Alarm clocks

I needed a new alarm clock.

The last time I bought an alarm clock was in late Jan/early Feb of 2005.* That alarm clock cost about 5.99 and did nothing but buzz at a set time.  The other alarm clock I've been using is, I'm pretty confident, more than 10 years old. I'm pretty sure I owned it in Longview.  Anyway, the 5.99 Walmart one crapped out a few weeks ago, and the one I bought from the Chinese 'everything' shop the other day turned out to not actually keep time--which would seem to be the basic requirement for an alarm clock.

So I went to Target to buy a new one and--lo and behold--oh the things alarm clocks do now!  Alarm clocks these days include features like:  automatic time-setting via . . . radio (?); most of them allow you to dock your iPod and wake up to it, and a few have a generic audio input--just in case I wanted to plug my computer up to my alarm clock; several project the time and/or date onto a wall or ceiling (freaky); some played CDs (so old-fashioned!).  

I think I must have spent at least 30 minutes staring at this array before deciding on the three** features I wanted, in priority:

(1) An alarm that automaticaly resets each day w/o my needing to turn it on (i've never had such a feature before, but cool!).

(2) Smallish size (all those features take up mucho room, and I have a small nightstand).

(3) Not-red LED.  I definitely prefer green or blue.

Anyway, I found a new alarm clock. It was decently cheap. On the downside, I visited target, which never never leads to anything good. Especially since I was in the electronics section. I totally want a Wireless-N router. And a Wii. And a printer . . . .

* Yes, there is a reason I know exactly when I purchased this alarm clock.  On a related note, I've noticed that one pleasant side effect of moving regularly is that it's easy for me to place the timing of events.  The other day someone said American Idol had been on for 10 years.  I pointed out that couldn't be true because I remember talking about it when it was a new thing in Maryland--so Winter/Spring of '04.

** There is actually feature (0)--that it plays radio. I've recently discovered that waking up to NPR is bad ass. It engages my mind in a way that is similar to talking to someone, which is useful for waking up. Also, the New York NPR station is *also* badass. Anyway, I didn't list this feature because there wasn't a single alarm clock that didn't have a radio.

Dismembered bodies

This morning I got a chance to read a Crime Stoppers flier posted in the Nostrand subway station where I catch the A train every morning.

It was a flier requesting information about a murder committed back in 2005, and the most interesting part is where it stated, "part of his dismembered body was recovered in a subway tunnel at the Nostrand Ave station."

Nothing like gruesome crime to start off a week.

When I first got to New College, in the first month, and quite possibly the first week, there was this afternoon. It actually could've very easily been an evening, and not an afternoon, actually, since it was August and it doesn't start getting dark that time of year until close to 9 p.m.

Anyway, Houston was playing his guitar. We were all sitting around in Third Court, outside of Anna and Elaina's room. I'm not entirely sure who 'we' were--I know it included Jake, presumably Anna and Elaina, since we were outside of their room, and I'm pretty sure my roommate Sarah and Will were there as well. An interesting collection of people, really. Anna and Elaina only made it a semester at New College. I don't know what happened to Houston--I don't remember seeing him past second year. Sarah dropped out a week into second year. In fact, Jake's the only one who graduated on time. I graduated a year late, and I think Will graduated after me. Point being, despite our hanging out on this particular afternoon/evening, we weren't actually friends--but we didn't know that yet.

Houston played a song by Third Eye Blind called "Motorcyle Drive-by." While I owned the CD it came off of (their self-titled debut album), I'd never really noticed the song until he played it. A little while later it became a favorite of mine, and today it's one of my all-time favorite songs, if not my absolute favorite. 

There's no real value to this entry; it was inspired by my desire to capture the moment. Lacking a photograph, I figured words were the next best option. 

I was smoking a clove cigarette while he played. I think Sarah bummed one, and Jake told her she looked too innocent to smoke, that it looked weird. I asked if I looked too innocent to smoke, too, and he scoffed at that idea. Apparently I lost my innocent look long before age 16.

Fastest way to get out of jury duty (outside of being an attorney/law student): state that you believe in the power of jury nullification. If you're lucky, they'll dismiss the entire panel with you.

Word of the day (from Justice Cardozo, via Corporations class): 
punctilio - a fine or petty point of conduct or procedure

Conductor: We're being held by supervision...we'll be moving shortly...
Driver (over loudspeaker as well): They need this train at Lefferts.
Conductor: What was that, partner?
Driver: They need this train at Lefferts.
Conductor: Copy that. Stand clear. 

Why they were communicating via loudspeaker, I couldn't tell you.

I just saw a moving truck parked on West 4th. The name of the moving company was "Schleppers." How awesome is that?

Well, in the hopes of blogging more--just for Berck--I installed Google's little Blogger dashboard widgit. It's really rather cute. So now I can blog from here.

I just got home from Florida, and did the very stupid thing of falling asleep around 2:30 for 6 hours. I've probably screwed myself for the rest of the week. Hopefully Benadryl or something will be able to knock me out around 1 or 2, or I'm going to be really suffering through my 7 hours of class tomorrow.

The most interesting thing I did while in Florida was run around Apopka doing errands. It actually *was* rather fun. I sort of felt like an alien, though--like i was out of place. I had to jump over bushes to walk between Walgreens and Albertsons--apparently I was supposed to drive. In Walgreens and Albertsons I kind of walked around, mesmorized at the sheer size and selection of the stores. I think the Apopka Walgreens is larger than my corner grocery store, and doesn't have that much worse of a grocery selection!

Alright, I have to go do tax, but more later...hopefully.

Street names and nursing homes

The street that I work has a four different names. 2 actual street address, find-it-on-Google-maps names and two "honorary" names. The two real names: Duane St. and Federal Plaza. The two fake names: Paul O'Dwyer way and also FBI Special Agent Someone-or-Other St. Doesn't it kind of take the honor out of having a street named after you if it's also named after someone else? It's bad enough that they don't actually rename the street--they just add a name that you need to have remarkable vision to notice and be able to read.

Amusingly, despite the fact that no one notices all of New York's "honorary" names for streets (of which there are many, since some of them appear to only cover a block or two), there has been a recent controversy over renaming a street in my neighborhood in Brooklyn. Go figure.

Moving on...

The last two weeks have been better at work. I am helping out an attorney who is working on a nursing home case, which is actually very interesting work. Unfortunately I spend a lot of time waiting around for her to tell me about what she wants to do next.

Basically, the State gov't (in this case, the NY Department of Health), inspects nursing homes on a regular basis. The surveyors issue something called a "Statement of Deficiencies" (if there are deficiencies) which identifies the scope and severity of each deficiency. Each level of scope/severity is assigned a letter. L is the worst--Widespread immediate jeopardy to resident health or safety, and A is the least serious--Isolated/No actual harm with potential for minimal harm. Sometimes (often) these nursing homes appeal the surveyor's findings and our imposition of remedies (such as monetary penalties, termination of the provider agreement, denial of payment for new admissions, etc.). When they do so, we represent Medicare at an administrative hearing.

Science and the person next to me

Something strange happened to me today. Well, not that strange, but at least notable.

I left for work around 45 minutes late today, after getting 3 hours of sleep last night and just dragging this morning. At either the Clinton-Washington or Lafayette stops, a girl sat next to me on the train. At some point I glanced up from my book (Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi) and did a double-take--I realized I knew this girl sitting next to me. She went to New College, and in fact, I'm pretty sure she started at the same time I did. I wanted to say her name was 'Kate.' One of the classic hippy-types that's almost extinct now.

Anyway, I kinda tried to get her attention, but she looked about as dead as I did. Later on I noticed her glancing at me in the "don't I know you" way...but I was too tired to come up with an appropriate way to address her. After all, her name might not be Kate. And holding a 20 minute conversation with her while half-asleep could very easily be brutal. So instead I just kept reading and never said anything to her. Oh well, it's not like we were friends.

This isn't the first time I've run into New College students in the middle of the City, but it is a bit weird when one unknowingly sits down next to you on a train!

In an unrelated tangent, I've been missing science. I'm not that great at science, and it can be a struggle for me to understand some concepts, but I miss spending time trying to wrap my mind around complex scientific concepts and theories. I've been reading these science articles in the New York Times. They've been making me long for my biochem book, and the computer programs used to model proteins. It was so cool learning science on that level, and now I'm reduced to reading pop science. I'm not even sure I could understand actual scientific articles now. I had a hard enough time understanding them when I was a science student.

Firm observations and the past few weeks

So, it turns out that I have nothing to do at work, for the fourth or fifth day (but not in a row). Lame. I'd write some about the interesting things I've done at my job, but...I can't. At least, not without passwording this blog. Maybe in very general topical terms, but that's it.

New York city is a different place in the summer. First of all, it's absolutely flooded with tourists, making it hard to walk. Second, there's free and cheap stuff going on all the time. Third, it just seems different to me because I'm working in a different neighborhood and not horribly stressed out. In fact, I'm not stressed at all. My grades are in, I got the schedule I wanted for next semester, and I've made a big dent on firm research. I have to narrow the 200+ firm list to 50 by the end of next week, but that's starting to feel doable. The massive spreadsheet is coming along, I tell ya.

Things I've learned since beginning my firm research:

- All big law firms have a "collegial" environment--whatever that means
- When the New York office is a branch office, it only does the most boring corporate work--think mergers and acquisitions, executive compensation, and complex financial transactions
- Most big law firms do very little plaintiff-side work because they represent so many Fortune 500 companies that it almost inevitably presents conflicts of interest
- The culture of each law firm varies by department, so reviews are useless
- Most health care work in New York involves representing the biggest pharmas around, meaning I'm well on my way to soul-selling
- "Complex product liability litigation" means defending huge product liability class actions
- "Employment law" means defending huge companies from employees that sue them and figuring out how to give massive amounts of compensation to CEOs and COOs
- Associates at all firms are unhappy about the sporadic work, unpredictable and long hours, and the bonuses (regardless of the method for rewarding them, and particularly where the method is unknown)
- Associates at all top firms think most partners are nice, most associates are friendly, and their law firm has more reasonable hours than all the other law firms

Other observations from recent weeks:

- When I'm sick and am dragging I still walk faster than the tourists
- I'm one or two science classes short of being qualified for the patent bar
- Men are more likely to be obsessive elevator button pushers. Why oh why do they feel the need to push the button for the floor when it's already lit up? I can't help but think this is something left over from the days of yelling "I want to push the button!" as little kids. Maybe they're making up for lost time.
- The Chicago El is so pleasant during the summer and so unpleasant during the winter. The Subway is so pleasant during the winter and so unpleasant during the summer. Getting stuck next to that sweaty guy just sucks.
- The guy who serves me my coffee at J&B coffee looks like Kal Penn.

Things I've done over the past few weeks:

- Go to the Met for the first time
- Tried to go to Opera in the Park
- Watched short films on the roof of a high school in the lower east side
- Went to the Coney Island Mermaid Parade
- Watched a lot of Braves games

Well, that's about it for now. I'll try to keep blogging if I'm going to keep not having work to do. Seems like a valid thing to do!

on life, but not profound, at all

The random philosophical-esque intro to last week's Grey's Anatomy happened to be about something that's been bugging me for months--the idea that not everyone is destined for greatness. In fact, most people aren't. But we assume we are.

Does everyone assume their life will work out great, or is just the lucky ones like me who grew up with no need unfulfilled and limitless encouragement? While it's great that I spent my entire life knowing that I could do whatever I wanted, I went through a bizarre panic a few months ago.

It finally hit me that my life isn't going to turn out how I want. That isn't to presume that it's going to turn out badly, or even that looking back from my deathbed I won't be happy with it. But it's not going to turn out how I want, looking forward, right now. It also won't turn out how I expect. And, even more disturbingly, there's a significant chance I won't be happy with how it turns out.

Maybe this sounds obvious to most people, but I found it rather shocking. It's also somewhat amusing that right now, while my life is more "on track" than ever before, I would be plagued by such thoughts. But, I think maybe that's it. Now that I'm here, thrilled that I'm at a great law school and feeling more privileged than ever before, I realize more than ever that life doesn't simple "work out." I think I've spent a lot of the past many years looking at life as reaching "life markers": turning 18, then 21, graduating college, etc. It seems like the further you go, the less clear the markers become. Where do I want to be in 5 years? It's no longer so simple. (Taking 7 years to graduate college gives you a long time with one goal, maybe that's why I'm a bit disoriented!)

Anyway, that's pretty much what I'm lying here thinking about. Life doesn't turn out how you want. Also, there's a hell of a lot of sadness and pain in life. I've spent most of my life being terrified of pain I haven't yet encountered, under the strange semi-karmic (long before I'd ever heard the word karma or it's incorrect usage) belief that I'm overdue for serious pain. Severe hurt or sadness or something. I'm still terrified of this. It's kind of like pitching a no-hitter. The further along the game goes, the more pressure is on the pitcher, and the more they think about not giving up a hit. It can become overwhelming. And the longer he goes without letting up a hit, the more painful he knows any hit will be. 5th inning hit is bad, but he knows an 8th inning hit will tear him up inside.

So far my no-hitter has been amazing, but giving up that first hit is going to be so painful...

hardly surreal

Sometimes my life seems surreal. Okay, so mostly when I'm drunk. Or, well, tipsy. I've always wanted to spell it 'typsy,' but I think that's wrong. That has something to do with when I first heard the word. Berck was telling me about Courtney getting drunk, and he told me Courtney said he was just 'typsy.' And that's how it was spelled in my mind...forever more.

Anyway, when I'm typsy, and sitting alone in the subway station, my life seems surreal. Tonight, around 2:00 a.m., I was sitting there listening to music and reading Faulkner. Faulkner is weird when I'm sober, but it's even weirder when I'm not. And music is cooler when you're not entirely sober.

Earlier, when I was waiting for a train on my way to Manhattan, there were (at least) 3 mice running around, in and out of this hole in the wall, right by me. Usually I see rats in the subway, and they're always in the tracks or otherwise far away, but these were three little mice, running around right under the bench. Once, in the same station (my station), I saw a big rat run out of the tunnels and stop right next to the this guy. He didn't respond, which I thought was very New York of him. Then, the rat started running back to the tunnels. The guy, who was like a foot away, suddenly noticed him and physically jumped. I was amused. This is why I love public transit. It involves the public. Despite my usual hatred for the public, I sometimes rather enjoy it...them...ugh, pronouns.

Our language has pronoun problems. When writing my memo (due at noon on Sunday--wtf?!?) I had problems with the antecedent/pronoun agreement for corporations and universities. "Baxter Corp. was prohibited from using ___ bone marrow separation devices." Should be its. But their sounds more natural. Berck says in Britain they would say "Baxter Corp. were prohibited from using their bone marrow separation devices." That makes more sense. (Btw, Baxter wasn't...CellPro was, due to a patent owned by JHU and licensed to Baxter.)

Does it make sense that we use federal money to buy AIDS drugs which were developed with federal money? Policies are whacked. It's just funny the different political circles around those two policies. Perhaps the result would be different if considered together, but I'm not sure. I'm probably not in any state to be discussing this...

Okay, I'm off to watch a bit of Ally and return to my mind, which I rather like.

legal absurdity

Okay, sometimes (often) lawsuits just reach a point of absurdity.

I'm currently reading a suit that arose out of the building of the Memphis City Hall in the 1960s. Apparently there was some sort of problem with the marble! So...

The supplier of the marble sued the subcontractor in charge of installing the marble, the general contractor, the City, their supplier, and the insurance company for the job

the subcontractor counter-sued the supplier, sued the general contractor, the insurance company, the city, AND the architect

the general contractor counter-sued the marble supplier and the subcontractor

Confused? Yeah, so am I. And the court allowed all of these claims to go forward in one action. so currently, the parties to the action are: the general contractor, the subcontractor, the insurance company, the city, the marble supplier, the marble supplier's supplier, and the architect--most of whom have all sued each other. Awesome.

Spam poetry

"Biracial is myself beyond family encounter it simply situation or.
Geekiness of argument damn obtaining in reader!"

"Bad advice provides a proof many."

"And I quite agree
Not being devoted we were innocent of all crime"

"The message has arrived-it is time to leave. The search has widened."

So the newest spam method is to load the front of an e-mail with nonsensical combinations of words that vaguely resemble english language, hence eluding spam filters. In fact, I've actually had a few of these make it through to my inbox, which is pretty rare.

I don't know why these nonsensical word combos amuse me so much, but they do. It's like a combination of magnetic poetry and ad-libs.

weekend/27 brevoort facts

When you go long enough without posting, it stops occuring to you to do so. Oh well. I think pretty soon I'm going to give up on the online journaling thing and return to writing in hand. I met this girl in a coffee shop last week, and we started talking about the perfect journal. It has to have perfectly spaced and printed lines, or no lines at all. It has to be spiral bound or have a really worn cover so that it can lay flat. There's other requirements too, but these are the most important. I think her boyfriend was laughing at the fact that she found someone who actually was interested in talking to her for 20 minutes about journal requirements.

I'm mostly just amused that I actually met a stranger that I had no connection to. How weird! These days I feel like I'm incapable of meeting and cultivating a relationship with anyone who's not in lawyering group 8--and I'm not even great at cultivating relationships with those peeps.

I was supposed to go to halloween party with Ames last night. I was actually pretty excited about it, but I woke up with a horrible pain in my neck and a sore throat. Chris, the third roommate as of late, informed me that that is exactly how his illness began. So, coming to the conclusion that the neck pain was more likely a virus than a football injury, I decided it would be a good idea to laze around all day. So I did. So no party for me.

Today I at least managed to leave the house to go to the store, so that was an accomplishment.

So, fun facts about where I live. My building was either built in 1927 or earlier. The first certificate of occupation I can find is from 1927, which looks to be from a new building, but I also found reference to a marraige license for a resident of this building in 1913. I suppose it's possible that there was a different building in 1913. But that's not the creepy part.

In 2000, there was a fire in this building, and a girl died. 17 people were also injured, and the owner of the building was accused of arson (although he was subsequently acquitted). I'm pretty sure that we're the first people to live in the building since said fire. Thankfully for my psyche, the girl died on the second floor, and I live on the first floor. I have to admit, searching for legislation related to a fire in my building is a whole helluva lot cooler than researching the possible consequences of being involved in a money laundering transaction.

thoughts

I apologize for not writing. If it makes you feel any better, I haven't really done anything else, either. I sorta miss the world. My lawyering group is a nice substitute for the world, but it's just not quite the same...

But I can't sleep yet, and no one wants to talk to me. So I remembered that I have a blog! Fabulous!

Way too many exclamation points.

I feel like I should write about what's going on in my life...but I'm fairly sick of talking about that. I also had the fantastic NYC stories I was going to tell. I remember the one--where I watched a guy get his duffle bag tossed in the subway tracks (and he was in serious danger of getting in shoved in front of a train himself)--but I don't remember what the other story is. Plus, I'm too lazy to actually tell that first story, as it's kinda of long. Well, actually, it's short, I just don't know how to tell a short story, so it'd be long.

I'm moving to Brooklyn. Probably on Saturday.

They make you do all this work at law school. It's rather annoying. And then I volunteer to do extra work outside of class, because I'm a dumbass. But, of course, I couldn't resist the extracurriculars--I never could.

I may have the best pass ratio of any receiver on our flag football team. No, really--I'm serious! It's around 66%.

I'm now on Season 2 of Battlestar Galactica, thanks to Ames' urging.

Perhaps I should get up and either have (a) ice cream (b) cheese and crackers (c) beer. Maybe all 3. Nah, I probably won't get up. If I get up, I'll be obliged to do something useful, and I don't want to do something useful.

I keep forgetting that today is Sunday. Or was, I guess. I left here at 11ish to go to a training at school that lasted until 3. I then spent the next 5.5 hours in the library or meeting with my group. I never think briefing cases takes long, but I guess it does.

continuously sore this week

So I haven't blogged as of late. Guess I've been a bit busy. In fact, I know I've been a bit busy. I'm so glad it's the weekend and I can attempt to catch up on stuff! Actually, I don't have class until 3:00 on Monday either, so I can use it as a catch-up day as well. In fact, I only have to get up at 9 am on Tuesday and Wednesday, so that ain't bad at all.

I'm writing this entry on my brand new MacBook! Okay, so technically it's not MINE...it's my new loaner. Which is a brand new black one...not shabby at all. Theoretically, I may receive mine one day. If not, I plan on keeping this one indefinitely ;) I was pretty shocked that they gave me a black one. I'm definitely going to miss the blackness when I get mine. I kept imagining it in black anyway, and had to remind myself that it's going to be white, because I couldn't justify spending $150 extra for a color.

Other than that, I don't have much to say. I've been exhausted most of the week. I was horribly sore after playing flag football in the pouring rain for two hours last week, and then I ended up with "outer ear" infections in both ears. It's just been that kinda week ;) Plus, Damy is here, so we have our apartment search to contend with as well.

I really just want a weeklong break. So maybe I haven't been in classes that long...doesn't meet I couldn't use a break! too bad NYU doesn't have a fall break. That was really nice.

Grrrrr....Apple...

Hmmm, it appears to be somewhat yucky outside today. I am running out of long-sleeve clothes to wear; I hope Mom sends some my way soon.

I am so frustrated with Apple. It's been 4+ weeks since I ordered my computer, and they're currently estimating shipping for late next week...putting me at 7 weeks since ordering the damn thing. I think I'm going to go in today or tomorrow and just buy a standard config one from the Apple store in SoHo and forget this nonsense. I'm just waiting to see if Apple will get back to me about terms.

But I just really need a computer. I just don't think I'm prepared to wait another 2 1/2 or 3 weeks for one. It's making all of my work take longer, and I'm sick of trying to use the computers in the lab. (Which are frequently all occupied, btw.) I want a damn computer, already.

Welcome to law school, folks!

Could I BE sicker of group work? My lawyering prof is group-work obsessed. I think it is directly related to her peppiness. We had a group presentation due last Wednesday and today, and a group writing assignment due this Wednesday. I think group writing assignments are worse than group presentations AND worse than solo writing assignments.

I haven't written much the last week...I've been busy and tired. Tonight I'm finally relaxing. I finished all my Contracts homework for tomorrow during break, and I did my Civ Pro homework last week. I should go back and type out my Civ Pro briefs...they're kinda weak. I should re-read the 10 pages of opinions of the Supreme Court. They annoyed me so much last Thursday that I ended up just skimming the last half and not getting a good idea of how the four opinions varied.

I've realized this past week that law school is an exercise in ridiculousness. The Supreme Court case I'm talking about is a divorce case where the husband contested jurisdiction. He didn't win, as California had jurisdiction based on a well-settled common law principle. We're talking...uncontested for over 100 years. Despite this fact, the Supreme Court decides to take a cert on the case. For no particular reason, as they're not going to overturn it. They just do it so that they can write 10+ pages about why this well-established doctrine should remain exactly the same. Except with 4 separate opinions. I KNOW the Supreme Court has better things to be doing.

In addition, here's a selection of recent cases I've had to read: a woman sues the 5-yr-old who pulled a chair out from underneath her while she was sitting down; a woman sues a 4-yr-old who ran into her while riding his tricycle; a man sues another man for purposely blowing smoke in his face; the owners of the WTC sued fertilizer manufacturers as their products may have been used in building the 1993 bomb. There are many, many more. Welcome to law school, folks!

Heh, I'm playing flag football this Friday! I'm excited ;)

It was chilly today. So nice, being a Floridian. I've realized that I really don't own closed-toed shoes other than tennis shoes. In FL we always wear sandals, even when we have coats on. I need to go shoe shopping. I don't actually have any money yet (stupid NYU!), but in theory, I'm definitely getting it tomorrow. (Uh huh. Just like I was going to get my computer in 2 weeks or less. It's now been a month and still no word. Damn you Apple! Damn you! I also blame NYU, since Schuy ordered a Macbook the day before me direct, and he's got his. I think NYU hates me.)

I had a blast with Mom yesterday. I wore her out. I think she found Manhattan and the Village slightly overwhelming. It's a lot different from hanging out in Midtown. She took the subway to the airport this morning all by herself. I had to get up to walk her to the station and get her on the train (at 5:30!) but she took the subway and transferred to the air train and all that. Yay!

I think I need to start planning attendance at cheap(er) cultural events. Plays, shows, etc. I'm just overwhelmed with the options. Between school activities, school groups, non-law-school-school stuff, museums, nightly shows, other shows...whew. Too many choices!

Beautiful and grotesque

Ani DiFranco has a song where she describes someone as "beautiful and grotesque" ("and all the rest of that bug stuff"), and that's how I feel about Manhattan, particularly in the late night/early morning. Tonight I had the pleasure of waiting for the J Shuttle in what has got to be one of the absolute ugliest of the Manhattan subway stations--Chambers Street. There's a lot of Chambers Street Stations (not all connected). The Chambers Street (A/C) and World Trade Center (E) stop is kinda nice...although it has these freaky mosaic eyes. But this isn't that one. This one is falling apart. Perhaps the freakiest things about Subway stations at night is the absolute quietness, which you never get during the day. I could hear water dripping; people tapping their feet. I was wondering if I was completely ridiculous to wait for a train to go one station over, but I know I always get lost when I try to walk. (I seriously need to buy a compass). Besides, it was 2 a.m. As it turned out, half the people waiting with me got off at the same station.

Tonight, while waiting for a friend to meet me outside of a Subway stop, an MTA employee asked me for 2 dollar bills in exchange for her 8 quarters. I'm thinking "this COULDN'T be to get to work, could it?" Sure enough, it was. They have to PAY to go to work? There's something pretty sick about that.

Why is it that junk food/fast food tastes and smells absolutely amazing after midnight, particularly when alcohol has been consumed? I never want McDonalds, and I was going crazy at the smell tonight. So now I'm eating 'Pizza Rolls' (I think that's what they're called), which also happen to taste amazing.

So I met my friend (Justin Clarke-Doane) in SoHo, and we went to two bars on the lower east side. The first was fairly empty when we got there, not as cheap as we expected, and showed bad 80s porn. The second was 3-stories. The bottom level had a band ("Afro Punk"--which, while Afro, was not at all Punk); the middle story had a DJ and a lot of people ghetto-booty dancing; the top floor open-aired, and had a place where you could both drink and smoke at one time--a real rarity in NYC. We moved down to the middle level after they kicked as out of the top level. Justin convinced me that I should dance with him. Ha! At this point all the good, black dancers on this level had moved out and been replaced by less-than-good white dancers. As I told Justin, I sometimes do things just because they make a good story. That's why I danced for a few songs. It was fun though. It was totally just like being at a Wall. Pretending I could dance while being surrounded by people who weren't much better. Awesome. Plus, ghetto booty music: the one type of music I can sorta/kinda dance to.

All-in-all, it was a pretty good night. I feel much better about starting my second week of law school.