THANK YOU!!

Time for some serious gratitude!

THANK YOU to my family, my friends, my friends who are like family, my occasional readers - all of you - for your wonderful support over the past four years! It has been amazingly therapeutic to come to this space, to share bits of my life with you - the joys, the sorrows, the frustrations, the class moments where I was so bored I wanted to poke my eyes out with something sharp....It was wonderful to post a message and know my friends would soon be reading it, and laughing your *sses off knowing it wasn't you in my place. :)

Seriously - thank you for your friendship and support of me and my family. Our days were made easier because of you.

No, this is not an "end-of-blog" message. It is simply a message of sincere gratitude and acknowledgment that I did not reach my goals of graduating from law school and passing the bar alone.

I look forward to continuing this journey with you.

Time to Stop at the Bars!

Enough of this passing the bar nonsense. It is high time I start stopping at these fine establishments! That is exactly what I have been doing!


A celebratory drink with my co-workers!





Note the distressingly empty glass behind the work of art that was my shrimp and crab cocktail on the night of the good news!



CHEERS!!

I PASSED!!!!

WAHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I could not have imagined sweeter words than those on the other end of the line, "That name is on the pass list. Congratulations!"

Thursday night we decided to head to the beach for a three-night stay. Results would be available at 2:00 on Friday. Good news - bad news - at least we'd be at the beach. Friday Wife and I about made ourselves sick counting down the hours until the 2:00 call-in time. We'd had a fun morning playing on the beach with the kids, eating some good food, then heading into a touristy area to see some sights. Finally, amid the sounds of barking (roaring?) sea lions, it was time to call. When I heard the AMAZING news, I thanked the person, hung up and the whole family screamed and cried in celebration as on-lookers wondered what was happening.

I tried calling friends and family - but NO ONE answered!! I finally reached my step-dad on his cell phone, but he could not understand me. So here I am, standing on the sidewalk, loudly saying, "The bar exam...I passed the bar exam!" He didn't get it, but I did get a hearty congratulations from a couple of strangers on the street!

A short time later, I was able to reach people, or them me, and was able to share the news.

To all who have supported me at any time over the past four years, thank you so much! For all you law students out there just starting out, or making your way through, you can do it!

Wife wrote this in the sand Friday morning, in hopes that I would be able to use it for this very post. So, here goes:

Not Thinking ABout Bar Results

No, I'm not thinking about the bar results that are due to be released on Friday. Not me. I do not at all resent the fact that those results are undoubtedly already available, sitting on someone's desk, and I do not get to know until Friday. Nope, doesn't bother me at all.

What I am thinking about is a nice tropical vacation in a fancy hotel with gorgeous views of crystal blue water, a luxurious jetted tub and stone sinks in the bathroom. I can already feel the bath-water-warm sea as I snorkel around a secluded cove, spying colorful fish and mystical sea turtles. I can taste the blue margarita with pineapple and lime on the side, and the tiny umbrella in it just to make me happy (because really, that is the only reason for the tiny umbrella).

I'm not thinking about bar results at all.


Is anyone buying this?

Still Enjoying the Sun!

We have had some beautiful weather lately. After some rain and clouds a week or so again, our nice weather returned! What a relief! No one I know was ready to greet fall quite yet. Wife had put up the fall decorations, but it was done grudgingly. We are all still enjoying the sun too much!

Though we had to take in the patio cushions due to rain just last Friday,I believe it was, we've since brought them back out of the garage. This morning it was already 72 degrees at 6:00am. We had an unseasonably warm wind keeping things warm all night long. It felt wonderful!

Our kids are getting really good and strong playing on the new trapeze bar that Wife got for the swing set. Boy Wonder can now "bounce" - holding the rings, do a forward flip, touch down, then do a backwards flip. The little princess isn't quite tall enough for that - but she can do amazing - and slightly frightening things - all the same. She is so strong and coordinated! She will be so upset when it is too cold and wet to play "trapeze tricks." I have a feeling she will be out there with a towel, trying anyway.

Robosapiens!

Does anyone remember when these first came out a few years ago? They are the Robosapien Robots and when they first came out they sported a price tag of around $100. Now, you can get them on sale for about $50.

Our Boy Wonder first honed in on them when he was between 2 and 3. Even at that age, he could pick up a remote and at least figure out basic functions. It was pretty amazing to watch, but NO, a 2 year old was not getting a robot designed for a much older child.

The ads say they are designed for ages 6 and up. I have a feeling our boy would do well with one now. He is quite the gamer, figuring out how to play just about any computer game or DS game on his own. He gets stuck and asks for help, from us or from friends, but I think it is more because he gets frustrated that his normal strategies aren't working than the fact he really needs assistance.

This robot is over a foot tall and can do things like pick up, throw, kick, sweep, dance, rap, and perform half a dozen different Kung Fu moves. There are demo modes and regular modes and apparently is simple enough for young kids, but complex enough to even keep adults entertained.

Seems like it would be fun for a while, but probably after the first week would be tossed in a toy bin with the other remote-controlled items, Happy Meal Toys, and action figures. Maybe when he is a bit older and has a slightly longer attention span!

The Wait

12 days to go until I get my bar results.
This is not feeling like the 12 days of Christmas.

The wait is pure torture. No, not pure. It's this incessant sort of disease inside your body that you think you can ignore, but it's there, eating away at your brain, your ego, your soul. Was I good enough to pass the first time? Was I smart enough? Did I have what it takes? Sure, lots of people don't pass the first time, but even more do. No body wants to be an "also ran."

I am sure many of my classmates are going through this. I found out one of them who is already employed where she wants to work in a job that does not even require bar passage has been incredibly restless during this wait. It's this huge mind game that you have four years to prepare for, but I am not sure you can ever truly be ready to face. There is no way to simulate, or even anticipate, what the pressure of this wait will do.

I am still trying to figure out how much of my own restlessness and re-evaluation of pretty much everything in my life is because of the wait, and how much of it is real because I reached a life milestone, and now it's time to look around and figure out which way to go next. Maybe you can't separate the two. Graduation is just punctuated by the insane bar exam and then the wait. Ugh.

Mentally, I know it shouldn't be that big of a deal. If I don't pass, I can retake it in February, where I almost certainly would pass. Right? Maybe. Statistically, the passage rate for second-time takers is drastically lower. Oh, that helps!

Vegas anyone?

The Point on a Friday When You Are Done

Well, heck, when I get comments and emails, I feel like there are people out there reading this craziness I write and feel compelled to write more. The lesson here: you are only encouraging me, people!

It's Friday afternoon. All my work and email playmates are off enjoying their lives. Wife is at home seeing if she can win the argument with our Little Princess that it is too hot to put up the tent by herself. (Little Princess has offered to help hammer in the stakes. She is good at hammering. Really.) This has forced me to actually do work and accomplish things, but come on, a person can really only be expected to be so productive on a beautiful Friday afternoon. I have reached that limit.

The result is that now I am going to write about the random things going through my mind today.

First, while I appreciate that our Career Services is offering a substantively packed 6-week intensive to help us network, find volunteer opportunities, become more effective legal researchers and a plethora of other skills aimed at increasing our employability, I am having trouble accepting that it needs to be done four evenings a week for those six weeks. What this amounts to is that I won't see my kids again for most of the week for six weeks. Wife and kids are not happy - I am somewhat appreciative of the opportunity - but very skeptical. I'll give it the first week and if it doesn't seem very worthwhile, I just won't be able to continue. The family has sacrificed a lot with the promise I would be home after the bar exam. It will only be about 8 weeks since the exam by the time this class starts. This is making my credibility with the kids seem rather weak.

Next - why is it that people don't read for content? At least twice already today I have had people come to me with situations thatt would have been avoided had the person they were dealing with actually read the information presented. Simply reading the subject line is not enough, particularly if you are a manager or otherwise in charge of a project. Just saying....

A friend sent this to me today in reference to one of our co-workers. It is from a George Lopez routine:

"You better spray bug spray on your legs otherwise the ants are going to climb up and eat your candy *ss."

On that happy note, I wish you all a lovely weekend!

Is that a Road Trip I Hear Calling?

Look at that gorgeous blue sky we have today! (For those not nearby, just picture the bluest sky you've ever seen without a single cloud present.) It is sunny and warm. Looks like road trip weather to me! Beautiful scenery, cheap hotels, random historical sites and views to gaze just because....

Although the call of the wild is loud, and I get great gas mileage, alas, tomorrow Boy Wonder advances from a yellow belt to an orange belt in karate and I want to see him graduate. Saturday is...uh...well, nothing Wife and I are looking forward to, but both kids were invited to a friend's birthday party at a bowling ally, and they are quite excited.

Those of you with older kids, how the heck did you get through all the birthday parties, school events, and other people's children? *sigh*

Oh, well, the kids will have a TON of fun and should sleep well on Saturday night. Maybe it will be a backyard camping weekend. Nice weather is predicted. Guess I won't need any medical travel insurance this weekend, but maybe soon!

Strange Connections

No doubt that The Eagles are a hands-down favorite not only of my generation, but the one proceeding, and probably following. One of my favorite Eagles songs is Take it to the Limit, but I really love Cher's version.

This is one of my go-to songs for all sorts of moods, and always lifts my spirits. I thought I would share it here and was looking for an appropriate picture, when I was struck by something both strange and disturbing.

There seems to be a frightening resemblance between Cher:



and Dr. Frankenfurter from Rocky Horror Picture Show:



How my brain so quickly made this connection may indicate something even more disturbing about me. I best return to my Cher video now before I have to picture Frankenfurter doing If I Could Turn Back Time.

Warm, Blue - What's Not to Love?

I have an iGoogle homepage with a Places to See application near the top. I enjoy the gorgeous scenery. Every now and then, there is a picture of someplace I have been. The one I just saw is Trunk Bay, St. John, US Virgin Islands. Wife and I snorkeled around the islands pictured in the middle of the bay! Amazing experience!



This is one of those "would love to got back to" locations!

Friday Quiz Time!

An amazing sunrise and subsequent double rainbow has led to today's quiz:

What Color are You?
I found several tests, two of which I kind of liked:

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

White? Really? Althought the White Knight charging in to save the damsel in distress is quite romantic, white is kind of boring.

How about this one at Spacefem.com?:
(Gotta love that name!)

You are Violet
#EE82EE

Your dominant hues are red and blue. You're confident and like showing people new ideas. You play well with others and can be very influential if you want to be.

Your saturation level is lower than average - You don't stress out over things and don't understand people who do. Finishing projects may sometimes be a challenge, but you schedule time as you see fit and the important things all happen in the end, even if not everyone sees your grand master plan.

Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything.

Yes...yes, I think this is me!

Happy Labor Day weekend, my friends!

Friends and Grasshoppers

I find myself quite absorbed by the transition that finishing law school has led me into. Wondering about the next steps and contemplating what this next phase of my life should become takes up a lot of energy.

Part of this process has been reconnecting with old friends in a really positive way. These are people who have known me since high school, and even before. It is empowering having people in my life who have known me in the neighborhood of 30 years, who have seen the various highs and lows, and accept me exactly as I am.

This has caused me to think about friendship and the levels of communication and intimacy we share, and with whom. It is interesting to me that I could communicate the exact same information to a "work friend" who has known me for a few years and one of these friends who has known me my whole life, and the meaning behind that information will be entirely different. For instance, to use one of my friend's examples, she left her dog with her new boyfriend for an afternoon. To a casual friend, that seems like no big deal, to someone that knows her, this was huge. Some story - different message communicated.

Sometimes a message delivered to one person is merely a rubber ball, thrown out to bounce as it will, but to another, it is porcelain tile and if not handled carefully, will shatter into thousands of pieces.

Communication is a really fascinating subject. I just found out that female grasshoppers are deaf, but they sense an odor that is under the wing of a male grasshopper when he lifts his wing to make his mating call.

My mind is a scary place.