100 Things About Me (31 - 52)

"There is a history in all men's lives."
William Shakespeare

31. I decided to become a lawyer when I was in college. Up until then all my life I thought I wanted to be become a doctor. I decided in college that I didn't like science, so I should become a lawyer [evidently in my head, those were the only options for me].
32. I took the LSAT my last year of college and got into several schools. I accepted Columbia's offer, but chose to defer for a year.
33. During the year off I went to work in an international adoption agency. We placed children primarily from Eastern Europe and China. I worked with 9 women and a priest. That was one of the most rewarding jobs I've ever held, though there were some shady things that went on in that place. I try not to think about it because I know we were doing God's work there. I think that if there are pearly gates, I will very likely be let in just for the work I did at the adoption agency.
34. I had wanted to go to the Peace Corps, but I wanted to work in Eastern Europe [I had studied Russian in college]
35. I got accepted for the Peace Corps, but they wanted to send me to Africa. I'd also applied to teach English in Poland for a summer. I got accepted for that job, so I turned down the Peace Corps and accepted the Poland gig. It was a joint program between the Canadian and Polish governments. Per the Canadian government (or at least my contacts in the program), the Poles did not have their act together. The teach abroad program never happened. That's why I went back to DC and ended up at the adoption agency.
36. I decided I still needed my international experience, so in February of that year I went to Paris for a couple months to study French and just live abroad.
37. I forgot an interim boyfriend -- John -- who I would be dating off and on for 3 years. He's a great guy [had premature baldness -- went bald at 9 or 10 years old. I think that was traumatic for him, but he seemed fairly well adjusted]. Anyway, I lost touch with him back in the '99 or so. I tried to google him, but couldn't find him. I hope he's well.
38. In France I had a whirlwind romance with a totally studly guy of Algerian descent, Jawad. My last night he asked me to marry him and to stay in Paris. Tres romantique. I was going to law school, so I said no. He was such a cutie though.
39. I went to Paris with my college friend Susan. We had to sleep in the same bed together -- the program thought we were a couple ... Paul & Susan. We got very close during those couple months. Until I met Jawad, we were together 24 hours a day. I think it's pretty good that we only fought once.
40. I've had very few fights in my life with anyone (with the exception of my sister who used to push every button I had while we were growing up). Now we're cool though.
41. In addition to my younger sister I have two older brothers. We all live in LA now and we're all super close. I'm blessed to have such an incredibly loving family.
42. I started law school in '97. I lived in a law school dorm. It was like the real world. There was me, an Asian woman (Jojo), a gay man (Sean) [not out of the closet at that point and dated Jojo], an older Russian Jew (Alex -- 35 when we started law school. He'd defected from Russia when he was younger and had a PhD in artificial intelligence. He never did his chores), a Muslim woman from Turkey (Ekin). We all got along famously and were called the "Dream Suite." I'm still in touch with all of them. In fact, Jojo, Sean and I now live in LA and hang out all the time. Sean and I bought a house together.
43. The second year and third years of law school I lived with Jojo and an honorary roommate from the first year -- Melissa. Melissa is a de facto resident of LA too. Our last honorary roommate -- Steve, who lived with Sean the last two years of law school -- also lives in LA.
44. Another connection -- Eleonore, who lived with Melissa for part of the first year -- is also in LA now too. Eleonore also happened to be my roommate in Buenos Aires. Eleonore eloped in December with her Argentine boyfriend (now husband). But, that's her story.
45. Our first year of law school Ekin had some problems with a stalker. We had to go to the NYPD station for interviews. We were picked up by a sergeant and subjected to questioning by the DA. This happened when we were studying for finals. The whole time we had our noses in our books. We were stressed out and quite nerdy.
46. My first summer of law school I spent half of the summer in a law firm (complete boondoggle. I wish I could get paid to live that way all the time) and the other half in South Africa.
47. South Africa was beautiful and I had a great time. I became friends with a mixed group (all different races) of artists and started dating a 40 year old sound guy for films. I thought he was the sexiest man I'd ever met. Turned out that he had a big cocaine problem. Bummer. We still had fun though. My best friend there was a painter named Karl. He's amazingly talented and did a portrait of me. I see big things happening for Karl and think my painting will be worth lots someday (even though it doesn't look that much like me, and looks more like Michael Jackson. Yeah, it's a little scary. It's in my parent's place in Spain).
48. I went to Japan my second semester of my second year of law school. I worked for two months in a law firm in Tokyo, then went to Kyushu University in the South for 4 months.
49. I was attacked in a subway in Tokyo my first week in the country. It was a completely random act of violence and I just got kicked in the shin. I didn't ask for help or go to the police because I couldn't speak Japanese and was afraid of being kicked again. [I assumed I got kicked because I was black. I was the only black for many millions of people.] That was the only negative experience I ever had in Japan. I am sure that man was an aberration, because all the other Japanese I met were lovely. It was pretty terrifying though at the time.
50. I ended up really liking Tokyo, though it was a complete culture shock and is an incredibly difficult place to be when you don't speak Japanese. My college friend, Jehan, was there and I ended up having a little romance with one of my co-workers in the office. I also had a huge crush on a Japanese friend of mine. He's so dreamy.
51. Fukuoka was not as much to my liking, though in the end I did appreciate the incredible amount of free time I had there. I've never felt like I've had that much down time in my life. I took golf lessons and really got to know the people around me.
52. After school ended I went to LA to be a summer associate at a law firm here. Being a summer associate was great [though this place was not as into the boondoggles as my firm from the previous summer].

OK, I'm going to put pause on this here. To be continued.