Update

Hello out there and thank you so much to anyone who is still reading this blog after over a month of absence! I have not been this busy EVER. I love my job, but we keep going 24/7! I work all day and then usually they have a social event for us in the evenings, so I leave my house at about 7 am and don't get back until midnight or later. So here is a quick update on what I have been doing this summer.

The Work- has been fabulous. Complex litigation stuff for big name clients, with actions pending all over the country. Exactly what I wanted. Now my difficult decision is do I want to practice general lit or labor and employment?

The Firm- Everyone has been really nice and fun. I've meet a lot of people that I get along with really well. Also, our clerk class got along really well, which apparently doesn't happen all the time. I know that if I come to work here I will have to work hard (2000+ billable hours a year). Other great things about the firm --> they have a great track record with retaining women and making them partners. I have worked with some amazing female partners while I am here. They are pretty family friendly too, seems like most people have kids and they spend a lot of time with them.

The Social Scene- Do you need to know anything about any restaurant near downtown Dallas? I will give a review. I go out to lunch EVERY DAY. I don't know how I haven't gained 200 lbs. I also go out to dinner about 4 times a week. We have had many great parties also. I think some people think it is weird that I don't drink, because alcohol is a big part of the social scene, but no one has said anything. We have gone to some cool locations in Dallas, as well as some of the partners' houses which are beautiful. I just wish that M could be here.

Ok, so you say, that is all well and good but you could have dropped us a line at some point! Which leads me to the other, darker side of my summer, which would be.....

THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE LOST MY PASSPORT!!!!!!

Yes folks, thats right. I am supposed to leave for my big India/Pakistan trip in 2 weeks and my passport is MIA. I sent it to the Pakistani Consulate to get my visa via express mail and the P.O. lost it on the way back. The thing has tracking numbers all over it and still they can't track it! ARRRGH. Well, that is only the first part of the story, because after battling the P.O. for about a week I realized that I needed to concentrate on replacing the passport and my visas. My mom, who is amazing, spent about 20 hrs one week researching the whole process and now my stuff is being expedited by a private service. Insha'Allah it should be here by Wed. or Thurs. Here's the kicker though: the whole thing is costing me about $650. Ouch!

The moral of the story, never send you passport via U.S. Mail, always use Fedex, UPS, or DHL. And when you send it, insure the dang thing for 1,000 bucks because that is how much it is going to cost to replace it.

Also, now I have to worry about identity theft, because I am sure that someone stole it from the P.O. So I have taken all the measures to prevent that. Fraud alert, etc.

Anyways, that is the summary of the past six weeks. I don't know when I will post again, but if you are still hanging around I appreciate it.

Am I supposed to be a grown up now?

I made it to Dallas on Sunday in 12 hours driving straight through. It is by far the longest car trip that I have ever made by myself. And then I started my first day of work. I don't know about "omens" but yesterday I spilled coffee in my lap on the way to work, so I stunk of coffee for the rest of the day. Thank God it was a black suit so I didn't have visible coffee stains. And then I got on the Dallas Tollway and sat there for an hour and half! I was late for work on my very first day! How embarassing. Oh well, I hope that they don't just decide to write me off becuase of that. I don't think they will because everyone seemed really cool about it.

So far everyone is really nice and I am working with a team that does mostly litigation and labor and employment, which is what I wanted to do in the first place. It is just weird that I go from being a law student lucky to snag my own cubicle in the library to having an office and all these other nice goodies that law firms give you. It makes me feel like I am "playing grown up" and maybe I don't really belong there yet. I guess I don't really for at least another year, but while I am here I am going to enjoy it :).

Time of Transition: Be Back Soon

Right now we are putting our entire apartment in storage. My bed is gone, my couch is gone, my table is gone. I will be sleeping on an air mattress for the next two nights.

I end Trial Techniques on Saturday, with the grand finale being a jury trial that I have not begun to prepare yet.

I will be in Dallas by Sunday night.

I will start my job on Monday morning.

I don't know what M is doing (coming with me, staying in ATL, or going to Karachi).


Can I just let out a scream right now? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Ok, I will be back in a while, I can't even think straight, much write a coherent post.

Calling All Previous Travelers to India/Pakistan, Give Me Your Wise Words

I haven't felt much like blogging lately. Mostly because I have been studying. I finished my last exam on Tuesday and tomorrow we start our Trial Techniques program which is every day for the next 7 days from 9-5, yay. I mean, come on, starting it on a Saturday right after we've finished exams? Seems just a wee bit sadistic to me. Ah well, might as well get used to it, right?

On a lighter note, I am really excited to be starting my new job in about a week. I will be in Dallas for the summer and then in July I will leave for India and Pakistan!!!! I am really excited about this, but also apprehensive. Plus I have not bought my tickets or gotten my visas yet. Did I mention that I am the best procrastinator? So break it out guys. Anyone who has traveled to India and Pakistan give me the scoop. What is one thing that you wish someone had told you before you went? Any sage words of wisdom or advice I would appreciate greatly. Especially because now it looks like I will be there for almost 2 months. Looking forward to hearing what you all have to say.

Strong Woman?

Ok, so here is something that occasionally crosses my mind: Is it ok to sometimes NOT want to be a strong woman? (both physically and otherwise?)

Case in point:

This weekend we go to the park to play cricket. I am fielding and M hits a line drive directly at me at about 100 mph. The ball smacks me directly in my knee cap, which really hurts and leaves me with a giant knot. Everyone laughs and says what a good fielder I am, M says it can't have hurt because we are using a tape ball (because taped up tennis balls don't hurt when hitting you at 100 mph, of course). Then our friend's wife is batting and the bowler hits her with the ball, (throwing it very slow and easy because she is a girl and probably can't hit the ball at normal speed). Everyone runs over to her to make sure that she is ok, and she stops batting. Am I stupid to be jealous that everyone makes such a big deal over her getting barely tapped with the ball, and noone cares that I got killed?

I have always been one of the "guys," a rough houser. In soccer, I was an enforcer on the field. I was strong, physically benchpressing and leg pressing quite a bit for a girl. I've since lost quite a bit of my muscle mass (thank God, so I don't look like a she-Hulk anymore). But sometimes I get jealous about not being pampered and treated like a delicate flower of feminity. Of course, I am torn, because if I was treated that way ALL of the time, it would really piss me off. I guess I really shouldn't be able to complain that I want it both ways.

The same thing goes in my personal life. Sometimes I am so tired and scared of trying to pursue my career and be sucessful, I wish that I could just put it all on my husband to provide for the family and I would just stay at home. I mean it is scary and a lot of pressure to be a stay at home mom too, but I think in a different way. But then I know that that path is not going to be for me, that I need the interaction and stimulation of the kind that a legal career can provide and I have worked hard for it. So in the end I will muscle up to it, even when I don't want to. I will shoulder it all, house and career, kids and court, God willing. In the long run, I know that I will be happier being the way that I am now.

Exam Time: A Brief Hiatus

Exams are here. I have not studied near as much as I need too. First one is next Friday. I may be around a little bit, but my posts would probably be something really boring for you guys, like rambling about Sec. 2 of the Sherman Act or Federal Rule of Evidence 403. Ack, I have started already.

As a sidebar: I had to add word verification to the comments, I was getting way to much spam comments. Sorry, I know that it is a pain in the butt, what can you do?

Technical Difficulties

Hello, We are experiencing technical difficulties. Right in time for exams, of course. My computer broke 3 weeks ago, now M's laptop, which I had been using up until now is acting completely stupid. We don't know what has happened, but if it doesn't start working soon I am pretty sure that we will see if a laptop will float after it is thrown from an 18th story balcony into a swimming pool. So now you know that if I don't show up for a while, where I am (in the library cussing out Acer).

Cell Phone Annoyances

Ok, so I'm sure that about a thousand blog posts have been written about cellphones. About people driving with cellphones, talking in restaurants on cellphones, talking in lines on cell phones blah, blah. Man are they all annoying situations. But I have a complaint, if you are going to talk on your cell phone, really loud, in a public place, I would seriously advise you not to talk about the extremely personal details of your life. This has happened to me several times recently and it makes my ears burn like I'm eavesdropping, but I can't help it when you are talking at bullhorn level into your cell, I am going to listen.

Incident #1:
I'm on the shuttle bus that takes me from school to the stop where I walk home about 2 blocks. Some undergrad girl is on the phone with her boyfriend. She starts yelling at him. "Why do you always blame me. I don't know who took your pills, I didn't take them, ok!!" Hmmm, maybe I am reading that the wrong way and she could be talking about using his Claritin, but I seriously doubt it.

Incident #2:
I'm sitting in the student lounge area at school, innocently studying (read-surfing the web or playing sudoku). Some type of rep for one of the many exam studying programs is sitting there on her cell: "Ok, don't tell anyone and you are the first to know. I haven't even told (some guy's name) yet. I am pregnant! *girlish squeals*" So now her, her friend, and me all know that she's pregnant before the guy who made the baby? Ack.

Incident #3: Most uncomfortable moment of my life.
I'm waiting for the elevator in my building. Girl shows up on cell phone. She is obviously arguing with boyfriend. Deep serious arguing that leads up to break up arguing. I am standing there uncomfortably hoping that she finishes the conversation before we get on the elevator together. Elevator comes, I am not going to wait for it to come back again just because this girl won't get off the phone. We get on, the argument keeps going on. I can't even repeat it here, stuff about how can she trust him, she told him she didn't want the same relationship as she had last time, blah, blah, blah. Arrrrgh. I want to stand facing one of the corners until she gets off.

Ok, so now that I have complained about cell phones so much. I have a confession to make, I have been guilty of a cell phone annoyance to the extreme. Maybe someone can help me out with this dilemma. I'm at the mosque. We have started Magrhib my phone is on the other side of the mosque against a wall. It starts ringing, ahhhh. I stop praying and run over to switch it off. Disrupting even more people than just the ringing probably did and having to redo my prayer all over again because of the interruption. I was mortified. Insha'Allah it will never happen again because I will remember to put the phone on vibrate, but if it does should I run over and turn it off, or just let it ring and hope that they don't call back?

How Sheetal Got Paid

Why am I sitting alone in my apartment, shouting at my TV? Why are my books sitting neglected beside me on the couch as I plead with the TV? Because I am watching the latest mindless TV game show, Deal or No Deal. I cannot believe that some people keep going with 100,000's of thousands of dollars on the line. While I am yelling Deal! Deal! You moron!, the audience is egging them on to keep going. Usually I am right, and the person ends up with less money than they had in the middle of the game. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this show here is a short summary of the rules taken from NBC's website:

"The rules are simple. Choose a briefcase. Then as each round progresses, you must either stay with your original briefcase choice or make a "deal" with the bank to accept its cash offer in exchange for whatever dollar amount is in your chosen case.

Once you decide to accept or decline the bank's offer, the decision is final.

Contestants are encouraged to ask friends or family in the audience for advice; however, only the contestant's answer will be considered binding and final."

I think that they try to pick people who generally make low salaries in noble professions (such as teachers, people in the military, firefighters, and a doctor who runs a clinic in a low income area). Or they will pick someone who has a large debt or specific problem that they need money for. And I love it when they surprise the contestant with a family member who they didn't think could come.

I heard about an interesting study done by some economists, who analyzed versions of Deal or no Deal Game all around the world (45 different countries).

"A team of economists - Post, Van den Assem, Baltussen & Thaler (report) - have analyzed the decisions of people appearing in Deal or No Deal and found, among other things, that contestants are less risk averse when they have seen their expected winnings tumble. "Losers" tend to continue playing the game even if this means rejecting bank offers in excess of the average of the remaining prizes. The findings provide support for behavioral economists, who claim that the classical expected utility theory falls short in explaining human behavior by not accounting for the context of decisions. The study of the Dutch is unique, for the underlying "experiment" Deal or No Deal is characterized by high stakes, a transparent probability distribution and only simple stop-go decisions that require minimal skill or strategy." From this Wikipedia article.

What do you think about this game? Do you think that this show counts as gambling? You haven't put up any of your own assets to enter the game, so you aren't losing anything that was yours to begin with? But once you get the first offer, you are gambling with that money, so...?

Last night Sheetal Shetty won $375,000. I wanted her to deal at 199,000. She is the first contestant to prove me wrong. It was pretty exciting. I still think its a stupid game, so why can't I stop watching?

ABCs of Life MeMe

Got this MeMe from Pixie and thought it looked fun. If you do it too, let me know :).


Accent ~ Very slight southern one, people usually don't believe that I'm from Alabama
Booze of choice ~ None, I don't drink.
Chore I hate ~ cleaning the bathroom and cleaning the cars.
Dog or Cat~dogs, of course, who can forget my little puppy featured below
Essential Electronics ~ my computer, my Treo, and my iPod
Favorite perfume/cologne ~ Tuscany, it is the first gift that M ever gave me
Gold or Silver ~ both
Hometown ~ Well, I was born in North Carolina, but I lived almost my whole life in Birmingham, AL
Insomnia ~ big problem for me, especially when M is not here.
Job Title ~ law student
Kids ~ one day, insha'Allah, I want to have 2 or 3
Living arrangement ~ highrise Condo
Most Admired Trait ~ I really admire people who are sincere and good listeners
Number of countries visited~ 12
Overnight Hospital Stays ~ 0
Phobia ~ um, I don't really have one. I guess I a most scared that someone may try to hurt me, break in my house or car. When I was a kid I was scared of drains because I saw that movie IT one too many times.
Quote ~ I don't really have any good ones right now
Religion ~ Islam
Siblings ~ one younger sister
Time I wake up ~ 7 on school days and 10 on weekends :)
Unusual talent/skill~I don't think I have any
Vegetable I refuse to eat ~ peppers, I hate them!
Worst Habit ~Procrastination
X-rays ~the 3 times that I tore the ligaments in my ankles, they thought they were broken.
Yummy foods I make ~ I like to make Pakistani food (especially dopiaza and biryani), I make good country fried steak, mashed potatoes, and fried okra too!
Zodiac sign ~ Aquarius

Ice Age II: The Meltdown

The Scrat is back!!!!!!! Ice Age II starts tonight and I have to go and see it. I loooove this movie just because of the scrat. He is hilarious running around with his acorn trying to hide it everywhere. I hope that it is good and doesn't suck like sequels usually do. O, yes I am 24 years old, but it doesn't mean I don't appreciate a good cartoon. Finding Nemo is right up there too.


Here is another great picture of the Scrat.



Scrat update: Movie was hilarious, even more scrat than before. He really makes the movie! I also love the little dancing mini-sloths, but I guess you will have to see the movie to enjoy!

Random Bits

Sorry I haven't posted in so long, I have just been busy and in a mood not to write anything lately. To be honest, I haven't had anything to say worth making a whole post about, but I do have some random tidbits in my mind lately:

1. I have begun the inevitable descent into lawyerdom, which I realized after I told Aisha I would have to schedule lunch with her into my palm so that I do not forget. Gack.

2. I did this cool face recognition thingie, which told me that the celeb I most look like is Jodie Foster. It is pretty funny I think. Who do you look most like? I would be interested to know, lol :).

3. I am thinking about doing a judicial clerkship when I graduate. I am not 100% sure whether I want to do this or not, but the more I think about it, the more appealing it seems. Everyone who has done one has said that it is the most enjoyable work experience they have ever had. This is a really recent idea of mine, so I have yet to really think it through. It would mean making substantially less money for a year or so, but it should pay off in the long run. Difficult decision when I will have a massive amount of student loan debt upon graduation.

4. I am taking classes at my mosque to learn Arabic and Urdu. It is pretty fun, but hard too. I get Arabic classes on my own and for Urdu I am in classes with 7-8 year olds who are waaaay more fluent than I am. I just need to bite the bullet and start talking in my Urdu class, because right now I am at the point where I understand 80% but hardly say a word. It is much harder to put sentences together than to just listen and comprehend.

5. M comes home in 1 week from today. Yay!

Thats all for now. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their spring. It is beautiful today and I hope that it stays that way. The last two weeks have been miserably cold for late March.

Will the Real Executive Managing Editor Please Stand Up, Please Stand Up

I won my election to executive managing editor of my journal. Well, I say won loosely, because I ran unopposed, but I am still happy, especially because I did not have to give a speech. The elections lasted for about 3 hours, from 8-11 pm, so I am kind of tired now and also I think I am coming down with something. I've got sore throat and a little bit of drainage and general fatigue (although that could just be a general condition and not a symptom of any illness). I am taking some Nyquil and going to bed. G'night.

Aerobics????

Ok, so the South Beach Diet thing did not work for me at all. I am definitely way too attached to my carbs. Diets in general make me unhappy. So my next attempt at the whole weight loss thing is.... (drum roll please), Aerobics! I bought this video on Ebay that has all different kinds of workouts on there and I thought it would be really fun. But alas, I realized shortly into the first workout today, that I am the most uncoordinated person on the universe when it comes to these sort of things. I never took dance or gymnastics or anything, I was always too busy playing soccer. I am still going to just bounce around in front of the TV (no doubt looking ridiculous) because it is fun and runnning on the treadmill is just sooo boring. Well, I am off to buy one of those step thingies and get down in my living room. Wish me luck and hopefully I won't trip over my own two feet and end up hurt :).

I Have A Puppy

I have a puppy. His name is Bentley and he lives in Dallas with my parents. Right now I am really missing this puppy. We had to send him to Texas because we were living in a small apartment and he got much bigger than the pound said that he would be. Also, we could not keep the house clean of his hairs, they got everywhere. He is really smart, but really lazy and he was always doing things to make me laugh. Sometimes he was a very bad puppy though. He has an affinity for all things plastic and accordingly chewed up three cell phones and 3 remote controls and a myriad of other small plastic thingies, the more expensive, the better (including an XBox game conroller and the wire on a power supply for my laptop). Now my Mom has to deal with his shenanigans, which are always pretty funny because she treats him like he is a person. Like she will say, "oh I am mad at Bentley today so I am not talking to him," or "Bentley is mad at us, so he is pouting." I think that this crazy dog thinks that he is a human. He is part beagle and part lab, we think (or something else maybe?) I think that he is the cutest dog in the world, but then again, maybe I am biased.




Playing in the snow. This is the first time he ever saw snow when we took him to Dallas.







He is a hard working dog, riiiiight.






Ok, this is by far the cheesiest post I have done so far, sorry :).

Now that's some Nation Building

This is a pretty cool game that lets you build your own country and even interact in a UN type government. At least, I think it's cool, but then again, I am a law nerd. Check out the The Republic of Southern Masala. Let me know what you think about my nation and build your own nation state too! I bet we do a better job than all the wackos out there right now, lol! (BTW, I did not choose gambling as a major industry, it just stuck me with that, tsk tsk tsk. If I get a chance I am going to outlaw it).

Spring Break is Over :(

No more spring break. I am pretty burnt out on school and this break seemed like it just flew by. In one sense this is good because it means that M will be coming home that much sooner, but on the other hand I have to go back to school tomorrow, ick. I am just too excited about my summer to concentrate on school and I am worried that it is going to affect my grades. I am really excited about my internship with a really great firm and I am even more excited about my trip to India and Pakistan.

The problem is I have not told my parents for sure that I am going to Pakistan this summer. I have brought up the topic a bit, and my parents are really worried about my safety. I can't really blame them, with bombs and stuff going off in Karachi and American diplomats being killed. Still, I am not worried about my own safety. The way I look at it, there are places in this country that are more dangerous for me than in Pakistan. As long as I have people around me who know what they are doing, I am not worried about it. I will definitely wear salwar kameez and cover my hair to blend in a little more, although I don't think that I will actually "blend in," you know. I just hope that they will take it okay and not give me too much grief about it, insha'Allah. I just don't want themt to worry, sigh. That's all for now, I really don't have much else to talk about.

Congratulations Yasir and Bushra!

May God Bless You Today and For the Rest of Your Lives Together!

News from Karachi

M has made it safe to Karachi and is settling in. He got in around 3 am and his friend came to pick him and take him to his parents' house. He got there around 4 am, and his mom answered the door. She was not too surprised, because she was suspicious that his friend had called the house so early in the morning to ask her to open the door. Then his youngest sister came to the door. At first she didn't realize who he was, then when it set in, she started screaming! Of course that woke the whole house up and his dad came running down stairs ready to defend them from robbers! He nearly gave everyone a heart attack!

So far he has been meeting old friends and family and I think he is having a good time. We had a little chat on the im, which I thought was pretty funny, so I am putting it here. *Warning, mildly bad language, but really funny*

M says: so we played snooker for 2 hrs, 90 ruppees
M says: 3 biryanis and 3 lassis 110 rupees
M: the shits
M says: priceless
S says: HAHAHAHA
S says: i told you not to eat street food. did you eat street food?
M says: some damn good biryani
S says: was it worth it?
M says:yep

More updates to come later, he still has not gotten into contact with Yasir to tell him he is coming to the wedding. I can't wait to hear that conversation!

Sua Sponte

Sua sponte is Latin for "on its own will or motion." It's a legal term, and its also the name of my law school football team! Yay, that's real football (aka Soccer), not American football. I am a huge soccer fan. I have played since I was four years old. In high school I played on a competitive traveling team and was captain of my high school varsity team. I also played in college, at one of the smallest Division I schools in the country: The Birmingham-Southern Panthers. I didn't have too much fun playing soccer in college. I think that I was burnt out by my senior year of high school after playing for so long. I did get to play with some pretty good players though, which I will always cherish, probably the most famous being Catherine Reddick, who played on my club team.
Since coming to law school, I have rediscovered my love for the game, and I have quite a bit of fun playing intramurals and indoor soccer league. One of the best things about playing in co-ed indoor league is that girl goals count for 2 points! Women's lib. be damned, I will take any extra points where I can get them, lol. Especially now that I am old and slow.
This summer is the World Cup, and I can't wait! And even better is that the U.S. is ranked the highest they have ever been, #5. I don't realistically think that they will actually win the World Cup, but it is nice to see them doing well.
Another thing about my soccer obessession is that I am constantly trying to convert kids into soccer players, especially girls. So if you want your girl to be a cheerleader and not a footballer, better keep her away from me! J/K, you can do both!