abbagirl having oodles and oodles of energy

richard really loves us.

i mean, me.

okay, and maybe the other girl, too.

we were all chatting and joking before the practice exam, and richard was having such a great time laughing with us. at one point, he said he loves our enthusiasm; it was the kind of enthusiasm we should carry with us into the bar exam, he said. "and i don't want to see your energy fade these next few months!"

i said, "i'm enthused? me? pshaw -- if i am, it's all her fault!" and i pointed to the other girl, who laughed and protested, "what-ever, girl!"

but it is her energy that has made my energy-level rise. sure, i am not quite optimistic yet, but yeah, except for the boredom that occurs whenever i have to do these exams (:-P), whatever enthusiasm i have is due in no small part 'cause of her.

and richard is so cool. he asked us whether we liked the doughnuts he brought in over the weekend because, he said, there were some left over. "do you prefer muffins instead?" he asked concernedly. i hastened to assure him that i had eaten one of the maple-flavored doughnut he had brought in. that made him feel better. and then he promised he'd bring the other girl a blueberry muffin the next time we had a morning class.

he just cares!

and then at the end of our classes in the evenings, because his premises are located smack-dab in middle of downtown, which has a good share of freaky-deaks and hobos lurking around, and because we do tend to get out pretty late, he makes all of us wait for him while he locks up the whole building. we then all troop downstairs and outside together.

once outside, he asks just the girls, "where are you parked?" (he doesn't ask the dudes this). and then he stands there, right in front of his store, in the freezing cold, and watches both me and the other girl until we are safely in our cars and pull out into traffic before he starts his own slow walk to wherever he is parked.

what a great guy!

i could-a sworn i heard that richard is now in his 70s, but he could easily pass for ten years younger. he has a slight limp and does not seem able to get around very quickly. but he has such energy and enthusiasm himself. he is quite tall, and he holds his back straight, and although he has a distending belly, he is not fat. and when something strikes him as particularly funny, which happens quite a bit when the other girl and i start exchanging quips, he guffaws really loudly. i swear, his laugh is so contagious that, even if i don't think something is really funny, to hear his laugh makes me bust out into giggles, too.

i like him. :)

as you can imagine, i am starting to look like complete shit these days. it takes me less than ten minutes to get ready to go out of the house; obviously, i am not putting much care and concern into how i look. i've always been a fan of hoodies and often wished i could wear them to work whenever i wanted. now i have that chance to indulge. usually, i go for a long-sleeve hoodie of cotton-tee material, layer that with a vintage fitted rock tee or a fitted tee with some snarky saying on top, and then i overlay that with another sweatshirt hoodie. the layers do help to ward off the chill of the winter evenings, but i think i need to start wearing scarves, too -- 'cause i hate when the cold seeps down my neck! and then i just wear cords or jeans and chuck taylors. my hair -- let's not even go there. it's in a lazy messy half-ponytail, the kind where you just decide too much energy is required to pull the ponytail all the way through your hair-band thingy so you just leave it as is.

ultra . . . ultra . . . low maintenance.

and that's only when i leave the house, too.

as of this past weekend, i haven't been leaving the house at all, except for these bar review classes, really. if i do stay in, i stick with pajama bottoms, a tee or camisole, and a cardigan. i keep my tootsies warm in slippers.

anyhow, i was thinkin' recently that it might be great to have a christmas tree.

but know what? mine would be a christmas tree with a twist -- a viet twist! for the most part, i'd only decorate it with ornaments and lights of gold -- nothing but gold! -- but then in the middle, i'd have three big red stripes of red ornaments.

boo-yeah.

cultural hybridity rocks.