Adventures of The Yellow Peril

LONDON, BABY!

I know, I know, I'm way overdue and I should've gone last semester, but the flight's been booked and we're going to France also to drive through the countryside.

March 10-19.  If you're in the area, give us a holla. 

MAYBE I'LL HAVE HOT BABIES WITH YOU

A childhood buddy of mine found out earlier this week that she's the second hottest woman in America.  As a kid, I remember Monica doing pageants, but it was the same way anyone else did after-school activities.  Some kids played soccer, some like to prance around with tiaras on their heads.  Me, I was usually taping the bridge on my glasses.  C'est la vie.

Monica's win also goes to reaffirm my belief that white people who have children with Asians produce wickedly awesome progeny.  You get our smarts, we get your height.  Everyone wins.

Or comes in second.  Whatever.  You know what I mean.

FREE SANDWICHES FOR LIFE

A couple of 1Ls who weren't paying attention during their Con Law class clued me in today to the fact that my favorite deli in town has been using me as their Jared. 

Since I'm heading there tomorrow, my demands will be few.  Either they reimburse me for the hundreds of sandwiches I've eaten there before, or I get free sandwiches for life.  I see this as a win-win situation.

PS - remind me to tell you later about how MP ate 22 stone crab claws at Truluck's on Monday.  I can't even be angry that I only ate 18, because that's amazing.

WE'LL MISS YOU

I found out this morning that John Ramington, the night librarian, passed away over the weekend.  John was one of my favorite people at the library, always extremely friendly and incredibly sweet.   We joked around often about the weird array of requests I came in for, ranging from secret shortcuts in pulling articles for my journal ("No, I want to know how to photocopy my face AND for the journal not to find out!") to donating t-shirts for the library archives ("I swear, it's only slightly worn.").  He was one of those people who was such a constant, comforting presence during my time here at the law school that thinking about going into the library now and not seeing him there makes me ache and wonder if he knew how much seeing him made me smile. 

I know I'm not doing him nearly enough justice, so here are the words of someone who knew him much better than me:

Obituary: John Ramington

I had a sad and disturbing email yesterday (23rd) from the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas at Austin.  The long-time circulation manager, John Ramington, passed away.  John had fallen and injured himself.  He called the library and said he wouldn't be in, and later in the day, he died from his injuries.  That is very much like John, thinking of other people before he would think of himself.

I remember meeting him when I started my fellowship at Tarlton in the fall of 1993.  John was genial, conscientious, knowledgeable, and dedicated to the library.  He was fond of art and music and I think he enjoyed being in library because he liked being around the eclectic atmosphere in the place.  During free moments we would talk about music and theatre aside from the usual library gossip.  We shared a fondness for the music of Leonard Cohen, and I introduced him to music by John Cale.  We'd talk about the plays of Tennessee Williams and John would casually inform me that the collected papers of the playright are in the Harry Ransom Center on Campus.  John wrote poetry and would show me his verse.  He admired the writing style of Ezra Pound and produced Cantos similar in form.  John had a tremendous passion for literature.

When I left Texas some two years later John gave me a going away present, a videotape of Leonard Cohen performing on Austin City Limits recorded not more than a mile or so from the library.  I watched that tape the other day and thought of John.  And then this news came.
 
I know that John touched the hearts and minds of students, staff, faculty, and the many librarians who passed through Texas on to greater things.  I'll miss his kind words, his ready smile, and his calming presence.  Rest in peace, friend.

Mark Giangrande, DePaul Law Library

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blog/

OHHH YEAH.

IT WAS SO FUN.

TEE OFF

Golf beret with pom pom?  Check.

Cheesy sweater vest?  Check.

Plaid skorts?  Check.

Long socks?  Check.

Purple crocs?  Check.

3 Sharpie markers?  Check.

40 golf score cards?  Check.

Everything mismatching?  Check.

Bar golf is TONIGHT at 8:00 PM, starting at Cheers Shot Bar.  See you there!

PS - on a completely unrelated note, there are splatters all over my windshield that look like blood.  Did somebody get murdered on my car last night?

OOPS, MY BAD

All over Austin this morning, law students everywhere rolled out of their beds with pounding headaches and dry mouth. 

I'm betting that some of those law students woke up together.  One of them probably wiggled out of being the little spoon, saw that her pants were on the floor, and thought, "This is not the way my Friday should've started."  Just a guess.

Or, you could be at my house, where I woke up to an unfurled law firm banner, the contents of my purse strewn all over the hallway, and my roommate, who was pantsless and still drunk.  We're laying around in the living room, watching the ABC Family movie "Lucky Seven" with Patrick Dempsey (which, by the way, I proudly own on DVD).  Tara keeps getting angry at the movie, yelling "CHEESEDICK!" every time the "other" guy comes onscreen. 

We've also somehow conned 2 guys into bringing us food.  Tip: when the 3Ls stop buying into your scams, use the 2Ls.  If all else fails, go 1L.  They'll do just about anything.  Shh...

Update: Not only did we make the Ramon go to Whattaburger for us, but we had a special, off-the-menu request.  Then, Quarter Asian brought us queso and tortillas from the 'Bana,

More update: I just remembered jumping on Ty last night to show people how monkeys climb trees.  If anyone has a photo of this, please e-mail me immediately.  Thank you.

AN ATHLETE I CAN GET BEHIND

I knew he was awesome when he'd tee off with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, but now I've discovered that's he's much more than awesome; he's my soulmate.

Favorite line:

"Then Pepsi bought [SoBe] and didn't want anything to do with me," he said. "And they had come out with a chocolate SoBe that tasted just like chocolate milk," he added wistfully. "It was great."

Oh, John, if only you knew.

THE GREAT EQUILIBRIUM

More examples about how my life just evens itself out:

1.  I ran 3 miles and worked out for an hour yesterday, but then at 11:00 PM felt the need to gorge myself on carpaccio, rich spinach gnocci in a bolognese sauce, and some kind of delicious warm-centered chocolate cake thing;

2.  I was all excited about going to a 1L happy hour, only to find out that I'd been excluded from some 3L happy hour (along with T, who professed her unhappiness at the situation in every class she had yesterday);

3.  I didn't have any classes yesterday (one was canceled) but somehow found myself doing a 2-hour directed study with my favorite professor.  Part of it is awesome.  Part of it focuses on the revisions to Article 2 of the UCC. 

4.  I ate a lot of cheese on Sunday (I mean, I'm talking probably around a pound), but it made me so sick that I couldn't eat much of anything until Tuesday;

Yeah, I know.  Thrilling stuff.  My week actually has been much better than this, filled with lots of drinking and eating, but you can't really capture quality conversation well in a short blog post.  By the way, I know I've said this before, but I'm going to keep saying it until the novelty wears off: I absolutely, absolutely love the fact that everyone who was studying abroad last semester is back.  The sight of all you people (you know who you are) walking into the mentor office yesterday to chillax warms my heart to the hundredth degree.

Enough emoting.  I have to go threaten rage on mentors about intramural basketball.  Such is the triviality of my day.

SNIPPETS OF MY WEEK

It rained in our kitchen earlier this week, after a pipe burst behind our washing machine on the second floor.  The brown water smelled like cold vegetable soup and made me vomit in my mouth a little. 

I broke my ass this week, too.  I'm not sure how.  It's a comet-shaped bruise, with a giant, angry red welt serving as the "head" of the comet and some sort of carpet burn-looking series of scratches serving as the "tail."  It hurts to walk, and I fell out of bed earlier this week trying to show T & AE so they could figure out the extent of the injury.  I wish I could say I was filled with shame, but showing people my ass is kind of funny.  Okay, it's really funny, especially when people wince and then say, "How'd you do that to yourself?" and I get to reply, "I have no freaking idea."

I am so, so happy that everyone who was abroad last semester is back in town.  Hanging out with JMH at Juan in a Million, drinking with the "Tara Reid of UT Law," and chillaxing with the MP has been awesome.  At the same time, it's been fun to add everyone to the friend pool I hung out with last semester: twice the people, fifty times more fun.

I made an awesome spicy eggplant basil with minced pork last night for T and I, and together we watched figure skating and the dog show.  Judge me all you want, but you're going to judge me even more when I tell you that I was late meeting up with friends tonight because I wanted to see how the Jennifer Love Hewitt movie, "If Only," turned out.  You know, the honest to god truth is that ever since "Lucky 7," I keep hoping that any one ABC Family movie will match the magic that Patrick Dempsey brought to the screen.  I need to just accept that that's just not going to happen.

I need to stop bleeding money.  I also need to figure out where to go for spring break.  Current options are: invite people to go home with me to Charleston, Mexico City with J (alternatively, we're thinking Spain), or England/Italy with the sister.  Thoughts?