school projects and stormy consequences

just like a lawschool course, the summer clinic gives plenty of homework before it even begins. we are allowed to choose how we proceed with one particular project (the others are just reading assignments) and so i decide to sit in the local public library for five+ hours hoping to get people to fill out a survey i have created.

you would help me out right???

no? you would smile and walk right by? or better yet, pretend you didn't notice me? well, i have predicted these responses and planned accordingly...

okay, so the goal was really to entice the kids... which would force the parents to come over. the result: the candy worked. i cannot believe how drawn to this stuff kids are! and how much they will scream and cry for it! it's as though they have a radar which, upon entering a place, alerts them to bright packages filled with chocolate and sugar. and they do not give up until they get some.

most parents then felt obligated to fill out my survey. i know, i know... taking advantage of people's sense of guilt. but... well... it only took about three minutes of their time... and, interestingly, not all parents felt this sense of obligation... or, if they did... did not act on it... of further note, those parents seemed equally interested in the candy. but, to be fair, so did many of the parents who filled out the survey... and many of those without children who filled out the survey.

candy: the unifying force between children and adults... breaking the age barrier... the enticing force drawing both young and old to my table... and my survey.

and i am by no means criticizing this, or writing about it from an outsider's perspective, or attributing sugar cravings to everyone, because i certainly know lots of people who are indifferent to sugar (god help you). not me. sugar is certainly something i cannot do without. i often have sugar withdrawals, which i try to promptly remedy.

i even found a cat who is lured toward the colorful packaging...

well... and strings...

while at the library: a fast-moving but huge spring storm hit...

umbrella-less... although, i doubt an umbrella could have been of much help anyway...

after the storm... the street by our place...

why take the sidewalk when you can ride through the city's biggest puddle...

plastic outdoor furniture... no match for strong winds...

and... it's all just a lot of rain, until the plants get hurt...

radiation... snapped in half...

unhappy redbells...
a sideways storm...

poor little cilantro. you were looking so good too... standing on your own again after days of rain... and now flattened once more...

and oh, the worst part... our little herbs and vegetables... taken outside to get used to the elements... you are swimming...

but alas, i suppose i shouldn't fret too much. flowers, vegetables, rain... they all go together... surely the cilantro will right itself once again and the little tomato plants will grow taller now, the redbells will be happier than before... but the radiation flower... a goner.


greg, upon returning from his frisbee game...


we were out on the field, when all of a sudden the wind changed directions... from north to south, so we all jumped in the car and went straight to the bar. afterwards, when the storm died and the sun came back out we decided to go to a park nearby for layout practice.





(to layout: dive through the air, slide through the grass (or in this case, the mud-soaked field) and catch the disc. disc = frisbee.)