Sigh.

They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong.
--Ronald Reagan

Hippie Meal.

Edit: This is the link Ashley posted in the comments.

So due to the entirely unmanageable volume of vegetables at my disposal (for 13 dollars I might add), I decided that today's meal would consist of Beets and Red Russian Kale. But what the fuck are you supposed to do with beets and red russian kale?

Braised Kale with (tons of) Thick Cut Salt-Cured Bacon (As you could have guessed, I used 3 times as much bacon as the recipe called for. Awesome.)

Mixed Green Salad with Maple Syrup Carmelized Walnuts, Goat Cheese, and Red Roasted Beets.

If it weren't for the fact that I appear to be eating an almost entirely plant-based diet, I would be very seriously concerned about impending fatassery...but then again, I turned the bacon from a flavoring into a major player...

My investment bears fruit.

Pardon the bad (and slightly inaccurate) pun.

But at the same time...SUCK IT!

What did I get? On the left...
Red Russian Kale
Turnips (and Turnip Greens)
Carrots
Beets (and Beet Greens)

And on the right...
Strawberries
Spinach

Yay! Ok....off to eat.

P.S. Anyone interested in a Nike+ running wager? Like, a nice steak or a trip to visit the winner, or something potentially humiliating? First to 20 miles? First to 100? Most in 30 days? I don't want to lose momentum - Plus, it's fun.

Sigh...

I haven't ranted about gun control in a long time, and I really don't plan to do so again because the policy argument boils down to "Really!? You actually think more guns are a good idea?"

Anyway, just in case you somehow missed the headlines, the Supreme Court finally ruled on the meaning of the Second Amendment, and now has come down (5-4 of course) on the side of an individual right to bear arms, an interpretation that has never been legally accepted in this country (despite the NRA's extraordinarily effective effort to convince Americans that the Constitution guaranteed that right).

Of course the decision probably isn't as simple as flatly guaranteeing all people the right to have guns, but I still dejectedly, and unsurprisingly, sigh "WTF." I may actually take the time to read this opinion later, but the fact that Justice Scalia wrote this one makes me none too enthusiastic about what I'm going to find.

As a general note, although it it has been flying under the radar thus far, I think one of the most important issues in the upcoming election, if not THE most important issue, is the judiciary: Ginsburg is 75, Stevens is 88, and Souter apparently wants out. If McCain wins, and his posturing and previous positions on the judiciary truly reflect his views, we're talking about a possible 8-1 conservative voting bloc for the next generation. And the consequences are definitely much bigger than abortion and whatever other mindless issues the electorate has been convinced the Court is about. This is legitimately terrifying.

Stupid.

Two things....

1) I just heard about one of my friends who didn't get an offer from her law firm because of her blog. She didn't say anything bad, but just vaguely described things that happened. Not good. I actually am not sure how to keep this thing private....any ideas? I feel like a "gateway" password or something is too self-important, although probably wise considering the circumstances.

2) What the hell is wrong with people? This is a web presentation of 20 Internet Acronyms All Parents Should Know, including such commonly used gems as NIFOC (Naked in Front of Computer). Ridix.

Coward.

(Whoo hoo! Still goin.)

Among my greater flaws, which I have begun to notice with intensifying scrutiny over the past few months, is the fact that I am a coward. I admit it. I think I live with slightly more "fear" than is healthy. I'm not particularly scared of anything, but I think that fear and anxiety underlie much of my existence.

Although I've acutely aware of this fault, I noticed it pretty clearly during my NPR-infused shower when I considered whether I would vote against ZANU-PF and Robert Mugabe or if I would cast a vote for Morgan Tsvangiri under the spectre of Mugabe's thugtastic violence (whether before or after Tsvangiri's withdrawal.)

I realized that I probably would have voted for Mugabe and would have crafted some craptastically persuasive, rational, and reasonable arguments why it would be in the long-term best interest of Zimbabwe, and somehow deferring the need for standing up and taking risks to sometime in the future. In short, whatever talents this world has chosen to bestow upon me, I seem to have channeled towards justifying avoidance and complacency instead of fighting for rightness.

I need to fix that.

A Terrorist Fist Jab.

Nik pointed this out to me this weekend, which left me flabbergasted. I'm not even sure I know what flabbergasted means, but it left me flabbergasted.



{shakes head}



Haha, Killing Osama, I mean, Obama, IS funny. I'm not shocked by the fact that these people exist and these tactics are used, nor am I shocked by the absurd farce that is Fox News...I'm just shocked that people aren't offended to be treated like docile mindless morons.

Hodge Podge.

The post started with a simple comment about the book I just read, and ended up just...growing and growing...

1) Then We Came to the End (M.)
2) The Shell Game (name withheld for national security purposes)
3) Working Stiff (MH)
4) Down and Out in Paris and London (Haubenreich)
5) Atlas Shrugged (RS)
6) White Castle (Korobi)
7) Confederacy of Dunces (MB)
8) Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of New China (AB)
9) The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher (TYH)
10) Dhalgren (Jeff)
11) Catch-22 (TK)
12) Disgrace (RS-2)

Finished:
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Hsien)
Cereus Blooms at Midnight (Sarah)
Then We Came to the End (M.)

So I just finished up M.'s recommendation (or more accurately, one of MANY recommendations she gave me), which was Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. As with almost every suggestion for reading that I've ever received from M., I was not disappointed to trust her recommendation. 8.5 out of 10.

The book is sort of hard to describe, so I'll keep it simple. It's about the hilarious, absurd, and idiosyncratic things that unfold in office culture, but is taking place during the collapse of the bubble and 10 year bull market in 2001. There's also some intense and incredibly human moments in the book that I didn't really expect.

I've established that I fucking BLOW at writing about books, but I want to mention that it is extremely readable and is the type of book where I would actually pick it up and read half a page while taking a piss. Or...even more telling...I read the book while walking home from the subway station on a beautiful sunny day, stretching my 7 minute walk into a 15 minute read/walk. I then got home and stumbled around my apartment stone blind for about 5 minutes because the sun's ultra-bright reflection on the pages made my field of vision one giant sunspot. (And because my eyes are naturally, genetically, and wonderfully squinty to begin with). It's pretty much the best sort of book to read. Why? Because you'll enjoy it.

I've started reading Shell Game, but I have to admit that I can tell I am going to find the book very upsetting. The best way to describe it is imagine if The Da Vinci Code plumbed the depths of oil economic, oil politics, the Middle East, and the past 8 years instead of looking for the Holy Grail. The research appears to be fairly meticulous with the fictional and real facts separated with enough skill that it seems fairly easy to not get misled. I imagine if this book caught fire the way the Da Vinci Code did, things would be very different...(mostly because it actually matters.) So, since I find these sorts of eye-openers so upsetting, I am going to move onto Working Stiff or Down and Out in Paris and London at the same time...

Incidentally, I have been reviewing the 2008 US Dep't of Energy report on oil reserves and potential drilling in the ANWR...and I have to say that it sounds like the categorically wrong way to deal with our problems. A fairly generous estimate of recoverable oil in ANWR is about 10 billion barrels, with production only coming online in 10 years. The US currently consumes 20 million barrels of oil each day, and it continues to grow. After some arithmetic (which I still didn't do without a calculator) it turns out that if we are lucky, ANWR oil could sustain the US for 500 days 10 years from now. These proposals cannot seriously be about the public good...but only appear rational from an oil lobby/profit standpoint. Luckily, it doesn't seem like anyone's really pushing this proposal anymore. (I haven't looked into offshore drilling, so RS, don't ask.)

Anyhow, I'm in San Francisco now. The flight over was miserable, but I did get to watch "Definitely, Maybe" and "27 Dresses" back to back while outlining my Bar Review Contracts handout. Since it's already been established that my guilty pleasures are quite public, quite non-masculine, and quite ridiculous, I have to admit that I actually liked "Definitely, Maybe." "27 Dresses" on the other hand just made me want to walk around slapping people just in case they related to the movie. That was NOT a good movie. (P.S. Cyclops should never be cast as a leading man. His face was born to be disliked.) (Oh, and add Josh Lucas too.)

FAIL/Win: Gay Marriage

Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? - Matthew 7:3

[Edit: Video removed because it kept autoplaying and annoying me.]

CNN is a piece of shit. Totally. I admit it is one of the worst possible things I can imagine happening to the dissemination of information in this country. (Note: "one of" the worst possible things and "in this country." That prize, of course, goes to Fox News.)

That being said, whether you are liberal or conservative, you have to admit that this CNN video pretty awesomely captures FAIL and Win (aw. cute). That guy is a Super Douche...and I hope his first three divorces and first seven "homophiles" experiences don't affect his choice of shirts in the future.

Shit.

I think my bike was just stolen from my front porch.

Update: Yep.

Cookin'

So since law school has gotten out, I have more or less done nothing involving bar study except for going to lectures and filling in the blanks on handouts. It has been FanTASTIC. As a result, I have spent several hours watching episodes of Good Eats (best show ever) and cooking myself (and sometimes my buddy Ben) dinner every night. This, of course means, that the success I have had losing weight is being slowly reversed despite my constant working out...but oh so awesome.

We begin...with the chimney starter, hardwood lump charcoal, and a tiny 16 dollar grill.

Note 1: Chimney starters are awesome.
Note 2: Buying a whole bunch of CSA farm produce and googling to figure out wtf to make with it is also a wonderful thing. Below? My Mustard Greens Gratin. Ricotta, mustard greens, butter, garlic, parmagianno reggiano, salt, pepper, thick cut bacon (my own addition), and crumbled Ritz crackers.


That's all. Life is not all that interesting...but it's good enough. In other news, I'll be jetting back out to San Francisco this week and I also decided to apply for clerkships again. Ok bye.

Greens!

Edit: If you have any recipes for cooking any ingredients I receive, please pass them along!!

My First CSA Share has arrived!

I got an email from the farmer saying that today was going to be a light delivery since it was the very first harvest of the year. Despite the fact that this delivery was "light" by normal standards, I'm quite pleased considering the fact that the vegetables covered half of my entire coffee table.



From the left to the right: Mustard greens, pea tendrils (yum), Spinach, and Arugula. He said a variety of new vegetables would be coming up next week...so I'm definitely excited about that. Ok, enough, time to cook and eat! Tonight: Stir-Fry pea tendrils and Rice!

Model Minority blah blah...

Awesome - especially because my law firm has been given the nickname "Tea House on Lexington" due to the high number of Asians.

The report also said that more Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders were enrolled in community colleges than in either public or private four-year colleges. But the idea that Asian-American “model minority” students are edging out all others is so ubiquitous that quips like “U.C.L.A. really stands for United Caucasians Lost Among Asians” or “M.I.T. means Made in Taiwan” have become common, the report said.

I thought I might as well post a link to an article about the recent report debunking a prevalent idea, namely that:

Asian-Americans [are] a homogeneous group of high achievers taking over the campuses of the nation’s most selective colleges....

That's all. Back to bar review....

Edit: I like this commercial. Cute kid.

Cereus Blooms at Night.

1) Cereus Blooms at Night (Sarah)
2) The Shell Game (name withheld for national security purposes)
3) Then We Came to the End (M.)
4) Working Stiff (MH)
5) Down and Out in Paris and London (Haubenreich)
6) Atlas Shrugged (RS)
7) White Castle (Korobi)
8) Confederacy of Dunces (MB)
9) Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of New China (AB)
10) The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher (TYH)
11) Dhalgren (Jeff)
12) Catch-22 (TK)
13) Disgrance (RS-2)

Finished:
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Hsien)
Cereus Blooms at Midnight (Sarah)

[Edit: Having just finished writing this, I suggest you don't bother reading the post. It sucks and it is very boring.]

So I finally finished Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo, recommended by Sarah. It took a little longer than I would have liked, but given the hecticness of graduation, living free, compiling family history, bar/bri, and constant cooking (tonight steamed red snapper, jie lan cai/Kai lan/Chinese broccoli, rice, and kim chee)...I wasn't able to read as much as I had hoped.

Anyway, I liked this book a lot, though I cannot say that it was one of those experiences that left me awestruck with moments where I would jerk my head up from reading, mouth agape, and irrationally look around the (empty) room just to check "did anyone else just see/read/feel that?! Dammit!" (I hope you know what I'm trying to communicate there...) To be honest, I find those moments pretty damn rare, and I guess wonderfully so...so all things considered, this book is a winner. I gave Kavalier and Clay an 8...so I think I would give this like a 6.8.

[I deleted several written paragraphs I had about this book...because what I had written was utterly stupid and boring.]

It turns out that I REALLY suck at trying to discuss books...so I don't think I'm going to try to after this other than just saying whether I liked it or not.

Anyhow, on to bed, and then onto Then we Came to the End (M.) or Shell Game if either is available at my local bookstore.

Oh, and my mom gave me a DVD full of old family photos. I think of these three, my favorite is the way I imagined Native Americans in the top right, not to mention my lifelong racism in the bottom.

Long Absence.

I think tons and tons of stuff has happened since my last post, but I don't think I really feel like getting into any of it, because it's not particularly interesting, and I'm sorta lazy right now. I'll break it down simply:

1. I graduated on June 5th. My parents were in the Northeast, Massachusetts, Cambridge, North Cambridge, my apartment, in my bed, for 4 days and 5 nights. They seemed to enjoy the trip, and there are some pictures on Facebook if such things interest you.
   
2. I have done almost NOTHING for my Bar Bri course. The time I have spent on outside assignments has totaled approximately 6 hours. It should be more like 60 by now.
3. I bought a small outdoor grill, hardwood lump charcoal, and a chimney starter. (Btw, chimney starters and hardwood lump charcoal are totally cheap, and they are TOTALLY awesome. I'm never going back to briquets and/or lighter fluid.)
4. I must have gained like, 15 pounds this weekend. (hence the two runs below. I've taken on a new running buddy, so his pace and distances will be reflected in the runs in the near future.)
5. I totally plan on going fishing in Walden Pond.
6. My CSA vegetable share begins Thursday!
7. I spent 3 or 4 hours on Friday night talking with my parents about their personal histories and my family history. (I think I did a post about this before.) In any case, I don't know what your families are like or how much you know about your family history, but it is fascinating to me what I learned about my parents and about my ancestors. I'm a large Chinese kid dropped in the middle of America with no sense of history and only the slightest sense of a cultural heritage: it is really something to find out what life was like for my parents and grandparents. If you don't really know it already, I highly recommend taking the time to talk to your parents about this sorta thing...one, because it gives you something to talk to your parents about besides "stop nagging," two, because I think it more than qualifies as "quality time", and three, because it's just interesting. (I had no idea my dad used to get into fistfights with other kids in elementary school to defend his older brother, who is slightly hunchbacked.)

For now that's all. I have been thinking lots about a lot of things, and will probably get on and rant again about something or other...but the Celtics game is about to come on, and beer beckons.

Triumph!!

Yesterday was a good day. Good news put me in a good mood!

I also wanted to note that I threw a dinner party on Sunday, which actually turned out to be moderately successful...and decided to cast my "what books to read" net a little bit wider...and so I've updated the list just in case anyone is interested or has any comments to make about any of the suggestions...

1) currently reading Cereus Blooms at Night (Sarah)
2) The Shell Game (name withheld for national security purposes)
3) Then We Came to the End (M.)
4) Working Stiff (MH)
5) Down and Out in Paris and London (Haubenreich)
6) Atlas Shrugged (RS)
7) White Castle (Korobi)
8) Confederacy of Dunces (MB)
9) Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of New China (AB)
10) The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher (TYH)
11) Dhalgren (Jeff)
12) Catch-22 (TK)
13) Disgrance (RS-2)

Finished:
Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Hsien)

Oh, and my parents are coming into town for 5 days for graduation...so I'll be an "adult" soon...that is, if graduation is any indication of adulthood.

(oh, and I ran super slow today)