So, Tuesday night I moved into the new apartment. It was long and arduous. Actually, it wasn't. The apartments are two blocks away from each other. The tricky part was that things had to be moved out and go in at the same time. Once we stopped moving, I spent the rest of the evening cleaning because it was pretty gross. I won't lie. It was nasty. So I did that. Finally, about 10:00 I got to homework, but I was exhausted. I tried to do my property problems, but I got to question 8 and didn't know what to do because it involved a foreclosure. I was tired and stumped, so I just went to bed.

Naturally, I was called on in property...about that problem. I basically crashed and burned. "Profuse" just gave me disappointed looks. UGH! At least I have a vivid memory of wrongful foreclosures now.

I think that having my own place will give more chance to study. I don't have cable, so I won't be distracted...but that also means no Internet. It's not that big a deal because the library is open late most nights. Anyway, I hope that my grades will improve over the next exam period.

This is a rambler. My apologies.

I'm currently between memos right now...and loving it. The best part is that I actually have time to breathe, sort of.

I'm moving tomorrow, which I think will be a good thing. My current roommate seems glad that I'm going. He tries to hide it, but I can tell. I don't blame him...I'm half crazy. If I had a choice, I wouldn't live with me either. In fact, I think he's purposefully altered his sleep schedule so he doesn't have to see me ever. He sleeps after school until about midnight or so when I go to bed.

The major downside to moving out is that it will be the effective end of my social life. Because I refuse to join facebook, the only way I find out about stuff is through my roommate. It's probs not a bad thing, though. I really need to spend more time studying anyway. Plus, the only thing I do socially lately is drink, which bums me out. I understand the appeal, but it's not my favorite. I'd rather just play Jenga or Pictionary...but now that I think of it, mixing those games with alcohol seems like a utility-maximizing choice. Hmmm...

Other than the move and school, my life is pretty boring. I am thinking about some art projects, though. Basically, they're abstract/color block paintings I want to make. I hope they turn out well. Lame, artsy projects really help to calm me down. I like them for that. Even though what I produce is frequently awful, the process was itself rewarding. I should do more artsy things

I've decided, and it's official. I have never had a fulfilling relationship with another human being: not with friends, a girlfriend, nor school colleagues. Even the relationships with my family seem to fail. The relationships aren't bad by any means. I just can't rely on them when I need them for support.

For example, my recent skirmish with my roommate on Friday night has left me feeling half crazy. But, I can't talk to anyone about it for various reasons. For one, I know that it's all my fault and talking about it won't help. Secondly, there's nothing really to "fix" through conversation, so any talking would kind of be a waste of time. Furthermore, I rarely feel better after the talks. If any real and honest conversation I've ever had left me feeling anything other than regret and isolation, I might be inclined to bring up important topics with others. But that's not the case. In fact, when I try to explain my thoughts to others, it's not unusual for the other party to throw up. I'm not kidding. It's happened twice...on very separate incidents.

*Sigh* I've made the decision to move out of my apartment and trade leases with another guy from school. My roommate and the new guy, I expect, will get along very well. I'll be living by myself, which I think is probably best for me anyway. At least there's some genuineness there: I'll at least look as lonely as I feel. It's better than trying to put on a happy face and be around others and still feel just as lonely. That's almost like lying.

In keeping with my yearly tradition, I had another birthday on Monday.

After school, I met some friends at Fuddruckers. I ate obscene quantities of food, notably a one-pound hamburger and French fries. I almost couldn't do it, but I got through it. We generally had a good time. The conversation was unfortunately desultory and raffish, but I think those of us who were there enjoyed it.

After dinner, though, I had to come back to school. There was a review session for the CrimLaw exam we took in July. Since I didn't do particularly well on that exam, I felt that I needed to go--even though it was my birthday. The professor who gave the review has a reputation for being repetitive and long winded. He was right on cue.

We were done by 9:00, though, and I thought I would have people over for cake and then take advantage of "Mojito Mondays" at a local establishment. When I got home, however, I found my roommate asleep. I didn't want to have people over while he was asleep lest they get rowdy and disturb him. Instead, I sliced off a piece of my birthday cake and ate it while watching reruns of "The Golden Girls." It seemed a very fitting conclusion.

Overall, it was a pleasant 23rd. Even if it wasn't super exciting, I'm still planning on about 57 more, so there's time to make up for it.

It's too bad I have a memo looming over my head...It just kind of sits there and stares at me. I'll feel better if I just get it done, but I reall don't want to do it.

I'm thinking about having a picnic on Sunday night, but I may wait until Monday because the weather is supposed to be nicer. I'd like to make raspberry-chipotle, pulled-pork sandwhiches, parsley-rosemary potato salad, and lime-apple cole slaw. I'll just have to see how ambitious I'm feeling...and when I can go to the grocery store. I also lack a cooler, which could complicate things...

Today, though, I'm going to hit up Sonic after school. Then I'm going to jog on the treadmill. Hopefully by 6:00 or so I can just start chillaxing. It should be an excellent time!

Before I started law school, I was never one to break the rules. Since I've started my second quarter now, I'm taking incredible pleasure out of small, subversive acts...since I can't have fun any other way. *sigh, realizing that I need to study*

Anyway, tonight, in consideration of pizza and a movie, my professor moved the class to the evening. We saw a movie about the first year of law school and all the terrible things that will happen, yada, yada, yada. That's not the interesting part. The professor provided pizza, the local chapter of phi alpha delta provided cookies, and we brought our own drinks. But the really fun, i.e. "subversive," part is that I snuck in an alcoholic beverage. In a law school with a strong, religious affiliation!

It...was...invigorating! I disguised my beverage in a Taco Bueno cup so that it would just like I procured a normal fountain drink from a typically dry establishment. Mwah ha ha! I'm diabolically clever. No one would have figured it out either, except that I couldn't keep it a secret. It's no fun to battle the oppressive system without an accomplice...but that might have made an inchoate honor-code violation...ha ha ha...law jargon. *whew* That was a good laugh. :

Over the course of the movie, I ate the pizza and sipped on my vodka lemonade and left feeling pretty good, which is nice. Typically Mondays suck. Today wasn't so bad, though. Next Monday will probs be pretty lame. The Monday after that, though, is my birthday. And it's against the rules for your birthday date to suck. At that point, we'll be about halfway through the quarter, so the rest of the Mondays should be just peachy.

Anyway, I still have half a pitcher of lemonade left. I should probably have another small glass before I go to bed. It'll make the torts homework more enjoyable at least.

Cheers Xanga!

*DISCLAIMER* This is from my trip to Geneva earlier this month, it happened the weekend of the 14th.

Friday night, we headed to Megeve, which is a mountain resort village in France near the Swiss and Italian borders. It lies in the shadow of  mont blanc and the scenery is incredible! My brother-in-law's parents have a chalet in Megeve, which is where we spent the weekend.

Saturday, we went to a restaurant one of my brother-in-law's friends knew about called "D'ici au sommet" (from here to the summit), which sits near the top of a mountain and specializes in the mountain food of the region. It seems the gimmick there is that you can go for a hike and then stop by the restaurant once you've worked up an appetite. Or, you can eat first and then go for a hike to purge your caloric guilt.

At any rate, the restaurant was lovely. We sat at a long picnic table with sheepskins thrown over the seats. We could see mont blanc, the highest point in Europe, from the little picnic table where we ate. The view looked something like this:

The big white bulge in the middle there that is shrouded in clouds is mont blanc. There were several instances where it took all my powers of concentration to not burst into singing "The hills are Alive" from The Sound of Music. If only I could have kept Julie Andrews in the backseat of the little SUV we took...alas, it wasn't possible. I had to enjoy the mountainous vistas of the French alps with no audio support. *sigh* Life is rough.

At the restaurant, the menu looked like a lot, and I had planned just to get the main plate, but when it came time to order, I felt pressured into ordering an appetizer (which is an "entre'e" in French, fyi) too. The result was way too much food. I ordered a dish called "cochon au miel," which turned out to be a slow-cooked pork dish with all sorts of vegetables in it. It was really good, but it would have been better in the fall. For an appetizer I got a pizza. I thought that since the pizza was listed as an appetizer that it would be appetizer sized. It was NOT! I had to eat a full 10-inch pizza all by myself. I'm a tubby-wubby so I did, but I didn't feel good about it. In fact, I was almost too full to eat the chochon au miel. But I knocked that back okay too. J'ai vraiment trop mange'! There was no room left in belly for the crepes that were ordered for dessert. C'etait dommage.

On the way back from the restaurant we stopped by a super market to get groceries--just a few things to make a light dinner. I ended up not eating anything because I was still full from lunch. Instead, I just napped the afternoon away and into the night, reading Dracula on my phone. It was very restful.

Sunday morning we stopped at another mountain restaurant where the food was good (grilled goat cheese in gaspacho, a veal cutlet, risotto and mushrooms, and a plum crumble), but not incredibly noteworthy. The major drawback to eating out in France is that it's super expensive. Only three of us went and the bill was about 80 euros, which I think at the current exchange rate is more than $100...which is a lot for one meal.

After that, we ran by the chalet to make the beds and picked up the rest of the food we brought, and then we set out to return to Geneva. My brother-in-law had to fly out to China for work, so my sister and I prepared the food we had bough the day before. It was a chicken and prosciutto dish with pasta and a salad. When I went to wash the lettuce for the salad, I was shocked at how dirty it was. I knew about terroir, but that seems to have taken the idea a little too far. Aside from the dirt, there were gnat and fly bodies that arose from the lettuce. It grossed me out a little. Then I was glad that I had washed it.

We had a lovely dinner and then I promptly went to bed. I've been going to bed unusually for me the entire trip. It means I've been waking up early and needing a nap in the middle of the day, which I'm about to have to do...

...must resist...

...urge to...

...ZZZ...

(Note: I wrote this last Friday, but updated the time stamp)

It's my third day in scenic/historic/beautiful Geneva, Switzerland, and my first day to explore the city by myself. Like everyday, I woke up with a view of the sun rising over the mountains and shining playfully on the home where Voltaire lived and wrote part of Candide for about seven years in the second half of the eighteenth century.

I took the Number 11 bus to the U.N., but got there about 40 minutes before it opened. I tooled around the plaza, where there are fountains that rise in fall in impressive patterns. (Here's a video some guy on youtube made. The chair is a memorial to the abolition of land mines and there is a sign for it--so don't let this random stranger mislead you.)

     

Photos: (Lef) Me supporting the big chair with my finger. It's so strong! (Right) Sculpture across from the United Nations. The muzzle has been tied in a knot--a representation of peace.

Once passing through security and getting my temporary name badge, I took a guided tour of the palais des nations. I felt slightly cheated because I chose to do the English tour. If I were smarter, I would have asked how many people where in each group and then taken the Spanish tour that started only fifteen minutes later. The Spanish-language tour caught up with us and there were only six or so people in that group, compared to the 25 or so in mine.

Plus, some poor girl passed out in the middle of the tour, which created a series of awkward situations. Apparently, she has some condition that makes here prone to pass out, and that she was actually ready to go after she had a few moments to catch her breath...but she had a hard time convincing the UN staff. I felt really bad for her, not so much for having passed out, but for having to deal with all the aftermath. Although, it did add a certain color the tour.

The guided tour was cool just to see the building. The information basically repeated the idea that the United Nations (as well as the League of Nations) attempts to provide a forum for exchange for several sovereigns. It's an important concept, but one that is easily understood. The complex, though, is HUGE and le palais des nations is quite impressive. The tour guide explained in one corridor where various stone and architects came from. It truly is an international building in concept and actuality. Often, countries will pay to have a room renovated or updated. Spain had done two of the rooms we got to see. I like the idea that the building itself is a continuous collaboration of sovereign efforts.

 

Photo: a mural in one of the rooms in the palais des nations. It was painted by a Spanish artist.

After the UN, I walked to the jardin botanique, which is just down the street from the UN. It has an incredible collection of plants from all over the world. There's an exhibit on plants that people use for dyes, rope, and other handy products as well as small arrangements of plants that grow together in different parts of the world. They also had the coolest merry-go-round I'd ever seen in my life! It was two-stories and had a bunch of different types of rides: a dolphin pulling a buggy, a giant bird, an ostrich that runs. It was very whimsical, but also had an industrial and vintage feeling to it. Very neat.

I wandered around the garden for about an hour and a half before I started to feel tired and hungry. I got to the bus stop just in time. I gave the machine my coins and got my ticket just as the bus was pulling up. I hopped on and waited the fifteen minutes to make it back to the stop by the apartment.

Since I've been back here, I've made lunch and watched some TV. I wanted to go to at least one other museum today, but I'm very tired. I'll have to save them for next week. My sister and brother-in-law will be back in a few hours and then we're off to a chalet in the French alps to spend the weekend.

Yeah...I said chalet in the French alps.  Jealous?

I normally pride myself on my knowledge of and affection of my leafy, arborous neighbors. They clean the air and give shade on hot days (especially useful today, the hottest day we've had in eleven years!) They branch delightfully into branches and twigs, fractal echoes of woody elegance. Trees are great. In order of preference, I like cypress, maple, magnolia, and oak trees the best.

Today, however, was filled with tree rage.

First, I've been trying to paint a chest of drawers that I have with trees. I tried initially to use left over paint, but the colors were all to similar to each other and there wasn't enough contrast between the woody parts and the leafy parts of the trees. I bought some green and brown craft paint at the store, and while they looked better, they began to look too juvenile. Eventually, I just painted over the whole thing the original ivory color that was on it. I never really liked the trees. The trouble I underwent inspired tree rage.

Later, once I began cleaning up my plant mess, I heard a squeal of brakes and then a "thunk." I looked up in time to see a white truck crash into a tree across the street. I don't know why. He would have to steer almost directly off the road to hit the tree. It's likely that he also suffered tree rage.

Basically, today was a bad day to be a tree. (or even to be outside--IT WAS SO HOT!) I feel sorry for them. Maybe I'll try painting them on my dresser again. It'll be more tedious than I originally thought, but I think I can do it. It will involve lots of branches and stamps/stencils. Maybe I'll paint a big buzzard roosting in the tree too just to remind me of how much it almost killed me the first time.