Green tree

note to self

Talking about law school is a bad habit. I hate doing it, and yet I find that I do it without even thinking.  Still, a bad habit can be a useful thing to observe.  I think that the reason why I keep talking about law school, two years out, is that I spent three years of my life doing something immensely challenging, and then one day I just up and said no to it all. That part of me that said yes yes yes for all that time still wants me to do something law-y.

What I know I have to do is this - keep telling that part of myself to please SHUT THE FUCK UP. First of all, law-y is a made up word, and it just goes to show how imaginary the idea is that I'm trying to convey. If I'm not a lawyer, then that's it. You can't be "lawyer-ish."  Saying that I want to do something law-y just means I want to have money, power, stability - all that shit that everybody likes. The part of myself that's saying, "Hey, you stop dicking around, don't forget to do something law-y," is really saying "Hey, I want to be really, really successful, so you better do something blue-chip and EXCELLENT."

And my response is, "I'll get there. And also, never ever blog the phrase 'I love my lawyer friends.'"

Prince Albert Blue

Grass

Disco

V&A Museum

Helen, Hyde Park

Tech Notes

Make-Up and Bicycles

New Chapel College Closed

Keep Off The Grass

Tutors

Oxford Sunset

Sugary

Belfast

Penmanship

Boys

Names

Dessert

The view

Second guest

First guest

Celebration party

Dublin

To meet the guy who gave me this

Going soon!!!

tears

two things made me happy in the past twelve hours, and one thing made me sad.

first, last night i was so happy that i teared up when i saw my friend's ultrasound on her refrigerator. it is currently the size of a pencil eraser, but it already has a tiny heartbeat.

secondly, this morning while I was getting coffee, I saw this (caveat: the print version is much nicer), and I teared up again. I admire Michelle Obama so much, and seeing photos of her with her husband makes me achy and proud.

but above the fold, bad news. a vietnamese-american in binghampton shot and killed 13 people at an immigration center. he'd been laid off his job. many friends went to college at binghamton. I'm an immigrant and so is almost everyone i know. there but for the grace of god, go i.

ok, i think i've cried enough for one day, and it's only 9:30! now i've got to finish packing, so I can go see my very own family. Yay!

Sunnnnnnnnnnnnn

weather

The sky is thundering and groaning in nyc today.

Ah, now the sun is out!

It's spring, it's spring, it's spring.

a special visit

My fiance, Mauro, is a percussionist. Right now, he's on a world tour with David Byrne, the former Talking Head. He left in September, and since then, I've been to western Pennsylvania, Austin, San Francisco, Boston, Atlantic City, and every major city in Australia and New Zealand to visit him. I've seen the inside of every major concert hall in those cities, including the Sydney Opera House, the San Francisco Symphony Hall, and Radio City, here in New York. In three days, I'll see Mauro in Dublin.

They recently hit show ninety. I've only done it with them nineteen times, but by the end of this trip I'll be approaching twenty-six! This leg features a sleep-over ride on the double-decker tourbus, and a ferry ride between Dublin and Oxford. I love riding on the bus, with its mirrored walls to give the illusion of space, the doors that slide open with a swoosh like Star Trek: the Next Generation, and its leather interiors perfect for chillaxation over back-to-back episodes of The Wire: season five. This segment of the tour also features (wait for it...) its own catering company, who supply you with midnight snacks, made from locally sourced groceries.

I'm glad there are perks, because touring isn't always fun. For me, it's a lot of how-do-you-do and where-is-my-free-ticket, but for Mauro and the band and crew, it can be stressful to be traveling and working so much. I feel lucky that this tour fell during a time when I have the flexibility to visit him as much as I have. This way, it's a fun adventure for us. I'm blogging about it so I have all the stories down to tell our kids about our mythical lives before they were even born.