Scrabulicious

My friend Matt, who goes by a goofy pseudonym on Facebook, got me hooked on Scrabulous. In case you didn't know, Scrabulous is the online word game that is virtually identical to Scrabble. (Hence Scrabble's beef with the folks who got Scrabulous going.) Anywho, I handily trounced Matt in Scrabulous, as would be expected per my above average language skills (cue my evil villain cackle), mostly due to my ability to pull bingos out of my rear. (Bingos are when you use all seven of your tiles to create a word. You get mad points for that.) I was also playing a game with Efe and was kicking ass until literally the very end. I had a C and a J left, and he had four Is. He beat me by one point. One stinking point. He was so proud, but I told him that I deserved to win. It was like he was Germany and I was Turkey in the Euro Cup. Turkey totally deserved to win, played a better game, but Germany won by some fluke. That's how I felt about my Scrabulous game with Efe. So how do I feel? Deflated by my loss to Efe, but still riding the victory high from my game with Matt. I'd say I'm Scrabulicious, wouldn't you?

I'm baaacck

Nearly two years have passed since my last post. I go through cycles. Sometimes I have a sense of urgency about putting my thoughts down on paper, engaging with the world around me. Other times, I circle the wagons, so to speak, and am very introspective and closed off from most of the world. I think I might be emerging from one of those latter periods. Not easy to sum up two years. But the long and short of it is that I finished school, got married, got my real estate license, took the LSATs, and applied to law school. I start Chicago-Kent College of Law in less than a month. I will likely be needing to write in this blog more and more as an outlet as I deal with the newness and challenges of being a law student. Stay tuned.

you know you want this

Ok some long awaited pictures from our trip to Turkey back in December. This one is the view from the balcony of Efe's family's summer house, on the Mediterranean.
Dinner on Christmas Eve. That's Efe's mom and me, then his dad in the middle, his Uncle Musa and his wife and little boy.
A view of the countryside and the Taurus Mountains in the distance.
The cave from the Q'uran, where some people fell asleep for 300 years.
The feast Efe's mom prepared. With Efe's dad, Mehmet, standing watch.

babies

while i am still light years away from having children, i have to say that they can be pretty damn cute. the ones that don't talk yet, anyway. efe's brother and his wife just brought their little tot, jacob, home from the hospital this week. he was born premature and spent 3 weeks in the NICU. he's doing great now, and he is so freaking adorable. i fed him his bottle yesterday and his personality was coming through -- he'd stop feeding, and then he'd burp, and then start screaming because i didn't put the bottle back in his mouth quick enough. he's got quite an appetite, that one. it's nice being an auntie again.

Dame

Checked out the jazz vocalist who will part of a jazz trio that will perform for the 1st 2 hours at our wedding. I booked her sight unseen, knowing that she performs at Pops, and after checking out some sample tracks of hers on her website.

My mom and I saw her perform at the Speakeasy Supper Club on Devon. AMAZING. She wasn't even singing jazz, which is her specialty. She was there just basically having fun, singing folk and country with a friend of hers, who plays guitar. Her voice is like Julie Andrews', but without any pretention -- just perfect pitch, tone, style -- I was thoroughly impressed, and so pleased that I'll have such a great singer at our wedding.

To hear her sing live, check out her gig schedule on her website. www.elainedame.com

Recused

For the past year and a half I have become intimately acquainted with the topic of inmate abuse at the Cook County Jail. I know that inmate abuse occurs, that it gets covered up, and that guards who complain about it get retaliated against. What I didn't know was the depths that the damn defense attorneys would sink to in trying to prove that none of that actually happens.

3 years into a contentious lawsuit, a month before trial, and while summary judgment motions were being considered by the judge, the Sheriff and his legal henchman sought to have the judge recused. And today they succeeded. On a practical level that means that the judge steps down from the case and that a new judge will be assigned. Both sides will have to expend considerable time and resources bringing the new judge up to speed on the details and legal merits of the case. And if settlement doesn't occur, we'll go to trial with a new judge.

I am disgusted and disheartened. Disgusted at defense counsels' tactics. Disheartened at all the work that has built up to this anticlimax. But also invigorated with that peculiar brand of righteous indignation that comes from knowing that you are right and you have been wronged.

reactionary v. proactive

a series of recent events have made me feel that i need to be more proactive. less talk, more action. more action in terms of finding a suitabe florist (not letting 2 weeks lag between talks) and in making sure male bosses don't pigeonhole my friends in the you're-female-so-you-must-do-my errands bit.

TO BOSSES EVERYWHERE: JUST BECAUSE IT'S NOT ILLEGAL DOESN'T MAKE IT RIGHT -- TREAT WOMEN WITH THE RESPECT THAT THEIR BRAINS AND HARD WORK DEMAND

got the dress!

ok so there is so much i need to write -- about our trip to turkey, about having efe's parents living in the states, about my voluntary attendance at a catholic mass in nearly a year... that will have to wait - the exciting news is that today, with the help of my mom and sister cherie, i have picked out my wedding dress. it's gorgeous! love it! and its so cliched, but we knew it was the one because we all started crying!! email me and i'll tell you where you can preview it (i'd put the link, but i don't want efe seeing it) oh, and as a plug for the place i got it - eva's bridal in oak lawn -- you guys are the best!!