Archive for September, 2009

I just realized that I posted an entry after I started work on that draft.  It goes back in time a little and still doesn’t tell you much that’s new.  Whoops.  Hey, at least it’s an update.

So, I kinda did all the things that I needed to do last week.  [eta: this has been a draft for over two weeks. sorry guys.]  And in doing so, I realized that I am turning into a 50s housewife.

Let me be perfectly clear. When pressed, I like doing dishes.  I like cooking.  I like baking.   This is the extent of my housewifely duties.   I scoff at the ability to mend clothing.  I really hate doing laundry.  But what I hate more than anything else in the world is cleaning.  This is why I often live in some degree of squalor.  As long as I don’t get tetanus, I don’t really care.  I may not have people over because of it, but I don’t really want to deal with clutter, especially since I am a packrat without proper organizational skills.  Every new apartment is an attempt to fix this, but until I shop at the Container Store more, I’ll just have to deal with piles of stuff. [eta: now I have containers and no piles o'stuff.  I need to get a bookcase and then I'll be pretty much good to go as far as the squalor goes]

My last apartment was the worst.  It was a tiny little apartment with two cats who went more stir-crazy than I did.  Because they hated the apartment so much, they ripped up all of my blinds and wrenched the radiator cover out of the wall.  Aaaaand now I have to clean the place.  I have to make sure this little apartment is spotless, or else I don’t get my money back.  And with a cat with serious dental problems, the need for more furniture, and a higher monthly rent, I seriously need the majority of my security deposit returned.

[ETA: Full security deposit back, since the handy man of my building did the walkthrough and not the landlady.  He gave me full marks, chewed up blinds, radiator ripped from the walls and all.  It was pretty sweet.]

This is now in current time.  Whoa!  Time Warp!  Remember that song?  Remember that movie?  Those were crazy times.  What else has been going on? Copious LSAT studying.  AND I just found out that even though I’m still on the waiting list to take the test, that doesn’t mean that I won’t get to.  It’s an issue with Chicago not assigning people quickly enough.  The lady I talked to on the phone was very patient (I was kind of near tears)  and told me that every person on the waiting list will be assigned to a testing center, but that Chicago has been slow about it.  Don’t they realize that there are scores (SCORES) of panicking potential law students who are freaked out about the assumption that they may not be able to go to law school in the fall if they don’t take the September test?  Am I the only one panicking?  Also, when I typed assumption there, my brain froze a little, because that’s totally an LSAT idea.  Finding the necessary and sufficient assumptions in arguments.  I halfway had a heart palpitation.

The plan for roller derby is still going strong.  I’ve ordered real skates from the rink, Riedell R3s.  They are good starter skates, and when I tried them on for a test spin, I could really tell the difference.  They were pretty awesome.  And I can only assume that the skates that the real derby girls wear are significantly better than these.  Speaking of, check out the website of the Windy City Rollers, Chicago’s main roller derby league.  The site is fun, and you get to check out the skaters and learn more about why I would ever want to do this.  The best part is that I actually do enjoy skating.  It’s fun, without even thinking about my motivations for it.  And I think that’s the best sign so far.  I like going fast.  I already got a major bruise on my knee from falling on Sunday.  It doesn’t hurt but looks hardcore.  Feels appropriate.

And really, the best part about doing this now is that it takes the edge off of my panic about the LSAT.  I have another thing going for me and I don’t just have free time to spend worrying and stressing myself out about a test.  Yes, I’m still studying to do my best on the actual test.  No, I’m not a manic mess yet.  I’m sure it will happen soon, though.

I have more to say, but I honestly can’t think of it.  Everything’s going well.  I’ll try to update more regularly, I swear.  I have a couple of other drafts that I need to finish up.  But here, enjoy Weezer.  I really love both this song and the music video.  And yeah, I was reminded of it when I was showing a coworker the Whip It! trailer, and it’s really the perfect song to go with that movie.  It’s certainly made my Tuesday more fun:

Pork and Beans [They wouldn't let me embed it ]

I’ve been meaning to write another entry for like two weeks.  Sorry to those of you who like to read this at work.  I also like to write this at work, so I’ll try to be a bit more prompt.  But there really is loads going on these days.  My neverending lease of the tiny, overpriced apartment was finally up, and I am officially a one-apartment gal.  (Gal?  Who am I?)  In an attempt to be as miserly as possible with my security deposit, I was cleaning the old place like crazy and doing stupid things like buying replacement blinds and stressing out when I couldn’t put them up myself. 

But the place is FINALLY clean.  And finally no longer mine.  I was fortunate enough to do the walkthrough with Scotty, the handyman in the building, and he doesn’t really care.  Which is hilarious since he’s the only person to fix the damaged/filthy apartments.  I thought the radiator cover, which was ripped out of my wall would cost me, but he took one look at it and said “oh that’s fine; that sort of thing happens all the time.”  All he wrote on the sheet was “Okay.”  He told the landlady that the apartment was fine and looked really nice, broken radiator cover, chewed up blinds, yellowish tub and all.  And yesterday I received my entire security deposit + $7.77 extra in the mail.  I can’t tell you how great that makes me feel.  I had assumed that my cats screwed me out of the entire deposit, which is paranoid, I know, but I like to prepare for the worst.  Two days after my walkthrough, I got everything back.  It was hard to not do an incredibly embarrassing happy dance.

Now that I don’t have to worry about money for a little while, I’m going to try to get things done around the ole apartment.  First, I gotta clean my room and organize my piles of crap.  So far they’ve been littering my floor and desk and window area, which will simply not do any longer.  I think I’m going to buy some plastic crates from Home Depot, which are good for my junk deposits.  Other than that, I still need to buy a lamp, another bookcase, more art and frame the stuff I have so I can hang it.  Ideally, I would like to buy a printer as well, but that can wait.  For the apartment as a whole, I saw a pretty cool looking kitchen cart at Home Depot that I’m thinking about getting for the random hole in our kitchen.  We don’t have much counter space, so I think that would be a perfect addition.  The apartment itself doesn’t look very lived in yet, which I kind of hate, but we can make it nice before the end of the year, at least. 

So that’s going to be an ongoing project, which I will start this weekend, since Alex is going to be out of the city for Labor Day weekend.  I may actually spend Labor Day, uh, laboring.  Whee!

What else?  I’m still studying for the LSATs.  I’m taking them September 26th, so it’s getting to be crunch time with that.  As soon as one thing eases up, another dilemma swoops in and takes its place.  Constant stress, yay!  But I’m generally hopeful about getting a decent score.  I just have to keep practicing Games and Arguments, and I really need to get back into the swing of being focused for a three-hour test.  I think that’s my biggest hurdle.  So more practice tests left to go.  I’ll keep y’all posted. 

What else? What else?  Well!  Remember when I got excited about Roller Derby and totally wanted to do it even though I can’t skate?  It’s happening again.  And this time I mean it.  Laura and I are actually going to try out.  I’m going to practice skating, so that I at least don’t look like a total idiot when I try out.  Even if I do get all the equipment and skate like every day and take speed skating classes, I still know that I’m probably not going to get on the farm team at the first tryout.  It seems pretty common that it takes two tryout sessions.  Not going to let that get me down, but I’m going to work my hardest so I don’t look like a total moron.  Just someone that probably needs a little more practice before she can get on the team.  I’m realistic.

In spirit of that, here’s the trailer for Whip It!  The Roller Derby movie.  Already excited about it.  Although I’m slightly concerned that trying out after the movie comes out will make me look like a poseur.  I’ll be prefacing everything with “I wanted to try out last year, but…” That should work, right?  As long as I’ve got some chops to back it up, then I won’t look like someone just jumping on the bandwagon.

Movie!

My knee is going to dislocate so fast, y’all. I can’t wait.