woeful weather

I hate severe weather. In fact I have an intense fear of storms. I tell you this because for the second time this week a tornado warning has just been issued for my county. It looks like I’m going to spend another night cowering in my apartment watching storm coverage on television.

I tell you this because I haven’t finished writing today’s actual blog post and it looks like I might not have electricity for long. You can probably expect to have to wait until tomorrow morning for it. Sorry about that.

Be safe and have fun!

trip to the uk 2010 – part 2

During our exploration of the United Kingdom, two of my friends and I rode the train to Wales for a day in Cardiff. All three of us are huge Doctor Who fans so a trip to Cardiff was going to be a part of the trip since we started planning the whole thing. We walked around Cardiff Bay and nerded-out on a self-made walking tour of filming locations thanks so a map and a handheld GPS. Sometimes technology is awesome.

I really think that out of all the places we went on that vacation Cardiff was my favorite. Don’t get me wrong, London is amazing and Edinburgh was beautiful, but the homeyness of Cardiff made it my favorite. It had everything you could want and the people we met were so nice. I will definitely be back to spend more time in Wales someday.

Here’s my favorite photos from our day in Cardiff. I’m only including a couple so I don’t completely bore the non-nerds out there with my pictures from the Doctor Who exhibit and locations.

This is the water tower on Ronald Dahl Plass. It marked the home of Torchwood 3 in the first three seasons of the show. Nerdy, but also really simplistic and beautiful.

Here is the Wales Millennium Center on the Plass. The phrase on the outside says “In these stones horizons sing” in English and Welsh.

Okay, I lied. There will be one purely nerdy photo. This next one is The Shrine that fans created in response to the killing off of a character from Torchwood, the fabulous Ianto Jones. I was one of the fans upset by that event so I couldn’t come to Cardiff and not see it. This is how The Shrine looked on May 15, 2010.

That’s it for now. Until next time,

Have fun!

the stars, the moon, they have all been blown out

Music is amazing. It allows us to deal with and express our emotions. It motivates us. It can be a signpost by which we mark our lives. For me, music can make me remember something faster than any other type of cue. I live surrounded by music. I usually always have some on, especially if I’m cleaning or studying. I listen to my iPod virtually everyday on my walk to and from school. And if I’m not listening to music then I have some song stuck in my head from the last time I was. (Although if you asked my mother she would tell you the songs are usually stuck somewhere else since I have a tendency to dance slightly to it, including a memorable time when I finally realized a salesperson at K-mart had been watching me for some time.)

The title of this post came from my song of the moment, “Cosmic Love” by Florence and the Machine. I first heard it in a promo for one of my current favorite television shows (which deserves its own post in a few days). I heard it and a quick Google search told me the name. I loved it. I sought out other songs by Florence and the Machine and discovered I loved everything I found.

How in the world did I not know about this artist before now? I had no idea what I was missing out on.

I have since downloaded the deluxe edition of the album “Lungs”. The disc doesn’t come out until April 26 but it’s already available on iTunes. It’s definitely the best purchase I’ve made in some time. It’s a great value on amazing music. Download it. You won’t be disappointed. I have been listening to it almost constantly. It’s my current study music and my workout music. How many other albums can work for both of those? I’m listening to it while I type up this post too.

Take a few minutes and check out Florence and the Machine’s website to hear some of the songs on the album: http://florenceandthemachine.net/ You’ll see what I mean.

Have fun!

trip to the uk 2010 – part 1

Both summers during law school I have worked as an intern in the County Attorney’s office in my hometown, but last summer I took a vacation before my internship started. Me and three of my friends spent two weeks together exploring the United Kingdom. It was my first real vacation without at least one of my parents along. I’m going to split up my posts about my trip according to the place the photos were taken. This post is dedicated to our time in London on the trip. I’m obviously going to leave a lot of the details of the trip out, I don’t want to bore you (although the story of when I got locked in the shower at the hostel and had to be rescued is a funny one), so I’m just going to stick to the prettiest photos.

On our first day in London we rode the train out and explored Hampton Court, one of Henry VIII’s palaces.

I really loved all the stained glass in the palace.

This is my favorite photo I took of Big Ben. (I know Big Ben is actually the bell in the tower so technically the label isn’t correct but I’m going with it for simplicity sake.)

Westminster Abbey

We walked across the Millennium Bridge and then climbed up to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

So there’s the photo highlights of my adventure through London. As per my schedule the next post will be current material. Until next time,

Have fun!

something weird is going on

I’ve just noticed that for some reason draft versions of my last two posts went up instead of the finished versions. As soon as I can remember what the rest of the posts said, since the final versions seem to have been eaten by the internet, I’ll have corrected versions up. Stupid technology. Some days I really think it’s out to get me. The post that I’ve already schedule to go live later today seems fine so that will still happen as promised.

UPDATE: I have fixed the previous posts and I think I have figured out what happened to mess them up. Hopefully that won’t be an issue again.

best legal representation money can’t buy

I, like most all of my classmates, complain about law school a lot. It’s hard work with the light at the end of the tunnel right now being a crappy job market. That being said, there are many aspects of law school that make me glad I decided to come. I have made friendships that will last my whole life. I have learned interesting factoids that will surely serve me well in Trivial Pursuit. I have realized just how many times our lives are effected by the law every day. And, I have had the privilege of helping people who otherwise might have fallen through the cracks of the legal system.

I am currently finishing up my second semester as a Certified Legal Intern in the College of Law’s Legal Clinic. We handle civil matters for indigent clients. I have drafted a lot of documents this year but last Friday was my first actual court appearance representing a client. I’m going to err on the side of caution and not include any details about the case to make sure I preserve attorney-client privilege (even the stuff in the public record just in case) but I can say that I was arguing a Motion for Default Judgment and I won my motion.

I was pretty nervous about my appearance. In fact, I played a few games of solitaire on my iPod to get my mind off of it. But once I got up in front of the judge I felt fine and realized I had no reason to be nervous. My awesome professor had prepared me, I had the law on my side, and I really could do this.

Working in the Clinic has been the highlight of my time in law school. I have gotten so much satisfaction from being able to help people. I have gotten so much joy from the looks on their faces when they hand their problems off to me so they don’t have to worry about them anymore. No matter how much or how often I may complain about law school, moments like that make me glad I came.

Have fun!

the plan

So here’s the plan I’ve decided on to get this blog back on track. There is a lot of things going on currently in my life that I want to discuss, and there is a lot of things that have happened in the last two years that I want to get caught up on.  To accomplish both of these goals I have decided that I will alternate current events with past ones. This seems to be the easiest way to get it done. I thought about just doing the past until I got caught up but I realized that I wanted some content to be timely. Thus the plan was born. This short post is really just to explain what going on and I’m going to be structuring things for immediate future. I’m not sure how long it will take me to get to the point where every post is about current material but I wanted some kind of road map in place to get me there.

I’m going to write up the first post as soon as I put this one up so it should be up later today. I’m determined to make that happen. So, until then,

Have fun!

reentering the world

I realized the other day that I couldn’t remember the last time I updated this blog. Coming back to it and learning it had been over two years was a little shocking. I knew law school had eaten away at other parts of my life but it having taken me away from my writing, in pretty much all forms, for this long was surprising.

As the final semester of my law school career rapidly draws to a close, I have decided that it is time for me to re-engage the outside world. I have spent the last three years seeing primarily only people I go to school with, and while I love my friends I have met in law school, I realize I have let others fall to the wayside. I’m not okay with that. I have had to put hobbies near and dear to my heart on the back burner in favor of reading class law. I want to rediscover the things that make me who I am.

I realize that law school will still dominate my life for the near future; I have to deal with the prep course for the bar exam all summer. However, I have decided that I want to start the journey of reclaiming my time and my life. Getting this blog back up and running will be the first step. I plan to use my study breaks to write posts and get caught up. The first post will be up by the end of the day tomorrow; I am determined to make that happen. So, in the mean time,

Have fun!

best birthday present ever

Last week was my birthday.

I would have written about it then but I was a) too excited from my surprise (more on that further down) and b) too busy with law school work.

Since my birthday was in the middle of the week, my mother came to visit me the weekend before. We had a couple nice meals and did a little shopping. While she was here we also saw Jeff Dunham live. I am fascinated by how well he does ventriloquism and the seamlessness of the show was amazing. It’s been a while since something has made me laugh that hard.

On my actual birthday I had class. Three of the actually. Just before Constitutional law 1 started I happened to check my e-mail and got the best birthday present I ever could have hoped for.

My yearbook, the 2008 Kentuckian, was named a finalist for the Pacemaker. For those who don’t know, that is basically the equivalent to the Pulitzer for college journalism.

I could barely sit still in class I was so excited. As soon as the professor told us we could go I was telling everyone around me about the nomination. I had to explain it since several people thought I had a heart condition that needed a pacemaker.

The rest of the week went pretty well too. Overall, I don’t know how a birthday could top that one.

Here’s a link to the listed of Pacemaker finalists so you can see who all else is listed. The covers of all the yearbooks are there too. Mine is about halfway down the page.

http://studentpress.org/acp/winners/ypm08.html

Have fun!

thanks everyone

I just noticed I had past a milestone with the numbers of hits to this blog. I have officially broke 1,100 hits. I should have remarked on this when it reached 1,000 but better late than never.

So thanks everyone. I hope you will continue to enjoy this window into my little world!

Have fun!