Many Things to Celebrate...and some to reign in

With WLS Symposium now in the rearview mirror, among many other crazy commitments this semester, I am excited to really be narrowing my focus. This past week and the craziness of making Symposium a two-day event with six speaking events in total (as opposed to a one-day event with one panel featuring two speakers) was a labor of love and, hopefully, one that people enjoyed. We had several distinguished guests who spoke on different aspects of Equality (gender, racial, political, etc.). We heard some things we already knew, and we also learned some new things. We heard some things that were incredibly outrageous, both good and bad. In the end, we learned by listening and continue to learn by discussing these speeches even the day after the event came to its eventual conclusion. In a word, it was intense. I spent 12 hours each day of Symposium simply being at the school - for a total of 24hours over the course of two days. Yikes!

Inevitably, the desire to make Symposium as professional as it could be had a negative impact on my workout/weightloss goal for the week. While I'm still down 10lbs from when I started, I started the week down 12.6. I know that I shouldn't beat myself up over it, and I don't plan on it. However, it is somewhat upsetting for me to realize the relative ease with which I can gain weight compared to the relative difficulty entailed in losing weight. The challenge, however, inspires me. I started the day by eating the things that I usually do, the things I associate with the journey I am currently on, the journey to looking more like myself. Thankfully, lunchtime today revealed that I haven't lost my willpower - I refused one of my absolute favorite sweets (funfetti cake with funfetti frosting). So, I remain committed. I hope that next time I write I'll have more uplifting and fewer disappointing news bits to share. I raise a giant glass of water to the next 5lbs! (Here's hoping, anyway).

In the meantime, here is a list of quotes that inspire me:


You want me to do something... tell me I can't do it. -Maya Angelou

Pain is temporary, pride is forever - Unknown

How am I to know what I can achieve if I quit? - Jason Bishop

Today I will do the things that other people won't, so tomorrow I can do the things that other people can't - Unknown

To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift - Steve Prefontaine

Even in the most difficult situation there is always, somehow, a way to triumph - Ralph Marston

Where the loser saw barriers, the winner saw hurdles - Robert Brault

Winners have simply formed the habit of doing things losers don't like to do - Albert Gray

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit - Aristotle

Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit - Vince Lombardi

It's been quite some time and a few pounds ago...

So, I haven't really posted on this site in a while. Although I make no promises to post regularly, I do hope to use it more often than never. Given the amount of time that has passed since I last wrote, significant updates are in order.

I came home from Argentina, sadly. It was a phenomenal experience, and I miss most of the people that I met during my time there. The only thing I don't miss - the amount of weight that I gained while there and the extent to which Buenos Aires does not serve vegetables.

Post-Argentina, I scurried back to Chicago for a few days before flying off to New York for my first interview for a 2L Summer Job. It was exciting stuff. I guess you can say that I was in the "New York State of Mind" while I was there, and I truly loved getting to know the city a little bit better, especially by hanging out with my cousin, my law/life mentor, and one of my sorority sisters. Throughout the three weekends I was there, I got to live a relatively glamorous life - even staying at one hotel that faced Times Square and was right next to the place where they film Good Morning America.

In addition to my interviews in New York, I spent several weekends interviewing in Chicago, probably more than I should have. It was great to meet so many great people and to have a genuine understanding of the differences both between firms in NY v. Chicago and between firms within a city. I had some really entertaining conversations with interviewers, including several in which the other person came out to me. Pretty random. In any case, it was a great experience, despite the fact that it detracted from my schoolwork. :(

The rest of first semester was rather uneventful. My classes were okay for the most part, but I was somewhat burnt out. I pushed through it and finally made it to the end of the semester. I spent some time at home before heading off to Hawaii with my best friend and his family. Even though it was only 5 days, it was exactly what I needed - once again, minus the weight that I gained while there, but whatever! It was my vacation, and it was the first time that I didn't think about law school during an entire week. I came back from the sunshine and fun times with a little bit more happiness, minus the fact that I had returned to freezing temperatures and spending significant time in the hospital while my dad was recovering from a hip replacement that he had had while I was gone. Nonetheless, it was really great to feel useful and closer to my parents than ever. While I won't go as far as to say that I enjoyed the endless hours at the hospital, I did find joy in the little moments - e.g., seeing my dad walk normally for the first time in over a year.

After a brief break, I returned early to school for two intersession classes - International Business Transactions and Private International Law. I really enjoyed both classes and was glad to get 3-credits out of the way in such a short amount of time. More importantly, however, than the classes, I started a new journey during those two weeks. Given the weight gain from Argentina and Hawaii, I decided I needed to make a change. This one's for real. I have set out to lose 42lbs in 2011. Why 42lbs? Because I want to be at an acceptable weight for my height and gender. Do I know whether, given my bone structure and wide hips, I can achieve that goal? No. Still, it's a goal that challenges me and that will stay with me until I get any kind of confirmation that I cannot actually achieve it. So far, I've lost 9.8lbs since January 3. I'm doing it very slowly so that my body doesn't yo-yo back to where I started. I'm pretty sure that this is the lightest I've been since the beginning of high school, at the very least. I'm starting to feel very good about my journey, even though I strained something in my foot last week. Still, I'm sticking with it because I am training for the Turkey Trot (8K) in November. I'm incredibly motivated, and I hope that this will be a significant life change.

That's all for now.

Besito,

A