The Philadelphia Soul are the 2008 Arena Football League champions after winning ArenaBowl XXII just this past Sunday. Earlier today I went with a few co-workers to the post-season victory rally held at Dilworth Plaza, located at 15th and Market Streets on the west-side of City Hall. Click HERE to see a video of this "Soulabration."
Speaking of Dilworth Plaza, there are plans to renovate it within the next couple of years. Click HERE to see a really cool virtual-reality video of what Dilworth Plaza will look like once it has been modernized.
Anyway, getting back to the Soulabration, we had a really fun time. We were within 30 meters of the stage, which means that we were within 30 meters of the likes of Jon Bon Jovi, one of the team's two co-majority owners, and Ron "Jaws" Jaworski, one of the team's minority owners. When Jaworski stepped up to the podium, the entire crowd began chanting "Jaws, Jaws, Jaws"; it was great. As an aside, though, I have to admit that I would have preferred if the crowd had chanted Jaworski's other nickname: "The Polish Rifle."
What was also amusing about the Soulabration was the abundance (and dare I say horse-beat-dead-overusage) of references to Bon Jovi song lyrics -- as applied to the Soul's 2008 season and ArenaBowl XXII victory -- made by several speakers at the podium. Here are some examples paraphrased: 'Until we actually won the championship, we had been livin' on a prayer'; 'Now that we've won the championship, we're riding out in a blaze of glory'; and several others. Needless to say, there was a lot of eye-rolling throughout the crowd.
Finally, what may have been the best part of the whole experience: during the Soulabration I stood next to a wild-eyed, fanatic, possibly homeless man, who was whipped up into a fervor throughout the entire ceremony. At moments of crowd excitement, this wild man would move his arm in a combination --"forward-football-pass"/"tomahawk-chop"-- motion. Anytime he did this, I would imitate him: the two of us vehemently gesturing with our right arm in support of our hometown champions. Hey, no one can say that I don't have soul!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
One Year Ago Today...
. . . I was in the middle of the bar examination, a three-day process on the last Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of July 2007.
For the first two days I got a ride with a classmate to the Valley Forge Convention Center, located in King of Prussia, where I sat for the Pennsylvania bar examination. Tuesday was essay day; Wednesday was the MBE -- the Multi-State Bar Examination -- a 200-question, multiple choice bonanza: 100 questions in 3 hours in the morning, then 100 questions in 3 hours in the afternoon.
I remember sitting there in this enormous convention hall, rows upon rows of desks (i.e., picnic tables) filled with fellow test-takers, thinking to myself that this was the real deal, the culmination of a summer of anticipation, and ultimately the final psychological obstacle, after 3 years of self-sacrifice and a great deal of unhappiness, that I would soon re-enter society and begin reestablishing some self-sufficiency and, concomitantly, some self-respect. I was worn-out and depressed at being dependent. Thus, the natural nervousness that I had sitting there for the bar exam was counterbalanced, and perhaps even outweighed, by a keen sense of completion.
"It's game-time, baby," I said to my friend Mike, while slapping his hand in greeting, that first morning right as I was walking into the Convention Center. And that's how it felt to me; it reminded me of the feelings that coursed through my body before my high school and college football games, the nervous excitement I had before club meetings and public speaking experiences in college: the common factor being that I was stepping up to the stage, confident in my ability to perform under pressure and under the spotlight, and get the win no matter what.
Wednesday night, after taking the MBE earlier that day, I packed my bookbag and went to 30th Street Station to catch an Amtrak train to Trenton. My dad picked me up and I spent the night with him, so I could leave first thing on Thursday morning to drop him off at the train station (to get to work) and I could continue driving on to Somerset, New Jersey, where I sat for the essay day of the New Jersey bar examination.
Thursday was a breeze, psychologically speaking: I knew that the PA bar was behind me and this was just gonna be icing on the cake. The ambivalent feelings of the first two days shifted weight by the time I arrived in Somerset, to the point that I felt bold and quite assured, thinking to myself that I had absolutely nothing to lose. The NJ bar was administered in a huge garage, what could've easily been an airplane hangar, it was so big and absent of any spirit or comfort. But it didn't faze me because I was already looking forward to drinking a few cold beers that evening with my dad, and the certainty of that made the day itself seem like only a formal requisite that merely had to be dealt with. Despite this, I remember pulling out of the parking lot in Somerset feeling like an emancipated man, as if I had graduated again for the second time in just two months. Man, what a feeling!
And so, being very aware of others who are taking bar exams this year, I'm reflective of where I was this time last year. I'm very thankful that I passed both the PA and NJ bar exams. I'm very relieved that I was able to push through all the frustrating, helpless, and depressed times over the course of 3 years and get to where I am today. That's not to say that I've reached my final destination, because the new journey is still just beginning. But law school and the bar exam was a chapter unto itself, one that I look back on with wistful self-pity, but in the sweetness of retrospect, with a sense of pride and accomplishment, all the more so for having endured so many psychological and mental challenges.
For the first two days I got a ride with a classmate to the Valley Forge Convention Center, located in King of Prussia, where I sat for the Pennsylvania bar examination. Tuesday was essay day; Wednesday was the MBE -- the Multi-State Bar Examination -- a 200-question, multiple choice bonanza: 100 questions in 3 hours in the morning, then 100 questions in 3 hours in the afternoon.
I remember sitting there in this enormous convention hall, rows upon rows of desks (i.e., picnic tables) filled with fellow test-takers, thinking to myself that this was the real deal, the culmination of a summer of anticipation, and ultimately the final psychological obstacle, after 3 years of self-sacrifice and a great deal of unhappiness, that I would soon re-enter society and begin reestablishing some self-sufficiency and, concomitantly, some self-respect. I was worn-out and depressed at being dependent. Thus, the natural nervousness that I had sitting there for the bar exam was counterbalanced, and perhaps even outweighed, by a keen sense of completion.
"It's game-time, baby," I said to my friend Mike, while slapping his hand in greeting, that first morning right as I was walking into the Convention Center. And that's how it felt to me; it reminded me of the feelings that coursed through my body before my high school and college football games, the nervous excitement I had before club meetings and public speaking experiences in college: the common factor being that I was stepping up to the stage, confident in my ability to perform under pressure and under the spotlight, and get the win no matter what.
Wednesday night, after taking the MBE earlier that day, I packed my bookbag and went to 30th Street Station to catch an Amtrak train to Trenton. My dad picked me up and I spent the night with him, so I could leave first thing on Thursday morning to drop him off at the train station (to get to work) and I could continue driving on to Somerset, New Jersey, where I sat for the essay day of the New Jersey bar examination.
Thursday was a breeze, psychologically speaking: I knew that the PA bar was behind me and this was just gonna be icing on the cake. The ambivalent feelings of the first two days shifted weight by the time I arrived in Somerset, to the point that I felt bold and quite assured, thinking to myself that I had absolutely nothing to lose. The NJ bar was administered in a huge garage, what could've easily been an airplane hangar, it was so big and absent of any spirit or comfort. But it didn't faze me because I was already looking forward to drinking a few cold beers that evening with my dad, and the certainty of that made the day itself seem like only a formal requisite that merely had to be dealt with. Despite this, I remember pulling out of the parking lot in Somerset feeling like an emancipated man, as if I had graduated again for the second time in just two months. Man, what a feeling!
And so, being very aware of others who are taking bar exams this year, I'm reflective of where I was this time last year. I'm very thankful that I passed both the PA and NJ bar exams. I'm very relieved that I was able to push through all the frustrating, helpless, and depressed times over the course of 3 years and get to where I am today. That's not to say that I've reached my final destination, because the new journey is still just beginning. But law school and the bar exam was a chapter unto itself, one that I look back on with wistful self-pity, but in the sweetness of retrospect, with a sense of pride and accomplishment, all the more so for having endured so many psychological and mental challenges.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Resurrection
Okay, so maybe the title is a little bit dramatic. But hey, I had to get your attention somehow, right? And it does apply since I haven't checked in here for two months. Let's catch up, then!
Here's the big news hot off the presses: later this year I'm heading to southeast Asia for just under 3 weeks. My partner-in-crime is one of my very best friends, Paul. This will be our first trip together where we're both in a totally new place. Although we're only at the beginning of the planning phase -- the tickets were just reserved -- I think, for my part at least, that we'd like to try hitting all 4 accessible countries of the mainland region: Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. We arrive in Bangkok, Thailand, so at least that much is known.
In the meantime, if you or anyone you know is from SE Asia or has been to SE Asia, please hook me up with some advice. As G.I. Joe said, "knowing is half the battle!" So give me knowledge, all you shiny happy people!
Finally, in a note to "Phil", who left a comment in one of my earlier posts, I'd like to report that the brown Tasso Elba Elliot Cap Toe Oxford shoes (a photo of which you can access HERE) are now completely broken in. Coincidentally enough (are there such things are coinky-dinks?), one of my co-workers today noticed the shoes and was informed, much to her delight, that I had finally conquered them. I guess you could call that a "taming of the shoe."
I'm gonna try my darndest to keep writing regularly! So please check back at your leisure (pronounce in the British manner, i.e. "lezhure", if you don't mind).
Here's the big news hot off the presses: later this year I'm heading to southeast Asia for just under 3 weeks. My partner-in-crime is one of my very best friends, Paul. This will be our first trip together where we're both in a totally new place. Although we're only at the beginning of the planning phase -- the tickets were just reserved -- I think, for my part at least, that we'd like to try hitting all 4 accessible countries of the mainland region: Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. We arrive in Bangkok, Thailand, so at least that much is known.
In the meantime, if you or anyone you know is from SE Asia or has been to SE Asia, please hook me up with some advice. As G.I. Joe said, "knowing is half the battle!" So give me knowledge, all you shiny happy people!
Finally, in a note to "Phil", who left a comment in one of my earlier posts, I'd like to report that the brown Tasso Elba Elliot Cap Toe Oxford shoes (a photo of which you can access HERE) are now completely broken in. Coincidentally enough (are there such things are coinky-dinks?), one of my co-workers today noticed the shoes and was informed, much to her delight, that I had finally conquered them. I guess you could call that a "taming of the shoe."
I'm gonna try my darndest to keep writing regularly! So please check back at your leisure (pronounce in the British manner, i.e. "lezhure", if you don't mind).
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
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