An Update to Gray Hall II

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only known site on the place called the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. It's time for the semi-regular feature of this blog that I like to call The Un-Update. It may not be much, but at least it is something.

I've got the newest chapter to Gray Hall II posted up. It's a rambling chapter about foodies, food, and the experience that women go through called the chocolate high, the almost-religious state of esctasy that women get while eating chocolate.

I'm still doing research for the research paper. This is going to be the worst part of the research process as it means doing a thorough search of the WTO documents website and finding out how many countries state they have or claim to have the right to "public morals" exemptions. Plus I need to find examples of "public morals" clauses in other trade agreements. And I have to download the Tuna-Dolphin cases and the Antigua Gambling case. For those who are not familiar with international trade, the WTO decisions are very long (sometimes, up to 500 pages), very complicated (multiple parts and fiendish legal analysis), and very complexly written (see previously mentioned items in this list). Let's just say that despite being written in English, Spanish, and French, their decisions don't make any sense in any of the three languages. And this is a complaint that comes from even the best international trade lawyers and scholars in the business. That includes my International Trade Law professor who has an impressive background in international trade law.
To sum up the research I have done so far, I can say the following about "public morals" as used in international trade with little hesitation.
Everybody uses the term "public morals" based upon the limited research I have done.

1. "Public morals" depends on the culture as evidenced by the many kinds of subjects that fall under "public morals," including, but not limited to the following: pornography, alcohol, the proper handling of corpses by undertakers (an actual law in a state in the US), non-kosher products (Israel), pistashios(no kidding), country music(no kidding as well), illegal narcotics, images of Buddha (several countries in Southeast Asia like Thailand), and gambling.
2. The WTO, in a recent decision, gives a defintion of "public morals" (most likely copied from a dictionary like the Oxford English Dictionary) and a test for what is necessary.
3. Necessary is another one of those terms that can mean anything, but the test for what is "necessary" is even worse as it is just as vague as "public morals."
4. Nobody knows what "public morals" means and that includes the WTO.

It's time for me to do some more research on this topic and make some kind of effort into understanding the vagaries and contradictions and confusion raised by this subject. Why do I inevitably choose the Catherine's Wheel topic that promises to be painful, self-inflicted torture? Oh the joys of international trade law! All of this is just a tiny bit of what life as a 3L at KU Law is like.

That's all for now.

A Weekend Update

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only known site on the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. It's time for a weekend update to this blog, only because I truly care for your mental wellbeing. I know that you just can't live without knowing what is going on in my so-called life in this so-called part of the real world known as Lawrence, Kansas.

As much as I hate to do this, I find myself questioning my mental sanity and what potential psychological problems I might have as of this moment. Recently, I began to wonder if I had Asperger's. Now, I'm beginning to wonder if I am manic-depressive or just plain depressive with bits of clarity and manic behavior. Maybe this is just a sign of rationality, though quite an irrational kind of rationality. If this is what being "mentally stable" is supposed to be, then God has a strange sense of humor.
You know, this would be so much easier to accept if I had some kind of obvious genius or intense creativity, as everyone seems to assume that the really creative people like your composers, painters, sculptors, and what not had mental issues. A large proportion of the people society considers to be genius had mental problems. Beethoven suffered from depressive states. VanGogh was mentally unstable due to coffee, absinthe, and a bad case of manic-depression. Many poets suffered from what they termed "melancholy" but that was most likely depression. Hell, Nobel Prize winners like Nash were paranoid schitzophrenics.
The Italians in the Renaissance had a term for this. People who had such awe-inspiring talent and what can kindly be said,"unsociable natures," had a personality called terriblita(there should be an accent in there, but I can't seem to put one in right now). Michaelangelo possessed this. Not that he was mentally unstable in any manner, but he was an unsocialble person and he was so into his work that he ignored everything else. One could call it a manic-depressive state. But I digress...
There's been this gradual decay of my excitement for law school. I'm reaching new lows in apathy for it which I never thought would be possible. Nothing excites me now. As long as I pass the finals in May, I'm all right. I've lost most, if not all of my previous notions and ideals about how great law school and everything else was going to be. It's gone, replaced by a level of loathing and cynicism for many of the inner workings and hoop jumping and God knows what else that defines the law school experience.
Then again, I could have taken another path and quite possibly, ended up even more bitter and railing against that path. Or I could be happier. But I can't guess or say if or wonder what it might have been like.

Oh, I'm now knee deep into research for a research paper for one of my law school classes. I think I have gone through twenty law review articles, one book, three cases, and several lengthy newspaper/magazine articles. I have more to go through like a list of state/federal statutes, some trade agreements, some WTO Appellate Panel/Dispute Settlement decisions, and much more. I add in the "much more" as I probably will have to talk to the professor sooner or later about my paper topic and he will want to suggest some other helpful references that might help with my paper topic.

In other more exciting news, I am up to Chapter Seven of Gray Hall II. This is an important milestone as I am quickly approaching the end of the fictional first semester. Halfway done. Woohoo.


That's all for now.

An Update

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only site on the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. For all of you constant readers, you know the drill. For those who are not, this site is all about the random stuff that I find interesting going on in my so-called life.

I'm now beginning the painful reasearch process for a research paper. This paper is required for a law school class I'm taking right now. My procrastination and loathing of several aspects of law school academics have caught up to me quite painfully. While slogging through yet another lengthy and well, quite frankly, dry and academic law journal/law review article, I begin to doubt my level of sanity. I also doubt my decision of leaving the writing requirement until the last semester of law school. Then I begin the sanity-doubting procedure again as I think the letters on the paper are moving.
Let me tell you, law school is not what it's cracked up to be. It's nothing like the movies. I can list several movies that make law school seem like a great experience. Legally Blond is one of them. If it were true to reality, I doubt that it would have made for an interesting movie, if your idea of "entertaining" is watching another rehash of a "dumb blond who really isn't and succeeds with flying colors" flick. After seeing the trailer, I knew this was going to be just like that. And I was right. Hollywood definitely needs to come up with better and newer plots...quickly. I digress and I probably angered every single female who has seen this film. And yes, I have (quite regretably and reluctantly) saw this film.

In other news, I have the next installment of Gray Hall II posted online. It's a rambly and informative essay about brainwashing and cult mind control. It also goes into a discussion of how cults are related to law school in a more academic form. After reading it, I scared myself. I seriously need to find an outlet for this.

That's all for now.

Radioactive Chairs...

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only site on the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. Basically, I write about stuff that I find interesting and post it on this blog so all the people on the Internet can see what's going on in my life.
If this isn't your cup of tea, well, there are many other sites you can visit. Like billions. Please click on the Google link on the sidebar and have some fun. If this site isn't what you were looking for due to some poorly done web search, then click on the Google link on the sidebar and resume your search. Or you can click the Back icon on your web browser. If this is now what you're looking for, but you are strangely attracted to this site and want to read on, the Mind Reading version of HTML must be working. Soon, you will be telling your friends about this website. If you enter in "Un-Zone" into Google, this site is Number One on the results list. It must be working. I should try something else next week.
Just kidding. There is no Mind Reading version of HTML. However, I do get the odd urge to...nah. It has to be the CIA mind control machine.
Anyways...

I probably should have posted this in yesterday's post, but I guess I forgot. If you've paid attention to the news, when it actually talks about the news, you might know that there have been studies about cell phones causing cancer. I don't belive them. By the way, I don't own a cell phone for personal reasons.
But wait. Head cancer? Most people have their cell phones in their pants pockets and for men, that poses for an interesting situation. The anatatomical proximity of the reproductive organs makes them an excellent target for these sterilizing radiation waves. And to think that in the future, sterility won't be due to surgeries, but due to carrying a cell phone in your pocket too long.
You now can add in the following to things and places you should avoid if you want children. The chairs in Green Hall Room 201, commonly referred to as The Courtroom. To be more specific, the jury box. Why should you avoid these chairs at all costs if you want little versions of you?
As the post title should hint, the chairs are radioactive. Yes, these chairs are emitting out radiation. It's possible that this radiation could cause you to go sterile.
Well, the nice people at Green Hall did post up the following warning sign:

CAUTION
CHAIRS MAY BE RADIOACTIVE

Yes, it says "may be" radioactive, but this is a law school. That's just a disclaimer that could mean anything, like the chairs are radioactive and we're warning you of the possibility. Everybody says it "may be" but I know that they wouldn't be posting up that sign if those chairs didn't register on a Geiger counter or if they knew that some source of radiation was near those chairs. You just don't post up these warning signs if you knew, absolutely without a doubt, there wasn't a reason to be worried about radiation. It's kind of like posting a "BEWARE OF DOG" sign in your yard if you don't have a dog. Well, that wasn't an apt simile, but I think you should be able to get the logic.
Great. I used to spend lots of time in those chairs during my law school career. I hope that I haven't been affected by this...discovery. Lead-lined suits on the ol' family jewels from now on...
I'm now beginning to wonder why there are signs on Room 104 mentioning that certain classes will be meeting in a different room. Next thing you know, I'll walk into a classroom and see a sign warning about potential asbestos hazards, lead hazards, and God knows what.


That's all for now.

Gray Hall Update

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only site on the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. It's time for an update to this site and to tell you about the random events that occur in my so called life.

Well, law school started last Friday. My Friday wasn't so bad. It's my busiest day with three classes, but I'm out before 12:30. That isn't so bad. The professors seem pretty cool, so I'm not too worried about those classes. My Advanced Litigation class is basically mock trials, but the person teaching the class tries to make it like a real world experience. This is unlike law school as law school and all things about it, well, law school is like the surreal version of reality.
My only class for today was Advanced International Trade Law. This is a class about international trade law. It promises, despite the class name, to be an interesting course. Free for all discussion about trade law and all that this topic involves. Ooh fun. I now get to pull out wacky and random stuff to add to the discussion and not sound like a total wacko. The only downside is the course requirement of writing a 30 page research paper, but that shouldn't be too bad. Hey, I've written reasearch papers (many of them) during my time in college. Oh, me and reseach papers are well acquainted.

Ah, speaking about law school, the new chapter to Gray Hall II is up. This chapter is all about the connection between cults and law school. As an added bonus, you get a fake article based upon a real article I wrote during law school about this topic. But the cult fun does not end there. The next chapter, actually a random essay, is about brainwashing.

This is my final semester of law school. After this, it's time to hit the real world and make my name in the field of law or something like that. No more weekends that start on Thursday. No more schedules that allow for having afternoons off. Too bad. I was getting used to it. Then again, I won't miss the more inane stuff that academic life encompassed. Things like research papers, finals, and all that jazz.
But I must go now. As much as I hate to do it, I need to read a thrilling chapter about subsidies for International Trade Law and a rousing chapter on criminal procedure. Plus some other amazingly fun reading that I rather not read, but have to as class participation actually counts for my grade (for once). And to think this is all part of the exciting life of a law school student.
That reminds me, I really should fill out the dreaded Bar application, or at least look at it.

That's all for now.

Something Stupid Exercising

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only site on the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. It's time for an update to this site.

I've been exercising pretty regularly for about eight months and I've never felt better. There's a certain amount of satisfaction that comes when you've taken your body to a certain limit and possibly beyond. I feel much better after I exercise. And I'm wearing clothes I haven't worn in a while, like in high school.
For some reason, when it comes to doing things, I either slack off or go overboard. When it comes to exercising currently, I tend to go towards the side of "Jesus Christ, you're going to kill yourself." This is not a good thing, as sometimes, I manage to go way overboard and end up injuring myself. Which totally defeats the purpose of exercise, namely, being physically fit. You probably can see where this post is heading...
I've become a fan of the treadmill, which by the way, seems to be an illogical exercise device. People are moving to stay in place or the result in falling flat on their face. We humans tend to find amusement with hamsters as they run around in their hamster wheel. Running and running without going anywhere. I suspect if we could read the mind of hamsters, they would laugh at us running on a treadmill. I digress.
Lately, for the past week, I haven't been so regular with the running (about three miles a day, three to four days a week, 6MPH pace). So I get the really guilty feeling. This can seriously screw up your common sense. Ah, I'm now sure you can guess where this is going.
So I start running. I hit one mile. Things are going well. Then I hit two miles.
At this moment, I'm feeling a little tired. At this moment, I should have slowed down. Common sense, right? But I don't. "I'm doing OK. I can go a little more." Maybe I was trying to look a little more hardcore than I normally am. Who knows.
I hit 2.25 miles. By this time, I'm feeling a little light headed. Now would be a good time to stop and slow down. Common sense, right? But no, I'm wanting to really feel the burn. To be a tough-as-nails runner. To push the body a little bit farther. No pain, no gain. "I'm feeling fine. I'm going to fight through this."
If I were a more-regular runner, or a ultra-marathon runner or a triathlete or a marathon man, I probably could have fought this and won without a problem. But I'm not. That's what common sense says. But due to a misfire in my mind, I go on.
I hit 2.5 miles. I finally stop as the nausea-feeling is hitting. But I don't stop. Oh no. I don't cool down and let my heart slow a bit. I go on and push through with the workout my mind has prepared.
The leg extensions. The upright rows.
It hits me during the upright rows. I'm getting dizzy. My vision is getting blurry. Walking straight takes too much effort.
Problem. The last time this happened, it was after I managed to run a sub-9:00 minute mile. Which was a long, long time ago, when I wasn't 30 pounds overweight. I had ran so hard, I collapsed and couldn't go on and got sick. That sucked.
This was worse. I managed to stumble to the locker room and I collapsed onto a bench. Didn't move for at least five minutes. Should have stayed there longer.
I walk out and the dizziness hits again. Sit down on the floor.
"Are you OK?" "Is he OK?" Oh, someone is talking about me...to me.
It takes a while to think properly.
"Uh, I'm fine. Just overdid it today. Just need some rest."
Need water. Feel sick when I drink it.
Not doing this again. For a while.
That was a foolish thing to do. Today's lesson is not to overdo it. Once the little voice of reason starts talking, it is a good time to listen to it. Or you end up convusling due to heat stroke or exhaustion and you wake up in a hospital with an IV running solution in your arm.

That's all for now.

Update to Gray Hall

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only site on the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. It's time to do one of those update thingies.

After much ado over nothing, I finally posted the first installment of Gray Hall Two. The working title for this moment is Gray Hall Two: High School Wants Their Drama Back. For those who are in law school, you will know what I am talking about when it comes to the name of this title. For those who are not in law school, you will soon find out. Put simply, law school shares many eerie similarities to high school. It is like the Bowling for Soup song, "High School Never Ends."
I would have posted the first installment earlier, but I just didn't like how the first chapter was written so I rewrote some parts of it. And that led to other stuff being changed and modified and well, the great editing bug struck. Go figure.
I should have the other chapters coming out a little more regularly, depending on how busy the schedule becomes. I'm guessing that it will be busy considering that law school (the final semester) begins on Friday. Oh the joy. I can feel the awful, tingly feeling already.
As soon as I get chapters finished to my standards, a notice will be stated on this blog as soon as it is published and ready for public viewing or shaming or whatever happens.

That's all for now.

New Changes to the Un-Zone

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only known site on the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. It's time for an update.

If you haven't noticed already, I have made a change to this site. I have changed the template to a brand new one. I decided that the old one was kind of dull and so I had it fixed. The Un-Zone got renovated. Or it could be a minor paint job.
As of this moment, I think I like the changes. I can always go back to the old template design if I want to.

In other news, I have Chapters One and Two finished for Gray Hall II. The first actual web installment should be up some time this week.

That's all for now.

Another Small Update

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only known site on the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. It's time for a small update as I cannot think of anything more to say that what I will say. If you would like more, then too bad.

First, I would like to say that yesterday provided for an interesting, as well as pathetic day of professional football. If you were watching the games yesterday, you would know what I am talking about.
The Kansas City Chiefs were absolutely, positively, fucking pathetic yesterday. Well, I shouldn't be too harsh as the defense for a little more than two quarters gave Payton Manning lots of trouble. If you can limit the Colts to 9 points in the first half, that is pretty good. To limit the Colts to 23 points in one game is not too shabby. To get asswhipped due to a lack of any offense it bad. On national television just makes it even worse. Considering the defense was on the field for about 40 minutes and was playing tired, the defense did a good job overall.
The offense, however, was, as I stated earlier, absolutely, positively, fucking pathetic. No first downs in the first half. A missed field goal (a chip shot that a college kicker, let alone a high school kicker could make). A grant total of NEGATIVE EIGHT YARDS of offense in the first half. Yes, NEGATIVE EIGHT. The defense gained more yards than the offense. What did the Chieft offense do in the first half? Squandered three interceptions and got zero points.
The Cowboys played a lot better than the Chiefs. Hell, every single freaking football team playing that day played better than the Chiefs. I'm thinking the college teams playing in the International Bowl played better than the Chiefs. The USC Trojans could easily manhandle the Chiefs.
Tony Romo. I'm thinking that everyone in the Dallas-Forth Worth area will be after him. Considering he messed up the handle on the potential game-winning field goal. The one that would have sent the Cowboys to the next round of the playoffs. That must suck. Well, at least the Cowboys put up a fight till the end. Unlike the Chiefs who did nothing.
Damon Huard for QB. Assuming he stays until next year.

I've finished two chapters in the Gray Hall sequel and I am almost done with another one. I should have Chapter One completed in the next few days. Chapter Two should soon follow. At this moment, I am reasonably happy with what I have written so far. I think once I get the first few chapters done, I might post them up.


That's all for now.

A Small Update

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only known site on the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. It's time for a small update to this site so you all know that I am still conscious and relatively alive.

I've now developed a crick in my neck. I tilt my head to the right and it feels fine. I tilt it to the left, and well, it does not feel fine. Yesterday, it was awful. Today, it is much better. I'm not exactly sure why, but I think I might have slept in a funny position and my neck could not take it.

I've started on the Gray Hall sequel. At this moment, I have finished one chapter and am working on three others at the same time. I would have started working in a chronological, beginning to end fashion, but this one chapter just wanted to be written first and so I wrote it first. The other three chapters are in the works, and they are earlier chapters in this sequel.
At this moment, I am not sure if it will be anything like the first Gray Hall story, but I think that it should style-wise for the most part. There will be reoccuring characters from the last story, plus some new characters and locations as well. It should end the series quite nicely. Whether there will be a prequel, I am not sure. I guess I could take that route. But then again, I might not, at least for now.
Will I post up stuff anytime soon...that depends. I think that for now, probably not. Once I get the earlier chapters done and I think that the story seems complete in those chapters, I think I will. For some reason, I am liking the online "quasi"-book publishing thing.

That's all for now.

First Post of 2007

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only known site on the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. It's that time again where I post some random stuff floating around in my head that I find interesting.

First up...football.
1. The Mizzou football team lost to Oregon State. I am so, so sad. Not really. For some reason, like the Kansas football team, they manage to pull defeat out of the jaws of victory, instead of the other way around, which is more preferable. It's too bad, as if Mizzou won, the headlines would have been pretty funny. You can come up with a lot of funny headlines once you realize the Oregon State mascot is the Beaver. No stories about beating beavers.
2. The Los Angeles area has no professional football team. They all moved to the Bay Area, though if can consider the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers "professional" football teams is another story. I'm thinking that the USC Trojans could beat both of them easily. The Trojans certainly beat the Michigan Wolverines convincingly in the Rose Bowl. The quarterback names were, to say, unusal. Booty and Henne. Imagine the arguments between a USC and Michigan fan. Enough said.
3. The Fiesta Bowl between Boise State and Oklahoma was classic. The Broncos (unlike the team in Denver) won an exciting match. In overtime. Using a Statue Of Liberty play with a counter. On a two-point conversion. This WAC team whacked the competition this year. They are a GOOD team.
4. How the hell did the Chiefs make it into the playoffs, despite playing, for the most part, mediocre football? They were pretty damn lucky they won against Jacksonville and had every single game result fall into place. That was a lucky break. Now it's off to Indianapolis to lose against the Indianapolis Colts (most likely, I think). At least they made it to the playoffs for once. If they pull off a Pittsburgh-like run and win the Superbowl...I'll just watch the games and see what happens.

In other non-football related news, I've decided to write the sequel to the original Gray Hall story. The one I wrote in 2005 and not 2006. It seemed only logical I finish the story and bring to a complete end and not leave characters in a type of fictional character limbo.
Well, Happy New Year's to you all, the readers of this blog, even the ones who only stumble onto this site. May 2007 be an excellent year in every way.

That's all for now.

Happy New Years...

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only know site on the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. It's all about the random things floating in my mind that I find interesting.

It's that time of the year. New Year's Eve. A time where you try to stay awake until midnight to ring in the new year. Another year to make resolutions (most of them will be broken in the first few weeks of January). Another year to live another year in a life. As you ring in the new year--2007--in your own special way, whether with fireworks, a toast of champagne, or the falling of a ball, remember that it's about the spirit of revival and optimism, to live life to the fullest, and to remember that despite the year changing, some things like friends and family do not change. That is what Auld Lang Syne is all about.

AULD LANG SYNE
Words adapated from a traditional song
by Rabbie Burns (1759-96)
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I'll be mine,
And we'll tak a cup o kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine,
But we've wander'd monie a weary fit,
Sin auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn
Frae morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin auld lang syne.

And there's a hand my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o thine,
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught,
For auld lang syne


A more modern version of this sentiment is expressed by "Seasons of Love" from the musical Rent, based upon the opera La Boheme. It's a great song:
SEASONS OF LOVE
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Moments so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffeeIn inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
In five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life?
How about love?
How about love?
How about love?
Measure in love
Seasons of love.
Seasons of love

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes!
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Journeys to plan.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure the life
Of a woman or a man?

In truths that she learned,
Or in times that he cried.
In bridges he burned,
Or the way that she died.

It's time now to sing out,
Tho' the story never ends
Let's celebrate
Remember a year in the life of friends
Remember the love!
Remember the love!
Seasons of love!

Oh you got to got to
Remember the love! remember the love,
You Measure in love know that love is a gift from up above
Seasons of love.
Share love, give love spread love
Measure measure you life in love.


May 2007 and all the rest of your years be a great year to you all.
That's all for now.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only site on the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. I'm going to keep this one short. It's Christmas today.
And so, some song lyrics wishing you all in the Internet a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hannukah, Kwanza, Festivus, or whatever winter holiday you are celebrating right now.
Remember, this season isn't about getting gifts like an XBox 360 or bright lights, but about love and caring and spending time with friends and family. So spend some time witht he ones you love.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like eskimos
Everybody knows some turkey and some mistletoe
Help to make the season bright
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow
Will find it hard to sleep tonight
They know that Santa's on his way
He's loaded lots of toys
And goodies on his sleigh
And every mother's child is gonna spy
To see if reindeer really know how to fly
And so, I'm offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to ninety-two
Although its been said
Many times, many ways
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas to.. You!


That's all for now.

Not Extinct like a Dodo, but Elusive like an Ivory-Billed

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only site on the Internet (that I know of right now) devoted to all things related to Un. You know the drill. It's all about the random things on my mind that I find interesting at that moment. And my mind is very random at any given moment.

I was flipping through the channels and I happened to stop on CBS. The Survivor finale. Woohoo. It was kind of interesting, unlike the Chiefs game. That went horribly. The Chiefs did not get punched in the jaw, as one commentator said, but they got smashed by a steamroller. Offense flatter than the plains of Kansas. The defense was shot up more than a heroin addict's arm. All in all, an embarassing game by a less-than mediocre team. I'm thinking 8-8. No 9-7 season for the Chiefs. I would be thinking 7-9, but they're going against the Raiders, so that should be a win. Anyways...the winner, a Korean named Yul, said something about how winning would break the stereotypes about Asians. The runner up, a Mexican named Ozzie, said a win would do the same thing for Mexicans.

The Asian (who happened to be a lawyer by the way) won through using his smarts by deceiving, manipulating, and using guile to win people over. The runner up, a Mexican, applied himself in doing tasks. He got food, started fires, won immunity challenges involving physical activity. He was, for the most part, honest. To sum up again, the Asian won.
The scheming, deceiving, smart Asian lawyer won. The loser was a hard-working Mexican who could run, swim, climb, and jump. Doesn't that break the mold we have of certain races?

I went to a party last week on Saturday. It was a holiday themed affair. I did not wear a holiday sweater with anything related to Christmas. I don't wear sweaters, especially those that have snowmen, Christmas trees, or any other holiday-related motif. Many did, however. I'm not one to wear clothing of such dubious taste, no matter the occasion.

As you may have guessed, I am not much of a social-events type person. My lack of a social calendar is quite obvious. It must be due to several reasons. One of which is a severe case of social introversion, unless some form of social extroversion is absolutely necessary. Or I find some event where I do not look out of place. Like an academic contest like Hi-Q or Scholars Bowl or a math contest...

I do show up for the infrequent event. Just enough to show that my social life, though limited, is not absolutely extinct like the dodo. See picture below this paragraph. I think my social life is like one of those SAT analogies where you pick the best one. It's sad when you can compare your social life to extinct or supposedly extinct creatures that have been exterminated from the face of the planet. Thankfully, I make enough rare showings that I am not like the passenger pigeon or the dodo:

I think of my social life (in keeping with the bird theme), the elusive ivory billed woodpecker. Thought to be extinct for many years, it suddenly and mysteriously shows up in the wild. Even with some kind of proof, the presense is actually debated. The existence is under debate. When seen, people utter words of complete awe and shock. One famous viewer of the bird, Theodore Roosevelt, said "Good God," hence the nickname of the "good God" bird. Which is the kind of reaction that happens when I show up for a social event. People think they have seen a ghost and express surprise. And then some people take pictures to mark this occasion as a rare sighting.

I now consider myself to be an endangered species in the party realm. Somewhere, someone is posting a cash reward for pictures of me. Kind of like UFO or Bigfoot sightings. This only would happen in my mind of course or in an absolutely bizarre parallel universe. It seems like everyone knows who I am without really have seeing me. Strange. My life is, for some reason, stranger than any fictional story. Which makes me, at times, question reality. There are pictures of me with actual people (unmarred by Photoshop). Not just any ordinary people, but women. That in itself is worth several million (in a worthless currency). I am not in possession of any, but I'm sure I can wrangle a digital copy. Some time in the not so near future.

It was an amusing event. Attending a function thrown by law school students is a refreshing change of pace. A law school student party is akin to walking into an alternate universe. At least for me. It's like visiting a whole other country. Ah, the sensory overload one gets. All the little details one notices. Some of the more amusing things I saw and experienced:

1. Having my picture taken with a group of attractive women. OK, this was more in the line of "Damn, aren't I a lucky guy" but amusing is a perfectly fine way of describing this experience. I had made the comment of "attending this party is like sighting an endangered species. Someone should take a picture of this." I had meant this in jest, but I guess that the person took this literally and took a picture of me and several girls. All of whom, I might add, are attractive. I, indeed, for a while, was a happy guy.

2. Never trust a law school student to add liquor to eggnog, unless they have a recipe. Adding half a bottle of whiskey to eggnog is not a good thing. Unless you want to get drunk off the fumes. Or lose your liver after taking a sip. I don't drink alcohol, but I could tell that this was going to be an accident waiting to happen. And it was, put mildly.

3. Holiday music is not holiday music without happy holiday music. Sure, Christmas carols are nice, but at least stick in upbeat stuff. A little of Mariah Carrey's "All I Want for Christmas" is a good thing. That and a little Motown/R&B will do wonders to the mood.

4. Did I mention the eggnog? It was potent. So potent, nobody could drink it. This is amazing as this is a large group of law school students who embrace alcohol as a food group. Well, two people thought it was fine, but I'm not sure about the veracity of such statements.

5. White trash holiday fashion does exist. No pictures, however. I know some of you wanted to see this. When you combine a holiday sweater, a skirt, silver heels, and red hose together, it can happen. This is coming from the girl who wore this combo and wore it quite proudly, I might say. It does bring new meaning to "Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas!" Hey, if you're going to do this kind of holiday wear, you might as well embrace it with aplomb. And she did.

6. I exist. And I have a life out of law school. That wasn't interesting or entertaining, but seeing people do double takes when they saw me was fun. People are always surprised at seeing me outside of law school for some reason.

I hope they disposed of the eggnog in a safe fashion. God forbid something bad happens. That's all for now. It is now time to hibernate and make a rare showing at a law school function next year.

Contracts...Mordor Style

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only site on the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. It's time for an update.

Law school finals for this semester are over. Done. I will not think about law school until January 2007 when the final semester of my final year begins. Or, if the current trend continues, maybe until May 2007.

This is, quite possibly, one of the more interesting posts I have seen on a blog in a long time. Only because it combines the Lord of the Rings with contracts law. What is even crazier is that the people commenting add in their little bits to the legal analysis. This might be proof that people start out sane and law school erodes this sanity until it becomes insanity. Or it might be proof that people who go to law school are inherently mentally unstable but don't know about it until later. I digress.
I probably would have come up with something crazy like this if I wanted to, but I don't think I could sum up enough craziness to come up with something coherent like that post. I think I don't make sense to myself sometimes. Well, I'm done for this post.

That's all for now.

Back to Zero...And A Rant

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only known site on the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. If, by the way, you don't know by now, all the little things that I find interesting. So it's all about me. Deal with it.
Law school finals are almost over. Dealt with three of them and I should be feeling better right now, but I am not. I should be feeling much better. All of the forced regurgitation of case law and statutes, all of the poorly-written and vague questions, all of the time limits, nearly done. A month away from all of that stuff...I should be happier by now. But I am not.
It seems like I am playing a zero-sum game or even worse, one where I am losing something in exchange for a month of freedom from law school. The Rolling Stones with their song "Back to Zero" describes how I am feeling:

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

This sucks. I'm beginning to think I am a trained dolphin at Sea World, but mentally unstable in some manner. I've been trained to jump through all of these hoops. Each time, the task gets a little more difficult. A little higher than the last. Maybe a little smaller. Maybe on fire. Maybe a little bit of both. All of these minor variations that make the task harder. Sure, it is a change, but it's the same damn task. The same damn hoops to jump through in some kind of graceful manner.
I've always had this feeling, but now, it's just become stronger and stronger. It's now the truth. The unadulterated truth. Not because I am bitter or angry, but because it's what is what. All of this hoop jumping is just a big, steaming load of freaking bullshit. None of this really matters in real life. All of those law school exams and the grades indicate nothing. Even the professors say that grades don't matter. Means nothing. But it is nice to have an A than a B, a B than a C, a C than a D, a D than an F. In law school, grades below a C are pretty much nonexistant. The C could be a D or an F, but thanks to the mandatory curve, it's a C! That A might really be a B, but you have to have some A's to get the curve right.
Professional tests? Just another way to make the profession seem good. Highest grade on the Bar? Doesn't mean a thing. Professional ethics? Laughable. You don't need a test to know what is right or wrong. Just a way to make lawyers seem less crooked. I prefer my personal ethics than what a damn test says what is OK behavior. Legal ethics, by the way, is an oxymoron. And what is "ethical" as a lawyer is pretty pitiful. It makes you wonder what really matters: doing your best for the client or doing your best for your bank account. As a cynical person, I'm guessing the bank account. Yes, there are honest lawyers who actually give a damn about such things, and not in the legal ethics viewpoint, but I wonder about them also. I wonder about myself as well and what path I will take sometimes.

God, I am a mess up there sometimes. Maybe more than sometimes. I question my sanity. Which might make me the sanest person around. Or I am severly delusional. Either possibility is scary. I think this world is messed up and has its priority backwards. Maybe I am naive in thinking this world can be better and more sane and thinking it should operate the way I think it should. I'm getting angry over things I can't change. Things that are minor, but get me pissed off and on a rant.
Society and the media considers a marriage between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes breaking news, but a car bomb killing Iraqis and American soldiers not that important. The news reporters might say things in jest, but it is indicitive of what Americans are serious about. Trivial fluff. "I know you all want to know about the marriage, but we have to get to serious stuff." If the serious stuff is serious, then talk about that first instead of some marriage that is planned and most likely, fail in a year. We have a vast source of information--newspapers, TV, Internet--and we're quite possibly, the most ignorant about what is going on in our backyard and the world. More people would know details about a celebrity breakup or a football game than what is happening in Iraq or any part of the world.
That's the scary part. Apathetic people who can't think for themselves, who accept whatever is fed to them, deciding what should happen. People who don't think and analyze. Who accept the simplest explanation of "this is wrong" and takes it in at face value. People who don't care running the place now and people who don't care taking their place.
A quote from the movie Network that describes the state of this world:

You people and sixty-two million other Ameicans are listening to me right now. Because less than three percent of you people read books. Because less than fifteen percent of you read newspapers. Because the only truth you know is what you get over this tube. Right now, there is a whole, an entire generation that never knew anything that didn't come out of this tube. This tube is the gospel, the ultimate revelation. This tube can make or break Presidents, Popes, Prime Ministers. This tube is the most awesome, god-damned force in the whole godless world. And woe is us if it ever falls into the hands of the wrong people and that's why woe is us that Edward George Ruddy died. Because this company is now in the hands of CCA, the Communication Corporation of America. There's a new chairman of the board, a man called Frank Hackett sitting in Mr. Ruddy's office on the 20th floor. And when the twelfth largest company in the world controls the most awesome, god-damned propaganda force in the whole godless world, who knows what s--t will be peddled for truth on this network. So, you listen to me! Listen to me! Television is not the truth. Television is a god-damned amusement park. Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, story tellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, sideshow freaks, lion tamers and football players. We're in the boredom-killing business. So if you want the truth, go to your God, go to your gurus, go to yourselves because that's the only place you're ever gonna find any real truth. But man, you're never gonna get any truth from us. We'll tell you anything you want to hear. We lie like hell! We'll tell you that Kojack always gets the killer, and nobody ever gets cancer in Archie Bunker's house. And no
matter how much trouble the hero is in, don't worry. Just look at your watch - at the end of the hour, he's gonna win. We'll tell you any s--t you want to hear. We deal in illusions, man. None of it is true! But you people sit there day after day, night after night, all ages, colors, creeds - we're all you know.
You're beginning to believe the illusions we're spinning here. You're beginning to think that the tube is reality and that your own lives are unreal. You do whatever the tube tells you. You dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children like the tube. You even think like the tube. This is mass madness. You maniacs. In God's name, you people are the real thing. We are the illusion. So turn off your television sets. Turn them off now. Turn them off right now. Turn them off and leave them off. Turn them off right in the middle of this sentence I am speaking to you now. Turn them off!

Sorry. Went on a rant. I'm getting angry, venting over something I can't change. Stupid of me to do that. But it still remains. We're all on a trip going back to zero. And we're all responsible for it.

That's all for now.

Under Pressure...Think I'm Going Crazy

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only known site on the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. If you haven't guessed by now, this means stuff that I find interesting that is going on in my so called life.
It's that time of the year when the average law school student is abuzz and being active. No, I am not talking about the law school weekend. I'm not talking about the holidays. No, I am talking about the season of madness. The brief two-week period that comes twice a year when law school students are actually reading the textbooks and statute books. It is the Law School Finals period.
I've just begun my journey down the pathway to perdition today. Nothing like a lovely closed-book final over International Trade Law (ITL), specifically over GATT. The textbook is thick, densely packed with a mind-bursting amount of information, and at times, becomes incomprehensible due to the overload of three letter acronyms. There is a certain amount of information you can pack into a sentence before the mind starts to overheat and burst into flames. This treatise on GATT and any federal statute will do this to you. Which reminds me, I have a Federal Income Taxation final on Monday. The only consolation I can give myself (and to put this into proper perspective), is that it can't be as bad as the Federal Income Taxation final. Which will involve slogging though the Internal Revenue Code. If you've taken a glance at the statute, you will know what I am talking about. Believe me, the 1040 forms aren't that bad. The freaking Internal Revenue Code it is based upon is worse, much worse. This isn't much of a consolation. Not at all. Forget it.
Anyways, the ITL final, as I said earlier, was a real doozy. The first problem was not that hard. It was straight forward, though very open ended. You could have written an entire book about one of the questions (multiple parts to every problem) in the first problem. Interestingly enough (note the sarcasm coming), people have written books about the advantages and disadvantages of free trade agreements with the Middle East. And I am supposed to give a precise, concise, well-written answer to this question and I have an hour? And this means using proper grammar, or as the professor would like to put it, "Queen's English?" He did, after all, get a British education while in the London School of Economics and I also believe, Oxford University. Which is true.
The second problem just got worse. It was a lovely Article III question involving like products. Are "men's dress shirts" like products with white unisex shirts made of a cotton/polyester blend? You have to go through Article III of GATT, the Japan Alcoholic Beverages test on like products, the rules on product descriptions with the Harmonized Trade Schedule, and a slew of other things. Once you do that, and the HTS doesn't work, you need to go on a different route of analysis involving comparing the subject merchandise and relatively similar items and see if that works. This is, supposed to take an hour, but of course, there is a second part to this problem involving the deep question of what makes a leather belt a leather belt. And of course, that involves another test that depends on some factors that depends on...you get the point. By this time my brain is burning out or just about past well done and going into charred.
The third problem was...well...not fun. Not freaking fun at all. There were very little facts to base an actual detailed calculation and some things just could not be quantified into hard numbers that neatly fit into the Dumping Margin calculation. How much is something like lost profits worth? Or the fluctuation of the Indonesian rupiah compared to a dollar during the year of 2002? Oh, you could add in some stuff about zeroing and the meaning of "relevant" information to the mix and well, that adds to the sheer impossibilty of giving a concise yet detailed answer in an hour.

Queen and David Bowie sum up the experience nicely (sorry for all those Queen fans who know I am taking this song way out of context) with the following excerpts from the song "Under Pressure"

It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming 'Let me out'
.....
This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure
Under pressure
Pressure

Or the following from "Think I'm Going Mad" by The Rolling Stones:

This season that'll pass
Think will be my last
I know my mind's afloat
Sometimes I feel so young and sometimes I feel so old
Yeah you want to see, you want to see all the things
And I'm thinking, they say that your crazy
They say that your insane
I think....and I think I'm going crazy
And I think I'm going mad
You ought to see my shaking hands
I think I've been drinking lots of cups of coffee
I think I've lost my head
I think I should be sacrificed
I think I should be put to rest
Save yourself
And I think I'm going mad
Think I'm going now
Think I'm going crazy

The fun continues on Saturday. Public International Law. Let the good times roll...
It will all be over soon. So soon.
That's all for now.

Me and Fourth Place...

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only site on the Internet (that I know of) devoted to all things related to Un. If you don't know it by now, it means stuff that I find interesting. If this is not your cup of tea, or you were hoping for something else, then please hit the "back" icon on your web browser. Or you can press Alt + left arrow (press both at the same time) if you don't want to use your mouse.

I competed in an Open Mic Competition yesterday. It wen't pretty well. Considering that I got fourth place in the Standup Competition (a long story that does not need to bear repeating), I really should not have made it to this competition. But, since the third place winner could not make it due to a conflict, I got to take his place in this little bit.
To make a long story short, I do my comedy routine. Considering how not-so-well other times have gone (like forgetting punchlines and jokes), I do quite well. But then again, the guy who plays the piano and sings songs about stalkers and bad dates is coming up next and he will kill the crowd in a good way. Compared against him, my performance would be a bad night. The best joke of the night is this one involving world peace and M&M candy:

This world is messed up. I think the world should be like a bag of M&M’s. They represent the world, as it should be. Different colors on the outside, same center in the inside. They exist together, making a delicious mix. Brown ones: African-Americans and Hispanics. Red ones: Native Americans. Yellow ones: Asians. And the white...there aren’t any white M&M’s. No
wonder why things work so well. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Could you imagine the situation if there were white M&M’s? The same crap that has happened before. They would enslave the brown M&M’s. Then they would steal space from the red ones. Finally, they would blame the yellow ones for taking away all of the jobs.

It's nice to make jokes that poke fun of serious issues with a politically incorrect and irreverent sense of humor. One of the poetry slam people talked about race, but in a more emotional and more eloquently stated manner. I just do the jokes.
During the intermission while the judges are tallying the scores, the judges allow audience members/participants to hit the mikes again. So I decide to entertain the crowd with some impressions. This went over very well. It seems like that people do not expect an Asian to do Sammy Davis Junior in an eerily similar manner. I probably should have tossed in the Woody Allen bit about adoption, but that might have been a little too much. I should try that next time. Maybe. I think. I guess.
To make a potentially long story short, I get fourth place. One place away from getting a gift certificate that can be used to buy things in Downtown Lawrence. Fourth place. So close, and yet so far. Which, oddly enough, whenever I do these competitions, is the ranking I get every time. There must be a strangely perverse reason for this. Not that I am complaining or anything, but why fourth? It may be due to a certain lack of smoothness in delivery, but why fourth?
Oh well. This is the way things are in the world. I can't complain about this. All that matters is that I did a good job and can be proud in what kind of work I have done.
Then again, if I did get something higher than fourth place, like third, second, or even first, I might consider that a larger fluke. And I might wonder what sick sense of humor God has in these things. The philosophy I shall leave for others to worry about.
I guess that I shall have to work on the jokes and the delivery. There's the spring semester contest and I need to do better. Get funnier jokes. Work on delivery. Maybe I can get third place. Or I could just get another fourth place. This might be a repeating cycle.

That's all for now.

Winter Weather

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only site on the Internet that I know of devoted to all things related to Un. It's time for one of those friendly little update things that I try to do every so often. Because I am in a giving spirit right now.

If you are not in Kansas or for that matter, in the general Midwestern area, you are missing out on some of the most messed up weather right now. If there is a Mother Nature or higher being out there, then He/She/It has a twisted sense of humor. It kind of makes me want to be out in...I don't know...how about Cancun or some nice tropical place.
A week ago, let alone on Tuesday, it was in the mid-sixties, lower-seventies. And this is in the last week of November. I was out walking without a jacket on Tuesday. Heck, I was outside on Thanksgiving and it was perfectly glorious. Nice weather. But like with many good things, it just does not last.

Cue to yesterday. The high temperature was at midnight. The rain turned to freezing rain and then to sleet. That just sucked. Driving home was definitely not all that fun. Walking outside in the stuff sucked doubly so.

If that isn't oh-so-fun, today, it is going to be cold and it is going to snow. Snow. Snow. According to the latest weather forecast, updated every so often during the day, there is a very good possibility there will be snow. About four or five inches of powdery white stuff, and it's not illegal drugs. In Colombia, however, four or five inches of a different kind of snow is a good thing. If the storm goes north about 30 miles, a foot of snow is possible. Maybe more, maybe less. All I know is that it is going to suck driving home.

Alas, no sipping hot chocolate by a warm fire for me. No hot snow bunnies for me waiting at home. One (but preferably both) would be good right now. OK, make it a double. Hell, I would go for a trifecta, but I can't think of anything better right now. I have to get busy with the Internal Revenue Code since my final in Federal Income Taxation does not look to be fun. Nothing like 1400 pages of poorly written verbiage to make one feel warm and fuzzy all over. In Kansas City sports, that would be the equivalent of taking all the contracts for the Kansas City Royals and sticking them in a binder.
Oh well. It is getting close to winter. I should have expectected this to happen sooner or later.

Then again, it could be worse and be like this:

Or even this for that matter:

That's all for now.

Post-Thanksgiving Update

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only site on the Internet (that I know of right now) devoted to all things related to Un. It's time for a post-Thanksgiving update, because this holiday season is all about the "giving" instead of the receiving. You all should give thanks that I am giving you this post full of Un-ishness instead of foolishness. Bad wordplay aside...

Thanksgiving was good. Ate too much. Watched too much football. Did little in studying. Unless you consider debating the merits of certain run plays on a third and short to be studying or even intellectual in some way. Then again, if you are a certain college football coach *coughh* Mangino *cough*, you might consider this the next time you play against one of the worst run defenses in the nation. That and coming up with a better pass defense plan. I guess that Mangino was thinking more about hitting the buffet line instead of Missouri's offensive or defensive line. Though I'm sure he made steady gains in gaining three hard-fought yards down the buffet line to get to the paydirt, the carving station.

Well, the political situation in Washington DC is becoming messy. Sam Brownback, who is one of the two senators from Kansas, is exploring his options in running for the role of President of the United States. That, my friends, is an interesting story. But it is made even more interesting by his comments on a Sunday morning politics show. I think it was This Week with George Stephanopoulis or something like that. He mentioned something about getting tested for AIDS. It was one of those Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moments. And I think it was for political pandering to the voters, you know. Sound like a responsible person by showing people how easy it is to get tested. Make people aware of the dangers of STDs like AIDSs. But I came up with the more funny reason. After all, if you're going to sell your body to the public and screw them in multiple ways, like any responsible worker in the sex trade, it's required to get tested for STDs.

The Jayhawk basketball team redeemed themselves from a loss to Oral Roberts and a sloppy win against Ball State(what's up with the teams the Jayhawks are playing? Oral Roberts...Ball State...there's a bad sex joke in the making already. Just toss in something about dribbling balls up the hardwood, shooting prematurely, and well, I made up one already.) by beating Florida. Good job. Now don't fall flat and come up short against Dartmouth. Sorry. Another bad one.

NaNoWriMo 2006 is about to end. I updated the Gray Hall site with another update to this year's contribution in novel writing madness. I have a few loose strings to tie up and it will be finished. I have to admit that I had to use a bad deus ex machina to get this finished. You'll spot it if you read it. Not that I don't have confidence in you actually knowing what that Latin phrase meant.


That's all for now.