Four weeks down... nine to go

Unbelievably, another week is toast. That cold... flu... whatever it is/was hadn't gone away on Tuesday when I thought it had. I woke up on Wednesday and it was still with me. So I didn't go to class. Which sucks. But hey, I'm feeling way better now and I'm almost ready to declare it over once more. But not quite. Call me crazy, but I think I angered it last time when I said it was over. I mean, how would you feel if you were a big five or six day cold and someone called you a small two day cold? I'd be all "yeah okay watch this action..."

Anyway as you can probably tell I'm still a little medicated. I went to my Charter class this morning and hung out in the library all afternoon to do my sports law readings. Okay well I didn't actually read everything so much as I got it all and looked through it thoughtfully. Seriously, it was about two hundred pages and I just don't have time for that. So I spent about an hour going through it... reading introductions and conclusions, paragraph headings, etc. I'll know what I need to know for class, and trust me for this class I don't need to know much. I know, I know... that sounds bad... negative... and all that... but I think learning what we can skip and what we need to read is part of being in law school. If I read every single thing assigned I would never, and I'm not exaggerating here, ever leave the library. And I wouldn't have time for research, or the volunteer crap that I do, or anything else. So yeah I'm selective. But hey, there's no final in that class and this topic (league expansion and franchise relocation) goes nowhere near my research area.

Haha okay maybe that's not precisely true. I mean, it might be true, but I don't know because I haven't made my research proposal yet. It's due Wednesday. Sports law is the one class where I have no idea what I want to research. Which brings me back to this countdown thing I'm doing. I'm not counting down because I'm looking forward to the end... yet. I actually kinda like school a lot of the time so I don't start wishing for the end of the term until the last month or so. The countdown is to remind me how much time I have left so I don't let everything pile up till the last minute. Well, that's the theory anyway. So, with that in mind, starting this week I'm going to go through each class individually for a progress update...

Charter: I still like the class. Apparently I'm supposed to hate it but I still like it. There was an option in this class of a 100% final or a 100% paper and I picked the paper because, after first year, I'm not totally happy with my exam writing abilities. My best marks last year were in writing assignements, and so... my research proposal is due Wednesday but I already talked to her about my topic and she has approved it in principle. I'm going to look at our constitutional right to freedom of expression and the ways in which hate speech legislation modifies that right. Sounds like fun, I know... don't be jealous.

Sports law: Okay so here's the format of this class. We are graded about 70% on a research paper and about 30% on participation. It's a seminar class, which means there are less people (about thirty in this one) and more interaction between the prof and the students. That 30% participation grade is satisfied mostly (that's his word... I think it should be 'completely') through a group project in which the group of the day leads the class in discussion. Sounds like a lot of work, I know, but from my experience so far it doesn't seem to be. The prof actually gave all the groups packages for us to select readings from. So at the end of each class the group for the next week hands out a reading list and then the next week they sit at the front and "lead the class." But they don't really have to worry about doing a lot of talking. Why? Because the rest of the class is so eager to jump in and give their opinions? No. Not at all. The prof has a panel of about three people that come to each class.... a co-professor and someone else who is in some sports related field... and they take up most the time. It's great. The group at the front says "so let's talk about x" and then the prof and his friends talk about 'x' for a very, very long time. It's all good though... it means I can waste less research time getting ready for what amounts to unpaid teaching and concentrate on the big stuff. Like my research paper, the proposal for which is due on Wednesday.

Taxation: I don't have a lot to say about this class. It's graded 100% on the final exam so no paper here. Everyone always jokes about how boring and tedious taxation is. Which makes me feel a bit weird... because I love it. After this entry I'm going to do some taxation reading. On a Friday night. And I'm looking forward to it.

Intellectual Property: This class kinda falls under the radar a lot of the time. It's on Friday afternoons and it'll be 100% final too. I think IP is pretty interesting but I suspect that practicing in that area of law might actually drive me insane. I need to do some serious reading for this class. It was cancelled this week because there was a big 60th anniversary law school party. UBC is older than that but the law school didn't open till 1945.

Negotiation: This class makes me feel like I took too many seminars this semester and not enough black letter law. It's a good class though. And negotiation is a growing field. This class is made up of a lot of things: Two case studies... the first of which is due on Wednesday... a final research paper... the proposal is due on Wednesday too... and a short class presentation about one of the case studies. For the first case study I have to analyze a fictional negotiation and talk about techniques, etc. The research paper has to either analyze a major negotiation or analyze one aspect of negotiation. We have a teachers' strike happening in BC right now and I might look at that... but I have a feeling that might be a popular one so I'll probably think of something else.

Well.... talking about all that stuff has made me realize how much I need to go and do some of it.

Later gators...

In sickness and in health...

I went out to my parents' place on Sunday to do the family dinner thing and stay over. While there I contracted some sort of virus. It was strange the way it came on. I got there at 11:40. A little after 1 my nose began to run. I had to grab kleenex three times between 1 and 2, and then about 2:15 I sneezed. I sneezed again about five minutes later and that was the first time it occurred to me that I might be coming down with something. By 3:38 I was headachy and I knew for sure that I had... something.

That 'something' turned out to be the 55 hour and 2 minute flu. I'm calling it that because now, at 8:02pm on Tuesday, I'm calling it off. My nose is still a bit runny but aside from that and a slight compulsion to listen to Jamiroquai I feel pretty normal.

Yesterday was the big flu day. I had to go to a wine and cheese event last night and I was feeling pretty ill. Because I'm on the articling committee I volunteered to go early and help sort nametags into alphabetical order. I know it doesn't sound very exciting, but I enjoy the alphbet and the challenges it presents. So yeah, the event started at 6 but I went down at 5 and my plan was to be out of there at 6:10 so I could come home and get back into bed. There was one firm that I wanted to talk to there but I didn't think it would take long. What happened though, was actually quite different. The firm I went to talk to had a lot of people there and I talked to them for over an hour and then they invited me to dinner. That was great because going to dinner with a firm means that I get to talk to them a lot and then hopefully they'll give me an interview.

The down side was that I was critically ill. My back was killing me and all the other aforementioned symptoms were present and accounted for. And the most difficult part was pretending that I wasn't sick at all. I had to! I'm no expert but I'm willing to bet real money that infecting the hiring partners with influenza is no way to get hired. But I got through it and managed to have a good time. Plus, as an added bonus, they sent each of us home with a bottle of wine. Not that I can drink it... but I'm saving it for new years.

So anyway I got home at midnight, downed a couple packages of neo citran, some advil cold and sinus, and fell into a thick, drug induced sleep. It was great... and I woke up this morning with the feeling that this too would pass. Nonetheless I cancelled everything I had to do today so I could stay home and rest. I got through my readings for tomorrow, wrote a research proposal, and decided what I was going to write about for another one I have to do. Not too bad as far as productivity goes on a sick day...

But anyway, it's almost 9... Amazing Race time. The first episode of family edition... I'm not holding out much hope but I'll keep ya posted. Seriously, the best thing on TV these days is the Young and the Restless. Well okay Apprentice is good too. And Survivor is okay so far. But enough about that...

Okay so these pictures are from my February 2005 trip to California. I was there for four days hanging out with my good friend Jack. He lives in Pasadena, and this is the city hall building. 

Most the building is missing in this one, but I like it... 

The day after I got there Jack took me to the Huntington Library in San Marino, which is about 20 minutes from his place in Pasadena. Ignore the dorky look on my face... it's the only picture I've got of me with the library entrance behind me. 

It's the most beautiful 'library' I've ever seen. Hundreds of acres of gardens and buildings... 

Seriously it was like being in a Greek... something. Some areas are all statues and marble... it's really really great. 

There is a lot of great stuff in the library. I could have spent days looking around, but we didn't have a lot of time and there was a lot of outside stuff to do. This picture is a little off because there's no flash photography inside... but this is that painting!! 

They have a children's garden with a cool mist area. Jack and I were the only two adults without children in there and I think they might have been laughing at us. 

It's not a real animal... it's made out of some type of hedge. But I'm pretending to get on it anyway. Get it? 

When the library was built San Marino was in the middle of nowhere. Mrs. Huntington was used to being in civilized surroundings so Mr. Huntington had, among other things, these Japanese gardens built. They actually hired a Japanese family to live in the house. I think they were grounds keepers too but I can't remember... 

This is the Huntingtons' tomb. Yeah they're actually IN THERE. Mr. Huntington had it built after his wife died and when he died they were both moved there.

They even have a desert garden... which I guess would make sense considering where the library is located. There's no way I could do justice to it with a picture... who knew there were so many types of cactus out there??? 

And here's the empty parking lot. We were the last to leave because Jack's friend works there so we got to stay late. 

We got up early on Sunday morning and went for a walk in West Hollywood. This is Sunset... yeah there's hardly any traffic. It was THAT early. 

Another Sunset strip pic... 

Fat Actress... It's funny... in a disturbing kind of way. But the thing is, Kirstie Alley lost like 50 pounds over the summer so does that mean it's over? Or is she going to be skinny actress now? Hmmm... 

I don't know what was up with me in this picture... I guess I was looking at something else. But anyway that's not important.... look at the billboard... is that?? Yes! It's Pam Grier advertising Hennessy Whiskey!! Rock on Pam!!! 

I wonder how much it cost Target to take up the whole side of a West Hollywood building with their ad... 

Just another picture... I like how they have Oscar banners. 

We drove up to the Hollywood Hills for a picture of the famous sign... 

After Sunday morning in West Hollywood we got in the car for Sunday afternoon in Palm Springs. The drive was great with Sergio Mendes and the Brazil '66 on the CD player... 

Never let your guard down! Alberta drivers are everywhere! Haha just kidding... I've heard that BC drivers are worse. But I don't really know. 

I'm not completely sure what this is supposed to be a picture of, besides me. 

We found a spot with a great view overlooking the city. My view pictures turned out dark but this gives you a sense of it. And that's Jack's truck... I miss my truck I think. 

Palm Springs is really beautiful... it has some of the best architecture around. It's kind of 50s... modern.... um... hard to explain. I don't know architecture terms. But it's good. We drove around for a while and then headed back... 

And no trip to L.A. would be complete without Disneyland. Okay that's not true. I'd say Disneyland about once every five years is good enough. And it had been about seven years since I'd gone so it was time. Just for the record, I love the Haunted Mansion. Yeah, I love it. Maybe it's the nostalgia. Maybe it's the smell. It's not the special effects. Whatever it is, I hope they leave it the way it is.