Reality Sinking In

So both M and I are still floating along in our little cloud of happiness. We had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants downtown on Friday night and afterwards strolled passed the place where he'd like to practice one day--the old Santa Rosa courthouse, where the Bar Association and several law offices are located. He's been exchanging messages with classmates, and has run into a couple who also passed, one at the restaurant where we had dinner Friday night and another yesterday as we were shopping for a new phone for him at the mall. Unfortunately, the ones who didn't pass are probably keeping a low profile. I had a hard time not grinning foolishly throughout my last glass fusing class yesterday (though I didn't like the way several of my projects came out, which helped my grinning challenge a bit).

The joy was tempered a bit this morning, when the Bar results were made public and M found out which classmates passed and others who didn't. His class had a 50% pass rate, and the overall pass rate was 60%, which I guess is a little above average. There are a few folks I'm sad didn't pass, but selfishly it also means he has less competition for jobs.

He'll take his oath to uphold the constitutions of the United States and California on Tuesday. It will take place in a courtroom at the college, and there will be a little reception afterwards. Mom and Don are driving down for it and a few other friends are coming. After that he just has to pay his dues to the Bar Association and that will be it! Oh. And find a job. After all the other hurdles, this last one seems manageable, even in this economy. I hope that's true.

M Passed the Bar

Bar results
Originally uploaded by suzipaw

Yes, you may address me as Mrs. Esq.

"Having a Tough Time Today"

That was M's email message to me today. We're down to the last few hours, people, and Bar results are on the brain. Period. In July, after he finished the exam, it felt like this day would never come. And of course the months flew by.

I haven't contributed to my novel much this past week. And I haven't been to the gym much, either. My excuse is that Bar exam thing weighing on me and my work days have been longer than ever, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow. At least the waiting will be over, even if the results aren't what we'd hoped for.

When I took Rex for a walk this evening as night was coming on, we had close encounters with not one but two owls, perched atop the old-fashioned style lampposts in the unfinished housing development. I took that as a good omen.

While he was out teaching tonight, I watched the movie version of "Sex and the City." I laughed. I cried. I always had an undercurrent of scorn for the TV show, much as I loved it. *My* days in New York, while vaguely similar, certainly were not that charmed. Not by a long shot. But the movie acknowledged aging and times changing, and I really appreciated that. And of course it made me miss New York and my youth terribly, so after the movie ended, I dug through a couple of old boxes of pictures, looking for a particular snapshot. It was of a Thanksgiving, fifteen years ago, that I spent with my three best friends. We were all single, happy working girls who spent a lot of time together, hoping to find our true loves. Kinda like the show. Not very humbly, we called ourselves the Awesome Foursome.

The Awesome Foursome
Originally uploaded by suzipaw

I spent quite a bit of time looking for the photo and was despairing of finding it, but I did, in the last stack.

Ah, how time flies.





Our friend Sean sent this photo, claiming that it supposedly resembles a pic I posted recently. As if! I will only say that he's very fortunate to have such a magnificent arboreal being as his neighbor.

A Mostly Photo Update

Guitar in fall
Originally uploaded by suzipaw

It's been freakishly beautiful weather. Hot--in the high 80s during the day and clear, gorgeous. I should try to get outside a bit today, but I do have this novel project, and M and I want to see Quantum of Solace--we figure a matinee will be less crazy than an evening. And cheaper.

So I just hit ten thousand words on my little romance novel project. Only a fifth of the way to the goal when I should be halfway, but I'm excited about breaking into five figures anyway. Time to start the French toast for Sunday brunch.

But before I go, a few more words and pix:

A friend of mine in the design group at work has been creating notebooks out of scrap paper and old record album covers. I dug out a box of unused stationery and picked up an attractive record at the library sale last month and he made this for me:
Sweet! I had him include a few envelopes for keepsakes.
More finished stuff from my glass class:
One more class next weekend, but I don't have much room left (she has limited space in her kiln, obviously, so all of our projects have to fit into a 20"x20" square) so not sure if I'll try to whip up some jewelry or focus on one last dish.

My glass teacher brought a huge box of paperwhite bulbs to class last weekend, so I've got several pots started. A fellow student reciprocated with naked lady bulbs yesterday, so another earth moving project is on the list.
I've been a felting fiend, though my projects are very small:

I still need to embellish them. Embroidery, beads, and buttons is the direction I'm headed there.

M is doing pretty well. Though he didn't sleep a wink last night. 6:00 p.m. on Friday is looming large. I must admit, it's about all I think about too. Thank goodness he's taken up the guitar, that has helped him quite a bit, I think.

OK, can't get the French toast out of my mind…

Status Report

Glass projects
Originally uploaded by suzipaw

I'm home, oh yay, with only vacation voyages planned for the rest of the year. The conference was a big success--one of the first where household names like Lance Armstrong and Al Gore spoke, which was exciting. But I'm really glad it's over.

I took it easy on Saturday, almost forgetting my glass class! But I made it and enjoyed picking up my first few projects and starting new ones. Later I watched TV, something I almost never do during the day (my excuse was catching up on The Wire, since M had gotten an episode ahead of me) while M was busy researching a case--doesn't that sound so lawyerly?--that he's taken on freelance. When he came home we had fun making a stir fry for dinner--M had been inspired by the flavor of hoisin sauce he'd had on his pork chop Friday night at the restaurant where we went out in celebration of my return and wanted to experiment more.

Yesterday I did work a little on my novel, but I'm woefully behind on my word count and so hope to do a lot of catching up this week. In the afternoon I picked up a friend I haven't seen for a while and we headed down to Julia's clothing swap, which was a particularly excellent one this year. I left with about the same amount of clothes that I came with, which wasn't much, so felt pretty good about that. I'm wearing a tshirt and sweater from the swap now, as a matter of fact. The pieces I chose all seemed to be black, gray, and red. Hm. It was great catching up with my friend too--she lives close, but we don't see each other much.

Finally, a big shout out to the love of my life. He's holding up well with just 11 days left before the Bar results are posted. But I want to note a wonderful thing that he did last week: we have a friend who heads up a county children's services department, and he had asked M to ask the dean of his law school about the possibility of setting up a clinic to help people (mostly grandparents or other relatives) navigate the adoption system so they could take legal responsibility for the children in their care. The dean never took M up on it, which was a little frustrating, but the college does have limited resources. But last week M was at a continuing ed meeting (all lawyers have to have them) with his new boss and a woman from Legal Aid was there to request support for their efforts. M approached her and told her about the county's need for the adoption clinic and put her in touch with our friend, and now it will hopefully come to fruition! I'm very proud of him. But also, a little saddened that it took such a random act to implement something so important.

Happy Election Night!

I should be NaNoWriMo'ing but of course I'm watching election coverage. And listening to the people of San Francisco cheering on the streets below. It's very exciting. I was beginning to think that I might never see anyone but a white man in the white house. And there could be many worse things than that, but it gives me hope that we'll be able to choose people for elected offices and all kinds of other roles based on qualities other than color. Or maybe even gender.

Obama's speech is in progress, and is lovely. McCain's concession speech was very gracious--I wonder if the outcome of this election might've been different if he had been that gracious about three months ago. (On a completely frivolous note, I'm disliking Mickey O's choice of dress for this occasion.)

I meant to blog about this earlier: While wandering the rain-slicked streets last night in search of good Thai food I witnessed one of my favorite sights ever--a young couple approaching each other and throwing themselves into each other's arms. I had the pleasure of seeing the scene repeated with another couple on the way back to the hotel, Thai food having been achieved. I do love love--maybe that's what inspired me to try my hand at a romance novel.

Happy Election Day!

View from the Palace, SF, November 2008
Originally uploaded by suzipaw

I'm glad it's here. It feels very historic. Probably because it is.

The weekend storm finally cleared and the morning is bright and fresh. Thank goodness for it, we really needed it. I'm in my beautiful room in the beautiful Palace Hotel in San Francisco. I got up very early this morning and have been meaning to contribute a little to my novel (I'm well into Chapter Two!) but work is trumping that. I couldn't get online last night, so am catching up. Listening to the election coverage as I go. I think we'll all be a little distracted with that today. OK, back to it…