This weekend was fabulous. Actually, this whole past week was pretty much awesome... Then again, I think anyone whose school week was shortened to but three days of classes would say so. Monday was Labor Day so we had no school and it was great. What was even greater was me putting off all of my assignments til Monday night so that I had to pull an all-nighter and go to class on Tuesday running off of 15 minutes of slumber, a Coke Zero, and then eventually a sugar-free Red Bull. Note to self: stop procrastinating.
Thursday I went to Crim in the morning and then had Civ Pro at 2:30. I was sitting in class, thoroughly enjoying Professor Brooks's enthusiastic comments about Hart, Sacks, and Legal Process, when at about 3:40 the power in the room shut off. Everyone got a little rowdy for a couple minutes, but the power soon after came on and no one really thought much about it. But oh... should we have. Little did we know that the little power incident in Civ Pro was actually a manifestation of the beginning of the MASSIVE power outage that covered all of San Diego. I guess some guy screwed up at the power plant in Arizona and caused a massive blackout that extended to Tijuana, Orange County, and Arizona. I wasn't really aware of this epidemic until I hopped into my little car after class and headed onto the street, where traffic was absolutely horrific. I was playing in a softball game that night and needed to buy a softball mitt, so I had set out for Play It Again Sports which, mind you, is 3.8 miles away from campus. To be exact. But how long did it take me to make it to the store, folks? 1 HOUR AND 30 MINUTES. Granted, I did get onto the 5 South instead of the 5 North initially which I had to fix... But still. It was horrible.
So I finally make it to the stupid store and pick out a mitt, go to pay, and discover I can't even buy the stupid thing because the store can only take cash considering there is absolutely no power to fuel the credit card machines. Does Audrey carry cash on her? No. So, I set off to find an ATM when I realize oh wait... no ATM will be working either! So basically the trip to Play It Again Sports ended up being a complete waste of time. What's worse is that I mostly went to that particular store because its in Pacific Beach... and there is also a Yogurtland in PB and I had been craving nothing more than Yogurtland up to that point in the day. But alas, no electricity = no frozen yogurt. I was so upset I was forced to dive into the emergency stash of cookies I keep in my glove box as I was stuck in even more traffic on the drive back to my apartment. Don't worry, our diet starts tomorrow.
I finally got back to my place at around 6, and I was nervous I was going to be late for the game at 7, so I quickly got dressed, ran to Sports Authority (they somehow were able to take credit card purchases), got my mitt, and then was about to head to campus at 6:45 when wait! Let's check Audrey's phone... SOFTBALL GAME CANCELLED DUE TO POWER OUTAGE. Ah, lovely. So, long story short (too late), I wasted three hours of my day searching for sports equipment for a game that didn't even end up occurring. I was in a pretty good mood after that. Especially when I went to campus and found out the library would be closing at 8pm. I was forced to finish my homework in Warren Hall, which usually smells like a toilet. So, it was fun.
There are some positives to this day, however. Let's review.
Positive #1--I was able to take a study break by enjoying dinner and a candle-lit game of Jenga with my roommate and some people from her section. That was actually fun.
Positive #2--The cookies in my glove box were delicious.
Positive #3--Because I had no electricity at my apartment, I was forced to stay on campus to use the printers there to print out my due-the-next-morning-assignment (USD's generators are fabulous.). And because the LRC closed at 8 and I was still in need of a printer, I was forced to text this guy in my section--let's call him Mr. 31--who had a functioning printer. And because I had to use Mr. 31's printer, I got to hang out with Mr. 31 all night. And for the record, let's just say that that was a very good thing.
Positive #4--Classes on Friday were cancelled. Three cheers for three day weekends!
So, the black out didn't turn out to be completely terrible. I think I could survive another one. Especially now that I have learned my lesson regarding having cash on hand.
Friday I did some errands and then went out with Mr. 31 and company to the Bar Review in PB. It was actually really fun... especially because its always really funny seeing your classmates get shwasted. Saturday morning I woke up early (too early... 4 hours of sleep I think is what I got?) and drove to Spring Valley where I was volunteering at this thing called the Home Clinic with my friend Logan for the Pro Bono Club on campus. Basically, because the housing market is so terrible, HOC puts on a free clinic where people can go and get legal advice regarding what to do with the problems they are having with their homes, bankruptcy, foreclosure, etc. So Logan and I checked in, got some fancy name tags, and kind of sat around and observed everything. I was also pretty stressed out pre-arrival because again I got on the wrong freeway on my way there. I swear, someday I will just have a driver. Anyway, we got to meet a couple bankruptcy lawyers and sit in as they helped some individual cases, but other than that it was pretty low-key. Here are Father Logan and I looking official in our business (casual) wear:
Even though the thing was not really very hands-on, it was still nice to see the good side of lawyers that people like to pretend doesn't exist. It was very re-affirming to see all of these lawyers devoting their time to working with the people involved in these terrible housing predicaments. People always say that lawyers are shady people, but what I saw on Saturday was anything but that. There was just so much service and compassion--and it was a good reminder of what it really is that I'm working towards as a law student and what the work of a lawyer is really intended to be. Every so often, especially when you get caught up in the competitive side of law school, it's good to be brought back and centered. Saturday morning--even though I was still exhausted from the night before--was worthwhile because of that.
After coming home and napping, I woke up, did some grocery shopping, and then headed on over to Mr. 31's parents' mansion with my roommate where there were tons of people watching college football. I've always considered myself a UCLA fan, but man was it great to see USC beat Utah. It almost made it OK that BYU lost to Texas. Almost. After football was over, I spent the rest of the night hanging out and losing bets with Mr. 31 until I finally went home and hit the hay.
I liked this past week...even despite the shortcomings and disappointments. I'm realizing I really, really love San Diego. But even more so I'm realizing that when everything goes dark there is still always light somewhere. And thanks to the generators at USD, this week I found plenty of it.
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