Wait, it was Bret Michaels.

Correction, not someone I find attractive. It was Bret Michaels. But in the dream I was THRILLED he was hitting on me.

I probably included him in my dream because we went to Gamestop yesterday and I commented on the huge Final Fantasy (the new one, what is it now, 14?) poster. One of the characters is SO Bret Michaels.

Whack Dreams

So as I have nothing law-schooly to discuss until August, I thought I would use the time to document my completely fucked up dreams. Anyone who's ever lived with me has heard the (often boredom inciting) phrase "I had the weirdest dream last night." So now you can all suffer too.

Last night I dreamed that I somehow got cast on Grey's Anatomy. I was new to the Hollywood scene, and for some reason Katherine Heigl decided to be nice to me and invite me along on a real estate trip. It was freshly announced that she would be leaving the show so she was house hunting. She agreed to let me (and the other female stars of the show) tag along to check out this "great" place she heard about. She flew us in her private plane, because in my brain Katherine Heigl is not only beautiful and talented, but fabulously rich and a pilot to boot. We had a majorly huge scare and almost crashed into a mountain (face down) when she managed to straighten us out at the very last second. It was very Hollywood.

We land at the private air strip and take a ridiculously long drive UP UP UP the mountain into The Hills to this Willy Wonka-esque house. The realtor met us at the gate. I took one look and could tell this place was a total dump. "How much is the listing price?" I asked. "12" says the realtor. "Thousand?" I thought in my head, but I knew she meant million. Much like most houses in Hollywood and thereabouts, it's all about the land, not so much how great the house itself is. This place was a complete monstrosity. Peeling paint, rotting drywall. But, it was 12 floors. Huge. Teeny tiny rooms, but hundreds of them. Apparently that passes for "amazing."

Someone was having a party, and people were smoking meth and doing all sorts of other horrible things. I got separated from the group and was told to just enjoy myself, but I just kept thinking houses in Home State are SO much nicer. Plus I was creeped out by all the drugged out freaks. If this is Hollywood, I'm not so sure I belong. At one point I walked in on Katherine Heigl breastfeeding her baby. Which is odd, because, didn't she adopt? I know adoptive parents can do that and all, but I didn't exactly see that happening with her. Plus, I don't recall a baby screaming as we were about to plummet to our deaths in the plane. So yeah, that was pretty much it.

At one point I also bumped into a random male super-celebrity, who hit on me. That was pretty awesome except I can't remember who it was. Definitely someone I like though, I remember that much.

Now for the fun part where I try and assess where some of these things come from.

1. I read about Heigl leaving the show and lamented that her character didn't just die of cancer when she had the chance.

2. I watched Addicted and saw a chick smoke meth, something I've never seen in real life.

3. I watched Sober House which takes place in a nice big house in the Hollywood Hills. It's one of the good ones.

So there you are, and this was one of the TAME ONES.

My Day as a Pretend Law Student

Today was Admitted Students Day and boy was it a loooong day. I came home so exhausted I just shoveled some Taco Bell into my face and promptly went to bed. Thank goodness I have a loving husband who would take care of our baby while I was incapacitated. WHICH I WAS. I have not been so tired since the first trimester of my pregnancy. I slept from 6:30 to 9:30 pm and I am still barely functioning. Attempting to speak to my husband who saw what appeared to be a Hollywood zombie version of his wife stagger meekly out of the bedroom is taking every fiber of my being. Mostly I just say "Unnnnnngh." I want to write it all down while it is still fresh, however, but I will promptly pass out again after I am done. The thought of brushing my teeth physically hurts me, I am THAT tired.

The day started off pretty awesome, with the best thing it can start with, FOOD. We dished up breakfast and saddled up to tables with ambassadors who immediately started fielding the millions of questions we all have. I met a guy from Stanford who was SO frustrated that he hadn't yet heard from Harvard. Others talked about how they got into Columbia and all these other places that sound impressive, but are still considering Home State University. Well then. Home State U was my ultimate pie in the sky choice, and I just kept saying how I had gotten accepted by pure magic. I don't know where they got those onion potato things, but goddamn they were fantastic.

The Dean popped up and introduced himself and talked about the top six things the school is committed to affecting with its students. The effect of its graduates on the world as opposed to the other way around is a huge commitment Home State U makes. One of the six things was Bio/Medical, which I am hugely interested in. During the faculty panel I asked about what sort of jobs I could work in if I chose to emphasize Bio/Medical and the professor-guru of the field got all excited and told me to come see her sometime. Sounds like I would have plenty of work if I dug myself into that little niche.

I am also extremely interested in criminal law, and spent a few minutes speaking to the president of the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center. I am pretty certain I will do their clinic, though the judicial clinic sounds great too.

I attended a mock criminal law class and the professor was absolutely fantastic. If any of the other professors are half as kick-ass as he is, I am in for a seriously amazing experience.

Of course the school was wooing the undecided, so their information was biased, but the more I heard the more I was certain about my choice to attend there. About half the students are married and a large number with children, so right off the bat I have some things in common with people and a wealth of resources. The environment is incredibly collegial rather than competitive. The faculty to student ration is 8:1, which is the second best in the country. AND the professors are perpetually available to students for anything from help reviewing class materials to chatting about the game last night. They were very serious when they talked about their open-door policies, and said not enough students take advantage of that availability.

I see so many opportunities to give back to my community, and I am not worried about finding a job when I am done. Out of last year's graduating class, only 2 people are currently looking for work. The rest are employed. The salary rates are not super sexy, but I am not doing this to make the big bucks anyway and that is largely just a reflection of the current economy which is on its way up. I am not kidding myself, I know it won't be easy, but most things I do aren't so I am up for the ride.

I made my first law school friend, someone I started the day chatting with and happened to walk out with. We even exchanged phone numbers so we can help each other navigate through the coming months.

I was right, this day made me more excited than ever to begin law school. I know I am doing the right thing and I know I am doing it in the best place for me and my family. That kind of clarity is rare for me, so it feels pretty great.

Now I am going to bed. Again. I really hope I don't wake up in the middle of the night unable to sleep.

Exposing My Nerdiness

I am super excited (to the point of annoying people, I'm sure) about tomorrow. It is the law school open house, which is much more than mingling and drinking punch! Two full days of stuff, including a mock class and observing a real class. I am so excited!! They even provided study materials for the mock class and I plan to review them and highlight them in multiple colors! Yes, I'm a nerd. And I am so excited to be going back to school. I can't believe how much I've missed it, given how sick of it I was when I finished my undergrad.

Also, is it wrong I'm excited about them feeding me?

Declining An Offer of Admission

I have come to the point where I am officially decided, and therefore no amount of email bombardment can lure me to a different law school than the one I have chosen. So now, every time I get an email from one of the other schools I get sort of sad and frustrated. In my previous wave of applications, schools sent out little postcards early on, so you could reply back if you decided not to attend. Often, they would reply with a survey asking how you made your decision. No such luck this year, I've had to contact admissions offices directly to tell them I am not attending. Now, I could be patient and wait until it's closer to the seat deposit deadline, but every time I see an email without the Shiny Beautiful Crimson Home State University logo I get disheartened. I need this to stop. I have accepted my decision and I am excited, so I don't want to see awesome programs being flaunted in sexy email campaigns.

Ahem.

Anyway, so I sent out some emails requesting I be noted as "not attending" and hopefully the emails would stop. Nope, now they have me in their contact lists! I don't want to mark them as spam, because what if they legitimately need to contact me! ACK!!!

I could just ignore them or delete them and be a grown-up, but where's the fun in that?

This is Why I Want to Practice Law

To catch scumbags, if that sums it up enough. Specifically those who take advantage of people. I spoke to a woman at work today who'd been in an abusive relationship. She had moved here from Colombia and hooked up with this guy, who proceeded to open a merchant account in her name and use it to open a gym. So now the government thinks she has made all this money running a gym, even though the business itself is not in her name. She is completely screwed. I only work for the merchant software, so all I could do is report and help her close the account, but she was so lost I gave her a little advice as well. File a police report, hire an attorney. Identity theft is no small matter, but it is exceptionally huge when there is a business involved. I wish I were already a lawyer so I could sue the guy for her or prosecute his ass for fraud.