Suckers Up

I've always loved this very famous Gloria Steinem quote:

"The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn."

which became rather relevant during out legal writing and literacy class today. The prof was teaching us how NOT to write and draft like a lawyer, and how to use plain English. Somebody brought up the point that, there are lawyers who write and draft like lawyers!! That is, in a convoluted and sometimes antiquated fashion! Why are you telling us that what we did is wrong when that is exactly what our bosses have taught us to do?

Obviously, the better lawyer you are, the less likely you would need to use language like that.

But UGH! This horrible guy in our class decided that this was the moment to suck up like a vacuum cleaner to the prof and say "oh, when I was a journalist I saw a lot of bad writing too! And we don't need anymore of that. " Ok, so he said a little more than that, but the tone he used was so obnoxious, so condescending, that I feel as if it's something only a guy could ever get away with.

Conclusion: Hell is other people.

A snippet that transpired in an email to an English friend

"... Starbucks does free refills? Another reason to emigrate. Totally moving to London, just for the free refills. No such thing in Hong Kong. I think it's because people are pretty unscrupulous here when it comes to saving the very last dime instead of saving face. I could totally see people passing on their Starbucks mug to their friend, and that that friend passing it onto the next, and the next... so that they could all drink for free. Although, there is something quite sweetly socialist about the idea, now that I think of it. Starbucks can operate on a smaller profit margin, can't it?"

Chris' interesting links

Wellp. This a guy who always has interesting stuff in the 'status' section of his gchat profile. This is a post dedicated the care he takes in selecting things to put in that sacred space.

W.H Auden's Poem. From this interesting link http://www.feer.com/tales/?p=893  

Hongkong 

The leading characters are wise and witty;
Substantial men of birth and education,
With wide experience of administration,
They know the manners of a modern city.

Only the servants enter unexpected;
Their silence has a fresh dramatic use:
Here in the East the bankers have erected
A worthy temple to the Comic Muse.

Ten thousand miles from home and What’s-Her-Name
The bugle on the Late Victorian hill
Puts out the soldier’s light; off-stage, a war

Thuds like the slamming of a distant door:
We cannot postulate a General Will;
For what we are, we have ourselves to blame.

AAaaaah. Auden is too good.

My mind is in the gutter ALL THE TIME.

Just a few thoughts on what I think my law school is... 

Our email system is called CWEM. Hur hur hur!!! It stands for Campus Wide E Mail, but by god, they need to put somebody in the IT department that knows dirty words. (errr qwim anyone? Or quim?)

Our head of faculty is known as the Koala Bear. He is a Koala bear that needs a bib. Awww can you imagine how cute that is? A koala bear in a bib! Not, however, if you're sitting in the front row of the classroom. I feel as if I oughta go to class wearing a fencing mask, so mighty is his froth. You know what I mean. You've had a prof exactly like this one. Large. Grey. Spits.

I have no friends in school yet. Boooo. Feels exactly like gradeschool all over again. Except, no playground. And no coathooks with out names and photos above.