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8 . 2 6 . 0 5 Just finished the first week of official classes. Pretty intense, deep, detailed, cynical, tedious, daunting, and inspiring all at the same time. I think the analogy of the marathon that I heard at orientation fits well, with emphasis on the process of learning how to think and apply the law. Been drawing on some experience of my own, and of that of my past and present co-workers as to what might come of all this. There is no doubt that I'm in the right field of study. It is an opportunity, no doubt at all. All the pep talks by the admin and faculty combined with the sheer workload mindset made me recall my prior training for wrestling. Intesity I think is similar, although the marathon only works when it comes to the length of the season, usually in weathering the injuries and fatigue through the dual meet season and onto states. I remember talking to one my old teamates once, about peaking at different phases of the season. He pointed out that I was pretty good about steadily improving throughout the course of the season and peaking at the end for the division and state championships. I recall typically season went like this: pre-season, out of shape, cagging through the tournaments and getting licked by average or so-so opponents, really just trying to get through the bracket and onto the starting lineup. Mid-season: The big weekend tourneys were more a time to feel out the future competition, duals to try and pull points for the team, get used to the screaming crowd, the high stakes matches to come. And of course set an example for the younger generation. Post Season: Division championships were meaningless outside of qualifing for the state tourney. I really brought my game to the division and state championships, and did pretty good, held my own pretty well. I don't think I was ever seeded or even considered as a competitor, definitely a dark horse. And the next year it would repeat again. Looking back I realize that the brackets drawn on the board were pretty intimidating, they were really bout sheets for two young punks to fight out in a display of controlled violence, like one match that I won in OT which was basically a headbutting match that had us both bleeding from the mouth, the crowd yelling and pounding the bleachers. Looking back I wonder why the ref let us go that far, from the spectators in the stands, it might as well been a bare fist fight. Everyone was already amped out from the season, some buckled under the pressure and went home, others surpassed expectations and pulled off a few upsets. By the time I got there I was pretty battered physcially, to a certain degree I credit my sucessess in states to being able to adapt the situation, and apply the training and condition of the past year to make things work. One year I had to change my style almost entirely due to a shoulder injury, and another I fought through my match with a torn knee. Many of my opponents I had never faced them before, and they were darn good, every one of them. Outside of these factors, willpower, and fighting spirit, plain and simple. Maybe the analogy works afterall, if you fit the arguement to reflect the facts. Then again maybe there's another angle that I could apply this experience for. We'll just have to see what happens. Semi-random links that I came across this past week: Government gnomes, surveillence cameras in the wash dc area. Words from cindy sheehan, history and lessons learned, Names for the newborn giant panda 8 . 2 2 . 0 5 Monday evening, and its random links time again. Looking at my financial aid statements and freting over my first semester costs I stumbled upon another article about the cost of college tuition hikes. Suddenly I didn't feel so bad, especially since my grad school was paid with fellowships and assistantships. Guess I have nothing to bitch about. In other news, the price of gas is hitting higher and higher. I rented a car this past weekend to run some errands and pickup some groceries, was a little smirkish at the honolulu-like prices that are hitting the mainland in droves. Brings to mind another interesting article on Rail v HOT lane back home. Another website that serves as a reminder about the toll of war: wounded warrior project. I was reading recently that the pentagon death toll may be a lot higher than the media is reporting, since they don't include deaths that occur to accidents, and other fatalities due to health complications and a number of other factors. Makes one rethink the costs of war, both human and materiel. With the background debate on teaching evolution in our nation's classrooms, and this thing called intelligent design, all hail the spaghetti monster in the sky....Pastah-farai 8 . 2 0 . 0 5 Survived my orientation week which featured a week of class assignments and readings and late night lectures. Spent a bundle on books and guides, lugging it back to the office was a workout in itself. Getting familar with these big fat red casebooks that will serve as my textbooks for the next semester/year. So far so good, I'm fully engaged with the course topics, although I have to admit that the evening schedule is something that will take some getting used to with work commitments and finding time to get the readings done and briefs written. And of course there is the infamous socratic method that 1L students rave about it. Its great if you've fully read and briefed everything to its entirety, and if you have a solid grasp of the concepts. What I've come to realize is the layer upon layer of understanding and depth that court cases carry with them, something that makes this a challenge regardless. As for the professors, I'm very impressed. Many of the evening faculty have full time jobs with federal agencies or local DC law firms, it kind of sends a message that we're all juggling similar schedules during the week. 8 . 1 7 . 0 5 Back in DC now after a short trip home, I think I covered a lot of ground while I was there. Mitsu-ken, Helen's, The Spot, Joyce N Masa's, Lanikai, Ala Moana, Waiks, Aloha Tower, GB, Hanaki, Pagoda, and of course, what trip home would be complete without hitting Manoa Longs and Marukai. Got to hang out with my folks, and a few friends that I could get a hold of. Mostly being mellow and chill for the few days I had off. Now its back to the grind of things in shark city, I wonder what kine stuffs I missed out on. On the way back I ran into some more delays on Northwest, mechanical failures that left the plane on the tarmac without air conditioning for almost an hour. My flight back to DC was about 2 hours delayed, I had to rush to my orientation that was moved up a day after I booked my flight home. Pretty much been running on empty now, and I'm actually still on Hawaii time so I can't really go sleep just yet, maybe in a bit. Have to say that I'm pumped for this semester, I think Law school has its level of intensity and hype, they really try to scare you into the rigors and the competitive nature of the program. I'm definitely taking it seriously, although part of me is more concerned with trying to find time in my schedule to go work out, or cook some okra and rafute during the week, or catching a movie or chilling out with a non-law related book or something. I've been preparing both mentally, and physically for the change of pace and I think I'm ready for it. Have to admit that writing the check out for the first semester was pretty painful. I guess the high price of education just comes with the territory. Especially with the profession. Interesting Craig's list post on being brown and riding the DC Metro. There was a article I read recently about some chatter towards another attack or something. I really hope its nothing. 8 . 1 4 . 0 5 Still home, eating local kine grinds and chilling out at the beach, taking it easy really. Went to Aloha Tower last night to listen to some live music, have gotten used to a different type of nightlife, so it was a refreshing change of pace. It seems that my last handful of vacations have had me getting used to the time difference just in time to ship back out again. Hopefully I won't be too jetlagged when I get back. In more ways than one I think Honolulu is becoming more and more like a big city, the types of clothes that people wear and what not, as well as the nightlife. 8 . 1 2 . 0 5 Made it home for a week, so far its been a good break from the rat race that I've become accustomed to for the past couple of years so far. Its good to be reminded on the differences in culture and perspectives that this country has from border to border. I suppose growing up here I am used to the island mentality in more ways than one. Watching CSPAN and the morning news programs at midnight HST was kind of neat thinking about how everyone at work was just getting up and starting their commute. Coming home again gives you a lot of observations, how Hawaii is constantly changing, a lot quicker than other places, I think. There seems to be a lot of little eateries opening up everywhere, first ground levels of buildings, and walk-ups. There are also some huge condos going up by the ward area, all of which I'm sure will be going for a crapload of money. Hot button topic on people's minds lately is the 4.5% excise tax increase scheduled for 2007 to fund Honolulu's mass transit initiative, namely a rail system that will aim to alleviate the traffic congestion. I have to say that I think this is a bad idea for many reasons. Simply put, Honolulu is not zoned in a way that mass transit would have a significant effect on the number of cars on the road. Just driving around this past week reminded me about how spread out everything is relative to what the rail plans are proposing. Unless they had an extensive rail system that mirrored H-1, 2 and 3, then it really wouldn't have much of an affect on traffic. Any rail plan in order to be affective would have to include the University of Hawaii, Downtown, Kaneohe, Hawaii Kai, and all of West Oahu/Kapolei. Right now I've heard that they are only planning a short rail for about 5-10 miles downtown. The biggest hurdle with the proposal at this point is that there is no proposal on the table yet. The city and county has just approved the rate increase with no clear plan on how the money will be spent. Additionally, the schedule set up by the city is to have a consultant come in and do a multi-million dollar environmental impact statement, work will not start until 2009 at the earliest, and then the first rider on the rail wouldn't be until 2012. For some reason this doesn't sound very good at all for the average taxpayer and/or consumer. It almost seems like Hawaii's neglect of a public school system and lack of affordable housing in town has had an unexpected externalities in terms of traffic. Logically kids would go to school in the districts that they reside in, instead of going to private schools in town. This goes for people with jobs in town and in the service industry which also feeds into the problem. Besides, it seems that high gas prices are here to stay. |