SNOW! And other things that make me smile

We got about 10 inches of snow last night (and DC got about 7 inches!), on top of the pretty much constant snow on the ground since I got back to Boston on Jan 2. Here's a pretty graph of Boston's snowfall this winter up to Jan 21. Keep in mind it's kept snowing since then. I think it was an inch or two on Monday, and five inches on Tuesday (it's hard to keep it straight). Just a few flakes yesterday, and then ten inches overnight. So this 50.3 is more like 66" which is definitely over my head.




It can be a little annoying since I have to move my car off the street in front of my building, and later dig my car out, but it's not a big deal. I love the snow!

And on a random tangent - sometimes I like to read about other people who are ridiculously stressed out and blog. I love Hyperbole and a Half which tells the story of a slightly crazy girl and her wonderful dogs. I think 90% of the time I like Allie because she's hilarious and a fantastic storyteller, and 10% of the time because I feel like compared to her, I might be normal!

I found another blog today, oddly enough sent to me by BarBri (there's some drama going on between Kaplan and BarBri, who both sell bar exam prep course), and I'm a BarBri rep. This girl is in her 3rd year of law school and in between occasional posts on what she's doing in clinic, she whines about her boyfriend not saving up for her engagement ring and what types of shoes she wears. Blah. However, her analysis of "typical" law students sounds right on, and it's one of the 10,000 times that I think, I am sooooo happy I went to Northeastern. Maybe I'll be desperate like that two years from now, but I hope not!

Workin 9 to 5

I have a job!

Actually, I have two jobs. There's three parts to this. One, since leaving work at the end of July, I have been shocked to find how much of my self-worth was tied to earning a paycheck. I've been working regularly since I was 12 - a paper route, at Bowie Baysox, babysitting, lifeguarding, Friendship Place - and it just felt awful that I wasn't earning anything. Even though I'm just earning a little bit, there's still a value derived from my work. When I get my first paycheck in 2 weeks.

Two, my new apartment costs more. And this whole fall semester went above my meticulously planned budget (thank you, Liberty Mutual).

Three, it looks like I'm going to have more time this spring, because I can barely make any of my rugby games :( I am hoping this doesn't work out to be true, but as of now I am available for 3 weekends, and considering I usually only played one 40 min half this fall, I don't know how it will work out and also how often I'll go to practice. Practice is late at night and far away (indoors) so I won't get home til 10:45 or 11:45 some nights, and I don't think I can reconcile that with school. I'll save that for another rugby post soon with my spring schedule.

Anyways, I started work two weeks ago. I am not working 9 to 5, as the title implies. I absolutely don't have the time with school. I am working about four hours a week at Kristin's office in Peabody helping with filing and other slightly more lawyerly things. Tomorrow night, I start my second job for three hours a week, helping with the Admissions Office at Northeastern. Basically, for $10/hr and dinner, I call people and say, "Congrats, you got in, any questions?"

So YAY for me earning money!

Dr. in the House!

Anita came to visit Boston! She took the train in from New Haven, and I got unnecessarily lost trying to find South Station which is right downtown. We briefly tried to visit a trendy bar in my new neighborhood, and decided that grabbing a bottle of wine at Bradley's was a better way to spend the evening. Bradley's is across the street, has an awesome selection of craft beer and wine, and most importantly, everyone in the store LOVES Izzy. I walk in, and the owner immediately walks away from the register to give her treats and play with her. It's what it would look like if Deirdre or I tried to run a store and a puppy walked in.


Saturday we took Izzy to an amazing dog park in Brookline. It's a little over a mile walk from my apartment, and it's approximately three soccer fields, securely fenced. Both last weekend and this weekend, there were 50+ dogs playing and running in the snow. This is by far the biggest space Izzy has ever had to run, and it's great to see how fast she really is.


When it started to get chilly, we took Izzy back home and headed to the New England Aquarium. I have been wanting to go here for two years, since I saw the "Meet all 80 penguins" ads in the T stations, and it lived up to expectations. Nothing is as great as the Baltimore Aquarium, but seeing 80 different penguins (a mix of African, Rockhopper, and Little Blue penguins) was pretty cool.

New Apartment

YAY! The break-in was Sunday, I found a place on Tuesday night, got the finances and paperwork by Friday, and moved in on Saturday. What a crazy week. Justin flew up, and BrandonB, Kristin, and Justin's friend Corey all moved me. I say "moved me" instead of "helped me move" because I came down with a sinus infection that quickly turned to bronchitis this week and was completely worthless. Thank god I have amazing friends.

Pictures of the new place

It's about a block away from Fenway Park, and a 15 min walk to school, which is awesome. There is a huge park right across the street to walk Izzy. It's more expensive for about 1/3 of the space I had before, but heat is included, which is great. If you didn't hear, I kept the heat off in the kitchen for the last two months because I didn't want to heat a second room, and my dish soap froze.

Disclaimer - I am now willing to concede that I was previously living in Roxbury, not JP. JP is awesome and I want to live there next year. My old apt off Egleston Square was sorta Roxbury, sorta JP, and not at all safe.

Oh yeah, school

My first week back, beginning Jan 3, was Intensive Week where we work on our social justice project from 9-5 daily. I missed about 2 days of work between getting the car window fixed, refusing to leave my apt until the locks were changed, and apt hunting.

I'm caught up now, but I can't believe I'm already into the first week of regular classes. I don't have half my books (I bought a few used in Dec from the CISP office, which is fantastic), I don't have binders, and I definitely don't have the mental capacity to get caught up without sleeping for a few days straight.

Thank god I'm getting over the bronchitis (yay for Z-packs, and double yay for cheap generic brand Z-packs) and hopefully school will be better in a few days. I got cold called on for the first time today, and it was pretty miserable. I had skimmed over the reading because I know Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board, but you can't do that in law school. My professor wanted an in-depth explanation, and I feebly stared at the book and flipped the page back and forth until she called on someone else. That was humiliating, and I hope it doesn't happen again. She wasn't mean about it, I just feel dumb for not being prepared. It's law school, not high school.

Break-in, Part II

I got back to Boston around 5pm on Sunday night. I had a fantastic 8 hr drive up with a teammate from Town, visited BrandonB for a little bit, and got back to my apartment. I unloaded Izzy and my car, and took a nap.

Around 8pm I walked Izzy, and then headed out to the grocery store. I had parked directly across the street, and as I walked around my car, I saw the driver's side window was shattered.

They took about $3 worth of quarters that I kept handy for parking meters, and as I realized two days later, my spare set of keys to the apartment. They left my bluetooth, my awesome selection of 90's cds, and everything else.

What's gone is my comfort level in this apartment. I worked so hard to convince myself after the break-in on Oct 1 that I was tough enough to stay here. I've been looking for a new apartment the whole time, but also have been trying to stay here, for so many reasons. I've signed a lease. I like the JP community. It's (mostly) affordable. It's near the T, and a dogpark.

Now, I don't care, I just want out.