I mean now that I've passed the bar exam and am supposed to get a job and be a grownup, a little folly now and then is comforting.

Today I had an interview and parking for said interview took place in a garage that charged (way less than Austin garages, but still, money). Because this garage is in El Paso, it is stuck in 1995 and doesn't take cards. However, I've been living in 2007 for some time now, and stopped carrying cash and can't remember the last time I ordered checks, let alone carried them. So when my parking charge came to $2.75, I crossed my fingers and grabbed at the spare change in my car. My little change holder was full, so surely I had enough.

I got to about $1.50 when the parking attendant asked whether I was going to give her the rest in pennies.

"Yes. I'm really sorry. I didn't realize you guys didn't take cards. It's all I have. But I'm sure I've got it all here."

She rolled her eyes and opened the gate. "Just go," she said, totally not amused.

I drove away feeling equal parts embarrassed and cheap and genius.

Now I'm tempted to count the rest out and see if I really had all $2.75 or not. Because if I didn't, then I'd feel more like I beat the system.




2/3 interviews done. The first went really well. The second I was more nervous at. I'd be quite happy (well as happy as one can be working that is) with either.

Speaking of work, in the mail today I received a big heavy casebook, and whattayaknow, there was my name right there in the preface. *sniff* My mom asked if it was a signed copy of the casebook, and I quickly schooled her on how it wasn't like my boss was Neil Gaiman or JK Rowling. But then once I thought about it, I thought maybe it would have been kind of cool if he HAD signed it. Oh well, my name's in it. I'm touched.

For those of you still taking finals, hang in there. Only a few more days left.

Just installed new ink cartridges in my printer, and now I'm aligning them, and I'm feeling way more pressure than I should. I mean, a lot of those thin little lines look exactly the same. How can I tell if 8 or 9 is straighter? Sure, I can easily rule out 1-6 and 13-15, but all the middle lines look about the same. What if I choose the wrong one? I have cover letters and resumes to print out. I can't risk not getting the job because my printer isn't printing my letters properly. To make matters worse, the default number is set in the middle, so when I think one of the better ones is on one end or the other, then I get all suspicious over my choice because the printer thinks the right one is somewhere in the middle. AAARGH! *pulls out hair*

It's just like when I go to the eye doctor. Was option 3 really that much clearer than 4? To this day when my contacts get fuzzy or when I have to squint to see something that I feel I shouldn't have to squint for, I always think it's because in all reality, 4 was clearer than 3 and I just didn't realize it.

Have lots of things going on at once? Up to your ears in calendars, agendas, and deadlines? Not sure how you're going to make it through the next few days without losing your grip and falling apart spectacularly? Just follow these easy steps to ensure you raise your stress level by several points.

1. Make sure you have at least four to five things going on at one time. It helps if those four to five things aren't really even related. A good example: moot court, Assault & Flattery, intramural basketball registration, public service project organization, declaration of intent, and bar application stuff for starters.

2. Schedule your finger printing appointment. Leave late for it. Arrive 10 minutes late, after the guy has already called you back. Fail to realize this until after he's called four other people who arrived after you. Wait a total of one hour before you see the finger print guy.

3. Forget your checkbook so that you have to drive all the way back to your house and get it. Make sure this happens around lunch time so that you can hit all of the lunch hour traffic.

4. Arrive back at the fingerprint place with your checkbook and discover that you actually had a check in your purse the entire time and the frantic drive home hadn't really been necessary after all.

5. Go to school and start working on your brief that is due to your coach at 9:00 pm. At 3:00 pm discover that you've written for the wrong side. Completely rewrite brief and miss deadline. [Editor's note: If you need to waste a few extra moments, this is a good place to have a bit of a breakdown. A good solid cry can take up another five to ten minutes.]

6. Call a friend and whine to her about entire situation.

7. Blog about it.

If your stress level isn't through the roof yet, you're doing something wrong.

So last night, I was watching Dogma, when I started having some chest pain and then found that I was having trouble breathing. I looked online to see if the Urgent Care Clinic was open (it wasn't) and instead called the 24-nurse-line. I explained my issues, and she started asking if I was having pain in my left arm, etc. I wasn't. But then once she heard that heart problems run in my family, she recommended a trip to the emergency room. At which point I promptly lost it, because now I was convinced I was having a heart attack. Oh--and now I'm also having pain in my left arm. Just. Great.

In tears I called my friend to see if he'd drive, and within minutes an entire cavalry (read: 3 friends) had arrived to escort me to Brackenridge. It was eventually decided that I was not having a heart attack, but rather a panic attack due to two finals coming up for which I am completely unprepared, total lack of money, no job, close to 460 mg of caffeine for the day, and the fact that the nurse just put it in my head that I was having a heart attack. We went to Wendy's instead and I calmed down a lot, but when I woke up this morning, the chest pain was still there. So I had the pleasure of wasting three hours in the urgent care clinic and $75 on a fricking electrocardiogram which had the sole purpose of proving that I wasn't having a heart attack. So... chest pain... still here, but since I know I'm not going to die now, I can at least make it through the remainder of my exams.

So I've now had my first (and hopefully only) full-blown panic attack. The doctor told me to chill out on the caffeine. Which apparently can cause anxiety when consumed in high amounts. Wish I'd known that before I purchased the large latte. Hmph.

I realize the pathetic nature of this entire episode, so I understand if you can't keep yourself from leaving comments like "You're a 3L, this is ridiculous." Trust me, I agree.

In the meantime, I could really go for a cappuccino.

I've listed five statements about my weekend. Four are true. Guess which one isn't.

1. I played wiffle ball at around 12:45 on Friday night Saturday morning.

2. I barely managed to add a page to my Oil & Gas outline.*

3. At a friend's birthday party on Saturday, someone pushed me down and poured drinks on me.

4. I put up my Christmas tree already.

5. I have an unexplained knee injury that probably has something to do with celebrating my friend's birthday last night.




* For those of you who believe it's too early for outlining, I want to point out that it's necessary because I've pretty much checked out of that class.

I'm not what I'd consider a girlie-girl. I love to fuss over my hair and spend more time than is necessary on my eye makeup, but past that, I'm not really girlie. I don't own twenty pairs of shoes, I have three purses (and I've had two of those for two years or more), I wear the same jewelry pretty much every day, and I don't really do accessories. For example, I own one belt. I only wear this belt when I need it, i.e. when my pants are big enough that they won't stay up without the assistance of a belt. My preference is to just wear jeans that fit well enough that I don't need one. Lately, however, I've actually needed a belt, so my one-and-only belt has gotten some use lately. Too much. It actually broke in two places and was holding on by two threads. I don't have the time or the money to buy a new belt right now, but I couldn't chance those threads snapping and my pants falling down every time I so much as walked at a brisk pace. So I did what any self-respecting law student would do...

I busted out with the duct tape.

On the plus side, I'm pretty confident that my belt will last until I can get a new one. On the not-so-plus side, I now have silver duct tape on my belt.

Some of the questions deserved more than just a simple reply. Here's one that just came in from Anon:

It's probably too late for questions, but are your kidneys feeling any better?

Background: On Saturday, I started coming down with a sore throat. Someone suggested Airborne, so I got some. It said to take every 3 hours as necessary. So I did. Around the clock. For 2.5 days. In that time, I'd had the equivalent of tens of thousands percent of my daily recommended Vitamin C.

And then yesterday, my kidneys started to hurt. Really hurt. It felt like That Time of the Month pain at first, but a quick look at the calendar ruled out that possibility. It also felt similar to the morning after a night of heavy heavy drinking (read: bar golf, flip cup, or Logan's nights). Oh, did I mention that it really hurt? Because it did.

I was actually kind of scared. But then people said just to drink lots of water, so I did. After a day of many many many trips to the restroom, my kidneys do not hurt today. Rah! And I learned my lesson: next time I feel a cold coming on, I will drink loads more water with my 10 tablets of Airborne (which I am sure, by the way, is habit-forming).

However, I've now kept my cold at bay for four days. Go me. Go Airborne, my lovely, addictive little friend.

You all missed a hilarious A&F dance audition on Monday night: mine.

There were fortunately only four people there to witness my hilarity. I've never taken any formal dance classes aside from a 3 month stint in ballet in the 5th grade. But I told myself I was going to try out, and try out I did. And with the exception of this one turn that confused the hell out of me, I was getting the moves okay. But then we did it to the music, and it was way faster than we'd learned it. Also, everyone else managed to stay in roughly the same spot on the stage, whereas I was all over the place. Comical. And not in a good way, I should stress. I actually almost left when it was clear that I was way out of my element, but the choreographer told me to stay, so I did. Yikes.

Was trying to get the leftover pizza out off the bottom shelf of the fridge when I lost my balance and fell flat on my back, sprawled out snow angel style in my kitchen. Took a moment to process what had just happened, and then sorta laughed because, well, no one else was there to laugh at me and this fall was really too comical to not have a laugh follow it. So I'm laying on the kitchen floor, laughing, and slowly starting to get up when in walks my dad... and the guy who came to measure for the new carpet. And I'm laying on the floor and giggling like a mad person. Carpet guy was probably thinking that while they're installing the new carpet, they might as well pad the walls too.

And this has been a Minute in the Life of Ruth^TM.