Falling down the stairs

is how I started my first day of summer.

Scene: Living room, 9:30 am.

"Mijo, do you wanna go outside?"

Dog perks up his ears and trots over to me.

"Getcha leash!" I reach for my shoes, and pull my prescription out of my backpack. First on my list of business to take care of now that school is out: fill my scrip and take my much neglected dog to the dog park.

The dog is now panting and wagging his tail, as I snap his leash into place around his neck. Before heading out the door, I grab my to-go coffee and, since I'm feeling a little woozy from the last few days, a piece of cheese to fill my stomach.

We start out the door, the coffee and scrip in one hand, and my snack cheese in the other, the dog's leash looped around my forearm.

Normally, I let him charge down the stairs, not holding on to him. We live in a 3rd floor walk-up with one straight, steep staircase leading up to our front door. The 2nd floor neighbors have a dog too. My dog and their dog have a kind of Maggie Simpson-Unibrow Baby relationship. They bark at each other through the door, digging at the floor and making mean noises, even though if they were to actually see each other, they'd probably play all day.

So, for some reason, I am attached to Mijo's lease when we start down the stairs, and I'm still attached when he bounds down the staircase, literally leaping 3 steps at a time, to get to the 2nd floor landing where his arch-nemesis is waiting. I go tumbling down the stairs in slow motion, watching my coffee cup fly through dead air and land nearly at the bottom of the stairwell, and wondering whether I was going to end up there too.

But I landed, ironically, on the landing, screaming in pain because somehow I really hurt my knee in the whole process. Arch-nemesis dog is barking non-stop now and trying to dig his way to me from the crack under the door. My phone is upstairs on the charger, exactly where I left it, not having imagined I would need it for an emergency on my quick errand run. And Mijo has become suddenly stoic, perching himself on the edge of the landing, facing toward the bottom of the stairs and watching the legs of people walking by through the little window in the front door.

I laid there for about 10 minutes. First the pain was almost unbearable. But eventually, it subsided enough that I could think of other things, like whether I should try to call someone, or if I should go up or down. Finally, I stood up, prompting my dog to also stand up, tail tucked between his legs. He instinctively walked back up the stairs, knowing he had ruined our walk. And I followed him, slowly. We got back inside, and I crashed on the couch to sleep for 2 hours.

Now I'm sitting here icing my knee, wishing I had bought the health insurance and feeling sorry for myself. It could be worse. As T said, think of the kid who fell out of a tree on the first day of summer break and had his arm in a cast all summer and couldn't go swimming.

How did I get here?

sometimes, the way we end up where we are in life amazes me. how did i end up with an entire year of law school under my belt? how did i end up with a guy who loves me so much he encouraged me to do this? how did i end up 27 and happy with who i turned out to be? i am so lucky. this is a day to celebrate.

International law, schminternational law

As of 9:50 pm on Saturday, the penultimate night of studying for 1L finals, my international law outline is 49 pages. And I am approximately half-way through the syllabus. This is seriously outrageous. And yes, I'm aware I should have been outlining the entire time or something.

Basically, I have no idea what I'm supposed to be writing down and what not to. As a result, I am creating a hideous Frankesteinian monster. Its out of control growth is so fast that the entire document is sure to consume me for breakfast on Monday morning as I sit staring helplessly at a 7-page fact pattern. I just hope I can get through the course in time to pare this thing down before the exam.

Like me, T is at his wits end. I keep trying to write about the things he's been doing to try to get my attention, which are all sweet-seeming things designed specifically to bug me and get a rise out of me. But then I realize that I'm just at that tail end of finals when everything, even nice, good, happy things, just bother you. For no reason, except that they are nice, and good, and happy, and you feel anything but.

I can't even imagine what life is going to be like after Monday!

as the rain falls.

okay, okay, okay. i should stop blogging about Luis Ramirez and problems with the Shendo trial. but i'm be keeping my eye on that case for sure. today the DOJ acknowledged they are looking into pursuing hate crime charges against the "kids".

but aside from that, i am actually doing other things. well...thing. singular, not plural. i'm studying. all day every day, more than i did last semester even at exam time. t and i went out to dinner last night and i was complaining about how dull everything seems. he pointed out to me that i am in the middle of what feels like finals "month" rather than finals "week" (as the rain continued to pour down on the sidewalk, on the 5th gray day in a row). i've been laying out my books and highlighters and E&Es and the laptop every morning and stretching across the floor to outline, and it does appear to be working. i do feel like i knew what i was talking about when i went into my property exam. and i feel like i'm grasping some of this whole procedure they call "civil" now. the one really good thing about tanking my con law exam is that nothing feels quite so bad in comparison. ever the optimist, i am.

so, i'm taking a well earned break to watch a little tv on the internet. and then i'm going back to figure out the particulars of the Erie doctrine. again.

oh yeah, our wedding website is up. exciting! t's brother did it for us. so that's pretty awesome. he not only designed the site, but he also did the drawings for the background. my brother said "it's very indie rock." haha. he would say that.

Jim Goodman

Who is Jim Goodman and why did he put on such a shoddy prosecution? What the hell happened? I'm still pissed about this.

Here's a great summary of the trial at the outset. Before people knew it was going to end so quickly with "simple assault" as the most serious charge against a couple of guys who jumped this Mexican immigrant, sucker punched him and left him with his brains seeping out of his skull.

This can't be justice...

I followed the death of Luis Ramirez, a guy who was:
- 25 years old
- an undocumented immigrant from Mexico
- father to two young kids with a US citizen woman
- boyfriend to that woman's 15 year old half-sister
- a farm-worker of 7 years
- resident of Shenandoah, PA
He was walking through a park with the 15-year old when some high school boys, drunk from a block party, said to the girl, "isn't it a little late to be out?" according to the lovely AP article, "this enraged ramirez who began yelling at them in Spanish and calling people on his cell phone." from all the affidavits given prior to trial, i understand that he made phone calls only after the boys and him began fighting, asking his friends to come by because he might be in trouble. six drunken dudes, one sober guy on a date.

one guy went running after him, giving him a running punch that knocked ramirez to the ground. after ramirez was unconscious, one guy kicked him in the head, causing ramirez to go into convulsions and, ultimately, killing him.

So, flash forward to a jury trial, which only came about because the Feds got involved and media attention basically forced the local folks to press charges. The prosecution rested far sooner than anyone expected, which raises questions for me. Defense barely said anything. then, the jury deliberated, and according to the foreman it wasn't even a close vote. The two guys on trial were found guilty. Of simple assault. The end.

I feel sick.

nnnnyyyyyyyyyrrrrrrrrrr...PSSSSHHHH!!!

okay, if you sound it out correctly, my blog entry title should sound precisely like the noise of a jet engine crashing and burning. because that is what i did. all. day. and the worst part? my exam is still here. with me. living inside my computer. all i have to do is suddenly KNOW con law, and i could fix it all up. right now. except.. it's a little late for that, folks. so, instead, i'm blogging at one in the morning, one hour after leaving the library in a state of confused resignation. (wasn't it just five o'clock?) in the morning, i will wake up, re-read what i wrote, try not to panic, and then print it out in a hurry so that i can turn it in on time. at least i have a one-up on last semester's memo. this time i've checked the word limit before five minutes before i have to walk out the door. score one for me.