Category Archives: NOLA

It’s getting hot in here.

So we have two cats. One of my housemates brought home the first one right after hurricane Gustav. It is a cute little thing and very friendly. Fast forward about two months and one day I come home to find another cat darting about the house. This time my other housemate had kindly agreed to take someone else’s cat for the (somewhat dubious) reason that a new roommate was allergic. This second cat is not so friendly. For the first few days, she’d make a terrible growling noise and bite at anyone who tried to touch her. It’s been over a week now and she has thankfully settled in. Although she is a bit unpredictable, she is obviously much more comfortable in her new surroundings.

However, just as things seemed to be settling down, cat #1 reached kitty puberty. So here’s the situation: two female cats, antagonistic relationship, one spayed, the other in constant heat. Cat #1 has been mewing like an alley cat on a picket fence, clawing around on the carpet in my room and waving her posterior around in the hope that some suitor will come satisfy her primal itch.

Sadly for her the only attention she gets is from cat #2, and it’s not the right kind of attention. So for the past two days, as I’ve been hard at work on a paper, every now and then I’m startled from my stupor efforts by the sound of screeching. It appears that when cat #1 is really extra blatantly asking for it, cat #2 comes over and tries to get on top of her, which inevitably leads to paws flying and a brief tangle.

Alas, it’s all kind of sad, but better the drama be between the felines than the law students.

Sweet and Pungent

Yesterday two classmates came over and we spent a few hours cooking and eating a festival of Chinese food. Rest assured that all was authentic, as our head chef was from China. One dish consisted of boiling and then frying an egg in chicken flavored oil. The jury is still out on that one, but all the other dishes (shrimp, beef, chicken, fish,) were fantastic. It was a good break from what has been an otherwise work-oriented past few days. Did you know that the word for law in Chinese is actually comprised of two characters, one representing, “law as it should be” and the other, “law as it is” ? I find that to be profound.

Since the countdown to finals has begun, the onus to study and outline has increased as have general stress levels. Luckily I am not behind in anything (in fact, I’ve been getting ahead in my reading,) so all that remains for me to do is to outline and review. I’d like to think that I’ve been taking good notes, so I hope that the outline process will be more of a review rather than a frenzied search for information.

I am also looking into various options for summer employment. Although the job market is pretty bad right now, I’d like to get a paid position at a firm to gain some insight on that sort of work and a little money for next year’s expenses. If that does not pan out, there are many internships (sadly unpaid) that I can apply for. Any and all leads appreciated!

As per life in NOLA, it hasn’t been bad at all. It has been getting quite cold when the sun goes down, so although the telltale signs of fall are mostly absent here, I can feel the change of the seasons. Now would be a great time for a jacuzzi out in the back yard… Well, back to to work!

Greening

I was doing some yard work today and noticed that the lawn looked parched; so I hooked up the hose, set the nozzle to “shower,” and began to spray away. As the mist danced across the yard, I could not help but savor that beautiful smell of fresh wet earth. I was so taken that I threw off my sandals, took off my shirt and began to spray myself. I would have taken off my shorts too but the neighbors had been doing some work in their yard, and I figured I’d spare them the sight. As I stood in the middle of the yard, awash in both the late afternoon sun and the cool water, I felt beautiful and alive.