Circles

Here in the Northwest, we are experiencing our one week of summer early! It is so hot- it is unbelievably hot- I am having flash backs to Chicago in the summer (minus the humidity of course, and the flashflooding, and the tornado winds, and the public beaches full of e-coli).

Where I live, road runs are amazing. I decided to be smart and go on a run after noon- when the sun is at its zenith in the sky- let me again state how smart I am...

I intended to go for a lengthy 7.5 mile run on beautiful Bainbridge Island backroads- which are abundant. Due to a flaw in my navigation skills, that run ended up being 11.3 miles long- ouch. It hurt, but was a surprisingly easy feat as far as mentality goes- does this mean I'm ready for a marathon?

This is the course I took, with each mile marked. The plus about living on an island: you can't really get lost, you can only go in circles.

But thanks to my spontaneous new route I got to see the famous Frog Rock with lady bug friend (below) and beatiful views of West Port Madison.


I also passed by my Great Grandma Rose's cemetery. She meant alot to me but I didn't expect to be sad about seeing where she was buried. When I finally found her name etched on her tombstone, it hit me again how permanent and how real her death is. I couldn't help but cry a little. Thanks to an abundance of sweat, it's hard to tell how many tears there were.

I ran passed Fay Bainbridge Park- I smelled the park before I saw it. It has the smell of drying driftwood, and strong salty breezes that were so familiar to me as a child.

My run today was not just a run, it was the kind of experience that running really should be about- not just an act to help you achieve an end goal. Your run itself should be your purpose, your goal, your end.

Miss. L Anius

I am documenting my law school experience on a separate blog- this way I have a place to rant without alienating those who just don't care and may get sick of hearing about my latest professor crushes, case laws, and study adventures.....

http://revue2.blogspot.com/

Last weekend something horrifyingly unusal happens: family (not out of the country) is in the same room at the same time (sister taking picure)....


AND... the Jesus Mobile reaches an incredible milestone:

Status of my status

I had my very first law class and survived.

My professor is so amazing- his name is James Bond (!!!) and he makes jokes about how he is approaching the age of "nursing home eligibility".... inevitable professor crush setting in...

I have determined that:

1. I absolutely love studying case law (and love being a law student more than I can express)
2. My new daily commute by ferry is going to drive me absolutely mad
3. Seattle is an awesome city (!!!)
4. I am learning how to multitask while taking notes in class (see below picture)

Show A Little Restraint, Wontcha?

(Above: cute lizard ballon that illustrates absolutely no purpose)

Today went from weird to unbelievable.

It started out weird at the fact that I got to work on time. Ok, not just on time- but a whole hour early (to work on a project).

The following hour brought some more excitement. There is something very ungraceful and downright hilarious about being part of 500+ employees clumsily evacuating a six story building voicing exuberant annoyance. Due to an air pressure issue with the elevators, the fire alarm had gone off. Random heavy air gusts leaking from the elevator shaft left the deserted hallways looking like a post-tornado zone. Flash back to the movie Twister....

By 5:00 I manage to still have a pulse.

We get to BF's house to discover his mom in a panic over a conversation with the county sheriff's office. Apparently, there is a restraining order against BF. I begin to image that BF might have multiple secret relationships with angry and abused women, that he is the unidentified bank robber on the run, or _____ (hmmm, I really can't think of anything bad BF would do- except to eat a hot dog from a street vendor- nasty...).

After confessing to his mom about his days as a high profile drug dealer responsible for an underground network of inpenetrable drug rings and about his lucrative Russian mail-order bride business between Canada and the US-- his mom finds no clarity and little comfort in his jokes.

Remaining puzzled, BF and I did what anyone faced with this situation would do, we went for a run in the nearby wetlands. It was soooo beautiful. I now have a new favorite running trail.

Later that evening, coming face to face with a gun-slinging law enforcement officer, BF bravely stands his ground to demand an explanation. Somehow, there is a man nearby with the same name as BF- but spelled differently. We will be foreverthankful that BF's parents decided to spell his uni-sex name the girly way.

Graduation Suffocation

Being at a younger sibling's high school graduation made me feel old! Although I should have been consoled by the fact that there were plenty of highschoolers who looked older than me- wait, no I shouldn't have...

This was yet another opportunity for sister rivalry-contention to set in and prevent me from enjoying the ceremony. Sometimes I feel so immature. Why am I perfectly capable of acting kind and giving and caring and decent to people I am acquainted with yet find it difficult to show consideration for certain members of my own family?

Because I hate spot light takers, attention getters and the overly confident because they represent something I don't have the courage to obtain? Perhaps...

The highschool that my sister and I attended is like highschool for victims of brain steroids. All the students are too smart-- they are taught to be free thinkers to the extreme, they all find a way to be creatively expressive and they all think they each have a unique "philosophy" of life at the age of 14. This year there were six Valedictorians with 4.0 cummulative G.P.A.'s.

The event was a good chance for me to reminisce about the things that I miss from highschool. It was a good reminder of how excellent the school system here is- for which I am very fortunate. It was also a time to remember the stifling environment of highschool on an isolated island.

Each of the four student speakers in the ceremony used big words that I didn't know and expressed super reflective thoughts on policy, philosophy, humanity, and the meaning of education-- all with great eloquence. I felt like a dunce. At lease the Mayor came up to me afterward to tell me she liked my hair or I would have walked away from a complete blow to my self confidence.

(below: Me with grandma- one of my top most insirational people)

Dear Plato, re: The Symposium

(above: I love this picture, its so romantically scandalous)

Before you even experience it for the first time....you want it more than anything.

Before you really know what it is, you convince yourself that you have it, when you most likely don't.

When you or another breaks this thing you don't really have- it's the most painful hurt.

When you stop trying to find it, the real thing creeps in from the most unsuspecting entrance.

When you finally start to denounce it as pure fantasy and dillusion, is when you feel it with the greatest intensity.

Its different and better than anything you spent your life imagining it would be. And it feels so good that it hurts.

There is a tragedy to experiencing or having something in your life that gives you so much joy. At the same time that you have it- you hurt just knowing the painful withdrawl you would experience if you ever stopped having it. In a transient world, its a tragedy to find so much physical beauty and dependence on things around you. Thus, the joy rivals the pain.

People often talk about whether love is selfish or selfless. Actually, it's neither. It involves the self just as much as it involves the self of another. It's two selfs meeting on the same level at the same time with equal connection. It's reciprocity- but it's much deeper than that. Its the reciprocity of an unexplainable understanding and countless unconditional, unspoken agreements.

sa-prize

I walked into Red Robins with BF and other friends before being attacked by a flying eight year old with grubby claws. Thinking I was the object of someone's desire to do bodily harm, I stood frozen in terror with the kid clinging to me- until I realized the kid was my brother.

Looking up I saw that my mom, dad, and sister were all waiting to be seated. We clearly both agreed that monster burgers and endless fries should be part of the evening's culinary palette.

We end up getting seated a comfortable distance from my little brother's mischevious grins, my mom's bubbly small talk, and my sister's display of "I'm a perfect, hot, confident person with supermodel qualities" attitude.


It only takes BF and I ten minutes to decide what we want to share- it would have taken twice that if I was deciding for myself....

"We should tell them it's your birthday so they will all come out and sing the famous Red Robin Happy Birthday song" we joke with each other. You can tell how starved we are for entertainment.

Later- our waiter walks to our table with a procession of employees behind him- proudly displaying a candle light sundae. "Oh no, he overheard us joking!" was my firt thought.

"Whose having the birthday?" Our waiter asks- he is a little too eager to start singing.

"Its hers!" a friend points at me, playing along with the madness.

"No its not!" I am determined to not be the butt of further embarassment and one big mix up. However, that sundae is looking meltingly tempting. The waiter sets the sundae- the Scourge of My Doom in front of me.

Out of the corner of my eye I see my family approach our table, clearly enjoying this whole thing. "Happy Birthday" they yell, laughing quite obnoxiously.

"But its not my brithday for two more weeks!" I admit, stil trying to shirk what is inevitably to follow.

"That's ok," the waiter says and he leads the group into song- complete with synchronized clapping. Yes, we do draw the attention of the restaraunt crowd and yes I am trying to melt my torso into my legs so that I can slip easily under the table.

When it's all said and done, I determine that the oozing hot fudge sundae was worth all the pain.

Everyone's got a secret....lover

Have you ever started dated someone only to discover later he is managing two relationships?

Its shocking at first but you almost get used to it- well all except for the needle stabbing jealousy, the poignant unspoken bitterness, and the suicidal lonely nights during which you try to convince yourself he is not seeing her, rather, he's thinking of a way to tell her he wants to be with me, ONLY me, forever! (all over a 20 oz bottle of diet coke and some self pitying Celine Dione tunes)

It just makes no sense why he would keep her around. It's a one-way relationship. She's unreliable and high maintenance- not to mention expensive. She never treats him right. Maybe he's schizophrenic- you know, one of his personalities craves being with a stubby torsoed black girl with a big rear while his other personality wants to be with tall, smart, funny, perfect me.

I think he wants me to be jealous. He actually tells me that we can't hang out because he has to "work on" his other relationship- which is giving him problems per usual. Plus whenever it IS going bad with her he always come to me. I tell him to dump her, he even suggests that he actually will this time....but of course he never does. Instead he spends some alone time with her, buys her something new, takes her for an evening spin and it's good as new.

He has even given her a wax ....he never gives me a wax. You think all this is bad enough, she is underage- not even 18!

Who is this object of my hatred you ask? It hurts to even say her name but I will try, just because you asked....

I introduce you to Ford Probe:



Now I have to beg BF until he agrees to align my tires too-- such is jealousy!

Pike Place Market

Old Man getting fresh with some fresh Pike Place fruit.

Handbasket Presidencies

No wonder I have a hard time voting for president:

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Social Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Ethics: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

As a political science major, I was bombarded with talk of all the filth, "spin", and hidden agendas that make up the major political parties in America. I have an extremely conservative extended family and extremely liberal friends/coworkers --both like to fling shit at each other like chimps in the zoo that is American political culture.

Basically, I get to hear how everyone is failing america.

I like how Noonan from the Wall Street Journal described the current party situation on June 1:

"Part of winning is making sure the other guy loses, and part of the fun of politics, of any contest, of life, can be the dance in the end zone....Partisanship is fine when it's an expression of the high animal spirits produced by real political contention based on true political belief. But the current partisanship seems sour, not joyous."

You know who ISN'T failing America? Harrion Ford. Ever since the release of Air Force Once, I have been convinced that he is the man to save America. Who wouldn't want a President like that???

The night I became a star

Gotta love the cheesy 80's videos that accompany a fine karaoke stage....

"I will survive, hey hey!"

It looks like it comes so naturally to me- hey, maybe Law school isn't appropriate or necessary afterall...