On Call

"Lack of money is the root of all evil." -George Bernard Shaw

I got through my first week and here I am starting my second week. I have to admit, I haven’t done anything too interesting. I haven’t created a positive routine yet, but things seem to be coming together.

I don’t know how to explain it, I have been under a lot of stress lately. I really don’t know how to explain it, everything is fine, but somehow I just feel like there is a lot of pressure, a lot of things that are undone. From poker books, to audiobooks, to law school work, to finding a job, to finances and worst of all my general health. As long as I’m moving towards a positive direction, I tend not to worry too much, but right now, none of those things is moving forward in the way I want them to.

My cell phone is broken and today I received my insurance replacement. It should be a fun time putting in new numbers and setting it up the way I want. I guess I can flush out old numbers and start new and fresh. A new toy is a new toy, even if it is the same exact toy you used to have that broke.

Deadwood is now over for the season. I’m looking forward to the fall season. Prison Break started, How I met your mother is starting soon and we have Grey’s Anatomy, Lost and whatever new shows I add to my watching list.

I had my apartment cleaned last week. It cost me an arm and a leg, but it felt really good afterwards. I hope to do it again at some point, but this time with a cheaper company. I guess I’ll see how long my clean floors will last.

I am terrible about my meals, but right now I’m trying to figure out when to eat. With class, I have to eat breakfast, but Monday there is little time for lunch and Monday and Wednesday I don't get home until after 7:30pm so I have to have a late dinner.

I'm really looking forward to labor day weekend. It is going to be a really nice time.

how you feel about yourself clouds everything else

3L - Final Year of Law School

"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow." - Mark Twain

My final year has started. My first task is to get a feel for my classes. Since I have all my classes on Monday and Wednesday, my days are going to be long and hard. I have 4 classes each day with small if no breaks between. I have to admit that my preparation for class on this first day was far less than stellar. Part of me just didn’t want to accept that school was starting. Then again, maybe this is just how I roll. I will be working part-time again, so I’m somewhat worried about that getting in the way. I’ll be working full-time Thurs and Friday and part-time on Tuesday. I love my job, but part of me just wishes I didn’t have to work. Rent must be paid and experience gotten. I also need to decide once and for all what state I want to live in/take the bar in. Texas seems like the easy answer, but part of me just feels like I might end up taking the bar in another state. These are things that are always on my mind.My first class was a legal history class and I actually did all my reading for this class. I had this feeling that it would be a scary class, but instead, it wasn’t too bad. A large part is based on your paper and I feel like I haven’t written a paper like that in years. Attendance is important in this class and it only meets once a week, but attendance isn’t my strong suit.I roll right into my Corporations class. This class is also 1 hr 50 mins long, so by the time I’m done it is 2hrs 50mins of class (10 mins b/t). We can’t use the internet in this class. I think I will find this to be very hard. Not that I use the internet a lot in class, but I use it enough to keep myself from either getting bored or using my time to take care of random things I need to do, i.e pay bills, chat with friends, etc. That aside, this is going to be a difficult class for me.

Next, I have Evidence. I know this is going to be an interesting, yet very difficult class as well. I don’t exactly know what to expect, but I don’t feel I got a good read on the class from only one day.

I end the day in my Immigration class. This should be my favorite class, but it looks like yet another class that is going to be difficult. I almost feel like I am in law school. Everyone in class seems to have so much experience with the process and it is a lot more confusing than I thought it would be. The reading for this class seem substantial as well.

Tuesday I will be working, but I took the day off to get my life together. I cleaned up the house a bit, washed my car and purchased groceries.

Wednesday is part 2 of my 2 hard day weeks. I end up going to bed very late, almost 2am. I get a phone call at 7:30am so I have to wake up to take care of that. I can’t get back to bed so I shower and start to get ready. I decide to show up to class early so I can get a good seat. I arrive at 8:30am for my 9:00am class. Well I find out it was a 9:30am class, so not only was I at school early, but way too early. My loss of sleep felt more substantial now. I used the time to get more reading done.

My morning class is Negotiation. The class is very long, but it is interesting, so I feel like it will go by fast. Same problem though, attendance is a big deal, so I have to watch that. After class I get a 2 hour break from 12-2. I ate lunch and read for class. After, I finished, then I had the 2nd part of my 3 Monday classes. 2pm – 7:30pm.

So that is how is it looking. I’m feeling good, but I have to get in the habit of reading again and accepting that my life is law school and not really mine. I’ll have 3 exams and two papers at the end of the semester (with a few papers during the semester). It seems like I will be able to handle it.

Gingerbread latte at Mocha cafe

Texas State

"There is no remedy for love but to love more." - Henry David Thoreau

I've been away on another hiatus. It is hard getting back to this because I have so much to say, but at the same time so very little. Life as always is in constant change but I always seem to be getting the best of it, or at the least things are ok. Now that my final year of law school is about to begin, I'll try to do a quick recap of recent events of the summer.

I just got back from visiting Texas for the 2nd time in 3 months. This was probably the fastest turnaround time I had ever returned to Texas in. This time, I was home for a 2nd graduation (Rick’s being the first), my brother Abram graduated from Texas State. We are all very proud of him and hopefully he is just continuing this trend for my family. I was also able to see my family, and see Erika and have Whataburger.I flew in and Erika picked me up from the airport. It’s a long story about how I almost missed my shuttle. I actually ran into an old Cornell friend on the flight. She is starting law school, so we talked about that. I visited my grandparents and got to see my grandfather in his new nursing home. This time, instead of being almost comatose and not really there, he was under a medication that made him lucid, but overly happy. It was great to be able to listen to him share all his love and give me hugs and kisses and it sure beat how he was before. I wondered how much of this was induced by the medicine, but nevertheless it was still a connection we were able to share. He was able to remember me, which remembering people is something he isn't very good at at his 95 year old state. Later in the week, I was watching Vero's high school graduation tape with my father and saw Vero introduce who she called her 100 year old grandfather...he corrected her and told her he was 80. He was old then, but wow I couldn't believe that was 15 years ago. Time moves faster the older you get it seems.

After seeing my family, I got to visit Erika's new house which she had just moved into. I'm really impressed that she is a homeowner, it's a milestone that is still very far away for me. I got to spend a morning with my father watching old home videos and catching up. I'm glad they kept those, but I rarely came out in the ones I saw.

Next was the road trip to San Marcos on Friday. I got there at about 2pm and Abram graduated at 7pm. It was a nice ceremony, but the names were somewhat rushed. At night we had a bbq where Abram's girlfriend Corrie's family joined in. It was a very good day with very little drama. We decided to go to Austin the next day to celebrate. My parents stayed with the children while we all went out to 6th street and Warehouse District at night. We met up with Erika, Corrie and some of Ana's friends. I called up my cousins Rino and Isra and they came out as well. A great time was had by all. Austin is a great town. Now I am back in DC. Considering school is starting, the summer is now over. I hopefully made the most of my time off and feel like I won’t get another breather until a year from now when I am hopefully done with the bar exam. I had a very good summer and everything looks bright and positive. I am tentative about starting school and having to do homework again. Mark is starting his first year of law school, so I’m hoping his enthusiasm will help carry me through this last year. We hope to find some other law students to play poker with.

In other summer news, Mark competed in the WSOP $10,000 buy-in main event. I was able to accompany him to Las Vegas and watch for the 1st day. I had a wonderful time in Vegas, played some of my own poker and Mark made it in the top 2,000 out of 8,000 people, but did not make it into the money. I got to see and meet some very famous poker players. Watching Day 1 on ESPN is awesome because a lot of the footage, I was there personally to witness. I hope to keep working on my game, but it such a time and financial investment and when you are not doing well, it costs money. I have a lot of unread books I hope to get to, but right now I’m using my free time to play rather than read.

I hate it when people have nothing to say to me...just leaves me with nothing to say to them

Fireworks

"It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you: the one to slander you, and the other to get the news to you." - Mark Twain

I feel like the more things that happen in life, the less I have time to write about them. But when nothing is going on, then I'm bored and want to talk about every mundane thing.

Here is the news. Things have been going really well for my roommate. First he finds out that he got accepted to George Mason Law School. It's a great school if I don't say so myself and I look forward to getting to know more people there. Not too much longer after that goods news, I get a phone call and find out that he qualified for the $10,000 buy-in World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas. He came in first place in an online tournment. So at the end of the month he will be competing for millions. It is like a dream come true for any poker player.

On the 4th of July our housemate/neighbor Nick had a BBQ and we volunteered our place for the festivities. Everything was going great and then it started to pour. Everyone came inside and we had over 40 people watching the World Cup and I have never seen it so loud and exciting. After, things cleared up and the BBQ resumed. Oh, I saw lightning hit a tree outside my house. I had never seen that before. It looked like an explosion. I think lighting might of hit Mark's car because it no longer works. My friend Erika from Edinburg is in town for a dance conference. Her and her friend Annie came over to the BBQ and we took them to see the fireworks in DC. It was pretty awesome. I have seen the fireworks once, on top of my old apartment building, but it always seems like I'm away for the 4th. I was in Atlantic City, DC, TX, Spain, DC respectively the last 5 years.

I keep getting news about how my grandfather is doing and it is usually not good. I hate that he has to go through this. He is 95 years old and I think his body is ready to go, but its a slow process because of how strong he is. The love my grandmother has shown for him by being by his side all this time as he got sicker is really admireable. I worry for her health too, especially because I know this must be so emotionally draining on her. I feel helpless, I want to help and visit whenever I can, but now I feel like we are just waiting. I am told his moments lucidity are now rare if any, but when he does say stuff, it is usually prayers. I wonder how strong my faith will be when I'm at that point of my life.

Here is an interesting article that made me rethink my view of the world. http://www.slate.com/id/2143313?GT1=8391

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