The Road to Waco

Today, I was checking the weather on weather.com because I can’t stand it when it’s cold outside. I was hoping this cold front would go away, and it looks like it will soon. However, there was a fire warning blinking. I’ve seen these before in Austin where they basically say that weather is favorable to wild fires and just be careful generally. However, I was just curious so I clicked on it. This is what it said:

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED. A COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS… blahblahblah…  AVOID ALL OUTSIDE BURNING AND WELDING TODAY. …”

Wow.  Really?  I can’t weld outside today? Golly that just ruined my whole afternoon.

So I don’t really have time to post anything else today, but it’s just ridiculous. I just can’t have a normal day. Ever.
A little background for this story: my complex was working on the water lines for some odd reason. I didn’t ask, my water still worked, and I didn’t care. There was a lot of air in the lines, though.
I flushed the toilet right after this whole water line fixing situation, and I heard this loud BOOM. I just decided to ignore it and pretend nothing happened assuming it was just the air in the water lines. And everything was fine. This happened yesterday.
Two hours ago, I flush my toilet and water starts spewing over the tank. Not good.
So I pull the lid off the tank and start eyeballing it — as if I had any idea what I was doing. I always think I do because my dad is a plumber, but seriously, I have no idea. I decide the best way to figure out the problem is to flush the toilet again.
Very bad idea.
Water starts spraying all across the bathroom – the walls, the toothbrush, the mirror, me, the pug (who is just fascinated by this whole episode), rugs, etc. I figured out the problem, though. There’s a tiny hose that goes from the pump to this pvc pipe in the middle of the tank. This tiny hose is normally clipped to the pvc pipe. That BOOM was that clip breaking. And when you flush the toilet, water comes spewing out of this tiny hose at 30,000 mph like it’s trying to prove something.  So if this tiny hose isn’t clipped to the pvc pipe, it goes flying everywhere like the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man thing.
I clearly have no idea what’s going on, and this is beyond me at this point, so I call Dad. He tells me to just put a paper clip inside the hose and that should be sufficient to weigh it down enough to keep it inside the pvc pipe. Okay.
I put the paper clip in. Try my little flushing experiment again. Had to get the mop out. Again. At that point I decided I was going to Target and get some sort of tiny fishing weights to tie to the paper clip, or I was going to duct tape or glue the thing to the pvc pipe.
Dad said that was a bad idea. He says to tie it all together. That makes no sense to me what so ever. And it doesn’t matter anyway, because Target doesn’t have string. (Why I didn’t go to Wal-Mart to begin with, I have no idea. I’m not the brightest sometimes.)
The next best thing would be twisty ties. They don’t sell those either… at least not by themselves…
So, two loaves of bread and some tortillas later, I leave Target in hopes of being able to fix my toilet with three twisty ties.
(And by the way, I think Target is holding out on me with the Cadbury eggs. I know they’re out there. They just won’t sell them yet. And I don’t know why. It’s not right. I went through four months of Christmas, I think I deserve a creamy filled chocolate egg… but I digress.)
I get home and surprisingly manage to fix my toilet. I was kind of proud of myself. I will be eating toast and sandwiches and tortillas for a really long time, but I feel like I’ve accomplished something.
This is all probably karma kicking me in the butt because I was making fun of the guy who lived here before me who tied the toilet pump together with a washrag.
What goes around comes around, I guess.

I haven’t lost my mind yet, but the end is near I’m afraid.  It’s like I just can’t get ahead of things, and I feel like I’m doggy paddling in the middle of an Olympic race.

This week has been better so far. On Saturday, I decided on a whim to just get up and go to Austin.  I really think that helped keep my sanity (or what’s left of it anyway).  I like it here so far, though.  The people are nice, and most of my classmates are interesting and fun people.  The classes are great – though to be honest I really don’t know what’s going on in Contracts, and LARC assignments take me years to finish for some really strange reason.  Everything else seems to be working out okay, though.  As far as classes go, I’ve actually typed as part of an assignment the phrase “Top Ten Dumb Asses.”  That made my day.  As for notorious quotes thus far (since this is what 1Ls notoriously do, right? quote all their profs when they say something that’s actually funny?):

1. “French whore get back here!”

2.  Leather smells like the “scent of animal death” or “dead animal scent”.

3.  “Can anyone please tell me where my boom was sticking?”

4. “That cheap car. It doesn’t matter who presses its pedal, it still goes.   … I feel a little uncomfortable for saying that.”

5.  “Did you eat beans last night?” (the look on the prof’s face after he said this was priceless!)

And of course in CivPro, the first words out of the prof’s mouth were, “This class has no substance.” Then he chuckled. These are all a bit paraphrased, but pretty close to what was actually said if not exact. (We aren’t allowed to use laptops our first year so sometimes I can’t catch everything.  It’s awful.)  We’ve also had discussions regarding “spit wars” and “death taps.”  That same torts prof also started drawing on the floor/carpet with chalk today to help show us trespassing issues. Then I think he got a little carried away. It looked like hopscotch at the front of the classroom by the time class was over.

But honestly, it’s the beginning of week three, and it’s not too bad.  I’ve met some awesome people and maybe someone to do yoga with me.  I think I can handle everything.  Finals are another story, but I don’t want to worry about that yet.

It’s Day 4 of law school, and it feels like Week 4.  The classes have gotten better, my schedule seems to even out a bit as the week progresses, and I’m starting to feel a little more comfortable with how things are going to work around here.

I’ve had, however, a ridiculous amount of stuff happen in these past four days.  First, the whole contracts thing was crazy.  And it wasn’t 80 cases.  It was more like 20.  And she did ask us to turn in all our briefs in class.  But I survived.  Then my toilet flapper thing went out — aka my toilet was running pretty much nonstop.  Luckily my apartment complex is awesome, and they’ve been sending people to fix it (they’re actually in my apartment right now working on the 3rd attempt…).  Then I discovered I have no minutes left on my cell phone.  Thank goodness for Facebook and texting. Then there was a tornado.  Or at least something similar that made my walls shake, lights flicker, and dog freak out.  I think it also took off part of the roof in one apartment complex not far from here, and the stoplight near campus was messed up and turned sideways.

Then the kicker… as I was driving out of my apartment complex parking lot yesterday at about 7.42 AM, a guy backs right into my car while trying to back out of his parking spot.  He never looked to see if I was coming.  Thinking it was just a minor dent, we traded cell numbers, and I kept driving to class — stupid, stupid, stupid.  I know. I know.

When I got to campus, I realized it wasn’t just a dent.  In fact, there’s a ridiculous amount of damage to my car, and it’s going to likely cost a fortune.  Luckily the guy did call me later and gave me his insurance information (though it wasn’t until 11 or so that night).  So I made a claim with his insurance company, and now I have to deal with talking to an adjuster, getting my car fixed, getting a rental car, and figuring out where I can park without a parking tag on top of everything else.

I did manage to buy a Baylor Law tshirt yesterday, and I’m signed up for one of the softball teams.   Assuming I can manage to not lose my mind by tomorrow, I’m going to be okay this quarter.

But tomorrow is Friday the 13th.  Great.

I look more pathetic right now than I ever have in my entire life. I literally just looked in the mirror, jumped a smidge, then laughed at myself. It’s that bad. I feel sorry for my classmates during PC, because it’ll be scary.  I’m not one to freak out, and I’m not yet.  I’m just a little irritated.  I’m taking a break to eat popcorn and make sure I still have some sanity left… classes haven’t even started yet.

If classes haven’t started yet, then why on earth would I be so stressed?  That’s because of my contracts class.  The professor assigned about 130 pages of reading, and wants us to brief everything before class tomorrow.  Well, we don’t really know what we’re doing.  To be honest, I don’t want to brief 80 something cases wrong and have to do it all over again.  She plans on giving us the reading assignment every Friday for the following week.  That’s great, but it’s not really broken down into days, so she expects to have it all done on the Monday.

It’s only a few months, so it’s not the end of the world.  I just had hoped not to be kicked in the face before I even got to class.  I should’ve known.

Well, there’s no turning back now, so I should get back to Contracts.  Hopefully I’ll at least be able to sign up for a softball team tomorrow… if I have time to go outside ever.

It’s here.  I’ve finally moved in and managed to unpack most of my things.  I really really like my apartment (especially now that the carpet doesn’t smell and everything is organized and decorated).  It’s going to take me a little while to get used to everything, but I think I’m going to like it here.  I do miss Austin, but it hasn’t really hit me yet.  I still feel like I’m just going through the motions.  I’m not really stressed or anxious about anything.  I did just finish buying textbooks at a whopping $555 or so.  That was fun.  Lots of fun.

Regardless, moving here wasn’t half as bad as I anticipated.  I hate moving more than anything.  My friend S came to help, and my dad and stepmother were in town with the U-Haul.  As soon as my parents got in town, we went to pick up the couch that I had bought from my friend B (actually it was a friend of hers who was selling the couch).  She told me it was super light – she and her friend moved it to the second story themselves – and it was in great shape and super comfy.  So I said I’d buy it, even though I didn’t really know much about it.  It was a couch, and it matched my dog, so I figured it was perfect.  She also offered to store the couch for me until I moved.  Well that day had come, and I showed up at her house to pick up the couch to discover she is the STRONGEST WOMAN ON EARTH.  I am now the proud owner of the heaviest couch on the planet.  I have no idea how she managed to help her friend get this couch up to the second floor by themselves.  When I discovered this, I panicked a little because I wasn’t sure who was going to help us to the 3rd floor in Waco.

Well, after we managed to get the giant super couch into the U-Haul, we finished stuffing the trailer with all my junk and headed to Waco.  We got there around dinner time, so we decided to drop off the pug, unpack my car, and go get dinner.  After doing so, on the way down the stairs, my downstairs neighbor opened the door and asked if we were moving.  I said yes and introduced myself.  Then he offered to help.  I almost cried.

My neighbors downstairs are the nicest people in the world.  They helped us move everything into my apartment.  I felt a bit odd when they first started unloading the trailer, however.  The first three things they pulled out of it were a hula hoop, my fairy wings (from a Halloween costume), and a pot that had  a stick in it with no dirt.  Yes, I’m weird… but I’m not really that weird.  I had good reasons for all three items, but it was  still a bit awkward when they were like, “ahh.. hmm… cool?”  I’ve talked to them since the move, and they’re super nice and fun to hang out with.  It was nice to feel like I already knew someone when I moved in, though.  My friend John also helped move the giant couch, so it ended up not being quite the nightmare I was expecting.  There was one issue, though.

My first night in Waco actually ended up being another night in Austin.  My friend S helped me move, but she rode in my car up to Waco to help us unload everything.  I had to also bring her back once we were done, so I ended up staying in Austin while my parents stayed in my apartment that first night.  When I got back the next morning, my stepmom had already unloaded almost everything in the kitchen and had all the boxes sorted out.  My dad decided they would stay an extra day and ended up buying a rod and reel and tried to fish in the river behind my apartment.  He didn’t have much luck, but at least there’s some incentive for him to come visit more often.

I’ll have pictures of my new apartment soon.  It has vaulted ceilings and everything fits pretty well.  I am having shoe issues, though.  I have too many, apparently.  And not enough closet, so I’m still trying to figure that part out.  As much as I’ve loved my past roomies, I’m really really glad to have my own place again.  It is a bit boring right now since I don’t have much to do other than unpack and redecorate , though.

I’m going back to Austin this weekend to pick up my mail, my bike, and maybe watch a movie or two with some friends.  I really hope I can visit on occasion, but I’m really not sure how often that will actually happen.  It seems like setting short term deadlines for myself and trying to keep a stable social life would work best for me, but we’ll have to see.  I’m not sure how to deal with not working, either.  I’ve worked all through undergrad and full time for the past year and a half.

At any rate, things seem to be going well, and I do feel like I have some good friends here already.   Orientation is Wednesday, so tomorrow I’m just going to sit around and do nothing and sleep.  Everything seems to be ready to go, so hopefully this will work out.