Adventures in Bar Exam Land

I feel that I've reached an impasse at this point of my bar studying. If you'll recall, I made the decision to study without enlisting the (ridiculously expensive) aid of Barbri, although I was given a full set of Texas Barbri books with which to study by a Twitter friend.

From this point, I proceeded to study throughout December to give myself something to do and so I wouldn't feel rushed about my studies in the new year....which, if you've ever studied for a bar exam, know that's LAUGHABLE. So ha ha ha to me.

As of now, I've finished retyping 8 out of 20 handouts; the subjects I've already tackled are Agency/Partnership, Bankruptcy, Texas Civ Pro, Commercial Paper, Community Property, Consumer Law, Federal Income Tax, and Oil & Gas. This leaves me with a shitton more to finish, and the slightly panicky feeling no one likes to have but most associate with impending bar examinations.

It's at this juncture that I need to seriously ask myself how much I'm learning by retyping. I think I've learned quite a lot, and I'm going to have to go through everything again and fill in the blanks, which isn't that big of a deal and which will definitely help to jog my memory. It's also helpful to retype because it ensures I've seen it at least once. However, I know I'm a charts person, and I passed my last bar examination largely in part due to my incessant charting. On the other hand, I also had lecturers last time, which assisted me in tackling what I'm now attempting to retype because I was guaranteed to HEAR everything at least once.

Today is the day I lay out the next eight weeks of my life in a calendar to keep myself accountable and so I can minimize my feelings of extreme malaise and discomfiture. So, I guess my ultimate decision is how I want to approach the bar exam from this point forward. Do I want to finish typing ALL of the handouts? (I have 700 pages left.) Do I want to try to read them and see how much I retain? Which subjects do I want to chart?

Regardless, I went ahead and made myself a breakdown of the Texas bar examination, including what all is on the essay, the percentage each portion is worth (in lovely pie chart form), and what to expect on each section. After I finish my calendar (likely tomorrow), I will post that . And I'm thinking of documenting either in daily form or weekly form what I've been doing by myself to get prepared for the barf exam. :)

What do Y'ALL think?

Goodbye 2012

As the sun sets tonight, 2012 will come to an end and a new year will begin.  2012 was a wonderful year.  The world ended a couple of times, although it looks the same to me.   The world began again and now we are ready to look back at this strange year.   Every new year, I like to look back on which posts were my most popular of the year.  The most popular posts I wrote and posted in 2012 were:

1.  Can Ghosts Be Captured?
http://ghoststoriesandhauntedplaces.blogspot.com/2012/04/can-ghosts-be-captures.html

2.  American Horror Story and The Ghosts of the Waverly Hills Sanitarium
http://ghoststoriesandhauntedplaces.blogspot.com/2012/10/american-horror-story-and-waverly-hills.html

3.  The Old Bryce Hospital for the Insane
http://ghoststoriesandhauntedplaces.blogspot.com/2012/03/old-bryce-hospital-for-insane.html


Interestingly, two of my top posts this year were about hospitals.   It seems that haunted hospitals always capture the imagination.  I'm hoping that in 2013, I can spend more time exploring haunted hospitals and asylums.  I would also like to dedicate some time to haunted hotels.  As the sun sets on 2012, my favorite ghostly moments come from the stories others have told me.   I haven't as traveled as far and gone to as many ghostly places as I usually do.  I had a baby and moved to a new house.  I lost myself in life, but there are still a few haunted places that I discovered in 2012.  I loved exploring haunted Washington DC this year.  I also enjoyed finding haunted locations in the shadowy landscape of Michigan.  Still, I did have to push my deadline for Haunted South Alabama back this year and I became a little overwhelmed by my ghosts.  I'm hoping next year will be better for my ghost stories!  

Happy New Year to you all and may 2013 bring you many wonderful stories and happy times!

Copycat Recipe: My Take on the Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Latte

Inspired by this post over at Farmgirl Gourmet, I decided to create my own cinnamon dolce latte based on the version from Starbucks. I finally got around to making it after pinning it over a month ago, and I'm sorry to say I waited this long. (There isn't a Starbucks in my hometown, just so y'all know.)

However, one thing was lacking in this tutorial: how to steam milk and froth it, particularly when you never used your espresso machine and donated it to Goodwill are lacking the awesome gadgets that make the job easier. The link she provided had been pulled due to milk exploding all over people (which is CRAZY and I've never heard of happening, but would have almost certainly have happened to me, given my luck in the kitchen). So, I researched it, figured it out on my own, and decided to post it here. The recipe is broken into three segments: (1) How to create your syrup; (2) How to froth your milk; and (3) How to put everything together in a delicious harmony of awesomeness.

Ingredients for cinnamon dolce syrup: 
3 cinnamon sticks
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
An airtight jar

1. Break three cinnamon sticks in half; put in 1 1/2 cups water. 
2. Bring mixture to a boil, then remove from heat and cover. 
3. Allow mixture to steep for 10 minutes. 
4. Remove cinnamon sticks from mixture.
5. Add 1 1/2 cups of packed brown sugar to cinnamon-infused water. 
6. Put mixture over heat, bring to soft boil, then simmer until all sugar is dissolved. 
7. Continue simmering for five more minutes to reduce the mixture (even after reduction, it really is *quite* watery). 
8. Allow to cool and put in an airtight container (I used an old pickle jar). You can store it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. 

How to create frothed milk:
1/2 cup milk
Whisk, blender, or food processor

1. Pour 1/2 cup milk into microwave-safe cup and heat until milk is steaming, but not bubbling. I find about a minute in my microwave is best. Stir every 15 seconds to make sure it does not overheat and curdle.
2. After heating, whisk rapidly or add to food processor and whip until desired amount of froth is obtained. 

How to create the cinnamon dolce latte:

2 tablespoons cinnamon dolce syrup

1 small cup of coffee** (I use my Keurig and select the smallest cup)

1/2 cup hot frothed milk

Cinnamon sugar mixture (optional)

1. Add 2 tablespoons cinnamon dolce syrup to bottom of mug.
2. Heat and froth milk.
3. Since my Keurig brews coffee quickly, I then brew my coffee into the mug that contains the syrup. If you must make your coffee by other means, you should probably do this first. (Also, this is normally about 3/4 of a cup for me)
4. Stir the syrup and coffee to ensure it is blended well.
5. Add frothed milk to the concoction. 
6. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, if desired. 

**The great thing about doing this at home is you can use the coffee flavor of your choice. You want the coffee to be strong, but I always favor a medium roast, or Pecan Praline coffee if I can get it. :)

And that's all there is to it! Don't be discouraged at the number of steps required for this drink, because they're shockingly easy to follow and the resulting latte is absolutely delicious! (Plus it saves you a boatload of money you'd otherwise be forking over to Starbucks.)

The Most Haunted Asylums

 Mental Hospitals and Asylums seem to draw ghost stories the way a light on a dark night draws bugs.  Ghost stories cling to them like moss and collect over time until the dead patients wandering the halls  outnumber the living.   There is an irony to this.  These hospitals were built to be places of healing where the broken and lost could find sanctuary and solace, but these plans often go awry and accidents and apathy turn healing to hurt.  Tragedies linger in the shadows of these hospitals and collect like dust over time.  

I have worked at several asylums during my career as a psychologist and many times these places are not creepy.  They are places of healing and the staff fights the darkness with art therapy and recreational therapy and all the things mental health professionals do to make hospitals a place of healing.    However, sometimes the sad condition of the chronically mentally ill can’t be combated by these tools and bad things happen.  Things happen that are so bad, that evil seems to remain in the old hospitals.  It seeps into the foundations of the buildings and creeps up through the walls tainting everything inside.  Bad doctors and staff turn bad things into travesties and these hospitals become places of fear.  According to many, the ghosts cling to the emotions that are kept in the hospitals.   Across the nation, there are many hospitals that are considered to be haunted.   These hospitals have tragic histories and their stories can send chills down the spines of even the bravest souls.  Here are a few of my favorite haunted asylums:

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

This is considered by many to be the most haunted hospital in the United States.  This hospital was founded in Weston West Virginia in 1864 and was then called The Weston State Hospital.   The hospital had 250 beds and houses some of the sickest patients in the region.   Although the hospital was built to house only 250 patients, by 1950 overcrowding turned the hospital into something out of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nestand the building housed as many as 2500 sick souls.  Even Charles Manson spent some time at this notorious hospital.   The hospital witnessed all the worst of the early treatments for mental illness and frontal lobotomies and water shock treatment were the mainstays of early treatment here.  However, the worst tragedies occurred when the patients hurt each other.  There were several patient to patient killings here and one nurse vanished only to have her body discovered under the stairs two years later.  Death became common place at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.  In 1994, the hospital was considered unusable and it was close.   Those that have visited this hospital say that they hear phantom noises throughout the hospital.  They hear ghostly screams and wails.  Full body apparitions have been seen wandering the hallways and strange noises come from the darkness.

Bryce Hospital for the Insane

Alabama Hospital for the Insane was designed to be a refuge for the mentally ill. Its architecture was designed based on the ideas of Dorothea Dix and Thomas Story Kirkbride. It was meant to be moral architecture that would contribute to the healing process within the hospital The hospital opened in 1861 and for a while it held to the ideals of Dix and Kirkbride. The first superintendent, Peter Bryce, was an idealist and he had studied mental health in Europe. He believed that patients should be treated with respect kindness. He even abandoned the use of restraints. The hospital was later named for Bryce and it went on to be the model for progressive mental health care.

 Time quickly eroded Bryce' legacy, however. By 1967, there were more than 5200 patients residing in a facility that was never meant to hold that many. Observers described Bryce as a concentration camp and a model for human cruelty. In 1970, one patient named Wyatt started a class action law suit against the Alabama's other mental hospital, Searcy State Hospital. This lead to major change in the way the mentally ill were treated in Alabama. The number of beds was cut drastically and humane treatment of the mentally ill became an absolute necessity. The landmark Wyatt v. Strickney Case would change Bryce drastically. Old Bryce was the African American portion of Bryce Hospital and was notorious for being even crueler than its white counterpart. After Wyatt v. Strickey and desegregation, Old Bryce was shut down entirely and other buildings were used. The African American patients were integrated into the white population.

 Old Bryce still sits quietly deserted, however, as a reminder to the old days when patients were held like prisoners with no rights. It is covered in graffiti and has been vandalized many times. It’s even been set on fire. Trespassing is forbidden here, but the curious have reported seeing all manner of horrors coming out of the dark around Old Bryce. Lights flicker on an off in the building that has no electricity. Phones ring in rooms with no phones. Phantom lights drift from room to room. Furniture moves on its own and footsteps echo through the abandoned hallways. The living patients may be gone, but many believe Old Bryce is still filled with the ghosts of those who once suffered in its walls.

 Norwich State Hospital For The Mentally Insane

Norwich Hospital for The Mentally Insane was built in 1904 in Preston, Connecticut and is known for the dark ghosts that live inside of it.  The Norwich Hospital was designed to house the worst of the criminally insane patients in the state and, until 1971, it did just that.  It was home to murders, rapists, and other violent offenders.  The hospital is situated on 900 acres of woodland and is utterly isolated and crumbling.  This façade has added to the horror stories that have built up around the violent people that lived within the hospital and has created a collection of ghost stories so large they could fill a book.  Suicides and murders fill the history of Norwich Hospital and those who have died there never seem to leave.  Witnesses describe hearing screams in the darkness Faces appear out of nowhere and strange mists and lights are seen in the halls.

 Searcy State Hospital

 Searcy State Hospital is located in  the most Southern part of rural Alabama.  Prior to being a state hospital the old hospital has a long and dark history that is very difficult to find, but easy to see upon casual observation. The hospital is encased in long, chipped, white walls that seem as old as anything in the United States. From outside these walls, you can see a battered watchtower that gives testament to the fact that the hospital is in the same location as a 300 year old fort. The fort bears witness to American history and was originally a Spanish fort. It switched hands during the Louisiana Purchase and became a US fort. After the US took possession of the fort it was converted to a military arsenal and became known as the Mount Vernon Arsenal. The Arsenal switched hands again several times and was taken by the Confederates during the civil war only to be passed back over the United States again in 1862. From 1887 to 1894, The Arsenal became a Barracks and was used as a prison for the captured Apache people. The most famous of the Apache people to be held in these barracks was Geronimo. The infamous Aaron Burr was also held at this secluded prison at some point.
 
In 1900 the Barracks were transformed once again and the prison became a mental hospital. Searcy hospital was built as the African American mental hospital in Alabama. Conditions in the hospital were beyond questionable and at one time there were over 2000 patients in the crowded hospital and all were seen by one psychiatrist. All patients were expected to work in the fields.

The hospital was desegregated in 1969, but its history is all around it. The hospital is still used today, and although the residents live in new buildings, many tell stories of ghosts and devils that linger in the white walls and abandoned buildings that surround the new facilities. These stories are usually ignored, because the patients are crazy, but I’m not the only sane person who saw a few ghosts while they were working there.

Searcy served as the inspiration for my new novel, Circe. Its tragic history and haunted atmosphere serve as a backdrop to the chilling tale of a young intern slow decent into madness. If you would like to read more about Searcy, you can find my book at:

 www.amazon.com,    http://www.lachesispublishing.com/products.asp?cat=2

 

 

 

 

 

 

               

Dark and Wonderful Christmas Cards!

Edward Gorey is the master of all things dark and wonderful.   Gorey wrote and illustrated over 100 books and he became king of macabre.  His books were beautiful and sometimes oddly touching.  He is most known for  The Adams Family which has been remade again and again as a TV series and as several movies.   My favorite of his books was The Gashleycrumb Tinies.   For years,  I sent out Edward Gorey Christmas cards and as I mailed my cards yesterday I had to admit I miss my dark Christmas theme.  I did not use my Gorey cards this year because I ran out of time and didn't plan far enough in advance.  I know, big surprise.  But I thought in lieu of my cards,  I would do a post on some of the most marvelous and ghostly Christmas cards ever made.  Gorey did numerous Christmas cards and Christmas illustrations in his career.  These are only a few, but they are all marvelous.

Village in Manila City Bears The Mark Of The Beast

I didn't know there's a Barangay (Village) in Metro Manila that bears the number 666 as its official name. As the news below says, that its the only barangay in the Philippines which has the mark of the beast.

By the way, this isn't an urban legend. I just wanted to share this news I found in internet.

The News

[Taken from a News Website: October 31, 2012, 10:10pm]

Almost a month ago, a 21-year-old man committed suicide by hanging from a balete tree located in a compound where the Barangay 666 Hall is located. Stories recounted by witnesses revealed that prior to the man’s suicide, the man named “Angelito” used to talk every night to someone unseen, who allegedly lives underneath the small fig tree. But in an interview with MB Research, “Diablo” just dismissed such stories as fictional, citing that “Angelito” had earlier been diagnosed with a mental disorder, which probably led to his self-murder. “Diablo” also doesn’t believe in ghost stories, even if his village has long been synonymous with the mark of the devil. “Diablo” is Felix “Mac” P. Macapagal, the incumbent chairman of Barangay 666, Zone 72 in Ermita, Manila. Macapagal has been fondly tagged “Mac Diablo” because he has long been serving as head of Barangay 666 since he was first elected in 1989. He has lived in this residential community since the 1970s, during his growing-up years, and in his recollection, he has never experienced any frightening incidents in his bailiwick. The number 666 is specifically mentioned in the Holy Bible’s Book of Revelation as the mark of the beast. Chapter 13:18 of Revelation quotes: “a certain wisdom is needed here; with a little ingenuity, anyone can calculate the number of the beast, for it is a number that stands for a certain man. The man’s number is six hundred sixty-six.” “It forced all men, small and great, rich and poor, slave and free, to accept a stamped image on their right hand or their forehead. Moreover, it did not allow a man to buy or sell anything unless he was first marked with the name of the beast or with the number that stood for its name,” Revelation 13:16-17 further states. Macapagal said that there is nothing special or extraordinary with their barangay, aside from coincidentally having the beast’s mark. He emphatically clarified that no beast has ever existed in their area. “We are not like the other cities that have names for their barangay. In Manila, number is the basis for every barangay. It’s just a coincidence that our barangay is 666,” said Macapagal. He noted that Ermita has four other barangays aside from 666, which are 667, 668, 669 and 670. Out of around 42,000 barangays in the Philippines, National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) official Fernando Regalado certified that it is the only village in the country that bears the name 666. Officer Arlene Ramos of the Department of Interior and Local Government-National Barangay Operations Office (DILG-NBOO) affirmed that even if the National Capital Region (NCR) still has cities with numbers as name, it is only Manila that has the unique Barangay 666. “Our barangay is 666, many are scared, but we don’t believe in it because we don’t feel that 666 is unlucky. Actually, it seems lucky because we never get sick and my body is doing good,” said Macapagal. Located at the heart of Manila, the nation’s capital, Barangay 666 covers a large land area, where an estimated 1,400 people live in houses and condominiums. The compound, where their barangay hall stands is a 10-minute walking distance from the Manila City Hall. It also houses a small school for the children. Interestingly, Barangay 666’s jurisdiction includes famous landmarks in Manila like the Rizal Park, Qurino Grandstand, United Nations Avenue, Padre Burgos Street, Manila Ocean Park, and even the United States embassy. “What we’re talking about are the primary duties of the barangay, which is what we are doing. Like the business permit clearance, there has to be a barangay chairman who will give it. So even if it’s a national park, which is under the National Parks Development Committee (NPDC), there is still a barangay that manages it,” said Macapagal. NPDC Marketing and Events Specialist Florizza Buclatin confirmed in a separate interview Macapagal’s statements that as for the coverage of the entire Rizal Park, Barangay 666 starts from Taft Avenue, to the Relief Map of the Philippines, leading to all the parks, gardens and other attractions, to the famed ‘Kilometer Zero’ and execution site of Jose Rizal, up to Quirino Grandstand and Manila Ocean Park. Barangay 666 also covers various government offices in the vicinity, like NPDC, the Department of Tourism (DOT), the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), the National Library and the National Museum. Macapagal and Buclatin clarified, though, that management of barangay officials only comes in terms of small issues and affairs, like minor feuds among people within the area that need to be settled first at the barangay level. “If there are barangay matters that they can’t handle, it will be brought to us, like disputes of the guards, which should be taken care first by the barangay [officials],” said Macapagal. But ghost stories in the area and offices covered by Barangay 666 remain to take the spotlight in the village. Buclatin said that although she hasn’t experienced anything unusual yet, stories, like toilets suddenly flushing without someone using it, seem to take over most of their scary conversations inside their workplace. Allan Mangahas, janitor of the National Library, in another interview, seconded Buclatin’s claims that many students had told her about eerie tales like seeing ghosts inside the reading room and comfort rooms of the library. Mangahas added that sometimes, he is afraid when left alone at the ground floor, but he clarified that “it still depends on the people’s strong faith, because [even if I’m scared,] I haven’t experienced anything.” However, Macapagal insisted that such stories are only for kids and should not be considered anymore by adults. He added that ghost stories were used back then just to convince the young ones to sleep early at night. Divina Villacarlos, lady guard of the National Museum, also believed that there are no ghosts, since she hasn’t experienced yet such supernatural beings. She said that as a security guard, she has been assigned to different floors of the museums, but she has never seen anything scary. Macapagal revealed there are other things that seem scarier than ghosts or beasts in the barangay. “Those live ones are whom we have to be afraid of, since dead people can no longer come back,” said Macapagal, as he noted the increasing number of snatchers, holduppers, and riding-in-tandem gangs in the metropolis. He also mentioned the problems of increasing street children in his barangay, especially now with the onset of the holiday season. With proper coordination of the police force and social workers, Macapagal said they can continuously cope with the different issues in their community. Macapagal also boasted one ‘special’ landmark in their barangay, aside from the usual markers found at the Rizal Park. “We have the Luneta Hotel, a century-old hotel, which is being renovated. It is perhaps the only building in the Philippines which has a unique structure fixed at the exterior walls of the building,” he said pointing at the winged lizard and monkey-like structures built as part of the hotel’s designs. According to the chairman’s research, a Spanish architect-engineer had built the hotel, which is now being preserved by the government. “We think that there is someone protecting the building. Nobody has ever been hurt every time an accident occurs in the area, specifically when the designs are damaged or suddenly falls. That’s why we think Luneta Hotel is unique,” said Macapagal. Meanwhile, Macapagal no longer aims to change the name of his barangay. “Our barangay is happy, even if it is 666. It will be tedious to have it changed because it will have to undergo Congress. Since it is destined to become our [barangay] number, we have already accepted it [though] we are not devils,” Macapagal said.

Sources:
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/379526/manila-barangay-bears-the-mark-of-the-beast#.UNNBaJGxNk4

Happy Apocalypse From Lil Cthulhu

Since it will all be ending in a few hours, I thought I would post a video about the great lord Cthulhu. I believe if the end comes tonight, it will be at his hands. He will rise up from his watery slumber and devour all our souls. Mostly I believe this because H.P. Lovecraft is the master of horror and I hope I can someday be the horror writer he is. So happy apocalypse from Lil' Cthulhu.