Fresh face to the world

Obviously, my blog has been undergoing some changes. I need some feedback from people. What do you think? Is it too cluttered now, or would you like to see more changes?

Random laughs

Don't lie to your boyfriend about another guy when you're webcamming, especially not when the other guy comes into view during...
Webcam Love


Here's the go-ahead rationalization all you drunkards out there were looking for:


Man peed way out of avalanche
A Slovak man trapped in his car under an avalanche freed himself by drinking 60 bottles of beer and urinating on the snow to melt it.

Rescue teams found Richard Kral drunk and staggering along a mountain path four days after his Audi car was buried in the Slovak Tatra mountains.

He told them that after the avalanche, he had opened his car window and tried to dig his way out.

But as he dug with his hands, he realised the snow would fill his car before he managed to break through.

He had 60 half-litre bottles of beer in his car as he was going on holiday, and after cracking one open to think about the problem he realised he could urinate on the snow to melt it, local media reported.

He said: "I was scooping the snow from above me and packing it down below the window, and then I peed on it to melt it. It was hard and now my kidneys and liver hurt. But I'm glad the beer I took on holiday turned out to be useful and I managed to get out of there."

Parts of Europe have this week been hit by the heaviest snowfalls since 1941, with some places registering more than ten feet of snow in 24 hours.

Playing pretend

I have this awful feeling that even after I graduate from law school and pass the BAR, I'm still going to feel like an imposter. Half the time I still can't even believe I graduated from undergrad with my degree. Given the fact that I studied about 10 hours a semester, I am surprised I managed to graduate in the normal 4 years.

This reminds me of Renee Zelwegger, in an Inside the Actor's Studio interview: the man asked her what her worst fear was, and she replied, "I'm afraid someone will one day find out that I'm just pretending to be an actor." That's pretty much how I think I'll feel if I do work as a lawyer. Personally, I think Renee is an awesome actress, and I can't believe she would have such doubts about herself. Insecurity seems to be an equal opportunity harrasser.

Memo shmemo

Argh, I can't believe that the small section memo is due this Friday...
Doing the research for this memo felt like trying to find a needle in a haystack at first, since I just didn't know what I was doing. I felt so overwhelmed that I wondered how I would ever be able to be a competent attorney. One of my friends told me not to worry, that I could assign my clerks to research for me, but I kindly reminded her that as I initially climb the ranks of a firm, I won't have clerks as a junior attorney. I probably won't have that kind of manpower until I gain some seniority. I still think that I'd be better as a fashion magazine editor, or maybe I should be like that highest-earning alum who makes wedding tiaras.

Does anyone else wonder why they're here sometimes?

And the search for some interesting music continues. Here's one band I found, called Adom9. Download their mp3s.
I like the song blind. And the quest goes on...

I can't believe World of Warcraft was pulled from the shelves before I could buy it!

Things law school makes us do

We already know that law school attracts the freaks and geeks, and also maybe those few for whom it is merely a stepping stone to be able to do something else. Whatever. It takes a certain kind of someone to come to law school, and while we're here it only seems to highlight even more weird traits in us.

For instance, here is a picture of the girl who made that "Which intentional tort are you?" quiz. Why on earth would you take a picture like this of yourself, and then put it up on your website for all to see, no less?


This isn't to say that I didn't like her quiz, but I feel that this is indicative of how weird we, the typical law students, are.

Eavesdropping shamelessly

Yes, I know it's very bad to eavesdrop, but if someone is speaking so loudly that you can't help but hear, then...
I'll go listen to some Britney Spears as punishment.

I thought it was funny that shortly after someone posted the excerpt from Andrew's blog (the one where he talks about making Editor-in-chief of the Law Review) as a comment to one of my entries, I happened to be behind him at the library. It was rather astonishing to hear the same words spewing out of his mouth almost verbatim. Until then, I'd been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, since everyone vents on their blog now and then their most private thoughts. Well, not so anymore. Apparently, he is also taking 19 units this semester, so he's very very stressed. Judging from his own evaluation of the chance that he'd actually become Editor-in-chief, I'm guessing he's taken some of those comments on that entry to heart.

Law school and the Art of War

My best friend says I'm crazy for trying to apply the principles of the Art of War by Sun-Tzu to law school. I don't see why he's so surprised that I would come up with the idea, when he's the one who loaned me a book over the break about an epic samurai who spends his life looking for the Way of the Samurai. If the hero can use the Way to learn about himself, why can't I?

First chapter: Initial Estimations
"Warfare is the greatest affair of state, the basis of life and death, the Way to survival or extinction. It must be thoroughly pondered and analyzed."

I don't think I'm totally nutters to think that our time in law school can be characterized as a type of practice warfare. Perhaps we do not go to class with swords and shields, but we carry the shields of our preparations to survive the onslaught of a professor calling on us. A professor spends his/her time probing us carefully, searching for the flaws or weaknesses in order to carefully hone and refine our grasp on the material. Is this not preparation for the "warfare" we will face after we leave school to enter the real world in whatever profession we choose?

Just my imagination

Running away with me...

Ok, am I hallucinating, or is this semester far more difficult than the last? And here I was going to make my "move" to try to raise my gpa. Somehow, I don't think it's going to happen. Maybe I'm experiencing information overload from last semester? Nothing I read seems to "stick." I wish I could unscrew my brain and excise everything I knew about torts to make room for new stuff.

Wouldn't it be awesome if our brains were like our computer hard drives? Every once in a while we could go in, and do a defrag, erase some unecessary junk, etc. Or better yet, we could be like Keanu in the Matrix, plug into a machine, and say, "I know kung-fu!"

A chance for $$$

Ching ching!

Pacific Legal Foundation is awarding $9,500 in its Sixth Annual Program for Judicial Awareness Writing Competition. This year's competition includes three essay questions, regarding the applicability of the Supreme Court's "rough proportionality" takings standard; whether the GDF Realty Investments v. Norton decision can be reconciled with the Court's modern Commerce Clause jurisprudence; and whether the concept of "regulatory givings" is consistent with the purpose and function of the Takings Clause. More information is available at Judicial Awareness Writing Competition.


This sounds like a pretty good chance to win some extra cash, and I know there are some of you out there who totally love these kinds of topics. Good luck!

Btw,




take the WHAT INTENTIONAL TORT ARE YOU test.
and go to mewing.net.

Excellent! I am totally loving what law school drives some people to do.

OCI interviews!

Hey the OCI interview schedule is up! I'm totally psyched. Even though Professor Bibas told us how very few of us will get jobs through these programs, I still relish the opportunity to try to sell myself. There's always something a little weird going on at interviews. I almost feel like I'm trying to whore myself out; an interview is a combination of so many factors. You try to appear intelligent, but not too threatening. You want to appear attractive, but not like you're so beautiful that they fall into the stereotype of thinking that you're just all looks and no brains. You have to package your personality so that they'll think that you're someone who they can work with and that you'd "fit", but at the same time you don't want to seem so fun that you wouldn't get any work done. It just seems like a crazy balancing test.

Times like this, I wonder why I'd want to do this kind of thing...I sound completely nutters.

What's that smell?

I've noticed a weird odor when I walk into the library lately. It has taken me a couple of days, but now I know what it is. It's the smell of fear and panic. I notice groups of people huddled anxiously around references, or even worse, totally clogging an entire aisle between bookcases, so that you can't even get anywhere near the source that you might need too. That's ok, I'll just come back later, when some of them go home and I can have the library to myself again.

Btw, I had a totally different entry prepared for today, but when I tried to blog about it, the damn website froze, and then lost my entire entry.

Has anyone else noticed how Wetlaufer can't make up his mind whether to say civ pro is a blizzard, or a forest grove?

Apparently, he's not the only one who likes the tree metaphor. I heard my con law professor telling us to search out the limbs and roots of the tree. What is it about our teachers? You know when I leave law school all I'll remember is something about a bunch of trees, picking up a turkey if I drop it, and running marathons.

What really makes you happy?

I've just watched this movie called Dopamine, which is odd since the Time spread on the new science of happiness came out. Dopamine was a featured chemical in the article. It's basically the chemical our body produces that helps induce that general feeling of happiness. Anyway, the movie was semi-interesting, but I really wouldn't recommend watching it unless you have the time to burn, or you just like philosophizing about love, happiness, and evolution.

Anyway, while I was reading the tips (*gasp* I know this may be surprising, but like most law students I am miserable about 90% of the time) I was wondering who actually does some of these things? Who actually sits there and squeezes rocks, or notes down in a daily journal the things that they're grateful for? Sure, it all sounds good in theory, but when you actually try standing in front of the mirror to tell yourself "I love me", it actually gets a little weird. What's worse is when someone catches you doing it. Then they think you're a narcissistic egomaniacal neurotic.

I just don't think that Time has any idea on what little things make a law student happy. Here are some things that would make me happy if they happened:
1) Being called on in class the one time I'm prepared.
2) Getting all my reading done before 7p.m.
3) Getting more than 5 hours of sleep a night.
4) Not having to hear more than one bad law joke a day. With the calendar of jokes in the canteen, this one is especially hard.
5) Getting into the top 15% of the class. (HA fat chance for me!!)

Ok ok, so I know that the list is supposed to be comprised of things that are within our easy grasp to accomplish every day, but let's face it, we're in law school. It's obvious that the simple things like squeezing rocks and letting your mind go blank, or sitting in a circle and singing Kumbaya while holding hands are not the things that get us off, else we wouldn't be here. So far, the main attractions I've seen for law students and relaxation have been:
1) Drinking like a fish at a bar, then bar-hopping and doing it over and over.
2) Smoking pot.
3) Working out.

If you'll notice, the first two have a little to do with substance abuse. I guess it just takes more to de-stress us.

Suggestions needed

I am tired of listening to all the same ole crap over and over on the radio. I need some suggestions for new music. Any suggestions? I need a fresh sound, so I'll welcome anything...anything that IS NOT Ashlee Simpson. Poor girl, but she has a crapload of problems. In addition to being in her older sister's shadow most of her life, and being fanatically obsessed with making her image look as different as possible from Jessica's, she has been booed off the stage at the USC football game, had an "acid-reflux problem" on SNL, and now there is a petition circulating with 14,000+ signatures begging her to stop everything. Stop singing, stop modeling, stop touring, just stop. I'd say her PR person is not getting the job done. Maybe she should give Britney's PR manager a call?

I was wondering which Outkast cd was good?
What about Prince?

List, ahoy

Ok, the whole list thing is now morphing out of its initial stage of ranking people on their looks and is now approaching the no-subject-barred stage. You know what I mean. So far, here are some of the ideas for lists I have heard:

Top 10 Smelliest People
Top 10 People Not Likely to End Up as a Lawyer
Top 10 Sleepers
Top 10 Everyone Wants to Slap
Top 10 People You'd Want to See Naked
Top 10 You REALLY DON'T Want to See Naked
Top 10 Celebrities You're Allowed To Cheat on Your Significant Other With
Top 10 Weirdest Couples
Top 10 Most Likely to Sleep With a Professor for a Better Grade (if they could)
Top 10 With Delusions That They're Hot Sh*t
Top 10 Nicest
Top 10 You Would Not Date If You Were Paid to
Top 10 Hottest Potential Couples
Top 10 Most Likely to Smell Bad Downstairs
Top 10 Celebrities You Wish Would Disappear Back Into Anonymity (e.g. William Hung)

Does anyone think this whole list thing is spiraling out of control? This whole thing feels related to my secret guilty pleasure: celebrity tabloid news. I know it's stupid and no one else really cares, but it still fascinates me.

My favorite hottie

Screw everyone else's lists and all that...I have the #1 bona fide hottie right here, hahahaha.






Apparently this is good ole Billy posing for Teen Beat photospread in 1983. (courtesy of monkey methods blogger)





And here he is arrested in New Mexico, 1977.

OCI info night

Ok, I found this career services meeting much more helpful than the last time. Honestly, the last session was simply a waste of time which also garnered me a parking ticket because the woman took the opportunity to try some of her stand-up.

This time it was a lot better since we actually learned something useful: we got a list of potential firms coming, plus we were shown how to sign up for OCI and given a bunch of deadlines. Of course, the woman could not resist going off on her little lectures to us, where she could have said something in two sentences and instead spends 5 minutes giving us all of the examples of what stupid people did. Honestly, if you don't want people to do something, tell them not to do it, don't give them ideas or tell them how to DO it.

Useful info:
- Firms make offers on a rolling basis, so the minute you get a flyback, take it.

- Give 2 days notice if you cancel an interview, otherwise you end up on a blacklist. There are certain excused absences.

- Go to Career Services for ranking, they can help you approximate your ranking.

- If your grades are not up to par for what a firm requires, you better have a good reason to offer them for why you set up an interview with them.

- Mock Interview sign-up is Monday, January 24 at 9am.

- If there is a change in scheduling with an interview, it needs to be initialed by the career services staff, since in the past people have been known to cross off their classmates' names from the list of interviews. There was a stir in the room when the woman said this, and I was sitting there thinking, oh come on. Is this really something to gasp about? Sure, no one I know would be that mean, but it's a given that there are those psycho people out there who would step on their grandmother's back to get ahead. Even at Iowa Law.

An honest professor

Something surprising happened in class today: a professor was honest about the subject he was teaching. At one point in the lecture, our civ pro professor asked, "How many of you are glazed over at this point?" After about 1/4 of the class raised our hands, he replied, "Can't say as I blame you." The professor has just earned tremendous respect in my eyes for his candor with us. Props to the prof.

On the other hand, I've had people telling me I should also post my list of hot people. I think I'm still thinking about it.

Where my girls at?

Man, Saturday night was so boring. Oddly none of my friends went out to the bars, so I was stuck at home baking cookies and getting acquainted with my blender. I discovered a concoction for a fruit smoothie that I like pretty well: cran-strawberry juice + one pear + one kiwi in a blender. It was pretty good, and very filling. Now I feel all healthy and virtuous.

Funniest thing I've heard today: one of my male friends in reply to something I said, declared himself to be the executive power in this relationship, and then went *flex, flex* with his arm muscles. AND he smirked. All I can say is this must be part of the hazards of having friends in law school.

So what's up with this whole list thing spawning? Actually, I thought of having the top 10 hot guys last semester, but I didn't want to offend anybody. I'm glad someone had the guts to do it.

Presbyterians don't go to church

Haha, I have to say Professor Hovenkamp has his funny moments. He's usually so serious, but every once in a while he actually cracks a joke. Overall he seems like a cool professor to have.

I love Thursdays and Fridays, since I only have one class and it gets out by 12:30. This definitely beats having Crim till 4 like last semester.

So I took the opportunity to go grocery shopping today, and that's when I got a rude awakening: my driver's license expired 5 days ago. I found this out because I was trying to buy some pre-mixed margarita drink. This sucks! The stupid thing is, even though it's expired, it's still a valid i.d. for showing your age. The clerks at Cub Foods wouldn't sell me the liquor, even though it expired FIVE DAYS AGO. Biatches. Now I'm wondering if I'm going to be able to get into the bars here? If I can't get into the bars I may as well go shoot myself, since there's not much else to do here. Great, just great. I get to feel like a teenager all over again and go to the DMV and take those stupid tests again.

Plagiarism

Have you ever noticed how a few bad apples ruin it for the rest of us? For instance, it's really hard to find one of my favorite jelly snacks because someone choked on one of them and then sued the company for choking on it. Now the jelly snacks aren't carried anywhere. There's always those few who try to "beat" the system, but end up getting caught, which spurs the establishment to enact safeguards against future such threats, the costs of which get spread to the rest of us either through higher prices or no longer having access to certain goods/services.

The same goes for this plagiarism mess. Because of the inevitable idiots who try it every year, the rest of us have to sit through a seminar and get to listen to the people talk to us like we're babies getting warned about a spanking. I still maintain that these people should treat us like adults.

On a different note, I'm very very glad my last name isn't first on the list like Ms. Benson's is, since apparently Hovenkamp likes to pull the same trick every semester.

Same ole same ole

It's only the second day of classes, and I feel as if I've been thrown back into the middle of a semester already. I guess it's back to the same old grind. I'm still trying to snap out of my extreme indifference from last semester (of course, given my grades I really can't afford that attitude again).

So I came back to a snow-covered Iowa, only to wake up to the ice today. I couldn't even walk out of my parking lot without falling twice because of the thick slab of ice covering everything. It's like trying to ice skate on a slant. Even walking to school was slippery. One day I'm gonna fall and break something, and then I won't be able to keep up in school.

First day of class again

Sigh...first day of classes again, and my schedule is even worse than it was last semester. Now I have 3 classes a day 3 days a week. Talk about sucking!

I still haven't recovered from last semester, and I have no idea how I'm going to keep up with the reading load for three classes all the time.

I thought our civ pro professor was funny when he proceeded to tell us about his dead partner Boom Boom(?) (apparently Boom Boom was short and stout...this made me giggle in class because it made the guy sound like a teapot) who died of a heart attack in the office from days of yore. My friends and I were all looking at each other in confusion, because it seemed disconnected.

Grades grades grades

Ok, 3 out of 4 gradaes are out, although I know for some sections all 4 grades are out. I hear that people are trying to grasp what the numbers mean. As far as I know, here's a scale to tip you off:

4.3-4.1 = A+
4.0-3.8 = A
3.7-3.5 = A-
3.4-3.2 = B+
3.1-3.0 = B
2.9-2.5 = B-
2.4-2.0 = C

(thanks to the anonymous comment on this post for the link)


It's nice to know that I did ok, and that I'm not in danger of flunking out anytime soon. I think that if I worked a little harder next semester I could actually say my grades are decent!