First week of law school!

So...I survived my first week of law school!  And guess what!  I actually really enjoyed myself.  I was definitely quite nervous, as evidenced by my face on the first day.

But, everyone was super nice! My professor was engaging and informative, and I quickly felt at ease.

It was a busy week and my new schedule is going to take a lot of getting used to, especially since my old schedule went something like this:

9 am - wake-up, head down to continental breakfast before it closes (note: I did not mention 'get dressed' as putting on pants that aren't pajamas doesn't really happen until after noon)

9:05 am - go back to sleep

11 am - wake up (for real, this time), waste time on Facebook and blogs

2 pm - make lunch

3 pm - think about running, try really hard to run, give self a pep talk and (on some days) actually run

5 pm - shower and get ready for show

7 pm - tell jokes to random strangers, attempt to sell merch and drink free beer

midnight - stumble back to hotel room, watch free cable

Rinse.  Repeat.

So yeah, this whole, being at school for nearly 12 hours and then having homework on top of that is definitely going to be an adjustment.  Luckily, much like some of the hotels I stay in, they have free breakfast on some days.

Sadly, I don't think my law school considers pajama pants to be appropriate dress.

So instead, I wore this:

Sugar and Slingblade

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures in South Dakota.  I think my motivation had something to do with being terribly sleep-deprived and not wanting my under-eye bags to be recorded.

I worked at Rookie's Comedy Club in Sioux Falls with the hilarious Vince Morris, and we had a lot of fun closing the bar down two out of the three nights we were there.  What can I say? I'm a sucker for good conversation and free popcorn.

I also took part in/overhead the following conversations:

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Setting: Rookie's Comedy Club, after Friday's late show.

Audience member: C'mon, you guys gotta hang out after the show.

Vince and me: We're pretty tired, so we're probably going to leave.

Audience member: But, it's 50 cent nelly night!  You can't leave!

Vince and me: What is a nelly?  Some sort of shot?

Audience member: (repeats "but, it's 50 cent nelly night" nearly ten times before finally concluding) You know, the rappers.

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Setting: Rookie's Comedy Club, after Saturday's early show.

Audience member 1: Do you know what ever happened to Amanda from high school?

Audience member 2: Oh, she got knocked up by a carnie and now she works at McDonald's

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Setting: At my hotel, afternoon.

Random, strange, rednecky-looking man who spoke with a Slingblade-style accent: (after looking me up and down for easily a minute upon noticing my PETA t-shirt) You with PETA?

Me: I used to be, yes. Now I just volunteer for them.

Random, strange, rednecky-looking man who spoke with a Slingblade-style accent: (with utter disgust and an eye-roll) Oh.

Cut to awkward silence as we rode the elevator together.

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Setting: Taco Bell drive-thru line.

Taco Bell employee: I assume you want the verde sauce?

Me: I've actually never had it, but sure, I'll try it.

Taco Bell employee: Well, it's our green sauce and it's healthy. 

Me: I see.

Taco Bell employee: (as he hands me an order of cinnamon twists and jumbo-sized Pepsi) I just assumed since you ordered a veggie burrito, you must be really healthy.

Ah, yes, sugar - the fifth food group.

My drive back home was long, but uneventful.  I got home around midnight and hopped right into bed so I could be well-rested for my first day of law school.

Cue excitement and terror.

Busy busy busy!

What a busy week!  I packed nearly everything I own into my Honda Civic, moved into a new apartment, celebrated my birthday, ate ridiculous amounts of food, gained three pounds from said ridiculous amounts of food and told lots of jokes.

I performed at Joey's Comedy Club in Livonia, Michigan where I worked with my my good buddy, Steve Sabo. This marks the first time in a while that we've actually performed together in the Eastern time zone (where we actually live); usually we have our adventures in Wyoming or Montana.

We had a lot of fun shows, and I even got a couple free drinks. Mama loves her some of those!

In addition to moving to my new apartment in East Lansing, I became an official Spartan:

The move went fairly smoothly, and I even managed to make a home cooked meal my first night there (recipe at the bottom).

And in case you're wondering, yes, I made the beer, too. I'm quite talented.

After that, it was nothing but restaurants (as you can imagine I protested for hours because I just hate going out to eat so much).

I went to BD's Mongolian BBQ (one of my favorite places), and discovered they serve gardein products.  When I found this out, I swear, I think I heard angels sing.  It was so delicious!

To celebrate my birthday, this guy took me to eat more, get coffee and see Elysium. 

 I also had sushi with my dad, and my mom made me the most delicious vegan cake.

Sadly, it didn't last long because it was so good.

Now, onto South Dakota!

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Recipe for Peanutty Pumpkin Stew

1 tbs olive oil, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 potato, 2 garlic cloves, 1 (14.5 oz) can crushed tomatoes, 1 (16 oz) solid pack pumpkin, 1/2 cup peanut butter, 2 tbs soy sauce, 2 tsp hot/mild curry powder, 2 cups vegetable stock, 1.5 cups cooked or 15.5 oz kidney beans drained and rinsed, 1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies, 1 cup thawed peas, 1/4 cup chopped peanuts Directions (4 to 6 servings):

1. Saute onions, garlic, carrots and potato in a large pot. Cover and cook until softened.
2. Stir in tomatoes, pumpkin, peanut butter, soy sauce, curry powder and stock, stirring after each addition. Add beans and chilies stirring occasionally for 20 minutes.
3. Shortly before serving stir in peas.
4.  Garnish with chopped peanuts.

Outer Banks and Williamsburg

This weekend, I headed down to the Outer Banks, North Carolina and Williamsburg, Virginia.  I love going to this area because 1. I used to live there so revisiting my old stomping grounds is always cool, 2. Ed and Leslie, who own the club, are super awesome and 3. it's near the beach!

On my way down, I picked up the headliner, Robert Mac, in Washington DC. 

(That's not him in DC, obviously, but it is him.)

If you haven't had a chance to catch one of his shows, do it now.  He's so smart and funny and such a brilliant joke writer!  He's also a vegetarian and a runner (Although, he's, like, a real runner and runs at twice the speed I do. But, considering I run 12 minute miles, I guess that's not too hard), so we had a lot to chat about.  He also appreciates 'the Bell' as much as I do, so we stopped three times throughout the week to have seven-layer burritos.

Our show in the Outer Banks was sold-out!  And I got to eat sushi in the green room.

Sadly, my plans to take advantage of all of this fun stuff (kayaks, hot tub and hammock) were thwarted by the rain.

But, I did get a chance to play with these two:

After our Outer Banks show, we headed up to Williamsburg.  On the way, we hit major traffic.  Note to self: the next time you're thinking of taking an exit to use the restroom, DO IT once the thought enters your head.  Otherwise, you're likely to hit two hours of stand-still traffic and experience your bladder nearly exploding.

 Making good use of the sunroof.

The hotel (which is where the comedy club is located) was really nice.  Indoor/outdoor pool and free printing at the business center?  Yes, please! 

My room:

 They even had this work-out area, which was empty every time I used it, so I was free to blast MTV's "Catfish" and hyperventilate while running as loudly as I pleased.

 On Friday, we woke up to do morning radio. Our call time was 10 am. Allow me to introduce you to the most hang-over friendly radio station ever:

 And then we headed to Colonial Williamsburg, where everything is like old times.  You can buy a $4 Mountain Dew and post pictures of it to your instagram account, just like they did in 1700.

 After walking around a bit, we headed into a peanut shop and took advantage of all of their free samples.  If only every place offered free samples.  P.S.  Taco Bell, get on that ASAP.

 We did four really fun shows, and then it was time to stop at Taco Bell again head back to good ol' Michigan.

Shout out to this dude for keeping me company on the 12 hour drive.

 

Jersey Shore

I took a break from comedy for the week to head to Drew's cousin's wedding at the Jersey Shore.  It was my first time there.  Sadly, I didn't see anyone getting punched in the face or passing out on the dance floor like the show depicts, but I did get to check out the beaches and boardwalk.

And, it was a fun reason to get fancy.  Of course, by get fancy, I mean wear Spanx.

We had a great time at the wedding, and Drew's family couldn't be nicer!  Plus, apparently, they are classy on the East Coast and don't do things like the chicken dance.  And get this: people actually dress up to weddings!  Take note Michigan: shorts and flip-flops are not proper wedding attire.

Although we were only there for a couple days, I met so many of Drew's family members and ate so much delicious food (Drew's cousins, the bride and groom, even saw to it that we had a special vegan meal).  It was a whirlwind trip, and I wish we could have stayed longer, especially because I miss hearing east coast accents on a daily basis like I did in college.   

Somehow getting told to f*ck off by someone with a thick Brooklyn accent is actually kind of, dare I say, cute.