Civil Procedure pays off again

Today I realized that if I wanted to, I could sue someone. Yep. That's right, general public. Watch out. I might not win, but by Jove, I could sue someone. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm 100% on trial case victories - just ask the two Austin, Precinct #2 attorneys who went up against me in the courtroom for allegedly running a red light that a hapless motorcycle cop was SURE I had run. Kayla - 1. Deputy - 0.

I should take this moment to say that I'm sorry I haven't posted in two weeks. I had two midterms, memo action, and more Civil Procedure hypotheticals in a night than we've had all year. I thought it'd be alright, but I actually got crap from people for my interweb silence...which is some pretty positive crap-getting, really, because it means someone reads this! Not that I wouldn't write it anyway...let's be honest.

Instead of writing a massive entry mini-series about what I've been doing for weeks, I decided to give you something much better: highlights, in PICTURES! Yeah! You get the visuals, and I get to read more about the Constitution tonight. Everyone wins, and I'm all about everyone winning.

It was Autumn's birthday a few weeks ago...where else would the cool kids go but Busboys and Poets?
The bday girl and Cindy, her roomie.

Danny, looking like the burdened artist he is. By the way, he brings that guitar everywhere. Even to clubs. Even to other concerts. This is why he is on my top 5 DC buddies list.

Andrea, with her patented, "I'm unintentionally adorable" pose.

Going with some buddies from a nonprofit I'm working with to Curbside Cookout 2010  - a huge parking lot full of all the the best food trucks in the greater DC area. I had Mumbai Butter Chicken...they had me at the first few words of their description: A tantric fusion of [does it really matter after "tantric fusion?"]...

We the Pizza!

The zoo. The National Zoo. Also, the unthinkable happened...I was en route via a cab, we bonded as we talked about his home country of Ethiopia, and he didn't let me pay. Yes, Blogger. You read that correctly. Anyway, here we are with an eagle statue.

Zoo quote of the day was by Autumn, as we were talking about if it was creepy to take pictures of other people's kids as they were doing unbelievably cute things: "I look like a foreigner. I do whatever I want."

On one of my neighbors' fences: I love these signs. I love them individually, but together they're unstoppable. My favorite is the "Slow Children" sign...it has no punctuation. A simple comma would change the meaning, but as it stands it is advising people across the nation to be careful- there are sluggish children in very close proximity...who may... run in front of your car in slow-motion.

A delicious spontaneous Monday night dinner, prepared by the ladies of 603. Yes, that's a candle in the middle of the table. Yes, they are holding up individual placecards with our pictures on them. Thank you, Cindy, for making sure mine wasn't left out of the picture.

And now, by popular demand, our feature exhibit: the dog of the house. He came with the roommates, and he came to win the hearts of every Georgetown law student this side of the Potomac. Among his achievements are Autumn, who had never pet a dog before due to her deep fear of them, Iris, who would give up her own meal for him if he so much looked through his little shaggy eyes at her, and Cindy, who goes up to her room when we're studying outside to get him one of her sweatshirts. I call it, "Hebrew: A Dog with A Lot of Feelings."

Hebrew, Swimsuit Edition

Tortured Soul Hebrew

Backstreet Boy Hair Hebrew

Hebrew, helping me study as only he can

And, of course, Wade trying to fit Hebrew into his kangaroo pocket and Hebrew not understanding why such a thing would ever happen to him...and yet doing nothing, as is his custom.

Phew. How was that? Thanks for tuning in...I should be a more faithful blogger for the next few weeks.

Craigslist and the Conch Republic

Let me share a thought with you, America. If you're going to go to Georgetown Law and pay an exorbitant amount of money to be educated by people smarter than you are, you might consider paying attention to them.  One activity that might not be considered wise is responding to personal ads on Craigslist. For 95% of the class. Additionally, the fact that you sit on the front row so that everyone else can see you Facebook-stalking the girls you're "engaging" to make sure they measure up...well, perhaps I should be mad that I have to fight the distraction, but it makes it so much funnier that I'm not sure I can be. It seems I should probably actually thank you, sir.

While we're on this topic- Craigslist? Really? Does anyone actually use Craigslist for real relationsh-...oh. I get it now. I know what you're all about, First Row Guy. A wag of the finger to you, Stephen Colbert style (anybody else excited about the rally, by the way??).

I have been looking for a church to call home ever since I moved to DC, about 2 months ago (really?? Wow). Readers- the Great Church Search of DC may be coming to a close...or at least a long sabbatical. If I'm not mistaken, I think Grace DC may very well be where I hang my hat and roll up my sleeves. :)  I love their Gospel preaching and their interest in community, both internally and externally. My thanks to and for the rest of Team Church Search...really, though, it's great to be able to process through that with other people, isn't it? I'm grateful to have had a community as I looked for community, haha.

Highlights from the weekend:
-Trying an actually delicious vegan, gluten-free cupcake/cookie! Sticky Fingers, well done.
-Dinner party with friends. :)
-A late Saturday night full of both rich and nonsense conversation, then a slowwww Sunday morning start, complete with French toast and peanut butter. So excited to have found others who love peanut butter on breakfast foods on which one also puts syrup. I was beginning to think that Grandpa Simpson and I were alone on that one.
-Surprising Cindy with a late night birthday picnic at the Lincoln Memorial, amongst other activities:

We had almost given up on catching a taxi at this point. Wade thought hitchhiking would be a neat addition to the evening. Seeing as Wade is always right about everything, we were ready to listen to him.

Speaking of things Wade is right about, he told me something astounding that forced me to call him a liar...until I googled it. Did you know the Florida Keys seceded? In 1982? Yep. Seriously. The Conch Republic. They have passports. Congress even kind of recognized them as having dual citizenship, and I'm convinced that a big part of the reason why is that most of Congress thinks they're joking. My two favorite things about this situation:
1. America might get a day to celebrate independence from the Motherland, but the Conch Republic takes A WEEK, EVERY YEAR to celebrate their...what, exactly? I think "independence" is an amusing way to put it. We'll just go with that.
2. Their slogan: "We seceded where others failed." Yes. I'm not kidding. I am not funny enough to make that up.

I'm making t-shirts. Who's in?

In other news, we've got the makings of a Georgetown Law Beer and Bible...yessss! I've been throwing out the concept to a few people repeatedly over the past couple of weeks, and I've got two very solid compatriots. I'm really excited! All are welcome, and as we figure a few things out, I'm going to spread the word: a little beer, a little Bible, and people from all faiths/viewpoints to hash over it with one another. It's going to be a fun, interesting experience in this academic environment, but it's still fundamentally the same thing every time, isn't it? As my best friend says, "The purpose of doing something like a Beer and Bible is to come to the end of ourselves." I love that.

God continues to be so faithful to me, and so near. Thank you for praying, all of you who continue to do so so faithfully. I really can't fit my gratitude into Blogger- for real. He keeps giving me things I have not known how to ask for, and...He's just teaching me how to be His daughter, and to interact with Him like a child. Total, wide-eyed dependence, with all its scary grey areas and easy grins. I am even dependent on Him for teaching me how to be dependent on Him. It's pretty funny, actually.

And with that, I leave you...Brothers Karamazov is calling my name.