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I just received my word for the day. It is: atrabilious \at-ruh-BIL-yuhs\, adjective: 1. Melancholic; gloomy. 2. Irritable; ill-natured; peevish. Does this portend what my day has in store?
Ironic isn't it? The judge who sided against the Do-Not-Call List has his own office on the list. But he got what for from everyone else who wasn't bound by such a list. (Thanks to How Appealing for the link.)
Y'know what, Anarchy in the UK by the Sex Pistols and Hangar 18 by Megadeth are totally appropriate tunes for sitting in the library reading Administrative Law. I just have to make sure I don't headbang too much and knock myself out in my carrel. To others who are sitting in library across the country killing themselves slowly with reading, I say rock out! And to my spouse who created this mini-disc of tunes, I say you are the best! Rock on man!
Just when you though the conservative bible thumping movement couldn't get any weirder, you get Revolve, a sassy teen fashion-mag/New Testament Bible. To get a real feel for this (and get a few laughs), read "Jesus Doesn't Wear Prada", a piece from SFGate.
Yes, the brief went in with 7 hours to spare. It was a proud moment. Now, we must prepare to argue. I'm holding out for the 10% of the points on comportment. We'll be well dressed. I'll honestly be surprised if we make it to the second round, but if we do, oooh, gotta party. If not, we'll go to the final round for the big soiree at the end. Our expectations are not super high.
9 hours of sleep in two days. My head feels like it might fall off my neck. It still ain't finished. I live near a 24 hour Kinkos. This is a good thing. The email reminding us that there needs to be seven copies handed in came like a brick upside the head. Somehow missed that in the read through the rules of the competition. Oh, and the copies for us...and the copies we need to exchange with the other teams. I'm thinking 15 might be a good round number. People are skipping classes left and right, and for once the journal members are laughing at us because they weren't insane enough to step on to this treadmill. Does it make sense? Who knows. After having both my ego and skill crushed under the pointy heel of my LW&R professor last year, I have no idea whether I can even string together a sentence let alone an appellate brief worthy of this competition. Give me a procedural history to write though and I can turn out a good one. Tight, concise, and informative. Give me a point heading to write, and I want to crawl under my carrel and sob. And I want to do this for a living?
The brief is nearly finished. While I was able to figure out Latin at 3:00 am last year, about 2:00 is the point when any sort of brief writing breaks down. I already have doubts with my writing, but 2:00 was a break point where I was stating out loud that nothing made sense anymore. Not even the Worlds Most Amazing Animals on Animal Planet. But I pressed on, somehow compelled to slog through an insane 9 part test of veracity in hearsay statements. In the end it didn't make it through my editing. I now need to call on the power of Greyskull, or the WonderTwins to figure out what the point headings should be. The mechanics of this process are beyond my ken. Question is, will I remember anything I read this morning when I have to argue this bad boy?
Yeah, getting to a 10 o'clock class should be exponentially easier than an 8:30 class, right? WRONG! After 9:00, and heck, sometimes before 9:00, the ancient ones come out. These are the people who have a list of physicians longer than my reading assignments for Administrative Law and drive very large luxury vehicles at very slow speeds to get to their appointments. That's the worst thing about where the law school is, it's deep in the heart of specialist land. Normally all of this nonsense invokes a strong urge for road rage, until this morning. Why you ask? Because my spouse, the loving soul he is, bought me air horns. Yes you read it right folks, make-your-head-snap-what-the-hell-was-that-sound air horns. While he did this out of love, he also did it out of having driven my car over the weekend and not been able to get the idiots to stop doing idiotic things with my horn. I had forgotten about the air horn installation since I was holed up doing reading at the time. However, when I got the ancient ones this morning stopping for the green lights because they couldn't remember where their doctor was, I hit that horn and yes, I was immediately reminded what my goal in life was. Scare the hell out of the idiots! And I was empowered. And I felt good. Of course, you might say, "Beanie, isn't this cruel?" or "Beanie, what if they have a heartattack due to your horn?" To which I say, I have a cell phone and I will call for help, but there are no good samaritan laws here. So yes, fear my horn.
I do believe the cold is beginning to ebb. A good dosing of green tea and udon soup tonight should do just the trick...and inari...mmmm inari. Anyway, I was a diligent working sneezing person this weekend, and got all of my reading done and a good jump on the appellate brief for moot court. Like I said before hearsay, I've got a girl who's named hearsay. Sorry. Research is like riding a bicycle, no matter how hard you fall off and bump your head you get right back on without a helmet. Mixed metaphors aside, I think I may have figured out what the problem is here, and perhaps if I click my heels together three times a brief might fly out of my butt. What?!?
I know that I should comment on the cover letter cum petition that was put up on The Smoking Gun that will most likely get Matthew Toll an interview. While I give him all the props for actually showing creativity in a cover letter, I find a chunk of the petition repugnant.
All sarcasm aside, the paragraphs concerning ethics and billable hours were beyond the pale. To actually come out and state that you would work within the ethical guidelines set down by the state is something that made me blink. If I were hiring, I would find his statements in the line of "he doth protest too much." It goes without saying that he would work ethically, because if he didn't I'd let him swing before a ethics committee, and it goes without saying.
The following paragraph about what he'd be willing to do as a shill for the firm are downright offensive, and more so if I were the hiring coordinator. To come out and even hint that he would have to do any of the things he said in order to be a valued member of the firm is just wrong. Now this is not to say I have my head in the sand as to how Biglaw works, I know that it's not unheard of for any of those things to happen, it's another to show them to the light of day. It's one of those unsaid things. While he may feel that sarcasm or honesty is the best policy, if I received it in the mail, it'd be pitched in the trash can.
Call me cynical, call me unemployed, but I agree with Jeremy, "If this guy gets a job out of this, and he probably will, there's something wrong with the world."
I'm not sure what the moral of this story is...don't sing in your car with the windows down? Or don't sing along with Justin? You be the judge.
Well being sick is definitely cutting into my schoolwork. Sleeping until noon today was not what I had in mind to get things done. The cold seems to be held at bay, at least it doesn't seem to be getting anything worse. A bowl of wonton soup and a hot shower later and I think I'm feeling a bit more human. Anyone want to read my admin law book for me? Or even better, I need a crash course on hearsay...I know I know, I should have taken evidence this semester.
Instead of Bluebeard, just call me Sneezy...get ready for Talk Like a Pirate Day! Of course I'll be in bed sleeping in tomorrow, cause regardless of the number of orange things I consumed I still have a cold. I did have a smoothie for lunch with an "immune booster". Whether it did anything more than boost some extra money from my wallet we'll see. It could be worse though, I could have no power like North Carolina. (For those who are keeping score, I do not live in North Carolina.)
I fear I may be coming down with a cold. It's that sort of sneezy on the edge of something bad feeling. I hope it holds off through tomorrow, Thursdays always suck. Get me to Friday, I'll sleep all day. Think happy no cold thoughts. I am currently drinking orange soda in hopes that orange colored things might help.
Tuesday, what can I say about today? I didn't fall asleep in class. Tuesday is rough since my classes start at 8:30. Yeah, I know I could have prevented this fate, but I have to have something to whine about. Tack on the commute and I'm getting up way too early. Thing is though I never ever fall asleep in class. Last year during 1L I watched people doze fitfully about me in Civ Pro, and never once did my head even bob. I take great pride in this. I may not be understanding a thing that's being said, but dammit I'm awake and in my world that counts for something.
From the "I can't believe I didn't know that" department...
Maybe I slept through that part of Civ Pro, or Con Law, or Legal Research...but I didn't know that each circuit is assigned a justice from the Supreme Court. Since the California recall debacle is in the 9th circuit, an emergency appeal can be handled by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, since she has jurisdiction over appeals from the 9th Circuit. (Thanks to Jurist for the information.) And if you, like myself, wanted to know how the rest of the circuits are divvied up, feel free to look at this allotment table. (in pdf format)
Oh NLRB how I love you so...two classes with you just aren't enough. And to throw Learned Hand at me on top of it all...I just may swoon. Makes not
getting the interview at the firm I worked at before seem not so painful. How can you not love a man who used the word mesne in a sentence?
Update: That's what I get for even referencing the NLRB in a post...I get called on Admin Law and forced to discuss the vagaries of Learned Hand and Felix Frankfurter's take on the Taft-Hartley Act. The professor found that I had acquitted myself quite well, but I beg to differ.
Seems the East Coast may be in for a wild ride over the next few days. If the plot of Hurricane Isabel goes as NOAA predicts it will, looks like Washington, D.C. is the prime target. Part of me is very intrigued by all of this since for a brief portion of my college career I was an atmospheric science major. The other part of me is a tad freaked out about what a very strong Category 4 storm could do to the Delmarva peninsula. I can't say I remember Hurricane Gloria all that well, but something is telling me this isn't going to be pretty. Stay safe people.
After reading Dylan's blog today he posed a very valid question wondering aloud what it is about blogs that make other people read them. This question also lends itself to a follow up question, "Why do you blog?" I will attempt to answer both. Why do I read blogs? For many of the same reasons Dylan stated, I like to see what the law school experience is like from other points of view. Also, to see if my experience is abnormal, and further to live vicariously through those students lucky enough to be eminently successful at this 3 year quest through hell.
Why do I blog? I find it surprising that I do this and have been doing this for quite a while now. Until now the longest I have ever kept a written journal was approximately a month in second grade, and I was forced to do it by the teacher. It is certainly easier to keep a journal in this format, and knowing that I'm doing this for more than myself makes it a bit more worthwhile. I have found that I like seeking out advice and comments from my fellow students and lawyers. Perhaps it's ego, perhaps it's a want to be anonymously famous...whoa talk about an oxymoron. Anyway, I hope to keep doing this throughout the rest of my student days and hope I keep putting things here that make you want to keep reading.
I think I figured out what happened to last Thursday. It's alot like what happened this Thursday. You get five classes in one day and you're too burnt by the end of the day to care let alone blog. Of course, Thursday is the night to drink at our school, but half of us have to work the next day so that cuts down on numbers right there. I like spending a quiet evening at home, with my vodka and lemonade, spouse by my side catching up on the TiVo. It's amazing what accumulates on the "Now Playing List" by the end of the week. A lone South Park, a couple Queer Eyes, one World Rally Championship race from Australia, one Weekend Warriors, one Good Eats, and an Insomniac. What can I say...I'm eclectic.
After reading about the slight debacle at the Supreme Court regarding Laurence Gold, I was struck by the one sentence in the article that stated that Court rules bar lawyers from identifying themselves in any detail. After doing a cursory search in the Supreme Court Rules, I was unable to spot the local rule that sets this out. Is it a local or federal rule? And if so, any one have a clue as to why it exists other than to prevent attorneys appearing before the court rattling off half their CV to impress someone? I just like knowing that Scalia got put off guard by an attorney who he thought might be an interloper.
It's the time of year where people are wearing suits to school left and right. Some wear the suits for interviews, some wear the suits for class labs in Trial Tactics or Witness Examination. I am not one of these people. Most days I feel like a slob. At least I have an excuse to wear my thong sandals since I'm healing up the backs of my heels from the weekend. Still, I feel a bit morose and disappointed that I haven't gotten an interview yet. I know I have skills but with my grades it doesn't matter. I'm not sure I could explain them if I did get an interview. Ah well, I guess the next best thing to do is to throw myself into the Moot Court competition. I may not be on a journal, but it doesn't mean I'm a total loser. Well maybe I'm a minor loser, but I make the rest of the class look good.
Have to enjoy a week that starts off with a power outage. Scarily enough I woke up on my own way before I had to, realized that there was a power outage and was able to deal with it by eating a donut. Having had no true weekend, the brain was in denial that it was actually Monday and refused to concentrate on anything beyond simple statements. My notes show it. I'm hoping tomorrow is a better day.
Sorry to leave you all hanging last week. I had business out of town to attend to and left at the buttcrack of dawn Friday (which makes me wonder...what happened Thursday?). How sad is it when you have to pack a law book and highlighters when leaving town for a weekend. Highlights? A lovely dinner with my spouse at a trendy restaurant with an expensive trendy drink menu. And yes, I had one and felt mildly trendy. Spent one night in a hotel with a fabulous view with my spouse. Lowlights? Spent one night without my spouse in a trendy hotel with a trendy lobby and teeny tiny rooms. Trucked my butt around town lugging way too much stuff in shoes which blistered my feet in three spots. I'm home now and this is good. I'm not standing on my blistered feet, also good. Spouse and I are back in the same spot...very very good.
Can I admit to liking classes without being some sort of sycophant? Now I'm not the type of person to gush about the academic hyperbole that is usually served up in my courses, especially last year, but this year I might actually be learning things. Don't jump to the conclusion that I enjoy every minute of every day here and that I live for discourse that goes on in each of my classes, far from it. In fact, there a couple classes I could happily do without. However, there are actually 3 classes this semester I'm flat out enjoying, and one which isn't particularly bad to go to. From me this is high praise indeed. I've been bold enough to participate in a class more than once without the pain inflicted by being sought out by the professor. My Legal Research course, unlike last year, is one of the best classes I've been to, including my undergrad years. I've learned more in that class in two sessions than I learned in a full year of legal research and writing. The professor is the research librarian here, and the man is brilliant. He's a wealth of knowledge both useful and not so useful but cool to know. I learned more in 20 minutes about Canada than I ever knew before, and I watch News World International. So what does this make me anyway?
I think I'm too tired to care. Yeah, so I got all screwed up and overslept over the weekend, but I also had to get up early to take the spouse to the courthouse for jury duty. He had never been called before, and neither have I (knock on wood). It just has made for a terribly long day, and I currently have the ambition of a tree sloth. You should be lucky I wrote this much. I need to sleep.
Wow, Howard Bashman came back from vacation and I'm overwhelmed with the stories I missed reading! For instance, it seems that Abercrombie and Fitch's Hollister chain owns the number 22. To prove their common-law rights to this number, they're suing American Eagle. I think I should line up now and claim number 17. I've always liked 17. I may have to sue Matt Kenseth for rights, but I can't talk about that...it's NASCAR-related and would be unbecoming a possible attorney. Just suffice it to say...17 is mine, and you heard it here first.
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