Law School and, of course, the Squirrels

Of course, the fucking Squirrels.

I finished my first big law school assignment today! Imagine my normal writing, then take out every joke, literary flourish, and all structural creativity. Then, add words that could either be Latin, or the sound made by recently harpooned whale. Finally, add a pinch of salt, preferably tossed over your shoulder for luck, in order to account for seemingly random grading. Once you bake that in a cauldron of infinite sorrow, you have what I just finished writing. Learning to "write like a lawyer" is similar to being assigned the task of banging your head into a wall repetitively, only to be told that you need to bang your head in a way that is almost, but not entirely unlike the way you attempted to do it. And instead of a wall, you should realize that a stove-top set to high would be a much more efficient option, for this particular set of facts.

Today was also my first day of serious training after last weekend's race! In related news, I am pretty sure I broke my big toe while playing softball last Tuesday. The black/blue colorblind test attached to my left foot called for running creativity, primarily because it is difficult to fit in the shoe after a few miles. So after running the 3 miles to Duke's campus, I went to the awesomely manicured practice soccer field and took off my shoes. "Why does my big toe look like an Easter Egg painted by a Goth child in mourning?" is the question I would have asked if I had a shred of intelligence. Luckily, law school's policy of positively depressing reinforcement is beginning to destroy any claim I had to intellect, so I decided to run barefoot.

For 90 minutes I ran loops around the soccer field. For whatever reason, running barefoot often brings a unique euphoria, and today was no different. Immediately, stride rate quickens and you lean over the balls of your feet, not so much striding to the next turn as prancing gracefully across the ground. For athletes who do not incorporate shoeless running into their training, I don't know how else to describe the feeling than to say it is perfectly natural. It is what we are designed to do. Returning to my apartment a little over two hours after I left, with a possibly fractured toe that was now an afterthought, and a previously painful knee that I hadn't thought about in 17 miles, it is clearly evident that we are born to run.

Moving on to events that are more humorous, let's talk about the Discovery hostage crisis! The manifesto written by the hostage-taker was so wonderful that it is worthy of a direct quote:

Saving the environment and the remaning species diversity of the planet is now your mindset. Nothing is more important than saving them. The Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Sharks, Bears, and, of course, the Squirrels.

The Squirrels! Of-fucking-course! They are certainly more deserving than either John, Kate, and however many demon-spawn are on their Discovery Channel show nowadays.

Things have been really great here at Duke! Definitely busier, but the people/places are awesome. And there are definitely more Squirrels than NYC, so that's a plus. Thanks so much for reading, and I hope everything is really great!