Memo done!

Memo is done! Yesterday I turned in my memo, hooray, so now I don't have to worry about Legal Writing again until next semester... what a great feeling! Now I'm somewhat anxious to get my grade back, but I suppose I'll have to wait for that.

Small celebration, then on to study for finals... one class down, four to go : D

Hard to believe this semester is going by so quickly. Tomorrow is our penultimate day of classes, then we have a week free for Thanksgiving "break," then one last day of classes on Dec. 2, then dead week. Wow.

It seems like we have so much time to prepare for finals, but really it is going to fly by very quickly. Lots to do...

K

MEMO in T-1

So the recent dearth of posts is due to our impending memo... this memo is worth 75% of our Legal Writing grade (no pressure) which is 3 of our 15 credits... so needless to say, I've been chained to the laptop all weekend.

Unfortunately, one of C's roommates from college is in town for three days before spending Thanksgiving in Austin with... my family (even though C and I are staying here for my short break). We're happy to have him in town, don't get me wrong, but the "unfortunately" part is because I have spent most of his trip here working... and working... and working. I'm glad, though, that C has a friend to play with while I'm busy. Yesterday one of my law school buddies came over to the apartment and we had a study party - her hubby went to have some "man" time with C and some other buddies in Redondo. All of the "significant others" have been abandoned and blown off lately, due to the big memo deadline and the onset of finals. Hang on, guys, 2 weeks until finals, 3 weeks until we're free! 

The good news is, though, that on Friday our awesome friend Jeanne threw an early Thanksgiving dinner party for our LA family before everyone dispersed for break. It was really nice to come out of hibernation for an evening to spend time with friends and enjoy some awesome food. It put be back an evening, but it was worth it.

I also had my first melt-down of the semester this weekend, but fortunately that's over and done with, so now I can focus on finals. (I'm actually pretty much finished with my memo - I printed a final copy and will do one last scan for errors this evening). 

Anyway, that's the end of the update... I'll write again after the memo is in. These next few weeks are going to fly by...

K

Wow

Time is flying... today was our last Contracts class... for the fall semester (we have it again in the Spring). I can't believe the semester is almost over! I won't miss Contracts (I will spend plenty of face-time with it over the study period), but I will miss our prof. Out of NOWHERE at the end of class, he pulled a guitar out from behind his desk and broke into a funny song about our class, which included advice he's given us and topics that we've covered. I'm not doing it justice - it really was hilarious, and it was a great mood-breaker. We had spent the entire class reviewing the whole course, so tensions were pretty high!

I'm in the library right now, about to buckle down again on my memo (it's due Monday), then Property reading for tomorrow's class (yes, I still do the readings) and then work on memorizing my outlines. I figure I need to get a jump on memorizing because that's the BARE minimum of information we need for our exam essays. Oh, also hypotheticals (I have stuck to doing one a day, so far). 

C's roommate comes to visit us tomorrow evening (yay!) which means we need to clean the apartment tonight (boo) and I'm going to do as much work as possible right now, so I don't spend his entire trip chained to my books (though I'm not making any promises...) Both C and my friends have said that they are tired of me being in school. It is true, I have been putting everything aside that is not school-related... but I'm a first-year and that's expected. It is my understanding that after this semester, things will be better - not easier, but I'll be better equipped to tackle the work load. Hopefully.

Time is ticking! Finals in T-21...

K

My first COLD CALL

AAHHHHHH!!! Somehow I've made it up until today (a few weeks shy of dead week) without being cold-called. To explain: to prepare for classes, we read cases in our casebooks and take notes for our class discussions on various topics outlined in the cases. Often the prof will start the discussion by calling on one unsuspecting student to explain the case, state its facts and the arguments within, then will keep the student "on the hook" to answer questions pertaining to that case throughout class. It is notoriously unnerving. 

In two of our classes, the profs don't exactly cold call... additionally I volunteer answers a lot to avoid being called on. I figured, though, my time was coming because I hadn't been cold-called yet. I've been called on to answer problems or hypotheticals, but never the dreaded cold call. 

Contracts has been sneaky lately - there are two other "Kristins" in our class and one "Krystal," so I've been "false-alarmed" a few times [e.g. my heart starts to beat faster and my cheeks flush but I'm not actually being called]. Today, though, our Contracts prof looked me right in the eyes and called on me to state today's case. It's amazing - I had read the case previously and I had even "briefed" it, that is I typed up a condensed version of the facts and arguments of the case. HOWEVER the minute he called my name, my mind went blank (the 2L's warned us this would happen our first time). Despite the fact that I'm comfortable talking in class otherwise and had a "cheat sheet" RIGHT in front of me, I still was taken aback/anxious about it. After tripping up a few times (answering questions with a tangent, mistaking a minor fact or two), I ended up OK. Of course, I kicked myself for every mistaken word that came out of my mouth (we were warned this would happen as well) and wished that I had stated certain things better/more completely. However, it ended up being fine. Everyone makes mistakes when stating cases, so I was fine. I felt like a blathering idiot at times, but none of my friends even remembered my mistakes.

SO glad that's over with! I'm officially a law student! This rite of passage is complete!

K

where has the time gone?

WOW November is passing in a blur... October did too... being in school seems to simultaneously slow down time (on Mondays, or during some 2 hour classes) and accelerate it immensely (before deadlines or finals). I have a count-down on my fridge for the rest of this month. It's my goal to complete one practice essay a day until finals (in addition to memorizing elements and statutes for each class, and taking full tests when dead week begins). 

We had a practice exam with proctors for Civ Pro yesterday - good practice for the real thing. I did better than I expected, though I missed one issue out of pure idiocy... more practice will definitely iron out the dumb avoidable mistakes made due to nerves or carelessness.

Practicepracticepractice... yesterday also was a mixer for C's job that he had helped organize. Free drinks, lots of schmoozing... Even though it was a school night, I decided to go to support C - though I also brought a notebook with homework as well. Couldn't help myself!

K

BUSY

SO much studying going on - I feel like all my "free" time right now is spent preparing for finals or worrying about finals. I've been going out of my way to spend more time with the husband lately... sadly, though, I haven't been paying my friends as much attention. Hope it's all worth it... one month and counting until finals are done... 

On the other hand, C used the phrase "malicious intent" the other day in the course of normal conversation, and I was so proud!

Tonight is outline time and then memo 2... due in 12 days... 

K

Nerves

So I appear to be letting my nerves get the best of me... 

I've been somewhat irrationally nervous about finals lately... even though they are a month away and even though a good healthy dose of fear is a fantastic motivator, I definitely need to CALM DOWN and remember that I'm good at school and that it is possible to get all these facts and elements in my brain before December. I'm afraid that my nervous energy is projecting onto my friends (and they project back on me sometimes... not a healthy cycle).

It's pretty safe to say that any time over the next month I'll be in need of a call or a text reminding me that I need to RELAX and just focus on doing my personal best. That's an attainable goal. The other goals are all subsidiary. 

Sheesh.

K

The morning after...

Back to the real world...

Election day was exciting and a nice break from school, but now it's back to the crunch... only about a month left until finals and now we have to worry about taking practice exams/writing practice essays to seriously prepare for exams. Additionally, memo number 2 is due in about 2 weeks, and it still needs work. Lots of work. 

I'm almost caught up on my outlines (working on that right now while chatting with the baby brother on gmail), then I need to make sure that the outlines are in my head COLD. That will be tough. Tomorrow our afternoon Property class is canceled - which means I will be in the library writing hypos and working on outlines. Tonight I'm going to print some hypos to write up so I'll be ready to go tomorrow. 

Oh ALSO 2 of my friends have strep throat. Fantastic. I feel sorry for them, because they are physically sick in addition to the workload/emotional/psychological strain of preparing for finals. Hopefully everyone gets better before then, and hopefully I don't get it as well! Yuck. 

I vacillate these days between confidence in classwork/preparation and where I am in my studies, and the suffocating anxiety that I'm really far behind/haven't learned enough/don't have enough time to prepare. At the moment I have so much to do all at once that I am sitting here doing none of it - not sure where to begin. As soon as I'm done with this post, I'll work on Civ Pro outline, I suppose - then give Contracts a shot... then when I'm sick of that, take a break and print hypos for tomorrow... I also need to read Crim for Friday... I also need to revise my "reasonableness of precautions" section of my 2nd memo... then there's the Property outline... not to mention Crim... Suff-O-cating...

K

Election Day!

SO today is Election Day! I decided to do a non-law-related post for once, just to prove that a small sliver of my life dedicated to other things : ) (for example, Halloween in West Hollywood... I intended to post on that but didn't have time. Maybe I'll do that later).

ANYWAY bright and early at 7:00 this morning, C and I were at our local precinct, waiting in line to do our civic duty and cast our ballots! Even though we were in line when the polls opened, we still waited a good hour and 45 min before we made it inside. We were in line with primarily African-American voters, which is a function of our neighborhood demographic (we are both in the severe racial minority). The energy and excitement from the people in line was palpable - people driving by honked their horns, which prompted cheers from those waiting in line. The woman behind me kept on saying "we're about to make history." When I finally made it inside, the woman who checked my name of the list THANKED me - she said she was so happy to see young people coming out and voting. Despite the wait, I am thrilled to have cast my vote, and am very excited/nervous to hear the results later on today.

One of my law school friends is hosting an election-results party after class today. We're done with Property today at 4:00 and will head straight to her house afterwards... however, depending on how things go on the East Coast, the race may have already been called by then. I am more concerned, however, to see how California voted on Proposition 8: the attempt to overturn CA's decision to allow gay marriage ... very hotly contested issue. FINGERS ARE CROSSED. 

Very exciting day... 

K