Scattered Thoughts

Scattered Thoughts:

Saw Slumdog Millionaire finally. I think the movie would have been better if he had been cheating. ***SPOILER ALERT*** Oh, a string of coincidences on his exciting life story leading to him having all the right answers and then he guesses the right answer on the one he doesn't know and gets the girl. Now I know why girls love this movie. The same reason they love Titanic and the Twilight movies. That said, it was still a decent flic.

The best Christmas album is the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack. I have been listening to it a lot lately and just dig how fresh it sounds years after the fact, and it isn't annoying as hell like 90% of holiday music. You all know I hate the Paul McCartney Wonderful Christmas Time song, but another awful one I heard the other day was Jack Johnson singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Do we really need a surfer singing a chillax song about a radioactive deer in a snowstorm? No. And it sounds like all his other stuff, which is essentially a variation of the same thing. One song that really should bother me but doesn't. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA8UHeoYHQM I really don't have a good explanation for why I like it either.

I'm watching the Dexter season 4 finale tonight. I won't ruin anything for those that haven't seen it yet, but John Lithgow is fantastic this season as a monster serial killer. I feel like before this season I forgot he could really act. It seems like most of my exposure to Lithgow prior to this has been 3rd Rock and Cliffhanger. I thought he just overacted all the time. I was wrong.

Also extremely excited for the last season of Lost.

Not excited about the next season of 24. The gimmick is beyond its prime.

Not shocked at all by the Tiger Woods affair storylines. Nor is he shocked by Nordic wife's response. My family heritage is Nordic, and a lot of people in Minnesota are. Those women can be downright crazy when they need to be. And have freakishly strong golf swings.

Every year my dad gives me a joke gift for Christmas: a new Christmas tie with a sound device that plays a random holiday song. I finally found a use for it last weekend when my friends and I went to the bars wearing them along with our ugly X-Mas sweaters. The cabbie was thoroughly irritated with those ties by then end of the cab ride.

Thank you Amazon.com. I have not had to step foot in one department store for holiday gift shopping and have to deal with hundreds of other people shopping and a long line to check out. And free super saver shipping!

I had Taco Bell before 11 am today. Is this the equivalent of an alcoholic drinking before noon?

Letters of Recommendation from Teachers Who Don't Remember Me.

So I took my LSAT's last Saturday. That is part of the reason I have not blogged any blogs recently. I've spent a solid month and a half being relatively studious and devoting time to develop possible schooling paths and not pursuing other less fruitful hobbies. But it's over now! Or at least it seems like it. Next week I'll be looking at schools to apply to and hitting up old professors for letters of recommendation. Which seems grossly irrelevant and tedious, but a friend of mine said that unless you are damn near a decade out of school, you need to have a letter of recommendation from a professor from your college. I am only halfway to the decade mark, so I guess I'll be killing two birds with one icy snowball when I visit my hometown of Minneapolis later this month. I figure this involves sending out a few emails to first test the waters with college professors. Something harmless enough to make them curious enough to see how their former student has made out in the cold cruel world.

" Hi (fill in the blank professor),
I am going to be visiting Minnesota soon for the holidays soon and..."

Of course they'll read it as blah blah blah trying to figure out who the hell I am:
Who is this Flower kid? ... Marketing class? I had like seventy-five students that year. Presentation on Russell Simmons... GOT IT. He wore the Colt45 shirt to the presentation. Yeah, I remember him. Why not go meet him for a coffee/beer.
(side note - I did wear a colt45 shirt to a presentation on Def Jam/Phat Farm. It was a damn good presentation too)

So I figure the ambush of a letter of recommendation has to be tactful and manipulative. Both things I am very poor at. I tend to be very blunt. The smart approach would be something like this:

Professor X: Thanks for the beer. So California huh? Tell me all about it.
Me: Well I wanted to broaden my horizons and grow up a little outside of the Midwest and found some great work experience in Fox and DirecTV's advertising departments. Ultimately I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in law. I just took my LSAT's and am starting to apply for law school at schools a, b, and c.
Prof X: That's very good! Sounds like you have it all figured out.
Me: Thanks! I want to let you know that you were an important part of my intellectual and professional development and it would be an honor if you would do me the favor of writing me a letter of recommendation.
Prof X: Of course I will!

Knowing me though, I'll lose all composure and turn into my usual blunt and honest self.

Prof X: So California huh?
Me: Yeah, I quit my job at DirecTV cause I hated L.A. I quit a job in the middle of a recession. I serve coffee now. I serve coffee dammit!
Prof X: Oh...barista huh?
Me: I'm applying for law school. You need to give me a letter of recommendation. I need this. I NEED THIS!!!
Prof X: You need to take your hands of my collar and stop shaking me. You're scaring me.

Optimistically, I'll win them over with my colorful description of my post-college experiences and flatter them with admiration. I'll take a pity recommendation if it comes down to it though.

First I'll have to figure out what schools I can get into with my LSAT score, then pick some schools to apply to over my week and a half trip home. I'll also have to do this while undergoing a gauntlet of visiting family, married friends, and unmarried friends in the frosty tundra that is my hometown. But that's another blog for another time.