A pep talk

Ok gentlemen, tomorrow is the big day. Now it's not where we thought we'd be this New Years...not by a long shot. But injuries happened, things went haywire, and before you know it, our goals changed from getting to the Rose Bowl to having a winning season. I know you already know this. But at Big Game this year, you seemed defeated. You didn't seem to want to play anymore, and that's not acceptable. Our season is not over until tomorrow, so I don't want to see you guys mailing it in like we saw at the Holiday Bowl in 2004. Disappointment is ok, but you can't play like you just don't care anymore. We are the California Golden Bears! Have some pride! Even if we have fallen a ways from our number 2 ranking earlier this year, at least if we can beat Air Force, we can salvage something from this season. So please, come to win tomorrow...ok?

Of course, this is all moot since this season never happened, but just hypothetically.

My brain is trying to keep my life entertaining

I had an odd dream last night, and I can't remember too much of how it started, but at some point I was taking this class, and everyone got assigned a topic that they were supposed to learn as much as possible about, and then you'd be in a team of four, and they'd ask all these questions to your team (about the four topics you'd been assigned), and of course whoever gets th emost wins. They had a whole list of possible topics on the board, and Scrubs was one of the options, which would have been great for me (I have all of the seasons on dvd, including 5 and 6, which I just got for Christmas--even though 6 wasn't that great, I have to finish the collection!) since then I can just watch tv and call it studying. But instead I got assigned Dinesh D'Souza. Which was random. But not all of my group members were in my class, some were in this other class, so I go to meet my other members and guess who one of them is--Dinesh D'Souza! What are the odds? Actually I think it was more poor planning than odds, but whatever. So now I'm thinking, well, I guess I don't have to study anything! And it turns out my friend Liz was in a group with Hugh Jackman, and I was really excited and wanted to get my picture taken with him because I love him.

And then I woke up with this song stuck in my head for some reason (go to the 1 minute mark). Starz on Demand has the movie right now, and my brother and I actually watched it last week because it was something we used to watch as kids, which is why I even remember the song.

Merry Christmas!!!

And yes, not only is my dog wearing his little holly "collar" that came with the elf costume, he's also wearing his brand new Cal jersey!!! Yup, they make them for dogs, and it's fantastic. He'll learn to love it, I'm sure.

Just saying hi

Sorry for the light posting, but I really don't have anything to say right now, unless you want to hear about the Christmas tree skirt I'm making. Oh, I do have some more cute doggie pictures but I'll save those for later because I haven't uploaded them yet. So...I'll try to have something funny happen to me later, or do something dumb, so I'll have something to post about.

Another pet peeve? People who write using "plz" and "ur"

I recently received a comment on a post from October, and because I doubt the commenter will be checking for my response, I'm just going to answer her (?) off-base observation here. Not that she probably checks my blog anyway, but I have to explain why she's dumb regardless. No offense intended. Her comment:

Actually, he did know what his starting salary was going to be. That was one of the major tempting things! I mean, if you're going to rag on it, plz know ur facts!! No offense intended.

The post she's referring to is here, and it has HIMYM spoilers, so if you're that far behind still, beware and read no further.

Anyway, spockie13: you are referring to the fact that Marshall gets slipped a piece of paper by John Cho with the salary written on it, as is the style in all tv shows and movies (and I've never understood why we're not allowed to know how much money someone is offering someone else, but that's a separate issue). I, on the other hand, am talking about the fact that in the legal world, for any substantial law firm (which this clearly was supposed to be), the starting salaries for jobs are public. No lawyer, especially one coming from Columbia, would be so uninformed as to not know what the market salary is right now at a big firm in New York. My "ragging" on HIMYM has nothing to with the money being tempting once Marshall has his socks knocked off hearing about it at dinner, and everything to do with the fact that no lawyer would be unaware of the starting salary past his first day of law school! So perhaps you should know your facts--read a blog or a website.

Lawyered.

Starting fresh for the new year

For months now, my computer has been having serious issues. The kinds of issues where it randomly freezes up on you and you have to control-alt-delete everything just to get things moving again, or where it takes 15 minutes to restart your computer instead of the normal 2 or 3. It hasn't been pretty. So finally I couldn't take it anymore and I asked my dad to wipe out my hard drive so I could start over...and that's where we are today. So far, things seem great! Other than having to re-install my programs, which isn't that big of a deal, there hasn't been much of a downside (especially since my dad used his magic computer things to copy all of the files I wanted to save).

What kinds of things did I want to save? My pictures, for example! And as promised, here are some ridiculous pictures of my puppy. Here he is dressed as an elf, and oh, what a happy elf he is. Mwahahaha.

This is sooo much fun.

My last Christmas break, oh no!

Yesterday I was at a bar watching football with some friends for a couple of hours, because my power went out and I had nothing to do at home, and had to kill time until I went to the gym. So I was kind of watching the New England game, but being in Durham they had the Carolina-Seattle game on the big tv, and with the audio. I wasn't paying attention at all until I heard the announcer call out a familiar name.

Announcer: That was Brandon Mebane [Reva's ears perk up, she starts looking around], rookie out of California [Reva starts cheering out loud, even though she has no idea what's going on]...who missed the tackle.

Oops! That's ok, Brandon, you'll get 'em next time! And I'd have cheered for you regardless. Go Bears!

I'm leaving today to go home, and I'm glad because there's really nothing to do out here! Especially since some people have already left, which depletes our already-undersized group this semester (we have three people gone, between Adam abandoning us for the frozen tundra (which he has learned his lesson about, I should think!) and two other people studying abroad). That's ok, though, I'm going to need to rest up for next semester -- last time I'll ever be in school, you bet your ass we're going to make the most of it! Exciting times to follow...not all of which will be documented on this blog, sorry. The internets is too public for some awesome stories. Those you just tell your friends via AIM when you finally make it home at 3:30 am. For example.

Time for a beer...or seventeen

I feel like the longer exams go on, the worse I do. Today I had my last one, and I'm ready to go jump out a window. When I think back to my first exam I'm like hey, not so bad! Oh well...the good news is, I'm done! I'm free! I only have one semester to go of law school...augh!!!

An open letter

Dear France,

You are retarded.

Sincerely,
Reva

PS: We almost could have used this as a hypo for my EU law class! I'm so glad that's over with now. Maybe I can find some helpful articles about bankruptcy to help me study for my exam tomorrow. The exam for which I am screwed, in case you were wondering.

Sometimes having a blog is like being in therapy

You know, it's funny when someone just ruins your entire day, and then you realize that they probably have no idea that they did this. And, I'm sorry, but it's almost always a guy that is this clueless. Girls know when they make you feel like crap. Guys just continue on their merry way. I am adding this to my official list of pet peeves. I don't know if this really counts as a pet peeve, but whatever, I'm adding it. What else is on that list? How about people who make singular words possessive for no reason, like Kroger. It's "I have to go to Kroger," not "I have to go to Kroger's." Drives me absolutely nuts. Also, people who don't realize that the "incoming traffic does not stop" sign at the intersection by Target means that THEY are not supposed to stop! So they end up sitting there and blocking everyone, when we have stop signs and they clearly don't. That's a bit specific, but it makes me want to grab a baseball bat and smash in their windows, so I'm counting it.

Everybody loves HIMYM!

Awww, Heather at Go Fug Yourself loves Robin Sparkles!! I should tell her that it was my halloween costume...maybe then I'd get a "well-played!" I would *so* put that on my resume. Hell, I'd put it on business cards!

I'm told that the writers strike has basically killed the rest of the tv season...come on people, it's my last semester of law school, I have so much time for tv now! Why are you doing this to me???

Speaking of school, three exams down, one to go. I sadly am completely unprepared for that one (on Friday), but hopefully the rest of today and tomorrow will be ridiculously productive and it'll be ok. I'm sure that's very likely...especially now that I've finished season 3 of House.

Shh!

I have my window open right now because it's like 75 degrees and gorgeous outside (man I love warm weather, all year long!), but there's a crazy bird outside that's making dying cat noises. It's driving me nuts! It's a good thing I love animals, or I'd go murder it.

Smart kid

This is old, but I didn't know about it, so maybe you didn't either. Apparently one of the Duke basketball players transferred to Cal! He isn't eligible to play until the fall semester is over, I believe, so we haven't seen how he does as a Golden Bear yet. But good job, Boykin! Way to be smart in picking your schools. (I don't know if this guy sucks or not, I didn't pay that much attention last year, but at least I recognized his name! Not as a Duke basketball player necessarily, but I knew I'd heard it somewhere!)

I hate these stupid regional games

Sounds like an exciting game...sure wish I'd been able to see it instead of the stupid Panthers game!! :-p

Cuteness!

I miss my puppy...the house seems very empty without him or the parakeets around to keep me company. I just not used to having a house that's so...dead. Anyway, here are some cute pictures I took of him a few weeks ago, in a shrimp costume that one of my friends gave me because it doesn't fit her dog.

He didn't so much enjoy the costume, he kept trying to chew on the little shrimp legs. It was pretty cute =) I don't approve of dressing up dogs in clothing, that's just terrible. But costumes? That's a different matter. I got him a little Christmas "costume" (it's really just a hat and collar) and I can't wait to put it on him so I can take pictures and embarrass him here.

I'm worrying about the important things

So one of my friends who is moving to DC next year, too, pointed out that he'll be able to get a license plate for his school when he re-registers his car there. Now, Virginia has quite a few options...but no Cal! I could get a Duke plate...but why would I do that? So I am not excited about that. Of course, then I went to check out what kinds of license plates you can get in Washington, DC. This is what the standard plate looks like:

I really hate it...I think it is super whiny. According to the DMV site, though, there is another option--this is the standard one, but you can request the "www.dc.gov" plate instead if you want it. I'm not thrilled about a license plate with a website on it, either, but I'd rather have that than their stupid whining. Of course, what I'd really love is the "National Black Scuba Divers Association" plate, which is one of the 14 organizational plates that they offer, but I have to get authorization from the organization saying I'm allowed to get the plate...which might be difficult to get, for some reason.

What makes me really bitter? Even if I was going back to California, I still wouldn't be able to get a Cal license plate, because the only collegiate plate they offer is for UCLA. Hmph!

Maybe this is why people get the newspaper

I haven't been able to keep track of the days of the week since classes ended...all I know is how long between now and my next final. I forgot that today was Saturday - I've been checking some of my usual blogs, and been surprised/annoyed that they hadn't been updated yet today! I mean, I'm here, desperate for something to distract myself with while learning about receivables financing as a model of securitizing assets (no, I don't know what that is...that's the problem), and I've got nothing! So I guess I'll just blog to distract myself.

Well there go my plans

Oh man, now what I am I going to do when I'm home for Christmas break??

At least *something* is still new on tv...

I love my DVR so much. Sure, I watch more tv with it than I would otherwise, but I watch *smarter.* And I probably spent way more time fiddling with the VCR back in the day (because there are some shows that I have to watch, no matter what!) anyway, so I'm sure it comes out even in the end.

What prompted this declaration of love? The show Psych on USA (it's funny and quirky) had a random "holiday episode" last night, in the middle of its hiatus. But I get to see it, because even though I didn't know about it, my DVR did! Oh happy days.

So I do most of my studying in my room, sitting on my bed, because I like to be comfy. Sometimes I mix it up and work at my desk, but that kinda sucks (even though I love my desk...it's huge, and holds all of my crap) because it's not comfy sitting in my chair (which is actually a wooden chair from my kitchen table) for hours on end. Today, however, I couldn't take being in my room anymore. I needed a change of scenery. So where am I now? Downstairs at my coffee table. At least it's something different...

Hope!

Well this is my kind of weather forecast--Monday is supposed to be 75 degrees! Now that is what December should feel like!

Sorry Adam...

Halfway doesn't sound very appealing right now

Sorry for the light blogging, I've been simultaneously busy AND lazy. Yesterday was exam 2 of 4, and we're not going to talk about it. It's graded on a curve, so hopefully no one in that class wants to talk about it, and it will all work out in the end. All I know is, I never have to know anything about EU law again. Hooray!

You know what's bad news? Puppy mills.

You know what's awesome? Coming up with not one, but TWO super good presents for people, in one day. Neither one will actually be a Christmas present, but they'll be given someday. And fawned over!

This is pretty funny:



I'll try to get back with the posting, but for now I just want to read the last 20 pages of this stupid chapter so I can be done for the night! Actually, I would have been done a while ago, but I've spent the last half hour googling WWII navy posters trying to find this amazing poster that they had at the Pentagon which I really loved and wanted a print of, but now I can't remember what's written on the poster so that makes it impossible to find. Especially because it wasn't one of those common ones you see everywhere. I know I've seen it before though, so I'll keep looking! The message is awesome, it's basically saying, hey sailors, watch out, because that hot girl you're talking to could be a spy for the enemy! Cracks me up.

Oh, there was a post on Above the Law about all the problems Duke Law has had with our website etc, and some of the comments ended up being about how hot (or not) the girls are here. I found that amusing.

Entertaining myself

You may recall that last semester I wrote about the most relaxed exam I've ever taken. Well, it's officially been topped. So far I've talked to my friends online (about completely unrelated things), watched an episode of House, and scheduled a hair appointment. In addition to reading my normal blogs, of course, and checking up on yesterday's football games. But you know, the exam last semester worked out really well, so maybe this is just how I kick ass at exams! I'm embracing it.

Good news/bad news

Armed Forces Bowl it is! Now I have to see if my brother wants to come with me. Oh, I forgot, I'm not supposed to talk about him on my blog. Sorry Devin! Er, I mean...Schmevin. Yeah, that's my brother's name, Schmevin.

UPDATE: He's in! Not sounding very excited yet, but whatever. Go Bears!

You disgust me

This website is selling Cal t-shirts, and they can't even spell the name of our school correctly on their website.

Silver lining?

Yesterday's game wasn't about going to a bowl game for me, it was about winning Big Game. Period. I don't really give a crap about going to some random bowl game, especially given the fact that we seem unable to block out disappointments and focus on the game at hand (see, eg, the Holiday Bowl 2004). I would really prefer to just let the season die. However, it has just come to my attention that the Armed Forces Bowl is played in Forth Worth, which is like a half hour (or less, I don't know) from where my parents live now! So fine, if you're going to torture us by sending us to a bowl game, then please, let it be the Armed Forces Bowl so I can go cheer on my team.

And while long-time readers know that I am not the biggest fan of college basketball for the most part, I actually saw the last quarter of the Cal-Missouri game last night. I'd just like to point out that we are 5-0 this year--maybe this is our year for basketball, huh?? And also, for the record, it's not that I don't like college basketball, but I grew up watching the NBA (my parents are huge Lakers fans) so college just seems...weird to me. And I mostly hate Duke basketball for getting in my way, so it's not the sport itself. I just wish somehow, someday (and by someday I mean this season, at Duke) they'd play Cal so I could go see my Golden Bears and root against Duke, as I would be required to do, regardless of the likelihood of us actually beating Duke. Oh, speaking of, I saw a license plate a couple of days ago that was "H8NDOOK." Seems to me that if your license plate has the name of your enemy, you're giving them too much power.

I have thoughts; here they are

*The commentators on Versus totally suck and I hate having to listen to them. Seriously, if you can't see that a foot dragging in the dirt such that it kicks up dirt means that he had a foot inbounds, you need to be fired (and for the record, the refs also saw said foot dragging in the dirt).

*I don't know what Kevin Riley did to Tedford to piss him off, but it must have been bad, seeing as Nate Longshore has not been healthy for weeks, and yet Riley still doesn't get any playing time. (Note: my previous decision to murder Kevin Riley, and his children, has been revoked. I still blame him for his mistake, but have decided murder might have been harsh).

*I'm glad that I decided that the season was officially over back after our loss to UCLA, so that nothing since then counts. It was a good call.

*I was going to say something mean about cutting off Lavelle Hawkins' hands since he's obviously not using them anymore, but I've calmed down in the last hour, so I'll keep it to myself.

*The only good thing about today? WVU losing to Pitt. Yet another number 2 team losing to an unranked team. Shocking. I didn't say it before because I didn't want to jinx it (because I really wanted WVU to lose), but part of me was actually expecting it. I mean, six times in a season?!?! I blame this curse for the disaster that is our entire season.

At least someone is paying attention to us still

The network that is showing Big Game tonight, Versus (which I'd never heard of before this year), just had a whole big program on the 25th anniversary of The Play...good times! PS That studying thing is going super well.

No neighborhood thief, hooray!

Well, the good news is that my package didn't get stolen! The bad news is that DHL didn't make it easy to retrieve. But the good news is that I finally got it! Apparently Nordstrom thought that the package got delivered on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but according to DHL that was only their first attempt. They claim they tried twice more, including last Monday, and so since they had three failed attempts I had to go get it myself. Which was fine really, it's easier that way. But I never got any of those missed package slips, which tells me that, shockingly, they were at the wrong house. Fine. But then they kept asking me for a tracking number when I tried to pick it up the package...and guess what, I don't have a tracking number when I don't actually have any of the yellow slips you think you left for me! Ugh. Luckily my package was sitting out in the main area of the DHL office and so the nice woman was able to give it to me, but if it had been anywhere else I would have been screwed. All's well that ends well, but I distrust DHL now.