Wrongful death and maritime law

So...a real tragedy has occurred on this day. My uncle is a captain of some sort of barge, and early on in the wee hours of the day a terrible accident took place. Apparently, his barge moved alongside too close to a small fishing vessel, and overturned it in its wake, causing the death of 5 men on that fishing vessel. Even though my uncle was not the one actually piloting at that time, we know there's probably some issue of vicarious liability, although there is that strange twist of maritime law. Right now my uncle has been taken into custody, and we don't know what's going to happen to him.

So when I heard this, the first thing I thought of was how could my uncle avoid liability? I am very sorry that there are 5 men who died in such a sad way, but my uncle is family, and comes first. At first, I was thinking it really didn't look good for him. I asked my dad where the accident took place, whether it was close to shore or far out, since we know that different laws govern such occurrences based on where in the waters they happened. As of yet, we don't know.

But then my dad revealed something very important. The fishing vessel was trawling for anchovies, which are out-of-season right now, which means it's illegal to be fishing for them. Therefore, the next question is, did they have their lights on? If they didn't, there is a strong possibility my uncle will be absolved completely. Obviously, given the fact that the fishers knew what they were doing was illegal, it seems very likely that they didn't have their lights on since they wouldn't want to be caught. This would also explain how on earth the barge ever got so close to the fishing vessel in the first place. My uncle is very well-known in the community, and there are always offers for jobs of other vessels given to him, since he is very well-respected. Up till now, he's had an excellent record, with no blemishes. Even if he gets off the hook this time, he will turn 60 this year, and he will never be allowed to captain another vessel again. Regardless of the outcome, his career is finished.

When I've read all those other cases in school, it never occurred to me that anything like that could ever happen to me or my family. Suddenly it all seems too real. These are real people, not some stupid question on a final.

I will pray for those who lost their lives in such an unfortunate accident on Christmas day.

Bored Smored

Alright...is it just me or what, because I can't seem to relax at all? I keep flitting from activity to activity without being able to keep my mind on anything for very long. I brought a book home to read while I'm here, but the very thought of moving my eyes across yet more printed words makes me want to gouge my eyes out. Alas, will I become like my attorneys, who told me they didn't read anything for fun for 10 years after law school?

So why is it, when I had no time or business going shopping or running errands during the school semester that I found a million things to do, but now that I have all the time in the world I want to lay around and stare at the wall?

I can't even seem to keep my focus on a movie for long enough. I end up just taking naps all the time, plus sleeping like 10 hours every night. Maybe the lack of sleep from the semester is catching up with me.

Holiday cheer

A light-hearted tale for this busy time of year...

When four of Santa's elves got sick, and the trainee elves did not produce the toys
as fast as the regular ones, Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being behind
schedule.

Then Mrs. Claus told Santa her mom was coming to visit. This stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that 3 of them were about to give birth and 2 of them had jumped the fence and were out, heaven knows where. More stress.

Then when he began to load the sleigh one of the boards cracked, and the toy bag fell to the ground and scattered the toys.

So, frustrated, Santa went into the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered that the elves had hidden the
liqour, and there was nothing to drink. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped
the cider pot, and it broke into a thousand pieces all over the kitchen floor. He
went to get the broom and found that mice had eaten the straw end of the
broom.

Just then, the doorbell rang, and irritable Santa trudged to the door. He opened
the door, and there was a little angel with a great big Christmas tree. The angel
said, very cheerfully, "Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't is a lovely day? I have a
beautiful tree for you. Where would you like to me to stick it?"

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree!

The hazards of travel

Ok, so I flew out to visit a friend on Saturday before I go home for the holidays. On the first leg of the flight, it was late getting off the ground, causing me to be late for the connecting flight. That was ok, since the connecting flight was delayed too, although I had a rough minute there when I was worried the plane had departed without me. It was delayed for 1.5 hours. But that wasn't the worst of it, nuh-uh.

There was this heinous little brat girl sitting directly behind me on the second leg of the flight, constantly kicking my chair and screaming at the top of my lungs. Lord knows that I wanted to kick someone and scream at the top of my lungs, especially when I had to endure it for 3 hours (turning around and glaring did nothing). At one point the little girl even said, "Oh she has pretty hair!" and then she grabbed my hair. At this point, I'm realizing that the stupid mom would probably let her daughter get away with murder, because she says, "Shhh, honey, don't let the lady notice what you did." I'm thinking, uh, excuse me??? Your brat kid just mauled my scalp, and you think there was a remote possibility that I didn't notice that? Good god. I think I hate children. I know all of you will think that I'm some kind of monster for saying that, but I am so sick of people letting their ill-mannered children get away with all this crap. Whatever happened to teaching your children to be polite? To say thank-you? To not go around grabbing things, especially not the hair of strangers??? What comes to mind is an episode of Sex and the City, where Samantha has a confrontation with a woman and her brat kid in a restaurant. I guess I don't really hate children, I just hate the stupid parents who think that their kids are always wonderful and can never do anything wrong. Give me a fucking break.

It's Over Now

I still can't believe that we finally finished our first semester at law school. It seems like yesterday that I was just arriving to school. It's as if I blinked, and it was already a month in, another blink, and classes were finishing, and blink, finals are over. Looking back now I feel as if I haven't really been all there. The whole experience has been the most intense one of my life and yet the most disembodied also. They should really slap a warning label on law schools: "Caution - contents under extreme pressure."

Anyway, I have to say that the law school knows how to get it on when it lets loose. The drinking started at 4pm, where a bunch of upper classmen waylaid us innocent 1Ls and plied us with beer. Then we went out to dinner, and drank some more. At the end of the day, a bunch of us ended up at Brother's, as did the rest of the law school, and then drank even more. I only wish I had my camera last night because this was truly a unique experience.

For some reason, a song by REM is running through my head: "..it's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine."

Catch me if you can

Here are the top 5 cheat stories I've seen my friends involved in...

5) You know how some people take the PSAT in high school? This is also the test that qualifies you for National Merit Scholarships if you do well enough. I myself was only a Nationally Commended Scholar because my score fell 2 points short of the minimum criteria. Anyway, it was well known that two of my friends (they were gf and bf) were sitting right next to each other during that exam, and that the guy cheated off the girl on it. As a result, they got the same selection index score. I always thought it was kind of unfair that someone got a National Merit Scholarship from cheating and I fell two points short on my own steam. Eh, bygones.

4) I once saw two people blatantly cheating off each other's midterms in a class during my junior year in undergrad. They were tapping each other's feet and pointing at certain questions on their exams, and obviously copying each other's answers. However, these two people did get caught by the professor when he graded their essay answers. It was especially noticeable apparently since they copied each other's grammatical mistakes.

3) Another high school story: senior year, AP biology. The teacher was gone on a doctor's appointment on the day of a test, so the substitute teacher administered the test. According to what the students said, the guy came in from the beginning announcing that he didn't care what they did and if they wanted to look in their books that was fine with him. One of my friends took it into his head to go one step better: he went into the teacher's desk, found the answer key, and wrote all 50 answers on the board. The entire class cheated as one, which was really stupid, since it was fairly obvious that many people who normally got 40/100 suddenly got 85/100. The other stupid thing was that they didn't seem to consider that someone would rat on em, in a class of 35. Everyone knows there are always 1 or 2 who crack under the pressure of their consciences and go sobbing to the teacher. That particular friend got kicked out of every school society he was a member of, and the school started some kind of proceeding against him. All I know is that he suddenly stopped appearing at school for a while.

2) One of my best friends wasn't doing too hot in her Spanish class in undergrad, so she traded finals with one of her other friends. He took her Spanish final for her, and she took his bio final for him. Doesn't seem like a fair trade-off does it? But she's a bio whiz, so it waasn't too hard for her.

1) Another one of my best friends. He's never taken a computer science class before, but he knows a lot of stuff just from having tinkered around with computers for fun. One of his friends was failing a computer science class, and begged my friend for help. No questions asked, my friend went and sat in on the final and took it for the guy. The result: he scored the highest grade on the final in the entire class of 376 people. The guy never got caught, which I thought was amazing, because I think it looks at least somewhat suspicious that someone goes from semi-failing grades to the highest score on the final.

Note: I wonder at the laxness of the security during law school finals. Someone could come in and take a final for someone else, since they don't even check your ids, and no one knows all the other people in the class, so who would realize if there was a stranger in their midst?

The light at the end of the tunnel

I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel...can you?

Just one more final to go, and then we'll all be free until January 10. I kinda want to just kick back and start vacation now. There's gonna be some serious partying tomorrow, and I think everyone should post where some hot spots are gonna be.

Update on the property cheat: I heard that the school takes this kind of matter very seriously, and may even send the outline to be fingerprinted. Maybe they'll catch the culprit after all?

Tips and all that

Ok, so a lot of people were asking me what did I do if I hadn't studied for property the night before the test? I don't really know. I do know that I spent two hours on the phone with my sister until 2am listening to her rant about tipping people at Starbucks. I have to admit, she does have a point. All they do is stick the cup under the coffee nozzle and then hand it to you before looking pointedly at the tip jar that's right in front of you. So I said, if you're that unhappy about it, just don't tip. Her reply to that was she felt peer-pressured into tipping, because the bitch auditor-controller she gets coffee with always tips at least a dollar. This sounds like something out of Seinfeld, right? So my sister shells out the $5 for the coffee and then another $1 for a tip, which pretty much costs as much as a lunch.

I love the stories she tells me about the auditor-controller. She's the easiest person to hate. More stories on her coming up later.

Anyway, yesterday's final really took it out of me. I was so exhausted afterwards. Btw, did people hear about the copy of a property outline that was found in the men's room yesterday? I can't believe someone would cheat on the final. If I have to suffer through the damn final blindly then so should everyone else. There's no telling that they'll ever figure out who did it, since we all know how stellar the security is. Plus, I heard some people saying that they were contemplating making everyone take the final again. F*ck that, I say. Why should we all have to pay for someone else's wrongdoing?

Cramming doesn't do it for me

Alright, so I was sitting in the library trying to cram in those last little tidbits of information right before the final, and I fell asleep. How is everyone studying so diligently? Every time I tried to sit down and study, a million other things distracted me, or I'd end up wanting to take a nap. This will teach me a lesson: next semester I'm not waiting to study until the day before the final. I bet you all are happy to hear this, since I'm obviously not going to be at the top of the curve. I'll be happy to be in the upper half of the class as far as grades go, and I think even shooting for that is being optimistic.

BTW

I dunno who's with me, but yesterday I gathered up my criminal law textbook and am now ready for a toasty roasty bonfire for it. I can't believe we had to buy this godawful Robinson textbook, and now that Bibas has made up his mind not to use this book next year, we're stuck with a massive crapload of Robinson's stupid essays. If I don't do a bonfire, I'm taking it over to a friend's house and feeding their fireplace...free kindling for them, and they'll be getting more use out of it than I ever did. I think I studied more out of the Dressler book than anything.

#42 ?

What did people think the answer to 42) was? I put d). The only problem: does the falcon count as a type of "netting" ? I doubt it, but what does anyone else think?

More property practice problems

Ok, I said c) for #1 b/c this is one of those exceptions that Kurtz went over in class: the "dying without issue" exception. I at first wanted to say d), but there is no right of re-entry specified in the instrument. Anyway, since this is before 1500, under the indefinite failure of construction p.56 in the green book, I think the answer to #1 is c).

Anyone else with questions? I'm more than happy to share what I think the answers are.

Practice property exam

Alright, I've gone through the practice exam several times, and there are questions that I still cannot resolve on my own. What did people get for #1 and 38? I put c) for #1, and a) for #38. Is it just me, or are some of these questions really hard?

Boo to 7.5 hour finals!

I really don't think giving us a final that takes 7.5 hours long is a good idea. I felt so harassed that I didn't even want to take the time to eat lunch. I finally ended up heading down to the canteen and eating because I felt faint, and bolted a slice of meatload, mashed potatoes, and green beans in 15 minutes flat. If I had choked on my food, I wonder if I could have sued Bibas for NIED? I know many people didn't even do that. I also didn't bother going out to the parking lot to feed my meter because I thought taking 10 minutes away from my test time was too much. I hate how psychotic law school makes us. I know one guy hadn't showered in days because of finals. YUCK. I made sure not to sit anywhere close to him while I was working on my final; who wants to have their olfactory senses assaulted so brutally at a time when your concentration matters the most?

Take 2!

Alright, who's ready for the crim final tomorrow? I'm not, but I don't care anymore. There are other pressing concerns on my mind right now. At this point, I think that trying to study now for crim is too little, too late. So I'm just going to make the best of it and try to roll with the punches tomorrow. I figure as long as I know the broad over-arching concepts, I should at least be able to pass.

Who's up for poker night tomorrow?

Onward ho

Woke up this morning...felt really disoriented from sleeping too much. Well, too much for me: 7 hours. Now I feel groggy and semi-drugged. I need to study for crim today, especially since it's my worst subject. Somehow, I do not feel very concerned about it, maybe because it's a take-home final? Anyway, all I can say is that I survived torts! Yesterday, I had to quash the urge to scream "I SURVIVED TORTS!" every time someone asked me how I was doing, or if I was ok, etc. I still feel the remnants of feeling really really drained but strangely wired at the same time. Now if I could just get my eye to stop twitching.

Passed the first run of the gauntlet

WHOO HOO!

I probably didn't get an A, but at least I can comfortably rely on some form of a B on the final. I don't know what got me the most about the torts final: all the prima facie cases, memorizing all the majority/minority rules, or the fact that it was the first real final to endure. I'm pretty sure the multiple choice wasn't that great for me, but I hope that my essay portion was better. Lord knows I bullshitted enough, hopefully it's enough to get a good grade. I swear, half the time your grade depends on how well you bullshit as a combination with just enough of the substantive law to back it up with.

I should have studied tonight, but I felt like taking it off and having a little fun. I ended up vegging out with some friends and watching the high school reunion tv show. It was pretty good! I love how mind-numbing reality tv shows are, they're my secret addiction...along with Britney Spears. Shhhh!

On the verge of losing my test virginity

Oh joy....my first law school exam ever! Alright, maybe not the first one, but this is the first graded one, so this is the first one that matters, for all intents and purposes.

I take a short break right now to blog from deep in the bowels of the library, to torture myself with the multi-state bar exam questions on torts. Who knew I could feel so stupid in so short a time?

Good luck to everyone tomorrow (but not too much good luck, since I don't want to be at the bottom of the curve :) )

Bless the Canadians

For this, I take back everything mean I've said about the Canadians. Plus, I like Brian Boitano :)




Bush Gets Arrested

The secret lives of our teachers

Sometimes I really wonder about our professors' various backgrounds. Some of them have really crazy stories to tell. Take Prof. Cain for instance. She was in the circus. It really doesn't get weirder than that. How many people do you know who can say that? I don't think I've ever even known anyone who knew someone who'd been in the circus.

Today, I was really wondering what Bibas's previous life was like. He seems to be a geeky Matthew Broderick at turns, with occasional glimpses of a bad ass in there. Or maybe he's just repressed. Yesterday at his movie thing he referred to some people he'd known in the past as "pussies" because apparently they didn't do something he felt they should have. Then today, he said "X into Y. Wait, rather Y into X." And he had the most wicked grin on his face. I feel kinda sorry for him, he seems a little young to be so staid and prudish all of the time. I'd like to see him go out in a more social setting, and see if he loosens up at all. Then again, he does have a missus who probably wouldn't appreciate her man hitting up the bars with students, many of whom would most likely be female.

Birthday Extravaganza!!!!

For all you people looking for a last chance to blow off some steam right before finals, here's the 411. There's going to be a get-together for Mandy and Ariane at Third Base (Fieldhouse) around 8pm Friday night. You know these girls are special cuz they're saying those three little words: drinks on me. It's going to be free booze, a chance to meet people if you haven't met them already, and a birthday celebration all rolled into one. If you haven't gone out all semester, now is the chance!

Just breathe

Woosah....

Ok, we're officially into our last week before finals. I really don't know what to do at this point. I almost feel that there is so much to study that I don't know where to start because it is so overwhelming. Every minute seems so precious to me that I even begrudge the time I spend sleeping. I feel hard-pressed to not run around like some chicken with its head cut off trying to study everything at once. I will be so relieved when the Contracts final is over. You know there is going to be some serious drinking on the 17th and on.

What's weird is that I just want finals to be over, but at the same time I feel sad that classes are over. I felt genuine regret when we clapped for Professor Love today. I know I'll be taking one of her classes in the future because I think she's an excellent teacher. I also think Cain was a great Intro teacher to have too. Oddly, I didn't really feel all that sad when property was over, I just felt more relieved than anything.

I wish there was some way I could skip around in time, so that I could skip our farewells to our teachers, skip ahead to finals, and then skip ahead to home.

Ok...must study before law night. Is there even law night tonight?

Some people just have too much money

I can't believe anyone would pay this much for a 10-year old piece of bread... if anyone is interested I have 8 pieces of old bread in my fridge!


Crazy old bread

The Last Law Night

I'm wondering if I should go to law night this Wednesday. I definitely want to go, but I get the feeling it won't be that many people there this week. Gee, I wonder why =P

Well, I think that if I do all my studying like a good girl and then go hang out I'm entitled to it. Just have a few shots, kick back and relax, and see who else is fun enough to come out the week before finals. It's always fun to watch people get drunk and make complete asses of themselves. Maybe I'll regret going out so much after I get my grades, but at this point it's hard to feel that way. Somehow I think that I'll never regret going out to meet new people. A person can never have too many views on life.

Otherwise, it's interesting seeing how various people react to finals week coming up. One guy I know starts trembling violently and smoking like a chimney when finals are mentioned; another girl I know basically has the "oh f*ck it" attitude. Personally, I think I subscribe more to this latter view than anything else. Of course, I guess it really does all come out in my subconscious because I've had so many dreams about Kurtz and the final (it was even more unpleasant than usual to see him outside of the classroom)over the break where I woke up screaming future remainders. I think I speak for a great deal of us when I say I just want finals to be over.

Let It Snow

It's snowing!!!!!!!!

Finally. I've been waiting all semester for it to snow. This year it has arrived pretty late, although I did notice that it seemed to be getting later and later each year for a while now. Oh well, as long as it gets here. I always get really excited over the first snowfall, but then I get sick of it since it stays for so long. I just hope I don't get into a car accident this year. It'll be interesting trying to walk to school amidst the snow tomorrow morning if it's still around. Looks like it's time to go dig out the good ole ice scraper and put it to use again.

Hope everyone had a good turkey day!

Lost the damn race

Ok, so I thought getting up at 6:30 and hitting Staples by 7am would be good enough to get the stuff I wanted from there. Nuh uh, nope. All of the 512mb Micro-Cruzers sold out in the first 10 minutes of opening, nor did they have the $40 Iomagic dvd burner I wanted. It was sick, just sick. Here I was, all ready to buy the cruzers and dvd burner + dvd-r's, and I was thwarted. Every place I went to today were plumb out of all the cruzers. If there was ever blueballs for shopping, I've got em.

So, in retaliation I bought the Nintendo DS. I know, it doesn't make sense. The reason I didn't get the $40 GBA was b/c they still didn't make em w/ the backlight, so screw that. Of course, I could have bought the GBA SP, but I thought, what the hey, I don't buy electronics everyday, and since I didn't buy any of the stuff at Staples I now had that money to spend instead. I have to say, the dual screen is pretty damn cool, and the graphics are super sharp. It's backwards compatible with the GBA games in addition to its own DS games.

The smell of turkey

I think I may have heard the strangest thing today. My friend and I had a nice Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, mashed potatoes, and dressing. Afterwards, we were playing cards when he suddenly told me that he had a weird thought. Stupid me, I actually asked what it was. He then tells me that he thinks the smell of turkey is like the smell emitted by a horny girl. Apparently they both have a similar musky odor. Hell if I know what he's talking about.

I guess you really can associate everything with sex.

Giving thanks for new beginnings

It's officially T-day right now. Even though I may bitch non-stop about anything and everything, I am grateful for a lot of things in life. I'm happy that I'm finally at law school and have been given the chance to prove my stuff. It's been a time of new beginnings for me in every sense: new place to live, new friends made, old ties lost, new aspects of myself discovered, new experiences tried.

Even though this has been the most work I've ever done in my life, it's been really fun just sitting back and watching everything unfold around me.

Ahhhh. I've decided that I'm not going to cook for today, it's too much work. I'm just going to go eat out, and utilize my time studying. Then I've got to get geared up and ready to go shopping at first light for tomorrow.

Friday morning I'm going to get hit up Staples and then maybe Target. I think the Gameboy Advance on sale at Walmart is not the SP, but Target has the Gameboy Advance SP + Spiderman 2 game for $79.99. I also can't wait to get the Micro-Cruzer for $30 at Staples.

Sometimes I wonder if I should have been born a guy. I'm pratically wet thinking about all the electronics on sale. Maybe I'd be happier if more clothes were on sale, but they're not really. I called around and they're not really having the best sales, not even for Early Bird. On the other hand, EB Games has the PS2 Slimline for $149.99. I think I might be game for a new gaming console in the very near future...

For those of you interested in sales for Friday: Black Friday Sales

Hooky anyone?

I'm so tempted to blow off my last class today and start break early. I'm overhearing all these people who are going to do that because they have various flights all over the country this afternoon. I'm betting that if I do go to class it will be just us losers who have nowhere to go for Thanksgiving or have nutty families we aren't in any hurry to see.

So what would I do if I didn't go to class today? I could clean up my apartment, do the laundry, go grocery shopping, go get a coffee table, another bookcase, watch a movie (hell why not watch several movies?), play some poker online, and SLEEP! The possibilities are so endless that I think I could cry for joy.

I can't wait for this Friday. I'm going to go shopping for some electronics. Walmart (I know, Walmart is evil, but really, $40?!) has the Gameboy Advance for $40, Staples has a 512mb flash drive for $30 and a dvd burner for $40, Best Buy has a 27" tv for $90, and a dvd player for $20. I think I also heard Kohl's is giving away $15 gift certificates to their first 300 customers, but I haven't verified this. I can't wait to go shopping!

Gobble gobble

Thank god Thanksgiving break is finally here. It really couldn't have come any sooner, since I am about to keel over from exhaustion. I am going to sleep in everyday of break, eat whatever and whenever, and watch TV! I haven't turned on the idiot box in so long that I don't even know what shows are on anymore. And I pay for cable every month too, which feels like such a waste of money. But I don't cut the service just in case I might want to watch tv. I do a lot of things because of "just in case." I hate wanting to do something and not being able to. To me, living life well and being successful is all about the exposure to choice. The poorer you are and unsuccessful, the fewer choices you have because you'll be forced to take a certain path in order to pay the bills. The better off you are, the more choices you have to pick from.

I'm wondering who is going to stay over the break here? I think we should get together one night and go out to a bar and get to know those people we haven't gotten to know yet. I'm game, who else is?

My little psychotic moments

Gawd, I hope I don't get called on in any of my classes tomorrow. What I really mean is, I hope I don't get called on in property, since I know I won't get called on in torts.

I've never told anyone this, but whenever I get called on I imagine a force-field around me, and the professor shooting little laser beams at me trying to find the chinks in my armor. When I answer something right, I think, "Ah ha! I blocked your move. Show me what you got!!", and in my mind I see a mini-me with a force-field around her and a battle shield with sword in hand deflecting blows. Of course, if I answer something wrong I just hang my head in shame while mini-me is getting her ass kicked. It's gotta be wrong to see the professor as the enemy.

I don't know if I was always this crazy or if law school has caused me to temporarily go insane.

Emotions running high

As it gets down to the wire, the atmosphere is fraught with anxiety and people are acting erratically left and right. I myself had two fights with my best friend just this week, and we'd never had a fight before. I'm not easily prone to crying, but I find myself turning on the waterworks at just about anything. One of my college friends was nice enough to send me a care package and I burst into tears when I read the card. At this point someone could tell me that my hair was short and I would cry. It's that ridiculous. I know everyone is really stressed at this point what with trying to study for finals and trying to prepare resumes to send out for summer jobs, but I think we should all remember to relax. I can't get anything done when I'm in my panic mode, and I feel like I'm running a losing race against the clock. It's just not worth it to live like this, and I'm not doing myself any favors working myself into an early heart attack.

To top it all off, I had nightmares of property all night. I was solving future interest problems all night in my dreams, and at one point I was talking in my sleep and woke myself up saying "vested remainder subject to complete divestment." It's a sick, sick world when you can't even escape school in your sleep.

Curtains for Crim

Thank goodness no more reading for Crim!!! I hated that book with a passion, not to mention sweating through each class praying that I wouldn't get called on for the little trials.

I think many other people are similarly relieved, although some people thought it was just getting interesting what with the animosity b/t some people. In general, I think lively debates are highly entertaining, but I have to say that I don't think a certain someone was very nice in class yesterday when addressing Mr. Green. What she said was a bit unprofessional and rather nasty in my opinion, and I can only congratulate Mr. Green for keeping his cool and not stooping to her level. One thing for sure, Crim has not been very boring lately.

So who's going to the documentary-on-Bibas movie night? I guess he got another copy of his PBS special. I heard from someone that his first copy got eaten by a student's VCR during a small-section dinner party last year. I'm glad to know he's obtained a replacement since he's so proud of the whole case.

When it rains it pours

I haven't blogged for a while b/c I just haven't had the energy to pass the muster. It's been a bad week for me, and I have been feeling so apathetic that I haven't been able to do anything. When I get into these funks I just sit around all day and sleep. Totally a bad attitude to have right before finals. Ick.

But the good news is, I woke up this morning feeling a little better, and I think I'm ready to snap out of it. Time to go read for Crim. It's going to be a bitch reading it cuz it's so long.

Outlining future interests and all that jazz

All right, I feel almost psychotic right now after having spent almost 3 hours trying to make head or tail of Chapter 4. Blah!!! One thing I'm happy about is that I finally understand the substitutional and successive construction aspects of definite failure of construction. Yay!!

God, I feel like such a pathetic loser being overjoyed about the future interests. That's ok, I'll be the pathetic loser that aces this part of the property exam. Muhahaha...

Ok maybe I should go sleep so that I can return to some semblance of normalcy. God knows I didn't get any sleep last night.

Tuning classes out....zzzZZZZ

I don't know what it is lately, but I can't seem to concentrate on anything for longer than 2 minutes. I stare at my professors, and I see their mouths moving, but I rarely hear what they're saying. Every now and then I'll tune back in and catch a snatch of something, just enough to confuse me even further. What's wrong with me? I think I may be on the verge of burning out.

I can't wait for Christmas to get here, so I can sleep in as much as I like. Of course, that would require getting through finals, which is most definitely not cool. I'm running scared just like everyone else, and it gets worse when I remember that our classes are curved. In essence, it's not enough to do well, we have to do well relative to each other. I don't really think it's fair that our classes are curved the first semester when we're still getting used to things and trying to figure out how to take exams. It's especially not cool when we receive no feedback on how we're doing and our exams end up being 100% of our grade. Too bad this law school isn't like those few top schools that don't even give grades. They just give P = pass or HP = high pass. Wouldn't that be great?? Then I wouldn't be losing any sleep over first semester grades.

I know that as long as you work hard to get to where you want to go, your grades won't stop you as long as you have the drive. But it's still stressful for me knowing that when the time comes my abilities will be pitted against the 220 other 1Ls.

Swearing like a sailor

I've recently noticed that my profanity frequency has hit the ceiling since coming to law school. I guess it's the stress of all the work. Just the other day I caught myself using the F-word just about every other word, and gesturing obscenely with my middle finger at the same time, just for someone stealing a parking spot from me at the mall. I'm a little scared. I see a lot of changes in myself that kind of scare me. It's even difficult to carry on a normal conversation without some hint of profanity creeping in somewhere. This is just disgraceful...my momma didn't raise me to have a filthy mouth like this.

Otherwise, it's been a pretty chill weekend, just tried to study some (unsuccessfully as usual) and then saw the Incredibles this weekend. I just loved how Pixar had lawyers put the super-heroes out of business. And then today, I saw another reference to law on the Simpsons, where a cook competing with Marge in the Bake-off says he did some act "with malice aforethought." Is it just me, or does pop culture seem more sprinkled with oblique references such as this? I probably didn't notice before since I wasn't a law student.

I love Saturdays

Saturdays...the one day of the week I can get up late without feeling guilty for sleeping in. Of course, Saturdays are also really busy since this is the day I've let all my errands pile up for (living like a filthy pig for the rest of the week). At this point I'm usually running out of underwear, have nothing to eat in the fridge except for suspicious green stuff, and my books are scattered indiscriminately with my clothes all over my apartment. Gross, huh? I'm guessing if you don't know who I am by now you will recognize me from this description of my apartment.

Other than doing errands, Saturdays are great b/c I can totally waste time and not feel pressured like I usually do on Sundays. For instance, I was on the phone for 1 hour and 40 minutes with my sister. I was basically listening to her wondering what she was going to do today, and then complain how pathetic her life was because she was watching an infomercial on a Saturday morning. I was thinking, how pathetic does that make me, seeing as how I'm on a long-distance phone call listening to her watch an infomercial.

Lame jokes at 6am

A bus stops and two Italian men get on. They sit down and engage in an animated conversation. The lady sitting behind them ignores them at first, but her attention is galvanized when she hears one of the men say the following:

"Emma come first. Den I come. Den two asses come together. I come once-a-more. Two asses, they come together again. I come again and pee twice. Then I come one lasta time."

"You foul-mouthed sex obsessed swine," retorted the lady indignantly.
"In this Country, we don't speak aloud in public places about our sex lives!"

"Hey, coola down lady," said the man. "Who talkin' abouta sexa? I'm a justa tellin' my frienda how to spella 'Mississippi'."


Don't ask me why I'm up at 6am, I haven't been able to sleep lately. If this keeps going on I'm going to have to go on sleeping pills again.

Applauding Gipp

Hats off to Barrett! That was an awesome impression of Bibas. You had it all going for you, with the hand gestures, the way he talks, and best of all the eyebrows!!!
That was one of the best Crim classes ever.

Otherwise, what was with B today? He had it in for all the people who came in late. Honestly, I think he's a little on the anal side with the taking attendance and tardiness thing. We're not in high school, if we don't go to class we're the ones who have to deal with the consequences of skipping class, don't punish us any further. Seriously, Professor B should take it easy.

Other than that, it's almost the weekend, whoo hoo!

Got milk?

Like at least a 1/3 of the class, I missed Property this morning. It wasn't my fault, I have a justification defense! It was the stupid train this morning, blocking my way in. I wasn't about to crawl under it like some of the other people did, I've seen what happens to you in the movies. Your shoe or something always gets stuck, and then the train starts moving, and you end up as the next roadkill on the tracks. Nuh uh, not me. I have to say, I was surprised to see Bibas jumping the train. He didn't do it until he saw these other girls do it first, which makes me wonder if he wanted to see someone else risk themselves first. Hm. Anyway, I was actually sad to miss Property, since I actually find Kurtz quite stimulating in the morning. Nothing like living in fear of being called on to get you awake in the morning, other than the bitter cold. Most mornings it feels like being bitch-slapped twice, first going outside and walking to school in the cold, and then going through Property at 8am bright and early.

Anyway, since I missed Property, I headed back home and decided to have a good old fashioned breakfast. This is when I had my NDE, all alone in my apartment. Times like this I wish I had a roommate. I was munching on a muffin, when a big chunk got stuck in my throat, and wouldn't go down. I started choking. I rushed to my refrigerator, and had nothing to drink except an unopened carton of milk. I struggled frantically trying to open it, and after an interminably long time I finally got it open and started gulping it down. It was like something out of one of those "Got Milk" commercials, especially the one where someone is eating a peanut butter sandwich, and he suffers the same problem I did. Why do they make these milk cartons so difficult to open? It's not a damn gun, it doesn't need so many safeties on it. It's not like a BB gun that I'm going to shoot myself in the eye with. I wonder if my parents could have sued the carton manufacturer for wrongful death if I'd died. There's probably a causation issue somewhere in there.

Why Can't I Be Legally Blonde?

Thinking about the whole thing about what PlayItAgainSam said on yesterday's comment, that reminded me of how Legally Blonde all came about. The woman who wrote the book, Amanda Brown, was basically in the same position as I'm in now. Ok, ok, maybe it's not exactly the same.

So good ole Mandy Brown was a law student just like us. However, I'm guessing she must not have been a very good one, because she spent all her time writing letters to her friends back home about the things she experienced in law school, even during class. That seems pretty daring. I know here there are some people who do the crossword in class.

Anyway, apparently she was such a gifted writer and wrote so entertainingly that it became a weekly ritual for her friends to get together every week and read her letters together. Now that is what I call a readership!

I mean, think about it. She was basically writing about the same kinds of things we are, but she was really lucky enough to get two movies and books out of the whole deal. When I hear about people like this, it makes me wonder why I'm still in law school. Brown dropped out of law school and never got her J.D. as far as I'm aware of.

It reminds me of what that Career Services woman told us: the highest earning alum from this school is a beader, dealing with making wedding tiaras or something like that. Maybe I really am stupid after all, since it seems that there is more than one path to riches and a satisfying life.

Talking to Property Professor in OH

After my first encounter with our property professor in his office hours, I don't know if I'm brave enough to do that again. When he puts you on the spot asking a question, I sometimes feel like I'm staring at the wrong end of a loaded double-barrel shotgun.

Maybe my old landlord was right. When she heard that I intended to go to law school, she took one look at me and told me it wasn't the right choice for me. Mind you, this was within the first 15 minutes of meeting her for the first time.

All I know is that I have moments where I doubt my choice of being here wildly. Usually this occurs when it's 3am and I know that I have to get to Property in five hours, and you never know when the professor will decide to start class a minute or two early like he did this morning. I always remember that I could have gone to work for a magazine and clawed my way up the fashion ladder like everyone else expected me to. Deep down I think I chose to take the LSAT and go to law school to prove to everyone that I'm not the ditz that everyone thought me to be. Whatever my reasons, the fact is that I'm here now, and I'm not going to wimp out in my first year. Not just yet, anyway.

I'm gay as Cary Grant?

Thanks for the laugh Anna.


"Notoriously, you're Cary Grant!

You churned out a bunch of high quality movies from an uncredited role in Singapore Sue (1931) to Walk Don't Run (1966), working with everyone from Alec Guinness to Alfred Hitchcock, through Katherine Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe. Your birth name was Archibald Leach - but that didn't stop you from being a mega-successful, international movie star.

You were also as gay as a Cornwall beach house; a long-running fling with fellow article Randolph Scott, who you lived with for many years, was followed by five unhappy marriages. You always denied your homosexuality, but being gay wasn't acceptable to a mainstream audience back then - and let's face it, you're pretty much a repressed stereotype."


Which Famous Homosexual Are You?
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey

Lack of sleep, food, and companionship

Now that I've been sleeping about 4-5 hours a night every night for so long, it feels like sleeping longer than that is a waste of time. My body now feels gorged on rest if I sleep even 6 hours. Sometimes I wonder if I'm going to just pass out for a week once I go home for Christmas. I know you don't catch up on sleep, but it sure seems as if people do. I remember my health teacher from a million years ago yelling "You don't catch up on sleep! Once it's gone, it's gone! Suck it up and move on!" She kinda reminds me of the health teacher in Mean Girls.

Not only that, I also have a much lower intake of food. I've discovered just how little you need to survive. Really, the only thing that matters is class, reading, and outlining.

As for companionship, I pretty much knew that I'd be celibate once I came here, since it really doesn't do to mix relationships with school. Even though I knew the reality, that doesn't mean I don't miss it. Who knows, maybe this is why I'm such a cranky bitch these days.

Altogether, it seems like the whole law school thing is rather dehumanizing. You become this machine that lives for school, and nothing else matters. I forget which professor warned us about pushing everyone and everything else to the backseat, but I take that warning to heart. When I take a step back and look at myself these days, I'm not sure just who I've become.

Begging for praise

You know what I realized today? We all seek praise from our teachers shamelessly. I realized this sitting in Crim today, watching the defense and prosecution for the Goetz trial. After one of the prosecutors cross-examined the defendant, Bibas told her she did a good job. I happened to be looking at her face right then, and the most beatific smile spread across her face. I don't think I've ever seen anyone look happier. I think a great number of us are secretly seeking such praise from all of our teachers, but we would never admit it to each other. We always act nonchalantly upon being congratulated by our peers.

I guess at this stage of the game, since we don't have any grades on the books, the only indication we have of our progress is from comments from our teachers. So some of us seek to say intelligent things in the hopes that we'll receive some recognition from the teacher that we studied hard. And when some lucky student does receive such commendation, the rest of us look upon enviously. Well maybe not all of us are envious, but at the least most people do remember which student was complimented by the professor.

The addiction of blogging...

Sigh, sometimes I think my life is so pathetic because I'd rather go blog than study or do anything else. Alright, that's not true, I'm totally up for drinking and hanging out with buddies (what else is there to do around here). But really, this whole blogging thing has completely exploded. There's Edward, LostInIowa, PlayItAgainSam, and countless others. This whole thing is just self-perpetuating. First there was LostInIowa, then that spawned a dozen more blogs (including myself) of people who thought, hey, I think that's a good idea!

Let's not forget who really started it all the way back in the dinosaur age: Scott Turow with his book One L. If you haven't read it yet, you should, because the book is really entertaining. Just don't get stressed reading it, and remember we don't go to Harvard. Too bad the author himself is such a pompous ass.

Anyway, it's funny how all the blogs out there are a source of entertainment for the law school, both for bloggers and their readers. I know that people are always looking for something to read other than their casebook, which is how they turn to all blogs on LiveJournal, Blogger.com, etc. Then comes the time when people make comments, and then have to keep checking to see if they got any replies. Of course, on the other end is us bloggers, because once we make an entry we're wondering if we got any comments. The worst is when you get a comment from one of our own professors, because you're totally not expecting that. You think that you have a blog for fun, and it's completely weird when you see that your professor has invaded this precious sanctuary too. It's like worlds colliding. It's bad enough that I have nightmares of Kurtz running after me screaming "State the Title!!!"

I'm just happy that there are some people out there who've said that they enjoy reading my blog. As always, I enjoy reading all the others out there too. Let me know if you want me to link to your blog.

Black Wednesday

I don't know if I'm going to show up in mourning tomorrow to school. I know everyone has heard the news by now: we're in for another four years with W. Now I feel too emotional to study. Darn you Ohio!!!! I almost agree with Edwards that Kerry should fight for Ohio. But that would also throw more tension upon the country like the last time.

Kerry told Bush that we needed a united country, but just look at the vote figures. The numbers speak for themselves --the country is already viciously divided.

Now I feel too sad to study. Someone cheer me up with a funny story.

Cursed day

Alright, after forcing myself to go to bed last night despite massive anxiety, I wake up to news that isn't any better. I just hope that it's not going to take forever like the last time to find out who won, or else I'm not going to have any hair left.

On another note, we had an interestingly lax class in property today. We basically spent the whole time on "what-if" questions regarding assets and marriage. It's nice to know:

1) In Iowa, you're better off not even joking about being married to the person you're living with, else this may be construed as a common-law marriage.

2) Some states define bigamy so narrowly that it's possible to have two spouses who live in different states and escape being held criminally liable for the act of bigamy.

3) Try not to get divorced after getting your advanced degree, or you might end up having to pay half your income to your ex-spouse for a very long time.

4) All the movies I've seen where spouses sue for damages saying that provided years of emotional support mean jack, since the professor told us today that you get $0 for emotional support.

5) Technically it could be easier to get citizenship through common-law marriage, even if it seems unlikely that someone would actually try this when they could have hard proof in the form of a marriage license.

Today's best quote from our property professor (IMO):

"Cohabitation without sex is a roommate."

The class ended on a great note, where Ms. Tucker asked what happens if you get really drunk w/ someone, and you wake up with a ring on your finger. Almost sounds like she's talking from personal experience...

Will this be a repeat of the last election?

So far, it's very close, folks: Bush: 210, Kerry: 199. The prospects aren't looking good, seeing as how OH and FL are still pending.

ACK!

Ok, this is like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
Bush: 195, Kerry: 112

The suspense is killing me!

Ok, I've been home for a while, and I can't get any studying done because of the election. It was running neck and neck for awhile, but right now Bush is ahead with 102 electoral votes, vs. Kerry's 77. Yikes. I'm really hoping that Kerry comes through on all the big states, like CA, NY, FL, PA, IL. Carrying these states would go a long way towards offsetting the disturbing amount of red I see spreading across the map as we speak. I just have to remember to breathe, and remember that no one lives in the god-forsaken states like WY, ND, SD, etc. Each of these states only have 3-5 electoral votes, but they're still adding up.

I get a bad feeling I'm going to be up all night without reading for Property tomorrow. I think school should be cancelled tomorrow so that we can all watch the election coverage. God knows I'm not going to be able to think straight in class.

More updates later. Hopefully I'll calm down enough to stop biting my nails to the quick as if I'm some cigarette-addict.

Another note on the election

I just got harrassed again, this time in person. Alright, I know election fever is running high, and they're just doing their job by making sure that registered voters are going to actually go and vote. It was just unexpected that someone came to my apartment to hunt me down.

Anyway, for the latest electoral vote results, click here.

RAP

Greeat..we've finally covered Rule Against Perpetuities in Property, and the topic is one of those weird things that I kinda get and kinda don't. On easy examples, I can figure em out, but one issue definitely gets me (and I heard Lauren ask this in class): how do you know whose life to measure by? Or, how do you know whose life is the validating life? I read the green book on this, but I'm still a bit unclear on that. When it says, "...some life in being." Whose life?? In class professor said that the time starts running either from the time of creation or from the death of T, but then he said during certain examples that it was measured by B's life, or measured by the lives of the children? Argh.

Other than that, life is great! Only one day left to vote. Yesterday I got a call from some woman who said she lived in my neighborhood, wanting to know if I was planning on voting, and if so, who for. That was the first time I've ever gotten a call from someone asking me if I intended to vote, and I've registered for plenty of elections. I guess this just goes to show this is a red-hot election year. Anyone willing to place $10 bets on the outcome?

Happy Halloween!

Wow..
I gotta say that the party last night at RT's was great. It was such a blast seeing everyone from school there dressed up in various costumes. For some reason, the atmosphere was a lot looser, and a lot more friendly. People were a lot more willing to talk to people they normally don't, which was great. Maybe it was all the alochol. I know I had a little more to drink than I should have, seeing as how I ended up hugging the porcelain god at 3am, 4:30am, and then the kitchen sink at 6am. But what can I say? When your friends offer you a drink from their pitcher, you drink!

Other than that, I'm really glad to see that some people can loosen up when they're away from the law school, and I really liked some of the costumes I saw. There was Travis with his thigh-high platform boots complete w/ fuck-me heels, I loved Edward's smurfette costume, the construction worker outfit was pretty hot, totally loved the Abe Lincoln costume, along with the mailman costume too. All in all, I think the guys had more interesting costumes than the girls, since the girls tended to be the typical princesses, airline stewardesses, nurses, naughty school girls, catwoman, fairy, etc. Although I do remember seeing the one naughty school girl outfit, where the girl had her shirt tied up right under her boobs, and I was wondering if she was just a naughty school girl or if she was trying to be Brtiney Spears. Who knows.

Career Services Night

Ok, I found that Career Services night totally depressing. And I know it wasn't just me. I'm still undecided as to whether I want to go into the private sector vs. the public sector, but I did not appreciate how that woman was pushing public interest at us. She basically told us that we'd be rich but miserable working 80 hours/wk with no quality of life, or we could be poor happy goody-two-shoes lawyers who barely make more money than a secretary.

As our one professor put it, it's not that black and white, and maybe we should take what they say with a grain of salt considering that they haven't been in practice. There are plenty of people who are happy working the frenzied pace of a big law firm, and there are plenty of people who are very unhappy in public interest b/c they're living hand to mouth trying to support their families.

All I can say is, it's all good and well to be funny during a meeting, but don't forget to do your job. As the night went on the mood became blacker as students began muttering how depressing the meeting was. I know from personal experience that it is hard to find a good job in the legal sector, but it's not impossible, definitely not if you're proactive about it. To top it all off, that woman told us first that sign-ups for Partner for a Day were Thursday morning at 8, and then ended the meeting by saying she'd see us bright and early Monday morning. What was that? She confused half the class there, and I know that many of us thought the signups were Monday morning, myself included.

Are you an undecided voter?

There probably aren't any undecided voters out there, but just in case you are, take this wonderful test!
Who Should You Vote For?

Bush or Kerry?

I can't believe the election is only a week away... the time has finally come for a chance to be relieved of our beloved president's mishandling of almost everything.

To be honest, I don't really know of that many Bush supporters in the law school. I don't think that I personally know anyone who's going to vote Bush. Well, ok I take that back, seeing as how my own parents will vote Bush (times like this I'm ashamed to have them as my parents).

For me, it's not even that I like Kerry or Nader, but it's more like picking the lesser of two evils. I just hope that Nader doesn't wreck the election like he did last time: Gore didn't even carry his home state b/c of a small but critical percentage in favor of Nader.

Right now it's looking like it's neck and neck, and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Here's a parting reminder of our president's stunning grace and intelligence:



"Over the weekend, while on vacation, Bush looked like Chevy Chase doing a Gerald Ford imitation as he stepped onto the platform of a Segway personal transportation scooter and went flying right off.

The first U.S. president to try a Segway supposedly forgot to turn it on, so the gyroscopic stabilizers couldn't automatically balance him." - USA Today

For those of you who don't know what a Segway is, click here

It's supposed to be very difficult to fall off one of these babies, but wouldn't you know it, George W. succeeded with flying colors!

Yet another stupid mandatory program to attend...

I don't think I've ever heard of so many mandatory programs in other law schools. When I told my older lawyer friends that we had a week-long intro orientation week, they thought it was the most stupid thing ever. I mean, come on! We're supposed to be the up and coming hotshot lawyers. I think we can figure out where to go to get our pictures taken, where to sign up for lockers, etc. If we have to figure out how to research common law in whatever state we're going to practice in, this kind of ridiculous babying is not going to help us. It just makes us more prone to being spoon-fed everything. I think I speak for all of us when I say Orientation SUCKED ASS. We would rather have been home reading the next 60-70 pages for that Intro to Law class than sit through some stupid meaningless program about how to be a happy and cheerful law student.

And now we have one more program to attend: Career Services L1 Orientation Mtg.
Oh sure, the idea of it sounds good, but we've already been warned by one of our professors in class that Career Services is not that great here. If you want a summer job, you get off your ass and send out your resumes to all the firms you're interested in. You don't sit around and expect Career Services is going to pull a miracle out of thin air and find you a job.

What gets me is that they say the meeting is mandatory, and if we don't go to this one, we're supposed to schedule a make-up session. 1) How are they going to know if we didn't go? 2) If they do end up taking attendance like control maniacs, how are they going to force us to schedule a make-up session? Are they going to put our spring registration on hold?

All I can say is, not all of us are interested in getting summer jobs. They should make the meetings w/ optional attendance, so that people can go if they want to. I think that they're forgetting that we're adults and are capable of making our own decisions.

New schedules and section assignments

Oh man...
Is it just me, or am I the only one who's sad that I am one of the ones who got a new section assignment for next semester? Just when I finally felt like I kinda found my groove, I get the registration packet in my box that shows I've been re-assigned. Dammit. I like the friends I've made in section.

Well, I guess I just have to look on the bright side of things and hope for the best, I'm sure I'll meet new people who are just as cool as the ones I've met in my section. At least Fridays end earlier next semester!

Where is the money coming from?

Here are a few of the results from the faculty auction last night, and my mind is reeling from the prices I heard some packages going for.

$150 for tennis lesson?
$250 for a murder mystery evening?

My question is, where is all the money coming from? The people I know bitch about spending more than $5 on a lunch. I simply can't believe that people would fork over $50 each just to hang out with a professor for an evening. I go out of my way to avoid them like the plague (no offense to professors), let alone feel like I want to go further in debt just for an opportunity for some quality 1-on-1 ass-kissing time.

And dinner with Kurtz? I'm sorry, but if I'm going to spend a lot of money on a dinner, I want it to be in a really nice restaurant, with a relaxing dinner companion. It's hardly relaxing to live in fear that your professor is going to bark, "State the title!" I would probably have indigestion as soon as the professor opened his mouth.

Halloween party

Aghhh....
Every year finding a good costume for Halloween is hard. The party is only a week away, and I still don't have a costume ready. I was thinking about dressing up as a nurse or a french maid, because I haven't been those yet. I've already done the fairy, princess, and hooker thing. I need ideas on where to shop for costumes.

I wonder if the teachers are going to dress up for halloween? I'd pay good money to see Love dressed up as a biker chick with a studded collar, and Bibas wearing tie-dye and overalls. Oh, and clean-shaven.

Only a little over a month away...

I think I may go into panic mode soon, I can feel the beginning flutters of it already. I will start having dreams where I'm sitting in the finals with a completely blank exam sitting in front of me with nothing but my name on it, and I can't remember an answer to any question.

I haven't outlined as far as I should have, and I'm wondering if this will completely doom my chances of success (hey, I don't aim that high, I just want to be in the upper half of the 1L class).

If I were a smoker I'd be addicted already, if I were a drinker I'd be getting likkered up everyday.

Future Interests and all that

Given the general aura of fear in property, I thought maybe I'd share a tip that really helped me. I read the Lexis Nexis workbook on reserve in the library for future interests, because the workers in the bookstore told me it helped them a lot. I think it helped immensely, and really provided a basis for general knowledge in the area. There are lots of examples in the book, and even better yet, they have answers! I think most of the time I'm frustrated with the Notes and Questions section in our property book because there are no answers.

I know there are flashcards also, but I don't know how good those are. Also, if you want to have your own copy of the workbook I think it's about $35, or as I said, it's on reserve in the library. There is also Estates in Land and Future Interests: Problems and Answers (Problems and Answers Series) by John Makdisi.

I was also thinking of posting some "state the title" hypos online every week to let people test themselves. I dunno, it depends on if it would help people.

In the Spirit of Halloween and Crim Law

I know this is dorky, but when I saw this picture I thought it was cute. Since we're covering Chapter 13: Voluntary Intoxication this week in criminal law, it's particularly pertinent.



Don't you just hate how law school has totally permeated your life and how you think? I see almost everyone as a potential tortfeasor, and I'm constantly evaluating whether someone can sue for IIED or assault, etc. When I hear about real estate scammers, I can't help but think, "that's a tortious feoffment!" and then immediately want to slap myself for even thinking that.


Hopefully when I go home for the holidays I will be able to stop thinking like a lawyer for 3 weeks.

WTF is going on in Property?!!

Is it just me, or did Property suddenly get really hard??

It's bad enough that we're struggling to read the green book and trying to understand the pile of terms being thrown at us like a brick, but on top of that our professor is going really, really fast.
What's ironic is that he told us before that he'd go as slowly as we'd like, but that's not really true. He gets really impatient with us if we don't know the answer to the hypos on the slides, and then he zips through a whole bunch of hypos that aren't even on the slides. He should realize that if even those of us w/ laptops in class can't take notes fast enough then he's going way too fast.

Of course, there are the maybe 5-10 people in the entire class who actually understand what's going on, and listening to them converse w/ our professor makes me feel like I suddenly got abandoned in the middle of a foreign country where I don't know the language and only know how to say "hello, what is your name?"

All I know is that lately whenever the professor has been talking, I hardly take in a thing because 1) he talks way too fast, 2) it's like he's speaking a whole different language.

Torts professor

I think our Torts professor is so cute. She has this demure lady-like image always wearing those neat blouses and pencil skirts, combined with a wicked sense of humor. It's hilarious how she laughs at her own jokes so heartily, and sometimes it seems as if she's laughing longer and louder than anyone else in the class.

Today was one of her days where she obviously felt more humorous. She got all into discussing the Vaughan v. Menlove case, and compared the dimwitted D to Iowans. I had to say, as a native Iowan I was marginally offended, but it's true. We're hardly the equivalent of Harvard and Yale students, but still...! I like to think that us compared to Harvard law students isn't as ludicrous a comparison as Menlove is to the "ordinary reasonable person."

If our Torts professor was auctioning off dinner at her house with our Into to Law professor, I would totally bid at the faculty auction. I would say it's completely worth it to see what her house is like.

Break is the start of a break-up

I was stealing some time away from studying yesterday and decided to turn on my tv and see if it still worked. It's been so long since I watched tv that I almost forgot how it has sound and color. I totally miss watching my shows: Survivor, CSI, Friends, Apprentice, Gilmore Girls, Simpsons, Smallville, and Real World.

So I happened to catch and episode of Real World on MTV (that show is like reading the tabloids for me), and it was one of the new episodes in Philadelphia. The really pretty black girl on the show, Shavonda, was talking on the phone with her bf, Shawn. She was telling him that she wanted to take a break, because she didn't want to have to think about his feelings at every moment. Of course, it's because she has a crush on one of the guys in the house. Understandably, her bf was pretty pissed off.

I was thinking, uh, that's part of what having a boyfriend means! Just because you're not together doesn't mean that you're free to scope out other people as potential flings while you're away from each other. If you think that you can see someone else and think that your boyfriend will wait patiently for you to come back after having done the nasty with your fling, you better think seriously about your relationship and whether you really care about that person. To me, if a person asks for a break they may as well just ask for a break-up and get it over with. I've rarely heard of couples that managed to survive these "breaks" (which are really excuses for one of the people in the relationship to go sleep with someone else they think is hot and still reserve their right to their significant other) since invariably one person goes and has sex with someone else which ends up totally ruining the relationship.

And then, after her boyfriend tried to reason with Shavonda to no avail, says "Fine, then I'm not going to talk to you anymore." He hangs up on her, and she starts swearing like crazy. I'm just staring at the tv, wondering what the hell was wrong with her. She got what she wanted, now she's free to do whatever she wants. If she seriously thought she could have her cake and eat it too she was completely delusional.

Watching that episode was a sad moment for my belief that women are nicer in relationships than men.

Football and tailgating

One day I am going to run over some stupid drunk person right after a football game. As I was driving home today, I was making a right turn when this idiot crossed the street right in front of me, causing me to slam on my brakes and swear like a trucker. Did he have some kind of death wish?! Not only that, but he was chatting away blithely on his cell, never minding the fact that he had just stepped out in front of oncoming traffic.

I don't really understand the whole tailgating thing. Even though I went to a big college for undergrad that loved football too , drinking was not such an essential element of the experience. I just don't really see the appeal of getting drunk at 7am. And I especially resent getting woken up at 6:30am on Saturday morning by these football fanatics setting up camp everywhere on the lawns.

When the game is over, it gets even better, with the hordes of drunken people staggering about, walking plain in the middle of the street, and then getting angry at you because you're trying to drive through their midst. Sometimes they'll even slap and kick my car as I'm going by. One day, I'm going to snap and floor the gas pedal.

I never really had anything against football before, but I sure as heck do now. As our crim law teacher put it, "I hate football."

Normal looking people?

One of my friends thinks that it's hard to find normal-looking people. Apparently, he thinks someone who looks normal has no flaws in their appearance. To me, that means the definition excludes pretty much everyone except really pretty people and models. I would never call a model "normal" when I don't even think they live in the land of real people.

Anyway, we got into a heated debate over what people we knew that we considered attractive. He was totally dissing one girl after another, oh that girl's face-book picture looks way better than she does in real life, or she's too short, or she's kind of fat. When I said, "So what," he comes back with "How many flaws does a guy have to excuse?"

Ohhh. I think someone needs to be slapped.

That's a bit rich for someone who's got a big ole butt. Seriously, we're talking bubble butt here. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen such a J-Lo ass on a guy before, not unless the dude was a weight-lifter or something, which he most definitely is not.

Comment to take note of

I liked one of the comments I received to an earlier post I'd made regarding some of the cliques here. According to someone,

"The Faux Populars: They think you're charmed to meet them, but you aren't."

And this person isn't the only one to think so, either. Whoever you are, thanks for the great addition.

Personally, I think some of these cliques overlap...

Beware Petland

One of my friends just got a new dog. Not only that, but it's a puppy that is only ten weeks old! She's never owned a dog before, and had no idea what she was getting herself into. The only thing she could tell me was that she'd always envied me with my Scottish Terrier, and that a fever had sort of come over her at Petland. Oh, and did I mention that she's a 1L too?

So now she has to try to keep up with her studying, learn how to deal with living with a dog (and she's already got 2 other pets), learn how to train a puppy, and housebreak it. I'm thinking, this is a pretty bad time to start all that...especially right when she was complaining how Property is getting harder what with the green book and all.

This is how she got sucked into spending >1k on her little chihuahua. (All right, I'll admit it's a cute little thing, but if I had to housetrain a puppy I would NOT do it again.) Supposedly she just went to Petland to look at some birds with one of her other friends, and she happened to make this remark, "They have really cute chihuahuas here." Apparently one of the workers there overheard her say that, and dragged them over to see their newest arrival. The clincher for Petland was when they brought out the little puppy so that she could play with it. Then everyone there took turns convincing her how it was such a great idea to get a dog, and that it isn't really that hard to take care of a dog, and potty training it wouldn't take that long.

When I heard her say that, I said, "Excuse me?!!" I had the hardest time getting my puppy to "go" in the right place. I was cleaning up its goods for about 3 months after I got it. Besides, that's not the only hard thing, you've got to shower a puppy with lots of love, attention, take it out to exercise, make sure you're instilling good habits, socializing it properly so that it doesn't end up like that dog in the Benke case, etc. It's most definitely not easy, and anyone with a dog could tell you that! I also think that it's really hard balancing a new puppy with the workload we've all got.

What's funny is that she totally freaks out about poop. I just look at her and think, uh, it ain't that pretty, but all animals gotta do it. She even offered to pay me to housebreak it. The only thing I can tell her is she's lucky she picked a really small dog, so at least the poop won't be too big.

So the moral of the story is, don't let one of those Petland workers get a hold of you! Before you know it you'll be walking out of there with more than you could possibly want.

Top 10 distractions from studying

I don't know about everyone else, but I am ridiculously easily distracted from my school work. Really, I'd rather do anything but study. Here are my top 10 distractions in ascending order:

10) Calling my parents. Even though they're not that interesting and pretty much nothing new ever happens, and they tell me every opportunity that they wished I wasn't in law school, it's still better talking to them than reading the green book.

9) Reading the news. I'm not that big on news, and never have been, nor do I hold any political views. I've never read the news before, but I find myself doing it now in retaliation for how much reading I have for school. I know, it doesn't make sense. I guess it's the attitude that I'm not going to let school completely overtake my life, by showing that I can even squeeze time in for doing things I don't normally like to do.

8) Grocery shopping. Even though my apartment is crap, it's comforting going grocery shopping and buying food and maybe other little knick-knacks that may make it seem more like home. Plus, a starving student's gotta eat! God knows what that stuff down in the canteen really is.

7) Cleaning my apartment. I'm not a Monica, but it does bother me to see my apartment filthy, especially when I have a dog. Popcorn is adorable, but she does make a huge mess. Lately she's started chewing on my notebooks, so now I have tons of little confetti bits all over the place. Anyone have a good idea on how to train her?

6) Watching movies. I used to watch movies all of the time, but now that I have no time, it's fairly impossible. My main problem with movies is that they're too much of a time commitment all at once. Who's got 2.5 hours to spare at once? Most people like to take 20-30 minutes for a break, and then go do whatever they've gotta do. In a way, it's easier watching tv since you can just watch one sitcom and then turn the tv off. Well, that's if you've got the willpower to turn the tv off.

5) Listening to music. Not that I really have the time, nor can I concentrate on studying if there's music, but every once in a while you just gotta kick back and relax for a few minutes. Especially if I've been staring at the green book for over an hour and have only read 2 pages.

4) Calling my sister. I usually talk to my sister about 2-3 times a day. She calls me when she's driving to and from somewhere, and she always wants me to talk to her on the phone so that she isn't bored. It's so nice to feel loved.

3) Checking my email about 40 times a day. I know this makes me sound really pathetic, but I'm desperate to keep up contact with all of my friends and ex co-workers. Maybe when I've put down a few more roots I'll stop being so neurotic and talk to real people here.

2) Shopping online. This one doesn't make sense very much either, considering how I'm up to my eyebrows in debt because of school. But that's ok, I'm thinking if I'm in debt for 35k a year, what's a few extra thousand? I just better get a good job after graduation or I may be one of the most over-qualified homeless people you'll ever meet.

1) Writing this blog. It's fairly stress-relieving to be able to vent here about school or anything else that has pissed me off in the course of the day. Maybe that way I won't go beat up the guys living above me who are always having parties at 2am.

So what's your favorite distraction?

Sitting near people who fart

There are any number of things a student will endure throughout their career in law school. You stay up all night trying to study, you get so stressed out that you develop any number of addictions to caffeine, smoking, or drugs, and/or all of the above.

At one point, you're bound to get called on the one time you're unprepared. Sometimes, you are prepared, but you still don't know the answers and you just look stupid anyway. But this kind of thing you expect.

What you don't expect is to get ambushed by some heinous fart while sitting in the middle of class. This is what happened in property today. There I am, trying to absorb our property teacher's lecture on fee simple, when I get attacked by this odor. I almost fell off my chair trying to scoot as far back as I could. Of course, it's not like I had anywhere to go, everyone knows how narrow the space is between rows.

It's completely unexpected, you have no where to escape, and you have to sit there and pray for the smell to hurry up and dissipate before you start gagging, because yes, it's really THAT BAD.

Cute profs?

I don't know, but I heard something disturbing today. Apparently many girls find our criminal law teacher quite attractive. I really don't know what bothers me more, the fact that it's one of our professors, or the fact that it's that particular teacher. Don't get me wrong, he's really not a bad-looking guy at all. He's got his quirky modern-day Abe Lincoln thing going on, and he's definitely a sharp dresser. But the fact that he's our professor! I just cannot imagine professors in settings outside of school. I've always thought it strange to think about them having families too. Can you imagine our crim law prof having a kid? What if the kid did something wrong, and he demands to know the mens rea behind the actus reus? Weeird.

To me, the aspects of our professors' private lives are off limits to me. I guess different people are entertained by different things.

Well, for all you girls who find our professor irresistible, just thought you might want to know that he's taken. Apparently, he's engaged.

High school all over again

Is it just me, or does the whole law school experience seem like high school all over again?

Our orientation week was a series of events force-fed to us, where people tended to talk to us like we were little children. Especially that little lecture on ethics? Come on, we're not at Harvard or some other school with cutthroat competition.

Then, once school started, you couldn't help but notice that there are a bunch of these cliques that had formed already. They latched on to each other so quickly that I couldn't help wonder if I'd somehow missed a "Make Best Friends Day." Where was I? I was just busy trying to get through that damn Intro to Law class. Honestly, I don't know how these people found each other so quickly.

But really, it's like high school all over again. People are constantly talking about each other all of the time, they hate you if you seem too smart, and don't get me started on the different cliques. Here are a few cliques I've noticed: the smarties, the two socialite cliques that I'll call BB1 and BB2 for short, and the one guy clique that never talks about anything but golf, sports, or poker.

Smarties are the people who work harder than other people, and their members contain some of the people who speak out in class more often than most. Not only that, but what they say is actually on point. You know that they probably have all their reading for the coming week done by the weekend.

BB1 and BB2 are the girls who are some of the more outgoing girls in class. Their groups frequently intermingle with each other, and one strange thing about them is that a disproportionate number of them are named Kate or Katie or at least have one of those as a middle name. Also, they're the ones who ran in the ISBA elections. You just know that these girls were the ones who ran for student government in high school, did the homecoming committee, were in the sororities and dated the football players. This reminds me of a cartoon I used to watch called the Oblongs. Anybody heard of the show? They had a group of girls in there called the "Debbies." You can guess what the similarity is. The thing was, who knew that kind of thing could actually be true?

Macho-macho men is the guy clique that talk all the time. ALL the time. Anyone who sits on the same side of the room knows what I mean. Sometimes it gets so bad that you can't hear the prof (gasp). Otherwise, they're the typical macho males who always talk about sports, playing golf with each other, or poker. Nothing else really seems to matter. For instance, a few weeks back when Hurricane Ivan was terrorizing the southeast, the only thing that they cared about was that the football games that had been scheduled in the area were all canceled. Talk about tunnel-vision.

Labels, anyone? Oh, the other thing that really gets me is that everyone is labeled. I know, I am guilty of doing it myself, as you can see from the above. But I don't go around labeling everyone. I mean really, just because I like to have a life outside of school, is it really that fair for me to be labeled a slacker?

Gruesome Crim Stories

All right, in just about every class of criminal law we hear at least one interesting story from our professor. Our professor used to be a prosecutor in New York, so you can imagine that he has plenty of fodder for class discussion.

Right now we are covering the section of attempted crimes, and the impossibility defense.
Today's story: Two military officers are off-duty, so they decide to go have some fun clubbing. They arrive and start dancing with one girl, when suddenly the girl collapses. I think many people would have been at least a little concerned that there might have been something wrong with her, but apparently such thoughts did not cross the minds of these two men. Instead, they assumed that she was just really, really drunk. They decided that they should take her home. After bundling her into the car, they realize that this is prime opportunity for them to take advantage of her, and both proceed to have sexual relations with the girl. Unbeknownst to them, when the girl had collapsed on the dance floor she'd actually suffered a massive heart attack from which she died. Yup, these two men committed necrophilia.

The prosecutor went after them for attempted rape. They both got hefty sentences for jailtime for what they did.

Now, it's exactly because of cases like this that I know for sure that I will never end up serving in criminal law. Nope, no way.

Iowa Law Night

I just went out for the first time a quite a long while. So some of my friends wanted to go to this Mr. Iowa Law night thing, which I stupidly thought would actually have some cute guys there.

Instead, my friend and I arrived to a scene that looked like someone picked up our law library and dumped all the people into this bar. Yeah.

After sitting around a while, the competition finally started. Man, was I ever disappointed. As a friend said, I am incredibly naive. I don't know, I just thought that there were bound to be some good-looking guys here, goodness knows I see plenty of hot guys constantly running by me. Not to mention the multitude of flyers that were posted everywhere featuring Abercrombie-caliber guys. So maybe I was a leetle misled about the cute guy factor.

All in all, it was not that great, especially not with Michael shouting loudly enough to cause all of us to go deaf in that ear. And maybe I did get a few laughs from the short, half-naked, spandex boxer-brief-wearing muscle-bound guy (Dan) and Edward. Edward was totally great (everyone loves Edward!), and I think a lot of us thought that he should have won, but no, the guy with the really tight lederhosen (Eric, 1L) won. Weird, right? I really don't know what the appeal of the lederhosen was, although it did almost make me want to pinch that round booty.