The Hawketc Team reunite

22 June to 3rd July: Brooklyn, New York

Without major incident I arrived at a three-story brownstone house in the nicer part of Brooklyn, New York which was to be the home of the Hawketc Team for the next two months. It has been a half hour walk with my pack, an hour and a half subway ride, and a sleepless eight hour flight from Calgary. I always struggle sleeping on planes, especially with such quality movies like ‘Wild Hogs’ and ‘Speed 2’ tempting me to stay awake. But I was finally here. New York, according to the tag line of the David Letterman show, the greatest city in the world.

Hawkins, who had arrived the day before gave me a quick tour of the house and introduced me to our third housemate, who has turned out to be more trouble than you’d think for her small stature, Missi.




I spend the first day sleeping and then checking out a local bar which sells only imported or homebrewed beers that night. Since then, I’m afraid to say, little has happened of note. Hawkins and I joined a gym, discovered a great place for bagels near the gym for a post-workout meal, and studied.

It has been nothing but study since I got here. I suppose with the New York Bar Exam being less than a month away and it being the primary reason for this caper, it makes sense that I should be doing nothing but studying. It is the hardest exam in the world. But I haven’t even seen the Statue of Liberty yet.

A brief break
Last Friday night Hawkins and I decided that a night off from the study was well deserved. We arranged to meet up in SeaPort with a friend of Hawkins and a few of her friends. A few outdoor beers, some music from a local band, the Ra Ra Riots, and the night quickly went down the path of shenanigans.

From SeaPort we went to a pub in the Financial District. The gang had a table reserved, and Ilana, a member of the gang, had a company credit card. Expensive foreign beers and shots followed. I tried to remember the ingredients to the Gladiator shot which I’d had a week earlier at Cowboys in Calgary over three or four rounds. For the record, I didn’t come close – the answer was half a shot of Amaretto, half a shot of Southern Comfort, depth charged into half lemonade half OJ.

From there we hit the karaoke scene. Hawkins and myself dazzled in usual style, putting the Americans to shame with our soulful rendition of Bryan Adam’s Summer of ’69. I made some friends with some locals impressed with my work, and headed home, another successful night on the town.

And then back to the study
Since then, it’s been back to the study. July 4 is coming up, and so Team Hawketc may take the afternoon off to bask in American Patriotism. We’ll have to see.