My first day in the office. It's been excellent. I really like the staff here, and the environment is great. I haven't done any substantive work yet, but I have a feeling it'll be challenging.

And we have great net/email access. Hallelujah! I have email constantly on at achiu@ijm.org, so feel free to drop a line during M-F 9-6ish Eastern time. (Remember, we're 3 hrs ahead of California & Washington!)

I'll try to update soon. And of course, please let me know if you're ever in the area. The illustrious Isaac Fong is rumored to be lurking around this week.

I've made it to DC safe and sound. Unfortunately, I've got only limited email and net access. I'm at a public library near my new place! I've been taking the subway, sweating it out to the heat & humidity, and reading through my Lonely Planet DC guidebook.

My first day at IJM consisted of going on a half-day retreat with the staff. What an awesome way to begin my time here! I met many of the staff and all of the interns, and we played a few silly games, had a good time of prayer, reflection and scripture reading. My first day of "work" will be Monday, when I train with another intern.

My roommates are all nice gals too. They're all Christians and have very different personalities. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better. I live in the residential area of Capitol Hill, just blocks away from the Supreme Court, Library of Congress and of course, the Capitol building.

The Lams are here too, visiting Mel and helping Brian move in. Salina Lee will be visiting next weekend, and Grace Chiu is taking us both to dinner on Wed night. It's a party over here! Wish you could join me! (A few of you will though... :) )

Congratulations to Mel Lam and Jeremy Yong on their engagement! These crazy kids are going to have a whirlwind engagement and marry in the fall! I've known Mel and Jeremy since... at least junior high, I think. Mel & I were in small group together in Berkeley, and she continues to make me giggle. Jeremy is also pretty swell. Jason says that he's really just a big softie. :) They will settle in DC after the wedding.

Sun and rain, sun and rain. Crazy city! Massive downpour yesterday, and then it just disappeared as suddenly as it arrived. They say D.C.'s been getting more rain this season than Seattle's been getting all year!

I'm gearing up to leave for the other Washington (i.e. D.C.) but need to turn in another paper before I take off. I'm definitely excited about the prospect of the temporary move... hadn't been thinking about it nearly as much during finals and such, but now the time has nearly come for me to depart! I've yet to live on the East Coast for any substantial period of time, and D.C. has so much to offer in the summer... particularly of the free variety! - museums, concerts on the Mall, festivals, etc. etc.

I'm quite amazed that by week's end, I'll be at the IJM office!

(Oops, this should have posted yesterday, Wed 6/18.)

Happy Birthday to my sweet little sister Joy! May you continue to be gracious and loving to all who are around you! God bless you abundantly this year, as He did in the year that passed.

If you haven't wished her a happy day yet, please do so! I gave her a pin that says "Birthday Princess" on it... and I told her she had to wear it. So honestly, she didn't choose to. And Joy, if you're reading this... I meant to tell you to wear the pin ALL WEEK. Big Sister Is Watching You (and she says so!)

Law school certainly does weird things to people. It's natural, I suppose, to start noticing articles in the newspapers about cases in federal court, or what the Supreme Court ruled on X. It makes sense, given that you're sorta inhaling and spewing this law stuff day in and day out. Like I'm pretty interested in reporters' predictions on which of the Justices (we call them "the Supremes") will retire this year. Or the politics and campaigning that goes into filling one of those spots. Pretty amazing how much power each of them wield... with one vote each can overturn a hundred years' of precedent, determining the fate of so many people's lives.

But I did find my response a little weird when I read a New York Times article today about the winding down of the SC season (they convene from Oct-June, usually), an article that mentioned the $122 million modernization project of the court. It contemplated whether Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (who is predicted to be one to retire this year) will be around to enjoy the fruits of that project.

"At 73, Justice O'Connor is five years older than the Supreme Court building. Her tone was light, but her words conveyed a certain poignancy when she remarked that when a building turns 70, 'we can take the infrastructure and change it and make it like new again," adding, "I wish that were possible for individuals, but it isn't.'" Read the article.

At the thought of this remarkable woman aging and retiring, that the Court (and America) would "lose" her, and that she was a frail and limited human being like the rest of us.... I feel a little sad and a great deal of affection and attachment for her. That's pretty weird stuff.

After a couple weeks of watching the dustballs grow on my floor, worrying whether my underwear supply will run out before exams end, eating crackers, chicken nuggets & corndogs, I will begin my catchup of email, cleaning, grocery-shopping, laundry and journey into the land of normalcy. I am so excited!

Freedom! I've made it past the first year! I can hardly believe it. Didn't sleep the night before my last final (napped for 45 minutes) and then konked out for 12 hrs until Sat afternoon. There are few things better in this world than a long, peaceful, don't-set-the-alarm kind of sleep. No plans, no deadlines, no rush at all.

The weather has been nice. I think I may go to Green Lake tomorrow after church. It's a beautiful lake in the middle of a bunch of fun residential neighborhoods, with a nice park, baseball fields, and gym. It's perfect for a walk or a quick jog - a little under 3 miles. Or maybe I'll head downtown to the shopping area... grab an iced coffee and walk around.

C'est la vie - tres bien!

High-80s in Seattle - can you believe it! I think the average is around 70 this time of year... and the highest temp in history this day of the year here was 92. The streets are practically steaming!

Our building doesn't have A/C. It's fine when I pop all the windows open, but then all the tiny bugs fly in b/c we don't have screens. (I can stick my head (or anything really) out of the window and peer down seven floors below.) Ah, city living at its finest. I also live on the interior side of our horseshoe-shape building. It is a little disconcerting to have one's entire studio apartment open for the whole world (or at least my dozen or so neighbors) to see.

Eh, who am I kidding? It's not like there's anything all that interesting to see in my place (whoa, dude... look at her study!) Now my neighbors, on the other hand...

Aaaaack!!!! Sam Lau has totally made my day by linking me to one of the best videos ever.

Here you go: A-Ha!!!

I'm just studying for finals... not too much other than that going on here.

I'm actually starting to feel a little panicky about this set... Property (two quarters worth - a four-hour exam with exam questions that will take four hours to read, seriously!), Criminal Law (just couldn't keep up during the quarter and now I need to cram it all in) and Constitutional Law (maybe not as scary, but i'm sure i'll be totally burnt out by Fri...)

The end is near - not near enough, and a little too near at the same time!

This evening highlights two strands of thoughts about human relationships I've been thinking about since living in Seattle. Jason & I had dinner with three of my classmates and their "significant others" (I really don't like that term, but it's useful.)

First, Jason and I agree that when it comes down to it, we feel the most comfortable hanging out with Asians. In that group, we were Chinese, Filipino and Japanese. I realized that as I got older (it started happening in high school), my friends (and particularly, close ones) all happened to be Asian-Americans. I thought perhaps it was just a coincidence. In Seattle, the locals pride themselves on being particularly diverse... yes, compared to Oregon perhaps, but it's nothing like California! And it's definitely only in the major cities. We have about 25% minorities in my law school class (higher than average for Seattle, compare to about 40% "minority", or rather, "plurality", at Berkeley.) But it's just a natural connection - conversation is easier, jokes are funnier, much more in common, less self-consciousness even? I've grown to really like my groupmates (most are NOT Asian), but it's taken a long time to get to this point. Race consciousness and my sensitivity to race relations has definitely grown significantly in the past 9 months. It's been challenging at times to force myself to get beyond the initial awkwardness...and at times, it still is less natural... but hey, at least, I don't feel particularly weird at school or church being one of a few Asian faces and (truly) minority.

Second, cohabitation is very normal and almost expected for serious couples. Out of the four couples (including Jason & I) tonight, two are living together. Well, Jason and I obviously don't live together (haha), and the other couple is an engaged Christian couple. The two couples that do live together have been together 3 and 5 years, respectively. Now I'm not sure about other metropolitan cities... but Seattle's cohabitation rate is the highest, I believe, 2.5 times greater than the average, I think? It's very normal, and to me, it just seems to represent the natural inclination of human beings to develop stable one-to-one relationships with each other, that is, very much like a typical marriage relationship. I believe nearly all of my groupmates who are in "serious" relationships (together more than 1 yr) do live together. Though it is also true that people are more likely to be in serious relationships serially (one after the other, rather than a lifetime with one person.) I remember when Jason's friends found out I was moving up to Seattle, their presumption was that I'd live with him. His apartment manager also expected that I'd move in with him.

I wonder what kind of society we'll be in another few decades. Will marriage become the minority relationship, and more and more "domestic partnerships"? What kind of effect, if any, will that have on future generations of kids and the family unit in general? Does the "label" of a relationship make a difference? (Two of my groupmates have children and have been with their "partners" for 8 and 25 years. They look and act like a typical nuclear family.)