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1 1 . 2 8 . 0 5 Back from Vegas for a short break and partial reunion from the old crew, at least most of the guys, who are based out of Cali as of late. Had some catching up, to see how everyone is doing, so far they're all on their prospective career paths and what not. couple masters here and there, med school, B school, law school, and a wedding in the works. in some ways, everyone is still the same, just a little older, maybe a little more settled. Ended up staying at a hotel on the new strip, being my first time there I tried to cover a lot of ground. have to say that I liked it overall, its a fun city with lots to do and see, and if you like gambling and large quantities of food then its a place to go. Got to eat a brazillian style steakhouse meal, as well as a couple buffets here and there, along with a woody allen sandwich at a replica of a new york deli. Have to say that the service and the furnishing of the hotels were pretty top notch, probably the best of any vacation I've ever been on, even back at home. Very quick and convinient, I'd say that you get your money's worth overall. I think I was the most impressed with the Paris hotel of all of them, in that they tried to replicate a Parisan street at dusk 24/7. when you walk outside the casino you forget what time of day it is. It is a neat concept, trying to bring a lot of international appeals and sceneries to the middle of the desert, it kind of brings to life the fantasy. The atmosphere of the strip is alive with a carnival atmosphere, good times and entertainment abound. Didn't gamble that much, but I still came out ahead, surprisingly by playing slots, penny and nickle slots mostly. I ended up losing playing cards and $2 poker but quit before I got too much in a hole. I watched the Wisc-Hawaii game on the big screens, and got a bunch of free drinks by playing 25 cent video poker, and ended up winning some change there in the process. The craziest was winning $50 off a nickle pull on a slot machine. Don't know what the odds are of that happening, but I was happy to cash that ticket in and move on to another casino, where it happened again. Went to a club on friday with a pan-asian theme, with dark candlelit hallways with a live meditating statute wearing thai/southeast asian garb, a japanese zen rock garden glued vertically to the wall, and about a dozen bodhavista's adorned throughout the top and bottom floors of the club, one that was about 40 feet tall. During the day it is a pan-asian restaurant, the big red banners on the outside of the casino advertised the club as a religious dining and clubbing experience. In some ways it reminded me of the Dragon Club that I once went to in Chicago, but with more of the Asian-theme going in the decorations and scenery. Couldn't help but wonder it would be akin to having a bunch of virgin marys and jesus statutes standing over $350 dollar bottles of grey goose vodka and house drum and bass. I found out later that the owners are buddhists and that the bodhavistas themselves are not replicas, but the real deal, from the owner's private collection in NYC. My question is obviously, if you're such a devout buddhist, wouldn't you find it sacrilige to take sacred images that were once worshiped in temples and holy places and bathe them in cigarette smoke and booze? The most obvious contradiction was naming the club itself "Tao" instead of "Buddha" or something like that. I suppose if you're going to have a club like this anywhere in the world, it might as well be in Vegas. Staying true to the modern vegas tradition, was several row bars with overpriced drinks, one in an exclusive VIP section with a bouncer and a ribbon, and skyboxes overlooking the dance floor. Most of the tables were reserved, I found out after getting booted from some of the chair and had to settle for a bench by the bar. The top floor featured hip-hop mixes, along with a handful of paid go-go dancers, a pair of lingerie wearing girls siting on each other's laps in front of a vanity mirror, and a girl with flower pasties taking a bath in a large wooden bowl. Second club was a more standard club, with a live jazz band and a burlesque show, with a nice view of the strip, equipped with an outdoor bar, and propane heaters and large plexiglass wind shields. This helped, since the night we all went there was a winter wind advisory that knocked the temps down to the 30s. The whole club was decked out in tangerine lights, as fitting to the name, tangerine. both of the clubs pretty much kicked ass compared to any other place that I've been before, both in Honolulu and DC. The 18th Street Lounge might actually be on a similar level as the Tangerine, but otherwise I haven't seen much in terms of the big package. Then again I haven't really gotten out much that often lately. I also tend to like smaller places like Chi-cha or Millie Al's, a couple of summers ago I headed out to Felix and Tryst in Adam's Morgan wih a bunch of fellow interns. I think that F.U.R. club by NY ave is probably like Tao. Maybe I'll check it out sometime. Couple events in the news while I was out that I should make a note of: an omen of sorts at the Supreme Court, Pat Morita passed away on Thanksgiving day. 1 1 . 2 0 . 0 5 Turkey day coming around the corner, and I'm trying to get my work out of the way and a headstart on the studying. Picked a crappy time to get sick. Another distraction in the fray to consider and manage. Have to say that I've been in pretty good shape for the most part since I started working, I recall getting sick a lot more often in grad school. I think keeping up with the workout schedule since moving out here has had something to do with it, I was going pretty strong for most of the semester until that past couple of weeks. Then again, it might just be because it just started getting cold. I've always noticed that the cold has never really bothered me unless I was sick, then the temps make breathing pretty miserable. Probably why all these affluent old people are moving south for their retirement Rep Murtha's floor comments asking for an immediate withdrawal of troops came this week, a former hawk and Democrat probably shook up the establishment a bit. The response from the pundits and policy wonks has been very lively. 1 1 . 1 4 . 0 5 Rented a zipcar and went out to the shenandoah valley in northern VA to check out the skyline drive, part of the national park service. Got to see a lot of changing fall foliage and quite a bit of roadkill. Had a chance to walk down a forest trail and see a small waterfall. Even walking in the woods has a different feel from back home, it made me think about the days hiking on the big island by kilauea, ka'u desert and the switchbacks over waimanu valley. amazing as to how big and vast the land is on the mainland, growing up on an island you get used to seeing the ocean always in sight more or less over the horizon. Additionally the impressions one gets of the East coast is metropolis from here to there, really DC is a little dot on the Eastern seaboard and is pretty small compared to the land when you go out west. Been getting more or less used to driving in the area, it is different than back at home, defensive driving takes on a different meaning. Luckily I've only been driving on the weekend when most people aren't in as crappy moods and aren't in as much of a rush. I suppose I've been stretching my wings out a bit more as of late, in more ways than one. More reading for classes, days go by and I'm cautious in saying that I think I'm getting better at this new style of reading and digesting, although the real test will be after finals of course. have to say that it's all "making sense" in that I dont' feel like anything I'm reading is out of intellectual grasps, that is I'm not intimidated at all with the material. then again I think I felt that way about O-Chem and Calc once upon a time. no like bachi just quite yet. Going to Vegas for Thanksgiving, hoping to meet up with Iso and a bunch of the boyz, been a while since I've caught up with most of them, we're all over the country by now, none of us back home. Funny, I always pictured that most of us would be home for good, none of us really seemed the mainland type growing up. Still working out scheduling details for a trip home for Xmas, debating if its worth the extra kala to stick around the area instead. Realizing that my winter breaks are a lot shorter than what I'm used to, and theres the work factor, even though I have enough leave saved up, I could actually use the extra time later towards the end of the spring semester. 1 1 . 9 . 0 5 Had a my first taste of law school examination conditions, have to say it was pretty intense. It didn't count for a major part of the semester grade, but I am wondering if my future exams will be in similar level of intensity and format. Talking to some of my classmates it didn't sound like anyone had enough time to finish, making me wonder if the strategy of exam design is to make it so the average student is rushing at the end to finish. A little bit of real world training, I suppose. With so much emphasis on deadlines for filing papers, format and language, I think it is relevant training for us to get used to it. There is a definite mentality and method of thinking that is being indoctrinated with the overall study of law, I can't say I like or dislike it. A little too rigid and distrustful for my taste, but I suppose that is to come with the territory. The competitive nature of the profession creates an incentive for misconduct, one preventative action is to have a set code of conduct and rules. For now I'm open to learning and developing skills, although I am curious to how all of this training will play out when we actually start applying some of the stuff we're learning to real life situations. Having some limited experience working in legal settings before, I can see how parts of the coursework directly apply, and how others do not. I think the rigid nature of the rules is supposed to in part serve as a surrogate client, keeping you on the ball and on point. I suppose it is supposed to instill a sense of responsibility or ownership in a case, as an advocate would for a client. That is, give you incentive to care about somebody's case as if the outcome were in your best interest. Classic free market arguement, in this case, the course grade will later transform into a fat paycheck. I wonder if this is an effective substitute for simple empathy in the human condition of the client, in pursuit of their claim. Granted that all professionals are trained to maintain a certain level of personal distance from the client, I wonder if being favoring monetary incentives over altruistic incentives is the only and best way to go. Of course, incentives are everything, contrasting with my experience in policy school, you could tell that the majority of the students (with a few exceptions) there were driven by public service as opposed to money. This being so might explain overall absense of a need to spend an excessive amount of time on ethics and professional conduct. The other day on my way to class I ran into an elderly gentleman who was looking for legal advice on a property dispute. He had apparently tried to talk to somebody in the legal clinic at the school, but hadn't gotten the advice that he was looking for. I told him that I couldn't really help him much, being that I just started my degree, and haven't even gotten a semester of classes pau yet. Chances are, he can't afford the attorney fees, so he is going to his local law school to find pro-bono advice. It serves as another reminder of the current system in place that limits access to justice through the pocketbook. Won't go into the the reasons for this right now, but I will say that it is an area that we as society probably need to work on. You can't buy empathy, but you can buy legal representation. 1 1 . 6 . 0 5 November is here, and the semester is winding down by way of classes, and winding up by way of preparations for finals. I've been working on the new type of material and the strategies that go along with committing all of it to memory. Another thing I've noticed is the endless amounts of study aids and review sessions that are made available to the budding 1st year student, day in day out. There is so much emphasis put on the first year grades, and naturally everyone is looking to do well. |