Bar/Brainless

I've decided that I'm going to blog more because it's fun and it offers me a sort of outlet, without the responsibility of having to carry on a conversation with an actual person. It's like text-based navel-gazing: totally self-indulgent. I always admire bloggers who have altruistic purposes, like raising money for worthy causes or providing intelligent commentary on various issues in the news. Me, I just want to be able to collect minutiae.

So, since I last wrote, I've packed up all my stuff, had movers put most of it in storage in Pittsburgh, and moved the rest to a lovely little suburb of Boston, where I'm staying with Shawn until it's time to move to Pittsburgh to start work in January. It's really, really nice here. My one and only complaint about our little town is that it's not on the T (or, rather, technically it might be, but it involves a bus to a train... does that count?). It's cute and quiet and there are tons of places to walk to, including a plethora of restaurants, a grocery store a block away, a Starbucks, and even a Penzeys (for all my spice needs). Most of all, finally getting to spend time with Shawn is really great. We joined Netflix and have been watching several movies a week, trading off selections. I've been cooking a fair amount, but we've also been exploring some of the restaurants around here, as well as trying not to get takeout from the really great Thai place around the corner too terribly often. Sometimes we play poker with some guys at MIT, and once a month we get together with Shawn's roommates from freshman year and play board games. (Last week: Agricola. It took hours and I actually liked it.)

During the day I study for the bar. This mainly involves listening to long lectures on my iPod while filling in blanks in the handouts Bar/Bri provides. Which is to say that, after I spent many thousands of dollars on law school, my firm is now spending several thousand more dollars to help me "review" for the bar. Much of what I'm "reviewing" is stuff I never learned in the first place, so it's a little intimidating. It's also mind-numbing. The actual content of the material is often interesting, but the process of learning it is not, at all. By the time each lecture is over, all I want to do is read some cooking blogs or watch poker on TV or do something that involves casual learning without pressure to remember anything.

But the bar is at the end of July, and after that, I don't have too much planned. Looks like Shawn and I are going to be going to Germany in September, so I'm really excited about that. I'll have to come up with some projects to occupy my time. Otherwise, it'll be all cooking blogs and televised poker all the time.