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.