This space for rent...

I haven't felt much like blogging (if you haven't already noticed). While I'm not officially ending this blog, I don't see myself updating it any time in the near future. It's been fun while it's lasted, but my creative energy is going elsewhere now. It may be back, it may not be.

Jay

Where I'm at today.

Every year around this time, I get all depressed with the start of school. It's part of the "re-tox" or getting used my schedule again. It won't last and I know that. Still, I can't begin to express how much I want to graduate.

That is all.

Schadenfreude

As part of my law school experience, my first two years were spent largely with the same group of people, all taking the same class. That's how it is commonly down with law school - they put everyone together into a cohort, though for full-time students this cohort only lasts the first year. In my cohort, I had an older gentleman who is a doctor (not the only one I've been in class with). He is generally very well prepared, well-spoken and contributed to the overall quality of class discussion. He is also an obnoxious blow hard.

This semester he is part of my evidence class (which I'm enjoying, great prof). One of our topics is relevance of past evidence. We were working on a hypothetical situation. I raised my hand and argued that the evidence had little relevance to the defense's argument, and explained my logic. So Dr. Blow-hard speaks next and he starts by saying I had gotten it "all wrong" and preceded to cut down what I said. Dude fuck you!

But the reason he disagreed with me was because he had gotten all his facts wrong. After he got done, I raised my hand and asked the prof to clarify the "facts" for the hypothetical as he and I differed. She said that, yes, my facts were right. I was satisfied at that was going to let the matter drop (I knew the point I made was a good one based on the fact pattern). She then re-iterated the point I made was "insightful" and an excellent point based on the correct facts.

It probably doesn't seem like a big deal to anyone else. And really it was just a small blip as part of the discussion. By next week no one (including myself) will probably even remember. But after two years of this guy I really enjoyed have a small moment tell him, however indirectly, that HE was wrong. Small and petty of me? Probably. But I'm still rather pleased. :-)

EDIT: I scooped him again last night. Either the good doctor is losing his touch or I've gotten alittle sharper.

So Marie Osmond is back from the dead huh?

I watched Celebraty Duets last night. I'm so in love with that show. First it has the ADORABLE Hal Sparks, but it also has XenaLucy Lawless (who rocks my world)*.

It's the judges that really make the show. Marie Osmond likes to make tragically lame puns. If it wasn't funny, it would be painful. She looks like hell though.

Little Richard is so drugged up (or just out of his mind) he is not even coherent. Wooo!

And the Simon analog was the only let down. His bitchiness was prosaic as best.

Anyway, it was so cheesy it was really fun to watch!!



*I'm so hoping to hear the battle cry on one the shows.

I'm sure you think you're being progressive, but...

So Matt and I went to a small BBQ on Monday. It was a very nice time. Eveyone else at the party had children. Some one asked if Matt and I ever planned to have kids. I said yes, we had even gone so far as to contact an adoption agency to get a feel for all the things required (expenses, length of the wait, etc) although we are years away from even beginning the process.

Anyway, one of the guys I was talking with said: "Well, I think that is great. And you know, if I had the choice between a low income family with a mom and dad or a higher income gay couple, I'd give the kid to the gay couple."

...

...

uh, RAGE! UNSPEAKABLE RAGE!

Dude that is really messed up!

1) Needing to stack the deck to make same-sex parents more/as desirable.
2) Assuming more money means better parenting.

He was trying to be a nice guy, I'm sure. It probably came out wrong. Fortunately, Matt made a joke that diffused the situation. Still, I was a little put off by this guy.

He blogs again

I have been blogging much lately. I’ve been fairly busy and when I haven’t been busy, I’ve just been hanging out and relaxing. In the past I just included a laundry list of the things that I’ve done. But I haven’t really felt like doing that and not much “blog worthy” has happened (things both interesting and that I’m willing to share online), hence the lack of updates.

I start school today! Woot?

Going out to eat...

Okay, for a little back story on this. My friend Laura and my partner Matt don’t see eye to eye when we go out to eat. Although they each deal with it in different ways: Matt makes unilateral and categorical statements like “I don’t eat at chain restaurants” and Laura makes declarations like “The food at that Chinese place tastes funny and I won’t go back” often, when I think it tastes better (or doesn’t differ at all). We tend to spend the first half an hour of every get together settling on a place to go. Which is to say, I’ve spent more time in my life listening to their food preferences than I ever expected. (And I admit I occasion put in my own weird requests like “no place in Royal Oak” for instance. But I didn’t want to deal with parking and all that.)

So I’ve decided to post what I like in restaurant.

1) Food: This actually matters very little to me. I’m not a terribly finicky eater and I enjoy a large variety of foods. I don’t care for seafood very much, but I’ll go to seafood restaurants because they generally have one or two non-seafood options. I also like Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Middle Eastern, Thai, and Italian. I don’t eat French or German food enough to say I like it, but I think I would. I enjoy vegetarian meals. I do occasionally get a taste for things like a burger, pizza or those yuppie places that is “new twist on old favorites” and every ingredient is named after some far off place (in addition to getting a taste for Chinese or Indian). I do look at quality though, some places over-charge for what amounts to cafeteria food. I’m looking at you Como’s (an independent Italian place in Ferndale)! I also include Olive Garden in this.

2) Service: This is a bigger deal. When I go out, there are a few things that I enjoy. One, I like a server to be attentive, but not intrusive. I like getting refills on my drink promptly. In return, I tend to be a good tipper. I also eat off the menu and I don’t make any substitutions. I don’t like to be rushed out. I go out to eat not just to get fed, but also to relax.

3) Décor/ambiance: This is the most important to me. I like quiet places where I can hear my friends talk. This means I dislike big boxy places where the conversation echoes around. I dislike bands, with the exception that I enjoy music and would go to a place for the band, but I don’t like showing up to place that just has a band). I like the colors to be subdued (no red and orange places for me). I hate gimmicks. This means I hate singing servers, flashing lights, gift shops, “flair” and all that crap. I dislike it not only because it grates on my nerves, but I also find that some restaurants rely on the gimmicks as opposed to having good food or good service. I like comfy seats and space. I don’t like being jammed around a small table or really close to other diners.

Fortunately for my relationship, this lines up with Matt’s desires pretty much. I think a lot of these factors are what he means by no chains. Few independent places rely on gimmicks or loud bands. Chile’s and Logan’s Roadhouse are two chain places that I really like (Logan's servers sing, but infrequently enough that I can overlook it).

Looking at this post, this is much larger list of things than I expected. I don’t really have much trouble finding good places. Most ethnic places are good (expect the Mexican place that had the Mariachi band, but that was a fluke). Greasy spoons are good too.

I also don’t need every single factor. Bastone in Royal Oak can be loud because of its boxy format and some of the seats are uncomfortable, but I really like the food, service and the rest of the décor. I already mentioned two chain places above. It is not one of my favorite places however.

My favorite place to go is Angel’s Café in Ferndale. It has everything that I like in a place. Great food, wonderful service and I love the funky, relaxed vibe.

Partly I am writing this to remind myself about my own food preferences/issues. So many people in my life have odd food restrictions: My mom is diabetic; my dad is really finicky; Matt’s mom has psychosomatic allergies; Laura is finicky, Carrie is vegetarian. I’m also coordinating a kind of cooking a home-style meal for some a group I’ve involved with. This adds vegans and gluten free, one raw foodist and one person doing Atkins. Argh! I’m beginning to dread eating with other people. I don’t generally mind accommodating preferences, especially for people I like. But lately, I’ve just had enough of spending my energy into other people’s wants. Particularly because my mom, who actually needs a special diet, is the least pushy.

I'm at the point where I may be issuing more invitations for coffee rather than dinner pretty soon.