Wow, it's February already. Second week of class has started.

Last week I had a sad-funny moment when I was taking calls for the legal services student organization I'm a part of. I was talking to a guy who'd been convicted of assault and battery and wanted to appeal. Says he: "I've never assaulted anyone before then. Never." Pause. "Oh, wait. There was that one time. But that was different."

It's no wonder that there are so many lawyers-turned-writers. This stuff is too good to make up.

Had an unusually social weekend -- potluck dinner on Friday night with clique members (two Oxfordians, one Mormon, one smart-mouthed youngster) and various classmates that the clique brought together. Who knew that people in our section were so talented in the kitchen? The guy who served 5 years in the army and was in Iraq at the beginning of the war made an amazing lemon-infused chicken stuffed with artichoke hearts. Two people made mac and cheese together (and earnestly said they thought we'd like it, since "we put our toes in it." Southern expression?). The girl Oxfordian made beef and snow peas. The former tech guy made a maple syrup pie. I made a winter soup. Lawyers who cook! Fantastic. And yum.

On Saturday I got friends in the hall to come with me to the Neener's party, which was low-key and chock-full of teeny chocolate muffins. (Okay, I have officially broken down and called the people I hang out with in the hall friends. I've committed to the idea of having friends here.)

And Sunday night I had dinner with a couple who are friends with One-Armed Maggie -- public interest devotees and smart, interesting, interested folks equally at ease talking about the difficulty of finding a good hairdresser for Asian hair and what role public interest lawyers should play in society (more effective as litigators or community organizers?). I didn't understand a lot of it, but it sure gave me a jump on my elective ("Professional responsibilities of public lawyers"), which they'd both taken at Crimson.

Sorry this has been a list-y sort of entry, but late it is and early I must rise to read Crim. Ah, crim. Shameful how bored and resentful I already am in class.