divine angst

sponges reproduce sexually: Nuh uh! Oh, OK, maybe they do sometimes. Lucky sponges, they get the best of both worlds, I guess.

Mario 3 beaten in three minutes: Dude. Not possible.

show me your tramp stamp: You first.

have you ever danced with the devil under the pale moonlight: Oddly, I am the sixth result on Google for this one.

having a baby as a 1L: I didn’t.

narrow-heels wooden floors: I’d think they’d be loud.

“jodi Foster” revolution iran film: I honestly have no idea what this is about.

women marrying last names: I think they mostly prefer to marry people. I’m not sure marrying a last name is legal.

I took one more exam today. It wasn’t necessarily what I expected, but I think everyone is in the same boat, since this was only the second exam he’s ever given and he wouldn’t let us look at the first one.

This evening, I’m going to start working on studying for my last exam, the really hard one that makes my brain go “Ouch!” I’ve done some work on it so far, but not a lot, and I need to snythesize stuff in a big way. Normally, I’d take the rest of the day after an exam off, but I feel like I sort of slacked around this weekend and didn’t really do as much preparation as I claimed to. So taking another afternoon off is probably a bad idea. Never fear, though, it’ll be an easy-going evening. But work will be done; it has to be.

1. Mr. Angst and I have been trying to figure out how to be more healthy. Today, we decried the various websites which give a wide variety of “ideal” body weights, includine ones which purport to be able to figure all that out based on some body measurements.
2. So I made homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner.
3. This summer I’m doing research for a professor, and she sent me an email asking if I wanted to take a look at the preliminary materials and supporting articles before we meet, right after exams. I told her I would love to, but that they might distract me from outlining and studying for exams. I wasn’t lying, either. Sigh.
4. Therefore I started continued working on my last outline today, so as not to give the lie to my claim. (Really, there was no lie to the claim. It’s just that procrastination is in my blood. Frankly, I’d feel much less guilty if I were looking at my summer research stuff than blogging. No offense to those of you who are reading. Blogging during exams is just guilty-making.)

I started working on my barely-begun outline for my last exam this morning. I realize now that the professor started with the most complex (or at least most theoretically confusing) element of the course. And I didn’t really fall into a note-taking rhythm for the course until several weeks into the semester. So my notes don’t make a lot of sense. And the professor sort of jumped around things, a lot, so my outline is, frankly, a huge mess.

So I have a lot of work to do on it. That’s OK, I have several days. But right now, I’m a little daunted by the extent of work I have left to do.

* One of ESPN’s analysts said this about Vince Young transitioning to the NFL. Seriously. Said it just like that. Monya. Mental.

I meant to take one of my remaining finals today. The problem, though, is that I would have had to pick it up by 11 am, and that just wasn’t happening. Yesterday was pretty unproductive, too, in part because of the hangover, and in part because I was just coming down off of two finals in four days, so I didn’t really have time to get ready to take the exam this morning. Oh, and I was just WIPED, and I needed some solid, non-drunk sleep.

So I’ve started today off right. I’ve had my coffee, and a Nutella and banana sandwich, and I’m watching the NFL draft. I won’t be taking my final, true, but I will be doing all the work I intended to do last night. And since I don’t expect that work will take all day, I’ll also start working (or, really, continue working) on my outline for my other final. Once again, I’ll be taking over the desk and monitor.

It’s a Saturday, in other words. I’ve got work to do, but I’m going to be relaxed about it. Remember, duckies: stress kills.

Hangovers are no fun. But that’s what I get for letting what should have been a short alumni cocktail reception turn into more drinks and snacks at a nearby bar until well after midnight. Still, it was fun catching up with people I hadn’t seen in years, and realizing how many non-law school people I know in this city. My only real regret is that I only had three business cards with me, and I ran out of them far too early in the evening. Networking can, indeed, be fun. The strangest part of the evening was realizing one of my college classmates (we were two of nine majors in our department when we graduated) lives about a block and a half from me. Another friend lives half a block beyond that. How have I not run into either of them in the grocery store?

And that was the end of my required classes. Oh, OK, fine, I still have to take Professional Responsibility/Ethics. But I’m done with the 1L curriculum! Hoorah! Property was everything Con Law was not–well written (though I still found a few typos, but maybe I’m just oversensitive to them), capable of being finished within the time allotted, but with enough issues that I could have kept writing if I needed to. It was almost (gasp!) fun.

As much as I wish every exam went so well, or was so pain free, I know that simply can’t be possible. Still, I know I did at least my part to make the experience unpainful. I think, then, on that note, I’ll post something on taking exams. Sometime. But not today. The sun is shining, I have a party to go to tonight, and I have a full week left to take my remaining two exams. Things could definitely, definitely be worse.

It’s sort of amazing how much less onerous studying suddenly is. I found myself unable to get any work done at home last week, for instance. Yet today, I’m being quite productive without having stepped foot outside. It helps that I exercised my rights as a tenant in the entirety of the desk and big monitor, so I’m actually at a workspace instead of on the couch. I also adversely possessed Mr. Angst’s good headphones, so I can listen to whatever I want without my ears hurting (those iPod headphones really make my ears ache).

If the above paragraph didn’t tip you off, I’m studying property today. Meanwhile, James Taylor is crooning at me, I’ve eaten a healty lunch, there’s a reasonably fresh pot of coffee in the kitchen, and the sun is shining in the windows. (It’s below 50° outside, so the sun is actually nice right now, instead of a heat lamp.) In other words, it’s not a bad day, considering it’s exam season. I wish studying were always this…um, what’s the word? Not delightful, but at least comfortable.

Con Law is over and, folks, my professor did the worst thing possible. She wrote a question that covered an issue we spent less than a full class on. Which basically negates any advantage extra studying may have given me. All advantage, gone. Combine her crappy fact pattern with the multiple-choice questions (which weren’t proofread, because there were typos) with the stupid paper we had to do, and my Con Law grade just went swirling down the toilet.

OK. Maybe I’m being a little black about the whole thing. At the very best, though, her exam was a complete disaster. At the worst, it was a GPA-wrecker. Color me sad.

But that’s the last thing I’m going to write about Con Law, EVER. EVER EVER EVER. At some point today, I’ll do some property. But for right now, I’m just enjoying reading some celebrity gossip and finding odd garden decorations.

I am just so ready for tomorrow’s exam to be over. That’s not to say I think I’m ready to take it, though. Last semester, I reached state of burnout a couple of days before my Contracts exam. I had no confidence in my abilities, and I was sure I hadn’t learned anything.

That’s how I feel today. I feel completely lost. Yesterday, I felt pretty good about Con Law. But today, I took at look at my professor’s exam from last year, and now I feel pretty wretched. My plan of attack feels week. I’m not sure I understand where I should approach Constitutional powers from. I’m just really worried. I know I know the tests and the terminology, but I’m not sure I actually understand them. And unlike last semester, I don’t have an extra day to spend building my confidence back up.

I’m going into tomorrow’s exam with a great sense of trepidation, and I don’t like that.

I guess the harried pace of the last three days was worth it. I finished a super-short Con Law outline today, the kind that runs with my analysis of a constitutional problem, and I completed an edit of my flowchart, that mirrors the short outline. I even took a practice exam today, and it wasn’t awful. Whew!

Tomorrow should be interesting. Practice exams in the morning, some review of multiple choice questions (since half our exam will be multiple choice questions), and an early dinner. Mr. Angst and I are going to see a show tomorrow night!

When we bought the tickets back in January, I didn’t realize (a) that the show was the night before my first exams and (b) that that first exam would be in the class I grew to hate. Of course, now, I’m almost glad. It will be a very nice break from the evil that is Con Law. Also, frankly, if I don’t know what I need to know by tomorrow night, three more hours of cramming won’t fix it.

This exam season feels well underway. We shall see how it continues. My bitching about Con Law will only last for a day or so more (tomorrow, plus, perhaps, a post-mortem on Monday); and then I’ll be moaning about Property. I really wish I had something more interesting to write about. Maybe I’ll post a review of the show we’re seeing. Or maybe I’ll post some more recipes. Or maybe not.

Guess what? You may be screwed before you even start the LSAT! I blame the test site, yessiree. That’s what I get for waiting to register and having to take it at the old, dinky college in town instead of the big state university.

Face it, constitutional protections may not be afforded to the undead. At least not under strict scrutiny. And, frankly, I can’t imagine an anti-vampire law would fail rational basis. Sorry, ye undead. Sucks to be you.

Finally, a cautionary tale about taking work too seriously. Or at least about taking care of yourself as well as your clients.

OK, break’s over.

THIS is exactly what I need right now.

First: cookies. YUM. Second: peanut butter. Also YUM. Third: NUTELLA. We all know how I feel about Nutella. Also, as an added bonus: ice cream, M&Ms, and caramel sauce.

Con Law continues to be shitty. Yesterday’s pissiness over the paper fiasco, though, has morphed into a fervent drive to learn every inch of Con Law, and f**k my professor’s inability to teach it to me. I feel very zealous. And every good zealot knows that cookies, peanut butter, Nutella, ice cream, M&Ms, and caramel sauce are soul foods. Excuse me, I may have to go find 3000 calories and consume them.

Why do I find it oddly appropriate that my Con Law outline is finished–and it’s 66 pages?

Now to begin the long process of refinement. Bleeding eyes, my friends, bleeding eyes.

We had to do this silly paper in Con Law earlier this semester, right when many of us had briefs due, and when many of us had other obligations to fulfill because of involvement with student organizations and the like. The paper was written in groups, and the groups were randomly assigned by our professor. And everyone worked pretty hard, though some people didn’t, and everyone figured the standard for grading would be pretty reasonable, since we were all told not to use any material except what had been covered in class. We were told that it should be like “a 24-take home exam, except you have two weeks to write it, and you get to write it in a group.”

We got comments back on our papers today. Note: not the papers themselves. Just substantive comments on the papers. And a grade, which is 35% of our final grade. And then we received a spreadsheet with the grade distribution for the class. Over half of the class got an A of some stripe, with fully 25% getting an A or an A+. And the rest didn’t. The difference between one letter grade and another was one (1) point.

What this basically means is that anyone who fell into the bottom 2/5 of the grade distribution can kiss an A goodbye. Not because those people might not be able to ace the exam, but because acing the exam probably won’t be sufficient to push them above some of those people in the top 2/5, who, after all, start out with “perfect” scores.

Our professor told us the paper was supposed to take some of the pressure off of us for the exam, which might have been the case if everyone got an A. But of course, just because 35% of our grade is already determined does not mean we don’t feel the pressure to do well on the exam. Those who got lower grades are now freaking out, trying to cram in enough information to do super-well on the exam and bump their grades up, while those at the top are freaking out, trying to cram in enough information to keep their A’s. Which, of course, the curve will not allow. Some not insignificant portion of the class will get a grade that is more than one letter grade lower than their paper grade, because the curve demands it. Frankly, that’s almost worse than starting out with a lower grade.

I don’t have a problem with mixed forms of assessment over a semester–I think it’s a good pedagogical method. But to work, the grades need to be handed in well before three days prior to the exam and students need to be able to be accountable for their own work–either by being in self-selected groups or by writing individual papers.

I decided to watch Alias tonight for the first time in ages. I didn’t watch last season, so I missed a bunch, it seems. Because, hello . . . was that Fred???

I thought she was long gone. I mean, how could she possibly top Illyria?

I spent much of the day studying with a friend. We did a combination of silent-study-in-the-same-room and hey-I-have-a-question-let’s-hash-it-out-study. And that worked well. But she had a meeting, so I found myself at a loose end.

I could have gone home. Mr. Angst is in class and it would be quiet there. But we get the afternoon sun, and the AC in our building is STILL not on, so I would be uncomfortable. Plus, I think this is the time of year when it’s really important NOT to crawl into a study hole and not come out. I figured I needed to be around people.

So instead of hunkering down at home, I’m in the library. There are people around. I can look at them, they can look at me. We can wave weakly at one another as we slowly die inside. I won’t talk to any of them–we have work to do, after all. But at least I’m not alone.

Oh my God.

I have a sinking feeling that if I made myself work on my Con Law outline for more than 20 minutes at a time, my eyes would start to bleed. I don’t hate Con Law–not like I’ve hated other subjects, like Chemistry, or Calculus (I’m sensing a trend). I just cannot force myself to dig back into my notes from what was a horrible class. All of the boredom I felt during the semester comes flooding back when I read my notes. Usually, my notes are gentle reminders of confusions (and sometimes insights) I had during the semester. These notes are painful, dry, dull reminders of more than 36 hours of my life I can never get back.

:::whimper:::

My Con Law exam is on Monday. I was thinking this morning that I could probably finish my outline today–I’ve only got 8 more weeks of notes to get through. Now I’m thinking I’ll be lucky if I finish by Sunday evening.

Dear School,

I know that, during the school year, many student choose to study at home or at coffeehouses or in other places besides the library, the atrium, or the general vicinity of the school. But, once classes are over, we all like to be at school as we study. It’s a convienient meeting place for study groups, most of us keep most of our books here, and we feel more studious when we’re at school. And, frankly, School, you know this about us.

Why, then, can’t you make it possible for all of us to be online at the same time, while at school?* Why, in the two-and-a-half hours I spent at school today, working on my Property outline, was my network connection disconnected no fewer than 10 times? Why was my network connection so lousy that I could not update a 5-minute NPR podcast on iTunes?

It’s just disappointing, School. The crappy wireless has run me out and now I won’t be as productive as I could be. If my grades suffer this semester, School, I’m blaming it all on you.

Posting, wirelessly, from home,
kristine

[* Yes, internet access is critical while studying for exams. See, I can IM my friends and ask them about obscure points of Property law, I can look up cases on Westlaw, and I can check my email to make sure there are no important updates from my professor. Internet access is crucial while studying.]

Duckies, classes are over.

The semester is not over, of course, since I still have four exams and the writing competition. I also have a myriad of administrative things to take care of, like my financial aid paperwork (though I already did my FAFSA) and my summer employment paperwork (more on that later, since I haven’t really posted about my summer job).

So, the next three-and-a-half weeks will be a bit stressful. I’ll get through ‘em, though. And exams certainly aren’t as scary this time around as they were last time–I’ve done them, I know what I face. Still, I have a lot of prep to do this week, and I haven’t even started taking practice exams yet. Eek!

But that first sentence remains true. Even though I face more than three weeks of stuff, I am done with my first year of law school classes. Hot damn!

OK, just one more post today. Mr. Angst did all the dishes. I just had to say how fantastic he is for doing that. Because our meal? Not really . . . simple . . . in the preparation department. Lots of dirty dishes, pots, pans, utensils. And he cleaned them all for me.

This is why I love him.

Of course we would have dessert, after all the other food settled. I made bread pudding, because it’s GOOD. Here’s the recipe. I think it’s a Gale Gand recipe, but I got it off Food Network. Looking at it again, I may have modified it slightly. It’s a good recipe, nonetheless. My best rendition of this recipe was when I was in my bread phase, and I baked the loaf. I did an overnight, cold rise of the dough, baked it in the morning, and let it sit out on the counter for a day or so. The bread had lots of flavor from the cool rise and it was a little stale from sitting out, so it turned out really fabulous.

Of course, lately, I find myself without the time to make ANY bread, much less bread that requires mixing in the evening, rising overnight, and baking in the morning. So I used Pepperidge Farm Hearty White, which is recommended in a breakfast bread-pudding-thing I make. The end result? Absolutely terrific. One key thing, I think, was reducing the amount of bread–I only used 12 slices of the 16 in the loaf, so the custard-to-bread ratio was higher. The other key thing was that the Pepperidge Farm bread wasn’t really deeply flavorful on its own, allowing the custardy goodness to come out in full force.

With no further ado, Whiskey Bread Pudding:

For the pudding:
5 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
8 tablespoons butter, cut up
2 cups cream
1 (12-inch) loaf French bread, crusts cut off and sliced 1-inch cubes (or 11 slices Pepperidge Farm Hearty White bread, and seriously? leave those crusts on. They’re good.)
1/4 cup raisins (I leave these out)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (I leave these out, too)

Whiskey sauce:
1 cup cream
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
5 tablespoons whiskey

Garnish:
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Whipped cream, optional

In a bowl, whisk the eggs until well blended. Add the sugar and mix in, then add the vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, butter, and cream. Lay the bread cubes in a 8 by 8 inch square baking dish, sprinkle the nuts and raisins around, and then pour the custard over the bread. Cover the dish and let it soak overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cover the dish with foil and poke holes in it. Bake until bread pudding soufflés up, about 40 minutes, then remove the foil, and bake another 10 minutes to brown in lightly.

For the sauce, in a saucepan heat the cream, sugar, cinnamon, and butter together until almost boiling. Meanwhile, mix the cornstarch with the whiskey and stir it into the hot liquid. Bring just to a boil to thicken it.

To serve, pour a few spoonful of the whiskey sauce on a dessert plate. Scoop out the desired portion size of the pudding, placing it on the sauced plate. Dust the pudding with powdered sugar and finish it off with a dollop of whipped cream.

Notes about the recipe: This is a restaurant recipe so uses leftover bread. Save the crusts and dry them in a low oven, then grind them in a food processor to make bread crumbs. [Or, as I mentioned above, leave the crusts on, because they add nice texture to the bread pudding.]

I was worried about this afternoon’s Easter feast. I planned a lamb roast, but the last time I made a lamb roast, it turned out badly. It was a bone-in grilled roast, and it cooked unevenly. Parts were raw, parts were dry and overcooked, and the whole thing had that nasty lamb-gone-bad taste, that musty flavor that makes so many people hate lamb.

Today was different. Oh so different. First, I bought the lamb at Whole Foods. (I’m sure the last time I bought it at a good store, too. But where you buy your meat makes a difference.) Second, I used a Cooks’ Illustrated recipe, so I knew it would be well-written and researched. Lastly, I took my time while preparing it. And it turned out beautifully. It was tender, flavorful, and best of all, NOT musty at all. I mean, it tasted like lamb, but it didn’t taste musty. Mr. Angst was most concerned about that, in fact, when I suggested lamb. You know what? He loved it. So, hurrah! A success.

The sides were less spectacular. Well, the potatoes were great, but it’s hard to mess up potatoes, right? The spinach was only OK. I fried some pancetta, sautéed some garlic, and wilted the spinach in the same pan. Topped it with a little balsamic. But it turned out too salty.

Oh, and we also got a fantastic wine at the “house of fine wine and spirits” around the corner. It’s a mix of an Austrian grape and pinot noir, and it actually effervesces. It’s really fantastic. Matches the lamb perfectly. I am totally going back to the house of fine wine and spirits because the owner knows his stuff.

OK. You didn’t read all the way through this to go away without a recipe. Here it is, with all credit due to Cooks’ Illustrated. Note how many it serves? Yeah, we’ve got TONS of leftovers.

Serves 4 to 6
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium cloves garlic, peeled
3 tablespoons fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 ounce)
1 cup bread crumbs/ (fresh), coarse
1 boneless half leg of lamb (3 1/2 to 4 pounds), untied, trimmed of surface fat, and pounded to even 3/4-inch thickness, at room temperature
Table salt and ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Meanwhile, in workbowl of food processor fitted with steel blade, process 1 teaspoon of olive oil with garlic, rosemary, thyme, and parsley until minced, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula as necessary, about 1 minute. Remove 1 1/2 tablespoons herb mixture to small bowl and reserve. Scrape remaining mixture into medium bowl; stir in cheese, bread crumbs, and 1 tablespoon olive oil, and set aside.

2. Lay lamb with rough interior side (which was against bone) facing up on work surface; rub with two teaspoons olive oil, and season generously with salt and pepper. Spread reserved 1 1/2 tablespoons herb mixture evenly over meat, leaving 1-inch border around edge. Following illustrations 2 and 3, roll roast and tie. Season tied roast generously with salt and pepper, then rub with remaining 1 tablespoon oil.

3. Place roasting rack on rimmed baking sheet. Heat 12-inch heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat until very hot, about 3 minutes. Sear lamb until well browned on all sides, about 2 minutes per side; then, using tongs, stand roast on each end to sear, about 30 seconds per end. Transfer to rack and roast until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part registers 120 degrees, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer lamb to cutting board; remove and discard string. Brush lamb exterior with mustard, then, following illustration 6, carefully press herb and bread crumb mixture onto top and sides of roast with hands, pressing firmly to form a solid, even coating that adheres to the meat. Return coated roast to rack; roast until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of roast registers 130 to 135 degrees (medium-rare), 15 to 25 minutes longer. Transfer meat to cutting board, tent with foil, and let
rest 10 to 15 minutes. Cut into 1/2-inch slices and serve.

There are illustrations with the recipe, but I’ve gotta leave something for Cooks’ Illustrated. I highly recommend subscribing if you like to cook. Then, if you feel like springing for it, spend the additional $20 a year for access to all of their online recipes and archives. So worth it.

I’m sitting on my couch, reading the news, sipping a cup of coffee (for the first time in about 46 days, since I haven’t been cheating and drinking coffee on Sundays in Lent), and laughing inside that it’s sunny outside. After all, it was supposed to storm all day today. And though there are some ugly clouds in the sky, the sun is also shining on the street, intermittantly, giving me hope that I may actually be able to wear my lavender suit today, instead of pants and boots.

Happy Easter all!

After college, I lived in a part of the country where allergies are a fact of life. Cedar in the winter, pollen in the spring, mold in the spring, more pollen in the summer . . . everyone I knew had allergies of some kind, except me. Oh, I might get a little sniffy with the molds, but I never had any sort of reaction to pollen or cedar or grass.

Maybe immune responses to allergens really are conditioned on where you grew up. Because it seems the pollens here in Our New City™ really don’t agree with me. I started feeling an itchy throat mid-week, perhaps from some drainage, and it waxed and waned for a couple of days before almost completely subsiding. Yesterday, I felt fine. Maybe a little sniffy, but I’ve been sniffy since they turned the heat on in our building last fall.

This morning, even, I felt OK. A little sniffier, perhaps, and the sniffiness . . . moving . . . a bit more freely in my sinuses, but I was OK. Off I went to school to do some studying, feeling fine, but by the time I got there, I was a mess. Sniffy, itchy, sneezy, itchy, sneezy, and uncomfortable. I’ve since come home, gone to the grocery store, come home again, and it’s just gotten progressively worse. My eyes are now watering, I’m blowing my nose every five minutes, and my head feels heavier by the moment. I’ve taken an all-day sinus and allergy pill already today–and it had no effect–so I’m not sure what else I could do to feel better. Basically, I’m just miserable.

Thunderstorms are supposed to move in tonight, and it’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow. Maybe the rain will drown all the pollen out. Or maybe it won’t, and I’ll just end up miserable from the pollen and the mold. On Easter. While I cook a big meal. Fun!