Here are all the little tid bits that I have been writing since I started getting into law schools and this whole adventure started to become very real. Didn't bother to post cause I wasn't sure I'd go through with it.


In at Cali school with a phone call—one from dean and one from a student group member. Got the student message first and rushed to call the dean back. Called from restaurant bathroom and totally ignored my tables to talk to the dean. Hid on the floor by the coffee station to talk to student who sounds super nice
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In at UT Austin Texas with full tuition and fees – amazing. Possibly a stipend for living. Not sure what I did right, but I’ll take it.
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Haven’t gotten a rejection yet but 2 WLs. Called Arizona to decline the very special scholarship that they offered me. Ended up talking to the Dean for a good half hour. She remembered me right off the bat – I was wondering if she had caller id! She said she was really moved by my statement and hoped that I continued in film and generally kept up the fight against racism. I was shocked and honored to be receiving encouragement and advice from her. She knows people at all three of my top contender schools and had a very strong opinion of what school I should choose if I would not attend hers.

Working like crazy at job and little BIG money drains keep popping up. I am crabby and prone to arguing with BitterNewYorker. Not a good spot. Thank goodness I like my job and can stand to be there for 15 hours a day. Unlike my last gig at a huge, god awful restaurant, I really like my new job in a small restaurant where people care about what they eat, the chef is reasonable, foreigners don’t pretend they don’t know how to tip, no one cares if there is a Yankee or a movie star in the room and that damn place has not been featured on Sex in the City.

We had a French family come in for lunch the other day. Pappa was on the phone so daughter brought over the credit card to pay. Mama signed and left no tip, neglecting to fill in even the total. I kindly mentioned that service is not included and received 10% for my efforts. Another table within earshot asked a co-worker if they had tipped. She nodded negatively and they we shocked. “We’re from Denmark,” they said, “ and we know how to tip.” They proceeded to leave us an extra 10$ to make up for the less than savvy Frenchies. If the meal is half price to you, what’ s the big deal with following our custom and leaving a decent tip? Especially if I have to explain the entire menu to and make suggestions that you then take and enjoy. Huh??? I have to stop here. I’m getting angry.
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ASW at Cali school. I loved meeting all of the people who might be my classmates. The BLSA members were awesome as well. I felt like they were my big brothers and sisters (even though I am older than most of them) and I no longer fear law school. If I do attend Cali school, I will have more than enough shoulders to cry on, outlines and practice tests to study and sunshine to bask in. What really impressed me about the school was the amount of different areas of study—the institutes, the clinics and specializations. I look at the catalogs from other schools and I see nothing that I can really make my own. There are even opportunities (very small) to participate in clinics or journals during the first year. I can just imagine hating property, torts and civ pro and then going to work at the juvenile justice clinic and accomplishing just enough to push me through the misery.

(I’m probably gonna be laughing at this little miss sunshine post this time next year, but I’ve got to be positive now- while I still can!)
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At the ASW, I was told again and again to ask for more money from Cali school and use my other offers as a bargaining tool. I did. I think I may have pissed off my biggest advocate.

I didn’t talk specific numbers with people, so I have no idea what their offers were and what they ended up getting. There may be more money available for me after the deposit deadline, but by then, they know they’ve got me. Not sure how to play this game. I have a housing guarantee from Cali school now, but nowhere near enough money on the table to make me confident and comfortable with the amount of loans I will have to take out. All in all, it is a good offer and I will try to swing it money wise. I only applied to school in cities where BitterNewYorker would want to live, so at this point, the decision is mine.
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High off of the admitted(ly) Diverse Student Welcome weekend, I am finally buckling down and taking a look at my (grim) finances. I am working like crazy, trying to plan a very small budget wedding in Napa (it will happen!) and now, finally trying to figure out how I am going to get the cash to wed and move us across country. Thus far, with an offer of full tuition and fees in my back pocket, I have not been worrying too much about loans and such.

OOPS!

I initially found it problematic that the fed had to bail out the arrogant risk takers who caused the mortgage implosion. Why rescue them when they caused this mess? Why not focus on those losing their homes? So naive -- this is why I am gonna take a lot of econ and business type classes when I can.

I called Bank of America today to find out about taking out a personal loan for the moving and expenses I most likely won’t be able to cover on my own at the beginning of school while BitterNewYorker looks for a job. They stopped giving those out today. TODAY. They are now focusing only on government backed loans.

Total Higher Education, a non for profit – all applications temporarily suspended.

I really wish I hadn’t turned down Arizona (2 full tuition offers just make me feel better than one). Holy cow Batman!!

April 21, 2008
I have a very good friend from college who lives in Berlin. She is currently experiencing personal problems and I rarely hear from her. I started watching In Treatment, but found it a bit too much to take, too much ego and huffing and puffing. But I cannot stop watching it. One of the characters reminds me of my friend in Berlin. The woman’s mouth moves in such a similar way that I cannot let it go.

Got a wonderful letter from Stanford today telling me that I am on their waitlist. This is awesome. Even if I end up moving to LA, if I get accepted, BNY & I can just go and crash with my mom until we find an apt. Stanford has been my dream school since I was in high school. A good friend of mine, 2 years ahead of me, went there as a CS undergrad. The campus is magical, all shaded and contained in loops of oak and eucalyptus. They had a vegan dorm. Student were serious but not snobby. The granola-hugging nerd inside of me is jumping for joy.

The insecure worry-wort part of me is trembling, wondering what will happen when I show up knowing no one and if they find out I am a WL admit. I haven’t really taken a good look at their course offerings, clinics and externships. What kind of groups are there for me to join? BLSA is a given anywhere, but perhaps they have a students for agriculture reform?

And the more I read ( good bless blogs) the more I realize that size does matter ( I’ve been too polite to admit it). Higher rankings mean more opportunities (to pay off debt).

I’m getting ahead of myself here. It’just a waitlist. All this worrying could be for naught. But after attending NYU as an undergrad, I really feel like I am more of a Stanford type than an NYU type. Just a feeling. Wish I could have made that decision on my own though!

I guess that only thing I can think of that is worse than the first year of law school would have to be ninja school. And that’s cause they are fighting for their lives with words rather than Examsoft.


7-8-08
Not even one week in the great city of Los Angeles and I am ready to ask for mercy. Thank goodness I live right be a Vons and a CVS. I have left so many things in New York or I have suddenly found the need for so many things I never had in New York that I am at the stores 2 or 3 times a day. My one saving grace is the store card. Each time I go to Von’s and give them my mothers phone number(that’s how they record the cards) , I save about 10 dollars. All those savings add up when I am spending over 100$/day. Sheesh! But I really do need a can opener, extra virgin olive oil, 57 hangars, bleach, Murphy’s oil soap, frozen peas and lentils. And an actual telephone for my hard line.

I am half an inch away from leasing a car. BNY has his set of motored, gas efficient wheels. I thought I was so cool, or at least being hip to my carbon footprint, coming out here with nothing more than a bicycle to transport myself. What hubris!!! UCLA is up a big freaking hill. A monster, shift–all-the-way-down hill. The law school is at the far, high-altitude end of the campus. I’m going to try to ride up that hill to the school every day for the next 6 weeks and pray that somewhere in there it gets easy. Cause right now, it is not easy!

For all the fus that Cali is making about greening itself and lowering emissions, I thought it would be easier to get around on a bike or motorcycle. There are very few bicycle parking spaces around my local stores. I end up locking my bike to a handicapped sigen and that makes me feel bad. Twice already, BNY and I have had to go the long way around a light that would not go green for us on the motorcycle, even though there seemed to be sensors. Guess our light weight, fuel efficient vehicle does not trip them. Never had this problem in New York. I’ve been away from Cali for 11 very important formative years and even though I always considered myself a California Girl, I think I may have been deluding myself -- I like walking and nobody walks in L.A.
7-9-08
This one’s for you Bill!
I made jambalaya tonight. Or a one pot, one package meal that incorporated the left over organic sausage (is that possible?) and frozen shrimp I had into a yummy pot of caramelized onions and an ever increasing amount of fresh tomatoes to try and quell the spice for my husband. (Didn’t work. The rice mix we picked up on our mini honeymoon in New Orleans was spicy – not in an overt way, but jut enough to keep our lips tingling).

Already, I miss the big cook offs with my friend Bill, an accomplished loafer, video game enthusiast and budding culinary genius. Unfortunately he hails from hearty East Coast Christian stock and has not been able to attend any of the Christmas feasts that Chris and I have staged. (See photos below) He had somewhere else to be. Every new recipe I try I want him to taste and confirm that I am evolving as a cook.

Bill, I heard a rumor that you want to go to culinary school. I think that’s wonderful. I would love to have you as a chef- partner in a restaurant in Anytown USA (located near a large body of water). This is my dream!!!! I’d tell you myself, but I know how you hate to talk about serious things and be pressured into making decisions and giving answers. The offer stands a long as I am able to command a 6 figure salary post law school.

Our Time in Eden

I really do hate the 10,000 Maniacs, I think it had something to do with Natalie Merchant’s proximity to Michael Stipe and rumored romance. So I am listening to this great album and wondering why I let it get away from me for so long. My husband asked me why I don’t like it – “Some guy you liked liked some girl who liked it?” Almost hit the nail on the head. All that while smoking peeps on a Rainbow Six multiplayer game. Gotta give the man credit. He’s been there done that. Back to the music and goldrush days.


7/15/08

A Room of one’s Own

I finally have a futon in my room, ny office. BNY and I have been living in this large (by NYC standards) apartment with one couch and no chairs. We have had to share the couch so I have been watching an inordinate amount of sports (an actually enjoying it, though I will never admit it. Truly, I prefer Weeds.)

Though not as comfortable as the couch (a.k.a. the most expensive piece of furniture I will own in a very very long time!!) it is mine and I do not have to share it with my shooting aliens or whatever husband. I can happily sustain the same position, save small hand movements to and fro my drink and mouth, for hours. It means I now can have my relative quiet.