B Day-like D day but for the Bar Results

Today is the day the Bar results are mailed to our homes.

Of course I'm not there so my friends will either be celebrating or crying without me.

I will find out my results with the rest of the world on Monday when they are posted online, with public embarrassment or jubilation.

So my friends and family I am off to Assisi this weekend with the parents to thank St. Joseph of Cupertino (San Giuseppe da Copertino), a preemptive thanks for his help on the test, and this entry is just one way I am working to spread his word.  Here's his prayer for all you test takers:

"O Great St. Joseph of Cupertino who while on earth did obtain from God the grace to be asked at your examination only the questions you knew, obtain for me a like favor in the examinations for which I am now preparing.  In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked. 

Through Christ our Lord.

St Joseph of Cupertino, Pray for us. 

Amen"

By the way, I think my soon to be boss jokingly sent me an email saying if I didn't pass the bar that my salary would be adjusted to minimum wage/hourly.  I do hope he was kidding since the job does not require the practice of law. 

Every Hilltop is not the Same

Siena, Montepulciano, Assisi, Orvieto, a different hilltop town was on the agenda each day, actually two to three hilltop towns were scheduled for each day but Mary Kay and I soon discovered that was insane. Although I figured it out first and tried to convince MK that every hilltop town was pretty much the same, she begged to disagree but eventually came around because she was at the mercy of the driver, me.

They are not all the same but they are pretty close and they all dot the landscape like espresso stands in the tulip fields of Washington. They all have several churches, even the towns of 20,000 people, like Cortona and Montepulciano, both of which have 5-10 churches all within walking distance. They all have at least 3 piazzas to hangout in; they all have at least 1 famous artist who was born there, created there, or died there; they all have their signature pottery, wine, cheese, or gelato; and they all have great views of Tuscany (or neighboring Umbria). It's a blog, I need to give a summary not a book.

Siena for the cathedral: dizzying, art everywhere you turned, couldn't even look down at the floor to clear your mind so you would have the energy to look back up and see new things; the floor is covered in the most spectacular marble inlaid stories of warriors and popes.








Montepulcioano, very much like Cortona, but with the special Vino Nobile; a great tasting day! I love that a wine is named Noble. The grape is worshipped in this area.











Assisi was amazing because it was St. Francis Saint's Day to celebrate his death on October 3. MK and I went to Vespers and managed to find a place on the marble stairs to sit and watch the procession of nuns and priests and pilgrims. Quite a magical procession out of the Lower Basilica with the prayer sung response as the followers proceed with flags to the Upper Basilica.











Ovieta was having a wonderful festival for the Slow Food Movement. Tastes from local producers included: truffles, olives, oil, lots of different formaggio, and wonderful sausage, salami and proscuitto. The area where Ovieta is located, Umbria, is known for their truffles.

Belissimo

Attentione my American male friends! Do you want to make a woman happy for a week without lifting a finger?

This is how you do it: attempt to drive at a speed of 110 miles per hour down the road she is walking; watch her try to squish her body up against the building so as not to get hit in the tiny alleyway the Italians call a street; slow down as you near her; almost come to a stop (but not quite); roll down the back window, and almost whisper to her, "Belissimo;" wait for the beaming redhead to translate what that means, smile, and drive off on your way again. Happened to me almost a week ago in Orvieto as I was aimlessly wandering the back streets, and I'm still beaming.

So here's something I'm going to export, Free Compliments. Italian men do this very well. It's as if they know it doesn't cost them anything but gets them a huge return or maybe it gets them nothing, but they haven't lost anything by giving it a chance. My guy drove off! He could be married with 10 kids for all I know, but I'm not going to see him again, so what did he get?! For a split second all he got was a pretty, silly, American redhead, to flash a smile in his direction, but he probably knows he made my day in that moment. Reflecting on the way American men and Italian men pay compliments has taught me a valuable lesson, but more on that after further comparison.

Mike, my American love as I will now refer to him, was terrible in the compliments department. Worse then having to fish for one, I became a dentist and actually pulled teeth. I remember specifically going to an event where I was wearing my sexy, drop dead, black dress, and after being in it for about an hour, I finally asked, "what do you think?" Modeling, turning, showing a lot of leg, little lip pout. And all I got was, "it's lovely." "No, no, Michael this is not my lovely dress, this is my sexy, drop dead gorgeous dress, not lovely." And he laughed at himself, fully aware of the fatal error he'd just committed. It only takes a moment of energy to notice, but it seems to take the American man a lot more to then give up a compliment. I believe they notice a lot, but I believe their ego doesn't permit them to be so free with actually paying the compliment. It's as if they think they give something up by building you up, or they are somehow leaving themselves vulnerable to a rejection? I'm not sure, but I think it is a combination of both. Let me tell you my American men, from this woman's point of view, you lose nothing by paying a woman a compliment, you only gain. And I don't think I'm the only woman who feels this way.

Now in Mike's defense, perhaps Mike viewed me as a strong, feminist, who didn't want or need to have compliments about her looks received-WRONG! And if this is the fear that keeps American men from paying us compliments, let me dispel this stupid theory and advise you that it is better to error in the direction of paying the compliment. We, men and women, all need compliments, free compliments. Compliments that are genuinely given with no expectation of receiving anything in return. So this is the lesson I am going to export home with me, free compliments. I am going to go out of my way to give them to everyone. I'm going to cross the street, or slow down my car, or just take a moment out of my rat race, to pay compliments to everyone I see, because I know it will make them happy (okay I admit in Seattle it will first make them feel very uncomfortable to be approached by a stranger, but I think if I keep moving and they see I am not going to force them into a conversation, it will be okay.)

This lesson goes very well with the Buddhist Offering of a few days ago:

All those who are unhappy in the world are so as a result of their desire for their own happiness.

All those who are happy in the world are so as a result of their desire for the happiness of others.

Have a belissimo day my belissimo friends.