Moving...

Well, my blog is moving anyway. Please update bookmarks and links! As of now, I will no longer be updating to this page at the rcn.com address. The new URL is:

http://members.cox.net/heidigrace

Now back to fixing all the links I am sure I have broken...

How could I resist?

With applogies to Jen...

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around and look for the coolest book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.

"Corporal punishment in a public school may involve a constitutionally protected liberty."

Brought to you by the good people who wrote the Gilbert's on Constitutional Law. Nice.

Doom, doom!!

Grades come out today. I already saw 2. Hopefully Contracts is, as I expected, my worst grade, but I did manage to score an honors grade in my legal skills class, so that's something. I'm not sure what exactly, as it does nothing for my GPA (which I think sucks the big one but oh well, it'll still look good on the resume).

Now I'm waiting for Crim Law to start, which I am woefully unprepared for, as I passed out last night while I was trying to do my reading. Stupid flu plague.

A few points I'd forgotten

1 - The food here seriously sucks.
2 - Don't get me started on the "produce," if you can call it that
3 - For the most part, I loath my classmates. It's very sad.
4 - Studying at school is hopeless (see #3)

Day 1 of Semester 2 went ok. Contracts got cancelled, which had me all irrationally annoyed, but was probably ok. I just got out of my first ever criminal law class, which was scary. The prof just launched into the lecture and discussion without so much as saying hello. She scares me a little, but I think it'll be an ok class.

Must try to get my Con Law reading done now. I passed out on the couch yesterday after I got home. This cold thing sucks, and not I have a fever blister to go with it. Nice. I feel like crap and I look deformed. What a way to start the new year.

So wrong

Starting the semester with the beginnings of a cold is just unfair and wrong on so many levels. I feel like crap. I blame this entirely on the whole airport odyssey getting back out here. Stupid airport.

Anyhow, aside from feeling like crap and being generally exhausted, and considering that I have not actually had a class yet, the semester has officially begun and so far so good. Or at least, so far, no new surprises. Classmates are still immature and annoying (why do I loath them so much? why?!), I still don't understand anything in my contracts book, and the homework load is already a bit scary. But oh well, I'm actually kind of excited about this. Torts and Civ Pro are over, and I get Criminal and Constitutional law this semester to replace them. Con law should be interesting, I'm excited about that one.

Last night, instead of doing the rest of my property reading, I warped my loom and wove a few sample rag coasters. I'm quite happy with how they turned out actually, and I think I have a better idea of how the warp colors interact with the rag colors, so that's something. Plus they are really fast to weave. Hurray! I think warping the loom took longer than the weaving, but I can put enough warp on by myself to do about 10 coasters at least, if not 12, so that should keep me busy for awhile.

In other news, I bought a scale yesterday at Cost Co. Eep. That was a scary wake up call, but looking back on it it's not really as bad as all that. I've managed to keep off nearly 40 pounds from my all time high, and seem to be within the new range of fluctuation, which is not to say I don't have some work to do, but it's manageable. My goal is really to get the range of fluctuation down a bit, the high end needs to be at least 10 pounds lower than it is now, and I'd like the range to be narrower, but that's an achievable goal. I've pretty much got to the point though where I'm doing this on my own. The leader at the one and only WW meeting that fits into my schedule is really irritating. She just grates on my every last nerve, and I can't bring myself to pay the weekly meeting fee to get that annoyed. Everyone there is really very nice, but so far away from my point in life that I don't relate to anyone in the least, which is sort of the whole point of going to the meetings anyway.

Must get myself ready for contracts class. Ugh.

Standing on my own two feet

Sadly, I have no pictures to show for my break and trip back to CA, but I got enough rest that I don't really care. I can't say it was the most blissful and idyllic of vacations, but it was good to be back home, to be with Someone, to work through some stuff, and end up feeling like I'm starting the year more or less on my feet with a good idea of where I'm going and how I'm going to get there.

All of my knit Christmas gifts went over well, which made me feel a lot better about having made everything. I don't know why I have this idea that handmade gifts are of less value and worth than bought things, I should know better by now than to devalue the work of my hands, but I still tend to assume that other people will see a handmade gift as something of less value. Everyone liked their hats and scarves and mittens and wine glass charm things, so that's good.

Somehow or other I've gotten inspired to weave for next year. I visited my favorite wool shop while I was at mom and dad's and they had some little woven rag rug coasters sitting on the counter which gave me all kinds of ideas. God knows I have enough fabric scraps to make a good pile of these for gifts next year. Maybe coasters, trivets, and table runners will be the project of choice. It's something different anyway, and will give me a chance to experiment with some new things.

I had two interviews for internships while I was out in CA, both of which went really well. One was with a company that does not actually have an internship program, but wants to try to put something together for me. Hurray! I really liked that group, by the end they were asking me if I wanted to come work with them and giving me all kinds of great tips for picking classes next term, so I think it went well. The best part is the office is about 5 miles down the road from Someone's house, which is convenient.

I've also been baking a lot of bread. Mom got me a great bread book for Christmas, which has been really helpful. I didn't have all the equipment I need at Someone's house, but I was able to apply some of the methods from the book and it improved the bread tremendously. I'm getting much better texture, nice crusts, and I think I'm starting to understand what's going on with the whole bread making process better so I've been able to adapt a few recipes quite successfully.

For now, it's back to school work, financial insolvency (where the hell is my loan refund check?! I have rent to pay people!), and the never ending battle to adjust to the weather out here, but somehow I feel like I'm able to stand again. The fear and terror of everything that I've been dealing with has been taking a toll on every aspect of my life, and I'm tired of it. As I was telling Someone the other night, we both of us have taken a huge leap, picking up and moving to new places and starting new and difficult things. We just didn't figure on what would happen when we landed in the new place, how broken and battered we'd be by the fall. I know it'll never be at hard as last semester was again, and that is a very comforting thought.

One down...

and five more semesters to go! Hurray! I must say, it's a very feeble kind of hurray, but there it is. I don't think I felt this mentally and physically drained in a really long time, if ever. Somehow, I'm actually looking forward to next semester though. I get to start con law, and carry on with property, both of which really interest me.

Anyhow, I made it back to CA without too much trouble, the flight out ended up being delayed but I made my connection, barely, and here I am. Tired, somewhat beat up feeling, but here. It's sort of nice not having anything to do but rest and visit and relax, but I feel like I should be studying something still. This will pass I am sure, especially since I have an interview for a summer internship up in Marin next week. Eck. Hopefully I will be able to speak coherently by then.

Will post more later when I have something sensible to say and hopefully pictures to post...