Hi, Friends.

Being the last one to post I wanted to make amends by including a picture, and thus 1,000 extra words, which my neighbor took outside our building (and I doubt anyone other than Duke would recognize my car, but if you look closely you can see the Prelude creepin in the background). Cville has been gorgeous ever since the last of the snow melted, or at least most of it did, and lately I've been reading on my balcony, which is cool. It's not as good as the Sybil porch, but at least nobody vomits on my furniture without my consent (to my knowledge).

Life here at UVA does in fact involve a certain amount of softball and beer.
The softball: at the moment, I'm taking part in my second softball season (1st one mandatory, 2nd one optional--I still can't swing a bat to save my life), which is always a good time, except when some people get crazy competitive, but they're shunned.
The beer: the law school public interest organization sponsors a beer pong tournament fundraiser (lost in the second round to a pair of egregious elbows-rule violators) and the powers-that-be (I'm actually not sure who) taps a half barrel in the courtyard every Thursday at 3pm. More than a few prospective students seem scared/confused by this, but, considering that the law school is full of normal people, and not the collar-popping, plaid-short wearing UVA undergrads, it's just kinda nice to have something to offset the stress inherent in the law school (Thunderdome) experience, and it isn't (usually) a giant frat party.

For those of you unfamiliar with the law school setup (which may be none of you), our grades depend almost exclusively on our final exams, which are graded on a strict curve against our classmates/peers/friends. And hiring firms basically care only about your grades. So, it is what it is (citation). We also have things like Journals, which are essentially an extracurricular (therefore mattering about .05% in your job search), the tryouts for which involve a grueling 72-hour weekend of fixing citations and reading more pages of case opinions than I usually read in two weeks. Due to the economy, almost every 1L tried out. But spots are limited. Today, they posted the names of the people that made it on, so those whose names absent could be publicly shamed by omission.* That's why law school is the Thunderdome.

I myself am motivated to get decent grades primarily so that I can stay bearded through job interviews. If I'm anywhere near borderline, I don't think I have the stones to keep the beard. In other news, my sister recently got engaged. Her fiance is a good guy, and she's happy about it, so I'm happy, too. My parents are laid back about this sort of thing, but I can't help but feel like some attention just shifted to me. Strange times. In other other news, I'll be staying in Charlottesville this summer working as a research assistant for one of my professors. I'm pleased since Cville should be beautiful in the summer, I get paid something, and DC is within reach on weekends.**

Also, in the last email I received, Floppers..(and I quote) "...seems to be warming up well to our family. I was most concerned that the cat would try to eat him for supper but instead Floppers follows the cat, who seems to be afraid of him, around the house. Hannah has built him a large bunny condo which he seems to really enjoy. If we leave the door open, he will frequently come sit in it for a rest.
We have lots of lettuce, clover, dandelion, and carrot. We bought him a bale of timothy grass hay from the farmer's co-op. He seems to like it here and we have been enjoying him too."
Picture (and open invitation to visit him at their house 45 min outside of DC) included:













*I was not shamed, fortunately.
**Ann Arbor should also be within reach, so I'll do my best to be there in June (?).