Severe Forecast

A few days ago, I spent a good 40 minutes or so putting together a blog entry. As I hit the 'Publish Post' button, what did I get? An error message and IE freezing up. After getting the computer restarted, I couldn't remember the exact words I used in the original entry, so I gave up. I hate when that happens.

It's cold today. When I spoke to my parents earlier in the week, they told me about the blizzard up north. Fun stuff. Glad I'm not around for it. The snow is one thing I'm not missing at all about home. Today, there are severe weather advisories for this weekend. They're expecting freezing rain, so they're talking about shutting things down. And not even for snow! No wonder the south lost the civil war, shutting down for these minor things.

So as I was walking from class to the shuttle, I saw a man wearing a fur coat. Not even a Pimp fur coat, just a regular what the wife of a banker would wear type of fur coat. It was strange, the man was dressed in semi-professional attire, he was near the healthcare center, yet he was wearing a fur coat. So that was the minor highlight of my day.

So I finally moved out of my old room last weekend. Glad to be away from that hellhole. As I was packing up my food in the kitchen, I picked up one of the kitchen towels I bought earlier this year. Apparently the old roomate used that cloth to wipe up the ants that were all over the place from garbage being left all over the place there. So I abandonned the towel. According to my property professor, since I wilfully abandonned it, I guess I no longer have any rights to it. Oh well.

The forecast for the rest of law school is now feeling a little bleak. The first semester was brutal, and this one is looking hard. I'm not sure what I'm doing with my life anymore, and I honestly hope that I can find something that I'll be really happy doing. If all else fails, there's always a life of crime to look to. I always wanted to be a circa 1920's gangster, wearing a pinstripe suit and toting a tommy gun. Except the whole bloodshed part, that I could do without. It would have been fun being taken down like Al Capone, being put away for 'tax evasion.'

In the Presence of God

So this week has been going insanely slowly. But there were a few interesting turns. I finally met my new roomate. I requested a room transfer before break, and they finally got back to me. I went to meet the new guy yesterday, and he seemed alright. Big dorky looking guy who's getting his masters in Chem. The apartment was almost identical to my current one layout wise, except the view is of the inner court yard instead of the beach volleyball court. Hopefully I'll have moved by this weekend.

I may have mentioned that during break, some kid named Byron inflammed the entire law school by sending out a massmail entitled, "Why Jesus Came," with a lot of Christian theology and messages. I responded with a massmail of my own, trying to rebut his claims and whatever. I got a lot of personal messages saying 'thank you' or stuff like that. But Byron got a lot of public and private emails that were not so nice and a little more vicious. In response to the whole hoopla, one of my friends, Mike, put together a public forum on free speech and religious freedom. That was today. Considering the amount of sensitivities that were shown on the class listserv, I was very surprised to see how few people actually showed up. There were only about 20 of us there, if even. But on a bright note, the discussion was excellent. Civil, humane, intellectual. Got to hear some very interesting points.

I also got to personally meet Byron. I thought he'd be a totally self-righteous and condescending person. I was wrong. He sounded self-righteous on the email exchanges, but he wasn't bad. I actually had a decent time talking to him. He acknowledged that people didn't agree with him, but he wasn't as judgmental as I thought he would be. I could tell he's someone who very much believes in what he's saying and preaching, but he is also someone who is not completely blind and stupid. We were talking about putting together religious dialogues and forums (which I doubt will draw a major crowd at the school), but has the potential, nonetheless, to yield some very interesting learning opportunities and discussions.

Other than that, it was freezing these past few days. Not fun in the least going outside. Today I had to break out the scarf. I remember last winter was extremely brutal up in NY, and it really wasn't fun dealing with the cold. One day, when leaving for work, I didn't have a scarf (I think I lost it a day or so before). My mom was insistent that I take a scarf, and even went and got her pink scarf for me to wear. I respectfully declined to go in public with a pink scarf. I'll let you figure out why.

So now I'm reading criminal law. I just finished reading a case about a guy who inadvertantly almost killed his mother in law. Earlier last week we had to read a case about these guys shipwrecked at sea who killed someone and ate him to survive. Interestingly, there is no law against cannibalism here in the States. So Hannibal Lecter is nothing more than a common murderer.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

I've been especially lazy this weekend. I should have been doing work, but I just couldn't bring myself around to it. So this morning, I got up, told myself I'd get to the library (where I am now), and get to work. Instead, I came to the library, put my books out in front of me, and started blogging.

Some of the pains of last semester are coming back to the surface. The amount of crap for legal writing is really annoying. So I have to sit here and read cases about non-compete agreements. There's one case where a party's name is Chaichimansour. Interesting name. It was bad enough having a name like Zahir growing up, where nobody would pronounce it correctly. I can only imagine what this lady went through.

So last night, some people in Section C had a bbq, to which they invited the entire class. A bunch of people were there, and it was pretty nice. Got to see some folks, have great conversations, cringe in disgust as they ate pulled pork, and generally sit around and have a grand ole time. Afterwards, a bunch of us went to go see Elektra. Now there are bad movies, and there are utterly bad movies. This one falls into the latter category. I have to say it was entertaining, but it was too hoaky for my taste. Reminded me of that really crappy Tomb Raider movie with Angelina Jolie. What pisses me off about Hollywood today is that there is no attempt at making good movies. Justin even commented that they tend to have some fake attempt at a plot, when in reality, all they do is parade around the lead actress in a tight skimpy outfit and have fight scenes. It's quite literally like porn, but for a younger audience. Whatever happened to the days when intelligent movies came out? Bill Maher even commented once about how when he was growing up, Hollywood didn't give a crap about him, so it forced him to go out and smarten up so he'd actually be able to watch these movies. Today, it's all about pleasing the 14 year old boy with shots of a scantilly clad heroine who once graced the pages of a comic book or video game. So much for standards.

So I had a very interesting conversation with Tracy yesterday, mainly about my commitment issues. Funny, only after dating someone and letting them get to know you well, do you finally let them become an instrument for self reflection. It's funny. Who would have thought that some of the best advice I'd ever get would be from an exgirlfriend? It's a catch-22 for us males out there whenever we try to figure out how the female mind works. 99.999% of girls will tell you what they think they want, but don't actually mean it. The majority of girls say they want the nice guy. The majority have never even once in their lives been interested in the nice guy. Then when you're a jerk to the ladies, it's not wholesome, and there's something awry. When you're nice, they get bored. It all goes back to my 'Cruel Joke' theory. I believe God made the personalities of men and women the way he did as a cruel joke to torture us. I gotta say, it is a pretty funny one. But there is still hope out there... hopefully one day I will be with someone who's has just as much a convoluted, yet ironically simple, mindset as myself.

Back in the Library

When I was at home during break, a friend of mine made a quip of how I talk about the library way too much on my blog. He was right. I do talk about this place a lot (low and behold, I'm back in the library right now). I think I spend more time here than I do in my apartment (aside from sleeping). It's funny, I'm reminded of a line from The Shawshank Redemption, where Morgan Freeman's character says, "These walls are kinda funny. At first you hate them, then you get used to them, then enough time passes, you depend on them." That's how I feel about this place. I'm dependent on this place to force me to do work, otherwise nothing would get done.

So far, the classes this semester seem more interesting, but a lot harder. Property seems like a really interesting class. The professor seems like a really brilliant guy, who has a great wealth of knowledge he's willing to share. The problem, as usual with guys of this level of knowledge, is that he's a pompous ass. Oh well. As for constitutional law, I think that class is the most interesting so far this semester. My professor is a spitting image of one of my finance professors back at NYU (except my conlaw prof has a southern accent, the Finance prof had an australian accent). Problem is that despite being brilliant, he's also monotone. So it'll be hard balancing between the interesting material and the lackluster delivery of it. Lastly, Criminal law should be interesting, and the professor is this little frail looking little lady. Don't know enough about that class to judge just yet. During Crim law, a certain friend here at the lawshool (her name starts with N and ends in ahea) was kicking my chair from behind most of the time! So now I have to think of intricate ways to annoy her during class. I'm thinking playing funny videos on my comp while she sits behind me would be golden.

So this semester had no grace period. From day 1, they dumped the work on us. So I'm sitting here in the library, reading away. I still have to read Property and Crim law for tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Second Tour of Duty

I arrived back in Atlanta a little over an hour ago. The drive wasn't too bad. When I left yesterday, it was rainy and gloomy in the northeast. By the time I entered Delaware, it was getting sunnier. As I crossed into the South (across the Maryland boarder), it was bright and sunny. Hopefully a sign of things to come.

I drove almost all of yesterday, then checked into a seedy Motel 6 in Charlotte. Got up early this morning and wound up here in Atl by noon. Feels good to be back. Problem is that I havn't bought my books yet, and classes start tomorrow. And lucky me, the bookstore is closed today. So I guess I have to get up early and get my stuff in the morning before class. When I got back, there were ants all over the kitchen counter. The trash wasn't taken out before leaving for break, so we had some other inhabitants move in. So my first chore back in Atlanta was making this apartment inhabitable for humans again. Can't wait to move out.

Luckily, I got to see my cousin and her husband this weekend. My cousin works for the UN and is based in Kabul, so it was a huge relief to see her in one piece (and not wearing a headscarf). So we hung around, showed her husband pictures from her 'awkward' years, and ate a LOT of food. My mom has a tendency to make tons of food when company is over, so almost every day felt like a thanksgiving feast. But I did get to enjoy some foods in NY that I can never get here in Atl. Got my last fix of Patsy's food, home cooked food, Gray's Papaya, Afghani food, and halwa before coming back to school. Now back to treadmill culture.

Still No Flying Cars

So this is my first post of the new year. 2005... it sounds so futuristic. I still remember when just saying 'Year 2000' felt futuristic. Growing up, especially in the late 80's and early 90's, I would have thought that we'd have flying cars by now. But no, we still have our gas guzzling Saudi-pleasing SUV's and other gas powered engines.

I'm curious to see what will happen this year. 2004 was a hard year to top. We had a ferocious presidential election, the Red Sox coming out of nowhere to win the world series, the idiotic term 'wardrobe malfunction' enter our vocabulary, William Hung becoming a minor celebrity, and the 'insurgency' in Iraq taking full measure. On the personal front, 2004 saw me go to Al Ummah, where I met some great people and started to spike my hair, move to Atlanta to start law school, lose 20 lbs, and a lot of other experiences. Not to mention, 04 saw my sister's life drastically changing direction. It was definitely an extremely eventful, and for the most part, a very good year. I just hope 05 is an improvement.

New Years Eve was spent in the city. I met up with Fader, who took me along on some errands to feed a cross eyed-cat named Angelina before heading out to the city. Cross-eyed cat just sounds funny. But the cat herself was sweet. So we met up with Joyce and went up to Sre's place. That was awsome... got to chill for a while, catch up with those guys, and have no fierce political debates with Gabe. Also got to glimpse the boulder that Shama (Sre's fiancee) now wears on her ring finger. That was pretty sweet. After that I headed over to Micky's, where I got to see most of my friends. It was a pretty chill night, and albeit nothing crazy, it was amazing because I got to see a lot of friends who I missed terribly while I was in Atlanta.

It made me realize how unbelievably formative the years of college are to people. Last week, I went over to Nizar's place for the back to basics party. We had a b2b about 5 or 6 years ago at Khayal's (f/k/a Adil) place. Now that was a true b2b. This one didn't feel the same at all. But it had all the elements, the company of old friends, the video games, the junk food (only thing missing was the wild comedy). So, either we're too old to enjoy a b2b, or maybe I'm no fun anymore.

I wonder if my blog will get any better in 05?