Brooklyn Delight

There is just something about a Sunday morning. There is a different feel in the air. I have long been fascinated by this, and have found it's true almost anywhere I go. It is not because it's "the lord's day" or anything silly like that. I love when I get up and out and about early enough on a Sunday morning to enjoy that moment, that Sunday morningness. It makes me feel solemn contentment, wistful appreciation, a sense of being ready for the world while also being already fulfilled.

Today I appreciated Sunday morning in my new Brooklyn neighborhood. I woke up early and set out in search of coffee and greasy breakfast, which I found for $3.00 at a fabulous corner coffee shop, as well as some other errands. There were just a few of us strolling in the bright stillness. I like this 'hood. I'll be staying here one month, in Greenpoint, living with my cousin. I am subletting the room of one of her roommates while said roommate is off touring with a show she's in. So everybody wins. This neighborhood is great--it's so Polish (love it), it's got a great park with a track for running (yay!), and it's actually very well located for accessing all the places I need/want to go, which are basically Manhattan, Astoria, good ol' Atlas Park, and the Long Island Rail Road to Hofstra.

I've been here two days and I already feel so much better about being in New York than when I lived on Long Island. For example, last night I headed to the bar on 36th Street which has been designated as the gathering place for USC alumni to watch our Trojan football. (We are so #1. Seriously. Try not to be jealous.) It was SO NICE to be out and then just be able to go home like a normal person in a normal amount of time instead of schlepping all the way to Hempstead. Now, don't get me wrong; I still love me some Long Island Rail Road. I will be loving it as I commute to school four days a week. All summer in Boston I would sing the praises of the LIRR every time I even thought about riding Boston's far-too-infrequent-service commuter rail. But it's nice when you reach the late night point of tipsy exhaustion to not have a long night's journey into day ahead of you.

But even before I relocated, even as I stayed with a friend on Long Island during the first week of classes, I discovered that no matter where I choose to live the second year of law school is so much better than the first. SO much better it's impossible to explain. I officially think my third-year friends were holding out on me last year, and I have now told them this. How dare they let me entertain thoughts of dropping out? The suckage ended when I handed in that Property exam! Hurrah!

I am taking seven classes. A lot of people think that's crazy. Then again, they also think it's crazy I'm taking things I'm interested in instead of things they heard are on the bar exam. So I don't listen to those people. Well, I listen to them, but then I shake my head and move on. Most of my classes are only two credits. I have one required class, Constitutional Law, which is three credits, and International Law, which is three credits, and then I have five two-credit classes: Bioethics and the Law, Foreign Affairs and the Constitution, Entertainment Law, the Gender Law and Policy Colloquium, and Energy the Environment and the Global Economy. I love my classes. The week just got better and better as it went along. I couldn't believe my luck; I just kept loving class after class, professor after professor.

If only those Atlanta Braves could get themselves into the playoffs...but I think I'm going to have to settle for being happy with my team in the American League, which is the Red Sox of course. The Red Sox are making me exceedingly happy, and have been all summer.

Now, if you haven't already, go watch The Road to Guantanamo.