Rohit's Realm - August 2010

// rohitsrealm.com / archive / 2010 / 08

August 19, 2010

R and G's Excellent Adventure

Road Trip Route

Road Trip Route
August 7–12, 2010

Last I left you, dear readers, I was in Chicago and in the midst of a two month long stint in hell, otherwise known as preparation for the much anticipated bar examination. Today, about a month later, the setting is quite different: I am about 2,000 miles away from Chicago in the OC, and with little but inanities and existential angst to occupy my time. As the story of my road trip from Chicago to California is far more interesting than either the fear or self-loathing leading up to the bar, or anything that has elapsed since, I begin with that. The rest is for another time—or more likely, never.

Before delving into specifics, a summary is in order. The journey was six days in my dear old car, the RSX, departing Chicago, IL, on August 7, 2010, and arriving in Irvine, CA, on August 12, 2010. I was accompanied by my friend, known for purposes of this most worthless of sites as G-Force, and notable stops along the way included: allegedly one of the largest crosses in the Western Hemisphere in Groom, TX; the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, NM; four tire stores in Van Horn, TX; the Prada Marfa art installation in Valentine, TX; a Walmart Lube and Tire Center in El Paso, TX; the south rim of the Grand Canyon; the Hoover Dam; and unexpectedly, Las Vegas, NV. The map nearby reflects the course we took. More detail after the jump.

August 26, 2010

Redemption (Part Two)

Ghost Wars

Redemption, it seems, does not come easy. About five months ago—March 22, to be exact—in an acknowledgment of how far I had fallen during my time in law school, I set forth a rather unambitious goal for myself: read two books—for fun—by the end of [] spring break. Given the steady rate of book consumption during my restive pre–law school days, this should have been no big deal.

But it was. After making quick progress with the first, A Tale of Two Cities, I bogged down. Maybe it was the interminable paper I was writing that week, or maybe I picked a book that was too long (usually not a problem for yours truly), or maybe the fact that it was nonfiction made it move slowly. For whatever reason, though, I didn't finish a second book that break. I didn't even get close. And I wouldn't for the next five months. With the whirlwind race to graduation during spring, and then the awful summer of study, reading for fun was hardly a priority. But though the indelible stench of unmitigated failure may consume me, the aura of incompleteness does not. In this post, I review Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll. Better late than never.