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28 February 2005
I have an
interview tomorrow, the first one in years at which I’ve been the applicant. Cross your fingers for me. I’ve shaved
so that I’ll look hirable.
27 February 2005
Sometimes I worry about my inefficiency,
but there’s only so much of this I can take at one sitting:
When an accrual method taxpayer
is allowed a deduction for an accrued but unpaid expense, the subsequent discharge of that debt may cause the taxpayer to
recognize income under the tax benefit doctrine [footnote] even though the discharge would not otherwise have caused the debtor
to recognize income because of the transactional view [footnote].
I went to my parents’ place
for our annual winter Indian food dinner. My mother made a delicious curry. We helped my little sister pick out a name for
her future baby girl. She and her husband want something Italian. After we eliminated Agrippina and Ugolina, my other sister
looked up from the drinks she was making and suggested Maraschina. I guess you had to be there. My nephew walks like a drunken
sailor and is starting to talk. He can almost say my name.
I saw an old flame at the gym.
So fine. Slim, dark hair, great smile, South American. He was featured in a Gay.com ad a few months back. His Friendster profile
suggests that he’s 31, but he was 31 when I met him four years ago. Too bad he’s not single.
As part of my duties as a club
officer at trade school, I’m in now charge of the “light fare” to be served after our panel discussion tomorrow.
Someone suggested that we go to Safeway for a deli platter. I stopped them from committing that violation. So I’m putting
together (in my spare time) a nice, but simple spread: four kinds of cheese (an aged goat Gouda, an Ossau-Irraty (a delicious
sheep’s milk cheese from southwest France), a Piave (akin to Parmesan), and a Camembert), two kinds of olives, crackers,
taralli (like little breadsticks, but shaped like a ring), and a bean purée with green garlic to go on croutons.
Farmers’ market report:
pork and beef, tangerines, tangelos, erbette chard, green garlic, and tulips (orange with yellow edges).
The touching report involves
two Bulgarians. Part of my plan to be as welcoming as possible to future members of the EU.
25 February 2005
The best thing that happened
today was a nap. Mustn’t grumble.
24 February 2005
Yesterday I scrapped 80% of the
draft of my brief and rewrote 3,500 words. I am a Dr Pepper achiever.
Is the Concerta working? Not
yet.
22 February 2005
Dreams of tornados (in Los Angeles),
mean dogs, and unwanted guests.
20 February 2005
Well, where were we when I left
off? I don’t usually give titles to posts, but this one would be "Cunégonde is Myopic, or the Perils of Poor Vision,
in which our heroine learns that she hasn’t perceived at all correctly what she thought she understood."
I’ve been recuperating
from writing and school. I finally renewed my passport. I got rid of the terrorist photo I’ve had since 1995, when I
foolishly posed with long hair, thinking that it wouldn’t matter. I’ve had lots of double-takes and raised eyebrows
whenever I go through customs, and not a few uncomfortable “Please step over here, sir” episodes. I
hope the new photo looks more innocuously bourgeois.
Farmers’ market report:
tangelos, red Russian kale, stinging nettles, rapini, and tulips (I’m energizing the ch’i in the career sector of my apartment). And while we’re
on the subject of food, C. reminded me that cornbread is even better if you use buttermilk instead of plain milk. I’ve
adjusted the recipe below accordingly.)
I got offered an internship for
the summer (finally). Of course, having something like that land on my lap (I haven’t even interviewed with them), makes
me feel that I should have tried harder to find a summer job that actually paid or would be more prestigious. That’s what I get for being a lazy fuck. Part of the problem is that to apply for a better job (at
a firm or with a judge), I’d have to submit a writing sample. The only thing suitable was the memo I wrote last
semester on which I received a mediocre grade (my worst grade last year). I got it back in mid-December, saw the grade, and
shoved the paper aside. I haven’t been able to look at it for months. I forced myself on Friday to dig it out. It’s
salvageable. What I didn’t notice in December, or did notice but discounted immediately, was the comment from my TA
“Greatly improved. This is a really good paper.” I only got a mediocre grade because of the damn curve.
The Pet Kangaroo is out of the
picture. But moving on, I got a little appreciation last night from someone I had assumed for years was a tattoo artist or
motorcycle mechanic. He’s actually the owner of three successful small businesses that he’s built up over the
last ten years. Who knew?
I saw Sideways on Friday.
Don’t bother. The wine portion of the movie is just a gimmick and doesn’t tell you anything you didn’t already
know about wine. Plus it’s just too vulgar to say “pinot” when you mean “pinot noir” (let us
not forget about pinot blanc, pinot gris, and pinot meunier). The relationship
portion of the movie was the usual hetero claptrap (a gorgeous, intelligent, dynamic, mature woman falls in love with wildly
unattractive, unsuccessful alcoholic slob). The part about being 40-ish and washed up fell uncomfortably close to home, though.
Wait for the DVD. It wasn’t worth $9.50.
16 February 2005
I’m going slightly crazy
trying to grind out the first draft of my brief. I’m on page 19. I think I only have about five more pages to write.
That's just 1,250 words before bed. Quick! Think of some reason why public policy
in California would disfavor granting the relief Petitioner requests. Read another law review article.
No news from the Pet Kanagaroo.
I think he needs someone with a bit more free time.
I’m enjoying the Jeff Gannon scandal. Imagine: a working gay hustler with regular access to the White House press room and to classified documents relating
to Valerie Plame! His entire journalism credentials are one $50 course! Why am I working so hard at trade school?
The big news is that Moustaches
Are Back! I’ve seen them on more and more of the trendies at the gym, and as further proof, my fashionable straight
neighbor across the street is sporting one too. Your Cunégonde has worked for years to bring them back by setting a positive example. Finally it’s
paying off. Coming soon to an upper lip near you.
14 February 2005
Happy Valentine’s Day,
dear readers!
12 February 2005
Job search: well, I survived
my first career fair. I shaved off my stubble. I got a haircut. I revised my résumé for the 487th time (“Successfully
managed a 1.25-million-page online document review for multi-plaintiff, multi-state toxic tort litigation; supervised 22 attorneys...”).
I wore my new suit for the first time. I think I need to get it altered again. Fussy fussy.
School: let’s not talk
about it.
Farmers’ market report:
broccoli di cicco, beef, duck sausages, apples, blood oranges. The avocado people didn’t have any Malaysian white guavas
this time. Damn.
I’m going on a date tomorrow
with the Pet Kangaroo. He hadn’t called me since our last date (one week), so I thought he wasn’t interested,
or something. I told my hairdresser about him, and she threatened to stop my haircut right there (only half done) unless I
promised to call him that afternoon.
The rest of the day: The gym.
A trip to the bike shop to buy a new headlight. The last one shot off like a falling star as I rattled across the streetcar
tracks at Church and Market. Drafting my damn brief for moot court. Tax homework. Und so weiter.
9 February 2005
Happy New Year (again). I cleaned
and swept yesterday so that I could start off the new year on a better footing. I cancelled my haircut so that I wouldn't
cut short my luck in the coming year. I love having a second chance. I've revised my resolutions (the public ones include
finding a summer job and more Canadian travel).
OK, so maybe moot court won’t
be so bad after all. And I’m enjoying my income tax class.
And I’ll be OK if I don’t
go out again with the Pet Kangaroo, though it would be disappointing. Consolation prize: I finally met the curvy
Brazilian last night at the gym. Hmm.
And yet another lawsuit I worked
on years ago came up at school this afternoon.
And I’ve managed to keep
my Lenten vow for a full day.
7 February 2005
Help! I’ve fallen off the
motivation wagon.
We haven’t had a recipe
here for a while, so how about cornbread, a sure cure for winter blues.
Cornbread
1/2 cup/70 g flour (wheat or
white)
1/2 cup/70 g masa harina (the
secret ingredient)
1 cup/140 g cornmeal
1 teaspoon/5 g salt
1 teaspoon/5 g sugar
2 teaspoons/10 g baking
powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup/60 g oil or melted butter
1 cup or 1/4 litre milk (or better,
buttermilk)
Preheat oven to 425F/220C. Butter
or oil a metal pan lavishly. Mix all dry ingredients thoroughly. Add the egg, oil, and milk and quickly stir together. Do
not over-mix. A few lumps and a little heterogeneity will be fine. Pour into prepared pan. Stick it in the oven.
Set the timer for 15 minutes.
The top will be firm and springy to the touch when it's done. Insert a knife near the center; if it comes out clean,
it’s done. If not, wait a few more minutes, and test again.
Serve hot from the oven with
lots of butter (or butter and honey).
Note: if you don’t have
masa harina, substitute an extra 1/2 cup of cornmeal.
5 February 2005
School is hell. I don’t
even want to think about it.
I went on a date on Friday. We
met last week on the street. I was on my bike, coming home from the gym, and he was out walking a dog. He said something to
me that I thought was an indecent proposal, but when he repeated it, I realized that it was friendly. I stopped to talk. I
told him that his dog looked just like a friend’s dog.
Well, it was the friend’s
dog. He’s just looking after him for a few days. We exchanged numbers. Our mutual friend gave me a thumbs up on the
guy, so I called him.
We went
for a glass of wine in the neighborhood and then to dinner. I am following A.’s advice and not jumping too fast to any
conclusions. I won’t disclose any revealing details, except to say that he had pet kangaroos when he was a child.
Farmers' market report: pork, bread,
tangelos, eggs, nettles.
I am cleaning
house in anticipation of Lunar New Year, which falls on Wednesday. I'm also trying to figure out what I'm giving up for Lent
this year.
2 February 2005
Happy Imbolc. Light a candle. It’s definitely spring weather here. Sunny. Warm. Leaf buds swelling. Birds a-chirping. Boys
in flip-flops and t-shirts.
Your poor Cunégonde is swamped
with school work, but not in a good way. She keeps reminding herself of the alternative: back to yet another dead-end job.
Mustn't grumble.
The best thing that happened
was the arrival of the FedEx man yesterday bearing a box from the Pioneer Lady. Inside were two delicious pickles (bread & butter, and Vidalia onion), strawberry syrup, and blackberry-orange jam.
All homemade! Yum. I made meatloaf tonight so that I’d have an extra excuse to eat pickles.
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