Loaf of advice

So, I'm at the grocery store picking up some sour dough for dinner. The woman in line behind me sees my school ID and decides to talk to me for quite some time about how great it is that I'm going to be a lawyer. My initial thought was "Dude, I just want to go home and have a glass of wine." But, it was nice to finally hear someone outside my circle of comfort encourage my choice rather than tell me I was going to end up miserable and unfulfilled. Her parting words of advice "Just remember when someone tells you a lawyer joke, here's how you respond: It's easy to laugh at lawyers until you realize you need one." Thanks A!

Socrataratabobatic

BAM. I got called on today in contracts. It was bound to happen, and I was totally prepared -- if I'd been asked about the stuff we read for today. But noooo, I was the first person called on and he asked me to recap a bunch of rules from last week. It didn't help that he prefaced it with "Oh, this is a no brianer." I didn't think it was a no brainer, and I was sure I responded with non English and sounded like a complete ass. Apparently, I did make sense and I was right, although incomplete, in my answer.

I have yet to give any sort of advice on this blog. Here's a tiny bit -- if you get called on in calss and think you sounded dumb, you probably didn't. Don't be like me and dwell on it, spending 10 minutes of class trying to get the blush out of your face and ignoring the lecture.

Another gift

Today West law hosted a buddy reception at our school. My buddy was very sweet and helpful. And...I won a bottle of wine. A magnum actually. Froogle tells me it is worth approximately $15.

The practical reason I'm married

The husband was gone last night and today on a fishing trip. It was awesome to have the house to myself, but I sadly ate Ritz crackers and Ben and Jerry's Fossil Fuel for dinner after studying too long. Then I drank too much wine while watching Alfie (not the greatest movie, but Jude law could read the constitution out loud and I'd be glued to the screen).

He's home now and I had fresh grilled cod and veggies for dinner. The dog is happier too, but I'll wager that when he doesn't get to sleep in the bed he'll be pissed.

Thus begins weeks seven...

Prof. Batman

Our torts prof is an upper middle aged man who I love. Today, he took a timeout from class because he "forgot something." He came back in a batman costume. (Not totally irrelevant. We were reading a case where the plaintiff clamied that her car could fly like batman's does.) Now I love him even more. Oh, and the best part was that the costume was all askew (ie, the mask was facing the wrong way).

Exam schedule - check.

My school released the final exam schedule. I have to say that it's very fair. My section has exams spaced out on December 6, 9, 13, and 16. Two of those are am (8:30) and two are pm (1:30). I'm conflicted about having the contracts exam first. Good to get it out of the way, but worried that I will do, or think I did, poorly on it, and screwing up my chi for the others.

Less than three months to go. Heh.

iPod philosophy

My husband and I share an iPod. As an only child, I must say that this arrangement presents some challenges for me. Anyway, I get custody on Wednesdays, my most hellish days. Sometimes, having almost our entire music collection at my fingertips is too much. Making a choice paralyzes me. Today, not yet caffeinated and feeling frumpy, I decided to make two play lists to fit into my pattern: pump me up songs for the morning and songs to decompress on the ride home. I have not yet actually made the play lists, but here's what worked for today:

Woo-hoo! I'm going to law school TODAY. YEAH! Play list for the morning

The Killers -- All the Things that I Have Done. This is a good starter. It begins slowly, awakening little pockets of my mind. The repetition of "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier" is akin to spirit brainwashing, and say, football warm-ups.
Gorillaz -- Feel Good. This just makes me feel cool and happy, despite the fact that I look like an idiot carrying a hiking backpack that weighs roughly 67 lbs, have acne again, and see dark circles orbiting around my eyes every morning. By the way, today a woman who looked to be about 85 and was half my size was sitting on Muni in front of where I stood. She offered to hold my back pack for me. That did not make me feel good.
Rolling Stones -- Start me Up. Actually, that one isn't even on our iPod. I'm going to fix that momentarily.
Fall Out Boy – Sugar We’re Going Down Swinging. Dude. I have a soft spot for pop punk. I’m from SoCal.

Fuck, that was a long day and maybe I hate my life and I need songs to help me lick my wounds…Play list for the ride home

Pinback – I try to listen to all of self titled, but get impatient and end up playing Loro on repeat a time or two.
Otis Redding – Sitting on the Dock of the Bay. Wouldn’t that beat sitting on Muni looking at the protruding stomach of a woman with scabies.
Damien Rice – Pretty much anything will fit the bill.
Modest Mouse – Broke, Other People’s Lives, Talking Shit About a Pretty Sunset
And, finally, I am sick of being depressed so I switch to Bright Eyes. Heh. But, at least I choose the really abrasive angry song #3 on Fevers and Mirrors. It’s called the Calendar Hung Itself or something equally uplifting.

Artists that tried and failed:
Mason Jennings. I love him, but his songs make me want to drop out of school and drive through the redwoods in a pick up with S and the dog.
Kelly Clarkson, Beyonce, Ashlee Simpson, The Black Eyed Peas. I think I’m just over them. If you have recommendations for cheesy pop or good hip hop, lemme know!

Dogs and logic

Apparently the "reasonable person test" applies to dogs as well. There has been at least one case (maybe someday when I get a Lexis password, I'll look for more) that applies a "reasonable dog" standard in evaluating whether a dog's bite was adequately provoked.

I read this out loud and Mingus seems impressed. He assures me that he would never bite unreasonably.

::

At the start of this law school thing, I planned to give myself Friday nights and Saturdays off. I was going to be the picture of balance. I was going to be even more balanced than I was pre law school when I pretty much came home from work and either ate and drank at home or ate and drank out with friends. I also thought that I could get everything done between 8am and 6pm every on the weekdays. Heh.

My life isn't completely consumed…yet. I can still take walks and showers at least. Apparently the end of September will end any semblance of balance I have. Any 1L survivors care to comment on this fact? I’m definitely in denial. At lease 3 of my professors are canceling a few classes for Jewish holidays.

Thus begins week six (!?!)

Rockin the 'brary

Today in the 'brary, while drowning in LWR, I overheard the librarian tell another student that the 1Ls at the school across the bay get access to Lexis and Westlaw their first semester. "But, our graduates have a much better understanding of what the online databases are searching." Yeah, that makes me feel so much better.

Hectic, hectic week. Put in twelve hours today and am expecting only slightly less today and tomorrow. Besides the normal work, I observed the ninth circuit in action (pretty cool) and am working on a journal application. Fingers crossed - it would be awesome to work on this journal as a 1L.

The good news is that the end of the week looks lighter and I have fun plans lined up for the weekend. Friday: a night out with M and F and all of our significant others at a cool little pizza joint that serves champagne and pomegranite cockitails. Saturday: a good friend is celebrating a quarter of a century of life with a slumber party. Good times ahead...if I can just make it though the week!

This is your brain on law school

Too much contracts reading on a Friday night (no, I'm not that much of a dork, I was babysitting and the kids were asleep) will lead you to remember 2-708 of the UCC, but forget your cell phone. ARG.

Ummmm...

Okay, I need to log off and spend some time regrouping. But, this, I had to share. Apparently, W's mom, Mrs. Bush the first had the following to say about Katrina evacuees:

"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."

Good.

I was a bit miffed that my school hadn't taken in law students from places affected by the hurricane. Turns out I was wrong. A classmate met a few students from Louisiana today. I'm glad they're here.

Some gifts

Civ pro has been cancelled for tomorrow. And, Professor Torts brought cookies for the whole class today.

See, law school can be fun.

Something thoughtful

It's Sunday. The extra weekend day washed down with the glass of wine I'm drinking rendered me reflective.

Yesterday, trying to purge, I went through a host of old papers I wrote in undergrad writing classes. Some of them were really good. Good enough to get into a writing program at least as good as my law school. I know I'm supposed to be reflecting on law school, but my hardest part of law school is something that I thought I had figured out over a year ago.

My feelings about school are jumbled and change on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis. When things are going well, I feel confident that I made the right choice. But, when the crap starts flying, my immediate reaction isn't, well, law school (especially the first year) is hard, and this is just part of the deal. Instead, I let myself spiral into an existential debate. Self, maybe this is harder for you than it is for everyone else. And, maybe the reason that it's harder is because you made THE wrong decision about who you should be and you, my dear, will regret it for the rest of your life.

A cab driver I rode with yesterday seems to agree with my latter version. As he was driving me to the library, he asked what I wanted to do with my law degree. When I responded, he said, "Are you SURE? You know, you'll be stressed out all the time and stress affects your marriage and your children. Stress is the number one reason for divorce and you really don't want to be unhappy." Actually, I'm looking forward to an unfulfilling life of unhappiness. Prick.

Then again, a bus driver in undergrad told me I should do "Something fucking employable" when I told him I was an English major. And really, their advice (or anyone else's for that matter) have nothing to do with my own doubt. Doubt that created a place where I can blame anything remotely suckish about school.

If I can ignore/ extinguish that doubt, I think I will be in a much better place.

Speaking of Saved By The Bell

I spent a lot of time today stuck on MUNI (do I ever shut up about the bus??). Long story, has to do with a bus driver freaking out about today's fare strike. Anyhow, when I wasn't eavesdropping on the conversation of an older woman recently converted to Marxism, I was craving a wireless connection to update this blog.

3 ish weeks in, here are my observations/ thoughts:

The goods:
* I scored in the professor department. I at least like all of them, and love a couple.
* I'm interested in things I thought I would hate.
* Selling a kidney for money? I could make an argument (k, maybe not a great one, but give me a few weeks) for either side.
* My English degree, totally helpful.

The bads:
* It is very easy to feel inadequate or like a slacker. There are already people having study-group-athons. While study groups have never been my thing, I hear this and think, should I be doing that? Am I prepared enough? Am I working hard enough? Is there ever enough time? (Think Jessie Spano)
* This gets especially frustrating in the light that I'll get essentially no feedback until exam time.
* I'm very easily annoyed. Am also, in general, judgmental. NOT GOOD when you have class with the same 80 people. Must work on this.

The ugly:
* LWR (law student-ese for Legal Writing and Research). I know, I know, it's useful. It's also a total PIMA (pain in...you get it).