Saturday, April 28, 2007

puppy love



It's a bit hard to tell from my camera phone, but this is the fattest dog I have ever seen. She was roly poly adorable! And quite affectionate too. So cute!

halfway mark

Two finals down.

Two more finals to go.

Absolutely no motivation left to study.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

how to get a panic attack

1. Half an hour before your final exam starts, check your email to find that the person you've been negotiating with for the past three weeks has now decided to change her mind and not sublet your room for the summer. Postpone panicking because you are about to start your exam in 25 minutes.

2. Load up ExamSoft to start the exam loading process and discover that ExamSoft is refusing to work at all. Won't accept your password. Won't accept your username. Won't work. Raise your hand and furiously flag down the IT guy to fix the problem because you know, you have to take an exam in 20 minutes.

3. IT guy is downloading drivers to get ExamSoft to work and then has to re-install the program, which takes about ten minutes to be completed. After restarting, ExamSoft still doesn't work. Professor is in the room and announces that the exam will start in five minutes.

Start panicking now. Now is a good time to start panicking. See how many times I wrote start here? If only ExamSoft knew what start meant.



After getting the exam and mentally preparing to write for the next three hours, the anxiety attack really hit hard. My heartbeat was beating a million beats per second and I was slowly finding it difficult to breathe. Anyhow, the IT guy told me to go to some room upstairs after getting my exam, so I headed up there with my laptop, all the while trying to calm down and most importantly, breathe.

In the end, IT guy spent another 20 minutes fixing my laptop while I sat and tried to calm down. Whatever he did, ExamSoft finally worked and I was spared the trouble of having to write for three hours. And plus, I got to sit in a small classroom with only one other student in the room. It was awesome. Well, until I started reading the exam which left me wondering if I was taking a Property final instead of a Contracts final.

One down, three more to go. And oh yeah, now I have to find another subletter. F-ing great. No, I'm not bitter.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Coldstone Creamery loves birthdays

Coldstone Creamery helps celebrate your birthday by giving you a free Love-It size concoction of your choice:

My selection for celebration: Peanut Butter Cup Perfection Madness (or something like that):


It starts with a huge chuck of chocolate ice-cream.

Then comes the Reeses Peanut Butter cup and spoonfuls of peanut butter.
The ice-cream man does his mixing magic.
And voila, Peanut Butter Cup Perfection Madness!


So, it took me about 20 minutes to get to this point below. The point where I can't eat anymore because I'm stuffed full to the gills with ice-cream. I wanted to quit and throw the rest away.

However, my buddies C and K (cK ha ha) forced--YES FORCED I TELL YOU--forced me to finish the rest of the ice-cream. K went as far as dividing the remaining ice-cream into portions so it would make it easier to go down my mouth.
Needless to say, I finished it all. The entire contents of a Love-It size (that's medium to you folks not familiar to Coldstone Creamery). And let's just say I had to do a lot of walking afterwards.
... ... ... ... ... ...
If you want your own free birthday sundae, register here. You're out of luck if you already had a birthday. You'll just have to wait until next year.

Monday, April 16, 2007

death to chocolate

Cute chocolate mice

"oh no! my ear!"
"Friend, where are you?"
"Oh no! Not me"

No more mice.



Next up, the cute little chocolate penguin.


There it is.
"My arm! Oh no, now I'm a uniarm!" (if you haven't watched Open Season, you wouldn't get this joke)









Gruesome, I am. Delicious, they were.

what not to do

Don't ever go to the doctor and willingly request to get four shots of vaccinations in the same day.

Two shots in the right arm, plus one shot in the left arm, plus one prick for a skin test on the left forearm equals major major major MAJOR pain for the rest of the evening.

Why did I subject myself to this torture? I'm protecting my body against Hep A, Hep B, Typhoid fever and making sure I don't have or get TB while I'm overseas in Beijing.

Traveling to Asia is such a bitch. The CDC didn't require all these shots for anyone going to Ireland.

Need some chocolate to dull this pain....

Question:

What do you do when you accidentally deleted the Recycle Bin?

How do you put the recycle bin back?

I can't seem to find it.

fortune cookie fortune

"You will pass a difficult test that will make you happier."



I'm going to pass all my finals? Yay!

If I fail my finals, I'm holding the fortune cookie company liable.

Friday, April 13, 2007

my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard

"My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard,
And their like
It's better than yours,
Damn right it's better than yours,
I can teach you,
But I have to charge"

.... .... .... .... ....

Now that I got that song out of my head, I just had to share this next piece of information I read about in the "Study Abroad Handbook" that was distributed to the group of us going to China for the summer. (Oh yeah, if I haven't told you about it, I'm doing a summer study program in Beijing, China this May to learn about comparative law. Me so excited!)

This handbook has information about everything from getting your passport to how you should act while studying abroad. There is this section titled "Safety Guidelines" and one point was specifically geared towards sex:

"10. Sex -- Although sex is not necessarily planned, safe sex should be. You should always be prepared for any eventuality. Therefore, even if you are not expecting to experience intimacy with anyone while overseas, bring a supply of condoms with you anyway. Keep in mind that American-made condoms are in general safer and more reliable than many of the ones you may purchase abroad."

Laughing yet? I'm laughing as I type this. But wait, there's more:

"If you are a woman do not be afraid of being perceived as promiscuous if you carry condoms, and do not expect male partners to always have their own."



Ha ha. See, wasn't that funny.

Don't worry about being called sluts, ladies. Even if you're not planning on roaming the streets looking for guys to randomly sleep with, you should prepare for those "just-in-case" moments and be safe about protecting yourself from contracting a disease or a foreign pregnancy and bring a box of American-made condoms. Just do it. And if you don't use it, you can pass it out to your foreign classmates who will probably appreciate the fact that they will now be better protected from the American-made condoms because apparantly, foreign countries don't know how to make condoms and America is superior as always.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

weatherman's predictions

"There will be light showers tomorrow, followed by a thunderstorm that may result in snow on Friday. Check in with the 10 o'clock news for a full weather update."



SNOW?? In April??? Did I move back to Boston and not realize it?

oral argument

Ten things to do in preparation for your 1L oral arguments:

1. Make an outline of your argument, listing out the main issues and the points supporting it.

2. Shepardize all of your cases and your opponent's cases so you can point out which cases are overruled if the other side brings it up.

3. Include in your outline all the possible topics your opponent may bring up.

4. Practice at home in front of the mirror.

5. Business Attire. Learn the meaning of it.

6. Organize your materials in a binder, seperated by index tabs with the cases color-coded by relavance to the issue.

7. Try to learn from your classmates who have already completed their oral arguments.

8. Make sure you have enough material so you can speak for the entire ten minutes, just in case the judges decide not to ask you any questions.

9. Try not to get so nervous.

10. Laugh with your opponent before going into the courtroom.



What happens during the oral arguments:

You completely forget whatever you did above because as the appellee, you're sitting there listening to the appellent's counsel start off with the second issue (the less important issue) and completely skip the first issue altogether.

As you're trying not to look so shocked about her decision, you realize she's done using up her eight minutes and now it's your turn to go up to the podium.

As you start asking for the court's permission to speak, you start your argument by addressing what the appellent just said, while at the same time wondering if you're supposed to bring up the issue she forgot to mention, the issue that takes up 3/4 of your whole argument.

You try to talk for as long as possible on the issue that she raised, but then realize that all that talking amounted to only four minutes and somehow you have to bullshit your way through the remaining six minutes while still wondering if you should bring up the first issue and how would you do it? They didn't teach that in class!

You sit down, hear the opponent's rebuttal and finally start to breathe again.

... ... ...

Appellate Advocacy class for next year, anyone? Hell no, not me. Thank you for your time.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

27 things to be thankful for

1. I was born. Thanks Mom & Dad!

2. Good health.

3. Good friends I made throughout my lifetime. Q, M, C, K, W, J, T, P, C, B, C, M, D, T...hmm, do I have friends for each letter of the alphabet? Must think about that...

4. My addiction to chocolate (yes, that is a good thing!).

5. Good appetite and somewhat fast metabolism (which is slowing down as I get older but if I show some gratitude, maybe metabolism will work faster again to keep me from ballooning into the size of a whale, although sometimes I do feel like a whale after eating).

6. People who know how to make good cheesecake. We all know I hate cheese, and yet cheesecake is one of the few things with cheese in it that I will eat. So thank goodness to whoever invented cheesecake.





7. Good teeth!

8. Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives because my life will never have as much drama as those television shows.

9. The movie "Big Fish" because it's a great fairytale for adults.

10. The movie "Over the Hedge" because I loved the comic strip and my favorite line from the movie is Hammy saying "But I like the cookie."

11. Mom and Dad for raising me, putting up with my stubbornness throughout the years, for allowing me to eventually do whatever I want even if they didn't agree with it.

12. Mom's home cooking.

13. The Brother.


14. The Boy. Yay to us for making the three year mark--a record for each of us! And thankful to him for being able to listen to my pathetic whining, crying, tantrums, mood swings during all the bad times and still sticking with me through all the craziness. You're the best!

15. The Boy's Family for not judging me because I'm not Catholic, not Shanghainese Chinese, not supermodel skinny, not dependent on a man, not a good-traditional-conservative-Asian...just thanks for welcoming me and liking me for who I am.


16. Gourmet chocolate. Did I already list chocolate? Well, it deserves two spots.

17. Wellesley College for giving me such a great education even though it really didn't prepare me for the real world.

18. UMKC for trying to give me a legal education. So far, I hate 1L but am looking forward to 2L and the ability to pick my own classes.

19. Being able to meet my great-grandmother before she passed away.

20. Being able to meet my grandparents. Hopefully I can see them again soon. Maybe sometime after taking the bar exam and before starting my life as a slave to some giant law firm.

21. Food and shelter. There are so many people in the world who lacks one or both and I'm thankful I'm not in that situation.





22. Being able to grow in maturity and responsibilities, and even growing in my personality, throughout my life.

23. Having a happy outlook on life and always looking for the silver lining, even during the rough times.

24. Fall, Summer, Spring. If Winter only consisted of one week of snow, I might be more thankful.

25. Chocolate chip cookies. How did I almost forgot about that?

26. Birthdays.

27. The ability to not look my age -- "Yes, it is my 23rd birthday today!"

a photo diary of food eaten in the last 24 hours

First stop: Happy Hour at M&S Grill:



Plates full of food.

A thumbs up for the quality and quantity.

Spinach artichoke dip and chip.

Finger Licking Good Buffalo Wings

Empty Plates.


The Happy Bill. It's crazy that the most expensive thing on that bill is the alcoholic strawberry lemonade.

... ... ... ... ... ...

Next stop: Easter lunch at Johnny Carinos:

Rosemary Lemon Chicken

Spicy Skilletini

It was so much food, even I couldn't finish it all.


My friend, M, who is suffering from a food coma after this Easter meal.

Friday, April 06, 2007

Good Friday

Looky at what I got from the Fed-ex man today: a whole box of Burdick Chocolates from Harvard Square.

There's even a warning on it that says once the box is open, chocolates must be eaten within two weeks. Two weeks? Two weeks to consume a box of gourmet chocolates?! Umm, I can't promise there will be any left for Easter Sunday.


Not only are these chocolates super delicious, but the chocolate mice are so adorable, I'm sparing their lives for the time being.

See, aren't the so tiny and cute?

And I also got a chocolate penguin! How do they come up with these things?


Way too cute to eat. Well, to eat right away anyhow. Mice and Penguins have at least a week before they enter the dark tunnel leading to my stomach.

Thank you to my wonderful gal pal, W from Harvard, for such delicious treats!

... ... ... ... ...

In addition to the surprise chocolate delivery, I was done with classes by 11am today, so I spent the majority of the day in my warm, heated bed while munching on chocolates and then taking a very long nap. Nope, didn't do a lick of studying. Indeed, today was a "Good Friday."

It's my birthday in two days so I'll be lazy if I want to.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

an April Fool's memory

Ex-boss man handed me a post it note with the following written on it: "Mr. Lyon, 234-9999, x2, x4, x5"

Ex-boss man told me that he received a message from this Mr. Lyon inquiring about legal services. Ex-boss man then requested me to contact Mr. Lyon at the given number and ask him what his legal problems were. Being the diligent legal assistant that I was, I complied with Ex-boss man's request.

The first thing I heard after dialing the number was, "You have reached the San Francisco Zoo. Please listen to the following choices carefully..."

This recording made me a bit skeptical so I told Ex-boss man that the number was for the SF Zoo. He shrugged his shoulders and told me that's the number Mr. Lyon left on his voicemail.

Well, after hitting #2 then #4 then #5, the operator now said, "Welcome to the San Francisco Zoo's Adoption line. Please choose from the following menu..."

Again, this made me skeptical and again I asked Ex-boss man if this indeed was the correct number that Mr. Lyon gave him. Ex-boss man, again, shrugged his shoulders and suggested I keep pressing numbers to get a live person on the phone. With his insistence, I kept pressing numbers until I finally reached the operator, who unenthusiastically answered with "Operator, how can I help you?"

Excited at finally getting a live person on the phone, I politely asked, "Hello. I'm [q-pig] from [Ex-boss man's law firm] and am returning a call regarding legal assistance. May I speak to Mr. Lyon, please?"

This was the response I got from the operator: "There is no Mr. Lyon here. Stop making these prank calls!" and then immediately hung up on me.

Flabbergasted, I relayed this information to Ex-boss man, explaining to him how the operator accused me of making a prank phone call. Ex-boss man shrugged his shoulders, commented that it was weird and then proceeded to go into another associate's office and closed the door. I heard muffled laughter immediately thereafter.

Still confused and offended by the response from the Zoo's operator, I went back to working on drafting whatever pleading I was working on before Ex-boss man told me to call Mr. Lyon. After about 15 minutes, Ex-boss man emerged from the associate's office, stood in front of my cubicle and calmly pronounced, "I fell so bad, but I know you're a great sport. April Fool's."

It took me a couple of minutes to put two and two together before I started shaking my head in shame, realizing what a gullible person I must be, to fall for such a stupid joke. And then I realized why the operator told me to stop making prank calls.

Obviously, I need to work on my naïveté.