Wall Street Journal today: "An unprofitable clean-tech company that would have been spurned by U.S. investors six months ago turned in the second-best IPO performance of the year Thursday... Electric car-battery maker A123 Systems Inc. jumped 54% on its first day of trading as a public company..."

So I hopped over to EDGAR and pulled out the Prospectus, here is some excerpt:

"We have never been profitable. We experienced net losses of $15.8 million for 2006, $31.0 million for 2007, $80.5 million for 2008, and $40.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2009. We expect we will continue to incur net losses in 2009."

"We have had negative cash flow before financing activities of $29.1 million for 2006, $56.1 million for 2007, $76.0 million for 2008, and $62.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2009. We anticipate that we will continue to have negative cash flow for the foreseeable future as we continue to make significant future capital expenditures... "

Hooray to exuberance.

3:45 - 3:49pm, not a single car or pedestrian past by.

  I think I started on preparing for the Professional Responsibilities exam too late. Apparently it's not as intuitive as I thought it would be. For e.g. attorneys are not allowed to have sex with clients. I did NOT know that. I'm like, great... looks like I'm never gonna have sex again. How am I supposed to meet people if I work 15 hours a day, and think it's unethical to date fellow lawyers? But that's not the most pressing problem right now. The exam is on Saturday morning, I did a practice exam tonight and only got half the questions right. It would suck if people at the firm learn that I am not viable in the Legal Ethics department.

I would imagine it should be much easier than this to write a review on a book if you have actually read it. I'm sitting here for two hours trying to come up with random shit to say for a paper due tomorrow, while watching the Broncos get their collective sorry asses whopped. Staring at the blinking cursor I suddenly had the idea that a little bit of alcohol will always help. So one or two sips of well-aged whisky (ok, half a wine-glass) later, I'm vaguely happy with all sorts of wild ideas running rampantly in my mind, except that page one is still as empty as the dark and cold universe (it's a book on the Big Bang theory) - I'm feeling like a terribly under-educated Frankenstein.

3:42am I finished the paper. It's so painfully apparent I have no idea what the book is about, the quotes I threw in for good measure are from the introduction chapter and epilogue. I squeezed in some vague discussions on religions towards the end. Totally irrelevent to the topic but may the prof have mercy on me!

When I finished reading the exam question my head was as empty as when I came in. It's still barely 9am god damn it. My brain was still on downtime. I don't function until 11am. I got nothing. NOTHING. All around me the sounds of frenetic typing make me feel like I'm in a shooting range with bunch of trigger-happy freaks of nature who type 300 words a minute while actually coming up valid shit to say. DO something! I hissed at myself quietly. So I put my hands to the keyboard. "Don't do it." I wrote. Then I was out of idea. I looked up, the guy in front of me already had a full screen of words. I was in AWE. I mean, how could he have found so many things to say about legal ethics. I sat there for a good 2 mins watching his lines growing like a fast-rising flood on the screen, like an octopus stretching its tentacles. I felt suffocated. I'd better get moving too. I looked back at my screen. "Cause it's unethical." I added. Then I was stuck again. I look at the guy in front again, this time I studied his facial expression. So zealous. right! that's the word used in the rule book somewhere, I felt like a lightbulb just went on in my head. And it's brilliantly bright too cause it's so empty there. so I typed "an attorney should represent his client zealously." Now what. That guy was fast approaching the bottom of his second page. I was in total amazement. Maybe a little jealous too: why can't I have a profuse word diarrhea like that. I looked at the question again. The lawyer's name is Lisa. I turned to the laptop and changed "his" into "her". Being precise is an ethical thing to do, I figured. 9:30am. So an hour had pasted. I got a total of three sentences and a blinking cursor.  But at least I got the correct pronoun. I pondered over it a little bit more though. If I was referring to that particular lawyer, I mean Lisa, shouldn't I use "the attorney" instead of "an attorney"? So I did. Made another correction. Now what more could I say about this Lisa person. Then I realized that the last sentence didn't really go with the two preceding ones. "zealously". Puhh... Where did THAT come from. So I deleted it. The whole sentence. What a shame. After all the thoughts and work put into it. Now it's 9:45am. 45 mins left. I'm SO glad I chose to pass/fail this class. Yeah, it'll really help me secure a job offer with a C- in Legal Ethics class. I thought to myself sarcastically. But hey, maybe it actually WILL.

Then I had to drug myself up quick for the Chinese Investment Law in the afternoon. I read the exam hypo twice. Then I read it again. I didn't get it. It's about some Las Vegas mafia trying to buy some apartment complex in Being so he can set up a Casino there. I'm like "What?...." My head just went "Boink!" Hey! That's actually a quote from Prof. Howson. And that's about the only thing I remembered from this class. I felt like I didn't know a THING about Chinese investment law. I was utterly confused. Then I thought, technically, how could I be confused if I didn't understand a thing? There's nothing to be mixed up here. Then I thought, "Wait... Why am I talking to myself trying to rationalize crazy thoughts like a crazy person arguing with another crazy person?" No, it does make sense you see, cause there were two crazy person in me cause I went schizophrenia at that moment. But do the two personalities both have to be crazy too to qualify as schizophrenia or the mere fact of splitting yourself into two persons, even normal persons, makes you schizophrenia? I knew I should pass/fail this too...

Patent tomorrow, first exam. After yet another unproductive day, right now I feel like a pig waiting to be ushered to slaughter, all the while feeling self-conscious for not being fat enough. Lawyers are said to be "corporate slaves", "corporate whores", I guess the innane eagerness to please is a big part of it, even at one's own execution.

Quite a scene it was. Watching him walking out of the small room packed with students and the entire faculty members in standing ovation, I wondered what was going through his mind right then. When the door closed behind him shutting the thunderous applause inside; when the immediate silence descended upon him in the dark hallway where he suddenly found himself standing alone; when he walked up those narrow stone stairs to his tucked-away office in the tower of this one-hundred-year-old building one last time, was he thinking he just left a life time behind? As a professor of law and literature, he spent his whole life trying to make sense of language, but in the end, he just put on his blazer, tilted his head a little bit like he does and walked out of the room.

I sent a lengthy email thanking him for the class, referring to my angry youth along the way, throwing in an excerpt of my poem for good measure and quoting Nietzsche in length and shit. After sending it out it occurred to me it might not be a good idea in light of what's going down right now in Virginia and all that. (I used phrases like "to the point where I want to just explode") And anyway it's kind of presumptuous to compliment a life-long achievement with reference to the undertaking and almost pretentious memories of a 33-year old. "One thing I want to say is time", he said in the brief fareware speech, "about 18 years ago I turned 50". It occured to me in about 18 years I'll reach the same mark. In a split second I suddenly felt very very tired.

I went to a Korean place for lunch yesterday. The place was packed, and when some ppl got up and left i went over immediately and grabbed the table, being the Chinese I am. Two Korean guys came up and asked to share the table with me, so we did. As i sat down i saw Andrew Shepard walking in, so I called him over and let him have the remaining seat at the table. He sat down and immediately introduced himself to the two Korean guys, reached across the table, shook their hands and started small talking right off. I sat there watching him in utter amazement, I'm like no wonder this guy wants to be a politician, so smooth. And after a good 5 mins of chitchat, he turned to me and said, "So, how did u guys meet each other?" I was like, "apparently u know these ppl better than i do."

So today I went there again, for love of Galbi Tang and for lack of imagination. I saw two friends of mine so I joined them. And Lo and Behold, thru the door came in Andrew Shepard. I'm like, man... what's up with this guy and Korean food. I called him and he joined us, it's like "De javu all over again". And he's like, "Oh I was gonna invite u to come here after Evidence but i didn't think u'd have Korean food two days in a row." I'm like dude don't even try. And after saying that he just sat there and stared at me. I said, "Dude, where's ur manner? introduce urself to my friends." And he's like, "Ooh... after yesterday I thought u'd just sit with random ppl u don't even know." I nodded, "Yep, I'm a slut like that."

Here I am back at library for the International Trade take-home, squeezing whatever brain power that's still left in me after Trademark, SOX, Accounting, and of course the colossal disaster of Comm Trans this morning. Like the dying ember lying on the vast ash bed after the magnificent bonfire of futility.

5 hours of Trademark and 4 hours of accounting. 1AM I took a break and was gonna go back to finish a chapter. After making some instant noodles in the kitchen, I wanted to turn off the fan, so I went across the living room and flipped a switch. As I stood in the darkness listening to the humming of the fan, I was like, man... my life sucks ass.

as I'm reviewing the Trademark class for the final, I think i'll share some entertaining cases:

In re Bad Frog Brewery, Inc.

applicant appealed from the denial of registration for BAD FROG BEER on the ground that the frog would be "immediately recognizable by the average consumer as 'flipping the bird' or 'giving the finger,'" and that this gesture "is widely recognized to be obscene." A majority of the Board reversed (meaning the reviewing board ruled the mark should be allowed to register). The board reasoned: "far from being obscene, giving the finger had become 'that most democratic of gestures,' practiced by American soldiers, statesman, and celebrities." The board described the Frog as "An amphibian with an attitude", "He just don't care", "Do it froggy style". "He's mean, green and obscene", "He's naked, nasty and insensitive" and "Flip the bird, get a frog".

Moseley v. V Secret Catalogue

Defendant Victor Moseley ran a retail store for sex toys and "adult novelties", which he named "Vcitor's Secret". Upon protest of the plaintiff, he subsequently changed it to "Victor's Little Secret". The Supreme Court of United Stated ruled there's no actionable trademark dilution.

San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States

San Francisco Art & Athletics is the organizer of the "Gay Olympic Games", A relay of over 2000 runners would carry a torch from New York City across the country to Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. The final runner would enter the stadium with the "Gay Olympic Torch" and light the "Gay Olympic Flame". The Supreme Court ruled SFAA cannot use the word "Olympic" in the title.  

Nike, Inc., v. "Just Did It" Enterprise

the case name said it all.