It's over. Kind of a relief. Although we got a lot more X-mas decor that I put up after shopping extreme clearance on December 26th. Christmas was really nice, though. We cooked a ham (have you done that? turns out baking a regular ham is tasty and not salty like the processed ones and takes a long time.) We had a variation of a Swedish smorgasbord. We went to the Grand Canyon on Christmas Eve, we were there with all the shintos and hindus and other Christmas rejects. My dad and his wife were here, we did a bunch of things I'd wanted to do with them, mostly involved eating different places. Like here and here.
It was nice not to travel for once.
It was nice to have them here and also kind of nice when they left Saturday afternoon and we went to True Grit and had another night and day of holiday weekend left. In all a perfectly lovely southwestern Christmas, it was even a white one (no, not an SB1070 joke) with the reasonable amount of snow we got on the 22nd.
Even though I am among the Christmas rejects, I was/am still grateful for the opportunity to spend time with people (and dogs) I love. Another highlight is that I ate way, way too many meatballs and have been practically mainlining broccoli and green pepper strips while I'm at work this week to try to compensate. Mmmm. Meatballs.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
DADT
"Our friend Maggie bought this wallet at a vintage store, and inside found a photo of the previous owner, up front, and then another, of him posing affectionately with another soldier, hidden in the back, behind a panel in the wallet.
Here's to our soldiers never having to hide who they love again."
from here.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Badass
I've spent this week in Phoenix, ostensibly learning how to do the job I already have been doing since September. It's been really helpful and I've been so glad I'm here. I think, because if you care about something and you're new at it... You want someone to tell you what to do. How to do it best. Like most things, there are no black and white answers. I've learned a lot of pointers and, thankfully, haven't learned I've messed up anyones life too bad so far. I was talking to Charlie tonight and at some point he said "whoa, wow! You're so excited." And I was. And I am.
I love my job because I get to feel totally badass at least once a day. And I care like shit about what I'm doing. Thats why I am 1. So fortunate and in such a good position for me and 2. Hope so much I never lose that feeling. The law is adversarial and basically, I almost never win. BUT I do win every time the government isn't able to do whatever the hell they want in a given situation.
It starts with this adrenaline rush of righteous indignation. Things I am indignant about on others' behalf which I would probably totally let slide if it were me... But the rush takes over and all of the sudden, my client is out of jail when the state finds it easier for them to be in.
It's this funny kind of relationship with the clients, because I am deeply invested in them, but they know very little about me. Last week we were working out when a blood test was going to happen and I told my client, rather officially, that I wanted to be present. He said, "oh yeah, I want you to be there," and there was that days' badass moment... Because OMG, I don't have a gun, I have very little real power- but he has so much less, and I'm his knight in shining armor. Practically, it is completely fair to ask what the hell am I going to do at the blood test and what is the point... but, I'm the one on his side, I'm his lawyer and his well-being is my job. It's humbling and awesome and this is surely not my last post about my job but one in a long potential string about my badass endeavors.
I love my job because I get to feel totally badass at least once a day. And I care like shit about what I'm doing. Thats why I am 1. So fortunate and in such a good position for me and 2. Hope so much I never lose that feeling. The law is adversarial and basically, I almost never win. BUT I do win every time the government isn't able to do whatever the hell they want in a given situation.
It starts with this adrenaline rush of righteous indignation. Things I am indignant about on others' behalf which I would probably totally let slide if it were me... But the rush takes over and all of the sudden, my client is out of jail when the state finds it easier for them to be in.
It's this funny kind of relationship with the clients, because I am deeply invested in them, but they know very little about me. Last week we were working out when a blood test was going to happen and I told my client, rather officially, that I wanted to be present. He said, "oh yeah, I want you to be there," and there was that days' badass moment... Because OMG, I don't have a gun, I have very little real power- but he has so much less, and I'm his knight in shining armor. Practically, it is completely fair to ask what the hell am I going to do at the blood test and what is the point... but, I'm the one on his side, I'm his lawyer and his well-being is my job. It's humbling and awesome and this is surely not my last post about my job but one in a long potential string about my badass endeavors.
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Dirty 30
So I am turning 30 in a little under 6 months. I want to do something special, something 30-worthy, but I am kind of drawing a blank. I'll be with many of my friends shortly after the big 3-0 at Julah/Nolia's wedding in June. And having a party in Flagstaff, while surely better attended than it would have last year, I am still afraid would be more depressing than exciting and maybe make me rewind back to 29 in protest.
So, I need ideas. Special experiences or trips. One idea is to plan a fun warm weather trip for next fall/winter and do something smaller in May. One idea for that is a spa weekend, maybe in Sedona or Phoenix. But I want more ideas.
In general, while also feeling a general sense of disbelief, I am pretty psyched about my 30s. My 20s were, on balance, wearing rose-colored glasses and totally in retrospect-- pretty rad. It's a little like I felt when I was turning 23. I turned 22 the weekend we graduated from college. By the time a year had gone by, I felt like so much had happened and so many changes had occurred I deserved some external marker-- like being a different age.
When I turned twenty I was in Japan with my dad and his wife, I was toasted by the Japanese Communist Party leader and ate a lot of sushi. Then I lived in Boston over the summer and ate ice cream every day and walked miles to the library to check my email twice a week. Then there was September 11 and we lived in the In-town and I lived in Minnesota for a couple of months and then I went abroad and then I turned 21 in Buenos Aires. I also ate a lot of sushi then. Anyway, that was a long time ago. I am still friends with basically all my friends from then. It makes all these background checks easier. Smiley face. But I am pretty different, but also not. I am ready for a new decade to recognize it.
Now, back to the challenge, how to commemorate it?!?
So, I need ideas. Special experiences or trips. One idea is to plan a fun warm weather trip for next fall/winter and do something smaller in May. One idea for that is a spa weekend, maybe in Sedona or Phoenix. But I want more ideas.
In general, while also feeling a general sense of disbelief, I am pretty psyched about my 30s. My 20s were, on balance, wearing rose-colored glasses and totally in retrospect-- pretty rad. It's a little like I felt when I was turning 23. I turned 22 the weekend we graduated from college. By the time a year had gone by, I felt like so much had happened and so many changes had occurred I deserved some external marker-- like being a different age.
When I turned twenty I was in Japan with my dad and his wife, I was toasted by the Japanese Communist Party leader and ate a lot of sushi. Then I lived in Boston over the summer and ate ice cream every day and walked miles to the library to check my email twice a week. Then there was September 11 and we lived in the In-town and I lived in Minnesota for a couple of months and then I went abroad and then I turned 21 in Buenos Aires. I also ate a lot of sushi then. Anyway, that was a long time ago. I am still friends with basically all my friends from then. It makes all these background checks easier. Smiley face. But I am pretty different, but also not. I am ready for a new decade to recognize it.
Now, back to the challenge, how to commemorate it?!?
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Official
I think a new way of talking has people saying, "It's official, I'm ____" or "I'm officially ______." It happens a lot on facebook, but other places, too. It's the new "I feel like _____." And once you start noticing it, it will slowly drive you crazy.
You're welcome.
You're welcome.
Monday, December 06, 2010
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Life is Weird
It is. I almost want to make an "it gets better" video for early and mid-twenty-somethings. Because I feel like it does and no one tells you and I'm there and it's so much better than it was. But I was just looking at pictures of someone's trip to New York on facebook. And whenever I do that, I get a little sad.
I get sad because I love New York. I do. And I think of the 2003-2006 period when I lived there and the friends and times and experiences that happened there and then. Now I love going there and being there and have a connection to it, maybe a little like I feel with New Orleans also, where it feels like the place/life I could have lived and therefore it will always be a little bit "home." But then there's the weird thing about adulthood... I feel like I've realized that while I love and respect New York... it's not the right place for me. I proved I could make it there, but then chose not to. And that's a "right for me" decision... the things I need from the life I want don't have to happen there. But they could. And that's the crazy thing. I don't think it's particularly interesting or admirable, but I've moved around a lot in the past ten years. East Coast to midwest to southwest. And here's the thing... there's a lot of places I could be and could be happy. Changing homes so often means both I carry my home with me, but also that lots of places are a little bit "home."
I remember talking to high school seniors applying to Wesleyan--both in Madison and here in Flagstaff, and I'd remind them that something like 96% of people love college (of course this was meant as encouragement if they didn't get into their top choices.) Yes, that's not everyone, but of those 96% people... do they love it because somehow they selected the right college for them? No. College is awesome. They loved it because it's awesome. Of course, if everyone went to Wesleyan, it would be 100%, but that would destroys the specialwes. Anyway. My point is the weirdness of life and how there are so many different paths and directions but how so many of them to lead good and great things. The other week, Erin remarked something like that it's so weird that I'm a public defender and I lived in Flagstaff, Arizona. And it is... but for a Minneapolis kid, is it really that much weirder than being an assistant in Manhattan? Not really. A different kind of weird.
And is life in general like college? Well, literally, no. Tragically it is too little like college. But metaphorically, can things be great if you land in variety of different places? Yeah, I think. Of course this does beg the question... if we can do awesome anywhere, why didn't we pick a place closer to people we love? It's the adventure. Or that's what we say. There this on Jezebel last week, about what a dad should teach a daughter... and I like it. Partly because most of things I did learn from my very excellent dad-of-a-daughter but one is probably missing-- landing on your feet. It's a skill. It not a skill learned like changing a tire, but that's part of it. Being self-sufficient and flexible is what I'd like my kids to be... and if it means they successfully build a life in a place none of us anticipated... I think I'd be proud. It's a good sign. Then again, it doesn't matter where it is, I'd be proud and I am proud of a successfully built life anywhere.
I get sad because I love New York. I do. And I think of the 2003-2006 period when I lived there and the friends and times and experiences that happened there and then. Now I love going there and being there and have a connection to it, maybe a little like I feel with New Orleans also, where it feels like the place/life I could have lived and therefore it will always be a little bit "home." But then there's the weird thing about adulthood... I feel like I've realized that while I love and respect New York... it's not the right place for me. I proved I could make it there, but then chose not to. And that's a "right for me" decision... the things I need from the life I want don't have to happen there. But they could. And that's the crazy thing. I don't think it's particularly interesting or admirable, but I've moved around a lot in the past ten years. East Coast to midwest to southwest. And here's the thing... there's a lot of places I could be and could be happy. Changing homes so often means both I carry my home with me, but also that lots of places are a little bit "home."
I remember talking to high school seniors applying to Wesleyan--both in Madison and here in Flagstaff, and I'd remind them that something like 96% of people love college (of course this was meant as encouragement if they didn't get into their top choices.) Yes, that's not everyone, but of those 96% people... do they love it because somehow they selected the right college for them? No. College is awesome. They loved it because it's awesome. Of course, if everyone went to Wesleyan, it would be 100%, but that would destroys the specialwes. Anyway. My point is the weirdness of life and how there are so many different paths and directions but how so many of them to lead good and great things. The other week, Erin remarked something like that it's so weird that I'm a public defender and I lived in Flagstaff, Arizona. And it is... but for a Minneapolis kid, is it really that much weirder than being an assistant in Manhattan? Not really. A different kind of weird.
And is life in general like college? Well, literally, no. Tragically it is too little like college. But metaphorically, can things be great if you land in variety of different places? Yeah, I think. Of course this does beg the question... if we can do awesome anywhere, why didn't we pick a place closer to people we love? It's the adventure. Or that's what we say. There this on Jezebel last week, about what a dad should teach a daughter... and I like it. Partly because most of things I did learn from my very excellent dad-of-a-daughter but one is probably missing-- landing on your feet. It's a skill. It not a skill learned like changing a tire, but that's part of it. Being self-sufficient and flexible is what I'd like my kids to be... and if it means they successfully build a life in a place none of us anticipated... I think I'd be proud. It's a good sign. Then again, it doesn't matter where it is, I'd be proud and I am proud of a successfully built life anywhere.
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