steelers

Steelers were a bit disappointing last night. Ben didn't look too great, and their offense wasn't moving the ball at all. I think our offense is our biggest weakness this year, especially our running game. And if we can't get anywhere on the ground, I don't we'll be able to pass much either.
Defense was great though, really held together even though it got little rest and had to deal with two turnovers.
I still have hope that when Ben gets healthy our passing game will be better, but I'm not sure how our running game can really improve with who we have on the sidelines.

lehrer

in his interview with Bill Frist, R-TX, says:

"Lemme make sure I understand what you're saying, Senator Frist, you're saying that the Democrats are waiving the white flag to the terrorists, and are surrendering? That's what they want to do?"

AH!
Granted, Lehrer's has the requisite incredulity that I would find appropriate in response to Frist's comments, but man. I just can't believe that such blatantly inflammatory and inaccurate rhetoric is being tossed around these days. Does anyone want to waive the white flag to the terrorists? Come on, now!

student council, identity

I got elected to the 'student council' here, which is nice. I'm not really sure what kind of power the body has, but I'm more than willing to do all I can.
Also, a side-effect of seeing my peace corps friend recently was to throw my identity into question. I mean, just six months ago I was a completely different person: alone in a small village, working eight hours a day, spending almost all of my time alone, and pretty much lost as to who I was. Now, well, I at least project an image of being more-or-less put-together, although I guess if you look close enough you see the remnants of my past, maybe.
So, part of me wonders how stable and/or permanent the 'new' me is. I guess a lot of who we are depends on our context, and from that perspective the new me is in some sense here to stay. But might pieces of my history start showing more clearly? Only time will tell.

it's so early

Class is starting, 8:15, come on now.
I feel better than I imagined I would. Went out and met some Peace Corps Volunteers in San Francisco, ate at this amazing veggie restaurant, Greens. So great. One of the best meals I've eaten in a long time (excluding Indian food, which is in kind of its own category for me).
Great conversation too. It was the first time since I've gotten back from El salvador that I've seen a volunteer, and it bought back some memories, bad and good. It's weird how much my relation to them was based on our common experience in El Salvador. I only know them in that context; 'us' in the states is a completely different entity. Still a nice one, of course, but I wasn't expecting our relationships to be so different. But I guess it makes perfect sense...

update

Law school's going pretty well, I must say. It reminds me of the peace corps in that it's pretty much impossible to know what you're getting into when you join, so to some extend it's a matter of chance as to whether you end up in a place you like or not. And, in that respect, I feel that I've gotten pretty lucky.

Another reason that I feel relatively lucky is that I'm either ok or happy with (almost) all of my professors. Needless to say, many have been less fortunate. For me though, I feel blessed. I can stick with most of my profs, find them pretty interesting.
Activities haven't started up yet, and that should both be really interesting and maybe make life more stressful. We'll have to see how that goes...

one week down

So, first week is done. My reflections: first couple of days was really tough. Readings, scary classes, intense classmates. Then I broke out. Just tried to step back, take it easy, talk to some good friends. I'm feeling great now, but am also wary of these emotional swings.
I'm at my auntie's house now, and it's soso nice to be off campus. Also, it's wonderful to be with close family, as opposed to alone or with basically strangers on Stanford campus. I've even gotten a fair amount of work done here so far (and a delicious meal).
Not sure about other thoughts. I want to hold off any judgments about law school for a while. People say that the learning curve is steep; I've already felt that I read cases a million times better than I did before this week.
Oh yea, working out is still going fine. Been getting out every morning pretty much. And got a bike (which is scary to ride) so that I'll have a couple more minutes in the morning to get ready.
So, I hope to keep this blog up. Should happen.

moving in

So I spent hours today cleaning my room/finishing moving in. It took a long time, it wasn't fun. But the place is so different now. I guess I knew it would be, which is what motivated me to clean it up. I spend a lot of time in my room because I study here, and so it was really important for me to have a clean place.
So anyway, let's hope that we can keep it this way...

good times

So, classes start tomorrow. Big day I guess. We'll see how it goes.
Orientation has been pretty great. As I think I said before, these people are smart. So articulate, very skilled in argumentation. It makes me think and take my beliefs to a higher, deeper level, even though at times I want to just believe as I do without looking too close.
As fun as it has been though, I can completely see how the experience can/will be isolating. Especially work. It's hard, slow stuff. And even though everyone else is going through it at the same time, you're the only one in your own head.

orientation

Yesterday was the first day of orientation, and I must say that I'm pretty excited/optimistic about the whole endeavor. The people here are so smart. I mean, I've always been around people that are smarter than me, but never so many that are so much smarter. I feel truly blessed that I stopped defining myself by how 'relatively smart' I was, because by those standards I'd be feeling like a runt at this point.
At the same time, I am trying my darndest to keep my head on straight. As somewhat of a Buddhist, I think that we ought not get caught up in joys or sorrows; both have their time, both come and go, and we must remain calm and composed throughout. So, I recognize that there are some good things happening, more or less, right now, but still, I'm trying not to hype it up.
I also worked out this morning, weight workout. Went very well. Gym was pretty empty, but that very well may change once the undergrads get here. I hope that by hitting it at opening time (6:30) I'll be able to avoid the masses.