PEE MY PANTS!!!

THIS IS HOW I FEEL!!!! times a thousand!!!! click the picture to see the whole thing, i can't seem to get it to format so the whole thing fits (or maybe it's bc i'm on my tiny 5" laptop monitor).



ok first. AAAGHHH they changed the model and picture for my hat and how she's scary and significantly ugly!!!

ok but the real thing. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG i'm sooooooooooooooo excited i could pee my pants!!!!

but i can't say anything yet bc i don't want to jinx it.

buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut every step gets me more and more excited. i can't wait. I CAN NOT WAIT.

gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh why do i have a stupid moot court assignment due? that i haven't started???

ok, need to focus. hopefully will have super exciting update soon. =)

i love my life. don't ever let me forget it.

Daddy's take on Obama's stimulus plan.

me : I'M NEVER GOING TO GET A JOBBBBBBBBBBB!!!!!!!!!
mommy: don't stress yourself out. what? if you don't get a summer job, you can always live here and we'll feed you
me: it's not about the money!!!! i need to have some amazing experience this summer!!!!
daddy: hey. if you don't have a job obama will give you one.
me: .............................
daddy: call his blackberry.

sad hat.

i am so sad right now i can't even talk about it.

but i think since i am so sad, maybe i am allowed to buy this hat.



it's $59. which means i'll buy it in NJ to avoid the 8.5% or whatever it is NY sales tax.

=( will report on reasons i'm sad later ... after the wound has scabbed over a little.

O!

normally, i'm pretty apolitical - if i don't know a lot about something, i generally don't like to have an open opinion or discuss it b/c that seems kindof stupid. so unless i've read or researched a lot about a specific topic, i try not to verbalize a preference (or i try to stick in a disclaimer). many people pick sides based on limited knowledge and i'm not a fan of getting all passionate or heated over something i don't really know much about.

nonetheless, i heart this poster/image from this site. i THINK it means community organizer, but i just HEART HEART HEART ORGANIZING!!!! (remember, OCD anal). so yea, this one makes me smile.



in other news, my conlaw prof was saying the faculty took bets whilst watching the inauguration on how long before someone brought suit claiming that obama wasn't really the president yet since the oath was messed up. (dunno if she was joking). but apparently it's a good thing obama was a law prof and stuffed his OLC with other legal elite b/c apparently he was thinking the same thing and got the oath done good and right on the second go-round.

Things I want to do

See the Holiday Trains at NY Botanical Gardens (before 1/11)

Go to a Knicks game (did you know they have Duhon now?!?!?)

See EQUUS (Harry Potter naked!!!)

See Speed the Plow (Jeremy Piven (aka Ari Gold, Super-Agent) on Broadway!)

Probably a few other things I can't think of right now

EDIT!!!!
Speed the Plow is no longer starring Jeremy Piven b/c of MERCURY POISONING?!?!?!?!

boooo. so perhaps cross that off my list =(

My new hobby

Contrary to popular opinion, I'm actually quite the DIY-er (do-it-yourself-er).

Finding myself w/somewhere near 150+ old business cards, and not wanting to use them as wallpaper, I turned to the internet

Lo and behold, of course there are so many little uses for business cards. But I don't really have a need for 150 bookmarks. And I can't use them as return addresses on mail anymore b/c my school in Korea is not my return address.

I really liked the idea of using them as perfect little to-do lists.

Alas, my business cards are double-sided (one side in English and the other in Korean). So I couldn't use them as to-do lists or little note papers next to my phone.

Then, I found this website.

And that's how THIS


turns into THIS


Since I found all this while procrastinating during finals, I've only been making a few cubes at a time. But soon I will have a WHOLE LOT MORE and I will be able to make COOL shapes then. PUHAHAHA.

Yea. That's probably a sign I should get back to Torts now.

Last exam Wednesday morning and then OFF TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC ON THURSDAY!!!!

At least I have a back-up life skill if this whole law school thing doesn't work out. =T

Contracts and Happily ever after

The intersection of Contract Law and children's fiction.

As I come to the end of the semester, I'd like to share a few of the thoughts that've crossed my mind during Contracts classes. Contracts is one of the required classes for our Foundation Curriculum. Taken in first-semester by most 1Ls throughout the US.

And it's a wonderful class. Not only did I learn how Contracts protect my freedom and liberty even more effectively than the "War on Terror," I also made poignant connections from Contracts class to the familiar fairy tales and cartoons of my childhood days.

There is SO MUCH that my favorite characters could have learned from Contracts. It's not a knight in shining armor or a Prince Charming that they needed. What fairy tales need to solve most (if not ALL) of their woes, is a skilled and adept contracts lawyer. Hopefully one who is very good at drafting.

I didn't do it on purpose, but somehow learning contracts doctrines reminded me of all the problems that my favorite fairy tale and other fictional characters had. Going through my notes to create my end-of-semester OUTLINE to study from, I came across the little notes I had written in the margin, trying desperately, perhaps futilely to figure out HOW my fairy tale friends could've been saved from their miserable fates by the prudence and foresight that modern contract doctrine provides.

Example 1.
Rumpelstiltskin. This is the one where the idiot farmer tells the prince that his daughter can spin GOLD out of STRAW or something like that so she gets locked in a room full of straw with a spinning wheel. And of course she caN'T. So she's all crying and then Rumpelstiltskin shows up and tells her that he'll spin the straw into gold for her in exchange for her firstborn child. Anyway the day comes when she has a child and Rumpelstiltskin comes to collect and the girl goes all berserk and so R cuts her a new deal where if she can guess his name, she can keep her child and the original deal is off. Luckily she stalks him to find him singing his name to himself and then is able to keep her child. Happily ever for her (even w/o contract) and poor old R who actually did all the hard work gets stuck alone in the woods.
ISSUES spotted 1. unconscionability (the kind on steroids), duress, constructive fraud, no consideration for modification on contract


Example 2.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The thing here is Willy Wonka's unilateral offer involving the Golden Tickets and an exclusive tour of his uber-secret factory. However, that spoiled brat Veruca Salt has her ridiculously rich dad just buy up a TON of chocolate and he has his factory workers just ripping them open until someone finds the Golden Ticket.
ISSUES spotted 2. who is the offeree who actually "accepted" the offer of the Golden Ticket? the factory worker. can you contract to have someone else perform (accept) on your behalf and then you get the offeror's performance? does not seem justicey at all...

Example 3.
The Little Mermaid. Ok, so in The Little Mermaid Ariel falls in love with Prince Eric (look forward to my love at first sight entry based on Gossip Girl) and following her father's total spaz-out because Eric's a human she goes to visit Ursula, the sea witch. The witch has an ulterior motive of blackmailing Ariel's father, King Triton, but first she has to make Ariel her captive. So Ursula names the price of her giving Ariel legs: Ariel's uniquely beautiful voice. If Ariel is unable to get Eric to kiss her, she becomes a little sea cretin - Ursula's prisoner.
ISSUES spotted 3. ok there are SO many things wrong here. again: unconscionability, constructive fraud (elements present: duress, unequal bargaining power, conflict of interests), liquidated damages that look totally like a penalty, nearly illusory promise (Ursula attempts to have complete control over the next few days' events), and DEFINITELY some tort claims thrown in there.

Example 4.
Rugrats. As children, my sister and I were avid fans of Rugats. So much so that my dad (who is like, totally pop culture illiterate) knew the characters on the show by description (i.e. "oh that potato head baby). There's this episode where Angelica saves Chuckie's life and so tells him that the "rule" is that he is now her slave for life. In a plot twist, he saves her life at the end of the episode and now she must be HIS slave for life.
ISSUES spotted 4. so anyway, given a few tweaks this would be an ideal "moral" consideration/past consideration case. however, Angelica's demand that Chuckie be her slave for life in "exchange" for her having saved his life is completely unenforceable. Even if he had been the one to make the offer, it would be treated as a gratuitous promise. Although, given Angelica's character, it's very likely that she didn't act "purely" gratuitously and expected something out of her act. In that case this could be an example of when the court recognizes "moral" consideration or restitution. Especially since he (was coerced into) actually performed - it could be read as his intent to enforce the "past promise" (Webb v. McGowin).

Example 5.
Pirates of the Caribbean. So the contract here was that Davy Jones would raise the Pearl and allow Jack Sparrow to captain her for 13 years in consideration for Sparrow's eternal service on Davy Jones' damned crew. Obviously, Sparrow tries to get out of it and in the end he does, but only after several years and a trip to Davy Jones' locker and the world's end and multiple battles costing lots of lives.
ISSUES spotted 5. Perhaps if he had brought suit for rescission of an admiralty contract he would've had better luck and avoided a lot of death and high-risk adventure. I would've suggested going with frustration of purpose or unconscionability (v.2.0) and maybe statute of frauds. Frustration of purpose b/c Barbossa stages a mutiny and Sparrow doesn't get to be captain for the specified period. In addition, there are only hints of how the agreement was reached but I imagine that Davy Jones was taking the Pearl as he does other ships that run aground (POTC 2) and Sparrow somehow bargained his way so's to postpone joining Jones' crew (serving for eternity rather than the typical 100 years). So maybe this would be considered a modification w/o separate consideration even. And anyway neither's performance could be completed within a year so statute of frauds is sure to block enforcement (no writing).

Ok. Tired from actual contract exam today. (haha rather than forgetting the course i'm all like YAYY more contracts examples!) - CivPro time starts tomorrow w/exam on Friday. (then 2/3 done!)

An oily question

How do they make olive oil? Or any of those oils for that matter? Coconut oil? Sesame oil? Grapeseed oil?

I have a vague instinct(?) that is has to do with compressing/squeezing the "thing" but I can't possibly IMAGINE how hard you'd have to squeeze an olive to get all the "oil" out of it. I mean, I guess there's all this stuff called technology and stuff today so they have some big silver cylinder machines somewhere doing this, but I really can NOT NOT NOT imagine how they made olive oil and sesame oil waaaaaaaay back when, when it was first invented.

How those Italians (Greeks?) and Asians even thought to squeeze an olive or sesame (seed?) until you got oil from it is beyond me.

What do I want

my girlfriends, a half dozen bottles of wine, and a few of the guys sprinkled in later

what does that mean? let me translate

One of my favorite memories at duke goes like this.

I think a few of us girls had had a ROUGH week and feeling pretty beat up and tired had gone out to splurge a bit on dinner. I had gone on a Target run earlier in the day and whilst dropping off friends on Central Campus, I decided to just grab the bottle of Riesling I had in the trunk and head up to my friend's apartment.

We all decided this was the smartest thing I'd done all week and proceeded to open up the bottle of aptly named, "Relax."



This somehow led to another bottle or two of the house wine to be opened and consumed. And I think at 2 1/2 bottles down we realized there would be no more if we finished the remaining half! WELL, first we had to check the time bc NC is kindof a dry state and they stop selling the hard stuff and the non-beer stuff at like 9 or 11 or something like that. Once we found out we had like 15 minutes to make a wine raid, we had to figure out who was soberest ... no longer remember but think it was unlikely to have been me, to drive to the nearest BP for some more wine (classy, you bet!).

So we herd into my car (ok, POSITIVE i wasn't the driver) and head over to BP to get at least another bottle or two before heading back to the apartment. By this point we were ridiculously silly. Seriously, I can't remember anything other than thinking EVERYTHING was SO FREAKING HILARIOUS!!! But anyway, at some point our guy friends started texting and calling us to see what we were up to. We convinced them to join us and they turn up TOTALLY SOBER (which was a surprise!) and I think they may have sat around laughing at us for a bit before they realized how sober they were and went somewhere to remedy that. Maybe. I actually have no idea. I remember NOT blacking out, but that's about it.

Haha. I just remember how warm it was in the apartment, how nice it was to hear all our laughter, how we couldn't stop laughing, how we kept counting the empty bottles and laughing even more, how I was blamed for drinking the least (probably only the one bottle on my own), and how no one really cared.

It wasn't crazy, or wild, or scandalous, or even that interesting - seeing how I can't remember a single specifically funny thing about the night. But it's just a wonderful secure happy memory. One that'll keep me warm for the ages.

=) nostalgic, I suppose. But with the phone calls I've been having lately, can you blame me?

I don't even care to apologize for the non-literariness or anything of this post. This one is for me.

hit by T v. hit by car

(to the left of that peninsula of sidewalk is comm ave w/cars whizzing by)

I keep having little "aha!" moments when it hits me, a little at a time, that I might be a REAL first year law student.

believe it or not, i've been applying myself, somewhat diligently to my studies and listening to my professors and i'm starting to think (maybe) a little like a law student (and hopefully also a little like a lawyer)

the first time it "hit me" hit me:

10/12/08 In Boston: While walking down Comm Ave and waiting for the T, my mom is saying how dangerous it is to have that mini-sidewalk in the middle of the street with the T tracks on one side and the street w/cars zooming by on the other. And this convo ensues:

1L: If you have a choice it might be better to fall into the tracks instead of the street
Mom: Why? Because the T is slower?
1L: No, because the government probably has more money than the random driver on the street has in insurance
Mom: Oh, wow. You sound like a lawyer
1L: Actually, I'm not sure - the government might not have waived their sovereign immunity to that
Mom: What?!

(coincidentally, this picture was supplied by the BU law school - i hope they don't sue me for copyright infringement or other unlawful use)

another reason to hate cases!!!

i had this DEEEEE-lightful little seque that was both oh-so-funny and clever in connecting my last possibly very vulnerable-seeming post and this new upcoming one about law school and the onset of exams.

and OF COURSE i lost it in between the "aha!" moment of it dawning upon me and the urge to read JUST one more case before calling it a night and allowing myself the time to blog.

drat phooey. blurgh.

what remedies can i ask for against the stupid gods of law school? what can they possibly give me that'll make up for ALL the little joys in life that this [insert adjective here] year that is 1L has stolen from me. (converted from me? conversion of chattel = conversion of time and joy??)

oh, a little nerdy tidbit from my head:
today i decided i really really want someone to touch something, anything, an item i own JUST so i can say,

"hey stop that! that's trespass to my chattels!!!"

for those of you who are not well-versed in trespass to chattels. (i'm not either-i don't think we've fully covered that yet in torts)

so yea, i might be using that idea/phrase/tort totally wrongly. don't ever EVER rely on anything i say here as anything remotely qualifying as legal advice. hahaha. i don't want to be sued for legal malpractice before i'm even a lawyer!

memo 2 due thursday. like "tomorrow."

that technically i've kinda sorta started. but not really.
that i was kindof freaking out about. apparently, unnecessarily.

to put things in perspective. this one memo hath not the ability to make or break me. (haha watch me turn out to be wrong).

a. legal writing isn't graded. it's pass/fail and may or may not be subsumed w/in our legal methods grade.
b. it's not graded.
c. as long as i hand something passable in, i'm good.
(let's hope i don't take this lax attitude with me into december and onward to the bar)
(which is not to say i'm not giving it the best i've got given my current circumstances of ummm having less than 2 weeks left of the semester AND first day of sending out 1L summer intenrship apps coming up all w/in like 10 days!!!)

lawfully yours, c.pink
(how's that one?)

and one response i got via email to my latest published post:

"it's entries like these and statements comparing men to entrees that i wonder if you're actually a dude inside"

i miss dating. (the real deal)

(p.s. you'd be surprised how many image hits you get for googling "broken heart" lol well at least i'm not alone! =)

as promised. the original intent of friday's post.

i miss dating. or at least i think i do. maybe i just miss the requisite feelings that are a part of the initial dating ritual.

it's not even dating per se. i might just miss having a crush on someone. i might miss being obsessed with someone, so that i have to push them out of my head just so i can read a few pages before i realize i'm goofily grinning to myself again thinking of him (or her- i support proposition 8).

i miss being so excited just by the THOUGHT of someone. i miss that brief period of time when one name, a few letters, can bring me to smile like a fat kid in a candy store (parody of i love you like a fat kid loves cake) . i miss that unknown unspoken yet electrifyingly exciting fear of "does he like me? does he like me back? does he like me like me like i like him?" (borrowed a little from avenue q right there). there's definitely an adrenaline rush that goes along with the not knowing. it's that feeling you get before jumping off a cliff, diving into the deep end, starting off on a new adventure. you're not really sure where you'll go or where you'll end up or how you'll even get there. but it's thrilling just to know you're starting.

i miss the anticipation. the when will i randomly see him next? that comes before the stage when you KNOW you'll be seeing him again. before you get to the point of making time for each other. i miss the getting to know you. the selective sharing of stories. how you get a chance to show him who you wish you were before you realize that he already knows better and likes you for who you are and not who you want him to think you are.

i miss the first shared experiences. the first bus ride together. the first time he holds your hand and inside you feel like running through the streets yelling YIPPEEEE and random strangers give you high-fives like in an ugly betty daydream but you totally play it cool and his heart is also totally beating loud enough for you to hear but both of you act casual like this isn't a big deal, like this isn't the first time you're really saying, really admitting, ok i'm going to open myself up to this person, i'm going to care, i'm going to trust you - let you in and hope i'm not letting a bull loose in a china shop (which, odds are, is how it's gonna end - what? that doesn't happen to anyone else? just me? um... what yea i meant, me neither)

moving on. haha. incidentally that happens to be my next point. oh i love it when i'm punny. i guess my point is i'm realizing that i miss having a significant other. for a period from say 1996 to 2004 i continually had a "boyfriend." there were little lapses of a few months of being single at the longest. and not to say all my teenybopper bfs were intimate and life altering and so meaningful. let's face it, they were little amateur crushes that went a few months beyond crushing and angsty attempts at what the rest of the world told us was love or like or romance or hormones or whatever you want to call it.

needless to say, nearly the first decade of my formative years was spent in constant fluxes of crushing and the first steps to relationships. maybe that was just my personality. i'm actually quite renowned for never being able to make up my mind. i'm apparently also quite a sampler. i love to order entrees for everyone at the table so i can have just a taste of each bc i can't commit to just one taste myself - not even for the duration of the one meal. ykno, just a little nibble because everyone knows the first taste of something is the best. after a while you get sick or bored of even the most wonderful thing.

which is not to pick on wonderful things and i'm not saying that one "thing" is never good enough. it's more a reflection of the (im)maturity of my character. i'm still at that childlike place where every new thing is a thing of wonder and amazement even tho it's inevitable that i'll easily bore of it.

on the flip side, altho i don't think its the flip side exactly, i can't choose just one dish or commit to it bc what if i've made the wrong choice? what if i dont actually want the prime rib? i THOUGHT i did but really i want the tilapia filet. what then? better to be safe and have both available and have just enough of each that i neither regret not getting one or the other OR regret getting one or the other.

wow. there are so many mixed metaphors here i almost don't know what i'm talking about but DO want to find myself in a nice candle-lit restaurant. just kidding. i hate ... well kinda dislike candlelit restaurants. i don't like eating in the dark. i like to see my food and the people i'm eating with etc etc etc. part of my control freak nature perhaps?

yes, i can see that this entry (the window to my thoughts and soul) is clearly going to win me many a bachelor man for me to crush and swoon over ... haha they're lining up outside down the block already.

OR maybe that means it's time for me to go to bed. i'll have to run one final editing eye over this in the morning. and anyway, please don't take this as a pity me rant because i don't have a boyfriend. if you read critically (as all good lawyers should) you'll see that wasn't the point at all.

the point is,. well, i'll let you ruminate on that one.

the point is that i havent missed boys/relationships/dating/crushing at all for quite some time (let's give it a conservative estimate of 4 years) and maybe that was bc i wasnt ready again/yet. i didnt want another person in my life another person that could hurt me. but maybe im finally ready. finally over it. finally whole enough to be able to broken again. it was definitely a long time in the coming (making?). and i can only hope that it'll be worth it.

legally yours, c.pink
(i considered lovingly yours and longingly yours, but they were too "the notebook"y and not enough of me)
blech to cheesiness

i miss dating.(fake-out)

0r at least i think i do. and i deemed this important enough to get up out of bed, despite a pounding headache (the onset of which had nothing to do with imbibing alcoholic beverages - although i almost wish it had), power on my new baby laptop, drag it in bed with me, log in to blogger and start typing.

so i haven't really written in really, quite a long time. and i've apologized for that over and over again. moreover, even my recent writings have lacked a certain edge, a certain passion, the "soul" if you will has been MIA.

i don't really know how to explain that. i guess i'm no longer sure who my audience is. or maybe i've become TOO aware of who my audience MAY be. now that i'm in law school in ny, among native english speakers, among fellow students, i've lost a sense of anonymity.

surely, as i wrote my blog in korea i did feel safe, insulated somehow. the only ppl i thought i was speaking to were my loved ones an ocean, continent, and miles away. my other audience comprised of ppl in the same country as me, but separated by cities and countless koreans who had no idea what i was writing or talking about. there was definitely a certain sense of insularity and i guess even a feeling of disconnect that ironically made my writing truer and more sincere.

now that i'm back in the states, i've had a million excuses and theories why i don't write: no time, nothing to complain about, not a habit i had in america, etc.

but somehow tonight, as i was lying in bed waiting for sleep to sneak into my mind and blindfold me and claim me as the night's until the morning, i had a fleeting thought. a fleeting thought that turned into a few phrases. then sentences. and finally onto a paragraph and a vague outline for a full entry.

so here i am, blabbing on about absolutely NOT the topic that got me here. maybe this was just what i needed tho. an inroads to starting blogging anew.

so yes, dear readers, it may be too early to declare that i'm back. but let's tentatively make an appointment. say for sometime in the next 2 days. i'll go and write that entry that got me up and typing in the first place, and i promise to post it soon. the contents of that entry promise to be much more entertaining than this one.

and tiny little last aside, maybe i need a tagline. what is she talking about you ask. well let me tell you. so i really got into gossip girls in the past month and the premise of the show is a gossip blog/cell text "ring" if you will and the show's narrator is the blog author. so she starts every episode with some variation of "morning upper east siders..." and ends each episode with "you know you love me xoxo gossip girl." so yea, THAT's what i'm talking about when i say maybe i need a tagline.

maybe i need a cute little signoff signature thing. feel free to suggest some. or you'll have to deal with whatever insipid tagline i dream up. i'll try a few different ones out first. starting with:

legally yours, c.pink (read: c dot pink)

Giving up - or missing it.

(my writing is rusty - i can feel it. the voice is awkward and i'm grabbing at straws for words and phrases i can't say any prettily-er...forgive me)

This past weekend, as I sat and stared out the window, I was struck at what I now perceived law school was after 8 weeks of class.

Law school = giving up a million and a half things.

Law school = giving up ...
*relaxing days spent in the sun
*shopping whenever i want
*eating out whenever i want
*visiting friends in other cities
*seeing friends in my own city
*sleeping in on the weekend
*drinking on weeknights
*lazy afternoons doing nothing
*"free time"
*phone calls to keep in touch w/friends
*emails to friends
*responding to emails from friends
*exploring new york city
*long brunches catching up w/friends
*any nighttime activities

however, this perspective seems uber-negative and unnecessary ...
thinking about what law school is in terms of sacrifices and giving things up means i miss what law school actually IS

law school =
*new opportunities
*6 figure salary upon graduation (necessary w/that billion dollar debt i'll have...)
*not being at the mercy of corporate cost-cutting in a bear market
*no working for crazy bosses (for now...)
.........

well, i'm working on the positive things that it is .. =)

last week started off as my "mental week off" but turned into my week off due to DEATH-SICKNESS.
my parents insist i had nothing more than a severe cold ... but i'm POSITIVE it was more than a cold.
a cold seems so plebeian and insignificant. my illness was, for lack of a more precise term, so much more than just a cold.
it was debilitating and extreme. urgent and dangerous. definitely took me out of action for 2.5 days of class...

and as one fellow 1L said, as a law student, "being sick blows - totally not as fun as taking sick days in elementary school"

all i can say is, YUP.

Letdown.

All of my Amazon.com purchases have now arrived.

I feel that little puff of sadness that comes after any much-anticipated event (i.e. graduation).

It's like I had so much to look forward to, and now that all my packages have arrived and the joy of their arrival and unpacking and setting up is over, I feel like the hostess the morning after a wonderful dinner party.

Standing amidst the empty glasses and napkins scattered throughout her house, the event now over, there's only the empty feeling where the energy of anticipation once was.

Hidden in that hole is the question, "What now?" - what do I do now? Where, now, do I find my purpose?

You have to take all that "looking forward to something" energy and find something to replace it =]

Flashback: Korea

Byline: The Masseuse Who Tried to Kill Me, and the One I Love

So, since coming home, i've called upon my parents to take me to "Super King Sauna" twice including today.

It's as close to a Korean 찜질방 as I've found in the States. Actually, it was one of the destinations that I NEVER missed out on during my trips from home during college. It was the only place I insisted on going. Even the restaurants stopped mattering, but the sauna did not. Let me tell you why.

Not only is this modeled after Korean-style public bathhouses, but it's also home to the "DDEH massage". A fundamental part of this experience. Basically you're lying naked while an ajumma scrubs/exfoliates all the dead skin off your body. AMAAAAAAAZING. You have NO idea until you've tried it and seriously leave the place feeling light as a feather.

Anyway, this is the main topic of today's post.

But first, a short aside - I had my "Flashback: Korea" moment with an overly friendly stranger in the hottest of the whirlpool tubs. So I'm sitting in there talking to my mom about my weekend (PHILLY W/COLLEGE FRIENDS!!!) when a random Korean woman at least as old as my mom joins us and after looking at me for a minute or two, the following takes place (in Korean):

Strange Woman: Is this your daughter? (to my mom)
Mommy: Yes
SW: She has such beautiful breasts
M: Oh... um, thanks
SW: They're so perky and well-shaped, isn't she lucky? Although, if she were in Korea, she wouldn't want them that big ...

And it only got more ... for the lack of a better word, invasive(?)/interesting(?)/uncomfortable(?) ...

My mom is like me and is not a huge fan of talking to strangers or of fairly intrusive strangers w/no bounds.. so as soon as we could politely end the conversation, she turns to me and is like, WOW IT'S BOILING HOT IN HERE, LET'S GO TO THE STEAM SAUNA... (which makes no sense - if cooling off is the goal...)

Anyway, that was my Korea flashback b/c of the rudeness, and bluntness, and obsession w/others' appearances, and lack of propriety, etc etc etc.

Okay, today's main event, the two different ajummas...

After a few weeks of law school (ok, really just Legal Methods) my parents decided I was too tired and stressed out and took me to the sauna for a ddeh massage. This entails the sloughing off of the skin as previously described PLUS an actual full-body massage at the end.

THE woman who called my number was a new woman who I hadn't seen before. She assured me I would feel 1,000x better after the massage. She started off with the sloughing and it was SO ROUGH that I swear she was tearing off the skin underneath that hadn't even formed yet and some of that fat underneath my skin... NORMALLY gentle but repetitive rubbing does the trick of peeling off only the dead, dull skin and leaving the healthy young skin intact. Anyway, she kept asking me, "Oh, isn't this SO refreshing and relaxing?" with such enthusiasm and confidence I idiotically decided not to hurt her feelings by agreeing as best as I could through gritted teeth.

NEXT, the massage. SO, after ripping off all my skin, she starts to MASSAGE my raw skin. And I kid you not, this is the best way to describe her method of massage. It felt like, she had watched a couple VIDEO tutorials on massaging, knew what the moves LOOKED like, and then decided, confidently, that the key to a good massage was BRUTE STRENGTH. So she gave me horrible towel burn by ripping into my skin w/o taking into account that the towel covering me was supposed to move WITH me, not against me. And she continued to pretty much PUMMEL me and KNEAD me as though I were some dough she were ALLERGIC to and HATED with all her might. All the while, continuing to ask me brightly, "Oh, isn't this SOOOO wonderful?" and I had not the wherewithal to answer because I was concentrating all my might on gritting my teeth, tensing my body, and NOT squealing. It got to the point that any time she took her hands off me, I would exhale and relax for a split second until I felt her hands again and tensed up to defend against the onslaught of pain ...

FLASH FORWARD 3 weeks or so to tonight. Since tomorrow's Rosh Hashanah and two of my profs are Jewish, I only have CivPro in the morning. So I called my mom to ask if I could do dinner w/my parents in NJ, buy some groceries, and we could go to the sauna. I've been on the brink of a cold for a week and my dad's been on my case that a trip to the sauna will fix it.

So, we arrive in the sauna and my mom asks me if I want a DDEH massage. And thinking of what happened last time I'm all like, UM NO. But then she insists and as we near the appointment desk I see it's the woman I love love love!!! So I say yes please and then the receptionist asks if any of the massage ladies is ok and my mom started to say YES when I blurt out, NO, I want THIS ajumma (and thrust my chin shyly at the woman behind her who was smiling at me). So, they're like laughing and like umm ok sure ... and I'm like NO NO she's the best!!

And she is! She was the first ajumma I had here when the place first opened way back when (def at LEAST 2003, I forget if it was even before that ...) and she is SO wonderful. It never hurts, she's so effective, and she does all these little things that make a big difference. After booking for an appt 20 minutes later, I spent the next 20 minutes in expectant happiness (minus the awkward experience w/the lady commenting on my chest).

Long story short, one of my BEST ddeh massages ever!!! So gentle, and the massage was simultaneously soothing and relaxing yet to the point. She did all the little things that matter, remembering to keep me warm, putting my head at the most comfortable angle, tying my hair every time it got loose, covering my eyes securely so water wouldn't get in, etc. She's so great. I heart her. I feel so relaxed and wonderful that I've actually been writing this whilst fighting my droopy eyelids for the past - since I got back ...

So, good night. I will try try TRY to update more often. Just as dedicated as I was in Korea.
Will have to make this my new procrastination/break hobby instead of Amazon.com.
hehe - good luck to all in school/new jobs right now =)

LAWSCHOOL.

so it has been brought to my attention that i have neglected my blog of late. (KIMMY)

well, if you look at my past entries, you'll see that i've used this as a forum to complain and rant as much as anything else.

and it IS the happy status of my life that i currently have MANY less things to complain about.

i LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE school!!!! I LOVE IT!!!! omgomgomgomg i LOOOOOVE law school!!!

ok. don't tell anyone, bc clearly that is WAYYYYYYY too nerdy to even be real.

but, since i have to get back to my reading, i'll leave you with a bunch of pictures of HOW MUCH i love law school =)

my note-taking method. this was for Legal Methods - now over =(

what a newb. compare it with the note below ...

clearly my style has matured in those 12 days.

procedural history of ONE case. pretty complicated. what can i say?

BALLAR.

an example of how beautiful rainbow hiliting can be

another one of the more procedurally complicated cases (and this is just the background info - not the "meat" of the case!)

isn't it beautiful???

btw. did i mention my professor was Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's daughter? AND she had a cocktail party for us on the last day of class at her BALLER apt? With little waiter-y people and catered food and an open bar and everything? AND a coat check? AND here's the best part -- SO MANY OLD LEATHER BOUND BOOKS!!!

next up: foods i've made myself =)

Stare decisis

So tomorrow is already the third and last day of "law school" for me this week.

So far, I kindof really like it. Possibly even LOVE it. I want to answer questions in class but am still a bit too nervous to go ahead and raise my hand. Nonetheless, I'm definitely keeping track of my right answers and whether I know it better than the student who DOES get cold called on.

This cold call thing isn't so bad really. My Legal Methods prof is super nice and tries to guide people who don't know until they stumble upon the right answer.

Last night I got bored of studying and took a break by looking up "kitchen table chairs" less than $70 in New York City on craigslist.

So today we have a new kitchen set!!! I feel like a grown up!!! Our apartment is slowly coming together (I got a longer shower curtain, more kitchen accessories, including a dish drying rack thing, etc.).

Anyway, I was hilighting cases (part of my hw) today when I realized that I actually am starting to "GET" what these cases are about!!! YAYY!!!!

Then, here comes the nerdy part, I feel nerdily smart when I take notes like "saying facts are diff. so NO stare decisis" in the margin. HAHAHAHA.

I can tell, I'm going to like briefing cases and outlining. This is the kindof thing I would do for fun on weekendnights at Duke. Just kidding. Okay, well, I'm not REALLY kidding. Maybe. Sometimes.

School is awesome. I'm so excited.

And yes, they've broken me. Already. I haven't carried a backpack to class since 1998. At least. I was TOO COOL for backpacks. I went from messenger bags (9th to 11th grade) and then to my Longchamp (12th grade) and have never gone back. Until today. Wow, these casebooks are HEAVY. So, yea I brought my NorthFace to class today. For tomorrow though, I've packed up my handy dandy brand new "COLUMBIA LAW SChOOL" backpack courtesy of CLS. W00T!!! (just upped my nerd factor with that!)

Leaving the city tomorrow right after class for a doctor's appointment in Piscataway, NJ. Then golf Saturday afternoon with the family (haha, seeeeeeester). May or may not come back Saturday night. We'll see. =)

I love being so close to home. My throat started hurting yesterday so I took some Nyquil and went to bed. It's still not better today so I called my mom and bought some Airborne. My parents and sister were eating dinner in PalPark so they offered to buy some 죽 (porridge) and bring it to me. AND THEY DID. And they brought lemons for some lemon tea and my dad brought a bag of tools, in case I needed anything to be fixed or whatnot. Yayy!!! Then they took my laundry home with them.

I love being 30 minutes away from home. xD

Yayy for law school and YAYY for being close to home!!!

FINALLY!!!

I SIGNED UP FOR SHOEBOXED'S MAIL-IN RECEIPTS!!!

okay, maybe no one else is as excited as i am!!! But i LOOOOOVE shoeboxed.com.


and i LOOOOOVE organizing my receipts!!!


I've been collecting my receipts in (surprise surprise) a SHOEBOX since 7th grade (1997) i think.

I dunno why. okay, actually, my original reason for hoarding receipts was JUST in case i was the suspect in some crime, i could provide a SOLID alibi with the date/time on the receipt. CLEARLY if i was busy shopping, i couldn't have committed a crime, right?

I was big on nancy drew and ghostwriter and stuff. i can admit it. i wanted to BE PREPARED.

but since then, it's just become more of an obsessive habit. ykno, so i could always ... i dunno, reflect on my spending and evaluate my life? and then in college after going negative in the bank account numbers within the first few months, my mom told me to keep track of ALL my spending and record it every month. so in order to do that, i had to hang on to my receipts. so all in all, i just have a million receipts, and once in a while go through and record, tally, and organize ALL of them.

anyway, a few years ago, a friend of mine from college, Taylor, started this online receipt organization thing.
(please check out THIS WEBSITE for press and THIS ONE for more info).

i didn't get it at first, and then i realized he was doing one of my FAVORITE things but on the INTERNET and neater and it was AWESOME. TRUST me when i first opened my SHOEBOXED account, this was ALL i did all day. it's actually almost as bad as facebook, (for me at least!).

so i've had these BOXES of receipts in my closet for YEARS right? one for 1997 to 2004. another for EUROPE. another for COLLEGE. and a new one for KOREA.

at first, it was only ONLINE receipts. but gradually they brought in PAPER receipts. ACTUAL paper receipts. they were scanned and the info put online so i could SEE all my spending summarized for me on the screen. UNFORTUNATELY at the beginning of their beta testing for that service i was in KOREA and couldn't participate. DARN KOREA!!!!

but NOWWW that i'm back in the states, i've been dying to jump on this boat and sign up for mail-in receipts. and i JUST did. and omg i'm SOOOO psyched you have no idea. i LOVE seeing all my spending broken down. YIPPEEEE!!!!

can't wait to start mailing in receipts. and don't worry. i'll def have to call about what to do with my 10+ year backlog of shoeboxed receipts. =)

CLASS SCHEDULE!!!

Today was the first day of orientation. We got our class schedules. I have my schedule for August's Legal Methods and Legal Practice Workshop classes until 8/29.

ANNNND check out my schedule for the fall semester. NO FRIDAY CLASSES!!! YAYYY!!!!!!