I should be doing work right now

Today was the first Michigan football game of the season (v. Miami-Ohio, we won), and the first home game for which I’ve been in town. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be—definitely a lot of traffic, but most of it on foot since there’s hardly any parking near the stadium. As I walked to Zingerman’s and the farmers market late this morning, the air was thick with the smell of charcoal grills and sunscreen as people either lounged in lawn chairs in their yards or made their way to the stadium. I was actually surprised by the number of people I saw walking that direction as I headed to Kerrytown—damn, that’s a *long* walk.

As the title of this post suggest, I have work to do before Tuesday (first day of classes). The plan for today was/is to handle some of the outstanding home organization issues before tackling the reading for Legal Practice. I’ll definitely finish the LP reading tonight…I’m just not very far yet. Tomorrow I’ll hit Contracts and Property, leaving Crim for Monday. I have a writing assignment due in Contracts on Thursday, so I’ll probably start making overtures in that direction as well on Monday.

This town is really wonderful…really and truly. It feels more like a place where I belong than Houston ever did. There’s an ineffable quality to it that just resonates with me in a very real way, and I like that. No, I love it. Still, there are crummy parts, just like anywhere else. To live within walking distance of the law school (an absolute priority for me, given the utter lack of parking nearby), you have essentially two categories of apartments: crummy, and crummier. That’s not to say that the former doesn’t look quite spectacular once you put nice furniture inside, but it’s still old, weird, and the parking still sucks. No matter what you live in around this neighborhood, there’s the unfortunate problem of less-than-considerate undergrads. You know, I’ll bypass my need to mother people and totally suspend the urge to flip out at the fact that a large group of them are completely trashed on the first night of their orientation…I just want them to find another street to stand in and scream at each other in the middle of the night. Go home, kiddos, go home and scream there. Or better yet, cut the screaming to a loud bellow. I think a college town tends to carry a general tone of mild thoughtlessness—people play music in their cars *exceptionally* loud with the windows down, stomp up the stairs as if they kind of want to bash them in on the way up, etc. It’s not a huge deal, but there have been times this week when I’ve *really* missed the neighborhood demographics of my old apartment.

Few things are as sweet as a financial aid check in your mailbox. Especially when your September rent is already paid.

Let it be said that Firefox beats the pants off Opera six ways to Sunday. I’m also rather in love with my new wireless, optical mouse. It’s teeny, came with a little carrying pouch, and plugs straight into a USB—no drivers to mess with. Very cool.

Ahhrg….it’s nearly 10p, so I think the Legal Practice bell is tolling. Now I’m really wishing I hadn’t eaten all of the Twist and Shout from Zingerman’s this morning…I could really go for a bit of that heated up with some coffee while I rattle my way through the structure of our courts. Ah well, such is life.