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In lieu of the sushi memo and Fragrant Lotus's milk debacle I found an article that even made me say what the f@*%?!? Seems this woman who has been a office manager for a law office for 20 years, gets called for jury duty. Wanting to do her civic duty, she serves and gets selected for a 3 day criminal trial. She also gets fired. She sues for wrongful termination. Best part of all of this, the attorneys for the defendants have had to file a motion for change of venue because both her father and sister are judges in the area and the other judge may be called as a witness due to her having sat as a juror in his courtroom. Gee, and you're going to argue that it wasn't her civic duty? Further, with her background it must have been damn hard to seat her on a jury.
It may be nearly winter, and it may be raining, but at least it isn't snow...cause if it were, holy crap. And short of totally ruining my chances, suffice it to say I actually scored an on-campus interview. I'm very excited, though that's probably going to hex me too. How can you not like an interview on Halloween? I promise I'll dress up like a lawyer and look all professional like. Made me eat my salad with all sort of new excitement...cause after what seems the infinite day of salads, it's hard to get really pumped up about it. Yeah green leafy vegetables!
Just when you thought being in a war zone wasn't bad enough...Soldier takes exams for law school entry.
Yes, the MPRE class was very good. Unlike most BarBri classes offered here, this one was live. It also was being taught by my Legal Professions professor. It's a damn good thing I like the guy, or that would have been hellish. We didn't get out of there until after 2:30, with no more than a 10 minute break at any one time. Luckily, the spouse packed me a salad, a cheese stick, a cup of jello and a can of lemonade. I was the envy of a lot of people. Hey, I'm a gourmand...a dieting gourmand. 48 pages of outline completed, and I have a good handle on this test. People were comparing notes as to where they're taking the test, and it seems they've opened a second test site here locally. Though we still have people traveling 3 or 4 hours to take it. How many people are taking this thing? Seems that there's just a ton of people coming here to take it, and for the life of me I don't know why. Hell, we had someone in the class yesterday who wasn't a local. Why? Another why...why are there so many questions on judicial ethics? I can understand a smattering of knowledge about the judicial ethics, but do I really need to know if a judge wants to collect for a charity they can only do so within their own level of the court?
Chopsticks May Cause Arthritis, Study Shows. What does this mean? Chinese computer operators are so screwed. And I thought I was carpul tunnel waiting to happen...
I've let you all down...I've been too lax this week about the blogging. On the other hand I am all caught up if not ahead in all my class reading now! I am however forced to sit through 5 hours of MPRE prep this morning, so I'm at school. I've heard between this prep class and the booklet, that I can be prepped in full for this test without a terrible amount of effort.
In the bad news camp, I didn't make the second round of my counseling competition either. I didn't take this nearly as bad as the appellate one, since the amount of effort was considerably less, but still my inadequacy is complete for this semester until I get my grades back in January. It does free up a great deal of time for me over all, but I feel like a giant loser right now. I so need to prove myself in something. The diet is still perking along, albeit slower now. This just doesn't soothe my ego as much as I need right now.
I remember my days as a paralegal...where I schleped coffee for partners, drove their cars to pick up paperwork, did research on house values in areas where they wanted to buy, but never sushi. But if I did, I would hope I would have done as a good a job as this.
Yes, I'm still on my diet. Current tally is that I'm down 7.5 lbs. I think I'm indifferent about my diet now, and that's because of the day I had today. First off, we didn't make the second round of our appellate advocacy competition. My partner and I are rather depressed about this. Some people I talked to were rather stunned we didn't make the next round, but it's any number of possibilities as to why we didn't make it. I went through the steps of loss today over this. I was angry, had some denial and blame for a while, and now I'm just sort of sad. I thought I was good at this, as was my partner, but this proves we're not. I got to top off my sadness by being cold called in Admin. This was a better experience, even though I was terribly confused about the case when I read it. The professor and I went through the case in about 10 minutes and then I was done. I even got a pat on the shoulder and a good job from the professor on his way out. This was a great boost to the ego. The other downer was I offered to hold a potluck dinner for a student group I belong to at our house. This offer was shot down since I don't live within a mile or two of the school. That depressed me too. I recovered from this depression by running a Honda Civic on the way home. Long story short, her gerbils just don't go that fast.
This diet is making me surly. I spent most of the weekend snapping at my spouse for agreeing to do this, and reading my casebooks while mumbling under my breath. You know it's bad when you are sort of glad to be back in school since it takes your mind off of cheese sticks and jello. At the same time it may be affecting my memory, since I left my power cable for my laptop at home this morning. The day has been spent hobbling the laptop along, going so far as to taking notes on paper in one class. This dive back into the non-technologic world has been refreshing, but not something I'll be looking to do regularly. Tonight I counsel another client, and tomorrow we find out whether our witty repartee and sparkling wit has gotten us through to the octofinal round of the appellate advocacy competition. I'm on pins and needles!
Yeah, time is just slipping slipping slipping...into the future. Received my MPRE exam ticket in the mail yesterday. Unlike some of my unfortunate friends, I actually got my first choice for exam location, so I've got the short drive. On the not so good side, it seems I have to have a passport photo taken for the admission ticket. Here I thought I could just show my passport, but no...I need a new picture all together. Who is to say that I couldn't have someone else take the test and have their picture taken? So what if it's an ethics exam?
I guess the proof is in the pudding...or in my case my ricotta dessert like thing I ate last night. Between Monday night and this morning I have lost 3.5 lbs! No one was more surprised than I was. In fact, I figure I had doomed myself by binging on cashews. Who knew they were so tasty? Though really...it seems wrong that I could lose 3.5 lbs in approximately 36 hours. I'm sitting in the library pondering my body consuming itself...it's freaky. So here's to cheese sticks and jello!
First day of the diet is going okay. I've been stuffing myself silly with all sorts of strange items, and I guess I'm losing weight, though it's more than I normally eat so I'm too sure this is going to work. I have a dull headache that I'm chalking up to sugar withdrawal. I didn't drink my V-8 today, since eating breakfast just didn't happen today. I'm not really a breakfast person. All I know is if this works out for me I know half my class is looking at taking it up. I've become a large guinea pig. Or hopefully the incredible shrinking guinea pig.
It's a new year in law school...the time where you are supposed to take yourself more seriously, be more professional, and see the light at the end of the tunnel (though I still hope that it isn't a train). To this end I have taken upon myself to seek a dermatologist and horror of horrors, go on a diet. So yes kids, I am officially on the South Beach Diet. Grocery shopping is a new experience on this diet and now our refrigerator actually looks like adults live here. It's full of vegetables! *gasp* I'm being forced to drink V-8 against my will. I can't have a piece of bread, but I can eat cheese sticks until I turn blue. I really hope this works, otherwise this is going to be two weeks from hell. Get ready!
It's the time of year where election signs pop up on lawns like weeds. I don't give them a whole lot of notice since I'm not fond of the political inclinations of most of my neighbors. However, on the way to my grandparents today I saw a sign for a guy who is running for something and instead of a donkey or elephant or an "I" it had an ice cream cone. What does this mean? Is he implying that he's a sweet guy? Is he implying that somehow he's transcended party lines? Or rather that he's just a party in a cone? We'll never know. I can't vote for him either way since I don't live in that county.
Wee...I miss a couple days and I get a surprise. Fragrant Lotus is back! *big applause*
Sorry for going AWOL for most of this week...time has not been my own. Between a second helping of appellate competition, the beginning of client counseling competition, and my 6 classes, I'm lucky I've had time to sleep. In a way though, I feel strangely empowered. Like Mixtape Marathon had mentioned earlier this semester, in the midst of juggling all these balls, you begin to feel empowered. In my world I am certainly not lazy. Now the real rub is, am I actually doing all of these things well? When the competition results come back we will most certainly know.
Wow, a band name I can really get behind. Me First and The Gimme Gimmes. Scarily enough I'm listening to their cover of "I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly. It's a part rock part ukulele ditty. With a name like that, should I have really been surprised? I need to look into this more.
I've been approached by a number of students who ask me how you learn to type well. I've noticed that lawyers on the whole are not good typists. A good percentage use ye olde hunt-and-peck, or some variant thereof. I learned to type in 7th grade. I also used to MUD (wow, time warp...I'm sure there are people reading this who have no idea what a MUD is...but that's another post). I also was a secretary and paralegal. As a result I clock in at about 80 words a minute these days. Trying to explain to people how to learn to type is like explaining how to speed read. You can take a class, but the most important part is practice. Three Years of Hell posted a website that can actually be referred to as practice. How can you not like a website that allows you to kill zombies by typing like a fiend? If you're not up for the gore, try out Typer Shark, a fun game that lets you zap sharks by also typing like a fiend. It's a great time killer.
Update: That's what I get for giving the website for the zombie demo without seeing if you could download it there. Seems it's busted. However, there are other mirror sites, one of which is here.
Yup, I think I need to be getting myself a Game Cube. First Nintendo lowers the price because they're losing their butts, and now KB Toys settles a class action suit that would give me 30% off $30 or more for a week. Yup. This may spell the end of my legal career, I need a Game Cube.
The second year they work you to death. It sounded so cliche the first time I heard it, but like so many other things I heard about law school, this seems to be coming true too. I'm not a law review drudge, and I don't have to write a note and comment, but between the moot court competition, the upcoming client counseling competition I signed up for, and my part time job (yes I know I've never mentioned this...but I keep it under wraps, since identifying the gig would narrow down who I am considerably), my days are pretty packed.
Which is why I am not seeking out additional work, yet it seems to seek me out. I am seen as "at-risk." This semester started a new phase for the "at-risk", the "we-figure-you-are-here-for-the-long-haul-yet-you're-going-to-fail-the-bar" phase. To improve the standing of our school, instead of improving the physical plant, or improving the incoming class pool, they're going to attack it from the back end. This means that they're going to make me and people like me panic for the next two years until we prove ourselves on the exam. I am not succumbing to this mindset. The way I see it, if you can't help me now with the classes I'm facing this semester, do not talk about an exam two years from now. For if I do not pass this semester and three semesters between now and graduation, the idea of a bar exam is moot. Do not make me work on MPT questions for subjects I have not taken. Do not make me explain to you why this problem is bigger than I am. Do help me improve my writing. Do help me revise what I have written. Provide the support I need. When I succeed, and I will, you will not be taking credit for it because I will not give you the credit to take.
I normally have no classes on Friday, but this doesn't imply that I actually get classwork done during those hours. Far from it, indeed I have spent a good part of the day today working on the refinancing of our lovely abode. No, I'm not re-mortgaging the house for my education but rather to take advantage of decreased interest rates and so we do not have to pay PMI going forward. This saves a great deal of money and is a generally good thing. However, to refinance your home you need to "close" for a second time. For those of you who have done this you can sympathize and for those of you who haven't perhaps you were told about closing in your Property classes. Either way, it involves a great deal of important looking forms and heavy use of black pens and notary stamps. Compound this situation by doing it through the mail. You're now looking at these papers with no attorney in sight, checking to see if everything is okay and trying to harken back to your Property class to remember how you should be listed on your deed. And no, we ain't joint tenants. I guess this whole thing is worth the extra cash, but half way through this I wanted to just call an attorney and hand it off. Moral of the story: don't refi via mail, and don't refi once moot court season starts. Rules of evidence do you no good when it comes to HUD-1s.
I had my first moot court competition round last night. I'm torn as to how I actually did. The notes we got from the judges were all valid, and I know where my weaknesses are. I do present well, as long as I'm not reading from notes. My partner has the details for his issue so in control, he can quote judges and can argue all the points. I have the extemporaneous detail discussion down to a science, but can't quote chapter and verse at a drop of a hat. That hurts me. I've got until next Wednesday to overcome these shortcomings, and argue the other side. Dang, that is going to be hard. I hope we get into the next round. I can certainly handle constructive criticism when it's copsed in a statement beginning, "you are a natural at this." What sort of ego boost is that!
The Amazing Race has been renewed for a 5th go round. Like other bloggers I too am a big fan of this show. I can't really explain why, since I have no patience for any of the other network reality programs. Spouse and I joked all during the last one of the liability that the producers must shoulder for putting this on. I mean in one instance two of the teams almost ended up in North Korea by mistake. So, I find out that they're seeking applicants for the next race. I go to CBS and look at the application not because I want to do this but wondering about the "assumption of the risk," and any other implied contracts that could arise from this document. How sad am I? Take a look yourself (it's in pdf format) at the application rules and procedures. I'm not even going to hazard what the viability of a suit would be arising from death or dismemberment due to a horrible bungee jumping accident. They always bungee jump. I guess if you get into this you aren't thinking about liability.
Okay, so it wasn't a bad day after all. It wasn't a great day, but hey they can't be all great. This one however is not going extremely well. First of all, I know I wasn't as obnoxious as a first year as this class seems to be. I'm currently in the library. The 1L's have a project due in LW&R this week. I know what the project is because it's the same one we suffered through this time last year. It's to be done in groups. Also, not a bad thing. However, do you need to stand in groups of approximately a dozen and debate at volume what you should do next? For one, the groups are groups of four. Corroboration beyond your immediate group is illegal. Second, IT'S A LIBRARY! What part of library don't you understand!
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