Resolving Resolutions

I'm not the kinda girl that has ever ever subscribed to New Years resolutions. I always figured that if you wanted to do something bad enough, you'd do it, regardless of whether or not it was New Years. This year is a little bit different. Aside from all the law school stuff, I'm making some resolutions in my personal life that I really need to stick to. I have a healthy self image. I'm not cocky, but I think that overall I'm a pretty likable person. I get along with people, I make people laugh, and I have fun. I listen, and I'm always willing to lend a hand. However, this year I've sort of thrown myself under the bus personally. I've put myself into a situation that is grossly unfair to me, and is sort of painful. I've stayed in a relationship with an emotionally unavailable man, and talked myself into believing the feelings that he couldn't tell me he had for me were real. I talked myself into seeing an end game that was never really there. And it seems as if I just keep talking myself into being okay with things that I have no business being okay with. And the end resolution is near, but in the meantime? I'm not happy. And I hate feeling this way. And I'm not even sure if there is an end resolution that I can be okay with to be honest. Anyway, enough of a pity party. A couple of years ago, I found this quote that I fell in love with. And it's been my email signature for years, to remind me who I want to be, how I want to treat others, and how I want to be perceived. The quote is:

"Living with integrity means: Not settling for less than what you know you deserve in your relationships. Asking for what you want and need from others. Speaking your truth, even though it might create conflict or tension. Behaving in ways that are in harmony with your personal values. Making choices based on what you believe, and not what others believe. - Barbara De Angelis

So, I'm stealing the quote back from myself and making it my New Years resolution. Let's hope that I can keep it. 

What are everyone else's resolutions?

It's Christmas....

I'm out of law school and newly single. Blogging has not been high on my list of things to do, unfortunately. My break has been going great. My house is clean, I've been working out, I've finished my Christmas shopping, I'm catching up on sleep. I love it. Although at first? I was so bored. Seriously, law school is so crazy and frantic, and then all of a sudden I was just......done? It was weird at first, but I'm relaxing back into it now. Still, once a week I'm getting together with a classmate and going over a study guide for one of our courses for next semester. Hopefully this will raise our GPA and give us a bit of a leg up on everyone else. One can hope anyway.

Other than that, I'm just glad to have some time off, but I do miss it. Sad, sad, sad. :)

Nuff said

So, I skipped yesterday's Reverb10 prompt. I skipped it, but I'll do two again today. I'll get better at this (I hope).

December 7th Prompt:

Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create, or more deeply connect with in 2011?

Why does everything in the world relate back to law school? :) However, I did discover community in law school. I met a brilliant bunch of wonderful people that for the most part bolster and help each other. I've felt very lucky all semester to have met and made such amazing friends, that I will know for the rest of my life. As far as 2011, I'd like to be more actively involved in my local community. Weird, I know, but I did used to be very involved, and it seems like in 2010 I just let all of that go. So next year, I'm pledging to be more active and more involved in what's going on locally. 

Today's prompt: 

Beautifully different. Thank about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different - you'll find they're what make you beautiful.

This is an interesting prompt. And it feels a bit like horn tooting, which I'm not a fan of. But my most unique feature has always been my crazy name. And I feel like that name has personality and an identity of its own. And that's probably enough said about that. :)

Last final!

And by far the hardest. It's the professor that cares more about the structure and the punctuation than the content. Not too worried at this point, I'm as prepared as I can be. I can't believe, that in three hours, the semester will be OVER! :) :) :)

Two for the price of one.

I slacked on yesterday's Reverb10, so here are yesterday and today's.

Yesterdays:

Let go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

I'm tempted to write about the situation in which I find myself recently single. However, it's a little too soon for that. This year, I'm not sure what I let go of. For one, my insatiable need to control things, and to make sure things go 'as planned'. This year I've been much more relaxed about just going with the flow and not causing too much of a stir unnecessarily. 

I'm not loving these prompts. 

Today: 

Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something

you want to make, but need to clear some time for it?

The last thing I made was a crim law outline. The next thing I want to make is time to sleep. Dislike this prompt. 

Wonder

Prompt #4: Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?

Um, this is a weird prompt. I guess, I would say that I cultivated a sense of wonder in my life this year by learning. The law, in particular. And practicing contracts with friends and seeing how they work in real life and what happens and how they're formed, gotten out of, etc. 

Eh, I'm not a fan of this prompt. Sorry. 

Prompt #3

Prompt: Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid details (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).

I don't feel like the true moment that I want to pick can be put on here. But I can tell you that it was cold, in warm, heated seats, with a spectacular view of Phoenix after a couple of drinks at Fez. It was an amazing night that stays with me through today. 

My second favorite moment was my first day in law school, at my first time in the library. I was nervous. I didn't know where to sit, whom to sit with, or what to do. I was sweaty, but was wearing jeans, a black top, and my lucky panties. The library smelled like it always smells, and I remember talking to Kyle and Jen. Everything was so vivid, so nerve wracking, but ultimately, so okay. At the end of the night, I felt nothing but relief, and empowerment, that maybe I could do this after all. 

Day #2!

Prompt: Writing. What do you do each day that doesn't contribute to your writing -- and can you eliminate it?


Honestly, the only answer that I can give to this prompt is working and studying (law school). And no, they can't be eliminated. Sorry guys.

Jumpin on the ole' bandwagon...

So I (like many of you other bloggers) am going to try and keep up with Reverb 10 this year.


The first prompt:


December 1 One Word.
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?

Success.

Crazy, right? My word for 2010 is success. I guess it's because I'm doing what I've always dreamed of. I'm finally, finally going to law school. And the first part of my year was devoted to getting in, and once I did, it was devoted to studying and making it. And I am making it, and that's freaking awesome. For all the complaining I do about the hours and the time and yadda yadda, I freaking love law school. 

The word that I'd like to capture 2011 for me is content. So many things are up in the air for me right now, and I'm a girl that needs to be settled, so it's strange for me, and I am a little discontented. So, for 2011, I'm hoping that things settle, I get what I need, and that I'm content with where I am in life. :)  

See you tomorrow!

Finals and Finals!

There is an awesome post here that I read yesterday about 6 hours before my first law school final ever, and it helped. Especially because I have been constantly surrounded by a 1-upper. And I realized, when I was sitting in my contracts final and working through every single problem, and having no problem answering them, that I had it. And that I had let all these other people psych me out, get me all freaked out, and then spend 24579834539475 hours in a study room going over the stuff that I already had down.  It's crazy, how people play this mental game in law school. Unbelievable really.

The good thing is that I've finally sort of figured out the study group situation as a whole, and I get it now. Bar review was fun last semester every Thursday night, but if I would have spent that time more productively...man the stress would be off now. That's not to say that I won't ever go out next semester, but Thursday nights would have been so freaking helpful if I would have just figured this stuff out.

It's hard to imagine that just a couple of months ago I was stressing over what to wear to orientation, and now I'm sitting in the library cutting down my outlines in sweat pants and a sweat shirt. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. :)

Choices

Disclaimer, I stole this picture from My Life In Words, but it's incredibly appropriate for my life right now.

I'm at an interesting crossroads in my personal life right now, and I have no idea what to do. Coupled with the fact that I have finals for the next two weeks, I don't know what I was thinking getting myself into this mess. But, when you think one thing could be really amazing, but its just the wrong time, sometimes you make the wrong choice. Or the right one. Or you just keep slogging through, and hope that everything works out in the end. I guess we'll see. Here's to hoping at the very least.




Other than that, it's study study study study study at law school right now. The great thing is that it'll be over in just a few short weeks, for another 6 weeks. Thank goodness.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has a great holiday, and no one studies or works on their memos today like I am. :)

Have a great holiday with you and yours.

Finals and Papers

Classes are officially over for the semester! And my paper is about 85% done, thank god. It's due Monday, and Tuesday is my Contracts final. Crim Law isn't until the following Monday, so right now I'm just trying to finish my paper and work contracts. Since my whole outline is pretty much memorized, I'm not feeling too far behind the gun, thank god. Work is also super slow this week, which has helped to give me some extra time in the library slaving away.

Other than that, on the personal side, I'm really looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with my family, and having a day off (even though I'm sure I'll have my macbook and my paper out). I've figured out that it's possible to just sort of go go go go go in law school, but if I don't take the necessary time to screw around, then I end up paying for that in the end. Breaks, screwing around, and stepping away from law school are as necessary as doing the assigned reading. For example, I've been editing my paper for an hour, but am now screwing around. And tomorrow, when I'm off work at noon? I will come here and finish the paper. Since I know that I have that built in time, it makes it much easier for me to be able to breath, and take some time to just tak ea load off today.

Checkin' In

Monday is the last day of classes of the semester. In honor of that, I went back through and read my first blog post, and thought about how nervous I was. I had read through so many blogs about what to expect and what law school would be like it was crazy. And what I've found? Law school is what you make it.

Everyone's going to have to read, and to study, and get called on in class, and get the answer wrong. Sometimes you'll read, and one or two times, you won't. And you'll sweat it out in class. Those experiences are not unique. But when it comes to bonding and meeting people and forging friendships, law school really is what you make of it.

I work full time, and go to law school at night, and still have fun. I'm tired a lot, and it's a balancing act, but I do it. Law school has pretty much destroyed my relationship, but it's brought me a lot of others. It's a give and take, a balancing act. Half of it is attitude, and the other half is effort. Overall, I wouldn't trade the experience of my first semester in for anything. Truly, it's been an amazing experience, and I'm thankful for it.

And you know, maybe you should ask me how I really feel after finals. :p

Estomago

I have gastroenteritis or something or other. All I know is that it hurts, and I'm nauseous a lot. Boo.

Thank God for modern medicine. Last Contracts class tonight...can't WAIT!

In the trenches...

As I'm sitting in my living room arguing about whether or not Mrs. Pahe had prior notice that Lalo would bite another child when provoked, surrounded by what feels like thousands of print outs of cases, asking each other "which one is the bicycle case?" and then arguing about whether its Applehans or Basler, I'm kind of struck by the fact that open memos really do suck. And holy shit, this is law school. Where law students spend their weekends together arguing about fictitious situations so that someday, when they get the real deal, they can handle it.

Sorta awesome if you ask me.

Wall? Meet me.

I slammed into the wall tonight. I've had just about enough of law school.

What does everyone else do when this happens?

Ethically bitchy

Sometimes things aren't always what they seem. What to do when someone you really care about is doing the wrong thing ethically? And I know that I'm being sort of bitchy, but I really can't stand huge breaches of ethics like this. And usually I could just move past it and drop that person, but in this situation, its not that easy. But it seems to be even harder to hang around lately.

There's....so much going on. And none of it that I'm really wanting to make public.

In other news: group projects in law school are no fun. Mostly because everyone in my section works (that's why were part time evening students), so we can't meet up during the day, and after class we're too tired. But on the weekends it usually works. Until someone's sick, or their brother is in town, or whatever. I'm really hating group work more and more everyday, but that's what I'm stuck with for now.

Thank god there's only a paper and a presentation, and then I can just study with my friends, and not be responsible for turning work in with people. :)

Next week is the last week of classes this semester. How the hell did an entire semester already go by?!?!?!

1Up

What's with 1L's trying to 1up each other? (see what I did there? see? see?) <---lame

But seriously, what is what that? It's like every time I ask a classmate if they're doing x, they tell me that they only did x after they did a, b, c, and d, and it only took them 2/5 of a second to do that, of course. I hate hate that about law school. Especially when it comes to people that are supposed to be your friends. I don't need to hear how awesome you are, mmmkay? Just answer my question and let's try and get through this together. I don't know, I guess it seems like the competition is coming out with the open memo. It for sure makes me regret sharing the cases that I did share with some of my colleagues, who now act like they have the golden scroll, and they would never ever ever share anything back. Dislike, immensely.

Also, group work. That should go bye bye immediately. It seems like the propensity for people to screw each other over in law school is exponentially higher than it ever was in undergrad, which once again, makes 0 sense to me. We're all going to be colleagues for the rest of our careers, so acting like you're better than me, or our classmates, or our college does not endear you to having successful relationships with your peers.

We're all stressed, we're all under the gun. Can't we help each other instead of stabbing each other in the back?

Upheaval

Things are outta control right now. Law school is about the only thing that I can control, and even then all I can really control is the amount of work that I'm putting into it.

Crazy, insane.

OH, and elbowing me in the face at a rock concert? Cool by no one's standards.

I over commit myself

I really do have an issue with over committing myself. I have a packed weekend of studying at the library, and a concert tomorrow night. I'm sitting here trying to figure out how I can find time to pick up my car, go home, do laundry, clean up a bit, shower, and squeeze a nap in there all before dinner. And on top of that? My co-worker's son is in Afghanistan and I guess in some pretty bad conditions, so we're sending care packages. And my part of the care package? Making a billion cookies and vacuum sealing them, and praying to god that they get there and are edible when they do. Oh, and buying baby wipes. Cause they don't get to shower. So, sometime in the next few weeks I'm gonna be baking like crazy.

I just want a night off to curl up on the couch and watch TV. Or even to curl up on my bed and just...sleep.

Oh, there's a summer abroad study in Austria. AUSTRIA.

Look at that place, who wouldn't want to go? So now when I'm not studying for finals like a crazy person, I'm looking up Austria. And euro train lines to the rest of Europe. And festivals in Europe. And what friends are stationed in Europe. And plane flights to Europe.

And you know, just day dreaming in general about Austria. :)

I guess we're also petitioning the SBA to start our own evening students group this semester. It's gonna be interesting, but I think really, really good. And not to be stuck on resumes, but all of this is going to look amazing on my resume.

Yes, big law, you know you want me. Too bad I want nothing to do with you. :)

Everybody knows...

about this blog. And now who knows what the heck I should write in here.

And by everybody, I mean my law school bff and my law school boyfriend. They're my most favorites. :)

But, nonetheless, I'm awesomely proud of my friends for starting this new school club. It's gonna be great.

It's the most, wonderful time of the year...

...or well, almost at least.

Only here in lovely Arizona? It's 90* out. Which means that right now, I'm sitting in my cold office wearing corduroy pants, a tank top, and a sweater. I'll remove the sweater and sweat all the way to school, and then in law school put it back on while I freeze. It's insane for it to be this warm in November, but welcome to Phoenix I guess. 

Spending all weekend in the library. 

Sigh.

Clean clothes and letting go

I'm excited today, because I ordered some clothes online, and therefore I can put off laundry for another day. Not that that means that I'm going to actually stop living out of my dryer and put clothes away, no no. Laundry means that when I get home, I stay awake long enough to move clothes from the washer to the dryer. And that, my friends, is unrealistic. 

I'm excited though, I'm getting a haircut on Saturday. Know why this is exciting? My bangs are so long that they hang down past my eyes. That's not fun. 

Other than that, I'm looking at 2 papers in Crim Law, a presentation when I'm making the entire power point by myself, an open memo with lots of research that I don't know how to do, and a Contracts professor that finally learned how to pronounce my name. Plus there are a plethora of personal issues that I just don't know what the hell to do about. 

Something's gotta give, and it's not gonna be law school, not for awhile anyway. 

wow

Qualinty

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Rant and rave.

I can't wait to be out of class and to have time to go to Yoga, and the gym. I've found myself all week wishing for yoga, thinking it would help with my stress level.

But, I digress. I've been reading blawgs lately about how 1L's DO have time to spend w/ their significant others and to do community service, and to blah blah blah, and all I can say is - you obviously are talking about those crazy 1L's that are traditional, and don't work full time. Us part timers? We just want to have some clean clothes, coffee, maybe a hot meal, and figure out how the hell we're supposed to do legal research while reading crazy amounts and trying to keep up with some warped version of the Socratic method.

Also, and this is beyond crazy, I find myself becoming annoyed in class with professors. I'm sitting there thinking - Really? We're watching a video on the weight of words? No, sorry, I don't have time for this. Teach me what I need to learn, and then let me get into the library and start using it on one of the 29384693 assignments you've given me this week. But don't waste my time with other crap that isn't relevant to everything you're expecting me to get done. And crying in class? Please, I lost touch with my emotions somewhere between weeks 5 and 6, when I realized that I'm going to have to go into your final with no idea if I have any of the skills you expect me to have, and with no benchmark or feedback as to how I'm doing, and no real knowledge as to what is is your looking for. SO yeah, that's my frustration right now. And the fact that once (maybe twice) a week my classmates and I go out, play trivia, and have beer? Those are survival skills people, survival. And way more important than say, clean clothes or hot meals.

Sorry for the rant, the end of semester stress is just starting to really hit me. :p

When it rains, and other such phrases

Three and a half weeks until finals. I'm feeling the pressure, big time. I got pretty solid B's for midterms, but I busted my ass to get those B's, and a lot of the awesome people I studied with did better. Now I'm feeling the pressure to work even harder for finals. And of course while this is going on, my house is selling, and my personal life seems to be imploding. I guess this is the challenge of law school: handling a full time job, law school, and a personal life, and doing with it a smile on my face, even when all I want to do is hide under the covers. 

Today is a stressful day. 

Forgetful

Law school has made me forgetful, especially when it comes to work. I find that I'm so stressed trying to remember everything I have to get done for law school, that I end up forgetting what I need to get done for work. And when I spend the majority of my time working or studying for law school, that's not good. The working enables me to be here. I gotta get my game face on and start handling both worlds a little bit better.

T-4 weeks until finals

Four weeks exactly left of school, and then we have finals. Already started studying, thank god. It helps to have some really good study partners that know when to focus and when it's cool to screw around. The more MBE's I can do, the better I'm gonna do.

If I can just keep chugging and get thru the next couple of weeks we'll be fine.

K and I are half assing our Halloween costumes, since we can't find overalls anywhere. Oh well, that's just how it goes...I don't have any time to really spend on this stuff. I gotta keep my head in the game for a few more weeks.

Here's to doing well at the end (I hope!).

Law...school?

Sometimes when I study, but more frequently during class, I hear something and think, wow, law school. How in the hell did I get here?! But in a really, really good way.

B's on both midterms. I'm really happy about that. I can't believe that I'm here, doing it, and succeeding. Sometimes, it all feels surreal. Really, really good, but surreal.

Beat down

I got an 86.6% on my open memo. That apparently, in law school LP class, means that I get a 'C'. I don't get the curve, at all. I don't understand how when I score the necessary points to get what is a B+, it gets knocked down to a C. BOO. Here's to being disheartened.

1 out of 5 points

Disheartening. That's what my crim law essay midterm score was. I got a 'B' on the multiple choice, but failed massively on the essay. I feel slightly better that 99% of my classmates got either a 1 or a 0 as well, but I know that I can do better.

It just seems counter intuitive that Professor Crim Law isn't actually grading us on learning how to argue or apply the law to situations like the rest of my professors. The rest of them want me to know and cite the rule, and then apply it to a fact pattern. But she is the master of the class, so I'll play by her rules.

Fall break is over, and I have 34 days of school left (who's counting, right?) and only 5 more reading assignments (THANK GOD!). I can't tell you how nervous/scared/excited I am about that.

Unfortunately, the busy-ness is ramping up. I have an SBA Meeting and reception thing Fri, which is the same day that K gets keys to his house (!!!!). I want to do something special for him, but I have no idea when to fit all of this in. Saturday we're going on a date, so maybe I can do something then. Plus Sunday I have a study group meeting and I also need to go to my Mom's house (tomorrow's her birthday and I promised to help her set up her Halloween party). So, in that time I also need to get some studying done, too. OH, and I have to get the Halloween costume thing sorted, too. And I need to outline stuff too, and work on the pile of homework that's slowly getting dumped on me.

Crazy times, man. Working full time and going to school part time seems CRAZY.

Miderms are over

My memo is all turned in, and my contracts midterm is over. I have to write a small IRAC essay for my Criminal Law class, but I have a few days to do that, thank god.

I'm not sure how I did on my Contracts mid term. I know that I struggled with the MBE questions, and probably missed 4-5 of them. I'm comfortable with that, since he's taking the average of the top 10 grades and making that the 100%. As far as the essay, I was really happy with it. I got done with it about 15 minutes early, and was able to go back in and edit and make sure that I defined everything. Overall, I'm cautiously optimistic.

Fall break! I'm excited. My house is being listed for sale, so I'm going to spend part of tomorrow and Sunday re-arranging things (my roommate moved out), and getting ready for the house stager to come over Monday. How crazy is it that I have a house stager? The real estate agent is providing her, so I feel like I should just take the help and laugh about the whole experience. Hopefully it'll help my house sell that much faster.

Other than that I have big plans to get a manicure and split a bottle of wine with a friend, and overall, just catch up on some sleep and get organized. I'm stoked! :)

Contracts, you're still winning

Even with a midterm this week, I have an awesome contracts professor. Not only is he doing a review in class, but he's allowing us to come into his office and get private review sessions.

Serious studying tomorrow with my study group, PLUS my memo is due. I'm feeling more confident everyday. Just don't want to get over confident.

Contracts, FTW.

Sometimes, I don't type or even speak correctly

If I make a grammar mistake, there's no need to email me about it. I'm probably not going to fix it. Just sayin'.  :)

Law school friends

So, I have a friend through my ex who is attending a law school in Chicago. He started at the same time I did, and is going to a great school out there. Unfortunately, he's a newly wed, and his wife didn't move with him (that's a whole other story for a whole other day, though). However, I heard that he's lonely out there. And that makes me bummed for him. I've met some pretty awesome people in law school so far, and I'm sort of bummed that not everyone is having that same experience. It's pretty awesome to get put in a group for a semester with people that are awesome and that you get along and connect with. I'm not sure how I'd fair if I was stuck with other people (as it is, only 3/4 of us really get along). But, alas its nice to have people that I can talk to and be friends with that I go to school with and get what it's like. Plus there's no way I would have met them otherwise, and they're pretty cool.

Other than that, I'm looking forward to getting midterms over with and going on fall break for a week. An old family friend is coming into town, and told me to, "put my drinkin' shoes on," so that should be interesting at the very least. I'm going out of town this weekend, which I'm really looking forward to. It'll be relaxing and fun and I'll still have to get some school stuff done, but that's okay.

Anyway, apparently now that I'm an SBA rep (or at least I think I am- this school is confusing), I have to go to a 'Boot Camp' meeting today after lunch w/ K. Fun stuff. :)

Hi, I'm your new SBA Delegate!

Nice to meet you! :)

Bluebook

IS. THE. DEVIL.

Food

One of the more challenging aspects of being a part time evening law school student is food. Weird, right? Well, yes and no. See the thing is, I get off work in the afternoon. And since I'm getting out early, I don't take a lunch. Of course, I have a bunch of cases to read and brief, so I scoot over to the school and do my work quickly. Right at about 5PM when I start going over the nights stuff with my group, I start getting hungry. Class starts at 6, and my study time before class is precious, so I end up grabbing a granola bar or something. By the time I'm done at 910, I'm famished.

Today, I have some leftovers that I'm stoked about. It's not much, but leftover lunch is yummy. I had the intent to cook all day Sunday, but ended up spending 10 hours with my study group.

So yes, briefing, reading, socratic method, scheduling, etc is hard, but sometimes its the little afterthoughts, like food, that really bring you down. That's the weird thing about law school.

Thank goodness I have food today! :)

Group study is a drag

Sometimes it's really good, but sometimes it deteriorates and turns into a cluster. Here's to hoping that our next few don't turn into clusters!

Holy mother of busy

Being a full time employee and a part time student is nothing short of chaotic. And I feel like this week is the perfect example. I spent Sunday working on a paper with my classmates, Monday I was reading and had class, today I am trying to do reading for Contracts, a study session, class, a town hall meeting, and Cohort. Tomorrow I will go to school early in an attempt to get started on my closed Memo, and also do the outlining for Crim Law. This weekend? More study groups. Plus coupled with work stress (we're moving offices), and person life stress, I just feel like I can't get it all done. Such is law school, I guess.

Papers, Papers, and more Papers

Why is it that before law school, when they're scaring you, they focus on case briefing? I mean, out of everything I'm doing, I find case briefing probably the easiest. Now, this is probably because I also have a study group where we go over the cases before class to make sure we have the right concepts, but I really find this the least cumbersome out of everything. It takes less time then the piles of reading, and everything else...especially the papers. Oh god, why do I have so many papers assigned? I knew I'd have them in the legal writing class, but in criminal law I have 2, and in contracts I have 1. Why did no one tell me about the papers before starting law school?? Ugh!

Sorry for the complain-y content. I'm avoiding IRAC-ing a case for one of the said papers, and thought I'd vent a little steam. BTW, does anyone else have IRAC as IREAC? My law school seems to favor this, but I'm not quite sure why.

I'm done with this week

I haven't seen the inside of my house before 10:30PM once this week, and I'm quasi fighting with the boyfriend. Add going to a funeral tomorrow on top of that, and week 3 doesn't top my list of best weeks ever. BUT I got a question right in crim law and huge praise from my very hard to impress teacher last night, so perhaps there is some light at the end of this very long tunnel. 

Me: 0 Blogger: 1

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.

Vacation

Getting ready to fly to Boise for the last vacation before law school starts. Can't wait for a great weekend with family and friends!

More next week!

Paranoia, Paranoia, Everybody's coming to get me....

I just had lunch with my S.O. (affectionally known as K), and we had a long discussion about what law school may or may not be like. And I came to the realization that the students telling us to study 50-60 hours a week may have been exaggerating (I hope!), and the one telling us that he only studied 10-15 hours was under exaggerating (I hope not!). Either way, it doesn't matter to me. I will study what I need to study to learn the material and to get a good grasp on it. Honestly, I'm just glad that I wasn't the kid asking "wait, the book list is out? what do you mean we have first week readings?" or the one who had no idea that our grades were based on midterms and finals. I've done a lot of 'homework' for law school, and I feel like I at least know the mechanics of what to expect. And the cherry on the proverbial cake is that I have K, who is so fantastically supportive that I don't have to worry about him thinking I'm not spending enough time with him, or doing enough for him, or any of that BS. He gets it, and just wants to support me. That makes me an extremely lucky girl.

Challenging Success

Tonight was the 'How to be Successful in Law School' event. There's some great professors at school, and it seems as if they're all really invested in our success. I'm glad to see this and have spent some time asking questions and talking to them. I think the one thing I've done that they all said was to calendar your time. Now, I'm not going to calendar in going to the grocery store or doing laundry, but I have budgeted in over half of my study time during the week, and then am giving myself either Sat or Sun partly off.

Tonight, hearing about the crazy study time was scary, but hearing from everyone also made me feel optimistic. Unfortunately, real life got in the way afterwards, and I'm in a pretty shitty mood, but that's what happens I guess. It'll get resolved eventually.

Looking forward to working tomorrow a (hopefully) easy day and then the gym, and packing for this weekend. Can't wait for my last vacation to see all my family and eat some Basque food and drink some great beer with great people!

The reading list posts Monday. They said not to start our reading until the week before school. I'm thinking I might try and brief the cases next week, and just make sure I go back and re-read again. I was hoping to get some syllabus' at some point to stay a week ahead like is recommended, but I'll just have to settle for cramming the first few weeks and doing my best to get ahead.

I feel like I have a great support system at the school at least, so that's a great thing. Time to try and forget about the shitty part of my evening and relax. Til next time.

Caio

1920 pages and the smallest font ever

...make up Black's Law Dictionary. Holy hell, this thing must weigh about a billion* pounds! If this is what I'm looking forward to with all of my law books, maybe I should use the rolling bag the school so nicely gave me.

Unfortunately, I'm at work running on about 2 hours of sleep and have a crazy painful sinus infection. I'm strangely okay with it since I'm hoping I can get all the sickness out before school starts. Fortunately I have a super cool boss, and am going to leave work probably momentarily. I have a little guilt over it since I'm taking Friday off as well, but I'm useless sitting here in this much pain.

Off to get some work done before I get to go home and try and sleep.

*this may be a slight exaggeration

Countdown

Three weeks and counting. More meetings and mixers this week, and my last vacation of the summer next weekend. My books are on the way, and I'm writing this on my shiny brand new laptop. I guess it really is almost time for law school.

I'm an idiot

Yesterday when the book list came out, I was little miss pep-in-my-step and immediately went online and ordered all of the books used from Amazon (discounts whoo!). I was proud of myself for not ordering the one "suggested" book, and just ordered the required ones. I've read enough online to know to wait to see what the professor is like and what's really needed. I haven't ordered any supplements or anything yet (I'm a little behind on all the acronym's - barbri, e&e, 7&7, etc) and wanted to wait to see what my professors had to say before I purchased anything extra. Anyway, then my (apparently much smarter) classmates posted on our forum about how they got Blacks Law Dictionary for $30 and one student got last years edition, and how that's fine to use, etc etc. And here's me, who paid $100 for a new copy on Amazon.com lookin like a total idiot. "hey guys! look at my brand new shiny law dictionary! wooot!"

Gotta say, for the first 'hang your head in shame' moment of law school, that one wasn't so bad. Now, if I could just get over my anxiety about the Socratic method...that'd be great.

Oh, and someone finally gave us the deets on support people orientation. I don't even have to go! How sweet is that?! I get to miss the one law school mixer where there's no alcohol involved. :)

Until next time.

Book List

Finally posted! And I got some information from other students about dates and times. Unfortunately the admissions department didn't know anything when I called. Here's to hoping this makes more sense as law school goes on.

Cerealistically

Does everyone get this 0L stress? School is 3 and 1/2 weeks away, and orientation dates are set, but no times. And there's no book list yet, and the support person meetings haven't been announced yet (other than tentative days). I get that this is all very normal, and everyone else has the same thing going on, and I should just relax, but I've spent the whole summer being fun and spontaneous, and now that law school is here - I just want to know what's going on and when. :) Remember when I said I have a little bit of manic in me?? I wasn't kidding. I gotta work on that.

Summer before 1L

I'm sitting at my desk reading law blogs, tired of work and of being so busy, and wondering if I shouldn't have taken more time off this summer. Between working out 3-4 nights a week, and working full time, I feel exhausted, and completely unprepared. I doubt that it's really because of everything that I have going on, as far as I can tell, everyone else feels completely unprepared too.

I've spent my day working and scouring the internet for what  note taking software I want to use, and I've figured out that I'm going to download Circus Ponies when I get home and give that a whirl, since I can't use Microsoft One Note on my mac.

I feel like I should be preparing and really learning how to functionally use this mac so that when school starts I'm ready to go.

Here's to hoping law school isn't a dark black hole with no social life and not a minute to spare.

Introduction

In the summer before law school I found myself doing what every other 0L was doing...scouring the internet for tips, advice, smoke signals, carrier pigeons, anyone, anything, with any experience, that could tell me that maybe law school isn't going to be as horrendous as I originally thought. Here's what I actually found: that law school students are a bunch of narcissistic, funny people. And they ALL blog. So hell, here we go, I decided to jump on that bandwagon and see where it takes me.

Today is officially a month until I start my 1L experience as a part time evening student while working full time during the day. I've bought the requisite expensive mac, read the requisite books, and am now trying to squeeze every last drop of fun out of my summer with my boyfriend. Who I feel like is completely unprepared to see the maniac I'm about to turn into. Although, since we haven't gotten our reading lists yet, and dates and times for orientation and support person meetings are still 'tenative', I think he's starting to get a glimpse of my manic-ness. I feel like need some sort of concrete plans here so I can at least prepare myself for what to expect. Which we all know is a pile of bull, since I have absolutely no idea what to expect. I'm flying blind here, but there's comfort that all the other 0L's are just as blind.

At least I've found some comfort that relationships can make it through 1L, and that 3-4 hours outside of class per class hour isn't how much work there actually is. I keep hearing that this is going to be one of the most challenging things I ever do. And I guess at the end of the day, I'm ready to meet that challenge head on. Welcome to legally challenged. Enjoy.