Happy Holidays & Hawaii

Hmm... no new posts? It must mean that finals season is over! For what it's worth, I went to Oahu for the first time this past week. It was wonderful, although I did learn I enjoy adventure vacations more than relaxing vacations :) A few favorite pics:

Hawaii: Where the firetrucks have surfboards!

[my friend] on the Manoa Falls trail

traditional Hawaiian fare at the original Ono Hawaiian Food-- Laulau, Kalua Pork, and Poke (we even tried a little Poi later-- a sour purplish paste they eat as Asians would eat rice-- wasn't used to it at all!)

beautiful Hanauma Bay

"fresh cut pineapple" served with all your McD's value meals :)

a view down from Diamond Head

classic Waikiki Beach, love how shallow and clear the water is

the crazy Banyan trees

listening to Hawaiian music at sunset

beachfront drinks at the "Pink Palace" while watching the sun set. wonderful.

pretty hibiscus flower spotted in Waimea Valley


huge, comforting trees of Waimea Valley

sunset at North Shore...

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No Picture of the Post since there were so many pictures :)

Downtown LA

I give quite a bit of thought as to where I want to live in the future. I really love urban cities, public transportation, and walkable neighborhoods. I also like sunny weather [year round], diversity in population, and laid back attitudes.

Finding a cross between these traits is actually quite difficult. For example, I love SF but the weather is a bit too gloomy for me. Moving outside of the city to the bay area would be taking away the awesome walkable urban city part. LA and SD have the great weather, but they are better characterized as a collection of suburbs than a true urban city. And don't get me started on public transportation. SD also lacks a bit in the diversity sector.

The winters in European cities are too cold. Hong Kong is a possibility, but the attitudes there are a little rough for me. I've never been to any cities down under so it's hard for me to say.

SOOO, with that extremely long introduction, I have come to be very interested in the development of downtown LA. I've grown up in LA, generally like the weather despite the pollution (gotta admit SD's weather is better), there's great diversity here in both people and things to do, etc etc.

But I hate that there is no city center. I would love to see downtown grow to become a walkable area that is lively and safe at night. It seems like it's really possible.

There are many issues, of course. The homeless and others living in low-income housing is probably #1. That needs to be dealt with fairly. Not that I want downtown to become all 'pristine' like Century City-- the character is actually why I would prefer to work in downtown rather than the westside. "Safe" is different from sterilized. I think I'm in the minority though, because a lot of professionals I talk to want to work in the westside, or are really glad that they work in cc instead of "eww" downtown. I hope the Hollywood attitude doesn't migrate to downtown-- one west side is enough... although it seems a bit inevitable with all the fancy restaurants, hotels, and clubs popping up.

Anyway, I can't wait for all the developments to continue. Hopefully there will be widened sidewalks, more retail spaces at street level, better public transportation (the extentions of the subway are a start), improved safety measures, etc. The Nokia theater looks nice, and I'm sure the Ritz Carlton high rise next to it will change that area drastically (some cons but mostly pros to me).

My most anticipated project, however, is the Grand Avenue development. It's going to run from the Disney Concert Hall to the city hall, with a huge park area running down the middle. Frank Gehry's team is designing the bit, so it'll look pretty fantastical. A lot of people (architects) criticize his designs, but from a layperson's point of view, I really enjoy them. Brings some happiness and thrill to an otherwise boring landscape.

Some renderings:

I totally want to live here, at least for a few years!

The 8th and Grand development looks interesting, too:
http://www.8thandgrand.com/

(all pictures above are from google searches)

Anyway, it'll be really interesting to see how downtown grows in the next decade. I hope to be there to witness it! Here are a few good blogs that follow the downtown scene:

http://www.angelenic.com
http://blogdowntown.com
http://mydowntownlosangeles.blogspot.com/


Ok, back to studying for wills & trusts...

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Picture of the Post:

while I'm on westside vs. downtown thing:
in the Mondrian on Sunset

Lawry's in a Mall Food Court

So in Westfield's Century City mall, there is a pretty nice food court. I used to love getting chili from this one vendor called "Red Rock Chili," so I was pretty sad to hear that it is no longer there. But then my informant casually mentioned that it was replaced by a Lawry's steak sandwich joint-- Lawry's Carvery.

Yup, that Lawry's that everyone in my high school seemed to think was the fanciest place to go to in LA. In a mall food court ahah. YAY! Isn't Century City just so fancy schmancy? Well, I guess you can get Lawry's products in Ralph's. Anyway, so that became next on my to-do list for quick eats.

Actually to be honest when I went to the Lawry's in Beverly Hills, I didn't have the best experience. But I will admit that it was probably because I was foolish and got my prime rib medium rare (maybe even medium... ::blushes::). Which is kind of weird because I don't really mind red red meat as long as it's not still moo-ing. But anyway, it was pretty damn chewy, like secretly-spit-chewy-portions-into-my-napkin chewy.

So I was ready to get a steak sandwich when I realized you could just get a regular plate of prime rib with sides. Well I love mashed potatoes like no other so W and I went for it. and..... It was awesome. It was actually even better than what I had at the restaurant, isn't that sad?

So if you ever want Lawry's prime rib and don't care about the atmosphere, head to the CC food court! It's not exactly food court prices, but I thought it was worth it-- $14.99 for 6 oz., $19.99 for 9 oz., and $24.99 for 12 oz., all including two sides.


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Picture of the Post:

while we're on the topic of food:
traditional Bavarian fare in Munich's Hofbrauhaus

More Shootings

Another disturbed teen has gunned down random people and then shot himself. It's kind of sad that it's to the point that, while this news is upsetting and very sad, it is hardly surprising or shocking anymore. I remember when Columbine first happened, it was just horrific shock.

I'm sure there are some interesting studies on the psychology and sociology surrounding this worrisome trend (which has even carried over to other countries). It's not just about access to guns (although more limits would be nice...) or parenting (there have always been bad parents, bad friends)... or even bullies at school anymore (trend of mall shootings?). I don't know what it is. Obviously one part of it is just seeing other people do it and get media attention from it, and wanting the same. But this 'wanting the same' must come from a new psyche that wasn't there before, I think...

Oftentimes these shooters want to leave the world with some mark, any mark. Want to be noticed. I wonder if this is different from before. Most humans have always wanted to be known and/or remembered, but this is different in character. I wonder if it has something to do with our society becoming more complacent and in turn more frustrated. Does that make sense? And why it seems to have a particular effect on teenage boys... can it really be explained away by hormones or gender differences? Maybe a twisted sense of recapturing loss of masculinity in this culture.

I don't know. All I know is that I'm done with two finals. And thus we return back to our little world and lives.

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Picture of the Post

A cloudy moment in the German Alps

Finals Time = Posting Time

Only 9.5 hours until my first final of 2nd year. I'm less stressed that I was last year, but I'm not as stress-free as some people said I would be during 2L~! Anyway, here I am, studying for my favorite course this semester: Intro to Fed Tax. I love posting while I'm supposed to be studying.

Tax is probably the most interesting course I've taken so far in law school. Maybe it's because of my professor... I think everyone loves him. He has that dry humor-- in that way that if someone else did it (like me), it wouldn't be very funny.

E.g.: "so over the weekend I got a flood of emails basically asking two things. The first had to do with [tax topic here]. The second batch all kept asking me, 'so did you really hit an awesome game of golf this weekend??,' and well I'm surprised so many of you wanted to know, but frankly, yes I did." Ha.. Ha.., right? well, it's really funny in class :)

Anyway tax is interesting because of both policy issues and also just learning about ways to reduce your own taxes. It's interesting to see what behaviors are encouraged through the tax code--buying a home, owning a business, getting married (for some anyway... for two high wage earners it actually hurts the couple)... and how much our lives/options are affected by seemingly minor changes in the code.

In some ways, I feel that something as boring-sounding as "Fed Tax" can be more interesting than the sexy-sounding classes like "International Criminal Law"...

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Picture of the Post:

Looking across to the Santa Maria della Salute church in Venice, Italy

My Golden Compass Daemon :)

This is my Golden Compass Daemon :)

I want to see this movie. Even though I've never heard of the book before... to be honest, as much as I love the Narnia books, I didn't really like the movie that much, so I hope that this movie does better. I really like Nicole Kidman too.

I love these fantasy stories, although sometimes it can make reality sad. After reading the Velvetine Rabbit when I was young, I really wanted my favorite stuffed dog to become real. And I thought maybe it didn't because I didn't love it enough, which made me sad.

Anyway you can take a quiz and find out your own Daemon at the website hahaha
http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/

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Update:

So I found it interesting that these books are based on a trilogy with atheist viewpoints. And that the author hated C.S.Lewis and wrote these as "the other side to the story" of Narnia's allegories. Apparently there is a little bit of upset from the religious side that they are making a film that introduces kids to 'anti-Christianism' and atheism.

I guess I'm not surprised that some more extreme religious groups would be upset, but I doubt that the message is carried over too much. I mean the Narnia movie wasn't a religious movie to me. Hollywood is a business and I doubt they would try to endanger their market by making it too one way or the other.

Besides, there's really not much wrong with making a film on 'atheist' books if it's okay to make a movie (Narnia) based on Christianity. Why censor kids from a fair debate? Plus, crazy adults are forgetting that symbolism, religious or atheist, is often lost on kids. The allegories in Narnia were lost on me when I read then in 2nd, 3rd grade. I just thought it was a great story. Oh poor Susan didn't get to go back to Narnia because she no longer believed in Aslan! Sad turn of plot events'... wait a minute... anyway, I haven't read the Golden Compass books but I would think that it's a similar situation.

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/10/is_the_golden_compass_too_anti.html
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

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Picture of the Post

A Dragon fires on the crowds in Paris' train station.
(the dragon is made out of crumpled soda cans... I thought that was cool)