Plant Update

So this morning after Dad bought a box for me Mom and I planted my new stuff. We had potting soil, a watering can, a source of water and a front porch to use, so it went pretty smoothly. It's fun putting the potting soil in and then scooping out the hole JUST the right size and then coddling the plant out of its box and into its new home. We talked through the process JUST loud enough that the neighborhood kids became interested in what we were doing, so much so that when one of their moms came cycling around the corner and asked what they were doing, one little boy said, "Planting!" They were not... they were just playing quietly across the street. So I knew then that they were watching, and learning, a little. Our houses have no back yards and the plants are taken care of by the homeowner's association for the most part, so some of these kids may never have had a gardening experience before. Of course I enjoyed the process even if we hadn't had them watching listening and learning... now I have a reason to bop around my front yard every day and talk to the neighbors. Garden, and sweep.... and garden, and sweep... And I have chives and strawberries and lemon balm. And I noticed I have enough room in the front to add at least two if not three more boxes, if I can keep the first box alive that is.... we'll see.

plants are life in so many ways

Bought plants today. There's this amazing herb I had never heard of before called lemon balm... it's an herb but it tastes just like lemon, only mintier. I plan to use it to make homemade pesto for pasta. I'm really excited about it. It's now my favorite herb (less than 8 hours after finding out about it and buying some). I also got strawberries and garlic chives. I know, bad breath, but it tastes so goooood. I have officially gone vegetarian (my third try, mind you), so if you have some good recipes, I'm searching for something, anything I can eat other than omelettes and polenta. Plants are awesome. I'm currently enjoying some O2 fresh from the beautiful trees outside the door right this minute. Yay for air.

happy to live in this world

Life is like a coloring book. You find out all the cool colors and how you can use them and at first, you color EVERYWHERE and it's outside the lines and it doesn't match the picture and it's messy. But then you learn where the lines are and how to keep it contained and you put the picture together in a creative yet controlled fashion. And that's when you truly become an adult... when you get the colors to work together to create a wonderful picture, and that wonderful picture is your life, with different parts of it fitting neatly into the entire whole.

Music joke of the day (thank you, Grandma!): A doctor is talking to his patient. He is holding a box filled with musical notes. He clears his throat and says, "Well, the surgery was a tremendous success. As you can see here, we have completely removed the song that was stuck in your head."

taking care of business

Well, I have to say (and I may regret this Thursday) I do feel ready for our Business final. Kudos to all my friends who I have studied with and my family as well. In an interesting way, talking through the class with my parents tonight somewhat simulated the exam itself.

I spent an uneventful half hour with my mother, where she quizzed me on case names and rules. She tag-teamed with my dad, and I thought I'd do the same thing with him, but he interrupted me by saying he didn't think it would be good to talk about this stuff with him because he is singularly disillusioned with the state of business law in the country (hope I'm not misquoting him here). I told him he was wrong and that this is the very meat of what we've been learning, and we spent an intense half hour of me going systematically through my knowledge and explaining where he was right about the state of things and where he was wrong, where the law is actually improving things right before our eyes, and where it has some room for improvement. Telling him where the law is a little unreasonable and where it's making strides to improving all our lives. And I have to say, debating policy issues with someone who's been out there, who has experienced life and businesses in a very real and personal way, is completely different from debating theory in a classroom or a study session with friends. And yet the two of us were both happy at the end of our debate. My dad was impressed that I was able to keep up my end of the conversation so well with so many illustrative examples. He was also impressed at the changes in the law that I informed him about, reasons to hope in the midst of corruption. And I was happy that I had not only kept up in the conversation, but was able to explain exactly what the law is and how things are progressing in the law to create such hope.

All in all, I feel like I went through my own miniature version of the exam tonight in the discussions with my parents: first, the cerebral issue spotting and second, the emotion-filled policy question. I just hope it goes as well on the real exam. But however I do on paper, I feel like I really did learn something-- a few things-- this semester. And that feels good.

Jesus DOES love me! yay.

Well, like I said the other day, I'm getting a little better at spotting God's hand (Hand?) in my life. Case in point was today.

I found out today that I will be recieving a grant, and not a measly one at that, to work at Legal Services of NorCal this summer. This means I will be working for 12-13 weeks at a legal non-profit helping those who cannot afford legal services. The crazy thing about all this is that I'm interested in immigration work, and when I told that to the first person I talked to at LSNC, the very first person, before even sending my resume and getting an interview, when I told that to her she told me that she had an immigration project that needed part time help with over the summer. I mean, is that amazing or what? The very first person I talk to on my very first job inquiry has the exact job I was looking for, to a T. And now I have a grant PAYING me to do the exact job I was looking for, to a T.

So I can't help but wonder... is God rewarding me for doing what I said I would do when I applied to law school, doing public interest nonprofit work? Because it seems to me this was all so amazingly easy, so simple, that He had to have stuck His oar in a little to roll those snake eyes just for me (if you'll let me mix my metaphors). How else could the first phone call I made have turned out to be the last one necessary? No, I firmly believe that He is pleased with me choosing non-profit work and wanted to make my search easier because of that. And btw, thank all of you for your prayers about this... obviously, they worked.

I am so excited for summer to begin, I almost don't mind that I only get four days off. Wheeee!

the value of friendship

Now, I know that I vowed at the beginning of this finals period to *not* hang out with friends outside of study group friends and a study atmosphere. But every once in awhile in life, you have to break the rules that define your life, and so when L emailed to say, hey, we hadn't been to lunch in awhile, I decided to take her up on it as a study break. We all need those, right?

L is one of those friends of mine that despite seeing each other a couple times a month, we never quite seem to be caught up. Part of that is that we've known each other since preschool, and not having spent the entirety of our lives together we are constantly sharing what happened between Davis Parent Nursery School days and... the present. We talk about shared experiences ("do you remember when...?"), shared friendships ("so what are they doing now?"), shared ideologies and of course, our lives these days. And despite having not only lunch together but coffee right afterwards, we never, ever catch up. And perhaps that's a good thing, because it means the next time we talk we'll still have things to talk about. We'll always have things to talk about. And that's truly valuable, in this life where most things go by way too fast.

the end of it all

It's getting to that point of the year. Yes, it's the point where the reading assignments dwindle down to the point where I'm writing "end of year" on the pages instead of "end Week 5" or "end Week 10". It's the point of year where I spend time exclusively with school friends, affectionately known as "study partners" or "study groups", instead of balancing my life with church friends, show friends, family etc. And it's the point of year where I end up working on review at home without going to classes anymore. There are ups and downs, and of course it's an extremely stressful point of the year, but yet there's a certain satisfaction I derive from the focus. Things fall into neat categories: this week I spend on Wills, the next week I focus on another class. It's not entirely a process I detest or dread. It's the culmination of little bits of knowledge finally turning into spheres of overall knowledge and grasp of entire subjects. I know, I'm a nerd, and I'll still probably never do as well as I did first year when everything was fresh and passion-filled, but I have to admit -- I don't hate finals. That's all.