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[12 Nov 2007|04:55pm] |
I have a large project due next week, so I need to procrastinate and update here. I am working on a paper and presentation on Mexican Labor Law with a partner for an International and Comparative Labor Law seminar that I am taking - it rocks!
There was a fire in a garage in Stratford that has caused a huge cloud of black smoke to form over London today.
Not that I see it because I am in the library supposedly working. And not that I smelled it since London always smells smokey and dirty - what asthma!
A week or two ago I went to Norwich in the County of Norfolk. It was nice and reminded me of, say, Sacramento but a thousand years older. It was closer to the sea and hence the air was much cleaner. While there I hopped on a train to Great Yarmouth to see the sea itself, but by the time I got there it was dusk and rainy. I walked down to the boardwalk but no further, as the hulking shadows under the pier were ominous at best.
Great Yarmouth has a lot of slots joints, bowling alleys, pubs, and strip clubs. It was nice too but a little bit creepy.
On Friday I fell asleep on the 25 bus and woke up at 4 a.m. in Ilford, at a shopping mall - I eventually made it home. My roommate, on the other hand, left central London at around 2 a.m. and did not make it home until 9:30 a.m. Haha! He literally could not stay awake and was still drunk passed out on the tube at like 8 a.m. - what gives? What a lightweight.
In two weeks I am going to Berlin for the weekend. Don't speak a lick of German but plan to see me some Wall and go out all night long with Lawrence.
Evidently Bobby and his girlfriend are planning to come out to Barcelona early December - he mentioned possibly coming to London but I'd prefer to go back to Barcelona, so I may go down and meet them there.
In a month's time a return home to L.A. for three weeks - it will be so so nice.
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[15 Oct 2007|05:24pm] |
I am now leaning against purchasing a bicycle here in London. The fact that everything is so damned expensive here maps onto the used bicycle market as well (e.g. their is a used surly single speed mountain bike going for over 400 pounds on ebay right now). Maybe if a good deal comes along I'll pick something up, but I don't want to spend $200-$300 and never ride it cos it's too cold, too rainy, etc. Also I'm getting a student oyster card (public transportation card) so I can get a monthly pass for cheap - I'll probably end up taking buses and the tube everywhere.
I didn't do much this weekend save for go see a play, 'The Country Wife,' around the corner from my school. It was a bawdy play from the Restoration - lots of dick jokes basically. Some of the actors were pretty shitty, but the play was kind of shitty too - I mean you can't really tell a dick joke and when an acting award, am I right?
Last night at A1 Kebabish I opted for the kebab roll over the chicken doner as the former was only 2 pounds and thus 1.50 less than the chicken doner. The kebab roll was THE BOMB as was the veg samosa I picked up as a 'safety.' It really filled me up for 2.50 pounds. Compare that with the bacon-brie-cranberry toasted ciabatta thing I got at the italian sandwich shop here next to the school - with a diet coke it set me back 3.85 pounds and was more or less mediocre. A1 Kebabish is the bomb and I'm saying that after trying quite a few kebabish joints. I found a good chicken doner for 2.90 across the street from the Ruskin Arms, that's good too. Also the fried chicken breast sandwich from the Perfect Fried Chicken like 2 seconds from our flat is pretty good, especially midday with a hangover. I said 'yea' that I want mayo to the geezer last time and when I got home and opened up the sandwich, a gleaming baseball of mayonnaise! So yeah food in Manor Park is good and cheap. But, like the people in Manor Park, the food in Manor Park just might kill you!
But, A1 Kebabish is not the bomb as I've just discovered this story about A1 and the Salmonella back in 2005. That's really gross and bumming me out now :(
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| hello hello hello |
[08 Oct 2007|03:52pm] |
Here I am in London. Been here about 3 weeks, though spent a few days in Barcelona. It's alright, the weather sucks and it is expensive. Most of the English folk are pretty nice. I live in Manor Park which is next to East Ham and a good 30 minute tube ride from the school, which is right next to the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square. Manor Park is okay, food is really cheap there, but the neighborhood feels somewhat sketchy. It's not too far from West Ham United so guess what, that's my team. I hope to go see them when the host Fulham in December. There is good indian and middle eastern food all over the place, which is much better than pub fare, though bacon sandwiches and 'english breakfast' can be pretty fun to eat as well. School is going to be a bit tough this term and next, but come Spring it should be a breeze and I should have weekly 5-day travel weekends.
I'm contemplating booking a weekend trip to Seville Spain for a weekend mid-November, as RyanAir is having a sale by which my return fair will be but one pence.
I'm also contemplating getting a bicycle but all is expensive and I'm afraid bike theft might be quite common here, though I'm sure L.A. was the same (and my bikes mostly survived).
I'm going to go see Mark E. Smith perform in his *electronica* band, Von Sudenfed, in a few weeks. CSS is also playing soon and I'm tempted to go see them, I can never get their songs out of my head. Other than that I'm trying to avoid 'American' things which is pretty tough because most things here (film and music) are imports from USA.
See you!
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| ARE YOU IN USA BUDGE?! |
[13 Jul 2007|02:50pm] |
I wonder where The Budge is.
I am back in California and working (well clerking for free) for The Government. There have been many scandals about City Hall recently.
Tomorrow I will see the might CD Chivas USA take on the Columbus Crew. I'm going with Brenda, Grandma, and others.
los cubanos
el maestro argentino (ahora de columbus)
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[24 Apr 2007|09:37pm] |
The LA Times has a story about the California exodus to Arizona.
Ray Aleman moved from East LA to surburban Mesa pursuant to his job:
"It was a pretty simple decision: Los Angeles, unemployment. Maricopa County, a job in the Wells Fargo imaging department. Los Angeles, a lifetime of renting. Arizona, a four-bedroom house with a pool on half an acre in suburban Mesa, purchased for $140,000 in 1999...
"Sure there are things he misses about Los Angeles, and he ticked them off in precise order: The Dodgers. The Lakers. Tommy's. Shakey's. King Taco. Oh, and his parents are still there. But it's only six hours away, and he visits twice a year."
According the article, Californians have been migrating to the Northwest and Nevada for years, and Arizona is the newer "hot spot." I hope that I make it to New Mexico before all the Californians drive up the adobe prices. Or, I might just wait till everyone leaves then storm San Diego or Sacramento. At any rate, it sucks living without the Dodgers or King Taco, I can tell you that right now.
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[15 Apr 2007|07:08pm] |
Brenda's strategy is basically just to put her wide head in front of my camera as much as possible. Nonetheless, here's some pictures from BC Mexico. We did so much more over these couple of days but I always forget to break out the camera.
( Read more... )
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[04 Apr 2007|02:02pm] |
I'm sitting in the architecture library sludging through a property assignment and over to my right on the magazine display is the latest copy of 'American Bungalow' magazine. Now a few years ago I would have been all over that, but these days I really wish I'd find a magazine called 'Adobe Today and Forever.'
Also it's 31 degrees F today in April with some random slow blowing around.
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| DUDE KITCHEN |
[21 Mar 2007|12:43am] |
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| cusco |
[12 Mar 2007|02:55pm] |
In Spring 2001, after nearly 3 of the best months of my life in Mendoza during which I only visited churches as tourist attractions, I quite willy nilly diverted my flight back to Los Angeles through Peru and bought an additional ticket to Cuzco. I intended to go to Machu Picchu, and I did after signing up with a hiking group the day I arrived, which would be the day before I left for the four day trip up the Inca trail. Note that one can no longer just show up in Cusco and take off walking for Machu Picchu the next day; there are now months-long waiting lists. At any rate that first night in Cuzco I hired a bed in some hostel and headed down a few blocks to the Plaza de Armas. I picked up some supplies for the hike, including a much needed pullover but unfortunately excluding an also much needed flashlight. Why it didn't occur to me to buy a flashlight is interesting, because at night Cuzco was a very dark place. Not much lighting on the small winding streets around the Plaza, which itself only glowed in a dim yellow glow of underpowered street lamps. Note that since then the municipal government has seemingly overhauled the whole historical district, which now is brilliantly lit and overall quite clean. Given the darkness as well as my reaction to the altitude I made back for the hostel, a straight shot of only a few blocks. In no time I was horribly lost. I ended up on a small street in front of a small church. Arriving with me but from the opposite direction was a religious procession, the details of which I don't well remember. The group of little cusquenas approached the entrance of the church, and I hurriedly took out my camera to try to take some photos, hoping that the flash would do its job. When I later developed those photographs there was no sign of the church nor the procession. In fact giving my only fuzzy memory of what it is I actually saw (and am I even right about when and where I saw it?), evidence as to the existence of the little church and the odd procession is scant as far as you and I are concerned. I do remember clearly what happened next, as it was rather funny. I continued down the block, or maybe double-backed and went down another alley or street, and flagged down a taxi. I asked him to take him to my hostel; he gave me a puzzled look. I asked him if he knew the hostel; he, still looking puzzled, told me he did and proceeded to drive literally one block up to the entrance of hostel. The fare was nominal and I'm sure I threw in an extra sol out of embarrasment.
My recollection of strange times in Cuzco make me think of Galeano's little stories from the 'Memory of Fire' trilogy about walking through the streets of colonial cities at night and seeing phantom lights, candles floating, spirits talking, etc.
It also makes me think of St. Martin de Porres from Lima, to whom it is attributed:
-raising the dead
-ecstasies that lifted him into the air
-light filling the room where he prayed
-bilocation
-miraculous knowledge
-instantaneous cures
-remarkable rapport with animals
*****
A tragic endnote: I can't seem to find ANY of my photos from Latin America 2001.
An explanatory endnote: Without a flashlight, it was only with great difficulty that I was able to remove myself from my tent in the middle of night to find a place to micturate in a literally pitch-black field filled with fellow campers as well as several nocturnal donkeys, whom I feared might be attracted to urine like sharks to blood.
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[08 Mar 2007|10:28am] |
"The archbishop called John of God to him in response to a complaint that he was keeping tramps and immoral women in his hospital. In submission John fell on his knees and said: The Son of Man came for sinners, and we are bound to seek their conversion. I am unfaithful to my vocation because I neglect this, but I confess that I know of no bad person in my hospital except myself alone, who am indeed unworthy to eat the bread of the poor. The archbishop could only trust in Johns sincerity and humility, and dismissed him with deep respect."
Saint of the Day
March 8, 2007
St. John of God
(1495-1550)
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[08 Mar 2007|09:58am] |
Here I sit in LaFortune clinging to Starbucks after 3 or so hours of sleep last night. I'm feeling rather confident though, as my LW professor told me my argument was 'looking good' needing basically just a few read throughs to clean up my language and maybe add some "persuasion" to a few of my topic sentences. While I put this off for 20 minutes or so, I thought I'd share the story of Gerald Johnson and Jose "Porky" Najera, Jr. as I've uncovered it. Gerald and Porky were classmates of mine at Mater Dei High School, Class of 1999. I talked to another classmate and close friend Dave Kazner the other day, and he hadn't heard that Porky's parents were brutally murdered in 2000, allegedly by Gerald, Porky's best friend. I dug around a little bit and found the "unpublished" appellate opinion affirming Gerald's murder conviction, though remanding his case on some technical point of sentencing. Evidently he is now in some hell of a California state prison rotting away a life sentence.
The whole awful truth after the cut, but here are some interesting facts:
(i) Najera's parents were slaughtered: evidently the father's arm was nearly detached, both were stabbed about 20 times.
(ii) Porky was evidently a real con-man, having extorted thousands of dollars from his parents for drugs and strippers! I remember a picture of him featured prominently on an alumni newsletter my senior year. He was meeting the Pope when the liturgical choir visited Vatican City.
( Read more... )
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[17 Feb 2007|03:12am] |
pues brenda llego ayer. ella no hace nada - solo come todo lo que tengo en refri y duerme todo el dia alli en mi sofa. ella es una coqueta muy floja, la fea mas bella.
ella ve 'friday night fights' conmigo, pero cuando hay sangre, no quiere mirar.
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[02 Feb 2007|01:51am] |
esta noche fui a chippewa bowl para hacer bowling con mi equipo de bowling de law school. casi todos los estudiantes de mi escuela participan. todavia no he encontrado trabajo para el verano que viene, pero cuando se donde trabajare voy a llevar brendita a eso lugar y despues de unos meses ella estara llena de bebes.
manana el disco de 'the gaucho' con douglas fairbanks llega de netflix.
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| INCHES AND INCHES OF WHITE SHIT |
[25 Jan 2007|09:44pm] |
I haven't updated in a long time, but we got a lot of "lake effect" snow last night so I'm think what the heck. I'll tell you what got me going recently: the Academy Award nominations. Mark my word that "Blood Diamond" was the best film of the year, but it isn't in the best picture category! Instead, "Little Miss Sunshine," a nothing special tired little 'indie quirky' Greg Kinnear-type comedy that comes out every few months.
The point is, "Napoleon Dynamite" is really funny and should get an Oscar. Leaving out Blood Diamond, it's clear that the 'Academy' is lining up to give Scorcese best picture/best director for "The Departed" which seems to be something they always do - give a deserving filmmaker an award for the wrong film. The other films in the Best Picture category are "Babel," "The Queen," and "Letters from Iwo Jima."
*****
So I've turned in a few cover letters and resumes for summer internships. I'm going to stick to public interest this summer because 1) I want to see if I'll really like it and 2) my grades are pretty poor and thus am precluded from paying firm jobs. What sucks is that I'll pore over my application materials, send them off, then revisit a letter or writing sample a few days later and find a huge mistake staring me in the face. An example that haunts me is on a recent cover letter that I dated 'January 15, 2006.' Little things like that really reflect poorly on my candidacy. Also I had my writing professor read the standard writing sample I've already sent off to a few places and she found like 4 typos - succcckkkkkks.
My first choice for summer work is this international human rights internship I'm waiting to hear back from. Hopefully they won't be eyeing my application as closely as my writing professor. The organization in question has field offices in Latin America, India, Southeast Asia, and Africa - if I get an internship I'll be shipping off to one of those places for the summer, hopefully to work on bonded labor and human trafficking issues. I'm thinking I need to try to find a few more organizations with similar internships to apply for to increase my chances of doing something in the field this summer, but I really like this organization and one of their VPs is an NDLS alum. He said he'd follow up for me when I turned in my application, but when I emailed him last week I got an out-of-office (till Jan. 28) - I think I'll just send another reminder on the 28th.
Meanwhile I'm going home in a few weeks to interview with the LAC Public Defender - should be a good 'back up plan' and interesting work in and of itself should I get it and do it - hopefully a lot of practical tasks and exposure to real criminal trials.
*****
This semester in Legal Writing my grade comes down to one project - an appellate trial brief and moot court oral argument - that I complete with a partner. Luckily I'm paired up with a pretty smart guy who like me doesn't seem to be too great of an oralist, so I think we should do pretty well.
*****
And I've been looking at the for rent pages on craigslist, etc in London for housing next year. So expensive, but I'm so excited! My friend Brian might be going next year (just has to convince is wife who is expecting their first child in April to come along and raise the kid there for 10 months!) says that he'll go over early and stay in hostels for a week or two to find housing anyways - probably what I'll do.
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[08 Jan 2007|04:39pm] |
01. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before? ate sesos, 'warmed up' my car on a snowy day
02. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I'm fat and getting fatter; unless I get a parasite, I wouldn't bet on much.
03. Did someone close to you give birth? another co-worker!
04. Did anyone close to you die? a casual friend and nice fellow named Nick tragically died working on a movie
05. What countries did you visit? guatemala, chile, bolivia, peru, ecuador, brazil, argentina, mexico
06. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006? a good GPA, evidently
07. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Tony got drunk and showed me his penne! It's memorable because, why'd he have to do it?
08. What was your biggest achievement of the year? getting Brenda to come out to Indiana. also I think I puked on a high ceiling (upwards puking) in Peru, which is an achievement too.
09. What was your biggest failure? same as last year: being unhealthy, not dedicating more of myself to justice
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? nothing too bad, normal stuff - some travel sickness, sinuses and bowels.
11. What was the best thing you bought? this sweet Celtic FC jersey I'm wearing, my matador painting, my futbol boots
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? grandma's, for still hanging in there and being so loving
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? George Bush! my criminal law professor for this bad grade!
14. Where did most of your money go? traveling, food, cigarettes, booze, movies, some clothing
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? going to Buenos Aires of course
16. What song will always remind you of 2006? Atrevete-te por Calle 13
17. Compared to this time last year, are you
i. happier or sadder? happier!
ii. thinner or fatter? way fatter!
iii. richer or poorer? way poorer!
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? networking, reading, volunteer work
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? wasting days just sitting around, procrastinating and not studying
20. How will you be spending Christmas? like next year? Hopefully I'll be on a PC project in Peru. (This is from Jan 2004; I want to cry :( ) - I might very well stay in London over Christmas next year, in which case I'll probably eat some figgy pudden.
22. Did you fall in love in 2006? yes
23. How many one-night stands? zero
24. What was your favorite TV program? maybe the Colbert Report
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don't think so
26. What was the best book you read? that's tough! I started making a list at the beginning of 2006 of all the books that I had read, but left it on my work computer and it was lost. Looking back, I think my favorites were 'By Night in Chile' and 'Kafka on the Shore'.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Calle 13, Very Be Careful, and that Los Bunkers CD is really catchy
28. What did you want and get? a laptop!
29. What did you want and not get? NALGAS DE GRANITE
30. Favorite film of this year? likewise I made a list of all the movies I was watching in 2006, but lost it. I think Blood Diamond should win Best Picture, though.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 25. I partied with some Harvard undergrads in Santiago de Chile, of course.
32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? playing more futbol
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006? jeans and v-neck sweaters (*this remains unchanged since Jan 2004) - UPDATE: I guess is still the same, with a lot of soccer tees thrown in.
34. What kept you sane? the Coen Brothers, empanadas, rum
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Ronaldinho of course
36. What political issue stirred you the most? immigration
37. Who do you miss? my grandpa
38. Who was the best new person you met? Dado in Rio is a great guy.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006: "From the Eucharist comes strength to live the Christian life and zeal to share that life with others." - John Paul II
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: "Lo Que Me Gusta a Mi" - Juanes
Y es que son tus ojos tu sonrisa y tu boca
Y tu carita de coqueta
Al final lo que me gusta a mi
Y soy yo quien se pone siempre como un loco
Cuando me miras poco a poco
De la manera que me gusta a mi
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