Saturation Point

There comes a saturation point, with anything that you are learning when it all starts clicking. If you are learning a language, it is often when you start dreaming in that language.

When Cindy was studying for the bar, EVERYTHING related somehow to a bar topic.

She couldn't help it.

I understood.

She was saturated.

As for me, I think I just hit mine. For most bars you must study wills, how they are made, how the state distributes your belongings if you don't have one, etc. I am studying the Old Testament right now and today I am Numbers chapter 27. I think when my hand-written notation above the chapter heading reads "Intestate Succession"...I'm there.

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* Intestate succession: the order in which the state distributes someones assets to relatives when they do not have a valid will.

** I am not sure people actually wrote wills in ancient Israel, but still...

*** Numbers 27:8-11 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren. And if he have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his father’s brethren. And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the Lord commanded Moses....For the curious, but lazy :)

Nerd Moments

- "I heard on NPR this morning." One of my favorite phrases. I hear it all the time. As for me, my car radio is literally stuck on NPR right now so I'm hopeless till my radio decides to change its mind.

- The dictionary game...a big hit lately. Comments after include "I love this game, it is so educational.", "I love that you learn something while you play." (One person picks a word out of a dictionary and the others try to win at figuring out what the word is. Endless hours of free entertainment...and my friends have great vocabularies...and even if they make words up, most of the rest of us wouldn't know the difference.)

- We swap library stories.

- A quote after she looked at my friend's high school yearbook. "How were my glasses?" "Big." Another friend admits, "Mine were bigger."

- No one in the room has less than a master's degree.

- Most of my friends are avid fans of This American Life.

- At a recent party, there were people in the basement watching Star Trek. (To my knowledge, however, no one speaks Klingon.)

- T-shirts with binary on them...worn to social gatherings...

- We love Planet Earth and genuinely enjoy watching it on a Friday night.

- Most of my friends, myself included, own loads of bookshelves laden with books.

- My school friends rock at trivia.

- Yesterday Hael e-mailed because he was looking for this.

- Recently this song was introduced to me by two med-school friends. It made me laugh.

Missing Person Report/Studette of the Month - February 2009

"I am coming out to visit you on my spring break." My sister Colette announced in a matter-of-fact manner during my second year of law school.

"Oh, great! I'd be great to have you here!" I responded. She was still in college, and living on a student budget, so I didn't know how she planned on making this proposed visit happen.

"But I have to earn up the money first." She cautioned me. "I am going to give plasma. Once I've sold enough, I'll buy the ticket."

"Great! What do you want to see while you are here?" I asked in my best hostess manner.

"I really don't care. I am out there to see you because I miss you. I want to get to know your life, see your school, meet your friends. So if we don't get to see much of anything, I don't really care. I am going to see you." She reiterated that final point many times before she came.

Colette is the queen of the five minute phone calls. She'll call on her way to the bus, between classes, just to say hi. That winter she often updated me. "I am close to buying the ticket to come visit you! I can't wait to come!" And come she did.

We did, of course, see the arch. And she met my friends, saw my school, and became acquainted with my life in a lovable way that is uniquely her own.




The first morning of her visit, I made her some breakfast. When we sat down to eat it, I apologized that it didn't have much flavor to it. "No problem." she responded. Without saying a another word, went to her suitcase and picked out a cinnamon container. She sprinkled it on her food, and then offered me some. I just laughed. She knows me that well. She left it with me when she returned home. I still can't help but laugh and think wistfully of her whenever I stumble across the cinnamon in my cabinet with the letters C-O-L-E-T-T-E neatly printed on the label.



My third year of law school she left on a mission to California. It is always a bit of an adjustment when someone close to you leaves. No more five minute phone calls while she walked to class. No more visits. No more her.

Thankfully, she comes home on February 17, and I couldn't be more pleased!! I fly home on the 21st. Coincidentally, I am taking the MA bar on the 25th & 26th (Prayers are most welcome. Trust me, they help immensely.) so I'll be able to be home!! What a lucky twist of fate. Otherwise, I may not have been able to see her till this summer. Then, finally, I get to spend a few days just relaxing and enjoying my much missed sister.

Welcome home Colette!! Life just wasn't the same without you.