Well, as the year draws to a close and I'm entering finals, I'm reminded of why so many people told me this project would be difficult or impossible when I started. My concern about being able to keep it going has been growing, even though I'm now less than a month away. I'm loving every minute of it, don't get me wrong. Its just that I've entered the final mile of the marathon. There's still the possibility of failure, even though victory is so close I can taste it.
Day 333 - Create my Own Sudoku Puzzle
Date: December 5th, 2010
I love puzzles and I've been playing with them since I was a young kid. I decided it couldn't be that hard to make one so I decided to try my hand at it. Yeah, I was wrong about it not being that hard. My mind is too linear for puzzle creation. I tried to make a line that went 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 and then fill in everything around it. Turns out, instead of creating a puzzle, I just started myself on the hardest sudoku puzzle in existence. As frustration set in, I tried another strategy. I filled in all the 1s and then all the 2s. It took several tries to make it all fit, but eventually I had what the completed puzzle should look like. Then it was just a matter of figuring out which numbers to remove to make it a puzzle. I think I may have now created the easiest sudoku puzzle in existence in my attempt not to make it too hard. I'm still calling this one a success.
Day 334 -Decorate my House for Christmas
Date: December 6th, 2010
For most of my life, I lived with my parents. For the brief time that I lived in the condo, I didn't really spend Christmases there. The first year I was here, I went to California for Christmas. The next year, I was in Boston until right before the holiday and spent the actual morning at my parents' house. This year, while most of Christmas is going to be either at Justin's family's house or at my parents' house, most of the season has been/will be in the condo. So I took out a bunch of the holiday decorations my grandmother had left me (including a fabulous German pickle ornament) and put them up around the house. I have Christmas candles, nutcrackers from Justin, bowls of candy (homemade bowls) and ornaments on our tree. I love Christmas.
Day 335 - Send Back a Broken Phone
Date: December 7th, 2010
Verizon annoys me sometimes. That being said, I feel like they handled my phone situation pretty well this time around. It started fritzing out the day Justin left for Vegas (the 5th) and we immediately took it in for repairs. That's code for, give them the broken phone and they replace it. Thank goodness for warranties. Mine had decided that working buttons were for losers. I got the replacement phone in the mail and immediately sent the broken one back to their headquarters/repair shop/north pole/whatever. Ahh to be done with the hassle. And to realize that I've never done that before when what I needed to do was spend the day studying. Hooray for small miracles.
Day 336 - Toast my Last Day of Classes
Date: December 8th, 2010
So, December 8th, 2010, at 2:25pm EST, I had my last class of law school. It was the culmination of 20+ years of schooling, without any breaks or gaps. What began in kindergarten with nap time and macaroni art, has reached completion with anti-discrimination laws and how they apply to voting rights. I'd like to say that I didn't know this was where I'd end up when I was a 5-year-old, but let's not kid ourselves. I argued my case for chickenpox, decried the racket that was forced naps in the afternoon and petitioned (with the much vaunted tantrum method) for free reading after recess. I was on the path when I stepped out of the womb.
As for the class itself. I was lucky to have a professor who was so incredibly cool and laid back. I brought in apple cider (Martinelli's, of course) and cookies and asked the class to raise their paper cups (cause we're classy) to the graduating 3Ls. Then I sat back, took notes and sipped my cider. Like a boss.
Day 337 - Have a Legal Interview
Date: December 9th, 2010
So, when I interviewed at Legal Services, it was for an unpaid externship. Because of that, the thoroughness of the interview wasn't quite as much as I would expect from a law firm or a government job. I'm not knocking it. I definitely felt like there was a real process for determining if I would be right for the job. I mention it only because the reason I get to count the interview I had last week is that the level of thoroughness was so much as to be unexpected.
On the bright side, having not lied on my resume or pretended to do things I haven't, it was easy to answer all the questions the interviewers asked. I got asked, in detail, about all of my previous legal work and was walked through my resume job by job to answer questions. I will say, I actually rather liked the format. Then again, as I said before, I'm a linear thinker so... it meshed well with my brain. I got a great vibe from the interview, but I haven't heard back officially yet so its still just fingers crossed at the moment.
Day 338 - Make Candy from Scratch
Date: December 10th, 2010
I missed Justin while he was gone. I mean, no kidding, right? But, as his arrival back in Michigan got closer, I decided I wanted to do something nice to surprise him. I was going to get him his favorite candy, but then I realized that it was just as easy to make it from scratch. And since I hadn't done that before, it seemed like a good use of resources. I made candied cinnamon almonds (with hints of nutmeg and vanilla, of course). In addition to being a very simply recipe, it gave me an excuse to taste test my creation. Yeah. They turned out awesome.
Day 339 - Hang Stockings
Date: December 11th, 2010
So, one of the things that Justin and I have kept in mind in the condo is that we don't want to go too nuts with the Christmas decorations. We got a small tree (about 5 ft tall), a few ornaments, one string of lights. Its been decorated, but not in a way that's, you know, insane. So as we decided what to do about stockings, we were both struck by a brilliant idea, at the same time, in the grocery store. See, Kroger has these little mini-stocking ornaments. We grabbed one each and I'm going to embroider our names into them after finals. Then we'll have our stockings, but in that cute mini-apartment sort of way. In the meantime, we immediately hung them on the tree because, well, Christmas is awesome.
Day 340 - Drive in a Blizzard
Date: December 12th, 2010
As a general rule, I avoid driving in horrible weather like the plague. While I've driven in snow before, I've generally opted to be the passenger in that four wheeled death machine if the weather is bad enough. Unfortunately, I broke my streak this past weekend because Justin had, we're pretty sure at least, food poisoning. He was laid out and in pretty bad need of a CVS run. So I donned my coat, hat and gloves and shuffled out into the storm. Keen observers will note that it was dying down by midday and that CVS is only a couple blocks from my house. Keen observers can just shut up. It was still pretty nerve-wrecking for me and it was totally a first.
Day 341 - Put Together a Comprehensive Christmas List
Date: December 13th, 2010
The last Christmas list I made took the form of a sarcastic note to Santa Claus indicating what things not to bring me for Christmas that year. My parents considered it brilliant satire. I was 12. As for my older years, I've generally been pretty romantic about Christmas, choosing to observe people and drop hints as a means of figuring out gifts and letting people know my preferences, respectively. This year, I do not have that luxury. See, Justin's family is much bigger than mine, which neatly triples the breadth of my Christmas givings. So last night, he and I sat down and laid out a spreadsheet with what we've gotten and for whom. I've seen my dad do that before, but I hadn't had the pleasure. It is a fantastic OCD exercise, if I do say so myself. Goodbye sorting Skittles, hello Christmas spreadsheet. Tis the season.
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