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The blog I painstakingly typed out on my shiny droid phone over the weekend while in Vegas? Gone somewhere in the world of the interwebz. I'll try and re do it either this afternoon or tomorrow.

Crim Law and the talker

You know what's awesome? Watching Dorothy throw water on the wicked witch of the west in Crim Law so we can discuss Mens Rea and learn it in class. Love. It. However, what I less than love? The two guys in front of me that whisper during crim law so I can't get all the notes down. You know, the notes about the incredibly confusing aspects of the MPC and mental states that she explicitly said would BE.ON.THE.FINAL.

Annoying, and not sure what to do about it as one of the guys is in my study group. I don't want to be the girl emailing the professor about it, but I also don't want to be the one calling out section mates.

We'll see.

Contracts, you win

So, first week down. And I have to tell you, I'm in class-love with contracts so far. Crim Law? Not so much, hate hate hate so far. So complicated already, it makes my head spin. Contracts, while there are shades of grey and complications, seems fun. Weird, right? But looking in those little details to figure out how to get around it or if there's acceptance/offer/etc? Love it so far.

What else do I love? Um, going part time and my boss letting me work 35 hours. I'm a week and a half ahead, which makes my stress load somewhere near non-hair pulling, especially with the upcoming trip to Vegas this weekend. And then I have Labor Day in two weeks, and no boss at work until mid-September. Things, thus far, are good*. I'm hoping that it all doesn't come crashing down on me.

Did I mention that I have a study partner that I work pretty well with? However, there's a classmate of ours that has crashed our study sessions and all she does is chit chat. And argue. And not know what's going on in the cases. All I know is that when my study partner cornered me and said "DONT INVITE PERSON X AGAIN!" (not that I did in the first place), I felt bad. Time to navigate those tricky personal relationships.

Also great about this study group? We're outlining already. Buh bam! At least I feel like I'm on the right track, and we're doing our best to stay on it. I just hope that I can keep ahead like this throughout law school. Admittedly, it's a lot different for me since I'm a part time student, but I really have to schedule out every minute of my studying to get the most out of it, and I have to stay on top of it, big time.

Well, that's all for the first week, other than the awful cold I got and still have. Gonna go take some nighttime cold medicine and pray that I'm better by tomorrow.

Here's lookin at you week 2. :)

*knocking on some serious wood with this statement

first week done

Thank god! Now if I can only get rid of tonsilitis and this nasty cold I developed!

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Liar liar pants on fire

Now, here's a grain of salt to have before reading this: I'm only 2 days into my 1L. 

However, I will say that my 1L year has been billed to be so scary and from day 1 you're going to get called on in class and the socratic method, and blah blah scary blah...and last night? My CrimLaw and Lawyering class? Not so bad. There will be a ton of work, I can already tell. I realize that, and I'm ready for that, but it wasn't as scary as it was all billed to be. It was actually...do-able. Hard, but do-able. I have some concerns over the content of my briefs, but one day in, I'm sure that everyone does. I just need to fix the issues and move on.

Oh, and I found the gunner. Is there a female of the word gunner? She is scary, let me tell you.

Other than that, I think I've maybe already started to find a little study group? One of the guys is awesome and we seem to be on the same wave length as far as our understanding of what needs to happen. Plus he's married and that makes me not want to reassure the boyfriend that nothing but studying is happening. (He's not like that, but I still feel the need to reassure him for some reason) :) It'll just be glad to have a study group that's head is in the game and that's getting stuff done instead of waiting until the same day.

I'm waiting for my Contracts class to start, so I really need to get going.

Overall so far, I think it's gonna be hard and very challenging, but it's doable. :)

First day

The nerves are crazy like. 6 hours until class, and I'll begin pre-class review in about 2 hours. Lots of freak out time until I'm actually sitting in class. Oh boy.

Wish me luck!

Gut check

Tonight at the mixer, was the strongest gut check I've had as of yet. It was a serious, full on panic "why am I doing this and what am I getting myself into?!?!?!" moment. It passed, but for a second there, I really was questioning everything and whether or not I could even do it. I know that I can, and I will though.

I also met our class gunner! I have serious gunner love. I think it's great - you get the attention and you can answer the questions. Take some of the heat off of the rest of us. I was also shocked to meet some people that haven't even started reading or ordered their books yet. I was pretty confused, but hey I figure that that will only make me more prepared and less stressed.

Orientation is tomorrow night and all day Saturday. Ready, set, here we go.

Some optimism, and some confusion.

For months, a lot of what I've heard is doom and gloom about law school. "your life will be over once it starts", "you'll only see the inside of the library", "it's important to remember to get some non-law school air", "you won't understand anything until halfway through 1L", etc. Obviously since I'm working full time and doing law school as a part time evening adventure, my circumstances are a little different. However, last night I sat down and did my Contracts homework. And I finished the majority of it for next week (I'm only missing 2 problems which I need Lexus for, and I won't get it until Saturday's orientation). And it wasn't bad. It was somewhat interesting to see that ways in which contracts can work and not work, and how the circumstances affected whether or not they were binding. I answered questions, felt like I had a good grasp, and went back and made notes on the answers I had after I read cases and understood where I went wrong. It seemed, do-able, which was nice. Hopefully it stays this way, and this isn't just a beginning of the semester introduction before it gets really complicated. ;)

Now let's talk about Crim Law. Seriously, so far it's much much harder for me, as our first assignment was to read 1 and 1/2 pages on environmental law and then answer questions about the use of criminal sanctions on environmental  law, and whether or not the absence of mens rea (intent) matters, and how that affects the criminal law system in a greater scope. Yeah, okay, what? My knowledge so far on criminal sanctions is just about 0.  So I typed up an answer and tried to be clear and make good points, but I'm not really sure how I did. Here's to hoping that the professors aren't looking for us to actually hand in the questions that they want us to answer. The other stuff we had to read about (sodomy cases and prostitution) were a bit easier, and the questions were more about our opinions and being asked to back them up, etc. I'll be tackling class #2 for crim law tonight. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

So anyway, that's pretty much my first week readings in a nut shell. Other than that, I love Maybe So, Maybe No's blogs about her orientation. I have to say, since my orientation is Fri from 5-9 and Sat from 8-5, I'm a little jealous. I wish we had that kind of orientation with sit down dinners and mixers spread out over a week, where we get to meet student organizations and see what's going on. It sounds like fun. But who knows, maybe mine will turn out a little more like hers once it gets here.

This is my last week working full 8 hour days. Next week I'm down to the 6 hour days, and my plan of studying 3.5 hours a day before class. Lucky for me, that means my upcoming Sunday will be spent cooking meals for next week. Anyone have any good ideas for meals I can make Sunday night that will stay good all the way through Friday (think dinners)? Plus Saturday, the boy and I are celebrating a year together. Exciting stuff.

Finishing and understanding my contracts homework has given me some much needed optimism, and I'm actually starting to get excited to start. Or at least to be at orientation and get the ball rolling. 1L, I'll see you next week! :)

What's worth doing

"Anything I've ever done that ultimately was worthwhile initially scared me to death." -- Betty Bender

Saw this, and thought of law school. 

Support person orientation scared my Mom so bad this weekend (for me), that she is now offering to do my grocery shopping. I'm hoping I can further talk her into laundry and cleaning, too. We'll see. ;)

Getting there...

So, the reading list posted. And guess what? I haven't picked up a book yet. Mostly because one of my professors list wasn't included, and the other two I'm waiting on books for. My first assignment? Read a book and bring it to class. Wow, it's a total mind f*ck. You mean I get to pick ANY book and just...read it? Where's all the briefing, etc?! Anyway, I picked Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. Mostly because I loved Into Thin Air and Into the Wild, and Krakauer's books are both interesting and somewhat educational. I know that fundamentalism is a hot topic, but I thought I would do well to pick something outside of my comfort zone.

Other than that, I've been spending my time getting organized and ready. My desk is looking good, my supplies are all ready to go, and as soon as I get the rest of my house cleaned (Monday) I'll feel like I'm good to go.

I'm taking my Momma and K to the support person orientation Saturday so they know what to expect from me (I'm not even sure what to expect), and they seem pretty excited. Although K is pretty solid on being supportive on whatever I need...he's not really a clinger what so ever, and has no problem going without me for a bit. I feel like we're solid, and that's a load off of my mind. Saturday night is the awesome moratorium party that we're throwing as a "have fun in law school" kind of thing. Other than that, this post completely made me laugh today, and realize that when I was talking myself down from demanding orientation dates, it was a really good thing. I'm glad I never became that girl.Or any other variations of the crazies that I read about on the blawgs.

Next weekend is orientation, good thing there's plenty of advice on that around. Here.  Here (plus the other 4 parts). As well as in an assortment of other awesome blawgs. It's times like these I'm really thankful there are other blawgs out there to tell me what to expect. :)

Bar review, BarBri, Open Bar....

The most surprising thing about law school so far? The amount of alcohol the school provides to us. Open bars at every mixer, happy hours, etc, I feel like so far law school wants to liquor me up so I forget to be anxious about it and actually meet my fellow classmates. At least it is good for loosening up and chatting with the people I'm going to be spending the next couple of years with. (Let me be clear: I'm not complaining. Complaining about free alcohol is not something you'll see on this blog. :))

My section is having a get together on Saturday night, and I can't make it since Steph and I are having a 'going away' party of sorts for me. Not that I'm going anywhere, other than into my books. It'll be a nice end of summer/beginning of school party for everyone, but I'm kind of bummed that I'm missing the meet up with my section. Although if the blogs are to be believed, I'll end up spending way too much time with my section members anyway, so in a few months it won't matter.

So far, one of my least favorite things about law school is the people (friends and relatives) that call me and ask for legal advice. At first I told them that I haven't started yet and know nothing, but then I started getting fed up with it and just started giving random advice that really made no sense. As soon as I started that, the calls for advice stopped.  Those calls are only marginally better than the comments I get about how law school is going to be unbearably hard. Although I did have someone tell me that it can't possibly be THAT hard, and that there's probably not THAT much reading. Really? I hope that's true, but we all know it's not.

It's 12 1/2 days out and counting. Saturday is support person orientation, and I have orientation itself next Fri and Sat. Other than the first week reading list coming out, and deciding whether or not to turn my dining room into an office, I'm all set!

But I don't wanna

Sitting in the Boise airport waiting to go home. This was the last vacation before school starts, and I have to say that I'm not ready to go home quite yet. The next couple of weeks are going to be busy in a good way, and then I'm a law school student. Sitting in this airport I have to tell you, I wish I had more time.