Dunzo

Yep. Done. Fin. Over.

Well, at least for now. One semester of law school is "in the books." My last exam, Criminal Law, went about as well as I expected. A few curveballs here and there, but mostly belt high fastballs over the heart of the plate. And unlike too many times in little league, I was able to make the most out of them.

After the exam ended at 11 AM, most of the 1L's headed downtown and made up for all of the lost weekends. While I'm not neccesarilly proud of it, I spent the entire day (minus one hour) in a bar. And yet, I wake up this morning feeling fantastic. Okay, so it's actually the afternoon. And I think I caught some kind of cold. But I don't think I would change a thing.

I'm not sure what to expect, grade-wise, for my first semester of law school. And frankly, I'm not too worried about it. My professor for Crim told us about the concept of "Cosmic Redirection." Basically, it means that I wouldn't fail out of law school; I'd only be cosmically redirected. As if there's some grand scheme for me in life and law wasn't part of it. I can live with that. But for now, I'm not going to spend any time worrying about grades. It's time to enjoy the next two weeks. Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanza, and a Happy Festivus.

Need coffee

I used to wonder how my parents did it. How did they drag themselves out of bed each morning and have productive mornings? I was always exhausted. Now that I discovered the magical power of coffeee, I've found my answer.

I could use some right now. I woke up fifteen minutes ago and don't quite have my regular 20/20 vision in my left eye. Not yet. I think the word I'm looking for is 'bleary.' I'm not going to bother to look it up, because I'd rather leave the space in my brain open for 'Removal.'

In a little over four hours, I'm going to be stoked. I haven't decided whether I'll spend the rest of the day playing poker, buying gifts, or napping. Each of them sound awesome.

Oh yeah, I have an exam soon. Back to it...

Bon Jovi

WOAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I'm halfway there.

WOAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Living on a prayer.
Take my hand,
We'll make it I swear,

WOAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Living on a prayer!

Umm, so yeah. Halfway done with finals. Just to prove to myself that the brutality of contracts and property were out of my life (for two weeks), I ripped apart all of my note cards and threw them on the ground. I've yet to clean them up. Side note, as if this entire blog isn't one giant side note, my house is a mess. Food wrappers, outlines, note cards, clothes, and random video game equipment are strewn about. Yes, I've had time to play video games. Well, not really, but I didn't have much of a choice when Ben challenged me to Super Smash Bros, now did I?

I think I did fairly well on contracts. I even texted my non-law school friend that I "BarOWNED" it. Har har. Everyone I've talked to seems to agree with my answers, although I did realize I missed at least one multiple choice question and failed to address a possible defense in the essay portion. Oh well.

As for property, well, one thing is certain; I earned considerably less overall points on that exam than I did on contracts. I pretty much bombed the fourth essay about future estates/rule of perpetuities and the multiple choice didn't go well either. My only solace comes from the fact that other people might have done just as poorly. Besides talking to several people who bemoaned afterwards, I noticed a few people who had barely anything written on their screen at the end of the exam. Heck, one guy I talked to called it the Rule of "Pertuities." I gotta get a few points for knowing the name.

Tommorow is Civ Pro. Correction. TODAY is Civ Pro. It's almost 1 AM. Crap. I'm waking up at 6 AM to re-study a few topics (Venue, Supplemental Jurisdiction, Removal) before the exam. Or at least that's the plan.

Lochness Monster

One of my proctors sounds like Chef's Mom from South Park. I laughed. A lot.

Chef's dad: Say, would you crackers like to hear about the time we saw the Loch Ness monster?
Stan: No, that's okay.
Chef's dad: Ooh, it must've been about seven, eight years ago. Me and the little lady was out on this boat, you see, all alone at night, when all of a sudden this huge creature, this giant crustacean from the paleolithic era, comes out of the water.
Chef's mom: We was so scared, Lord have mercy, I jumped up in the boat and I said "Thomas, what on earth is that creature?!"
Thomas: It stood above us looking down with these big red eyes,-
Chef's mom: Oh, it was so scary!
Thomas: -and I yelled. I said, "What do you want from us, monster?!" And the monster bent down and said, "…Uh I need about tree-fitty." [a long silence follows]
Kyle: What's tree-fitty?
Thomas: Three dollars and fifty cents.
Chef's mom: Tree-fitty.
Stan: He wanted money?
Thomas: That's right. I said "I ain't giving you no tree-fitty you goddamn Loch Ness monster! Get your own goddamn money!"
Chef's mom: I gave him a dollar.
Thomas: She gave him a dollar.
Chef's mom: I thought he'd go away if I gave him a dollar.
Thomas: Well of course he's not gonna go away, Nellie! You gave him a dollar, he's gonna assume you got more!

Thirty Minutes

I'm counting down the minutes before my first exam. The attitudes of my fellow colleagues today are rather polarized: goofy and relaxed, or quiet and judgmental.

Guess which group I'm in? I think the fact that I took time to blog instead of study gives you a good idea...

The First One

Today is my first law school exam. Well, sort of. I did take that one over the Summer but it doesn't count because it was an ungraded enrichment course. Anyways, my tangent might have distracted my reader from the point.

My first law school exam is today. I like that wording better. Perhaps my legal skills teacher isn't such a nut, afterall. Actually, she's probably still a bit insane, but so am I. Once again, I've gone off track. Okay, okay. Let's try this one more time.

My first law school exam is today. It's the third time I've used the word "is," which refers to either the present or the future. So what I'm saying is that I haven't taken the exam yet. It's in the morning. In eight hours, to be more specific.

For my friends outside of California Western: Don't worry, I'll be getting to bed soon. I'm a night owl. Always have been, always will be.

For my friends at California Western: I'm awesome at taking tests. Sucks for you.

I've been doing an awful lot of studying these past few weeks, and frankly, I'm ready to throw away 25% or so of the material. And in 12 hours, I'll be able to. And then it's on to Property. I can't wait.

Malicious Mischief?

Meet Ben, a friend and colleague at California Western. He's a calm, mild mannered law student. Rarely becomes emotional or gets upset. Heck, he was sucker-punched in the face a few months back and suffered a broken jaw. But when he woke up, he wasn't angry. With a smile on his face, all he said was, "Man, that guy did quite a number on me."

WITH. A. SMILE. ON. HIS. FACE.

Well, um, law school must have beat him a bit worse than a random mugger. Today, Ben and I were eating lunch in the Sidebar Cafe, discussing matters related to the upcoming exams. While strategies and drinking diet soda out of a styrafoam cup, he apparently gripped the cup too tightly and crushed it in his hands.

Looks like the 1L stress is getting to all of us. Even Ben.

Self Medicated

In the last few days, I've eaten ding dongs, hohos, chocodilles, and a couple bags of mini oreos. Needless to say, law school is ruining my diet. But it's the only way I can cope.

Before yesterday, I didn't even know what a chocodille was. For those unaware, it's a twinkie covered in a crunchy chocolate shell. Man, I want one right now.

Looks like a law degree might cost me $100,000 and 40 extra pounds. Sweet.

Crunch Time

Ten days. That's how much time I have before my first final exam.

Well, technically nine since it's 1 AM. Bygones.

There's a lot of work left to be done, as I'm afraid I might be behind most of my peers in the studying department. Although I've been hush-hush about it, only two of my outlines are completed: Contracts and Criminal Law. Not surprisingly, those are the two classes I feel best about.

I guess the best way to illustrate how busy I am is that I've only had time to eat a meal once today - at El Pollo Loco. I wasn't that impressed, though the concept of hot boneless, skinless chicken breasts makes me rather hungry right now. But the hunger should pass as it's time to go to bed.

Tommorow's schedule looks like this:

7 AM - Wake Up
8 AM - Class (Civ Pro)
10 AM - Library (Create Flashcards for Crim Law)
12 PM - Lunch (There's a great little Persian place a block away)
1 PM - Class (Contracts)
3 PM - Library (Edit Legal Skills Memorandum)
5 PM - Homework (Briefs for Property, Crim)
7 PM - Home

If all goes according to plan, I *might* have time to hit the gym and re-familiarize myself with the flash cards for Contracts/Crim Law over a freshly prepared meal at home. One can only hope.