a long pause

It’s been a long time since I’ve written, and a lot of things have happened in the meantime.  The rest of my time in Europe was WONDERFUL.  It was so good to be with Carl, and the traveling was a lot of fun.  I flew home (that was an ordeal) at the beginning of September and started my job a week later.  I was excited about my job before I started, and it has turned out to be even better than I thought it would be.  I work with great people who support and challenge me, the subject matter is surprisingly interesting, and I get to do things that big firm associates don’t see until their third year.  Also, I went to Miami this last week for a conference on asbestos medicine.  Six of us went from the office – I only went because one of the attorneys couldn’t at the last minute – and it was a nice combination of educational lectures (including a video of a extra-pleural pneumonectomy – yuck), networking, and relaxing (mostly on the day before the conference actually started).  I had a great time, and I felt really lucky to go.  Asbestos is a complicated area, and so getting the chance to learn more in a focused context was really good for me.

In other news, Carl moved home a few weeks ago.  It’s so good to be back together.  Wedding plans are gearing up, though there is still a lot to take care of.  We’re also just trying to sort through the house.  Between the two of us, who lived alone for three and four years, we’ve accumulated a lot of things, many of them duplicates.  We have more tupperware (in a generic sense) than anyone should ever need.  I also picked up the vestiges of my youth from my mom’s house about a month ago, meaning all of my childhood books, yearbooks, journals, stuffed animals, my baby blanket and baptismal blanket, and assorted items like a music box from my grandmother and a salt-covered rock from the Dead Sea.  That is all now added to the pile of things to sort through.  It is literally a pile, similar to a small hill, though much more fragile.  I started to go through things today, but I didn’t get very far, because I started reading my journals from high school.  Oh my goodness, those were drama-filled years.  I’m very glad I’m past those years.

So in closing, life is good, and I’m enjoying this journey into real adulthood.  Oh, and Carl and I got Motorola Droids a week and a half ago.  Awesome.  We love them.

a week and a half into my vacation

After the horror that was the bar exam, I came over to Europe to spend a month with Carl.  It’s been fabulous so far.  We were in England for a little over a week, and now we’re in Munich until Friday.  My brother’s down here visiting us, and this is time to just relax and sleep in.  It’s wonderful.  I was looking at some of the pictures we took in England, and I was shocked by how happy I looked.  I’m not sure if I’ve smiled so much in the last three years as I have in the last week.  When I get back to the States, I’ll have a little less than a week before I start my new job.  This has been a welcome break between finally being done with school and entering the real world.

I think Cort and I will head over to the Deutsches Museum today.  And go shopping.  Ah, what bliss.  And Carl will be working, of course.  He only has off for the first and last weeks of my visit.  But he’s being sent to Dublin next week, so we’ll have a grand time there – I’ll go see exciting things while he sits in a server room. 

So that’s life right now.  I’ll update more later…

selective reading

On my way home from Harry Potter at 3am, I drove past this Bible church that always has annoying signs out.  They write things that are apparently supposed to make you want to come into their church.  I can’t remember specific past examples, but they did spell Matthew with one T recently.  The one this morning just got to me though.  “The wages of sin is death.  Romans 6:23″  Um, sure.  Yes, that’s partly correct.  One word (“for”) missing at the beginning, but the next six words are right.  However, the majority of the verse is missing: “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Perhaps I focus on grace too much (isn’t too little law, too much Gospel a criticism of the ELCA?), but that part of the verse seems exceedingly important.

You can’t scare people into believing something.  That isn’t faith.  And selective reading bugs me.

Friday

1.  bought plane ticket home for September 2nd

2.  bought tickets for the midnight showing of Harry Potter

3.  wrote practice essays

4.  lazy day

another day

1.  neck hurts, jerked awake yesterday morning and strained something

2.  studying a lot

3.  Mom bought a piano, so I get the one we’ve had forever!

4.  bought plane ticket to London!

last day of class!

Yes, I have finally finished all my law school classes.  Now I just have three finals to take, a settlement agreement to write, and twenty-one 1L summary judgment motions to grade for citations.

I’ve been playing bass a little more, which has been wonderful.  I’m playing for a friend’s church choir this Sunday as part of an ensemble.  It should be fun.

Carl will be home in two weeks.  TWO WEEKS!  This is quite exciting.  He won’t be staying for as long as we had originally planned, but it will be good to have him home.  He’s such a wonderful guy, and I miss him terribly.

Um, right now, there are a bunch of dead ants in my bathroom, all over my shower.  As in, a couple hundred of dead ants.  I sprayed the cracks in my shower with Raid today, and they’ve just been pouring out and dying.  It’s quite gross.  And a great thing to share, no?  Not sure if this is something to mention to my landlord.  I think it may be more a circumstance of where I live instead of the house being defective.  Also not sure if this is a good thing to mention generally.

Anyway, that’s it.  Carl will be home in 15 days, and I graduate in 23 days!

almost done with law school!

I have a grand total of nine classes left.  Four tomorrow, three Wednesday, two Thursday.  And then I will be done with class for a long time!  Three finals, then graduation.  And Carl comes home for a couple weeks.

Next year, I’ll be working for a law firm in Kansas City, Missouri.  I’m not going to say the name because I really don’t want my blog to come up in searches for it.  That would just be weird.  I’ll be defending asbestos manufacturers though.  I’m very excited about it.  It’s a really great firm, and I’m looking forward to working with all of them.

Recently, I’ve been playing bass more.  I really do miss it.  Anyone know of an orchestra I could play with next year?  There’s a civic orchestra with whom a Kansas appellate judge plays.  That would be fun, but I’m a little hesitant to try and play with them.

Okay, I’m done.

soon

I’m headed to Germany on Wednesday!  I’ll land in Munich on Thursday and spend a couple days with Carl.  I’ll leave on Saturday for Eisleben, where I’ll meet up with some friends from LCM, and we’ll do a Luther tour, following his footsteps, so to speak.  Then on the next Thursday, I’ll head up to Berlin to stay with my brother until Monday.  Carl is meeting me up there, so he’ll get to meet those friends.  I’m excited.

Also have a job lined up for next year, wedding plans are coming along, and I graduate in two months.  Life is so good.

Manila

My brother and I are in the Philippines, visiting my dad and his family. We’ve been in Manila so far, but we’ll head to their house in the provinces tomorrow. I’m typing this on a tiny keyboard, so this won’t be long. It’s good being here, and I definitely like having mango and papaya for breakfast. Being here has made me think of India on more than one occasion, partly because of the architecture (especially churches). Also, the idea of personal space, or lack thereof, is similar. Granted, I haven’t been to India for many years, but this is what I remember.

My dad’s family is great, very kind and even fun. I’ll write more when I steal my brother’s computer.

stuck in Story City

The only good thing about Iowa is Luther College, and that’s basically in Minnesota.  Iowa is a terrible place.  Terrible.

A friend of mine is getting married tomorrow in the Twin Cities, and I was going to drive up from Lawrence today.  I almost got to Des Moines when the serious fog rolled in.  North of Des Moines, I couldn’t see more than 100 feet in front of me.  For far too much of it, I could see a maximum of three stripes on the highway.  I was excited when I could see the taillights of the car in front of the car in front of me.

Decided I couldn’t keep going, so I pulled off in Story City.  And now I’m bitter towards Iowa.  It’s supposed to sleet tomorrow morning.  Can’t wait to drive in it.