Last Sunday, it had seemed that my Ames brief was closed to being done. Who knew that I would then proceed to spend more than 40 hours on it, including pulling 3 (well, 2.5) all-nighters?
Who knew that the damned thing would take so much time?
Who knew that there were still so many cases that I hadn't read, including two cases that ended up being extremely relevant, and on which I basically relied the entire brief?
Who knew that J and I were wrong about who our opponent team was the entire time, and didn't even realize that we had picked up the wrong brief until 11PM the evening before the brief was due. Thankfully our Lawyering professor was forgiving, although not too pleased.
Who knew that bluebooking and making a Table of Authority and Table of Content would take me and my partner like 8 hours?!??!
Who knew that my Internet was going to go down at 3:30 AM on Thursday morning (less than 6.5 hours before the brief was due and 1 minute before J emailed the master file for me to bluebook and proofread). Who knew that I would have to then put on clothes and trek 2 completely deserted and creepy blocks to AC's dorm room to complete my brief there?
(AC was so sweet. She was done with her own brief but hung out with me. She gave me chocolates and was in general so pleasant and helpful. She finally fell asleep around 5 AM and then snored a little. She was the best companion on a very stressful night.)
Well, so that's why I hadn't posted at all for the past week. On Monday, Tuesday and Wedneday I basically didn't sleep, and instead just took sporadic naps during the day. I only went to 2 classes today the entire week. The rest of the time was spent either napping, frantically reading, or frantically writing. With some meals thrown in in between.
On Thursday night (after our briefs were due), I crashed and slept 13 hours. My sleeping schedule is now completely messed up.
This reminds me a bit of my college days, in an unpleasant way. I hope to never do this again.
(Except, well, I'm becoming a lawyer and apparently this is what I'll be doing for the next 40 years or so.)
My only consolation was that ABS and S, for the most part, stayed up with me on those nights, so at least it wasn't as lonely as it could have been.
The sad part is that after all this, I still don't feel my brief was that good. I think I just completely lost perspective at the end. I began obsessing over the minutiae instead of paying more attention to the bigger picture of justice and equity. Instead of enumerating all those "factors" in hardly binding authorities I should have been more eloquent in advocating for our client. I should have addressed the human drama a bit more in my brief, instead of making it into a dry and boring piece of writing. But alas, it's hard to be eloquent at 4:30 AM.
But, I'm glad it was over. Spring break began yesterday and many people left in the morning. A record low of 33 people attended contracts. (I wasn't there to witness this sad spectacle, as I was sleeping and then having lunch in the Square with S and AR.) Later, I heard from J that the contracts professor called a series of 15 people, none of whom was there, before he reached someone who was actually present. Amazingly, in the 3 weeks that I have been absent from contracts, he hasn't called on me once yet.
On Friday, I visited DPP and his mother who was in town visiting, and the three of us played scrabble together. DPP won in the end, and his mother came in second. I was soundly beaten, alas, because of a few very bad strategic plays. I blamed it on the lack of sleep, but that was just a convenient excuse. :)
This weekend, I'm taking care of ABS's cat. ABS is in Chicago visiting his Boyfriend C, and today I got to spend some quality time with the kitty. Definitely the high point of my day...
:D Leaving for warm Austin on Monday!
:( Need to re-orient myself and do some major studying in the next few days, so the spring break won't be that relaxing after all...
3/20/2006
Controversy!
A few days ago I received an email inviting me to go to a "Town Hall meeting" about the Law School Parody that my friends and I saw a few weekends ago. Apparently, the parody offended some people, including some students being mocked about their romantic relationship or their body type, and two black girls who were unfavorably portrayed as "ghetto."
I don't recall this at all from parody, but ABS told me that the black girls stuff was near the beginning (recall that I was about 15 minutes late). Also, since I was pretty much drunk almost all of the time there, my sensitivity-radar wasn't operating at normal levels.
My main gripe with the parody was that it was too long, and that it wasn't that funny. The problem mainly came from the fact that the parody parodied many students, and since I attend a fairly large law school, and no one here can be said to know the entire student body, most of the audience won't "get" at least 80% of the jokes. So for any given joke involving students, perhaps 5-10% of the audience will laugh. The other will not understand what's so funny. The whole thing just seemed kind of lame and unnecessary.
On top of it, people got offended by it, which made it even more not worth it. I can kind of relate. I was not parodied in the parody, but if they had done it, I'm not sure how I would feel about that. If they mocked me in an unfair way, or had presented something inaccurate about me (as some of these people apparently felt) perhaps I would be pissed off as well.
In any event, I thought this would be an interesting meeting to attend, so I went with ABS in the afternoon to the meeting. A LOT of people were there. I think someone must have sent out some rallying email. Almost the entire black student's association was there. The parody cast and crew were there. I think some conservative student groups were there as well. Then there were curious spectators like me. They filled up a very large lecture hall and people had to stand in the back because there were no more seats.
A very prominent black professor moderated the discussion. There was a palpable tension in the air, and there were some ugly moments of shouting at each other. On the whole though, the comments and the dialogue were civil. The parody producers and writers apologized profused, though their apologies were always followed by some super-defense "BUT... blah blah blah..." A few black students spoke very eloquently. One black guy totally got an Obama thing going on.
I made a comment too about how I feel like the parody has the potential of messing with people's reputation, especially since we are a large community and people don't necessarily know the students being parodies personally.
Others made the point that in certain other law schools mocking students in the parody is just not allowed. You can only poke fun at professors. I think I kind of agree with that. I think it smacks of meanness when you poke fun at students, who don't necessarily consent to being protrayed in this way. Some people also suggested an "opt-out" registry for students who don't want to be parodied, or for the writers to ask the students for their permission before writing a parody about them into the show.
Freedom of speech, predictably, came up as a defense. As well as the defense that the parody is just a big joke and a great tradition and people should just let it be, in the name of tradition and humor.
i disagree with that on so many levels, which I will not recount here.
A few people became very emotional during the discussion, and nearly cried. I guess this is a really emotional topic for everyone.
There was also quite a few predictably self-congratulatory "well, at least we are engaging in a soul-searching racial dialogue" "at least something good came out of this" talk. I am very non-plussed by this kind of thinking. I don't think discussions are good for their own sake, unless they solve something or at least lead somewhere. Just pointing out "oh jeez, there's a lot of racial discrimination around the school." is not really that helpful and is even a bit cliched at this point. Not to mention that a lot of the discussions are even less than that. The question is what do we plan to DO about it? How do we make the parody less hurtful and more constructive? How do we respond to the members of the student body who feel insulted? How do we write the parody in the future? How do we build the law school community in other ways that will make all members feel welcome? These are the really pressing issues that need answers. Feeling superiority about one's awarness of racial discrimination is really not that helpful. But unfortunately most people stop at that.
In any case, I thought this was a very interesting evening and two hours very well-spent. I hope we have similar events in the future where we can build on the dialogues of tonight and come to some real solutions.
:D Coffee, dinner, and a lot of catching up with SF, his girlfriend L, DPP, his wife LR on Saturday evening.
:( Ames brief almost due. Still a lot of work to be done on it.
I don't recall this at all from parody, but ABS told me that the black girls stuff was near the beginning (recall that I was about 15 minutes late). Also, since I was pretty much drunk almost all of the time there, my sensitivity-radar wasn't operating at normal levels.
My main gripe with the parody was that it was too long, and that it wasn't that funny. The problem mainly came from the fact that the parody parodied many students, and since I attend a fairly large law school, and no one here can be said to know the entire student body, most of the audience won't "get" at least 80% of the jokes. So for any given joke involving students, perhaps 5-10% of the audience will laugh. The other will not understand what's so funny. The whole thing just seemed kind of lame and unnecessary.
On top of it, people got offended by it, which made it even more not worth it. I can kind of relate. I was not parodied in the parody, but if they had done it, I'm not sure how I would feel about that. If they mocked me in an unfair way, or had presented something inaccurate about me (as some of these people apparently felt) perhaps I would be pissed off as well.
In any event, I thought this would be an interesting meeting to attend, so I went with ABS in the afternoon to the meeting. A LOT of people were there. I think someone must have sent out some rallying email. Almost the entire black student's association was there. The parody cast and crew were there. I think some conservative student groups were there as well. Then there were curious spectators like me. They filled up a very large lecture hall and people had to stand in the back because there were no more seats.
A very prominent black professor moderated the discussion. There was a palpable tension in the air, and there were some ugly moments of shouting at each other. On the whole though, the comments and the dialogue were civil. The parody producers and writers apologized profused, though their apologies were always followed by some super-defense "BUT... blah blah blah..." A few black students spoke very eloquently. One black guy totally got an Obama thing going on.
I made a comment too about how I feel like the parody has the potential of messing with people's reputation, especially since we are a large community and people don't necessarily know the students being parodies personally.
Others made the point that in certain other law schools mocking students in the parody is just not allowed. You can only poke fun at professors. I think I kind of agree with that. I think it smacks of meanness when you poke fun at students, who don't necessarily consent to being protrayed in this way. Some people also suggested an "opt-out" registry for students who don't want to be parodied, or for the writers to ask the students for their permission before writing a parody about them into the show.
Freedom of speech, predictably, came up as a defense. As well as the defense that the parody is just a big joke and a great tradition and people should just let it be, in the name of tradition and humor.
i disagree with that on so many levels, which I will not recount here.
A few people became very emotional during the discussion, and nearly cried. I guess this is a really emotional topic for everyone.
There was also quite a few predictably self-congratulatory "well, at least we are engaging in a soul-searching racial dialogue" "at least something good came out of this" talk. I am very non-plussed by this kind of thinking. I don't think discussions are good for their own sake, unless they solve something or at least lead somewhere. Just pointing out "oh jeez, there's a lot of racial discrimination around the school." is not really that helpful and is even a bit cliched at this point. Not to mention that a lot of the discussions are even less than that. The question is what do we plan to DO about it? How do we make the parody less hurtful and more constructive? How do we respond to the members of the student body who feel insulted? How do we write the parody in the future? How do we build the law school community in other ways that will make all members feel welcome? These are the really pressing issues that need answers. Feeling superiority about one's awarness of racial discrimination is really not that helpful. But unfortunately most people stop at that.
In any case, I thought this was a very interesting evening and two hours very well-spent. I hope we have similar events in the future where we can build on the dialogues of tonight and come to some real solutions.
:D Coffee, dinner, and a lot of catching up with SF, his girlfriend L, DPP, his wife LR on Saturday evening.
:( Ames brief almost due. Still a lot of work to be done on it.
3/17/2006
The Ames Games
It's not fun, writing your Ames brief at 2:32 AM, when you could be sleeping, or watching TV, or playing Monopoly online, or reading for contracts. Yes, even reading for contracts if better than writing an Ames brief on an exceedingly complex area of law that I had no idea about just a few weeks ago, and still frankly have not that much idea about.
Well, I should really go back to work now.
Well, I should really go back to work now.
3/15/2006
Contorty! (Or 19th Century Common Law)
So, gone are the springlike weather and the 60-something degrees temperature. I was woken up today by the sound of wind howling between tree and houses. It sounded like trucks were constantly driving by the house. A little frightening, actually.
Temperature has dropped to below freezing, with a wind chill that made walking to school and walking back really unpleasant. (IH and I have now developed the habit of walking to school together, since he lives half a block from me. Doesn't this remind you of middle school? Hehe...)
In the early afternoon, in spite of the blue sky, we also had some flurries. Gotta love this New England weather.
For no reason at all, I stayed up 'til 2:40 or so last night. So I had expected this morning to be painfuil. Surprisingly, I woke up without an alarm at 9:30 and made it to property without any problems. I'm glad that I went too, since today's discussion was really interesting. We are talking about an area where property rights and contract rights kind of overlap. I love these interfaces between two supposedly different areas of law, like contracts and torts, or property and torts, or torts and contract. It's really quite artificial to separate these subjects anyway, since they all kind of run into each other and have the same principles. Both torts and contracts, for instance, are about duty. And both contracts and property are about entitlements and rights. You can have "tortious interference with contract" that sounds a lot like trespassing upon somone else's property. You can have unwaivable contract duties that look more and more like torts.
I once joked with ABS and S that instead of three artificially separate 1L courses of contracts, torts, and property, we should just have one humungous class that meets 4 hours a day called "contorty".
S objected that property doesn't get equal representation in the name, and suggested "contorterty."
ABS said the mega-course should just be called "19th Century Common Law."
Tax was boring as ever. S sent me an article by Alvin Warren that our professor suggested that we read since it supposedly illuminates a lot of stuff that we talked about yesterday. I read it and it was actually compreehnsible, and I was getting more of a grasp on this stuff. But then came class time and we were once again swimming in a sea of incoherent terms, phrases, sections, and numbers.
I find it so hard to focus on that class. My mind wanders at the slightest distraction. I spent at least 10 minutes cleaning out my inbox without even realizing that I was ignoring my professor. Then I spent another 10 minutes finding the ideal font for my class notes.
Ay...
:D Have two cartons of ice cream in the freezer. Cherry vanilla, and peaches and cream!
:D:D Best friend from college SF coming to visit me in C-Town from NYC this weekend! I'm very very very excited.
:( Have to work on Ames brief, b/c J scheduled conference with our Lawyering professor this Friday.
Temperature has dropped to below freezing, with a wind chill that made walking to school and walking back really unpleasant. (IH and I have now developed the habit of walking to school together, since he lives half a block from me. Doesn't this remind you of middle school? Hehe...)
In the early afternoon, in spite of the blue sky, we also had some flurries. Gotta love this New England weather.
For no reason at all, I stayed up 'til 2:40 or so last night. So I had expected this morning to be painfuil. Surprisingly, I woke up without an alarm at 9:30 and made it to property without any problems. I'm glad that I went too, since today's discussion was really interesting. We are talking about an area where property rights and contract rights kind of overlap. I love these interfaces between two supposedly different areas of law, like contracts and torts, or property and torts, or torts and contract. It's really quite artificial to separate these subjects anyway, since they all kind of run into each other and have the same principles. Both torts and contracts, for instance, are about duty. And both contracts and property are about entitlements and rights. You can have "tortious interference with contract" that sounds a lot like trespassing upon somone else's property. You can have unwaivable contract duties that look more and more like torts.
I once joked with ABS and S that instead of three artificially separate 1L courses of contracts, torts, and property, we should just have one humungous class that meets 4 hours a day called "contorty".
S objected that property doesn't get equal representation in the name, and suggested "contorterty."
ABS said the mega-course should just be called "19th Century Common Law."
Tax was boring as ever. S sent me an article by Alvin Warren that our professor suggested that we read since it supposedly illuminates a lot of stuff that we talked about yesterday. I read it and it was actually compreehnsible, and I was getting more of a grasp on this stuff. But then came class time and we were once again swimming in a sea of incoherent terms, phrases, sections, and numbers.
I find it so hard to focus on that class. My mind wanders at the slightest distraction. I spent at least 10 minutes cleaning out my inbox without even realizing that I was ignoring my professor. Then I spent another 10 minutes finding the ideal font for my class notes.
Ay...
:D Have two cartons of ice cream in the freezer. Cherry vanilla, and peaches and cream!
:D:D Best friend from college SF coming to visit me in C-Town from NYC this weekend! I'm very very very excited.
:( Have to work on Ames brief, b/c J scheduled conference with our Lawyering professor this Friday.
3/14/2006
Things That Make You Go "Mm?"
Hm, well, the tax class today made no sense to me whatsoever, in spite of having diligently done the reading and thinking that I understood everything. Having no finance or accounting background, I seriously fear that I'm at a disadvantage to other people in class. The professor tries to argue that consumption tax is the same as a wage tax (or was it income tax?) and then used a lot of examples and charts to illustrate his point, none of which made sense to me. Hmm... should I be worried?
Anyway, just thought I'd gripe.
:D the beautiful, gorgeous, lovely 60 degree sunny weather! Spring is (temporarilty) here!
:( too many commitments, too little time.
Anyway, just thought I'd gripe.
:D the beautiful, gorgeous, lovely 60 degree sunny weather! Spring is (temporarilty) here!
:( too many commitments, too little time.
3/12/2006
O the Absurdities of Law School
This morning, randomly remembered this funny scene from the Parody:
[After law students woke up and found themselves on a desert island, they began debating what they should do first: finding water, or drafting a constitution?]
[Suddenly, a silver-haired professor appeared carrying stone tablets. It's Professor F., a very famous conservative professor at the school. Some law students (namely those in suits and ties and wanted to draft a constitution first) immediately ran over and knelt down before him. Prof F began giving his commandments.]
[I can only remember a couple of them:]
"Thou shall talk about the exam immediately upon its completion, and point out all the issues that others missed, and thou saw!"
"Thou shall advance the theory that there is no correlation between knowledge and grades, if thou did poorly on an exam, but if thou received a good grade, thou shall speak of how thou want to become a - PROFESSOR!"
[And finally, my favorite one:]
"Thou shall, in the fairest month of May, spend 14-16 hours a day for a week writing a case note and subciting an article, neither of which will be ever published, the reward of which is... MORE SUBCITING!"
:D Getting up relatively early. Interesting article on wrongful death in the NYT. Future research project?
:( Have to read a week's worth of tax now.
[After law students woke up and found themselves on a desert island, they began debating what they should do first: finding water, or drafting a constitution?]
[Suddenly, a silver-haired professor appeared carrying stone tablets. It's Professor F., a very famous conservative professor at the school. Some law students (namely those in suits and ties and wanted to draft a constitution first) immediately ran over and knelt down before him. Prof F began giving his commandments.]
[I can only remember a couple of them:]
"Thou shall talk about the exam immediately upon its completion, and point out all the issues that others missed, and thou saw!"
"Thou shall advance the theory that there is no correlation between knowledge and grades, if thou did poorly on an exam, but if thou received a good grade, thou shall speak of how thou want to become a - PROFESSOR!"
[And finally, my favorite one:]
"Thou shall, in the fairest month of May, spend 14-16 hours a day for a week writing a case note and subciting an article, neither of which will be ever published, the reward of which is... MORE SUBCITING!"
:D Getting up relatively early. Interesting article on wrongful death in the NYT. Future research project?
:( Have to read a week's worth of tax now.
Overcoming Lipsticks
As ABS and I wandered around Best Buy yesterday, the thought struck me that I may HAVE to go into corporate law because there were simply too many cool gadgets there on the shelves that I wanted. A tiny camcorder, the new X-Box 360, palm pilots and hot new cell phones and iPod nanos and iPod accessories and new computer games and softwares...
Nevermind that if I do corporate law, I probably wouldn't have time to actually use any of this stuff that I would be able to afford to buy. There's a peculiar satisfaction that comes from mere possession and not neccessarily use; just the possibilty of use is often enough. Anyone who has seen my large collection of lipsticks knows that this is definitely true for me. At last count I have more than 25 different shades of lipsticks. And since the last count I probably bought another half a dozen. And I don't use them, at all. I probably only use 2-3 of them ever. The other ones are sitting in my purse or standing in my medicine cabinet collecting dust.
There is something pathological about my fascination and need to buy new lipsticks. I'm sure any amateur psychologist would have a field day analyzing this. But the more pressing issue at hand is other things in my life that are similar to my lipstick habit (do I have a new clothes habit? A cool electronic gadget habit? A anti-aging lotion habit? A fancy red wine habit? Am I hopelessly consumerist?) It's scary to think that material things could determine my career and force me to choose certain paths and slave away just so that I can have more and more THINGS, and turn my house into a museum for the possessions that I have but never use (just as my bathroom is sort of a shrine of my lipsticks now).
So, new goal for 2006: weaning my lipstick addiction by fall OCI.
Nevermind that if I do corporate law, I probably wouldn't have time to actually use any of this stuff that I would be able to afford to buy. There's a peculiar satisfaction that comes from mere possession and not neccessarily use; just the possibilty of use is often enough. Anyone who has seen my large collection of lipsticks knows that this is definitely true for me. At last count I have more than 25 different shades of lipsticks. And since the last count I probably bought another half a dozen. And I don't use them, at all. I probably only use 2-3 of them ever. The other ones are sitting in my purse or standing in my medicine cabinet collecting dust.
There is something pathological about my fascination and need to buy new lipsticks. I'm sure any amateur psychologist would have a field day analyzing this. But the more pressing issue at hand is other things in my life that are similar to my lipstick habit (do I have a new clothes habit? A cool electronic gadget habit? A anti-aging lotion habit? A fancy red wine habit? Am I hopelessly consumerist?) It's scary to think that material things could determine my career and force me to choose certain paths and slave away just so that I can have more and more THINGS, and turn my house into a museum for the possessions that I have but never use (just as my bathroom is sort of a shrine of my lipsticks now).
So, new goal for 2006: weaning my lipstick addiction by fall OCI.
The Nice Side of Global Warming!
Both yesterday and today, it was in the 60s. And sunny. Not bad for mid-March.
It's been a busy but fun couple of days. Yesterday, because of the spring-like weather, ABS and I decided that there was no way in hell we would go to contracts. Instead I took Boyfriend's car and we drove to this mall at the other end of town, where he tried (unsuccessfully) to buy the new game Intergalactic Civilization and I bought new batteries for my cell phone and new earbuds for my iPod. (Note: the earbuds from Apple, which cost me $40.95 and looked really cool from the outside, are HORRIBLE. The sound fidelity is really really bad, and they keep on falling out of my ears. Don't get them if you can help it. I'm returning mine.)
The day started out very promising, but by mid-afternoon both ABS and I were a little down, because we had both applied to be resident tutors at these undergraduate residential colleges, and neither of us got results that we wanted. (ABS did not get into the colleges that he wanted most, in spite of high hopes and lots of very positive signals sent by the Masters, etc. I on the other hand, missed most of the deadlines and only ended up applying to one of the twelve, so it was less of a surprise for me to not get any offers. Oh well.)
We did have a nice meal at the Cheesecake Factory in the mall. I have very fond memories of the Cheesecake Factory back in my working days of traveling all over the U.S. My favorite item on the menu is the Jamaican Blackened Shrimp. It's a bit pricey now that I have to pay for it myself, but YUM.
Afterwards, we drove back, ABS still upset so I dropped him off at his apartment and drove home myself. I decided to skip indoor soccer since was scheduled to go out drinking at a firm reception and then to the law school parody at night. Around 6:45 or so J and I met up at the law school with AR, with whom I hadn't hung out in a while, and we headed over to the firm event held at a popular student bar in the Square. It was crazy warm in the bar because of the balmy weather. A whole bunch of people from our section, including S (whose brother is visiting this weekend), IH, AK, AHH, N, RE, etc. Since we didn't have a lot of time, J and I downed as many vodka cranberries and buffalo wings as we could in 50 minutes or so, and then headed back to the law school for the Parody.
The Parody was all right; funny in parts, a bit too long (3 hours!). This year the theme is "Our Beloved Law School on a Stranded Island" with a Law and Order type story mixed in. Lots of "in" jokes where you need to know the people who are being parodied to find funny. My favorite are some professor parodies. Another scene involved a law firm who is interviewing law students on the island "campus." Their cue to the bodyguard for throwing out interviewees is "What can I tell you about the firm?" which I found hilarious. There were also very good parodies on John Roberts, Sam Alito, and Harriet Miers.
There were also a lot of pop songs with changed lyrics, some of which are very clever. Our dean also made a cameo appearance at the end of the parody, heroically (as usual) saving everyone stranded on the island. Although in my opinion, the parody could have been about 30 minuts shorter, it was a very good time for everyone.
After the Parody, we decided to go the bar near my house and have some drinks. A cast member joined us, along with a First Year Lawyering instructor, W, who teaches the other half of our section. W and I got to talking, and it turned out that he spent a year in my undergraduate college, and lived in the graduate student dorms, and had a whole bunch of friends in common with me. He apparently also knew my ex, E, really well, which is a little freaky. I was drunk and think that I revealed a little too much about my personal life (What do you expect when you have drinks with your students after they've already downed at least 4-5 drinks for the night?).
I slept horribly, but woke up miraculously without a headache. J, AC, and I, and our various SOs and spouses, scheduled to go to dim sum this morning at our usual spot in Chinatown. The restaurant was really crowded for some reason, but we got a seat easily and had a very satisfying meal. After that, J and her husband went home, AC and her boyfriend went shopping, and Boyfriend and I walked around in down town, enjoyed the nice weather, and even sat for a while at the wharf on the harbor. It was such a beautiful day. Was very happy that we did this, and went home.
I have been reading property ever since. We are now reading this incredibly complicated section on estates and future interests, with many arcane and barely intelligible phrases and categories. The section that I have been reading this evening, the Rules Against Perpetuties, is so confusing and poorly written that I'm advancing at about 2-3 pages per hours, and have to review my hornbooks just to figure out what the hell the rule is saying. Not fun.
:D rice noodles with shrimp at dim sum! (It's a very hard to describe dish, but one of my favorite!)
:D:D almost done with property reading for the whole week!
:( totally screwed-up sleeping scheules, AGAIN.
It's been a busy but fun couple of days. Yesterday, because of the spring-like weather, ABS and I decided that there was no way in hell we would go to contracts. Instead I took Boyfriend's car and we drove to this mall at the other end of town, where he tried (unsuccessfully) to buy the new game Intergalactic Civilization and I bought new batteries for my cell phone and new earbuds for my iPod. (Note: the earbuds from Apple, which cost me $40.95 and looked really cool from the outside, are HORRIBLE. The sound fidelity is really really bad, and they keep on falling out of my ears. Don't get them if you can help it. I'm returning mine.)
The day started out very promising, but by mid-afternoon both ABS and I were a little down, because we had both applied to be resident tutors at these undergraduate residential colleges, and neither of us got results that we wanted. (ABS did not get into the colleges that he wanted most, in spite of high hopes and lots of very positive signals sent by the Masters, etc. I on the other hand, missed most of the deadlines and only ended up applying to one of the twelve, so it was less of a surprise for me to not get any offers. Oh well.)
We did have a nice meal at the Cheesecake Factory in the mall. I have very fond memories of the Cheesecake Factory back in my working days of traveling all over the U.S. My favorite item on the menu is the Jamaican Blackened Shrimp. It's a bit pricey now that I have to pay for it myself, but YUM.
Afterwards, we drove back, ABS still upset so I dropped him off at his apartment and drove home myself. I decided to skip indoor soccer since was scheduled to go out drinking at a firm reception and then to the law school parody at night. Around 6:45 or so J and I met up at the law school with AR, with whom I hadn't hung out in a while, and we headed over to the firm event held at a popular student bar in the Square. It was crazy warm in the bar because of the balmy weather. A whole bunch of people from our section, including S (whose brother is visiting this weekend), IH, AK, AHH, N, RE, etc. Since we didn't have a lot of time, J and I downed as many vodka cranberries and buffalo wings as we could in 50 minutes or so, and then headed back to the law school for the Parody.
The Parody was all right; funny in parts, a bit too long (3 hours!). This year the theme is "Our Beloved Law School on a Stranded Island" with a Law and Order type story mixed in. Lots of "in" jokes where you need to know the people who are being parodied to find funny. My favorite are some professor parodies. Another scene involved a law firm who is interviewing law students on the island "campus." Their cue to the bodyguard for throwing out interviewees is "What can I tell you about the firm?" which I found hilarious. There were also very good parodies on John Roberts, Sam Alito, and Harriet Miers.
There were also a lot of pop songs with changed lyrics, some of which are very clever. Our dean also made a cameo appearance at the end of the parody, heroically (as usual) saving everyone stranded on the island. Although in my opinion, the parody could have been about 30 minuts shorter, it was a very good time for everyone.
After the Parody, we decided to go the bar near my house and have some drinks. A cast member joined us, along with a First Year Lawyering instructor, W, who teaches the other half of our section. W and I got to talking, and it turned out that he spent a year in my undergraduate college, and lived in the graduate student dorms, and had a whole bunch of friends in common with me. He apparently also knew my ex, E, really well, which is a little freaky. I was drunk and think that I revealed a little too much about my personal life (What do you expect when you have drinks with your students after they've already downed at least 4-5 drinks for the night?).
I slept horribly, but woke up miraculously without a headache. J, AC, and I, and our various SOs and spouses, scheduled to go to dim sum this morning at our usual spot in Chinatown. The restaurant was really crowded for some reason, but we got a seat easily and had a very satisfying meal. After that, J and her husband went home, AC and her boyfriend went shopping, and Boyfriend and I walked around in down town, enjoyed the nice weather, and even sat for a while at the wharf on the harbor. It was such a beautiful day. Was very happy that we did this, and went home.
I have been reading property ever since. We are now reading this incredibly complicated section on estates and future interests, with many arcane and barely intelligible phrases and categories. The section that I have been reading this evening, the Rules Against Perpetuties, is so confusing and poorly written that I'm advancing at about 2-3 pages per hours, and have to review my hornbooks just to figure out what the hell the rule is saying. Not fun.
:D rice noodles with shrimp at dim sum! (It's a very hard to describe dish, but one of my favorite!)
:D:D almost done with property reading for the whole week!
:( totally screwed-up sleeping scheules, AGAIN.
3/10/2006
Random Thoughts About Friends
Here are some ultra random thoughts about friends.
This semester, since everyone has an elective, you definitely see the cohesiveness of our sections disintegrate. Not quite fully yet, but people are definitely off doing their own things more and more.
J and I don't hang out as much as we used to. Partly this is due to our schedules, and our different study styles. J pratically lives in the library, and works very hard (probably much harder than me). But also, we don't have lunch as often b/c this semester I almost never eat at the student cafeteria, whereas J eats there a lot.
We still hang out a lot over the weekend, but we are not as inseparable as we used to be. Perhaps it's a good thing. But I should make more of an effort to eat with her.
On the other hand, ABS and I hang out more and more. We are both contemplative, intellectual (yes, if you can believe it, we both kinda enjoy thinking about legal problems, though I know I don't show this side of me too much in these posts -- perhaps I will eventually), academically inclined, and have very similar temperaments. We are both quirky and irreverent in the same way, and can laugh about little things for hours. Of all the people in the section, he knows me best, and I feel the most relaxed with him.
One thing I do worry about is that we have simliar life goals, or at least similar enough so that we'd be competing for many of the same things. I worry that we will eventually become competitors in something and this will sour our friendship. I also worry that next year we won't be as close as this year, and won't be able to hang out as much. The other day, we tallied up everything we want to do next year and estimated how much time it would take. The conclusion, we'd be working like 70 hours per week!
I have grown apart from S, and IH and AHH and others. Partly it's because they are all a lot younger than I am, and partly I think I am tiring of the constantly drinking constantly drunk life style. I'm discovering my interests in law, and more and more I like spending time thinking about that. I also think that at this point, the "cliques" in the sections have formed enough and everyone is more socially secure that they are now letting their true selves show a bit, and also have less patience with people who don't exactly jibe with them, whereas before they would be more willing to compromise... I think I am definitely this way myself. I am constantly aware of how young (read: immature) S and his friends are. It's not necessariliy a bad thing. In fact often I'm pretty immature myself. But I feel like I"m going through a more contemplative stage right now, and have less patience for some of the antics they pull.
I do miss those times in the beginnign when S and I would have these long conversations though. I suppose all friendshps go through these phases and perhaps the pendulum will swing the other way eventually.
This semester, since everyone has an elective, you definitely see the cohesiveness of our sections disintegrate. Not quite fully yet, but people are definitely off doing their own things more and more.
J and I don't hang out as much as we used to. Partly this is due to our schedules, and our different study styles. J pratically lives in the library, and works very hard (probably much harder than me). But also, we don't have lunch as often b/c this semester I almost never eat at the student cafeteria, whereas J eats there a lot.
We still hang out a lot over the weekend, but we are not as inseparable as we used to be. Perhaps it's a good thing. But I should make more of an effort to eat with her.
On the other hand, ABS and I hang out more and more. We are both contemplative, intellectual (yes, if you can believe it, we both kinda enjoy thinking about legal problems, though I know I don't show this side of me too much in these posts -- perhaps I will eventually), academically inclined, and have very similar temperaments. We are both quirky and irreverent in the same way, and can laugh about little things for hours. Of all the people in the section, he knows me best, and I feel the most relaxed with him.
One thing I do worry about is that we have simliar life goals, or at least similar enough so that we'd be competing for many of the same things. I worry that we will eventually become competitors in something and this will sour our friendship. I also worry that next year we won't be as close as this year, and won't be able to hang out as much. The other day, we tallied up everything we want to do next year and estimated how much time it would take. The conclusion, we'd be working like 70 hours per week!
I have grown apart from S, and IH and AHH and others. Partly it's because they are all a lot younger than I am, and partly I think I am tiring of the constantly drinking constantly drunk life style. I'm discovering my interests in law, and more and more I like spending time thinking about that. I also think that at this point, the "cliques" in the sections have formed enough and everyone is more socially secure that they are now letting their true selves show a bit, and also have less patience with people who don't exactly jibe with them, whereas before they would be more willing to compromise... I think I am definitely this way myself. I am constantly aware of how young (read: immature) S and his friends are. It's not necessariliy a bad thing. In fact often I'm pretty immature myself. But I feel like I"m going through a more contemplative stage right now, and have less patience for some of the antics they pull.
I do miss those times in the beginnign when S and I would have these long conversations though. I suppose all friendshps go through these phases and perhaps the pendulum will swing the other way eventually.
:D and :(
I realized that I forgot to put thsi at the end of my posts. So here's one for today:
:D free dinner, free drinks, and free dessert from Atlanta firm at restaurant bar near my house. Had beef stew, shrimp, several white Russians, and a huge ice cream sundae. Yum. And yes, I guess this is how they convince you to become slaves.
:( slacked off too much and didn't do very much work.
:D free dinner, free drinks, and free dessert from Atlanta firm at restaurant bar near my house. Had beef stew, shrimp, several white Russians, and a huge ice cream sundae. Yum. And yes, I guess this is how they convince you to become slaves.
:( slacked off too much and didn't do very much work.
3/08/2006
What Is Legal Brilliance?
Just had dinner with ABS, where we talked about our professors (as usual) and who among them are really brilliant. Had some thoughts there and then some additional thoughts on the way home.
I certainly don't think our contracts professor is brilliant. He repeats on and on about logic and its greatness, and argues very aggressively with anyone who doesn't agree immediately how wonderful logic is. Don't get me wrong. I think logic is great (after all, I did study philosophy in those hazy days when I was an undergrad). But the bottom line is, logic is a tool. It's a procedure. It may affect HOW we think but not WHAT we think about, and at the end of the day you are still left with important questions such as WHICH legal rules to apply and WHY, and WHAT are the useful objectives a legal system should try to achieve. Our contracts class talks almost nothing about that. We don't even talk about the legal rules themselves very much, beyond asking endlessly whether they are logical and whether they've been consistently applied. It's a very impoverished way of thinking.
Although I liked both my crim law professor from last semester, and my property professor from this semester, very much, I don't think they are brilliant either. They are certainly intelligent, but they seem too safely entrenched in the legal profession, and they tackle small, safe legal problems and seem to lack a grander vision. The work they do is useful -- there are certainly a lot of doctrinal wrinkles to iron out in any given field, and these wrinkles don't always present great problems but often medium and small problems. Still, you get the sense when you read their work that they lack a grand, unifiying vision, something like what Coase had when he wrote his article about reciprocal costs and duties; or on a smaller scale, what Weintraub had when he wrote his opinion that argued that assumption of risk is really just another form of contributory negligence and can therefore be analyzed in the same way; something that is transformative for the field and changes (or expands) the way we look at legal problems.
My torts professor is a legal historian and an extremely popular teacher. I am more on the fence about whether he is brilliant. He wrote some extremely influential books that influenced how a generation of legal scholars looked at American legal history, and which generated a lot of debate and criciticms. He certainly had a unifying legal vision. Perhaps he IS brilliant. I didn't get to personally experience his brilliance much since I didn't have time to read his books to judge for myself. Perhaps I will this summer.
But then, I was bothered by this thought: does one need to be kind of iconoclastic to be brilliant? It seems like all the professors that ABS and I agreed are brilliant are kind of that way, like Professor K, who wrote some seminal doctrinal work in his younger days and then wrote a series of critiques about hierarchies in law schools and how law schools are designed to instill that hierarchy in the students; and Professor H, who started out as a law and econ person but who now has become one of its most ardent and persuasive critics. Does this mean a conservative professor, like Professor F, who believes that the basis of law should be morality, cannot really be "briliant", in the sense that he won't really be transforming a field in a new and exciting and unexpected direction?
Anyway, need to think about this some more.
I certainly don't think our contracts professor is brilliant. He repeats on and on about logic and its greatness, and argues very aggressively with anyone who doesn't agree immediately how wonderful logic is. Don't get me wrong. I think logic is great (after all, I did study philosophy in those hazy days when I was an undergrad). But the bottom line is, logic is a tool. It's a procedure. It may affect HOW we think but not WHAT we think about, and at the end of the day you are still left with important questions such as WHICH legal rules to apply and WHY, and WHAT are the useful objectives a legal system should try to achieve. Our contracts class talks almost nothing about that. We don't even talk about the legal rules themselves very much, beyond asking endlessly whether they are logical and whether they've been consistently applied. It's a very impoverished way of thinking.
Although I liked both my crim law professor from last semester, and my property professor from this semester, very much, I don't think they are brilliant either. They are certainly intelligent, but they seem too safely entrenched in the legal profession, and they tackle small, safe legal problems and seem to lack a grander vision. The work they do is useful -- there are certainly a lot of doctrinal wrinkles to iron out in any given field, and these wrinkles don't always present great problems but often medium and small problems. Still, you get the sense when you read their work that they lack a grand, unifiying vision, something like what Coase had when he wrote his article about reciprocal costs and duties; or on a smaller scale, what Weintraub had when he wrote his opinion that argued that assumption of risk is really just another form of contributory negligence and can therefore be analyzed in the same way; something that is transformative for the field and changes (or expands) the way we look at legal problems.
My torts professor is a legal historian and an extremely popular teacher. I am more on the fence about whether he is brilliant. He wrote some extremely influential books that influenced how a generation of legal scholars looked at American legal history, and which generated a lot of debate and criciticms. He certainly had a unifying legal vision. Perhaps he IS brilliant. I didn't get to personally experience his brilliance much since I didn't have time to read his books to judge for myself. Perhaps I will this summer.
But then, I was bothered by this thought: does one need to be kind of iconoclastic to be brilliant? It seems like all the professors that ABS and I agreed are brilliant are kind of that way, like Professor K, who wrote some seminal doctrinal work in his younger days and then wrote a series of critiques about hierarchies in law schools and how law schools are designed to instill that hierarchy in the students; and Professor H, who started out as a law and econ person but who now has become one of its most ardent and persuasive critics. Does this mean a conservative professor, like Professor F, who believes that the basis of law should be morality, cannot really be "briliant", in the sense that he won't really be transforming a field in a new and exciting and unexpected direction?
Anyway, need to think about this some more.
3/06/2006
So Much Going On!
Had a pleasant week and weekend... Last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I skipped contracts with ABS. Now, lest you think that I am totally irresponsible, (which I fully admit and just not in this instance), I should say in my defense that in all three days, I used the time during contract to read and discuss contracts with ABS.
Frankly, with our professor going off on tangents regarding the greatness of logic and the stupidity of Oliver Wendell Holmes (yes, I'm not kidding. Holmes is like my prof's mortal enemy), the time is MUCH better spent learning contracts on our own. More and more of my classmates are doing the same. From the report of J, only about 25 students (out of 80) showed up to the Friday class. This is the same class where the prof spent about 30 minutes arguing with two people who he thought disagreed with him, one of whom, it turned out, didn't even disagree with him that much. So glad that I didn't have to suffer through that. It really sounds like that class is spiraling out of control. In the meanwhile, none of us are learning any contracts. I can literally say everything we've learned this semester in five sentences.
I could, but I don't want to bore you. :)
Spent a lot of time this weekend reading for my next week's classes and playing online monopoly at games.com. This is seriously one of my greatest discovery ever. You can play 8 differnet types of original board games online with your friends! I'm totally addicted to monopoly and played at least 8 games on Saturday. Saturday evening I took it easy.
On Sunday, J and I met up bright and early and met our Lawyering professor and went over our Ames brief. The message we took away from that was: our brief sucked and it needed a lot of work. Yikes. Back to the drawing board on that one...
Afterwards, J and I had a very nice lunch with her husband and went our separate ways
On Sunday evening, I had dinner with ABS at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant on the Square. I walked home, half-watched the Academy Awards, half-read tax, and half... played monopoly. :) I did finish the reading for tax for next week, but don't guarantee that I understood or remembered everything.
And speaking of the Academy Awards, I was disappointed that Brokeback Mountain didn't win Best Pictures, though I'm sure Crash was a great film. I didn't see ANY of the five movies nominated, although I do plan to rectify that this summer.
Boyfriend has been here for the entire past week. I really love it when he's here, and love vegging with him in the evenings. When the weather gets warmer I do want us to do more activities around C-town and B-town.
There has been many, many firm receptions in the past week, all of which I have signed up for and I have missed, because of the suddenly freezing weather and Boyfriend visiting. I do regret a bit about missing all that fancy food and all that alcohol (although I'm sure it gets old real fast -- at least for now, I'm still somewhat intrigued by the whole concept that someone is willing to give me these things for nothing!). This is another one of those things I plan to do when the weather gets warmer...
Frankly, with our professor going off on tangents regarding the greatness of logic and the stupidity of Oliver Wendell Holmes (yes, I'm not kidding. Holmes is like my prof's mortal enemy), the time is MUCH better spent learning contracts on our own. More and more of my classmates are doing the same. From the report of J, only about 25 students (out of 80) showed up to the Friday class. This is the same class where the prof spent about 30 minutes arguing with two people who he thought disagreed with him, one of whom, it turned out, didn't even disagree with him that much. So glad that I didn't have to suffer through that. It really sounds like that class is spiraling out of control. In the meanwhile, none of us are learning any contracts. I can literally say everything we've learned this semester in five sentences.
I could, but I don't want to bore you. :)
Spent a lot of time this weekend reading for my next week's classes and playing online monopoly at games.com. This is seriously one of my greatest discovery ever. You can play 8 differnet types of original board games online with your friends! I'm totally addicted to monopoly and played at least 8 games on Saturday. Saturday evening I took it easy.
On Sunday, J and I met up bright and early and met our Lawyering professor and went over our Ames brief. The message we took away from that was: our brief sucked and it needed a lot of work. Yikes. Back to the drawing board on that one...
Afterwards, J and I had a very nice lunch with her husband and went our separate ways
On Sunday evening, I had dinner with ABS at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant on the Square. I walked home, half-watched the Academy Awards, half-read tax, and half... played monopoly. :) I did finish the reading for tax for next week, but don't guarantee that I understood or remembered everything.
And speaking of the Academy Awards, I was disappointed that Brokeback Mountain didn't win Best Pictures, though I'm sure Crash was a great film. I didn't see ANY of the five movies nominated, although I do plan to rectify that this summer.
Boyfriend has been here for the entire past week. I really love it when he's here, and love vegging with him in the evenings. When the weather gets warmer I do want us to do more activities around C-town and B-town.
There has been many, many firm receptions in the past week, all of which I have signed up for and I have missed, because of the suddenly freezing weather and Boyfriend visiting. I do regret a bit about missing all that fancy food and all that alcohol (although I'm sure it gets old real fast -- at least for now, I'm still somewhat intrigued by the whole concept that someone is willing to give me these things for nothing!). This is another one of those things I plan to do when the weather gets warmer...
2/28/2006
New Camera
Not sure if I mentioned this, but when my parents were here a few weeks ago for Chinese New Year, I accidentally poured water on my old Kodak digital camera and destroyed it.
This made a little bit sad since I quite liked my old digital camera (you've seen the wonders it can do from the pictures I posted here). But every cloud has a silver lining, and in this case the silver lining is that I GET TO SHOP FOR A NEW DIGITAL CAMERA!
Anyway, after some extensive research last week (guess what I spent the more boring parts of tax doing?) I finally decided to get a Canon Powershot sd550. It had pretty good ratings from cnet, and my friend AC has one of the older versions and loves it.
So FedEx just delivered my brand-new camera! It's a nifty little thing, looks sturdy, shiny, and tiny. I already love it. Will be sharing random photos here again soon.
:D new camera, of course!
:( a ton of reading to do for tomorrow, my busiest day of the week.
This made a little bit sad since I quite liked my old digital camera (you've seen the wonders it can do from the pictures I posted here). But every cloud has a silver lining, and in this case the silver lining is that I GET TO SHOP FOR A NEW DIGITAL CAMERA!
Anyway, after some extensive research last week (guess what I spent the more boring parts of tax doing?) I finally decided to get a Canon Powershot sd550. It had pretty good ratings from cnet, and my friend AC has one of the older versions and loves it.
So FedEx just delivered my brand-new camera! It's a nifty little thing, looks sturdy, shiny, and tiny. I already love it. Will be sharing random photos here again soon.
:D new camera, of course!
:( a ton of reading to do for tomorrow, my busiest day of the week.
2/27/2006
Goals for March!
Man, can't believe that February is almost over! We have already spent 1/6th of the new year! And I feel so ... unaccomplished.
It's time to set some goals for the third month!
In the month of March, I would like to...
- go to the gym at least 4 times to exercise
- watch at least one movie and read one non-law-related book.
- read 1-2 law review articles per week for fun.
- go to at least 4 extracurricular law lectures and learn something that my classes are not teaching me
- cook at least 3 homecooked meals and enjoy with Boyfriend.
- spend at least two weekend days doing a fun activity with Boyfriend in B-town. (hmm... I have always wanted to visit the Aquarium...)
With spring break in 3 weeks this shouldn't be all that hard to accomplish. I'll be back at the end of the month to let you know whether any of this is in fact done.
Also, thansk to my friend AC, whose lively, sparkly blog inspired me to be a better blogger, I am introducing -->
":D" and ":(" for each post, starting today.
:D nearly done with Ames brief while everyone else is about to pull all-nighters.
:( having to walk home twice in 0 degree windchills
It's time to set some goals for the third month!
In the month of March, I would like to...
- go to the gym at least 4 times to exercise
- watch at least one movie and read one non-law-related book.
- read 1-2 law review articles per week for fun.
- go to at least 4 extracurricular law lectures and learn something that my classes are not teaching me
- cook at least 3 homecooked meals and enjoy with Boyfriend.
- spend at least two weekend days doing a fun activity with Boyfriend in B-town. (hmm... I have always wanted to visit the Aquarium...)
With spring break in 3 weeks this shouldn't be all that hard to accomplish. I'll be back at the end of the month to let you know whether any of this is in fact done.
Also, thansk to my friend AC, whose lively, sparkly blog inspired me to be a better blogger, I am introducing -->
":D" and ":(" for each post, starting today.
:D nearly done with Ames brief while everyone else is about to pull all-nighters.
:( having to walk home twice in 0 degree windchills
Zero degree wind chills!
Who knew that the distance between my apartment to the law school would be so long and so painful? I can't wait 'til spring!
At least my thighs are not aching so badly anymore. That went away in my very short sleep last night.
I was up 'til nearly 5 am last night trying to finish my section of the Ames, because I promise my partner J that I would have it done by today (it's due Tuesday). IH and I were discussing whether it's a good thing or not that one is Ames partner with one's friend. (IH's partner is this girl that he hardly knows in class). IH thinks that it's better to work with someone you don't know that well since then it's less bad if your work style is not in sync and you have a fight over the work. I did find that since I'm working with J, I'm much more circumspect about slacking off and really try to get things done early, as is her style. This gives me more pressure, but at least it helps me getting things done (and yes, I do need all the help I can get these days.).
Anyway, I'm impressed that I actually got up this morning to go to property. Now must go on with my busy day ahead now.
At least my thighs are not aching so badly anymore. That went away in my very short sleep last night.
I was up 'til nearly 5 am last night trying to finish my section of the Ames, because I promise my partner J that I would have it done by today (it's due Tuesday). IH and I were discussing whether it's a good thing or not that one is Ames partner with one's friend. (IH's partner is this girl that he hardly knows in class). IH thinks that it's better to work with someone you don't know that well since then it's less bad if your work style is not in sync and you have a fight over the work. I did find that since I'm working with J, I'm much more circumspect about slacking off and really try to get things done early, as is her style. This gives me more pressure, but at least it helps me getting things done (and yes, I do need all the help I can get these days.).
Anyway, I'm impressed that I actually got up this morning to go to property. Now must go on with my busy day ahead now.
2/26/2006
Perfect for Cold Weather...
Just made a pot of congee with chicken soup and preserved duck eggs (aka thousand year eggs). Yummm... makes me miss my childhood in China (and my freshman summer in Chinatown!)
Worked all day, including attending a mass subcite session at the library this afternoon. Still sore from the indoor soccer, can you believe it? (Yesterday I was so sore I could hardly move. I needed my arm's help to life my thighs. How pathetically out of shape I am...). Doing my Ames court brief now. It will be a long night...
Worked all day, including attending a mass subcite session at the library this afternoon. Still sore from the indoor soccer, can you believe it? (Yesterday I was so sore I could hardly move. I needed my arm's help to life my thighs. How pathetically out of shape I am...). Doing my Ames court brief now. It will be a long night...
2/24/2006
I Can Hardly Lift My Legs...
Yikes, just played indoor soccer with another section, and now I'm so exhausted that I barely had enough strength to walk home. I was hit once by the ball which broke the skin on my lips, which looked really heroic but actually didn't hurt that much.
We lost, 5-6. The other team was ALL large white guys and our team had several tiny women, so I think we actually did pretty well. Still, not having exercised for the past two weeks, and not having played soccer since, um, eighth grade, means that I probaby won't be able to walk tomorrow.
We lost, 5-6. The other team was ALL large white guys and our team had several tiny women, so I think we actually did pretty well. Still, not having exercised for the past two weeks, and not having played soccer since, um, eighth grade, means that I probaby won't be able to walk tomorrow.
Overheard in Property
My property professor looks like a Dilbert cartoon -- all squares and circles in his face and a bit nerdy. He also mumbles a lot and is not terribly expressive. So who would have thought that he would be so damned witty?
The past two weeks haev been particularly good classes for quotes. So I am collecting some of his more memorable ones below (my classmates helped collect most of these.)
Professor: "What if a state court said, 'We don't like due process much, so all these things that used to be called property are now called schmoperty?'"
Professor, on organ donation: "A brain donation would be the most--you can't even, well, think about it."
Professor, telling us about a barber who sold Lance Armstrong's hair: "If I were Armstrong, I'd be creeped out by that. I just felt the need to interject that. Oh, there are no more hands anymore."
Student: "If I cut off my finger, I can put it in my freezer."
Professor: "Put it in soup or something."
Professor: "Maybe it would be different if the mail was more like Harry Potter, and it sort of flew in and started screaming."
Professor: "That's the only data point we have. That gopher flushing is not beneficial."
I, along with 95% of my classmates, love property class.
The past two weeks haev been particularly good classes for quotes. So I am collecting some of his more memorable ones below (my classmates helped collect most of these.)
Professor: "What if a state court said, 'We don't like due process much, so all these things that used to be called property are now called schmoperty?'"
Professor, on organ donation: "A brain donation would be the most--you can't even, well, think about it."
Professor, telling us about a barber who sold Lance Armstrong's hair: "If I were Armstrong, I'd be creeped out by that. I just felt the need to interject that. Oh, there are no more hands anymore."
Student: "If I cut off my finger, I can put it in my freezer."
Professor: "Put it in soup or something."
Professor: "Maybe it would be different if the mail was more like Harry Potter, and it sort of flew in and started screaming."
Professor: "That's the only data point we have. That gopher flushing is not beneficial."
I, along with 95% of my classmates, love property class.
2/23/2006
Hopefully Not Sick, Definitely Addicted
For the past two days, I have been waking up with a sore throat. It goes away about 20 minutes after I get up. Still, I'm worried that I may be coming down with something.
I got the security clearance forms from my summer employer today. I have to go down to the local precinct to get my fingerprints taken! Fun. The forms themselves (there are seven or eight of them) are also quite long, and require a lot of info. Harder than applying to law school! Well okay, maybe not quite as hard...
I am falling behind on my contracts reading, mainly because since the professor talks about logic and not contracts every day anyway it all feels kind of pointless. Still it's not good to fall behind too much even if we don't end up discussing anything interesting in class.
Property and tax are as interesting as ever though. In property we are now talking about property rights issues with web domain names. Really really interesting stuff. In tax we are discussing illegal income and whether they are taxable, which is actually pretty relevant to our Ames court research this semester.
One huge impediment to my doing work for the past week or so has been the Olympics, which is absolutely mesmerizing. I would turn the TV on, promise myself that I would read with the TV in the background, and just start watching and can't staop. Whatever it is, you name it: curling, luge, bobsled, speedskating, ice dancing... I will just watch and watch until it's midnight and I have done no work. I console myself with the thought that in a week I will have a ton of free time to catch up with what will be a mountain of reading.
Must watch the finals for figure skating now! And read contracts!
I got the security clearance forms from my summer employer today. I have to go down to the local precinct to get my fingerprints taken! Fun. The forms themselves (there are seven or eight of them) are also quite long, and require a lot of info. Harder than applying to law school! Well okay, maybe not quite as hard...
I am falling behind on my contracts reading, mainly because since the professor talks about logic and not contracts every day anyway it all feels kind of pointless. Still it's not good to fall behind too much even if we don't end up discussing anything interesting in class.
Property and tax are as interesting as ever though. In property we are now talking about property rights issues with web domain names. Really really interesting stuff. In tax we are discussing illegal income and whether they are taxable, which is actually pretty relevant to our Ames court research this semester.
One huge impediment to my doing work for the past week or so has been the Olympics, which is absolutely mesmerizing. I would turn the TV on, promise myself that I would read with the TV in the background, and just start watching and can't staop. Whatever it is, you name it: curling, luge, bobsled, speedskating, ice dancing... I will just watch and watch until it's midnight and I have done no work. I console myself with the thought that in a week I will have a ton of free time to catch up with what will be a mountain of reading.
Must watch the finals for figure skating now! And read contracts!
2/21/2006
Today
Finally done with the subciting from hell tonight. Still haven't read for property and tax for tomorrow yet. Property is lagging a bit as we talk about water rights in class. Our property prof confessed on Friday that it's because the co-editor of his casebook is a big expert in the area, so "may have gone overboard a bit with the details."
Tax is quite confusing these days. Not having an econ and finance background means I have to look up every other words, and read each paragraph 4-5 times to understand what they mean. However, we only have 6-7 pages to read per day, so it's not so bad.
I have been addicted to watching the Winter Olympics in the past few days. It's the perfect pastime as I subcite, though of course it means that my subciting is much slower than it otherwise would have been. It certainly makes a bit more bearable. I have a new favorite sport: ice dancing. It's like ballroom dancing except 1,000 times more graceful, fast, and difficult. The Russians won tonight and they deserve it, but I love the performance of the Americans.
Okay, need to go off to read property and tax now. The tax professor has been calling people one by one down the row, and tomorrow he will definitely reach me. I'm scared.
Tax is quite confusing these days. Not having an econ and finance background means I have to look up every other words, and read each paragraph 4-5 times to understand what they mean. However, we only have 6-7 pages to read per day, so it's not so bad.
I have been addicted to watching the Winter Olympics in the past few days. It's the perfect pastime as I subcite, though of course it means that my subciting is much slower than it otherwise would have been. It certainly makes a bit more bearable. I have a new favorite sport: ice dancing. It's like ballroom dancing except 1,000 times more graceful, fast, and difficult. The Russians won tonight and they deserve it, but I love the performance of the Americans.
Okay, need to go off to read property and tax now. The tax professor has been calling people one by one down the row, and tomorrow he will definitely reach me. I'm scared.
2/19/2006
Brrrrrr...
It's SO COLD tonight! Just went out with AC and a whole bunch of people from our section to the Square, and walking back home was torture. My jaw and thighs were completely frozen by the time I got home.
Went to lunch with ABS and his friend L today, then subcited with him in the library in the afternoon. It's the second round of subciting (actually third round for me) and this time all my citations were in German. I stupidly told the editors I understood German, and of course this made my job 100 times harder. I am barely mastering my legal vocabulary in English, and now I need to do them in German? Ha.
In the evening was at this section outing that AC and I organized. Quite a few people showed up despite the cold. We drank and talked and watched the Winter Olympics on the bar TV and danced a bit. Around 1 I walked home with J and her husband.
In other news, I have decided to take the summer internship in N-Town to avoid the astronomical rent in NYC and being apart from Boyfriend. I called and emailed the organization on Thursday, and now am completely looking forward to my summer in my "hometown."
Class-wise, contracts is unbearable and stupid as ever. I might have to resort to teaching myself contracts if the prof doesn't stop talking about LOGIC on and on and on. It's not even about real logic, just putting the court's holdings in symbolic form. How stupid is that? I am a little angry that what could have been such a great class is now turning into such a big joke.
But property and tax have both been really fun, and I am really enjoying them. I have a lot of reading to do though for this weekend, so I should go to sleep right now. Good night!
Went to lunch with ABS and his friend L today, then subcited with him in the library in the afternoon. It's the second round of subciting (actually third round for me) and this time all my citations were in German. I stupidly told the editors I understood German, and of course this made my job 100 times harder. I am barely mastering my legal vocabulary in English, and now I need to do them in German? Ha.
In the evening was at this section outing that AC and I organized. Quite a few people showed up despite the cold. We drank and talked and watched the Winter Olympics on the bar TV and danced a bit. Around 1 I walked home with J and her husband.
In other news, I have decided to take the summer internship in N-Town to avoid the astronomical rent in NYC and being apart from Boyfriend. I called and emailed the organization on Thursday, and now am completely looking forward to my summer in my "hometown."
Class-wise, contracts is unbearable and stupid as ever. I might have to resort to teaching myself contracts if the prof doesn't stop talking about LOGIC on and on and on. It's not even about real logic, just putting the court's holdings in symbolic form. How stupid is that? I am a little angry that what could have been such a great class is now turning into such a big joke.
But property and tax have both been really fun, and I am really enjoying them. I have a lot of reading to do though for this weekend, so I should go to sleep right now. Good night!
2/16/2006
Decisions, decisions
Wow, what a hectic couple of days! After the storm over the weekend, on Tuesday (Valentine's Day) I flew to NYC to interview for two more jobs, (one at a well-known office), and got offers from both of them. Now it's decision time regarding whether I want to stay in N-Town (more low-key, relaxed, and cheap) or go to the Big City and the office with the bigger name recognition (but not necessarily more interesting work, and certainly a lot more expensive.)
I have a few more hours to decide, and then I have to get back to the folks in N-town. Sigh...
In the meanwhile, really haven't had much time to do anything else. After having a pretty successful day of interviewing, I ended up being stuck at the airport for 3.5 hours while the planes were mysteriously delayed and didn't even get home until nearly 2 AM. Was cranky and pissed off that I didn't spend more time with Boyfriend on Valentine's Day, but Boyfriend calmed me down and cheered me up with a nice present.
And today, miraculously went to 2 out of my 3 classes and actually listened better than normal. Hung out with ABS at our usual haunt on campus after contracts (I skipped tax. he he.) and looked through the course catalogue for courses that we both wanted to take next year. There were so many! Next semester I want to take more policy-oriented courses like family law and human rights law. We'll see...
I have a few more hours to decide, and then I have to get back to the folks in N-town. Sigh...
In the meanwhile, really haven't had much time to do anything else. After having a pretty successful day of interviewing, I ended up being stuck at the airport for 3.5 hours while the planes were mysteriously delayed and didn't even get home until nearly 2 AM. Was cranky and pissed off that I didn't spend more time with Boyfriend on Valentine's Day, but Boyfriend calmed me down and cheered me up with a nice present.
And today, miraculously went to 2 out of my 3 classes and actually listened better than normal. Hung out with ABS at our usual haunt on campus after contracts (I skipped tax. he he.) and looked through the course catalogue for courses that we both wanted to take next year. There were so many! Next semester I want to take more policy-oriented courses like family law and human rights law. We'll see...
2/11/2006
One Down, Many More to Go
Interview yesterday went well. I was nervous beforehand, but immediately calmed down when I saw my interviewer who looked very friendly. We chatted about why I wanted to work for his office, and about general things like Germany and China. At the end of the interview, he offered me a job. I asked for a week to decide.
With this newfound confidence, I now have to tackle the many interviews I have to face next week!
With this newfound confidence, I now have to tackle the many interviews I have to face next week!
2/09/2006
News
I should be asleep, since tomorrow will be a busy day, but I also think I should post something before I go to bed.
So, it's been a week full of news and developments. Since it's going to be another one of those megaposts, I'm going to use subheadings again.
School
Two out of three of my classes are definitely less than thrilling. The worst of them is contracts. The professor goes at a snail's pace, talks endlessly about elementary symbolic logic (like, HELLO! We all rocked the LSAT! Why are you talking about necessary and sufficient conditions as if it's the first time we've heard them?!). Every class is simultaneously infuriating and soporific, and never fails to make me sorry that I came at all.
So far we've gone through three cases. Today we spent the ENTIRE class talking about a very simple case about consideration. Half the class was IMing, the other half probably asleep.
Tax is, well... tax. Although the first few classes were really dead, I think it's getting better. So far we have been talking about what income is, a question I've never given much thought to. But apparently the concept is incredibly slippery. For instance, is gift income? Does employee discount count as income (the percentage that you would have paid had you not been an employee?) What about fringe benefits like free meals and lodging, if you are a live-in nanny. Does it matter if you are not a live-in nanny but the employer pays for your housing? What if you won the lottery or a trip to Hawaii? Anyway... you get the idea.
Property is by far the most interesting. Boyfriend and I spent a pleasant Sunday afternoon walking around in B-town and we talked the whole time about property cases. I gave him fact patterns, and he tried to guess what the court decided, and what he would have decided. And then I told him the answer. It was surprisingly fun, and helped me review too.
Jobs
Well, did I ever mention that I applied for around 30 domestic jobs and another 30 International jobs. Well, in retrospect that was, ahem, a little crazy. Replies are now coming in, and I'm a little overwhelmed. I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon to go to an interview in H-Town for a job that I really want (skipping contracts for Friday). Living in H-Town this summer would make my life so much easier in terms of housing!
On Monday I have two more on campus interviews (both of which I probably won't get because they are uber-competitive, but I signed up for them anyway since I want to take a shot and thought it would be god experience for next year. Then on Tuesday I'm going to take the train for 4.5 hours to go south for another interview, at a job that I moderately want but certainly wouldn't hate if I happen to get it. Then on Friday another interview, and another two next Monday. Add to that a couple of phone interviews with international employers and I'm swimming in interview land, which is not as much of a good thing as I had thought it would be... Yikes!
Grades
Yes, they are now posted online, waiting for me to log in and view, which I'm not inclined to do for a while. Why? I guess I don't feel the need to yet, and I don't feel like obsessing over them (why didn't I get a good grade in torts? what did I do wrong?!?). I also honestly feel like good or bad, nothing good can come out of me knowing them. I'm still going to work just as hard (or not as hard :)), and will apply to exactly the same jobs and the same organizations and journals. So I just can't imagine why I'd want to know them now, other than pure curiosity.
My classmates though have looked at them. And grades talk has already begun! Perhaps I'll succumb to peer pressure soon, but this is also why spending a few days out of town would be good for me. Great timing, Buttercup!
Career
Did I just write that as a subheading? Gee. I don't really have anything profound to say under career, except that I'm more interested in becoming a litigator. The Circuit court sat a session in my law school today, an apparently very rare (so says my First Year Lawyering teacher again and again) and very cool event. I really enjoyed hearing the attorneys present their arguments and the judges grilling them. Heck, I even enjoyed readng the briefs they submitted, and really look forward to writing my own briefs for Moot Court this semester.
Obviously, this is after ONE semester of law school, but it's nice to have a goal and a direction, for once.
Boyfriend
The Israel trip has really gotten me and Boyfriend closer. I'm very happy with the way everything is right now.
Miscellaneous
My new obsession is this Vietnamese restaurant in the Square. I have been begging my various friends to go nearly every day. ABS, who introduced me to the restaurant, caves some of the time, while people like J and I shake their heads in disbelief.
I love having all these nice restaurants within walking distance. I think I have probably eaten out 6 days out of every week, an so far I have been to every restaurant within a mile radius multiple times. It's definitely more expensive than eating at home, but I'm already so in debt that all this eating is hardly making a dent. :)
Went to the only mall in town with S today after tax. It reminded me of the first time I've been to that mall with DK and S during the first week of law school. What a fun and disorienting time that was, and how much we've changed! At that time I thought I knew a lot about law. I was wrong, just as I was wrong about so many other things (how I'd feel; how I'd relate to others in law school; what I'd spend my time doing (hint: NOT reading.))
It's all well and good. And I'm going to bed now.
So, it's been a week full of news and developments. Since it's going to be another one of those megaposts, I'm going to use subheadings again.
School
Two out of three of my classes are definitely less than thrilling. The worst of them is contracts. The professor goes at a snail's pace, talks endlessly about elementary symbolic logic (like, HELLO! We all rocked the LSAT! Why are you talking about necessary and sufficient conditions as if it's the first time we've heard them?!). Every class is simultaneously infuriating and soporific, and never fails to make me sorry that I came at all.
So far we've gone through three cases. Today we spent the ENTIRE class talking about a very simple case about consideration. Half the class was IMing, the other half probably asleep.
Tax is, well... tax. Although the first few classes were really dead, I think it's getting better. So far we have been talking about what income is, a question I've never given much thought to. But apparently the concept is incredibly slippery. For instance, is gift income? Does employee discount count as income (the percentage that you would have paid had you not been an employee?) What about fringe benefits like free meals and lodging, if you are a live-in nanny. Does it matter if you are not a live-in nanny but the employer pays for your housing? What if you won the lottery or a trip to Hawaii? Anyway... you get the idea.
Property is by far the most interesting. Boyfriend and I spent a pleasant Sunday afternoon walking around in B-town and we talked the whole time about property cases. I gave him fact patterns, and he tried to guess what the court decided, and what he would have decided. And then I told him the answer. It was surprisingly fun, and helped me review too.
Jobs
Well, did I ever mention that I applied for around 30 domestic jobs and another 30 International jobs. Well, in retrospect that was, ahem, a little crazy. Replies are now coming in, and I'm a little overwhelmed. I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon to go to an interview in H-Town for a job that I really want (skipping contracts for Friday). Living in H-Town this summer would make my life so much easier in terms of housing!
On Monday I have two more on campus interviews (both of which I probably won't get because they are uber-competitive, but I signed up for them anyway since I want to take a shot and thought it would be god experience for next year. Then on Tuesday I'm going to take the train for 4.5 hours to go south for another interview, at a job that I moderately want but certainly wouldn't hate if I happen to get it. Then on Friday another interview, and another two next Monday. Add to that a couple of phone interviews with international employers and I'm swimming in interview land, which is not as much of a good thing as I had thought it would be... Yikes!
Grades
Yes, they are now posted online, waiting for me to log in and view, which I'm not inclined to do for a while. Why? I guess I don't feel the need to yet, and I don't feel like obsessing over them (why didn't I get a good grade in torts? what did I do wrong?!?). I also honestly feel like good or bad, nothing good can come out of me knowing them. I'm still going to work just as hard (or not as hard :)), and will apply to exactly the same jobs and the same organizations and journals. So I just can't imagine why I'd want to know them now, other than pure curiosity.
My classmates though have looked at them. And grades talk has already begun! Perhaps I'll succumb to peer pressure soon, but this is also why spending a few days out of town would be good for me. Great timing, Buttercup!
Career
Did I just write that as a subheading? Gee. I don't really have anything profound to say under career, except that I'm more interested in becoming a litigator. The Circuit court sat a session in my law school today, an apparently very rare (so says my First Year Lawyering teacher again and again) and very cool event. I really enjoyed hearing the attorneys present their arguments and the judges grilling them. Heck, I even enjoyed readng the briefs they submitted, and really look forward to writing my own briefs for Moot Court this semester.
Obviously, this is after ONE semester of law school, but it's nice to have a goal and a direction, for once.
Boyfriend
The Israel trip has really gotten me and Boyfriend closer. I'm very happy with the way everything is right now.
Miscellaneous
My new obsession is this Vietnamese restaurant in the Square. I have been begging my various friends to go nearly every day. ABS, who introduced me to the restaurant, caves some of the time, while people like J and I shake their heads in disbelief.
I love having all these nice restaurants within walking distance. I think I have probably eaten out 6 days out of every week, an so far I have been to every restaurant within a mile radius multiple times. It's definitely more expensive than eating at home, but I'm already so in debt that all this eating is hardly making a dent. :)
Went to the only mall in town with S today after tax. It reminded me of the first time I've been to that mall with DK and S during the first week of law school. What a fun and disorienting time that was, and how much we've changed! At that time I thought I knew a lot about law. I was wrong, just as I was wrong about so many other things (how I'd feel; how I'd relate to others in law school; what I'd spend my time doing (hint: NOT reading.))
It's all well and good. And I'm going to bed now.
2/05/2006
2/01/2006
Delinquent
Wow! I haven't posted forever! I'm becoming one of those delinquent bloggers who only posts like once a month!
Will try to be better in the future.
Well, since there are so many things to record, I'm going to be methodical, and do something I've never done before. Use subheadings!
新年快乐
First thing first: happy Chinese New Year! We are now in the year of the dog. The Chinese restaurant across the street has been giving out "red pockets" with dollar bills inside every since last week. Last night ABS and I went there and they are STILL giving them out. Sweet.
Celebrations
My parents drove up to spend Chinese New Year's with me this weekend. They got here on Friday and stayed until Monday morning. It was a very successful trip. We had a lot of good food (some I made, some they brought from my favorite Chinese restaurant at home), drank 1.5 bottles of wine, walked around B-town when it was in the upper 50s here on Saturday, went to the Harbor, and played a lot of games. Fun fun fun.
On Sunday I also went to a Chinese New Years dinner at AC's boyfriend J's house in B-town. S, JW and her husband N, and J's roommate were also there. We made dumplings (well, AC made the filling and I helped her put the fillings and skins together in a package). AC also made congee (with pork and preserved ducks eggs -- yum! so typically Chinese and reminds me of childhood). I made a brownie with chocolate ganash.
Sadly, my part of the dinner was cut short when my parents locked themselves out of my apartment (while I was with my friends they decided to go to B-town to sightsee, but weirdly the keys that I made for them didn't work). So I hurried downed some dumplings and congee and took a cab home.
Parents and I spent a pleasant evening home, however, having my frozen dumplings from costco (they are actually surprisingly good. You should try them); having wine, and playing games.
School
Now, on to this semester. Grades are not yet out, and I'm determined not to look at them once they ARE out. Let's see how long this resolution lasts.
This semester, we have new classes with new professors! We are taking property, contracts, and my elective which is tax. Incidentally, my elective starts today, and I haven't read the reading assignment yet. Does not bode well for my semester.
For property we have this visiting professor from our rival school, who is so nerdy it is endearing. He is using his draft casebook. I groaned when I heard this, because I didn't feel like being guinea pigs for some professor who hasn't completely worked out the kinks in his book, but the book has been surprisingly good and really enjoyable to read, perhaps even more so than our torts book which I love.
I had also expected property to be boring, since in my readings before law school property invariably involved arcane categories of land conveyance like "fee simple", "fee tail", and other such nonsense that no one is really interested in nowadays except estates lawyers. But this guy's casebook is very philosophical. So far we are talking about questions like "what is property?" "what does property entail?" "How does one acquire property?" and things like that, with interesting cases to illustrate the competing phiosophical views (strangely, most of them involving capturing wild animals and fishing).
Contracts have been boring so far, and I have been playing games nearly nonstop in that class (I know. It's bad of me and I should stop doing that.) On Friday S, AK, AHH, and I played monopoly on games.com, and I hardly heard a single word the professor said. I don't think I missed that much, however, since we haven't even been talking about contracts at all, only how to read cases. I hope we get to the substantive parts soon.
Jobs
Now, here's the real bane of my existence. Since I was in Israel, I hadn't had time to look for jobs like the rest of my classmates. Many of them already have summer jobs now while I'm still starting my search. This is not fun, especially given that I have no real sense of what I want to do (only had, um, one semester of law school), where I wnat to be (both Boyfriend and I are very flexible), and what kind of organization I want to work for. My vague sense is that the Department of Justice and the USAO are a safe and prestigious jobs, very competitive, etc. But there are also so many interesting organizations out there. So anyway, I have just sent out 27 resumes to various DOJ and USAO departments, and my next wave of applications will be non-profits legal organizations. My third wave will be international organizations, which has a much more flexible deadline and seems much easier to get (since we are essentially working for free for them).
Anyway, won't bore you with the minutiae. Will just keep you posted on what turns up, and where I will end up this summer.
Will try to be better in the future.
Well, since there are so many things to record, I'm going to be methodical, and do something I've never done before. Use subheadings!
新年快乐
First thing first: happy Chinese New Year! We are now in the year of the dog. The Chinese restaurant across the street has been giving out "red pockets" with dollar bills inside every since last week. Last night ABS and I went there and they are STILL giving them out. Sweet.
Celebrations
My parents drove up to spend Chinese New Year's with me this weekend. They got here on Friday and stayed until Monday morning. It was a very successful trip. We had a lot of good food (some I made, some they brought from my favorite Chinese restaurant at home), drank 1.5 bottles of wine, walked around B-town when it was in the upper 50s here on Saturday, went to the Harbor, and played a lot of games. Fun fun fun.
On Sunday I also went to a Chinese New Years dinner at AC's boyfriend J's house in B-town. S, JW and her husband N, and J's roommate were also there. We made dumplings (well, AC made the filling and I helped her put the fillings and skins together in a package). AC also made congee (with pork and preserved ducks eggs -- yum! so typically Chinese and reminds me of childhood). I made a brownie with chocolate ganash.
Sadly, my part of the dinner was cut short when my parents locked themselves out of my apartment (while I was with my friends they decided to go to B-town to sightsee, but weirdly the keys that I made for them didn't work). So I hurried downed some dumplings and congee and took a cab home.
Parents and I spent a pleasant evening home, however, having my frozen dumplings from costco (they are actually surprisingly good. You should try them); having wine, and playing games.
School
Now, on to this semester. Grades are not yet out, and I'm determined not to look at them once they ARE out. Let's see how long this resolution lasts.
This semester, we have new classes with new professors! We are taking property, contracts, and my elective which is tax. Incidentally, my elective starts today, and I haven't read the reading assignment yet. Does not bode well for my semester.
For property we have this visiting professor from our rival school, who is so nerdy it is endearing. He is using his draft casebook. I groaned when I heard this, because I didn't feel like being guinea pigs for some professor who hasn't completely worked out the kinks in his book, but the book has been surprisingly good and really enjoyable to read, perhaps even more so than our torts book which I love.
I had also expected property to be boring, since in my readings before law school property invariably involved arcane categories of land conveyance like "fee simple", "fee tail", and other such nonsense that no one is really interested in nowadays except estates lawyers. But this guy's casebook is very philosophical. So far we are talking about questions like "what is property?" "what does property entail?" "How does one acquire property?" and things like that, with interesting cases to illustrate the competing phiosophical views (strangely, most of them involving capturing wild animals and fishing).
Contracts have been boring so far, and I have been playing games nearly nonstop in that class (I know. It's bad of me and I should stop doing that.) On Friday S, AK, AHH, and I played monopoly on games.com, and I hardly heard a single word the professor said. I don't think I missed that much, however, since we haven't even been talking about contracts at all, only how to read cases. I hope we get to the substantive parts soon.
Jobs
Now, here's the real bane of my existence. Since I was in Israel, I hadn't had time to look for jobs like the rest of my classmates. Many of them already have summer jobs now while I'm still starting my search. This is not fun, especially given that I have no real sense of what I want to do (only had, um, one semester of law school), where I wnat to be (both Boyfriend and I are very flexible), and what kind of organization I want to work for. My vague sense is that the Department of Justice and the USAO are a safe and prestigious jobs, very competitive, etc. But there are also so many interesting organizations out there. So anyway, I have just sent out 27 resumes to various DOJ and USAO departments, and my next wave of applications will be non-profits legal organizations. My third wave will be international organizations, which has a much more flexible deadline and seems much easier to get (since we are essentially working for free for them).
Anyway, won't bore you with the minutiae. Will just keep you posted on what turns up, and where I will end up this summer.
1/24/2006
More photos from Israel
Here are some more photos I downloaded yesterday from my digital camera.
The Negev Desert in the dusk. The sheer size of it overwhelms you.
The Dead Sea, also in the dusk. And the mountains in the distance.
Roman Ruins outside the Old City in Jerusalem.
Remnants of Roman columns in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.
Excavated temple ruins, purportedly built by King David.
The Western Wall in the Old City, the holiest site for Jews. Jews come from all over the world to pray to it.
Prayers and soldiers at the Western Wall.
The Via Dolorosa. Retracing the foodsteps of Christ.
A peak of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christ was buried, in the Christian Quarter of the Old City.
The courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The church seems a little run-down and perpetually under construction apparently because the four denominations that control it could never agree on anything. They quarrel endlessly and get nothing resolved. One Israeli described how they are in the Supreme Court every other day over some minute details about the Church. The latest episodes: where should the second entrance to the Church be located (there's currently only one small entrance to the church. A second door needs to be constructed for safety reasons. Thus far they have not come to an agreement); to which denomination does the shadow of a tree belong to and who has the right to sit there; A ladder has been sitting against the wall for 17 years because they could not agree on to whom the ladder belongs.
When you think about it, it's kind of ironic that when the Christians quarrel in court, it's the Jews who get to arbitrate.
Interior of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Jerusalem from a distance: the white city on the hills.
The Negev Desert in the dusk. The sheer size of it overwhelms you.
The Dead Sea, also in the dusk. And the mountains in the distance.
Roman Ruins outside the Old City in Jerusalem.
Remnants of Roman columns in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.
Excavated temple ruins, purportedly built by King David.
The Western Wall in the Old City, the holiest site for Jews. Jews come from all over the world to pray to it.
Prayers and soldiers at the Western Wall.
The Via Dolorosa. Retracing the foodsteps of Christ.
A peak of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christ was buried, in the Christian Quarter of the Old City.
The courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The church seems a little run-down and perpetually under construction apparently because the four denominations that control it could never agree on anything. They quarrel endlessly and get nothing resolved. One Israeli described how they are in the Supreme Court every other day over some minute details about the Church. The latest episodes: where should the second entrance to the Church be located (there's currently only one small entrance to the church. A second door needs to be constructed for safety reasons. Thus far they have not come to an agreement); to which denomination does the shadow of a tree belong to and who has the right to sit there; A ladder has been sitting against the wall for 17 years because they could not agree on to whom the ladder belongs.
When you think about it, it's kind of ironic that when the Christians quarrel in court, it's the Jews who get to arbitrate.
Interior of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Jerusalem from a distance: the white city on the hills.
Thoughts about Israel Trip
I'm still arranging my thoughts, but here are a few of them I thought I would write down:
This was one of the most meaningful trips I have ever taken. I have always longed for places with a lot of history and historical significance. Before I visited Israel, I have always felt that Germany was my spiritual home. I have always been drawn to countries that have suffered, because I feel like the suffering gives the culture depth. Well, few countries have suffered more than Israel, and few people are more aware of their turbulent history than the Jews. You can argue about causes and effect, but I love the depth and weight the sense of history gives to their national character.
Every Israeli I have met has been thoughtful, intellectual, and filled with opinions and knowledge about the state of their country. Talking to them has greatly enriched my trip.
Everyone in the U.S., including my parents, reacted to my decision to go to Israel with a horrified "but aren't you scared?" I guess I have been disarmed first by the fact that Boyfriend's brothers and father go to Israel twice a year. Terrorism was of course a concern, but the chances of one being injured or killed in one of them is so remote that it's probably more rational to worry about being killed or injured in a car accident. (And trust me, Israelis do drive like maniacs. More on this later.)
At no time in Israel did I feel unsafe. If anything, the security was far superior than the U.S. since it was clearly their number one concern. Outside every supermarket, cafe, and restaurant there are armed security guards checking bags. Boyfriend and I received a nearly 1.5 hour grill before we boarded the plane with El Al. We were so used to the thorough security that the "lax" procedure America alarmed us.
Some other observations:
- Israel is filled with stray cats! They are simply everywhere, even when you eat at restaurants. They would just come up and wait for you to give them food. Where are all the stray cats in America?
- Israelis also never put their dogs on leash. Their dogs are always extremely well-behaved and never chase squirrels or run up to other dogs. I have seen many, many times the owner leaving an unleashed dog outside a cafe or restaurant, and the dog literally just sits and waits. Amazing!
- I love the mandatory army trainings. Not for what it represents (militarism, necessity to protect country from terrorism, etc), but for what it does to people. Israeli women are tough and confident, and the men are very masculine. Apparently, for the male citizens they have to do 1 month of service every year until they are 45 or 50. I'm sure this is very disruptive for them, but the sense of responsibilty and stake in their own community you get from them are incredible.
- There is so much varied and beautiful landscape in such a small place that I'm amazed that Israel is not one of the most toured places on earth. The beaches at the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Dead Sea rival any beaches I have been to in Europe, Florida, or California. And they are completely empty at this time of the year, in spite of the temperate climate. The desert in southern Israel is simply breathtaking. And the northern parts, like the Golan Heights and the Sea of Galilee, are beautiful as well with their lush rolling hills, crystal lakes and waterfalls, vineyards, and a ton of historical sites as well.
- And Jerusalem! My God, I could spend 3 months there and not get bored! In fact, I want to be back there already! There are ruins literally every where, some labelled, some not so well-labelled. Boyfriend and I walked down the path where Christ carried his cross to his site of crucification, the famed "Via Dolorosa". We visited his tomb. We visited the Western Wall. We walked by 2000-year-old walls and 1,700-year-old churches and Roman columns and tombs and ruins of temples built by David and churches with every kind of significance to Christians. In the Old City there was literally a ruin at every step. It must be an archaologist's dream come true.
- Jerusalem really does shut down on Shabbat. Not even gas stations are open! I was impressed.
- Tel Aviv, on the other hand, has an insane nightlife. The part of town Boyfriend and I went to on Saturday was so crowded that it was almost unpleasant to walk in the shopping centers and the stores.
- Israelis are insane drivers! This is one thing that I didn't like so much about them, because since we rented a car and had to drive, it put some unnecessary stress on our trip. They speed; they tailgate; they go through dangerous mountain curves at 70 miles per hour and attemtp to pass you; they honk their horns as soon as the light turns to sound their impatience. Added to all this is the narrowness of many streets and even highway lanes, and I was left to wonder why my parents are worried about terrorist attacks when they should be worried about crazy Israeli drivers.
- Artificial palm tree forests in the desert! Every single one of those trees are neatly lined up, like soldiers! I have always associated palm trees with the leisurely, lazy beach culture of Florida or California. Who knew that palm trees could look so... disciplined?
Those are all the thoughts I have time to write down for now. This has been a perfect trip in every way, and one thing is clear: Boyfriend and I are definitely going back to Israel before long.
This was one of the most meaningful trips I have ever taken. I have always longed for places with a lot of history and historical significance. Before I visited Israel, I have always felt that Germany was my spiritual home. I have always been drawn to countries that have suffered, because I feel like the suffering gives the culture depth. Well, few countries have suffered more than Israel, and few people are more aware of their turbulent history than the Jews. You can argue about causes and effect, but I love the depth and weight the sense of history gives to their national character.
Every Israeli I have met has been thoughtful, intellectual, and filled with opinions and knowledge about the state of their country. Talking to them has greatly enriched my trip.
Everyone in the U.S., including my parents, reacted to my decision to go to Israel with a horrified "but aren't you scared?" I guess I have been disarmed first by the fact that Boyfriend's brothers and father go to Israel twice a year. Terrorism was of course a concern, but the chances of one being injured or killed in one of them is so remote that it's probably more rational to worry about being killed or injured in a car accident. (And trust me, Israelis do drive like maniacs. More on this later.)
At no time in Israel did I feel unsafe. If anything, the security was far superior than the U.S. since it was clearly their number one concern. Outside every supermarket, cafe, and restaurant there are armed security guards checking bags. Boyfriend and I received a nearly 1.5 hour grill before we boarded the plane with El Al. We were so used to the thorough security that the "lax" procedure America alarmed us.
Some other observations:
- Israel is filled with stray cats! They are simply everywhere, even when you eat at restaurants. They would just come up and wait for you to give them food. Where are all the stray cats in America?
- Israelis also never put their dogs on leash. Their dogs are always extremely well-behaved and never chase squirrels or run up to other dogs. I have seen many, many times the owner leaving an unleashed dog outside a cafe or restaurant, and the dog literally just sits and waits. Amazing!
- I love the mandatory army trainings. Not for what it represents (militarism, necessity to protect country from terrorism, etc), but for what it does to people. Israeli women are tough and confident, and the men are very masculine. Apparently, for the male citizens they have to do 1 month of service every year until they are 45 or 50. I'm sure this is very disruptive for them, but the sense of responsibilty and stake in their own community you get from them are incredible.
- There is so much varied and beautiful landscape in such a small place that I'm amazed that Israel is not one of the most toured places on earth. The beaches at the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Dead Sea rival any beaches I have been to in Europe, Florida, or California. And they are completely empty at this time of the year, in spite of the temperate climate. The desert in southern Israel is simply breathtaking. And the northern parts, like the Golan Heights and the Sea of Galilee, are beautiful as well with their lush rolling hills, crystal lakes and waterfalls, vineyards, and a ton of historical sites as well.
- And Jerusalem! My God, I could spend 3 months there and not get bored! In fact, I want to be back there already! There are ruins literally every where, some labelled, some not so well-labelled. Boyfriend and I walked down the path where Christ carried his cross to his site of crucification, the famed "Via Dolorosa". We visited his tomb. We visited the Western Wall. We walked by 2000-year-old walls and 1,700-year-old churches and Roman columns and tombs and ruins of temples built by David and churches with every kind of significance to Christians. In the Old City there was literally a ruin at every step. It must be an archaologist's dream come true.
- Jerusalem really does shut down on Shabbat. Not even gas stations are open! I was impressed.
- Tel Aviv, on the other hand, has an insane nightlife. The part of town Boyfriend and I went to on Saturday was so crowded that it was almost unpleasant to walk in the shopping centers and the stores.
- Israelis are insane drivers! This is one thing that I didn't like so much about them, because since we rented a car and had to drive, it put some unnecessary stress on our trip. They speed; they tailgate; they go through dangerous mountain curves at 70 miles per hour and attemtp to pass you; they honk their horns as soon as the light turns to sound their impatience. Added to all this is the narrowness of many streets and even highway lanes, and I was left to wonder why my parents are worried about terrorist attacks when they should be worried about crazy Israeli drivers.
- Artificial palm tree forests in the desert! Every single one of those trees are neatly lined up, like soldiers! I have always associated palm trees with the leisurely, lazy beach culture of Florida or California. Who knew that palm trees could look so... disciplined?
Those are all the thoughts I have time to write down for now. This has been a perfect trip in every way, and one thing is clear: Boyfriend and I are definitely going back to Israel before long.
1/22/2006
Some Photos from Israel
Negev desert, inside the world's largest crater. This one was taken from atop a mountain
The bibilical mountain of Sodom, which was destroyed by God, and where Lot's wife turned to salt. (Sodom apparently means "salt" in Hebrew, though in English it sadly has other connotations).
The Red Sea at Eilat, the city at the southernmost tip of Israel in between Egypt and Jordan. The distant lights belong to Egypt.
The white and salty beaches of the Dead Sea, where the salt content in the water is 40 times that of normal sea water. It was the low season so Boyfriend and I were the only people on the beach.
The Dead Sea. The mountains in the distance belong to Jordan and mark the Israeli-Jordanian border.
Israeli flags flying in the Old City in Jerusalem.
Arab women buying and selling vegetables at the Arab Market at the Damascus Gate in the Old City.
Arab children posing for the camera in the Muslim Quarter in the Old City.
Beautiful streets inside the Old City.
The bibilical mountain of Sodom, which was destroyed by God, and where Lot's wife turned to salt. (Sodom apparently means "salt" in Hebrew, though in English it sadly has other connotations).
The Red Sea at Eilat, the city at the southernmost tip of Israel in between Egypt and Jordan. The distant lights belong to Egypt.
The white and salty beaches of the Dead Sea, where the salt content in the water is 40 times that of normal sea water. It was the low season so Boyfriend and I were the only people on the beach.
The Dead Sea. The mountains in the distance belong to Jordan and mark the Israeli-Jordanian border.
Israeli flags flying in the Old City in Jerusalem.
Arab women buying and selling vegetables at the Arab Market at the Damascus Gate in the Old City.
Arab children posing for the camera in the Muslim Quarter in the Old City.
Beautiful streets inside the Old City.
Last Day in Israel
Today is my last day in Israel. I'm flying out of the country at 7 PM.
I had an amazingly meaningful time here. Out of our 9-day vacation, Boyfriend and I spent 1 day in the mountainous Negev Desert, two days in Eilat (the southern touristy city by the Red Sea, neighboring Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Jordan), one day by the Dead Sea, one day visiting his various relatives in the vincinity of Tel Aviv, and then remaining time in Jerusalem.
And today, we hope to spend the afternoon in Caesaria, an ancient Roman town on the Mediterranean Sea.
So far, my favorite has been Jerusalem. Boyfriend and I spent nearly every day wandering around in the beautiful Old City, with all its houses built in the yellow-white stones . I'm not exxaggerating when I say that every inch of the Old City is covered in history. There are ruins everywhere, some labeled (like the Roman Columns in the Jewish Quarter), some unlabeled (like the over 20 different layers of the city wall that was built and rebuilt over the past 2,000 years.
The Arab markets were particularly fun, and lined all the major and many minor streets and alleys in the Old City. Boyfriend and I spent considerable time walking through them, not because we particularly wanted to buy anything (I for one was terrified of haggling with these aggressive and sophisticated sellers) but because to get anywhere we seemed to have to go through their streets).
We also went to the Western Wall (of course), and the Via Dolorosa (re-traced Jesus's steps) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We wanted and tried several times to go to the Temple Mount, but it was open only at very limited times during the year, and we were never able to make it.
We also spent considerable amount of time in the German Colony, wtih nice cafes and restaurants. Locals told us that nearly all of the cafes on the streets were subject to either deadly bombings in the past few years or unsuccessful bombing attempts. It's amazing that the street was as lively as it was.
On Shabbat, everything really did shut down in Jerusalem. Not even gas stations were open. However, in the considerably more liberal Tel Aviv, we were able to find coffee shops and stores that were open even on Saturday morning. And then, after Shabbatt on Saturday evening, all the stores were open once again and the streets were filled with cars and shoppers.
Our flight is going to reach London this evening and we are spending 12 hours there, then flying tomorrow morning. I'm missing my first day of classes at school, but I don't feel to bad about it since I sourly needed this vacation after the hellish Christmas break I spent studying for torts, crim, and civ pro.
And this has been such a meaningful experience. I really hope to come back someday, and soon.
I had an amazingly meaningful time here. Out of our 9-day vacation, Boyfriend and I spent 1 day in the mountainous Negev Desert, two days in Eilat (the southern touristy city by the Red Sea, neighboring Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Jordan), one day by the Dead Sea, one day visiting his various relatives in the vincinity of Tel Aviv, and then remaining time in Jerusalem.
And today, we hope to spend the afternoon in Caesaria, an ancient Roman town on the Mediterranean Sea.
So far, my favorite has been Jerusalem. Boyfriend and I spent nearly every day wandering around in the beautiful Old City, with all its houses built in the yellow-white stones . I'm not exxaggerating when I say that every inch of the Old City is covered in history. There are ruins everywhere, some labeled (like the Roman Columns in the Jewish Quarter), some unlabeled (like the over 20 different layers of the city wall that was built and rebuilt over the past 2,000 years.
The Arab markets were particularly fun, and lined all the major and many minor streets and alleys in the Old City. Boyfriend and I spent considerable time walking through them, not because we particularly wanted to buy anything (I for one was terrified of haggling with these aggressive and sophisticated sellers) but because to get anywhere we seemed to have to go through their streets).
We also went to the Western Wall (of course), and the Via Dolorosa (re-traced Jesus's steps) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We wanted and tried several times to go to the Temple Mount, but it was open only at very limited times during the year, and we were never able to make it.
We also spent considerable amount of time in the German Colony, wtih nice cafes and restaurants. Locals told us that nearly all of the cafes on the streets were subject to either deadly bombings in the past few years or unsuccessful bombing attempts. It's amazing that the street was as lively as it was.
On Shabbat, everything really did shut down in Jerusalem. Not even gas stations were open. However, in the considerably more liberal Tel Aviv, we were able to find coffee shops and stores that were open even on Saturday morning. And then, after Shabbatt on Saturday evening, all the stores were open once again and the streets were filled with cars and shoppers.
Our flight is going to reach London this evening and we are spending 12 hours there, then flying tomorrow morning. I'm missing my first day of classes at school, but I don't feel to bad about it since I sourly needed this vacation after the hellish Christmas break I spent studying for torts, crim, and civ pro.
And this has been such a meaningful experience. I really hope to come back someday, and soon.
1/13/2006
Done with Finals, and in the Promise Land
60 hours ago, I was typing furiously into my laptop as everyone around me finished up their torts exam. The proctor called time. We saved the file into our flash memory drive and handed it in. And then I was the first one who jumped up and hugged C, who sat in front of me.
"It's over! It's over! It's over!!!"
Now, I am in Israel, in a Kibbutz hotel in the middle of the desert, watching the sunrise over the enormous crater
We flew into Tel Aviv via London, and with the help of 2 exedrin PMs I was able to sleep for both legs of my trip. The first leg of the trip to London was the most pleasant flight I had ever taken. There were so few people on the plane that each of us had the entire row of seats -- 5 of them -- to ourselves, and I was able to lie down and even stretch out.
London-Heathrow was deserted as well. The second flight was delayed for a bit, so I used that time to call my parents with Skype (Boyfriend recently got this service and loves it. The quality of sound is amazing and it is so cheap). My dad sounded very worried about me and kept on telling me to not get kidnapped. He also read somewhere in the newspaper the previous day that 300 pilgrims in Mecca was trampled to death, and since in his mind (and really, in mine, as well), the entire Middle East was this vague glob of land, he was worried that it might affect me.
I promised that I would call him as soon as I got into Israel.
The Ben Gurion Airport at Tel Aviv is beautiful. Gorgeous. I think it's new, since not even Boyfriend's father who's here like 3 times a year has seen it yet. The entire building is paved in golden and tan marble slabs, with enormously high ceilings and water fountains in the middle of the hall. All steel and marble and glass.
We got our rental car and started driving south. Soon we were in the middle of the desert. I had never really been in a desert before. There was an endless stretch of yellow and gold and white. In the distance there are rolling golden hills of sand, and still further you can see the green shadow of the mountain. At first, we could still see factories and scattered farmland from the road, but soon there was nothing but sand and the occasional gas station.
Soon we were driving inside the sandstone mountains, up and down, up and down. When we were at the top, the view down across the sandy plans was breathtaking. There were very few cars on the road, and the highway stretched endlessly before us into the next curve. Our car was so small and the sandstone mountains were so enormous. The clouds had interesting shapes and curled above the mountains and the plain.
I took over 100 photos, and will post some here as soon as I download them into my laptop.
The only scary parts: Israelis are CRAZY drivers. They tailgate and go 10-20 km above the speed limit. While I was driving, it occurred to me that the chance of some crazy Israeli driver driving me off the road is much higher than perishing in any terrorist attack. I told my dad this and he did not seem relieved.
We got to Mitzpeh Ramon, a small town in the middle of the desert, 4 hours later. I immediately collapsed upon getting into the hotel, around 4 in the afternoon, and slept for the next 10 hours. Today, we are going to drive south some more until we reach the beaches of Eliat.
I am reading Amos Oz's book "A Tale of Love and Darkness". It's about growing up in Jerusalem in the 40s and 50s. It's the perfect travel companion to a trip to Israel, and I am very much looking forward to visiting Jesusalem.
"It's over! It's over! It's over!!!"
Now, I am in Israel, in a Kibbutz hotel in the middle of the desert, watching the sunrise over the enormous crater
We flew into Tel Aviv via London, and with the help of 2 exedrin PMs I was able to sleep for both legs of my trip. The first leg of the trip to London was the most pleasant flight I had ever taken. There were so few people on the plane that each of us had the entire row of seats -- 5 of them -- to ourselves, and I was able to lie down and even stretch out.
London-Heathrow was deserted as well. The second flight was delayed for a bit, so I used that time to call my parents with Skype (Boyfriend recently got this service and loves it. The quality of sound is amazing and it is so cheap). My dad sounded very worried about me and kept on telling me to not get kidnapped. He also read somewhere in the newspaper the previous day that 300 pilgrims in Mecca was trampled to death, and since in his mind (and really, in mine, as well), the entire Middle East was this vague glob of land, he was worried that it might affect me.
I promised that I would call him as soon as I got into Israel.
The Ben Gurion Airport at Tel Aviv is beautiful. Gorgeous. I think it's new, since not even Boyfriend's father who's here like 3 times a year has seen it yet. The entire building is paved in golden and tan marble slabs, with enormously high ceilings and water fountains in the middle of the hall. All steel and marble and glass.
We got our rental car and started driving south. Soon we were in the middle of the desert. I had never really been in a desert before. There was an endless stretch of yellow and gold and white. In the distance there are rolling golden hills of sand, and still further you can see the green shadow of the mountain. At first, we could still see factories and scattered farmland from the road, but soon there was nothing but sand and the occasional gas station.
Soon we were driving inside the sandstone mountains, up and down, up and down. When we were at the top, the view down across the sandy plans was breathtaking. There were very few cars on the road, and the highway stretched endlessly before us into the next curve. Our car was so small and the sandstone mountains were so enormous. The clouds had interesting shapes and curled above the mountains and the plain.
I took over 100 photos, and will post some here as soon as I download them into my laptop.
The only scary parts: Israelis are CRAZY drivers. They tailgate and go 10-20 km above the speed limit. While I was driving, it occurred to me that the chance of some crazy Israeli driver driving me off the road is much higher than perishing in any terrorist attack. I told my dad this and he did not seem relieved.
We got to Mitzpeh Ramon, a small town in the middle of the desert, 4 hours later. I immediately collapsed upon getting into the hotel, around 4 in the afternoon, and slept for the next 10 hours. Today, we are going to drive south some more until we reach the beaches of Eliat.
I am reading Amos Oz's book "A Tale of Love and Darkness". It's about growing up in Jerusalem in the 40s and 50s. It's the perfect travel companion to a trip to Israel, and I am very much looking forward to visiting Jesusalem.
1/06/2006
One Down, Two to Go
Today I took my first law school exam, in criminal law. It was an eight-hour take home exam done on my laptop. All of the eight hours were spent furiously typing into my computer, with no lunch and no breaks. And I still ran out of time in the end.
The exam was very much like all the other practice exams I took in the past. Perhaps too much so, which made me wish I studied harder, took more pracrice exams, and read the professor's analysis more carefully. Still, I am relieved that it's done.
And I feel just fine about how I did. Of course, that doesn't mean anything with a forced curve. I carefully avoided looking at all at either my answers, the crim law books, hornbooks, or outlines after the exam. Put them all away immediately upon coming back home.
After turning in the exam, went for a few hours around the Square, getting a haircut, and just puttering around. Had dinner with J and her husband. J apparently did not heed my advice, went back and read her exam, realized some stuff she's missed, and freaked out.
I was taught the hard way about how nothing good could come out of obsessing over exams after the fact. Better to put everything out of my mind and just let go. Let... go...
In other news, I am going to Israel for a 10-day vacation with Boyfriend right after exams! I'm soooooo looking forward to it. We are flying the day after my torts exam, next Thursday. I purchased a travel book to Israel today while I puttered around at the Square.
Came home and tried to finish my outline for torts, which wasn't very successful. Did one little page on Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress before I got totally bored. I think I'm going to go to sleep now and NOT dream about my first ever law school exam!
The exam was very much like all the other practice exams I took in the past. Perhaps too much so, which made me wish I studied harder, took more pracrice exams, and read the professor's analysis more carefully. Still, I am relieved that it's done.
And I feel just fine about how I did. Of course, that doesn't mean anything with a forced curve. I carefully avoided looking at all at either my answers, the crim law books, hornbooks, or outlines after the exam. Put them all away immediately upon coming back home.
After turning in the exam, went for a few hours around the Square, getting a haircut, and just puttering around. Had dinner with J and her husband. J apparently did not heed my advice, went back and read her exam, realized some stuff she's missed, and freaked out.
I was taught the hard way about how nothing good could come out of obsessing over exams after the fact. Better to put everything out of my mind and just let go. Let... go...
In other news, I am going to Israel for a 10-day vacation with Boyfriend right after exams! I'm soooooo looking forward to it. We are flying the day after my torts exam, next Thursday. I purchased a travel book to Israel today while I puttered around at the Square.
Came home and tried to finish my outline for torts, which wasn't very successful. Did one little page on Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress before I got totally bored. I think I'm going to go to sleep now and NOT dream about my first ever law school exam!
1/01/2006
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
A prosperous and happy 2006 to all my readers and friends. Wherever you are, I hope you are having a great time and an even better time in the coming 12 months!
And my 1,000th reader on New Year's Day! How special!
And my 1,000th reader on New Year's Day! How special!
12/31/2005
City of Sin
Have just been in Las Vegas for the past few days with Boyfriend's entire family -- his parents, siblings, nieces and nephews.
It was the first time I've been to LV. We walked around a whole lot in the Strip and looked at different hotels. On Thurdsay, Boyfriend and I drove around outside of the city in a national park that is very beautiful. Perhaps in a few days I'll post some photos.
I gambled quite a lot and left with a $90 net gain.
But have gotten nearly no work done in the past few days, and exams are only 5 days away! Need to buckle down now!
It was the first time I've been to LV. We walked around a whole lot in the Strip and looked at different hotels. On Thurdsay, Boyfriend and I drove around outside of the city in a national park that is very beautiful. Perhaps in a few days I'll post some photos.
I gambled quite a lot and left with a $90 net gain.
But have gotten nearly no work done in the past few days, and exams are only 5 days away! Need to buckle down now!
12/21/2005
What My Days Are Like
Work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work...
Need to take a practice exam now, and just trying to procrastinate.
Okay, time to get to work!
Need to take a practice exam now, and just trying to procrastinate.
Okay, time to get to work!
12/19/2005
Studying
Studying all day and all night... Bleh...
Took a 8-hour crim exam yesterday, and finally understood how little I know after comparing my answers to the model answers. Have to buckle down now!
Took a 8-hour crim exam yesterday, and finally understood how little I know after comparing my answers to the model answers. Have to buckle down now!
12/17/2005
First Day of Break
Yesterday was the last day of class. I can't believe the semester is really over!
Our torts and civ pro professors all had words of wisdom for us. I experienced the appropriate amount of sorrow, relief, regret, wistfulness, and drunkeness.
And fatigue. I averaged about 5 hours per night in the past few days, due to various section celebrations and the annoying opne memo, which was due Friday. There were a lot of social events this week; I would go to them in the evening, then come back to my apartment around 11 and do my memo for 3-4 hours. Then sleep for a few hours, get up the next day around 8:30, and drink a ton of coffee. Not the healthiest way to live, I know. So Friday I walked around in a bit of a daze. Too horrible notes in class because I couldn't really focus very well. In this respect, I'm glad that the semester is over so I can get my sleep and concentrate on studying.
Ah, it's funny how classes sometimes get in the way of studying.
Some of my classmates walked around in a different kind of daze Friday. To celebrate HIS last day of class, S began drinking first thing in the morning. Before our 9:30 Am torts class, he drank 3 shots of vodka and a beer (this is after getting piss-drunk the previous night too). As fond I am of the guy, I found it disturbing and gross. During torts, his entire IM to me consists of reports on how drunk he felt, while I warned him not to throw up on me or my coat (we were both late to torts and back-benched, him sitting directly behind me). In civ pro, when he staggered into the classroom 10 minutes after class began, looking like hell, I couldn't suppress a snicker. He sits right in front of me during civ pro, so I could see his screen. He played battleship with AK, NP, and AHH during civ pro and took down 2 sentences of notes.
What a way to end the semester. This is when I realize how young many people in our section are. How much younger they are than me!
After our civ pro class, our section headed over to a bar near the law school for an extremely early "happy hour", where we celebrated the end of the semester. We talked and reminisced and asked each other about our holiday plans. Most of my classmates are leaving today for their respective homes. Moi, I'm going to be here 'til the 27th and then flying to Las Vegas to be with Boyfriend and his family for 3 days. Those will be the 3 days I am not doing any work.
Had dinner with AC, J, their SOs, and Boyfriend last night (Boyfriend finally drove up today! Yay!!!). It was the first time they met Boyfriend.
Today, woke up at 9:30, went to starbucks around 12:00, and spent the entire day working on my civ pro outline.
Our torts and civ pro professors all had words of wisdom for us. I experienced the appropriate amount of sorrow, relief, regret, wistfulness, and drunkeness.
And fatigue. I averaged about 5 hours per night in the past few days, due to various section celebrations and the annoying opne memo, which was due Friday. There were a lot of social events this week; I would go to them in the evening, then come back to my apartment around 11 and do my memo for 3-4 hours. Then sleep for a few hours, get up the next day around 8:30, and drink a ton of coffee. Not the healthiest way to live, I know. So Friday I walked around in a bit of a daze. Too horrible notes in class because I couldn't really focus very well. In this respect, I'm glad that the semester is over so I can get my sleep and concentrate on studying.
Ah, it's funny how classes sometimes get in the way of studying.
Some of my classmates walked around in a different kind of daze Friday. To celebrate HIS last day of class, S began drinking first thing in the morning. Before our 9:30 Am torts class, he drank 3 shots of vodka and a beer (this is after getting piss-drunk the previous night too). As fond I am of the guy, I found it disturbing and gross. During torts, his entire IM to me consists of reports on how drunk he felt, while I warned him not to throw up on me or my coat (we were both late to torts and back-benched, him sitting directly behind me). In civ pro, when he staggered into the classroom 10 minutes after class began, looking like hell, I couldn't suppress a snicker. He sits right in front of me during civ pro, so I could see his screen. He played battleship with AK, NP, and AHH during civ pro and took down 2 sentences of notes.
What a way to end the semester. This is when I realize how young many people in our section are. How much younger they are than me!
After our civ pro class, our section headed over to a bar near the law school for an extremely early "happy hour", where we celebrated the end of the semester. We talked and reminisced and asked each other about our holiday plans. Most of my classmates are leaving today for their respective homes. Moi, I'm going to be here 'til the 27th and then flying to Las Vegas to be with Boyfriend and his family for 3 days. Those will be the 3 days I am not doing any work.
Had dinner with AC, J, their SOs, and Boyfriend last night (Boyfriend finally drove up today! Yay!!!). It was the first time they met Boyfriend.
Today, woke up at 9:30, went to starbucks around 12:00, and spent the entire day working on my civ pro outline.
12/14/2005
Courtroom Dramas
I watched Law and Order for the first time in a long time yesterday, because in crim law we have been talking a lot about criminal procedure and the 4th Amendment prohibition of unreasonable search and seizure and warrantless arrests and the 5th Amendment prohibition against compulsory self-incrimination, etc., etc. So I was suddenly curious and wanted to see whether Law and Order is accurate in its police procedures.
Well, it was. Watching Law and Order after you understand the law is awesome and kind of scary as well. I'm aware of how totally thrilled I am to hear the Miranda warning, or to see the police "knock and announce" before entering and searching, or the magic moment when there is enough probable cause upon which an arrest warrant can issue. I think it's safe to say that no TV-watching experience will ever be the same.
************************************
In other news...
Boyfriend is not coming up until Friday of this week, and I'm actually kind of thankful for this, b/c my life is so busy and messy right now I literally wouldn't have time for him. I have about 20 people to email for my job, many, many cover letters to edit and write, and on top of that all 3 of my courses to study for. I have been outlining in spurts and have now finished crim and half-done the other two. I'm most worried about the torts exam b/c it's the only in-class exam and last year's exam looked just insane. (Think 12 pages of reading for ONE question. Think not enough time. Think panic and frantically writing incoherent sentences. Think C.)
************************************
Last crim class today. Perhaps last crim class ever. Sad sad sad. Sniff.
************************************
In other news, someone sent me a huge box of perfume set and lip gloss set from Victoria's Secret yesterday. It's lovely, but I can't figure out who it's from. I hope it's either from Boyfriend or Dickie.
Am working on my memo tonight, hoping to finish it and to go to sleep by 2. Have. So. Much. Work.
Well, it was. Watching Law and Order after you understand the law is awesome and kind of scary as well. I'm aware of how totally thrilled I am to hear the Miranda warning, or to see the police "knock and announce" before entering and searching, or the magic moment when there is enough probable cause upon which an arrest warrant can issue. I think it's safe to say that no TV-watching experience will ever be the same.
************************************
In other news...
Boyfriend is not coming up until Friday of this week, and I'm actually kind of thankful for this, b/c my life is so busy and messy right now I literally wouldn't have time for him. I have about 20 people to email for my job, many, many cover letters to edit and write, and on top of that all 3 of my courses to study for. I have been outlining in spurts and have now finished crim and half-done the other two. I'm most worried about the torts exam b/c it's the only in-class exam and last year's exam looked just insane. (Think 12 pages of reading for ONE question. Think not enough time. Think panic and frantically writing incoherent sentences. Think C.)
************************************
Last crim class today. Perhaps last crim class ever. Sad sad sad. Sniff.
************************************
In other news, someone sent me a huge box of perfume set and lip gloss set from Victoria's Secret yesterday. It's lovely, but I can't figure out who it's from. I hope it's either from Boyfriend or Dickie.
Am working on my memo tonight, hoping to finish it and to go to sleep by 2. Have. So. Much. Work.
12/11/2005
First Peek Back
Tonight is our section dinner. Next week is our last week of class. I can't believe the first semester of law school is almost over!
Well, not quite over. Exams loom large and the prospect of them is quite scary. But still, apparently we (at least most of us) will have learned all we need to know for crim law, torts, and civ pro by NEXT WEEK! We then have to study for two weeks and then face the music.
Gulp.
I am sad that the first semester is over. I've met some really great people here and made a bunch of good friends. Law school is very different from what I had imagined before I came (read: much better).
I know that next semester, when we are all taking different electives and only have two classes together, the atmosphere is probably going to be very different. We are probably not going to have the intense cohesion that we had in this first semester, when everything was brand new, when everyone is slightly scare and uncertain, and when we developed a closeness and bond that only people who experienced something intense and meaningful could.
Legal education, and especially the first year of it, with all its flaws, has been wonderful and eye-opening as well. It has been good to me. And for that, I'm very glad.
And Boyfriend has been wonderful as well. He gave me the space to experience the year to its fullest, while never wavering in his support. Yeah, I feel pretty lucky.
So far, no regrets on coming to law school. I hope exams won't change that. I hope nothing will change that
Well, not quite over. Exams loom large and the prospect of them is quite scary. But still, apparently we (at least most of us) will have learned all we need to know for crim law, torts, and civ pro by NEXT WEEK! We then have to study for two weeks and then face the music.
Gulp.
I am sad that the first semester is over. I've met some really great people here and made a bunch of good friends. Law school is very different from what I had imagined before I came (read: much better).
I know that next semester, when we are all taking different electives and only have two classes together, the atmosphere is probably going to be very different. We are probably not going to have the intense cohesion that we had in this first semester, when everything was brand new, when everyone is slightly scare and uncertain, and when we developed a closeness and bond that only people who experienced something intense and meaningful could.
Legal education, and especially the first year of it, with all its flaws, has been wonderful and eye-opening as well. It has been good to me. And for that, I'm very glad.
And Boyfriend has been wonderful as well. He gave me the space to experience the year to its fullest, while never wavering in his support. Yeah, I feel pretty lucky.
So far, no regrets on coming to law school. I hope exams won't change that. I hope nothing will change that
12/10/2005
Narnia and Its Aftermath
No story about yesterday can begin without telling about the terrible storm. It wasn't so terrible, really, and didn't last very long. It was only memorable because right in the middle of the worst of it I had to walk home. The wind was very strong and blowing snow right into my face and my eyes, and I was pretty miserable for about 15 minutes before I got to my apartment.
What was strange about it was the thunder. I have never experienced a thunder snowstorm before, and it was quite startling.
Last night was the section movie event to Narnia that I "organized". By "organizing" I mean sending out an email announcing my intention to go and inviting anyone who's interested to come with me. Eleven people ended up coming, including S, A, ABS, R, JE, IH, (all the usual suspects, as you can see), and also a friend from Oxford, L, who's here in the States on break and visiting her parents.
Before the movie nine of us went out to dinner at a Korean'Japanese restaurant. We then took the subway to the theater. The movie itself was good but not as good as the Harry Potter movie. I did get somewhat upset when Aslan died though and was happy when he came back to life.
Afterwards, a bunch of people went home, and the rest of us who wanted to hang out some more (IH, S, RE, A, and L) called up J and her husband and we then hung out at a pub for a long time, long enough so the subway stopped running.
I never knew how hard it was to find a cab in this city. But then again I've never had the occasion of trying to get home on a cold Friday night after midnight when the entire town is out and about. It took us like 50 minutes to find L a cab to send her home.
The rest of us then proceeded to a club where J and I (and S! surprisingly) danced somewhat. The way S danced reminded me a little of my high school prom date JK.
Guys at the club were very aggressive. I was groped a half dozen times. One guy wouldn't let go of my hand. I had to yank it away from him.
The club closed at 2 AM, and extremely drunk people streamed out into the street looking for transportation home. It was not pretty. Since there were so many of us we had to find two cabs, which compounded the problem.
We finally found a cab and A, S, and I went back to C-Town. We wandered around some more in searching of ONE food establishment that was open and still serving food. By then it was close to three. There was none.
We did run into ABS and his queer friends eating at a pupular late-night Chinese place in the Square. They then walked home with us. By the time I got back to the apartment, it was after 4.
Woke up around 11:30 today and have been reading crim ever since. No hangovers, surprisingly.
Boyfriend, however, says he's feeling sick and is not coming up today. We IMed for a bit and I told him to drink hot soup and sleep a lot. Sniff.
What was strange about it was the thunder. I have never experienced a thunder snowstorm before, and it was quite startling.
Last night was the section movie event to Narnia that I "organized". By "organizing" I mean sending out an email announcing my intention to go and inviting anyone who's interested to come with me. Eleven people ended up coming, including S, A, ABS, R, JE, IH, (all the usual suspects, as you can see), and also a friend from Oxford, L, who's here in the States on break and visiting her parents.
Before the movie nine of us went out to dinner at a Korean'Japanese restaurant. We then took the subway to the theater. The movie itself was good but not as good as the Harry Potter movie. I did get somewhat upset when Aslan died though and was happy when he came back to life.
Afterwards, a bunch of people went home, and the rest of us who wanted to hang out some more (IH, S, RE, A, and L) called up J and her husband and we then hung out at a pub for a long time, long enough so the subway stopped running.
I never knew how hard it was to find a cab in this city. But then again I've never had the occasion of trying to get home on a cold Friday night after midnight when the entire town is out and about. It took us like 50 minutes to find L a cab to send her home.
The rest of us then proceeded to a club where J and I (and S! surprisingly) danced somewhat. The way S danced reminded me a little of my high school prom date JK.
Guys at the club were very aggressive. I was groped a half dozen times. One guy wouldn't let go of my hand. I had to yank it away from him.
The club closed at 2 AM, and extremely drunk people streamed out into the street looking for transportation home. It was not pretty. Since there were so many of us we had to find two cabs, which compounded the problem.
We finally found a cab and A, S, and I went back to C-Town. We wandered around some more in searching of ONE food establishment that was open and still serving food. By then it was close to three. There was none.
We did run into ABS and his queer friends eating at a pupular late-night Chinese place in the Square. They then walked home with us. By the time I got back to the apartment, it was after 4.
Woke up around 11:30 today and have been reading crim ever since. No hangovers, surprisingly.
Boyfriend, however, says he's feeling sick and is not coming up today. We IMed for a bit and I told him to drink hot soup and sleep a lot. Sniff.
12/09/2005
Random Musing at 2 AM
I tend to have very obsessive and intense friendships, almost like a crush, but obviously minus the sexual aspects. I tend to become intensely fascinated by people and want to know everything about them. There are good things and bad things about such friendships, but for better and for worse I keep on having them.
I wonder if I'm in that position with some of the people in my section now, people I see day in and day out and have now become an integral part of my social life. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, except that, as with all addictions and obsessions, they tend to skew your perspective and also exclude other worthwhile things in life. So I should be careful.
But I really do like our section; and I really do love law school so far. I'm filled with sadness whenever I think about how the first semester is nearly over (only one week left!).
I have heard that once exams are taken and grades come out, we'll never have the same unfettered carefree interactions that we are having this semester. By then the school will have ranked and classified us, and all our social interactions will be colored by that knowledge of who's "better" and who's "worse". We'll have lost our innocence a little bit. I do not look forward to this. I want us to be one big happy family just like now...
I wonder if I'm in that position with some of the people in my section now, people I see day in and day out and have now become an integral part of my social life. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, except that, as with all addictions and obsessions, they tend to skew your perspective and also exclude other worthwhile things in life. So I should be careful.
But I really do like our section; and I really do love law school so far. I'm filled with sadness whenever I think about how the first semester is nearly over (only one week left!).
I have heard that once exams are taken and grades come out, we'll never have the same unfettered carefree interactions that we are having this semester. By then the school will have ranked and classified us, and all our social interactions will be colored by that knowledge of who's "better" and who's "worse". We'll have lost our innocence a little bit. I do not look forward to this. I want us to be one big happy family just like now...
12/08/2005
Resumes, Job Searches, and Other Good Stuff
I finally finished correcting my resume last night, according to the Office of Public Interest standards. The whole experience reminded me a lot of subciting. There was a lot of agonizing over formatting minutae. ("should latin honors and distinction in the major be on the same line?" "Does this place really need a "the"?" "Should it be one space or two spaces after you put the date of your employment?")
After formatting it to specifications, my previously very precariously one-page resume was 1.3 pages. It took me another 1.5 hours (and ABS's help) to edit it down to one page again. Now, all I have to do are the cover letters...
Adding to the sense of panic is the rumor that some people have gotten jobs already, and other people have gotten interviews. Even though both the public interest office and the on-campus interview office keep on telling us that no one, in the history of my law school, has ever NOT gotten a job for 1L summer, there's always the possibility that I would be the first one...
I am now looking more at domestic jobs now, like the DOJ and the World Bank. I'm also looking into the army, as hard to believe as it is. Mainly because I want to hang out with cute guys in uniforms. Is that really crazy...?
Missed Torts this morning because I was way too tired from all this resume-editing. Had lunch in the Square with ABS, S, L, and AC, then rushed back to campus and had a meeting with my lawyering prof about my persuasive memo, which, not surprisingly, needs a lot of work.
After civ pro today, read in the lounge with AC, which meant that I basically got no work done. Came home and read civ pro for two hours. A and S then came over and we watched the Apprentice together. Then we went to the Commons where we met D and C and had many beers together. Came back just now and still have quite a lot of torts to read...
Tomorrow: I arranged for quite a few people in our section to go see Narnia together. Fun fun fun...
After formatting it to specifications, my previously very precariously one-page resume was 1.3 pages. It took me another 1.5 hours (and ABS's help) to edit it down to one page again. Now, all I have to do are the cover letters...
Adding to the sense of panic is the rumor that some people have gotten jobs already, and other people have gotten interviews. Even though both the public interest office and the on-campus interview office keep on telling us that no one, in the history of my law school, has ever NOT gotten a job for 1L summer, there's always the possibility that I would be the first one...
I am now looking more at domestic jobs now, like the DOJ and the World Bank. I'm also looking into the army, as hard to believe as it is. Mainly because I want to hang out with cute guys in uniforms. Is that really crazy...?
Missed Torts this morning because I was way too tired from all this resume-editing. Had lunch in the Square with ABS, S, L, and AC, then rushed back to campus and had a meeting with my lawyering prof about my persuasive memo, which, not surprisingly, needs a lot of work.
After civ pro today, read in the lounge with AC, which meant that I basically got no work done. Came home and read civ pro for two hours. A and S then came over and we watched the Apprentice together. Then we went to the Commons where we met D and C and had many beers together. Came back just now and still have quite a lot of torts to read...
Tomorrow: I arranged for quite a few people in our section to go see Narnia together. Fun fun fun...
12/06/2005
What I Want(ed) Is What I Get...
Well, I wanted tax, at least a few days ago...
And, I got tax.
The story is actually longer than that, however. In the meanwhile, I've looked into a number of other courses and revised my choice, (too complicated and not worthwhile to recount here) so tax actually ended up being my fourth choice and not my first choice. But, it looks like it didn't matter. I was going to get tax anyway.
I was a little disappointed, but will get over it soon. I guess I'll take "local government law" another time.
S and IH are in my class, the only ones in my section to share this very very special TAX experience with me...
Okay, need to go back to working now. I have cover letters to write, resumes to update, outlines to create, and tons and tons of civ pro reading to finish!
And, I got tax.
The story is actually longer than that, however. In the meanwhile, I've looked into a number of other courses and revised my choice, (too complicated and not worthwhile to recount here) so tax actually ended up being my fourth choice and not my first choice. But, it looks like it didn't matter. I was going to get tax anyway.
I was a little disappointed, but will get over it soon. I guess I'll take "local government law" another time.
S and IH are in my class, the only ones in my section to share this very very special TAX experience with me...
Okay, need to go back to working now. I have cover letters to write, resumes to update, outlines to create, and tons and tons of civ pro reading to finish!
12/04/2005
My Brain Is Numb
from researching for summer jobs. Have been at this last night and today
I had thought that I wanted to do international, but am rethinking this, since a lot of the international organizaton has very spotty feedback from student summer interns. Am currently considering the federal government as well. Yes, I have always been drawn to power... :)
In other news, went out with J and her husband and AC and her boyfriend for dim sum in Chinatown this morning, in spite of the snow. Was very yummy.
I had thought that I wanted to do international, but am rethinking this, since a lot of the international organizaton has very spotty feedback from student summer interns. Am currently considering the federal government as well. Yes, I have always been drawn to power... :)
In other news, went out with J and her husband and AC and her boyfriend for dim sum in Chinatown this morning, in spite of the snow. Was very yummy.
12/03/2005
The Past Three Days
Had a crazy couple of days (in a very good way). Sadly, did not get any work done.
On Thursday, after class I read in the library with J for a while, then went to meet AC, G (this gay guy from our section who is AC's best friend), S, and ABS for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant that has become my obsession.
After that, S and I went to a firm reception for 1Ls at a Mexican restaurant, where we were provided with lots and lots of free alcohol and food, which made me regret eating before that.
The firm, C & P, is a moderately large firm with offices in NYC, DC, LA, and Houston, and a bunch of European countries. I have never heard of them before, but Boyfriend said that he has.
A lot of 1Ls from our section is there, like A and SW (this girl in our section who is famous for partying and getting drunk), and we mingled with each other and with the attorneys. I spoke to a woman in litigation from the DC office for a while, then spoke to another woman who does finance and who is a partner although she worked part-time with kids.
After that, S, A, and I decided to go back to campus to watch the Apprentice. On the way there, we went to a convenience store and bought some beer. I bought some sweet and seltzery vodka drink that comes in little glass bottles that look very girly.
We went to the dorm lounge of A's dorm, which I didn't like because it's extremely smelly. The entire place smell like a bad hotel on a rainy day, clammy and stale and slightly rotten.
S, who has already had quite a few beers and margaritas at that point, downed at least 3 more Sam Adam's, and began, as he always does when he's drunk, to say everything at the top of his lungs. It was amusing. After the Apprentice, we (inexplicably) walked to another liquor store in the area, where S bought more beer and a bottle of wine. We then went to his dorm (because I strongly objected to the smelliness of A's dorm lounge) and hung out in his room.
A showed me his photos from his days as a history PhD candidate at a prominent East Coast Ivy League university. He weighed 240 lbs back then and looked quite different. I was shocked, but hope that I didn't betray that in my expressions.
S, who is really wasted by that point, kept on knocking things over everywhere. He's accident-prone even when he's sober, and now made messes both in the common area of his dorm (spilled lager all over the table) and in his own room (spilled lager on A's coat.)
Around midnight, A and I left S's room. S, at that time, was wearing his military jacket and babbling at the top of his lungs.
Came home and was about to go to sleep when I started chatting with ABS. Yes, the IM is really the bane of my existence. But we had a very interesting discussion about utilitarianism and law. Went to sleep feeling connected and happy.
I actually made it to torts on Friday morning. I'm very proud of myself for that. Neither S nor A made it in spite of the fact that they probably went to sleep 2 hours earlier than me.
S later claimed that he remembers very few events that happened after the Apprentice from that evening.
Friday afternoon, I had a meeting with the public interest office's adviser, who had some good advice and encouraging words for me. I then went to the cafeteria where ABS, JE, S, a 1L from another section named V, and I had a scheduled appointment to play the game Twilight Imperium.
The game lasted way longer than last time, and didn't end until nearly 8:30. Originally, we had planned to have dinner at a Malaysian restaurant that I have become obsessed with in the Square, but decided instead to go straight to IH's party. IH is this guy in our section who is a good friend of me and S, and who is celebrating his 23rd birthday that evening.
The party was pretty great and involved a lot of screwdrivers for me and IH beating the pinata, which contains candies, lots of little bottles of alcohol, and condoms.
A lot of people from our section showed up. J and her husband also made it a little later to the party. Around 11:00, we went out to a bar nearby and hung out there until about 2:00. We decided to leave when S began throwing up outside the bar (yes, it wasn't pretty).
By that point, there was only a few of us left -- IH (the birthday boy), AK, S, N, and some other people that I didn't know as well. We went back to the apartment briefly, then took a cab back to campus where I went home. It was around 3:30 that I went to sleep.
Got up around 9:30 today; had a pleasant lunch with S in the Malaysian restaurant in the Square that we were supposed to have gone to last night, and then went with him to a game store where he bought a game called Illumnati.
Then walked back to campus with him and went to the library and read for an hour, came home, read some more, took a 2-hour nap. Boyfriend came back in the evening. I have been reading crim and trying to figure out the summer job situation tonight.
On Thursday, after class I read in the library with J for a while, then went to meet AC, G (this gay guy from our section who is AC's best friend), S, and ABS for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant that has become my obsession.
After that, S and I went to a firm reception for 1Ls at a Mexican restaurant, where we were provided with lots and lots of free alcohol and food, which made me regret eating before that.
The firm, C & P, is a moderately large firm with offices in NYC, DC, LA, and Houston, and a bunch of European countries. I have never heard of them before, but Boyfriend said that he has.
A lot of 1Ls from our section is there, like A and SW (this girl in our section who is famous for partying and getting drunk), and we mingled with each other and with the attorneys. I spoke to a woman in litigation from the DC office for a while, then spoke to another woman who does finance and who is a partner although she worked part-time with kids.
After that, S, A, and I decided to go back to campus to watch the Apprentice. On the way there, we went to a convenience store and bought some beer. I bought some sweet and seltzery vodka drink that comes in little glass bottles that look very girly.
We went to the dorm lounge of A's dorm, which I didn't like because it's extremely smelly. The entire place smell like a bad hotel on a rainy day, clammy and stale and slightly rotten.
S, who has already had quite a few beers and margaritas at that point, downed at least 3 more Sam Adam's, and began, as he always does when he's drunk, to say everything at the top of his lungs. It was amusing. After the Apprentice, we (inexplicably) walked to another liquor store in the area, where S bought more beer and a bottle of wine. We then went to his dorm (because I strongly objected to the smelliness of A's dorm lounge) and hung out in his room.
A showed me his photos from his days as a history PhD candidate at a prominent East Coast Ivy League university. He weighed 240 lbs back then and looked quite different. I was shocked, but hope that I didn't betray that in my expressions.
S, who is really wasted by that point, kept on knocking things over everywhere. He's accident-prone even when he's sober, and now made messes both in the common area of his dorm (spilled lager all over the table) and in his own room (spilled lager on A's coat.)
Around midnight, A and I left S's room. S, at that time, was wearing his military jacket and babbling at the top of his lungs.
Came home and was about to go to sleep when I started chatting with ABS. Yes, the IM is really the bane of my existence. But we had a very interesting discussion about utilitarianism and law. Went to sleep feeling connected and happy.
I actually made it to torts on Friday morning. I'm very proud of myself for that. Neither S nor A made it in spite of the fact that they probably went to sleep 2 hours earlier than me.
S later claimed that he remembers very few events that happened after the Apprentice from that evening.
Friday afternoon, I had a meeting with the public interest office's adviser, who had some good advice and encouraging words for me. I then went to the cafeteria where ABS, JE, S, a 1L from another section named V, and I had a scheduled appointment to play the game Twilight Imperium.
The game lasted way longer than last time, and didn't end until nearly 8:30. Originally, we had planned to have dinner at a Malaysian restaurant that I have become obsessed with in the Square, but decided instead to go straight to IH's party. IH is this guy in our section who is a good friend of me and S, and who is celebrating his 23rd birthday that evening.
The party was pretty great and involved a lot of screwdrivers for me and IH beating the pinata, which contains candies, lots of little bottles of alcohol, and condoms.
A lot of people from our section showed up. J and her husband also made it a little later to the party. Around 11:00, we went out to a bar nearby and hung out there until about 2:00. We decided to leave when S began throwing up outside the bar (yes, it wasn't pretty).
By that point, there was only a few of us left -- IH (the birthday boy), AK, S, N, and some other people that I didn't know as well. We went back to the apartment briefly, then took a cab back to campus where I went home. It was around 3:30 that I went to sleep.
Got up around 9:30 today; had a pleasant lunch with S in the Malaysian restaurant in the Square that we were supposed to have gone to last night, and then went with him to a game store where he bought a game called Illumnati.
Then walked back to campus with him and went to the library and read for an hour, came home, read some more, took a 2-hour nap. Boyfriend came back in the evening. I have been reading crim and trying to figure out the summer job situation tonight.
11/30/2005
Exam Season Has Begun
Tomorrow is the first day 1Ls can start sending cover letters and resumes to potential employers for summer employment. Too bad I have not done any research whatsoever about this. Argh!
The last few days have been very full. So far every evening this week I have been going to an event at my law school. This certainly fills up my schedule but I figure this is what I came to law school for. On Monday I saw the general counsel of Microsoft give a speech about the future of technology. It turned out not to be that interesting because the questions that people asked him were way too detailed to be comprehensible for a non-techie like me.
Yesterday it was Michael Jackson's lawyer and Dan Abrams talking about the Michael Jackson trial. Tom Mesereau, MJ's lawyer, is a really good speaker and was very very smooth. Abrams was surprisingly short and appeared nervous in the beginning (said "um" a lot, etc). But he gradually got better. It was entertaining to see Mesereau passionately attacking the media for treating MJ unfairly (and he was quite convincing about it; I was surprised myself) while Abrams was sitting on stage and then Abrams giving a spirited defense of the media. This was well worth it.
Today, the author of a very well-written and best-selling civ pro hornbook came to campus to give students exam-taking advice. He was well-spoken and brief. The entire thing only took about 40 minutes but was pretty helpful.
Today I also went with my study group to my civ pro professor's office hours and met with her as a group and asked questions. THAT was very helpful as well. My civ pro professor, although unbearably boring in class, is extremely nice in person. She's also very tall, very elegant, and very beautiful. Today I learned for the first time that she was an all-star basketball player when she was in college.
Exam season is really upon us. All of our professors have begun giving out advice about exams, etc. So far, no changes in the behavior of my classmates yet, although I am being watchful and keeping my fingers crossed that no one does anything psychotic. (You never know...)
I emailed each of the profeessors asking them to meet with my entire study group and answer our questions about exams. All of them wrote back and arranged times. Today was the fist meeting and went very well. Yes I'm proud of myself.
Lots of social activities planned for the next few days. Let's hope I can squeeze job-finding and studying in as well...
The last few days have been very full. So far every evening this week I have been going to an event at my law school. This certainly fills up my schedule but I figure this is what I came to law school for. On Monday I saw the general counsel of Microsoft give a speech about the future of technology. It turned out not to be that interesting because the questions that people asked him were way too detailed to be comprehensible for a non-techie like me.
Yesterday it was Michael Jackson's lawyer and Dan Abrams talking about the Michael Jackson trial. Tom Mesereau, MJ's lawyer, is a really good speaker and was very very smooth. Abrams was surprisingly short and appeared nervous in the beginning (said "um" a lot, etc). But he gradually got better. It was entertaining to see Mesereau passionately attacking the media for treating MJ unfairly (and he was quite convincing about it; I was surprised myself) while Abrams was sitting on stage and then Abrams giving a spirited defense of the media. This was well worth it.
Today, the author of a very well-written and best-selling civ pro hornbook came to campus to give students exam-taking advice. He was well-spoken and brief. The entire thing only took about 40 minutes but was pretty helpful.
Today I also went with my study group to my civ pro professor's office hours and met with her as a group and asked questions. THAT was very helpful as well. My civ pro professor, although unbearably boring in class, is extremely nice in person. She's also very tall, very elegant, and very beautiful. Today I learned for the first time that she was an all-star basketball player when she was in college.
Exam season is really upon us. All of our professors have begun giving out advice about exams, etc. So far, no changes in the behavior of my classmates yet, although I am being watchful and keeping my fingers crossed that no one does anything psychotic. (You never know...)
I emailed each of the profeessors asking them to meet with my entire study group and answer our questions about exams. All of them wrote back and arranged times. Today was the fist meeting and went very well. Yes I'm proud of myself.
Lots of social activities planned for the next few days. Let's hope I can squeeze job-finding and studying in as well...
11/27/2005
So Much to Do...
Last day of the Thanksgiving long weekend. Drove up this morning with Boyfriend back to law school and listened to Arthur Miller on the way. It's interesting to see how much more I know now, listening to these tapes 3 months later. Last time I touched those tapes was when Boyfriend and I were driving up to Montreal... Fun times! But back then I didn't know a lot of civil procedure. Not that I know that much now. Just more than before...
I have a lot to do in the next few days. First, 10-page open memo is due on Tuesday, which means I'll be spending most of tomorrow evening writing it. Yuck. I have already worked on it off and on during the last few days, did the research, and so on. The research for this memo was very depressing, because it involved a lot of stalking cases, which were very scary to read about.
I also need to start looking for a job for this summer, since December is rapidly approaching. Talked with DK over IM today about this. He's appying to a lot of private firm jobs and wants to be in New York, although doesn't yet want to rule out international, either. I mostly want to do international, but have no idea where to start or how to look. Sounds like it's time to make an appointment with the public interest office...
Then, I also need to complete readings and really start studying for final exams. I did 2/3 of a civ pro exam and 2/3 of a torts exam over break. Not fun. I don't think I did that well, either. The torts exam involved a policy question so broad it was almost absurd. Basically, it said "discuss the role of the court in torts claims..." and I was like "WHAT?! You expect us to talk about this in an hour?!? Absurd..."
My study group is meeting this Tuesday instead of Monday because of the open memo.
Even though there's so much to do, I kind of look forward to going back to school again. Yay. :)
I have a lot to do in the next few days. First, 10-page open memo is due on Tuesday, which means I'll be spending most of tomorrow evening writing it. Yuck. I have already worked on it off and on during the last few days, did the research, and so on. The research for this memo was very depressing, because it involved a lot of stalking cases, which were very scary to read about.
I also need to start looking for a job for this summer, since December is rapidly approaching. Talked with DK over IM today about this. He's appying to a lot of private firm jobs and wants to be in New York, although doesn't yet want to rule out international, either. I mostly want to do international, but have no idea where to start or how to look. Sounds like it's time to make an appointment with the public interest office...
Then, I also need to complete readings and really start studying for final exams. I did 2/3 of a civ pro exam and 2/3 of a torts exam over break. Not fun. I don't think I did that well, either. The torts exam involved a policy question so broad it was almost absurd. Basically, it said "discuss the role of the court in torts claims..." and I was like "WHAT?! You expect us to talk about this in an hour?!? Absurd..."
My study group is meeting this Tuesday instead of Monday because of the open memo.
Even though there's so much to do, I kind of look forward to going back to school again. Yay. :)
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