Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving

Ah, a much-needed break. I was hoping to refocus, re-energize, and regurgitate copious amounts of food. (Not literally; it's a joke! For the last time, I'm not bulimic!). Anyway, I think it has been quite successful. Allow me to rundown my Thanksgiving holiday:

Wednesday:
6:30 AM: Woke up to catch my flight. I wasn't totally what this whole "no liquids/gels" system was on flights these days, so I just packed the bare essentials in my carry-on. How can you ask a father to choose among his children? Apparently, this meant hair-product was packed, but not deoderant. Yes, I clearly have my priorities straight.

8:30 AM: Arrive at the airport at the US Airways terminal. This made the most sense to me, since my confirmation itinerary said "US Airways" by flight number. Clearly, that was silly of me. I should have known that US Airways flights above #5000 are operated by United Airlines. Duh! So, after spending lots of time trying to get an actual human being to help me with my ticketing (oh, there are kiosks aplenty, though!), I was able to sort it out, hop on a shuttle to the correct terminal, and depart in time.

12:30 PM: Board my second flight, a tiny little "puddle-jumper." As if the leg room weren't cramped enough as it was, I had even less room, since I had to put my bag under the seat, due to the lack of room in the overhead compartment. God forbid the man in front of my put his previous cowboy hat on his lap, instead of wasting precious storage space. But I'm not bitter.

2:00 PM: Arrive in the not-so great state of Iowa. However, I was looking forward to seeing my family, namely my Mom, sister Elizabeth, Aunt Mimi, Aunt Margaret, Cousin Maddie, and Grandmom. Of course, Elizabeth neglected to mention to me earlier that she would be arriving later that night, separately from my mother. This resulted in me having to talk with all of the family without a buffer. Note to self: repay her later.

10:30 PM: Elizabeth finally arrived, and I was quite excited to see her. We immediately returned to our summer catch phrases and inside jokes without missing a beat.

Thanksgiving Day!
9:40 AM: Elizabeth woke me up to inform me that my presence was lacking downstairs in the kitchen (nevermind the fact that I baked two pecan pies the day before!). So, I rolled out of bed, put on my face, and helped cook for the remainder of the day.

1:00 PM: Gluttony. One of my favorite deadly sins. Ah, the turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, coleslaw, pie. . . it was all perfect. After having some trouble breathing, Liz and I decided to watch her tape of the latest episode of Law and Order: SVU. Disappointing. Sigh.

7:00 PM: Liz and I went to the theater to see For Your Consideration, the latest Christopher Guest film. Rather disappointing. Double sigh.

9:00 PM: Watched several episodes of Scrubs from the 4th Season DVD that Mother bought for me as an early birthday present. Yay!

Friday:
10:00 AM: Roll out of bed, do the whole "social thing," and eat just enough breakfast to stop my stomach from growling so I can gorge myself on leftovers when lunch rolls around.

11:30 AM: Lunch rolled around. I gorged myself on leftovers.

2:00 PM: Said my good-byes, then Mother took me to the airport. She started to get misty, then told me that she was glad that I was still her same Andrew. She was afraid these few months at Harvard would have changed me. Oh, Mother. . . big hugs, then I was off.

10:00 PM: Ah, home, sweet home. I really do think of my Cambridge apartment as home now. It's cute and cozy. Just like me. I stayed up doing some research for job applications, watch a few more episodes of Scrubs, then called it a night.

What's after the Hotel Lobby?
or: The Wild After-Party

Wow. We actually did it. I was quite skeptical at first as to what the show would look like. I mean, we are a bunch of nerdy law students, when you get down to it. But it turned out to be fantastic! And well worth the time and energy spent outside of the library. I really had forgotten just how much fun it is to see a show come together. Not to mention seeing a cast come together.

My greatest worry when coming to law school was that I wouldn't meet many fun people, and my life would become altogether serious and boring. Any lingering doubts about that were shattered by doing the show (and any of the cast party festivities). Considering the good clean fun, the good not-so clean fun, and the few moments of seriousness, this whole experience has been more than worth it.

Who knew that law school could be more fun than college? The cast party was the most fun I've had in ages. Good music, food, drink, and then when we all started [details omitted] I couldn't even believe it was already 6AM! So we left, dealing with a surly passive-aggressive neighbor, and headed to the next house where we continued to [details omitted]. By that point, we were all pretty hungry, so I offered to cook eggs at my place for Tina, Audrey, and Brian. But then I remembered that Julie's brother, Chris, was asleep on my futon. Which, by the way, I would like to apologize for being a bad host. I had no idea that my friends would [details omitted]. But I guess you never know what to expect. I just hope they weren't too loud. Mistakes were made. Mostly involving bangs. After crashing at around 9:30 AM, I realized it had been one wild party indeed.

Well, the show has come and gone. I simply don't know what to do with myself or with my time now that I'm not rehearsing for untold hours each week. I suppose I could start studying... or I could look back on the good ol' days and remember fondly. Or maybe I'll just take a nap.

The Wild Party

"If in Heaven you don't excel,
You can always party down in Hell"

So here it is. I've been working on this since September, and it's finally coming to fruition. If you think Harvard Law Students can't sing, dance, and make fools of themselves with the best of them, (well, maybe not the best of them, but we sure rank up there!), you've got another think coming! So here are the details!

Wednesday: Preview performance 8PM
Thursday: Opening Night!!! 8PM
Friday: 8PM
Saturday: Closing Night! 7PM

All performances are in Pound, John Chipman Gray. You can buy tickets through this Wednesday in the Hark from 12-2 PM. Tickets are $5 (or $3 for the Wed. preview performance), and they are assigned seating, so buy early and buy several!

Here's hoping I get to see you there! And if I don't, feel free to send flowers/candy/boudoir photography directly to me.

I Heart My Profs... We've all had those academic crushes before. I mean let's face it, professors can be some awesome people, and their talent/character/personality/everything can be more than just charming. It's magnetic. I was afraid that coming to Harvard, the law professors would be so cold and distant. Well, I've only had a few so far, but that is just not the case. What I'm referring to is more than just the great classroom discussions. These people are just awesome all around.

Take Prof. Weinreb. Oh, he seems like the classic law professor type, but he's way more than meets the eye. He has a sense of humor, a sense of fair play, and doesn't mind a little sparring. Plus, he even invited the entire section (70+ people) to his house for brunch! And it was a great brunch. Oh, Ruth and Lloyd. I want their house, with the big tree in the backyard and the soothing yellow kitchen. He even served gin & juice (is it supposed to be orange juice? I'm not too familiar. I'm well acquainted with other brunch drinks: bloody mary, mimosa, screwdriver. If anyone has a definitive answer, let me know). But if you ever even entertained the thought that this man was stuck up, or stiff, (which would be just silly), that was all shattered when he came to class on Halloween. Dressed as a hobo. Seriously. I've never had a professor do that. And this is law school. Few students even dressed up. (Note to Kendall: I'm not bitter. But I would have been willing to go as the Mile High Club one last time. I'm just saying...).

Prof. Desan is just plain wonderful. She is always so kind, caring, and attentive to the students. Plus, she loves puns. I mean, how can't you have a little fun with case names like International Shoe and Burger King. The options are endless! I certainly didn't think I would enjoy a class called "Civil Procedure" but oh, how wrong I was. It sure isn't always fun and games. (In fact, at one point she had to tell us we were having too much fun and we needed to buckle down.) It was also a really great opportunity just to go out to lunch with her and a handful of other students. It really makes a difference when you have close, informal gatherings as well as the classroom. Beyond helpful advice and interesting opinions, it was good conversation. It makes me feel like they really care what we think and have to say. Who knew?

Professor Arlen might not always be everyone's favorite, but I'm going to stick up for her. I think she definitely provides some much-needed "tough-love" (which isn't even all that tough, and I think for the most part is actually quite good-natured, aimed at our ultimate benefit). I find that she is the one challenging and driving me the most. Plus, I think she is really quite accomodating, considering all of the crazy hypos that people keep throwing at her (I thought the profs were supposed to toss those out, not the students...).

Now, all that being said, here's what's left. Don't get me wrong, there are things that I don't like about my professors, and things where I disagree with them. But what really affirms the experience for me is that even with those disagreements, those negatives, I still like them a lot, and respect them immensely. And that's a good place to be.