I'm Famous!

You know you're famous when:

1. You're asked by a publisher to read a book and then write a review on your blog. How fun! I'm excited about this. For three reasons: First, I've never been asked to review anything before. Second, it's been awhile since I read a book that wasn't a legal casebook, a legal supplement, or on topics of global governance. Third, I run a local women's book club (that's been on hiatus for a few months), so it's gotten me excited about getting the reading group going again. I'm going to read the book the minute my finals are over, it sounds really interesting. I can't wait! (Look for the review in May.)

2. The ABA wants you to plug their news. Plugged.

"[W]e’re holding a live online chat next month with the rankings czar from U.S. News in which you can participate... Morse will be taking questions from the public on ABAJournal.com on Friday, April 11, from 3 to 4 p.m. ET. We hope you and your readers will participate."

3. You start getting hate mail. I love it, how entertaining! I thought the fellow Moms In Law School might find it entertaining as well, so I'll reprint it here:

From: “Jonathan E. Rubin” (jonathanrubin921@gmail.com)

To: ProtoAttorney@yahoo.com

Subject: uncalled-for pictures on your blog

Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:09:50 –0400

Certain pictures were completely uncalled for. Publishing them on your blog was in REALLY bad taste. To say nothing about the "intentionally having a kid while in law school" thing.

Poor choices all around.

I'm confused about what pictures, however. My daughter with our pet rabbit? Phallic-shaped cake? Pin the red Speedo on David Duchovny? Drunk and Disorderly Elvis? I wouldn't respond to it, however, that would just be silly. But publishing it on my blog so others can be equally amused? I'm all about it! Oh the drama! I just love it.

Happy Easter

Changes

I started back on Weight Watchers finally. Although I'm only 5 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight, I need to also take off the 20 pounds of 1L weight. And the 15 pounds of Desk Job weight I packed on when I started as a legal assistant in 2000. And the ten pounds I gained freshman year of college.

It's going to be hard because I'd gotten out the habit of watching what I ate during the pregnancy. I was so sick and had no appetite anyway, it didn't matter what I ate. I had real butter and sour cream and even regular soda. But those days are over. I've never really successfully dieted, only losing a few pounds then gaining them back. So this will be tough. But it's something I want to do. I turn 30 next year. I don't want to be over-weight anymore. I don't want Cora to ever remember me being over-weight, because I don't want her emulating my bad habits. Time for a change.

Update

I know, I've been neglecting The Blog for awhile now. The semester's been wearing me down, as well as the job search.

No word on the WTC internship. (I take that as a "no.") I had an interview with another mid-size insurance defense firm on Thursday after I got back from Florida. It's amazing how much more at ease I am during an interview for a job I don't really care if I get or not. Now that I have a job offer from the small plaintiff's firm, I am in a position to be choosy about the job I take.

I also seem to be having some sort of career crisis as well. I'm beginning to regret ever having gone to law school, as I'm getting burned out and the idea of becoming a slave to the billable hour is just not enticing. And since it's been harder than I expected to find the "non-law job," I just wonder if I'll be able to find anything I like. Or at least not hate.

The trip to Florida was good though. I wish we could have stayed longer. (Fortunately all the snow we were hit with at home had melted by the time we got back and it warmed up.) We took Cora swimming in the heated pool. She had a good time. I think we're going to sign up for some baby swim classes this summer.

Water Bunny


Some actual spring weather when we got home.

Anyway, I managed to contract some sort of nasty stomach virus during my last two days of spring break. Fantastic. I had plans today, I had plans last night, all canceled. Disappointing. I'm trying to get some outlining done, since I'm restricted to the bed and the bathroom. Trying not to infect my husband or my kid.

Spring Break

Fort Walton Beach


And of course, a cute one of Cora


Tummy time

From the hometown rag

The King is alive... and being held in contempt for showing up to a pretrial conference wasted. Sweet.

Interviews

You know your interview isn’t going well when your interviewer starts suggesting other places you should apply. Ugh. She wouldn’t stop telling me how I don’t want the job long enough for me to tell her why I wanted the job and what I wanted to get out of it. Considering it’s an unpaid internship, I wouldn’t be there if I didn’t really want it. I’m going to send a thank you letter outlining, again, that I’m interested in the job because of X, Y, and Z, hoping it sinks in. Apparently the fact that I’m in law school and interested in a job outside of a law firm didn’t make sense. She kept saying that the job isn’t law, it’s business. Yes, I understand that. But it is law; researching trade regulations so that businesses can comply with the laws of other nations, sounds like law to me. A law degree isn’t just for standing up in a courtroom in front of a judge. And I’m not working on a degree in international commerce to practice insurance defense, dammit.

I should have realized that sooner. I got complacent, just satisfied with having a job and a paycheck. I should have been in DC last summer, or even abroad. I should have started my job search in the fall. I let comfort and familiarity stall my career goals. It's time to step up the effort and stop settling for mediocrity. Just because my grades are mediocre, doesn't mean my career has to be.

Goings on

I haven't updated in awhile, I've been really busy and just trying to get stuff done.

I had a job interview last week, and I have a job offer. It's part time, but that's okay, because that would free me up to do other things. I have an interview this week for an internship with the WTC, which is part time, unpaid. Finally, I have an interview during spring break with a firm that does, of course, insurance defense. But one of the partners is one of the best mediators in the state. Working with him would be a great experience. So, we'll see. Obviously the extra money of a full time position would be nice, but the part time position appeals to me the most. It's a small plaintiff's firm, mostly products liability cases. A change of pace would be nice, and the people there seemed easy going. It'll be a tough choice to make, because I'd love to work with that mediator, but I really don't want to get pigeon holed into insurance defense. And it's not like I'll be doing a lot with the mediator, other than sitting in on mediations. He's an adjunct professor at the law school and teaches a course in ADR. I'd probably learn more there.

Anyway, that's what I've got going on. I'm dangerously behind in reading for two of my classes. The other three I've kept up with well enough. I got an A on my Italian midterm, and I'm getting started on my project, most of which is translating a portion of a Canto from Dante's Inferno. I'm also translating a lullaby, and a recipe. The lullaby will be easy (lullaby's are generally non-sensical anyway), and but the recipe might be a little more difficult to get exact. Anyway, the Canto will be tough, I know this. It's older Italian and there's some Latin thrown in too. But if I'm going to improve my Italian, I need to challenge myself.

The other thing I need to do is start studying for my grad school comps. I'm not too worried, except for the portion relating to IGO's, because I've only had one course on transnational organizations, and the rest of my work has been in more specific areas, such as in trade. Also, the professor I will have on my comps board for that is likely to destroy me. She gave me the only B I had in grad school, and I worked hard for that B.

One class at which I definitely fail? Cake decorating class. Fortunately it's finally over (I'm so sick of cake). Here are my cakes:

Rainbow. With a big frosting turd at the bottom.



Those are supposed to be grapes and roses. It looks more like squished cabbage.

Penis cakes. These were actually for the bachelorette party last weekend. I made good use of the equipment I purchased for the class, although my friend actually decorated these because I ran out of time. I baked them though, and made all the frosting. There was also a penis-shaped jello shot, which is the green at the top of the picture. Good times. We pre-gamed at the shower, and then took the bride out for some karaoke, while wearing lots of penis. The bride is a big X-Files fan, so our artist friend (who decorated the penis cakes) also made this shower game:

Pin the red speedo on David Duchovny. The best shower game. Ever.

This week is the women's law caucus luncheon (so happy that will finally be over), the last week of school before spring break, and this weekend we're headed to Florida for our friends' wedding.

And we're more than half way through the semester. I can't wait until finals are over and summer is here!