What is a JayDiva?

JayDiva (noun) a writer of blogs who is an attorney, feminist, New Englander, child advocate, reader, hiker, cancer survivor, Mormon.



Monday, August 27, 2012

The (funny) Commute From Hell


Because I just can’t do things the easy way.

I finally scored a post-grad internship with the Philadelphia Public Defender’s Office and today was my first day to report at work for some training and other miscellaneous first day things.  

I didn’t really know what to expect, but I did know that I was going to ride my bike to work.  In fact, that was just about the first question I was asked in my interview, “Do you [me] live close enough to bike to work?”

And they have an indoor bike rack!

So it wasn’t the locking-up part that was treacherous, it was the commute itself.

PICTURE THIS:  Center City, Philadelphia.  Me.  Suit coat and work dress topped with a raincoat.  Sweat pants, well, more like sweat capris under my dress.  High heels pushing the pedals of my bike, and a helmet on top.

Now add a hurricane…

Same ridiculous young woman on a bike in Center City with work clothes + sweats, now DRIPPING WET with wet high heels full of water that keep sliding off her pedals.  Lightening all around.  Busses driving by and splashing her.  Mascara running all down her face.  You picturing it?  Yep, that about sums up my commute.
 Go ahead, you can laugh at my expense; I was laughing too.  It was just SO ridiculous!

So I finally made it to the office and with the approximately two square inches of my sweat capris that were not soaked, I wiped all the mascara off of my face.  I tied my dripping hair into a bun, dumped out the 6 ounces of water pooled at the bottom of each of my shoes, and –what else could I do?—I made my way up the elevator to the office…still dripping.

I was then greeted with, “Oh, we’re gonna take your ID photo today.”

Perfect. :/

~~~

Oh, and then I got to ride back home!  At least it wasn’t raining anymore!  My sweat capris and raincoat were still soaked, so I rode home in just my dress, suit jacket, and soggy high heels.

Have you ever ridden a bicycle in a stretchy dress without shorts on underneath?  Okay, let me put it this way- when I left home this morning, I was not wearing a mini skirt, but by the time I got back home I was hardly even wearing a mini skirt…using the term “skirt” at all is actually pretty generous.  And those men of Philly let me know just how much they appreciated that :/ ugh.

While the skirt was still hiking & hadn’t yet reached illegal heights, I was waiting for a light on Broad Street and a van with Temple University personnel was next to me at the light and the passenger rolled down his window and, looking at my high heels clutching for my pedals, said, “Does that hurt?  I have NEVER seen that before!”

“I’ve got SKILLS!  But no, it doesn’t hurt.”

What else was I supposed to say?!

But I did make it home in one, slightly soggy piece.

~~~

The day did have some rays of light, however.  For one, I had an AMAZING Truffle Burger from 500 Degrees for lunch  


AND I got to do both a Cardio Ballet class AND a yoga class tonight.  PLUS I composed a poem for the first time in probably years.  The first shards of my creativity returning may be a sign that law school stress is finally starting to wear off.  Yay :)

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Cycle-rama

Been doing a lot of biking in Fairmount Park all along the Schuylkill River trails and enjoying every minute!

Cycling is seriously the best way to get around this town, and I am currently obsessed with the newly invented invisible bike helmet (here and here), if you haven't heard :)

So here are some photos of the lovely and well-used (hooray for vibrant, free community fitness outlets!!) Schuylkill River trail that I took while on a long ride this week.  FYI that's the river that's surrounded on both sides by Fairmount Park and is located on the west side of Center City, Philadelphia, and is the largest tributary to the Delaware River, which borders the east side of Center City, Philadelphia.

I didn't take those ones^, but I did take the rest!

Some rowers and the hot air balloon at the Zoo.

 There are sporadic statues along the way.  The stones behind this one says "Welcoming to Freedom," but if you ask me, its pretty Rocky-esque ;)

Photo taken while crossing Falls Bridge to go over into the park on the west side of the river

This is actually right about where the swim began for the Philadelphia Triathlon!

Boathouses where Penn, Drexel, etc. have their stuff for their crew teams


 Fairmount Dam Fishway + the Museum of Art

Crossing a bridge at the south end of the right by the Museum, heading back to the East side of the river, where I live.

Voila!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

SEPTA Adventures


I have been experimenting with the subways in Philly, known as SEPTA (south-eastern Pennsylvania transit authority) and, with my pockets full of fare tokens, I have had a fun time!

Here’s some photos!
I made lots of friends on the subway, as usual.  My favorite interaction was after I was awkwardly fixing my backpack and reaching my arms around all goofy and this big, tough black guy covered in tattoos behind me came up to me and quietly said,


"I just wanna say that you have nice arms."

"Well that's cuz I lift!" (Me, flexing)

"Dang!  I'm jealous!  Guess I don't wanna mess with you!"


Then we just walked our separate ways and I was laughing my head off.  I'm such a wierdo- seriously, who flexes their biceps for strangers??  Me.  I love my subway friends :)


Rittenhouse Square

Getting Stronger


Mom was generous enough to help me move to Philadelphia right after the big exam.  I was probably still delirious and unreasonable and she was very patient with me.  Frankly, I hardly remember anything from that week, but I’m all moved in, so it must have been a success!

One thing that we had the chance to do after moving was go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and- you guessed it- we ran the Rocky stairs!

Here’s some footage:





If you're interested, there's a very cool book chronicling the interesting stories of many people that conquered these steps as a professional photographer sat on top of the steps and captured their run called "Rocky Stories."

The End.

To be honest, finishing the Bar Exam was kind of anti-climactic.  After all the hype and anxiety, I just walked away, quiet and all alone, back to my hotel room, not knowing how I did.   And as soon as I set foot outside of that Convention Center I began to try to forget ALL about it!


I went almost straight to the beach -the last day of the 3 days of the test was in Atlantic City- and I just sat there in the sand, listening to the waves.
I think I went brain dead for a minute.

Or a lot of minutes.

My new goal was just to decompress and when I came to, some giddy jumping in the waves did just the trick :)

Pray for merciful graders!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Famous Runner

Being famous in Central Pennsylvania is really not being famous at all, but I take what I can get :)

My buddy Sarah got me to run the Harrisburg Mile with her the week before the Bar to get our minds off of intense hard-core cramming.  It was just a fairly straight shot down the road in downtown Harrisburg bordering the Susquehanna River on a weeknight and PLUS it was for a good cause! [Plug for the locals to do it next year!  Hopefully you'll be able to meet the man who runs it annually while on stilts and juggling!! ^]


Both of us had fairly recently ran half marathons and neither of us could remember the last time we ran just one mile for time, so we were excited to give it our all.  And whaddaya know, I got my best time EVER [6:39!] and my photo tweeted by the Patriot News photographer on the scene & posted to their website the next day.
Famous! :D

And it was HUMID as these fan-hoggers indicate ;)