trashcan tuesday (deep in the underworld of finals edition)

1. i’ve been wearing leggings as pants for days. days, people. this is a low point. some people turn into anxious balls of stress during finals. some people become alcoholics. some people chug red bull and stay up all night. i stop wearing pants.

2. i’ve been poking around looking for various gifts for people online, and i just found this gem:

PARDON ME? imagine getting that in your coffee in the morning? menfolk, back me up here – wouldn’t you just keel over and die?

3. it really creeps me out when they blur out people’s faces and distort their voices in television interviews to protect their identity.

4. my roommate just saw felix the mouse. you guys, this mouse will not be trapped. this is the ultimate mouse. i have no idea what to do with him. i’ve tried to be nice. we even got a humane trap. the roommate rightly fuh-reaked, because hello, it’s finals, and this damn mouse is just running circles around us like we’re fools. i have now baited his trap with a jelly munchkin. if this isn’t successful, i don’t know what to do. it might be the electric chair for you felix.

5. i haven’t been doing jersey shore recaps. i know. i’m an awful person. but look – we’re in the middle of finals here. and recaps take a long time. i would rather not do a recap than give you a subpar recap. i promise i’ll figure something equally awesome out. SWEARSIES.

6. we might have just caught felix. either that or we just fed him a jelly munchkin free of charge, and now he’s busy inviting his buddies over. roommate’s boyfriend has promised to help move him out if he is indeed in our clutches.

7. i’ve discovered that lifetime original movies are actually the best studying soundtrack. today i watched one called cyber seduction, about a star high school swimmer who becomes addicted to porn and subsequently starts failing out of high school and drinking more any energy drinks than any fifteen-year-old should. so he can stay up and watch porn, obvi.

8. have i mentioned that THE SITUATION, as in, jersey shore THE SITUATION, is now following me on twitter? yes, my life is complete.

9. i’m a glee person now you guys. i’ve watched almost the all of the first thirteen episodes. and i may or may not have purchased the soundtrack. and i may or may not be singing it loudly in my room every waking hour. i’m trying to persuade the boyfriend to do some finn/rachel duets with me, but i don’t think it’s taking yet.

also, i’m a moron, and i’ll tell you why. i kept babbling about how glee reminds me of popular (remember that show?), because if i love anything in this world, it’s POPULAR, and finally someone pointed out to me yesterday that that’s because ryan murphy, the guy who wrote and produced popular, also writes and produces glee. rooiiighttt.

10. in other glee-related news, i’m so glad i now have a version of “no air” that i can listen to without feeling guilty about that whole chris brown punching rihanna thing.

epic.

a month or so ago, the boyfriend noticed that bang camaro was playing at the paradise on december 12. let’s get something straight right off the bat here – i love all kinds of music. the only kind of music i don’t like is classical, and that’s because it makes me anxious. in the interest of honesty, however, it’s only fair to note that the last three concerts i’ve been to have been joshua radin, joshua james, and jason mraz. not exactly in the same genre as bang camaro. however, far be it from me to say no to live music and a night out during finals period.

you guys, before i even tell you the deets of this night, i have to say – i have referred to events in my life as “epic” before this night. more than once. on december 12, 2009, at roughly 9:30 pm, i learned quickly that i previously had no idea what the word “epic” meant. read on only if you are ready to hear about epic things.

we got there a little late, so we only caught the last few songs of the first opening act, violent soho . just enough time for us to grab some pbr tall boys (hello, heaven) and observe a line of individuals in the crowd executing some serious synchronized headbanging. while wearing santa hats. you really can’t argue with that.

after a brief break during which some drunk sixteen-year-old girls more or less sat on our laps, powerglove came on.

i’m not even sure how to describe powerglove. they came onstage in what looked like medieval inspired battle gear. with flags. i got kind of a gwar feel from them, and i mean that as a compliment. i knew we had struck gold when they announced that their genre of music was, “video game metal.” i mean, really people. what are you going to say to video game metal AND pbr tall boys, besides YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES?

observe, POWERGLOVE:

i asked the boyfriend if it was too early to book them for our wedding. he said no. sick.

after powerglove finished up, and i went to the bathroom approximately one hundred times (by the way, whoever puked in the sink in the ladies room? CLEAN IT UP. i don’t care if you’re sick, but i do care about having to look at your upchuck while i wash my hands and contemplate the awesomeness of POWERGLOVE) and procured more pbr, bang camaro came on.

for those of you who aren’t familiar and are too lazy to click on the wiki link i’ve provided for you above, the concept of bang camaro is basically a few awesome musicians and a boatload of vocalists.

yes, all those individuals are in the band. yes, it rules a lot.

i legitimately had one of my best concert experiences ever at this show. i fist pumped. i jumped around. i headbanged (sidenote: long-haired girl headbanging on the balcony – you are my hero. i want to grow my hair out only for this purpose). i got to do metal hands. i did “too much metal for one hand” metal hands.

i sang along really loudly. several band members spit beer on us. i chanted. if this doesn’t sound like a good time to you, i question our ability to be friends, even BLOG friends. unfollow me if you must.

in addition, i would like to take this opportunity to give some unsolicited advice to the other members of my gender who attended this concert. some of you (i.e. headbanging girl, girlfriend of powerglove member whom i met in the bathroom) rocked. some of you looked like you’d rather be waterboarded than be at this concert. ladies, ladies, ladies. i get that you’re probably there because your boyfriend made you go. i may have been a gender studies minor in college, but i’m also not unrealistic – most girls go to metal shows because boys make them. hell, i went because a boy made me. but you know what? let’s cast off those frowns and turtleneck sweaters, grab some beers, and rock out together. it wouldn’t kill you to have fun. or to fist pump.

and drunk sixteen-year-olds? PLEASE PUT ON SOME PANTS. how did you get out of the house like that? sweet lord. i almost had a heart attack.

quick hit advice

i just read a post on a law school blog advising 1Ls on how to do well second semester. most 1Ls do worse second semester than they do first semester, apparently. i guess i’m just an anomaly, because it took me a semester to get acclimated to law school and law school exams, and second semester, i really banged it out. relatively speaking, at least. most of the advice in the post seems pretty sound to me, except for one thing, which i could not possibly disagree with more – the suggestion to read study aids over break before second semester starts.

i’m obviously not going to call this blogger out by name, because that’s not fair, and we’re all adults and can respectfully disagree here. i have to say, though, i don’t think it’s good for anyone to be reading study guides over break. the most successful and the most sane people at law school are people who know how to take time for themselves and clear their minds and do things that are not law school. take a break, peeps. travel. read some non-law books. write. catch up on your dvr. everyone is going to learn this stuff eventually. save your study aids for when you learn the material in class.

i’m not going to lie to you and tell you that i’m at the tip-top of my class and i run law review or whatever. however, i have managed to do something that i’m proud of, and that is stay happy and sane in law school while managing to do fairly well and maintain a life outside of studying. and guess what? not only am i happy, i have a job doing something i love. and so do all my friends, most of whom are similarly minded. and law school is something that, aside from the usual complaints around exam time, i genuinely enjoy.

i mean, do what works for you, whatever that is, but i just feel like it’s always important to take time to realize that, yeah, you came to law school because you wanted to be committed to it, but law school is not your life, and law school does not define who you are, and particularly YOUR GRADES DO NOT DEFINE WHO YOU ARE.