Check, check, check

Well, I am officially a member of the Equal Justice Foundation (EJF) Board for 2008-2009. I will be working with my fellow fundraising chair to plan the annual book sale and the Tortfeasor's Ball. I am really excited; both the IHRA board and the EJF board are full of great people, so it should be a great year. Busy, but great.

This weekend I am expecting a visit from my cousin Nick and his girlfriend. It will be great to see Nick and meet Kayt. I hope Philadelphia has enough alleys and trolleys to satisfy them.

I am doing my best to keep checking things off my "to do" list. Last night was my oral argument and I made it through unscathed. This morning I went to my travel consultation and got a polio booster and typhoid vaccine. Later today I will attend the "Africa Orientation" offered by the Penn Study Abroad and Africa Studies departments. Monday is the Law School study abroad meeting, my Botswana orientation meeting, and the Public Service recognition reception where we will be doing a short presentation on our Mexico trip. Tuesday is the last day of class for my 1L year! I have one in-school exam on the 28th and three self-scheduling take home exams to be completed by May 8th. Whew. I need a nap just thinking about it.

During my travel consultation I had to have an evaluation of my physical and mental health. The doctor asked how I was feeling and I told her I was happier than I have been in quite a while. She said "you're in your first year of law school and you're happy?!" I guess I made the right choice. I may be in the minority, but I love law school, 1L craziness and all.

Finally, the mandatory Gordon update. He is doing great. I think he is ready for me to stop all the reading and play with him. He sits on my books whenever I start an assignment.

golden ticket(s)

Well, I have my ticket to Botswana and a ticket home to visit and drop Gordon off in Montana! I am very excited! I also found out that I will be working for HIAS for three weeks at the end of the summer--I am looking forward to getting some hands-on experience with immigration law. Yesterday was quite eventful. I was called on in Constitutional law, and the professor said I was making some "weird functional argument." Then I posted my apartment on craigslist to see if I could sublet it over the summer and I have gotten some good responses. Then I got some laundry done, which was a very good thing.

At 7 I went to the Equal Justice Foundation dessert potluck and learned about the different board positions available. I am planning on running for social chair. Then at 8 I went to meet some of the other students headed to Botswana. I think it will be a great group. Tonight is the final meeting for the Uganda project. I really enjoyed working on the syllabus for a Children's Rights course; I hope what I came up with will be useful. We are also having a meeting about On-Campus Recruiting (OCR) for the fall today. OCR is terribly exciting and dreadfully scary all at the same time. I have to decide where I want to live, what firms I want to interview with, and the job I end up with for next summer has a high probability of being where I end up after graduating.

This Saturday is the last Penn Preview Day, our last formal admitted student program. I have really enjoyed being on the Post Acceptance Committee this year. Oral arguments are coming up a week from today. This will be in the real courthouse in front of real practitioners. It will also be the last Legal Writing assignment. My 1L year will be over in less than a month! I think that is AMAZING! I didn't believe all the people who told me it would.

I aim to please!

I know my dad was being facetious when he said "more broccoli pictures, please," but I couldn't just ignore a request like that. He should know better!

Life has been pretty busy over the last week and a half! Admitted Students Weekend was last weekend, and it was a great success. I met lots of great admitted students and the ladies who stayed with me were AWESOME. It was nice to see all the hard work pay off. We had lots of events, panels, food, a trolley tour, and great fun. One last admitted student event is coming up on the 12th. I am really glad I was able to be a part of the Post Acceptance Committee, it was a great experience.

Last week was quite busy. In addition to meetings, information sessions, and make up classes the two main projects were the rewrite of my appellate brief in collaboration with another student and finishing up the Gulu University pro bono project. I turned in my syllabus and all the reading materials I collected on Friday. It is really nice if a bit scary to think that someone might be using this syllabus. I hope all the reading materials are ok and that I haven't assigned too much work. I figured it was better to send too much and let the professor cut anything he or she didn't want to teach.

Friday was the most NUTS day of all. The brief was due at 10:30, then we had to Contracts class. Right after Contracts I got to go to a panel on international careers at law firms. It is a bit intimidating to start firm research when there are SO many firms and I have SO little base knowledge about them. Then I transfered my Gulu files to Alison's computer and went to a Post Acceptance Committee meeting where we debriefed on ASW and planned our tasks for the preview day. Most exciting was participating in the school's mock interview program. I got to meet with recruiters from two great firms and practice my interviewing skills. We also got a chance to load up on swag from law firms (everything from a canvas shopping bag, to a wireless mouse, to jelly beans) and gather information for formulating our plan for on-campus interviews in the fall.

After I got home I went to Ethiopian food with a new friend; I love taking people who have never had Ethiopian food to Almaz Cafe. I called my parents only to find out that things are not going so well for my dog, Holly, at home in Montana. They think she may have had a stroke; she wouldn't eat her favorite treats and was lying flat out on the floor. I hate not being there even if there is nothing I can do. (Mom called this morning to tell me that she does seem to be doing better today.)

As I was getting ready for bed I started hearing beeping. At first I thought it was the TV, but then I started hearing doors slam in the hallway. I opened the door and the hallway was filled with smoke and there was a fire extinguisher on the floor. I grabbed Gordon, put his harness on, and headed down to the street. Gordon was agitated, so I put him down and he crawled under the security gate in front of the pet store next door. When the firemen gave us the OK to go back in I had to drag him out from under there and he was not very happy with me. The doorman explained that the guy in the apartment adjacent to mine had put a pot on the stove and passed out on his couch. When the doorman got there the pot was smoking like crazy so he put it in the sink and tried to get everyone out. It seems my neighbor was pretty out of it. When I came back upstairs the police were talking to him and he was insisting that he had not been cooking anything. All in all it was a crazy ending to a crazy day.

Saturday was time for some much-needed rest. I have not accomplished much today. Dad did help me with my taxes, so I can cross that off the list. I also got some excellent cuddle time in with Gordon--I've gotta take that when I can get it :) Tomorrow I will attempt to get some reading done...