Previously Unpublished

My last set of grades ever, as far as I know, came in today. Of course, I’m not counting the bar exam results because those come in pass/fail form. Unfortunately, getting the grades back have helped to push me closer to fail than to pass since they have provided ample distraction over the past 3-4 hours. I know everyone has off days, but this week I need to be making up ground that I lost by taking most of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off for graduation activities.

Anyway, the results were a little disappointing (thus the distraction) except for one class which gives me a little hope for the outcome of my efforts studying for the bar (when I do study). Two classes gave me grades slightly below the curve - in fact tied for my worst grade in law school (though not really bad, so I shouldn’t complain too much, but not good either since one was for a paper class where the curve is supposed to be higher). I was expecting better despite somewhat subjective grading schemes in both of them, and well, to not be pleasantly surprised or even just at the status quo was something of a blow since I worked really hard to go out with a bang. On the other hand, I also got my highest grade in law school in one class, on my last exam as a student.

Why is this important? Because I finally put it all together for the good class and it resulted in a really good grade. I read over outlines more than once, I made flashcards, I did practice tests, and then I put it all together for one of the few completely closed book exams I have had in law school. I purposely mimicked how I wanted to study for the bar exam (and how I had been told people with good grade point averages got those high marks). The hope is, once I get back on track, that similar work for the bar exam will pay off. Until then, I’ll try to salvage the rest of the night by doing Contracts multiple choice.

-jd

I had to ditch BarBri one day this week to attend my sister’s graduation. It’s amazing how fast that sets you behind. Obviously, I have no regrets and it was wonderful to see my sis get her Master’s in Education. The ceremony was lovely and travel time was not too extraordinary although I did bring along a workbook to do MBE practice questions in case there was any delay. Of course, thanks to the rigorous conditioning of first PMBR and now BarBri, my mind has already been re-wired to see everything through tort-tinted glasses. I can pretty much walk down the street and get a nice review as I look at nuisances on the sidewalks and bad driving on the roads. Every everything I see basically has at least one or two elements of negligence, strict liability, or an intentional tort.

My own graduation was yesterday and it was everything you could hope for from a graduation ceremony. Having not participated in my college graduation, I had forgotten how exciting (and tiring) all the pomp and circumstance is. Our speakers were fantastic, from the official speech to our valedictorian, and no one seemed to mind even as hundreds of names were read aloud. My parents and all my siblings not living abroad came, as did Ticket’s, and also a couple of very close friends. Ticket brought me champagne as I was waiting in the alphabetical line in the morning before the ceremony, we ate courtesy of the school at a reception directly after, then we had pizza and beer at a local brewery thanks to my parents, more drinks after they left with my friends at another local brewery, and then Thai food takeout and Forrest Gump as I hung out with some of Ticket’s family in the evening.

I am now a law school graduate. It was a great day. I’m also two days behind in BarBri now and a number of my classmates informed me they were a little panicked after the essay workshop (which I missed, see above). So now it’s back to work. There are a couple more food gatherings to honor Ticket’s brother who is graduating undergrad from the same school that I went to law school at, but other than that, I’ve been hastily doing essay outlines this morning to catch up. I was a little sad after graduation yesterday and I thought it was over the end of my school career and seeing friends all the time. Upon reflection, I think I’m really sad that now reviewing for the bar is the only thing on the horizon since after all, I’ll get to see all my friends again and again and again over the next few months!

-jd

When I studied abroad my junior year of college, they made us go to an orientation to help acclimate everyone to the stresses of becoming immersed in a new culture before we had left the safe confines of the good ol’ US of A. The thing I took away from this day-long session, besides a $250 raffle-won gift card to a travel agency which paid my way to Holland, was a description of the highs and lows that would be experienced at various stages of the time spent abroad. You would feel euphoric as you made your way to a new place, but then after a week that would wear off and you would feel sort of depressed and homesick, but then you’d make friends and feel on a high again. Well, this rollarcoaster-like description was fairly accurate and is probably based on some sort of universal rhythm that applies more or less to everything. Like heart monitors - up and down, up and down - ping ping ping (pretty wild jump, eh?)

Anyway, I expect the bar exam process to be about the same experience. I have had two years worth of friends go through this already and I know to trust that even if I start feeling anxiety or apprehension, it is normal and not indicative of where I’ll be when all is said and done. Well, the heart monitor took a startling pause today and I had to hold my breath while I waited for the momentary flatline to reboot (I’ve met up a couple times this last week with a friend of mine who just recently graduated med school, thus all the heart monitor speak). People are already freaking other people out at the BarBri lectures by telling them their progress on different things, so I’ll refrain from mentioning exactly what triggered my frustration but it had to do with a slight backtrack from my average scores during PMBR and also with falling behind on some of the work.

Instead of having a heart attack, even a minor one, a more rational appraisal of the situation would reveal that despite being told not to run any errands, I have been doing all sorts of things ranging from a doctor’s appointment, to a haircut for graduation, to an eye exam, to paying bills. In the real world, these would be acceptable, but in the world of the bar, the consequences of such acts put my internal ping ping ping on pause. The key is that I realize the impact that taking time in the middle of the day has on my being able to be prepared on the level that I want to be. Overall, I am heading in the right direction - packing lunch, getting these appointments out of the way now as opposed to in the thick of things, not turning on my computer once I’m at the library, still putting in a respectable amount of time.

I’ll get in shape. After all, it is a marathon.

-jd

BarBri began today. I was good and didn’t turn on my computer once I left the lecture and went to the library, so I have a lot of posts I’d like to make on a number of fronts that I was only able to jot down on a notecard. However, I’m too tired at this point to do any of them except for one because it was hilarious.

Predictably, after the first day lecturer scared the crap out of everyone with her stern drill-sergeant talk, the library was packed. Not just from our school, but a number of the surrounding ones because they told everyone to go to different libraries and despite what she actually said, I think ours is the nicest and everyone knows it. Well, so there were a lot of us in there packed like sardines into the carrols.

Around 6:15, after putting in 5.3 billable hours (more on that later), I got up to leave for a dinner with some law school friends leaving town for their BarBri courses. At the same time, two other heads popped up in the same row to leave as well. I’ll admit I make some noise when packing because I have two bags with me (one for the computer I didn’t take out and one for the BarBri books). The other two heads made noise as well, but it was sort of a short burst and nothing more than you might usually hear.

Well all of a sudden, from about two carrols behind me, comes this admonition, “Stop! Just stop making noise. Stop right now!” Moments later, I walked by and some burlesque dude was staring intently at his outline with thick black rim glasses and the most intense grimace in history. It was the first day. As the lecturer would have said, “Buddy, if you don’t lighten up, we’ll see you in the winter.” As Ticket said, “That dude better get to the doctor fast for a prescription of Vicodin.” Normally I’d feel bad about disturbing someone, but this was pretty unreasonable. Instead I felt good about how I was holding up.

All the same, I hope he can pull it together and pass since this process sucks.

-jd

I’m now on the fifth day of studying for the MBE and damn, time goes by fast. I keep thinking of things I want to blog about during the day so that I can preserve evidence of this insane period of time, but usually by the time I get home, I forget about them. Today, however, I discovered that we have free wireless internet in the extension center where our classes are held and it allows me to publish my thoughts and if nothing else, is an incentive to stay at the center for lunch (though the other 4 days, I also packed my lunch in a cooler and just sat in my car or ran errands nearby).

So far, my aim has been to hit a 50% average on balance after taking all 6 of the MBE subject tests (acknowledging that everyone is different at the beginning and no one should feel good, bad or ugly, and also that I won’t be posting my approximate scores once we really get into crunch time with the start of the BAR/BRI course next week). As of con law this morning, which was the fifth test, I am 2 questions short of hitting 50% and that includes a horrendous performance on the criminal law/procedure test. My best subjects have been con law and property and k law and torts were about average. On the bright side, I’m sure adequate study can remedy my position in crim law which was tainted by a professor who insisted on using the Model Penal Code as the only source of law for our class.

The only other thing of note besides some pretty crazy test questions which I’d point out, but have really forgotten about by now after an initial chuckle, is that after beginning the week as a “live” lecture class, the last two days have been video lecture. This is a lot different than live lecture and I don’t like it as much. Neither do my classmates though I understand that there are other areas that have video solely. It’s just hard to keep up in handwriting the notes, which I am determined to do in order to increase my hand strength in case my computer (yeah, even the new one) should break during the exam.

Anyway, overall I feel pretty confident so far, but I still don’t feel completely inundated in the whole process yet. We don’t have any “homework” except for review that outline for the next day. I’ll probably feel differently once the real grind begins. For now, I’m just running errands to try and make sure I’m totally prepared to concentrate starting next week.

-jd

After a weekend that saw me celebrate the end of law school with a trip to the ballpark, a local amusement park, to my parent’s home, and well, that’s about it - I began studying to pass the bar.

At 8:30 this morning I drove about ten minutes away to an extension campus classroom and took a two hour MBE torts simulation, which we then graded over a period of nearly four hours. I took all my notes by hand because there were no outlets. It was painful, but I felt as though I was getting my money’s worth.

My first impression is that I have high energy now and am feeling pretty good. Torts was my least favorite subject and the worse grade I received in law school (so far, knock on wood). However, the strategy was pretty good during lecture and I seem to be more confident now that I’ve had, oh, three years to let the subject matter sink in. I almost think I feel too confident. The guy told us we didn’t have any real homework, so although I should get in the habit of going to the library right afterwards, I ran errands instead. Oh well, I guess it’s good to just wade in - the panic can come later.

-jd

On a side note, my amazing parents got me a new laptop for graduation. I had been worried about my computer dying during the exam and so they got a new one through my dad’s work which offers discounts to employees. I never expected such a nice present and was nearly speechless when they gave it to me (plus I felt like it short-changed driving to see my mom and take her to lunch for her day even though I know parents love to be able to help out their kids). My parents are great.

I blinked and suddenly I was transported from that day on August 19, 2004, when I vehemently argued in my law skills class at orientation that assumption of the risk might not apply to Seadoos when they “convert” to a form of transportation as one is riding back to the dock, to May 11, 2007 as the proctors for my trusts and estates final called time and law school was officially over.

To celebrate, I went to the beach with takeout from the best burger and fry place in town, listened to my iPod as I spooned the sand, and tonight I will go to a ballgame.

My first bar course starts Monday. But hey, you can’t have the sweet without the bitter. Plus, as the title alludes to, at least I still have my hair after three long (but really short) years of studying, worrying, complaining, grinding, and really pushing things to the limit.

I feel accomplished now and I’ll worry about the bar next week.

-jd

The main reason for this post is to have an entry entitled “Bad Gas.” Unfortunately though, it doesn’t end there and no, it has nothing to do with me and how I went to “Taco Tuesday” last night at a local joint. Rather, upon arriving at the law library this morning, as I went to my usual section, I was confronted with wave after increasing wave of out-of-control flatulence. It was very evident and offensive to probably a good quarter of that floor of the library. It was clear this was not a one time offensive, but rather a war waged against the normally nondescript and static air of the what I consider to be the best place to study in the library.

I was actually tempted to abandon my default arrangement and seek alternate accomodations despite the normal place’s close access to a cell phone friendly room, a lack of wild temperature variation, proximity to a bathroom, and a window view for procrastination. Luckily for me, as soon as I walked past a certain threshold of that area - a parallel of the war zone if you will - I was rewarded with recycled, but odor-free air again. I guess I could probably imagine who was super nervous about a final and just had to continuously let go based on where the change occured, but what the hell. I just couldn’t believe there were a lot of other people in the line of fire who hadn’t moved. Maybe they grew accustomed to the stench?

Speaking of stale, last night I was in the above mentioned bathroom when all of a sudden I hear the unmistakable sound of a lighter being ignited from inside one of the stalls. Within seconds my nose drew in the initial wafts of cigarette smoke and a moment later I saw a thin line of smoke dance its way up to the light above the offender’s toilet. I normally don’t really give a crap what anyone else is doing except for as I watched the line of smoke while drying my hands, I also saw how close it was to a smoke detector. In fact, as the smoke hit the light, it started to careen off of it and billowed out to occupy more of the ceiling, including a couple of swirls around the intake ducts of the alarm. Great asshole, set off the sprinklers and douse my laptop and notes in water because you can’t take a timeout long enough to crap and then go smoke outside.

Anyway, I just walked out and went to unlocked my computer so that I could pack it up as quickly as possible should it start to sprinkle. I think the guy who walked into the bathroom and then immediately ran out and downstairs, as I was on my way out, took care of being a tattle-tail since he was headed towards the front desk area. Ultimately, it didn’t rain and I have two days to go until my last final of law school.

-jd

P.S. The above link in the second paragraph where I talk about recycled air is a reference to a great Postal Service song that has pretty much been my theme when spending long period in the library since 1L.