I've been writing entries on my xanga account again.

I have also started on a new diet starting this week. I have also already broken this new diet today. I am also too lazy to go to the gym right now so I will go tomorrow.

I don't know why I'm writing this in a livejournal, but the fact that my brain is fried bananas right now is likely the most satisfactory explanation.

My coworkers amuse me to no end.

... that is all. Mmm what a fantastically wasteful day.

Second day working. I am tired from the 8 a.m.-ness of my job.

More details later. Not about the cases we're working on, since I think that would be a big no-no. I need to buy more suits and pantyhose. I think I really like skirt suits a lot better than pantsuits. After an entire 9-hour day in a pantsuit, I felt really icky. After a 9-hour day in a skirt suit I felt okay. My legs need more breathing room, and I like looking less conservative. Apparently to feel more at ease I need some skin to be showing. Unfortunately low-cut v-necks would probably be a no-no, as would Aly McBeal style miniskirt skirt suits.

Time to find something to drink! Soda or water, not sake/alcohol.

It's the Friday after finals, and instead of celebrating I am sitting amongst all of my accumulated clutter. I need to pack since I'm going to be leaving this apartment. I never realized I accumulated so much junk.

After I finish packing (hopefully by tomorrow), I will also be trying to finish up the write-on packet. I'm giving myself... 5 days to finish it. I'm leaving for LA on Friday, so I have Sunday-Thursday to work on it. I hope I don't procrastinate too much.

I start work next week (May 27th). I have to get to the office at around 8 a.m. God help me.

I'm thinking of scaling back on the # of LJ communities I seem to be in. Sometimes checking my friends-page gives me quite the headache.

i am currently taking a short breather before I delve back into editing my take-home final. I started it at 11:40 a.m., and now it's 2:30 a.m. I have around 9 more hours until the deadline to upload the exam! Most likely I'll give it a few more reads and submit it before 4 a.m. 24-hr take home finals only fosters the laziness inside of me.

It's a little premature to be celebrating, but I'm almost done with my first year of law school! They say that the first year is the worst. Let's hope so.

Let's apply a proportionality analysis to how much more I have to do before finals are over:

I have already finished my brief for my writing class a few weeks ago. 1 unit is done.
I took my closed-book torts exam on Monday. 5 units are done.
I just finished my take-home exam for remedies (also known as the longest six hours of my life). 3 units are done.

All that is left are:

Criminal law exam on Monday. 4 units.
Take-home exam for Mergers and Acquisitions sometime before the semester is over. 2 units.

So, I have finished 9/15 units this semester. This means not only am I more than halfway through, I am 3/5 through! 2/5 left! If there was a pie, 3/5 of it would be gone!

Yeah, I know it's amazing that I'm in law school considering I have the emotional maturity of a 10-year-old. Of course, there is little to celebrate once finals are over, since I will be attempting the write-on (no tangible hope there) while also packing up all my stuff to prepare to move. Besides going to LA, what else should I do over the summer? I plan to eat a lot of food, go shopping quite frequently, and try to lose weight. All worthy goals, I'd imagine. I kind of want to go to Napa. Maybe Monterey again (I do love those sea otters). I want to travel too, but that will probably have to wait until later. Maybe I'll go to Taiwan winter break this year. I miss the good, cheap food.

Observations from dead week:

1. People that tell you the progress of their studying are usually wanting some sort of pat on their back for their progress. Luckily for them, since I am forever lame and easily distracted, I will always be further behind in studying than most people.

2. The caffeine content of Frappuccinos suck.

3. Getting the invitation to my 5-year high school reunion was quite a shock. Seriously, it's been 5 years since high school? It feels like it's only been... 4 years.

4. Reading my torts outline before taking a nap will induce a torts-related dream. I think I dreamed about some sort of vicarious liability case and I was going through the exceptions under respondeat superior. Then for some reason I dreamed about landowner's liability. This was quite possibly the most disturbing dream I have ever had.

Two weeks until summer vacation. I will treat myself to sushi + sake + shopping after all of this is over and done. Sure, I may not have money, but I have credit. No, this doesn't mean I'm in credit card debt. I pay off my card every month, but using a credit card seems more like pain in slow motion. It doesn't hit until the end of the month.

I think my brain is completely dead, despite my attempts to revive it. 3 cups of coffee today and I still feel like putting my head down for a nap. Study break soon - hopefully it will mean that later today and tomorrow I will have enough energy to finish up all the stuff I've been putting off.

Also, I am poor. Please do not tempt me with shopping. :( Though I tend to tempt myself by staring at the summer dresses at Nordstrom's website.

My stomach's roundness is also starting to resemble Totoro. Mmmm fat.

Most of today was spent at the car dealership, test driving + signing papers to buy the car. The car salesman made us seriously the best tasting coffee that I have had. It was strong, but also sweet. Apparently he buys some sort of coffee bean from Starbucks and grinds it himself. He also adds some sort of raw natural sugar and organic half-and-half to it. It was like liquid gold. I was so awake after drinking just half a cup (more so compared to when I drink a ventii sized starbucks).

I must find my french press coffee maker again so that I can go buy some coffee beans (and a grinder) and start experimenting.

So, instead of studying (and outlining) I started watching Densha Otoko: this Japanese drama about this really nerdy/geeky anime otaku guy who falls in love with this beautiful girl. Supposedly it's based on a true story. What is not appealing about the drama is the main actor - since the role is that of a nerdy/geeky anime otaku guy, the main character is not cute:


This weekend I will be studying. And uh, taking study breaks. :)

Dear law school friends,

Please don't tell me about the progress of your outlines. It really makes my heart thump (and not in a good way) when you tell me that you've outlined up to the present class, or that you've started going over practice exams.

Rest assured, I am probably way more behind than you are. You don't need to brag. :(

Love,
Cynthia

Oh, but I do intend on going back to San Jose this weekend to test-drive my psuedo new car. Supposedly it will be a blue car. Yay for sub-compact, affordably priced vehicles! This means I will be driving to Los Angeles soonish. After finals.

Yes, I know that "disimprove" is not a real word.

I took the online Chinese placement exam last night and ended up placing into Chinese 100BX which is the second semester of advanced Chinese for native speakers.

Sadly, this means that my Chinese has 退步-ed since last year, since I finished advanced Chinese @ UCLA.

Either that, or I would like to think of it as: maybe the Chinese classes at Berkeley are more advanced than the Chinese classes at UCLA? After all, The advanced Chinese series at UCLA did not distinguish between native/non-native speakers, unlike the advanced Chinese series at Berkeley.

The placement exam was a little offputting though. They asked you to choose the most accurate meanings for certain idioms. I suck at that.

Yes, more blogging about J-pop. I'm actually blogging about J-pop in the law library, which is a little disconcerting. So, Koichi released a new PV under the name "Maizu Tsukasa" (米壽司 - in Chinese [and Japanese, though I can't read Japanese] it means "rice sushi") from his Sushi Ouji drama / movie.

Truthfully, the song kind of reminds me of BSB. Or N'Sync - with synchronized dancing and all, but in Japanese. Still entertaining though, still entertaining.

Whatever happened to all of the American boybands? BSB has kind of faded out of existence for the most part. I think they had a new CD a while ago, but I don't think anything major materialized out of that. JT is the only one out of N'Sync that really made it big, the other members of N'Sync also kind of faded out of existence.

I think the same thing happened to the girl-bands in the US. In junior high (or maybe it was high school) there were the Spice Girls, TLC, Destiny's Child... now there are... the Pussycat Dolls?

Er, back to the original topic. Koichi's new PV is pretty good. In other Asian pop news, I listened to both Wang Leehom's Olympic song and Jay Chou's Olympic song. Both are incredibly sappy sounding, but I suppose if you're writing a song about the Olympics a certain amount of sap is mandatory. Personally, I like Jay Chou's better because it sounds less generic - if you look it up on youtube it's called 千山萬力 or something like that.

Really random first: I "found" two brand new pairs of jeans in my closet back at home. These aren't even cheap jeans, one pair was a dark gray straight leg jean (True Religion brand) and the other was a dark blue stretch bootcut jean (CoH). I miss college. Those were truly the days when I could spend money without feeling too guilty (in my defense both of those jeans were on sale for more than 50% off from what I remember). However, it's also because back in college I was working part time (making $) and also getting monthly payments from my dad ($$$$$$$). Nowadays, my source of income is solely based on my grandparents ($) and my mom (I should use a cents sign here). I have already applied for the summer fellowship grant for this summer, since I am working in the public sector and therefore not getting any money. I do get a parking permit though, which is pretty great since parking is expensive downtown. The grant isn't that great, it's only $4,000 for the entire summer, but that $4,000 will definitely help me pay off rent on my apartment over the summer and also fund some other costs.

Now, onto the real topic of interest:

I bought some new shoes to go with the summer-y weather. Though, I guess the silver color seems a little more fall than spring/summer to me. Oh well, they are shiny and will hopefully look cute with jeans. I ordered them online since I had a $25 gift certificate for zappos.com.


Shooooooooooooooooooooooooooooes. :)

I am toying with the idea of either buying Koichi's new Sushi Ouji single. Or buying the new Arashi DVD. I have no money though, which can be quite a factor. All my monies went into buying shoes. 3 new pairs in just two weeks.

If you're bored and want a good laugh, I suggest you watch Jay Chou's movie, "Secret"　(also known as 不能說的秘密 in the Chinese-speaking parts of the world). The plot was livable for the first half, but got a little ridiculous toward the end.

In other mandopop news, the Olympics Committee in Beijing is holding some sort of contest where they will choose 25 songs to use for the games. Jay Chou and Wang Leehom both submitted songs for this contest.

I was reading some news article earlier today about how China doesn't have many pop cultural icons anymore. Most of the Chinese pop culture icons are imported from places other than the mainland - namely HK and Taiwan. According to some recent survey, Jay Chou still reigns as #1 most recognized and loved mandopop idol. It's amazing how someone like Jay Chou - who's listening audience is all of China, Taiwan, HK, Singapore, and Asia at large, is still considered unknown in America and in other parts of the world. Though, some Americans might recognize him as that ugly dude who played the prince in "Curse of the Golden Flower." I think that would only be a very, very very small minority.

What should I take next semester? On the table includes:

4th year Chinese (the level that is after Advanced Chinese): This class would be taken with "kiddies," also known as undergrads. Apparently I just sign up for the class like normal and take it like normal. Except I would get reduced credit for law school.

Constitutional Law: There are two con law classes next semester, both taught by Asian profs. One of the Asian profs. is none other than John Yoo.

Corporations: I like money and big business.

Accounting for Lawyers: Geared toward those with non-accounting backgrounds. Maybe I can take this as an "easy" class since I do have somewhat of an accounting background. For fairness sake, I actually only took up to intermediate accounting in college.

Income Tax I: I like taxes! Well, I guess I don't like to pay taxes, but I used to work for a CPA. It's a little ominous though, since I did only manage to get a B in Mgmt 127a (personal income tax) at UCLA.

Law and Investment in China: I have never been to China, but I can only imagine how kerazy it is to try to invest over there.

Legal Profession: This class would satisfy the ethics requirement that I need to fulfill in my second year. Enuff said.

Wine Law: Just because it's... WINE LAW.

Wills and Trusts: I want to be able to draft documents when I graduate.

Umm... I think I have a limit of 15 units. Obviously, there are too many classes that I would like to take. I think.... I don't know.  I like all of them. Which one should I vote off first?

"...this case is hereby remanded to the district court for judgment not inconsistent with this opinion."

Why do lawyers and judges love using double negatives? Why must they say "not inconsistent" when just "consistent" will suffice?

This is a question that I have not been able to answer. I feel that soon I will also have the urge to use double negatives and other confusing word phrases that don't make much sense.

Jdramas recently finished:

• "Beautiful Life" - too predictable. Kimura also wore some really hideous outfits, though since the drama is like from 2000 I'll forgive him for it. But seriously, "girl in wheelchair" dramas really don't do it for me. I just wished there were more scenes of him cutting hair, since I like hair styling
• "Bara no nai Hanaya" - so-so.
  

That being said, I'm starting to watch "Orange Days" now. It'll be my last drama before I start seriously studying for finals, which I should have already started last week. Outlining + memorizing galore! Time to go into hibernation mode.

Oh, and if anybody wants any jdrama recommendations, my current top two:

1. Good Luck!! - Yes, the title includes the two exclamation points. Cute drama, good acting, and Kimura Takuya in a pilot uniform!
   
2. Hana Yori Dango 1+2 - I think of these two as the same drama. I liked the crazy outfits, especially on the guys. Seriously, Japanese fashion is amazing.

I was going to make a top 5 list, but I couldn't think of any other dramas to recommend. Maybe Karei-naru Ichizoku but that's more for people who like money and politics.

Maybe I am a Japanophile. Though I suppose i am also a Taiwanophile. Asiaphile? Er, I don't think any of those were real words.  I am also still anxiously awaiting for my Longchamp bag to arrive. Come soon, Longchamp!

Totally unrelated to the rest of the content on this blog - but I just read news that the New Kids on the Block are supposedly reuniting. They must be really old now.

The real new kids on the block will be rolling in tomorrow since tomorrow is New Admit Day at the law school. I will be tabling a little (not much) and going to receptions. I wonder what the new 1Ls will look like. Hopefully they will be full of law school naievete and won't realize that they are stepping into a world filled with bluebooking, reading, writing, and getting the brunt of professors' undying love of the socratic method.

Oh law school.

I caved and bought a Longchamp bag, because I liked the green color:


Very pale green. Reminds me of toothpaste. Diluted toothpaste - minty? Mmm... mint thins...

No more shopping until summertime for me. I've used up my budget for "random crap + clothes" already.

Apartment-hunting has also been underway for the past week or so. Please, please let the Berkeley housing market be kind to me.

Last random thing: I saw John Yoo on campus today. I think he's teaching con law - or maybe he taught con law last semester - either way, he just looks so harmless. Part of me has the urge to read that memo that he wrote. Maybe this weekend when I have time, though I should also start studying for finals (a.k.a. catching up to classes now).

I think I should go to China at least once in my life. After all, it is the motherland. My mom's side of the family has been in Taiwan for five generations, but that just means five generations ago they were in China. Out of all the foreign countries in the world, I have probably visited Taiwan the most often. I used to go once every year when I was in elementary school, which later turned into once every two years, which has now turned into once every few years or so. In all, I've maybe been to Taiwan 5 times? 6 times? Something like that.

The second country that I've visited the most is Japan, since I've been to Japan three times. Mmm Japanese food... I have to say, the last time I went to Japan was in 2006 (pre-Asian drama fetish) on a tour with my family. By family, I mean basically my mom's side of the family - my aunt, her kids, my uncle, his kids, my family, my grandparents, etc. We rented out a tour bus by ourselves and had our own personal tour guide who spoke in Taiwanese the entire time. Made it a little difficult for me to understand what he was talking about since I pretty much only understand extremely basic Taiwanese phrases.

I think those are the only two countries that I have visited multiple times. I should go to Europe again, since I haven't been since my 7th-grade school trip to Europe. Back in those days, I had no appreciation for culture. When I was in Germany, I bought beanie babies as souvenirs.

My new phone also comes with a camera. Here are some random photos that I took... (obviously I am writing this post because I refuse to finish reading for my class tomorrow)