Just some ideas:
Just some ideas:
A result of going Organic was giving up Splenda.
Now, while I won’t admit to having a problem… let’s just say I used a lot of Splenda.
I usually had Splenda packets in my pocket…
…and in my briefcase.
…and in my car.
I had a box of Splenda in my locker…
…and two boxes in my room.
Splenda was delicious and always on hand.
So, of course I thought that drinking Tea without Splenda was going to be awful – but it wasn’t! Turns out that I really like unsweetened tea.
And I don’t know why this was such a surprise. I really like bitter things: I drink dry, bitter beer and prefer 90-100% Cacao to regular chocolate – so why did I need my tea had to be sickeningly sweet?
Oh well. If anyone at school needs a boatload of Splenda… message me.
Today was the perfect day.
I got up at 5am, folded laundry, and then went to the gym.
Around 7:30 I was at school and read until Civil Procedure. After Civpro I went home, made lunch, and read some mo’.
After property1 I went drove to work and worked until 8:30ish. And of course, there was the usual sing-a-long on the way home. 2
Nothing extraordinary happened today. What made today perfect was how smoothly things went. I had the day planned out in 30 minute increments and finished everything that I wanted to do…
…there were no “WHAT? WHERE DID THE PAST X-number OF HOURS GO?” moments. And in law school, that’s an accomplishment.3 Let’s see if I can repeat this tomorrow.
1 Which has become the longest, most tedious class ever by the way…
2 Song of the night was “Zero” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
3 I’ve had too many of those horrifying “I just lost 3 hours in a time warp” moments. I suspect the missing time goes to BritBrit’s rehab…
This week’s boomkat list.
This week started with my oral argument. The argument went well, although the practice was a bit of a hot mess.
The oral argument was the last of this semester’s “special projects” – ie , briefs, papers, statutory interpretation assignments and all of the other random that terrorize our schedules…
This week also started with an “intro to OCI” session, which was hilarious. The career counselors basically said, “OCI is going to be a disaster for 75% of you guys, but for the top quartile, it’s going to be great!”
Well, isn’t that dandy?
It feels like some sort of gate opened up this week because all the things that I’ve been kept in the dark about were finally explained.
First semester I felt like the school purposefully kept 1Ls ignorant1 about really important things. Career services? Oh worry about that later. Employers aren’t even allowed to contact you yet – you’re worse than dead to them. OCI? Don’t worry about it. Summer jobs? Petitioning law review? Later. We’ll explain that later.
Well, this is the week that everything was explained. I now know what to expect for the next eight months and it is such a relief.
Finals are next month. Immediate after finals is a 2 week journal hazing petitioning period. This summer I’m working full time while taking Professional Responsibility and Wills & Trust.
At the start of next school year I may get to do OCI, depending on whether my grades are good enough for employers to interview me. If my grades tank, then I’ll get to start the semester without running around in a suit. Shucks.
Knowing what to expect for the rest of year is great because I can prepare accordingly. I don’t think this view is shared by some of my classmates because a lot of people are crabby at Mondale High…
In order to avoid joining the ranks of the cranky, I made a list of the five things that kept me from being stressed out during my first semester:
After I made my list, I made sure that I did all 5 things this week. I read ahead. I bar hopping with friends. I studied at cafes. Basically, I worked hard and had fun and by the end of the week I was intolerably chipper again. I love it.
This upcoming week my diet and gym schedule is going to get an added boost because I bought a Jillian Michaels book:
And homegirl scared the crap out of me. Jansen is 110% organic now. Yes, the McDonald’s boy has gone organic. Go ahead and laugh. While you’re laughing I’ll be crushing some flax seeds…
1 Okay, it’s very possible that I was the only one unawares…
At least my sticky notes aren’t boring.
So I walk up to the Caribou counter,
Me: “May I have a large dark roast with room for cream?”
Barista: “Sure, anything else?”
Me (pulling out tumbler): “Yes, may I have a latte with six shots of espresso in the tumbler?”
Barista (gasping): “You want what?”
Me: “A latte with six shots.”
Barista: “How many?”
Me: “Six.”
Barista: “Six?”
Me: “Yes. Six. I basically want you to fill up this tumbler with espresso and put a dash of milk on top for show.”
The cashier-Barista gives me a filthy look and then puts the order in. There was another Barista who was making the drinks. The drink-maker looked at her order screen and gasped.
Drink-Barista: “He wants what?”
Cashier-Barista (calling over): “Six shots.”
Drink-Barista: “Six shots?!”
Cashier-Barista: “Yes.”
Drink-Barista: “Of espresso?”
Me: “Yes. Of espresso. Don’t judge.”
And no, I’m not crazy.
My new tumbler1 actually keeps beverages hot. Plus, milk at my job is free.2
So the purpose of getting a 6-shot latte for the tumbler and a normal cup filled with coffee is that I can make lattes on my own without having to run back to the store throughout the night. So it’s really only like order 3 lattes over a 6 hour period… which isn’t that bad. Or so I tell myself…
1 This is my new tumbler. My old Starbucks tumbler was horrible. It constantly spit out liquid even when “shut.” It was like coffee volcano.
2 The cafeteria has those lift-the-lever dispensers.
We had another “what are the odds” moment in Corporations:
Professor M“Jimmy Smith?”
(Silence…crickets…)
Professor M“No? Not here?” Um…okay. How about Sara Johnson?”
Jill“She’s not here.”
Professor M“Wow. Well, uh. That’s odd. I mean, most of you are here… what about, Jack Thompson?”
Jack“Here.”
Professor M“Haha. Good! Well, I guess it’s bad luck for you….”
Today in Corporations we covered the Conrad Black scandal.1 Black was a media baron until his fraud conviction for bad behavior1 as head of Hollinger International Inc. The wikipedia entry on Black is here, and a news archive is here.
During the conversation, Professor M took a pot-shot at Chicago:
Professor M: “The outside directors on this board were pretty illustrious, you have Henry Kissinger, former diplomats, and one of the board members was a former governor of Illinois…”
(Class chuckles)
Professor M: “You’re right! Illinois…that’s always a bad sign! Res Ipsa Loquitur!”
Some misdeeds after the jump.
There was much hollering going on in Arkansas…
As a senior in college, I relied on law student blogs to find out what to expect for my first year of law school. Part of the law school experience that was ignored by a lot of blawgs is the late law school application process (ie, deciding where to go, and then getting there.)
This sucked.
So, for all the 0L’s out there, here are four things that happened to me:1
1) Applying to more law schools? Waiting for more money? When it’s time to quit:
The problem is that the law schools that have given me full tuition scholarships (Drake, Stetson, etc.), are not top tier schools, and the other schools that have given sizable scholarships (Yeshiva, Temple, DePaul, etc.) are still not in UMN’s league. (keep reading)
I applied to dozens of law schools. I realized that applying to every school that sent me a fee voucher was a waste of time, especially when the schools started harassing me for deposits. The only school I paid to apply to was UMN (my first choice school). And that’s where I’m at. The lesson? It’s good to have options, but there is a such thing as overkill.
2) Financial Aid. Patience is a virtue.
They were not kidding when they said late July. And once I accept these loans that I will supposedly receive, how long will it take for me to get the disbursement? (read more)
I go to a public law school, so financial aid is based on the FAFSA. Students who take out the full amount of loans get around $7,000 a semester for living expenses. Check with your school and don’t be afraid to ask the financial aid office, “How much do students have to live on after tuition and fees?” if that’s what you really want to know. And yes, loans came in about a week before class started.
3) Minority Followup: I am not Tyrone.
So what are law schools doing to recruit minorities? According to National Jurist, law schools are now taking “a personal approach” to admissions.
I saw this “personal approach” at work this past year. I was more aggressively recruited by law schools than when I applied to undergrad, even though I was a better applicant coming out of high school. (read more)
This included aggressive calls from deans and questionable tactics from minority organizations within law schools. The Lesson? Being an minority made me more desirable to law schools, but the best school for me was one that didn’t want me for my skin tone.
4) Housing: House me please! The apartment search was sort of a crapshoot. I spent a lot of time on rent.com, but I couldn’t really make any decisions without a financial aid award.
The lesson? Ask your financial aid department about your monthly budget (assuming you get all of the loans) and save up enough money for your first month’s rent and security deposit because you won’t get a reimbursement check until the eve of classes.
Also, check out the law school discussion forums. There are school-specific threads where upperclassmen from your school will answer your questions. This was very helpful to me because a lot of the UMN students I spoke to at campus preview weekend were local, or had rich parents…so they couldn’t help me find affordable housing.
I hope this helps.
1 This is my experience, it may not be true for you. Please communicate with your law school and current students at your school.
2 If you are applying to UMinnesota (and don’t have children or pets) you can apply to the Gamma Eta Gamma house. Gamma is a co-ed legal fraternity that is close to the school and rents rooms at $400/month.
Sunday, before Stella and I worked on our ADR assignment (which took forever) we went to the Mall of America1 and Wal-Mart.
MOA = hilarity. But since it is impolite to take pictures of the NUMEROUS goth kids wearing black bat and kitty ears (I kid you not) we had to settle for the Hollister mannequin, who was flashing the entire mall:
This is the first time that I realize how hobo-chic Hollister is. The mannequins both look like they’d smell and ask for a quarter. Hm.
After the mall we went to Wal-Mart. We found some gi-normous tea cups!
Okay, okay. This is actually a flower pot. I want a Starbucks one.
After Wal-Mart we went to Wilde Roast and spent a minute on the ADR assignment. It was long-ish, and the in-class ADR simulation is tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes!
1 Cheapest mall trip every by-the-way. I spent $4 on a keychain and Stella spent $4 on a too-tight headband at Forever 21. Our primary reason to go to the mall was so that I could get my watch shortened and so Stella could scream at Version for her $100 mystery charge on her phone bill.
Jack might have a problem.
Jack: “I was so hopped up on Rockstar Energy drinks in Property class that I wanted to scream out ‘WEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!’ but I decided not to because people might think I’m weird.”
Jill: “Might?”
Of course Jack’s fridge is now stocked with Rockstar drinks. If he actually does burst out in class we’ll stage an intervention…
On a totally random note: apparently there is a super-awkward gallery of “Rockstar Models”. For example, look at picture 30 in that gallery. The big-honking energy drink cans weigh more than the models! Oh, and the facial expresion in picture 55….buahaha! She needs to put the energy drink down and back away…
I spent the past two weeks packing my big-honking golf umbrella, printing out offensive amounts of paper in the library, and screaming along to “Big Fun” in my car.
Week #10 was a lopsided week because my Thursday-Friday class was moved to Tuesday and Wednesday. This meant that on that Wednesday I had all of my classes1 including legal writing.
For Wednesday, we had abnormally large reading assignments for CivPro and Corporations, and of course, that was the day that spring briefs were due.
So most of the class spoke in grunts and scowled at anyone who was insufferably cheery. Grr.2
I was up most of Tuesday evening and went to bed immediately after school on Wednesday. I pretty sure I flew home. I slept for about 15 hours. It was amazing. I smile every time I think about it.
I spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at work, making up hours that I didn’t put in at the beginning of the week.
That weekend Stella and I went to the 90’s and watched the drag shows. Nina D’Angelo came out in a fat suit and gave a Cher performance. Stella and I were seated in the audience. Obese Cher got off the stage and sat on our laps. Yes, it was a hot mess. And yes, there’s video footage.
When Stella and I got home we saw that some of our housemates had trashed the living room and kitchen:
We were NOT amused.3 Lets forget that happened. Ugh.
Week #11 started with my first oral argument. My opponent and I had the same concept of the assignment, so there was no bloodletting or surprises. It was a fun experience, although I somehow managed to wear a blue-black suit top with my very-black slacks. This is how I get my reputation for keeping it classy…4
Last Monday’s oral argument was our “practice” argument. The real one is next week, and my suit will match. I promise.
This past week was somewhat unproductive because I violated the sanctity of my sleep schedule. If I miss even a few hours of sleep, I get into a zombie-like state after 5pm. Lack of sleep is a self-perpetuating thing because when I am tired I am more likely to stay up unnecessarily instead of going to bed…which means I’m tired the next day and…yeah.
I reconciled with my bed this weekend. A full 8-hours is non-negotiable for the next few weeks.
1 8am – Legal Writing, 9am Civpro, 11am Corps, 1:25 Crimlaw, 2:20 Property. 4pm – a comfort McFlurry then bed time.
2Crabby to put it mildly. Half of us couldn’t make eye contact with the obnoxious guy from Crimlaw. I’m surprised that no one raised their hand and ask for a gag order: “CAN WE JUST HAVE HIM NOT TALK FOR ONE CLASS PERIOD?”
3 The mess wasn’t completely cleaned up for a few days. This was the topic of much griping around the house. It was an interesting social study too. Turns out that mostly the minorities and women in the house were pissed off about it. Some of us noted that…
4 If that wasn’t bad enough, the suit jacket and pants had two different types of pinstripes! My room wasn’t well lit enough for me to catch the mistake before I got to school. (Yes. I literally got dressed in the dark…)It was one of those fashion mistakes that wasn’t glaring, but really irks everyone who notices it. But given how many students have no concept of appropriate formal wear, it wasn’t a big deal.
4 Yes, I know I just said “when I’m tired, I stay up.” That may sound stupid, but it’s true. I stay up so late because I’m vegging in front of a computer or book…
This week’s boomkat list.
Our midterm assignment for Corporations was to draft the argument section of a SEC “no-action” letter.
The assignment was due at noon today. Class is from 10:45am-12:15pm. So, of course, 1/3 of the class skipped.
Professor M: “That shows me not to make an assignment due in the middle of class! I totally could have seen this coming…”
Jill made to to class today:
Professor M: “Why did these regulations come about?”
(Jill had her hand raised.)
Professor M: “Yes? Jill?”
Jill:“Wait, nevermind. I’m pretty sure I’m wrong.”
Professor M: “No, go ahead.”
Jill:“Well, weren’t there a lot of hostile takeovers during that period?”
Professor M: “You are exactly on the button! That’s exactly right! And why did hostile takeovers matter?”
Jill: “Huh? What? I’m sorry I was celebrating.”
The social inappropriateness in my Crimlaw class reached an entirely new level of awful yesterday.
Jill appeared very distraught in yesterday’s class. She kept switching between laughing and looks of utter disgust. At times, Jill shook so hard with laughter that she rattled her desk.
I facebook messaged her:
Me: What’s wrong?
Jill: The guy sitting next to me! The angry, serial-killer-looking one from the other section…
Me: You mean Billy Bohaha? What about him?
Jill: LOOK AT HIS HAND!
I look over and realize that only one of Billy’s hands is on the desk.
Me: Uh, What is going on?
Jill: Billy has been scratching his balls for the past 20 minutes!
Me: What–what? Who does that? OH MY GOD…it’s like he’s mining!
Jill: I can’t even look at the overheads because every time I turn that way I burst out laughing! This is NOT happening!
But it is happening, Jill. But it is…
Billy scratched his crotch for the rest of Crimlaw, to the great amusement of the class.1 I think we should start an itch-cream fund.2
1 The professor was probably wondering why so many of us were snickering.
2 This is a prime example of how some students have no conception of appropriate classroom behavior. There is an unusually dense concentration of these people in my Crimlaw class. They are shunned accordingly.
I came home yesterday and two of my four toads were dead.
All the plants in the tank were dead too. I have no idea what happened, but I was over it. I phoned Petsmart and told them that they were taking my remaining frogs back. I then chucked everything in the tank.
Pfft.
By the time I got Petsmart I was pretty cranky. I didn’t buy a fish net and had to pluck the dead toads out of the tank with my hands. Let’s think about that for a second. Dead toad. Bare hands. Dis-gusting.
And yes, handling a dead toad is worse than handling a dead fish… I could still feel the slime as I drove to the store…
The Petsmart manager was nice. He could see that I was annoyed and grossed out, so he didn’t bitch at me for killing two animals. He also, somehow, managed to sell me an allegedly hardier pet. We’ll see how this goes…
Yes. It was gross.1
1 I bleached my hands afterward. And no, that picture is not of a dead toad. I wouldn’t do that to you…
We discussed the Erie1 case in Civil Procedure this morning.
In Erie, the plaintiff was walking2 on a path near railroad tracks. A train passed and the plaintiff was struck by something sticking out from the train (either a hook or a door…)
So of course, Professor V pulls up a slide of a little stick figure walking by a set of train tracks! It was amazing and the entire class laughed until Professor V mentioned that the plaintiff’s injuries were so serious that he had his arm amputated. Womp.
Professor V: “Even though he lost his arm, my stick figure has both arms because I didn’t have the heart to cut an arm off, I mean, I thought about having the stick arm sitting on the path, but, I just couldn’t do it!”
1 Erie R.R. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64 (U.S. 1938)
2 Walking, at night…when torts happen.
I had my first oral argument yesterday. It was a ‘practice‘ argument in front of my legal writing professors, but still formal enough to require a suit and a leather folder. Fancy. I know.
The real argument is next week. We will argue before clerks who will act as “guest judges.”
I am lucky enough to be paired with someone who has the same understanding of the assignment: We both view the oral argument as a “conversation with the court” and not a gunfight at the judicial O.K. Corral.
We “served” each other with updated briefs, and kept the other aware of our prep time. This is why we addressed the same issues and didn’t talk past each other in court. No blood letting, or bitchyness. Our reputations are intact.1
Other students aren’t so lucky. The worst rumor is that a student2 has spent 10-hours- per-minute preparing for the oral argument. It’s a 10 minute argument… so yeah, that’s 100 hours. I refuse to believe that. Because, well, that’s sad.3
Although the oral argument is was a lot of fun, I am still petitioning journals instead of applying to moot court. I think a journal will let me explore the academic side of law.
I figure I can get my practical experience through internships and volunteering. And besides, if both of the journals I petition for reject me, I’ll end up in the general moot court anyway. So there’s a chance I’ll have another oral argument sooner than I think.
1 The people who get into nasty, unnecessarily competitive bitch-fights with opposing counsel are ridiculed accordingly. I think part of performing well in law school, at least at UMinnesota, is not alienating your peers with your drama.
2 Jill.
3 I’m all about being thoroughly prepared, but there are so many better uses for 100 hours worth of time, ie, outlining, networking, working out, having a life…etc. Plus I doubt an attorney (esp. in a Criminal law case like ours) has 100 hours to practice a 10 minute oral argument, unless it’s before the Supreme Court…even then…and its a pass/fail course by the way.