[...fruit flies like a banana is the rest of the Groucho quote]

It’s sunny again in San Diego. I don’t have to drive/ride anywhere so of course it’s lovely (though chilly for here) today. It was mostly sunny yesterday too, but chilly enough that having the top down for about 30 minutes was more than enough fresh air as we drove around the East Village looking for the perfect industrial space to rent (to live/work in–but we’re not actively searching, just peeking now and again). In fact, we got a text from Mikey in Columbus letting us know that it was warmer there than here, much to his snowboarding chagrin.

Anyway, we did that driving after spending some time at Fashion Valley (the lamest named mall) where we bought a cover for C’s iPhone and that is all (sorry merchants, but even on sale we’re not spending $100 for jeans or a casual men’s shirt), and after we got lunch at the Waterfront in Little Italy (possibly the oldest bar in San Diego) and walked around that neighborhood. It was nice to spend a day looking at cool modernist furniture and just relaxing.

Today, it’s back to being at least somewhat responsible. Benito broke my toilet seat yesterday morning (he jumps on it at full run, which puts shear stress on the lid–it finally gave up) so C is at the hardware store to get a replacement. I’m doing piles of laundry. Dishes have been done. Thank you notes written. Stuff picked up and put away. And football is waiting to be watched (HUGE game for SD this evening). 

And, already, thoughts of school are running through my head. This week I have a cleaning at the dentist tomorrow, get my hair done on Tuesday, then Friday I’m helping at new student orientation and next Monday, it’s back to class. I have reading to do already as well. It hardly feels like there has been a break and already I have to get my head back into school.

Done with exams. Damn, the Crim one was a piece of work, but it’s done and over and I plan on doing lots of relaxing if I possibly can over the next two weeks.

Of course, I have to call in for potential jury duty starting next week, but hopefully I won’t be picked during the short holiday week.

Anyway, I’m done and fried and surprisingly sober for having spent half the day in a bar (I knew I had to drive, so I was a good girl, but some of my classmates are gonna be hurting tomorrow!!!!).

Yeah, it never rains in Southern California, but it pours. This would be the front walk a few minutes ago. Yipes!

Tomorrow I have my Civil Procedure final. This one will likely be difficult as the prof is tough, but fair. I was panicking earlier today about it, but now I’m feeling better and, besides, there’s not much I could do now to change what I know/don’t know. I’ve done my prep…now I just have to do the test.

One thing that has me concerned is getting to/from the exam. The weather is supposed to be horrible tomorrow morning, with rain, and not just the spitty light stuff we get here. No, a big-ass storm is headed this way. We had showers yesterday some, then today was partly cloudy but chilly and windy (at least that let me get my morning run in, even if it wasn’t my best run ever–I’m blaming the cold wind) and now the main storm is creeping south. The weather people are having fits, so my best hope is that they’re making a mountain out of a molehill, but it doesn’t look good.

Why be so concerned about some rain? Because the people of California do not know how to drive in it. I really don’t want to get creamed by some teeny woman in her massive SUV (probably putting on makeup and talking on a cellphone–while driving) on my way to my final. Miata + SUV ≠ good.

The rain is supposed to be heaviest tomorrow morning, then get lighter later in the day, be light on Tuesday, then be heavier again Wednesday morning. Of course, I only have one more exam after tomorrow and it would be on Wednesday morning. Sigh.

Today is my second exam–Property. Just like the first one, I’m up too early (it’s not even 5:30am yet), but couldn’t sleep. Had odd dreams about the law. I’m not sure why, though, since I feel pretty good about this one. I get a lot of the future interest problems right (almost all, actually), know the cases, think I get adverse possession and easements…and this exam is open book/notes! (Why is it always the ones you want open book aren’t but those you don’t need notes for are?)

So, I guess I’ll get in some exercise, breakfast, and be on my way…

An F/A-18 crashed pretty near our house today. I was at school, but now, hours later, there are still helicopters in the air and it’s all over the local news. Unfortunately, people on the ground died. The video is pretty amazing–houses burned, etc.–but the pilot is okay as he had ejected before impact. The news is saying he was a carrier pilot who lost an engine and they sent him to make a field landing rather than a carrier one. Ooops.

We hear planes all the time. We’re near not only Miramar MCAB (used to be a Navy base–where Top Gun was set) but also a civilian field. Mostly, it’s pretty cool, like over the weekend when a flight of biplanes, in formation, flew over, followed by a couple of sea planes. But things like this incident are reminders of how dangerous it is. The Marines are saying that if you were exposed to the smoke, you should go to your doc. What the hell are they putting in the jet fuel if you have to do that?

Tomorrow is the last day of classes for the trimester. Then two reading days, then the first exam. It’s going to be easy to get frantic in the studying, but I’m hoping to avoid that. I plan to continue my regular exercise routine and try to eat well and to study with reasonable breaks.

Yesterday, my “group” of girls got together and ran flashcards for 3 out of the 4 subjects (we didn’t get to Crim). It was fun and helpful. We each had our strengths and weaknesses (though Kat was scary/good–she could remember specific case names much better/faster than I ever could!). Tomorrow, during our long break between classes, most of us will do Crim flashcards to get that subject under control. I’m sure to be terrible there. I just can’t seem to do Crim at the same level as my other classes. I think that’s because I feel like the exam is a complete crapshoot because of the prof. There are all sorts of rumors that he expects us to know every single case he even vaguely mentioned in class–that would be more than 70 cases! Ugh! Well, there must be a “worst” subject, I guess. 

After tomorrow, I think I’ll be on my own, except for Facebook-based questions to “my girls,” as needed. It’s a convenient way to post specific questions to our small group (like “Why is there §1332 diversity for Bob from GA v. Tony from Italy, and for Bob (GA) + Sonja (Russia) v. Mike (OH) + Tony (IT), but not Bob (GA) + Sonja (Rus) v. Tony (IT)?”). For you non-lawyers, that’ll make your head hurt, I bet. It might even be wrong–diversity involving foreigners makes my head spin even though I completely get it when foreigners are not involved. Oh, and “diversity” in this context is when/how people from different states can sue each other in Federal court (several rules involved there).

Don’t get me started…that’s CivPro…

Anyway, today I studied Contracts almost exclusively, and made yummy onion soup and did laundry. I even watched part of the Steelers game during my breaks. I got a ton accomplished, but I don’t feel completely fried. This is about the level I want to maintain through the exams–a good mix of serious work and full-on breaks. 

Though now I think I need to look at Crim, and recheck the rules for §1332 in my Civil Procedure notes. Damn.

No, not the new MacBook (that’s just fine) but the more important internal hard drive called my brain. Over the weekend I lost my keys. We tore the house up trying to find them (they had to be here–my car was here after all and I keep my house keys separately) but they didn’t reappear until I moved my rolling bookbag. Okay, a cat probably nudged them under the bag, but still, I lost the keys. 

This week I’ve been driving to school rather than taking the bus because my schedule this last week of class is wonky and there is no reason to get a bus pass that will only be used for half the month…and gas is much cheaper now. Car keys are kind of important all of a sudden. Where I hadn’t moved the car for weeks at a time, suddenly I’m using it again. 

You see where this is going, don’t you?

I had to be at school extra early to take a practice Property exam. It was optional, but I wanted to get the feel for typing an exam–to see if I liked it–so I went. I had to be there at 7:40am and I got there just fine, even if I didn’t manage to get a closer parking spot. As usual, I had to park about a half mile, uphill, from school. That means an easy walk to class, and a harder one to the car. I was on campus until 2:30, when CivPro was done. I was in a good mood and got my keys out, hooked them in my pocket the way I always do, stuck the iPhone earphones in, and started out. I realized that I had forgotten my sunglasses in my bag, so I stopped and got them out, then headed on, walking to my car, up the long hill, jamming to some tunes. 

When I had my car in sight, less than a block away, I noticed that some cars were being towed. It was hard to tell if it was a city parking thing or two repos or what, but I reached for my keys eager to get to my car, just in case I had missed a parking sign. 

And there were no keys to be grabbed.

Frantic, I looked around and tried to remember when I had last felt them in that pocket, but wasn’t sure. I would have heard them fall, but I had my music unusually loud for me. I never listen that loudly, but like I said, I was in a good mood and cranked it up. Crap! I started to backtrack, looking for the keys as I went, and thought about what my backup plan would be. Unfortunately, I remembered that Christopher was going to be heading out, if he hadn’t already, to judge some student work at the New School of Architecture. If he had left, then he’d have to either come get me or I’d have to go to that school (also downtown) and get a ride home to get my backup keys, etc. Crap crap crap!

I practically ran back down the hill, asking everyone I passed if they had seen some keys. No luck. I got to school and, as a last effort before calling Christopher, went to the security desk. Just as I was headed there, the guy on duty was walking out for some reason. I asked, “Has anyone by any chance turned in some keys?” and he looked at me with a half-smile and said, “Yes.”

“Do they have a white box-cutter on them?”

“Yes they do. Let me get them for you.” He said with a full smile.

I can’t believe my luck. I asked if he knew who had turned them in and he said that he had. They were just outside the door of the building. He said it happened a lot around exams. One girl the other day left her keys in the ignition of her scooter! So, I thanked him profusely, wished I had some cash or something to thank him with, interlaced the keys through my fingers, and headed back out, up the hill, with the tunes in my ears again, hoping my car hadn’t been towed.

It hadn’t. Whew. (I had parked legally, btw)

But I’m convinced my hard drive is too full to process some simple things these days. I swear I have to check to make sure I have zipped my pants after trips to the loo and I have poured cups of coffee in our kitchen and left them on the counter…just forgot about them. I hear it’s because of law school and the impending exams. I sure hope so.

In the meantime, I think I need to start wearing my car keys on the same chain as my house keys…at least until the exams are done and I have more processing space/speed.

After several weeks of “running,” this morning I finally ran one mile without stopping (or slowing to a walk, etc.). One mile. Not very far, but for someone who a month ago couldn’t run to the end of the block without being fully winded and thinking death might not be so bad, it’s a big deal. A goal achieved.

Now that I can do that, I’ll start adding more time/distance, slowly. Everything I read says to do this slowly, and who am I to argue? But no matter what happens, I can tell myself that I can run for one mile–I’ve done it. Woo hoo!

I’m not planning on trying to run a marathon or anything like that, I just want to be able to stay in shape as much as possible and running seems to be the best arrow in the quiver for that (walking = good, running = better because more calories burned in less time), and it’s good to stave off the effects of aging. I figure if I can work up to a regular 5K (3.1 miles) distance, that’ll be great.

But I’m proud of myself for doing this. It would have been easy to pack it in and give up. Each time I’d only get, say, half-way to the street I thought I could get to before slowing, I’d feel briefly like a loser and think that what I was doing was silly. I’d wonder why I couldn’t breathe even though I’m not horribly out of shape. I’d hear my friends at school talk about “only” running 5 miles and think “I suck!” and want to quit. But when the day would come for me to put on the Reeboks and go, I went. 5:45am and out the door with my iPhone in hand and headphones on, I went. 

I’m slow, and I don’t care. I read about how it is better to run by landing your foot under your body, not in front of your body, and that helped a lot (this video shows the technique, before it launches into a selling spiel). But it makes one slow at first since your strides are short. So I’m slow and look like an old man jogging. Who cares!? Besides, I’m running at dawn so it’s not like there are a lot of people to see me anyway. Maybe someday I’ll have some grace about me and feel comfortable running when and where people might see me, but for now this is just for me (also good for the school stress!) anyway.