Law Review

This writing is not going well. I am not a fan of affirmative action analysis. I'm liberal, and want to embrace affirmative action, but it's premised on such idiocy that I just can't do it. I can't. Sorry Trina Jones, but diversity based upon race or ethnicity alone is not a compelling state interest.

Pacing

Yesterday I finished reading 3 landmark Supreme Court cases and one Federal Circuit case that will be reviewed by the Supreme Court in the fall. I read some law review articles, a handful of briefs and the instructions for the Law Review Write-On Competition. Tonight, I've begun the task of writing. I hate it. Don't get me wrong, I love writing, but I just have too many thoughts flowing to eliminate it down to "concise" analysis. If you said in middle school or high school, hell maybe even at UGA, that my main problem with law school would be to eliminate what I have to say down to a certain page count, I'd tell you that you were crazy. Twelve pages in high school seemed like the end of the world. Now twelve pages...well, still seems like the end of the world, but for different reasons. God I really need to learn how to be shortwinded.

Anyways, one of the best things to do when you're trying to boil your ideas down to their bare essentials is to pace. I have a great apartment to pace. I have hardwood floors that are just slippery enough to be fun. I have a view of the city (but no longer one of the lake, thanks to the high rise going up next to me). I have a lot of floor space. I've been pacing. I should go to bed.

"It's a rough, wild world,
could you please chapperone?
It's a mind field drift,
So leave it the fuck alone."
-TV on the Radio Method

TV on the Radio

TV on the Radio's song "I Was a Lover" may the best breakup song of all time. It almost makes me want to be going through a breakup right now (not really). But if I was, I probably would listen to it at least 100 times this week. There's a note in it that Pitchfork talked about in awarding the album a 9.1 that they kept calling the "perfect" rift or note or chord or something. I was skeptical, but it is. It's one of those lame things. Like the note or song you want to be listening to at a tough time in your life. Or the song that you know you're going to be pumping through your brain for the next incredibly stressful week. It's that good people. It's so good.

"I was a lover, before this war."
-TV on the Radio I Was A Lover

A Critical Week

I feel that prior to this year, I only had a handful of days or weeks that were critical to my future and to my life. This year, I feel like they come rapid fire and they are all very, very stressful. The upcoming week is one example:

• Law Review Write-On Competition: I missed the Top 10% automatic invite by all of .016 percentage points. I really fucked myself first semester. I may be the last person out of the automatic invite, which blows. However, I'm looking at it like an opportunity. I probably have about a 30-40% chance of successfully writing on. If I can manage to do that, firms will see that I was outside the top 10% (but inside the top 15%) and know that the only way I got on was through my writing. Firms like good writers. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
• Interview: So I didn't get a very good job for the summer. Essentially, I'm working the same job I worked in high school but with much, much more expensive food. But this week I have an interview with a small, but pretty successful medical malpractice plaintiff's firm. Granted, I don't want to do medical malpractice or personal injury long term, but the place is run by young guys, who seem really cool. I'm sure it'd be a great experience.
• Studying for the patent bar: In lieu of working some kickass legal job, I've been studying for the Patent Bar. I've been told by attorneys at well respected patent boutiques, that this is a good thing for a young kid to do because it shows committment to the profession. The Patent Bar has one of the lowest passage rates of any standardized test in America. The California Bar has historically been pretty damn hard, but the Patent Bar rivals it. While lately it's been a bit higher, the late 1990's saw passage rates dip into the upper 30%, low 40%. Now that's pretty damn hard. It costs $450 to take the exam. The review course was $1800. No pressure or anything. The goal is to take it by August 3rd, so that when I interview with Kilpatrick, I can say I accomplished something this summer.
• Regular work: In addition to the extra crap, I still have to work four days this week.
• Quality time: I should probably at least get dinner in with Krista.

So yeah, this week is going to be rough. Fuck it, just got to put the head down and press on. Sleep is a luxury that I can't afford right now. One thing among many luxuries I can't afford.

"And there's a kid in there. He's big, he's dumb, and he's kind of scared. And..well, he's too old to be there. He's just looking for a ride."

Sunset Rubdown Stadiums and Shrines

Childhood Memory

So I have this childhood memory that has stuck with me for a long time. I was talking about childhood memories with some friends the other night, and I remembered this one today. I'm on the playground after a day field trip in kindergarten in Connecticut. One of my buddies and I ask some kid what his dad does for work. He says he's Secretary of State. We make fun of him and call his dad a secretary. Now, in retrospect, I'm sure this guys dad wasn't Secretary of State for the United States. In fact, I'm pretty sure I later found out from my parents that he was Secretary of State for the state of Connecticut. But still, I can remember this poor kid trying to explain it to us, and us just being ruthless. I'm sure his dad is some big shot politician, and we just called him a secretary over and over. Not that there's anything wrong with being a secretary or anything, but come on, we were five. Now, I'm not gonna sit here and say I'm sorry that I was so mean to the kid; I'm sure he got over it. I just think it's kind of funny. 5 year olds can be so mean.

It's the City

• Sunset on bricks when you're sitting on a train on the way out for the night.
• Coming around a corner on a warm night, finding a block where you can feel the wind of the lake, and realizing that this is the best weather ever.
• Traffic on lakeshore.
• The roof, again, the grilling.
• 4 different languages in one afternoon.
• The 29, 151, 65, 66 and the characters that ride them with me.
• The Blue Line very, very, very late at night.
• Blue collar people, white collar people.
• Hole in the wall restaurants.
• Tourists that don't know how to walk. For them: typically, you walk in the same way you drive-ON THE RIGHT SIDE. Also, try not to just stop with your 21 person group, in the middle of the sidewalk. This makes it very, very difficult to get around you.

The Train to Tibet

The Chinese government just recently completed one of the longest train lines in the entire world. From the brief article I read, it seems as though the train line goes pretty much all the way across China and brings access to certain parts of the country that are rarely, if ever, seen by the world outside China.

One of these places is the city of Lhasa. Lhasa has been extremely isolated, basically a thing of legend, for most of it's existence. It's altitude and surrounding turain has kept railroads from going there before. Apparently, that has all changed. The connection to Lhasa is being hailed by the Chinese government as beneficial to both the city natives and the outside world. Funny how the Chinese are now advertising tourism to this city of heralded culture. If by heralded you mean, lit on fire by Chinese government officials-but that's a different post. Essentially, what it boils down to is that us American's, Europeans, tourists from all over the world now have an easy way to get to the city that has been the subject of so many films and books, but never really explored much by Westerners. Additionally, the people of Lhasa will have a steady and reliable source of income from said tourism.

When I first heard this, I thought it was really, really cool. I looked it up online to see just how you could pull off such a trip, how much it would cost and all that. As I thought about it though, it kind of started to make me sad. The isolated world is disappearing. People can now visit these remote locations. Our mysterious places are no longer mysterious, they're well documented on the internet. Hell, if you're lucky you can probably find a live webcam shot of the place you're interested in right now. Even places that aren't even places at all-jungles, Antartica, deserted islands-places with no real attractions-even these places are being revealed. Eco tourism is praised as a motivating factor in convincing countries to preserve their rainforests. I understand that they are helping save these environments, but they're destroying some of the last bit of mystery left on this earth.

There's no such thing as an explorer anymore. Everything's been explored, the map has been filled in, you can get a satellite image of anywhere you want. Instead of exploring the earth, we explore via our intellect. We try new things in business, we make career changes, we explore other people via our relationships. We explore the boundaries of literature and film. We explore musically. Some people explore sexually. Every once in a while we do something really crazy, like take up-or better yet, start- a new religion, because we're one of those people whose exploration needs are only satisfied with experimenting spiritually. We do all sorts of things to explore. I think the problem for me though, is that none of this exploration is of anything really tangible. Us humans, we have this need, or desire, or instinct, or addiction for new things. We're constantly pushing the envelope. Problem is, there's nothing left that no one has seen. That kind of depresses me. It's almost like I want to leave right now to go find what little mystery is left in the world. Then again, loan officers would probably hunt me to the ends of the earth. Also, if this is what makes me "depressed," than life is going pretty well right now. Maybe I'll stick it out here in Chicago. Besides, I've heard the south side is pretty fucking mysterious.

"You are a waterfall, waiting inside a well,
You are a wrecking ball, before the building fell,
And very lightning rod, has got to watch the storm cloud come."
-Sunset Rubdown Us Ones In Between