balance

as i mentioned before, balance is key. we spend the better part of our week in class and when not in class we're huddled inside the library like a bunch of pasty losers asking each other things like "how does equitable estoppel apply in Ricketts v. Scothorn?"

so when the weekend comes around it's time to have some fun. friday wasn't too much fun, I was really run down from the week and I just wanted to grab a couple of brews and vent a little. Me and a friend went to 51st State and had a few - then we ran into some folks from our section, so we had a few more. Before I knew it we're engaged in discussion about the awesomeness of george strait, and the best method for picking ticks off one another...ok, it was sort of fun. The not fun part was when i got up to answer nature's call. I went and did my thing, but on my way back to the table i started to get that sick-spin-y feeling so i knew it was time to go ... i made it back to my apartment, and immediately stripped, got a blanket and laid on the floor 'til i felt better. then i made the folly of drunk-texting a girl that i don't like all that much (but again: drunk) and set up a date for saturday. when saturday rolled around i had to find a good excuse to get out of it.

saturday rolls around (i did manage to get out of it by saying that i took a nap, and wound up oversleeping ... lame, i know, but it's all i could think of - i'm not that smart) and i wound up meeting two friends, todd and brian, at 51st ... that's when i fell in love. the waitress at 51st is a first year nursing student...she's amazing. nothing happened, but we'll see ;)

we met up with 3 other friends (2 from our section -will and bobby - and one from section 15 - jesse) at 51st and were weighing our options. will knew about a party that some 2Ls were throwing, and todd was all about this jazz bar around the corner in georgetown. we figured more chance of chicks at the party so we went there. the 2Ls embraced us lowly 1Ls and we all just bs-ed, drank, and were merry. until the beer ran out...at about 2am we weren't able to get anymore beer from the keg although we could totally feel that there was beer in there. after about 20 minutes of trying 2 different taps we concluded that there was a problem with both taps - i then had the brilliant idea of disassembling the 2 taps and using the parts to build 1 tap that worked - success! we were back in business!

after a while things got to that drunken stage where people just start yelling out nonsensical things. i was talking to the host of the party and he said he was from massachusetts - todd heard this and asked him if he ever read jack kerouac (b/c kerouac was from lowell, mass.) then todd just starts yelling out kerouac is the fucking man!!! i started arguing that hemingway is the fucking man! todd starts yelling that he wants to go listen to jazz. a great, albeit drunkenly sloppy, literary conversation ensued as everyone on the patio at that moment circled around to give their 2 cents.

after things got tiresome we decided to call it a night as we all had a ton of reading to do. so we gathered our posse and we realized that we were missing one person - we found todd still on the patio in the same conversation. we told todd that we were heading out and asked him if he was coming with. he replied "i want to listen to some jazz." then he resumed his literary conversation. we left.

first post from DC

it's been a while, i know; but the past few weeks have centered around moving, finding my way around a new city, and beginning my studies - so i think the absence is justified.

where to start? DC is a amazing city! the people are extremely friendly; i think it has to do with everyone here being from somewhere else. on the first day of law school orientation we were introduced to our courses, our professors and classmates. GW picked a great group of people for the 2012 class. out of 500 or so students i've only met a handful that weren't just cool people. the professors are phenomenal, some of the best in the country - i'm feeling like i made the right choice.

that's the good part. the bad part: this life is fucking brutal - i wake up at 8am and go to bed at 3am. the time in between is filled with classes, and the reading of cases, the outlining of cases, and the drafting of memos. when i do finally go to bed i pass out from sheer exhaustion. but we do try to find a balance - every thursday is "thirsty thursday"; the law school provides free beer in the student lounge. from there it's on to "bar review" a weekly function organized by the Student Bar Association. for the first bar review the SBA picked up the tab. that was all kinds of awesome, except that i didn't do the reading for my friday class b/c i was having too much fun...good thing i didn't get called on in class! so i've decided to limit myself to one bar review a month - and it's conditional: i can only allow myself to go if i've done my reading!

i take saturday's off to run errands, etc. so it goes without saying that friday night is party night! last friday we (me and some members of my section) went to a place called Froggy Bottom. it's a decent joint with a cheap IPA and decent burgers. this past friday we went to The 51st State which, even though they don't sell any IPAs (i had to drink a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale), has a much nicer pub-like atmosphere (the frog is stashed away in a basement on Pennsylvania Ave.) From there we checked out a place called The Guards in Georgetown. it was pretty much an undergrad bar, but there's a dance floor in the basement, so it turned out to be pretty fun. saturday a friend from back home was going out with some girlfriends and i tagged along :) we went to a place called Muse Lounge in Chinatown. straight up d-bag club - definitely not going back there, but it was actually really fun dancing with her and her med school peeps [again :) ].

Oh - there's also some cool random things that happen too. i was riding my bike the other day and the presidential helicopter, Marine One, comes in no more than 100 yards over my head - i was a football field away from the president (sort of)!!! also, yesterday, i got to see the presidential security detail up close as they were pulling into the white house. those guys are no joke. they're armed to the teeth and, i'm sure, are in no mood to play games - they're shoot first types.

well, time to read torts and civil procedure now - more on DC adventures later.

a pic is worth a thousand...

i am the greetest

yes, i meant to spell "greatest" that way (bonus points if you get the reference). yesterday i posted the greatest movie scene of all time, today i bring you the greatest television scene ever: President Josiah Bartlet's showdown with God almighty. here's the latin translations for the end there:

gratias tibi ago, domine.
(Thank you, Lord.)
haec credam a deo pio, a deo justo, a deo scito?
(Am I to believe these things from a righteous god, a just god, a wise god?)
cruciatus in crucem
(To hell with your punishments!)
tuus in terra servus, nuntius fui; officium perfeci.
(I was your servant, your messenger on the earth; I did my duty.)
cruciatus in crucem -
(To hell with your punishments!)
eas in crucem
(And to hell with you!)

thanks to tv.com for the translations

hold the phone...

just to clarify: i didn't mean that the movie scene that i posted in my last blog entry was the greatest movie scene ever, because it's not. It's just an example of an early bromance scene (no homo).

if you want the GREATEST movie scene ever, you'll have to look a bit earlier in the film - to the excommunication scene, enjoy:

the original bromance

the "bromance" phenomenon is, of course, nothing new. This Wikipedia article mentions that Aristotle examined a similar concept as early as 300 BCE. What is new is the string of bromantic comedies that have come out of Hollywood in the past year - well guess what this isn't new either.

Anyone that's ever spent five minutes with me has heard me talk about the movie Becket. I love that movie - it's my all time fave. What i hardly mention is that the movie is actually one of the earliest bromance films...see for yourself...you'll have to fast forward to 3:38, but it's well worth it; it's an absolutely heart-wrenching scene.

update:

Update to my last post: i plan on spending as much time in mosh pits while i'm still young enough to not look like i don't belong there.