SmowMG

Karma. What is the world trying to tell me? At first, I thought it was that I should go to the gym more often. More often, by the way, means I should go to the gym. The snow accumulations here are pretty impressive. Not really as high as last time, but pretty impressive all the same.

More impressive, is the sheer weight of the snow. One roof in Charlottesville has already caved in. There have already been some power outages in the area (not my place, thankfully), and I would surmise that more outages will happen as the snow/sleet that's piling up starts brining down tree limbs and power cords. Fun times.

Shoveling this stuff is painful, as my back and shoulders keep reminding me. To make it even more fun, having learned from last time, I'm flinging the snow as far as possible. By the time this snow ends, I'm going to run out of places to shovel it into. My options being, shovel snow really far now while I'm only moderately sore or shovel it up and over a massive mound when I'm totally exhausted. So, yes, the world might be telling me that I need to hit the gym more than once a decade (Actually, I went 4 times in the past decade...all thanks to the guilt of living directly across from the gym at GW). Of course, I can't really get to the gym with the mass of snow every where and the idiots trying to navigate in it, so that can't be it.

Then, I had another thought. This is about the billionth time that I've been stopped from bringing a bunch of stuff to the SPCA thrift store. Seriously, I have 3 bags of stuff sitting in the car waiting for a saturday when the roads are actually clear enough to use. Maybe the world hates it when people donate goods to cute fluffy animals.

But that just doesn't seem right. So maybe the world is telling me I need to clean my apartment. If so, the world is right. It's rather disgusting, even by my standards. This paper that I had to write, coupled with being sick, coupled with a general dislike of cleaning has left me with an apartment I would be scared to let a health inspector into. The problem with this theory is that I am still a bit sick, sore from shoveling, and slightly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of dishes, laundry, and general scrubbing that needs to be done. If the world is trying to tell me to clean, it took a really shitty approach.

So, I've decided. The wold is not telling me to work out, stop donating to charity, or clean. The world, it turns out, is telling me to hurl myself down a hill on a "sled," build a snow fort in my front yard, go swinging and jump of the swing into a pile of snow, and generally do my best to ensure that this cold I have gets worse and last another week. The world, as it turns out, has a thing for germs and viruses. Live and let live, that's what I always say. Anyway, I was talking to the old woman living next door mentioned that we're piling up as much snow this year as back in 1996. I remember 1996, it was awesome. It was the kind of childhood fun you never forget. But, alas, I'm getting old and my memories are cloudy. Clearly it's time for some new winter storm memories. Off to the snow!

Karma

I know this may shock some people, but there are things I miss about Duluth. For instance, I totally miss the fact that grocery stores in Duluth expect you to bag your own damn groceries. As I was buying food to make my sick self feel better, I politely asked the woman doing the bagging to use paper instead of plastic and to fill the reusable bag that I had brought with me first.

She started mumbling about "difficult" customers and then proceeded to put my apples (honeycrisp!) below some cans of soup. Then, when I asked her to put the fruit on top, she glared at me. WTF? If you don't like your job, quit or take a break or something. Trust me, I'd rather do it myself anyway.

I considered finding a manager, but I was sick and tired and I wanted to go home and make cupcakes. Instead, I breathed on each of the remaining items I had to send down the track. After all, I already have my own germs. No worries there. I figure I'll leave it up to fate. Maybe she had a really shitty day too, and the gods of Karma won't make her sick because everyone has an off day. Maybe she's just a bitch and will have one hell of a nasty cold tomorrow. Either way, I'm home with cupcakes baking in the oven, so I couldn't care less.

Exhaustion

For some reason, I have a horrible time sleeping the night before an exam. I did EVERYTHING right yesterday. I got up early instead of sleeping in. I refused to drink anything caffeinated all day. I made sure to eat a couple hours before going to bed. I stopped studying an hour before bedtime (2am) and took a long semi-hot shower. (The shower was supposed to be really hot, but my water heater disagreed. It wasn't cold, it just wasn't hot. I should have turned up the temp before finals. Someone remind me of this next semester).

Anyway, totally exhausted, I crawl in bed feeling confident that I have left myself enough time to finish studying for my exam and still get a good night sleep.

Foiled by insomnia. 3 hours later, I decide to just get up and study some more. Needless to say, I don't think I was on top of my exam game. Also, I apologize if this post is completely incoherent. I will try to at least spell check, but I make no guarantees. On the plus side, I suspect nearly everyone will get a B+ on that last exam. Sometimes, the forced curve is a good thing, especially when the professor doesn't want to grade a lot of exams! (Yes, everyone in the school blows of professional responsibility. The material doesn't really matter until you hit the MPRE anyway. Meaning, I'll be relearning all that info next semester. Yay)

So, here I sit, totally exhausted, listening to the chatter of panicked 1Ls (who have 1 exam left), and I have come to the realization that I AM 1/2 WAY DONE WITH LAW SCHOOL.

It's a revelation that's both thrilling and terrifying. The truth is I love law school. I love the people, I love the classes, and I really love the free swag ("free" meaning $60k in loans/year for a couple of wine and cheese receptions, a few lunches, lots of candy, and some merchandise from bar review courses/westlaw/lexis). Heck, I don't even mind exams all that much. I mean, I could live without them, but given the choice between law school with exams and no law school, law school with exams wins by a long shot. I can't believe that it's going to end so soon!

Here's hoping the next 3 semesters are as awesome as the last!

Chocolate cake in a mug...must be finals

Some people drink coffee. I don't consume enough caffeine to handle such things. For instance, because I got up early and I'm really tired, I just drank half a can of Dr. Pepper. I can feel my heart racing from all the sugar and caffeine, and with me, it can't be the sugar...

Anyway, I found this awesome recipe for 5 minute chocolate cake. It was decent. Not the best I've had, but certainly the best I've made in under 5 minutes in my microwave.

Here are the instructions.

Finals

Why can't I take 4 different versions of the legislation final rather than taking my other finals? Just took a practice test and it was FUN! Love this class.