Exam Time!

I'm going to be disappearing for awhile as I get these exams and papers out of the way. After this Christmas exam season, I will only have one more Christmas in my life that revolves around exams. After years and years of exams in December, it will be quite a change. I may even miss it a little.

Nah.

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I just can't get enough!

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Dispatches from a Moot Competition

Pictures to follow, but I thought I would take a moment while sitting in the softly lit upstairs lounge of my downtown Toronto hotel to talk about the mediation advocacy moot I just finished partipating in. Our team of five--two teams and our coach--left Vancouver Wednesday morning and will be coming back tomorrow. Coming back as finalists and prize winners, coming back a bit emotionally bruised but also, more lawyerly (if that's a word).

Our first round was against the team that we would eventually compete against in the finals, a team that went on to win the whole thing. And they were good. It was at this point I started to doubt we were a good mediation team and went into the next two semi-disasterous rounds with mediators snapping at me, cutting me off. I left the third round in tears, feeling the mediators and judges hated me. And then, we were told one of the four slots for the finals was going to us--and another one going to our collegues and practice-mates from UBC. It was such a triumphant moment!

After two months of practice--and a few very late nights--we had two hours to prepare for another go around. We ended up being eliminated. And it was disappointing. But I will always remember this mediation as the moment where I stepped into the larger Canadian legal community. And that's pretty damn cool.

As I sit here typing up my impressions, I am listening to David Gray's "This Year's Love," a song that has been running through my head off and on all day. Listening to the lyrics, they remind me a bit of my relationship to law school and the legal profession in general: moving from apathy to energy to disappointment to doubt to hope to wistfullness and back again. Pretty much everyday.

Cute.

Thanks to Jarrett, another second year student, for finding this for me.

Another Stupid Survey

Smoked a cigarette: Of course. I miss them, sometimes.
Crashed a friend’s car: No
Stolen a car: No
Been in love: Yes
Been dumped: Holy God--Yes! Horribly, horribly dumped.
Shoplifted: No
Been fired: No. But when it happens, I know I'll cry.
Snuck out of your parent’s house: No. Never had to.
Had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back: For sure.
Been arrested: Umm, sort of. But nothing I'll ever talk about.
Gone on a blind date: Yes. Imagine the worst date of your life. Now multiple it by ten. Now, multiply it by 5. That's my blind date.
Lied to a friend: Yes.
Skipped school: If I have to.
Seen someone die: No. But I've seen dead bodies. Thank you, Russia.
Had a crush on one of your internet friends: Does Rachel Maddow count as my internet friend?
Been to Canada: I’m also Canadian
Been to Mexico: Yes. I spent the summer there when I was eleven, returned multiple times for visits and then got married there in 2006.
Been on a plane: Plenty.
Purposely set a part of yourself on fire: Who the hell wrote this survey??
Eaten sushi: I love sushi very much. But I love salmon sashimi more.
Been jet-skiing: Yes, but I was crap at it.
Met someone in person from the internet: Just a blind date. And you know how that turned out.
Been moshing at a concert: Nope. I stay away from the posh pits, generally.
Taken pain killers: Yes!
Loved and missed someone: Yes, so many people!
Made a snow angel: Yep.
Had a tea party: When my sisters and I were little.
Flown a kite: Yes, with my grandparents when we were little.
Built a sand castle: Yes. Just this past summer with my little pal, Kendall in Florida.
Gone puddle jumping: Yes.
Played dress up: I play dress up everyday.
Jumped in a pile of leaves: Maybe. I don't remember.
Gone sledding: Yes. We girls used to get new sleds every year at Christmas and would sled by our house.
Cheated while playing a game: I am so bad at cheating.
Been lonely: I haven't been lonely lately.
Fallen asleep at work or school: Hell, no.
Used a fake ID: No.
Watched a sun set: Not for awhile.
Felt an earthquake: Yes. It was after we watched "The Blair Witch Project" and I thought the BW was coming to get me.
Slept beneath the stars: Yes.
Been misunderstood: Yes, perception is a tricky thing.
Petted a reindeer/goat: Nope.
Run a red light/stop sign: yes
Been suspended from school: No.
Been in a car accident: No.
Eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night: No
Had deja vu: Yes...weirdly. Even though I don't believe in it.
Danced in the moonlight: No.
Liked the way you looked at least at one point in time: Yes. I think I rock, most of the time.
Witnessed a crime: Yep. Thank you, Russia, again.
Been obsessed with post-it notes: No. Stupid question.
Been lost: Very seldomly.
Been on the opposite side of the country: Of course! I moved from Vancouver to Florida.
Cried yourself to sleep: Yes.
Recently colored with crayons: No.
Sung karaoke: A disaterous version of "Billie Jean."
Paid for a meal with only coins: Yes! From the school's vending machine.
Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t: All the time.
Made prank phone calls- No
Been kissed under the mistletoe by your boy/girlfriend: No.
Watched the sun rise with someone you care about: No.
Blown bubbles:yes
Made a bonfire on the beach: No
Laughed so hard you peed your pants: Nope
Cheated on a test: No. Although sometimes they are so easy, I FEEL I'm cheating.
Been kissed by someone you didn’t like: ick...yes.
Gone skinny dipping in a pool: Yes

Grrr...Scalia

Yesterday the Supreme Court heard a case about the reach of the Federal Gun Control Act and whether it includes someone convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence.
Courtesy of the LA Times' David Savage, here's a report of oral argument, which evidently went poorly for the proponents of disarming wife beaters. Of note in the transcript is the following exchange between Justice Antonin Scalia and Nicole Saharsky, the Justice Department lawyer arguing for the stricter interpretation of the law.

JUSTICE SCALIA: And this was misdemeanor assault and battery, wasn't it?

MS. SAHARSKY: Yes, that's right. I mean, I really--

JUSTICE SCALIA: So it's not that serious an offense. That's why we call it a misdemeanor.

MS. SAHARSKY: Well, I mean, certainly the offense is this particular case was serious. The charging document reflects that Respondent hit his wife all around the face until it swelled out, kicked her all around her body, kicked here in the ribs--

JUSTICE SCALIA: Then he should have been charged with a felony, but he wasn't. He was charged with a misdemeanor.

---
While I am not surprised Scalia treats women with less respect than is due to human beings, it does surprise me how easily he dismisses the pain and anguish of domestic abuse. He is SO not my favorite SCOTUS justice.

Proposition 8

I am a contributor to the law school's monthly newspaper and am currently researching an article on Proposition 8. This video from Keith Obermann is an amazingly direct commentary on the crux of the issue.

Like Sarah Palin, I also read Starbucks Cups

Here is what is written on the back of the cup I am enjoying right now:


"The law, for all its failings, has a noble goal--to make the little bit of life that people can actually control more just. We can't end disease or natural disasters, but we can devise rules for our dealings with one another that fairly weigh the rights and needs of everyone, and which, therefore, reflect our best vision of ourselves."-Scott Turow

How's that for a little end of term inspiration?

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At six weeks, she likes her nose rubbed, smiles at us, needs lots of attention and can now fall asleep without constant dancing around the room and hard rocking. She loves to be with people and takes lots of naps--although she fights the fatigue with every muscle in her tiny ten pound body.
Pretty much, she is the best thing ever.

Yes We Can...Eat Cake

Cake from Jacqui's (fellow 2nd year student) election night party.

From the Mountaintop

The great light cage has broken up in the air,
freeing, I think, about a million birds
whose wild ascending shadows will not be back,
and all the wires come falling down.
No cage, no frightening birds; the rain
is brightening now. The face is pale
that tried the puzzle of their prison
and solved it with an unexpected kiss,
whose freckled unsuspected hands alit.-

--- Rain Towards Morning, Elizabeth Bishop

Afghan Horseman

Last night we had dinner with some friends at The Afghan Horseman, a local restaurant that's been serving traditional Afghani food for 34 years. The walls were filled with 40 year old pictures of Afghanistan and bits of recent history: the war against Britain, the Russian invasion, etc. Our booth was covered with colourful cloth and gauze, the food was delicious: lots of sauces, brown bread-like pancakes and tender portions of lamb with hummus.

For a country invaded by the U.S. more than once in the last twenty years, you would think I'd know more about Afghanistan by now. It's a shame that this restaurant is my first experience with the culture. It would be great if--before we invaded a nation--we as a country had to sit down for a short civics lesson. It would increase the humanity of the enemy and perhaps give us perspective on why we're attacking. Yes, I agree with the war against the Taliban and Afghanistan's relation to the 9/11 terrorists. But there is so little I know about a nation we have intersected with so often.

Halloween

We went to a law school Halloween party Friday night. Monster was a '40s style gangster and I was "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend." I left my camera at my parents place so I don't have pics from the party but these were taken with my iphone before we left.

"Maybe the Blueberry."

Tuesday night is, finally, the election. I have a hard time remembering what life was like before the election season began. There is a vague recollection of graduating with my bachelor's and studying for the LSAT. But on Tuesday, it's THE DAY. The DAY (hopefully) when the election ends for awhile. I am on political overload but at the same time I wonder if I'll be able to let go of all the blogs and constant punditry which has warmed my life for a very, very long time.

We were going to go to the Global Studies Institute to eat pizza and watch the election results (yay for living on the West Coast!) But instead, we are going to the home of another law student, Jacqui, who is hosting a "What Would Obama Like?" election party. Our assignment is to bring something we think Obama would appreciate. Having been eye-to-eye with this campaign for two years, I immediately thought I would bring blueberry pie.
See below.

[Edit: Saturday Night Live has pulled the video off the air. It was a debate stetch after the first debate, where McCain challenges Obama to a series of three pie-eating contests. Obama responds, "I don't see the point....maybe the blueberry."]