Spring Break is Almost Over

School starts back on Monday. :(

I take a long time to wind down and do nothing. It's Saturday and this is the first day of Spring Break that I haven't studied for at least two hours. Most days I worked at least six hours.

However, I didn't really do much towards my brief. We just got the assignment right before break, so we haven't really talked yet about what to do. I started researching and getting elements written down, but I haven't really sunk my teeth into it.

Now malaise has set in and I don't want to do anything school related. I'll probably take another week to get back into things. I'm depressed that school is starting back. I feel far more productive not going to class. ha ha!

Trying to get going....

I just read Butterflyfish's post about being less organized this semester. Note that we're into February and I'm just now reading that post.

I'm having a hard time being motivated or organized.

The first two weeks of school, more than half the time I hadn't read for class. Since I recited twice during that time, the odds were pretty high that I hadn't read when I was called on. Fortunately one of those times Mr. D filled me in on the subject on the way to school. Con Law and we have to stand up for that one. Yuck. I survived, though.

Is it just me, or does it seem like the reading assignments are lighter? I'm getting most all of my reading done before Mr. D picks me up. When I get home, I don't have class preparation to do. That's nice, because I just want to hang out with him when I get home.

The past two weeks of school have been better as far as getting things done. I'm almost caught up with E&E's. I worked on flashcards for Property. Those are all done up through the material we'll cover this week. I haven't started flashcards for any of the other classes, but I'll try to get that going in the next few days.

I poked around on Lexis for some law review articles for my prof. I started research for my summary judgment thingy.

I've been a lousy poster, too. I'm still settling back into routines, I think. I hope everyone is doing well. I was able to post on Butterflyfish's blog, so maybe the blogger posting issues have been resolved.

RA, at your service!

Well, I am now official a research assistant. I think that's really cool. It didn't hurt that I focused on modern American history for one of my degrees and the prof is writing about legal reactions to incidents occurring during this period.

However, I have a client letter due Tuesday for LRW. I'm already feeling the time pressure!

I know it's not impossible, though. It doesn't sound worse than when everyone was worried about getting their Law Review stuff done. (If I had more time and wherewithall, I would have linked each word to a fretting blog post!)

I feel like I need lots more to blog about - this semester's classes, people not showing up after the break, that kind of thing.

I also wanted to say that I have been absent from commenting on lots of blogs that I love to read. This is because for some reason, I'm having a lot of problems commenting on some of your blogs. I can't post on Ana's AT ALL. Butterflyfish, you too, sometimes. So, please know that I'm reading and thinking and WANTING to comment, but some Blogger crapulence is preventing me.

and...we're back!

Hello, everyone! Sorry about the recent hiatus, and thank you,Butterflyfish for the nudge to update.

I survived getting my grades back. I actually made an A in LRW and was invited to interview for a research assistant position for that prof. I also made the highest grade on the graded memo in my class. I know I'm bragging. I can't help it. It just feels nice to have gotten something right this semester.

I'm waiting for LRW to start, so I'll post more later. I just wanted to get back into the old blogging habit again.

Licking My Wounds

Grades have been coming in over the past few days.

I didn't expect to make all A's. I didn't expect to make any A's....

but....

Ouch!

What a humbling, miserable experience.

How did y'all deal with this????

LRW - The Final Final

It's been almost a week since my last final. Yesterday I finally felt clear-headed, like I was getting back to my old self.

I may not be completely out of the woods, though. Right now I'm listening to a podcast on Constitutional Law and over the weekend I read Getting to Maybe, so there could be cause for concern. I think it's just a winding down thing. There's always a period of adjustment at the end of the semester when that hundred million pound weight known as schoolwork and exam pressures comes off my back.

Anyway, LRW final. I studied for it. I actually made more flashcards for this exam than I did even for Civil Procedure. I knew the flashcards the day before the exam. I made charts of the Texas court system and the federal court system. I listened to LRW podcasts. I did CALI lessons. Who knew there were CALI lessons on LRW? I sure didn't. My friend, A, clued me in around noon the day of the exam and it was a GODSEND when it came to the citation questions.

In other words, I took this exam as seriously as any of the others. Well, almost. I thought it would be a little tough. I studied as if it were going to be VERY HARD. It was actually EXTREMELY DIFFICULT.

Two hours, ninety multiple choice questions. I had about five minutes at the end to correct a couple of answers I figured out that were wrong in the process of working through the exam.

One of my classmates said, "It was so hard that I just gave up and put all B's toward the end."

One thing about law school that I will have to admit is kind of nice. I have yet to finish an exam thinking, "Gosh. I could have studied about eight hours less for this and still gotten an A+."

And it's over. I survived my first semester of law school. And in the words of Martha Stewart, that is a very, very good thing.

I Can't Stop Watching This!

I've watched this again and again. I can't decide if it's the music, the library ceiling, the utter ridiculousness of it all or a combination. Maybe it's post final hysteria. I just finished LRW, but I'll post on that one later. Right now, I'm going to watch those kitties sniff at the little monster....

Crim Law - Eight Hours

Torts was awful. Really bad. Like so bad I had to force myself to remain in my chair and not just get up and leave. However, I think I did reasonably well on the second essay. I don't know if it will make up for the disastrous first essay or the crazy multiple choice.

I didn't finish 30 minutes before the exam was over, either. When people finish and leave before time is called, I just shake my head. I don't know what that means. Are they so fast and accurate that they spotted all the issues and wrote such fabulous essays that they checked and double checked? Or is it that they've just reached that screw it point and wrap it up. I don't know. I'm one of those people that usually takes the entire exam period, especially on an essay exam.

Today is Crim Law, the exam for which I am least prepared. This prof has a reputation for giving a very fair exam and having extremely fair grading practices. I think that will work in my favor. He did a really, really good job of drilling things into our malleable little brains in class. I also realized toward the end of the semester that if I sat in rapt attention, my mind NEVER wandering from what he was saying even for a nanosecond, that I would not get called on! It never failed that the instant my mind would briefly wander, even to something Crim related, that I would get called on.

Yesterday I spent wallowing in depression, the same way I spent the day after each of my other exams.

Law-rah posted some 1L advice yesterday that was really helpful for me. I don't think it's sunk in all the way yet, but one thing rang true for me. She talked about having the firm belief that if you want something bad enough and work hard enough, you will get it. That's me! I still think that way, though. I still think that next semester, if I work harder and smarter, I'll do better. However, what she said planted a seed. I'm a muller. I have to think for some time and let them rattle around in my head.

And gosh, grades aren't even out yet. I could still do okay! Actually, right now I just want to pass, or get B's. Please, please, please.

My Goodness, What Language!

I always look up words in the dictionary (or a suitable facsimile) with which I'm not familiar. Usually I can derive the meaning of the word from context clues, but if you walked up to me on the street and asked me what that word means and I can't tell you, I'm going to look it up. I copy all these words and definitions into the back of whatever journal I'm writing in at the time.

Now that I'm reasonably well-versed in all the legal lingo, I don't have to run to Black's as much. I just ran across a new word while perusing cases during memo writing.

Meretricious: 1 : of or relating to a prostitute : having the nature of prostitution meretricious relationships
2 a : tawdrily and falsely attractive meretricious trash

who hooo!!!!!

Note: Blogging about a word I saw in a case is satisfaction of the element of PROCRASTINATION. ha ha

Age Regression

I talked to my mom last night and she wanted to know why I sounded so funny. I told her that exams were looming on the horizon and I was getting more and more anxious about it.

I could hear her rolling her eyes through the phone.

"Loco, honey," she said, "I've been going through exams with you and your sister for nearly three decades now. It's always the same before, during and after. I hear the same things. Oh, no, Mom, this time it's different. These kids are smarter. These exams are important. All the tests are sooooo different and special. It's funny how the results are always the same with these new, different, extra super duper hard tests. You always do at least as well, and more often than not, better than everyone else. You're almost (insert your idea of really old age here) years old. Haven't you figured that out yet? Or are you still smarter than me and know everything and I'm still always wrong?"

She continued....

"Loco, these are essay exams. You've been winning writing awards since you were eleven. Your first writing thingy in law school was used as an example of a good memo. Stop worrying and just keep studying. Plus, you're really cute. (Her solution for everything.)"

I responded by slamming my bedroom door and turning up my music really loud. She doesn't understand. These tests are really hard. They're really, super important. Everyone is soooo smart.

Like, totally.

Sleepyhead

The major thing I've accomplished this weekend is sleep. I've taken long naps and gone to bed at 8:30pm, sleeping til 8:30 the next morning. I've had two naps today.

Is this normal three weeks before finals? Maybe I'm just stocking up on sleep. I have low level anxiety right now. I feel like I should have more rules memorized, done more reading, more studying.

Instead of studying and memorizing, I'm sleeping!!!!!!!

It's not even that I'm kind of tired and sort of want to take a nap.... I just fall asleep. My eyes close while Mr. D is talking to me.

It's really hard to be motivated. I want to do well in school. I can't believe I'm sleeping so much.

Where is that burning, fiercesome motivation of undergrad? Right now I just feel beat down. In undergrad I would intentionally wait to study, relishing the stress. I know that won't work now. I can't just study all night the night before and make the highest grade in the class. However, at this point I feel like no matter what I do, it's too late to do really well.

Mr. D says he's seen this semester after semester....the naps, the blues, the defeatism. He says I go for a week wearing sweats everywhere, then one day, the fire is lit and it's on.

I think that comes from knowing exactly what was entailed to be the best. I'd just buckle down and do it.

Now the thought of memorizing a 30 page outline seems impossible. Never mind that I would learn 250 paintings for an Art History exam. For some reason, that just seems like no big deal.

Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah.

Law school sucks. I don't regret my decision to be here, but it sucks ass.

Another thing - could people please stop asking what makes law school so hard? Or if people won't stop asking that, could someone in law school tell me how to explain why it is? The explanations coming out of my mouth aren't met with any understanding. I say, "There's one test. Everything is new. It's a lot of pressure. Everyone wants to do well. You don't really know what to expect. You're not regurgitating material, you're applying rules to a new fact situation." No one I know seems to think that's a big deal.