BFF Playground

So I have the song sex and candy stuck in my head. You probably don't remember it. Its an annoying ear-worm of a one-hit-wonder of a song that I caught a few bars of this morning when I turned on my car and before I pushed in the pre-schooler music tape. Worse, I have alternate lyrics playing that relate to the two exams that are causing me to panic and write in run-on sentences. And I am not really clever enough to make it all work.

Anyway the alternate lyrics go something like this but since I am putting no real time or thought into this don't expect anything close to comprehensible, let alone brilliant... also apparently i start somewhere in the middle of the song.

Tax and Family

Hanging out basement by myself and I've had too much caffeine and i've been thinking bout the code and there it was

like an unrecognized gain yeah
there it was
like alimony reclaimed
yeah there it was
like long term capital gain

i smell tax and family here
who's that with fringes there
who's that with 165(c) losses at their election
this surely is a dream yeah
it makes me wanna scream.

Edited to add the Youtube video in case you really want the full effect of this awfulness.

Zamxiety

(zam ZI et eee): Noun.

The feeling that creeps up on a law student when she realizes she has her tax exam in less then 10 days, followed in less than 24 hours by her family law exam.

- - -

So every time I think about my future as a lawyer, I get upset. Its probably because I don't really know what I want to do with my law degree. I am sad I don't have a job lined up for next summer, but I also realize I probably would not have enjoyed life at most of the places at which I interviewed. So maybe its a blessing. But it doesn't help me with my current identity crisis.

I once wrote about my post-law school personality profile here -- ESTJ.

In the comments I discussed one thing that hasn't changed. The J. I have always scored off the charts on J.

I said:

J's feel better after they've made a decision and feel anxious when things are unsettled. They tend to decide and move forward, and deal, right or wrong. P's prefer to leave things undecided for as long as possible, weighing options and exploring possibilities. P's feel a bit trapped once they've made a decision.

I think that is part of the problem now. I've never not had a plan, for the big picture stuff anyway. I mean, I didn't expect my husband to get deployed or to have trouble conceiving or any host of other things beyond my control. But in my life, in the things that I do make choices about, I have never not known what the next step would be.

It should be exciting. Perhaps it was at the start of law school, but only because I knew it was acceptable to say "I don't know" in those days. It has ceased to be exciting.

Not knowing what I want to be when I grow up causes me great distress.

MILS #21

"Thankfully," MILS round up is posted at Pt-Lawmom.

Singing Clownfish

Clownfish has entered a fun phase. Its the singing phase. Maybe not all kids do this, like they do the "why" phase or the "obsessive compulsive lining things up" phase, but its awesome.

He sings everything. Sometimes he narrates his life to his own little melodies. Sometimes he makes up stories and sings them to familiar melodies (like Twinkle Twinkle, Bob the Builder theme, etc.)

He sings in the car, he sings in the bath, he sings while playing with his trains, he sings his prayers.

Moreover, he's finally becoming as cool as this kid, insisting we listen to "Mommy's music" on the radio, not just the 4,000,000th go round of Laurie Berkner and Veggie Tales. He's even starting to recognize songs.

I think he's a fan of U2.

Next... I think I'll introduce him to my Bat Out of Hell* album.

Also, he tells knock knock jokes now. The only one he gets right:

Knock knock
Who's there?
Boo.
Boo who?
Don't start to cry. That's just a joke!

* Fast forward 15 years "... and this is why I pay for my son's therapy."

Thanksgiving meme

A. Things I'll Eat Today

1) Turkey
2) Mashed Potatoes
3) Apple Pie
4) Veggies and dip
5) Corn

B. Things I Won't Eat Today

1) Giblets
2) Sweet potatoes
3) Pumpkin pie
4) Pecan pie
5) less than 3000 calories ... mmm... food coma

C. Things I'm Ambivalent About

1) Gluttony
2) Holiday shopping
3) Law school exams
4) Thanksgiving television fare (football and giant balloons)
5) Law review

D. Things That Can Bite Me

1) Family Law
2) Two exams within 24 hours
3) Law firms that sent more than one rejection letter (I get it, asshole!!)
4) Law firms that didn't hire me
5) Bus. Ass.

E. Things I'm Thankful For

1) Clownfish
2) Bullshark here and safe this year
3) Thanksgiving at my sister's house (plus her Hubby and my Niece and Ben the Bird) with my parents and my brother and his fiancee -- so good we're all healthy and living in the same time zone...
4) My extended family and dear friends, none of whom know about this blog but for whom I am thankful nonetheless
5) MILS, Mommy Lawyers, and all my bloggy buddies, especially the one who checks up on me when the tone of the blog gets a little down. You know who you are. Thank you.


Hat Tip: Corndog.

Last night at our house

Does Clownfish look drunk to you?

Beats, Joe Mathlete.

Its the most wonderful time of the year

I feel like dancing through the color-saturated set of Pushing Daisies. Tra-lala...

Why?

I'm not cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I'm not hosting Thanksgiving dinner. I spent no time cleaning my house this weekend, or cooking, or panicking about apple pies and sides and defrosting frozen turkeys.

I get to go to my sister's house with some token dessert and flowers and my family.

Sure, I'll help out that night, probably rinse some dishes for the dishwasher and/or entertain the kids.

But I am not cooking.

Tra-la-la.

* * *

I AM however studying. A lot. Because this semester sucked and I had too much going on to consistently read and/or outline.

F*ck.

Reading evidence at 5:30 AM has a way of ruining my good mood.

MILS #20: The Moving Edition

The Weekly MILS (Moms In Law School) Roundup is the brainchild of Saramel (retired).

It is hosted on a rotating basis between bloggers PT-LawMom and A Little Fish in Law School blogs. We aim for Sunday posts.

This week's theme... Law students (and their families) get moving.

• 2L Wannabe. A bad run gone good.
• Lag Liv. Grandpa's balancing act.
• Peanutbutter Burrito. Left leaning.
• Diary of a law school mom. Shopping, painting, scrapping the whole thing.
• Pt Lawmom. Turkey trotting.
• Merits of the Case. Leaving Las Vegas.
• Knocked up and in law school. Birth planning by the seat of your pants.

Bonus feature: what the MILS have to look forward to:

Legally Certifiable job hunts, as does Jane Doe law. And Zuska is working the billables.

**Hat tip as always to the “original” Roundup — Evan Schaeffer’s Legal Underground and Divine Angst**

*Snort*

You have to read this post.

Ah, the 70's.

I haven't laughed that hard in weeks.


Hat tip: Mommy Tracks. My mistake was reading this in the law library.

Not myself

Some have noted I've not been "myself" on the blog or in person lately.

It is true.

And I'm not talking about it here.

Which is also not like me.

Things will get better, I hope.

Until then, I'll continue to scribble off the occasional slapdash post and host the Roundup.

Bear with me.

Also: see 934 F Supp 1395

The kind of thing law students find funny. Motion to kiss my ass.

MILS #19

PT Lawmom

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-check it out.

Back here next week unless we find a third.

It is as it does

More stupid:

A parking ticket for parking on the street in front of our house facing the "wrong" way.

Its a totally residential area, bordered by even more residential area on all sides. There are 10 houses on my block, total. Some people on our block do it daily (narrower driveway plus conveneince of entering the street from the north side equals "illegal" parking). We've been in the house four years, and one of us have parked the car that way on average once or twice a month (we widened our driveway so it comes up less often). This morning, literally everyone on the block parked on "our" side of the street got a ticket.

Post-mayoral election funding I guess.

MILS #18 -- Be Afraid!

***IMPORTANT MILS ROUND-UP NOTICE AT THE END OF THE POST***

The sort-of-late-for-Halloween Edition of the MILS Round-up.

(Not exclusively MILS this week as some Lawyer-Moms had some stuff so appropriate to the theme, I couldn't pass it up.)

The Songs:

Nightmare on My Street. (No! Not the string cheese!) Peanut Butter Burrito

Zombie. (follow-up) Peanut Butter Burrito.

Highway to hell. (Damn stalkers depriving us of cuteness) Pt-Lawmom.

Werewolves of London (and other hairy? beasties). Legally Certifiable.

Witchdoctor-- Lag Liv.

Time Warp. Reasonable Expectations, Knocked Up (and in law school), 2L Wannabe.

Thriller. Diary of a Law School Mom

Ghostbusters. Who you gonna call? Lawyer Mama!

Bad Moon Rising. (I feel trouble on the way... LOL) Congrats, Zuska!

The Horror:

Cereal Killer! Magic Cookie

Exorcist! Merits of the Case

There were other great posts this week, but working in a theme is hard, y'all.

The Weekly MILS (Moms In Law School) Roundup is the brainchild of Saramel at Reasonable Expectations. It is hosted on a rotating basis among three bloggers PT-LawMom, A Little Fish in Law School blogs and player to be named.

***IMPORTANT MILS ROUND-UP NOTICE HERE***

In case you didn't see the post (see the Time Warp above), Saramel is taking a hiatus from blogging.

Pt-Lawmom and I would like to continue the round-up but would like a third blogger. So, consider this an open invite to any MILS who is interested.

There is no write on competition or callbacks or humiliating initiation rites (largely because Pt-Lawmom shot down all of my suggestions for humiliating initiation rites... kidding). You just have to be a MILS, express interest, and be someone who posts on her blog regularly (i.e. more or less once a week).

Please email: ilovebutterflyfish AT yahoo DOT com. We're confining it to my email address so the first interested blogger who meets that criteria can be "offered" the "job."

Note to "Applicant": It would be your turn on Sunday, November 11... but we can switch the order if need be.

**Hat tip as always to the “original” Roundup — Evan Schaeffer’s Legal Underground and Divine Angst.

To continue a theme

So, I'm mentioned before Clownfish likes dinosaurs. And I've mentioned that we regularly take him to museums.

I've also mentioned that I think my son is smarter than I am.

More proof: Clownfish and I recently went to the local museum. There was a beautiful painting of dinosaurs.

I pointed to a dino I recognized from the dino book and said "Look, Clownfish! A Nodasaurus!"

He looked up at me and then pointed to the tail and said, "Mommy, that's Ankylosaurus! He has spikes and a tail that can hit you!"

Label under the dinosaur, previously unseen by me?

Ankylosaurus.

LOL-Reject

It took the government long enough!

So, Crazy Cat Lady of Aug. 31, finally got around to sending the rejection... by email.