Campion

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Campion,

Thanks for the good wishes for the Bar. I felt really good about my essay + PT performance and fairly okay about the MBE. There were a lot of answers I just flat out knew on the MBE but then there were some where I was like WTF? I finished both sections though. The first with 5 minutes to spare and the second with 1 minute. Here’s hoping for a C-.

By the way-I got housing in Pasadena. You were right-my job offered to subsidize public transport so I restricted myself to a few neighborhoods that had subway/train access (Los Feliz, Hollywood, Pasadena and Glendale). Since I was taking the exam in Pasadena and my father thought it looked “safer” than the rest of the city (his judgment being from what was observable from the highway), he ended up renting me a place in Pasadena. It’s about .7 miles from 1 train station, there’s free parking at another train station and it costs 925$ for a studio all utilities included (all the 1 bedrooms were taken). It’s in a gated community and my apartment looks out on the mountains. Sort of a “transitional” neighborhood which is why such a plush apartment is so cheap (it’s completely remodelled) but not unsafe. I would say just blue-collar & ethnically diverse but with a boatload of yuppies starting to move in.

Anyway, thanks for all your help and good wishes! I just figured you’d want an update on Trek to L.A.

Anu

PS: I gulped when I saw the dowtown buildings. Are you sure those things are safe in an earthquake?

2

Congratulations for getting through that! I remember when I took the MBE, I went through about the first twenty questions before I got one I could answer. I was certain that guessing on so many would be my downfall, but I passed.

You’ll like living in Pasadena. Old Town can be fun on a weekend, and there are lots of interesting little Mom-and-Pop restaurants to explore for dinner. One thing: they’ve been shutting the Red Line down with relative frequency since the London bombings (geez, leave one unattended backpack. . .) so make sure you look at the bus routes in case you need to bus it back home instead of taking the Gold Line. (Gold Line goes to Union Station, which is where you’ll switch to the Red Line for either Pershing or 7th and Metro stations.)

Relatively sure. I’ve been about fifty stories up in one during a couple of earthquakes. The buildings roll, so it can be really unnerving, but it doesn’t seem dangerous. Just remember the basics: if there’s an earthquake, get away from the windows, under a desk or table. If possible, move toward an interior wall as close to the center of the building as possible. When you start at your new building, ask to see the Fire Life Safety video (if they don’t show it to you during training); it will tell you what to do in your building if there’s an earthquake.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!