STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

What about your family? Do you have brothers & sisters? How many / what ages? Do you live near your parents or far far away? (this is selfish - my mom & I had a long talk / fight about this over the weekend) - Married? Kids? want either or both?

Favorite fast food?

Any strange alone behaviors? (a la sex & the city conversation - strange single behavior, but I have some left overs that are now "alone" behavior)

What TV shows do you watch religiously?

What/if any hobbies do you have?

Where do you live and why do you live there?

What are your favorite stores to shop in?

This is fun!

How would you spend your last day on earth?

What is your biggest regret?

What is the best piece of advice given to you that you would share with others?

What is your childhood favorite memory?

-- Edited by gypsyfreak at 15:47, 2005-08-01

aww! thanks for the torch/crown blubirde--I'll try to live up to the fabulous precedent you and crystal have set!

ok here goes:

Lawyer/law school - how'd it come to be?

hmm...the first time I remember the seed being planted was when i was about 10 and my best friends telling me I should be one, if I remember right, it came up because i got into some argument with this other girl on the playground and everyone was like wow you showed her! so anyway, i guess it was just always in my head after that.  and i had a common major in college that most pre law students have (political science) that I really enjoyed and I guess being a lawyer/going to law school just seemed like the secure option.  But first I wanted to pursue a very insecure option--becoming an actress, which incidentally I also remember thinking would be cool when I was about 10 . 

So anyway, I took a year off after college (I went to UCLA by the way) and decided I'm gonna do it!  But how?  I figured the best way to see if I liked the entertainment industry was get my foot in the door so I called this agent I'd met at a schmooze-fest I went to and he had turned out to be really cool so I had to do a little phone-stalking but I finally got five minutes of his time and straight up asked him to get me a job, any job, at the agency (which was Creative Artists Agency, or CAA for short), and he did, that day in fact.   So that was pretty cool.  But while that year off was amazing (I didn't have any of the crazy horror stories that other assistants did, thank goodness) and totally had me star struck I realized pretty early on that the entertainment industy was not for me, and that my personality wasn't really suited for the feast or famine lifestyle an aspiring actress has to be ok with.  Plus I really missed being challenged intellectually.

So after a year, I was off.  I'd already taken the LSAT my senior year of college and I filled out the apps in Feb. of my year off and quit CAA at the end of April.  By then I'd gotten into one school already (UC Hastings) but while San Francisco is beautiful, I'm an LA girl at heart and was really hoping I'd get into USC.  When I quit CAA I was only on the wait list but a few weeks later, yay, I was in!

As for law school, there were certainly parts that were no picnic but all in all I had a fabulous time, which is pretty unusual, I know but it really does have everything to do with all the wonderful people I met there.  Some of my best friends in the world are from law school and for that alone, it was worth it.  Law school was definitely a lot like high school, there was grades drama and boy drama and just drama in general but when I think about all the fun we had, it outweighs all the stress we were under.  So anyway, that was law school.

As for being a lawyer, I'm still working on it!  My first taste of it was absolutely awful, which is ironic because it seemed like such a blessing at the time.  I'd gotten a summer associate posn. and was being paid more $ than I knew what to do with and literally hating every minute of it.  I didn't feel like I knew anything and I remember feeling so...lost.  And yet the worst (or best, depending on how you look at it) was yet to come--I didn't get an offer to come back after graduation.  I was devastated.  Not getting an offer is literally unheard of, they used to say that you get an offer if you know how to write your name! I was so ashamed and so embarassed. 

As luck would have it, a professor of mine who didn't even know what had happened called me and asked if I was interested in being a clerk for a judge--in Las Vegas of all places!  I interviewed w/ her and was offered the posn. and didn't think twice about accepting.  Not really because I wanted the clerkship but more because it meant I didn't have to explain that I didn't get an offer in upcoming interviews w/ other firms.  Anyway, clerking in Vegas was fine in retrospect but I remember missing my friends so badly.  I came home or they'd come up practically every weekend!  It was actually that year, that I discovered fashionhag.com (the site a lot of us came from) and let me tell you, the ladies on fh helped me keep my sanity that year!  I'd so look forward to spending time on the site and really feel like the ladies there, who are some of the ladies here, really helped me to get through that year. so thanks guys!  Thanks to the clerkship, getting a firm job wasn't a problem.

And now, ta da, I'm a real life practicing lawyer.  The last few months have been intense and there have been many late nights but I recently switched to an area I really like and so while it's true that I could be more efficient and probably spend too much time on stylethread (shh..don't tell!), so far, it's going all right. 

How is it you're so wickedly smart??

lol! I'm flattered you think so but I have to disagree.  While I don't think I'm unintelligent, I think that's way more credit than I deserve.  It's happened before too, like everyone thought I was so smart in high school and meanwhile, I'm like, failing calculus.   I think maybe because I talk a lot I get attention and then people think I'm smart?  when probably the really wicked smarties are the ones that never say a word!  thanks for the compliment, though!

Who is your fashion icon?

probably coco chanel.  she's my perfect example of being timeless and modern all at the same time. 

-- Edited by esquiress at 15:51, 2005-08-01

What about your family? Do you have brothers & sisters? How many / what ages? Do you live near your parents or far far away? (this is selfish - my mom & I had a long talk / fight about this over the weekend)

I have a little brother, not so little anymore though, he’s 21!  We’re 6 ½ years apart but still close because I’m immature for my age.   he’s up at Berkeley during school but down here for the summer right now. 

As for my parents, I’m about an hour away from them, so I guess that’s pretty close and I go home to visit about once a month, and of course that's not enough and say they saw more of me when I lived in Vegas.     

What did you and your mom fight about?  does she want you closer or something?

Married? Kids? want either or both?

not yet and not yet but I totally want both.

Favorite fast food?

in-n-out I think.  It’s a yummy burger place here in southern cali but not sure if they are in other parts of the country?

Any strange alone behaviors? (a la sex & the city conversation - strange single behavior, but I have some left overs that are now "alone" behavior)

hmm…other than lounging around in my underwear, not really.  come to think of it I do a lot of stuff in my underwear, clean, read, watch tv…and here I am w/ no boy to appreciate my scantily clad self!

If you were to choose one reality show to be a guest on, what would it be and why?

you know what reality show I just got into this weekend?  "blow out" on bravo, about this hairstylist who cries at like, the drop of a hat.  but he’s really good!  so if I had to be on a reality show, I’d choose that one, and get my hair styled really pretty in the process.

halleybird wrote:

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Why are you so wise? Can you come live with me and solve my problems?

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Ah, no fair! I want her to come live with me first. I have some doozies I need sorted out.

What is the one lesson you think every woman has to learn at some point in life?

we probably all have a lot of lessons to learn but I think an important one, for people in general, is to learn to love yourself.  and if you don’t love yourself, try to figure out why that is and really get to the bottom of it.  it’s like carrie said in the last episode of sex and the city:

"The most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous."
 

Describe your life if you were independently wealthy and free of all "obligations."

sigh, what I could do w/ all that free time!  there are so many things I can’t commit to now because my schedule’s so erratic and it just kills me so yeah that’s what I’d do—do all the things I don’t have time for now.  like, I’d travel and write and volunteer and brunch and lunch and shop of course.  I guess I’d just enjoy my life!    oh and if I was independently wealthy I’d share the wealth so that I could have my friends to do all this stuff w/ me—I don’t think it’d be near as much fun if they had to work while I got to play. 

What one thing would you be mortified to know your mother knew about you?

 

Paper or plastic?

 

Favorite flower?

-gd

esquiress wrote:

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I was about seven and it was a very difficult time financially for my parents.  My dad was a graduate student and relied on his scholarship $ to feed a family of four. Anyway, my dad won an award and there was a small cash prize.  With some of that money, he bought a stereo for my mom and something for my six month old brother (I forget what) and a dictionary for me.
 
In the inside cover of the dictionary he wrote: 
“To my darling daughter, Shaiza.  May she be as brilliant as she is beautiful.  Love, Dad”
 
To this day, I tear up every time I think about it.
 -- Edited by esquiress at 23:39, 2005-08-02

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Omg - that's the sweetest thing I've ever heard. I got a little misty just reading it. Why don't dads do things like that more often? You can never tell someone enough how amazing they are - thanks for reminding me.