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3 . 2 4 . 0 6 Reading up on more inflation/deflation articles, voters in terms of sheep and wolves and the general craziness of the real estate market, as in this article on what you could buy in DC in $250K - $1M. Had some observations in life and on tv that bring to mind the word truthiness in the strict satrical definition. I think it really is a word of the times which explains a lot of wht is going on in the world and our society today. All of which makes me hope that certain individuals never are promoted to a position of actual responsibility over other human beings. Been reading up a little about religious crazies, especially along the lines of intolerance, prophecies and overly restrictive lifestyles. The facination in the study of religion is one that won't be going away anytime soon, although I question what the point of usefulness. In reading some law blogs I stumbled onto a southern Christian college's expectations of students. Reading just a couple of lines of it kind of gives you an idea of what a crazy contrast it would be to go there in comparison to anything close that might come from a normal or even average college experience. Then again, maybe more young people nowadays are looking for some kind of faith-based education on the reservation. 3 . 1 8 . 0 6 Another week pau, more cases, and work-related realizations, growth, and experiences. I guess it depends on how to look at things, but I think I'm learning a lot in a quick period of time. Next big project coming up is an appeals brief, and a potential briefing around the corner. I think I'm getting a hang of it, hopefully it'll go smoothly. NCAA tourney is on, March madness isn't quite what it was last year, Badgers got outgunned by Arizona yesterday and was out in the first round. Might be a good thing, with one less distraction. Meanwhile all three DC area schools are still in. Mason knocked off Michigan State. In all only 2 of the 5 big ten teams survived the first round. 3 . 1 5 . 0 6 Bunch of interesting dreams lately, a lot with the law school theme, no surprise there. One of which where I ended up lecturing the class, later had a conversation with an old man about the interconnectiveness of people and how everyone is connected at the piko. And then there have been others where I'm actually doing something more than just reading cases and actually helping people with their cases. As of late, I've had a lot of dreams of flying, or climbing up ladders, poles, one in particular was riding in a flying machine that was controlled by the happiness of the passengers. We were headed to see somebody important who had just lost a loved one. the machine was made out of cloth and parachute-silk. when someone had a sad thought we slowly lost altitude, and then the ride was over we had to walk. I recall during the descent there was a large wax column with colored feathers pressed into it. Another I was running from something/someone in a crowded warehouse marketplace, looking for a place to hide or blend in with the surroundings. I turned a corner to a hallway with a long concrete lilypond with thousands of frogs hoping around the place. There were too many to walk around so I ran down another hallway and started climbing up a (similar?) rainbow-colored pole several stories high using only my hands. When I got to the top there was a pretty girl encouraging me onto the ledge in another language. Unfortunately she didn't do much else to help me actually climb up. After a moment to think about it I decided to lower myself down and go on with my life (dream). For some reason after climbing down I was not worried about hiding anymore. My job assignment just got more political, not so much for me personally, but that the nature of the assignment and subject matter comes with a lot of invisible but ever present baggage. I'm enjoying the new division so far, it has been a bit of an adjustment but so far so good. I've actually been pretty active around the building lately, catching up on stories from some of my old co-workers, making contacts with the new ones. Been reading a lot of economicpolicy articles lately, especially along the lines of the willingness of my generation to spend money that they don't have yet. I think it helps explain the acceptance of deficit spending and an overall lack of delayed gratification when it comes to consumer products. In contracts today the discussion touched on financing contracts for a bunch of furniture. The Defendant in the case was taking on predatory lending practices, but the point of the case was to illustrate the unenforcability of an unconscionable contract. Somehow in the discussion credit cards were mentioned along the lines of nobody in their right mind actually pays more than the minimum payment. The laughter in response kind of a reminder of how outside of the norm I fall in some areas of modern day American life, it kind of reminded me of the last time I spoke with an account manager online who offered to transfer my balance from my other cards at a discounted interest rate. I was honestly confused - what balance? silence....from my other card? oh yeah......no thanks. I guess to me the idea of just rolling over your debt from one account to another doesn't seem to make much sense. The system is set up so that you can pretty much be in debt for the rest of your life, procastinating paying the balance in full, maybe even passing it on to your kids and grandkids. once upon a time I attributed it to cultural differences but now I wonder if its something more. I don't want to just call it being fiscally conservative, especially given the type of people who claim to be lidat nowadays, but for some reason I have a problem with putting myself into a huge debt hole unless its a legit investment or for something like tuition. The question usually comes down to sheer needs vs. wants and being realistic to what you can afford. I don't think its ever worth going into debt to satisfy something that you want if you can't afford it, and definitely something that you don't appreciate enough that you aren't willing to work a little and save up for. The trap is that the consumer culture convinces us that many wants are in fact needs, or that the freedom of the American dream is that we can define our own destiny to be whatever we want it to be, as far as re-defining our wants to be our needs, when often times theses wants-redefined-as-needs are nothing more than shallow status symbols feigning wealth, happiness, prosperity and and ironically economic security. Kind of a warped idea of freedom, as in freedom to enslave ourselves into the pockets of credit card companies and debtors. The thing is that I'm sure where all this comes from maybe its the pake in me, or maybe just growing up I picked up on some old fashioned values in the midst of privilege and opportunity knocking. Found some Leinies at a random store up in Maryland, I'm still looking for a place that sells some other more famous Wisconsin Beers, so far no such luck. 3 . 5 . 0 6 Rented the zipcar and went up to Rockville today to run some errands, on the way I stopped for some omurice at the Temari cafe and later on tonight for some beef pho at Pho 75. I've noticed that some of my motivation to get up and out of the house has to do with having a chance to eat comfort food that I can't otherwise cook myself at home. Had a relaxing break as far as I could put together caught up some reading for class, did some laundry, got caught up with some of my task lists at work, got down to the gym for a couple of good workouts. Its the little things that make a difference in the long run, gets the batteries recharged for another run on this thing called life. |