we ♥ starbucks, and starbucks ♥s us

so i have taken to studying at the new starbucks near my these days. this is mostly for one reason. its warm. i mean, not even warm, just like a NORMAL temperature. like not arctic. i mean, seriously, ever single freaking day that i go to school and watch the terrible tapes i sit there shivering in my oh so summery wardrobe of layers of cashmere, wool and fleece. and jeans.

so anyway, this starbucks is awesome bc not only does it have some nice little tables and outlets a-plenty and generally plays good music (that i appreciate when i dont have my 32-level (read: industrial strength) earplugs in, i can sit here wearing...short sleeves! summer dresses! it almost makes me feel like a real girl in summer. sigh. so yeah, the temperature here is what keeps me coming back every day. and staying. for 10 hrs a day. oh how i wish i were exaggerating...my bum hurts from sitting here since 9am (its 530pm right now. and im not even thinking of leaving).

so anyway yeah, i love the temp, and the chai lattes, and their delicious and huge (albeit too greasy) rice krispy treats. but the newest funniest part is that i have started getting free things! i mean maybe it is two random incidents and will never happen again, but its kind of funny and i do enjoy it.

2 days ago i had a nice employee come up (after i had been there for several hrs already and it was nearing closing time) and ask me if i wanted coffee since i was studying so hard. i said no, but he trotted down the stairs and came back with a big coffee and some splendas (clearly does not know about my aspartame allergy) seconds later. and now today--went to go buy one of those aforementioned rice krispys, and lo and behold, random other employee gave it to me on the house! hooray! today, i am SO tillies daughter.

its the little things you know. so now im sitting here nibbling that and getting grease all over my keyboard while studying torts. life is good.

ps-i have decided they must be giving me free things bc i look so pathetic and gross. amit told me i was beginning to look a bit "gaunt" and "lifeless". which is to be expected when one shuns the sun in favor of the laptop's eternal, faithful glow. the bathing has become slightly less than daily and the grease is in FULL EFFECT. (if i put my hair in a ponytail on top of my head with a headband no one can notice though, right? right?)

i am a pasty, pathetic mess.

Climb Every Law School Mountain

a song for dark Tori times, with much love from Tillie:

Climb every plaintiff/defendant mountain,
Search crim* and tort* --why does this sound like dessert "glazed crim and tort"? YUM
Follow every breach of legal duty by-way
Every path to P100 you know

Climb every mountain (of admissible evidence)
Ford every contract binding stream
Follow every mens rea* rainbow
'Till you find your dream,
(aka pass the NY bar exam)

A dream that will need (sing with heart and deep welling of emotion)
All the jeans and clothing layers you can give
Everyday of your wretched '07 summer life
For as long as you live (in Philly)

Climb every evidence mountain (better said would be mountain of evidence!)
Ford every proximate cause* stream
Follow every joinder of claims and parties rainbow
'Till you find your NY Bar dream

A dream that will need (sing with feeling)
All the 4 cahmere sweater layers (no flip flops) you can give
Everyday of your pitiful dark summer '07 life
For as long as you live-at 5050(as in chance of passing bar)Macadamia St, Apt. 51L

Climb every MBE* mountain
Ford every FRE* stream
Follow every preclusion of litigation rainbow
'Till you find your NY Bar dream (SING THIS LINE WITH MUCH EMOTION, fortissimo)


*crim=loving way of referring to criminal
(as "it's criminal for Tori to study so hard for MBE*)
*tort=injury, wrong (as "it's wrong to have Tori freezing in P100")
*mens rea=guilty mind
*proximate cause=fancy (an stupid) way of saying use your common sense
*MBE=multistate bar examination
*FRE=federal rules of evidence

POP THE CHAMPAIGN AT THE END OF THIS HEARTFELT MOTIVATING SONG, CHEERS, ENJOY!!!
Drink to the summer of '08 may it find you in flip flops and tank top (and not so broke $$$) xoxoxo
Tillie

TOO BAD SO SAD, BUT WAIT NOT BAD, SO GLAD

Tori, Tori, Tori

You make me sad and worried with your tails of darkness.

But the I Will Survive made me hopeful and happy once more and in addition, I realized that Tillie DID make you this way.

I LOVE happy and hopeful.

You have inspired me to write/post a song of cheer, cheerleading that is, the kind that makes you want to go freeze in room 100 (and that is not 100 degreesF), that makes you want to go home and learn some more, a song that will inspire to climb higher, to reach further, to be more than you can be, to be faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall (Law School) buildings in a single bound, LOOK UP IN THE SKY, IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE,

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

IT'S SUPER TORI!!!!

i mean TIM. congrats TIM! :)

looking up!

have my phone back!
have an apt in nyc! (well, pending condo apps, credit checks, et al)
have replaced wallet that was stolen in costa rica bc found it on sale for 50% off!

will not go into details about what happened AFTER i posted "tales from the dark side" yesterday (the day spiraled into more and frustration and terribleness, though it ended w the successful apt viewing in nyc). was bad. listened to latino teeny bopper behind me on bus the whole way back home going on about his gfs in a super loud, super annoying way. he never got off his cellphone for the entire freaking 2 hr trip.

BUT.....out w the bad, in w the good!

wasting my day doing apps and paying bills for now then off to go learn stuff.

THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY IS THE BAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND CONGRATS AGAIN JIM IF YOURE READING THIS!!!!!!!! :)

tales from the dark side

day 3 of no phone.

7th consecutive day of barbri class (no wknd to speak of this past wknd! class from 9-530 on sat and sun too--soldier on bar examinees!)

temperature in P100 (large classroom i took you guys to see on the day of the law school brunch thing) steadily dropping to the point where i am freezing in jeans, and 4 layers of sweaters. flip flops are no longer a feasible footwear option. did someone say its summer outside?

in honor of my bleak mood and bleaker existence i have written the beginning of a song:
not to worry, its a song w a positive message, a song of hope. its called "i will survive":

"i will survive"
at first i was afraid, i was petrified
but then i took the simulated MBE*, and then i actually died inside
could not keep straight that crazy wacky FRE*, could not remember--what qualifies as admissible testimony?

and now im back
in the freezing room again!
cuz we still have lots more subjects to cover
even though weve already covered more than ten!

i should have studied far more crim
i should have studied far more torts
if id have known for just one second
thered be such tricky qs of all sorts!

alright now--time to go!
walk out the law school door!
oh but wait, im not really free--
its just time to study more!

werent you the one who tried to hurt me with bad grades
you thought id fail out
or transfer to a worse school, or die!
but no not i!
i did survive!
and now as long as i have eyes to read
ill study for this stupid test and i know i will survive!

ive got all day long to study
and then all night long as well
and ill survive!
i will survive!

*MBE=multistate bar examination
*FRE=federal rules of evidence

ok wills part ii just ended. time to head off to the oral surgeon then hop on a china town bus to go look at an apt in NYC and then head back to philly before it gets too late to come back and study! woohoo!

this concludes todays portion of Tales From the Dark Side: Tori's Life
hope you enjoyed!

~tori

0 comments

Hey friends and fam,

- sad to hear of Tori's pitiful life/existence of recent date

- mad to hear Helen just hangs out poolside growing grandbaby
(Crikey's right, get busy and productive for goodness' sake!)

- bad...that Henney has fallen off the face of the earth

- glad tha I am going to meet her (Henney, who else?) for our yoga weekend at some undisclosed location of the eastern US

- add another mad that we have 0 comments on any of our blog posts

C'mon! we need some comments.

xoxo Tillie

things that are fun

-sitting poolside in a bikini i fashioned for myself out of a black tank top and red maternity boy shorts undies
-wearing a cute yellow headband to complete said pool lounging costume
-stealing Internet from nearby neighbors
-poking around on family blog
-taunting people that are not invited readers of said blog

things that are not fun

-sitting through a 6 hour, 200 q multiple choice simulated exam yesterday
-getting fewer than half of the answers correct
-subsequently fueling fears of failing actual exam
-loss of cell phone due to massive quarters game competition last night which resulted in said loss
-FREEZING TO DEATH in this stupid room at school
-ON SATURDAY!!!

BOO AND BOO AND BOO AGAIN.
~tori

Howdy Friends and Family!

Hello everyone! I thought about posting earlier, but then I remembered that no one would really mind if I got around to it right off the bat, or if I waited a while for a time that seemed more convenient. You see, somos Latinas. Which means that if the party starts at 8 and you show up with the frijoles negros y platanos at 11, everyone's going to think that you arrived right on time. Depending on the family, they might even think you're suspiciously early. I also thought that I should lend some credence to the title of our blog: Better Late than Never. Entiendes?

So here I am. Like the rest of us, there are some things that I should be doing instead of writing in this blog. For instance, I'm in the middle of house shopping, so technically I should be scouring the MLS for listings and budget crunching to see how big of a cardboard shack Crikey and I can afford. Crikey's my husband, and he is currently puttering around with tools somewhere not noticing that I am off-task. Although I love him very much, he tends to crack the whip when I am loafing around up to no good. So, I have to pretend that I am on the computer shopping for shacks, comparing rates on bottled water delivery, reading fixed rate mortgage reports, etc. Crikey does not need to know that Helen is writing in the family blog.

One thing I have been wondering about is mine and Tori's sister Hennie. She's a very busy and important person, and she has, as of late, fallen off the face of the earth. Some people have taken her for dead, but I am holding out hope that she will resurface somewhere. Personally, I would search all of the children's zoos in Eastern Europe and Asia for a lady with curly ringlets and a baby animal fetish, but there is no telling with Hennie. She wears many disguises in order to keep a low profile. One day, you might see her wearing a power suit with her signature scarf and another day you might find her wearing a hard hat and boots. Of course, she only sends you these types of clues through picture email attachments, so no one ever knows for sure if she's for real or if she just photoshopped the outfit and accesories in. She's slippery like that.

Yikes. Crikey's coming. More on this topic and others later. Over and out ladies.

Hola

Hey Tillie here!

My three daughters Henney, Helen, Tori and I are so excited to be starting this blog. Our lives are rather exciting and sure to keep you at the edge of your seats...
We have so much going on at all times.

It's almost like Where is Waldo or Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego with us. On any given week, any one of us could be in Europe, NYC, the Midwest, the Caribbean and why even Alaska or Siberia. Sometimes we even converge in one spot and just hang out and play together. Just a few weeks ago we all met up in Tucson and had an amazing weekend of yoga, walking together through a park and enjoying healthy macrobiotic cooking at a local spot.

Of course, you would be hard pressed to pick me out of the 4 when we are walking side by side b/c I had the three when I was so young. OK, that was a slight exageration, you know me b/c I am definitely the shortest. You also can easily pick out Helen b/c she has the biggest belly. No, she's not fat, she's so pregnant!!!

Yikes! I have this mothering thing down pat, but I don't know how to grandmother yet. Help.

Welcome!

Welcome to our brand new BLOG! Also, please note: this blogname subject to change. Like, very subject to change. I'd spend more time coming up with something more clever, but then I would be guaranteed of failing my, er, MCATs. Yeah, MCATs.* Template and everything else too--it's all subject to improvement and change. I just don't have time now and all my slacker people have not lifted a finger to help me in getting this up and running (typical).

Soon though, SOON this blog will be filled with hilarity. Stories and anecdotes and tidbits that make you laugh, cry, sing, dance-everything!

We will hear from Tillie (who started it all, by breathing life into this project and um, into all of us). Yay Tillie! We will hear from Helen. And you'd better believe we will also hear from Hennie (name subject to change). Yes, that is a threat Hennie!

Anyway, the word on the street is that Tillie is itching to get her first few stories out. I, personally, cannot wait.

This is Tori, signing off!




*Some details changed to protect the the author.