Friday, January 19, 2007

The Future Freaks Me Out

Music: Motion City Soundtrack, "Hold Me Down"

In an album full of super-catchy, uptempo rockers, this song kindof sticks out to me. The album seems light-hearted, and many of the songs deal with serious stuff in a light-hearted tone. The reason this song stand out for me is that it deals with a break-up in a somber tone. As a result, it comes off as possibly the most reflective song on the album. The writer has to tell someone he loves that she holds him down, and he doesn't know how to say it. Lead singer Justin Pierre's voice is key. There is a sincerity about his tone and delivery that is very evident in this song, but it is part of the reason that Motion City transcends other bands of the genre. It's that sincerity in lyric and in tone that really make the band unique.

I'll have my brother stop by this Saturday to pick up my things,
Just make sure you're not there.
This may sound bad, and don't take it the wrong way.
I love you, however, you hold me down.


Taking a Piss

At school, the mens bathroom has four urinals. I find them too close for comfort. The worst is when you walk in and see two dudes each one urinal apart. That way, you're going to be rubbing toes and knees with another dude while he is urinating. Such was the case when I walked in the other day. I chose to wait. If I wasn't for peripheral vision, it would be so bad. To make matters worse, my peripheral vision seems to be exemplary, or at least it is waaaay too good for such circumstances. If they are going to put the urinals so close together without any sort of divider, they should provide blinders. It's almost as bad as if they didn't provide stalls for the toilets. It's that bad.

On a more serious note, reading this would scare the crap out of my wife.

I had to get that thing off my mind. I could write daily for at least a month about stuff that pisses me off about the law school, but that's not in my personality. Even thought I've bitched in two straight posts, I promise it's not a trend. And last time, my bitching was serious, not a pithy commentary.

I've spent almost the past seven years now figuring out what I want to do with my life. I figured out that going to law school would be a good idea in the fall of my fourth year of college. It was more a product of wanting to do something else, something more challenging. I was also a product of wanting to get out of the small college town I had been in for three-and-a-half years. Finishing my education degree would have taken another year, and it was a year I could not mentally and emotionally afford in that place. So I decided to go to law school. It is still the right decision.

Now I'm almost done with law school. It feels great to be done, and I have a great job lined up. It is great in that it should allow me to be a lawyer at work, then go home at a reasonable time and resume the real life that most other people get to experience--things like a wife and kids and beers and sports and golf and free time. But I'm not a Lawyer, and it is not my life's passion. I recently told my wife that I didn't know if I would be a lawyer forever. She got nervous. She listed alot of the reasons why working will be different than school and why I have to give it a shot. And I agreed with her. Being a lawyer will be different--and hopefully better than--being a law student.

However, I explained to her that it is not me taking a negative approach to my career choice. Up to this point, getting my JD at the U of M is the best thing I could've done. It's a great degree, it's interesting work, and I'll make a decent salary. But it's certainly not my passion, and I don't know if 5 or 10 or 15 years down the road, I'll be looking for something different. She thought I was quitting before I started, and I'm glad she tried to reassure me. However, really what I was doing was admitting that I wasn't sure. I was also admitting that I wouldn't be scare to try something else.

However, I've been thinking lately, and I think that would scare my wife. The good news for her is that I would never do anything stupid or chase a pipe dream that would make our lives miserable. Unless she let me, but I wouldn't do it without asking. Probably. Lately I've thinking I wouldn't mind working in a university setting. I'd still like to teach, but I'm not going to ever be a law professor. First off, I'm not smart enough. Second, I'd rather be a lawyer if I'm still going to work in law. I wouldn't mind teaching something else though, like law to undergrads or history. I wouldn't mind working in an admissions department. I'd really like to work in the athletics department. I think those types of career changes would be easy transitions and also very possible.

I guess I don't know if I actually have the guts to try to do something else, something that I could be passionate about.

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