Bagel Blog

That's the end of this blog.

2010-06-01T13:01:00.001-07:00

I survived a year in Ethiopia. Or, to be more precise, I survived nine months in Ethiopia.

But rather than start up again with this blog, I've decided to switch over to Wordpress. I've gotten bored with this format and want to try something new. Join me at the new blog!

Drum roll please...

2009-07-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

I finished the Bar Exam!!!!

I don't feel like I deserve to fail, but I don't quite feel like I deserve to pass either. It's been a roller coaster for three days, and now I'm numb.

To kick start the emotions again, more drum roll please....

I'm going to Africa for a year!!!! I leave at the end of August, and I'm going to volunteer teach in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, while also volunteering in a care center for HIV+ orphans. TOTALLY. STOKED. TOTALLY. TERRIFIED.

Which means it's time to say goodbye to this blog for a while. This is the last blog entry I plan to have on blogspot for at least the next year. If you feel like following my adventures in Africa, you'll have to go here.

If I weren't so bad at goodbyes, I'd make this post a little more sentimental. But growing up a child of divorced long-distance parents has made me really awkward and uncomfortable with goodbyes. So let's leave it at this: I'll see you July of 2010!

Uncle John’s Parting Words of Wisdom

2009-07-27T05:01:00.000-07:00

Make sure you get a good night’s sleep because “if your mind is clear, the sh*t will flow.”

See you on the other side of the bar exam!

2009-07-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

4 days from today I start the bar exam.
1 week from today I'll be done with the bar exam.

I can't sleep without having nightmares about the bar exam.

I have exciting news about the lengths I've gone to for the purpose of finding a direction for my blog. That'll be released as soon as the bar is over...stay tuned!

Who's Counting?

2009-07-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

$968.00.... Hotel for 4 nights for the duration of the bar exam
$245.00.... Flight to and from San Francisco for the bar exam
$60.00.... Cost of the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam
$648.00.... Cost to register for the California Bar Exam
$92.00.... Cost to register for the California Bar
$431.00.... Cost to register for the Moral Character Determination
$3,982.50.... Cost of Bar Review Course for California
$1,250.00.... Cost of the iPod version of Bar Review Course (to study from Denver)

Total: $7,676.50

Waiting from July 29 until November 20 to get my score.... PRICELESS (not in a good way)
Passing the California Bar on the First Try.... PRICELESS (in a good way)

T - 20 days

Back to the grind.

2009-07-06T10:04:00.000-07:00

This cover is giving me the post-holiday blues, but I think it's worth sharing anyway. Normally, I really like Greg Laswell, but if I don't switch to more upbeat music soon, I might not make it through to the bar (T - 22 days!!!).

Summer of Transition

2009-06-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

I opened a new checking account today. This makes me feel like I'm starting a new chapter of my life. I know, I know. Graduation from professional school? No sweat. Studying for the biggest exam of my life? Eh, whatev. Opening a new checking account? HOLY COW, Bagel! You're clearly up to big things these days!

In any case, now that I won't be in school anymore, I feel like this blog needs a new direction. Most blogs have a focus, and mine is sorely lacking. The obvious focus is, well, me. But yawn! "Me" in the spotlight is not so fun. Me + direction might actually keep some readers next year.

Here are examples of direction based on some of the blogs I read:

1. Adoption Blogs:
My Fav, of course, Party of 5

2. Cooking Blogs:
The Pioneer Woman

3. Being General Badass Blogs:
i hate so much, A Traveler's Notebook, Why Mom Drinks Rum

4. Boy Drama Blogs:
Hi Lynn!, The Pioneer Woman: From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

5. Photography Blogs:
The Pioneer Woman (have I mentioned how I love her?), Stephanie Williams Photography, Inspired By This

Clearly, I'm lacking a theme. If anyone has suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them. Otherwise, stay tuned. I'll try and come up with one by the end of summer.

2009-06-23T12:24:00.001-07:00

Dear Bagel:

You save too many emails. It's a problem. Especially when you have to switch from a student account to an alumni account and you think it's a good idea to transfer ALL of your messages.

Don't do that again. It will freeze your computer, and it will deliver each and every sent and saved message of the last three years to your inbox. After downloading messages for hours, you will have over 3000 messages to sort through with less than half the messages downloaded.

Stupid, stupid Bagel. Please reform your ways.

Love,
Me

Random Elements of My Life

2009-06-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

Some of the more exciting parts of my life these days...

Pixar went and made a movie about my Uncle John:

My mother owns the creepiest looking candy jar you've ever seen in your life:

I've resisted the TLC pull for many years now, but this summer I'm failing! First, I watched the John & Kate + 8 season premiere to kick off life post-affair. Then, I picked up the show Cake Boss, all about an Italian family in New Jersey who makes really kick ass cakes. But last night I may have found my hook. This show is sure to keep me coming back to TLC for at least the rest of summer:

If nothing else, it's worth it to see more about the religious couples who won't hold hands till engaged or kiss until married. *LOVE* this show!

Why Studying for the Bar from Home Is Fun

2009-06-04T17:46:00.000-07:00

Me: I don't want to write this essay.

Michelle: I'll write it for you!

Miss Kitty: It's on torts.

Michelle: Those taste good on ice cream.

The Journey of a Thousand Miles

2009-06-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

I’m listening to a bar review lecture on my iPod and the lecturer is making a reference to the Chinese proverb: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” The lecturer set the end of the journey as becoming a licensed attorney and traces the journey back to the beginning of law school. He is lecturing about getting rid of “excess baggage” on this last leg of the trip. “Let law school go.”

Easy for him to say. I’m still finishing up my law journal (with the much appreciated help of Christina!) and even though the end is very, very close, the last two weeks have been unbelievably frustrating. Each step takes five times as long as I think it will, and I had to delay my flight back to Denver and delay the start of my bar review course (lucky for me it’s on a iPod so I can recover the lost time). Every delay causes more anxiety about what I should be working on and am delaying. But I digress…

The reason I’m writing this blog entry was that the constant references to journeying and quests is leading to some very vivid imagery. I’m picturing myself engaging in a 2-month battle against “the enemy” – the bar examiners. In this imagery, I have purple hair, I’m wearing a hot pink dress, I carry a sword, and when I smile, my eyes are slits that look like upside down Us.

Oh. Did I mention I’m listening to the lecture in the “Manga” section of Barnes & Noble???? I don’t know what “Manga” is, but it looks like the literary version of anime, and it is making this lecture MUCH more colorful.

My Most Creative Graduation Gift

2009-06-03T17:19:00.000-07:00

Below is my graduation gift from Peggy, my 12-year-old cousin... (in case you can't tell, that's me on the cover of the card ;>)

Dear, Megan [We need to work on punctuation]
Megan we are so happy for you. We were even looking for you on T.V., when Obama gave his speech, we could not find you. Selena [Peggy's 10-year-old sister] and I were wondering if you would like to go to Elitches [sic] with us like sort of like a craduation [sic] party with only us 3. We could go on all the rides you want to go on.
Love,
Peggy

I wonder if she would have been so generous had she known that I don't like roller coasters?!?!

Cheesy Last Day Montage.

2009-05-09T11:17:00.001-07:00

Live Blogging, the Final Final!

2009-05-08T05:54:00.000-07:00

This final is kind of a joke and is open-book AND open-internet. So I've decided to live blog it.**

8:42 am. MOTHERLOAD! Free dum dums in the lounge. I stole all the cream soda dum dums. This is going to be a fun final.

8:54 am. No one seems too concerned. Lynn is chatting about her job offer from yesterday (YAY!). Becky is in the corner discussing America's Next Top Model.

8:59 am. The color of the day is teal. Three girls sitting in front of me, each with some variation of teal somewhere on their bodies.

9:05 am. Just got back from the room where the exams are handed out. Noticed Kendall, my arch nemesis, wearing a blindingly white button down shirt. I judged.

9:06 am. Sentimental moment for my last scantron sheet of all time.

9:14 am. 5 multiple choice questions down. Opened my first dum dum.

9:19 am. Used my outline for the first time on Question 6. Bit through my first dum dum, but got a nasty glare from the front row. Need to chew more quietly in the future.

9:21 am. "Use the following illustration" - this is one ugly illustration. No color, no pictures, no rainbows. Laaaaaame.

9:24 am. Filled in a bubble very sloppily. Spent more time correcting the mistake than answering the question.

9:27 am. Started second dum dum. I hope no one notices that when I eat dum dums and drink from a straw, I insert the stick of the dum dum and sip with the dum dum in my mouth.

9:37 am. I've finished half the exam pages - hooray!

9:43 am. Hit the True-False section. I wonder if this will be my last True-False exam of my life???

9:50 am. Bad Decision #1 (for today) was wearing a sweater. My arms itch.

10:07 am. Finished all of the multiple choice questions. SO bored. Just want to be done. Did not make my 10 am cutoff time.

10:22 am. Non-multiple choice part of the exam DEFINITELY not as fun as the multiple choice part. Oh well.

10:36 am. Finished the non-multiple choice part, with the exception of 2 subsections that I marked to come back to later. My eyes are tired - Can't imagine how Wendoline feels after only 1 hour of sleep!!!

10:42 am. AND I'M DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy crap - I just finished my last exam of all time!!!!!!!! No one else has finished yet, so I might chill in the room a while longer before I leave.

10:44 am. I still have three dum dums left. I think I'll save them for graduation. We'll do a lot of sitting during graduation.

10:45 am. This is quite the buzzkill for the end of my final.

10:48 am. Okay, I'm going to go turn this sucker in. You may return to your regularly scheduled programming. Have a lovely day!

**No GPAs were harmed in the posting of this blog entry. I'm enrolled in this class pass-fail, folks. It's going to be okay.

"Peace Out, Home Fries."

2009-05-08T04:30:00.000-07:00

Today is my last. Exam. FOREVER!

Tonight is the Party to End All Parties, Part 1.

I promise an appropriately reflective/sentimental post later. In the meantime, feast your eyes on our lovely cake for tonight's party:

My Little Corner of the World, Final Finals Version

2009-05-02T05:47:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken this morning right before I started my Federal Courts final. It shows the things that got me through every final I've taken since the start of law school. They've only got to get me through two more finals, and then it's ciao, chickies!

1. Diet Soda. I have the worst addiction to Diet Coke & Diet Dr. Pepper, thanks to law school. I didn't realize how bad it was until the day after my last final, 1L year. I didn't drink any soda because I didn't need any, or so I thought. By the afternoon, I had the worst headache of my life and I realized just how addicted I've become.

First things first this summer, I WILL get over my addiction to diet soda before it kills me.

2. My Power Cord. You might not think this is a big deal, but I can go from sane to crazy meltdown in roughly .694 seconds when I realize that I've left my power cord at home. I spend at least 4 hours a day on my computer. And for a three hour final, a power cord is a must. I bought a new power cord just to get me through this finals period.

3. My ID Card and Purple Pens. You never know when you'll need a purple pen (I used mine twice this morning), and the ID contains my all important exam number because law school has anonymous grading.

4. My Apple. I love you. I love you soooo much. You have yet to fail me during a final, and if you get me through the next week without failing, I will buy you a puppy.

5. Ear Plugs. I'm so high strung that I can't even hear other people typing during a final without panicking, just a little bit. And I'm not alone. Every other law student I know wears these puppies during finals. Can you say neurotic much?

6. The Table of Contents. Last night I got mocked for making a table of contents for my 45-page outline. But nothing is quite as satisfying as making a table of contents when I finish an outline. The table of contents makes me feel accomplished. It's the little things.

7. Erwin Chemerinsky. The man is a god and a genius and my savior, all rolled into one. His supplements taught me more than any text book ever did, even if they cost an arm & a leg. If Chemerinsky ever calls me up and says: "Dear Bagel, I want your first born child," I will say "He/she will be on your doorstep by the end of the day." And if I don't have a first born child at that time, I will steal one.

It's like that.

2009-05-02T03:26:00.001-07:00

Big Colle once went to a concert where the group did "One Week," by Barenaked Ladies, a capella. The lead singer introduced the song by saying that it's a lot like sex... You spend days, weeks, months, maybe even years preparing and perfecting your art.

And then it's over in less than 5 minutes.

Something about my final this morning reminds me of that story. Maybe I haven't spent years on this class, and maybe I haven't even spent all the months that I should have on it, but at the very least, I've spent over 8 hours a day for the last week in a windowless room with the Dartmouth Hater preparing. I know I'll show up for the exam, get my blood pressure worked into quite the frenzy, stick my ear plugs in (NECESSITY), start working furiously and not stop for the next three hours. And when it's all said and done, I'll black out the experience for the most part and just hope to hell it went okay.

Almost like sex. ;)

Fight crazy with crazy.

2009-05-01T07:24:00.001-07:00

Lynn's picture is famous! Check out what the Wonkette has to say about ND Crazies.

Also, the post asks readers to prank call the organization sponsoring the planes and the trucks (did I mention that they have added semi trucks parked outside Notre Dame's gates declaring Obama is Hitler??? See below for an example of their trucks.).

You throw your crazies at us, we'll throw our crazies at you.

See ya later, Crazytown!

2009-04-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

Today was my last day of school forever!!! But it's a bittersweet ending. Of course, I couldn't celebrate the day without a healthy dose of the Crazies. Who are the Crazies? These are the Crazies!

The protests against President Obama speaking at Notre Dame's commencement are OUT. OF. CONTROL! As I type this, there is a plane with a giant banner attached to the back circling Notre Dame's campus. On the giant banner is a picture of a 10-week aborted fetus. All to protest Pres. Obama's visit. I am enraged at all the pro-life protesters destroying my graduation. They've had children carrying posters saying "Obama thinks babies are trash" and adults carrying signs saying "Would you invite Pontious Pilot after he crucified Christ?" They're trying to collect as many tickets as they can to come inside the ceremony and protest. I have spent three long, hard years at this institution and I am so angry that it makes me shake that these protesters, some of whom have commuted all the way from Wyoming!, are turning my graduation and my day of celebration into their battle site.

The timing of this plane is very convenient. Just yesterday I drafted the following post but couldn't post it due to internet complications. Lest you think the Crazies are all external to Notre Dame, I've collected a list of my top ten favorite things that Notre Dame Law School Crazies have said in the last three years...

1. "Racism doesn't exist anymore."
2. "The law just protects murders, abortionists, and unpopular minorities."
3. "Birth control is oppressive towards women."
4. "I have criticisms of de-segregation."
5. "If I want a law firm that promotes itself as the law firm with hot buxom secretaries, I should be allowed to discriminate in the hiring process so I only have to hire hot buxom women."
6. "It's a baby, stupid." [Which followed a comment or two about baby killing]
7. "Georgetown is NOT a Catholic school."
8. "I don't believe in welfare because I don't want to buy snack cakes for all the obese poor people."
9. [To a professor who confessed to the class his son is gay] "Homosexuals are an abomination."
10. And my all-time favorite, which was not vocal but VERY visible - the guy who prayed for me in class. As in, sign-of-the-cross, while-sitting-in-the-front-row praying for me.

Dear Crazies:

I won't miss you. I've learned from you, especially about how much hatred privileged, powerful individuals can have for the less fortunate. But I won't miss you. I hope someday you learn how oppressive and malicious your politics can be, because I believe they actively injure others. And if that day never comes, I just hope you don't get enough power to allow your religion to invade my uterus. In the meantime, quit praying for me. It won't get you anywhere.

Sincerely,
Bagel

Over the Moon

2009-04-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

Today I led my last ever journal meeting with the faculty editors. Tonight we have our end-of-year dinner. And even though I still have roughly 200 pages of text to edit, and Issue 3 won't go to the printers for a week or two, I feel like the year is over.

I did it!!!!!

This is how I feel:

Since the election last February, here are the things I've accomplished:

-Innumerable panic attacks

-Threatened to fail a student

-Taught some 2Ls some stuff about this little blue book that happens to rule my life

-Mocked Christina because she can see the difference between an italicized period and a regular period with the naked eye

-Had Kansas State threaten to sue me

-Learned how to tell the difference between an italicized period and a regular period with the naked eye

-Edited 3,271 footnotes (truth. I added it up.); still have to edit 1,120 more footnotes before Issue 3 can go to press

-Cried myself to sleep the first time I realized I could see the difference between an italicized period and a regular period with the naked eye

-Sent 224 messages with subject: "The Journal of College and University Law;" sent 429 emails with "JCUL" in the subject

-Sent over 1,000 emails to Debbie (the journal secretary) or with Debbie in a CC field

Easter Update

2009-04-15T13:21:00.000-07:00

We accomplished almost everything on the list...

Step One: South Shore Line

Step Two: Hello my favorite city!

Step Three: Lovely view from the condo.

Step Four: The dolphins never happened. :(

Step Five: Heaven in a Coors Light Pitcher!!! (a.k.a. Holy Water)

Step Six: After a quick stop at the 7Eleven to pick up supplies, we made our way to the airport...

Step Seven: We crash with Big Colle in tow. We get up early for breakfast with Big Colle's friend.

Step Eight: We made it to the Art Institute, but alas! Everything by Marc Chagall was in storage. :( (Emily, is non-flash photography as bad as your mother touching all the statues?

Step Nine: Late lunch - no tapas, but deep dish pizza instead. This picture was right after Big Colle told us some of her Landmark stories. She said she could tell we were judging by the looks on our faces. So then Lil' Hamilton and I decided to mimic each other's judgment faces (yes, I tap my nose when I'm judging you).

Step Ten: RENT!!!!! Followed by more holy water, which resulted in some sloppy drunkeness, which resulted in Big Colle and I getting into a "hair-pulling" fight. In a bar. We're that classy.

Step Eleven: Bye Bye Chicago. :(

Step Twelve: Hello B&B!

A Collage of My Weekend Plans

2009-04-09T12:15:00.001-07:00

One of the few things I'll miss about Catholic school next year is that we get a four-day weekend for Easter. Lil' Hamilton, Big Colle, and I have big plans for this treat, even though none of us intends to celebrate Easter in the traditional sense (unless you include the Holy Water - see below). This is what I expect to do this weekend (to be followed up on Monday with pictures of what actually happened)

Step One: Hop on the South Shore Line with Lil Hamilton.

Step Two: Get off the South Shore Line in my favorite town.

Step Three: Borrow a condo in this building.

Step Four: Take Lil Hamilton to see the Dolphin Show at the Shedd Aquarium.

Step Five: Take Lil Hamilton for her first experience with Holy Water at Timothy O'Tooles. (I can't find a picture of the Holy Water I mean. For a better idea of what it entails, think of a Long Island Ice Tea, add 7 more liquors and three kinds of juices. Stir until it tastes like grapefruit juice. Enjoy!)

Step Six: Pick up Big Colle!

Step Seven: Maybe rally, maybe crash depending on the mood of this chica...

Step Eight: The Art Institute - never been there! Can't wait to see the Chagalls!!!

Step Nine: I'm crossing my fingers for the tapas bar on Halstead. Remains to be seen. I won't jinx my luck with a picture.

Step Ten: The purpose for the trip... *drumroll, please!* Taking Lil Hamilton to see Rent for her birthday! Though as it turns out, Big Colle is the only one who hasn't seen this show live already.

Step Eleven: Board the South Shore Line. Leave my favorite town. :(

Step Twelve: Go to the B&B to visit the Padre. Despite the fact that Big Colle, Lil Hamilton, and I don't celebrate Easter, the Padre's fiance is quite the crafty lady (she has to be to run a B&B!). I'm secretly hoping (as secretly as one can hope on a public blog) that she'll have an Easter egg hunt for us. I don't care if we range in age from 21-30. (Don't tell Big Colle I published her age.) We still would do a pretty kick-ass job at an Easter Egg Hunt. *crossing fingers*

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!

Facebook Faux Pas

2009-04-07T12:07:00.000-07:00

NONONONONONONO!

There are some things I firmly believe in:

1. Mornings are the best time of the day. Saturday mornings are the best time of the whole week.

2. Having a perm as a teenager makes one a more compassionate adult.

3. If I hadn't gone to law school, I could be as cool as this woman.

4. Christina's baby is the cutest baby in the whole state of Indiana. Fact. (I'd give you all of the Midwest, D, but I have some pretty cute baby cousins a couple of states over...)

And now add a new one to the list...

5. Facebook Status should be ELIMINATED. It has been coming for a while. Since the institution of the facebook status, it has been abused. For example, I really didn't want to know about how my friend from high school "broke up with her boyfriend because she didn't love him anymore and NOT because he cheated on her like everyone assumes." Additionally, I don't like it when I'm stuck in the middle of winter hell and I get to hear about how So-and-so is "sooooo excited to go to the Bahamas!"

But today takes the cake... Under no circumstances would I ever EVER find it appropriate for a 9-month pregnant woman to post that she is "1 cm dilated and 50% effaced!" NONONONO!

Month in Review

2009-04-07T09:03:00.000-07:00

March was officially my worst blogging month in history. Incidentally, it was also my heaviest drinking month in history. Coincidence? I think not.

The good news is that finals are just around the corner, which means I'll be blogging like a fiend to avoid studying. The bad news is that there's no way I can catch up on a month's worth of posts and do them any justice. So you're just getting the highlights of the last month so I can move on to bigger and better blogging topics (like where I should live next year or how proud of Iowa I am).

The month started when Lil' Hamilton turned the big 2-1...

Some rarely seen Hamiltons emerged from the woodwork. Okay, so only one of these buffoons is actually a Hamilton, but ex-step-brother is just too confusing to explain. So let's call him my brother. Until he bothers you (which he is prone to do). Then I've never met him before.

The highlights of Lil' Hamilton's party are all included in this picture: (a) more Yahoos than we know what to do with, (b) dancing, (c) lots of pinkness, (d) the Birthday Girl (see the outgrowth from Hannah's armpit - that's my sister!), and (e) my favorite part of the party, the Bubble Machine! (I used to affectionately call him B.M. But B.M. are just unfortunate initials so we'll quit with that.)

Next in March came a trip to Nebraska, where I got...

Nope, that's not a fleck of dirt on the side of my nose. It's what the Yahoos refer to as my "ice on the side." Over break, I got the email asking me to defer my start date at the firm for a year, and I figured I might as well celebrate the fact that it looks like no one will want me acting professional for the next year.

Also, the thing I love about my family, is if you put forth the effort to get to Nebraska to see them, then they'll throw a party in your honor: (I still don't have the pictures of this event, but you get the idea)

I came back to school renewed by some serious Wanser lovin'. Just in time for Lil' Hamilton's first legal St. Patrick's Day!

The weekend after St. Pat's, we got the news that we are getting this year's most coveted commencement speaker!!! (I should say, the most coveted outside conservative Catholic circles. Don't even get me started on the awful protests that have accompanied this announcement...)

Followed by one of our apartment's favorite visitors:

Finally, March went out with a bang! This year's Barrister's Ball was my favorite Law School event to date, mostly because of the excellent company...

...but also because of my lovely date:

That's my March-in-review. I'm sure I forgot lots of little things that happened along the way, but this post has already taken me too long to write. Back to reading!

2009-03-06T11:42:00.000-08:00

"Life is either a great adventure or nothing."
-Helen Keller-

Christina and I had a conversation recently about my lack of an adventurer's spirit. I don't consider myself to be close-minded, and I'm also quite proud of the diversity of experiences I've had thus far in life. But I like routine and familiarity, and I'm a homebody if ever there was a homebody. Spontaneity is not usually equated with Bagel.

Sometimes, however, it pays to be the open-minded, spontaneous kind. Christina and Chris opened their hearts, minds, and family to new experiences, new countries, and, most importantly, new waiting lists, and look what came of it!

I need to knock on wood more often.

2009-03-03T04:51:00.000-08:00

Just yesterday at lunch I mentioned how I don't like long vacations (like months long, á la summer break), and I get really bored during them. My good old friend karma (or as I like to call her, "Miss Let's teach Bagel to shut her trap!") must have been listening. Last night I had a letter from my firm waiting for me when I got home telling me that I won't be able to start work for a full month and a half after I anticipated starting.** Now I can't go back to work until the last week of October. That means I have exactly a 3-month break from the end of the bar until I can start work (5 months from graduation until work), and I don't think my bar stipend is going to stretch that well.

Anyone want to hire me as an (overqualified) waitress for three months?!?

**And before I REALLY give karma something to screw with, I am very grateful for my job and I am currently knocking on wood to preserve at least that part.

Ode to my Valentine*

2009-02-15T05:41:00.000-08:00

Valentine, valentine I heart you.
Valentine, valentine you are Jew(ish).
And when I'm old, to you I'll be true.
So please my valentine, get me a brew(sky)?

*note to self: stick to my day job.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T09:17:00.000-08:00

The frivolous website of the day: I love you more than ___.

This wasn't directed at anyone in particular, but I just had to...

A Mark of Character

2009-02-13T05:58:00.000-08:00

In the last couple years, Big Colle has made me increasingly aware of my forehead wrinkle. When I scrunch my brow (which I do quite often), I get the crease in between my eyebrows. Probably a very common feature, but the frequency with which Big Colle and I scrunch our individual brows is starting to lead to permanent forehead wrinkles. Big Colle thinks this is an invitation to get botox, despite the fact that I haven't hit thirty yet.

While not ruling out botox, (and yes, Lynn, I know it is botulism in my face!) I'm choosing to look at the advantages of having a forehead wrinkle. Look who else is joining me in the "We Need Forehead Botox Club":

NDLS gives me an ulcer.

2009-02-11T08:36:00.000-08:00

(Offensively Liberal Post...deal with it.)

35 minutes into a Constitutional Law discussion of Roe v. Wade, and my stomach is a mess! It's bubbling and cramping and all I want to do is run out of the room and lay down. It didn't help that the very first comment referenced "baby killers," and it's only gone down hill from there.

Back in the day, I tried to fight the battle, but I've given up. I just want out of this conservative Catholic hole!!!

FML

2009-02-10T12:07:00.001-08:00

Despite the excitement of passing the torch this morning and the unseasonably warm weather, the day has steadily gone downhill. Just one of those days where you can't seem to shake the small stuff. Which is why I was very glad to hear about this:

FML

I feel better now.

The Beginning of the End

2009-02-10T06:33:00.001-08:00

This morning marks the beginning of the end of my time on the law journal. We officially have a new Editor in Chief! She's an awesome person - I couldn't be more excited to hand things off to her. Plus, for the last two years (at least), out of the 4 Notre Dame law journals every year there has only been one female Editor in Chief. I'm glad that I could pass our journal off to another chick - we're beating the man, one Volume at a time. ;) Check list for the rest of my tenure on the journal:

1. Finish 2 issues in the next 49 days
2. Train Becky (new EIC), without scaring her into an early retirement
3. End-of-Year Banquet in 66 days
4. Get my hair dyed - I kid you not, the journal has given me 3 times as many gray hairs

2009-02-06T04:44:00.000-08:00

Dear Chicago,

I <3 you. I can't wait to see you this weekend.

Love,
Bagel

Happy Birthday, Facebook

2009-02-04T03:58:00.001-08:00

Today is Facebook's five year anniversary. That means that next month is MY five year anniversary on Facebook.

In celebration, here are my five favorite things about Facebook over the years:

1. The large protests every time a new segment of the population was added to facebook. We were like the 4th or 5th school added, and I'm sure there was some sort of protest when a "fake Ivy" was added, but since I've been added I've seen the following groups: "Remember when Facebook was just for Ivies?" "Remember when Facebook was just for private schools?" "Remember when Facebook was just for good schools?" "Remember when Facebook was just for college students?" "Remember when Facebook was just for students?"

Now Facebook is ubiquitous, and I think the change is for the best. How else would I be able to gossip about/stalk my 40-year-old cousins, all the girls I went to high school with who are now knocked up, my sisters' new boyfriends, etc. Not to mention the gads of people I say happy birthday to even though I don't actually remember their birthday from year-to-year (or probably care).

2. The best additions to Facebook over five years: photo albums (and tagging), the wall, Lexulous (the former Scrabbulous), and the news feed (a stalker's delight).

3. The relationship status. I love how on one's Facebook profile, his/her relationship status is the second most important thing there is to know about him/her. Witness the "Information" section on Little Hamilton:

Facebook, you have your priorities just right.

4. Stalking like a pro: Not once, not twice, not three times, but FOUR times today I tried to scour Facebook looking for my favorite parts. Every time I got sucked into stalking people - checking out their prior profile photos, reading their prior statuses, reading other people's comments on their prior statuses, checking out the profile pictures of the people who commented on their prior statuses, etc. Facebook is my drug. I heart it.

5. I once added a "Personality Type" application that made me take a quiz and see what my personality type was. Little Hamilton did the same. Then the application let me take the quiz FOR Little Hamilton to see what personality type I thought she was. The answer? I thought Little Hamilton was my personality type - i.e., I turned her into me. Facebook gets me.

I would like to see Facebook last another five years. Because of that, I'm listing the 5 worst things about Facebook in the hopes that Mark Zuckerberg can banish 'em forever:

1. "I lost my phone" events/groups. The most annoying part of these groups is that the person who asks me to join inevitably never had my phone number to begin with!

2. People who reveal WAY too much information on their Facebook status should be banned from Facebook. My youngest sister is one such person. She needs to learn the proper boundaries. Case in point: "[Bagel's Youngest Sister] wonders: How are we not together? I mean really, think about it. And I thought you were done saying that you wouldn't do that, I guess I was wrong :S." WTF does THAT mean?!?!?

Similarly, I think people who reveal too much information in their Notes section should be sent to sensitivity training. Be sensitive to the fact that not all of your facebook friends want to know your innermost thoughts, and get a blog. Then we only read your stuff voluntarily.

3. What is the point of that garden of weird people application?!?! It's just creepy and pointless.

4. The blue & gray theme is so dreary. Marky Z. you should take a lesson from Google, gmail, and igoogle on having customizable themes. Blue and gray depresses me.

5. Whatever happened to this guy? I'm pretty sure he's lost in cyberspace somewhere. I wish he'd come back - he was dreamy and I want to give him my number.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Victory.

2009-02-03T13:38:00.001-08:00

Update on the Countdown to Victory: we've had a few hiccups on the quest to finish our law journal by the end of March. Nothing that equals defeat yet, or so I think. Others may have their doubts...

My friend the Doubter, who made the bet with me that we can't be done by the end of March, was just in the office to tell me once again that I'm crazy and that there will be revolts. Thank you, Mr. Doubter, you have just given me enough indignation and pig-headedness to persevere!

In addition to my tendencies toward indignation and stubborness, I also have a flare for melodrama (quit giggling, Wendoline!). So I am playing this song to keep me motivated today: (at least up till roughly 0:46...)

"You may get stabbed in the head
with a dagger or sword.
You may be burned to death
or skinned alive or worse.
But when they torture you,
you will not feel you need to run,
For though you die, La Resistance lives on."

Respond?

2009-02-02T05:43:00.000-08:00

(Offensively liberal post, you've been warned!)

I have a good friend from high school whose mother is fairly conservative. In particular, the mother is very fond of expressing her "woes" regarding "illegal immigration" via email, quite frequently. Every time I get one such email it leaves me rankled for days. This woman (whom I also consider a dear friend) knows I am liberal, although she doesn't know what my politics on immigration are. Each time she sends me a political email, I spend 30 minutes to an hour fuming and drafting a response.

I never send these responses. If you know me, and you know my opinionated out-spoken ways, you know this is totally out of character. But every time, I worry that by sending my email response, she will be offended and write me off, and every time, I decide that my politics aren't worth losing a friendship. This morning she sent me another anti-Democrats anti-"illegal immigrants" email. I got angry, drafted a response, and then almost deleted that response. Instead, I think I'll put it out there for feedback from anyone reading... Do you think I should send this?

Context: the email that I received from her says that Nancy Pelosi wants to implement a "windfall" tax on the earnings from 401(k) plans and other retirement benefits for the sake of helping "illegal immigrants." Also, I've deleted some of the more personal information for the sake of her privacy and the privacy of my friends that I discuss within the email.

*****************************************
Hi ____!

Now you know I can't just take stabs at Democrats lying down!!!! Having just finished a class on federal income tax, I can tell you that the "windfall" tax that Nancy Pelosi apparently speaks of is already in place and has been for years. When you invest toward retirement in qualified plans like a 401(k), you get a deduction immediately for the amount you invested. Then any savings and any earnings on those savings are not taxed until you get a distribution (in other words, until you receive your retirement money back). These are not new taxes, this is the old system. What Nancy Pelosi was really talking about are all the people who invest in the stock market and never report the income they receive. That's illegal, again under the current tax structure.

As for her comments about "illegal immigrants," those are 100% accurate. The tax part is false, but her sentiments on immigration true. And while it is totally your prerogative to fault her for those sentiments, two of my very best friends of the last seven years were "illegal immigrants" (one is still an "illegal immigrant" and the other now is a permanent resident). They were both brought here "illegally" when they were very young little girls and had absolutely NO idea what was going on. They were put in the public school system and told they were inferior because they couldn't speak English. Both of them excelled academically and went on to college, where they received 0 federal financial aid. Both are now gainfully employed and contribute their taxes just like everyone else, although one of them has no hope of ever receiving any of her current tax dollars back because she doesn't qualify for any additional public benefits since she is still an "illegal immigrant."

The public benefits they received in their younger years (by going to public school - which is one of the very FEW public benefits "illegal immigrants" can receive) helped them to improve their earning potential and they now put more money back into the tax system than they ever could have if they were denied an education as little girls. I know we disagree on immigration politics, but I don't that I've ever shared why I disagree, so I felt that now was as good a time as any.

By the way, the source for all of my information is my federal income taxation class, my two close friends, and here: http://www.snopes.com/politics/pelosi/windfall.asp.

Politics aside, I hope ____ and ____ are doing well, and I also hope ____ is enjoying his adorable new baby. It's been forever since I've seen any of you. My bleeding heart tendencies aside, I miss you all a lot and I hope to get back to the Midwest this summer after I (finally!) graduate law school.

Love always,
Bagel

"To whom much is given, much is expected."

2009-01-31T11:49:00.000-08:00

I've heard it all before; I've even heard newscasters talk about it. But somehow, when Charles Gibson talks about Fred & Milton's Story it just seems so big!

For my back story on Fred & Milty, go here.

Sugar and Spice and 85% Nice

2009-01-22T17:19:00.000-08:00

In two days comes the moment I've been waiting 2 years, 7 months, and 11 days for: Angeles is coming to visit!!!! The college bff, the first roommate who had to learn how to live with me every waking moment of every single term, the one who dragged my ass half way across the world and let me live to tell the tales - twice, and the only person I know with triple citizenship.

In honor of the big day, I'll give you 3 of my favorite Angeles moments from college: (Also, in explanation of the blog entry title - apparently Angeles's boyfriend of a year thinks she is only 85% nice. No joke. He's probably right - another reason I love her!)

*Once, Angeles dated a guy we referred to as Crabs. Crabs had a problem with slobbering while he was making out. You know what's funny? Listening to your roommate tell a story about a guy who slobbers when he kisses. You know what's not funny? Waking up in your one-room double to hear what can only be described as the sound the dentist's vacuum makes when sucking all the extra saliva out of your gums. Turns out Angeles was right.

*Angeles has standards that don't always make sense: in the 6.5 years I've known her I have never once heard of her drinking alcohol to the point of intoxication. But when she is running late to meet with me and just woke up and doesn't have time to brush her teeth, she will take a swig of tequila, just to kill the germs.

*Angeles tends to have a disproportionate influence on my mood: my freshman year, I was SUPER excited to come back from Christmas break. First thing, I dropped my bag and ran to get dinner with Angeles. She tells me: "aren't you sad to be back? I mean, don't you miss home and just being with your mom and..." That was all it took. I went home and cried myself to sleep.

It's a good day for new beginnings.

2009-01-20T05:09:00.000-08:00

From the BBC article on Obama's inauguration:

"The roar of approval that will greet Barack Obama when he takes the oath of office will be genuine, heartfelt and will come from all corners of America."

I. CAN'T. WAIT!

2008-12-13T10:06:00.000-08:00

How has no one posted anything on their blogs in the last 3 hours?!? My google reader subscribes to more than 20 blogs! Come on people, I need help while I sit here and panic for a half hour before my Fed Tax final.

Fed Tax & Full Moons

2008-12-12T09:27:00.000-08:00

Fed Tax final tomorrow. Filling head with useless tax junk today. Excited for the biggest-in-15-years full moon tonight. But I probably won't get to enjoy it for long (due to the aforementioned final), so if you get a chance, enjoy it for me!

Appropriate Lyrics for Today:

2008-12-12T06:18:00.000-08:00

On Your Porch, by the Format:

"'Cause whats left to lose?
I've done enough,
And if I fail then I fail but I gave it a shot,
'Cause these last three years I know they have been hard,
But now it's time to get out of the desert and into the sun,
Even if it's alone."

Happy finals period, everyone!

Musical Entertainment for Today

2008-12-09T13:27:00.002-08:00

Thanks, LaurenCady.

Stir Crazy

2008-12-07T04:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday it snowed all. day. LONG. Which, in theory, makes for a perfect time for me to try and figure out what the heck Fed Tax is all about. (T - 6 days till that nightmare of a final.) In reality, I found all sorts of things to entertain myself for at least 10 minutes of each hour I worked on Fed Tax. In no particular order...

1. National Buy a Book by a Black Author and Give It to Somebody Not Black: a snarky idea created by Carlene Brice mocking the fact that authors are still segregated by race in literature categories; "It might not be easy to actually get them [white people] to read it. Beverly mentioned that her friends were a little scared of the Ebonics they expected to find. But that's why your favorite African American authors really, really need your help. You, who they know and trust, can explain to white friends, neighbors, coworkers, classmates that there are books without Ebonics, and that books by black authors are much like any other book."

2. Brothers and Sisters: nothing says "I don't want to study!" like picking up a new TV show on DVD to watch.

3. Domestication: in the last 24 hours, I've cooked a casserole; cleaned dishes not once, not twice, but three times; went grocery shopping; and made my bed (something I only do when I have to impress a visitor or have nothing else to waste my time on)

4. (This didn't actually occur, but finally drew my attention to all the things I was doing to waste time...) Moving: this weekend, my dad and his fiancé, Sherry, are moving into their recently purchased Bed and Breakfast conveniently located about 30 miles from ND. I told my dad on no uncertain terms would I have any time to help them due to finals. And yet, around 3 o'clock yesterday, I got to thinking, I wonder if they need any help over there...

5. Blogging: in the time it took me to write this post, I wonder how much Fed Tax I might have read?

Oh, ye of little faith.

2008-12-06T05:59:00.000-08:00

Thursday I had a meeting for the entire journal staff to basically update them on where the journal is at and what will happen next semester. We've seen a lot of successes this year:

* Issue 1 (of 3) got out in record time.
* We have more than enough pages for Issue 2, and we still have articles pouring in (literally) everyday to be considered for Issue 2.
* We started editing half of our Issue 2 articles during fall semester for the first time in at least five years.

We have also had our fair share of problems (threatened lawsuits, VERY sloppy editing that *almost* caused Christina to tell me where I could shove the journal ;>, etc.) that we had to address in the meeting. But on the whole, I think we are in very good shape. (Knock on wood.)

The good prognosis caused me to push up our spring production schedule so that we would send the third and final issue to the printers on the last day of March. When the journal's production manager caught wind of this change after the meeting, he made sure to tell me that he "feared" for "my own sanity."

Um, have you met me? Nothing else is more certain than the following: If a person (especially a male person) expresses any sort of concern for my impetuousness, all of the following three things happen:
(a) Heads roll;
(b) I dig my heels in and refuse to budge; and
(c) Heads roll.

Now this production manager and I have a bet going, with the terms still to be decided. This journal WILL be finished by March 31!!!!

Countdown to Victory!

My Little Corner of the World

2008-12-05T03:34:00.001-08:00

What do you send in a care package to a person who is going to Iraq in a week? So far this is all I've got:

(Also, there WILL be cookies, Lil Hamilton, no worries. The good kind, too.)

Proposition 8

2008-12-04T04:13:00.000-08:00

Surprised I haven't had a "offensively liberal" post about Proposition 8 yet? So am I. Well, here you go: (Jack Black plays Jesus, it doesn't get more offensively liberal.)

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

My Enneagram Personality

2008-12-03T03:12:00.000-08:00

It should surprise no one...

Enneagram Test Results

Type 1	Perfectionism	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	78%
Type 2	Helpfulness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	54%
Type 3	Image Focus	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Type 4	Hypersensitivity	\|\|\|\|\|\|	22%
Type 5	Detachment	\|\|\|\|	18%
Type 6	Anxiety	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	38%
Type 7	Adventurousness	\|\|\|\|	14%
Type 8	Aggressiveness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	46%
Type 9	Calmness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	34%

Your main type is 1
Your variant is social

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test

Blogger Karma

2008-12-02T08:50:00.001-08:00

While halfway through reading about Dinkeneh's most recent vocabulary list, my Federal Income Taxation professor must have realized what I was up to on my laptop because he called on me.

Blogger Karma is catching up with me. Apparently, the blog gods agree with the law school gods that "Thou shalt not check blogs during class."

Of course, once this particular professor tortures you by calling on you and making you answer a series of questions (whether or not you have any clue what he is talking about), he rarely ever comes back to you. You're off the hook for the rest of the lecture.

Hence why I'm posting a blog entry while still in said Federal Income Taxation class.

The Great Bagel Dupe.

2008-12-01T18:41:00.000-08:00

The back story for this post is that my sister, Big Colle, has been dating the same dude (Mr. San Francisco) for 2 years, and they have been shopping for engagement rings many times over the last several months but he is taking his sweet time in proposing. So I, of course, hassle them about getting engaged at every opportunity.

The Great Bagel Dupe
Scene: Denver International Airport
Characters: Big Colle, Mr. San Francisco, Bagel

[Bagel gets out of security. Engages in obligatory awkward hello hugs and greetings. Bagel, Big Colle, and Mr. SF walk towards baggage claim]

Big Colle: Bagel isn't there something you wanted to look for?
[Bagel looks down at Big Colle's hand, sees a flicker on a ring on the left ring finger, and proceeds to throw a fit. I mean a FIT. Stomping and waving her fists around.]
Bagel: F! Holy F it all to hell! I meant to look at that damn hand first thing when I got out of security. Stupid F'ing Luck!!! [insert string of expletives, certainly not appropriate for a public place like an airport]
Big Colle: [after controlling her fit of giggles] Okay, now do you want to take a closer look? [holds up hand that is clad not in an engagement ring, but in a giant ring that is instantly recognizable as Miss Kitty's]

[Commence "The Beating." "The Beating" is where Bagel chases Big Colle all around the airport trying to beat Big Colle over the head with Bagel's winter hat, which has an appropriately hard metal buckle.]

Mr. SF, meanwhile, stands idly by, (a) disclaiming any knowledge of Bagel and Big Colle, (b) pretending he wasn't at all to blame for the Great Bagel Dupe so that he doesn't get beat over the head with aforementioned winter hat, and (c) wondering if he actually wants to marry into this family after all.

Grrrrr.... my sisters think they're so funny.

My Little Corner of the World (Vacay Edition)

2008-11-26T08:45:00.000-08:00

This will have to be a brief survey, because (a) I have nothing exciting to put into the world today and (b) Miss Kitty needs someone to open her "garlic-stuffed olives" jar for her.

Witness my suitcase to go home for Thanksgiving: (picture was taken yesterday, I got home last night, hence my obligatory jar-opening chores)

1. Purple eye shadow, Buxom Lips, and shoes that make my toes scream out in pain. Translation? Bagel wants her sisters to take her out! (Also, this is my routine plug for Buxom Lips - they're the best lip glosses ever. They are lip "plumpers," meaning I enjoy making people try the lip gloss who have no idea what they're getting into and watching as they respond in horror to the fact that their lips burn.)

2. My sister called me the night before I left to ask me to bring home this movie. (We own three versions of the movie between the three sisters who will be home for Thanksgiving, but I'm the only one with the extended version.) She left a voice mail, since I was trying to go to sleep and refused to answer. I listened to the message before falling asleep just to make sure nothing important was on there and I texted her in response. She texted me back, not to thank me or wish me good night, but to tell me "Why don't you answer your goddamn phone???"

I'm what you could call an attention whore. Any and all attention is good (probably why I blog ;>). So while most people might respond poorly to such a rude text message, I got super excited to come home for my sisters to swear at me and mock me. This is also the sister who originated the phrase that I love so much - "I hate you and I wish you were dead!"

3. Another plug - I have an obsession with bucket hats. This hat makes me very, very happy. If you are also in the market for bucket hats, Banana Republic always carries very cute ones.

4. This year I am thankful for two things: my friend Wendoline, who has gotten me into a monochromatic frenzy (hence the purple scarf and purple hat), and Target's microfiber fleece gloves which are so warm that my fingers sweat when I wear them.

So that's it. I'm off to help with the garlic-stuffed olives, and hopefully sometime later this weekend I can come up with a post that is a tad less materialistic.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!!

And for the non sequitur award of the day: I'm super pissed at President-elect Obama for interrupting the Beyoncé concert on the Today show. He and I are going to have to have words.

Dinkeneh, meet our Christmas tree.

2008-11-23T16:48:00.000-08:00

Christmas tree, meet your newest enemy:

Unabashed glee at his newest discovery.

"Dare I do it with the blonde one looking?"

"To heck with them! This shiny thing is mine!!!"

"I don't know who stole your ornament, Bagel. It certainly wasn't adorable, innocent-looking me!"

Gratuitous cute kid picture.

Babysitting days are the happiest days in our apartment. :)

And I lose.

2008-11-16T11:49:00.001-08:00

Last weekend I never got a chance to update my blog, meaning I lost on the 30 in 30 challenge.

BUT, today I have finally finished my song survey, so there's a partial victory. The back story is that when I read Kate's song survey I thought it was a really cool idea, but I failed miserably when I tried to recreate it. I was all set to admit defeat, when a couple of my ND friends had to go and finish the survey just for kicks. And well, I'm one of the most competitive people you're going to meet, so I couldn't let it rest. I have literally been working on this survey everyday for over a week. Without further ado....

Bagel's Song Survey: normal questions, harder answers. Only answer in song lyrics.

Current relationship status: "It's hard to believe that there's no one out there. It's hard to believe that I'm all alone." (Red Hot Chili Peppers; Under the Bridge)

Your first love: "I know I would apologize if I could see your eyes. 'Cause when you showed me myself, I became someone else." (Michael Stripe feat. Joseph Arthur; In the Sun)

Do you believe in love at first sight? “Read a book, read a book, read a mother-f*cking book!” (Bomani “D’mite” Armah; Read a Book)

Your most recent ex: "I'm alright. I'm just fine. And you're a tool, so, so what? I'm a rock star. I got my rock moves. And I don't want you tonight." (Pink, So What)

Your best friend: "You are one in a million, and I love you so. Let's watch the flowers grow." (Travis; Flowers in the Window)

Sex: "Catholic girls start much too late... but sooner or later it comes down to fate." (Billy Joel; Only the Good Die Young)

Marriage: "And still I dream he'll come to me, that we will live the years together." (Fantine on Les Misérables; I Dreamed a Dream)

Life: "And the best thing you've ever done for me is to help me take my life less seriously. It's only life after all." (Indigo Girls; Closer to Fine)

Death: "I feel the cold loneliness unfold, like from another world. Come what may, I won't fade away, but I know I might change." (Kate Havnevik; Grace)

Your regrets: “I used to think I was special. And only I have proved me wrong.” (Kendall Payne; Scratch)

High School: "Omaha, somewhere in middle America. Get right to the heart of matters. It's the heart that matters more." (Counting Crows; Omaha)

Your worst enemy: "It's no surprise to me I am my own worst enemy." (Lit; My Own Worst Enemy)

Authority: "Some long ago when we were taught that for whatever kind of puzzle you got, you just stick the right formula in. A solution for every fool." (Indigo Girls; Least Complicated)

Politics: "Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too. Imagine all the people living life in peace." (John Lennon; Imagine)

Your religious stand/views: "There's a fine, fine line between reality and pretend." (Kate Monster on Avenue Q; There's a Fine, Fine Line)

Monday: "We have gone through so much worse than this before. What's so different this time that you can't ignore?" (Snow Patrol; Make This Go On Forever)

Tuesday: "Hang on, Sloopy, Sloopy hang on!" (The Yardbirds; Hang On Sloopy - okay, there are NO good songs about Tuesdays, and also, Sloopy would be funny name for a daughter.)

Wednesday: "Seems like I should be getting somewhere. Somehow I'm neither here nor there." (Soul Asylum; Runaway Train)

Thursday: "Give me 'til tomorrow then I'll be okay." (Daniel Bedingfield; Gotta Get Through This)

Friday: "I've been waiting all week to feel this way, and it feels so good, so good. I'm on top of the world, the coolest kid in the neighborhood." (Paul Oakenfold; Starry Eyed Surprise)

Saturday: "Well we know I'm going away. And how I wish, I wish it weren't so. So take this wine and drink with me. Let's delay our misery. Save tonight." (Eagle Eye Cherry; Save Tonight)

Sunday: "Suddenly, I'm not half the [wo]man I used to be. There's a shadow hanging over me. Oh, yesterday came suddenly." (The Beatles; Yesterday)

Coffee: "Makes me happy, like I should be." (Spiderbait; Calypso)

Tea: "Just like a song in my heart..." (Corrinne Bailey Rae; Like a Star - this one's dedicated to Miss Kitty who makes the best iced tea ever and always tells me to have a smile on my face and a song in my heart)

Alcohol: "I love you more than I did the week before I discovered alcohol." (Barenaked Ladies; Alcohol)

Cigarettes: "I ain't got no cigarettes." (Roger Miller; King of the Road)

Lunch meat: "You just don't impress me much." (Josie & The Pussycats; 3 Small Words)

Food: "Everything it seems I like is a little bit sweeter, a little bit fatter, a little bit harmful for me." (Rufus Wainwright; Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk)

Color: "I could be purple. I could be anything you like. Gotta be green." (Mika; Grace Kelly)

Anything you'd like to add: “Everything I do is judged, and they mostly get it wrong. But oh well, 'cuz the bathroom mirror has not budged, and the woman who lives there can tell the truth from the stuff that they say. And she looks me in the eye and says would you prefer the easy way? No, well o.k. then don't cry.” (Ani Difranco; Joyful Girl)

Beware the Egg Nog.

2008-11-14T15:53:00.000-08:00

Today was an early start, and tonight it will probably be late to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a long day full of lots of this:

So I thought I would be smart and take a nap this evening after I ate dinner. In theory, a good idea. In practice? Impossible.

The problem is that with my dinner (my favorite meal ever, by the way! Left over mac & cheese!!!), I drank a glass of egg nog. And then I laid down to go to sleep and all I could think about was Christmas. I thought about Christmas in the giddy, excited way a little kid thinks about Christmas. And I couldn't sleep. Till finally I had to call it quits, and text Lynn* the following message: "That egg nog made me feel all Christmasy inside!" Well then, she came barging into my room and jumped on me and that was the end of that nap.

*Lynn was sitting one room away when I texted her. That is the extent of laziness that we exhibit in our apartment.

The Life of Bagel, in books

2008-11-13T07:04:00.000-08:00

This is my lifespan, to be judged by the books I read at the various points in my life. Obviously this lifespan starts roughly around age 7 when I first started reading longer chapter books. The first "big" book I ever read all the way through by myself was "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein. I like to think this book foreshadows one of the major themes of the rest of my life: my fascination with all things Judaism-related.

Once I got over the hurdle from reading "little" books to reading "big" books, I turned into a reading whore. I read anything and everything. I was also a competitive reader in this period. During the summers, my sisters and I would participate in the library-sponsored program that encourages kids to read in the summer. You got various prizes for reading X number of books. Lil Hamilton and I used to "cheat" - we would read our weight in the following books which present the same sort of literary challenge as reading a cereal box:

I quickly grew tired of the Babysitter's Club Little Sister series and then I entered what I consider to be a dark period of my life. The dark period was characterized by all of the following: my very first boyfriend (he broke up with me after two days because I was too scared to talk to him); a boy haircut that lost me significant standing in the 6th grade social hierarchy; my brilliant plan that I was going to write my own book ~ I started several books but never finished one (for the record, every book that I started had within the very first chapter a "long, passionate kiss"); and these books:

There are very few things I did during that period of my life that I am proud of. So let's move on... The next book I recall reading after my dark period remains my favorite book to this day. It also repeats the Judaism-theme:

"The Chosen" began a phase of my "coming of age" obsessions. I read a lot of "coming of age" books while I finished up junior high. Including all of the following:

I choose to end my lifespan in books here. When I went from junior high to high school, I started to fail in my reading choices. I continued to read "good" books - books that I'm not ashamed to admit I read. However, I also somehow failed to read all sorts of "classic" books I apparently should have read. Examples include: Pride & Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, A Clockwork Orange, 1984, Gone with the Wind, Crime & Punishment, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Lord of the Flies, Sense and Sensibility, and the list goes on and on.

For eight years, I had no idea how far I was getting behind in terms of literary prowess until my oldest sister showed up at my college graduation. One night, she turned a lovely shade of drunk and went around telling everyone at our graduation party: "Hi! I'm Bagel's sister. And did you know she hasn't read Catcher in the Rye?" Thanks, Big Colle, love you too.

I have wonderful ambitions of getting caught up on my ineptitude, just as soon as I finish law school. If you have any recommendations of classics I should read, leave them in the comments.

Best SATC Quote. EVER.

2008-11-12T03:09:00.001-08:00

"We all judge. That's our hobby. Some people do arts and crafts; we judge."

-Stanford, Sex & the City-

My Little Corner of the World

2008-11-11T05:33:00.000-08:00

Lots of the blogs I read have a regularly recurring post. I've decided to turn this old post into my own regularly recurring post.

Witness my desk drawer:

1. "Understanding Chastity" - the pamphlet no single girl should leave home without. Thanks, Emily & Lynn, for the gift that just keeps on giving and makes me feel holy and virtuous on my more "frustrated" days.

2. From my mini-pharmacy you can glean 4 things from me: (1) I live at my desk; (2) I have long hair (ponytail holders); (3) I am accident-prone and make bad shoe decisions (bandaids); (4) I stress like a champion (3 kinds of pain killers, 2 kinds of antacids, extra deodorant ~ which is actually less on account of stress and more on account of forgetfulness).

3. Not one, not two, but three different kinds of post-its in assorted shapes and sizes. Did I mention I have a problem with office supplies?

4. Thanks, Christina! One of these days I hope to conquer my finances, and learn everything I need to know before I hit the real world. (Probably on one of those days where I'm also being a rockstar at "Understanding Chastity.")

5. Did I mention I have a problem with office supplies? I like one kind of pen, and one kind of pen only, and if you are my sister and looking for a Christmas present for me, I still get excited everytime I get a new pack of these.

6. In addition to hoarding post-its, I also hoard chocolate supplies. The sad part of this is that it takes me a really long time to eat any of them. Hence the m&m's in a halloween jar, the Toblerones from Dublin, and the extra pack of almond m&m's that I bought on Sunday and have only eaten 2.

What does it say about me?

2008-11-10T08:03:00.001-08:00

What does it say about me that I'd rather post blog entries and accuse people of stealing things they didn't steal than look around my desk to find my Obama action figure? He got knocked down behind my desk and was chilling with the computer cables:

Now he's lecturing me and telling to get back to work:

Missing!

2008-11-10T07:21:00.000-08:00

I just realized this morning that I haven't seen my Obama action figure since early October. It took a long time for me to figure out it was missing-I get that-but still! I never took it off my desk, meaning someone else took it off my desk. Given the school I go to, it is not surprising that someone would take it or move it. Given the fact that I have an archnemesis, it is also not surprising that someone would steal it. However, I am still very upset and ready to bust some heads over this incident. Here is my current plan of action:

Step One. Interrogate the Usual Suspects.

Step Two. Put up a missing poster.

Step Three. Notify the proper authorities and get an email sent out to the entire law school. If girls who lose their eyeglasses or guys who lose their keys get mass emails, so should procrastinating journal members who lose their action figures.

Stay tuned for more updates in the Quest for the Missing Obama.

The Difference of 2 Decades

2008-11-09T20:22:00.000-08:00

Day 9 of the 30 in 30 challenge, and I might really be stretching here... but what the hell.

When I was 4, my favorite movie was:

Now that I'm 24, my favorite movie is:

When I was 4, this gave me nightmares (totally serious):

Now that I'm 24, this gives me nightmares (totally serious):

When I was 4, this was what Lil' Hamilton and I looked like:

Now that I'm 24, this is what Lil' Hamilton and I look like:

Hi my name is Bagel, and I resist change. I still enjoy sappy movies, I still have irrational nightmares about blue things, and in 20 years I haven't been able to come up with a single new pose for pictures with my sister.

The Lows

2008-11-08T14:33:00.001-08:00

Post-Dublin, life went crazy and it will probably stay that way until finals are over (Dec. 19 can't come soon enough!). In the first week back, I had 4 articles to edit (each of which took roughly 5-10 hours), 2 midterms, and a Read Against for my journal (basically a meeting where the whole 2L staff pours over all of our articles one last time before I send them to the authors to approve before going to press). I got half way through Monday before I was on the phone crying to my sister about the impossibility of it all. By Wednesday, I had finished everything but 2 of the articles. I took Wednesday night off, and made some bad decisions that look something like this:

What the pictures don't show is that I chose to drink like a stupid college kid Wednesday night. Rum + More Rum + Whiskey + Champagne + Vodka + Gin + More Gin = BAD IDEA. I paid the price for my stupid drinking the whole next day, and I paid the price for going out the rest of the week. Now my life is back to a somewhat normal routine: I'm trying to catchup on not doing any classwork for three weeks, I'm trying to start preparing for finals, and I'm finishing up all the loose ends of Issue 1 before it goes to the printers Monday. Translation? I lead a dull life once again.

The Last of the Highs

2008-11-07T05:09:00.001-08:00

The last two days of Dublin involved new friends, old friends, and lots of drinking. Day 4 started with meeting Miss Caitlin Crottie, Hannah's bff from high school. She happens to be studying in Dublin too, so we toured the Book of Kells with her. The Hamiltons like libraries, so this was right up our alley.

Next stop: the Jameson factory. Most people who go to Dublin make a big deal out of going to the Guinness factory, but in my opinion, they are missing the superior factory. The Jameson Whiskey factory has a more interesting tour, and it has a fun whiskey tasting at the end. Courtney and I had heard that we should volunteer if they asked at the beginning and so we did, but they only picked one of us. The lady handed a baton to Courtney and told her that she had to pick which one of us got to go up there. This was a real - neither of us actually wanted to taste whiskey in front of other people. But in the end, I lost out and had to pretend that I could stomach whiskey. I did okay for the first two types of whiskey, but Jack Daniels killed me:

The rest of the tour tasted much better and Courtney and I discovered that once you add gingerale to Jameson, it's delicious! Also at the Jameson factory, we met our new friend Pablo. Pablo is from Spain and he'd been speaking English for all of two weeks. You can't have many deep conversations with someone who speaks that little English, but he was a cheerful guy nonetheless:

After meeting our new friend, we met up with an old friend, Shaunak, from college. Shaunak is getting a masters in Paris this year, and he spent a couple of days with us in Dublin. Those days included lots of drinking; drunk Indian food; boxties; a beach; more drinking; lots o' wind; and worst of all, a trip to the airport to go home. :(

One more thing: 1 hundred million bonus points to anyone who knows (without cheating) why I was so totally pumped by this building...

Top Five

2008-11-06T16:50:00.000-08:00

Blogger's photo update isn't working, so part three of the highs & lows will have to wait. In the meantime, I've reached a new low. I didn't know what to blog about so I actually had to google "blog ideas." It's very sad and it's only day 6 of the 30-in-30 challenge. Yikes!

There are some really awful ideas out there. My favorite? "Write a funny post." If I could do that, I wouldn't be googling "blog ideas." Thanks.

Another idea was to post about your favorite blog posts (from your own blog). That was uninspiring to me, but I decided to post about my top five favorite posts from other people's blogs. In no particular order...

1. Peep-eye's Referral: this post was one of my favorite days since starting law school - the day we found out that Chris & Christina got a referral for Dinkeneh.

2. The Johnson-McCormick Twins: my favorite Christmas story of all time is when the J-M twins stole the baby Jesus.

3. Mama Papaya's Winged Babies: this one is a recent one and my absolute favorite quote since the election.

(At this point, you must have noticed the trend - I read a LOT of adoption blogs. They're my favorite past time.)

4. Katie's Song Lyric Survey: I tried so hard to do this on my own blog, but I was completely uncreative (the theme of the day!). So read Katie's, and on the upside, she has excellent taste in music! I've never been disappointed.

5. Solomon's Make a Wish: "I wish, I wish to see Buzz Lightyear!"

Where were you when you found out?

2008-11-05T16:04:00.000-08:00

Last night a reporter spoke of Obama's win as one of those events that will be blazed into the memory of each American forever - they will always be able to tell you where they were and what they were doing when they found out America elected its first African American president. I don't know about every other American, but this is a scene I'm not likely to forget anytime soon:

Granted the camera work isn't the best, but I still get goosebumps watching it.

My friends and I were extremely lucky ladies last night. We were in Grant Park, Chicago when CNN announced that Obama won. The place was unbelievable and full of so much energy. We didn't have tickets to see Obama's speech, but even so, I felt like we witnessed history up close and personal.

Happy Election Day!

2008-11-04T04:51:00.000-08:00

May the curse of the last eight years be ended today. While I don't normally blog about such personal matters, since Bush became president, both my parents have been unemployed for more than 6 months (one of them for almost 4 years); one of my parents has known homelessness; my sister's boyfriend has been deployed to Iraq; my other sister has struggled with countless health problems and no insurance; still another sister has struggled to get an education as a scientist with fewer and fewer federal funds being invested in science; my rights as a woman to do what I want with my body have been seriously compromised; and my country has seen new lows. Don't try to tell me that presidential elections don't matter. Senator Obama, please do everything you pledged to do and bring the change that you are promising will save this country.

And in case you are keeping score...

2008-11-03T11:37:00.000-08:00

...everyone wins with such delicious food: NDK - 2, Bagel - 2.

Highs & Lows, Part II

2008-11-03T10:36:00.000-08:00

Day 3 of Dublin involved a trip to the Guinness factory. Lil Hamilton says I am a nerd for how I carry backpacks. So I put her backpack on and refused to give it back, just to spite her. What do you think: nerd, much?

The most exciting part of the Guinness factory is that our free pint had a shamrock etched in the foam on top. We didn't actually drink the pints. See the second picture? That's all that we ever drank of those pints.

Instead of drinking our pints, we went to the delicious Queen of Tarts. We had a better track record there. The first picture below is what we started with. The second picture below is what we ended with.

See the delicious-looking red berries on the middle plate? They look like berries which I know are poisonous in the States but thought - hey! maybe they aren't poisonous in Ireland! I was wrong. One little lick of the berry juice and my tongue was literally stinging.

Day 3 was definitely a food day. After going to Lil Hamilton's night class, we ended the day by going back to O'Neills for dinner. One meal for two people was MUCH more than enough. Check out the carb overload they brought to us:

Highs, Lows, & Everything in Between

2008-11-02T04:24:00.000-08:00

The last two weeks have been bipolar, if weeks can be bipolar. Two weeks ago, I was just arriving in Dublin to visit Lil Hamilton:

I must admit, on Day 1 I didn't have the best of attitudes. When all I wanted to do was sleep off the jetlag, Lil Hamilton and her ND kids dragged me to Newgrange. What's Newgrange, you ask? Excellent question! I asked that question myself, and the only response I got was: "It's older than the pyramids and Stone Henge!" time and time again. I really began to worry when I stole Courtney's guidebook and its best description of Newgrange was: "grassy mounds." Grassy mounds v. sleep time for the girl who just took an overnight flight? I think you can imagine what I wanted to do. Nevertheless, I have to give it to the ND kids, Newgrange was a pretty cool, super old burial site. (NDK - 1, Bagel - 0)

Day 2 involved my first trip to school with the ND kids. These kids are quite crazy - they walk an hour to school everyday (one way), to avoid paying roughly 2 dollars to take the bus. While they were in classes, I was doing work (yes, I had to take journal work on my international vacation - ick!) in the campus library. The rest of the day was time for fun. We visited Dublin Castle and then after the ND kids' night class, we went to a pub called O'Neill's. By this point in the trip, I had come to realize what living abroad on a broke college kid's salary feels like, and I wasn't a fan (despite being a broke law student). So I insisted on buying at least three rounds of drinks... the last two rounds probably because I was too intoxicated to care. "Hi, my name is Bagel, and I like to buy my friends." (NDK - 1, Bagel - 1)

This one's for Lynn. Lil Hamilton taught the ND Kids the concussion/inebriated test!

The rest of my Dublin trip to come tomorrow, and the ickiness of the week after Dublin to come the day after tomorrow. I need to stretch this thing out to meet my 30 in 30! Teasers: whiskey taste testing, a new Spanish friend named Pablo, Shaunak comes to visit, and Bagel comes home to a week full of good ole law school panic attacks.

Just for Kicks

2008-11-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

I'm going to partake in the challenge of "National Blog Post Month." 30 posts in 30 days - get ready for the fantasticness. You can't even begin to comprehend how amazing it will be.*

*And by "amazing," I mean hopefully I still have interested readers 30 days from now.

Dublin Update

2008-10-22T02:22:00.000-07:00

I have 3 things on my to do list and not much time to do any of them. I had every ambition of adding "update on my blog" as the 4th thing, but I opened my internet browser to see that my google reader had over 40 unread blog entries. ("Hi, my name is Bagel, and I have a problem...")

Other things on my to do list:

1. Write a recommendation.
2. Find Shaunak. He was supposed to come visit me today, but missed his flight. Raise your hand if you are suprised:

3. Drink, drink, and drink some more. First step is to do a tour of the Jameson factory and volunteer as a "taste tester." Second step is a musical pub crawl. Third step is to make more drunk dials at unbelievably high international roaming rates which are just too complicated to remember when inebriated.

Not my new haircut...

2008-10-12T15:34:00.000-07:00

...but 100x as cute! How amazing are Dinkeneh's 1st Birthday Pix?!?!

Dear Chicago: Why you gotta waste my flava?!?!

2008-10-11T06:52:00.000-07:00

After the midterm yesterday, I decided I would take an afternoon off and take the train into Chicago to get my hair done. What was supposed to be a relaxing afternoon/night off turned into a comedy of errors before all was said and done. Here are the highlights from before things went sour:

Stop #1: my favorite place to get chai in the whole city. Coincidentally, it's across the street from my favorite place to get a mani-pedi, but I didn't have enough time for that yesterday.

Stop #2: the Brown Line. When I was still planning on living in Chicago, I had narrowed all of the areas where I could potentially live down to any area that was on the Brown Line. I wanted to have this view every day on the way into work.

Stop #3: post-cut, pre-color. After shopping around on Armitage for an hour or so, I showed up to my hair appointment 15 minutes late (I thought it started at 4:30, turns out it started at 4:00). That becomes important later.

Stop #3.5: mid-color. I love my salon! They show chick flicks all day long, and they give you wine and champagne to your heart's content. Plus, they have super cheap blowouts. Hence the name (and the best part!), Blo Salon.

After this point everything that could go wrong, went wrong. I didn't get out of the salon until 7:00. The last train of the day for South Bend left at 7:10. I got to the train station at 7:25 - if only I hadn't been fifteen minutes late to my hair appointment! :(

No train? F! Call my friend Julie. She lives in Evanston and I heard she was in Chicago this weekend. Maybe I can stay with her and take the train tomorrow... Turns out Julie has two friends already staying with her for the marathon and her roommate's parents are in town and also staying in their 2 bedroom apartment.

No room for Bagel? Double F! At this point, my cellphone is dying, so I need to come up with a plan and fast. Decide to get on the Blue Line to O'Hare and just take a bus back to campus. That takes forever, and I don't have much time before the last bus to South Bend leaves, but it's my only option right now. Of course, with only one stop left to go before O'Hare and 15 minutes before the next bus, my train decides to stop on the tracks no fewer than 5 times.

At this point, I give up. I hate the bus, and the last time I took it I was stranded in Highland, Indiana due to the hurricane flooding the interstates. Hurricane in Indiana, you ask oh-so-skeptically? Yes. Hurricane in Indiana. It's the Bagel Luck. I'm renting a car and calling it a night.

At this point my comedy of errors continues to take a least three more bad turns (phones for the rental car companies in the airport don't work; first four companies I tried didn't want to rent to me because I didn't have a ticket showing I'd flown into O'Hare, my ATM card won't work in the first three ATM's I tried and I don't have enough cash for the tolls). Eventually, I got home safe and sound. Three hours late. After driving for 2.5 hours. And I was craaaaaabby. Hence why I never took any photos of the finished product haircut.

Today I get to go back to Chicago to return the rental car and try to make it home on public transpo again. Joy.

My Little Corner of the World

2008-10-09T12:06:00.000-07:00

I don't want to study for my Trusts & Estates midterm tomorrow. Instead, I'm giving you a glimpse into the things currently making me happy in my little corner of the world:

1. My new friend! An Obama action figure that points at you when you lift his left arm. I like to think he's saying: "Bagel! Get to work!" (and then I like to ignore him)

2. My new favorite song is India.Arie's Beautiful Flower. See a video of her recording the song here.

3. I have a new pencil bag. The name of the pencil bag is "Hippos love stripes!" The inside of the pencil bag is green and blue striped. The hippos make me happy. I don't know what I'm going to do when I am finally forced to leave school and abandon my unnatural affection for school supplies.

4. Speaking of school supplies (and with a special shout out to Lil Hamilton, the only person I know who has more affection for post-its than I do), I have a multi-colored post-it note pad and for the last few weeks I've been working on the whites. Today, I finally finished off the last of the dul-drum whites and moved on to purple. Clearly, a superior post-it note color.

5. Not to jinx it, but our journal is doing pretty well right now. We started our Issue 2 articles this week and it has been years since we've started Issue 2 in the fall semester. The credit for this goes to a number of other people, especially last year's Editor-in-Chief. I'm grateful to all of them for making my life so much easier right now.

Now, back to work. Notice that did not make the list of things making me happy today...

Happy Sassy Pink Legs Day!

2008-10-08T05:58:00.000-07:00

Growing up in Catholic schools you have to celebrate All Saints Day every year on the day after Halloween. You don't get one without the other, and I think the more dogmatic of Catholics justified the dubious aspects of Halloween with the consolation prize that the next day was a holy day of obligation.

Today, I'm instituting my own version of an Halloween-All Saints Day duo. Yesterday was Notre Dame's Babykiller Day. Every fall, Notre Dame sets up a display right outside the law school doors to honor every "child" that has been aborted:

The first year I saw this, it came shortly after the Torts Fiasco where I was forever labeled a babykiller by my class mates. Hence why I no longer have any patience for the Notre Dame Prolife point of view. Prolife is one thing. Notre Dame Prolife is a whole different phenomenon. Notre Dame's conservatives take their religious politics to an oppressive and hateful level. Lest you think I'm exaggerating, here are a list of my top five favorite moments where Notre Dame Conservatives reminded us all who remains supreme within this law school:

1. Comment from my Constitutional Criminal Procedure Class: "Everyone knows the law only protects murders, abortionists, and unpopular minorities."

2. Comment in the journal office during a heated conversation about universal health care: "Not everyone deserves health care."

3. The day that I learned that premarital sex constitutes grounds for expulsion. It's in the student handbook. This came within the same week that I learned that birth control was only available for "medical purposes."

4. The day that a student told my Property professor that she doesn't care if his son is gay and an abomination, he had better defend her in class when she says homosexuality is an appropriate reason for a landlord to discriminate against tenants.

5. The girl who told me that birth control should be illegal because it is promotes free sexual behavior which is oppressive to women. Coupled with this ND tenured professor's essay on the evils of birth control which I've mentioned before.

What does any of this have to do with Sassy Pink Legs Day? I've decided that since yesterday was my annual reminder that I am in an environment where I never feel quite at home, today is the day where I'm going to celebrate me by doing all things sassy and Bagel-esque. The Catholics have their All Saints Day to make them feel better after the unholiness of Halloween. I have my Sassy Pink Legs Day to make me feel better after the oppressiveness of BabyKiller Day.

20 Something Bloggers

2008-10-07T04:11:00.001-07:00

One of the comments on the last post mentioned Twenty Something Bloggers. Check it out! It looks kind of cool.

I just tried to join and after filling out the profile information, it told me that I have to wait for an administrator to review my application prior to approval/acceptance. I feel so vulnerable right now - I hope they like me! ;)

In the mean time, this looks like a perfect excuse to go through one of those periods that I tend to go through every so often* where I want to make myself cooler/more interesting/sophisticateder (new word - you read it hear first!). I feel like becoming a "20 Something Blogger" means that I have to have provide interesting (or at least entertaining) insight on the life of a 20-something from here on out. If you have any idea how to do that, please leave me a comment with detailed instructions.

*In college, Angeles and I referred to them as my "deep, yo" phases. As in, "Bagel, you look like you're being deep, yo." Since I haven't used the phrase "deep, yo" in at least three years, I'm looking for a new name too. I'm thinking "hopeless poser phase"?

A Whole New Bagel.

2008-10-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

Or a whole new Bagel's Blog to be more accurate. What do you think? Thanks go to Nikki once again for the new 'do! What do you think?

At the risk of sounding like a broken record...

2008-09-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

...I promise to be better after November 4th. Until that day comes, in keeping with the theme of double standards...

(Thanks to Lynn for sending this to me ages ago and thanks to Wendo for sending it to me again but using capital letters to finally get me off my duff so that I would go look at it.)

Matt Damon's Worst Nightmare

2008-09-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

(For some reason, the second of these two videos doesn't show up on an RSS feed. In other words, Christina go look at my actual blog. You won't be sorry.)

Culinary Disasters

2008-09-27T07:38:00.000-07:00

First this:

Now this:

I could blame the cooks, but I prefer to blame our kitchen. It's just unlucky. ;)

The Beckoning of Lovely

2008-09-25T05:01:00.000-07:00

Below is a video that I found on a blog that my sister Big Colle recommends. I know where the video originated and where I found the video, but I didn't trace the in between. In any case, I thought this video was worth passing on for anyone out there creating something lovely in their lives right now:

Let It Rain

2008-09-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

A comment in the Sept. 15, 2008 New Yorker:

A couple of weeks before August 28th--the night that Barrack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for President, in a Denver football stadium--Stuart Shepard, the digital-media director of the lobbying arm of Focus on the Family, one of the most powerful organizations on the religious right, posed a question to his Internet viewers. "Would it be wrong," he asked, "to pray for rain?" Shepard's answer, apparently, was no, because he proceeded to do just that. He prayed for there to be rain--abundant rain, torrential rain, "rain of Biblical proportions"--in Denver on August 28th. "I'm praying for unexpected, unanticipated, unforecasted rain that starts two minutes before the speech is set to begin," he said, adding, "I know there will probably be people who will pray for seventy-two degrees and clear skies, but this isn't a contest."

In the event, Obama gave his speech under clear skies with the thermometer at seventy-two degrees. It's hard to draw definitive conclusions from this about the efficacy of prayer. Still, Shepard and others who assume that the Almighty faxes meteorological talking points as a matter of routine must now be puzzling over what He meant last week by arranging for a hurricane just severe enough to disrupt the opening of the Republican National Convention (and freshen the public's memories of the present Administration's Katrina incompetence) but, mercifully, not so severe as to do too much damage to the innocent...

Just a little perspective on a campaign whose VP candidate is so fond of telling others that God's will just happens to coincide with hers (as evidenced here and here).

Cofirming I Made the Right Decision

2008-09-23T04:19:00.000-07:00

This is where I'm coming from. (Charles Rice, tenured and honored Notre Dame Law School Professor writing on the evils of contraception earlier this month. Rice frequently publishes in the Notre Dame newspaper with many supporters, including one woman who wrote after this article that contraception is only for the lazy and immoral.)

This is where I'm going. (Raoul Kennedy, a Skadden San Francisco partner, attends a Federalist Society meeting to debate gay marriage, coming down on the side of gay marriage. For those of you who don't know, the Federalist Society is an organization of law students and lawyers nation-wide who believe that "[l]aw schools and the legal profession are currently strongly dominated by a form of orthodox liberal ideology" and work to combat that force with an equally strong conservative force. You can imagine how popular the group is at Notre Dame.)

My future is bright.

Babysitting Adventures

2008-09-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

We need more of this in our lives:

Anytime you want to pawn him off, Christina, we're ready & willing! :)

And the winner is...

2008-09-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

I've made all the calls and accepted my offer in San Francisco. I'm still a little uneasy about it because it was such a close call. In the end, I want to live in Chicago and work in San Francisco, and since work will likely consume my life, I went with the office where I was happiest. There are still a lot of things I'm worried about though....

1. The California Bar - the passage rate of the Illinois bar is 82%. The passage rate of the California bar is 56%.
2. Earthquakes - my knowledge of what to do in an earthquake is limited to what happened in the Saved by the Bell episode where there is an earthquake and Mrs. Belding goes into labor in the elevator. Wrap the baby in your football jersey. That's all I got.
3. The difference in cost of living - since I would have received the same salary in either state, I'm really going to miss Chicago when I'm paying prices that are close to NYC prices.

Despite these fears, the decision is made (if not totally cut in stone yet), and now all that's left is my 3L year, putting out 3 issues of the journal, and getting through the bar. Piece of cake!

Weekend Vacay

2008-09-11T18:31:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning I'm flying to Denver for the weekend. The stated reason* for this trip is that I want to disconnect for a weekend from school, the journal, and everything else so I can make my decision about what office I want to work at next year. Everyone seems to have an opinion on this question and 70% of the opinions are "Go to Chicago/SF because then you'll be close to me, I'll come visit you, we'll be in the same city, etc." I thought I would revive the Blog poll feature to see what the exact number of Chicago's to San Francisco's are. So check out the poll on the left and get your vote in by Sunday! And if you haven't already made up your mind about which city YOU'D rather visit, here are my main considerations that have nothing to do with who might be able to visit... (Don't kid yourself folks, 1st year associates are lucky if they get to come up for air let alone for visitors.)

Chicago:
-City is more my pace and style - I'm totally a midwestern girl at heart.
-City has a significantly lower cost of living and I'd make the same salary in either city.
-Office is bigger and has more clients and cases.
-Office will be moving to a brand new location two months before I start - I'd be in a brand new building and a brand new office.

San Francisco:
-City has NO winter. (At least not one to speak of relative to winter in New Hampshire, South Bend, or Chicago.)
-City has more liberals.
-Office is much smaller so I'd have more contact with partners and more abilities to do interesting work early on.
-Office lets me wear jeans on Friday, and I like 95% of the people I met there. A lot.

*Who am I kidding? The real reason is that I miss Miss Kitty and haven't been home since Christmas.

Double Standards

2008-09-10T10:54:00.000-07:00

(Offensively political. You've been warned.)

This Sarah Palin lipstick comment has me furious! I first read about the story in class this morning: apparently Obama made a comment about McCain's policies and said they are the same old stuff from Bush packaged in a new way. The comment was "you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."

All of the sudden McCain's campaign FLIPS OUT! They were demanding an apology from Obama because they say he was clearly offending Sarah Palin and being sexist. Sarah Palin said in her Convention speech that the difference between a pitbull and a hockey mom is the lipstick. Based on this lipstick connection, McCain's campaign said that Obama was clearly calling Palin a pig.

Take a look below: This is Senator McCain. He is talking about Hillary Clinton's health care plan. He is accusing it of being the same policy she had when Bill was president. Check out how he refers to the policy: (it's right around second 25)

Why the HELL is it okay to refer to Hillary's policy using pig euphamisms but all of the sudden when you refer to McCain's policy with the EXACT same phrase that McCain himself used, all of the sudden it is sexist against Sarah Palin?!?!?!? Not to mention that when someone outright called Hillary Clinton a bitch to McCain's face, he laughed! No, John McCain. You do not get to pretend to be the protector of women everywhere when you allow this to go on:

Go ahead, try and tell me there aren't double standards in this election.

I'm a serious Bagel.

2008-09-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

Even if I have some work to do convincing others of it. I found this at my desk this morning in the journal office:

The name tag reads, "Megan Editor in Chimp." It was left by my arch nemesis, the Law Review Editor in Chief. Any suggestions on how to get back?

Go Irish! Beat Aztecs!

2008-09-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

Lynn & I caved and bought season tickets again this year. We originally weren't going to do that, because last year we went to somewhere between half of one game or half of two games (depending on who you ask). But they dropped the price in tickets, and hopefully we aren't as bad this year as last year. We'll find out this afternoon.

Quote of the Day

2008-09-02T10:19:00.001-07:00

"note: two things are certain in law school--you will drink, and you will cry"

-Katie, my former coworker at the child advocacy job in Indianapolis

2008-09-02T03:23:00.000-07:00

*minus*

*plus*

__________________________________________________________

There is a slight chance, minuscule really, that I cried like a baby when my sister left yesterday. It took seven hours before it hit me but then the tears came gushing down in the middle of the office (good thing I was alone!), and I had to make a run for it before anyone saw me.

Photographic Evidence

2008-08-31T17:24:00.001-07:00

...to accompany previous post.

An American Family

2008-08-31T17:07:00.001-07:00

At one time, I had a mom and a dad. I was also born into two sisters.

Then I had a mom and a dad and a stepmom. I inherited a stepbrother.

Then I had a mom and a dad and a stepmom. My dad and my stepmom added to my two sisters and my stepbrother two other sisters, my half-sisters.

Then I had a mom and a dad and an ex-stepmom. That meant I now had an ex-stepbrother, but we still called him my "brother". I also still had two sisters and two half-sisters.

Today, I have a mom, a dad, an ex-stepmom, and a soon-to-be-new stepmom. Add to my ex-stepbrother, my two half-sisters and my two real sisters a new soon-to-be stepsister and a new soon-to-be stepbrother-in-law.

And my question is: will this new stepsister be better at delivering me a soon-to-be stepnephew or stepniece?!?!?

(But in all seriousness, congratulations to my dad who proposed to his ladyfriend, Sherry, today! I like her a lot and can't wait to have another stepmom!)

School Days

2008-08-30T05:42:00.000-07:00

Surviving the first week of school was no easy feat this year. Everyday I woke up around 5 or 6 and rushed to finish whatever homework I hadn't done yet. Most mornings, I wouldn't even need an alarm clock to wake up - I just felt so overwhelmed by what is undone that I would wake up every morning in a panic. Then it was off to class and in between all my classes I would sit in the office and help the four or five different people who inevitably came with questions or in need of help. When classes finished in the afternoon, I was off and running to spend some time and eat dinner with my little sister, who is spending her last week in the States with me before heading to Dublin for the semester. *tear* Around 9 or 10 I would finally remember that I had work to do for the next day and I would get an hour or two in before crashing again.

One day I even contemplated going to mass, just so I would have some time to breath. Instead, Courtney and I fed the ducks. After Courtney goes to Dublin on Monday, I hope things will calm down somewhat. Not that I haven't loved having her - I don't know what I'm going to do when she is gone ALL semester. But I feel guilty making her follow me around all day - trust me, the life of a law student is not exciting.

If ever she harbored any resentment towards me for making her put up with my boring life all week, she got her revenge by coming to my Federal Income Taxation class and watching me squirm as I got called on.

Hey, Fellas!

2008-08-26T19:23:00.001-07:00

A few shots of the rotating men in our lives.

Back to School

2008-08-26T17:50:00.000-07:00

(I'm back from a not-so-long hiatus so that my sisters will get off my back. However, I would just like to point out that I post twice as frequently as any of you, so you have no room to complain!)

In honor of my very last back to school season ever, I thought I would do an update on a post from 2 years ago where I set goals for myself in law school. I got at least one prediction right: looking back, I have had a good chuckle out of at least half of my goals. For those of you too lazy to look at the link, here's a recap:

1. Make Law Review
2. Graduate without living up to Miss Kitty's expectations that I would have a fiance by the time law school was over
3. Graduate with some sort of cum laude behind my name and a high-paying job
4. Have a niece

Here's my progress:

1. Haha. No. But just to make sure I wasn't missing out on any of the self-torture and fun, I found a positions with much of the pain, but little of the prestige.
2. Got this one down pat. Nowhere near anything resembling a functional relationship. I win!
3. The cum laude is a maybe (knock on wood) and the job is a probably (although if I don't pick between San Francisco and Chicago soon, they might both say to heck with me!). My favorite part of the job goal was that I stated in no uncertain terms that I would not be a corporate lawyer and while I'm still going into the litigation side of things and not the transactional side, my firm is known for its corporate practice more than anything else. "Hello, Dark Side? How much will you give me for my soul?"
4. *grrrrrrrrrrr*

And now, roughly $100,000 of debt later, I've readjusted my personal goals:

1. Don't screw my journal up too badly. Get all three issues out before graduation.
2. Don't f up the GPA, take easy classes, and close my eyes, spin around three times, & pick a city to work in.
3. The campaign for Baby Hamilton 2009 is officially underway. Campaign contributions are greatly appreciated.

The last remaining SF pix

2008-07-31T06:22:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I'm leaving San Francisco, and after a quick detour to see Matt & Sunny get married in Vegas, I go back to Chicago for two more weeks before summer is officially over. San Francisco is awesome, and I'm crossing my fingers that I get an offer in both the San Francisco office and the Chicago office by the end of summer. I just thought I'd take this opportunity to post a few more SF pictures before I leave.

(Big Wenger is coming to town today to run in the San Francisco Marathon, so I may have a few more pictures to post before all is said and done...)

This is actually not a very good view, but I took it halfway up a huge hill to give myself an excuse to stop climbing for a little bit.

Weekend 1: Kelly and I went to Napa! (That's me and that's Napa)

That's Kelly and that's Napa

That's Rombauer Vineyard, just a pretty one we visited.

The view from Rombauer Vineyard.

Last Sunday, I drove this ridiculous looking go cart (that was GPS guided) all around San Francisco. It was foggy and freezing, but I got some good views!

I hope you don't need me to tell you what this is.

This is the view from Lombard St. People will tell you it's the curviest street in the world, but they are lying to you. Just ask the cab driver who got us hellishly lost, just so he could show us the actual curviest street in the world.

Berkeley wants to cut down a small grove of trees in order to expand its football stadium. Apparently, this was not okay with the Berkeley hippies, and they were hard up for something to protest. SOOOO, the moved into the trees, and have been living there for over a year! I had to go see the tree people before I left, but my camera wasn't good enough to get pictures of their tree houses all the way at the tops of the trees. Word on the street is that one woman even gave birth up in the trees. Now, most San Franciscans and Berkeley people just find it annoying because they have to pay some 10-15 police guards to stand around the trees 24-7. An article in the NYT from a year ago about the tree people.

Looks like the tree people are going on two years, almost.

Life ain't so bad

2008-07-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

Whew! I've had a whirlwind of stuff to deal with the last two days. Yesterday I sent out offers to the 2Ls to join our staff and they had less than 48 hours to respond. I've been calling 2Ls, making lists and charts and backup lists and backup charts, calling more 2Ls, and fielding responses via email like a madwoman. Much to my frustration, with 30 minutes left to go before the 2L deadline, I still had to hear back from 8 people. With 15 minutes left to go, I had to leave for a firm event and still had 5 people left to hear from. Then I went to Stanford where we participated in a 2 hour scavenger hunt. 2 hours of walking around a hot campus after 2 days of journal madness, and I came home utterly beat. I crashed on the sofa and started reading blogs, when I found this story.

California Bar Exam

I guess there was an earthquake in Southern California today, with an epicenter right by where everyone was taking the California Bar Exam (or at least day 1 of 3 of the California Bar Exam). And they all had to stay put and finish their exam!!!! After reading that story, I realized that this summer is nothing compared to what next summer will be. Life ain't so bad, after all.

2008-07-22T15:12:00.000-07:00

Skadden SF is taking its summer associates to see The Fall tonight. I had never heard of the movie before, but check out the amazing visuals in the trailer! I'll report back later on how it turns out...

Love is...

2008-07-21T21:25:00.000-07:00

...putting your schnookums on your credit card...?

I met the infamous Mr. SF* yesterday. And although it was a bit of a shock to discover he's not a liberal (*gasp, choke!*), we recovered nicely. Although my vote doesn't count for much, I always have to voice it and this time I s'pose I'll give him a 1.5 thumbs up. (If you're reading this, Mr. SF, you can buy yourself another half of a thumb by either joining the forces of good (read: Democrats) or adding a Baby SF to the family.)

*For those who don't know, Mr. SF is my sister's semi-regular boy toy. ;) And by semi-regular, I mean they are shopping around for things like this:

New Pix of SF Digs

2008-07-17T08:38:00.001-07:00

Awkward angle of the studio apartment

Living Area (note the giant pile of writing competition entries I have to grade)

My cute little kitchen, complete with dishes, utensils, a mini dishwasher, and tupperware.

The San Francisco Skadden Office