Moment of rest

Thursday morning is precious this semester - it's the one day in the week that class starts late, which means it's the one day in the week that we get to sleep in! Naturally, this meant that my law school friends and I went out to margaritas and Mexican food for dinner : ) C couldn't go because he had class, which was sad, but it was still really fun to hang out with law school friends & significant others in a non-law school setting. It happens so rarely... and the way this semester is going, it probably won't happen again for a while.

I did a really good job earlier this week and read all my cases for the week minus Friday Contracts. I did this because externship and on-campus interview applications are both due by Friday this week. Right now I'm watching Top Chef and putting together my writing sample. Hopefully I'll end up with some interviews which will lead to a summer job... then I won't have to worry about that any more. 

There are so many different challenges this semester (every class, Moot Court competition, summer job, practice problems, class outlines)... focusing on the amount of work is completely overwhelming. I have to line up each little task and then knock them out one at a time. That way I don't lose my mind. That's the game plan for the rest of the semester...

K

P.S. I ended up with a B in Property... but I just got a letter in the mail telling me that I'm in the top 30% of the class. Next semester my goal is to do better, but top 30% isn't bad!

Second semester

This will be a short note... it's only two weeks into the second semester and we are SWAMPED... 

The tough class this semester is Criminal Procedure. Our professor is old-school - he's been teaching for years, and practiced law for tons of years before that. He assigns loads of reading every night, then in class he expects us to know the minutia of the case. He'll find one person to class to pick on, then will ride that person relentlessly for the whole hour and a half (this person has not yet been me). The information in class is interesting (we're doing searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment right now), but the class is definitely a challenge. As a result, Crim Pro takes up a large percentage of my study time.

That aside, the Moot Court problem in Legal Writing requires lots of research time... I haven't done enough of it yet. We've been assigned the problem and I've printed what I think are relevant cases and statutes... still have to read through them and come up with a coherent argument/structure.

Plus the externship applications are due ASAP.

Did I mention I'm swamped? no time even to write a good post... sorry...

K

heavy

Today as I struggled up the two flights of stairs to my apartment, hauling my backpack, gym bag, and two books + binder that didn't fit in my bags, I started to wonder how much weight I carry every day. Once I negotiated my way in the front door, I headed to the bathroom scale. Turns out, my bags weigh almost 40 lbs. During the day I normally switch books out halfway through the day, keeping the rest in my car, but that still means that I carry about 20 lbs up and down the stairs at school and home. Ridiculous! I had forgotten this aspect of school-ing...

ALSO today C has MBA class and won't be home until 10pm. Thus, I spent an hour after class doing research for our Legal Writing project this spring. I got home a bit ago and was bummed that I had lots of reading to do for tomorrow and Friday's classes... until I realized that I had worked ahead at the start of the week, and most of the reading was already done and briefed! What a great feeling. There is a rhyme and reason for my manic case-briefing!

Final non sequitur note: my school held an event today where various employers came by to talk about summer externships and law careers. After I got over a slight bout of intimidation, I went to the tables and spoke to several of the employers. Up until now I had the impression that the majority of available jobs were limited to 2Ls and 3Ls - the good news is that after the meetings today, I found a few places that take on 1Ls for the summer and have a few ideas of places where I can apply. Slowly but surely this semester is settling down, thank goodness... Now I can focus on the massive work load in peace!

Ah, law school.

K

Inauguration Day!

Today we watched history in the making! Our school put on a really nice inauguration event with breakfast refreshments, coffee, and the live CNN coverage on a big-screen TV. I was running a little bit late and low on gas, but I made it right in time to watch the beginning of the ceremony.

I was surprisingly emotional this morning. On the drive to school I was listening to the newscast on NPR, just describing the event, and my eyes were tearing. I was imagining explaining this day to my children - telling them where I was and what I saw, and why it was such a big deal that the first African-American man was being elected president. This is definitely one of those 'monumental days' that will define our generation. It seems to me that the other 'monumental days' in my lifetime have not been good days - for example, 9/11 or Columbine.  I'm not sure if that is a function of the media focusing more on negative events... but regardless, thank goodness we now have a 'positive' day to share with the generations to come.

I've been thinking about this post for several hours now - I am finding it quite difficult to articulate my overwhelming feeling of awe. Everything I come up with is so trite: being a witness to the making of history... being part of something amazing... even "words can't describe..."

The best I can do is to say that I was quite effected by this event (the entire election leading up to the inauguration) and will remember it for the rest of my life. It definitely helped me get out of my head for a few moments and appreciate that life/the world is much greater than me/law school/what's happening right now... If I spend more time writing this, I won't get any homework done!

Cheap cop-out answer, I know... but I sacrifice this blog post for the greater good (i.e. being prepared for Criminal Procedure tomorrow). Ahh unbalanced law school priorities!

K

A reflection on grades

I write this post in the hope that venting to the cyber-universe about law school grades will help me mentally and emotionally MOVE ON from last semester so I will be able to face this next one with a clearer mind. As I mentioned before, all but one of our grades are up, so we more or less know how we stand at the halfway mark of our 1L year. Needless to say, grades are at the forefront of our minds as we wait for the final grade to drop.

The challenge with law school grades is that every one of my classmates was at one point at the top of his or her class. There are people who take tests well, who are naturally brilliant, who spend every hour of every day living and breathing law, who have years of law-related experience... and there are some people who have combinations of each. Statistically only a small percent of us will get A's. The hardest thing is going from an A- or A grade point average in college to a B+ average in law school. B+ is really not a bad GPA, but it's hard not to be a little disappointed.

I worked extremely hard last semester - I read every case, I attended every class, I participated in class discussions. I got the material. Some subjects were harder than others, but by the end of the year I felt confident in what I knew. Unfortunately, so was everyone else! Because law school is graded on such a steep curve, my grade depended completely on how many points I earned on my final exam in relation to how many points my 65-75 classmates earned. So B+ is by no means a translation of a sub-par IQ or unsatisfactory work ethic. It merely means that the A and A- students earned more points on their 3 hour exam than I did. That's a very hard fact for a former high school A+ student/college honors student to digest.

It's hard to start this new semester without feeling wisps of regret for my performance last semester. I catch myself thinking "you could have studied harder" or "I can't believe I missed this point/that point in the final essay/multiple choice," or even the deadly "you won't make it as a lawyer." At times it is quite frustrating, and it is truly hard not to beat myself up over every little mistake (that's how I've always been). 

I suppose the best things to remember are that 

1: the B+ average is still awesome, even though it's not the coveted A

2: I still have five semesters to go 

3: last semester I had NO IDEA what law school/final exams were all about; and now I do

4: I did and do work hard, very hard, and I shouldn't let disappointment over my last semester grades sour my work ethic

5: I have an amazing, loving, supportive network of friends, family, and husband to help me along the way

All told, I am still happy here. I know not to let my grades discourage me. I need to use this B+ as a jumping-off point, as a baseline goal to beat next semester, and the semester after that. I need to remember that life is so much bigger than law school (a fact that is very easy to forget).

Most of all, I need to be proud of myself... as cheesy as that sounds. Because if I'm not, then really, what is the point?

*big deep breath*

back to Torts.

K

First day of school, 2009!

Happy 2009 everyone!

Today was my first day of law school in the new year - the first day of my second semester of law school - my last first day as a 1L. Quite a few firsts today.

It was tough getting back into "hardcore school" mindset. I spent Sunday at the library reading cases to prepare for classes. Two of my textbooks are still in the mail en route to CA (I order mine online because it's cheaper than buying them new from the bookstore - take that, The Man!), thus I had to check them out of our library to do the readings. 

Monday is my toughest day this semester. This semester we have three classes each on both Monday and Wednesday (last semester we only had 2 classes per day). Not only that, but our first class on Monday is Legal Writing at 9:00 am. The good news about this new schedule is that on Tuesday and Friday, I'm done at noon. Pretty much my week starts tough and then goes downhill from there. Can't complain about that!

It was so nice to see my law school friends again. We all started off comparing grades (of course) because that's the kind of person that we all are. We're only waiting for one more grade now  - for the record, now I have an A in Legal Writing, B+ in Contracts and Criminal Law, and a B in Civil Procedure. I'm just waiting on Property. As far as I can tell, this puts me near the top of my group of friends (the over-achievers). There are some in my study group who did exceptionally well, for whom I am happy. Needless to say, my goal for this semester (besides securing a summer job) is to do better than I did this semester. 

I think the adjustment will be hardest for the "others" and spouses. C definitely got used to me being home all break, being able to drop everything to spend time with friends or go to the store or watch a movie. It will be hard for him to fall back into school mode, wherein I have maybe 30 minutes of free time each day. The good news is that he'll be equally as busy with his MBA classes, which will keep him occupied at least part of the time. 

Off to read Torts, more to come.

K

Road Trip, Part II

Sleep, glorious sleep!

Friday night I ended up sleeping from about 4:30 pm to 5:30 am Saturday morning. 

Well-rested and freshly-showered, we took off again around 6:00 am. The final few hours were no sweat after the marathon the night before. We each had one shift, then had lunch in North Carolina before heading to Raleigh. Made it to RDU with 2 hours to spare before my flight. The flight back was uneventful - no layover in Nashville (had to run from one gate to the next), but I made it back to CA safe and sound!

Lots to do before school starts on Monday... more to report later on!

K

Road trip, Part I

The road trip is roughly 75% over! I'm sitting in a hotel right now, 3:30 pm EST. A and I woke up yesterday at 10:30ish am and have not slept since then. We left at 7:15 pm on Thursday, alternating three hour driving shifts (more or less) throughout the night.

Because my brain is sleepy, here's a quick recap of the trip:

7:15 pm = left home

11:45 pm = first Dr. Pepper (split)

12:54 am = saw our first road kill (amazing that we didn't see any before then! we decided it was an important event to note)

12:50 am = entered Louisiana

2:00 am = second Dr. Pepper (A's)

3:53 am = disgusting deer carcass (I happened to be looking at a bulletin board out the window... A swears that he saw a completely mangled deer carcass on the road a la "Dexter," but I happened to miss the entire thing)

4:14 am = entered Missouri (starting to get loopy, but the driving was not too rough)

4:30 am = third Dr. Pepper (mine)

5:53 am = half-way point!

6:28 am = "gotmemmmmmy" (at this point I was in the middle of my second shift and A was veeeery sleepy. I asked him to note that the sun rose at this time, and he ended up writing "gotmemmmmy" instead. Not sure what he was thinking, but he definitely was not all there!)

6:54 am = entered Alabama

7:27 am = first energy drink (A's)

7:40 am = fourth Dr. Pepper (mine)

8:30 am = breakfast at Waffle House

11:22 am = entered Georgia

(at this point we were both exhausted but got a third wind playing an awesome movie ID game... we ended up driving further than we expected as a result)

3:15 pm = passed through Atlanta... stopped for the night, dinner at Subway

Now = sooo tired but we get to make up for the lost sleep. For the record, we've both been awake for almost 30 hours, have driven over 1000 miles and have touched five different states during this time. It has taken four gas station stops, four Dr. Peppers and one Monster energy drink. We're on track to get A to school in NC tomorrow, and me on the plane in time to help C celebrate his quarter-century birthday. 

For now, goodnight all!

K

Road Trip!

So I've been at home-home for the past few days! It was so nice to spend time with the family and relax RIGHT before classes start again (on Monday). Between now and Monday, I'll be road-tripping with my younger brother from home (Texas) to drop him off at college (North Carolina), after which I'm flying back home (California). I'll arrive in CA right on C's birthday (a little late), then will spend Sunday at the library, reading cases for the first week and generally preparing for my second semester in law school.

I'm actually glad that I'm spending the last several days before school NOT in California. It will be hectic trying to get ready for school in one day, though I'm glad I have had so much time to relax. I honestly am looking forward to starting school again! Time goes so much faster when I have a purpose and a deadline week by week. I am so Type A - I really do thrive on the stress and the need to complete my assignments. 

Three of our profs have already posted syllabi, so I know that we already have lots of reading right off the bat. My challenges for this semester, in addition to class reading and problems, is the Legal Writing project plus oral competition in the spring, as well as trying to secure a job for the summer. I'll post more about the job search as the semester goes by. Still not sure what I want to do when I graduate from school, but I have at least a little bit of time to decide...

C started his MBA on Monday (hooray!) so now we'll both be in school. I feel less guilty spending so much time working because he'll be doing exactly the same thing. He's in an evening program that lasts two years, so he's on track to finish school by the time I get my J.D. Basically, we're the nerdiest couple on the face of the earth : )

K

More to report from the road... North Carolina in T-36!

2009

Happy New Year!

Break has been quite enjoyable so far... Christmas day began a whirlwind of in-laws who visited us out here (left just a few days ago). I'll be visiting my folks for a few days starting Monday, which is exciting (haven't been home since school started). In the meantime, C and I have been watching a marathon of TV shows - first Dexter, now Heroes - and I've been reading books steadily since the day after my last final. Basically I'm doing everything I can to put off the agonizing five week wait for grades. Two of our five grades have come in (so far so good! A and B+), but I think the rest will take several weeks. 

It's hard to believe that it's already 2009! As I have every year for the past few  years, I resolved to be a better person in 2009 than I was in 2008 - this means working harder, learning new things, being kinder, keeping in touch with friends/family better, keeping my body and mind active, and quitting Dr. Pepper (?? Maybe this year it'll happen!). 

More to come later... hope everyone had a good vacation!

K