Odds and Ends: November 20, 2007

A brief interlude again…and I promise that I will regale you all with my favorite story from my childhood (The Broken Closet Door Incident). Since this is supposed to be a blog from a law student, I thought that a law school centered post might be in order. In 2 weeks, classes will be over and I will enter my final semester of law school. It is hard for me to believe that the end of the trip is almost here. I often joke with my (much) younger classmates that I have been an eternal student. I tell them that I can just pay off my students loans with the SS checks I will be collecting soon after graduation, that my next stop is business school for my MBA, that an LLM would not be a bad idea. The truth is that I have reached the end of my educational goals. The goal of law school was formulated when I was in my second year of graduate school. While I knew that I enjoyed the scientific aspects of what I was doing, I also realized that society is not kind to scientists with respect to lifestyles. The career scientists I knew were married to their bench tops, and the competition for research dollars was frightening. When I considered that few grants ever get funded, and the government’s allocations for science spending (already shrinking prior to the military actions and military occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq) would only be getting ever smaller, I started to look for another way.

I enjoy patent law. It provides me the opportunity to engage the science part of my mind while at the same time providing me with a more secure occupation. I have found a wonderful firm to work for. I enjoy the atmosphere, the mentorship, and the assignments that I receive. I cannot describe the elation that comes with FINALLY being able to do what I enjoy. Before law school, I had no idea that I would enjoy the work as much as I do. Now, I look forward to a lifetime of becoming a better patent attorney.

So what is ahead for me? Well, I am now looking for places to live after law school. My (VERY GENEROUS) older brother allowed me to live in a garden apartment in a building that he owns rent free while I was in school. I am looking for my first real home. Not an apartment, but my own space. I have the job that I want, so I know where I want to buy my home. While the collapse of the sub-prime market has not been kind to many people, it has opened the door to people like me who can now buy less expensively in a depressed market. I will also continue to clerk at my firm until I finish school. I only have 2 more classes to complete before the end.

Should I continue the blog after graduation? I will leave it up to you. Leave feedback! If I do not see feedback on this blog, I might just have to start another one under a different name.

Daisy and the Red Cups

Daisy is right.

Now, those of you who frequent Daisy’s blog may not always agree with that statement, but I must say that frequently, mixed in among the daily angst that is being Daisy, Daisy also offers a lot of insight into the basic fragility of the human psyche. To wit: Daisy’s fascination with the red cups.

Now, I am a scientist-turned-law student (soon to be lawyer). I try to always be on the side of reason and I try not to let myself be manipulated by such things as the commercialization of every single real and made up holiday. Christmas has always been different, and for this I blame by buddy Aaron. There is just something about Christmas that makes everyone cheerful even if the season consists of exams, a rapid last minute grab for presents for the loved ones, frantic trips to the airport, family in-fighting and the like. In spite of ALL of that, the season just seems to cheer people up.

This brings me back to Daisy. Daisy had enormous insight into the importance of the red cups. Now, at first, upon reading of Daisy’s obsession, I was much like Charlie Brown in the classic “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” I mean, what could represent a grosser example of Christmas commercialization than the idea that the color of the cups from a coffee colossus now signals the beginning of the holiday season? I chuckled when I read Daisy’s column (as I often do), but then I reflected a bit on her excitement over seeing the red cups. I am proud to say that I now understand and, like, Daisy, have been converted into believing in the value of the commercial Starbucks red cups.

It is not so much that I embrace the commerciality of it all, but it has more to do with finding joy in the smallest places. Daisy’s ability to find pockets of happiness from no more than the color of a coffee cup is a reminder that we should all be so quick to find joy in what is often a cold world. This morning I was on my way into the firm, and I noticed a person walking out of a Starbucks with a red cup. I felt a flush of happiness, and with my heart racing (literally..I know, weird..but I had a rush of happiness) I entered the Starbucks to find it decorated for Christmas, the menus converted to the Christmas offerings, and the workers joyfully going about their business. I immediately ordered a fat free egg nog latte (YES! Here until New Years!), and I was thrilled to see it delivered in a red cup. I do not know what it was, but EVERYONE in the Starbucks today seemed to have a little more joy in their step. Could it be that the red cup, signifying the advent of Christmas, was solely responsible for this infectious cloud of happiness on a chilly Chicago morning? I would like to think so. It was the perfect way to begin my day, and I think that it will be a great one because of it.

Thanks, Daisy. Your little post about your joy in finding red cups has made me believe that a little injection of commercialism into the Christmas spirit can supersede that commercialism and become something more in the hearts of those of us who want to find a little happiness where we can.