6/14/2021

 What have I been listening to?: Inside: The Album - Bo Burnham

What have I been reading?: The Last Season - Eric Blehm

Last movie I watched: When Marnie Was There

Well, well, well, look who's finally coming back to the blog, tail between her legs, somehow in an even worse mental state than before (well, maybe). 

When I left off in June of 2020, little did I know that things were only about to get worse. It's actually almost comical in hindsight how in June I was convinced that things were about as bad as they were gonna get. I was wrong. This summer represents the anniversary of the worst year of my life to date. Since I wrote last, the following has occurred:

• Got broken up with by a partner of over a year by text.
• Had to do both Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 fully remotely (it literally only just occurred to me as I typed that out that more than half of my legal education has been conducted online). When I return to law school this fall as a 3L (third and final year), I will be beginning only my second ever full in-person semester. 
• Interviewed with like 10 employers for Summer 2021 positions and got offers from none of them, resulting in me being forced to accept yet another unpaid position. I literally sat through multiple 3-hour Zoom interviews, some of which were with people who couldn't even be bothered to smile at me, and all I took away from it was trauma, a shaken sense of confidence, and a very smelly, sweaty blazer.
• A loved one passed away in March of this year. Not that I rank my loved ones on a scale of how much I would or would not want them to die, but if I had done so, this loved one would be one of the last people that I would have wanted to die. Like a top 5 loved one.

Those are the main traumas, I'd say. 

As of late, I've been listening to an obscene amount of podcasts. I go on at least one aimless walk per day, usually about 3 miles, while listening to podcasts. I am really just trying to find things to distract myself from acknowledging my consciousness. I listened to the TryPod (podcast by a YouTube group called the Try Guys) all the way through. Ran out of episodes and briefly had to face my despair before transitioning into a different podcast called Smartless, which is what I've been listening to most recently. Usually, music makes me very happy but I find it's a bit difficult at present because a lot of my music reminds me of people who are no longer in my life, or of memories that are painful. 

I finally have a bike, after about a year of wanting one. Apparently the beginning of the pandemic last summer prompted everyone and their second cousin to take up cycling, so I was finding it difficult to acquire a bike. Luckily my mother found a listing on Craigslist for a used Trek mountain bike and we were able to pick that up while I was home briefly in Wisconsin. So now if you see me very slowly ascending a very minimal incline on a yellow bike with silver butterfly decals, mind ya business.

Just kidding, I quite like the bike and my legs are getting stronger with each ride. I live around the top of a pretty decent hill, with Little Italy right below me. At first, the idea of making it up that hill on bike was not one I could realistically entertain, and I walked the bike up when I had to go that way. Then one day I said to myself, "If you make this ride a short one, you can attempt the hill and maybe have enough strength left to do it." So that's what I did, and I did manage to get up the hill without having to stop and walk. Having to cross the intersection at the top of the hill with legs the fortitude of single strands of limp linguini was a bit dicey, though. But last time I attempted the hill (yesterday), I got up it with even less difficulty. If my legs aren't absolutely shredded by the end of the summer, I'll be pissed.

I tend to have a terrible memory and can't really remember what sorts of things I've been doing. Back in my foreign exchange days, the remedy for that was to look at the many photos I'd taken--they would remind me of what all I had done and the places I'd been. Well, I don't take nearly as many photos anymore. But in perusing what few photos I have as of late, here are some that will give a sense of things.

My gorgeous, talented, dear friend Claire got married last summer

The meal I had during a study session at Presti's for Fall 2020 finals

Camping with a couple of friends last summer, Governor Knowles State Forest

A hiking daytrip at Cuyahoga Valley National Park with my brother and sister-in-law who visited from Wisconsin

Finals study group conducted via Zoom, yet again

My sister's new Corgi puppy named Finn

Yeah, I really don't have many more photos over the course of the last twelve months. School-wise, things have been going academically well, although so far, as I alluded to above, that hasn't translated into anything tangible job-wise. In Fall 2020, I had Constitutional Law, Professional Responsibility (ethical rules), Transactional Legal Writing (contracts and stuff), and Copyright Law (I got the top grade). This most recent semester, I had Criminal Procedure (spoiler alert: your Miranda rights are far worse than you could have ever imagined), Trademark Law, First Amendment Law, and Employment Discrimination. Employment Discrimination actually ended up being my favorite and was a super interesting and practical class. 

Excitingly, my Note (long paper for writing requirement) turned out very well and was selected for publication in my school's law review. It also won the school's Sindell Torts Prize for best essay in the field of torts. To be honest, I think that is my proudest achievement so far in law school. Once that has been published, I will see if I can share it on here somehow. That paper is about agricultural nuisance and Right to Farm laws. I will be writing another piece for publication in the following volume of the law review as well. For that piece, I'm hoping to do something animal law related, hopefully more focused on legal protections for animals.

I think I will sign off for now, but I will be back soon (I intend to not let another year go by, this time). I'm going to go have a bike ride, I think. 

Extremely well said.

-G