After this update, I'd imagine updates won't be every day anymore--after the first day of classes the level of interesting in the post drops a bit and likely will be repetitive (sample: wake up, go to classes, study, go home) and not all that interesting. :-)

( first day of school )

When I started to transcribe this morning's first journal entry I realized I was quite crank and whiny in it, it might have been the lack of sleep (I didn't get to sleep until 4am even though I went to bed a 9pm); the oversleeping (I woke up at 8:54 when I was supposed to leave the hotel at 9:00am); or the lack of control on a tour, but I'm editing those entries and then jumping in when I was in a better mood.

( So in short, I made it to the bus in time, I was tired, and the first stop was very awkward and had no free time. It got better with the next stop though.... )

Hello All,

This trip I brought a notebook with me and have been writing throughout the day. So I present to you a series of dispatches to give you my full Irish experience.

( 30 June )

This probably seems small but for the first time since the axis of evil party I actually cooked today!

I could kind of feeling coming. After all, I made waffles (from leftover bisquick) earlier this week and I made eggs last week. But pretty much since the end of school I've been foraging through a combination of food you can cook in the microwave (or shortening cooking by doing it in the microwave), sandwiches, and cereal and takeout chinese.

In addition to the fact that I missed cooking, I'm excited because I (1) wanted to cook something and (2) knew what I wanted to eat (instead of looking at my cupboards and saying what *can* I make).

It wasn't a glorious return to form, but I made a pasta with spicy tomato sauce and garlic chicken for breakfast (I'm cleaning out my refrigerator before I leave for five weeks and I had a frozen chicken breast and frozen bag of cherry tomatoes) and I just finished cooking what can charitably be called a Mexican casserole (arborio rice, enchilada sauce, garlic, corn, hamburger, spices, etc.).

Anyway, the long and short of it is that I'm excited because it appears my spirit/mind/whatever is emerging from the post 1L year funk I've been all summer.

I just wanted to take the time to welcome mwgu to LJ! (spirallingoasis, kazeno_taka it's Michael (from Rocky)).

Also, I desperately want to watch Epitaph 1 from Dollhouse--but I won't be at ComicCon. Guess I'll just have to wait for the dvd release. (Also, things I want to watch..season 2 of bbt why isn't it on iTunes yet!)

Anyway, in semi exciting news, today is my last day of classes for first session. Software Licensing was really fun! All I have now is a paper to write and a K to revise. After that it's packing, packing, packing for Ireland.

On the ireland note, I'm a bit nervous because though I've booked a hotel in Dublin (and Cork where classes are), I haven't exactly planned what I'm doing each day...

Also, I appear to have lost my camera battery charger (which would be the 2nd or 3rd time I've lost it).

Hello! So, I finally broke down and ordered a new laptop...which means I need a new name.

Anybody have suggestions on poisonous flowers or flowering herbs?

p.s. names that have already been used include:

aconite
oleander
jessamine
foxglove
hensbane
and baneberry
(and quicksilver, but that doesn't count)

In other news, now that classes have started again I have structure in my life and am much happier than I was. Also, I have a new research topic which always makes me happy. (We have a 15+ page paper due in my Counterfeit Products and the Law course)

Today is day two after the last final. I have absolutely done nothing useful this weekend. Friday, after the con law final, a few fellow 1Ls and I went to lunch at a resturant that I had been meaning to try (crab cakes where wonderful!), then I helped out at the end of school barbeque (I served the beer--it was the first time I had ever served from a keg!) and then ended the night at a winetasting party which was lovely!

Yesterday morning I slept in until the very late hour of 7:30am. My master plan including me cleaning my room--i went to the 10:45 showing of star trek instead. In fact, I've seen 4 movies (okay 3 since I saw star trek twice) this weekebnd. I can feel muself being just about fed up with doing nothing and plan on starting being productive tomorrow.

Plus, I'm getting my baby jessamine fixed tomorrow!

I'm emerging briefly back on lj to say that I've made it to the 50% point of finals! Sales and Fundamentals of IP are done. All that remains is property (next tuesday) and con law (eek! next friday).

I'm focusing on property today (and most of the rest of the weekend) and then will throw myself into con law. Property I'm looking forward to...con law not so much.

I'll think about the rest of it all after that.

Hope things are well with all of you!

So, today I head into a lecture (put on by the Federalist Society--they had free burritos!) not exactly sure what the topic is about just that it's something about copyright and the internet.

The lecturer starts talking and it turns out it is all about the legality of fair use in regards to fanfiction (slash in particular). It took a bit of an effort to keep my "this is a serious lecture" face on after that.

That being said...the lecture was immensely interesting! (Even if I did almost giggle as he tried to describe what exactly slash was).

In other news, tomorrow is the last day of classes (eek!) and I have my first final next tuesday (double eek!). I expect to spend the next two weeks studying with occasional breaks for takeout food. If I seem unresponsive--I'm not ignoring you, I'm just sticking to my books.

So right as I was getting my last late review in on the law review late late sunday night I spilled a ridiculous amount of coffee on my laptop. It is dead dead dead. I'm hoping it will dry out, but if I seem out of communication that's why.

In other news, my birthday was wonderful! And I gave into the four year running argument with myself and got a blackberrym. I already love it and I've been in possesion for less than 24 hours.

Also, I'm going to Chicago at the end of july for a job fair. Any suggestions on things to do?

In short, I'm feeling much better!

So, as I sit at home, I realize that my last emotion and drama filled post was, while likely true, also influenced by the fact that I was tired and stressed. I'll try to avoid stress posts in the future.

I'm at home this weekend (which is kind of hilarious because (a) I NEVER went home this much in college and (b) I NEVER brought my laundry home. But now every other month it seems I head home and bring my laundry with me because being at home means I'm not a school which means I'm near a washing machine to actually do my laundry). It's my stepmother's 60th birthday weekend.

Last night we had a nice dinner at home with pie that she brought back from Ogunquit (where she had been with her friends). Today I made breakfast and lunch for 8 while working on my sales homework. They all are out at an art exhibition today while I am home cleaning up and working on homework. Tonight we are going to a restaurant in Montpelier for the "official" birthday dinner.

Oh! And I make cake this morning (a double chocolate pound cake). I got to bust out the kitchen aid stand mixer--this always makes me happy.

Hope all is well with all of you!

It's been a while since I posted, and I need to post a full write up of iceland (though if you are curious check out spirallingoasis's series on the trip). But before I get to that I just thought I'd check in.

The album with some pictures gives a pictorial overview. And let's just say I can understand why people who go there never want to leave. It's all together gorgeous, the people are all together lovely, and there is the all together amazing ocean.

Highlights included:

• spending time with one of my old friends which allows a different level of conversation and comfort. I think I might be starting to understand why people say old friends are so precious (there is something nice about having someone who already knows a large chunk of our faults and likes you anyway!)
• The wind, the ocean, the sky
• The food was amazing! Iceland may only have 300,000 people, but the food was great. While there I had horse, whale and puffin! (as well as delicious shrimp, cod, prawns, lamb and beef).
• I got to walk on a glacier!
• And ride a pony!
• And knit!

Seriously, it was like all of my loves combined into one place that made me feel more connected with myself. It's hard to explain but the beginning of this semester never really felt like the beginning, I felt more like I was just getting the work done and my head wasn't really "in the game" so to speak.

Turns out a week in iceland was exactly what I needed. I'm back in school, and yes I have a lot of homework and yes I have a midterm that's 40% of my sales grade tomorrow but it's okay and I'm ready to face the world and I'm feeling more like I can handle it all again.

(And when I do start to feel myself losing myself I look at the below picture and focus on that state of mind--at least so far it's worked!)

Good things!
In absolutely fantastic news, Jessamine has arrived and is the computer I'm writing this on right now. Yay for computers that work.

In other good news, I leave tomorrow for Iceland! And I have my passport and reservations.

And, after a late night my con law midterm outline is longer than the paper itself can be!

Things that make me slightly nervous
I haven't packed yet for Iceland and I have no clean laundry--I guess that is what tonight is for? (spirallingoasis we might have to find a laundromat in iceland).

Even after the 7 or so hours I spent on it yesterday, my con law midterm is not finished (it needs to be transformed from deep outline into polished final product).

Overall though, the good totally is winning! I hope all of you have wonderful days!

Oh! And it's snowing here so it's super pretty.

I'm very excited because next semester I'm going to be a Contracts TA! (note: this is more exciting then you might think...out of 160 students only 4 or 5 people end up being TAs for contracts).

This is exciting for several reasons:

• i adore contracts, especially those of the sealed persuasion
• i did really well in the class and it's nice to have confirmation of that
• it's kind of motivated me to be better this semester (which has sort of been whole pile of work where i'm always trying to keep my head above water)
• he's already told me how to improve my resume and it was just an interview for the position--which he said he was excited I did as well as I did
• he said he was excited to have me! as his TA! and he said he "would have been sad" if I turned him down
• plus, there is always the awesomeness of being that person that calms down stressed out 1Ls next semester!

Anyway, so you combine my lack of sleep (i got to sleep before a lot of my classmates, but later than I normally do) because a draft copy of our brief (that we will later use for oral arguments) was due and the fact that I'm hyper because of the awesome contracts TA'ing news AND add in a dash of caffeine and as you may imagine I'm SO excited! (and over using the ! point)

In other news, in LESS THAN A WEEK i'll be in iceland with spirallingoasis and I haven't even thought about it or packed yet. (don't worry I have reservations and the big stuff planned, just the little stuff I haven't planned yet).

My beautiful baby mac oleander is dead. It sputtered it's very last kernel panicked filled breath this morning--luckily the computer service guys at my school are absolutely amazing and will be able to get the files off of my computer once I have a computer to place them on again.

Right now I'm on my old ancient computer (aconite), which while slow and with an M key that requires a little bit (okay a lot) more force than necessary to work is still working--which makes aconite better than oleander in all of it's small screened glory.

So, continuing on my poisonous floral naming schema (which includes: aconite (old computer), oleander (new old computer), banesberry (old iPod), hensbane (new iPod) and I think it was wolfsbane (shuffle of doom)) what should my new computer be named?

Poll #1346684 what should I name my new computer?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Should I name my computer?

In other news, listening to my old iTunes library is refreshing. I really missed all my old music (I never transferred it over).

I'm feeling better--though I'm still going home for the weekend as my stepmother has promised to spoil me with baked brie! (I am easily brought sometimes.)

I need to remember what I did last semester. Not as in work, but as in how I worked.

I left school at 5pm yesterday and went home. I literally have no clue what I used to do. I can remember my first month of school (where I studied until 9pm every night) but I don't remember what my daily schedule was in October and November. And I was happy AND doing well in October and November (unlike September where I was overwhelmed and going kind of crazy). Hmm.

Anyway, this weekend is my reboot to productivity (and eat something completely irremediable).