I've never watched much tv. I had cable access to the internet since I was about 12 years old and before that I preferred books. But over this summer I've been working over 20 hours a week at Young Research Library (paltry length of time for most but not for my soft, unlined hands) and I have now experienced the fully body torpor that takes hold when you get home from a shitty day at work. The average person(me) wants 2 things after they get off of work: food of some sort, with cheese on it, and to forget that they just spent the whole day completing boring, repetitive tasks. This combination of desires is essentially a mathematical equation that sums to tv and hot pockets.
So long story short, I've been watching more tv than I have ever watched in my entire life. It's been a whirlwind summer full of self discovery and enlightenment. But mostly rage.
TV enrages me. I hate reality TV, late night tv journalism, everything on E!, and I really hate that stupid exclamation point at the end of E!. But the last straw is commercials. Commercials really enrage me, to the point that I can't watch commercials - I'm too sensitive of the effect that it's trying to have on me and I just complain incessantly. It's probably pretty awful watching tv with me.
Carl jr is a consistent offender.
"HA HA Big Mac has a Jingle, that's so fucking lame!" What the fuck is this shit, I ask you? What are you expecting me to think? "Sorry McDonald's, that big mac is a really classic sandwich and all and I'd eat one except I'M NOT A PUSSY." Mostly what I hate is the tone of the announcer's voice. It's like he's announcing a professional wrestling match. It's just a goddamn hamburger.
Then this:
CARL JR'S WANTS ME TO SEXUALLY ATTRACTED TO HAMBURGERS. I don't have anything to say about this.
The way things are marketed today is terribly fucked up. My rant is pointless because this stuff works and everyone who watched the above videos is probably extremely hungry or horny or both right now.
As for the FreeCreditReport.com commercials, I have no specific complaints. They don't appeal to my base instincts or anything. I just really want to strangle that guy.
Everyone and Their Mother has a law school blog
The sheer volume of information out there about whether or not to go to law school is pretty mind boggling. Why does everyone feel like they have to weigh in on this? There must be more people who write law school advice blogs then there are that vote in mayoral elections.
I've spent the last 24 hours lost in a maze of law school confidential blogs and career advice websites. It's been a kind of like walking through a stadium jam packed with people shouting "don't do it, you idiot!" The general consensus is that you should only go if you want to be a lawyer, because it's very expensive and insanely competitive. Also, most people find that being a lawyer either sucks because you work at a firm, or doesn't pay well because you work for the public interest. Here's how much debt you will rack up, on average. The people are all a bunch of jerks. Job prospects aren't actually all that shiny. This is how shitty it is to work in a corporate law firm.
I must be a deaf idiot, because I'm leaning towards it.
Yes, law school costs a lot and you shouldn't invest that much unless you know where you're going with it. But I'm not convinced by this argument. Undergraduate education is just as, if not more expensive and typically even more worthless. Barely anyone knows what they're going to major in and what they're going to use it for when they start undergraduate, but that's not keeping anyone's wallet shut. My own reasons were for college were pretty dumb in retrospect, but I still stand by them. I needed to get the hell out of Nashville, Tennessee (no offense to my friends and family there - the best friends I have are still there), and I wanted to learn something about the way the world works. I got exactly what I wanted out of my undergraduate - an incredible experience living in the insanity of Los Angeles and a new lens with which to view the world, tinted green.
I think that I can get exactly what I want out of law school. Anonymous Lawyer's Jeremey Blachman talks about law school giving you a sense of purpose. On the real, I want that - I want a path, so I can just get started running on it already! My internship director has ph.d's, bachelor's, masters, professorships, you name it, and she tells me her law degree was the one that changed her life the most. Say what you want, but people treat you differently if you have a j.d. I'm not just talking about the opportunity to preen at a party when someone asks you about your career. It's like a big fucking gold star on your resume, and god knows why but people take it seriously. A lot of journalists have law degrees. And I think it will matter when I go into the job market. Assuming symmetric information and symmetric skill sets(forgive me, I am an economics major.), a J.D. is going to make a difference to a hiring director. Big. Fat. Period. Additionally, I will find the classes interesting. I will learn information I consider useful. I can get at least as much out of a law degree as out of UCLA, and it can't possible cost me more than UCLA has.
Admittedly it will take some convincing, a few lifechanging epiphanies, perhaps a lobotomy(law school admissions board, please read this as humor) until I can seem myself being happy as a big corporate lawyer. But what if I can use these skill to do something more meaningful, in environmental law, or in public interest? I've never cared about money. (wait what's my major?) All I care about is finding a job that I can care about enough so that it's not hell making a living off of it. (If anyone's having this dilemma, read this now. It's like he plucked the thoughts about careers from my brain, really eerie.) It's a definite possibility that those jobs could make me happy. I know that I want to end up as a published writer no matter what I do after UCLA and for how long, and that kind of work can only help me in that.
I know exactly how hard it will be - I've read more than enough about it. From what I hear, it's exactly like placing your head in a meat grinder and turning the crank yourself.(this site for mature audiences. apologies to the creators of Saw if I stole the idea for your next movie.) But for some reason I'm not afraid. Assuming that I'm not an overconfident fool, I think it's because I've spent the past 3 years strapping my brain in the iron maiden that is the UCLA economics program, and I'm not even slightly mathematically minded. I'm so right brained that I don't even know how to use the number pad on the keyboard. It's like I'm right handed and I've been trying to make a career as a lefty armwrestler. If I can have the success I've had in economics with my particular skillset, then I can't feel real fear when I read those law school horror stories. Law school may be hard, but at least I'll get to use my right hand.
Damn this was long. but yeah, I need help on this one guys.
I've spent the last 24 hours lost in a maze of law school confidential blogs and career advice websites. It's been a kind of like walking through a stadium jam packed with people shouting "don't do it, you idiot!" The general consensus is that you should only go if you want to be a lawyer, because it's very expensive and insanely competitive. Also, most people find that being a lawyer either sucks because you work at a firm, or doesn't pay well because you work for the public interest. Here's how much debt you will rack up, on average. The people are all a bunch of jerks. Job prospects aren't actually all that shiny. This is how shitty it is to work in a corporate law firm.
I must be a deaf idiot, because I'm leaning towards it.
Yes, law school costs a lot and you shouldn't invest that much unless you know where you're going with it. But I'm not convinced by this argument. Undergraduate education is just as, if not more expensive and typically even more worthless. Barely anyone knows what they're going to major in and what they're going to use it for when they start undergraduate, but that's not keeping anyone's wallet shut. My own reasons were for college were pretty dumb in retrospect, but I still stand by them. I needed to get the hell out of Nashville, Tennessee (no offense to my friends and family there - the best friends I have are still there), and I wanted to learn something about the way the world works. I got exactly what I wanted out of my undergraduate - an incredible experience living in the insanity of Los Angeles and a new lens with which to view the world, tinted green.
I think that I can get exactly what I want out of law school. Anonymous Lawyer's Jeremey Blachman talks about law school giving you a sense of purpose. On the real, I want that - I want a path, so I can just get started running on it already! My internship director has ph.d's, bachelor's, masters, professorships, you name it, and she tells me her law degree was the one that changed her life the most. Say what you want, but people treat you differently if you have a j.d. I'm not just talking about the opportunity to preen at a party when someone asks you about your career. It's like a big fucking gold star on your resume, and god knows why but people take it seriously. A lot of journalists have law degrees. And I think it will matter when I go into the job market. Assuming symmetric information and symmetric skill sets(forgive me, I am an economics major.), a J.D. is going to make a difference to a hiring director. Big. Fat. Period. Additionally, I will find the classes interesting. I will learn information I consider useful. I can get at least as much out of a law degree as out of UCLA, and it can't possible cost me more than UCLA has.
Admittedly it will take some convincing, a few lifechanging epiphanies, perhaps a lobotomy(law school admissions board, please read this as humor) until I can seem myself being happy as a big corporate lawyer. But what if I can use these skill to do something more meaningful, in environmental law, or in public interest? I've never cared about money. (wait what's my major?) All I care about is finding a job that I can care about enough so that it's not hell making a living off of it. (If anyone's having this dilemma, read this now. It's like he plucked the thoughts about careers from my brain, really eerie.) It's a definite possibility that those jobs could make me happy. I know that I want to end up as a published writer no matter what I do after UCLA and for how long, and that kind of work can only help me in that.
I know exactly how hard it will be - I've read more than enough about it. From what I hear, it's exactly like placing your head in a meat grinder and turning the crank yourself.(this site for mature audiences. apologies to the creators of Saw if I stole the idea for your next movie.) But for some reason I'm not afraid. Assuming that I'm not an overconfident fool, I think it's because I've spent the past 3 years strapping my brain in the iron maiden that is the UCLA economics program, and I'm not even slightly mathematically minded. I'm so right brained that I don't even know how to use the number pad on the keyboard. It's like I'm right handed and I've been trying to make a career as a lefty armwrestler. If I can have the success I've had in economics with my particular skillset, then I can't feel real fear when I read those law school horror stories. Law school may be hard, but at least I'll get to use my right hand.
Damn this was long. but yeah, I need help on this one guys.
Trash Man and Law School
Just moved to the new apartment, and by new I mean old. The building is a near exact copy of the one I lived in last year, which is pretty eerie and results in my trying to sit in chairs that aren't there any more and look for stuff I need in the places in which they used to be located last year.
The timing of the move was incredibly lucky - I moved into an apartment with air conditioning as soon as this 100 degree heat wave swept across LA, overwhelming deodorants and antiperspirants and generally sapping all of the will to move or live. I'm liking this place so far, except for one thing - the 7am garbage man wakeup call.
Every morning around 7am, I wake up, and for a brief confused moment, I am utterly convinced that I'm tied to the wing of a Boeing 747. Understand that this isn't a nice, short series of clangs or engine noises. It's so loud it's like having your ear pressed to the engine of an 18 wheeler, while it's exploding. This racket lasts so long that I'm beginning to suspect that the garbage man is some sort of sadistic insomniac who hates the mere idea of sleep. I imagine him with bloodshot eyes, earplugs, and teeth bared in a triumphant grin .
Make no mistake, I'm not some princess who wakes up if he can hear the sound of a fly landing on a pillow. I can sleep through earthquakes, fires, and more often, the last call for my flight at the airport. I have all of the vital signs of a rotting log when I'm asleep. But this is 20 car pileup noise for at least 20 minutes. What can he be doing? How many dumpsters are there? This is literally the only explanation I can provide for the unholy cacophony of noises I hear:
The garbage man arrives that the pick up point with a broken muffler, replaced by what sounds like a pane of aluminum siding and garbage can lids. Alas, the mechanism for lifting the dumpster and overturning the refuse has failed. He is not a sensible man, but he is quite imaginative and resourceful, and decides to hammer a metal plate to the front of the vehicle to act as a ramp to flip objects in it's path, like he saw on a rerun of Robot Warz last night on G4tech tv. The possibility that he achieves the exact combination of speed and force necessary to send the dumpster on the precise trajectory that would flip the refuse into the truck is minuscule, but this garbage man is a determined man and tries anyway, clanging a spoon against a pot and shooting off a 12 gauge rifle to drum up his courage. For 20 minutes, he rams the dumpster repeatedly and fruitlessly. Finally, realizing that he was simply pressing the wrong button, he detaches the metal ramp, dragging it on the sidewalk, where it clashes with the littered shrapnel from the destroyed dumpster, and takes the trash away the normal way.
It doesn't help my morning mood much, and I already have an insanely angry morning mood. If you see me glaring at a truck in the AM, it's not because I'm pissed about something in general or because I'm grumpy. It's because I want to kill that fucking truck for being so fucking loud. Seriously, stay away from me before 10am unless I've had coffee.
Anyways, I've been thinking about going to law school, thanks to a conversation with my internship director who holds roughly 5 degrees and says that law school is the most useful and fulfilling. I don't know what she could have said to me, because I've always said that I would hate law school and hate being a lawyer. My friends, family, and anonymous readers, it's now your job to convince me not to go to law school.
The timing of the move was incredibly lucky - I moved into an apartment with air conditioning as soon as this 100 degree heat wave swept across LA, overwhelming deodorants and antiperspirants and generally sapping all of the will to move or live. I'm liking this place so far, except for one thing - the 7am garbage man wakeup call.
Every morning around 7am, I wake up, and for a brief confused moment, I am utterly convinced that I'm tied to the wing of a Boeing 747. Understand that this isn't a nice, short series of clangs or engine noises. It's so loud it's like having your ear pressed to the engine of an 18 wheeler, while it's exploding. This racket lasts so long that I'm beginning to suspect that the garbage man is some sort of sadistic insomniac who hates the mere idea of sleep. I imagine him with bloodshot eyes, earplugs, and teeth bared in a triumphant grin .
Make no mistake, I'm not some princess who wakes up if he can hear the sound of a fly landing on a pillow. I can sleep through earthquakes, fires, and more often, the last call for my flight at the airport. I have all of the vital signs of a rotting log when I'm asleep. But this is 20 car pileup noise for at least 20 minutes. What can he be doing? How many dumpsters are there? This is literally the only explanation I can provide for the unholy cacophony of noises I hear:
The garbage man arrives that the pick up point with a broken muffler, replaced by what sounds like a pane of aluminum siding and garbage can lids. Alas, the mechanism for lifting the dumpster and overturning the refuse has failed. He is not a sensible man, but he is quite imaginative and resourceful, and decides to hammer a metal plate to the front of the vehicle to act as a ramp to flip objects in it's path, like he saw on a rerun of Robot Warz last night on G4tech tv. The possibility that he achieves the exact combination of speed and force necessary to send the dumpster on the precise trajectory that would flip the refuse into the truck is minuscule, but this garbage man is a determined man and tries anyway, clanging a spoon against a pot and shooting off a 12 gauge rifle to drum up his courage. For 20 minutes, he rams the dumpster repeatedly and fruitlessly. Finally, realizing that he was simply pressing the wrong button, he detaches the metal ramp, dragging it on the sidewalk, where it clashes with the littered shrapnel from the destroyed dumpster, and takes the trash away the normal way.
It doesn't help my morning mood much, and I already have an insanely angry morning mood. If you see me glaring at a truck in the AM, it's not because I'm pissed about something in general or because I'm grumpy. It's because I want to kill that fucking truck for being so fucking loud. Seriously, stay away from me before 10am unless I've had coffee.
Anyways, I've been thinking about going to law school, thanks to a conversation with my internship director who holds roughly 5 degrees and says that law school is the most useful and fulfilling. I don't know what she could have said to me, because I've always said that I would hate law school and hate being a lawyer. My friends, family, and anonymous readers, it's now your job to convince me not to go to law school.
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