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| February 29, 2004 |
| Happy leap day everyone. |
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Had a fun weeekend. The weather was great - 50s. But with Massachusetts you have to assume it's just a tease and that tomorrow it will be back in the 20s or something. But it was nice to sit and walk outside for awhile yesterday. We tried the RPG out on Saturday morning. It was okay. I was a little boring, but I think that's because we're all new to it, and we're not all connected in the game yet. I'm sure it will pick up the more we play it. Jen and Mike's characters are not quite as I expected them, but they're cool. My character did nothing so far, except go to a funeral, and have dinner with her brother. So it goes. Eventually I'll put those gun fu skills to use. Maybe. Going to take a practice LSAT today. Kaplan is doing it for free on the Brandeis campus. I'm a bit nervous about it. I haven't taken it before ever, nor have I done a million practice exams from test booklets. I feel like doing this might help me in terms of some of the decisions I'm swaying on the edge of at the moment. But trying not to put too much pressure on myself. (HA) Going to go have some breakfast and then maybe head out to the gym. |
| February 24, 2004 |
| Thanks to the BP, I've had some very interesting visitors today. Lisha, Storey, and Zimmy all raise the adoption issue, which is another great point I hadn't even thought about. Andy remembered hearing about Stor and Em run that case; I think its a good one - and right. But I think a substantial slice of adoption problems would get better if we stopped doing stupid things like preventing gay couples from adoption. But that's a whole different issue. Back to eggs and sperm, Zimmy is however incorrect in stating that you don't know if a child is produced. That may be the case with sperm donation (as there are sperm banks in which to donate) but egg donation is totally different. When you agree to donate an egg, you have to go through a lot. You should check out the article I linked (even though its from the Justice) but the gist of it is that you have to do all this stuff to synchronize your hormones with the mother's and harvest eggs more than once if the first bit doesn't do it, and most importantly - your name goes on file as having been the genetic supplier of the child. Your name is not on the birth certificate, but it is placed on a medical file. So you do know, and my harms still stand (even if Lisha thinks they're trite.) On to another issue raised, I definitely vibe with the money point. I think it's just a little bit sick how much money people are willing to put in for the sake of the egg. The lawyer justifies it by the specific qualifications the parents are looking for, but I did a little research and this isn't an uncommon practice. A friend of mine from Rutgers University in New Jersey says the same types of adds run in their newspaper, The Daily Targum, but instead go for around $5000, as opposed to $35000, which I think says something about Brandeis' lack of socio-economic disparity. Again, another issue. Anyway, I've got a 5 page poetry paper to write by tomorrow, and I'm only halfway there. I'd forgotten how to do English papers to a certain extent (the last one I wrote being senior year of high school.) I'm holding the game cube games hostage in my room until I finish. I just don't think I could handle hearing the roommates play and not want to go out and join them. |
| February 24, 2004 |
- Spent most of today furiously working on my conflict paper. Went to the gym this morning, but I had a hard time. I think it makes a difference as to whether I eat breakfast beforehand or after. I just didn't have as much energy today. Plus I gained last week when I was at home, so the body I was exercising in was harder to work. Overall I'm still down quite a bit, so its all good. Interesting debate I was having today... Would you ever do this? Not a single girl quoted in the Brandeis newspaper said they would, but all had different reasons not to. I also have a problem with this; interestingly enough, my reason is closer to Sami's than anyone else quoted in the article. (Which can be found at the justice online.) I don't think I'd be afraid of the procedure, or mistrust the parents, or whatever that other girl said. My problem with it, is the fact that somewhere out there, there's a kid that is yours. Even if you don't raise the child, it still has your genes. It's something that could have come from you, were it a different time in your life. But instead, it belongs to someone else. The psychological effect of that is pretty intense. Frankly, I don't think I'd be able to handle it. There's a reason they make egg donors sign a contract forgoing any rights to contact with the child or the family after the donation - because that maternal instinct kicks in and you want to see what came from your gift of life. That is major, major stuff. |
| February 23, 2004 |
| Rest of break finished out fine. Saturday night Nikki and I visited Ali at Friday's and then watched "The New Guy," a funny teeny-bopper movie that was on TV, featuring the always beautiful Eliza Dushku. Got in a too brief visit with the bro Sunday morning, which mostly consisted of him and my father arguing about politics over a nice breakfast. {{Sigh.}} Got back to Brandeis yesterday and did nothing but unpack and play tetris worlds. There might have been a little SSB as well. |
I've got 2 papers due this week. Why I'm fucking around with this is beyond me. Maybe I can pretend to apply it to my law class, lol --> YOU ARE RULE 8(a)! You are Rule 8, the most laid back of all the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. While your forefather in the Federal Rules may have been a stickler for details and particularity, you have clearly rebelled by being pleasant and easy-going. Rule 8 only requires that a plaintiff provide a short and plain statement of a claim on which a court can grant relief. While there is much to be lauded in your approach, your good nature sometimes gets you in trouble, and you often have to rely on your good friend, Rule 56, to bail you out. Which Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Are You? brought to you by Quizilla |
| As an interesting side note, if I take the book quiz, and have all my answers be the opposite of my inclinations, I end up with Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Huh. (Clearly I'm trying to avoid these two papers...) |
| February 20, 2004 |
| Happy B-day Storey. |
| My home friends rock. I wish it wasn't so long between our visits. In addition, "Billy Madison" still remains one of the only stupid humor movies I actually appreciate. |
| February 19, 2004 |
 So I've gotten more flack about this from my Brandeis friends than from everyone else, which I find surprising, but the main reason I came home this break was to go see "Fiddler on the Roof." It's currently playing on Broadway, starring Alfred Molina and a host of other excellent actors. Its loyalty to the movie version (which I love) was mostly unwavering. They've added one new song, "Topsy Turvy," which is sung by Yente the matchmaker and two town women. My reaction is eh. But they included tons of things I figured they wouldn't be able to: the dream sequence Tevya describes to Golde- including a flying dead wife from the grave, multiple candlelightings during the sabbath scene, the bottle dancing scene at the wedding! It was all fantastic. The three elder daughters all had incredible voices, as did Golde, and the tailor Motyl. I just loved it. It's a great story. So that's most of what I did yesterday. In the morning I went to the library to evoke an old tradition - paper research! Amazing, that I had almost forgotten how to use the CLC. I have a poetry paper due when I get back to school and I'm flipping. I haven't written an english paper in three years. And I forgot to pass-fail the class cause I was busy with debate stuff around the deadline time. {{Sigh.}} Anyhoo, its late and I can't stop yawning so I'm off for now. |
| February 18, 2004 |
| Came home today. Got up at 7:30am to go to the gym with Chia, but was too sore. Plus the weather report for the day indicated snow starting at 8am so I threw all my shit in the car and left. Got chased all the way across Massachusetts by a dark looming cloud. Came home to an empty house, so I tossed "To Kill A Mockingbird" on the VCR and had it almost finished by the time my mom got home from work. Now I can form my own opinion of Gregory Peck. When he passed away, I had never seen any of his movies, and now since then I've seen two. So far I think good. And boy, the little girl who played Scout - for a child actor she had incredible expression! And the film itself was really artistic for being so old. The intro credit sequence was beautiful. I'm always a sap for B&W film, especially if its done well, so... Anyway, after the rents got home I did some laundry, had dinner with them, and went to the gym. Just walked though - my calves and knees still feel extremely sore. Guess I'll try the sleep early thing tonight. I am quite tired. Nite ya'll. |
| February 17, 2004 |
| Today I grew some serious balls. As a last minute decision, Jenn and I decided we'd rather try snowboarding than skiing. It was insane. As my (*very* hot) snowboarding instructor first told us, "Skiing is easier to learn but harder to master. Snowboarding is the opposite." So while Jenn and I were jealous of the little kids skiing down black diamond slopes we tried to remember it'd be worth it in the end. :) However, one of my ends is not too forgiving. Along with my knees, I expect it'll be quite black and blue tomorrow morning. I find it hard to bend my knees, hard to sit, and hard to hold up my arms. I must have fallen a million times. Still, we had fun. I certainly got my exercises' worth out of today. And then some. And now I can say I've been snowboarding. And I've learned that "1260 Hospitalized" and "Nac Nac Air" jumps don't really exist. Any good SSX players out there will know what I'm talking about. :) Now we're heading into the common room to see "Fantasia 2000" and order Chinese. |
| Good movie. But someone remind me the next time I want to order Chinese Chicken Fingers, that they may feel good going down, but once they're there they reek some serious havock - cause me? I fall for it every time. Me and my very sorry intestines are going to bed. I've got to get up early tomorrow to go the gym, and pack to go back to Jersey for what remains of February break. Hopefully I can get some work done there, cause it certainly hasn't happened here. |
| Apparently "Siddhartha" is not a common result over at ye old book quiz, found in the blue pyramid. If you haven't checked it out yet, I highly recommend it. I just wonder why my result is so uncommon. Anyway, bed for real now... |
| February 16, 2004 |
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Hey ya'll! Check it! New journal! So since it's February break, and I'm not at home, I've finally had time to go and learn some of that HTML I've been wanting to get to for awhile. Trying out tables, seeing how they work as a layout. It took me a couple of days, but I think this will work for awhile. At least until I get bored with it. In other news, I haven't been a hermit this entire break. Friday we had our little Friday the 13th party, and rented a bajillion movies from Waltham Library. Saturday my sister came up, and we made dinner at my Aunt's and went to see the play she's producing this season. It's called, "Dinner With Friends," by Donald Margulies. Seeing the play was great, most of the actors were pretty good; now I want to read it and get all its meanings for myself. It seems to contain many statements about people, relationships, old age, and love - all things I find interesting. Yesterday I went with some of the girls to get dresses for the junior/senior formal. I'm not going to formal b/c it's the same day as my cousin Mandee's wedding, and b/c I think I can only really afford to go once. Either way, I still like dress shopping so I went. It was exhausting, as shopping often is. So when we got back we just wanted to veg. We ordered pizza, and watched the first of 11 rented movies, "American History X." I've been wanting to see this film for a long time. Now that I've finally seen it, wow. I think I'm going to sometime soon start a movie review page on this site, so I'll save most of the commentary for that. But for a sentence or two, I'll say if you haven't seen it yet, you must. It expresses poignantly a lesson that it's crucial all human beings learn - hate is an unneccessary evil that only breeds more evil. Other merits to its credit - stunning b&w cinematography, stellar performances by all main characters (Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, etc.) and some great short roles as well (Beverly D'Angelo, Elliot Gould, Avery Brooks.) So now, as for what today holds? Definitely a visit to the gym, probably another movie or two, and hopefully some school work at some point; I've got 2 papers due the week I come back from break. {{Sigh.}} Well, thanks, dear readers, if any of you are still out there - for your patience and your interest. And if not, I write for me too, so it's all good. Lata gatas-- |
| Silly me, to think there were just 4. | Got another movie in today: Pollock. Its a movie Ed Harris made and starred in about the life of American painter Jackson Pollock. Quite a beautiful film; his life was a sad story, but his art was undeniably unique and fascinating. Ed Harris does an amazing job. As does Marcia Gay Harden. | I ate too much tonight. I was depressed I didn't lose more this week, and what did I do? I ate. Silly. At least at this point eating too much consists of shit like granola, fruit, and maybe pretzels. I've mostly cleaned my room of things too caloric. Perhaps I'll work most of it off when I go skiing tomorrow. Assuming I can ski, that is. Nite ya'll. Up early tomorrow- |
