Your Match

"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are." - Anais Nin

My new cell phone was also broken, so I had to call again to get a new one. Did I mention that my automatic cat litter is broken. I go through them like candy it seems. I don’t know what to do. I really like the convenience, but hate that my cats figure out a way to break it every 6 months. I need to call the help line, but I have been putting it off. I let all these things preoccupy my time so that I don’t have to think about anything important.

We get Monday off for Labor day. It is kind of ironic that Mason would give up this day off, but Cornell's ILR (Labor Relations) made us go to class. Herbert is leaving NYC soon, and Erika is dropping her sister off in NYC, so I'll be going up for the weekend. I hope to go up on the bus Friday after work. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone.

I needed to rack up some frequent player points on a poker site and it was going very slow. So randomly, I decided to play limit holdem at very low stakes. I cleaned up. I easily won over 50 dollars in one night. I'm sure a bit of it was luck, but it was a game I could take down. So I've started playing more limit poker. It is not close to as exciting as no limit, but its still good practice. I guess we will see how that goes.

I got my package with some Cornell Tshirts. I don't own any, so I figured it was time I get some. They brought back a lot of memories from school, my friends and my experiences. It feels like it was a whole other lifetime. I don't feel any older now, but I clearly am. Random thoughts pop into my head and a lot are memories I had totally forgot. Long drives to Turning Stone, hanging out in Efrain's room, parking my truck illegally, Kings dinners, and it being so cold. The sound of people outside drunk in collegetown as I was upstairs trying to sleep. It really was like having a second family.

There are people in the world that just give you a bad feeling. I don't believe in energy and such, but it's the best way to describe it, you get this bad energy feeling from them. Something doesn't feel right or seem right and you can't put your finger on it. I try to avoid and stay away from this type of person. Sometimes you don't figure it out until it is too late, but you always figure it out.

Then there are people that talk about God way too much. I think God is great, but people that spread his word with their own agendas really irritate me. Some people use God as such a crutch, a person to blame things on, justify things with. Well I wouldn't of stolen your wallet if it wasn't in God's plan. Someone that has to sell you God must not really have a really strong faith and in doing so are probably trying to sell Him to themselves. I let people believe what they want, mainly because with something as ambigious as spirituality, there is no way I could know I'm right. I have a strong feeling you are wrong, but I have nothing to sell you if I can prove that. My advice is to just take responsiblity for your decisions, do things because they are right, not to please God. If you do things for that purpose, then you are admitting that you are just inherently evil and the only reason you don't do evil things is because you want to please God/go to heaven. Maybe focus on the fact that you know what is right and wrong and life doesn't always reward the good and punish the bad. You are not at the point in your life because that is where God wants you (though I don't rule out you might be), you are there because of the choices in life you made (or things that happened to you out of your control). I understand He provides guidance and blessings, that is part of my personal belief system, but micromanaging our lives is something the Bible tells us he is not in the business of doing. So please stop trying to sell me your God, because my God, well he can beat up your God, and my God is completely ok with me not completely understanding Him. So if God ends up being the 2nd Lutherian Protestant Reformed God, He will know it was still him I was praying to.

We had an interesting negociation session in class. I had to buy a used product and was authorized to pay up to $20,000 (cost of item if new). I was informed that Used it ranged from $12,500 - $15,000 when sold in the past. There were no other sellers and we really needed the product. We get into negociations and I'm thinking the other guy is going to try to sell them for as high a price as he can get. I throw out the price range of other used volume sets ranging from $12,500 - $15,000. He offers to sell at $12,500 and throw in free storage. I was like SOLD! No haggling. I got the low range and saved $7,500, any more would be greedy. Well after I find out he was authorized to sell as low as $5,000 and money wasn't the issue for them, it was getting rid of them. Thank goodness he was a nice guy and offered me the best deal I was hoping for, but had I only kept let him offer first, I would have probably got them for much less. Makes you wonder, I was super happy before when I thought I got a super deal, but when I found out I could of gotten a better deal, I wasn't as happy (still ok though). It really shows you how subjective things in life can be and how your outlook affects everything.

last notch in my belt

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