2008 In Review
I started the year in Madison, working on Van Gogh's Starry Night on the Rhone (though I ended up giving up on it in August). My first set of law school grades came a few weeks later, and left me completely devastated (my first C). But I picked up and got things back on track. I learned how to prepare someone's taxes while deciding that tax law is not for me! I kicked ass in legal writing and representation class, and in the end, my second set of grades was much nicer. Jenn and I celebrated 3 years together in the spring and then I abandoned her in St. Paul for Madison to work for 6 weeks at WPS. 6 weeks at my old job went by fast and I had a lot of fun hanging out with my Madisonian friends, though I could have done without living with my parents ;) and being away from my cats! Jenn came to visit a couple times but not enough to last me. I spent 1 week in Germany, meeting my old friends, hanging out with my host fam, but mostly just basking in the warm summer sun and taking in the German being spoken around me. Amsterdam could have been better. I got bed bugs, it was expensive, my roomie was a druggie, the housing was very screwed up in general and the program poorly planned...though sexual orientation law rocks and I hope I can make a career out of it - we'll see. Another week in Germany brought me closer to my old friends and I learned that Florian and his girlfriend are having a child - wow. By the time I got home, I couldn't handle being away from Jenn any longer and sped the whole way back to Mn. In August, I began classes both in Mankato and William Mitchell, while the presidential, prop 8 and senatorial races hit home and the nervousness set in. I also started volunteering at Chrysalis providing legal services to women, primarily DV victims/survivors and doing a massive GOTV campaign. Nothing too special happened since then, oh wait, except OBAMA WON!! Best night ever - the next morning was a different story! We woke up to find prop 8 passed in CA and Al Franken and Norm Coleman were separated by only a few hundred votes. But the Franken thing may turn out in our favor and we just might see Coleman evicted from the Senate which would thrill me to no end. I want him gone (that was Wellstone's seat you smug bastard). This was also dampened by my grandma suffering a stroke - my only grandparent left. Finals came and went and I spent my first Christmas with Jenn's family. It was a tough decision because Jenn misses her parents (they moved to Rapid City, SD in Feb.) and they were in the Cities for Xmas. Still, grandma had another stroke a week before Xmas and I almost went home but I decided that Jenn needed this, and I had seen grandma over thanksgiving. Still, I missed grandma - a feeling compounded when we spoke on the phone - She kept getting names wrong - which confused even her, and she didn't seem to know how to properly form sentences. Mom said she was slower than usual too. In a few days, I leave for Madison to spend time with my family, particularly my mom who is having some kind of surgical procedure similar to a hysterectomy on the 29th. I need to give her the robe our friend Lily made for her! Anyway...that was my year.