Turn to Section One and Begin

Well, there we have it. I've been LSATed! All in all, not bad I think. The section that I thought would be hard was true to form. So, I have no illusions that I aced the thing but I feel OK about it. A few days ago I got very nervous, but really, whatever happens is gonna happen, y'know?

It was very funny sitting in a room with a bunch of college kids panicking and freaking out about how they would do. I felt old and embued with perspective. I also felt bad for one girl who just left at the break, she didn't even finish the test.

This is a very scatterbrained post because my brain is pretty much toast. I'm going to take a nap now.

No Blogging! Prepping!

In case you couldn't tell, not much time for blogging lately, life having been consumed by Kaplan and the Princeton Review. LSAT, LSAT, LSAT. Prep, prep, prep.

Prepped out? No fear. Not much longer.

Tomorrow's the day.

Winter Winter Winter

Today, I woke up and it was 39 degrees outside. And in about 20 seconds, I'm leaving to go watch the Pens training camp practice down in Southpointe.

This is me clapping excitedly.

WOOO!!!!

Sports Sports and Sports!

It is official sports week here, so much going on it's awesome.

The Women's World Cup started up. Am I the only one who's jaw dropped upon seeing that the US Women's team TIED their first game? The world has been put on it's ear. But, that's why they play the game, eh? And I am very happy to see that ESPN is covering the tournament. One word: EXPOSURE. The NHL could stand to learn that word.

Speaking of the NHL, it's presale time! Picked up tickets to five Pens games on the season ticket holder waiting list presale. Made the investment of buying extra tickets, because I figure it shouldn't be hard to round up friends or sell tickets that I don't round friends up for. I just need to remember to close my eyes before opening my credit card statement. Two big highlights: Pens vs. Devils and Pens vs. Capitals! Also, a bunch of my Cincy buds and I got tickets to a Detroit/Columbus game in Columbus. Fun!

Pardon me for a moment while I do my "Yay Hockey Season Is Coming" Dance.

And last but not least (well, maybe least), the Pirates seem to have selected a new President, Frank Coonelly, currently MLB's chief labor counsel. I won't pretend to know whether it's a good choice or not. A lot of people seem irritated in that he's played a large role in the setup of the current MLB financial structure so they believe that he will not bring any outside-the-box thinking to the team. However, my challenge to that is we don't necessarily need thinking outside of the MLB box, but outside of the Pirate box. I'm willing to see how it goes. One thing that does give me pause is that they also seem to have candidates lined up for the GM job already. I thought the whole point was to allow the new Pres to hire the new GM...so are they in the process of handcuffing the new Pres before he's even officially hired? Not so good if that's the case.

Not Even Matt Kata Could Save Him

So long, Dave Littlefield. I never take pleasure in someone losing their job. But as a Pirate fan, I am allowed to be happy that someone who has misguided the team for so long has been removed from the equation. Of course, when he came on board we had all the same pleasure of seeing his predecessor Cam Bonifay depart, and all sorts of hope for him. Seven losing seasons and a 442-581 record later, that hope has been long gone.

But, eternal optimist that I am, with a new principal owner who talks a good game about not putting up with the current state of affairs, and the search for a new CEO who everyone speculates will have to be a baseball guy, I hope this time around will be different...better... Could it really be worse? Well, I guess it could be empirically worse, but when it comes down to it a losing season is a losing season (to the 15th degree).

OK Enough with the Hating

All right...if you know me you know it wouldn't be too long before I stopped hating. I'm just not a hater at heart. (Got nothin' on you MG with a JD, or you MD Anger Girl.) So here's my anti-hating list. And really, it just scratches the surface.

• I love being sore the next couple days after a hard workout. And I love the workout, too.
• I love walking to get coffee on weekend mornings. I refuse to buy a coffee maker for that very reason.
• I love meeting new people and hearing the stories of people I've just met.
• I love it when it's winter and cold, and I wear a thermal shirt and hoodie...and shorts.
• I love sweating.
• I love seeing the fantastic worlds people have so creatively fit into such small spaces in city neighborhoods.
• I love the hill coming from Squirrel Hill to Regent Square. Wheeee!!
• I love mornings when I don't wake up feeling like life is hard.
• I love it when people post comments on my blog.
• I love Frick Park. Still can't run too well, but at least there's amazing peace and scenery to go with my sore knees and shins.
• I love NHL playoff games with their passion and intensity.
• I love regular season Pirate games, with the beauty of PNC Park and the old relaxed familiarity of baseball.
• I love watching buildings being built, and demolished.
• I love the crazy noise of downtown on a weekday.
• I love the quiet peace and relaxation sitting in the cutout of my porch.
• I love listening to trees rustling in the wind, and to rain hitting the roof.
• I love camping.
• I love brief moments of solidarity shared with total strangers.
• Most people won't agree on this one, but I love balancing my checkbook and paying bills. My close friends should understand that one. No, it's not about money.
• I love taking snowboard trails during a good snowfall, where the only sound is the the muffled swoosh of my board.
• I love laying in bed after a day of boarding or horseback riding, and I can still vaguely feel those motions going through my body.
• I love that my cats recognize the sound of me pulling up on my bike, and run to the screen door when I get home.
• I also love that my cats almost always sleep on the couch with me. Whoever said cats aren't as affectionate as dogs was a nutball.
• I love moments when I'm sharing almost any of the above with someone who I know and love so well that we don't even need to comment about how great it is.

Still Hating After All These Years

OK, I decided last night when I was falling asleep that I'd make an anti-hating list. But the morning didn't work out that way, so I'm hating more instead. Ha. So there. Take that.

• I hate when you make plans with a bunch of friends and then they change the plans and everyone who was involved with the original plans is involved in the new plans except for you.
• I hate how many times the word "plans" appeared in that last sentence.
• I hate feeling like out of sight = out of mind for people who used to be my little family.
• I hate the Post Gazette website's new layout.
• I hate loving Pittsburgh but not being sure if I want to live here much longer.
• I hate it when I get to work and realize that I forgot to wash out my coffee cup on Friday.
• I hate my knees.
• I hate my shins.
• I hate when I get my hair cut and the hands of the guy who cuts it stink like cigarettes.
• I hate when whoever brews the coffee makes it weak and crappy.
• I hate when I drink too much coffee on an empty stomach.
• I hate when I feel like I'm not too far removed from where I was 4 years ago.
• I hate when I notice that someone has been stealing tissues from my box at work. Seriously? Stealing tissues??
• I hate that the people who are my good friends and who haven't bailed on me will read this and feel bad even though they shouldn't.

Haterade!

I spent most of yesterday in an uncomfortable environment, so at this particular moment I'm a hater. Even my usual calming routine of coffee at CTR didn't really help my mood...so, I know I'm hating because that is usually golden. Maybe it's because I couldn't get my bananas & strawberries and the accompanying Pamela Family fix. Fucking Labor Day.

Anyhow, here's a hater list for the moment, just to try to get some of this shit off my chest.

• I hate the hill going from Regent Square to Squirrel Hill. It's not steep, but something about that bastard is insidious. Maybe it's just because I always go up it in the morning when I'm still half asleep. (Then again, I admit that at the same time I love it.)
• I hate being in hostile territory without backup.
• I hate knowing that when my mom looks at me, she wants to see a daughter that was never there and that I will never be.
• I hate when people who I love and who I know are good at heart say ignorant and hateful things.
• I hate knowing how precarious a balance it is that keeps those ignorant and hateful things from being directed at me.
• I hate that there's a light switch in my apartment that I don't know what it does.
• I hate starting meds that fuck my shit up and make me simultaneously jittery and exhausted and I just have to hope I get used to them.
• I hate my astigmatism.
• I hate that the remote for my cable box turns on my theater system even when I don't want it to.
• I hate that I am painfully shy.
• I hate when people feel and act superior to other people.
• I hate times like this when I'm sitting here hating.

There you go. Have a spiffy day.

My Friend Lex

I started becoming reacquainted with an old friend today. We'll call my friend Lex. No, I'm not a huge Superman fanatic, that's my friend's name...or something like that.

At any rate, I spent a lot of time with Lex a few years ago. We were introduced through a mutual acquaintance, Dr. K. We quickly started hanging out a pretty fair amount, between 30-40 m every day. (M = minutes? Sure, why not.) Lex helped me out during some really rough spots; things got dicey for a while but every day there was Lex, right on schedule. Gradually things got easier, and after a year and a half or so, I saw less and less of Lex. Eventually we stopped hanging out at all.

So, I ran into Lex today for the first time in years, again brought together by a mutual acquaintance, Dr. S. We decided to start off easy, just seeing a little bit of each other for the time being, see how our friendship works itself out this time around. I always have that fear that I'll let myself become overly dependent on this friendship, and not exert the energy required to conquer my demons on my own. But, I guess in all of life our friends are the ones who help us in those battles. You have to fight the battle yourself, but it doesn't hurt to have more friends in your corner. I don't see why the same shouldn't apply to Lex.

I'm tired of speaking in riddles now. I'm going to bed.