Coulda Woulda Shoulda

It’s refreshing how politics just doesn’t enter our friendship at all ninety percent of the time, and yet we manage to have conversations about current events, society, and media. I really value the discussions we have and the connection we’ve made, and in some ways I resent terribly that we didn’t meet until we did. You’re right that we probably wouldn’t have the same relationship had we met as terrified 1Ls under gray Chicago skies, though. And who’s to say that we would have enjoyed ourselves there? I actually loved most of 1L year---it wasn’t until I got bogged down in journal politics and conned myself into taking classes based on some deeply flawed idea of their future utility that I began to hate law school---but I have it on good authority that UChicago is well-stocked with unhappy people, and even my libertarian passion and your naturally sunny disposition might not have been able to overcome the collective psychic weight of our fellow students’ malaise.

I’ve talked with you quite a bit about my stymied drive to enter a PhD program, and was discussing it with someone else the other day. The really discouraging part is that my fallback course of action, namely to just read what I like on my own, is not getting off the ground; the self-starter homeschooling approach doesn’t work for me. (Nor for many others: That’s the reason BarBri makes so much money.) Maybe what I need is structure: a reading list, some syllabi to crib. But last night I was too tired to even knit the camel scarf I’m working on, much less digest theory. Before anything can happen, there needs to be a revolution in time management. And even if I do read everything I should, I’ve got nobody to discuss it all with whose field substantially overlaps. Oh well. We make do.

The spare time I do have has been taken up with quite a lot of cooking. I’ve been enjoying your food posts of late, especially the soup ones. I made this delicious soup this weekend after returning from a long morning of knitting class in Baltimore, and it’s been sustaining me for the past few days (along with its accompanying onion tart). I’m still learning to appreciate veggies, and soup is a nice way to get lots of different flavors out of and into them. The only trouble is having the time to make it! I bought a crockpot, but it’s devoted to dyeing and is really too big to use to cook for a small household. Maybe I need a second one. I am skeptical about Snape and Lily’s ability to refrain from bad behavior, though, if food was left cooking all day. (Snape is better, and thanks to all who had him in their thoughts.) Have you tried bacon salt? It alleges to add bacon flavor without any actual bacon. Not sure whether that would be good or bad for a soup.

I’ll have more thoughts on your theories of crushes and authenticity later, after I’ve had time to read your links, but wanted to break this into something manageable (for me! you’re outblogging me on my own blog). While I’m mulling those things over, here is a photo of a baby caracal: