Just watched...

Coach Carter.

I am a total sucker for cheesy sports movies. And when said cheesy sports movie takes place in the Bay Area, well, I'm all 'bout it. Tonight, I will go to bed all hopped up on sportsmanship and overcoming the odds.

The movie was a great ending to a pretty good day. I dragged my lazy bum to yoga this morning (Hatha flow, not my favorite as the 'flow' concept is not so workable for us uncoordinated types). And, I spent the afternoon at quite possibly the best study spot ever with a friend. USF law library -- thank you for letting us visit!! It was comfortable and moderately enjoyable, even while doing problem sets for contracts. And, my gourmet spouse made an amazing almost vegan dinner (thanks S!). All in all, feeling caught up and healthy for the first time in a few weeks.

In related news, watched Million Dollar Baby on Friday. I was hesitant about this one since I'd heard about the ending repeatedly. But, the spoiler didn't hold a candle to the actual end and I thought the movie was brilliant.

Thus begins week three...

"This is a song to give you hope"

Any other Mason Jennings fans out there?

My husband just complimented my purple eye shadow. Given that I haven't worn eye makeup in the past week, this is concerning...

Gonna go celebrate with some champagne.

The 1L awww

One of the hardest social aspects of being a 1L is loss of identity. In undergrad, in my previous work life, and among my group of friends, I have (or, rather, had) a pretty strong sense of self. But, I feel like my 1L experience is not so much mine as it is a collective right of passage that has eliminated that sense. I’m hard pressed to locate anything unique about what I’m going through. Even among my friends, I am now “the first year law student.” I hope that my identity will come back once I’m done hampstering (thanks for the verb, F!) my way through the first few weeks.

But, today = far better than yesterday. I finally understand where we are in contracts. Found out today that professor K is a blogger, which shouldn't at all play into my opinion of him, but inevitably does, in a good way. And, we’re behind in contracts and Civ Pro, meaning less to read for next week.

And, I was too pissy yesterday to mention an interaction I had with a couple of 3L friends. In both instances, the 3L friend introduced me to the other 3L friends they were with. Like this: "This is ::skh:: and she's a 1L." At which point, the friends would look at me with sincere sympathy and sigh, "Awww, it'll be over soon, we promise." This happened in two separate instances, so it must be the universal code on how to interact with 1Ls, well, at least for nice people.

::

Today's lunch consisted of free ice cream from student services. This is not a good sign...

Just when I thought I *might* be comfortable with the work load, I had my first LWR class. And thus evaporated any hope I had for free time.

Finally, my tip for riding MUNI with an 87 lb. back pack:
Sit in the aisle seat. Otherwise, you will be trapped by Mr. Multitasker who is listening to his iPod and reading the sports page. When you try to pick up said 87 lb. back pack and get off the bus, he will try to get away with a polite half turn. You will then struggle to get out of your seat, hitting Mr. Multitasker in the head with the edge of your casebook, and barely maintaining your own balance.

I guess that wasn't really finally. I have a word to say to my dearest MUNI co-travelers -- if I have to stand, I will plant the backpack between my feet and hold on for dear life. I will try to be as out of the way as possible (like in that little space in front of the wheelchair seats). If the bus is crowded, do not yell at me to move to the back. I've been doing this for 6 years and am not an idiot. Other people, namely those in good health and not carrying obnoxious things, can move their asses to the back.

Time to drink some tea (mmmm, Country Peach Passion) and read for contracts.

::

Week 2 starts tomorrow. I finished all of my reading for tomorrow and read for one of my Tuesday classes. Not bad. But...

I am feeling the need to put myself on a schedule. Otherwise, time will just evaporate. Or, I will spend time screwing off when I should be studying and feeling guilty when I should be really trying to unwind.

Things I want to make sure I have time for:

* Quality time with the fam (husband and dog)
* Sleeeeepppp
* Hanging out with my non law school friends. AND, talking about something other than law school
* Working out (a mix of yoga and what I like to call running but is really walking with a sprint at the end)
* Beautifying
* Reading my new favorite blog: www.gofugyourself.typepad.com. Way better than US Weekly's fashion police pages.

Have my first property class tomorrow. The first assignment was, um, pretty craptastic. So, I'm interested to see what the class is like.

Woo -hoo -- Weekend!

Today's consumption -- 4 cups coffee, 2 glasses wine (so far).

I survived the first week. Sure, it was hard and I'm pretty tired. There were definitely some times where I felt kind of dumb. And, some of the people around me have vibrating little stress auras around them that start getting to me.

BUT, I like it. And that is a very, very good feeling.

GUILT

I should not be blogging right now or going to see my friend and her parents in roughly 45 minutes. I should be reading, or thinking. According to our posted class assignment I should be doing both in order to be prepared for my first Civ Pro class tomorrow.

But I have to say that I am feeling a little wiped out for the day. Already. Only had 2 classes but between preparing for and actually attending them, I don't know if I can fit anything else in my brain right now.

I told myself that I was gonig to have a life while in law school. This is still the goal, but, I'll have to find away around guilt.

Study Break

The worst one ever.

I was reading contracts like a good new 1L. And the doorbell rings -- yay, FedEx delivering my printer! For some background, the dog hates doorbells and delivery men. I made the mistake of walking out of my apartment door without my keys. Well, Mingus in a barking and jumping crazy maniac sort of state manages to lock the deadbolt. Okay, I'm just locked out. Annoying, especially as I haven't showered and am wearing a dirty sweatshirt and no shoes, but no big deal. UMMMM, until I remembered I had a tea kettle on. My neighbors tried to help me break in but that didn't work. My husband was going to trek home, pretty miffed to tell his boss that his dog locked his wife out while she was making tea. One of the neighbors, God bless him, suggested driving me to meet Seth and pick up his keys.

So, I'm now back inside, the house didn't burn down and I'm not speaking to the dog.

Day 2

Second day of orientation started with a sample class. I'd done the reading and thought I was prepared. And, for the first half of the class, I pretty much was. Luckily I volunteered some answers during that point so that I wasn't too worried about being called on during the "oh shit, I have no idea what he's talking about" portion of the class.

The rest of orientation was only marginally helpful. Repeated themes --maintain balance, spend time with your family, do what works for you study-wise. Had to love yesterday's voice of dissent, a professor who said maintaining balance is great but the reality is that we'll always be expected to be prepared and it will take a ton of time and we have to accept that, as will our friends and family.

Some people are wound a little tight already, and I am trying REALLY hard to avoid that. Not that I feel entirely confident about anything I need to do between now and my first real class, but I figure I have roughly 15 weeks to loose it.

On a slightly different note...my wonderful friends want to take me out for drinks tomorrow as a fun send off. I felt like a loose-bag saying no, but going out for "a" drink always turns into more and it just doesn't seem like a good move for the first day. I'm suggesting we go out Friday and hoping they don't think I'm already boring and ungrateful.

::

Just home from the first day of orientation. Exciting! It was actually a lot better than I'd anticipated. Seeing familiar faces from my LSAT prep class, one of whom is in my section, was especially great.

There were a lot of speeches (mostly good and some even inspiring), even more mingling, and an amazing amount of handouts and paperwork to fill out. The speech on safety in our campus neighborhood was amusing and slightly scary, I'm sure even more so for the students new to the city.

And now, it's time to do some reading. Or have a glass of wine? Maybe both?

Attitude

It's really happening -- I'm finally starting school tomorrow. Okay, it's just orientation. But, regardless...I'm relieved to start. Having time off has not been so good for me. I've spent too much time spinning my wheels and thinking about how bad this could be.

What's up with my bad attitude? I need to remember is how good this could be. I made this choice. I want to do this. And I'm going to. And I might even like it and I might even do well.

Time to flip the laundry...

Already broke

Even with the gift certificate, books set me back by $546.12. Add the new computer, printer, and supplies, plus the study aids I've yet to buy and it's going to be a slim 5 months.

I opened the mail hoping for a mysterious check from a generous benefactor. Instead I got an AOL CD.

At least the bookstore was efficient. I gave them my name and they handed me a very heavy bag with all my required books ready to go.

Habits

Assignments are posted for 2 of my classes so far. I'm buying my books tomorrow with the intention of reading a little while we're camping this weekend. (My awesome ex-coworkers gave me a hefty gift certificate to the bookstore as a going away present which will seriously help on the budget.) Seth and the boys are going fishing on Saturday, and since I'm not much of a fisher, I'll have some time. But, I might just be lazy with the dog at the beach. It is my last weekend of freedom, after all.

One habit that I'm going to try to keep while in law school -- free Friday nights. My goal is to give myself 5pm on Friday - 5pm on Saturday off.

A habit that has to stop is my afternoon glass of wine.

Just watched...

...Hotel Rwanda. Great movie. Made me feel like a total dumb ass for worrying about tomorrow's CD alphabetizing task.

And to all a good night

Just had wine and dinner with a lawyer friend and a law student friend. We met through planning our respective weddings. They offer great perspective on law school and life. More importantly, they're a hell of a lot of fun.

The husband is enjoying his red meat dinner (only gets to eat it when I'm not dining with him) of -- ewww, ewww, ewww -- oxtails. My upstairs neighbors, called by the rest of us the pimps or the bros, are bumping some pretty bad hip hop with their unparalleled subwoofer. The fire department was here minutes ago investigating a false alarm. Probably pulled by the crazy neighbor who likes to shoot guns, throw fireworks, and practice archery in our back yard. Bonus -- he does this in the almost nude (think 60 year old overweight man in tighty whities) and with any of the building's four canine friends running around off leash in the yard.

It's going to be awesome to study here starting next week.

::

Ugh - it's a grumbly morning.

::
With one week of freedom left, what did I do yesterday? I spent 6 hours at Public Storage. We've had a lot of stuff in storage for a loooong time. I hired a hauling service to take it all to the dump. They told me during our original phone conversation (after I explained to them how much CRAP we had) that they could handle it, no problem, in one trip for a flat fee of $500. I got to the storage place at 11, when we agreed to meet. I waited until noon. Finally one guy showed up. Then, the truck showed up. I about died. It was a pick up truck. With a camper shell. And, STUFF ALREADY IN THE BACK. It took 3 trips to the dump. And I waited, all day, at Public Storage.

::
I just opened 3 envelopes from the company financing my first year. They all came on the same day and they all contained the same information about different types of loans I'm taking out. Why send 3 envelopes? Of course, being annoyed about envelopes is really a diversion. Seeing again how much money I am borrowing and how much interest I'll ultimately pay on that is just frightening. I could rant for a while about how unfair the increase in tuition at state schools is, but I don't want to make myself *more* cranky.

::
I am obsessively checking the class assignments online. So far, none posted for any of my classes.

The dog is whining right now too. Time to go to the park.

Houston, we have a schedule.

Okay, less to freak out about now. My schedule was finally posted online. Doesn't look too terrible. Wednesday's will suck, but everything else looks fine.

My classes are property, contracts, Civ Pro, torts, and of course legal writing and research.

Budget Bonus - we'll only need to have the dog walker come twice a week.

I also talked to a friend who said that I lucked out with the profs. that I got. One is new, and three are supposedly awesome. Looking up, looking up.

Orientation dreamin'

When I was planning my wedding, I frequently dreamed about all of the things that could go wrong. I got the date wrong, no one showed up (including Seth), etc. When a friend was pregnant, I had anxiety dreams about being pregnant and being a mom. She even returned the favor and had anxiety dreams about going to law school. (Thanks, F!)

Last night, I had my first law school dream -- orientation as an episode of survivor. The nervous crop of 1Ls showed up at school for the first day of orientation fun. Admissions staff smuggled us to an island where we competed for books, classes, and food from a moving jungle rope system. Weird, but pretty funny.

I think I would feel better if I at least had my freaking schedule for next semester. I'm slightly miffed that I might not know what I'm in for until 3 days before classes start.

Western Addition

Sadly, my old neighborhood is now statistically the most dangerous in San Francisco. I lived there with 3 roomates, all female. We never felt unsafe. Maybe that was because our block was okay. Or because the neighborhood wasn't so bad then. I loved our apartment, our street, our location. My thoughts go out to the residents there now.

On a happier nod to my old 'hood...for those of you who live in San Francisco and like indie music, I highly recommend 93.7 Western Addition Radio.

On weird injuries

We recently took a trip to Puerto Vallarta. We came back with pretty funky rashes on our stomachs and were slightly freaked. Was it fungal? Bacterial? Some crazy parasite? Nope. Turns out it was a combo of citric acid and sun burn. Yup, a large squirt of lime juice combined with sun.

Between that and being bitten by a raccoon in my back yard, I think I'll win any contest for stupid injuries :P

Things you shouldn't do

On a bus: Please, please, please, do not pop your zits while riding the bus. Ever. I could go into more detail, but I don't think it's necessary.

To soon to be (or maybe current?) law students: Please refrain from saying, "Wow, you’re going to make so much money once you're done." Not everyone is going to law school to get the type of job that pays a ton. And, even if they are, there is no guarantee they'll be hired at that type of job. There's nothing wrong with going to law school to make a decent (or even amazing) salary. But, I really don't want to have to lie and say, "Sure grandma, I'm going to be rich in about 5 years. Just wait; I'll buy you that Benz you've always wanted." Nor do I want to explain my plans for the future, or the amount of debt I'll be in when I graduate, or how the latter could negatively impact the former.

Vain and Trite

While swimming around on the Web, I found this post that describes some law student blogs as vain and trite. I hope mine doesn't fall into this category, but it might. And if it does, please e-mail me or comment and let me know that's the case. I might change things about it. Or, I might not.

Reading that statement compelled me to decide why I am blogging about an experience that has been written about many, many times. Is it to say something really original? Probably not. I think there are 2 main reasons why I'm blogging. First up: I've always been "a writer." Since I've been writing for a Web site ever since graduating from college, blogging seems a pretty natural and easy way to write. Reason number 2: I *love* reading the blogs of other law students. Especially Sua Sponte.

I think that writing about oneself, whether online or in print, requires a bit of egotism that can easily border on vein. And, most things that are written have been written before. But, trite doesn't always mean untrue...

Agreed.

Why Law has promised to stay sane and healthy, and even try to make law school fun.

I'm with ya sister! A very smart lawyer friend of mine said something that I've held onto. "Just treat it like something new you're doing. Like a new job where you want to do really well."

I'm not in denial. I know it's going to be hard, and sometimes frustrating, and it's not happy fun time. BUT. It's also not freak out and loose your life completely time. So there.

Desk - check!

Picked up my desk last night. It's pretty great -- funky and functional. Of course, I had to spend about 4 hours rearranging furniture and cleaning to make it fit. I'm glad I'm loving it now -- I'm sure to hate it after spending long amounts of time sitting there over the next year. Mingus loves it too - his bed fits nicely by it, and it's a perfect den for him.

Speaking of the pooch, today was the second day that I got soaked by sprinklers at the park. Yesterday he decided to do his business by one. Right as I was picking it up -- bam -- hit with a harsh spray. Today we had to walk through them to cross the street and get home. It's really hard to take yourself at all seriously when you are holding a bag of dog poo in one hand, a slobbery tennis ball in the other, and thoroughly soaked on one side.

And in more relevant matters... I've been thinking a lot about law school lately. Not that that's at all profound. I should be thinking a lot about it. I'm starting next week. But, ever since our wedding in May, I've been having some doubts. When I was studying for the LSAT and applying, I was so completely sure that I was *meant* to go to law school. I had lists and charts about why it was the perfect thing for me to do. I used said lists and charts to convince my mom that it was a good idea. I had conviction and confidence about it. For the most part I still do. But, like a lot of people, I feel like choosing something involves a lot of giving up other things. And, in the midst of working while studying for the LSAT, researching schools, and applying, I didn’t have a chance to mourn lost options. Sure, that’s being dramatic. They’re not lost. They’re just not a priority right now. But, a tiny little part of me is still a little sad that I didn’t opt for the starving writer route.

500 Square

No one should have to live in an apartment that is under 500 square feet -- especially not two people and a pretty big dog. It makes every attempt to buy furniture way too dificult. "Oh, that's a great CD rack, and it would actually hold all of our CDs. Too bad that it's about 5 inches too wide to take up the last remaining wall space in our living room/ kitchen combo."

So, thin wobbly CD rack and CDs spilling out all over the apartment it is.

The main point of furniture shopping today was trying to set up my study space, really a desk next to our bed. Found an awesome funky desk for pretty cheap on Craigslist. But, a tiring trip to Ikea and Target proved that there are very few stylish and functional office chairs in my price range. At least I found the barstools we've been wanting for a year and a half, and a cool lamp... and my backpack was delivered yesterday...and I am now the pround owner of no less than 30 highlighters. Okay, so the shopping trip wasn't *too* bad.

If you have any suggestions on good places to buy reasonable, stylish, and comfy desk chairs, lemme know!

...an hour later

I have a list about 20 pages long of things I need to do before school starts-- change the oil in my ancient car, buy a desk, walk the dog approximately 57 times. But, I decided to spend the last hour setting up this blog. Only about 30 seconds of that was spent actually setting up the blog. The rest of the time was spent trying to name it. Maybe blogging is not such a good idea for me...

Oh well. I'm going to do it anyway. Two weeks from today I am starting law school. I've stopped reading all the material designed to freak out hopeful or imminent law students. I've stopped begging my friends currently in law school to give me advice. I've started running.

People keep asking me if I'm excited. I was. Sometimes I am. But, since I've now had 2 full weeks without work -- and have 2 more to go, I find myself thinking of ways to ask Seth if I can be a stay at home wife.