That is the printed version of my Application for Moral Character Determination for the California Bar. No, really, that is what it is called… as if I have no moral character and am applying to be awarded one. Even having them “determine” my moral character sounds wrong somehow. Why not just call it what it is, a background check, and be done with it?

Oh, yes, of course, because this is from the California Bar and that means a bunch of lawyers hashed out the naming. A bunch of California lawyers.

In retrospect, I guess it’s almost a wonder it isn’t named Betty.

Anyway, that is thirty pages of data in that photo. Names and addresses and references and job history (every job since age 18!) and educational background and, well, pretty much my entire life from age 18 on. Excruciating in detail and a complete pain in the ass to research. For example, how many hours of credit did I get at OU? Why do they need to know that? I got a BA (eventually)… who cares the path I took to get there? And I had to provide a separate reference to confirm my self-employment on top of 5 other general references; at least one of those had to be a member of any US bar, no more than one could be one of my law professors, and none of them could be related to me by blood or marriage or be a previous employer.

It took me two months to put together all the info for that damn application. Two. Months. Ugh.

I actually completed and submitted this application online (with, of course, the site failing on the last page of the thing, for extra frustration), but like so many things legalese, I had to print it out to send in a hard copy as well. I also have to send in copies of my divorce docs to prove the name changes and that I was involved in civil litigation, even if only domestic. And I have to get fingerprinted and have DOJ and FBI background checks done, and submit the documents related to that.

Can’t wait to find out how much the fingerprinting and background checks will cost–that will be done tomorrow morning so I don’t have much of a wait. Yes, I have to pay for those as well.

As well as what, you may ask? As well as the fee for submitting the application to the Bar. That was $453.

Yes, just for the the moral determination. After paying that I can tell them my moral character: morally outraged.

The bar exam itself will cost over $550, plus an extra $125 to use my laptop rather than handwriting (talk about a scam there… the laptops make the grading easier!).

Well, at least the bar serves a good purpose with these fees–they train you early to bill high.

Remind me why I thought this law stuff would be a good idea?

I lost my Ray•Bans right after Michael’s visit in late June. They had gone missing before, but this time they were lost-lost. I hate spending $100+ on sunglasses, but after going through cheap pair after cheap pair out here, and never feeling like I was even wearing sunglasses on bright days, I finally bought the expensive ones. I had been ocularly happy since.

Until late June, that is.

Oddly, the sun disappeared from San Diego skies at about the same time. That was over two weeks ago. You know I’ve been kvetching about the dark weather recently. The only good thing about the darker weather was that I didn’t need the cheaters.

I gave it some time before considering buying new ones, just in case they reappeared. I called every place I could think of that I had been around the time they were lost in case someone turned them in. I checked all my pockets, etc. No luck. So a couple of days ago I went online to see how much I was going to have to shell out.

After perusing several sites, I found a pair on sale. Also, the store was offering an additional $10 discount for new customers and free shipping for orders over $50. Best of all, these were the classic old-style Wayfarers. The new ones have lighter, plastic lenses and a slightly altered shape as the lenses are a smidge larger. The old ones have dark green glass lenses and the tortoise shell is a bit darker. The frames are also a bit heavier, perhaps to balance the glass. They are also more expensive than the new Wayfarers.

Except that they weren’t. This was a big sale, and while they weren’t cheap, by any means, they weren’t the $145 they usually cost! I got them for a little less than $100. The store? You’ll laugh since it was me: Brooks Brothers.

Anyway, the FedEx man brought them at about noon today, just as I was headed out to the grocery.

And, please, note the sky.

I know I shouldn’t complain, but enough with the cool weather here. It’s supposed to go May Grey, June Gloom, July Fry, but there is no sign of the last. It’s 64ºF here right now, at 4:45pm. The sun never broke through today. And it was just barely misty for my run this morning.

Okay, that last bit is good. Even though the total time of running today was less than last time, it was split differently (2 x 22min versus 3 x 18min) and was a tough run. The cool air was welcome. Frankly, a bit cooler and mistier would have been even better. But I digress. Right now I’m wearing a light cardigan over a t-shirt and I am not happy about it.

All this cool darkness has not helped my mental state. I’ve been a bit down. Monday, the divorce became final and I think that hit harder than I expected.

Not being able to hang out by the pool, to soak up the sun, well, that has sucked, too. This was not how I planned on spending my days “off”–wearing sweaters and socks. I planned on reading bad novels and producing enough vitamin D to cure whatever might ail me, and then some. But no.

On the 4th of July, I was cold. Like shivering cold. That’s just wrong.

And now the ducks have gone missing, too.

Sigh.

But on the East Coast it’s well over 100 in many places. People are suffering! So, of course, I shouldn’t complain. But here I am, nonetheless, kvetching like a widowed Jewish mother at her only son who just got a serious girlfriend.

Don’t worry…once the sun returns I’m sure this all will pass. In the meantime, I’ll just sit in the dark here; don’t mind me.

************

UPDATE: After almost a week’s absence, Peking has returned. I feel much better.

Yesterday, Christopher and I went to the San Diego County Fair. Now, remember that SD County is about as big as 1/4 of Ohio, so this is a big “county” fair, but it’s definitely not the Ohio State Fair. It’s held at the Del Mar racetrack, which seems like an odd place to hold a fair, but it’s about the only place they really could have it. And it seems strange to have it so early in the year, but since the racing season opens in mid-July, it is when, and where, it is.

It’s incredibly popular. I guess the authorities worry about it being a target too because one had to go through metal detectors to get in. That was odd.

They have a few animals but not many. They were mostly in one outbuilding and more like a petting zoo. That is, there were pens of “example” sheep, goats, pigs and cattle. Here are the pigs:

There was another barn with the competition animals, but the public wasn’t permitted in. Boo. Some kids were showing their cows just outside of that building. I didn’t take a pic, but they were all dressed the same–like the 4H had a “jungen” division. Yes, that disturbing. Every teenage girl in pigtails and white blouse and green kerchief…odd.

There was a pretty big a midway filled with barkers and their games and carney-constructed rides that looked nauseating just to watch, much less actually get on. Speaking of carnies, there were Mexican carnies along with the usual scary white ones. Another cultural difference.

Of course, there was obscene fair food. I packed turkey jerky and other healthier nibblies so as not to get tempted by the chocolate covered bacon or “you name it, it gets fried” vendors (fried butter–ew!). There sure was a lot! But I don’t really trust those kind of food vendors anyway–who knows how clean they are. You can’t believe what they say, frankly. Inflated claims? You betcha…I think this booth must be owned by a male for its gross exaggeration:

Anyway, we looked at the woodworking, which was C’s purpose in going since he had classmates from the courses in woodworking he’s been taking at Palomar who had entered pieces. The examples, student and otherwise, were mostly ok, but not great. We both agreed that woodworkers tend to add too much (2 kinds of wood? Nah..let’s try 5!) and focus too hard on the technical (great joints, but the design sucks). There were a couple of “cleaner” designed tables that I liked–more modernist. And the inlay work in some of the Federalist-type pieces was impressive. Overall, though, lots of heavy, gaudy stuff.

Then we looked at the photography. That was painful, mostly, and there was a ton of it. The judges, sadly, fell into the “if it’s cute, it wins” trap far, far too much. A gazillion pics of toddlers and puppies. And there was enough HDR to make me cross-eyed. That trend is already beaten to death. There were a few good pieces, however–mostly Type 55 (Polaroid transfer) or even a few “tin type”-related images. Digital is great, but those “analogue” methods still have more depth.

Probably the best stuff we saw were the flowers–beautiful roses and several examples of the odd local flora. My favorites, though, were the dahlias. I had no idea they could look like this!

How did they ever evolve into these shapes? While I know there has been a lot of breeding by humans, the original plants had to have the basics–how/why did they ever evolve this way? Stunning.

At some point we went into one of the multiple building with the cheesy ShamWOW-ish sales people. There, I was totally shocked to see this, which I totally remember from the Ohio State Fair… in like 1976. I can’t believe they are still trotting this thing out and, moreover, that there were people paying $3 to get its “predictions.”

We did a hell of a lot of walking over several hours, so after we left the fair we went in search of a beer (there was beer at the fair, of course, but $7.50 for a single Bud Light… um, no). We ended up in Encinitas, at a dive-ish bar on the 101. Blind choice, but it ended up being a good one–they offered pitchers of any of their tap beers (except Guinness) for $8! These were good beers too–like Stella and Fat Tire and some local companies’ brews. We got a nice hefeweizen. I like this kind of beer in the summer since it has lots of flavor but is light on the alcohol. Add a big slice of lemon (some do orange, but I prefer lemon), and it’s really refreshing. Turns out that beer helps hydrate better than water, post-exercise.

After one of those we walked the couple of blocks over to the ocean. The marine layer had mostly come in, so the light was very flat but there were breaks over the water. Terribly pretty. I’m not much of a fan of north county, but I could live in Encinitas.

Earlier, as we walked from the car down the main drag of Encinitas (the 101) in search of a liquid refreshment establishment, we saw this store’s sign and wondered if it was deliberate (or if the owners had even noticed):

Anyway, post-beers and look at the ocean, we headed back down to San Diego proper, fighting traffic on the 5 the whole way. Sand Diego is one of the most popular holiday destinations so, well, forget about trying to get into town with any speed this weekend. After all that walking, etc., we were hungry and tired, so we went one exit past mine and got In-n-Out for dinner–a rare but yummy treat for me.

Except for the traffic, and some of the photography, it was a lovely day. This morning, however, my legs are sorer than the day after doing a 6-mile run. We did walk an awful lot, between the fair and around Encinitas, but wow. I think I’ll take another day before I try to do my week 4 day 3 run.