Hey folks,
It’s time. I’ve graduated from law school. I’m taking the bar in three weeks. This blog has seen me through 2 years worth of law school, and all of the trimmings–friendships, relationships, hardships. But now its time to do the tough thing–roll with the punches, and deal with the changes. I’m ready to change my format; I’m ready for change. Graduated from school, and the blog, it seems.
Thanks for reading, I, and the other bloggers here at Nolo, have enjoyed our time here. I’ll leave up the site for a while, for anyone who wants to peruse the archives. Good luck to all of you who are still in law school, and to those of you thinking about law school, think very hard before you sign up.
And for those of you, who, like me, have finished with law school, onward.
Cheers.
–NG
Saw this on another blog and had to show y’all. It’s friggin’ hilarious.
Buffalo
“Demand your free buffalo!” — Abbie Hoffman
Graded it. Did super crappy. I sure do love studying for the bar.
Took the fake MBE today. Too afraid to score it yet, in case I did super crappy.
Came home early because tax was a waste of time. Watched Pat Robertson faith-healing people while I was eating lunch. Thought of a new definition:
Islamofascism — Like the 700 Club with more brown people.
Check out Media Matters for some of his most evil rantings.
….Dear God in Heaven, please make this tax guy stop talking or at least give us a break. Please. I promise to be sin-free from now on. Or whatever.
Amen.
I have come up with several goals for this summer (one of which is taking and passing the bar). I feel like my life has been on hold for three years while I have been in law school. And now….there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and once again, FINALLY, I can start thinking about plans. About making new plans. Exciting plans. Travel, fitness, friends, weekends, movies, books, learning, language. Currently thinking about what I would like to do after my clerkship is over. Its fun and exciting to think about the ‘what-ifs.’ Before, I might have been overwhelmed by the choices. But now, I just really can’t wait. Part of me really really wants to get out of Eugene. I know my family is here, and I have a built in support system. But JESUS, I want that support system when I am married and with kids and the mortgage and all the rest. Right now–not married. No kids. NO ties but my student loans and a dog. I can pay my bills from anywhere, as long as I am working. I think going to all these weddings has screwed with my focus a bit. I’ve been thinking about how I am the last one, and that has made me panic a little—-but you know, I honestly think I am ok. And now that I have gotten over that hurdle, I can finally get excited about what is next. Just have to get through the damn bar exam.
…that is driving me to want to drink? I am an addict or does studying for the bar really just make me want to lose myself in a huge barrel of alcohol? I would just love to swim in it, sit in it, and when my stomach is full, it’ll just seep into my skin, and obliterate the memory of ever studying for a bar, and sitting through hours of mindless video lectures, making flashcards, and memorizing rules of law that don’t even apply in the real world. Then again, it could just be me, and my own neurotic, bothered, weird-ass self needing a break from myself.
But instead of drinking, i have decided to start taking some steps to deal with some things that have been on my mind lately. There’s nothing like taking ACTION instead of wallowing in drink, literally.
I know I am paying a bazillion dollars for Bar Bri. In fact, I am currently writing this post while watching a bar bri video in a mid-sized auditorium of a room. Torts. Yay Torts. So completely exciting that I am posting to my blog instead. Looking around, people are paying attention in various ways. I see someone playing Text Twist. I see people reading Waiterrant. I see people taking notes. I see people examining their Conviser Book with a manifying glass to look for some obscure exception that they figure will be just enough to put them over the top. I see Craigslist. I see fishing forums. I see shopping. I see email. I see eBay.
I think most of us are listening at least with one ear.
However, I often find that it is very difficult to focus on bar reviewing activities for as many hours as the Bar Bri Reps recommend. The first day, they said, “If you study 8-10 hours a day, you’ll be just fine.” Have you ever tried to study for 8-10 hours straight without taking a break?!?! Trying pulling off your finger nails. It hurts, right! You don’t want to do it. In fact, as soon as you imagine what it would feel like to pull up the side of your pinky nail (the smallest one, perhaps the easiest to get rid of), you chicken out. Why would one put themselves through all that needless agony, even if it was just that tiny little pinky nail (which will grow back anyway!) Simple human nature–survival. I wouldn’t make it through 10 weeks of 8-10 hours a day, getting all the contracts MBE questions wrong and forgetting the different definitions of scrutiny for my Con Law essays.
So instead: I study for a few hours and do other things to try and break up the day. First–I clean. I figure, that if I am not being responsible by studying, I should be responsible in my house, and not make my roommate want to throw me out on my ass. So i load the dishwasher. I unload it when it is done. I sweep. Mop. Dust. So much so that my roommate thinks I am a little crazy, and that I am cleaning b/c I am trying to make a statement about her cleanliness habits. I think this b/c she constantly apologizes for leaving her dishes out, or not putting away her books or magazines. I reassure her, its not you, its me. But when has that ever worked as an excuse–no one ever believes it when you say, “Its not you, it’s me.”
I have been working out more. My goal is to resemble something like a human being at the end of bar bri (not gollum from LOTR, emerging from the cavern of my study room with bewildered eyes, long knobbly fingers clutching my CMR, whispering, the precious….). So far I’ve managed to almost run around the block without stopping. Almost.
I have been coaching more as well. Crew is very fun, but it has done little to calm my nerves, b/c I have been teaching a “new” class. These people have never touched boats before. In fact, most of them are middle aged and have not followed directions from other people since before I was born. I try very hard to remain upbeat, but my blood pressure rises without my awareness while I attempt to keep them from drowning or drowning each other, crashing my $30,000 in equipment into the shore, another boat, buoys or the dock.
I have also maintained some semblance of my former personal habits–such as reading a non-law book every few weeks. I am also back on my food goals–not really dieting, but trying very hard to eat a wide variety of foods that I would not normally consider. Basically, I am trying to eat something else other than bread, cheese and cereal. If I could look great and lose weight while eating bread and cheese, I would be H-O-T. Totally. Like none-other.
You’ve probably noticed that I have not been super diligent about the blog. I am not sure about what I plan to do with the blog just yet. I have used it the past few years as a place to vent about law school…..but now that law school is over, it will not have much to do with law school at all. I may vent about work now and again, but my hope is that work will NOT be the main focus on my life, hence, my blog.
Anyway, still here in Torts hell. Good luck to the others of you who are currently similarly suffering.
Cheers.
Law school is really frigging easy. That’s right. I said it.
On the other hand, dealing with financial aid / direct loan applications, bureacracy, lost files, mysteriously disappearing deferment periods, bills for things you don’t owe followed by letters saying you don’t owe what they said you owed yesterday but is actually deferred until February because another Financial Aid dickhead made another mistake so it won’t actually come due until next week so don’t pay it because it’s already overdue unless you lock in a low rate now with the company you’ve never heard of and never dealt with that believes receiving a little grant money entitles them to claim to be an duly authorized arm of the federal government. FUCK THEM ALL.
Compared to all that bullshit, even the worst day of law school is chocolate cake wrapped in an orgasm. Even Fed Tax.
