How did I miss this?

I am SO taking this class next time it's offered:

Law and Literature: Seminar Professor Alan A. Stone

This seminar deals with texts that have played a role in the Law and Literature dialogue. Students should anticipate some changes in the readings which, have included short novels (Kafka, The Trial; Melville, Billy Budd; Coetzee, Disgrace, etc.), short stories (by Chekhov, Tolstoy, etc.), plays (The Merchant of Venice and Hamlet by Shakespeare), one long, dense and difficult novel (vol. 1 only of The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil), and commentary on Law and Literature (Posner, etc.). Students must read the short story Billy Budd by Herman Melville and submit a brief review before the first class. Requirements include regular class attendance and active participation in discussion. Students must write four short papers to be shared with other members of the seminar. Enrollment is limited to fifteen.

WARNING: Sappy Post Ahead

Sometimes I see Bryan's love for me in the small things. Tonight he asked me if I wanted some hot tea. Not because he was making some for himself, but just because he knows I like it. :) And the everyday stuff, too: he makes me laugh; those serious, strong belly laughs that make my tummy hurt. And he loves doing it. It makes me see his love for me, and makes me love him even more.

My new nickname and other random stuff

So, Bryan's given me a new nickname. He's started calling me "Brokeback Katie." The way he says it is so funny it makes me laugh really hard every time. Which hurts. Boo hoo. But he's so darn cute, it's worth it. :)

So today we just made up a lunch, loosely based on this Rachael Ray recipe. We used hamburger meat, red potatoes, onion, and creole seasoning, and then threw in mushrooms at the end. And fried eggs on top... oh how yummy. I even flipped them without breaking the yolk! :) I'd post a picture but it disappeared much too quickly...

Our new small group begins on Friday. We're excited. We're studying Galatians.

Nice surprise

So I just got a care package from my aunt and uncle in T-town. They're so sweet. Lots of candy (including Boston Baked Beans, of course... which always remind me of this old cartoon I had on VHS when I was a kid... another story...) and some bath stuff, including a relaxing CD and mask. They're so awesome.

THANKS JASON AND GENA! :)

One funny story

One funny little thing from last Friday that I forgot to post:

So I was in the middle of my Torts exam, and I went into a folder on my computer to open a file of notes, and guess what I discover? My folder marked "Federalist Society" had accidentally ended up in my Torts folder. I know that's not funny to most other people, but the few who get it will seriously appreciate the irony.

Native American Land...

So in my Property class we're talking about the "conquest" of the Native Americans and how Europeans basically took their property without any legitimate process other than the one they made up, and then the US justified it through its own courts... it just seems so odd to me. Being from Oklahoma, I've thought about this a lot, and I've always thought that the Europeans' (and later United States') treatment of Native Americans was grossly unfair, but it's really striking me how they justified it on their own terms. Basically, "it's ok because we said so." It just makes me sick to my stomach. But then, there's nothing that can be done now; it's just one of those things in history that will always bug me. And most other people. I guess we just have to be aware of it and try to avoid doing it again...

First day of class!

So classes started today, and I had Property for the first time. I think it's going to be a good class. I sit right in the front row, which I don't really like, but I think it'll help me stay awake, especially with the meds... The Prof is really pretty easy to follow, so that's good, but I can see how it could get boring later.

It was nice to not have the same first-day jitters as in September. I felt really comfortable, and I felt okay just jumping right in.

I think that's it for now. Vicodin is making me loopy, so I'm going to stop while I'm ahead. And read Property! :)

Today's Weather Forecast... in haiku

Thousands of huge flakes

Fall silently to the ground

A blanket of white

Return to Hope

Oh, how I missed my church! There is nothing like being in a room full of believers, singing out to the Lord and hearing everyone's voices combine in praise. It choked me up a bit. There is nothing like being away from it for awhile to make you realize how powerful it is. Really. Here's one of my new favorites:

How Deep the Father's Love for Us

Words and Music by Stuart Townend

©1995 Kingsway's Thankyou Music

(find a midi file here)

How deep the Father's love for us,

How vast beyond all measure

That he should give his only son,

To make a wretch his treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,

The Father turned his face away

As wounds which mar the chosen one,

Bring many sons to glory

Behold the man upon a cross,

My sin upon his shoulders

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held him there

Until it was accomplished

His dying breath has brought me life;

I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything:

No gifts, no power, no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ;

His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from his reward?

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart:

His wounds have paid my ransom

The sermon today was on abortion; our pastor approached the topic with grace and understanding, and I think he did a great job. He countered all of the popular justifications for it, with the simple biblical reasoning and common sense he's great at using. It made me feel really convicted that I don't do more to help the cause. I'm going to try to work on that.

It felt soooo good to be there.

Exams are over!

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah!

My torts exam was a long, uncomfortable, pretty miserable eight hours. But it's over! I knew going in I probably couldn't get an A in this class, so I was shooting for a B or maybe a B+. I had a hard time thinking like my professor; it seemed false to me, but I think I did ok. I spat out words like "system affirmation" and "dispositionism," and I was surprised to find that I really did know what they meant... But overall, I thought the exam was relatively boring. I hadn't slept well the night before, so I was tired, and my back was spasming, but, again, I think I did OK. Not the best, but OK. Enough about torts.

Last night we went to our friend's house; he had a dinner party, and he made shrimp etouffete and chocolate mousse... yummy! I finally got to take medication again so I felt good. Maybe a little too good, actually; I had no wine with dinner but I could feel myself acting silly. :) It was a fun time though. We got to meet some of his friends from school (he's at MIT), and they were all really nice.

Today Bryan's in Rhode Island recording the first song with Sacred Pursuit!! I really really wanted to go, but I decided that I was too tired (I woke up every 45 minutes last night) and I'd probably be in the way anyway. Plus it was an hour in the car each way, and stuck in a studio all day, with no pillows and heating pad... so I stayed home and napped. :)

School starts again on Monday. Great. So today I've got reading to do. Can you believe it? I just took my last final yesterday!!! Grr.

Anyway, that's my post-exam ramble, written while watching TLC and HGTV (ah, the joys of having the remote control all to myself!).

Try, try again...

OK. I'm annoyed. I have tried to post four times. I'm not doing it again.

Civ Pro exam=over.
I did OK.

Torts=tomorrow.
I'll post more when I'm not annoyed.

The Shorter Version

I have now written TWO posts about my civ pro exam and Blogger has screwed it up both times. I am not redoing it.

This is the shorter version:

It's over
I feel ok about it
But not super-great
Torts is tomorrow.

The End.

The Short Version

I just wrote this long post about my civ pro exam and Blogger screwed it up. I am not redoing it.

Suffice it to say: it's over. I feel okay about it but not great.

the end.

It's OVER!!

Yes, yes, I am forever finished with Civ Pro. It was a happy journey (not) but I am glad 'tis ended. The exam went okay... luckily my back cooperated for the most part; they gave me a super great chair, and I had my heating pad on the whole time. Plus I got to pause to stand if I needed to. Turns out I didn't need to pause, I only needed a couple of seconds each time, but it was nice knowing it was there.

The exam itself was iffy. The first part was good. I think I did pretty well. The second part was not so great. The first half of it I was just writing and thinking, "this is total crap, this is total crap, this is total crap." In fact I might have gotten more credit for actually writing that. I think the second half of the second part (whew!) was better, but still not stellar. I brought in a lot of stuff and passionately argued what I think she wants to hear, so hopefully that is good...

Anyway, it's over, and that's the important thing. :) Now I need a nap. And then I need to finish brushing up on Situationism for tomorrow's torts exam.

The good news and the bad news

The good news is, I discovered at about 5:30 this morning (after awakening from a terrifying dream about an evil cat trying to attack me) that I can toss and turn! The bad news is, I did it for two hours after the discovery... I felt okay, but I couldn't get comfortable! Every position hurt just enough to be annoying. Oh well.

Wish me luck today! I'm taking my Civ Pro final! :)

Studying... I will survive.

Well, I finally went through the cockroach sample exam for Civ Pro. I think I did ok. I just issue-spotted, didn't bother writing it up; I think that will come easy enough after years of lit exams. :) I think I have a pretty decent grasp on the material, my outline appears adequate, and her fact patterns appear fairly transparent to me. I think the problem is just going to be doing the work, making an argument. We'll see. I still need to beef up on the secondary material, and nail down some case names. But other than that, I think I'm set.

Ramblings....

Well, I'm feeling much better. I went all morning today sans medication. Then at 2:00 I broke down. But tomorrow I'm taking my mom's sage advice and taking only ibuprofen. (Is that how you spell it? I don't care...)

Today I did a whole block on my scarf. It's coming along! In a mere six months it might be long enough to actually wear!

I spoke with the DoS office today too. They're amazing. I think I'm going to take - gasp - exams on Thursday and Friday. CP on Thursday afternoon, Torts on Friday if I can find someone not from HLS to sit with me in the morning... I'm working on that...

I need to study a bit. I'm not sure how this whole exam thing is going to work out, since it's been awhile since I've been out of it for awhile. Hopefully studying tomorrow will do it. :) Jog the memory, jog the memory. :)

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Yesterday was a roller coaster.

The Good
My friend Megan came by in the morning while Bryan was at school, and we chatted, caught up, and watched two movies. I hadn't really gotten to see her alone since we've been back and it was good to talk.

Then she left and my pastor's wife Brandy and adorable son Brennan came over, bearing gifts of bread, chicken soup, and canoli. And Hannah, their daughter, made me a card. It's so cute.

Then my friend from school Kristin came over and we talked, caught up, and watched another movie. She's the one who coordinated the flowers. It was great to see her, and she was, as usual, an entertaining friend and a kind, attentive listener.

After that I finally took a bath. And I got in the bathtub by myself, bathed myself, got out by myself, and dried myself off. I was so proud! And Bryan was so proud. That was the first time in a week. I am hoping to be able to shower soon... :)

Then I watched yet another movie while Bryan went to the gym and ran a few errands. And I got SIX rows done on my scarf! :)

The Bad
Then my medication wore off.

The Ugly
I was so proud of myself for being so strong all day, and the pain that came with the wear-off really really dissappointed me, made me very sad. I cried so hard; I just couldn't understand. I thought I was doing so well, and then it seems to return to square one. It's so frustrating to have to depend on the medication. I just want to be back to normal. I'm tired of this, and it's been just now a week. I worked myself up so much that when Bryan told me his arm was asleep it made me cry more. What a weirdo.

Eventually I got to sleep, and slept completely through the night. (Bryan woke me up once to give me a muscle relaxer at midnight, but that was it). I woke up at 8. And took pills. And went back to sleep. Until NOON. Crazy. Apparently I was pretty exhausted. Today I'm just taking it easy. Easy easy.

Random Bullet points

Yesterday I learned how to knit! :) Yay for Emily!

I got a report from my x-ray by email from my doctor this morning. Seems like just what they told me.

The oatmeal raisin cookies were good.

I'm tired.

Morning ramble

I slept through most of the night last night! Yipeee! I woke up at 3:30 or so and then again at about 7:15. I think it's because I overdid it a bit yesterday, and I was really uncomfortable. I woke up in a lot of pain at 7:15, took a Vicodin, and then woke up in a lot of pain again at 10:00. Got some breakfast and took a muscle relaxer. Now I feel a bit better, but it's still there.

I've been really blessed to have such a great nurse in Bryan, and such great friends who care so much about me. I've had a few visitors, and when Bryan's in class I've always got someone to sit with me. Plus Connie brought over food last night... chicken noodle soup, cornbread, and carrot cake! Yummy! I haven't tried the cake yet but I definitely will!

Yesterday Amy brought over the Merchant of Venice. :) Made me happy; I hadn't seen the movie. Other than that I've been watching the Alito hearings pretty much nonstop (between naps, of course). It's so amazing to me to hear the senators go after him; yesterday his wife was sobbing in the background, because they were just attacking him. It gets pretty sick. They all have their agendas, and they're nitpicking. But I think he's going a pretty good job of fielding the questions; I'm pretty impressed with his intelligence and actual knowledge of constitutional law. Much better than Meiers I bet... And I'm also impressed that I can actually follow most of what they're talking about! And I've met the other woman sitting behind him (not his wife, the redhead...) but I forgot her name. She works for the DoJ, and I met her at a bar in DC, and had a conversation with her! She's a HLS alum.

Anyway, that's my ramble for the morning. Back to the hearings. :)

Well just wanted to update. Not a lot of exciting stuff going on...

Quote of the week:
"I hope that just loving you and pampering you will help you get better fast." - my beautiful husband. He's been doing an awesome job at both, by the way... :)

Oklahoma Sunsets

Something I miss from Oklahoma (thought of it this morning while I was doped up...):

color explosions
purple, pink, red, and orange
an Okie sunset

Update

Went to the doc today. Have an appt with an orthopedic MD tomorrow. Thanks to Kelli for staying with me while Bryan was at school. Thanks to the best section ever for the big bouquet of flowers. Thanks to Emily for visiting me. Thanks to everyone for the calls, emails, etc.

I hate being so dependent on others but I love that people are stepping up. It makes me feel so loved.

Thanks

So apparently some of my friends sent out emails to the section telling people about the accident, and I've gotten a dozen emails/e-cards from sectionmates. My Torts professor even emailed telling me that if I have problems postponing my exam, I can call him at home to help work it out. Everyone's been so great. It makes me feel good to know that so many people here care about me!

I heart Section Six! And painkillers. And muscle relaxers. And my wonderful, adorable, patient nurse. And strawberries. :)

What I did this weekend

OK so here's a funny story...

I went to Connecticut to go sledding. As a study break. Naturally, I go down a big hill and hit a jump, land square on my butt and break my back. No kidding. I crushed the front of my T-11 vertibrae. Yeah, it pretty much sucked. Luckily it didn't injure my spinal cord, so I can still move my arms and legs and stuff; at the hospital they said it will heal, I just have to stay pretty doped up until it gets a bit better. Ridiculous. I've never broken a bone in my body, and now I break my back, right smack in the middle of finals. Super.

I'm not sure how this is going to affect everything; there are procedures, but I can't find anything out until Monday. It's hard to study because I fall asleep so easily; the medicine makes me soooo drowsy. But the worst part is not being able to move without pain. I can't even stand up without support. (Though I went to the bathroom twice today all by myself. :))

Bryan's being so awesome. He's the best man ever. Seriously. He slept on the loveseat at Kelli's parents' house last night so he could be nearby if I needed him (I was on the couch). I love this man. :)

Well, I think that's it... I'm home now so if anyone wants to call I'm not really doing anything except sleeping and trying to study (yeah right). And if anyone wants to come over lemme know. I can make myself semi-lucid... :)

I'll keep you all updated. I'd appreciate prayers, happy thoughts, whatever. :) Thanks.

ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO!!!

Contracts final=donsie. :)

It feels good to be done, but don't ask me how I did. It's questionable; I think what I argued, I argued well, it's just a question of arguing the right thing or not... we'll see.

Only one crisis: I ran out of paper. Because I'd printed every hour. :) And I forgot to double-space. But I don't think that was a requirement...

Thanks to those who said prayers. Thanks to Bryan who stayed away from his home all day so I could have quiet. NO THANKS to the guys across the hall singing (showtunes?) at the top of their lungs.

Going sledding tomorrow in Connecticut with the Besancons. It's going to be a good time. Get away from school after being away and coming back, hardcore. If that makes sense. My brain is fried but I have energy, so I am going to work out. :)

Laters.

Request

Exam tomorrow. Pray for me. I need it.

Contracts: 8:30-4:30.
Ohmygoodnessthisisreallygoingtohappen. EEK!

Travel Report and Advantages of OK/MA

Well we made it home ok. We got in Monday at almost midnight, after a 2-hour delay in Tulsa and a mad run in Atlanta to get to our connection! Our bags apparently didn't bother the mad run, so we got them yesterday. (Oh yes that was stressful - my books were checked!)

All in all, though, it was a great trip home. We loved seeing everyone. I liked being able to hug my family whenever I wanted to! It seems like everyone's grown the equivalent of like 3 or 4 years while we've been gone. Either by getting bigger or by getting more mature. Little bit of both.

Well, here's my list of advantages of being in Oklahoma:

• hugging family whenever I want to
• My friends are nearby!
• Mom did my laundry :)
• Oklahoma sunsets (I never realized we don't really see them here!)
• Big, beautiful, comfy, stand-alone houses
• Hideaway Pizza/Sonic/Good Mexican/etc
• Cheap entertainment=watching my siblings (or apparently my husband) making fools of themselves
• Being able to drive and not worry about traffic/hitting someone
• Christian radio (way to go Emily on that one)

Advantages of being in Cambridge:

• 10 minutes to the city, and stuff to do
• My bed
• My friends here!
• The grass is green
• I don't have to whisper after 9:30 or 10:00 :)
• Cheap entertainment=walking around downtown and people-watching or window-shopping
• I get chauffered around
• Don't feel like I have to say "I'm going to gradshool... in Boston..." and then wait for the "where" to drop the H-bomb.
• Hope Fellowship!

That's all I can think of right now... And I should get to studying. Ewwww...