The Final Stretch

Days 364 and 365 get their own entries.  Those are in the works.  And... double plus bonus - they'll have pictures.

Day 355 - Finish Law School
Date: December 27th, 2010

I know I graduated already, but like most of my classmates, I had a few loose ends to wrap up.  I had a paper that wasn't finished yet that was particularly difficult to motivate myself on.  Mostly because it was the last paper of my school career.  I couldn't help but think that I was ready to move into the next phase.  It took the whole day and, quite frankly, the only reason this counts as a new thing is that knowing it was my last ever school assignment made it incredibly, insanely difficult to finish.  I started to wonder, about midday, if I was just afraid to finish.  By the early evening I'd pushed through and finished the paper, so I spent the rest of the evening basking in having truly, actually and completely finished my school existence.

Day 356 - Take a Bus to Work
Date: December 28th, 2010

I'm not good with public transportation.  The last time I tried to take a bus it was to the grocery store from campus.  I ended up at the bus depot in Ypsilanti four hours later, cold, hungry, tired and confused.  I ended up calling a cab.  So that makes it all the more ironic that I've gotten a job (temporary, sadly, as I rather like the work so far) at SMART (the bus company for the Detroit Metropolitan area).  One of the perks of working there is that employees ride the bus for free.  This has the insanely lucrative benefit of allowing me to drive to a park-and-ride rather than paying for parking in downtown Detroit.  It has the concerning side effect of forcing me to not mess up what bus I take.  With my car now being stranded a solid 20 miles from my job, getting on the wrong bus is... less of an option.  Despite, or possibly because, of the fear of losing myself downriver, I made it back to the park-and-ride without issue.  Its good to know that I'm able to do that.  I wasn't actually sure I could mange it before.

Day 357 - Go to BarBri
Date: December 29th, 2010

My basking in the end of law school lasted for a little under 48 hours before I remembered that I still have to pass the bar if I want to, ya know, be an attorney.  I back to class for me.  Luckily there are no papers or grades (not until the big test in February, that is).  It is, however, several hours a day, almost every day of the week.  Its definitely like sprinting the last mile of a marathon.

Day 358 - Do a 3D Puzzle
Date: December 30th, 2010

I thought there might be some magical new joy associated with adding another dimension to my puzzle building.  In fact, there was not.  On the bright side, I have a pretty little elephant for my project shelf.

Day 359 - Plan My Wedding
Date: December 31st, 2010

I was never one of those little girls that tried on dresses and ogled rings when I was younger.  I just never had the personality type to be planning for something that I don't know will happen.  That being said, I do like party planning.  I just never allowed myself the specific indulgence of planning a wedding.  That being said, as things have progressed with Justin, we've gotten to a place of planning and trust in the relationship that made me decide it might be okay to open up and plan things out a little.  We're still years off, but we spent a few hours that day talking about what we'd want in a ceremony.  Turns out we have the same idea.  An idea that I will refrain from sharing publicly.  Best to wait for the surprise.

Day 360 - Do a Paint by Number
Date: January 1st, 2011

It had to happen at some point.  I found paint by number to be deeply personally satisfying to my OCD.  I also noted that my utter lack of artist talent was not to my detriment in doing the paint by number since, well, all I had to do was color in the lines.

Day 361 - Make a Popsicle Stick Sculpture
Date: January 2nd, 2011

One of the things I missed out by not going to summer camp when I was younger was that I never did the cute little popsicle stick sculptures that most people did when they were younger.  It felt delightfully immature.

Day 362 - Go Clothes Shopping for Someone Else
Date: January 3rd, 2011

I never really gave my parents the credit they deserved when it came to buying clothes for me when I was a kid.  It is deeply concerning to buy a pair of pants for someone and not knowing if they're going to fit.  On the bright side, I got lucky.

Day 363 - Cook a Lobster
Date: January 4th, 2011

Another thing I took for granted from my folks was lobster cookin'.  I didn't know how difficult it would be to cook one.  I got myself a nice 2.75lb monster cause, well, I love me some lobster.  Unfortunately, upon getting it home I realized that it wouldn't fit in the pot I have.  So, after a quick emergency call to dad*star (I have mom*star and dad*star... its a great system), Justin and I headed over there to have dinner at my folks' house and relax.  The biggest thing that surprised me was that it did bother me a little to cook the lobster.  I'm a meat eater, by trade, and I love lobster, but having never cooked one before, I didn't realize I'd have a twinge of sadness at putting it in the pot.  I know its a little silly since my ham has been alive, as has my turkey, as has my steak.  But being the one to put the creature down was, well, different.  Not different enough to stop eating lobster though.  Just saying.