 24 people; American University's law school's students number in the hundreds. I really do not make the best first impression. Getting to know me takes some persistence and a lot of patience--I make people work for it. I've tried to be better, and I think I've done a commendable job, but I'm still incredibly, painfully shy when I'm thrown in with a bunch of strangers.

*Sadness. I'm ready to get out of this house and out of this town, but I'm still sad to go. I'll miss my parents and Honey and the friends I'm leaving here. I know I'm only 3 and a half hours away and that I can come home whenever I want, but I'm not going to live here anymore. I keep trying not to think about it because I start crying every time I do, and I don't want anyone to think that I don't really want to go. Because I do. But it's still going to be sad. Unfortunately, in a time that should be more exciting than anything else, this is the most powerful thing I'm feeling right now.

*Frustration. I fucking hate packing. I have way more stuff that I feel it's necessary to take with me than I originally thought. There are going to be two cars and a minivan loaded up to DC on Saturday, and I'm 99% sure that I'm going to have to come back to get some stuff. I should really be a less material person...

Just wondering...

Could someone explain to me why the uniforms for the women's Olympic beach volleyball teams look like this:



While the men's uniforms look more like this (I couldn't find a picture of the U.S. men's team, or really very many of any male Olympic beach volleyball players, though there's a butt-load of pictures of the women...I wonder why...):



I understand that sometimes men play shirtless, but I haven't actually seen a male match yet, and am just going off the fact that when I sat down in front of the TV last night with my parents who were watching the U.S. play Japan in women's beach volleyball and I wondered aloud about the skimpiness of the uniforms, they pointed out that the men wear knee-length board shorts and tank tops. How is wearing a bottom that is so small that they're constantly having to pick it out of their ass conducive to playing a good game of volleyball? It may be a boring sport (but then, what isn't?), but putting these women who have worked their asses off to be at the top of their game in tiny little bikinis like they're Sports Illustrated models is ridiculous and insulting. I don't know if the players have any say in the uniforms, but I can't imagine they were all that hyped about having perpetual wedgies on international television.

Honey!

Today is Honey's third birthday! Or her 21st if you're counting in dog years, which makes that bottle of Goldschlager I bought her totally appropriate.

..Honey when we first got her almost three years ago..

..Honey today with her real present..

Summer mission update, part deux

It's been about a month and a half since I last updated about my summer missions, so here I am to do so once again.


*I have kept trying to eat less/better and have been pretty good about avoiding certain things altogether, like regular soda. I've fallen out of the daily habit of exercising since I started working, but now that I'm done with my job I'm going to try to get back into it. I even got on the treadmill today. I started seeing results from my efforts, not much, but still something and that's encouraging.

*Trying to read 50 books in a year is still a more enjoyable goal to pursue than losing weight. I'm up to 40 now. My favorite five books I've read since I last posted are Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (favorite as in I've only read seven books since I last posted so picking five isn't that easy and I enjoyed reading it like I enjoy watching bad reality television so it makes the list over the other two books in the series), and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (a re-read, of course).

*The coffee things is out. I'm not even moving to Seattle.

*I have started and quit my job. I was working at Bed Bath and Beyond, and let me tell you: I could not be more happy to be done. I vow here and now to never work in retail again. I just can't take it. I was miserable everyday I had to go to work, I was miserable the whole time I was there, and I was miserable on my days off knowing I'd have to go back. I made some money that will come in handy in the next couple of weeks when I go to buy furniture, but it barely makes all the awfulness of working in retail worth it. Ick.

*As I said before, I'm not moving to Washington anymore, so that goal is cancelled.

*My most exciting news: I found a place to live in DC! It's the cutest apartment ever, and I can't wait to move in and decorate my new bedroom. It's a two-level apartment in a huge old house that's been converted into an apartment building. The top floor of my place is technically the attic, which means it's super hot up there, but it's also pretty huge, especially for DC. The house is in Friendship Heights in a really nice looking neighborhood, so I'll feel safe and away from everything, but I'm still in the city. I insist that people come and visit me as soon as possible, so let me know if you're interested. However, I'm not sure when I'll be moving in yet. I originally wanted to be settled in the first week of August, but as that time gets closer (and is now actually upon me), I've decided there's no reason to rush. I don't know if I'm getting cold feet or what, but I keep putting my moving date off. I will definitely move by the Saturday after this coming one, maybe sooner. Packing is fully under way, so good for me.

*Friend time is still rarer than I'd like. I need to do something about that, like now.

Stream-of-consciousness: Batman

I saw The Dark Knight on opening weekend and it's been on my mind since then. I'd really like to see it again since it was so good and I know it's going to go down as one of the masterpieces of comic book-based films. Or, I guess I should say graphic novel-based. There's been a major influx of these kinds of movies over the past decade or so, and let's be honest, there's been a lot of crap (Spiderman 3, anyone?), but a few have stood out as just plain good. Batman Begins was amazing, of course, but in some people's opinion so were the first two Spiderman movies, the second in particular. Spiderman isn't really my thing. Neither is Superman. How boring is Superman, really? He's from another planet where everyone is just like him; he just happened to land on ours and that's why he's special. Wow--he's super strong and can see through walls and fly. How basic. How easy. Batman has always been my superhero of choice, ever since seeing Tim Burton's original movie and its sequel Batman Returns. That particular thread of the franchise quickly went south when they changed directors and stars, but Chris Nolan has more than redeemed it with his two interpretations of the character.

In The Dark Knight, Batman (or the Batman as the citizens of Gotham refer to him in the movie) fights a band of terrorists led by the Joker. In case you haven't seen the movie and drawn the obvious conclusions for yourself or read any article about the film whatsoever, Batman is like the U.S. in this "war on terror" we've been waging for years now--he breaks rules in order to try and beat the bad guys, often putting other people in harm's way for what he feels is the greater good. People die as a result of his actions, or often because of his inaction. In last week's issue of Entertainment Weekly, they did a cover story on The Dark Knight, and this quote from Michael Caine (Alfred the butler) stood out to me:

"Superman is the way America sees itself, but Batman is the way the world sees America."

The great thing about Batman is that there isn't anything super about him--he's just an incredibly wealthy guy with some childhood trauma and nifty gadgets who knows how to kick ass. He's always been a vigilante, but in these films Nolan addresses that more fully and realistically than it's even been addressed before, and when you watch the movies you see Batman for the crazy mofo he really is. The Joker is more obviously out of his mind, but putting on a bat costume to go out and fight crime doesn't exactly scream sanity. I just love how the whole story of Batman, but these movies in particular, blurs the line between good and evil--nothing is black and white in Gotham, it's just all scary as fuck.

To maintain the original intent of my blog (I feel like I haven't typed a bullet in weeks), here is a list of my top five favorite graphic novel-based films:

*The Dark Knight. See above.

*Batman (1989). I love Tim Burton and his interpretation of Batman was the best there was until Nolan decided to give it a shot. His interpretation of the Joker, played by Jack Nicholson, while campier than Heath Ledger's, will hopefully remain as iconic as it's been in the last nearly-20 years, even in face of such a great performance as Ledger's.

*Iron Man. This movie is so good. Ridiculously good. Another message movie about the state of the world and America's role on the global stage, but nothing is shoved down your throat. I have a soft spot for Robert Downey, Jr. and had been waiting for his comeback; this movie was the perfect vehicle for that to happen. He's great in it: charming, funny, sexy, powerful, hott. Yep...two t's for the 43-year old ex-druggie.

*Ghost World. No superhero shenanigans here, but it still counts. I once showed this to a group of friends my freshman year of undergrad and when it was over one of the guys thanked me for wasting two hours of his life. I wouldn't listen to him if I were you, since this movie is great and everyone in it turns in amazing performances, including Thora Birch, Steve Buscemi, and Scarlett Johansson in the first role I'd seen her in. It's slow-moving, so be warned if that's not something you can stand.

*X-Men. I love Cyclops. I love the triangle with him, Wolverine, and Jean Grey. I love, and feel so bad for, Rogue. I love all the different characters and their unique powers. I love the second movie in this trilogy, though the third kind of blew. I haven't seen them in years, but I think I may actually have liked the second the best; I remember crying at the end. Either way, this spot is designated for one of the X-Men movies.