A Working She-Hulk

I'm back for now. I was surprised that I got a couple of comments after the bar was over and I disappeared to Vietnam and then the working world. Thanks for reading people.

Lots of changes have occurred and I've been too busy to take some time to reflect and type out anything meaningful. Starting next week though, I'll be living by myself for the first time EVER. My parents and I bought a new house, and I am renting the old house from them for a bit. It'll be nice to get out under their wing again since they've been taking care of everything since I've started working: cooking, laundry, ironing, dishes, etc. Not like I love doing these things, but I miss being mistress of my own abode. I bet I'll be over their new place often for dinner, but now I'll have a bigger room for all my stuff...actually a whole house for now until I get roommates.

None of this could have happened except for the new job which I started in October. I found out I passed the Bar in November, and I took my oath so I'm officially an esquire now with a secretary (whom I share with 2 other lawyers). My office is pretty sweet since my 15th floor room overlooks a country club golf course. The choice view in the office is the ocean, but the golf course ain't half bad. I read agreements most of the time and revise and mark them up. The most stressful part is working with demanding and difficult people, but everyone has to deal with that at work. I worked 12 straight days until Friday since I had to give up last weekend and by Friday I was so tired I just wanted to go home, work out, sit in the sauna, and then sleep. Thank god for the gym and ballet or else I think I would go crazy. I've noticed that the more stressful my life is, the harder I hit the weights and the stronger I get. I'm so sore right now that raising my arms to take off my shirt is painful.


Went to ChezPei's wedding a few weeks ago which was delightful. She looked beautiful and the food was delicious as expected. She is the first of my college friends to get married and she pulled off quite a classy affair. There was a live jazz band that played standards soI got to dust off my dancing shoes and swing with Kirrus and cut a rug with KHsin. I miss being around my old college pals. I was sad to leave around 9:30 since I had work the next day and I was on a deadline. Darn work, but it's what pays the bills.

I have a couple of projects going on right now. One big one is set to close late March. Another small one is also set to close late March. Then I have another big one which I don't know the schedule for yet, but I'm sure I'll know tomorrow. I'm hoping that I can get away for my birthday and ask for a couple days off to go to New York in April. I'm sure I'm going to really need a break by then.

I got to catch "Juno" last weekend with the newly married ChezPei and Wonder Woman. Today I watched "There Will Be Blood" by myself. Both were very good and both are worth seeing in the theatre. "There Will Be Blood" was well executed and thoughtfully disturbing in the way long, dark novels are.

I've seen three movies recently all dealing with unexpected pregnancies and they've all been good. "Knocked Up" was probably the worst one critically because they way it glossed over the issues most modern working women would go through in dealing with an unplanned pregnancy, but it was the funniest. (I read in an article that even Katherine Heigl said the movie was sexist). I think "Bella" was the most touching and real (it is too bad it never gained enough popularity to be released more widely), and "Juno" was the one for teenagers with its smartass script.

Hope everyone had a good weekend, and if yours is still going on, enjoy it!

Over the Wall

This is my wall of law. I put together colorful flyers of the rules I would forget more often than not no matter how many times I review them. I taped them next to my desk so I could just read them when I'm daydreaming or not being productive. I have 3 full signs on professional responsibility. That class didn't cement anything down regarding specific ethical rules so I had to relearn them even after the MPRE. More than anything, writing rules in crayon and color pens made me think how I would organize the rules so that I would remember them. It also made it easier to read than those tedious black and white Bar/Bri outlines. Here's hoping the wall helped me a bit come Tuesday.

Good luck everyone.

Back Muskels

At the end of my bis/tris and legs workout and I'm on the ab ball doing some crunches. I notice a petite Asian lady walking towards my direction and she's looking at me. She comes forward and says, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to tell you I really admire your back. Could you tell me what you do? I don't lift free weights so I don't know what I should be doing."

That was a first. Totally random stranger coming up to me to ask for workout tips. I told her it probably had to do a lot with swimming, but I wanted to help her anyway. She said she had some wedding to go to in a few weeks and wanted to look good.

I showed her the lat pulldown. She had been doing a machine called the Lat Pull where each arm had a separate grip, but it wasn't doing much for her since she was doing 110 lbs. and it wasn't even hard. Obviously, the machine was doing too much of the work for her. I put her at 50 lbs. for the lat pulldown (keep wide grip and make sure the motion is up and down) and she was challenged.

Then I showed her the one-arm row. It was a first for her so there were a few form corrections (only use your back, not your bicep) but after some pointers she looked great.

Then, I told her to do the seated row, but she already knew that, so I didn't bother watching her form, but now that I think about it, maybe I should've.

That picture isn't the best since the top covers up the muscles, but it was the only one I had.

No Restraint

Rachel Palley Split Back Mini Dress

• Rachel Palley Cape Mini Dress

Loeffler Randall. I didn't get these flats, but the heels I did get were very similar in color and style.

• These were from the last shopbop order.

Coping with Cooking

Waiting is grating on my nerves and I just can't stand studying. I wake up now wishing I had already taken the exam. The restless energy needs something to do besides working out and dancing so I've been cooking more than usual. Baking is so easy since all one really needs are eggs, butter, flour, sometimes milk and vanilla extract and a few other handy ingredients.

Tuesday
1. Whole wheat penne with canned tomato sauce cooked with ground chicken, onion, marinated shrimp, portabello mushrooms, fresh basil (from my plant!), a bit of dried oregano, mushroom powder, and white wine (cubes frozen from old wine). I just put in whatever sounded good to me and it turned out wonderfully; even the roommate concurred.

2. Vanilla custard in 4 custard cups from Deborah Madison's cookbook.

Today

1. Nigella Lawson's corn bread


















2. Chocolate chip cookies from cookie dough I froze from a batch I made last week.



















It was so easy to make the two because the corn bread recipe was very simple and since the oven was already at 400 degrees for the cornbread, I just turned it 25 degrees lower to bake the cookies. Total baking time was about half an hour, and I made it to hip hop class on time.

Tomorrow's planned dinner
Crustless quiche with eggs, milk, ground chicken, portobello mushrooms, spinach, and parmesean cheese

I don't have anymore flour, or else I would bake a crust. I don't want to buy a pre-made one because I've had them before and they just don't do it for me.

Chugging Along

Not having access to the ARC has made going to the gym more of a hassle, but nothing will get in the way of my routine. I have to drive a little further to get to the nearest 24-hour fitness, but it's worth it since it's a 24Hr SPORT, meaning it comes with sauna, steam room, and jacuzzi. I found this was a good cure to my insomnia. After a hard workout and some time in the sauna and jacuzzi, I fell into bed pretty exhausted and more relaxed than the previous nights.

I'm getting freaked out now and then still, but I do know the material. I think a lot of it is to stop freaking out so that I can figure out the issues and write what I down what I know on paper. Sometimes in outlining I will just forget to write down basic application of facts like what kind of lease I'm dealing with in a landlord tenant question. I don't want to throw away easy points.











Wrist Strap Offer for Gym Rats
If anybody needs some new wrist straps for heavy weight lifting you might want to check out ProWrist Straps. They have an offer out right now where if you place any order and put in the code WRAPS when checking out you'll get 15% off the entire order plus a pair of free wrist straps ($12.95 - $17.95 value). These will be 12" wrist straps with 1.5" velcro and 1/4" thumb loops. They just upgraded their wrist straps to 2" velcro and 1/2" thumb loops so they want to get rid of their old models. You have to put in the comments box the type you want (design by name). The only bad part is that you do have to pay for shipping which I think is around $7.

I use them because once I started lifting heavier weights (20 lbs up) my wrists would be fatigued and I would be afraid to lift in case I injured them. These help stabilize the wrists so I don't have to worry.

Time for another workout to try to relax.

Panic

I'm getting scared, really scared that I might not pass. I got 60% on mixed subject questions today. augh, but 82% on the released evidence questions. Feeling better about evidence but still need to solidify the California distinctions.

Freakin' scared about performance test. Tomorrow I'm doing the Donovan v. Bargain Mart, Inc one to compare with Island Girl. It involves fact gathering which I need to improve.

Just frightened in general that I will not remember enough of the rules for all the other topics that I think I know well enough now but will blank on later.