Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Brief Update

Still sick, but MUCH BETTER after staying home and sleeping all day yesterday. It was a day of getting better, complete with chicken soup and a blanket. Today I woke for the first time in a week without feeling like h-e-double-hockey-sticks. I have a little cough, but with expectorant in the day and suppressant at night I should be set.

Saw Phantom of the Opera tonight! So fun! I'm glad that my musical training still allows me to enjoy a good ole' Andrew Lloyd Webber musical from time to time. The Chistine was ok... didn't focus out enough at times, and the prima donna was a bit flat sometimes, but overall very enjoyable. Going with Mike, who hadn't ever seen it, was fun as well.

And now, with some of the work done for tomorrow and some left to do, I shall go to bed, just to wake again in 6.5 hours. Wednesdays suck. :P

Cheers!
~Kristen

Monday, January 24, 2005

Ugh, I'm sick! Cold or some such thing. Keeping me off the computer, so no blogs.

But don't worry, I have some good ideas to write about when I don't feel so yucky :P

~Kristen

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Negligent Rape?

I'm sitting in my Criminal Procedure class where we are having a very interesting discussion. My professor is very skeptical of Wisconsin's Sexual Assault code. He feels that it could have been written simpler to allow for more streamlined trials, etc.

One idea he had would be to charge sexual assault (rape) in the same ways as we in Wisconsin charge homicide (murder). When the term "reckless" is used in a homicide charge, it refers to the fact that the defendant acted with utter disregard of human life by knowingly creating a great risk of death or great bodily harm. Applied to sexual assault, this would apply to marginal cases where the defendant heard the victim say "no," knew she meant "no," but committed the sexual assault anyway, but where there was no violence, threat of force, use of assailants or other factors which would warrant the more serious charge of First Degree Sexual Assault.

Negligence, in homicide, is the creation of an unreasonable risk that the actor SHOULD have been aware he was creating, but was not aware. Negligent rape would apply to cases where the defendant heard "no" but thought it meant "yes," (through previous experience, mistake, etc). This would apply to many cases of date rape or where the victim consented to some sexual activity but not intercourse, or even cases where intercourse was consented, but not in the manner in which it occurred.

The impact this would have on our sexual assault statutes would be very interesting. As it stands, the lesser charges of sexual assault are not lesser included charges of the greater charges, meaning that if I charge a defendant with second degree sexual assault, the jury can't find him guilty instead of third or fourth, but would instead have to acquit. Third and fourth degree sexual assault bring into play the mental health history of the victim and the motive of the defendant, both which unnecessarily complicate the trial and are arguably not useful to determining culpability. A simplified statute would allow for greater understanding of what must be proven to juries, greater ease in charging, and perhaps even greater ease in bringing charges in ambiguous cases (mistake, miscommunication, misunderstanding, etc).

Who knew.

~Kristen

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

DDR

My new favorite thing is Dance Dance Revolution I got a PS2 for Christmas and bought myself a Red Octane Ignition Dance Pad and away I went! Soooooo fun. I use it just about every day for about an hour, primarily working on Standard, but have broken into Heavy songs too.

Between this and yoga and weight lifting, I should be fit as a fiddle in less time than [insert appropriate overdone saying about quickness].

Sophie is really cute, by the way. Today I peeked at her under her fleecie blanket and she peeked back with sleepy eyes. I said "hey sophie, are you sleeping?" to which she replied with a sleepy blink and a lick of her nose before snuggling back into her blankie.

School has started. Cheers!
~Kristen

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Schnappy

Y'all gotta read this little story:
Schnappy Song
I love it!

Other than that, I really have nothing. I've been meaning to write about how the holidays justify the playing of truly horribly music on the radio and in stores, or about the worst songs that people like, or perhaps even about DDR, but mostly I've been sleeping.

I blame my new drugs. :)

In other news, Wisconsin has snow, finally; Sophie has lost 8% of her body weight in a week, perhaps due to tooth pain; I got a PS2 and DDR and love love love them; and sitting around all day doing nothing is the best thing that could have happened to me over winter break.

That's a wrap!
~Kz

Sunday, January 02, 2005

Blogging Again

Hey there. Sorry for the big ole lapse in blogs. I decided this year that "holidays" meant "doing nothing" and have been acting accordingly. I've been extraordinarily loser-ish lately, culminating with my bedtime of 10:00 PM on New Year's Eve. Yep, I slept through the party. I figured since I had a migraine and was the only one home, I might as well be unconscious. It worked quite nicely. :)

Speaking of migraines, I'm off to the doctor A.S.A.P. since my drugs seem to have become inaffective. At least I don't have school to worry about. :)

In other news, I did spend the last week knitting my mom a scarf. It's awesome. Maybe if you're really nice, I'll make one for you, too!

Ok, time to sit around and snuggle with my animals (I'm at my parents' house, so Peckasso, my cockatiel, gets snuggled too).

Happy New Year!
~Kristen