Not gone but...

Well, travel and post-bar recovery have left me little in the way of that particular combination of time, energy, creativity and enthusiasm I need to update this blog regularly. As penance for my delinquency, and as a reward for your patience, in the next month or so I plan to enhance and once again regularly contribute to my blog. Among the things I plan to include:

>A permanent link to a travel journal I'll be typing up in the near future, along with pictures. This way I'm able to tell you all stories about my recent adventures without clogging my regular blogging space, thus avoiding boring those who aren't interested in my travels and enabling myself to keep delivering the fun, irrelevant blog-type commentary you enjoy or tolerate, whatever the individual case may be.

>Regular polls on whatever subject I feel like polling.

>Occasional arbitrary contests, the reward of which is yet to be determined (high value not guaranteed).

I'm also going to try to set up my own cafepress store, since everyone else is doing it and why shouldn't I get money for peddling my crap- er, brilliant wares to others?

On a sadder note, jca plans to retire her blog at the beginning of the month. A good friend of mine and blogging superstar (one of the faithful few who's been around since back in the day), she encouraged me to start my little blog, for which I'm forever grateful. Unfortunately, her judge does not look so well on blogs, so to the blogosphere's great loss all that will remain for future generations are her archives -- well worth the read, by the way. I've no idea what my firm's position is on blogging, but the way I see it, as long as I abide by California rules of professional conduct, there's no reason to cancel my blog, especially considering how young it is. Also, I use a pseudonym (ahh, there is a reason for it), so I'd be surprised if they found out about it anyway. Plus, it's California. I mean, really.

So, I'm around for now -- or at least I will be once I have my moving affairs in order. The tail end of my vacation is being spent with my family in Colorado and waiting for word from the moving company that my things will be delivered. Those of you who haven't already left for greener blogging pastures, thanks for sticking around as my life churns into gear. I'll try to make it worth your while.

100th Post!

Blogger tells me this is my one hundredth post. What a ride, man.

It's also going to be brief, because I need to hop in the shower before slipping out to the airport to fly to Puerto Rico. Mmmmmmm....

I just got back from New York yesterday. My trip was fantastic, but even though I brought my camera I didn't get any pictures. Of course. I need to be better about that. Hopefully I will actually carry it around in San Juan. I promise to post about my trips when I get back and have a bit of time. Sigh... jetting around the world can really keep you busy ;)

Ta-da!

I finally found some working batteries for my camera!

But then I found that I'm technologically inept, and since Picasa does my picture hosting I can only post one (unless someone has some very non-technical, non-complicated way of doing more). Anyway, I think this one shows off the hair best, even though you can't see much of my face (probably a good thing, since I'm really not photogenic).


Notice the moving boxes in the background. See, I've been getting some work done.

For anyone wishing to follow in my bold footsteps (or not-so-bold; they also do good hair for "normal" people), I got it done at Charles Ifergan in Chicago. Jason's my colorist. They're a great salon and once you've visited them at least once, you can book your appointments online, which kicks ass.

On an unrelated note, is it just me or has Chicago suddenly turned into Hell? Seriously, I can't walk a block without breaking a sweat. It's not that it's horribly hot (I've definitely felt it hotter), but it's Humid. Ick. I can't wait to live in the desert, even if the water's expensive. I wouldn't mind too much if not for the fact that humidity bloats me (I could barely squeeze into my skirt today) and ruins my makeup, if I have the patience to try and put it on (which I didn't today). It also makes me feel dirty, even if I just showered. Blech.

Adding to the ickiness is the current state of my apartment. That is to say, it's a good thing I'm not obese, because I literally couldn't maneuver around all the boxes and awkwardly-positioned furniture if I was. And I'm still only, like, maybe halfway packed. I'll only be home a total of two days or so between now and my moving day. Ah well. It has to be done, so it will get done somehow, I suppose. Anyway, I leave for the first leg of my three-country* vacation tour tomorrow, so what do I care? Time to spend money I don't have!!

* I'm counting the United States as a country, which is totally legit.

The color of freedom

I did some damage to my credit card today. But it felt sooooo good. Most important: I got my hair done.

I wanted to do something bold and fun and drastic, but I didn't want to cut my hair because I'm really liking it long. So I went really blonde. And pink. That's right. I now have blonde and pink hair. And I LOVE it! Take THAT, bar exam!

I'll post a pic or two once I scrounge up some batteries for my camera (it's the laziest camera ever -- the batteries on that thing die faster than anything I've used, including my old POS phone).

My own words coming back to haunt me

So in the midst of all the horrible bar-cramitude, I remember sitting on my couch, eyes glazing at the sight of my shockingly messy apartment, and thinking, "I can't wait until the bar exam is over and all I have to worry about is packing for my move."

NOW I remember why people hate moving more than doing their taxes.

Today the packing started. I suppose I could have started yesterday but I slept in until 12 or so, and then I met some friends for afternoon tea at the Drake, and then since we were already dressed up one of my girlfriends and I had a couple drinks at the hotel bar downstairs. And then we went to her apartment and drank more and watched a movie. And then I came home and fell asleep watching TV. And then I slept in until 11ish today (MAN am I gonna miss this in September).

I remember having some boxes from the last time I moved (that would be when I moved back in at the end of the summer last year, which would be my THIRD move that year) so I set about searching the apartment, expecting to find all sorts of boxes and found....

Six boxes.

Um.

I sighed and resigned myself to what now looked like a non-negotiable trip to U-Haul. I don't mind the idea of buying boxes from U-Haul in principle, but the actuality of it is a bit harsher. First, you think, oh, boxes are pretty cheap, only a few bucks each, right? But that adds up quick when you're buying around 30 boxes or so. Like, $140ish. Dammit, that could have been drinking money. And THEN it's hard to fit the boxes into my little red Subaru. And THEN I have to fit the boxes onto the building's luggage cart, which is just too small to fit all the boxes I bought, so I get to awkwardly try to balance wardrobe boxes on TOP of the full cart while simultaneously trying to create the forward motion needed to get the cart actually moving. This led to near-injuries and a couple of really embarrassing encounters for me ("sorry for ruining your elevator ride!").

But I finally got the boxes unloaded and set about to the task of packing. I got 7 boxes done today, which I think is actually not too shabby, considering I spent most of the day sleeping and whining to all who would listen about Ticketmaster. But as I was packing, I realized that there are a lot of things that I just might have the occasion to need between now and the time I actually move. If I were better at planning out travel accessories (I'm awful at it), I might be able to figure this out. But no. I still haven't unpacked since returning from California on Saturday, and I likely won't pack for my Friday morning trip to New York until midnight-ish on Thursday. So I have to scrounge around my apartment for all the junk I never use, which begs the question, why do I keep all this junk in the first place? To that question I have no answer. I just know that I can't throw it away.

I also realized how pitiful my CD collection is. I could brush this off and say, but I have so many downloaded songs that it makes up for it -- except that I really don't. I just have an overall pitiful music collection. I guess that's one thing to take care of once I start making money. At least I can be proud of my DVD collection -- I've gotten genuine compliments from guys.

So, while I certainly wouldn't wish myself back into the hell of bar studying (shudder), I do think that my feelings about moving were overly rosy. And I hope they don't really expect me to clean the place up. I know for a FACT they're gutting it right after I leave so I really don't see the point. I'm gonna double-check about that. At least the manager likes me.

And now, back to the Sims.

Because it's always something...

The bar is done!!! I'm free!!!! I get to sleep in and watch TV and it doesn't matter!!!!!!!

Adding to this excitement was the fact that tickets went on sale yesterday for the Gwen Stefani-Black Eyed Peas concert at the Hollywood Bowl in October. Two of my FAVORITE performers. I was PSYCHED.

Tickets went on sale at precisely 12:00 PM Pacific time. At 1:58 PM Central time I was at my computer, reloading Ticketmaster's page every two seconds until it would let me select ticket options. Finally, the screen I was waiting for popped up. I selected 2 tickets for the best available seats and pressed enter. The web browser loaded -- a reasonably good speed (thank God for DSL!) but still too slow for my tastes. The next screen came up, requesting that I type in the word above to make sure I wasn't a ticket-buying machine. But there was just one problem.

I couldn't see any word.

Nope, it was just the oh-so-friendly red X in a box that tells me that there's a picture there, but stubbornly refuses to actually LOAD the picture. I right-click and drag to "show picture." I reload the web page. I copy and paste into Word. Nothing. I click on Can't see the word? which opens a box explaining that there was a "problem" processing my request. I hit "back" and try again. Same problem. I try changing the number of tickets, requesting a specific area, requesting a specific ticket price. Nothing. I call Ticketmaster's phone number about 43,957,198 times. Its #%$&*(@ circuits are busy. I begin to freak out, since I've already made myself late for a get-together with friends JUST SO I could buy these tickets, which it looks like I may now not be able to buy. I've already abandoned my dream of finding decent seats, since that ship sailed the first time Ticketmaster's retarded website fucked me over by NOT WORKING PROPERLY. Now I'm just desperately hoping to get ANY tickets.

I call my mom, who ISN'T HOME AT 1:00 ON A SUNDAY. She suggests I try my dad. I call home TWICE and leave a long loud message in the hopes that he is home, but he is either not home or has decided to ignore the fucking telephone which is ringing off the fucking hook. I call mom again, forlorn and desperate, generously doling out my credit card number and security code in the hopes that when she arrives home in twenty minutes there will still be tickets left, but I'm not optimistic. Kindly, she does her best but, as I suspected, TICKETMASTER THE WORST MOST RETARDED MONOPOLY EVER is already sold out. I call them today, FINALLY getting through, and they tell me they have no tickets left and suggest I try calling the Hollywood Bowl directly. HB tells me Ticketmaster controls their box office. Fucking lying Ticketmaster scumbag customer "service" person.

I think I'm going to write TM an angry expletive-laden letter or 26 telling them how bad they suck. I'm also, obviously, blogging about how bad they suck because I am REALLY REALLY mad at them because they have RUINED one of the things I was MOST looking forward to after the bar, and they have KILLED my post-bar buzz. I know, I know, you're all thinking to yourselves "but Law Fairy never complains about anything" -- but I feel like going that route today. (Yes, that was sarcastic). And to ward off the inevitable well-meaning suggestions: I realize that I can get decent-to-good tickets from VIP tickets and the like, but it just makes me mad that I should have to pay another $900 or so of money I don't have, PER TICKET, when I was THERE at their stupid malfunctioning website at PRECISELY the moment the tickets went on sale.

And just to make sure this post gets plenty of hits:

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TICKETMASTER SUCKS ASS!!! THEY ARE THE WORST TICKET SELLERS OUT THERE!!! I HATE HATE HATE THEM!!! YOU SUCK TICKETMASTER SUCK SUCK SUCK SUCK SUCK SUCK SUCK!!!!!!!!!

Sorry to yell at you guys. I'd like to say that I feel better now, but I'd still really like to hit something.

On the plus side, I've spent the first half (two-thirds?) of my day sleeping and trying to hunt down tickets, and it doesn't matter one bit right now that that's all I've done today :)