Further Portland proof of Fun!

Due to the fact that I can only upload five faces at a time, and there is slew of Santa's helpers in Portland, I am uploading another. Plus, Craig seems to be a little camera-shy, as I only have one picture of him. I found it though, and it is a good one! Finally, I guess the first person you upload kinda becomes the star of the video, and below that was Nicole, here it is Craig, and it is really funny. Enjoy! See you all on Sunday!

Portland Christmas Preview!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

It is a little later in the season than usual for me, but I still want to make my blog Christmas-a-rif-ic. Sorry if you don't like the music starting when you get here, but someone has to get all those Scrooges in the Christmas spirit, and I'm just the man for the job.

I am not lazy, I am busy, so busy that when I do have time I am too lazy to blog

It is time for another post. I have to apologize to anyone that used to read this blog, I have not kept up in recent months. Consider this my apology to all of the blogs I visited and thought in my mind "they never blog!" I am now your brother, and you my, whatever.

I just needed to do a little update. I saw M.C. Hammer live at the park. He still has it. It was free and very cool, the pure awesomeness was not lessened by the fact that it was really a concert for elementary kids. I also saw a late model green Cadillac nearby and I am sure that it is Hammer's. My friend from Oakland also told me that back when Hammer was huge he used to drive around Oakland blasting his own songs in his car. If I ever cut a record I am totally doing that.

More stuff I did. I went to Reno. I talked about this in the family letter, and I think those letters are the reason that I do not post as much, I feel like I tell the family everything that they need to know when I write those. I can still post pictures and stuff that I forget, so that is not a very good excuse.

Reno was very cool though. My roommate Mark was showing me that it is a cool place to live, and I think he is right. It was not too bad. The high altitude also makes it not as hot in the summer. Might be a good option in the future, only four hours from S.F. and eight from SLC. It is not very high on my options list though, don't worry. Las Vegas, Portland and SLC are all higher. So is D.C. This might be a good time to reiterate my deal with the siblings/friends. Find me a job (in the legal field, babysitting is not really an option at this point unless it is a really good offer), and I will move by you, and maybe name a child after you. Emphasis on the maybe.

Back to Reno, it was a cool trip and we got to swing by Lake Tahoe on the way home, which is just beautiful in the summer.
The bright lights of Reno. Sounds like an awesome country song. What you cannot tell from this picture is that I am on my bike. I biked all over Reno at night, and it was awesome. Good biking city def a plus when I am looking at jobs.

This picture also bring up another relevant point. It is beard season again. Each year my beard comes in a little stronger. Migrating from the back of my head I am assuming, but I have no proof. Except photographic proof. Here is a little slice of beard season, about four weeks in.
That is right. Better than ever, plus, that tomato is telling a story of its own. I love how each picture is feeding into the next story. You may remember that I planted a garden back when I had a lot of free time on my hands. Well, except for a few cherry tomatoes, that garden was a complete flop, something burrowed in there and ate all my seeds. However, I had also planted a tomato plant in my house. In a "As seen on TV" Topsy-Turvy thing. It really works, next year see me gushing about it in their commercial. Seriously though folks, I grew that tomato and many more are growing. I had a BT (would have been a BLT but I don't have any lettuce) last night and it was delicious. On an unrelated note, who remembers eating lettuce with sugar on it growing up? Oh man, Harrison kids would seriously do anything to get sugar into our bodies. OK, here is the tomato plant.
It looks a little weak in these pictures, but is actually quite awesome and healthy. I get a lot of compliments on it, plus a lot of people like to say "who is growing the tomatoes indoors?" and other stuff like that. Haters. I am still getting blossoms and little tomatoes are growing, so I think I will continue to have tomatoes until it gets colder here in S.F., which might not be til November or December, or it might be tomorrow. I am just going to enjoy it while I can. Besides that I am having a great time and living the dream.
I have really been studying a lot during the week but I try to take some time off on the weekends at night at least. I finish my big brief this week, so that will free up some time that I can then use to focus on things that I have been neglecting all semester, yay! That is all for now, I need to go to bed so I can get up early tomorrow, but I will leave you with a picture from the General Conference Breakfast Party I threw on Saturday a week ago. The angry one is my roommate, Peter, I think he is joking.
OK, I will give you one more. Here is one my friend K.C. took. Notice how I am carefully focused in the background, Mom. Good times conference. Someone also randomly brought M&Ms, so it was just like family times!
Thanks for playing. In the next post look for Hacksaw to attempt to catch a large amount of whipped cream in him mouth. Stay tuned!

New Beginnings

Well, I started my last year of school yesterday. I guess that is good. It seems a little surreal to tell you the truth. There is a weird mix of excitement and a little bit of apprehension. A year from now I will have taken the Bar (assuming I graduate, and all indications seem to say I will, May 15th by the way, mark it on your calendar), and will be trying to start a new job. My future will be my present. I think it is only normal to feel a little off when you are contemplating things that you have not had to think about before. I also think that I am a little tired so once my normal schedule is back I am sure that I will feel more like my usual self.

In other news, I am really excited about my classes. I am taking some practical classes, a writing class on wrongful convictions, professional responsibility, legislative process, and complex litigation. A little boring but should be good. Things are gonna be pretty lively on the home front as well. I am taking a little trip up into the mountains over Labor Day with a YSA group, and there are a lot more fun things planned, but I need to make sure I don't slack off in my school work. One thing about finishing up school, it is really great to think that I am almost done with classes, and I learned a lot this summer and improved my resume quite a bit.

In the end, I am really excited to graduate, and even more excited to practice, just a little more work. Oh well.

And don't worry, I finished the summer strong.

Wordless and Segway Wednesday

Two for Tea, and a Party.

As Bill and Ted would say, this was a very triumphant weekend. My good buddy Puls from my BYU days came into town and we got together with our old roommate Chad, who is living in Sacramento, and all my wildest dreams came true. Not to mention a few dreams that were a little wild even for me. Puls came into town and we hit up some of the tourist spots, you might recognize this bridge, it is the Golden Gate to the West. Puls had not been to San Francisco before so of course now he wants to live here. I think.

We had some good Naan & Curry for lunch, then we headed for a Giants game. Puls and I are huge baseball fans, and Chad is always down for any type of good times, so we had a good time. It was a 1-0 game and pretty exciting. I am proud to say that I have not lost my ability to yell crazy things throughout a game. When even the little kids in front of you are starting to get bugged, you know that you are a good fan. I don't know if they were actually bugged, but they did turn around and state at me every time I yelled something crazy. I offered to fight a Mets fan, but I was only half serious, I don't fight women. Usually. Anyway, we met up with a couple friends and had angel food cake with strawberries and whip cream. This is my life. I am getting jealous of myself.
The next day was the time for Chad to shine, and shine he did. He took us to Sac Town and around a hundred-degree temperatures. Needless to say, I was loving it. Chad had the idea of going to the California state fair. I was skeptical at first, but then I started remembering all the good times we used to have at the Utah State Fair and I got pretty excited. It was all I ever hoped for. I think that is clear from the picture below.
We started off the adventure with hay-bale bucking broncos and it only went up from there. The state fair is seriously so much fun. We started out small with looking at the animals, sounds lame but it is pretty fun, there is a little 4-H in all of us I suppose. Then we moved on to the food. Chad and I had huge sno-cones and Puls had a reindeer corndog. The fair is so cool, and there is more coolness to follow.
Some of the other sights that we saw were lawn-mower racing, dog jumping, and city kids milking a goat. That was pretty funny, the look on their faces was somewhere between "this is cool" and "this just is not right." Gotta love those city kids. There is one story that I have to tell though. As we were sitting eating some fried foods that I will talk about in a second there was a karaoke performance going on. It was a pretty run-of-the-mill group, but then something happened. The MC announced that a little eight-year-old girl had been asking him to sing all day and he was going to let her. He announced that she was going to sing A-Capella and then he asked her what she was going to sing. He did not tell the crowd what she said though, which I thought was a little weird, until I heard her song. She got up there, and bravely starting singing "I love to see the Temple." It was pretty awesome. At some point we all get a little afraid I think of letting people see who we really are, but this little girl was not afraid. She sang the whole song, which is obviously one of her favorites since she had been begging to sing it all day, and then the crowd applauded. I was really proud of her.
As a Harrison I like to eat. As a former employee of Hot Dog on a Stick I like to eat fried foods. Believe me when I tell you, I LOVE THE FAIR! Below you can see a few of the many healthy offerings that the fair provides. You have fried twinkies, fried snickers, fried cookie dough (my favorite), fried brownies, and fried oreos. I would say that I felt sick, but that was just my stomach, my tongue felt like it was walking on sunshine. That was not the craziest thing though, we found a place that sold chocolate covered bacon. It is pretty good, more of a novelty item sure, but that sweet salty chocolaty bacon-ey flavor is nice every once in a while. The fair is so great, we should call it.
I just wanted to say one more thing about the fair. Little kids can ride sheep there and it is awesome. I made a resolution last Saturday, and that is my kids are one day going to ride sheep, and they are going to like it. What you cannot see from the picture below is that the sheep is in a full-out run. It is pretty funny because the sheep do not really buck, they just bolt, and all the kids slide to the side, but that just pulls the sheep over with them. It does not look very dangerous from outside the ring, but judging from the death-grip that some of these kids had on the sheep it must be a little scary when you are back there. I gave the winner a high-five. I still have not washed that hand.
All in all it was a really great weekend. It is always good to see friends that I spent so much time with in the past that like my jokes and I get along with so well. It was a little weird because we have not all hung out together in about three years, and getting together made me realize that I have changed quite a bit in the last few years. Like it or not I am not a kid anymore (but not and adult either, never that!). It is good to see how far you have come though, and I am pretty happy with the result. I may have lost a little of my jokey attitude (not that anyone seems to notice) but I have gotten a little more responsible and take-charge -ish. I can tell that I have more of an opinion and don't worry about what people think about me too much, I am just living my life and as long as I am good with who I am I don't worry that someone else is not. Just live your life.

Look What You Made Me Do

I told you and I told you but somehow very few of you listened (Kim and Byron listened, they visited, they had a great time), and when you did not come to visit I was forced to take all of my saved-up fun and shower Jamie and Brook with it. I can still see the look of shock and awe on their faces. Good times.

They came into town like a cool Portland breeze, and two days later they vanished like change on the floor in a laundromat. We had a great time, and since they are now on their way back North, I will try to relive some of our adventures to comfort myself.

The first thing I did was finish up some work while they laid around and played Guitar Hero. Work was unplanned and for all you future visitors it will not happen. Partly to make up for that work and for denying them of my fun personality for a time I made them germies. I think these turned out pretty great. The Gin Blossoms put it best I believe when they said, "hey, jealousy."

The only sad part of this trip was that food did not factor in as the most important part of the trip as it should in any Harrison outing and especially when we are in what is quite possibly one of the best food cities in the world. There is one thing that Harrisons prize more than free food we discovered, and that is volleyball. I am getting ahead of myself, however, let's take it from the top.

So Friday afternoon was our first chance at my pitching S.F. to Jamie and Brooke as a future home and I made the most of it. Three o'clock found us wending our way downtown on the Muni train ready to see the sites. I took them shopping. H&M suitably impressed them with its size, but after they assured me that they were very close to having an H&M of their own, I realized I had to bring out the big guns if I wanted them to move here. It had to be Zara. Yes, that place of mystery and magic out of Europe that takes plain Janes and turns them into Fashionable Freddies. It is a really cool store, I read online that if they have stuff that does not sell they take it off the racks after a couple of weeks. They are committed to staying on the cutting edge of every-day fashion. So far mission accomplished. Zara is a little more expensive than H&M but it has a similar philosophy, and with a sale in place (like there was when we went) it is a great store to get the perfect outfit that will have all your friends gushing about it to your face and hating you behind your back. So get out here and get you something. That is about all the shopping that we did.

We also tried to go see Wicked, but we did not win the lottery and had to settle for sausages in the Mission. Jamie and Brooke got to see quite a few sides of our wonderful city out here, and if they were not all flattering, they were at least interesting. We met up with a few of the kids that I know from church at the sausage place, and then spent a few hours at my friend Camille's lovely apartment in Pac Heights. After Jamie fell asleep on the couch I knew the tykes were tuckered and we headed for home, all the better to prepare for a new day.

I feel that I spoiled the girls on Saturday, and I must confess that I do not usually have quite this much fun every weekend, but they got lucky. After a breakfast of German Pancakes we headed to the east bay for some fun in the sun. A friend of mine from Berkeley had invited us over to swim in the pool and hot tub and it was really great, plus Brooke had the opportunity to showcase her Rock Band skills, and all her beaus were suitable impressed. It was a lot of fun and I think I fulfilled my goal of showing them how many cool people live in this area.

This post is getting long. Now to the main story. I always thought that food was a Harrison's main kryptonite, but I learned this weekend that for Jamie and myself it is actually volleyball. We got to a young single adult party maybe about six-thirty or so and began to play some volleyball. For the next three hours we did not quit for a moment. People left to eat. We stayed. People left to socialize. We chided them for their lack of competitiveness. People left because it was getting dark. We razzed them for being poor losers. Not our finest hour. Brooke played at the beginning, then went to the pool, met people, had a little food. Jamie and I continued to play non-stop. We missed the food. We met no one. We had a great time.

The next day we went to church and they met a lot of girls that they want me to date as well as (in their words) "so many hot guys." I think my work here is done.

It was a lot of fun to have the girls here and I hope that they had a good time and that it was worth the drive. Some other highlights of the trip: Brooke brought her new kitten Javier (pronounced with a smoky Spanish accent, of course). Not only am I less and less allergic to cats, but my roommate and his girlfriend fell in love with little Javie and would play with him while we were gone, so he did not have to stay in the bathroom the whole time. He is a fun little critter and so social. Way better than a boyfriend, Brooke. More highlights: Jamie and myself showing our skills on the v-ball court. Making Jamie and Brooke tell my friends all of their dumbest jokes, and finally, randomly running into two girls that I know on a midnight run to Bob's donuts, further reinforcing my point about what a fun city I live in and how many friends (15) that I have here. That is also a plug for Bob's, if you come, I will take you and I will pay. For one doughnut. Each.
I am sure that we did way more fun stuff, like watching MacGyver on DVD. The only fun I like is the non-stop variety. It was really a lot of fun to see these girls though and I hope that they will not be strangers. It is always good to get together and reforge those family bonds. I am sure that I will be returning the favor in Portland soon enough.

The important thing now is that I rest up for Puls and Chad this weekend (Giants game and a trip to Sacramento), and for Mom, Dad, and brothers the following week (Dustin Blodgees wedding). Happy summer (or what passes for summer in fogsville)!

You got a friend in me

I saw Toy Story 3 last night, and while it ties in to the overlying theme, it is not the basis for this post. I had the opportunity to spend this last Fourth of July weekend at a cabin on a beautiful lake in Northern California with some wonderful people, and that is the basis for this post.
Friends are a funny thing, some people can make them easily, and some people have more trouble, some people treat theirs lightly and to some they are their most precious possession. I hope that none of us are taking our friends lightly and that we are being good friends to those that need us. I have thought in the past that it might be possible for us to be friends with anyone that we meet, and I still believe that this is true, but this weekend reminded me that a few common threads will bind much more tightly.
One of the guys that went with us mentioned that on the way home, and it stuck with me a little. Because of the common threads that we had, which in this case were religion, geography, and the fact that none of us are married, we were able to jell in a way that I have not experienced in a long time. Going in I was pretty good friends with at least three of the people there, knew or had met another four or so, and the rest of the eleven I had never met. It only took a couple of minutes until we were joking like old friends. That is a wonderful thing.
I do not know where this post is going, but I do know that all of the kids (I say kids but that is just a term of art) that went with us were fun, unpretentious, and unselfish. With a recipe like that there ain't nothin' you cain't make.
I don't know if I want this to be a preachy post or what, but I know that I have some great friends out there, not the least of whom are my family, and all those friends are there for me time in and time out, and I hope that I am there for them every once in a while.
This post was probably also brought on by the fact that my good friend Tishe was over here and we were discussing her lesson that she is giving to Girl's Camp tomorrow on, what else, relationships. I really think that a big part of who we are and why we are here ties in to the relationships that we have with others, I was reminded this weekend of how good people can make things so enjoyable, and all you really need is a good attitude. Like I always say, if you cannot be happy sitting on a curb, you are not happy, but I do think that there is very little that can help people to be more happy than to have a good friend sit on that curb with them, and no matter what you are going through and no matter what they think of the decisions that you have made in your life, they can just say, "you know, things are going to get better."
I am really grateful for all the people in my life, and I hope that they are grateful for me. If you need anything, holler at your boy.

That is the group that went to the lake in this picture above. We went to a small branch (we about doubled the size), and the people there were so welcoming and the Spirit was so strong, I realized again why Mom and Dad dragged us to all those churches over the years. It was really neat to be in that small branch, we got to help with the Sacrament and since it was fast Sunday the Branch President actually made a point of asking us to bear our testimonies, which several of us did. It was a really neat experience.

Gotta Love the Beach

I got to go to the beach twice this week, and that ain't bad. The first beach that we went to was Stinson Beach, up by Marin. It was a little windy, but we had a good time. Since everyone else seemed to be content to lay in the sun, I decided to have a little fun. I went to the beach with my cousins once, and they dug a big hole and the little kids just loved it. Since my good friend Gilda brought along the little girl that she nannies, Maybelle, I decided to do some diggin'.

I like to think that in this picture I'm telling her: "I know you are working hard, but can you see how much sand I have over here? I am doing a lot more work then you, so please try to pick it up." Harsh I know, but that is the only way they will ever learn.
What do you do with a hole? You sit in it.
Just kidding, we dug it a little deeper. As you can probably imagine, while we were digging I was peppering the conversation with little gems like "I bet we are half-way to China by now," and "now if someone is looking for us we can just hide right in the hole." That must be what we are doing here. For some reason kids seem to really like me, who knew?
This was a pretty fun little trip. Afterward Gilda told me that Maybelle was telling her mom about the beach and kept referring to me as "my friend Matt." It is good to have friends.

I also wanted to include this little gem from my most recent trip to Los Angeles in May. I went to the Getty with Kim and Lance (and young Harrison, no not Lance). You know what they say, you can either look at art, or you can get up there and try to freeze your body in the exact position that the statue is in. I got laughed at, sure, but performance art is legitimate, to legitimate to quit-imate. I title this: "Take the picture! and please try to get it right, my core is killing me."
Photo: Kim Williams

Ode to Blogging

I love you, but I hate you. I always want to blog, but I seldom find the time, what was once an exquisite escape from study-induced boredom is now a slog through countless pictures amid less-than-witty sayings.

Why do I blog? Is if for the adoration of my (relatively) many followers? The battle fought as words are wrestled from a chaos of sound and organized into cadences that depict thoughts and ideas, frozen in time? Is it because of man's great desire to leave something of himself behind, to carve his name into the proverbial tree, to jump into the great conversation if to only say "HA! I have nothing to contribute, but you are listening nonetheless!" (see: Hilton, Paris)? Many are the reasons to blog, to criticize, credit, complain or congratulate, but they all pale in comparison to the one and great reason that is to post awesome pictures, and hopefully, captions that can capture the thousand words that each picture represents and distill them down to a brief (and hopefully funny, deep or poignant) remark, cementing word and image, forever linked. Blog on fellow bloggers, blog on I say.

"Matt, through the burgeoning affects of long-awaited puberty, once and for all proved through outward expression his dearth of inner contemplation."

Niece and Nephews

I really want to post about what I have done this summer, and I have so much to post, maybe this little post will whet your appetite. I guess the thing that this family loves to see are the kiddos. These are all of the kids that I saw on my most recent trip, hopefully I get out to Virginia soon, it has been too long.

Here is little Mira, she is a real charmer now I hear, doling out smiles like no one's business. She is really getting into the fun stage it seems like now, smiling and laughing and grabbing. Pretty soon she will be in the "Matt is my favorite Uncle stage." It's coming.
These boys love juice. They remind me of a certain Buster Bluth. I can't believe how fast they were sucking it down. It is just Crystal Light, so no sugar (I am sure they will never get the sugar kind at Grandma's house, we never did). The Kool-Aid faces are the best though, that pale skin really brings it out. Not to mention the look of sublime enjoyment that young Ash-Bash is sporting.
Ollie looks like he is ready for more juice. His eyes are so intense. You just know that someone has a cup of juice and he can't take his eyes off of it. That is the eye of the tiger.
I think we all recognize what we like to call a burrito. Like father like son (eh Trent?). That is another story, but it ends with Trent tucking a blanket around Byron and saying, "this is what we call a burrito . . ."
At first he did not like it, but then he kept making me do it over and over again. Sounds like a Harrison to me.
I just think that it is funny that Harrison loves to be sitting in or on things. I should have gotten a picture of him playing with the laundry basket. Kid is a basket case, pun intended.

I'm not a betting man,

I'm not a betting man, but I would bet a million dollars that this picture was not taken in San Francisco. We do have a beach and an ocean (in fact, we have a place called "Ocean Beach") but nobody acts like this here. Not in the water. Not if they don't want hypothermia. In a city with a million things to do, thank you facebook for pointing out one thing we can't (or at least shouldn't) do.

The Face of Finals, T-Minus Two Days

She's done it again, or at least for the first time

Look at that face, you know that she is up to something. She is. Many things I am sure, but the one that I know about is that she changed the name of her blog. It is not Brooke Harrison dot blogspot either, I looked that one up and it is someone I don't know who posts poetry. I think that is alright, but it is not our sister. Her new blog (same blog actually, new name) is at brookech.blogspot.com. You can click on that link, or I have it over on the right. Don't be in a hurry to run off now, ya hear? Stick around and read some posts, and then you can mosey on down to Brooke's blog, it'll still be there.

Phone Pictures, this is the easiest way to blog

I have been working so hard, I just wanted to take a few minutes and blog a little. These are just some pictures that I took over the last little while, I thought they were fun and stuff.

This is one of Ollie taking it a little easy, what you can't see is that there is a full-blown birthday party for Kendra going on behind me. I guess he was just tired, or something. I think he had a little too much party in the U.S.A., actually I don't think that is possible.
Lance took this picture at his house, where his paying only $160 bucks a month is only the second best thing about this house. What is the best you clamor? Why, this house used to be a DOLL MUSEUM!! Just because the person who owned it loved dolls. They had it full of stuff you could look at for free. Lance says that people still wander in thinking it is a museum. I don't know what that says about their house, but I am sure it is fine. I am not sure if this wall is a remnant of the museum, or just something they put in because this is also their studio, but it is 100% awesome, and 100% creepy. That is me between the guy in flannel and the fluffy yellow bird. Lance is on the bottom of the picture, just left of center.
There was a British Columbia exhibit in the Embarcadero here in S.F. I don't know why or anything, and I did not want to ask, because I thought they were probably already pretty embarrassed by it, and who am I to call attention to other's shortcomings? Anyway, I got this awesome picture of a canyon that they imported straight from our neighbor to the north - America's Hat (otherwise known as Canada).
Xena will do this, and it is weird. Oh well, she never went to school so she is not really clear on what "cool" is.

The End. See you after finals suckers. Oh wait, I am the one with a four hour final on Monday. Shucks.

If it was a ship, I would call it the S.S. Awesome

I think a good name for a band would be "Subtle Sabotage," it's fresh, alliteration, and apparently available because I googled it and the only match under ' "subtle sabotage" band ' was a 1982 album from the electronica band M.O.A. out of the U.K. I just wanted to get that out here so someone else doesn't think of it while I am getting some musicians together. I think the tag line on our first album could be something like "Once we go platinum we'll have to change our name to "Not-so-subtle Sabotage." Just a thought.

Familypalooza and T.J.'s Graduation

Instead of uploading a ton of pictures (which I will still probably do, but only to facebook since that is a little easier), I decided to create a family collage. Most of these are from my last trip or two, with a couple thrown in for good measure so no nieces and nephews or anyone feels left out. My heart is big enough for everyone. It is always good to see the family though and I really enjoyed the trip home to see everyone, even though it was only for a couple of days. I am really glad that the girls from Portland and Kim and Byron were able to come up, along with the Utah Crew.

I am full in the swing of finals now, and since I already wrote a forty page outline last week and typed over four thousand words in my first final, I feel like I can take a small break and blog a little.

I really wanted to do a blog shout-out to Tracy. Way to go sister. If I do say so myself, graduating from law school is a big deal. I have often thought how to explain law school to people. It is really like nothing else, and I don't think "it is really hard" does it justice. I think that "it is hard" is a necessary term to describe it, but not sufficient to really let you know about it. Let me tell you a little of what it entails.

The hardest thing about law school, and what I do not think that people understand, is the competition. When you are in college, or better yet, high school, it is readily apparent how kids fall into groups. You do not even need to use the term smarter, they have different abilities. Some are good at sports, some are good at math, and some are good writers and speakers, they will excel at different things. There are also levels in those areas, some kids the information comes a little more readily to, and some are more willing to put in greater effort for a greater reward. Some kids succeed and some do not do as well, but the reasons are apparent. Skip forward to law school. With some variation, you are in a school with kids that got very similar scores in the LSAT, and did comparably to you in undergraduate grades. You are all kids that did better in writing and speaking. All of the sudden, there is very little difference in academic ability and desire. Furthermore, kids in law school (at least at BYU and my own school Hastings, other schools I do not have first hand knowledge, but I have heard) are willing to do what it takes to get good grades and be successful. This means that everyone that is as smart as you already is willing to work as hard as you or harder. So is the material hard to learn? Not necessarily, but being that there is only one test to determine your entire grade for the class, you need to be able to distinguish yourself from your classmates in some way. This means you put in more effort (hopefully), or you hope your brain rewards you for spending 100 hours on a sixty page essay and you make an analysis that another student did not. This is not luck though, you train yourself to look at problems in different ways and to ask questions. Of course, you need to do this under a time limit and with no notes. So it can be difficult. This is what law school is all about.

That is just the tests and grades. You need to throw in the Socratic method, the oral arguments, the writing of briefs (arguments for a case) and research papers. You need to take skill classes like trial advocacy, negotiation, mediation (shout out to Tracy for being an ADR machine), and other things. It can be a little overwhelming, and fun; some people really enjoy this stuff, I do (for the most part, I am not a glutton for punishment).

Finally, you do not just learn about facts and figures. This is the other difficult thing for people that are not in law school to comprehend. You need to learn to re-wire your brain. To actually change the way you think. The first year about law school is less about learning law and more about learning to think like a lawyer. Most master's programs from what I understand (which is limited I will be quick to admit) are expanding on what you already know. More advanced or difficult techniques, etc. There are no pre-requisites for law school. You have to learn something that is not taught quite the same in other places. So yeah, it is hard. I do not want to sound too high and mighty. While I feel I can compete with my classmates more or less at this stage, it took some time to learn the system. Another thing that I learned in law school is that it is a deposit/withdrawal system. You get out what you put in. If you are willing to work a little harder, and go that extra mile, you can succeed. Not so much about smarts as about will, because like I said, everyone here is at least as smart as you are.

The final thing that I want to tell you about is what they call a hard curve. Most of you are familiar with a soft curve, the highest student score is an "A", and sometimes the lowest is an "F", but usually not. Many law school have a hard curve. This means that at least 20% (depending on the school) of the class must get a "C" or lower. No exceptions. This means that in a class where you are competing with kids that are all around the same intelligence, and that are working their bums off, they have to divide them somehow. So if the best score in the class is a 90% and the worst score is an 85%, then those kids that are in that 20% of the class that scored around an 85 get a "C" grade, or lower. You might say, "but that is not fair! That is a "B" score!" You learn rather quickly in law school that life is not fair. There are kids all the time who decide that it is not for them. This is the most depressing post ever. This is how America trains its lawyers. This might also explain why many lawyers are the way they are. Those who love competition thrive in this type of atmosphere. Those who do not must be at least tough enough to hang with those competitors and kids that will do whatever it takes to succeed.

Tracy was tough enough. I am not going to say that it was easy for her, that would belittle what she has accomplished. It was hard, and it tested her and stretched her beyond where she felt she could reach I am sure, but reach it she did, and in a way that we should all be proud of. Especially since she had a baby in the last year. That is just nuts. I tell people here that and they literally cannot comprehend it. Kudos Trace, kudos. I hope you will all join me in congratulating Tracy (and Marc, because a wonderful husband makes it a little easier I am sure, and much more possible with a baby) on a job well done. Good luck on the bar and in your future career, sister, and don't forget about Harrison (Harrison?) and Nuttall. Yes we can!

This turned into a much longer post than I meant it to be, but I blame it on tests I have to write.

Blame it on the Ba - Ba - Ba - Ballet!

Quick note. My friend here in S.F., Melissa, has season tickets to the San Francisco Ballet. I expressed some interest, so she let me come along about two weeks ago. TO ANYONE, I MEAN ANYONE THAT COMES TO VISIT, TRY TO SEE THE BALLET WHILE YOU ARE HERE! I know caps are not usually the way you express your feelings about the ballet, but it was really awesome. I think you can get tickets for about $15 for some shows up in the balcony (which is where I sat and it was not bad). I was just amazed at how great it was live. I literally thought in my head, "hmm, ballet would be a fun way to get in shape, I wonder where I could do that at?" That was how cool it was, how often do you see something (especially something like the ballet), and think, man, I want to do that? Not very often, and probably me more than other people, so I guess that is not a very good point. Anyway, I digress. I had studied a few things about ballet in my humanities classes, but this was way better than I expected. Plus, the building they perform in here in S.F. is just incredible. So think about it, and if you want to look at shows and prices check here. Call, text, or email, you know how to schedule a visit at the chateau de Hacksaw.

I just want to blog about something

I think it is about time I wrote a farewell post to my good friend Steve Park, who moved back to Korea a couple of months ago. I should have written it earlier but I didn't. It might have been because every time I tried my vision got real blurry and then water started falling on my keyboard, or it could have been because I'm lazy. On second thought, it is not my fault. It just isn't.
As a final post to Steve, who was my roommate for a year and a half and who I got to be really good friends with, I thought I should tell you one thing that I think of when I think of Steve. How much that boy could eat. Dang. Before he left we went to In n' Out to get a burger with six patties on it so Steve could try it. They do not sell a burger with six patties, so I fought them, with my words. After losing, I decided to buy one with four patties and one with two patties and combine them. So we did. Behold the behemoth.
This picture does not really do it justice, it was really disgusting. Steve took one look at that sucker and ate it. No problem. Said he was "still hungry." He then proceeded to eat the leftover buns and lettuce from the Franken-burger we had assembled. I told you, the boy can really eat. It was really fun to live with Steve for a while though, and I wish him the best in Korea and eventually Australia. Don't be a stranger buddy.
This is how I will always remember Steve in my heart.

Tainted Love

Quick post to anyone that has ever thought about visiting me. The other night I went to a show with a group of friends to celebrate my friend Emily's birthday. The band that was playing was an 80's cover band named, what else, Tainted Love. Needless to say, it blew my mind. A lot. They played 80's pop. They played 80's rock. They played with my heart. It was a really great show and they were a really cool band. The next bit of news, they play here all the time. So if you are going to come into town, we should go, you will not regret it.



This group also had a couple of guys with some really great style. I think I am going to have to start wearing my vests with jeans. It is cool. I also have been doing a lot of sewing and little bit of cooking, so keep an eye on Fashionably Harrison and taste for taste.

The Rock

The weekend of the formal, my good friend and former roommate Chad (as opposed to my former friends and current roommates) came to visit me. Along with a night of gorgeous girls, glam, and glitz, we also decided to go visit Alcatraz, so we could enjoy the freedom to throw a dance party even more.

The last time I went with Mom and Dad was probably a good 15 or so years ago, so I wanted to see it again. We went on the night trip, which I recommend. As it starts to get dark the prison gets a little creepy and you get a better sense of what it must have been to live there day after day. It also made me realize what freedom is. They did not have the freedom to do anything, I cannot even imagine that, this bird needs to fly free! I think Lynard Skynard knows what I'm talkin' about.

Here are the highlights of that trip, and when I get a chance I will visit my buddy Chad Riding out in Sac Town and tell you all about that.

Here are the intrepid explorers. Chad was pretty excited to see Alcatraz I think.

The Rock, this is where they sent the prisoners who refused to stay in jail. They broke old Scarface himself in this joint. There are still pieces of Al Capone's spirit lying around, take one home as a souvenir.



You may or may not know that a group of Native Americans took over the island for a brief period, vestiges of that occupation remain. For the record, the sign is just for show, they let us dock and walk around and stuff. Even without a pass.


Several escape attempts were made. There is no evidence that any were successful. The Rock keeps what's hers.

The Rock was stylish as well. Being stuck on a tiny island guarding dangerous criminals all day is no excuse to look scruffy. Good style is a way of life. Double breasted coats: required. What has happened to America?


Just another inmate. Doing some hard time.


Sun setting on The Rock. Some of the prisoners said that at this time of night if the wind was right, you could hear people partying in Fisherman's Wharf across the bay. Sounds like these prisoners had a pretty crappy life. I for one would rather be partying in Fisherman's Wharf then stuck out on some rock with a bunch of criminals.



Not hard to imagine that the ghosts of guards killed in a prisoner uprising might still haunt these walls.

Mandatory reenaction of Titanic. No one else did it, but I got a few laughs. Mission accomplished.