Secretariat and Other "Fun" Stuff

Hey family,

Just wanted to set up a little post showing off my Christmas present from my dad. He and I are big Secretariat (the racehorse/triple crown winner) fans. The week of the Belmont Secretariat was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, and Time. Dad got me a 30th anniversary poster of Secretariat on Time magazine that has been signed by his owner (Penny Chennery) and jockey (Ron Turcotte). The poster is even blown up to the size of Secretariat's actual head! Pretty cool for us crazy horse people. I've decided, since visiting different racetracks and attending major races (like the KY Derby and Breeder's Cup) that I'd like to have my little collection be of racehorse memorabilia - especially since mom threw my rock collection out. Lol. Jason has his Star Wars collection and I guess I'll have my racehorses. I have some pics of Zenyatta blown up, but it's a matter of getting her jockey to sign them before I put them up. The poster looks great in the upstairs landing and the picture next to it is of Secretariat's record-breaking Belmont victory. There will be a Disney movie about Secretariat coming out in October with Diane Lane as his owner and John Malkovich as his trainer. It should be really cool and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

In other news... I received my grades from first semester. I ended up with a 3.07 GPA. Which, considering that nobody gets a 4.0, is pretty decent. I'm happy with how I did - which should land me in the top 30-40% of the class, but I am hoping to continue improving next semester. Please keep me in your prayers as I have added a class this semester, bringing my class total to 6. This is the most stressful and difficult year of law school and I'm ready to have it behind me. Jason's birthday is today (and grandpa's) so I made him a funfetti cake, per his request, and got some cake batter ice cream from Cold Stone. We'll probably go to Disney tomorrow evening and we're heading to Jason's parents' house for a professional cooking lesson from a chef. It should be pretty cool. Jason's parents also decided to get him a bedroom furniture set for his room when the sales come up. Needless to say it will be nice for Jason's clothes to have a home other than the floor. lol.
Love you all. Thanks for your prayers last semester... only four more semesters to go (I will likely get an internship my last semester before graduation, so I'll only have class for 5 total semesters).

Heaven on Earth

An interesting story has been circulating on the internet regarding the new box office hit "Avatar" and depression and suicide (if you can believe that). Here is an excerpt from one such story:

'Avatar' may have enthralled worldwide audiences with its imagery of an utopian alien world but movie-goers have complained of depression and even suicidal thoughts after watching the sci-fi hit. Fans are seemingly finding it hard to separate fact from fiction and Internet forums have been flooded with posts by movie-goers plagued with suicidal thoughts about not being able to visit the planet Pandora, reported CNN online. North American fan site 'Avatar Forums' has received 2,000 posts under a thread entitled 'Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible'.

Forum administrator Philippe Baghdassarian said, "The movie was so beautiful and it showed something we don't have here on earth. I think people saw we could be living in a completely different world and that caused them to be depressed."

This is sad to me on many levels. One of which is that we have such a beautiful planet, of which the sea was a major inspiration for much of the landscape on Pandora. It is so unfortunate to me that the reason people are upset is because this plant is showing us something we don't have here on earth. While the floating mountains that defy gravity may not exist, aliens do... creatures on our own REAL planet yet to be discovered. There is no beauty imaginable that does not exist on earth. Perhaps the real investment shouldn't be in these big budget films, or entertainment for fulfillment, but in our future on a planet that is so diverse, yet so fragile. Perhaps the reason Pandora was so beautiful was because it had yet to be "harvested" for instant human gratification. I say we use this year to take a step back and admire the wonder and beauty of our own planet. God gave us a precious gift and it's time to appreciate it for what it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjaNzZt2olk

I won't be Unemployed for Long!

Above: The Courthouse I'll be working in over the summer :)

Hey all,

I just wanted to post a quick little update to let you all know that I was accepted for a summer externship position in Federal Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana, Orange County with Judge Robert Kwan.

http://www.metnews.com/articles/2006/kwan101206.htm

This is a pretty prestigious position for a first year student. Judge Kwan accepted four interns (including me) out of over 100 applications (according to his clerk Brian). I'm really looking forward to learning more about the law, meeting Judge Kwan, having some mentors in the field, and adding this to my resume. Thanks for the prayers. So far everything is going according to plan... and now to find out my grades...

p.s. Happy 54th Birthday dad! I love you very very much. (And you don't look a day over 30... ok maybe just a day. lol) Miss you guys oodles and oodles.

Bringing in the New Year right!

Below: J35 with newborn calf designated J47

I'm so happy to announce that J Pod has added a new little member to the Southern Resident Community. J35 (Tahlequah - Tell-a-qwah) is presumed to have given birth to a calf on January 3rd. This is the fourth calf born to J Pod in the past year (since February of 2009), the 6th baby born to the community as a whole, and the THIRD calf born to the J17 matriline! This is extra special for me because that is my favorite family group of all. J17 (Princess Angeline) gave birth to a baby boy designated J44 in February. Then her daughter J28 (Polaris) gave birth to a baby November 11. Now J28's little sister J35 had her own baby J47. This is absolutely incredible. This family group doubled in the past year. However, there is a cloud on the horizon. J35 is turning 12 this year, which makes her an incredibly young mom and often young mothers' babies do not survive. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this newbie. J Pod was seen by a NOAA research vessel on the third with all babies around (including a very healthy looking J46). This is my prayer for the SRKWs and I'm really hoping I can make a trip to see them as little guys this summer. We'll have to see, but I'm dying to meet these little ones who have been in my dreams for years.

Incredibly, Polaris became a sister, mother, and aunt all within a year! I couldn't be happier for her. Her sibling is a boy, which is the first male in her direct matriline. Her calf, who has been named Star by the Center for Whale Research (unfortunately because I wanted a chance to name this one), will be almost a year old, which is how old she was when I met her if I see it around my birthday this year. I think this warrants a return to the islands...

This is what the Center for Whale Research posted on their page yesterday:

January 4th, 2010

Annual Southern Resident Killer Whale population count reported to US National Marine Fisheries Service.

The Endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) population increased in 2009 to 87 individuals as of December 31, 2009, a net increase of two during a year in which three resident whales are missing and five were born. Three of the new babies were born into J pod, the most frequently observed of the three pods (J, K, and L) that frequent the Pacific Northwest inland marine waters of the Salish Sea. No sooner had the census report been made to the government than another new baby killer whale appeared in J pod, this one to a twelve year old female on 3 January 2010! For the time being, that means the SRKW population is back up to 88! We are optimistic that this “baby boom” in J pod represents a comeback for the resident population that went into steep decline in the mid 1990’s. Now, their survival and continued population recovery depends upon sufficient food supplies (wild salmon, particularly Chinook) in future years in this region. The whales are traveling as far as California and Haida Gwai (Queen Charlotte Islands) searching for these nutritious fish, but they keep coming back to the Salish Sea. If the whales could talk to us, they would probably say that our effort to promote wild salmon recovery in the Pacific Northwest is good for all of us, so lets do all that we can. And, lets clean up the pollution, too, so we can all eat healthy fish.

Wayfarrer's Chapel

Hopefully everyone had a great Christmas and happy New Year. I had a wonderful time back in MI with family. I really missed my family and was grateful to sped some quality time with them. I also got to go shopping with my mom for wedding dresses and found one! It's a chiffon beaded sheath dress by Maggie Sottero. The more extravagant princess style dresses aren't super flattering, so it was between mermaid dresses and a-lines. I decided to go with the chiffon because it was a bit more ethereal, the look of the wedding, and much easier to move in.

When Jason and I got back to CA, we decided to look into locations for the ceremony and checked out Lloyd Wight's Wayfarer's Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes. We absolutely loved it and decided we want to hold the ceremony there. Below is a link to their website and some videos that Jason took with our new video camera my brother got us for Christmas (Jason went a little camera happy because he was so excited about the location):

http://www.wayfarerschapel.org/weddings/