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I don't know which is worse...your cell phone going off in a full classroom or the professor telling you that your melody needs help. Like the professor said, it's not that he minds the phone going off, its just that he's so old he can't remember where he left off.
I had the joy of attending school on a Saturday. This wasn't because of weather, but rather because the school thinks we're all going to fail the Bar Exam. To this end they've joined forces with BarBri and set up BEAT (Bar Exam Accelerated Training Program). Some schools just make the at risk students sit through this, we all have the joy of sitting through it. They're taking attendance...though it supposedly doesn't mean anything. Since when does anything at school that has attendance attached to it not mean anything. You know you'll get nasty letters telling you that you're going to fail if you don't go. So I went. We actually got live people doing lectures. We also got a very strong shill from BarBri. When they rolled out the numbers of passing and failing based on program I knew the numbers weren't telling the whole story. But it was all part of the show. It was strongly implied that if one did not take BarBri but instead took a competing course that you would have a much higher chance of failing. When three times as many students take BarBri as the competitor that's going to affect the percentages. You don't have to be a math genius for that. But then again, we are law students...
I got an email earlier telling me that my RSS feed may not be working. Not being an aggregator person myself, I have no idea. RSS isn't my thing, and I had just used Blogstreet to generate it. Does anyone know if it is working? *tap tap* Is this thing on?
Today my first class was cancelled. I knew this ahead of time. This allowed me to leave home at my leisure and drive in a relaxed manner. However, the fates had once again colluded to make the drive a nightmare. Jackknifed tractor trailer, multi car wreck...major interstate a parking lot. This was the last bit of info I got before turning off the TV. Muttering, I jumped in my car and picked out a new route. This was the same alternate route that nearly everyone else used. The sun is bright, my windshield a big smeary mess (yes, it's that cold again), and I can't see a damn thing. I dodged one accident, nearly stumbled into another, and swore much more than I should. But, I'm here and I should have brought a bottle of Windex. I can't see out of my car!
Do you have a person in your class who is a human bobblehead? You know, the person who may or may not sit in front (depending on seating charts) who feels humanly compelled to nod along with everything that your professor says? You begin to wonder if there isn't something mechanical in their neck to make it possible to keep it up. If they put a bit more effort into it, they could be headbanging? Look around your next class...they're out there...and they're nodding along.
This morning could have been much worse. I woke up at 6:37am and wondered why my alarm hadn't gone off. Yeah, it was going to go off at 6:30pm. Now I normally never wake up that early, let alone on my own. Heard the roads were horrid, so I actually started moving an hour before class. My windshield washers are frozen. The only squirt I got resembled a slush puppy. So much for the whole concept of Prestone De-Icer. I believe I was misled. If it's -12 I want it to work. And it smells bad too. Boo hiss. Try to stay warm kiddies.
We're burning wood like no tomorrow, eating well and getting our reading done. I haven't left the house in two days. It's because of this blizzard. In the annals of blizzardom, I'd have to give this a 6 or so. I've seen much worse. Of course the panic that set in made people queue at the supermarket for 30 minutes just to buy bread. Cause you know...we'll never see the sun again. It's the Day After Tomorrow! Head south! But I really can't whine too much, I don't live in Nova Scotia. They've had three blizzards in the last 7 days. It's snowing there now. 60cm of snow and 70 km/hr winds. I can't even imagine.
I had a whole entry for yesterday but couldn't get logged on to Blogger. I guess it wasn't meant to be. It was an omen. Anyway, I think I've figured out my courses finally. I think I'm going to keep State Practice after all. It's supposedly really useful. I just hope I do better this time around. Either way, one week down, a few more to go. This might be doable.
I can't say I'm actually surprised by this...and I'm not even the engineer in the house.
Thanks to Legal Quandary for the link.
UPDATE: The engineer in the house just took the quiz. We have a new Nerd King...the score was 92.
Well, Insurance Law may not be the way to go. Seems it's a rehash of Contracts, which in itself is not a bad thing, but I thought I was already doing that by taking Commercial Law? I really don't need to flagellate myself that much in one semester, bar review will do that for me. Health Law maybe the way to go after all. And of course that is if I drop State Practice. I haven't even gone to that class yet. Now, if I can just get my Securities book I'll be in good shape. In the meantime, can I learn while I hibernate? I can't get warm anymore.
One day in the books. Considering my mood last night, I wasn't expecting a lot out of today. In fact you could have heard me muttering to someone in the hall this morning, "I so don't want to be here." However, once the game was underway...it was like I had never left, except without the feeling of imminent doom and fatigue. Three classes back to back...no biggie. Hell, I even volunteered in Commercial Law, also known as, "Way to throw yourself on that grenade!" However, any plans of Industrial Law went poof when it was discovered that only 7 of us signed up. They wanted at least 16. The course is no more, and we were left picking up the credit pieces. I have signed up for way too many courses, so it was a non-issue for me. However, I'm miffed. It sounded like a cool class. Practical skills in dealing with various business people and their legal issues. Various guest speakers come in and talk about their dealings with lawyers and the law. Problem solving skills honed. But nope, we can have a course on HIPAA but not something like this. I say it was bad marketing, but what are you going to do? Even my Securities class has 40 people in it. I was not meant to ever have a small class.
One last day of freedom. My mother stopped by because she knows she won't be seeing much of me with school back in session. She took me to lunch, and then we went to visit my grandfather. I won't get much of a chance to get up to see him either. We did buy him one of the funkiest small appliances ever made. It's a folding griddle. It has two sections, each individually temperature controlled, and to top it off the plates are removable to be able to wash them. We sat around and spoke about pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Some of my best childhood memories involve sitting at the table with my grandparents eating pancakes for breakfast. Break out the Bisquick...Beanie needs breakfast.
I've been a diligent student. I've nearly all read for Tuesday. I've also looked at other possible classes in case I don't like more than one of my classes. Maybe Insurance Law, maybe Health Law, hell, maybe Advanced Evidence. I want to be happy with my choices this semester since last semester was not a fulfilling one. Once more into the breach, and I want this one to count. Is it my fault that I'm not more keyed up about this?
The semester begins Tuesday. I have a class in which I need to read 80 pages before Tuesday. The book is not yet in. Do I panic? No. I go and buy 9 cases of soda. I also bought 8 Soup at Hands. I'll be hydrated, just not read. Oh, and I will be going back. The grades panned out to let me stay for one last hurrah. I'm not pleased, but I'm still in the game. And isn't that all that matters?
Who knew it was possible to be behind before you even get going? For Tuesday I have 80 pages to read in one class. I don't even have the book yet since it wasn't in stock. Of course this is implying that I have actually passed my classes from last semester. We haven't gotten our grades yet, though it hasn't kept me from checking my grades three times a day. I've heard that people don't fail Estate Planning, but I've been known to work against common wisdom. If I had only taken it pass/fail...at this point I'd be happy with a C. Gimme a C!
The race is on. The race that is to find your books online cheaper before classes begin. I had planned on just picking up a booklist today, but found out that the bookstore was in full selling mode, so I decided to suck it up and buy things now and see what I could get after the fact. It is a bizarre sort of fun though. I used to work in a college bookstore as an undergrad, and I used to actually pick classes based on number and costs of books. This kept me from taking History of Russia. Who needs 15 books? Luckily, this last semester was a pretty good one. One class has no books, one class I already have the books for, and one class has only one statute book. One class is nothing but handouts, but I have no idea how many packets there are. I've been able to score one of the big books online, and just picked up two smaller ones today. All in all, I think it'll be cheaper this semester than most. You know it's bad when Amazon is going to charge you extra because the book is so damn heavy. And to think I need to drag it around with me. Screw the flying cars, I just want textbooks on CD.
Do you have hobbies? I've been asked that question on interviews, only to answer, "I did once...but that was before law school." With this type of time on my hands, I get to indulge in one of my stranger enjoyments, interior painting. I can't say why I enjoy painting with rollers and brushes instead of oils and acrylics, but it's oddly entertaining. I get to change the color of whole rooms. I get to give those lonely cans of mistinted paint at the store a new lease on life. Oranges and yellows and reds, oh my.
I'm being lazy. I'll admit it. I stayed up until 2:00am last night. Why? Because I could. Knowing my spouse gets up with the chickens, I decided not to disturb and stayed out on the couch. I was awoken at 5:30am. I mumbled, wished my spouse a good day and went right back to bed. The lazy days are numbered. I need to take advantage of every last one of them. January 18, it begins anew. Get ready.
It's the season of plenty. We have just successfully ripped every CD in this house, in order to make the iPod earn its keep. In the process we've nearly topped out both our laptops, sputtered angrily at the capricious way bands seemed to be named (i.e. The Killers v. Killers), and played with mp3 tagging programs until our butts went numb. But we're done. It's a wonderful wonderful thing. Patterns arose during the process. We've found we own way too much Metallica, Megadeth, Rush, and Dave Matthews Band. I've also seemed to have collected a damn lot of techno tunes. We have a smattering of Classical, a smidge of Latin, and even a couple Jazz tunes. We haven't even begun to rip my mother's collection...and she's has all the Pearl Jam. Mmmm...musicky goodness.
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