I got back about an hour ago from a night out with some old friends - Nathan, Christine, and Janis. I worked with them two summers ago as an extern in Judge Otero's chambers. Nathan & Christine were his clerks; and Janis was a fellow extern. We've kept in touch, more or less, but only infrequently.

I have very fond memories of my 1L summer, which was the first law-related job I ever had. Up until that point, law school for me had been a dry, abstract proposition. I didn't understand what litigation was like in practice. It didn't make sense, in a human, practical sort of way. So it really opened my eyes, to see how cases move along, how judges approach cases, and to be exposed to the ways in which lawyers manipulate the legal system. I sat in on four trials and got my real introduction to intensive legal writing (that contrived class they teach to all first year law students doesn't really count). It gave me a perspective on the law that I drew on for the rest of law school - a foundation that I could build on.

I also had a lot of fun. In fact, I look back on it as one of the best times in my life - not bad for an unpaid position. My co-externs were a dynamic and varied group. And Judge Otero's two clerks, Nathan and Christine, were a fun-loving, mischevious and raunchy (!) duo who got along very well with each other, and with us. Our two-hour lunches were the stuff of legend (after we left, the Judge apparently instituted a rule that lunches could not be quite so drawn out). The good old days, as it were.

Nathan & Christine were my role models during that time and taught me a great deal. The bar that they set motivated my own decision to clerk after law school. They were efficient and well-oiled clerking machines (and eight months into my own clerkship, I don't quite feel that I am at nearly that level) - yet managed to keep a great work-life balance. They were the gold standard of clerking, so to speak. I'll always be grateful to them for that.

So nearly three years later, some things haven't changed. We still laugh and joke about The G's sketchy behavior (which she always denies). And it's just relaxing and enjoyable to hang out with them again. Both of them are at private law firms now, and one thing that scares me is that they are both working so incredibly hard, and they're a little frustrated as a result. (Janis, who has also started working for a firm, is having a similar experience.) So that's probably what lies in store for me, as well.

I'll admit there was too much bitching about work for my taste. But hey, for the three of them, work is what consumes their existence, so it is not surprising. Once we got that out of the way, though, it was good times.

I recommend Dong Il Jang on 8th Street just east of Western, by the way, in Koreatown. Their kalbi and bulgogi are delicious.

On Sunday, I went to visit my friends Will and Gloria in their swank apartment in the Miracle Mile with the sole purpose of taking pictures of a little dog. To be specific, his name is Winston and he is a puppy Yorkshire terrier. As you can see, quite adorable! It was challenging to shoot such a squirmy, hyper, excited little guy. At one point, he was licking my camera lens (well, the filter in front of the lens, but same difference.)

I almost want a puppy now... but I can see how much work it is. Regardless, I can tell that adopting Winston has really changed Will and Gloria's lives (or at least, their routines, since puppies need lots of attention!) He's their little baby.







See more of Winston!

After a year of intensive wedding planning, my friends Will and Gloria are getting married today at the Stanford Memorial Church. Actually, their wedding begins in half an hour. What the hell am I still doing in my underwear at home?

The Willl & Gloria story is great. They have been sweethearts since freshman year of college at Duke University. After Gloria enrolled at Stanford Law, Will joined her out here at Stanford as a grad student in Computer Science. And as you can see, they even graduated together! After the wedding, they're moving down to LA (a nice place in Brentwood, perhaps), where they will plot to take over the Los Angeles political power structure. (Gloria will work for O'Melveny & Myers, where I will join her next year; Will is working for the nifty media startup imeem.)

Congratulations, guys!

So, I've been swamped. I've had class 11 out of the last 12 days, including a 6 hour simulated MBE exam followed by two eight hour review sessions last week. So it was kind of a relief to reach the end of this week's classes.

Not surprisingly, I didn't do any work today after our Professional Responsibility lecture ended at 12:30 -- just a whole lot of relaxing and fun activities with my friends:

• I had lunch with Joel and Henry in downtown Palo Alto and then went with them to a travel agency down the street to plan our post-bar trip to Europe.
• After that, I took a nap.
• This took me all the way to dinner time. Dinner was at Darda Seafood in Milpitas with a larger group that included Cara and Grace. Darda is the only Islamic Chinese restaurant in the Bay Area, and it was awesome. I especially enjoyed the signature thick sesame onion bread; and the cumin lamb was simply superb.
• Dinner was followed by boba at Fantasia, which I think may be the best in the Bay Area, and which is also in Milpitas Square.
• Finally, rather than spend the rest of the evening in quiet, half-hearted studying, I went to a 10:00 pm showing of Live Free, Die Hard. I don't remember the older movies, but this one was a lively and well-produced, if standard, action flick. Featuring the superhot Maggie Q, no less.

I usually wouldn't let myself have so much fun in one day, but why not? The July 4th weekend is coming up, and perhaps it will be the one last mental break I will get before I hunker down for good, and start studying as I never have before. I'm allowed at least this, aren't I?

Last night I went with Joel, Eddie and Eddie's former roommate Huy to La Casita Chilanga, a little Mexican food place in Redwood City. (Apparently a "Chilanga/o" is a Mexican from Mexico City, so the kind of food they serve there is city food.) The dining is great, and pretty unique as Mexican food goes. I had a Torta Milanesa -- a sandwich with toasted bread and a whole lot of beef. Wei ordered a Torta Cubana and was waving the white flag before he had finished half of that meat-packed concoction.

So I've been there once before, and the problem that time was that the menu was all in Spanish. This time however, I opened up the menu and found that it was in English! Better yet, they had still given out some Spanish-language menus, but only to Eddie and Joel. Wei got one in English too. Apparently, the waittress just saw two Mexican guys and two Asian guys walk in, and just handed out menus accordingly. Racial profiling, or smart customer demographic targeting? (By the way of comparison, Joel is a 5th generation Mexican American who isn't entirely fluent in Spanish, while Eddie is a naturalized citizen who was born in Mexico.)

Last night I went bowling with former SLS Dean Sullivan, Joel, Gloria and a bunch of friends at Palo Alto Bowl. Dean Sullivan picked up the tab, and even treated us to a pizza dinner at her pad beforehand – loads of fun. Gloria had won the rights to Dean Sullivan's bowling night at the SPILF auction back in March, and we all chipped in.

In any case, a good time was had by all. Sullivan is incredibly awesome -- she's the one who sold me on Stanford Law School two years ago, and (apart from being one of the foremost minds in American Constitutional law) is personable and a great sport. For someone who claims she hadn't been bowling in 40 years, she sure picked it up again fast.

Oh yea, I broke 100 for the first time ever. I achieved the awe-inspiring score of 131 in the first round, leading the pack. (I then proceeded to get the second-lowest score of any bowler in the second round, 88.)

You've lost that loving feeling..

I bet you didn't know I did karaoke! Well I do. Or Joel does and I tag along. We had our friends and a whole crowd of strangers singing and waving their hands along with us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOWARD!

As you can see, Howard is pimping it with his gold watch, chest hair, and cel phone to handle all the ladies. I met with him and his Southwestern friends at El Cholo for an artery clogging lunch.

I had a fun and eventful (and also productive) weekend. That is, if you don't count the part about getting sick again, of course. (I'm now better.)

On Saturday, Joel and I made it up to Berkeley for their public interest fundraising auction (it was called the B.L.F. or something.) It was a lot of fun.. and Berkeley is just a totally different world than Stanford. There just seems to be a different vibe at Boalt Hall. Not necessarily better, but different, and therefore refreshing. Much more lively, crowded, urban..

But I will tell my story in pictures:

Beforehand, we had dinner with our homie Grace at a cool Mexican restaurant called Juan's Place. Thish picture is of the funky poster on the wall that we really liked.


We also crashed a preparty before the auction with Grace's friends.


Finally, yesterday I was a good boy and studied all day (that, and recovered from my cold.) However, a bunch of drunk guys came over to our apartment while I was brushing my teeth. This is Sierra, a 1L.

partying early for my birthday. dinner at versailles (as good as I remembered it), and lounging afterwards at formosa.

photo courtesy of howard, pictured at right.

Yesterday I spent most of the day at the law school helping out SLLSA (the Latino Law Students Assn, of which I am a dues paying member) with its annual Cinco De Mayo party. The reason it was held on 4/29 and not 5/5, of course, was that the real Cinco De Mayo is smack in the middle of finals (and more importantly, it's the day of my Con Law exam.)

The party was billed as "the biggest law school party of the year." While of course there are several other valid contenders for that title (such as "The Party Bus Excursion I," "The Party Bus Excursion II", "The SPILF Auction Afterparty," "The Law School Formal", etc.), in terms of how big of a production it was, overall, I'd say it safely lives up to that description. There was a whole schedule of events, from dinner with a mariachi band and salsa dancers, to a DJ party, lasting six hours. I have it on good inside knowledge that the alcohol alone cost over two grand.

There was much preparation involved, and I helped my friends out when I could. Mostly by taking pictures of them:






Here are a few pictures of the dancers -- so colorful!





I took a hundred pictures yesterday, and I"ll be posting up about half of them when I get a chance.

Update: go here.

I need focus. I am going to be very busy this weekend. I have a 10 page brief argument due on Monday evening, plus I am going to be going to SF on Saturday and Sunday with a friend.

A great night for Pac 10 basketball. My two teams (UCLA and Stanford) won, and as an added bonus USC lost. I know I haven't gotten as excited about Bruin Basketball as I got about Bruin Football last fall, but that's because the basketball team was such a letdown the past couple of years. But this year, despite starting four freshman, they are actually pretty dynamic and fun to watch, despite not being ranked.
Unfortunately, on Sunday UCLA plays Stanford up here at the newly renovated Maples Pavilion. They are one half-game apart in the standings, so the game will decide who gets third place in the Pac 10. I think I'm just going to shut my eyes..

I got a haircut today at Supercuts.. It feels good to have short hair again.. ha ha.

Here's a random picture of my buddies Clark and Joel:

I got back from SF this afternoon. My parents picked me up and I stayed with them this weekend. It was good to see them again. One of my mom's friends and her husband came up too, and they went sightseeing together in various places. However, I did not go with them and stayed behind in the hotel room and read for Contracts :(

I went to the Cal-UCLA football game with my dad at Berkeley, which was an interesting experience. I am not crushed that UCLA lost by 17 points because I wasn't really expecting much. UCLA stayed in the game for over three quarters and at one point tied the game 14-14. UCLA's offense could make some big plays, albeit inconsistently, and their defense was slowing Cal just enough so that theoretically, if UCLA had been on their best game and had been aided by incredible luck, they could have won. Of course, they didn't, and Cal had too much talent to contain. But they got almost twice the total offense (384 yards) that USC had last week (200 yards) against Cal's defense, and 4 touchdowns. So there is hope for the rest of the season.

Oh let me say slouching out of Memorial Stadium in a blue-and-yellow shirt and a dark blue cap that has the same kind of script logo as Cal does, felt a lot easier than if I had been wearing red. I think I would be too scared to wear my Stanford cap on Berkeley's campus. I'd probably get beat up and left for dead if I tried something like that..

Let's see, I also met up with Pakdaman last night and this morning, he was up in SF for a medical conference related to his job. He was staying at the Palace Hotel on Market St... That place is such a fancy, five-star establishment, I feel downright peasant-like walking around in it. Any how, I had dinner with him nearby in the coolest little alleyway of a street (Belden Pl., between Montgomery and Kearney Streets) that had outdoor dining that for me conjured up memories of Rome or Venice.

Alright, I've been reading other people's blogs all day.. I better finish my reading for torts.

I've decided I should write in this LJ whenever the inclination comes over me, so I can capture more of my current emotional states and less of a bland "summary of my life."
Well, I've been a little sick lately, due to staying out so late last week. It is just a head cold and mild symptoms, but it is still a drag. I've noticed something this time, though. Previously, I've observed that when i'm feeling sick, eating food makes me feel much better (but only during the time I am eating). And in the past week, I've discovered that working out has the same effect on me. I have no idea why either of those should be, but I'm not going to complain.
What did I do today? Well.. I took a two hour lunch break.. to visit Lien because today was her birthday (yay!). I also sat in on a talk by Professor Nicolas Christou on The Olympic Games From Antiquity to the Present, which is hilarious because he is a statistics teacher.
Sarah thinks I walk into work whenever I feel like it. Well, she's right. I believe getting a salary of only $250 a month should come with some privileges not afforded to higher wage workers. And hey, I get stuff done.
I went home feeling slightly feverish, so i took a shower and a nap. I don't think they helped..
I went to Bally's Fitness with my mom at 9 pm this evening.. the parking lot traffic was atrocious. I would almost vow to never go there during that time period again, except for the fact that at that hour, the gym is literally crawling with cute Asian girls. You must understand, at all other times of the day on every day of the week that I've gone there, the 'selection' of eye candy, if not nonexistent, is quite slim. So change of plan, I will hit the gym up at 8 pm every day, except I will park 6 blocks away and jog there. I believe this is an excellent incentive for me to visit the gym every day and get in shape :)
The Cardigans song "Good Horse" is stuck in my head. It's got a Western theme and some catchy lines. Let me share them with you:

Eyes burning on the quicksand
And I run it through the hollow land
I fed it with a shaky hand
I found myself a strong horse

These are the promises I can keep
These are the promises I can keep
To live like I must
And ride with the dust
in my face

Time flies when you've got too many things to do. Which is what I've been up to recently!
Let's see, the routine remains generally, the same, I work 3-4 days a week at the firm, try to go to the gym 4-5 times a week, and spend as much time as I can in the photo lab as I can. Although, it was the last week of photography class, so my last chance to develop pictures, and I spent 7 hours at LACC's darkroom on Tuesday.
I've been going out with my friends more often lately. I guess I realize that I won't see them anymore after this summer.. Last weekend, I had lunch with the Hidmaster and went to Lien's place afterwards because it was her little niece's 2nd birthday party. A good time was had by all. This week, I went out late on Wednesday and Thursday - Wed. with a group of UCLA friends who had graduated, and Thurs. with my old buddies from CSU because it was Justin the RC's birthday. It was a lot of fun, but now I think I messed up my sleep patterns :p
Justin is a cool guy, he is graduating as an Econ major in only three years and next year he'll be up at Stanford with me, he will be doing a graduate degree in Economics. I hope we will be great friends, we UCLA folks have to stick together you know.

I bought the Cardigans' new album, Long Gone Before Daylight, today on iTunes. It's not quite as good as I expected it to be, although I think my expectations were just too high and it's actually a decent album. Just a little bit too slow and "melancholy" for my tastes, I was hoping for something more peppy like their Gran Turismo album. But there are several outstanding tracks on that album, notably "Communication," "Good Horse," and "What It's Worth" and I'm sure the others will grow on me in time.
Oh... and it really was my digital camera that was turned into the Stanford police.. and i picked it up today from the post office. It is in perfect shape. I'm so happy.. I need to write a letter to the guy who turned it in, he was some professor.

.. I was just very busy until now.
Berkeley was cool, and Stanford was even better (different, and smaller.) Both places had really cool students and friendly faculty. I met quite a few fellow admits at both places who had very impressive resumes, many who had been working for a couple of years or more. Compared to these people, I feel like I've accomplished very little in my life, having come straight out of college and all.
I'm not going to send in a letter of intent to a law school yet, however, until I take my tour of Harvard Law next weekend. That should be fun, and I'm going to stop by NYU and Colombia for good measure.
In the meantime, I've been working pretty long hours (but it's okay, the law firm is undergoing a time of transition), and on Saturday I went jogging to the beach and bowling with my best buddy Lien. Now, I'm off to the darkroom to develop 3 rolls of film, make contact sheets for each, and figure out which prints I'm going to enlarge for the assignment due tomorrow. "Yay"...
Oh, and I lost my lil' digicam, an Olympus Stylus 400, while up at Stanford! It fell out of my bag, which unzipped all the way, and when I looked for it, it had disappeared. I don't expect to ever see it again, although there were pics of the law school on it and there's a slight chance that someone could return it there. So sad.. I really liked it..

Well, I have discovered that life is actually very inconvenient one arm is strapped to your chest. It's impossible to tie your shoes, for example. My shoulder isn't sore anymore, so it's a bit irritating to have to put it in the immobilizer all the time. Plus keeping my right arm by my side that means I've lost all strength and range of motion in that arm. So in the past few days I've been taking it off for at least part of the time. I hope that's not really bad..
In other news, I signed up for a part time job and then quit. I joined a start-up website company for a week and was enlisted as a web page maker to translate concept art for a webpage into real HTML. Though this sounds like a mundane and simple task, it's actually quite challenging and requires a bit of interpretation; HTML is not a precise language. Mac Dreamweaver MX's tendency to crash when rendering inconsistent HTML table code (a common occurrence in my development process) didn't help, either. i finished about half the project and then figured that I was taking so long that, given the amount of money I had been offered, I was working for less than minimum wage :(.
Oh, and I developed my first black and white photograph enlargements. it's actually quite fun, but I need a lot more practice and they didn't come out too well.
Today I tried going to the Getty Center with a good friend of mine, but it was so busy at 1 pm in the afternoon that they had opened up their overflow parking lot two miles away, except Sepulveda was so busy that this parking lot was impossible to reach. So we gave up and wandered around the Grove instead.