Man...It feels like I updated just a few days ago...I've been so overtaken with stress and being busy that I lost track of time.
I haven't even said anything about my international law class! I think I'm too tired to update completely the last two weeks. I've put in ridiculous hours this week at Bren, though. 8-10 hours on campus and then I was up till 12-1am every night finishing stuff for school or for the defense that was yesterday. I'll update at some point...The defense was good, though, and that's OVER with! That stress is gone. Our draft of our paper is due in 2 weeks so that's stressful, but...one thing at a time?
Actually, the next two weeks will be stressful like the last two. I've got 2 papers due next week and a 5-minute presentation. I'm not too worried about next week (except my op-ed piece...still not sure what to write and he's going to be super picky about it - 1,000 words max), but the week after is horrible. I have a lab due the 14th, my case brief rewrite due on the 15th, the group treaty memo (my int'l law prof is taking our ideas to UNEP that week when he goes for their meeting) on the 15th, an extra 2 hours of class on Wednesday, a memo due on the 17th, and our GP draft due on the 18th. President's weekend is going to be VERY relaxing...LoL Course, I have a final and draft of a group paper due the week after, but it's much less crazy.
Speaking of groups...I have 4 group assignments this quarter: GP (group of 6), int'l law assignment/treaty/memo (group of 5), conservation planning (group of 4), and environmental institutions (group of 3). I really am disliking group activities right now. It also doesn't help that we have defenses next Friday (the 11th) too for the OTHER half of the class so people are still not 100% done and everything that's not GP gets pushed last. So...it's more than a little crazy to do this many group assignments.
Anyway, defense was good. It's finished. The presentation can be mostly used for the public presentation in April now too. We got good feedback (or very little of it for that matter) so it's good!
Now...Today Chris and I went to Santa Anita! Zenyatta was being awarded the Secretariat Vox Populi Award (Voice of the People Award) and so Team Zenyatta and Penny Chenery (owner of Secretariat) was doing these special posters and signing for them. I had to go! I got my poster signed (after standing in line for a VERY long time in a black shirt with black hair in the sun -- I've got a touch of heatstroke (no sunburn!)) and I love it! My two favorite horses together. :) I thought I'd never seen Penny Chenery in my lifetime either. She's 89 years old. It's incredible that she flew out in 2010 to see Zenyatta run once, but to fly out again and sign a few hundred posters? Incredible. She is amazing. I'm glad I got in line early, though. The signing was supposed to be only an hour (11:30-12:30), but they instead went by the number of people (at least, some might have stayed longer). The line went practically out the track again and people were told they wouldn't get a poster signed, but they still wanted to stand in line. I think maybe another 20 people behind me were in line to get a poster signed and then it cut off. So I was kind of close to the back. I think they estimated 150-200 people for the signing and they probably signed maybe 300 posters (might be a bit more). So, yeah, it was close for a minute that I thought I wouldn't get anything signed, but I got it!
I love Santa Anita too. It's HUGE first off and they have a ton of places to sit in the paddock and there are trees you can sit underneath and it's just a really nice place. The quality between Hollywood to Santa Anita is quite evident. You can tell Santa Anita is the moneymaker and they take care of the place to keep it at a higher standard. I want to see Del Mar now and see what's that like. The facility is much smaller than Santa Anita, but it's supposed to be A+ service and is like the premier event on the West Coast for horse racing and opening day is a BIG deal. So we'll see. Santa Anita also runs more like a sports venue. They have parking vendors so you pay for our parking there by car, whereas Hollywood is parking by person. Course...Santa Anita is right next to a HUGE mall. So that might be why they take the parking fee as you drive in. They don't want the mall people to park in Santa Anita's parking. However, Chris and I got into Santa Anita parking fee free AND got into the park for free (no program, but I could have bought one for $2.50). We got there early to do the free tram tour (if we made it in time) and there was no one to take money for parking. So we parked, went on the tour, and the tour dumps you in the park at the end of it. So you get into the park for free when you go on the FREE tram tour. :P If you don't care that you don't have a program for the day, you save $4/car and $5/person. I almost bought a program, but didn't get one. I also signed up for the free Thoroughbred Rewards Program so I think I can go in now for $1. Horse racing definitely does not make its money on entry fees. Oh yeah, the gift store -- Champions -- made me chuckle. Almost all the workers in there (and there were like 8 of them for this TINY little store) were all older ladies (in their 50-60's) and they were so incredibly attentive. It was almost to the point it was intimidating because they were watching your every move to assist you and clean-up things (place was PRISTINE), but it made me chuckle. Who'd of thought that age range would be working at a race track gift store? :P
Anyway, my Santa Anita Photos: Vox Populi Signing, Seabiscuit Tram Tour, MISC
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