Newest (and Creepiest) Search Term

First it was "[my name] gwu." Then "[my name] gwu britney spears." As if that wasn't weird enough, today I found the motherlode: "[my name] gwu mccain's lover."

For the record, I am not John McCain's lover. Though maybe I'd be Barack Obama's, if he asked.

...

...

That was a joke.

Hometown Mourning

Miami lost to Texas by 3. Sad Sad Sad Sai. Three little points! And with that, my South bracket is completely dead.

Good thing I don't care about college basketball... imagine how much more sad I'd be if i did!

State of My Bracket

Round 1 of the tournament is ongoing, and the state of my bracket is not so strong. I have 11 correct picks and 9 incorrect picks. I'm happy with over 50% accuracy given the way I picked the bracket. The sad part is that 5 of my Sweet 16 teams are already out of the running: USC (for Liz), Gonzaga (for Mara), Cornell (for Ivy rep), Arizona (for Treyer), and Drake (I think they had really tall players or something). The happy part is that Miami rocked out by winning against St. Mary's. I know a lot of folks don't have faith in Miami, but they're gonna do good things for me, so I'm sticking with them.

Since I know you're sooooo interested in how I do in this tournament, I'll make sure to keep you posted! If you want information about scores, the entire GW pool, or random UF information, you can check out Ben's blog at http://justmy42cents.wordpress.com/. He knows more than I do. I know that sounds impossible, but it's true.

Sad News: RIP Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke, author of "2001: A Space Odyssey" and one of my favorite writers, died on March 18 at 90 years old. [WP, via Arts & Letters Daily]

If you are looking for a good, short sci-fi read, pick up Childhood's End. I've read that book so many times the cover is falling off, and I still love it.

More Sai Sai Funnies

Apparently today is my birthday! I can't help but feel a little bad, but it's kind of funny too at the same time. Here's my latest mistaken identity email, for your enjoyment.

Sai Sai
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Don\'t you except,I will write to you?When do you come to Yangon?Areyou OK in HTA? What subject are you teaching now?All of your sistersremember to you.If you have a chance to come to yangon,please sendemail (or) call phone to me.
HAVE A GOOD TIME FOR MANY YEAR TO YOU
Ma Ma

You too, sugar.

I'm back, I have a job, and I bet on basketball

Hello all. Sorry if I've been MIA of late. First there was spring break, which was restful and lovely and relaxing and warm. Then there was the mad rush to finish the appellate brief, which is now written, comb-bound, and turned in. But I'm back now, so you can go back to sleeping soundly at night.

I'm happy to announce that I am gainfully employed for the summer. I'll be based in DC, but between weddings and wanting (hoping, wishing) to take another trip out west, I hope I'll be doing a fair bit of traveling. To be honest, I'll just be glad to be done with this school year.

Finally, a couple of friends at school started a March Madness pool, and I picked up my bracket today. Knowing very little about basketball generally, and less than nothing about college basketball, I have developed the following method (the "sai index," as I like to call it) for formulating my bracket. The five tests below are applied to each pairing of teams in the bracket. A team receives +1 for winning a test. +3 wins and moves on to the next round. Nobody steal my idea, okay? This is intellectual property and it belongs to me.

Test #1: which team has a higher RPI?
Test #2: which team has the five starters with the greatest TOTAL height?
Test #3: which team's mascot would win in a tequila-fueled bar fight?
Test #4: which team's law school is ranked higher by the US News and World Report?
Test #5: which team's coach is cuter?

Good test, no?

Putting the FHAA aside for some savage loving

Now that Savage Love is finally (can you tell I've been waiting?) up on the Village Voice, I got to take a break from writing my brief to read three letters that just tugged at my heartstrings. This week the advice guru printed two letters from teenagers, one who had come out to massive bigotry, and the other who had been forced back into the closet by his parents. They're so, so, so sad, and while Dan's advice is great, I imagine it's cold comfort to teenagers for whom every day feels like a year. (If they're anything like the rest of us, things that seem like a huge deal to them now will be viewed with complete scorn in 10 years.) But it's not all bad: the last letter was from two kids who had wonderful, supportive, loving coming-out experiences, and they wrote to thank everyone who came out before them for paving the way. Hopefully one day none of the letters will be miserable, or there won't be a need to write any letters at all.

The column is here, for whenever you're ready for a good cry.

OK, Really, Who Is Looking for Me?

You might remember my previous post about being searched for online. Today the search term that caught my attention was even better: "[my name] gwu britney spears." Weirdos!

My Britney-related posts on the GW blog:
Big News, Continued
Watch for Britney Spears on Your Next Family Law Exam