Sweet dreams are made of these

Last night I had to fight an army composed of Australian Aborigines and Clowns. My subconscious makes me happy.

My Future?

So remember this crazy expensive law school thing I've been doing? Apparently someday all this is supposed to lead to some sort of a job. But I sort of thought I had time to figure all that out. Truth be told, that's a big reason why I went to law school. It seemed interesting sure, but I don't have an all consuming passion for law. I just took one look at the real world, freaked out, and decided to stall and go to law school in the hopes it would lead me on a nice, clear path and buy me a few years to figure everything out.

But uh, apparently we're supposed to start getting "legal experience" right away or no one will ever ever hire us. So I need to find something for the summer pretty much now. Oh boy. Oh, and I better choose right, cuz while some legal experience is always good, getting some in the field you actually want to spend the rest of your life in is even better. Apparently law isn't just some nice neat "Yay, I'm a lawyer, let me go forth and do all lawyery things!" kind of a deal. No, its all specialized. Like heart surgeon v. pediatrician specialized. The same base of knowledge, but you probably don't want a pediatrician doing an open heart bypass. And yes, people change specializations, especially after right after school, but I feel some major pressure to have a dang good idea of what I want to do. Right now.

Here's the problem: I have no idea what I want to do, and I'm starting to feel like the only one. Now that the search for summer jobs/opportunities to be slave labor (internships) has begun, I keep hearing all these crazy detailed career aspirations from everyone around me. One girl wants to work on child abuse cases, others have the perfect civil rights group or regulatory agency in mind, etc. Some even know exactly what firm they want to end up in.

You know what I want to do? Sue people. I've never really given much thought to the million different kinds of law. I just assumed I'd work in a nice medium sized general law firm where random people would come in and we'd help them get an injunction to make their neighbor trim his trees, solve a contract dispute, get damages for a run over cat or other little things like that. Nice normal cases with a little bit of research, a few days in court and then I get a nice paycheck and a nice life. Maybe once and a while we'd get some big case where we fight for the little guy against some big evil corporation. You know, the lawyer stuff you see on the movies and the tv machine.

I'm feeling quite lost here. Not only do I not know what I want to do, I don't even know what will be possible. I don't really know what each field entails, what it requires, or even where I would be able to find a job doing it. I don't know what I would be good at. How much would it suck to decide ok I really like x type of law, so I study for it, do internships and everything I need. And then end up living someplace where that area is impossible to be hired in, or something else happens where I just can't do it. What then?

Plus, I just have no idea where in the world I'm going to end up living. Part of that is just the fun challenge of being a two career family. Needing to take two peoples career aspirations in mind really complicates things. I know sometimes things just won't be in my favor - its more than fair, we're here in DC right now mostly for me. But I'm still a little nervous about what will happen when its Zach's turn. I've known pretty much since I first started dating Zach that he really wanted to live and study abroad someday. We talked about this a lot before we married, and while he knows it kind of freaks me out, we've more or less agreed that if a good opportunity for him comes up the odds are we'll go for it. So whatever I do really should have some international application. Which would be great if I was at all interested in international law or had any language skills or something. Even assuming we generally stay in the states, things are still complicated. Moving even between states is a pain for lawyers, as you have to pass a brand new bar exam everywhere. At the very least we'll probably be moving for his PHD, and from there who knows what college's will be hiring. I just don't know how everything will work out in the future or what I should do to be well prepared.

Future family stuff further complicates things. Right now the plan calls for us to start having kids within a few years after I graduate. Ideally we'll both be able to work part time for most of our adult lives and share in the childcare - which means a flexible job would be great. I'm just not sure what law fields are generally best for that. I keep hearing horror stories of 100 hour work weeks being the norm for lawyers, even more so for young lawyers trying to prove themselves. Even without kids I feel like that would kill me (not to mention my relationship with Zach). But with kids it reaches a whole new realm of impossibility. Oh, and somehow I have to pay back all my student loans, which will end up being about the cost of a house.

So all I have to do is find a field of law that interests me, I'll be good at, I can practice in a wide variety of geographic areas, that has generally flexible scheduling and will pay enough for me to pay back student loans and support a family. Oh and now would be nice.

I'm sure I'll just end up applying to lots of places, and see what happens. It would just be so much easier if I knew where I wanted to end up.

Sleeping Together

I have a tendency to get up at least once after I've gone to bed. Water, something really important that just has to be written down right now, whatever. Usually I'm fairly lucid, but even on my best nights I usually just grunt and stumble around to wherever I'm going, and then absentmindedly crawl back into my side of the bed.

One night I was particularly tired, so after my stumbling and moaning, I returned, felt around for where Zach was, hopped up onto my side, and promptly fell flat on the floor. Dear sweet Zach had moved over to my side.

Ours is a loving, healthy relationship.

Why I heart criminal law part 2

Ah, class definitely kept me awake this Monday. A small sampling of the awkward, somewhat inappropriate conversation

-We had to read a Cosmo article

-and discussed Cosmos's book of red hot sex

-A student sort of propositioned the professor "you may do the following to me..." (we were trying to define consent)

- Prof: "lets just assume that anytime anyone uses the word morality this semester it will be in air quotes"

- Student: "There will be less free love" Professor: "You mean they'll have to pay for it?"

-"More ask as you go instead of pay as you go" - discussing Antioch's sexual assault policy that requires explicit consent for each new uhm level of contact

- Student: "There should be a physical manifestation of consent - if you let it go in, its in!"

-Student: "Don't all men want sex all the time?"

-Class: "Help, I've been burgled!" (after learning that burglary and robbery are different)

-Professor reminding us how littel what we learn has any meaning in the real world: "but if you've been burglarized say you've been robbed, it s crime against person so they'll show up. Academically incorrect, but it gets results"

-Professor: "How many of you have registered for the selective service? let me turn the lights on so we can see who to send to jail"

IKEA Day 2: Electric Boogaloo

So ever since we've been married and moved into our overpriced box that was clearly designed for elves I've been making an attempt to the place we live somehow amazing. Unfortunately I mostly just read various design blogs which fill me with inspiration that dies quickly upon the remembrance that we have no 1)money, 2)space, 3) creativity. But fortunately some small things are within our grasp - including the various reasonably priced, Swedish styled goods of the classic IKEA! As you may remember IKEA day 1 was sadly decimated by heinous forces beyond our control. Let us not speak of it.

But Friday! was a glorious new day, ripe with possibilities. The class began in less than auspicious fashion as I attended not one but two preemptive makeup classes for criminal law - nothing like discussing the menus rea of rape to start your day on a cheery note. But hey, it was IKEA day, and nothing was going to ruin it! It helps that instead of paying attention in class I perused IKEA's website...

IKEA really is a magical place. We grabbed a quick bite of lunch, and I swear that the IKEA magic made my chicken and fries extra scrumptious. And then began the meandering and the buying. It was like being a kid in a toy store. Everything was so pretty and well designed. Plus there's something extra fun about walking around now with Zach because maybe if we're good boys and girls someday we can have a house with stuff in it!

Also, IKEA makes me want to have babies just a little bit. If Zach ever really wants to knock me up, all he would have to do is take me to IKEA, make awww noises with me and my birth control pills would be gone in 5 minutes tops. I'm sure the effects of IKEA would wear off eventually, but at that moment I would be powerless. Seriously, they have the cutest, funnest little kids section ever. I could make a glorious Dr. Suessian room populated by Mammut. Or a fun jungle room with these Lova leaves and various Barnslig animals everywhere! Perhaps a Ekorre rocking moose as a nod to Zach's Alaskan childhood? Or so many other bright and colorful and exciting possibilities! There's just so much and its just so cute! Really i just want all this cute stuff for myself, but its much more socially acceptable to just live vicariously through my imaginary children.

And now, partly because Swedish names are really fun to say and largley because I am still fairly excited, here is a sampling of what hath been procured: FLÄRKE, Syntes skiss bowls that will hopefully contain small amounts of my desk clutter, Diska and Plastis, a light for my Knubbig, a Kvart, various Kappas and Kardemummas so that Zach's plants no longer have to reside in tin cans, a Svepa to water said plants, an orchid I have named Mia, which shall live long in its Idyll - please send poor Mia good vibes as I'm fairly sure that I will probably kill it somehow, my beloved Alvine Flora that I have long lusted after, Superfin and Snartig, the Granat, and way too many candles and candle related paraphanallia including the Tindra Mys, Granum, Grodby, and way too many others. Of course, they are in good company as our apartment is already populated with 2 Kullens, a Not, Elly, Jall, Trojka, and the ever popular Lack.

You see, while IKEA may be a magical place of color and design and love, I'm not all together certain that it isn't also a slightly evil magic that disables common sense. After all, everything is soo pretty and ooo look how reasonably priced! We must purchase it, and that thing over there, and that too! Plus the store is huge and windy, and is scientifically designed to weaken your resolve. You know what we actually went there to get? Just a few nice, simple, cheap Flarke bookshelves so that Zach could have a desk again (I'm certain that his books get inspired by our rambunctiousness and reproduce when placed in close quarters on that desk). Yah... we spent about 5x what the cost of "just a few bookshelves" would be...

Not that I'm bad mouthing IKEA! I still happily long for the next time I can make pilgrimage to that giant blue sanctuary. And I'm still in the warm glowy phase that occurs after significant retail therapy has taken place. It's a nice place to be - I actually don't hate our apartment right now! Actually I'm fairly proud of us - we did spend more than intended (and I'm not even going to go into the subsequent costco trip - it was all food, and thus does not count. Right?) but it could have been oh so much more. While I continue to lust after the Expedit and the Hemnes and oh so much more, we managed to make it out with relatively small purchases, most of which serve a real purpose. So yay us, yay IKEA, and a big old yay for materialism!

(Oh, and the title? So in the 80's they made a horrible movie about break dancing. And then a sequel, which surpassed the originals level of horribleness, but did have an awesome name : Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. So now whenever I see Something 2 - I automatically add Electric Boogaloo. Which means I giggle at inappropriate times..ie. Godfather 2 - Electric Boogaloo.)

The Evil Winter Followed Me

As many of you know, during my BYU days I took great joy (or at least did it often enough that one would assume so) in complaining and/or mocking Utah in general and BYU in particular - yes they both have good qualities, and it was a good experience overall, blah blah, but that's not the point. Above all else I hated loathed and despised the snow that would fall like a plaugy pestilence and coat the world with hate and despair. It was just so very very cold and wet and slippery and slushy and was just generally a concoction created by Satan to make mortals long for the warmth of the underworld, or commit homicide for a pair of mittens, or at least swear a little. I swore I would never live in such a winterland massacre again.

Unfortunatley, in all my hatred of the snow I think I may have underestimated the power of the cold.

You see, winters in DC look beautiful. The sun is shining, it looks happy and warm - and best of all not even a hint of snow in sight. I was walking up to school today and well it was more than a little cold. And windy. Reaaallly windy. But Zach walked half the way with me, so I was distracted and fooled myself into thinking I had adjusted. My face still wanted to crawl off my skull and hide, but I assumed that was just because it wasn't covered. So I kept on walking and eventually reached my school.

Of course I was happy to get inside but it didn't seem like that big of a deal. About 5 minutes after sitting in a warm building something odd happened. My nice, covered legs starte dto do that tingly thing, like they had just woken up. My whole legs were shot through with horrible pins and needles, liek a thousand angry bees as they worked there way back into life. Yes, my freakin legs had actually turned numb from the cold and fallen asleep. I hate the snow, but it never turned my freakin legs numb! I swear, Utah winter followed me and just put on a disguise of bitter, biting cold to try and hide its evil.

Law School is making me a bad person

This morning in my public law class we were discussing problems with different ways of lawmaking, specifically the revolving door from regulatory agencies to private firms (ie. I work for the gov't and have lots of friends... why hello big private firm that tries to get the gov't to do things that help your clients! whats that you say? Because I know people I should work for you? And you'll pay me how much? Wahoo!) and how that makes things all corrupt and blurs lines and blah blah blah. I was right there, until he mentioned a friend of his that has gone between gov't and the private sector about 14 times. And now makes seven to eight MILLION dollars a year! Suddenly, I'm much more ok with it.

It's happening everybody. I'm becoming a bad lawyer person. Last semester I figured out how you represent bad people and causes - its all about faith in the system! Because if you beleive in the judicial system, why then it would be unfair for you not to do your best for the bad person because then you're not letting the system work! How dare you! You have to take the big paychecks and represent them or else you're failing the judicial system and then justice and freedom and America and puppies will all die! So come on! Take a giant paycheck - for the puppies.

Lie to me

I have a tendency to lie to myself. And sadly enough, I actually believe my filthy, filthy lies a significant chunk of the time.

For example, today I came back from class more than a little tired. So of course, I goofed off for an hour or so, but being the brave little toaster I am, I eventually decided to go and do my readings. On the bed. Where I always, always end up falling asleep.

But of course this time was different! Of course I wasn't going to sleep, I really just want to study. Its just more comfortable and soft over here. And stretching out all over the bed just helps me take notes better...somehow. Oh and the pillow? That's just for head support so I can read better.

And folks, I bought that hook, line and sinker. To my credit I read 3 pages until my eyelids were just so heavy, and gee maybe I'll put the book over here and zzzzzz

However, it was a nice nap, so maybe my self deception is some subconscious defense mechanism. Or maybe I'm just lazy. Hmm, I wonder if lying to yourself is a sin....

A boringish law school entry that will probably not interest most of you. Sorry.

The best thing I learned today:
So Article 5 of the Constitution covers how to amend the constitution and gives 2 things that can never ever be changed (outdated thing about the slave trade and equal amounts of senators per state, because I know you're so very very interested). However, Article 5 does not forbid the amendment of Article 5. So theoretically you could amend the constitution to rewrite article 5 and do all sorts of crazy things. Minnesota could have 5 senators! The possibilities are endless! Not that it would ever pass, but still...

Ah the founders. Very smart guys, overall the Constitution works great, but little loopholes like this are kind of fun reminders of their humanity and they fact that they were stuck in a little building in the middle of a scorching hot and hideously humid summer. Personally I imagine it being the last day, everything just about done, everyone is happy to get home and some rabble rowser (probably John Adams...and yes I'm basing this presumption entirely on 1776) points out a little bitty flaw like this. Which of course leads to much glaring, and Ben Franklin declaring "ah screw it, we're close enough!" to which everyone wisely assents and leaves.

Also strict constructionism is stupid. Even when all the founders were still alive they couldn't agree on what all the lovely words meant. Which of course means we law students have to have a 30 minute discussion on what "necessary" means. And in the end people pretty much did whatever they wanted to, regardless of what the document supposedly meant or even what they thought it meant (coughtMadisoncough). The Constitution is great and all, but since most people don't care enough to make a fuss, its pretty easy to do whatever you want. (That was directed at Mr. Executive Power means whatever I want it to Bush, with a special mention for Cheney, who can miraculously switch between part of the legislature and the executive at will!) (Ok the strict constructionism thing has some merit, and in moderation is useful and can keep things from being too arbitrary and blah blah blah. But overall? Stupid)

Oh and as far as other classes go - my property professor is very old school, mildly funny and absolutely terrifying. It's gonna be a fun semester. Yup.

Criminal Law

I am in love with my criminal law class. Any class that begins with a case regarding cannibalism can't be that boring. (For the record - killing and eating the weakest member of your crew while lost at sea - not ok) .

But the best part of the class? Professor Robbins. First of all, he wears a bowtie, which automatically gives a fun, professory vibe. 10 points for that.

Secondly, he's genuinely funny. Not funny in the way many professors are, where anything they say that is remotely funny gets uproarious laughter, not because its really funny, but because its so startling to hear anything resembling a real live joke nestled into a dry 2 hour lecture that we can't help to laugh. And of course lets not forget that at least 1/3 law students are obnoxious suckups. I really do like most of my classmates that I've had a real life conversation with, but there are others who I deeply desire to stab with fork everytime they open their mouths and spew forth some asinine grab grubbing statement. And while doing so would have a fun irony in class on criminal law, thanks to my $40,000 legal education I also know that doing so would be wrong. But I digress.

Thirdly, this class actually has great potential to be genuinely interesting and though provoking - not just memorization of a million silly rules (ahem, civil procedure, I'm looking at you). He repeatedly pointed out that this was a class where the goal was to think! not mindlessly transcribe. No easy answers, just lots of complicated interesting questions about where to draw the line and justice and other good deep sounding things. He also wants us to have more of a seminarish atmosphere in class, which has potential to be hideous in a class of 101, but he seems good at leading class discussion, so I will maintain high hopes. Ah real discussion of complicated issues. Love.

Oh, I almost forgot reason number four - one of the main reasons he choose our textbook was because it gives gender and crime a serious treatment. And the feminist me rejoices!

On the less than good side of life, I still don't have my grades. How am I supposed to know if I can continue to survive as a happy slacker or if I need to give being a good student a try if I don't have my grades!

Polar Bear

When Zach and I were first married (all of five months ago) he told me that in Alaska (where he grew up) the polar bears wcover their nose with their paw so they can blend into the snow and sneak up on their unsuspecting prey. To this day I think he's full of it. However, now Zach and I will frequently cover our noses and giggle as the other person looks around anxiously going "oh no! where did Genavee go? I can't see her anywhere!" We showed this to my four year old sister over Christmas, and she loved it. Which just proves that the maturity level in this marriage is. But hey, we have fun.

On a slightly related note - polar bears are adorable. As proof I offer an adorable slideshow of a polar bear playing with dogs.

Our Christmas Tree

I know that it is quite past Christmas, but I still want to share our dinky tree that I absolutely love.


We weren't planning on getting a tree as we were going to Oregon for Christmas, but Zach's parents sent up a . It was only up for a few days before we left, but every time I would see it I would get all smiley, turn to Zach and inform him that it was Christmas. He would occasionally just look at me as if I was crazy, but would usually get all excited and happy too. Very fun. And even now that Christmas is done, I still love the little empty tree. I know that eventually having a Christmas tree up will start to seem a little sad, but for now I plan to keep it forever. It's green, it has pretty lights, it can never die, and it makes me happy dangit.

I'm also rather fond of all of our ornaments. First we have the two that came with the tree. My favorite of the two is the hand painted dove flying over a town. There's also this cool angel, but apparently I subconciously dislike it and forgot to photograph it.




Secondly, we have the consolation penguins. You see while I was back home I was intent on reclaiming my Christmas sled ornament. It was one of my first Christmas ornaments, I've had it since I was a baby, and oh I love it. Its this cute little white sled, with a girl in a red hood on it and a little tiny Christmas tree. Of course, this year the sled was no where to be found. So Mom felt bad for me, and instead I have consolation penguins. Still very cute, and they are some of my favorite childhood ornaments, but I'm still determined to find that sled (I am also firmly decided that it is not lost, just misplaced).

I also hit up the after Christmas clearance and grabbed two more lovelies. I would have gotten more, but as I shopped online my shopping cart quickly had over $100 of ornaments, and that's just crazy. So I ended up with two wonderful, reasonably priced things to add to our collection. I'm actually kind of excited to slowly but surely build up our Christmas decorations. As I said, they really do add a nice feel around the holidays. Plus, I'm hoping that if we just add a few each year they can each have some sort of a story or a memory attached to them. The first ornament that made the cut this year is a lovely silver reindeer purchased via giftcard at pottery barn - largely because there isn't much else you can afford from there with a $25 gift card, but mostly because I love its clean, classic look. That and it looks like it's happily prnacing along. Its a joyful, silver reindeer.
My personal favorite though is the Our First Christmas Heart. Very pretty, very simple and classic, but most of all I like having little reminders of this first year, this first Christmas with Zach. I love the tree overall, but this little heart has a special place in my, well, heart. (Cue sappy music)

Anti-Baby

Which is more terrifying?

A) Being eaten alive by crocodiles
B) Darth Vader before he puts on his helmet
C) Sarah Palin as president (Insert scary liberal here if you so choose, this is a bipartisan fear list)
D) A Baby

Answer: D) A Baby

There is nothing more terrifying than a baby. Well, except snakes. To Satan I say kudos, you made an excellent choice of horrifying animals to possess. But back to babies.

You see, at least once a month I am deathly afraid that I have a parasitic being growing inside of me. Once I have reached this conclusion, anything and everything around me supports it. Do I smell something weird? I must be pregnant and now possess superior senses of smell. Am I in any way shape or form nauseous? Pregnant. Do I want a pickle? Well, you get the idea. Inevitably I am proven wrong right before I decide to go buy a pregnancy test, but I spend at least two days a month in abject terror.

Now lets keep things straight, I do not hate babies. I wish no ill will towards them. Indeed the ones that smile and giggle and only vaguely resemble Winston Churchill are rather cute. I'm just scared to death of them. And I have reasons. Very, very good reasons.

1) The soft spot. Babies come with a self destruct button! And its not hidden, oh no, its on their head! Their very accessible, easy to accidentally touch and then kill them head!
2) Things frequently spew out of them.
3) Before there can be a baby there must be pregnancy. Which so does not look like fun.
4) Birth. This should be fairly self explanatory.
5) Again with the easily accidentally killable. I saw an episode of Bones once where a woman had PPD and shook her baby for just a second, which killed him. So she then killed her pregnant friend, stole her friends unborn child and raised him as her own. This so does not sound good.
6) There's always the chance of Rosemary's baby. Not a good chance, but still.
7) Babies require a huge amount of change and care and oh my oh my are they vulnerable. And guess what? That's all on you. FOREVER

So I suppose to be fair, I'm not scared of all babies, just babies that would grow inside of me and then be completely dependent on me for a really long time. Bottom line, pregnancy is scary, birth is scary, and babies oh goodness babies are self destruct machines designed to drive you insane with fear.

Of course there are exceptions to this baby fear. While Zach and I were flying back to Oregon I saw the cutest baby I have ever seen. It had these huge dark eyes, this cute bright pink jumper and it kept laughing and playing, and crawling up to people and was just the sweetest thing. Had we not been so tired and lacking in privacy I would have been inclined to try to make me one of those right there. As it was all I could do was to wave and make awww noises. I considered trying to take a picture of that sweet little girl, but I couldn't figure out a non creepy way to do so. Occasionally when I start to feel all baby sacred I'll go online and look at all the adorable baby stuff out there. This usually backfires as I am quickly reminded that babies cost a small fortune and apparently need everything and I would be responsible for all that and oh boy. And then I am right back to where I started. I'm sure someday I'll grow up and be ready and face this fear and go on to have an amazing adventure with the love and the cute little socks and stuff. But right now I am so very, very not ready. And so babies remain terrifying. (But not more terrifying than snakes).

(A note to all mothers/fathers and the maternally/paternally inclined. I'm sure your babies are wonderful, and you love them a lot and that you and they are generally awesome. That's wonderful, it really is. I'm still sacred silly.)

The Year in Review

January: After four months at great internship in DC through the fall, I went back to Provo and my Zach. Merriment ensued, at least until classes started.

February: Zach and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary and headed out to the Utah Symphony.

March: Engagement!

Zach proposed on March 8, 2008. Because what better day to propose to your feminist girlfriend is there than International Womens Day?

Zach came over that morning with roses and flowers for me and my roomies in celebration of International Womens Day. Plus currying goodwill with your girlfriend and her roommates through chocolate and flowers is never a bad idea. We the headed out to walk around Provo Canyon as it was Provo, UT in the winter, and there just aren't that many pretty spots around.

We walked around for a while, just generally enjoying the day/me wondering if my suspicions were correct/Zach looking for a nice spot. After a while we headed back towards the car, and paused for a bit in a secluded grove of trees over by the river. And then Zach got down on one knee, and I'm sure you can figure out the rest.

I never actually said yes. But my "of course' along with an enthusiastic hug certainly got the point across. Well, I also may have said that if he was kidding I'd "rip his spine out', but thats hardly the point. Whatever was said, it was a good happy day. We were somewhat giddy for the next while as we shared the news and looked forward to our future together.

April: Graduation - during which we pay entirely too much for ugly black robes, received a blank diploma holder, listened to boring speeches in a crowded arena, and realized we were one scary step closer to adulthood

May-July: I went back to Oregon to work, plan a wedding, and save money by mooching off of my parents for a few months. Zach had the same idea, but his parents are in Oklahoma, so we were forced to renew our well developed coping methods for yet another stint of long distance relationshipness. On the plus side, my odds of remaining a virgin until we got married skyrocketed.

In non-Zach related news, I turned 21 and enjoyed the drinking of imaginary rum during a weekend excursion to Seattle with my Dad.



August: The Wedding! Far to much to cover in this little blurb, instead I shall give you a few pictures


The Honeymoon - during which we escaped to the coast and I began my habit of stealing Zach's food by eating almost all of his delicious halibut.



DC - After the honeymoon was over Zach and I hopped aboard a red-eye flight, arrived in DC and jetted off to our new apartment, where we procceded to sign important legal documents in order to get the keys to our apartment so we could collapse. As much fun as it was to live in an empty apartment with only an airmattres and a few containers of yogurt, we were quite overjoyed when Zach's wonderful parents arrived with a U-haul full of furniture and other such niceties. A few shopping trips to Costco, IKEA and Bed, Bath and Beyond latter we had a full apartment and were ready to start a new adventure in a new city.



September - Law school = Hell. The first month, nay, the first semester of law school was hideously difficult for me, especially as I have yet to develop a work ethic. Law school doesn't really seem like any other type of schooling I had done before, it's its own crazy little world. A crazy little world full of huge reading assignments, huge class sizes, and a huge impact on your future all decided by four hour finals. Granted, now that I marginally understand what is going on and have met some fun people, I'm more optimistic for the future. But still, I wouldn't recomend it.

October - This is all we ever do

....ok not entirely accurate, but we stayed pretty busy in our attempts to be good little students.
November: More with the studying, but we also took some time off to have a lovely Thanksgiving feast and explore a few of the museums and other such lovelies our city has to offer.


December: I refuse to speak of finals, which brings us to Christmas! Zach and I were lucky enough to be able to head over to Oregon for Christmas break. Amazingly, we were completely undelayed by any weather problems. Well, at least until we got there. I still have no idea why, but it took almost three hours for us to get our bags - we didn't leave the airport until almost 4am. Needless to say, after having been awake for 24 hours, Zach and I slept like rocks almost the rest of the day.

The first week of our vacation carried on that restful feeling. Oregon had the audacity to be covered in snow, so we spent most of our first week stuck in my Dad's house. By the second week the snow had vacated and Zach's family had come up, so w were able to enjoy Portland a bit more. Alas, I was too busy to take pictures of any of the festivities.

And that my friends, was 2008.

Things I Don't Understand About the Adult World: How Enterprise killed IKEA day

People keep telling me that I'm an adult now, which means I occasionally have to resist the urge to stick my tongue out at them and run away. Because as I am repeatedly made aware of, being and adult is weird and scary, and contains many unwritten rules that apparently everyone except me is aware of.

The most recent example of this is the story of how the car rental place killed IKEA day. Today was supposed to be a magical day. Let me start at the beginning, it usually works best that way. As part of our pilgrimage back to Oregon, we had visited Powells bookstore, a magical place full of every cheap used book that ever was, is or could be. And thanks to Zach's parents we each had sizable gift cards. I'm really glad we packed an extra bag, otherwise I'm not sure how we would have managed to bring all of our new literary treasures back home with us. However, once we arrived in our tiny tiny apartment, we realized that getting the books back was not our only problem. Our bookcases were already stuffed to the gills; we had no place to put them.

Fortunately, Zach and I had been initiated into the ways of obtaining cheap furniture when we first moved out here, so Zach suggested we head out the IKEA to get a new bookshelf or two. (Ah the FLÄRKE, $20 bookshelf extraordinaire). I also had less practical visions of running around the store basking in the reasonably priced loveliness, mispronouncing fun swedish words and spending far too much $ on frivolous things like throw pillows, vases, drapes and other cheap, fun things that I was sure would turn our tiny studio into a sleekly designed paradise.
However, in order to save money so that we can afford things like IKEA day, Zach and I have no car in DC. Public transit works great for most things, but it cannot and willnot bring us to IKEA, not to mention bringing anything back with us would be a huge pain. And we could not go to IKEA and not bring anything back. So it became necessary for us to procure a car for the day.

We went about doing so quite intelligently. We examined the pros and cons of Zipcar, carefully analyzed the prices of various car rental places and the made a savvy reservation with Enterprise that even used our Costco discount. And so, maps to IKEA and car reservation in hand we trekked out the the rental place this morning (we did not savilly request to have them pick us up). It was a little bit of a bus ride and much more of a walk to the rental place, but we were excited for IKEA day, so it didn't really matter.

We finally get to the place, which was fairly hidden. Our reservation is there, everything looks good. The ask for a drivers licence and a credit card. So we hand them Zach's license and my credit card, since Zach only has a debit. Apparently this is less good. For some reason that they never understood the name on the license and on the credit card have to be the same. Because horrible things that I don't understand would happen if they had payment for the car in someone else's name. But we still have Zach's debit card, that should work, right? Yes! A debit card can work.... so long as you have a pay stub or a utility bill with your address on it. Because of course who leaves home without a pay stub and a utility bill? Needless to say, IKEA day died a horrible death. I know they have to prevent theft and crap like that, but so long as they have a valid credit card, I really don't understand the problem. I also don't understand why none of this info is nice and clear on the reservation page. Oh, because all real adults intuitively know things like this. Oh well, I'm still pissed about IKEA day being slaughtered and don't really care how logical their reasoning was.

Now I am sure that all real adults are sagely nodding their heads at this stupid policy, which somehow makes sense to them. I have one thing to say to them:
Adult world is stupid.