So my two options for schools now lie equal distances north and south of Poughkeepsie.  Albany has offered me almost a full ride, and it looks like they have a lot of resources in the program I want.  Much cheaper to live up there, as well.  In fact, if I don't get a scholarship from Brooklyn the difference in cost after three years is going to be about $100,000.  Definitely worth looking at.

Then there's Brooklyn.  Great school, great area.  Also an awesome IP program.  The decision really lies in that if I can do what I want upstate for virtually nothing, should I?  Or is it better to go with the name and take the hit?  Not looking forward to being a quarter of a million dollars in debt at 25.

Headed out to both schools during break, hopefully I'll have a better idea of what's up after that.

Posted by airingofgrievances at 16:21 EST

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It snowed today.  Er it iced....I wasn't paying attention.  I guess its good we got snow once this winter.  Cuz its winter.

TV sucks too....we're finally done with crazy astronaut and Anna Nicole Smith week and its back to the Barack Obamathon.  I wish somebody would invent something worthwhile or do something good for once.  I wish Columbia and NYU would hurry up and reject me so I could have some closure in my life.

Dark chocolate is better than milk chocolate.

Posted by airingofgrievances at 01:10 EST

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Disappointing advice from the contact on 3rd today....defer enrollment in law school for two years to get experience and be more marketable.  I've heard that argument from the beginning, get experience before doing the grad school thing.  I just dont think thats for me; I know what I want to do (and what I don't want to do).  I think there's a lot of inertia trying to go back to school after two years of work in which there would be no real room for growth.  Life would probably go and get complicated on me, and I might never end up doing this.  Plus, I've gotten into schools so I don't need to go out and become a more appealing candidate for admission.  This just feels right.

Down those lines, Brooklyn seems to be the front-runner at this point.  St. John's offered a lot of money, but doesn't have a clinical IP program, where Brooklyn's is top-notch.  Pace is out, just is.  Albany I've got loads of money to consider, and they have a broad program in IP, although the reputation of the school is much lower than the others.  But I don't know if I want to be in Albany.  It'd be worlds better than Easton PA, and I have some connections already up there, but I always felt like I'd like to establish myself in NYC for a couple years, considering thats where I want to work.  On the other hand, I'd be close to Chris if she ever needed anything upstate next year.

I still calmly await my rejections from the top tier schools.  Sorry for the boring rationalizations...long day.

Posted by airingofgrievances at 22:26 EST

Updated: Thursday, 1 February 2007 22:48 EST

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I don't go there to look at books, I go there to look at people.  It's a weird little cross-section of society that's walking around that store on a Sunday night.  Some people you can tell have been in there for at least three hours, and will be for three more after you leave.  They set up camp at the little lounges throughout the store, trying to look well-read and dignified a few feet from the Harry Potter slide in the children's section.  Probably my favorite guy in the whole place is the 350 pound man who hustles chess in the cafe.  He's always there, he's really good, and knows it.  His ego is almost as big as he is, and I can even hear him talking trash to the other guys he plays.  It's kind of sad, or at least I think so.  I guess its not so bad if I think it's sad but the chess guy doesn't.  To each his own I suppose.

Good law school research went on this weekend, I can at least knock out one school from the running logically at this point, I've got to set up more interviews and meetings for the next couple weeks.

 PS... they still make Dunkeroos.

Posted by airingofgrievances at 00:10 EST

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Busy fighting registrars and secretaries the last couple days...finally got it all worked out.  For every five people that screw me over around here, there's usually one that will stick their neck out for me.  I have to remember that.

So I've now got offers from St. Johns, Pace, Albany, and Brooklyn.  I have a lot of choices to make.  There's money in the mix, but I have to look into the IP programs at the schools, I can't let the last four years be for nothing.  I don't think I'm cut out for the other types of law anyway.  I should be happier; I get to go to law school, and I get to choose.  And I'm being offered money.  Its a good thing, its just a lot to take in at once.  I've still yet to be rejected from the big dogs.

Its strange to see how things have progressed over four years.  All you hear about in high school is how much change will happen in the next few years.  I guess thats true, but it didn't seem to happen in the ways anybody expected.  People that set out to change seem to have changed in completely different ways; I think a lot of it is out of our hands.  And some people didn't change at all.  And some changed for the bad.  And some for the good.  I guess it just happens, and its probably pointless to try to assign value to it.

I wonder if they still make Dunkeroos.

Posted by airingofgrievances at 00:22 EST

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Back at school, and life is good.  I live in a room that smells like cardboard, and I'm surviving on prison food. 

Let me tell you something about Easy Mac...its hard.  I didn't have a measuring cup for the water, and the microwave downstairs isn't too sophisticated.  Let's just say my first experience with Easy Mac wasn't good.  Not only did it get f'd up, but I chose to eat it, reflecting on my life as I chewed on clumps of artifcial cheese.

My schedule got screwed up too, so I'll be fighting with the registrar tomorrow.  Normally I wouldn't make a big deal out of it, but I put in seven semesters in this hellhole, and so they shouldn't dick me over by putting me in a 9am intro elective. 

Oh, and a special thanks to the post office here.  For shoving all my mail from the last 5 weeks into a 3"x4" slot with extreme prejudice.  After I untangled the wreckage, I found out I got into Albany and St. John's, with a yearly scholarship from the latter.  Now that stuff is coming in, its all becoming a lot more real, its exciting. 

Class tomorrow? 

Posted by airingofgrievances at 23:33 EST

Updated: Sunday, 21 January 2007 23:51 EST

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So I'm gonna follow Sham's lead and make a blog again.  I don't know if I can do the discourses the way I did four years ago...been too long.  What I would like to do is yell about things on the internet, because lets be honest, thats why its there.

Winter break 07'  was pretty weird.  I think we all truly realized how we outgrew home this time around.  I mean, we always had to struggle to find things to do, but lately its gotten ridiculous.  Piling into a car headed to Poughkeepsie for a couple of beers is about as good as it gets anymore.  $3.50 for a glass of Coors (not that I drink that swill) isn't really worth the trip in the car, or the fun of doing beer math in your head lest you have a run in with...well, any police department in a 50 mile radius.  Don't get me wrong, there are still good times.  The local flavor of Poughkeepsie is worth a laugh here and there, especially seeing Lando and Moses hustle pool.  And I still love hanging out with everybody when I'm home.  Its just that things have changed, a lot for the good, but some good things have come to an end as well.

I guess thats supposed to happen though.  I never really appreciated how strange this area was.  Its a good place to raise a family, or be in one if you're a kid, but once you've grown up there really is no going back.  So, moving on I guess.  Just found out I got into Brooklyn Law, which pretty much puts me halfway up my ladder of 10 schools I applied to.  Its nice knowing that if nothing else, I'm going somewhere.  Two days ago, I had no offers from schools, and no job.  That's an uncomfortable place to be.  Anyway, that was a nice end to a break marked by disappearing friends and more medical testing than I care to remember.

And then there were those murders down the street yesterday.  That was crazy.  Its kind of sick to think this way but I almost hope that it was a deranged ex or someone close to the family that did it.  Only because that would be really gruesome for a rage killing.  I just don't know how you get that screwed up to hurt kids like that.  No one deserves that.  And having the media swarming the town is really helping things out.  Apparently, they were at the elementary school, cameras up against the windows and nonsense like that.  That must be really reassuring, considering the kids in the school were only told that there was a fire.  Who better to get the details from than a reporter in a trenchcoat with a telescoping lens?  Cuz everyone wants to see an exclusive with a crying 3rd grader on the 5 oclock news.  Assholes.

Back to Lafayette tomorrow.  Let's get this over with.

Posted by airingofgrievances at 23:29 EST

Updated: Sunday, 21 January 2007 00:14 EST

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