As Seen On TV Never Ceases to Amaze Me...

Um...

Really??? A blanket with sleeves? I have a bunch of those in my closet. I call them sweatshirts. Ooo, and I have a special one that I wear when I get out of the shower. It's called a robe.

There's all kinds of randomness on tv, but this one really confused me. Am I the only one who thinks this is bizarre? I guess that's what I get for being awake at 3 am.

Dear Beyonce: Get Out of My Head

For some reason, Beyonce's songs always get stuck in my head. First was that Irreplaceable song. All someone had to say was "to the left to the left" and that was it. For days I couldn't get it out of my head. And now she's back with this "Single Ladies" song. I walk around the house singing "if you like it then you should've put a ring on it" to which the boy replies "um...I did?" And the video...well, Ms. B can dance. But everytime I watch it, I can't help but think that there's an episode of The Tyra Banks show coming my way where Beyonce is the guest and crazy Tyra is going to do her re-enactment of the video. And she won't be nearly as good as this guy:
But the best thing that came out of this was that Perez Hilton connected the Beyonce video to this:
I haven't watched this video in a while and I forgot how happy it makes me. Actually, I don't know if it's happiness or if it's lack of sleep. Either way, enjoy!

Co-Ed or Single-Sex Schools?

I wish I had something fun and exciting to write about. My mind is so focused on this paper that I can't really think of anything else. So I'll briefly babble about that.

This semester I'm taking "Gender & the Law". It was supposed to be my "fun" class, but has turned out to be more work than any of my other classes. The up side is that you get to pick any topic relating to gender and law for the final paper. I decided to write my paper on "Public Single-Sex Education" because it's something that I can actually related to.

I went to a single-sex school from 1st grade through 12th grade...yes, I'm serious. The school from 1st-8th grade had single-sex classrooms but it was co-institutional, meaning that we saw boys during lunch and recess. High school was strictly all-girls so if you didn't have guy friends from junior high or from your friends at co-ed schools, you only saw the military boys that came to our school dances. Nice.

Scientists say that are all kinds of benefits for both girls and boys through single-sex classrooms. Apparantly girls perform better in math and science (typically boy's subjects) and boys perform better in English and foreign languages(typically girl's subjects). There are also studies that students are discriminated against in the classroom. For fear of intimidating female students, some teachers may unintentionaly call on the boy students much more often that girl students. Additionally, some female students are afraid to participate in class for fear of answering the question incorrectly and what people will think of her as a result.

Looking back at my education, I think these schools did wonders for me. But since it's all I knew, I can't really say I would have performed differently if I went to another, co-ed, school. But I know college was a shocker when I suddenly was surrounded by boys and couldn't rock my plaid skirt everyday. But I wasn't afraid to answer questions and performed well. I can totally see the argument against single-sex education. It's easy to argue that it perpetuates stereotypes that girls can only excel if they are separated from men. You could also argue that it fails to prepare students for the "real world" which is not separated by gender (though can you imagine if it was...how bizarre would that be).

Did any of you attend or wish you had attended a single-sex school? And do you think it was good/bad? Since I have so many personal opinions on this topic, I'm curious to see what other people think.

And wish me luck.

can you spell my name???

Yesterday after the MPRE, I went to lunch/retail therapy with 2 of my favorite law school ladies. Before hopping in our cars, we decided to stop at Peets to grab coffee. I walked up to the counter:

Counter Gal: Hi, can I help you?
Me: Hi, may I have one of those Vanilla frozen yummy things (I used the actual name...can't tell you what it's called)
Counter Gal: Sure, anything else?
Me: No that's it.
Counter Gal: Ok, that's $3.83. May I have your name?
Me: Sure, it's Bianca, b i a n c a (that's me spelling)
Counter Gal: Thanks.

My name gets called when my drink is ready and the guy said "I don't even want to tell you how that's spelled."

Today I went to Starbucks to get a drink and my name was butchered again.

You'd be surprised how often my name is mispelled. Examples:

"Beanca" - how this guy who had a crush on me spelled my name on a Valentine he sent me in 2nd grade. He shouldn't be surprised that it didn't work out.

"Beyanca" - I think people think "bianca" is similar to "Beyonce" and therefore spelled the same. No, it's not.

"Beonca" - Be.On.Ca. I guess I could see that...

"Bianka" - Ok, I quit.

When I was little, I really hated my name. Kids in school constantly told me that I had a weird name and I would explain that I was named after Bianca Jagger and they thought I was weird. Years later I think it's really rad that I'm named after her and I embrace it. I got used to people misspelling it, so I got into the habit of spelling it for people which is met with 3 responses: 1) They spell it correctly (yay!); 2) They butcher it anyway, meaning they didn't listen or were annoyed/don't care; 3) They say "I know how to spell, thanks."

Maybe I should make a bedazzled nametag and wear it around town. Not the best look for me, but maybe people will start spelling my name corrctly. Or I could just take my coffee and be quiet.

Bar Exam...Step 1

The bar exam is a nightmare. I can't even begin to explain the fear I have over taking that test. Fortunately it's not until July so I can ignore it for a little while longer.

But the MPRE (Multi-State Professional Responsibility Exam) I can't avoid. It's a 2 hour test full of questions on ethical rules that lawyers and judges must follow.

And it's tomorrow at 9 a.m. And I'm freaking out.

I'm a moral person, right???

Wish me luck!!!

Driving Lessons

Today I learned a few things while driving:

1) I used to believe that no one would notice if I'm singing along to the radio. And if they did, they would think I was talking on the phone or something. Today I observed someone singing at the top of their lungs while they were driving. And they definitely looked like they were singing. And then I wondered what I looked like. And I wondered what Tiffany and I used to look like when we were driving in high school and we had choreography. Not that this is going to stop me.

2) I was driving behind a mini-van with a "Yes on Prop 8" sticker. And I felt this sudden urge to slam on the gas and ram my Saturn into their car. I'm not a violent person. In fact, in my 9 years of driving I've never honked my horn. I suppose I'm just really passionate?

3) The person who lives across the street from me has a car that beeps as they back up. As if they were a truck. It's extremely annoying when it wakes me up in the morning and just as annoying when I'm waiting to pull out of my driveway.

4) The people on my street are incapable of parking on the right side of the street. It's irritating.

5) Rain is not an excuse for not being able to merge. In fact, rain should make you want to merge properly.

6) I'm killer at driving in stilettos.

What driving lessons do you have?

P.S. Today was my first California voting experience. It was super exciting and I'm really stressed out about the results. Keeping my fingers crossed...and eagerly awaiting my free donut :)

Ready...Set....GO!

Yesterday the boy and I booked our wedding venue, which means we officially have a wedding date. Sept. 26, 2009...let the insanity begin.