Welcome to Gray Hall Two...Chapter One
Gray Hall Two: High School Wants Their Drama Back
AUTHOR'S DISCLAIMER:
This novel is only a work of fiction. The characters, names, incidents, dialogue, and plot are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, places, or events is purely coincidental.
To be honest, this work is a work of fiction based upon actual persons, places, and events. A certain amount of fiction was needed to make this work possible. Those who attend the law school I attend will recognize certain characters and places. Names and places have been changed to protect the innocent or the ignorant. Mainly the ignorant.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
The following work is the sequel to my first NaNoWriMo success, The Many Shades of Gray Hall (from this point forward now referred to as Gray Hall), a semi-fictional, semi-true novella based upon one year in the life of a law school student. I probably could have written a longer work, but given the time constraints I had (one month to write 50,000 words plus the time needed to survive law school), writing a much longer work would not have been possible. Of course, I could have continued writing after November 30. This, however, would have in my mind, violated the essence of NaNoWriMo--that is, National Novel Writing Month. Note the word "month." That is how much time I gave myself to write Gray Hall.
I would have written the sequel to Gray Hall earlier, like last year for NaNoWriMo 2006. After finishing the first installation of NaNoWriMo, it seemed to me that writing about law school again would have been too much in the overkill department. Writing about the same subject over and over again just did not appeal to me from a personal point of view. At the time, I was lacking the sufficient amount of zeal to write about the law school experience. It is easy to lose zeal about law school while in law school. Those who are in law school should know what I am talking about.
And yet, while writing my NaNoWriMo 2006 entry (another winner, I might add), I was experiencing a certain lack of creativity: the classic case of writer’s block. Some might say that one learns much from adversity, but this was a lesson I did not want to learn. It was a struggle to come up with a good chapter's worth of material. It was taking too much effort to come up with one paragraph. Somehow, despite the troubles, I barely managed to meet the 50,000 goal with a day to spare. I learned that I should have wrote about something else, a story that I could write about convincingly. While writing my NaNoWriMo 2006 story, I fondly remembered how fun writing Gray Hall was. How easy the words seemed to flow from my head. How the characters came alive on the page. How I laughed at the descriptive language and the choice of words I made.
I read Gray Hall after finals and I knew at that moment, I had to write a sequel to Gray Hall. It would have been a shame to let Jake and the colorful characters at the semi-fictional Davis University School of Law--Gray Hall--linger in a kind of literary limbo. I had to finish what I had started. My characters were now 3Ls, the graduating class of Davis Law School. One final year to make memories and have the strange yet true experiences that I could write about. Some of them, yes, I have personally experienced. Which explains the disclaimers above.
The French have an old saying that roughly translates to the following: "The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same." Yes, things have changed since I wrote Gray Hall. Things have changed in so many ways, and yet, all of these changes have made little change to the landscape of life. The current year looks like the last year. The next year will look like the last year.
Yes, things have changed, but it all fits together in a seamless whole. There will be new adventures, new characters, and new places to read about, discover and enjoy. Despite this, I hope that despite these new additions to the Gray Hall universe, you find all the features you enjoyed before in Gray Hall are still found in this work.And so, go forth and read on with gusto. Gray Hall Two: High School Wants Their Drama Back begins...
CHAPTER ONE: WHERE THE STUDENTS ARE BURNED MORE THAN THE BURGERS
Men like to barbecue. Men will cook if danger is involved.
--Rita Rudner
I can't cook. I use a smoke alarm as a timer.
--Carol Siskind
Back to zero, that's where we're going
Back to nothing, that's where we're heading
Straight to meltdown, that's where we're going
Back to zero, right now, right now
We're going nowhere
Right now, right now
Back to zero, that's where we're heading
Back to zero
--The Rolling Stones, "Back to Zero"
A thick cloud of smoke rose from the outdoors common area at Davis Law School. This cloud of wasn't coming from the usual crowd of smokers that puff away on the requisite pack of Camel cigarettes in between classes. During a normal school day, this would be the source of smoke coming from Davis Law School. On some occasions, the amount of smoke got so thick and heavy, Jake thought the fire department would come speeding down to Gray Hall, sirens blazing, thinking there was a fire. Today, however, was a special occasion. There was a "Welcome Back to School Picnic" at Davis Law School.
In addition to welcoming students back to an academically enriching experience (mainly in educating students how to surreptitiously surf the Internet during class and the differences between various types of alcohol), the students would have the opportunity to meet their professors and the new dean at a social level. Why anyone would want to socialize (with actual, purposeful intent) with the professors was beyond Jake's comprehension. "To each his own," thought Jake.
Like the traditional graduate student and probably everyone else attending the event, he was there for the free food. An occasion to get fed without paying for it was a good thing in Jake's book. After all, he got fed and he didn't have to clean dishes. And besides, the law school was paying for it. He might as well help justify the cost in taxpayer funds. Or was it being subsidized by the 20% increase in tuition. Either way, he was paying for it. And boy was he paying for it, despite being an in-state student and paying the in-state tuition rates.
Jake saw that the food was coming from the Davis University Catering department, a codeword for the infamous Davis University Dining and Food Service department. There was no difference between the two departments. Depending on which residence hall you lived in and which dining hall was responsible for food, the meal quality varied dramatically. The food at Ellenburger Dining Hall, called E-Coli Palace by those who ate (if you could manage to consume any amount of "food") there, was of poor quality. Very poor quality. Many wondered if what they served there scientifically qualified to be called food. On the other hand, the food at Shaffee-Foley Dining Hall was always excellent. People from other dining halls would eat there, even if it meant walking across campus drenching rain, icy-cold snow, hurricane force winds, or blazing hot sun. Nothing would stop them in their quest for the best food on campus.
Great. It would be a massive dice roll, a game of probabilities. The food would be great, terrible, or something in between. He was hoping it would be at least tolerable.
He did a quick inspection of the food being served, going through a mental checklist. The burgers were hot and from his scan, not burnt, hockey puck looking objects. The condiments looked fresh and were kept chilled on ice. If he did partake in the food, his chances for food poisoning would be greatly reduced. The sides like mixed green salad, potato salad, and baked beans were kept at a proper storage temperature. Hot foods were kept hot and cold foods were kept cold. It would have been bad to get something like e-coli or one of the many nasty food borne illnesses associated with improperly stored foods. Fruit. Something that could go wrong so quickly. Fruit could be overly ripe and mushy, under ripe and flavorless, or of such bad quality that it was covered in soft, rotten spots. They at least managed to get fresh looking fruit. How it tasted, however, would be discovered later. Well, it looked edible, so that was a good start. The cookies looked fine. Browner on the edges than he would have liked, but good looking. The chocolate brownies were better looking than the cookies. All in all, it appeared that the Davis University Catering department chose a competent group this time. For once.
Normally, Davis University didn't choose the better crews unless it was an important event. If it was a really important event (think occasion where rich donors are coming), then they hired actual, professional caterers or they got food from a restaurant. Your tax money at work. His chances of getting food poisoning were greatly reduced...so he hoped.
Jake took a burger and placed cheese, lettuce, and tomato on it. Ketchup and mustard, of course. No mayonaise as it came in the little individual packages and he really didn't know how old those were. He once found a package that was a year old once. Not that appetizing. Jake decided he wanted the mixed green salad as the potato salad didn't seem that appealing. The possibly questionable mayonaise again. Some potato chips. A large pile of fruit. A relatively nutritious meal that was relatively free of potential health hazards.
Jake walked to the coolers and saw there were various types of soda, lemonade, iced tea, and bottled water. He got a clean cup (clear plastic), put in several large ice cubes, and got some iced tea. People rarely made iced tea correctly, especially when it is made in large amounts over a gallon. Predictably, after taking a sip of the iced tea, Jake thought the iced tea tasted strange. It had an odd, musty aftertaste; and it smelled strange as well, nothing like iced tea.
The lemonade was better, though given the poor quality of the tea, this might not have meant much. Well, for stuff made from powder, it was tolerable. In Jake's opinion, the lemonade was too sweet. The level of tartness was nonexistant. For general drinking purposes to reduce thirst, however, it was suitable. Just suitable. If it was wet and kind of tasted like what it purported to be, it was drinkable.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Lau. How are you doing today?"
"Good afternoon, Professor Hearnes." Jake gave a curt wave. "I'm doing pretty well. I have to admit that it's kind of warm today."
"Yes, yes it is." Professor Hearns had an unusual way of speaking. Maybe it was the tone in which he spoke every sentence. It was like every word had to be said in a certain tone, at a certain speed. His voice was calm, very soothing. After a while, it gained a rhythmic aspect to it that was hypnotic. One could get lulled into sleep. He also had a fascination for words and wordplay. "But it is, after all, summer right now. It was much worse in Manilla while I was working there at the Asian Development Bank. A Manilla meltdown as you might say. Hmm...that was very...what is that word? Where the...yes. Mr. Lau, would you know what that word is?"
"I believe it is called alliteration." Jake was an English major in college. His eighth grade English teacher, Mr. Colton, pounded in definitons into his head. Jake couldn't help but add in some pedantic details that only an English major could add in. "One might call it consonance, but that usually describes the same consonant sound used in words. Alliteration is the repetition of similar sounds in the beginning of words, so one could say alliteration is a specialized form of consonance or assonance if one uses the same vowel sounds in words. I guess that was too much."
"Alliteration. Yes, that was the word. I did enjoy your mini-lecture on sound repetition. Very interesting. Very informative."
"Thanks. How was your summer? Did you do anything fun or interesting?"
"No, not really. I spent my summer doing research and writing an article about the International Monetary Fund. I did find some time to go on a short vacation with my wife. And you, Mr. Lau?"
"Not really. I spent most of my summer working at Coleman, Considine, and Evans, LLC. Did a lot of legal research mainly in land transactions. Lots of land transactions, some business law related stuff. It wasn't too bad. Like you, I did manage to go on a short vacation."
"What did you do while on vacation?"
"Nothing too much. Did a lot of resting. Some whitewater rafting."
"Really? That must have been an exciting, not to mention a highly interesting experience."
"It sure was. Did some whitewater rafting on the Arkansas River by Leadville and I did a few trips in the Royal Gorge. Absolutely crazy experience. It was like being inside a giant washing machine from Hell that was stuck in spin cycle. Never had so much fun in my life."
"You must tell me more, but at a later time. I see Professor Bahari and I need to talk to him about some questions he had about the IMF. He's writing another treatise about international trade law and a chapter is about the IMF. I will see you in Public International Law next week."
Jake decided to try some cookies and brownies, despite resuming his normal eating habits. He would allow himself to have some sweets. Too much sugar in his diet wreaked havoc with his metabolism and slowed it down just enough so he would gain weight. That would mean an extra mile running tomorrow to burn off the extra calories in the cookies and brownies. Oh well. Life just worked out that way.
During his summer at Coleman, Considine, and Evans, he gained ten pounds. On his frame, it did not show so much, but it was still extra weight he did not need. Some of it was muscle, but a large proportion was fat and for Jake, that meant problems. Being an avid fan of Japanese swordfighting, extra weight was not good as it slowed him down. Slower reflexes meant the possibility of getting whacked in the side of the head with a polished wooden sword. The sword may be lightweight and made out of wood, but it can be swung with enough velocity to knock a person out. Jake should know as he was well acquainted with the business end of many wooden swords.
"The chocolate chip cookies are OK. The white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies are much better. The browines, however, are great. I think I had three of them."
Jake saw that it was Jessica Perez. Absolutely stunning looking, as usual. Unlike Jake, she was dressed for the weather. The men attending this pcinic were lucky, very lucky. Nothing said "welcome back" like an attractive female (with great looking legs and other great looking body parts) wearing shorts. In Jake's mind and in his understanding of theology, beauty in any form was real proof of the existence of God or a higher power of some sort. His line of logic was as follows:
Jessica's legs were a form of beauty in an actual, tangible, physical form. They are attractive and are pleasing to the eye. Looking at them could add years to one's life and cause the heart to beat just a bit faster (or cause it to stop if the conditions are right). God created beauty and that is good. Therefore, God exists. QED. No questions or theological doubts at all.
Sure, his line of reasoning probably had logical flaws. Sure, his thinking might be considered archaic, sexist, whatever you might want to say. But one has to admit that Jessica's legs were good looking.
"The brownies are that good? I think I'll have those. Then I will have to run the next day. The price one pays for a brief moment of pleasure."
"You, exercising? I thought calories didn't affect you physically."
"Yeah. I thought that also. But the weight I gained this summer tells me no."
He tried a brownie. Not too bad. It was good. The texture was fudgy, but had some cake-like firmness. Not too sweet. Nice amount of chocolate flavor. Brownies coming from a boxed mix tasted more like sugar than anything else. Packaged brownies from supermarkets suffered from the same problem. He had a personal recipe that he made for special occasions that were vastly superior. But these brownies were good.
"Could you get me another one of those brownies?"
Jake got her another brownie. He learned some useful lessons about women. One of them involved chocolate. If a woman asks for chocolate, you give it to her. Failing to do so would result in dire consequences.
Jessica continued by saying, "I really shouldn't eat them, but I like chocolate too much. If I don't stop, I'll look like a soccer ball."
"Highly unlikely." It was time to change the conversation. Any more talk about chocolate and he might be tempted to eat another brownie or two. Let's see...what to talk about? Oh, her birthday was coming up soon. Yes, it was next week on Friday. "By the way, isn't your birthday next week?"
"Yes it is. You remembered! I think my boyfriend David forgot. Or he's going to forget."
"I don't think so. He seems like a responsible kind of guy."
"By any chance, do you think you can make it to my birthday party? I know you don't go out much, but it would nice if you could come. Even if it is for a moment."
"Sure, why not? I might bring some food."
"Like what?"
"How about something with chocolate? Since you like it so much?"
"Perfect."
"What time should I be there?"
"Oh, about eight PM or so."
"I'll see you then. And I'll be bringing in something with chocolate."
"Oh good."
Jake could tell from her reaction that she was a chocoholic. He left and while dumping his trash, he met David Brown, Jessica's boyfriend. While walking by, Jake said, "Jessica's birthday is next week on Friday. Just so you know. Remember that."
"Thanks. I almost forgot."
It was nearing 7:00 PM. Time to pick up Clarissa at her townhouse and go to a movie, a movie of her choice. One year together with her. One very good year and hopefully, many years more. At least, so he hoped in his ideal world. Well, it was almost a year, but close enough to count in Jake's mind. He would, no, he would definitely do something special on Saturday.
The picnic, overall, wasn't so bad. It went quite well. But an hour spent at a law school social function was enough time spent for such an event. After all, one could only spend so much time at law school.
AUTHOR'S DISCLAIMER:
This novel is only a work of fiction. The characters, names, incidents, dialogue, and plot are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, places, or events is purely coincidental.
To be honest, this work is a work of fiction based upon actual persons, places, and events. A certain amount of fiction was needed to make this work possible. Those who attend the law school I attend will recognize certain characters and places. Names and places have been changed to protect the innocent or the ignorant. Mainly the ignorant.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
The following work is the sequel to my first NaNoWriMo success, The Many Shades of Gray Hall (from this point forward now referred to as Gray Hall), a semi-fictional, semi-true novella based upon one year in the life of a law school student. I probably could have written a longer work, but given the time constraints I had (one month to write 50,000 words plus the time needed to survive law school), writing a much longer work would not have been possible. Of course, I could have continued writing after November 30. This, however, would have in my mind, violated the essence of NaNoWriMo--that is, National Novel Writing Month. Note the word "month." That is how much time I gave myself to write Gray Hall.
I would have written the sequel to Gray Hall earlier, like last year for NaNoWriMo 2006. After finishing the first installation of NaNoWriMo, it seemed to me that writing about law school again would have been too much in the overkill department. Writing about the same subject over and over again just did not appeal to me from a personal point of view. At the time, I was lacking the sufficient amount of zeal to write about the law school experience. It is easy to lose zeal about law school while in law school. Those who are in law school should know what I am talking about.
And yet, while writing my NaNoWriMo 2006 entry (another winner, I might add), I was experiencing a certain lack of creativity: the classic case of writer’s block. Some might say that one learns much from adversity, but this was a lesson I did not want to learn. It was a struggle to come up with a good chapter's worth of material. It was taking too much effort to come up with one paragraph. Somehow, despite the troubles, I barely managed to meet the 50,000 goal with a day to spare. I learned that I should have wrote about something else, a story that I could write about convincingly. While writing my NaNoWriMo 2006 story, I fondly remembered how fun writing Gray Hall was. How easy the words seemed to flow from my head. How the characters came alive on the page. How I laughed at the descriptive language and the choice of words I made.
I read Gray Hall after finals and I knew at that moment, I had to write a sequel to Gray Hall. It would have been a shame to let Jake and the colorful characters at the semi-fictional Davis University School of Law--Gray Hall--linger in a kind of literary limbo. I had to finish what I had started. My characters were now 3Ls, the graduating class of Davis Law School. One final year to make memories and have the strange yet true experiences that I could write about. Some of them, yes, I have personally experienced. Which explains the disclaimers above.
The French have an old saying that roughly translates to the following: "The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same." Yes, things have changed since I wrote Gray Hall. Things have changed in so many ways, and yet, all of these changes have made little change to the landscape of life. The current year looks like the last year. The next year will look like the last year.
Yes, things have changed, but it all fits together in a seamless whole. There will be new adventures, new characters, and new places to read about, discover and enjoy. Despite this, I hope that despite these new additions to the Gray Hall universe, you find all the features you enjoyed before in Gray Hall are still found in this work.And so, go forth and read on with gusto. Gray Hall Two: High School Wants Their Drama Back begins...
CHAPTER ONE: WHERE THE STUDENTS ARE BURNED MORE THAN THE BURGERS
Men like to barbecue. Men will cook if danger is involved.
--Rita Rudner
I can't cook. I use a smoke alarm as a timer.
--Carol Siskind
Back to zero, that's where we're going
Back to nothing, that's where we're heading
Straight to meltdown, that's where we're going
Back to zero, right now, right now
We're going nowhere
Right now, right now
Back to zero, that's where we're heading
Back to zero
--The Rolling Stones, "Back to Zero"
A thick cloud of smoke rose from the outdoors common area at Davis Law School. This cloud of wasn't coming from the usual crowd of smokers that puff away on the requisite pack of Camel cigarettes in between classes. During a normal school day, this would be the source of smoke coming from Davis Law School. On some occasions, the amount of smoke got so thick and heavy, Jake thought the fire department would come speeding down to Gray Hall, sirens blazing, thinking there was a fire. Today, however, was a special occasion. There was a "Welcome Back to School Picnic" at Davis Law School.
In addition to welcoming students back to an academically enriching experience (mainly in educating students how to surreptitiously surf the Internet during class and the differences between various types of alcohol), the students would have the opportunity to meet their professors and the new dean at a social level. Why anyone would want to socialize (with actual, purposeful intent) with the professors was beyond Jake's comprehension. "To each his own," thought Jake.
Like the traditional graduate student and probably everyone else attending the event, he was there for the free food. An occasion to get fed without paying for it was a good thing in Jake's book. After all, he got fed and he didn't have to clean dishes. And besides, the law school was paying for it. He might as well help justify the cost in taxpayer funds. Or was it being subsidized by the 20% increase in tuition. Either way, he was paying for it. And boy was he paying for it, despite being an in-state student and paying the in-state tuition rates.
Jake saw that the food was coming from the Davis University Catering department, a codeword for the infamous Davis University Dining and Food Service department. There was no difference between the two departments. Depending on which residence hall you lived in and which dining hall was responsible for food, the meal quality varied dramatically. The food at Ellenburger Dining Hall, called E-Coli Palace by those who ate (if you could manage to consume any amount of "food") there, was of poor quality. Very poor quality. Many wondered if what they served there scientifically qualified to be called food. On the other hand, the food at Shaffee-Foley Dining Hall was always excellent. People from other dining halls would eat there, even if it meant walking across campus drenching rain, icy-cold snow, hurricane force winds, or blazing hot sun. Nothing would stop them in their quest for the best food on campus.
Great. It would be a massive dice roll, a game of probabilities. The food would be great, terrible, or something in between. He was hoping it would be at least tolerable.
He did a quick inspection of the food being served, going through a mental checklist. The burgers were hot and from his scan, not burnt, hockey puck looking objects. The condiments looked fresh and were kept chilled on ice. If he did partake in the food, his chances for food poisoning would be greatly reduced. The sides like mixed green salad, potato salad, and baked beans were kept at a proper storage temperature. Hot foods were kept hot and cold foods were kept cold. It would have been bad to get something like e-coli or one of the many nasty food borne illnesses associated with improperly stored foods. Fruit. Something that could go wrong so quickly. Fruit could be overly ripe and mushy, under ripe and flavorless, or of such bad quality that it was covered in soft, rotten spots. They at least managed to get fresh looking fruit. How it tasted, however, would be discovered later. Well, it looked edible, so that was a good start. The cookies looked fine. Browner on the edges than he would have liked, but good looking. The chocolate brownies were better looking than the cookies. All in all, it appeared that the Davis University Catering department chose a competent group this time. For once.
Normally, Davis University didn't choose the better crews unless it was an important event. If it was a really important event (think occasion where rich donors are coming), then they hired actual, professional caterers or they got food from a restaurant. Your tax money at work. His chances of getting food poisoning were greatly reduced...so he hoped.
Jake took a burger and placed cheese, lettuce, and tomato on it. Ketchup and mustard, of course. No mayonaise as it came in the little individual packages and he really didn't know how old those were. He once found a package that was a year old once. Not that appetizing. Jake decided he wanted the mixed green salad as the potato salad didn't seem that appealing. The possibly questionable mayonaise again. Some potato chips. A large pile of fruit. A relatively nutritious meal that was relatively free of potential health hazards.
Jake walked to the coolers and saw there were various types of soda, lemonade, iced tea, and bottled water. He got a clean cup (clear plastic), put in several large ice cubes, and got some iced tea. People rarely made iced tea correctly, especially when it is made in large amounts over a gallon. Predictably, after taking a sip of the iced tea, Jake thought the iced tea tasted strange. It had an odd, musty aftertaste; and it smelled strange as well, nothing like iced tea.
The lemonade was better, though given the poor quality of the tea, this might not have meant much. Well, for stuff made from powder, it was tolerable. In Jake's opinion, the lemonade was too sweet. The level of tartness was nonexistant. For general drinking purposes to reduce thirst, however, it was suitable. Just suitable. If it was wet and kind of tasted like what it purported to be, it was drinkable.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Lau. How are you doing today?"
"Good afternoon, Professor Hearnes." Jake gave a curt wave. "I'm doing pretty well. I have to admit that it's kind of warm today."
"Yes, yes it is." Professor Hearns had an unusual way of speaking. Maybe it was the tone in which he spoke every sentence. It was like every word had to be said in a certain tone, at a certain speed. His voice was calm, very soothing. After a while, it gained a rhythmic aspect to it that was hypnotic. One could get lulled into sleep. He also had a fascination for words and wordplay. "But it is, after all, summer right now. It was much worse in Manilla while I was working there at the Asian Development Bank. A Manilla meltdown as you might say. Hmm...that was very...what is that word? Where the...yes. Mr. Lau, would you know what that word is?"
"I believe it is called alliteration." Jake was an English major in college. His eighth grade English teacher, Mr. Colton, pounded in definitons into his head. Jake couldn't help but add in some pedantic details that only an English major could add in. "One might call it consonance, but that usually describes the same consonant sound used in words. Alliteration is the repetition of similar sounds in the beginning of words, so one could say alliteration is a specialized form of consonance or assonance if one uses the same vowel sounds in words. I guess that was too much."
"Alliteration. Yes, that was the word. I did enjoy your mini-lecture on sound repetition. Very interesting. Very informative."
"Thanks. How was your summer? Did you do anything fun or interesting?"
"No, not really. I spent my summer doing research and writing an article about the International Monetary Fund. I did find some time to go on a short vacation with my wife. And you, Mr. Lau?"
"Not really. I spent most of my summer working at Coleman, Considine, and Evans, LLC. Did a lot of legal research mainly in land transactions. Lots of land transactions, some business law related stuff. It wasn't too bad. Like you, I did manage to go on a short vacation."
"What did you do while on vacation?"
"Nothing too much. Did a lot of resting. Some whitewater rafting."
"Really? That must have been an exciting, not to mention a highly interesting experience."
"It sure was. Did some whitewater rafting on the Arkansas River by Leadville and I did a few trips in the Royal Gorge. Absolutely crazy experience. It was like being inside a giant washing machine from Hell that was stuck in spin cycle. Never had so much fun in my life."
"You must tell me more, but at a later time. I see Professor Bahari and I need to talk to him about some questions he had about the IMF. He's writing another treatise about international trade law and a chapter is about the IMF. I will see you in Public International Law next week."
Jake decided to try some cookies and brownies, despite resuming his normal eating habits. He would allow himself to have some sweets. Too much sugar in his diet wreaked havoc with his metabolism and slowed it down just enough so he would gain weight. That would mean an extra mile running tomorrow to burn off the extra calories in the cookies and brownies. Oh well. Life just worked out that way.
During his summer at Coleman, Considine, and Evans, he gained ten pounds. On his frame, it did not show so much, but it was still extra weight he did not need. Some of it was muscle, but a large proportion was fat and for Jake, that meant problems. Being an avid fan of Japanese swordfighting, extra weight was not good as it slowed him down. Slower reflexes meant the possibility of getting whacked in the side of the head with a polished wooden sword. The sword may be lightweight and made out of wood, but it can be swung with enough velocity to knock a person out. Jake should know as he was well acquainted with the business end of many wooden swords.
"The chocolate chip cookies are OK. The white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies are much better. The browines, however, are great. I think I had three of them."
Jake saw that it was Jessica Perez. Absolutely stunning looking, as usual. Unlike Jake, she was dressed for the weather. The men attending this pcinic were lucky, very lucky. Nothing said "welcome back" like an attractive female (with great looking legs and other great looking body parts) wearing shorts. In Jake's mind and in his understanding of theology, beauty in any form was real proof of the existence of God or a higher power of some sort. His line of logic was as follows:
Jessica's legs were a form of beauty in an actual, tangible, physical form. They are attractive and are pleasing to the eye. Looking at them could add years to one's life and cause the heart to beat just a bit faster (or cause it to stop if the conditions are right). God created beauty and that is good. Therefore, God exists. QED. No questions or theological doubts at all.
Sure, his line of reasoning probably had logical flaws. Sure, his thinking might be considered archaic, sexist, whatever you might want to say. But one has to admit that Jessica's legs were good looking.
"The brownies are that good? I think I'll have those. Then I will have to run the next day. The price one pays for a brief moment of pleasure."
"You, exercising? I thought calories didn't affect you physically."
"Yeah. I thought that also. But the weight I gained this summer tells me no."
He tried a brownie. Not too bad. It was good. The texture was fudgy, but had some cake-like firmness. Not too sweet. Nice amount of chocolate flavor. Brownies coming from a boxed mix tasted more like sugar than anything else. Packaged brownies from supermarkets suffered from the same problem. He had a personal recipe that he made for special occasions that were vastly superior. But these brownies were good.
"Could you get me another one of those brownies?"
Jake got her another brownie. He learned some useful lessons about women. One of them involved chocolate. If a woman asks for chocolate, you give it to her. Failing to do so would result in dire consequences.
Jessica continued by saying, "I really shouldn't eat them, but I like chocolate too much. If I don't stop, I'll look like a soccer ball."
"Highly unlikely." It was time to change the conversation. Any more talk about chocolate and he might be tempted to eat another brownie or two. Let's see...what to talk about? Oh, her birthday was coming up soon. Yes, it was next week on Friday. "By the way, isn't your birthday next week?"
"Yes it is. You remembered! I think my boyfriend David forgot. Or he's going to forget."
"I don't think so. He seems like a responsible kind of guy."
"By any chance, do you think you can make it to my birthday party? I know you don't go out much, but it would nice if you could come. Even if it is for a moment."
"Sure, why not? I might bring some food."
"Like what?"
"How about something with chocolate? Since you like it so much?"
"Perfect."
"What time should I be there?"
"Oh, about eight PM or so."
"I'll see you then. And I'll be bringing in something with chocolate."
"Oh good."
Jake could tell from her reaction that she was a chocoholic. He left and while dumping his trash, he met David Brown, Jessica's boyfriend. While walking by, Jake said, "Jessica's birthday is next week on Friday. Just so you know. Remember that."
"Thanks. I almost forgot."
It was nearing 7:00 PM. Time to pick up Clarissa at her townhouse and go to a movie, a movie of her choice. One year together with her. One very good year and hopefully, many years more. At least, so he hoped in his ideal world. Well, it was almost a year, but close enough to count in Jake's mind. He would, no, he would definitely do something special on Saturday.
The picnic, overall, wasn't so bad. It went quite well. But an hour spent at a law school social function was enough time spent for such an event. After all, one could only spend so much time at law school.
posted by J.U. at 1/16/2007 07:18:00 AM
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