The Downside of Healthy Living

The downside of healthy living is that it takes up so much damn time! I am trying to eat healthy, by cooking myself using only fresh ingredients, and cutting for the moment most processed foods like refined grains from my diet. The food tastes great, and I am experimenting with quite a few vegetables that I have never cooked with before, like kale, collards, and fennel bulbs. My fridge is literally stuffed with various dark green leafy vegetables, and I spend much time every day researching recipe and planning meals.

BUT, this means I don't get to hang out with my friends as much, since much of the bonding was over eating out. Plus, I spend at least an hour every day chopping, cooking, and washing dishes. Most of the time during the week, I just make salads and smoothies, which is not bad. But if I want to cook anything more complicated, then it takes up a substantial amount of time.

Come to think of it, the time it takes is probably not significantly longer than the time it takes to walk to a restaurant, order, wait for the food to arrive, and eat. So perhaps the real complaint is that I miss out on that socializing time. Perhaps I should just invite my friends to dinner more often...

I'm determined to go to the gym at least 3 times a week, for about 1.5 hours each. This too takes up what seems like an inordinate amount of time. Including the time of getting ready, going there, and walking back, the whole enterprise takes about 2.5 hours each time. That's 2.5 hours I'm not using to work. Sigh...

Trying to go to sleep every day at a regular time has also been hard. There is just so much to do and the temptation is to stay past my bedtime to do them.

In the midst of all this drive to take responsibility for myself, I am also trying to do my errands like laundary and housecleaning more regularly as well.

Speaking of which, my sheets needs its weekly wash, so I should run to the laundary room now!

Good and Bad

Good:
- Did a lot of work today, including finishing all my corporations reading.
- Slowly losing the poundage I gained from stuffing myself like a "pig" last weekend. ;)
- Got a shiny new pedicure.
- Went grocery shopping with AB and ABS in the evening and bought more yummy veggies. (I'm seriously worried that I won't be able to eat them all though.)

Bad:
- Have sooo much more work to do tomorrow, and in the next week!

Admin Law

I just want to take a moment to gripe about my admin law class, which is... not going well. (And boy is that a huge understatement.)

I'm not sure whether it's purely Prof S's fault, although his meandering style and monotone certainly do not help. The subject matter is kind of inherently dry and boring, and so far I haven't spoken to anyone who say that they like the subject. On the other hand, I enjoyed civ pro (at least in retrospect, or at least I could see how it may be an interesting topic), and that's procedural law too, right? So why, oh why, is admin law so unbearable?

I am leagues behind in my reading because I just could not muster enough motivation to sit down and actually work through the cases. I dread going to class because not only is Prof S boring but he's also socratic, so it's like long periods of tedium (while he's grilling some other poor guy or girl) punctuated by moments of sheer terror (as he finishes his grilling and looks over the seating chart.) Not a good combination.

I am trying to be proactive about this problem. Yesterday, while in admin law, I fired off an email to my three friends in class, RH, JM, and JJ, with the title "Help me stop hating admin law!" and proposed that we form a study group, read together, and talk about admin law. This will at least make doing the work more fun. Never mind about efficiency. Right now getting ANY work done in admin law, even at a slow pace, beats... well, not getting ANY work done when I'm sitting home by myself.

Ran into AG on Monday and he suggested that I get the Example & Explanation hornbook, which I did yesterday and have been perusing today, and so far it's been clear and helpful. Here's to hoping it will reignite my interest in supposedly the most important subject in modern law.

Eight-Treasure Rice Cake

Here's my cake. All the dry fruits are on top, and underneath the fruits are sweet sticky rice and then a red bean paste filling. The "eight treasures" in the cake are: red bean paste, dried apricot, dried golden plum, dried cranberries, candied winter melon slices, walnuts, candied dates, and raisins. There are of course lots of possible variations for this recipe.

Year of the Pig!

Readers, happy Chinese New Year! May you have peace, prosperity, and a lot of good "fat" in the year of the pig!

I had a fun weekend. Parents were here yesterday to spend New Year's Eve with me. We went to Costco in the afternoon and bought a year worth of paper towels, toilet paper, ziplock bags, light bulbs, and everything else that I was always running out of and then had to get at outrageous prices at the local drug store. Also bought A TON of lettuce and other veggies, since after the weekend filled with carbs, sugar, butter, and fat I'm ready to eat lean and healthy and mostly vegetarian again.

But yesterday, oh what bad (but good) food we ate! Mom made her famous wonton soup with super spicy sauces. I baked a loaf of honey whole wheat sesame bread and ate it smeared with butter, fromage affinoise cheese, and quince paste; We had cookies and cheeses and also made a traditional Chinese New Year's dessert - eight-treasure rice cake.

After we stuffed ourselves so full that we were unable to move, dad and I talked about law and philosophy until 5 am in the morning, while mom slept in the next room and grumbling every few hours about how loud we were.

Then I slept for 3-4 hours, got up feeling exhausted but happy. Ate leftovers from last night and talked some more, but in general kept it low-key. Mom helped me to make another, bigger eight-treasure rice cake to take to AC's Chinese New Year's party this afternoon.

The cake turned out to be quite a success. Perhaps I'll post a photo here soon since it's very pretty to look at.

Good Day

Had an incredibly good day today. Had lunch with AP, a new friend that I made, at the little deli near my apartment, and then went to Prof H's corps. Then hung out in the student center where I ran into JJ and RH, two of my favorite people at the law school that I'm always happy to see. I was going to read admin law, but happily abandoned that miserable project and just talked with them about ethics for about an hour. This almost reminds me of my undergrad days, where my friends and I would sit in the dining hall until 2 or three am talking about whether an objective morality exists. (In case you are wondering, our consensus is that it does not. :))

I then went to Prof H's office hours (well, it was really after office hours - he added me in so that we could discuss possible research plans) and proceeded to have a REALLY good conversation. I was actually feeling a bit down about my research plans lately. I missed the deadline for the academic fellowship, and was feeling more lukewarm about the whole law and narrative project, and it seemed like the whole academia thing was just NOT happening. But this evening the conversation really cheered me up, and I came away with several new topics that I really really want to write about and more importantly, really BELIEVE in.

This is the weird thing: I don't think Professor H's approach is perfect. I think it has a lot of flaws, and he has the tendency to go all out abstract and also not particularly legal. But perhaps this is the important part: even in spite of all this, I am still really excited about the basic premise of his research. He didn't need to hand everything over to me on a plate. I feel that his theory by itself is powerful enough to sustain my interest and make me want to work on it. Perhaps this is the sign of "true love." Perhaps this is what Professor JH meant when she asked me: "What would you fight for? What gets you turned on?"

Law and narrative intrigues me as an intellectual exercise, but social psychology really turns me on. I half-wish I had a psychology degree. Well... maybe it's not too late yet...

In any event, I left Professor H's office thinking a million thoughts. Then went to dinner at my favorite pizza restaurant in C-Town with JJ and RH (whom I invited to dinner wtih me on a whim. ABS was also supposed to show up, but decided not to because of the bitter cold and iciness). We proceeded to have a lovely evening filled with good food, good desserts, and good conversation. Every time I see these people, I resolve to hang out with them more. I should really stick to that resolution.

Tomorrow is Chinese New Years, and parents are driving up here to celebrate! I won't get any work done, but I will sure have a lot of fun.

Omg Conflict!

Wow. Today I had my first real argument with a non-parent and non-boyfriend in my adult life. I'm glad I did it, but it left a bad taste in my mouth and I am still thinking about it.

The argument was with a faculty assistant who was very rude to me. I have never had much interaction with this person, but her desk was in the same general area as another faculty assistant with whom I do interact a lot, so I see her a fair amount. She has never been friendly to me. Once she "ordered" me to wait outside when I visited Professor M (I was in the room to look at the clock). And of course, like the nice submissive Asian girl that I am, I left without a word and waited outside.

Anyway.

It started out small, as these things always do (I guess, it's not from experience or anything). I went to look for that other assistant, who was not there. So I went up to her and said "excuse me, sorry to interrupt," then asked her a question as she was standing by the desk of another assistant, talking in a low voice. She gave me a cold look, said "NO, and we are IN THE MIDDLE of something" in an extremely nasty tone. I followed my first instinct, my Asian girl instinct, which was to go away without saying a word, feeling terrible.

As I was riding down in the elevator, I thought more about this and got more angry. Why did she speak to me this way? What right does she have to respond extremely rudely to a polite question? And how could she get away with this? And the answer to that last question was, of course, it's because people like me just walk away silently, and she never gets to suffer the consequences - I don't mean professional consequences of course - I know she was probably in a union and therefore cannot get fired or even reprimanded easily -- but social consequences, which is what usually deters even secretly nasty people from acting out their nastiness in public.

So then, I did something that I still can't believe I did. I mean, if you know me, you probably wouldn't believe that I did this either, sinece I am just about the most non-confrontational person I know. If anything, my problem is that I'm too nice and have a hard time saying no. Well, not today, apparently.

I turned around and walked BACK to her office. She was just walking away from the co-worker's desk, and saw me, and looked a little surprised. I went up to her, and I said: "I just wanted to let you know that you were really rude to me just now, and that was really wrong. I asked you a question nicely and you could have been more civil." I think that's what I said, anyway.

So, if I were more experienced at this (after all, it was the FIRST TIME. Hopefully there will be no next time), I would have turned around at that point and marched out. But alas, I did not, so I got an earful from her. If she was nasty before, she got 10X nastier. "Well, I'M SORRY, but we were in the middle of a VERY IMPORTANT conversation [she waved some papers in her hands around], and you were really rude for INTERRUPTING."

I said: "I asked you something politely, and I apologized for interrupting, and you could have answered more politely." "NO, you were rude. You interrupted us." "I asked you POLITELY, and it was unacceptible for you to speak to me in that tone." "Well, REPORT ME." As you can imagine, this went on for a while.

As I was standing there, arguing with her, I was kind of uncomfortably aware of the fact that we were standing in a room surrounded by professor's offices. Indeed, Prof FM closed his door when voices became more raised. I could see Prof. S. in her office, probably listening to every word. Prof. M's office was right behind me. Yikes. The thought did cross my mind: I can't believe I'm doing this. But then, I think I'm doing the right thing.

Of course, after I left her office and thought more about this, I was as usual wrecked by doubt. I mean, what if the woman's MOTHER was dying or something? Or she was just having a really bad day? Did I really handle this correctly? I thought back to the incident, combing every detail. Was I rude too? (No, at least not at first). Should I have been more calm when I went back to her? (Probably.) Was she rude? (Yes.) What could I have done different? (Oh, let me count the ways...)

I am still not certain I did the right thing. I'm not sure I would have felt worse if I had not gone back to her and told her what I thought. If I had not gone back, the incident would not have been an important incident, and I probably would have forgotten all about it by now.

But sometimes "not feeling worse" did not equal a better solution. Perhaps it was more important to speak my mind and to confront her than to just let go and forget about it. In the end, I guess I am more sure that I did the right thing than I will ever be in a situation like this, which is by its very nature ambiguous and hard to parse. Who was in the right? Who had a better claim? Who should win? Who knows what the answer is? But isn't this just like law? :)

Well, here's my spin on it: I got a little braver. I learned how to deal with, and survive, an extremely unpleasant situation, and that learning experience was entirely by choice. Maybe next time I will be a little defter too, if I ever have to do this again. Maybe next time she will hesitate a bit she is nasty to someone else.

And there, I lost my "adult argument virginity." First time for everything.

V-Day Thoughts

1. The most terrifying part about being in love for me has always been, and still is, not being in control. Making someone else love you is one thing that you cannot work at. It's not something that you can just exert more effort and results will follow. And this is terrifying for a semi-OCD, control-freak, over-achiever like me.

There is only one other thing that I can think of before which we are similarly helpless, and that is death.

2. The best part of love, for me, is developing rituals and private traditions with a loved one. Rituals are such wonderful things. There is the sweetness of anticipation, then the joy and intimacy of the actual experience. A ritual transforms ordinary, everyday events and makes them richer, more complex, more lovely; it imputes meaning into normally meaningless acts.

V-Day itself is a ritual -- a public, kitschy one, to be sure. It was just an ordinary day, until we decided to make it a day about love. Nothing it TOO kitschy for this self-proclaimed closet romantic.

3. My favorite book on love remains the Little Prince.



Comes April (the cruelest month), I hope I will remember the color of the wheat field.

4. I am acutely aware of my own imperfections. This is why I always find it surprising, and moving, and slightly miraculous, when I am loved. :)

The challenge for me has always been to continue to love, when I realize the imperfections of those I love. For me, growing up has been a process of understanding that what is important is not being completely flawless, but being lovable in spite of our flaws.

5. No matter what, love will always be a leap of faith.

Over Christmas break, I bought two copies of The Art of Travel, a book that suited my mood very much at the time. I kept one copy for myself (it is sitting on my night table at the moment, savored a few pages at a time). The other copy I wrapped up, as a gift, hoping that I would be able to give to someone one day, someone who loves slow, solitary traveling, and who would like and understand the artists and writers in the book as much as I do.

The wrapped book is still sitting on my shelf, waiting to be given. But it's only been two months, and I am patient.

Happy V-Day, all.

My Crazy Life

Well, kind of ironic that right after I discover the super-easy way to post, I don't post for three days, isn't it? Well, I have been insanely busy. The weekend was fun (with lots of friends, including one from far, far away, and a healthy dose of E thrown in) but work just PILED up. On Sunday night I found myself with readings for corps and local gov law, memo to edit for my journal, and RA work for Professor H. Argh.

But then, I forged ahead into Monday fearlessly, venturing into classes without having read (It turned out that it didn't matter that I HAD read for admin law. Prof. S was incomprehensible anyway), and braced myself for nice but inquisitive email from Prof H. about why I haven't emailed him. But then, just as I was about to have normalcy on Monday afternoon, ABS reminded me that we have our political economy workshop this Wednesday, which means that we had to write a reaction paper by... this Tuesday. WHAT?!? Why on earth hasn't Professor G's assistant emailed to remind us? She usually does about a week before the seminar, so this time I completely forgot... Can't I just claim justifiable reliance here?

Well, um, perhaps not. So it was scrambling to the copy center, picking up the 38-page treatise on constitutional norms (yawn... been there, done that in my comp con law class... this is SO last semester!), skimming through it, coming up with semi-sensible topic, and using the hour I have free today in between my THREE classes to write a truly trashy reaction paper.

No, I really mean truly trashy, and am not trying to be modest here. I really am a bit ashamed, but I figured, out of the TWELVE reaction papers I write for the year, I am allowed at least one trashy paper. :)

Ah, the craziness of law school. In other news, today I gorged myself on cake at our dean's party, to celebrate the fact that she was NOT picked for the presidency of the university. Then to the gym to watch Sex and the City, and to burn off the calories I ate this afternoon. Now I am back in my home, and it's time to work on Professor H's project. Yoohoo!

This Is Too Cool

I only just now discovered that I can update my blog by writing to an
email address! This is too cool! Perhaps you will see me blogging a
lot more from now on. :) No promises, though!

Nothing New Under the Sun...

I went to a constitutional law conference yesterday held at my law school. Since con law is often seen as the most prestigious area of law, con law professors are often seen as the most prestigious professors among other law professors. This conference included some of the most famous professors in con law, and so it was a room where the prestigeometer hit pretty high.

There were only a few students in attendance, probably because it was not advertised to students. I only discovered it by accident, as I was walking through the building in which it was held to go into the Dean of Students office to steal candy (one of my daily activities from which I derive great pleasure. :)). In any case, I was curious, so I followed the signs and stopped by. The room was filled with luminiaries from my law school, and all the faces I didn't recognize turned out to be ridiculously big names (well, in con law at least) whose work I have read in con law or other law classes. All the students sat against one wall, looking awed and taking notes. The dean was there, seated among three newly hired assistant professors who never spoke a word during the discussion. The president of the law review was there. My con law prof and comparative con law prof from last semester, my admin law prof from this semester, my local gov law prof, my two workshop professors, Professor M, with whom I'm doing an independent writing this semester, were all there.

I stayed for about two hours, long enough to eat THREE pieces of pastries. (As I stood up for the third time to go out of the room to get food, I thought vaguely to myself how weird it is that I felt no shame... hehe). The discussion was about a paper that two of the professors (whose name I actually DIDN'T recognize) in attendance wrote. Since I missed the presentation of the paper itself, I was only able to glean the gist of it from the presentation it ensued, and I guess it was a discussioin of whether Congress should be more activist in asserting wartime powers against the president. (Boy wouldn't it have been funny if I got that completely wrong?) But the discussion was meandering and also touched upon various methods of interpreting the constitution (of course summarized by Prof S, who loves this sort of taxonomy), a vigorous defense of originalism by one of the resident conservatives Prof. M., an exhortation to consider the constitution from an internationalist perspective (not surprisingly from Prof J who co-wrote the casebook on comparative con law), and a very healthy dose of legal realism from Prof F, who along with Prof M co-organized the conference.

I think I was following the discussion well, but as I was sitting there, I also realized that I was really, really, really bored. It was more interesting for me to see the whole thing from a sociological perspective - to note the silence of the younger profs, the awe of the students, the ease with which some of the older profs pontificated and interrupted each other at length (though the conversation was never heated - everyone was jovial and warm and friendly and there were frequent eruptions of laughter). Also how the conversation always seems to center around the comments of some professors (I'm thinking especially of Prof. S here - later I heard the dean ask him over to her house for dinner - I guess we are really in heavy recruitng mode), and also noting that my con law professor, although relatively young, was already treated by his older colleagues with a lot of respect (he DID speak quite a few times and in spite of his weird inflection seemed quite commanding). This was fascinating to me, much more than the subject matter itself.

If anything, as I left the room, I realized how the stale the whole conversation seemed to me. It was all the themes we actually read about in our con law casebooks; it seemed like those were the themes and issues that have been debated about for decades, if not centuries. Clearly certain questions (such as the extent of the war powers of the president) takes on special urgency in certain times (like now), but there simply doesn't seem to be new arguments advanced one way or another (Other than an internationailst approach, which from what I understand is kind of trendy these days). People talked about originalism, and instrumentalist approaches, the value of the precedent, the pros and cons of following established practices, the separation of powers and its good/bad/practical/impractical parts... blah blah blah. Professor F. probably made the most cogent and accurate (but no less boring) comment when he said that under our system, it's unlikely that these questions will ever only have one plausible answer. There will always be arguments "on the other side". Yes! I was thinking. But, wait... so what else is new? Why are we still all sitting here? haha!

Could it really be true that there is nothing new under the sun for con law? This was the question I was thinking about as I left the room (filled with cake). I suppose in the past few years, what has really been new and exciting in law was the introduction of the social sciences, but constitutional law seems peculiarly resistent to that, probably because it is all textual interpretation and not a lot of concern over empirical data. It reminds me a lot of philosophy, the bad parts of philosophy, and the precise reason why I got out of phiosophy - it's a lot of people sitting around a room with no outside information (or concern for outside information, for that matter) and who endlessly ruminate over age-old questions with no answers, at least no answers that you can prove were the correct ones. I can see how some people would enjoy that, and would find that stiumulating and even noble. Having experienced it, I am a bit frustrated by this and find it a bit wasteful.

Perhaps that's just me. Omg have I finally become an anti-intellectual?!?

Swamped Already

Well, Prof B basically ruined my week, as I spent Monday and Tuesday furiously working for him, and therefore got behind on all my classes. I now have mountains of reading to do, and of course, what do I do tonight? Spending 2.5 hours on the phone with E.

Oh well. My life is really rather boring these days, other than endless appointments, journal duties, RA work, and reading (or rather, NOT reading). I wish I had more interesting things to tell you, but I fear that typing these things out will put myself to sleep. Better just to use that time to actually go to sleep. :)

What?!?

Out of sheer boredom, I just sat down and actually read through some items on the summer associate extranet that my summer firm has set up for us. And I just discovered that the "photograph" that they have been hounding us about, (which we had to submit like three days ago... oh well)... anyway, the photograph needed to be taken by a professional photographer at the firm's expense! And we needed to be dressed in professional attire!

Why? And who on earth has the time?

Argh. One more thing on my list.

Also, I have to fill out a background check release form. Why on earth would they want to do a background check??? ... Hmmm...

Weekend of Fun; Week of Work

My weekend has been a ton of fun. Sadly, I'm paying for it now with having to stay up waaay past my bedtime, not having done my readings and RA work, and dead tired. I have 3 classes tomorrow, starting at 10:30. It's not going to be fun. :(

BUT, since the title of this post is first about the weekend, I'm going to talk about my weekend. On Saturday I attended more of the conference, which essentially consisted of a series of workshops where people talked about their working papers and then the audience asked questions or gave critique. I had an excellent lunch, and attended a few afternoon workshops, then went to Starbucks and read a bit of admin law.

In the evening, the professor who organized the conference threw a party at her house. LC drove me and a bunch of her friends to the house circa 9, and we proceeded to have a very yummy buffet dinner (roasted chicken with peanut sauce; crispy pita breads with basil pesto sauce, roasted vegetables, and lots and lots of very chocolatey dessert... mmm... I'm getting hungry now).

The wine was also excellent, and LC drank quite a lot of it. I also met a few very cool people whom I would like to run into again. Professor H's condo is very cool - modern, airy, woodfloors and high ceilings and skylights and fireplace and the works... sparsely though nicely decorated. What I like the most is the open plan, making it seem almost like a loft (except for the second floor bedroom that overlooks the first floor. Perfect for throwing parties... I think this is the kind of place I would like to live in.

Sunday, got up early, as usual, and began reading some more admin law. Went to undergrad dining hall for brunch, then came home and continued reading. I also realized that I forgot my ID card, which caused me a bit of distress, but that is all resolved now (my neighbor actually found it on the ground yesterday outside in the yard, picked it up, and returned it to me tonight. I'm very relieved.)

Then, the funnest part of today: shopping at Whole Foods with AB! We spent 2 hours at the place, browsing the fruits and the veggies and the cheese and the chocolates and the fish and the yogurts and the spices and the breads and the wines... and of course as usual I wanted to buy the whole store, but settled for only $150 worth of groceries. I now have a very nice tuna steak and some lovely Alaskan King salmon and some delicious parsnips and eggplants and lamb stew meats sleeping in my refrigerator... okay enough! I think it's this cold weather and the late night that are conspiring to make me hungry.

Came back aound 5:15, put groceries away, went to brief meeting at school, then came home, ate a quick bite while I stewed some chicken with vegetables, and began reading for corps. Of course, just when I go down to business (no pun intended), who would write but Professor B, who is still in California at the moment, but who writes with an urgent missive: "Are you available tonight or tomorrow for some editing?" It sounded urgent. I sighed. "Tonight, only for an hour or two. Tomorrow, I might have more time." Then his reply: "Okay, I'll send you the document now. Can you try to get it back to me by tomorrow at 10 AM PST?" The document turned out to be this article that's 35 pages long. I have to edit it, proofread it, AND create table of content? WTF? Does this guy think I don't sleep?

Then, around 10, E called, which always makes me happy, so I put work off, and talked to him for an hour. Then went back to corps reading, and then began my RA work. This is just my attempt to take a break. Now I must go back to the drudgery. Sigh. The week begins again.

End of LONG Week

This week is finally over, and I'm very relieved. I have been so tired and really not used to this schedule yet.

I have finalized my schedule. Strangely, after a week of agonizing, my schedule remains largely unchanged, other than dropping that one seminar and adding Local Government Law instead. I'm taking: admin law (with the same prof), corps (the serious one, though I'm auditing the other one b/c I'm quite a groupie :)), local gov law, an independent writing project with beloved Prof M., and finally, my 2 year-long semiinars.

I tried to find a course that could fit into my schedule at the college, but since the law school operates on a strangely different schedule from the university, this made it EXTREMELY hard to cross-register. In the end (after much agonizing), I gave up.

On Wednesday night I had a long conversation (3 hours) with friend E that left me agitated and insomnic for much of the night, so only slept 3 hours. (Really the first time it's happened since the end of the exam season last year when I started using sleeping pills heavily).

On Thursday night, I went to a symphony in the city (free tix from friend DA!) with JJ and listened to a lot of Beethoven and a little bit of nonsense Schoenberg thrown in for contrast, or something. The Beethoven was lovely. The Schoenberg was... less so, but interesting. Though I usually could only take those about 5 minutes at a time, and after the 5 minutes I was quite ready for it to be over, but had to endure 15 more minutes of it. :)

And tonight, I went to a conference, then to a screening of Babel sponsored by the conference. I liked Babel until the very end, but the ending felt too neat and not as emotionally powerful as it could have been (or as the rest of the film was geared up to be). I still highly recommend it though. Reallyl interesting, intertwined plotlines, excellent acting, superb cinematography, etc. Then had an excellent dinner sponsored by the same conference, where I sat with LC. I had to restrain myself very hard to not eat the tri-colored mousse, but restraining myself I did.

Right now I am debating very hard wtih myself whether or not to attend the conference tomorrow. On the one hand, it was so enjoyable, and I bet the luncheon would be excellent again. On the other hand, I have so much work and errands to do!!