Yin and Yang

I know without cost, none of it would be worth it.  If we don't put effort or work in, what have we accomplished?

I get it, I really do.  If three years of law school wasn't enough pain to get my J.D., I don't know what was.

But why, for the love of all that is holy, must I trim my fingernails to play guitar???

I love my guitar.  I suck.  But I love it.  I've always wanted to master it (never did).  But last year, I pulled it out again and started teaching myself.  Learned maybe a dozen songs, too!

But I love nail art.  Painting my nails pretty colors and whatnot.  Granted, I'm very limited on the colors I can wear in my chosen profession, but I can wear fun colors are the weekend.

What I hate (at least on me) are short and stubby nails.  It's like...a really weird pet peeve of mind.  I have never liked having short nails.  I think I feel like it elongates my hand, I dunno.  I've just always envied women with healthy, strong, not-short nails.

That's not to say I want these!

But a little tip is nice, in my opinion.

But goodness does it make playing the guitar difficult.  Whenever I get on a kick about improving my guitar skills (and let's face it, I'm in the middle of bar prep so just about anything else sounds awesome), I have this debate of how much I really want to learn.  Should I trim my nails all the way down?  Or just kind of flub it?

Anyway, I guess it's my yin and yang when it comes to playing the guitar, everything has a cost and balance.

This one is just particularly lame.

Now, if only I had a proper acoustic guitar...(my favorite)

#justdoit

Sorry, Nike, for stealing your hashtag (#lawyered wouldn't cut it for this post), cause I'm definitely an Under Armour girl.  I will say, however, that today, Nike was pretty awesome.

You're looking at a girl who just successfully went for a run.  Sure, it was pathetically short and I was breathing hard almost instantly, but I did it!  I won't admit how long I lasted, cause, again, it's rather embarrassing.  But, I did stretch out for fifteen minutes before I took off.  And for all you people in super shape, that's nothing.  But for people like me, terribly out of shape who haven't exercised in years, it is also a work out.

And the stretch thing is where Nike comes in.  Several months back (like two years ago probably), I went on this kick saying that I was going to get in shape.  I bought the clothes, the shoes, got some apps.  And I lasted about three weeks.  Then life got the better of me.

Now, I was never a girl who exercised.  I grew up blessed with a fast metabolism (actually too fast for a while, I was almost severely underweight when I was younger) and I participated in a lot of active sports (I played tennis several days a week and I swam a lot).  I definitely wasn't out of shape.  I mean, I played a four hour tennis match without significant break in the noon, August, gulf coast Mississippi heat!  But there are different kinds of in shape.

Then life happened.  Tennis got expensive.  And very suddenly, I quit playing (not by choice, just circumstances).  Then I got to college.  As everyone knows, college is exciting!  And busy!  And if you're not careful, you'll go four years without really significantly hitting the gym, even when you mean to.

However, while I was in college, I picked up ballroom dancing.  I got to a point where I was dancing almost five days a week for hours at a time!  I definitely wasn't in tennis shape, but I was as terrible as I could be.

Then that slowed down.

Then I decided to go to law school.  Let me just tell you, if you think finding time to exercise and have any kind of life beyond drinking alcohol in law school is possible, you have another thing coming....or you're superman.

I plummeted.  There was no more tennis.  Dancing was maybe once a month, if the one Saturday they had a dance in town, I was free.  I didn't go to the gym.  I started drinking a lot.

Before I knew it, an entire year had passed.

I wound up taking a tennis class my last semester of college.  It wasn't serious or strenuous, but it reminded me how much I missed the game.  So when I came home for the summer, I signed up for a tennis league.

One hour into my first match, and I think I had a heat stroke.  I didn't play again that summer.  But I did realize how out of shape I was.

Not that I ever did any better about exercising in law school.  Except for that three or so week term.

Anyway, long story short, and back to Nike, I went for a run today!  And I did a proper stretch, too.  While the run was outside and relatively close to my complex (in case I totally crapped out), the stretch was with the help of Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson (and anyone who knows me, knows that I'm kind of obsessed about gymnastics.  Ask me about Bailey Key's FX right now, I'm in love!).  Nike has this app, which I totally recommend, full of exercises.  Some of them are the design of famous athletes, like Shawn Johnson (Gabby Douglas has one, too), and some aren't.  Some require equipment, some don't.  But if you want a workout walk-through because, like me, you just have no idea how to get started, this app is perfect.

It's called NTC or Nike Training Club.  I don't think I ever paid for it, but if I did, it wouldn't have been much, I'm way too cheap for that, and it has so many different work outs for all kinds of muscles! (And I definitely recommend starting with Shawn Johnson's stretch)

Because, if I can go for a run (no matter how pathetic and short), you can, too.  And we all have to start somewhere, sooner rather than later.

So, Nike, while I prefer Under Armour products, today, thanks to NTC, I'm saying...

P.S. I'm putting you guys (my readers...if I have any) in charge of this.  Now that you know I went for a run, I have to go again.  I have to start working it out.  Because now I've made it public.  My Barbri brain can't remember the word I'm thinking of, but now that you know, I have to keep going with my program.  I have an alarm on my phone set to go off three times a week so I go running.  Hopefully, in a few days or weeks, I can tell you that I did it!  If I didn't, shame on me.  Either way, you guys will know and can hold me accountable!

Sports

So I finally turned on the FIFA World Cup (it is America's first game after all).  I should be studying.  Or catching up on that BARBRI lecture I missed.  Or even cleaning my apartment.

But I'm not.

Instead, I turned on the World Cup.  And not because I'm altogether interested.  Thirty seconds in I was confused.  And when I get confused about sports I get frustrated.  But I also want to learn.  So, half an hour later, the game is still on.

I'll blame this distraction on my new friends in BARBRI.  I finally started to bond with some of my classmates.  And the guys next to me in particular love soccer and the World Cup, which makes you curious after a while.

I will say, I don't think I'll ever be a soccer fan.

In half an hour, one American has been taken off the field with a hamstring injury (and having finally experienced my own, ouch!) while another got wtfpwned by a leg to the face.

Good grief.

When I have kids, if I ever have kids, I really want them to do what they want.  I mean, there are some things I'd love to see them do (like gymnastics), and I'll definitely help them get started.  Actually, they'll be required to play at least one team sport and take some kind of artsy class of their choice.  Otherwise, they are free to do what they want.  I've promised myself to do what I can to hold myself back from holding them back.

There will be rules.  You can't quit anything after a bad day.  You go back again, and once you've had a better day and you still want to quit, I shall let you (with a few possible exceptions, like mid-season stuff).

The other big rule?

My kids will not be allowed to play soccer or do cheerleading (at least as long as cheerleading is not classified as a sport).

There may be other sports I eventually learn are too dangerous, but it's definitely those two for now.  And watching the World Cup has only solidified that.

Soccer has so many concussions.  And cheerleading has almost no rules and regulations.  I don't want my kids doing it.

Lots of sports are dangerous.  There are plenty who will argue I've picked very weird ones to develop grudges, and so be it.

But my kids will not play soccer if I can help it.  And cheerleading, as it currently stands, is out.



P.S. If I have my way, my kids will be gymnasts, or swimmers, or divers (which my mom hates), or equestrian.  Gymnastics is totally at the top of that list.

P.P.S. Go USA

Graduate

So graduation is over.

Like completely.

We had the ceremony, got the degrees (in the mail, several weeks later), and we even had the party (from which I just returned).

There is nothing left.

It's weird to think I may never be a "student" in the colloquial sense again.  I started attending school in  pre-k, not sure how old I was, probably around 4.  I'm 24 now.  That's twenty years of my life spent in school.

And it's over.

'Cause, I mean I say I want to go back for my Ph.D., and even if I do, it'll be as a part-time/night student while I maintain a full time job over the course of several years.

But that's okay.  As they say, when one door closes, another one opens.  Now I'm on to bigger and brighter things, assuming I can pass the bar exam (and prove my citizenship).

It was a very strange weekend.  A handful of us got together for Lindsay's graduation party.  We toured Vicksburg while we were there.  We drank a lot.  And we all survived.

My diploma is sitting in a roll on my printer, waiting for me to find the time to go get it framed.  That may take a while.

Meanwhile, bar prep.  We're about to start week three, I think.  I have oil and gas on Monday, totally not excited.  I really need to do the reading for this one.  But I also plan to pack a lunch and head to the library to actually study tomorrow.  We have a possible graded essay due at 11pm tomorrow, and I may try and get that done.  But I still haven't listened to the property lectures, so that may not happen tomorrow.  I don't really think there's a point in writing a practice essay where I make everything up, but maybe I'll try it regardless.

This wasn't supposed to be a gloomy post.  Graduating is a good thing (assuming you can eventually pay off your school loans).  It means I've progressed and done something worth finishing.  I'm educated.  I've completed the first step in pursuing my chosen field and career.

But it's scary.  I'm living on my own in a brand new city, I don't have any friends I know for longer that four months around.  I still get lost.  I don't know where to part to get into the lawbrary.  I have no income.   No promised job.  None of my immigration paperwork.  I'm behind on bar prep.  I just got a new, more expensive power contract.  My lease renewal offer came through last week (so I have to decide where I'm going to live).  And there are hundreds of other little concerns and worries.

People keep telling me to be positive and to have faith.  And I don't think it's that I don't have faith or some degree of positive attitude, but that I've seen how awful the world can be, and it's worse when you aren't prepared.

Hope for the best, plan for the worst after-all.

But hey, I have a beautiful apartment.  I finally made some buddies in bar prep that I can get an answer from if I miss one.  The weather is gorgeous if I ever decide to take a pool break.  I got to see some of my law school friends in Vicksburg over the weekend.  So not all bad.

Now if I could just get this immigration stuff filed so it could start processing...