Days of my life in California

APGIC, ESQ UPDATE:

Completely forgot about this blog which kept me sane in Law school and during my bar days. And now, four years later, as a full time criminal defense lawyer, I don't even remember my own name let alone my AKA! Work keeps my quite busy and I am loving it.

APGIC, ESQ.

A lawyer walks into a Cali bar, writes and fills in the bubbles for three days, passes it and becomes an attorney! That lawyer is yours truly; AP GIC, esq.!!! Yeah baby! The bar nightmare is over! I am soon to be sworn in as an attorney at law! Yay ME! I defied all odds!


(May 16, 08 6 PM):
February 2008 California Bar Examination:

Application Number:
File Number:
Name: AP GIC

The name above appears on the pass list for the February 2008 California Bar Examination.

Labels: CA bar exam

The Persian Dating Dilemma (PDD):

Ok, so now that I am bar-free (at least till the results come out in May!!) I have finally found time to date, Persian style! Honestly I rather have the excuse of "I am in Law School" and later on: "I am studying for the bar for the love of God" to get out of the whole PDD as it is a huge headache, especially for us misunderstood Quasi Lawyers! Having gone through the whole three years of Law School torture followed by the bar-trauma and the subsequent "what if I don't pass" suspense period, I am in no mood for all the Persian Dating Drama Persian guys put a Persian girl through! At least I am fully aware of my problem: I start criticizing and belittling the big-headed persian guy from the first moment I set eyes on him onwards; as a defense mechanism that is. The oh so perfect Persian guys, on the other hand, are completely ignorant of their issues and deem themselves God given gifts to women! As such, I have felt compelled, time and again, to point out their flaws! I have so many PDD stories to tell that I do not know where to begin. I may start a series of PDD posts later on. For now though, I will go on dating exclusively Persians as I love them so very much, flaws and all!

Labels: Persian Dating

Post-Bar Days of My Life in Calif:


More than a month has passed me by since I took the gruelling Calif bar. We locked ourselves up for 8 weeks, solitary confinement while flanked by the bar books. We broke down, we cried, we were stressed out and decharged. We only talked to each other and only in legal lingo un-understandable by the naked ear. We sat down for 10 to 15 hours a day studying, memorizing, and forgetting it all at the end of the day. We were confused and scared, me more than the rest. After all, I am only a persian girl.

Then came the dreaded day, the dreaded three days to be exact. We got up at 7, filled our tanks with caffeine, sat on assigned seats, wrote wrote wrote, or filled in the bubbles for the multiple choice, went on an hour lunch, came back for more writing until our backs broke and our fingers bruised, went back to the hotel room, talked on the phone with similarly situated friends, watched TV, went to bed getting ready for the next day! By the end of the third day we were all exhausted, yet happy for it to be over. We got to celebrate and go back home. We celebrated with wine and chocolate and went home to sleep the three years from hell and the eight weeks of more hell off, only I could not sleep it all off as wealthy cousin in NY had gotten us tickets to NY as a graduation gift to attend the family reunion!

NY, my dream vacation spot! Only it turned out to be more of a nightmare. July 2007, Cousin's mansion in Atlantic beach, immediate and distant relatives in attendance, dozens of new faces, early breakfasts, hours of sitting around talking family matters, no time to de-stress nor sleep or rest! I hated NY and its humid days and nights spent with family members from far and wide! All of a sudden OC did not seem as boring and dull as it truly was. I wanted to go back home in a NY milli-second!

Back home in OC, tons of letters from the lenders from whom I had borrowed over a 100,000 dollars awaited me! The endless search for a job and the painful interviews and couch sitting days watching TV is driving me insane. The wait for the bar results due in November is unbearable. Life is hell as an unemployed law grad awaiting the results, pure hell I am telling you. I had heard lawyers go to hell but had no idea it starts as early as the first year of law school and keeps on going! Hell-a-luja! Viva Law School!

Update: So I did finally get a job. I am now working at an immigration law firm all the way in Long Beach. I get up at 6, leave at 6:40, drive over an hour and a half to the office, do research and write motions and writs and fill out forms and interview clients and nag with a friend from school who works there with me. Hell is still my life and I see no way out!!! This is not my dream job and I need the bar results before I go totally nuts!

Updatee: After a couple of weeks the immigration law does not seem too bad! Though it is a lot of pressure and loads of stress and tons of deadlines and infinite forms and motions to re-open and endless memos to the boss and writs of mandates to the INS now USCIS, it kinda feels good helping those who are going through the same things my family and I have been through. I actually got 2 of my friends from school, a persian guy and a vietnamesse girl, interviews and that also feels good. Once they get the job it will be us 4 whittier law grads conquering the world of immigration! However, my heart is still with IP and entertainment law, I am not going to complain though any more, not until Novemebr the 16th that is!

Labels: bar exam

"Someday"
By Nazanin Afshin-jam



P.S. We will find a way.

The End:

In dige aakhare khate! Nothing matters any more...

"Legally Persian"

Remember the movie "legally Blonde"? Well, that was me in law school 2 and a 1/2 years ago! A persian gal right outta Iran who sat for the LSAT after studying for it for a couple of months after being in the U.S. only a month!! I got into law school not knowing what the hay I was getting myself into and remained in total shock for the first year and a half (and still am in a semi-shock) though I did finally manage to make the dean's list and even get a meager amount of scholarship! I have not yet experienced life in the U.S. outside of this nightmare of being a law student. But the torture is soon to be over and we have been congratulating each other for the past couple of weeks. This last semester is going to be hell though, so I have been told. 15 scary units plus bar prep plus lotsa other stuff. All my friends have 10 or less, but as I am a part timer who is trying to finish up in 3 years, I have to deal with the extra pressure. All I want at this point is to pass the bar, get a well-paid job, pay off my loans, and finally have enough to buy a car and may be even a house!!! Hope that is not too much to ask after all that I have been through.

P.S. My old boss wants me back!! She is this young lawyer from my lawschool for whom I worked last year, she now wants me to work for her again as she has expanded her law business and has hired guy lawyers! 15 units and work and the bar and a whole lotta other stuff can definitely drive a persian girl totally nuts but I have decided to do it! I will just focus on work and school and the bar and block every thing else out! Then will check into a hospital or something after the bar.

It is a Pain not Fitting in...
...to anything!

So much has happened. December 12th, 2006 was my 4th year anniversary. It is now four whole years since I first set foot on the soil of the "U.S. and A" straight from the Repulic of Iran and I am a somewhat different gal today than I was back then. I am now a 20 some pounds heavier, notary public, real estate broker, JD-to be/ lawyer-to-be Iranian girl who has lost her place in the world while adding so many extra pounds to her body as well licenses to her wall!!

Tonight, I am to be appreciated and acknowledged for my PR efforts and trying to fit into my clothes has been a torture all day! Feels like I am pregnant with twins or something. Imagine having to walk on the stage with this protruding belly and the big fat persian buttocks. I hate it so so sooo much but cannot do anything about it as school will start soon, 15 units plus studying for the bar, and no time will be left for exercising. Add to that the traditional persian gathering at Vegas for Christmas, for which we will be leaving tomorrow, and the pounds gained from the delicious "Paris" breakfasts and the lunch buffets and all. I have not been able to fit into jeans for the past months and it hurts oh so very much. Oh well, guess I will just be a big fat persian lawyer! Happy Holidays y'all.

Love, APGIC+25

So Lawyer-ly:

Here is an email a fellow lawschooler sent me during the finals:

For My Lawyer Friends:
"Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishes. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher."

For My Non-Lawyer Friends: Merry Christimas and a Happy New Year

"I am a student
Do Not Taser Me!"

A million things have been racing through my mind for the past while ever since I heard and saw the pain inflicted on a fellow Iranian and yet, I cannot think of a single one to put on my blog. I do not know the whole story, I do not know Mostafa, I do not know whether he was, like me, a recent immigrant who tired from years of living under oppression and police force, has left all behind in search of freedom and peace and realization of dreams. All I know is that no one deserves to be tasered in such a gruelling manner. Life is hard enough as it is as an immigrant, trying to build a whole new life, trying to fit in, trying to not miss the good and the bad of our motherland. Have we not gone through enough already? Have we not shed enough tears? Have we not lost enough? When will the pain ever stop? We do not deserve this, Mostafa did not deserve this. Is there no justice in this world?

Dark Blue Days of my Life in Cali:

School's started! A semester of Evidence, Corporations, Professional Responsibility, Professional Skills, advanced IP, and a paper!! Scary schedule! Prof. talked about hurdles and roadblocks in Evidence class and I zoned out and zoned into my roadblock of a life! Life's been a series of hurdles and just when I got to overcome one, 10 would pop up! I have overcome, and I have surmounted, and I have gone around it, and I have cried and shouted and I cannot do it no more. The past weeks have been hurdle after hurdle and I am too tired to fight and too tired to even cry. I am too wounded and too numb, wish I could weep and let it all out!!

Update: Light Blue Days of My Life in Cali:

A couple of things finally turned out ok after nights of crying out loud! Still 1000s of couples of things need to turn out right, guess I have no choice but to be patient and pray and cry once in a while.

P.S. Been busy doing TV and radio ads for the Mehregan event. Once again I realized how I love love loveeeee the voice biz! Not too happy about my radio ads, quite happy about the tv ones though!! Law just ain't for me, I am not assertive and aggressive enough to be a lawyer!!! As for the event, it is this weekend (sep 9 and 10) at the OC fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, and as usual it is going to be hugeeee! Quite excited about it, see you guys there!

The Blue-Book Pain:

Ask any woman about the worst pain and they will tell you that the pain of giving birth is the most excruciating pain.
Ask me and I will tell you that the blue book pain is even more excruciating, though I have not felt, and do not plan to feel, the pain of giving birth in this life-time.
You see, for our finals, we are given these blue books to write our essays in, and for 3 hours I legally B.S. my way into passing the oh so difficult exam in 4 to 6 books, and feel so extremely relieved after turning them in.
I took two exams this past week, turned in a 35-page paper,and now have a month to recover from the numbing pain before the final 2 semesters of pain followed by the biggest pain of them all, the much dreaded bar exam!

Summer Days of My Life in Calif

Another summer spent in school! Criminal Procedure is awesomely interesting and Copyrights is confusingly interesting and I cannot wait for both to be over.

Got all 6 spring semester grades back, 2 high As, 2 high Bs, a pass on the paper, and a shocking grade on civpro! Overall amazingly great (minus one). Keeping my fingers crossed for a scholarship or two.

Hosted a school open house for the incoming students along with some other 3rd year friends! Felt so good to pass on the wisdom to the frightened first years. Thank God it is almost over for me, though I think I might miss it after I graduate in May 07! I might have gotten addicted to the pain and the suffering of Law School!

Pretty excited about the family reunion in NY in August, been passing up on it ever since I got to the U.S., but no more, I need this vacation before school starts and I get all grilled up.

Summer's been good so far. Went to a couple of concerts, a couple of bdays, a couple of short trips, a couple of days at the Caspian restaurant crying over the goals scored against our team! We even got up at 5 AM on a saturday after having slept at 3 to watch the game and went home feeling not green, white and red, but blue, blue and bluer than blue!

That's basically it, going to school, swimming a lot in the lake, at the pool, in the ocean, and every where else to lose them pounds that seem to be here to stay, hanging out here and there on the weekends mostly in L.A. and not in the boring O.C., and awaiting the trip to my beloved NYC. And life goes on!

Update on the lost pounds: And they're back! You work so hard to lose a couple and 10 more come back on your bday week! A very happy BDAY to me and a welcome back to the unwelcome, unpleasant pounds! Is there no way to keep them off?

P.S.: Ain't Maaziyar great? He is the funniest stand up comic ever. His "Axis of Evil" stand up comedy was just too funny. Check out this clip and you'll fall in love with him.

Maaz Jobrani

Update: Spent 5 days in San Fran, gained a lot, missed 2 days of copyrights. Overall totally worth it. San Fran is the place to be for the july 4th fireworks.

Watched the France- Italy soccer match today, July 9th. Prayed for Italy to win and they soooo did, loved the game, love love love the team. Hated Zidane's violence. He should be severly punished.

A Papaer
and five back to back exams

Ok, so it is almost 3 am in calif, I am sitting on the couch with a raging headache, surrounded by articles, books and etc, trying to write a research paper on Islamic Laws and such! It is no fun, I am telling you, epecially so close to the five exams I have been so freaked out about for the past couple of months! In a couple of weeks I have to turn in my paper and sit for 5 back to back exams that I am oh so afraid of, wish there was somewhere for me to run to.

On Air:
Happy '85 to all:

Some hours ago, at 10:25 AM, we rung in 1385. Happy New Year to all. May '85 bring you all the joy and happiness and love in the whole wide world.

New year eve, last night, was my on air night! I spent the whole afternoon and evening in Radio Iran at the Valley, supposedly "Co-Hosting" the Norooz program at the invite of a good friend there. Was pretty hectic. So many guests, so many celebrities inside the studio and on the phone, so many questions to ask and a whole lotta laughs and a couple of snores in between (I snore sometimes when I laugh too hard!). I love the mike and loved the later portion of our show; the group of hospitable, young, funny guys made it so much fun and memorable. The 11 pm dinner with friends at shomal restaurant in L.A. and lots more laughs made my Norooz eve one of the best ones to date. I completely forgot the stressful semester and the 6 difficult law courses for one whole evening. My passion has always been in the voice biz! Hope '85 brings me 85 more on air nights.(I did get another invite today, so 84 more to go). Happy on and off air norooz to all.

1001 things:

Got a thousand and one things on my mind and not a thousand and one nights to solve 'em out, let alone dance 'em out in front of King Shahriyar!!

Trial advocacy is over. My break starts today and goes on for 2 weeks. The prof. was very pleased as he had thought he would be dealing with a group of exhausted from the finals, grumpy students. The day I had to cross examine a witness, I got up early, grabbed a clean shirt and rushed to school only to find out I will be cross examining the witness before the judge (our prof.) in a shirt that reads:"Take me to the mistletoe"!! It was just a simulation and I will make sure it doesn't happen in a real court.

Leaving for Vegas in a few hours. You ain't a Persian if you don't go to the Persian concerts in Vegas on Christmas!!! Was there last year, it's becoming a Christmas tradition!

So much to do, so little time, hope to forget it all while in Vegas. Happy Holidays you guys.

Love, APGIC

It's all Good:

It's over. It's all over. Had my last final tonight, was ready to get home, hit the couch, watch TV and fall sleep! Classmates somehow got me to de-stress with them in Karl Strauss, drinking beer!

P.S. Got up early on Friday, the day after the very last final, to go to the office to take care of a backlog of things. Work felt good. The pay check felt even better! I had missed my desk and the awesome office neighbors.

School starts tomorrow (Saturday). I signed up for a one unit, one week long winter class which is from 9 to 12 everyday. I so badly am in need of rest but rest is what I will not get.

P.P.S. Got up early on Saturday to make it to Juvenile Trial advocacy. We sat around the table and mediated! Was kinda cool.

Looked at a couple of rooms to rent. This Persian girl friend wants me to room with her in this house that is not close to my school, but close to this huge Persian supermarket that I very much like! Seems like she has succeeded in getting me to rent it. I spent a whole day there, she plucked my brows, we ate Persian food at the Persian market, had some friends over in the afternoon and talked for hours, was kinda cool. So it's all good.

Humorously Insulting:

When I first saw this video clip, I was enraged and insulted and mad as hell, the second time I laughed it out not knowing how to feel. See how it makes you feel you guys.

I am 3:

Three years ago, today, I set foot on the soil of the land of dreams.
Three years later, at 5 AM, I am sitting on my American couch, studying the American Constitutional Law for my exam at 6:30 PM American time on the day of my anniversary.
I am three years old today. I was born again in LAX three years ago.
Happy American B-Day to me y'all!

P.S. ConLaw went well I guess. I just adore my ConLaw prof., she truly is one of a kind. Right before the exam, right outside the exam room, when I was standing talking to classmates while shivering out of fear due to sleep deprivation and nervousness, and oh, not to forget it being that time of the month, she came and gave me a huge hug and told us not to worry and made it all better. She is a kind soul, she surely is.

P.P.S. Complaints of a tired soul: I am so so soooo tired. I surely am, I truly am! I am now a sleep deprived, uni-brow, red eyed, disheveled hair, wide and flat buttocksed, crabby persian girl with hairy legs who cannot fit into her pants and who still has one more final left and has had her fill of all this and cannot take it no more! Who am I to see if I do not want to become a JD? Who who WHOOOO? I'm asking you!!

There's Life after Finals:
It is now 2 AM, wednesday morning and I can neither sleep nor study because of the untimely, painful cramps! You know how that is! Up until 5 hours ago I hated life and all it represents, hated studying so hard and all the nervousness associated with going to law school, hated the jerks to whom I have been so forgiving, hated me for being so damn naive! I now, 2 pain relievers and a phone call later, see that I shan't let the finals and the cramps get the better of me! No I shan't and I ain't gonna! There is life after cramps and finals! And the things that will keep me from going insane for the next 2 days are as follows:
1. Going back to work on Friday
2. Going to this bar on the beach with the Entertainment Law Society people from school Friday night
3. Going to this Kabob restaurant with friends from school who got disqualified and are no longer in school whom I miss oh so so sooo much on Saturday
4. Going to this Yalda Celebration where I will eat and dance and finally be jolly on Tuesday
5. Working with my friend as his Production Assistant on the "Black Cats" music video, he knows how much I like Kamyar
6. Go see "Syriana," can't wait to see it. Clooney is awesome
7. Doing the summer abroad program in Greece with my Persian galpals from school
7. Finally pluck my brows, shave my legs, clean my room, answer my calls, and get off my bon bons and shake 'em at the gym, if that's even possible!

See, there is life after cramps and finals, at least until next month when school and crmaps start again that is!

Dear Blog:

I know I am living the American life for the following reasons:

1. Get up at 7 AM, grab a quick b-fast, no tea no nothing, get all dressed up in suit and all, sit in 405's heavy traffic, get to work and drink heavily to keep awake (coffee that is!)

2. Drive back home to get changed out of the suit and into law student attire (jeans and flip-flops, and oh, a tshirt of course). Take the toll road to school. Take notes with eyes wide shot. Get called on often and B.S. my way into faking an understanding of the legal material so the profs would think me intellectual!!

3.Drive back home after hours of not understanding neither the profs nor the books. Get home around 10 P.M.ish. Not having any room in the garage due to all the boxes and stuff being there, drive around to find a parking space.

4. Take a shower, stuff my face with all that is edible and eatable around me, consume more caffeine, and sit up til 2 A.M. at least to read the dry legalish material for the following day.

5. Go to bed too tired to dream, too tired to fantasize about anyone or anything, too tired to plan for the near or the far future. Sleep another dreamless night to wake up another manic weekday to drive in the SoCal traffic to get to work to fill up my system with yet more and more caffeine to get through work and school and dreamless nights.

And that's the way life goes, in the States that is.


Note to myself: Stop living the American life, take steps to realize your Iranican dreams!

P.S. What does it mean when your ex, the Persian Antonio Banderas who moved to Vegas a while back, calls you on Thanksgiving eve being all so very nice and sweet and asking to see you the next time he is back in L.A. and asking you to call him whenever you need anything at all! After all this time! Very weird indeed!

Days of My Weekend in California:

Every year on Oct. 1st and 2nd the Iranian community of So.Cal celebrates Mehregan. It is a huge huge HUGE event. This year, like last year, I was part of the committee holding the festival and it took a lot of work. 2 full days of work and fiesta and a whole lotta faces you love to see and a couple you'd rather not! 2 full days of singers and dancers and sheriffs and mayors. 2 days away from work and school and books and rules and externship and all! Wish we could MEHREGAN the whole year round!!


Days of My Life at Work:
Band-aid day

"Crazy BanAid Persian Gal", our Persian guy client must have thought of me today when he looked under the table and saw my covered in band aid feet due to 2 full days of oh so much walking in uncomfortable, but oh so pretty, high heel shoes!
"Crazy, obsessed-with-height Persian Gal", my boss must have thought of me today when she mentioned how good looking the Persian guy client was and I mentioned my obsession for real tall Persain guys!!
"Crazy Monday morning" I thought to myself.