Challenges

No, this is not a post about my life sucking, which to be fair, it really doesn't lately. I have been struggling with things that stem completely from my view of the world and some issues I've had in the past, but rationally speaking, my life is fine right now.

That being said, this summer is shaping up to be one of the busiest I've had in a while because of my new job, not counting that summer where I did three internships in three different cities, two of them simultaneously. So, in order to suck the marrow from the bones of the meager time I have to myself, I'm planning on some challenges that will motivate me. First, a caveat. (I really shouldn't say first because I haven't been keeping on topic very well, so it really should be third or fourth or something. But I digress... Again.) I have a nasty tendency to be really "into" things for brief periods of time, whether it be a particular person who I just have to hang out with because I think they're the bee's knees; a type of food that I just adore (my sushi kick comes to mind); or tv shows that I watch in a week (in order of descending recentness: Boys Over Flowers; Bones; Arrested Development; Raising Hope; My Name is Earl; countless anime, etc...). It's a ridiculous habit and usually ends with me not being interested in that person; food; or thing for a really long time after the initial infatuation. Wreaks definite havoc on my relationships. (Speaking of, I recently became a regular at a little cafe where I work and the people started to know my name and orders before I put them in and do some kind of version of the whole Greek Opa thing when I came in. Then, I got really freaked out and decided they were probably spitting in my food because I rarely tip them because I don't usually have cash and they don't give me the receipts to sign. Which I really think is their own fault. They would get more tips if they made people sign. I'm not opposed to tipping... I just don't carry cash. So I think it would be unfair to spit in my food, but I ordered a loaded baked potato and one end of it was foamy, which could have been melted butter, but because I'm not sure that it was melted butter and not spit, I've decided not to go there unless they have a really delicious lunch special and if they do, I'll just call it in instead of email and then definitely tip. I also just realized that I no longer have any cash, which is probably from my inability to do math and also giving S my cash to buy shaved ice... Which brings me back to the topic at hand.) (Just looking at that giant wall of text makes me feel bad for S. He says he likes to hear me talk and I really hope he does because it is HARD to get me to stop talking when I get started.)

*** Update. I just found another place near my work that has Greek food and daily specials. Woot! Except I'll have to work longer because I typically don't get a lunch hour. But still... Lemon chicken over rice plus a Greek salad sounds delicious


Okay. Starting over again. Challenges for the summer... Because I like to get things done and blog about how cool (or sucky) I am.

1. Taste every single flavor at the snow cone shack near our house. Not the fancy one. The cheap one. And rate them. Estimated cost: at $1.50 per cone, probably around $90
2. Watch  all of Angel
3. Run a mile without getting out of breath
4. Fit into a size 4.
5. Eat a whole bountiful basket in a week

So, that's the plan for this summer so far... I'll bet I add more on eventually.

In which the kittens take over

I think I started writing a post about summer plans recently. I could look back at my posts and figure out if I actually did post it, but right now I'm lazy. S is taking a shower and I'm debating going into work today. I had initially planned on going in on Thursday and Friday, but I have no real plans for today, other than playing Skyrim, which isn't necessarily a great thing. Life is pretty good right now though.

I started fostering cats and kittens, with S's dubious approval and it's been a crazy experience. Those tiny kittens are fairly monstrous at times, but also just so cute! I can't help but post pictures. S's pictures because mine are usually horrible.

That is Henry. Who is still with us because he's apparently anorexic. Not a demon cat. He's all hair and bones. He gained some weight, then got into a plant and started vominting off the weight. Sure, the humane society says that he's just the runt and will get better now that his siblings are gone, but he can't fool me. He clearly has an eating disorder and needs kitty therapy.

There. The saga of the kittens and their mom, Astrid. I loved having them around, but it's been a real relief to know that they're finally gone and at good homes. 4 of the kittens were returned to the Humane Society, and all 4 of them were adopted in 4 days. Now, we just have to work on getting Astrid and Henry out of here and adopted by good pet parents. How could anyone resist those cute gray faces, though?

Just for good measure, though....

Henry... In all his non-demonic glory.

In Which I Post Because I'm Not a Great Person

I don't have anything of any real incidence to say tonight, but S posted, so I feel like I should as well. I did say that I wasn't a great person. It's fairly hard to motivate me, other than by presenting me with a competition or telling me that I'll be able to sleep more. I'm not sure S knows that this is a competition, but as of now, it totally is.
I'm kidding. It's not a competition. That would be ridiculous. Competing with a blog writer who has no idea I'm doing it would be just silly. Ha... *nervous laughter*

I work in a  mental health institution (among other things, including starting a law firm... I need to actually talk to my first potential client... Hum) and lately, that's been causing me a lot of anxiety. Not because it's hard, or even because 3 people went to the hospital during my shift last week... I don't think talking to me would cause normal people to lose their minds, so it really can only be their own fault. *more nervous laughter*.

No. The real problem is that I'm afraid I'm losing my mind here because I keep measuring myself on the same bar as they measure the SPMI population (I believe those letters stand for seriously persistently mentally ill population). For instance, my daily monologue has gone from "Did I challenge myself today? How am I moving towards my goals?" to "Did I get out of bed today? Did I crap myself? Yes and No. Great. Good to go." That makes things that I always wanted to do, but didn't because they would seem crazy suddenly seem more accepptable. For example, laughing loudly at my own internal monolgue used to be a no-no, but now, if I have my clothes on, I think that's probably okay. Among other things I now find acceptable: hiding in the bathroom when I don't want to deal
with clients, random outbursts of words I find nice-sounding, calling my husband "corporal kitten-face", and the list goes on and on.

I'm afraid for myself. Very afraid.

Midnight Again

I recently had my wisdom teeth out, so I'm learning a new appreciation for food that isn't mashed. I'm also trying to figure out what to buy people for Christmas with very little success. Usually, I'm able to find some quirky gift that people will appreciate, but this year, I'm all out. Perhaps it has something to do with the lack of fun in my life this year. Ever since S and I both started working full-time on opposite schedules, doing anything other than sleeping has seemed difficult. I did find two gifts on Etsy today, though, so there's that. And 3 or 4 on amazon, so I'm pretty pleased about that. The Christmas season is definitely stressful.

But I digress. This is about food. Though, tangentially, gifts brought the food into existence. Recently, (or not that recently), I gave my parents airline ticket vouchers for their 40th wedding anniversary, in the hopes that they would use them to go somewhere fun. They have not. And have been trying to give them back to me because they expire in late February to early March. I am unwilling to accept that because that would in essence mean that I gave them absolutely nothing for their 40th wedding anniversary, which I'm not prepared to embrace. So, the plan is to now get a groupon to hotels in California (near the Redwoods, where they want to stay) and actually just organize a vacation for them. Unfortunately, that requires money.

Again... Veering towards food, I swear. I went to livingsocial.com to look for deals and saw an awesome deal on a Thailand vacation and was instantaneously struck with a desire for Thai food that I can make quickly, using the ingredients I have at work. So, the journey begins.

With any luck, updates later.

Realization of the day: I don't hate law.

So, I spent the majority of my time at law school kicking myself for being there and wishing I could have made another choice, but after graduating, I've made one realization: I don't actually hate the legal system, just law school. That isn't to say that I don't sometimes think about doing something else. So far, I've considered high school teacher, guidance counselor, therapist, stay-at-home mom, etc... But really, the only job I've done for over a year that doesn't make me want to stab myself is legal work.
True, I haven't exactly done lawyering, per se, since I've only passed the Idaho bar and I live in Utah now, but I do associate/clerk work and have since 2008 and I love it. Some of it. Sometimes, I get annoyed when I have to work on a case for a client I think is stupid, but for the msot part, I like the challenge of it. I also like finding loopholes.

Also, I like legal writing a lot better now that my professor isn't there to watch me like a hawk and tell me how bad my writing is. Since I've started writing for actual firms, the majority of the time, my briefs are sufficiently convincing to the court. Of course, that may have something to do with the oral arguments presented by the actual attorneys, but after working for a judge, I'm fairly sure that the writing and argumetns play a large part. Maybe I'm just excited because the judge granted summary judgment in an estate case I worked on, or maybe I'm giving myself courage before the bar. Also... I'm not certain I want to do patent work. Trademark and copyrights are my passion, honestly. Patents are fine and writing them is like a puzzle, but sometimes I wonder if the PTO should just reject almost everything as obvious. I mean, some things really aren't that innovative, no matter how you present them.

So, I think that, having realized that I do know what I want to do with my life, I can go forward with renewed vigor. I still want to chill a bit before I start working full-time, since I'd like to have some time off to think and make sure this is what I want for my life. And maybe I still would like to a therapist, but I definitely would be fine with being a lawyer. I've also started thinking about starting my own little practice or  something. I'd like to make a lot of money, but BigLaw doesn't appeal to me much anymore, unless it's in a D.C. firm. And even then, it would depend on the firm culture. But last time I interned, I felt like BigLaw was an extension of law school and law school was a nightmare for me. I want to feel like I'm helping people, using my people skills (be they non-existent or not) and advancing the profession, not just pushing papers as a cog in a giant organization or competing with all the other associates who all seem way smarter than me. So, dilemma. On one hand, I want a job where I can meet people my own age and make a ton of money, but I also want a lot of independence and the freedom to move in a direction I enjoy. Oh well, I suppose I'll start looking for a job on August 15th. That's the plan so far.

I bought a computer

Well, we bought a computer. A new laptop that hopefully, I can borrow to take the bar. It's more S's computer than mine, so bleh, but hopefully, I'll be able to buy myself a new battery for mine and be all excited about that.

This week's been pretty fun in terms of food, cooking, exercising, and all that stuff. Monday, I made these margarita cupcakes and brushed them with the whipped vodka because all the people drank all the tequila. The truth is that I love to use alcohol for flavoring my food (Vodka Cookbook), but not so much a fan of the straight up drinking it. I achieved one of my goals and that's that. Moving on now. I also don't think S was a big fan either since he was pretty bitter during and after. We did get to throw a party, so that was nice.

Tuesday was fajita day at our house. Smith's has some great pre-seasoned and cut fajita meats and peppers that work well  in a pinch. Also, we have so many tortillas left over, which is actually kind of great. Tuesday, for lunch, I had a weird tortilla thing recommended to me by The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life, which involved cream cheese, raisins, and walnuts. I'm not sure it was good per se, but I think it was and if it makes me lose weight while retaining nutrients, then hey, I'm all for it.

Wednesday was my "I've been craving orange chicken for forever and I'll die if I don't have it day", so I made  a knock-off of Panda Express' Orange Chicken for two using a modified recipe from here. It tastes very little like orange chicken from Panda but is so delicious I'll try it again. It's also a little crispier than Panda's so there's that. In other news, I discovered that Panda Express actually posts their recipe here, so if you want to buy their orange sauce, it's pretty easy to make and takes less time than mine. But, this chicken was definitely good.

I'll have to post the recipe later, since I need to get ready for work. And get rid of the buzzing in my ears.

Dieting

Lately, perhaps as a way to rebel against having to study for the bar, I've started to think about losing weight and dieting. I've been using spark people (The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life). The website is free and very supportive so that will be interesting. The only problem is that I've discovered a real desire for external validation. That means that when I feel like I've gone over my caloric intake, I also feel like lying to the computer about what I eat. Oh well.

On the brighter side: Margarita party tonight.

I recently convinced a few friends of mine to throw a party at my house. I feel like that was the best solution for having  a party, since I have no desire to throw one or invite people over. But if someone else is organizing it, I can just kick back and enjoy it. This also fits into one of my goals of having my drinking friends happily coexist with my non-drinking friends. Hopefully, this margarita/fajita party will have alcoholic and non-alcoholic options. To achieve that, I'm planning on making margarita cupcakes for this party.

Here are my options for this recipe, though. (I've started messing with recipes to make them my own, but it's doubtful I'll have the time today with bar review.)

I heart the brown eyed baker's site, so I'm thinking of trying her recipe, but I have a ton of other options. Also, I just discovered something that make change my life forever: a search for the food blogs. The thing with her recipe is that is seems to be a fairly heavy vanilla cupcake with lime and tequila. Which would be nice if I like vanilla cupcakes. Also, apparently red velvet is the most popular flavor according to The Staten Island Baker, which seems wrong.

I also really want to include a margarita mix in these cupcakes, but I keep running into the problem of never having tasted a margarita, so I'm unclear on how it should taste. Hum. This margarita party will probably degenerate into a video game playing party, so there's also that.  I recently bought Alice: Madness Returns, which is an awesome game that I wish I had more time to play and Guitar Hero World Tour. Hubby also snapped a drumstick on that one almost immediately, but we can still play. And finally, we got the DanceDanceRevolution Bundle, which we've never played. I'm hoping today will be the day. If not, oh well.

Now, for today's big dilemma. I told my boss I'd be coming in Tuesday - Thursday to study for the bar on Monday, but I have an answer to a divorce counterpetition to do and a reply that's due pretty soon. Do I want to study all day, or pop in to work today and likely get sucked in. Hum... Decisions decisions...