And just like that...

I'm busy again.

There's about a month left in the semester. About 10 weeks until I leave for California. And about a million things that I need to do before then.

Although I'm pretty much done with school, I need to make the most of these last few grades that I get to try to get at least a decent GPA. I bit off a little more than I could chew this semester so I have fallen behind in my schoolwork for the sake of trying to write my comment. The good news, of course, is that the comment is finished. The bad news is that everything else is starting to come at me. I'm also trying to take on more responsibility at work... well at the internship. I am almost positive that my mentor thinks that I'm slow. His assignments usually consist of editing and making grammatical corrections. Now part of that may be him giving me shit he doesn't want to do, but I suspect that he thinks that those are "safe" assignments. Consequently, I've sought out other attorneys and have gotten assignments from them. These research assignments are BEYOND boring, but they're helping me to hone my research skills which is important. I need a self esteem boost in the legal arena and I'm hoping that this will help.

In other news I spoke to my boss about my leave of absence, he tentatively gave the green light. Words cannot begin to express the relief I felt. I cannot imagine anyone else in the world that would let me have another summer to do something like this. I really do love what I do at XM and I'm praying that staying there thru the end of law school will help me to save up some money and possibly lead to a position in the new company (ifthateverhappens). With the economy the way it is, I was DREADING coming back to no job. I tend to be optimistic when it comes to the job market. I have been fortunate enough to have avoided being unintentionally unemployed for any extended period of time... but with all this talk of recessions and whatnot, I was starting to wonder if i was making the right decision. I'm happy for now, but until the paperwork is all completed, I'm only cautiously happy. This also means that i'll need to work my ass off between now and May. Between the raise that I received and the fact that my boss goes above and beyond for me, I need to make sure I do all that I can to keep things running smoothly.

The Recap

So... I'm back home :(

And by home i mean DC... not my "real" home.

Once again Eric, Dom, Mariam and Vic went out of their way to make us feel special. We ate at our favorite spots and discovered a couple of new ones. We learned how great watermelon hookah could be and even got to ride a cable car.

I had an amazing time and I think I'm one step closer to making the move permanent.

And now... the photo recap:


Gas is trés expensive.. but i won't have a car this summer so i guess it's ok


BJ signed a couple of endorsement deals


There were tons of beautiful flowers


See?


One more


There were cute doggies too!


Delicious Pizza


Amazing sunsets


Dom swears by the Guinness Float, but we didn't try it

One thing that I love about SF is that it's so colorful... between murals, graffiti and colorful buildings, the city is so vibrant and alive:









There are some things you shouldn't do in San Fran...



Museum of the African Diaspora


We got some culture at MoMA:



Then I decided to get creative:







This sums up me and Dom's friendship:




Me, Dom and ID at the Warriors game



I love my city


See all the pics here:

San Francisco 3/10 - 3/15

The Last Day

So... this is it. Today is our last day (this time around) in San Fran. As usual we've had a blast. Eaten at a ton of great places, tried to spend some time in neighborhoods that we weren't familiar with. It's funny because at this point, when I come to San Fran it's not about me trying to see all the touristy stuff (i *will* make it to Alcatraz one day though), it's more about me catching up with friends and just hanging out. This place feels like home and I love that. One thing that I've realized though is that I have no sense of north, south, east, west here. It just struck me as odd... but I make do.

I also saw the apartment that I'll be staying in this summer. Its beautiful! Lots of light, lots of space... just a chill spot. It just seems like everything is coming together. I don't want to spend too much more time typing because I should be out enjoying myself. I just need to remember to come back and do a recap while everything is fresh in my head.

I Did It

And now my reward...

At about 3pm today I turned in my comment which *should* mean that I have met both the requirements for the Journal and my Upper Level Writing requirement... which *should* mean that I have 18 more credits to take before I am official law school graduate... and after this summer and taking the journal credits into consideration for next semester.... i will have 8 credit hours worth of classes... and then the Bar Exam...

But for now, I'm celebrating. Heading to San Fran in about 8hrs. I'm going to eat, drink, and be merry and hopefully come up with a place to live this summer. When I get back I'll be turning all my attention to catching up in my classes, improving my performance at my internship and convincing my boss to grant me one last leave of absence.

In other news, the sting of not being able to drive across country has hopefully been lessened. I think I'm going to help a friend drive across the middle part of the country and wind up in one of my favorite places to give away money. Yay?

I also finally got my bridesmaid dress. Well I ordered it and I think i may have fucked myself royally on this one. I know the dress will need to be altered because it's too long. The dress will be here by 6/2 at the latest... the wedding is 6/7. I may not even be there to pick up the dress... I will not forgive myself if I'm mess this up. So yeah... I suck.

There's also something special that I'm going to try to do in San Francisco. It's been a long time since i've done it and it's something that I think I need to do at this point... but enough of the being cryptic. If I do it, I do it.

Vacation

We leave for San Francisco in 4 days... and I have a TON of shit to do before then. It's going to be a much deserved vacation though. I'm turning in my comment on Sunday then I'm packing and relaxing.

Yay!

Time seems like it's been sped up lately. Everything is shifting... everyone is moving and relocating... and while I'm moving forward too, I can't help but to also feel a little stagnant. I know that I need to do a better job of working on my goals and my future but sometimes I just want to be a little lazy. One thing is for sure, come hell or high water, I'm leaving DC after graduation, if only for a little while, I need to be able to say i've lived somewhere else.

Also, I woke up this morning to a swollen lip... and there's no reason for my puffy ass lip. Didn't eat anything weird, no unusual exposure to the cat... just puffy lip. I'm due at my internship in an hour and 45 mins... i'm hoping its fixed by then because this is actually pretty embarrassing... i need to buy groceries too. So much to do... blah blah blah.

I'm better

... and BJ's better too.

I don't think I've been that sick in YEARS. I can honestly say the flu picked me up and knocked me on my ass. Either way i'm pretty much better now and that's what's important.

I also got back out to see the godkids today. That made me smile... and then it made my ovaries start jumpin around. I'd really like to have kids soon. I'd also like to travel all over the world without having to worry about what to do with the kids. It's a very interesting place I'm at right now. I mean the truth of the matter is, if I'm going to have kids, I should do it soon... but like... I kinda don't want to. I'm torn. Some days there's nothing I want more than to just live my life for me and be selfish with my time... other times I want a family and all the stuff that goes along with it. **insert sigh here**

In other news... I'm kinda fuckin up this semester. I'm just not interested and that's bad news. I think it's because I'm doing way too much. Luckily this paper is due in a little over a week and then I will get a bit of freedom. For now, however, I must push thru and get this stuff done.

Wish me luck :)

Dilla Day 2/21/08

I think that I could end the blog with that picture, but I want to at least try to put into words what yesterday meant to me.

For as long as I can remember I have loved music. My earliest music memories are of me and my nephew. We would listen to the radio and sing along... and when we got tired of that, we'd make our own tapes of us playing radio. We'd announce and sing the songs... most of those tapes ended with someone snatching the microphone, a little bit of arguing... perhaps a scuffle, the stop button would be pushed, and we'd run off to do something else. From there I guess I got hooked on videos and more radio. My parents had records but I wasn't really allowed to play with them. I had my own stack of records but I had to have someone else put them on for me.

I remember when I got old enough to work the stereo on my own. How excited I would get everytime i would place a record on the turntable and marvel at the sounds that would come thru the speakers. As I got older I realized the effect that music had on my emotions... Over the years I fell in and out of love with many different artists and genres but my love for music remained constant.

That brings me to last night... kinda... in 2005, I took a trip to san fran... and dom insisted on playing this song over and over again. That's Dom's thing... He'll hammer a song into your head... The song was "The $$" by Dilla... a song that wouldn't be officially released until like 2 yrs later I think. Either way I was hooked and i quickly realized, like a bunch of others, that Dilla had produced like 200 other songs that I loved... ok *that* brings us to last night.

February 21, 2008, was "Dilla Day" at XM. It started out with a panel that consisted of Pete Rock, Talib Kweli, and Ms. Yancey (Dilla's mother). The three spoke on their experiences with him and how his music changed their lives. It was extremely interesting to hear his mother talk about him and to hear Pete speak and to just be so in awe of Dilla's talent. After the panel, a group of extremely talented artists took the stage and paid tribute by playing song after song from JD's extensive catalog.

The night was a huge success. There were plenty of times that I was almost moved to tears (yes, i know this is nothing new) but it reminded me again why i love music so much. I tried to explain it to a friend... It's like ppl get so caught up in chasing samples and trying to figure out what record a producer used on a record, that it seems like they lose sight of the fact that at some point someone actually played the song. Hearing a live band playing these songs brought the music back to life. It reminded me why i love music and what it means to me.

Music is truly my first love. I'm glad that I have people in my life that i can share that love with and that understand it's importance in my life... but enough about all that... here are some more pics. Enjoy.



Grap



Kev Brown



Flex Matthews



Cy Young



J Hill


See more here:

Dilla Day at XM 2/21/08