Roger Ebert is all Kinds of Awesome

Not long ago, Roger Ebert--the famous movie critic--could talk & eat & laugh. Then, he lost his lower jaw in an emergency cancer surgery. But since that time, Ebert has continued to speak through his blog at the Chicago Sun Times. In it, he is funny & charming & sharp. He is also dying.

Of dying, he wrote something that haunted me in its beauty since I first read it:

"I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear, he writes in a journal entry titled "Go Gently into That Good Night." I hope to be spared as much pain as possible on the approach path. I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state. What I am grateful for is the gift of intelligence, and for life, love, wonder, and laughter. You can't say it wasn't interesting. My lifetime's memories are what I have brought home from the trip. I will require them for eternity no more than that little souvenir of the Eiffel Tower I brought home from Paris."

Esquire Magazine did a thoughtful profile on him recently. Check it out sometime.

Eaking Out an Existance: End of Spring Break Edition

This year, due to the Olympic invasion, the school decided to give us a two week spring break rather than one week. The first week, I did no school work at all. I hung out with my sisters and husband and went to different Olympic events and it was really fun.

On Friday, however, I got back into the game going over my Immigration Law notes. It was very quickly apparent to me that I could have spent the entire who weeks doing nothing but school work & barely be caught up. After three full days of Immigration notes, I put it aside for a few days to concentrate on my essay (due in April). Now, three days later, I am ready to turn back to Immigration Law, and, if I finish those notes, move on to Employment Law.

I have no inspiration for all this work when I know the rest of the city is having fun. I am listless & bored & can't believe I am writing this, but I miss school. I am looking forward to getting back to school for my final two months. The glorious structure it provides my day! I miss it!

Websites I Love

I love our little nest in the sky, but eventually Monster & I will buy a place of our own--and you know what that means? I get to decorate! In anticipation of that glorious future, I have been dreaming, scouring decor websites & building inspiration. I've noticed my attraction to soft grays & blues punctuated by bright pops of color. Here is one such website I love, Department of the Interior. Get it? The creator lives in Washington, D.C.!

Dreaming & planning for my future is one of my favorite things & this website is my little helper.

Live at a "Colbert Report" Taping

This morning, Monster & I awoke at 5:45 AM to attend a taping of Stephen Colbert's 'The Colbert Report' (which airs on Comedy Central). Colbert had announced on his show last week that he'd be taping two shows in Vancouver during the Olympics, at a park near our home.

We quickly dressed, packed a blanket and chapstick and departed. After walking along the seawall for fifteen minutes, we came up to...a very long line near Science World. It was clear that some of these Colbert fans had spent the whole night in line. Such devotion is not our style at all--but a good indicator of what kind of fans we were up against. After getting in line, Monster went off to a nearby McDonald's to get us breakfast and when he came back, the line behind us had increased exponentially.

Over the course of the next few hours, as we waited and waited, the line grew and grew until there were probably about 5,000 people waiting to see Colbert. In the pre-light cold, with my toes numbing, I comforted myself with the thought that there were way less people in front of us than behind us. Surely, when the gates opened and the staffers organized our entry, Monster & I were assured semi-good spots.

Three hours into our wait, we were given the command: "Go." What the staffers meant was literally, "run." Monster & I grabbed hands and ran for a spot near the stage. Even though we ended up with a pretty good spot to watch the taping, what the hell was the hours and hours of standing and waiting in line for, anyway, if the plan is to tell 5,000 spectators to make a run for the stage?? Needless to say, it was standing room only and still an hour to go before even the preliminaries would begin.

After lively entertainment in the form of a Dutch band (who traveled with their team for the Olympics and now were apparently available to play Neil Diamond songs (and, inexplicably, the American national anthem), Colbert appeared and we got to see a glimmer of what goes on during the taping of a national comedy show. I thought Colbert was charming in between takes, self-depreciating and still very funny, very "Colbert."

An hour later, after all taping was completed, the crowd chanted for SC to mount the very large prop moose staged to his right. Being a good sport, he finally did climb aboard, and then, following further crowd direction, majestically wave the Canadian flag around. He looked ridiculously wonderful.

Afterwards, we stopped and had lunch at this great little French bakery that makes its own bread and then headed home & down to the hot tub where we could soak our aching backs and hips. It turns out standing for six hours does a number on your body. Who knew?

Fun with JibJab.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Products I Love

I am intrigued by those things I have not yet experienced--new foods, locations, music, and now this new mascara-- Phenomen' Eyes. Yes, it looks like a medieval torture device but that is what I love about it! The first time I used it, the mascara clumped on my lashes and I ended up removing the excess with my (clean) finger. After a few tries, though, I got the hang of it & the mascara actually looks pretty great. Because each lash gets individual attention, my lashes look much longer and thicker after application. And it lasts all day without clumping.

I don't know if I'll purchase this particular mascara again but it's been fun learning to use properly & the whole idea behind it is pretty cool & unique.

Happy Valentine's Day

Monster & I have spent seven Valentine's Days together. Within our happy, happy years together, I have learned a lot from Monster and a lot about myself. He has made me laugh every day--and "every day" is not an exaggeration. He is strong and kind and funny and he doesn't take life too seriously. Happy Valentine's Day, Sweetie. I still heart you so much.

My 500th Post!

[Climbing Grouse Mountain, Vancouver, Summer 2009]








Wow, time sure does fly here in "Tales" land. I started this blog in the fall of 2006 and here I am, nearly four years later! Still writing and still going. The great thing about having a longstanding blog is that I can go back to posts written a year or more ago & see how much I've changed & how my life has changed. Thinking back to the person I was when starting this blog & how I'm different now, a few key changes emerge:

When I started this blog...

1) I didn't cook. The problem was not that I was unaware of cooking techniques but rather than cooking didn't inspire me & I rarely attempted it. Now, I have a whole bunch of recipes on file in my laptop & I enjoy cooking complex dishes.

2) I didn't do homework. Despite my academic success, I went through my whole undergrad without really trying too hard at school. I went to work, went to school & when I came home it was time to relax. I would start studying for exams about two weeks before & would write papers about a week before they were due. I never did readings. Law school changed all of that: now, I read for each & every class, I start studying for end-of-April exams in February & I'm already researching for papers due not due until months from now. For me, it's the only way to survive.

3) I didn't volunteer. From my current vantage point of hyper-involvement, it's hard to remember a time when I had nothing extracurricular on my plate. But for years before law school, I wasn't involved in my community. I didn't know what I was missing. Getting involved over the past few years, it has been such a rush to see my initiatives come to fruition, to organize events & see record turn out, to stand as one of the student leaders at the law school & the university in general. It's addicting and, although I say goodbye to most of my volunteer opportunities when I leave law school in a few months, I know it won't be long before I amass many more.

4) I didn't reflect. Part of my desire to start this blog in the first place was to get a better sense of who I really was. It's hard to see who inhabits your skin when you're living in it, so this blog (along with time for reflection, the Myers-Brigg personality test I took for my Mediation class this term & my husband's perspective) have been very helpful in seeing myself more honestly. At the Trial Lawyers' retreat last year, my roommate told me, "A leader must know themself." I'm trying.

Brighten my Day!

A few moments ago, a second year student I mentored last year approached me for some small talk in the hallway of the temporary law school. We were talking about the various programs going on at lunchtime that day & I mentioned that I'm running the election next month. "You should run for something, Diane," I told her. It turns out, she was interested in running for my position...and...she told me I was one of her role models! That made me feel so great.

So Close to My 500th Post

But this is not it. This is post #498. I am writing it in the cafeteria at the Student Union Building. I just finished my lunch and an hour ago, I was part of a panel presentation to the first & second years about the various programs our school has where students can get out of the classroom & do some actually work--for realz.

My part of the presentation was on mediation, an area of the law that I am sure is going to explode. Afterwards, a local judge who was also sitting on the panel engaged me in a conversation about mediation and its importance to Vancouver lawyers. It is really exciting to have stumbled into an area of law that is so interesting and has so much potential. Mediation allows people to communicate together in resolving grievances and, because parties control the process, many times they come to the most reasonable solution without a court--saving city budgets $$$.

Another thing that was cool was remembering being a first year student listening to this panel two years ago. At that point, I had no idea what sort of legal aspects interested me or what areas of law I wanted to pursue. It was a big, grey blank and it's satisfying to see how far I've come & how far I've yet to go.

Love Me Dead

Here is our law school.













Watching the demolition of what I now refer to as "the old law school" this morning was extremely therapeutic. Seeing those bulldozers rip through massive slabs of grey concrete reminded me that the days of walking through those depressing hallways were over forever. What felt a million miles away, the end of my days at law school, felt so close this morning as I contemplated the destruction of the law building.


I remember this particular moment at the beginning of first year when I wished I could project myself into the body of an out-going third year law student so that I could be excited about graduating. I instinctively knew that, by the time I got to third year myself, I would be so mentally & physically exhausted with school that my excitement over getting my degree would be minimal. Perusing my blog entries over the past few months, I was right. My energy has been drained. I am ready for a new challenge. I am ready to begin a new chapter in my life.


And yet, law school has provided me with a thousand gifts: greater curiosity and empathy, greater knowledge of how the world really works, greater confidence in myself & my professional abilities. I am so, so glad I came to law school. I knew it would change me but I didn't imagine it would make me better. Fiat Justicia Ruat Caelum*, indeed.


*Fiat justitia ruat caelum is a Latin legal phrase, translating to "Let justice be done though the heavens fall." The maxim signifies the belief that justice must be realized regardless of consequences & was carved into the front entrance of the old law school.

A Visit from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court & Other Happenings

I was going to blog this week about the Supreme Court decision in Khadr (where the Court found that a Canadian citizen's constitutional rights had been breached & yet decided not to order his repatriation) but I have had so much on the go & now, I am exhausted.

I went to court four times last week, wrote seven short papers (with one larger one due next week) & attended four meetings. Yesterday, the Chief Justice of the Canadian Supreme Court made a visit to our law school. She used to teach Evidence Law here in the 1970s & 80s and we students were all very excited for her visit. I thought she was very pleasant & personable but very guarded. She didn't have a lot to say to us, actually, which was surprising in context to the other Court justices that have visited campus since my first year: Binnie, Basterache, L'Heureux-Dube, and Abella.

At this point, I am just hanging on, waiting to graduate. The Olympics start later this week and the amount of people, security, corporate logos & celebration planning has made my head spin. I need a break.

H/T to Saarah for the picture.