Friday, December 22, 2006

A Benihana Christmas

As any of you who have had a conversation with me in the last month will know, I have recently become obsessed with NBC's "The Office," the hilarious un-sitcommy sitcom with wacky hi jinx, a lot of heart, and a sometimes tragic depiction of the human condition. I don't just watch it because John Krasinski is smoking hot, but let me state for the record, John Krasinski and his character, Jim Halpert, always leave me satisfied and smiling.

I started watching the DVDs over Thanksgiving, and have since finished two seasons, and am currently jumping into the third season mid-stream. After I watched an episode called "The Client," wherein boss Michael Scott holds an important business meeting at Chili's and continually interrupts things by ordering appetizers and several "specialty drinks," I emailed my brother and suggested that when I come home for Christmas we should go to Chili's (as we often do) so and order "an Awesome Blossom, EXTRA awesome," just like Michael did on the show. Then I tuned into this season's Christmas episode, and the chain restaurant featured there was Benihana, where a few of Michael's co-workers take him to help heal his freshly broken heart.

Tonight my parents went to a Christmas party, and my brother and I had planned to hang out--go to a Yoga class and then have dinner. As I was intent on an Office-related food option, we decided on Benihana, as neither of us had ever been there and both of us would probably chicken out from ordering something "EXTRA awesome." Also, Paul informed me at dinner, he will be gainfully employed at the Kerrville Chili's next semester, so he'll probably have his fill of Awesome Blossoms soon enough.

Anyway, our Benihana Christmas turned out to be lots of fun (and lots of food!) (Note: Nog-a-sakes were conspicuously absent from the menu.) Paul was surprised how much he liked sushi with freshwater eel and I was surprised how many puns one grill-master could make. (The word eggroll will forever evoke a different image for me now.) We enjoyed our experience so much, we filled out the comment card with the words "Awesome, extra awesome."


Michael and his "bros"


Me and my bro
Merry Benihana Christmas, everyone!

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Finals are Here! Part II

A slightly more thoughtful analysis of the differences between working long hours as a student and working long hours as a lawyer...

When you're a student studying for finals and you suddenly decide that you'd rather sleep/go out/get a mani-pedi/drive to Pinole to get Krispy-Kremes/go see a movie at the Parkway than outline your Fed Court notes, you can if you want. If slacking on your studies has any repercussions when it comes to the exam, the only person it will affect is you. Maybe you'll get a low grade, maybe you won't make law review or get a clerkship, or maybe you'll flunk out altogether--you are the only the only person those things really matter to. But, when you're working on a brief and representing a client, you can't slack off as a matter of professional responsibility.

That said, you still have to make the time to relax and recharge. I've been pretty busy these days, and intended to work a good portion of last weekend, but I just couldn't. By refusing to concentrate on anything work-related, my brain was insisting that it needed a break (or so I justified).

When I was a student, I was pretty conscientious about being good and doing my work, though I did always make an effort not to get too bogged down in the law school minutia. When given an opportunity to blow off studying to do something fun, I often told myself that I'd be more likely to remember that in ten years than, you know, that day I was really prepared for class. That philosophy probably didn't have much of an impact on how I did in law school, because it's not like I was constantly being bombarded with wild social invitations and because of my aforementioned tendency to be conscientious about doing my work.

I guess the reason not to slack off when you theoretically can, is to train yourself for the times that you can't. Like Justice Breyer said in a talk he gave at Georgetown last year, "If you're good student and do your homework, the reward is that you get to do homework for the rest of your life." :)

Monday, December 04, 2006

Finals are Here!

Even though I generally feel pretty removed from the goings-on at good ol' GULC outside my clinic, I can definitely tell that the palpable anxiety of finals has settled upon the law school. My first clue was my difficulty in finding parking on Saturday, and today when I went down to the cafeteria for an evening snack, I noticed that the content in the vending machines has been decimated (well, more like 70-percent-imated) and the hot chocolate machine is woefully low on syrup.

I guess I'm glad not to be studying for finals and frantically finishing up papers, but it's not like I have a shortage of work to do these days. And, at least when you're a student, you have all of winter break to relax and recover. If only being a lawyer came with a month-long break every December...