ensuring that i will never learn.

so my procrastination was rewarded, as my 10:00 class was cancelled yet again. for those who are keeping score, that's 3 times in 2 weeks. with yom kippur on monday.

anyway, i am pretty stoked on this song.

priorities.

WHOA. A MUST-READ. via julianne shepherd, who correctly notes that analyzing dick cheney is like deconstructing a russian doll; every insight ultimately leads to another enigma. even if you have read 15 books on the subject and the iran-contra report. even if you are one of the most incisive essayists on the planet.

cons and pros of procrastination:

cons: um, class? tomorrow?
pros: reading something that good, and talking to poorani.

i think we know which side wins.

ave maria

wow! tonight ended up being pretty great. everything that was contingent on good timing worked out flawlessly. today, like a lot of the past few saturdays, i somehow managed to waste far too many hours, before getting remotely productive (productive being watching nick1 put together my coffee table and going grocery shopping). then rushed home through the rain to turn around and go to rachael and dominic's surprise engagement party. yes, rachael, as in my best law school friend first year. who i really haven't seen since then, due to our mutual crazy schedules. i forgot how much i missed her. even though their engagement is really no surprise (after 9 years?), i am so, so excited for those kids. and rachael was really, really surprised.

the party was thrown by her two best high school friends + amy hornbeck. it was martha stewart-tastic, and i intend that as high praise. everything was beautiful and tasty. and amy? so fun and so genuine. she went to my high school and then later to my law school, and then transferred to loyola at the same time as rachael. and while she seemed pleasant enough, i am embarrassed to say that i kind of wrote her off. to be fair, i didn't really interact with her that often, but i sort of assumed that she was just an upscale sorority chick. but after hanging out with her this evening, i saw that she is really enthusiastic and open-minded and kind. i know that i am generally a nice person, but this evening was a reminder of how judgmental i can be and how hypocritical that is. life lesson #1.

everybody else there kind of conked out early, so, after waiting forever for a cab, i finally made it back to my apartment. my initial plan had been to hit the party and then see the life and times, but after the cab debacle, i wasn't sure if i had missed most of the show, or if i should stay out anyway. enter life lesson #2: trust my instincts more often. after thinking about it for a minute, i bolted to subterranean, where the band had just started playing. i was still hopped up on raspberry buttercream cupcakes, and my kansas city blood just wouldn't let me do otherwise. and wow. you know i love this band, but last time i saw them, i felt like i had to .defend them to my companions ("they're kind of messing with the song tonight, but on the album...") but god, that was such a warped night anyway, i should not speak of it more than i have to. anyway, tonight, they were so on. i think i have seen them 4 times now, and this was far and away the best. (i gather that a lot of other people there felt the same way). the rock was heavier, the shoegaze gauzier, the rhythm tighter. the crowd demanded a second encore, and the band obliged admirably, despite the fact that they were obviously grasping for songs to play. yay for focused kansas citians!

a nice end to a nice week. my dad was in town again. after hearing more about his current business endeavor, i am so, so proud of him. he is so fucking smart and tenacious. and i was given a really great assignment at work yesterday. so hopefully things are looking up for the o'connor clan.

post-blah.

wow, i can't believe i am up right now. lately when i get home, i can't be bothered to turn on the computer, or the tv (except for the beeb). generally in favor of talking to the roommate and reading. at any rate, i have been getting to bed consistently early. i think i have actually been getting the prescribed eight hours a night! insane.

these weeks are starting to speed up, and i can feel the noose tightening as far as school is concerned. but it's good. clearly i need the pressure to keep me interested. and it's not unenjoyable either. i mean, today in trial ad i conducted two direct examinations, a cross, and was a witness, and, momentarily, a judge. (while being decidedly not on my a-game.) but i also laughed out loud at several points during the evening. norgle, he's a funny dude.

although it started with me being bored and writing overcaffeinated record reviews into the void, last thursday ended up being a great day. and a housing-law-centric one. in the afternoon, my predatory lending class went out to, like, 63rd and kedzie for an orientation with the greater southwest development corporation and neighborhood housing services. great people, and it was nice to get to know a neighborhood with which i wasn't that familiar. was fortunate to get a ride back from professor seng, who astounds me more every day, and hustled over to jenner for the lawyers' committee awards ceremony/fundraiser. every year i attend, and every year i write something effusively sentimental. and this year is not going to be any different. the organization is just growing so well and the event is always such a bighearted gathering. the keynote speaker/winner this year was alex polikoff (he litigated that gautreaux case, maybe you've heard of it?), who was utterly sobering. on the eve of the 4oth anniversary of martin luther king's arrival in chicago, he reflected on the progress of king's objectives since then...or the lack thereof. in contrast, the kid who won the "attorney of the day" award, an IP attorney at some big firm, was funny and heartfelt and almost made me cry. his speech totally went on too long, oscars-long, but nobody could be mad at him: he won a giant award for this family who was locked out of its apartment and had much of its property destroyed. $70,000, that's almost unheard of in the universe of eviction law.

i spoke at length with chief judge evans, who seems like he genuinely cares about his work, and the larger system he's a part of. and saw joe, and ceci, and professor stark, and professor hammond (who's surprisingly lucid when she's not teaching property). even better, i got to meet some of the members of the better housing action network and their families. these are former clients of the organization, who on top of managing their housing and jobs and families, have gone to springfield to participate in advocacy for laws that support safe and decent housing. and i got an lcbh t-shirt: so hot right now.

the quote of the night, or maybe the year, came from this guy from the uptown people's law center: "i don't think eviction court is any different from iraq or guantanamo bay. i think it all comes down to the same issue--the rule of law, and whether we decide to honor it." say word, son.

speaking of which, what are you doing october 5? me too.

(related: casey kasem?????!!! omg.)

pretty bombs.

um, so, professor green cancelled class again. last time was a pleasant surprise, now it's a little bit alarming. we're going to be so behind, especially since yom kippur is on a monday this year, too. might as well blog about records.

'cause a lot of good ones have come out recently. the most notable, to me, is the new one by channels. if you worship at the altar of j. robbins (and i really really do, although that feeling does not extend to the crappy dude bands he sometimes produces), this will be a revelation. i felt like the second burning airlines record was a little slick, and a little scattered. ditto the first channels e.p., though both had their share of amazing songs as well. but this album is an excellent return. clenched-teeth crooning? check. eviscerating sentiments? check.* tricky guitar lines, pummelling drums, incongruously catchy melodies? check, check, and check, augmented and improved upon by the silvery vocals of robbins' wife, janet. 12 pop songs with a serious case of claustrophobia. so awesome.

speaking of same, the new thermals record is really great too. probably their strongest album yet. the thermals' songs are structurally simple, but they stand out because they didn't forget that you're supposed to have hooks AND melodies...and, oh yeah, genuine feeling. i think people sometimes overlook the fact that hutch harris is capable of some pretty clever turns of phrase, as well (not that he chooses to exercise that skill in every song...). and don't worry about the "concept album" talk--there's definitely some consistent themes running through the lyrics, along with a pervasive feeling of uncertainty and anxiety--but it's not distracting or oppressive. and "test pattern" is just a love song, and a really sweet one at that. i once read an article that described the thermals' sound as a cross between gbv and the buzzcocks, and i can't get more accurate than that. does that mean that harris is in the same league as shelley or pollard? no. does that mean that this is a good album? yes.

finally, i heartily endorse jennifer o'connor's latest. no relation, unfortunately. i guess i kind of echo my sentiments about the thermals album here. superficially, her sound could be lumped in with lame coffeehouse folkies who can't let go of lilith fair....but her songs are SO MUCH BETTER. better melodies, better lyrics, better vocals. her voice is great, low-key yet pure. and the songs, while dealing with some pretty wrenching subject matter (bad break-ups, the death of a sibiling), are ultimately strong and forward looking. like a female, less fragile, elliott smith.

you're welcome.


*(that said, the album contains a newer, rawer version of standout song "chivaree" in which robbins rejects anger for its own sake in favor of unabashedly loving the ones closest to you, despite all the craziness and despair in the world. i know, right?)

oh.....

my god. east coast friends take heed. i'm not sure if i can afford to miss trial ad that late in the semester (or afford it, generally), but this is mightily tempting. i guess i'd better figure it out quickly since tickets go on sale tomorrow.

blah.

so my ten o'clock class was cancelled today, and i'm really a loss for what to do with my time. there's nothing pressing that i have to do for school or work, and LRAP stuff is best left to the weekend. this whole semester is really throwing me off by being so damn manageable. it's like i don't know what to do with myself unless i'm maniacally busy. it's like how nick1 has been saying that even with seventeen credit hours, he's not feeling challenged. (although that's easily enough explained by the fact that four of those hours are with wangerin.) i guess it's just the third-year, pre-bar, senioritis blues.

i'm loving the new roommate. she's very genuine and eclectic and just easy to talk to. i was impressed when on her, like, second day in the apartment, she had dinner with my father and i and was able to roll with it gracefully. (i love my dad, but he can come on kind of strong if you've never met him before.) also, she subscribes to the new yorker. now i can catch up on my seymour hirsch and sasha frere-jones without even leaving the house!

last weekend, i hit the third day of the hideout/touch and go fest with stef and tyler. it was raining and legitimately cold, but fun. seam played the best set by a thousand miles, as far as i'm concerned. their genius lies in their ability to be both understated and intense at the same time; i'm tempted to use the word "elegant," but that sounds too stuffy. anyway, they were tight and rocking and their songs gained a certain heft in the live setting. at the end, it felt a lot like broken social scene at lollapalooza: there was an electricity in the air and nobody was willing to accept that it was over.

well, i'm either going to read estates and trusts or go shoe shopping, but before i do, a question: have you forgotten to read the guardian lately? me too. here are two reasons why we should tie a string around our fingers:

1. whoa. like a 21st-century u.k. studs terkel. yay for cool namesakes. i am going to have to read this column every week.

2. well done. i agree with the writer's points of emphasis.

i'm going to go see catfish haven on saturday, you should come too.

my mistake.

so one of the attorneys asked me into his office to talk to me about something. as we were discussing the assignment, he pulled whatever he was eating out of his mouth WHILE talking and without excusing himself. i involuntarily winced, thinking he didn't see me. of course he totally did. by way of response, he stared at me and said, somewhat pointedly, "it's a lozenge." i guess that's supposed to make it less gross.

i'm confused.

my horoscope yesterday said that someone from my past would unexpectedly reappear. wow, they sure fucking nailed it.

three-day weekend

this weekend was all over the place, yet unified by two themes: 1. not doing schoolwork and 2. having a good time. friday hung out with christine and finally saw some episodes of "veronica mars." whoa. this is possibly the coolest show currently on television. it is dark. not "edgy," but legitimately dark. noir. lauren captured it best by characterizing it as twin-peaks-meets-buffy. for reals.

saturday did a whole lot of nothing--slept in, went running, ran errands--then headed out for loren's 30th/ben's brother's 21st. good times. it was a fun mix of people. a couple fellow law students, but mainly their peeps from indy and ben's brother's friends from loyola. i was particularly impressed by loren's sister, who is obviously extremely smart and ambitious but not remotely conceited about it, as well as her boyfriend, who just got back from iraq, poor kid. (jason, don't start.) had a really rewarding conversation with both of them about bullshit we have dealt with as women in litigation-related jobs: she had come up against some of the same stuff as i (and some of my classmates) have in recent months. but that's so definitely another post that i don't feel like writing just now. at the stroke of 12, the party left casa loren y ben to go to a cute bar on damen. ben was in rare form; it's cute when he's in "special occasion mode," but it tends to mean that he foists free alcohol on me that i may or may not need. pretty much everyone there was laidback, smart, and funny, and i could tell loren had a ball. it was nice.

sunday was the most schizophrenic. i was miraculously only hungover for a highly sleepoffable hour or two (underdogg, thank you once again), then read a bunch of magazines and talked to my mom. and did a small amount of homework. on a whim, thinking it would be a quiet night, i went to the siskel center and saw "old boy" (part of the "vengeance trilogy" by chan-wook park), which i'd been meaning to see for years. holy mother of god. it was amazing, funny even. and beautifully shot. but if i scoured the darkest, most perverse corners of my psyche, i don't think i could imagine anything that even remotely approaches some of the events that take place in this movie. by the end you realize that it's definitely a moral fable of sorts, albeit a visceral, hugely fucked-up one. i was seriously traumatized afterwards. on my way to grab a bite to eat, got a text from tar-bear, who, after a sojourn to ny, is now back in the 773 for the duration. she was going out with a couple people, and while i had planned on staying in, i knew that i needed to get outside of my head after seeing that movie. the "bar" i met her at turned out to be more like a half-assed club in gold coast, SO not my scene and so undeserving of a cover charge, but it was good to see tara again. the crowd was so annoying (let's just say that none of the guys had necks and all of them were bald), but i eventually managed to get into the spirit of things and get down a little bit. bailed pretty early though. i have my limits.

then today, bbq #1 was canceled due to rain, but bbq #2, at kastrup's, was still on. we enjoyed beer, ribs, sweet corn and homemade ice cream. can you think of a better labor day meal? it's not possible. and even better, scott offered free furniture for my now-barren apartment! and even better than that, it wasn't ghetto! this kid ran was there, from nu, that i hadn't seen in 4 years. it was interesting to catch up. (no, jess, he's not fat...i'm kind of disappointed.) tommorrow should be fairly low-key, i'm skipping my evening class to go hang out with with my dad, who's in schaumburg for business. i convinced him to drive me to target. yes! hopefully he will have a new crop of politically-incorrect jokes to share; he 's been on quite a roll lately.

personal to lp: i'm so glad that you called--hang in there.

trial ad is fun.

this evening i used the phrase "pee break" while addressing the honorable charles r. norgle of the northern district of illinois, in class, in his courtroom. don't worry, i actually had a reason, and it wasn't that i needed to avail myself of one. related: in his chambers, there is a big brass plaque with an hawk on it that says, "eagles don't hunt flies."