Can I get an Eight Clap?

With UCLA ranked number 5, I feel as though I should somehow be rooting like a maniacal fan, obsessively watching every Saturday afternoon. Alas, I am not.

In the spirit of maniacal fans, however, I had a rather interesting Sunday when I drove down to Cincinnati to root on my brother and his team from Cal Berkeley in the National Chemical Engineering Car Competition.

I left at 5:50AM and saw the sun rise around Gary, Indiana.


In a sentence or two: In the competition, Chemical Engineering students build cars that run off of chemical reactions. Immediately before the competition, they are given a certain distance that they must get closest to and a certain weight that they must carry on their cars. There were some pretty cool cars out there.


Cal's car unfortunately...exploded. It was really loud. I know -- it's so sad, and they were so disappointed. The team just did not have the funding to buy extra materials for practice rounds, etc., so the tank was worn through by the time the competition began. They weren't the only ones with troubles, though. Many cars didn't run, and one even caught on fire. Yup. ON FIRE. That smoky stuff? It's from the fire extinguisher.


What was most entertaining and funny, though, was the fans. Holy man are they fanatics. Seriously. The Eight Clap is NOTHING compared to some of these guys. I think the pictures speak for themselves:

Kansas State University:


University of Puerto Rico:

*wallow*

Devastating news.

[My firm]-SF filled their corporate class.

Translation: No offer from my firm's SF office.

A deeper plot for Bush?

Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination for the Supreme Court. Considering the lack of support she's had over the last three weeks, this move is probably less embarrassing than not being confirmed in the end. It makes me wonder, though, whether or not Bush's nomination of Miers was actually part of a deeper plot.

I know how you feel about a "deeper plot" coming from Dubya's direction (deeper plot? the man can't even pronounce nuclear!), but let's indulge ourselves here for a sec. In nominating a woman who (likely) wouldn't have been confirmed and who raised the ire of both conservatives and liberals alike, perhaps he was looking towards his ultimate choice after Miers. Now that he has the option once again to nominate another, can he now point towards Miers and say "Look at Harriet! I nominated a woman, and that didn't work out! Just look how qualified [insert WASP-y male here] is! Confirm him!"...? Now that he's supposedly given a woman a chance, can he now nominate an ultra-conservative, completely non-diverse male with (perhaps not total, but at least more) impunity?

Is this the real reason for Miers's nomination?

Lounging Lizards

In the student lounge, mix papering frenzy with talk of beauty services and hilarity ensues.

Quote of the day:
"I don't like feet. I like armpits better than feet."
Close runner-up:
"I don't think they can just throw you into becoming a bikini waxer, though."

And, finally, my dinner:


Call me crazy, but that isn't a croissant.

Ah...the good ol' Plum. What would we do without you?

Rosa Parks

It's sad, but she had a long, productive, and fulfilling life. Be happy for what she did with it.

Nazis??? In Bakersfield????

Wow, this is so messed up.

"Dirty Dancing"

I love this movie. We had a little Homebody Night and watched "Dirty Dancing" tonight.

A made my night when she said she once had the "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack...until some ROTC Navy guys who lived above her borrowed it and never returned it.

How awesome is that?

Gambling Man

I'm in Tax right now, and my professor is talking about getting comps from casinos. Apparently, many conventions are held in Las Vegas because of the inexpensive room rates that casinos offer with the hopes that the convention goers will gamble. No legal conventions are held there, though, because (she claims) the casinos are convinced lawyers/legal convention attendees won't gamble and thus the casinos only offer these potential convention goers high priced rooms.

Casinos should rethink this reasoning. Lawyers are attractive gambling prospects, after all, and accommodating a large number of them will more likely than not benefit casinos and result in more gambling than they are currently allowing for. Lawyers earn high incomes. They also like to drink/abuse substances See: Strung-out-on-coke lawyer stereotypes!. They also get little free time in their everyday lives See: Billables!!, so convention-going would offer a rare opportunity to enjoy themselves, for which opportunity they are likely not to care about spending their high incomes and, indeed, spending said incomes freely. (One need only consider the way lawyers tell themselves their lives are worthwhile by purchasing lots of expensive, high-end items with the idea that "I may not have much free time, but I can still take half an hour to acquire a completely unnecessary Gucci bag, three-digit-priced raw silk tie, etc." I, myself, have fallen victim to this mentality already.)

Call me cynical, but surely this combination of infrequently-spent free time, lots of disposable income, and probable judgment impairedness is a potent gambling cocktail.

B-school?

It's a little late to change courses, huh?

You Should Get a MBA (Masters of Business Administration)

You're a self starter with a drive for success. You'd make a great entrepreneur.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

Mean Smile

A little "Mean Girl" to say it, but entertaining people of the moment:

People who say they are "intelligant" or "inteligent" or "[any other way of spelling "intelligent" incorrectly]."

TV Date

In a commercial for "Inside the Actor's Studio," Bravo recently touted its latest episode's guest...Elton John.

Much as I love "Daniel" and the origin of my blog title "Tiny Dancer," call me crazy, but Elton John isn't an actor.

Spending Money Like Water II

Should I be concerned that my new bag cost more than my couch?

Copious Amounts of Free Time

I've signed up for an evening class, which I figured would give me something to do with my copious amounts of free time.

I had my first Introduction to Drawing lesson today!

It was fun. I enjoyed it. Doing non-law-related stuff was awesome.

Fingerpainting, here I come!

Friendst(alk)er

Many people, including Law Fairy, have been scathing in their posts about Friendst(alk)er's latest (and definitely NOT greatest) update of features: you can now see who has viewed your profile. I, too, am less than amused. This change makes the formerly innocuous perusing of other people's profiles a possible 10 on the embarrassment Richter scale.

Fear not, though, worthy citizens of Friendster-land. In case you were not aware, you can turn this feature off (where you end up browsing anonymously) by going into the "My Settings" options page and clicking off the appropriate boxes.

Trust me, people, I was on that shit like white on rice.

Redheads Have More Fun

Woohoo!

Lindsay Lohan is no longer a blonde!

Nightmares as Video Games

I took a nap today after going to cheer on my friend JB at the Chicago Marathon. I had a scary-exciting dream. It made me wonder why nightmares aren't more welcome. Granted, you need to be aware that they are only dreams in order to enjoy them. However, once you do, they really can be like video games in your participation in the chase and fight with the baddies.

My scary-exciting dream:

Three of us are sitting, being held captive after hours at a Marshall Field's-like department store. We are sitting in a circular clearing area with office furniture all around us. By the wall, in a high backed leather executive chair, sits the captor, a tall guy in a navy blue pinstriped suit, crisp white shirt, red power tie...with a goat's head. For some reason, we are all armed and unbound, despite our captivity. (Don't ask me -- it was a dream!) I'm sitting with my back facing the wall, looking out into the open floorplan with the stairs-where-there-would-be-escalators about twenty feet ahead.

I look to my right and make eye contact with one of the others who is being held captive. Somehow he and I communicate that I will distract The Goat so that the guy can attack The Goat. I start (playfully?) shooting at the third captive's feet with my machine gun. As The Goat yells at me, the other guy leaps to his feet and starts shooting at The Goat with his machine gun.

We all leap to our feet in order to scatter to make it more difficult to recapture us. As I run towards the stairs, The Goat's henchmen arrive from the left, one of them pushing the other in a carpet-lined shopping cart and both of them shooting at the three of us. (Seriously -- it was a dream.) As I run with the henchmen chasing me, I turn around and let off spurts of shots in The Goat's and their directions. I get this sense of accomplishment whenever my aim hits them.

As I scramble down the stairs (Seventh floor was heavy appliances (dishwashers, etc.), sixth floor was furniture (sofas, chaises, etc.), and fifth floor was model rooms (in the IKEA style).), I start leaping the last 7 steps...then the last 10 steps...then the whole staircase in a stomach-dropping feat of only-in-dreamdomness. Upon reaching the fifth floor, I hunt for a hiding place to watch for the bad guys. I consider and reject hiding behind country vine-covered curtains in a little IKEA-like sitting room. Running again, I pass by my uncle and parents, who tell me my brother left (and would be returning). I get scared for him, and tell them to warn him and hide themselves. I hadn't found a hiding place by the time I woke up.

Take Heart

For those having difficulties reconciling their chosen profession with their personal morals, please review the following article: "On Being A Happy, Healthy, and Ethical Member of an Unhappy, Unhealthy, Unethical Profession." (If you're having difficulties with the link, this is the cite: 52 Vand. L. Rev. 871.)

Mmm...French Fries

While surfing today, I came across this fun, fascinating article. Having always had the negative stigma of being an untenable pollutant and thus bad for the environment, diesel fuel really never struck me as ever possibly being able to emerge as a good thing. If, however, this article is correct, and the only pollution coming out of biodiesel is of the French-Fry-smelling, non-harmful variety, then consider me favorably impressed. The idea of being able to cook up my car's gas in a deep fryer may even merit my own Craigs List, diesel-engined car experiment one day. And, yes, I realize that the fact that I consider this a really cool thing, let alone that I'm considering doing it in the future, reveals me for the born-and-raised San Franciscan that I am. Go ahead and say it. Fine. I'll say it for you. Hippie.

Harriet Miers

Three words: Southern Methodist University?????

OCI Update

Alas, plenty of time has passed, and I have yet to update everyone on the happenings (or, more accurately, the non-happenings) of my second foray into OCI land. Needless to say, no news has become, for the most part, bad news, and I am goddamn sick of it. Out of the 19 interviews I did at OCI, 16 have been converted into dings. Yes, dings. Dammit. Three I have yet to hear from. It's very discouraging, and it makes you wonder for whom these firms were really looking. Actually, it doesn't. Eliminating median grades-holding students, I've come up with the conclusion that they are looking for the bright, shining superstars of the 3L class (um, isn't it likely these superstars went to superstar firms their 2L summers already?), and these firms have to resign themselves to sifting through the median graded students to get to these (unlikely) superstars. I'm still holding out hope for my firm (please please please call soon and say you have room for me in SF!), but this lack of welcoming responses from firms at OCI has been quite an experience.

As a 2L interviewing with 30 or 40+ firms, you feel like the cream of the crop, the top of the list, the ace of spades. As a 3L interviewing with fewer than 20 firms, most of whom aren't even looking for 3Ls in earnest, you feel unwanted, alone, and frustrated. It's a different ballgame altogether. Even coming from a top school does not really help your chances. Receiving ding after ding (did someone say donuts? maybe not...) has really humbled me. On retrospect, I realize I entered this experience with the sense of entitlement that I had developed over the years that I deserved a good job "because, dammit, I go to a goddamn top law school and they should be falling all over themselves to employ me." That really is not the case. For those 2Ls out there who are considering their 2L summer firm choices, I would highly recommend you pick your firms wisely as 3L interviewing is not the cakewalk that your past couple months have been.

WTF

No comment.

World Chocolate Day

To my dismay, I missed celebrating World Chocolate Day on September 23. Let's just say that I've been making up for it ever since.

To all, a happy belated Chocolate Day!

Yes, yes, I should be studying.

Y'all better watch out for this llama-riding chick toting a vibro sling*. *rowr*

Your Superhero Profile

Your Superhero Name is The Admiral Nova Your Superpower is Divine intervention Your Weakness is Confined spaces Your Weapon is Your Vibro Sling Your Mode of Transportation is Llama

What's your Superhero Name?

* What's a vibro sling? That's for me to know, and for you to find out...

Shouldn't you be studying?

Procrastination is fun.

I got 107 wpm. I know. What a dork.