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Ah, the end of another glorious week. I did a quick survey at school and it turns out that I'm not the only one that has developed the early mid-semester blahs. Reasons given were weather, lack of oxygen, impending tuition increase and just plain old apathy. To combat this blah condition I plunked myself down on the couch this evening with the spouse and turned on the TiVo to see what perky things it had for us. We TiVo a show on Fuse called Uranium Classics. The best definition of this show is heavy metal videos from usually at least 10 years ago. Nothing will perk you up more than Slayer's War Ensemble and Stigmata by Ministry. If the drum lines and guitar work doesn't get you, it's the short attention span editing that will really give you a shot of adrenaline...or cause a seizure. Either way, it's a win-win.
If I can become half as famous as this guy has, I will have done something important.
This is way too early in the semester to have the mid-semester blahs. I haven't had my mid-week panic attack/I-don't-belong-here moment of crisis yet. I'm hoping I've gotten beyond that. This is not to say I actually do belong in law school, I just don't panic as much about it. However, the concept of arising early to muddle through whether a 1981 claim can be supported by reverse discrimination was nearly beyond my grasp this morning. Plying myself with a nice cup of tea isn't working. I have about a 15 minute attention span most days. I'm a graduate student, I'm supposed to be riveted by what is going to my life's work, right? I'm too shallow for law school. I am so not academic. Heck, the couch was too comfy for me to read last night, how sad is this? Riding a wooden bench in the kitchen got me through Business Organizations and left me with a numb butt. I think I need to be medicated.
Snow is gentle, snow is pretty. Snow is a pain in the ass. Back in the halycon days of grade school...oh wait, they never used to give us snow days either. And that dear people is why I just spent some quality time in my car having what I'd like to refer to as, "Fun with Antilock." Yes, for those of you who aren't lucky enough to have this sort of fun it goes something like this...you need to stop quickly, (or in my case today any time you need to stop) and you depress the brake pedal. The noise that then emanates from your car varies between growling animals trapped under the hood and metal on metal screeching. Your brake pedal then seems to take a life of its own and does crazy things under your foot. But don't let up...no! You must have faith in the antilock. So what if the car is heading sort of sideways? No no...antilock will provide. Repeat this prayer to the antilock for the 40 minutes it takes you to get to your destination. Yup, this is why snow is a pain in the ass.
Ambulance Chaser has moved. But where'd the cheery graphics go? I'm also wailing over the loss of the previous comments...but *sniff* I'll get over it.
Okay, look at this story. I dare you not to do any of the following three options: 1) laugh, 2) make a joke about Mormons, or 2) like the dolt that I am, try to figure out if he were to die who would take from his estate? Yeah, I'm stuck on Trusts & Estates. This is a genealogical nightmare.
Today was a waste. The spouse's vehicle is going bad again...the check engine light came on while driving home. I got cold called in Trusts and Estates. Went to the budget meeting this afternoon and wanted to deck the Dean. Had to go to the post office and waited in line for 30 minutes. Either I need more sleep or another wall to mess up. Here's to Tuesday.
Law students are a highly strung lot. There's a ton of pent up anxiety and angst. For some they turn to drink, some turn into workaholics. I found out there's a creative way to purge this bottled emotion...venetian plaster. Yup kiddies, get yourself a gallon can of this stuff and mess up a wall. Preferably while you have some heavy drumming music. It gives you violence, color, and textures all at once. And if the first time doesn't get it all out of you...you get to do the second coat in 4 hours.
Greetings. The first week is done. I spent all of yesterday in a courtroom watching a civil rights trial. It was great! And to think I'm getting credit for this! To celebrate our first week, two of my friends and their significant others went out for dinner last night. Being the old married couple at the table wasn't awkward at all. At the table we had three law students, two engineers and a musician. Between the six of us and all of the education present, do you think we could split the check 6 ways? I even had the calculator on my Palm out, and we still screwed it up. Ten minutes later with much counting and adding, we finally did it right and didn't screw up the tip. Yup, we is educated.
Sua Sponte has taken to discussing the pros and cons of anonymity in blogging. As anyone who reads me I take great pride in my anonymity. From what I know I'm the only person who blogs at my school. There are very few readers who know even my first name, let alone where I live and in some cases are unsure as to my gender. This is fine with me. While I know that this causes me to self-censor, it is not from a sense of fear or insecurity. Instead my reason is I think it takes away from what I have to say if people dwell on my school as the reason why I say what I do. I don't feel the need to advertise the legal community in which I work and go to school. Even my closest friends don't know know I do this. In fact, many people if they did find out I did this would probably have a hard time believing it was me. I guarantee my professors don't read this. Heck, I bet I only have a dozen regular readers. But that's okay. This is the longest journal I've ever kept, and I find that streak pretty darn impressive by my standard. If you're still reading this, I'm sure if you really wanted to, you could find out who I am. In the meantime, I like being Beanie.
I watch Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC when I can get a chance. Some of the stories on there are down right hysterical, and he gives coverage to stories that you just wont see anywhere else. What I just learned about is FactCheck.org , a non-partisan website that does fact checking on all the contentious political statements that are flying around the airways. Want to know if everyone is lying? Look here.
Got to go for the court orientation today. Haven't actually met the judge yet, but just being at the court house reminds me why I enjoyed being a paralegal. This is where things happen. It's not the sterile classroom, it's not pushing papers on a desk. It's exciting and you feel like you might make a difference even if you're just an intern. The clerk seemed genuinely pleased we were there. That's a nice change of pace. I'm reserving judgment on the rest of the semester, but I'd like to thank those who talked me into taking the placement.
Why can't our troops just go save some beer? Russia has it's priorities.
I couldn't bring myself to watch the State of the Union tonight. It's not because I'm not a good citizen, it's because I wanted to prevent violence in my household from throwing objects at the TV. After reading the transcript I just got damn angry, though I read that after the statement "Key provisions of the PATRIOT Act are set to expire next year" he was interrupted by applause. Between his bouts of paranoia, preaching abstinence, invoking God and telling Congress that they should be cutting wasteful spending while he sends up a budget containing 10 billion dollars in porkbarrel projects, I can't tell if he's just that short sighted or whether Cheney is actually pulling the strings. I'm sure some may see this as just liberal ramblings from an unbalanced mind, but I really cannot read the transcript without becoming livid. To think it's 2004 and we're still racebaiting and misleading the American public all in the name of his chosen religion. No wonder that half the world is pissed off at us.
My curiosity got the better of me, and I went and collected my grades today. Even after my spouse told me not to open the envelope during class hours, I did anyway. *slap my hand* And it was actually my best semester so far! You do have to keep in mind here my standards were not super high compared to most law students, but I'm still rather happy. I know you're not supposed to air grades openly. However, maybe I'm on to something here...it's the first semester where I wasn't called to the Academic Dean's office for one of those "talks." I was actually looking forward to this trip. :) And here I thought I was going to get bounced. Shows me what I know...
Tomorrow it begins again. I'm all read up, and dreading having to get up early again. I'm dreading the ubiquitous question, "And how was your break?" Can't say it was one of my better ones. But I suppose it's time to get the ambition rolling again and suck it up for another semester. It's the second half...time to take it up a notch. Here's to spring semester, it's usually better than fall.
As you can see, I am 29 years old. I've been married more than 5 years. I'm in my second year of law school. But today I'm truly an adult, you know why? I finally got the last of my stuff out of my parents' house. Yes sirree bob, I'm now the proud owner of all my childhood stuff. I have my Speak n' Spell, my Speak n' Math, all my pop-up books, pictures, assorted tchotchkes and old software. Heaven forbid if we ever have to move out of this house...between my spouse's collection of stuff and my ever growing collection of stuff we'll need a tractor trailer.
My toes are so cold. They have been all day. I can keep the rest of me semi-warm, but my toes are like ice cubes. I got taken out to lunch though and had a bowl of pho. Lovely warm pho. Why is that so many of my posts involve food?
In other news, we found out today that the school plans on jacking up tuition yet again, and even more so for incoming classes. In part of the grand plan of raising bar passage rates, the incoming class is going to be cut by at least 50 souls. They feel that the incoming class will be so grateful for the small classes and camraderie brought about by this bold move that they'll be more than happy to pay the difference in tuition to the tune of 15%. Now keep in mind this is the same grand plan that has also tapped me as a bar exam failure 2 years before I actually take the exam. I find this new concept hilarious.
Okay, it's cold. I'll admit it now. Did it keep me from going out to dinner? No. Because then the winter wins. That and if you're going to drop nearly 400 on books, then it's okay to have a tamale or two for dinner. Oh, and sangria. You have to have sangria. Tomorrow the work begins. I have the assignments, I have the books, lets get ready to rumble. Or rumba. Yeah, let's rumba.
As noted on the left of your screen I received my schedule today. Shockingly enough I actually got the classes I requested. I'm not the only one who got all their first choices either. Registrar must be slipping up...or at least self-medicating. I can't complain too loudly, the registrar has done a few nice things for me and I am thankful for that. So tomorrow I get to bundle myself up and waddle off to the school to buy books. I did order a few online, but they probably won't make it in time for classes. The prices have been great though. For Products Liability I was able to save nearly fifty bucks. And you have to enjoy saving on sales tax. I really need to get the Discrimation book, since I've already got a bunch of reading to do in that class. And no, I'm not going to drop it. Anyone have any good topics for a discrimination paper?
Still waiting on the schedule from the school, so I'm guessing at what classes I ended up with. As of now I know I'm taking Employment Discrimination (seeing as how I just received the assignment from the professor). I had Trusts and Estates as a first choice and Business Organizations as my second, so I'm assuming I got both. From what I understand it's assumed you wouldn't be getting your grades in the mail as a 2L. Well, gee I guess I missed that memo. I'm still doing my dance, so I'm still pleased I'm going back. It's sad when you think about it that something that I really don't seem to enjoy makes me happy to return. Ah, no one said that law students were sane.
I'm to the point now where I break into a cold sweat by opening the mailbox. No answers again today, but an email stating that the grades won't be available until the first week of classes. This prompted me to email the registrar asking for some information...namely whether I'm coming back. I don't need to know specific grades, I just need a GPA. I'm supposed to go buy books this week and I'm not going to bother if I'm out. I'm a wreck.
UPDATE: Shortly after I wrote this I got an email from the registrar and taking pity on me told me that I'm in good standing! I'm going back! *dance*
Been catching up on my TiVo and coming up to date on the Dakar Rally. All I got to say is, "Wow, there's alot of water in the desert...who knew?" Poor suckers on motorbikes trying to get over giant sand dunes. It's still entertaining even if I don't know who half the drivers are, and they also have a giant truck division. Place names like Tam Tam and and Tidjikja. And just think, if I had a FIA International C Racing License I could race it too.
Cold enough for you? Any moment we'll be getting a phone call from the in-laws asking us if we've frozen solid yet. I've hung up on them for harping on the weather before. So it's January, big whoop. Did you really think it was going to be a balmy winter? Stopped off at the Home Despot this evening for some pellets for the pellet stove and got stopped on the way out by the local news looking for a story about weenies who don't winterize their homes until the coldest night of the year. Sorry...we tend to be a bit more forward thinking than that. Of course, we didn't have the heart to tell her that caulk really wouldn't set up when it's this cold. It's the type of local interest story that shows up when it snows too. Newscaster: "Why did you come out tonight?" Dumb guy: "Umm...I waited until we got 36 inches of snow before I thought I should get a snowblower." Yeah, we're snug as a bug in a rug. Anyone for some chai?
Okay, I'm watching The Apprentice. Why? I'm not sure, since I don't really enjoy reality shows. However, just the intro to the contestants could give anyone an inferiority complex. All of them are under the age of 30, and the majority have made their mark in their fields of expertise. This is either going to suck or be the most compelling thing I've ever seen on TV.
Update: Well I think it may fall into the suck category rather than the latter. You can only stand cat fights and grousing at each other so much...and I get enough of it at school.
I so know who I'm going to sue if I don't pass my exams. It's working for this guy.
This is the part of winter break where I get antsy about grades and start cleaning house. There's way too much dust in this house. Swiffer Dusters rock. While being repelled by the amount of dust here I'm amzed how much one of those dusters can hold. I feel good about what I did today. It kept me from going to Target and spending way too much money on CDs. Of course, being home and cleaning you begin to be sucked in by TV commercials for cleaning materials. I feel the need to do the 7-day Febreze challenge now. I also need the Holloway House shine your floor stuff. I need shiny floors and a clean house. Now.
Fun with rental cars. My spouse had to take the vehicle to the dealership to have some work done on it. This is the third time that its been in for this repair and since I've been off from school it fell to me to do the drop off and pickup. Since this is a major repair I was given a rental car. I got a Buick Century. Now this might be a depressing vehicle to drive, or sleep inducing at worst but I actually enjoyed that car. Have you ever tried to drive your living room couch? Have you ever wanted to? If it has 8 way power seats and dual heating controls, its not a bad riding couch. Of course it's always sad to be rocking out to Metallica and realizing you're driving a Buick, but hey, now that I've turned it back in I miss the Buick. I tooled around in that really nicely and it fed my lead foot tendencies, but can I see myself driving a Century once I get done with law school?
Holiday gift returns. Holiday gift returns are the bane of my existence. In my family it was unheard of actually returning a gift...it was assumed that you had put a good deal of thought into it and would know the person well enough to select the appropriate size/color/option. To actually have to return something was near anathema and very near offensive to the person who had to return the item. The only time where this didn't seem wrong was if by some freak of nature you got the same thing twice. However, since I've been married this has become an annual occurence. I very rarely receive an appropriate gift and my spouse is lucky to get something the correct size. This is from people that actually raised my spouse. This is an instance where money should be used as a fallback option and luckily my spouse received that very gift. I on the other hand was forced to mall with a return. At Macy's a return is not a problem...I'm a card holder and they don't even blink. JcPenney on the other hand is a different story. You can't find the closest register and return there...noooo, they only handle fashion jewelry and cannot be bothered with a gift item. I was then forced to wander the store until I found the appropriate department only to find a line about 12 people long. Now mind you, I have no receipt and no idea whether I can even return this item, but have to stand on line to find out what the outcome of this was going to be. After the wait I was informed that my item was worth...drumroll please...$2.40. Yeah, that's right kids, barely covering the gas driving to the mall let alone the drain on my patience involved in the procedure. So yes, I am now the proud owner of a gift card at JcPenney's for $2.40. That won't even get me a pair of socks. And that's why I just love the holidays. Bah freaking humbug.
College bowl games...that's what the New Year is all about. College football is fun because it has music. Marching bands playing in the lulls makes it far more entertaining than professional football. I really am not pulling for any one team in particular (with the exception of enjoying Bobby Bowden getting his butt kicked), I just enjoy sitting at home watching the TV and yelling "RUN! RUN! RUN!" at appropriate intervals. What can I say, I like to see people run. Happy New Year!
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