I baked cookies last night. I don't know why. I shouldn't eat them. Needed to redeem myself after the horrible cupcake fail of last week (finally threw those away).

They're good though. Trying to forget I made them or they'll disappear quickly.

This post is a shameless attempt of self ego boosting. Don't read it if you're not in the mood for that.

But I got the invitation for my ten year high school reunion, which has thrown me into one of those "what have I don't with my life" spirals.

So I've been going through things that I've done in the last ten years. Somehow it doesn't seem as bad.

• Graduated undergrad with two degree
• Lobbied several members of congress about environmental issues 
• Was an environmental activist 
• Published two academic articles 
• Was thanked in the liner notes of a Phantom Planet album
• Learned how to sail
• Learned a language
• Studied abroad in Italy the summer they won the World Cup
• Attended a Hollywood premiere and walked on the red carpet 
• Visited the DMZ 
• Interned at the Washington DC Greenpeace offices 
• Led a group to Louisiana for Hurricane Katrina relief volunteer work
• Met Scott Bakula 
• Visited twenty countries and eleven states that I'd never been to before. 
• Graduated law school
• Was editor in chief of my law journal 
• interned at the two non-profit orgs that made me want to go to law school to do IP (Creative Commons and EFF) 
• Attended an administrative law class taught by Justice Scalia 
• Passed the California state bar 
• Ate at French Laundry and met Thomas Keller 
• Met Rick Steves
• Met Stan Lee 
• Met Chris 

Maybe I could have done more, but I can't say that's bad for ten years. I also have a little under five months to add some cool stuff to that list.

The game today was a mess.

Not a great end to the Quakes' run this season, but they did put out an entertaining season. And they handled their loss with class, unlike the Galaxy who through hissy fits each time they were unable to beat the Quakes.

It doesn't feel like that long ago that I sat in my little apartment in the Tower, pretending to read for whatever classes I had the next day while glued to my TV set. I remember being both elated that Obama won and utterly disappointed that Prop 8 had succeeded.

Things looked so grim the last few weeks, so the results tonight (at least for the presidential election) mean I can breathe a sigh of relief. And it makes me even happier to see that multiple states have voted to allow same sex marriage. Maybe times they are a changing? In any case, here's to another four years.

Was going to be productive and then got distracted by my quest of figuring out which Broadway show to see...it looks like it's still going to be next to impossible to see Book of Mormon, so I'm thinking Newsies or Once.

And there's always that Spiderman mess...

Time well spent indeed.

You can't take the IP geek out of me. Nope. Not all. Not when articles such as this send you into IP geek rage because it says it's about surprising copyrights and none of them are actually about copyrights. The rest are trademarks and patents. One item on the list says it's about copyright, but it's about patents. Blaaargh.

Take a breath and remember that it's only a Cracked article.

Hah.

Today's first world problems: trying to sync stuff onto my tablet's Kindle app. Got that Humble eBook bundle that came out today and while it's letting me sync the books to my phone, it won't deliver them to my tablet. Guh. Guess I'll have to do it manually.

Like I said, first world problems.

Oh also, due to some strange addiction to meatballs that I've developed over the last few months, I've been trying to perfect my recipe. Well, mark October 8, 2012 on your epic calendars because I think I've finally accomplished it.

I think I said it before, but it's been a very long time since I've listened to an album on repeat as much as I've been listening to JJAMZ. I'm not sure what it is. It's a great album, but better albums have honestly come out in the last few years. I guess they manage to capture my college music nostalgia while giving me some good new music to listen to. It seriously is a perfect hybrid of all the music I listened to back in college. Also it's catchy. Also Alex Greenwald.

Over the years, I've accumulated a ton of books that I got from sales or wherever you get books and they have have stacked up and sadly remain unread. You can't really say there are many benefits to having a long commute, but it does give me a lot of free time to read again. I have a long list of relatively new books that I want to get to read, but I'm making myself go through books I already have...or at least plow through two or three before buying a new one. I finished a Paul Theroux book that I'd been working on off and on since April. Now, I'm reading Confederacy of Dunces, which I bought some time during high school and never finished. Don't understand why I couldn't get through it back then. It's kind of hilarious.

Apparently I've been doing the Eowyn Challenge for over a year now. In that time, I've logged 276 miles. 61% of the trip to Rivendell. Not been jogging or walking as much as biking has become my "i don't want to go to the gym today" exercise of choice these days. Still, that's 276 miles and over 86 hours of walking time that could have been on the couch.

Amanda Palmer is so cool. Loving her new album.

It's actually been a while since I've listened to an album as much as I've been listening to this JJAMZ album.

JJAMZ. Glad I went to see them. At least I get some dose of Phantom Planet. Still been on sulk mode since skipping the reunion show a couple of months back. Also, JJAMZ makes some pretty catchy music. More on that later.

It's been a good weekend. Did a run, hung out with friends, hung out with family. Watched the Quakes continue their hot streak. Ate too much.

All in all, a good weekend.

Hah. Three weeks in a row of kickboxing. Let's hope this is the start of a streak.

I started the year with my usual good intention of trying to finish 50 books within the year. I started the year off well, and therefore thought I had read more than eleven books. Bah.

Guh. The MLS disciplinary committee could have at least suspended Bernardez before the week's fantasy lineup decisions were due. How inconsiderate.

I've been trying to cut back on processed and grainy carbs and it's been driving me nuts. All I want is a bowl full of noodles. :(

Haven't completely abandoned them. I know I'd truly go crazy if I did. Saving them for weekends and/or special mid-week foodie nights. 

Almost ten years later and sometimes the most effective remedy is listening to Miggs.

Also got tickets to see them in October.

Eee!

Swamp Thing.

OMG. Just bought a sick SLR.  So excited!

Was talking to Yumi earlier today and realized that I've spent much of my time since March in a constant state of fangirl. Wonder if that's why I've been so tired lately.

Or maybe it's because I don't get enough sleep.

I don't know.

Watching Fever Pitch (the British original) right now. I would have read the book, but I don't know what I've done with my copy. Wasn't into soccer when I read it the first time around. Mostly read the book out of Nick Hornby loyalty. I need to reread it. I'm finding myself associating with a lot of Colin Firth's antics in this movie to a disturbing degree.

The book was a lot better though. The movie doesn't quite translate the obsession he writes about in the book.

Ended up doing cleaning and sorting through old stuff from undergrad that I have yet to toss. It was an interesting experience. Binders of research on copyright law for my honors thesis. That was kind of cool. Found my portfolio that I used for all my CalPIRG organizing AND some phone bank cards. Wonder what things would have been like if I had pursued campaign organizing as a career. Probably would have ended up going to law school eventually anyway.

Looking back at that stuff really reminded me that I was meant to do policy stuff. Just need to figure out how to get myself there.

Still don't quite understand my recent obsession with beets.

Happy Independence Day.

Want to go for a run or go outside or something.

I bought a new app for my phone last week called Zombies, Run! It's been out on iPhones for a while, but it took them a while to release it for Android. It's your basic standard running app, except they turn it into a game in which you are running from zombies. I finished the first mission today. Kind of nerve wrecking, but also kind of awesome. I actually took it out on a test run on Saturday, but accidentally stopped the mission right before I finished it. I also burned myself out because I was running faster than I'm used to so I could get away from the "zombies." Yup. This will be a fun experience.

This whole fantasy EuroCup business has made us all very awkward. We heard the people behind us in the sangria line at a Yelp event talk about their fantasy league and we pounced on them. Yup. Fantasy soccer has added a whole new level of geekiness to my life.

Lesson of the day: read the rules of the fantasy league you're in before you start. That applies to most things, really.

I try not to have a sense of entitlement when it comes to anything. Sometimes I wonder if I should, at least with the job search. Perhaps going into interviews with the mindset that I should get the job instead of thinking that I'd be lucky to get the job would give me the drive and/or push I need. Maybe. Maybe it's just a confidence thing.

Ice cream. Tequila. Buffy. If they are all good remedies for a sore throat, then they should trump all colds when put together. Right?

I've been obsessed with cooking meatballs. I mean, if you make it with lean meats and eat it with vegetables and not carbs, they're not all that bad for you. I might set out on a quest to either perfect a meatball recipe or to see how many international meatball dishes I can conjure up. We'll see what happens. Today's meatballs were accompanied by beet salad and some baked eggplant. I forgot how much I love cooking Italian food.

How did I survive the late 90s and the boy band era without YouTube? I was at the mercy of TRL and the century it would take to download the music videos over a dial-up connection.

So, I've been into this website called Gogobot. It's like Yelp, except it's more focused on travel. I was addicted to it a couple of months ago to the point that I was always on it. Lately, I've been a little too busy for it. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant surprise when I received an invite to become a Gogobot Pro about a month ago. When they asked for my address to send swag, I was expecting some stickers and the like.

What I got was much cooler.

I got some buttons, which I thought was pretty standard in terms of swag. They are adorable, though.

I got a pretty swank luggage tag that I will definitely be attaching to my Rick Steves backpack.

I got a gogobot water bottle. Can't have enough water bottles. This one's also small enough for me to carry around.

The best part of my package of gogobot swag, however was my REI daypack. It's so nice! I only wish I had it a year ago, but I'm sure it's going to accompany me on the hikes that I try to take (and always fail at).

In other words, we pros are treated pretty well. Now I feel bad that I haven't had much time to review on that site! Did just sign up to go to their South Bay party, though. Was going to go to the one a couple of weeks ago in SF, but I had other last minute plans.

Let's just replace all fatty foods with pineapples and strawberries. Life would be sweet.

Remember when I said at the beginning of the year that I'd be reading 50 books this year? Yeah, I don't think that's happening. I've been stuck on a book that's surprisingly not the next of the Song and Ice and Fire books that I need to finish. I think I made it to about ten books so far. Save for some sort of reading miracle, don't think it's going to happen.

Never say never, though.

Need to start making myself go to bed earlier, especially since this week has been relatively low key (so far at least). Midnight isn't necessarily an early bedtime, but it kind of is for me.

Baby steps.

Drawing a blank. Sat down at around 9 to send out two cover letters. One went out fine. Having problems with this second one several hours later. Might just put it off until tomorrow.

I don't know if it's the real Mario Balotelli that I've been following on Twitter. If it is, I hope I can someday thank the person who introduced him to it. It's been one of the more entertaining Twitter feeds I've followed in a while. 

Now that I've been blogging semi-regularly on Music & Jjigae and because that blog is such a crap shoot, it's been fun following what's drawn people to the blog. So far, the most popular one has been my Rick Steve's post, but I routinely get people coming to the site from a review I did of Mama's restaurant in SF in 2010. The one I posted last night got a couple of hits from Benedict Cumberbatch searches, which I find moderately entertaining.

Speaking of which, I think the insult "butt" should go back in style. It's so delightfully pre-teen.

I must say, however, I have two favorites. There's some search in Russian, which I imagine has to be related to the Russia picture that I posted at some point. The best one is that because I did a concert review of a New Pornographers show at some point, I got a hit for pornographic images. 

I hate how good fries are. Why can't they taste bad? Life would be so much easier if they did.

I saw a live scoring of Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle shorts last night. Scored by Tune-Yards. It was kind of awesome. Those old films were so funny. So much fun and the Castro Theater is gorgeous.

Happy Earth Day.

I excitedly started telling Chris earlier today about how nice things because it's been a year since I had to worry about finals.

Then, I remembered that I've spent the whole last week freaking out and hustling to get this programming final done, working, and turned in.

Guess times haven't changed.

In any case, I'm done now. Yay! One less thing to worry about.

Still doing that Eowyn's Challenge thing, but I hadn't entered three entries. These days, I only am really able to do walk/runs/hikes 2 or 3 times a week. The other days are doing weights at the gym, elliptical, walking the treadmill, or doing whatever exercise comes to mind. Sometimes swimming.

In any case, apparently I hit the 200 mile mark some time last week. For reference in the book, I'm somewhere in the Marshes. I don't know. Am in some stretch of the book where they do a lot of camping. I think one of the next big highlights is Sam singing a song. I think it's going to be another 100 miles before anything interesting happens again.

Whoever keeps on setting off fireworks in this area really needs to stop. I have to console the brave dog every time this happens.

Being that I've had generally good experiences meeting celebrities and/or people I idolize, I was kind of disappointed to find out that Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) was kind of a butt.

I actually got myself to go kickboxing today. It hurts. I'm sore. And I looked so gross leaving the gym. Yet, somehow, I feel great. I should do this more often.

Why did it take me so long to start listening to the Magnetic Fields? Bought their most recent album on a whim and I think I'm in love.

April Fool's. I know it happens every year, but I fall for something every year. I never fail to fall for at least the first few items on the EFF's April Fools newsletter. I also kind of want the fake thing that Google comes up with every year. This year was some Google multitask feature.

Arms are also sore because of an hour of playing Just Dance 3 yesterday.

Time for gardening with Chris.

If you donate at least $30 to Mozilla right now, you get a shirt. I've been a big Mozilla fan since 2004, not just because I like their browser, but also because of the ideology behind the organization. It's just taken me forever to do something about it. I guess now I have a t-shirt to show how much of a fan I am. Yay!

Finished the programming midterm around ten last night. I guess it was partially my fault for not checking, but a reminder even on Saturday evening would have made me start it a tad bit earlier. So dumb. On the other hand, in that panic induced programming fest, I realized that I've retained a lot more knowledge about programming than I thought I had.

I've got a lot of things going on these days. For some reason, the fact that I don't have an actual legal job means that I think I can pile on endless other activities. They are all doubt fun and rewarding, but they keep me so busy. I don't think I got to bed before 2 at all last week. Trying to change that this week, but who knows if that'll happen. Well tonight instead of working on the proposal I'm supposed to write up, I sent out a really cool job app, did my second round of author edits, fixed up privacy law blog post that's going up in the am and did some work on a pro bono case that I've taken on. Actually, you know what? I actually got stuff done with this proposal as well. I guess I'm just awesome like that. Maybe.

Hm. Apparently I have a programming midterm due at midnight tonight. ...Way to drop a ball.

Earthquakes are hosting a 5k/10k. Might give me an actual goal to train for with my running. And the proceeds go to charity. Even better.

It's annoying that I can spit out random blog posts like this one at the drop of a hat, but the blog post that I've been working on re: privacy the last few days hasn't made as much progress as I would like.

I've been trying to make myself cook more these days. Every week Mia and I have a cooking night. Last week we made Thai red curry with coconut rice. Tonight, I made a healthy carbonara dish. Definitely not as good as the real thing, but it didn't come out too bad. And I have lunch tomorrow.

Do I add two time guest star on the Geekbox to my author bio for my article? It only seems fitting when my first contribution to legal academia is a paper on the World of Warcraft.

Speaking of MLS, we've been inspired by the show The League to make a fantasy MLS league. It's driving us all mad. I have teams going on two different websites. My team is absolutely beautiful on one website, but the one that counts isn't quite right. It's driving me nuts.

The MLS season is just around the corner....

Saturday can't come soon enough.

According to the fortune cookie that I got today, something exciting will happen three months from now. Noting it now. Let's see what May 22, 2012 has in store for me.

Wow. It takes so much more out of me to write a serious blog post than a goofy one.

Fan girl time...

I met Rick Steves!!



I wrote about it more at the other blog.

About a month and a half into the new year and I've accomplished some portions of my new year resolutions. Some of them. At seven books. Been blogging and writing Yelp reviews. Working on the diet part...other than Indian buffets with Yumi and late night trips to In-n-Out on Valentine's Day. Was on Geekbox again. Yup. Good stuff.

My muscles are still in recovery from an intense workout on Thursday evening. Think I may have to tone it down a bit next time I decide to make it out to the gym. Could barely go down stairs on Friday and it hurt (still hurts, actually) to sit down on the couch.

It was a good workout routine, though.

Okay a little over one month into the new year, and I've made some progress on the book front. Even finished one of the Song of Ice and Fire books (Huzzah).

So far I've got:

1. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
2. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
3. A Storm of Swords - George R. R. Martin
4. Marco Polo Didn't Go There - Rolf Potts

Had kind of mixed feelings about the final book of the Hunger Games trilogy, but haven't been disappointed by the rest of the books that I've read so far this year. It's kind of a good mix. Maybe not. Three Sci Fi/Fantasy and one Travel. Hah.

Just about done with Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk, so that would be number five. I know I was obsessed with him in college, but I think I might shut the door on that obsession. This book was kind of different from his others in that it was utterly unreadable. Nevertheless, I'm still trying to decide if I want to read the other books that he's released in the last few years or whether I should just have a literary break up with him. It may take the end of the book to decide this.

I haven't read a Chuck Palahniuk book in forever, but that's what I picked up from the library today. Miggs is doing some sort of book club type thing so I figured I'd give it a shot. We'll see. Kind of want to finish Storm of Swords first. Only a hundred pages left. Sooo close.

So there's a Bay Area Travel show at the Santa Clara Convention Center in a couple of weeks. I'm not really planning on going anywhere soon, but Rick Steves is giving multiple talks at the event, so guess who's going. Glad I put off buying the tickets too because it was the Living Social deal today. Now I need to get a non-ebook copy of Travel as a Political Act so that he can sign it.

I would say that it's been a while since I've been this excited about seeing someone talk, but I just saw Neil Gaiman at WonderCon last year. And then Justice Scalia before that.

Anyway, I'm super excited.

Oh yeah and I got tickets to the Phantom Planet reunion, but it's a midweek show so I have no idea whether I am going to be able to make it to that. I hope I can.

The rain was crazy intense last night. I couldn't even walk a block in SF without getting soaked.

I know I write about this a lot, but whatever. You're still reading this for some reason or another. Anyway, I hit 115 miles in the Eowyn Challenge thing. Not that exciting of a jump considering the last time I posted at it was like a month ago, but the holidays and being sick got in the way, so whatever. If you correspond it with the book, I'm at one of those boring scenes where Frodo sings. So that's what's going on, world.

yay happy birthday to me. I finally was able to drag Chris to the speakeasy style bar in downtown SJ that I've been meaning to go to for a long time. Success!

I've also managed to post to Music & Jjigae two days in a row. Success.

Speaking of success, let's finally roll out those New Years resolutions. Hopefully, I will be successful with these this year:

1. Write more. It can be Yelp. It can be blogging. It needs to be something. I like writing. Of course, I do. I've entered a field where writing is a necessity. I need to do more of it. It's fun and it's a great way for me to let out steam.

2. Find a job. This probably should be number one. It's going to be really sad if I end 2012 without a job, so I'm just going to take succeeding at this one as a given.

3. Lose weight. I was looking at pictures from Italy in 2006. They made me sad, but maybe that's enough to give me the kick in the butt I need.

4. Read 50 books. Yeah, I know. I think this makes my list every year. Whatever. I've gotten the last two books of the Hunger Games Trilogy under my belt so far, so I guess that makes for a good start.

5. Finish the Song of Ice and Fire series. Or at least what Martin's written of the series. Completing both this resolution and #4 might be difficult because it takes me forever to get through these books. We'll see.

6. Save More Money. Seems pretty self-explanatory. Have loans to contend with now, so no more silly expenditures.

7. Play more soccer. Playing soccer with Chris was one of my favorite study breaks this summer. I tried to do some of Chris's pick up games with him, but it was awkward being the only girl playing and being essentially ignored. It's great exercise, though, so I imagine that accomplishing this can help me in accomplishing #3. You see, these are all tied together somehow.

8. Brush up on Italian and Korean. My Korean hasn't diminished over the years, but my Italian sure has. This last trip with Nonny and Nonno was almost embarrassing.

9. Spend more time outside. I was told by my doctor last year that I have crazy low levels of Vitamin D. Of late, I've taken to more walks and jogs and than gym trips, but I still think I'm due for more fresh air in my life. I'm going to try to take my dad hiking once a week (or two weeks depending on his England/Japan schedules).

10. Do more trivia nights. I'm such a trivia geek. I need to unleash that more often and maybe win sometime. I want some of those wine gift bags they give out at the Brit!

First post of the new year. I'm ringing in the new year with a wicked cold. I caught it from Gianni I think. The trip was fun, albeit there was some tension and stress at different times. I guess you have to expect as much when you're gathering 22 people on a cruise ship for a week. All in all, though, it was fun. And now I am sick. I was fine until Halmony called out of the blue while we were road tripping through Texas to ask how I was feeling. I wasn't even sick then, but pretty much everyone else was. Bleh. Oh well. Ate a lot of good food. Southern food is so good and, for that reason, I'm glad I don't live in the south. Job search is still going, but hopefully I'll find something soon.

My birthday is coming up. Can't believe I'm almost 27. I feel so old.