Spoiler Alert: Real Work = Harder than School

So my summer as a summer associate at a downtown litigation firm is coming to a close and I've made a brilliant discovery. I want to be a student FOREVER! The following things are those I always knew about a real job but never thought would apply to me:

1. Reporting to a supervisor and making sure your work is up to their standards is incredibly stressful.
2. Business casual does not mean what I thought it means. It means suits, just with more casual shirts underneath.
3. Emails never really get deleted.
4. No one remembers what it was like when they were in your shoes, thus everything should be done in 1/3 the time it takes to do it.
5. Wasting time but having to be accountable for it at the same time sucks. Big time.

Thus, I'm basically going to live every day of my 3L year gratefully. School rocks. Maybe I can get my Ph.D. in pop culture or something. I'll write my dissertation on Lindsay Lohan being forced by tabloid media to go gay. Or on how Jennifer Aniston deserves to be happy and John Mayer is the man to take her there. Or on how Perez needs to work on his posting topics lately because they've been boring me a bit. That definitely sounds like dissertation material, I'm going to put that into a fancy clear plastic folder and submit it to universities. Then I'm going to burn all my suits.

New Semester, Whole New Blog

So first year of law school is tough right? Well this year, my second year, I'm learning that it wasn't so hard at all really because, especially this semester, school is kicking my ASS. Maybe it's because I still care about my grades, maybe it's because I like my classes and thus want to know what's going on in them, maybe it's just that I'm over-commited, but I have never been this busy. Luckily, I have a lot to look forward to. Danny is moving to Chicago for the summer in May; thanks to the end of the writer's strike, the Office is back very soon; I've got some of my fabulous college roomies coming into Chi-town in March for a visit and I just found out I'm going to the KANYE (and RIHANNA, and Lupe Fiasco and N.E.R.D.) this May!!! I'm so f-ing pumped. OH! And I'm in the law school musical, this year the theme is high school teeny bopper movie and I'm the head cheerleader. I think I've been typecast :)

On a more serious note, I've been making a real effort to stay informed, especially with the primaries being so so heated this year. I watch CNN every morning as I get ready for school and I try to read the paper every day. I have decided to support Barack Obama in the primary and the longer the campaign goes on, the happier I am with my choice. He really is the voice of a new era in American politics and his policies seem to me at least as though they will really be able to bring about change. I'm doing my best to encourage my friends and family to contribute to Obama, even $25, because I believe more than any other candidate, Barach Obama cares about this country and cares about making it a better place. It's so cheesy, but I really believe it.

In the land of pop culture, I'm pretty pumped for some of the movies coming out in the near future, most recently, The Other Boleyn Girl. I love ScarJo and I love Natalie Portman and I loved the book, I don't know how this movie can't be awesome. I also want to see Penelope, especially because my new favorite artist, Schuyler Fisk, has a song on the soundtrack and I really don't see her writing a song for a shitty movie. She's fabulous by the way, I can't wait for her album to come out! Oh and Heidi and Spencer are still Satan's spawn and Heidi should be forced to be silent for life for the absolutely heinous music she's put out into the world in the past week or so.

In general, despite my busy busy schedule, life really is great. Danny is wonderful, I can't wait for him to get here. School is difficult but rewarding. And hopefully, we only have a little bit of winter left, my fingers are crossed. I'm really focused on the fantastic summer I'm going to have, with Danny, with my new job and being in a truly wonderful summer city!

Real Lawyers Don't Wear Suits

So I had another job interview today. I have to say it's a little disconcerting to show up to an interview on a Friday in my oh-so-conservative-and-ladylike business suit when half the office is in jeans. Literally, 1 out of 8 attorneys I met today had a suit on and that's because he went to court! I can't freaking wait until I can walk into a law office in something other than pantyhose and a jacket (and the other stuff too, just those would be awkward). I'm going on this rant because this morning, as I'm getting into the taxi which will take me to my interview (with no time to spare of course), I ripped my suit, making the slit in the back longer than it was meant to be. It could have been a lot worse, luckily that was not really noticeable, at least I hope not. I was freaking out though.
Other than wardrobe malfunctions, my interview went really well. Maybe I'm just a sucker for marketing or maybe they really are that awesome but with both firms I've interviewed at, I was really impressed. I had good days, met nice people and just all-around liked the atmosphere at both. Maybe that's a good sign, maybe I'll be happy anywhere I work. I am very glad that I'm staying at the number of callbacks I have now, any more and I would B.S. myself to death. I have 3 interviews in Salt Lake in less than 2 weeks and thank goodness Danny will be there, because 3 interviews in 2 days will be exhausting. I'll need to come home to someone after those, not to mention I'll only have one left after that, so I'll be just about burned out. Ugh. Job searching is the coolest...PSYCH! Soon it will be done. And then I still have almost 2 full years until I really have to be an adult. Gross.

Busy, busy, busy

So I haven't posted in a little over a month, which is bad of me because I really do want to continue this blog thing, it's a good release for me and it forces me to think a little bit even in my downtime, which is when I usually become a zombie. What I've been up to the past month has been settling back in to my Chicago home, interviewing on-campus and starting classes. This semester I'm taking Trial Advocacy, which I'm super excited about because we actually get to DO things, by that I mean we're actually performing our own trials. I'm such a dork I know but I am so excited to get started with questioning witnesses this week! I'm also doing Negotiations, Legal Ethics and a Clinic helping women and children get asylum in the US. It will be an intense semester but I'll actually feel like I'm getting to learn things that I'll actually use in 2 years when I'm a lawyer. That statement, by the way, freaks me out to no end. I have wanted to be a lawyer since I was 9 years old and the fact that I actually will be one so soon is both exciting and terrifying.

I'm sure part of the reason I'm also somewhat scared is because I'm now in the middle of callback interviews, I actually just had my first one today. It's just crazy that the future of my career will be pretty much determined before this semester's even over. I don't know just how ready I am to have a career, but I guess I will have one soon enough! Luckily in the midst of the stress and madness from classes and job searching, I have fun things going on too.

Danny has been in town the past two weekends and we went to Indiana this weekend with lots of our friends from college, including 4 of my 5 senior year roommates. Being there on a football weekend is a lot of fun but I also realized that I'm definitely not a college kid anymore, I can't keep up the pace. After going out Friday and tailgating all day Saturday, I was pretty much down for the count. I feel bad that I am not so good at the all-weekend party anymore but what can I do? It was still a good weekend but I now know that they'll be good in a different way than they were in college.

But I'm going back for a few more football weekends this fall and I'm going out to see Danny twice too. One of the weekends we're going to another wedding and I am really excited for that because, as mentioned before, I love weddings :) It's another couple he went to high school with and most of his HS friends will be there so I know it will be a good time, especially because I'm doing 4 job interviews the week before, I'll need it!

Anyway, now that I'm back into a routine, I'll be much better about posting. A lot of exciting things are happening this semester, so I'll obviously have lots to say. And if all else fails, there's always celebrity gossip. I can't believe they're letting Britney "Trainwreck" Spears open the VMAs, MTV is taking a huge risk! And don't even get me started on the Hills...seriously Heidi and Spencer are HEINOUS. More about that next week :)

TGI-Thursday

I am so so so happy it's finally Thursday this week, since it's my last day of work for the week, I am acting like it's Friday, aka getting no work done and contemplating a long lunch. Tomorrow is Danny's BIRTHDAY and I am so so so excited to celebrate with him. I'm going into Chicago to pick him up from the airport tomorrow and then it's out on the town! Then we're coming back home and celebrating some more, basically it's another birthday extravaganza weekend! I plan on spoiling him rotten but not before I rub it in his face a couple times that he is 3 months older than me, practically ancient! Obviously, I am ridiculously excited to see him, as it's been 3 weeks since the last time. The great thing about Danny weekends is that we both go out of our way to plan extra fun things to do with each other so we can make our visits even more special, so I am trying to make this weekend no exception! We'll go out in Chicago on Friday, then come home and hang out by the pool for awhile, then have a special birthday dinner on Saturday, then go out again, then Sunday I'm sure we'll be nursing a double-hangover so it might be back to the pool and then Sunday night we're going to cook out! Such a fun weekend! I am definitely ready to go out and dance the night away :)

I <3 Hairspray!

Melissa and I went to see Hairspray Monday night and as a musical nerd, I was in heaven. The songs are great, in an awesome Broadway kind of way, the dancing is great and I can honestly say there wasn't a character I didn't love. My only small foible with the movie was John Travolta in drag. To be honest, I think he did a great job of embracing the character of Edna, and when he was speaking, he pulled off a decent Baltimore accent to make me forget even further that it was actually John Travolta on the scene. However, when he sang, the accent was gone and it was all John Travolta's voice coming out of that big lady and it freaked me out a little.

I was sooo impressed with Nikki Blonsky, who plays Tracy Turnblad. You would never know she was a newcomer to the business because she did such an amazing job. Zac Efron is obviously adorable, as is James Marsden. Ever since What a Girl Wants, in all it's teeny-bopper glory, I've loved Amanda Bynes, and this was no exception. Seriously everyone was good, even the villains, Michelle Pfeiffer and Brittany Snow. Oh and I have to mention Elijah Kelley, who plays Seaweed. He's one of the few less corny characters in the movie (nothing wrong with corny though) and he was excellent, I really hope he continues to get parts that have him singing and dancing because he was exceptional at both.

This movie was not afraid to be corny, after all, a large portion of it takes place on the set of the Corny Collins Show! No matter what though, the movie sends a great message about accepting people of all sizes, shapes, colors and backgrounds and it is so much fun to watch. I can't wait to own it on DVD, I have a feeling it will be one that I will watch over and over again!

My super rockin' weekend!

This weekend was great. First and foremost, it was Jenny's birthday and we had such a good time and it was so fun to see her! We went to Sheffield's which is this awesome bar on Sheffield (weird) that has a great outdoor beer garden and is really chill and fun. Luckily my family friends, the Flynns, happened to be there and so I managed to weasle out of the constant shot-taking by talking to them for awhile and I didn't get to hammered. I can't say the same for the birthday girl, but it was her birthday after all, so she was pretty much required to take them.

I have to say, it's a good thing that I love Jenny so much, and fear her wrath if I had missed anything, because Jenny's birthday (Saturday) was the same day that Harry Potter 7 came out. I got my book late by Potter-fan standards, at 12:30 pm and literally read for 5 hours without stopping, seriously, I took it with me when I had to pee even! Then I had to tear myself away and get ready for Jenny's birthday extravaganza. Still obsessed though, I got home a little after 1 and even in my mildly tipsy state, read HP for another hour. Of course I still wasn't done, being 758 pages and all, so when I woke up in the morning, instead of vegging at my apartment for awhile before heading back to South Bend, I got on the road pretty much immediately and then read until I was done, some of the time at Melissa's pool, thank god I saw some sunlight. Since Danny reads this and I know he's not done, I'm not saying anything about liking or not liking the book. All I will say is that J.K. Rowling is brilliant in how she ties everything together, seriously brilliant. I can't imagine having the attention span to keep track of 7 books worth of information and make it all piece together, hence why I can't do puzzles either.

Also, my other happy thing of the weekend was falling in love with Kelly Clarkson's new album, My December and new artist, Colbie Caillat's album Coco. As far as Miss Kelly is concerned, I had actually purchased her album when it came out and knew that I liked at least 2 songs but didn't really truly listen to the rest of it much at the time. So for my roadtrip, I burned both CDs to listen to in my car and I have to say, anyone who is trashing this album and her talent are completely close-minded. It is definitely not Breakaway, not nearly so poppy, but even though I love pop music, I was so impressed with her growth as a musician. She has great variety on this album, which is clearly a break-up record by the way, and I am sad that people like Perez Hilton, who I usually like, are giving her such a hard time. It's sad that her record label wasn't willing to foster her talent instead of trying to force her into one particular style that wasn't her own. As for Colbie, the iTunes review is true, she is very much like a female Jack Johnson, I love her. Her style is light and pretty and she had a great voice and good lyrics. I would definitely love to see her in concert.

So those are the things that made my weekend grand. Danny's coming in next weekend for his birthday, so I'm sure that weekend will be even better, yay! This summer has been great, and I'm glad I'm ending it on such high notes!