That's what I put into the open memo. That and a lot of Bluebook panache. I own the Bluebook - it is my bitch. Here is my diary of a 1L Open Research Memo Assignment:
11 Oct
10:45 am: Assignment distributed - due 23 Oct @ noon.
10:45-10:50: Assignment explained.
10:50-11:00: General bitching ensues amongst classmates.
11:00-11:30: Give serious thought to thinking about a future time to read the assignment.
11:30-1:00: Lunch, first time memo is forgotten about.
12 Oct
11:00: Memo remembered. Shit.
3:00: Assignment read. This is going to be a piece of cake.
3:05: Thoughts about assignment lead to hankering for cake.
3:10: Get cake. Yum. Cake. Forget about memo.
13 Oct
11:00: Remember memo. Remembering sucks.
11:05: Remember that tomorrow and the next day are fall break - no classes. Woohoooo!!
11:06: Remember memo. Fall break sucks.
14 Oct (no classes)
8:00: Think seriously about getting up and going to school. Memo awaits.
10:00: Think some more about getting up.
11:30: Get up. Decide to go for a road trip.
Midnight: Promise myself to work on memo tomorrow. Tomorrow sucks.
15 Oct (no classes)
9:00: Up and at ‘em. Off to school. I'm gonna knock this memo out today and be done with it.
9:30 - 2:00: Research, research, research, dead-end, cold, warmer, jackpot, jackpot, jackpot...
2:30: Shepardize.
3:00 - 3:15: Curse Shepardizing. Curse legal writing for not giving me Lexis/Westlaw yet.
3:15: Lunch. Arby's. Yum.
4:30: Formulate my basic plan (in my head...of course).
4:45: Decide I've done enough. Figure there's lots of time left. Decide not to rush it.
16 Oct (Sat)
OK, I really don't know what I did this day - but I know it wasn't research, writing, studying or anything else not boring but interesting enough to remember.
17 Oct (Sun)
10:00: Go to school. School sucks.
10:00 - 12:00: Email, checking my school mailbox, more email, BS with fellow memo'ers.
12:00: Lunch.
1:00: Decide I've done enough. Realize I haven't done anything. Decide I am OK with that. Home.
8:00: Remember that I haven't done reading for class tomorrow. Reading sucks.
8:01 - 11:00: Read. Realize that I had a lot more to do than I realized. Ugh.
18 Oct - 21 Oct
To sum up, got a shit load of work heaped on, took lots of time to do it, memo set aside and fretted about mildly in the back of my mind...until....class for Friday was cancelled, memo deadline pushed back 5 hours and more cake...saving grace....no more fretting.
21 Oct (evening)
Poker. Rain or shine. Nearly won. Didn't.
22 Oct (no classes)
10:00: Get to school. This is it. It's all going to come to me now. Once I start writing, it will just flow...from my brain...like a faucet....from a well....which is dry. This sucks. Snickers. M&M's. Snickers. Candy Corn. Ready to go. Write. Write. Write. I'm on fire. Realize I need more research. Decide to write more...research later (this - I should mention is not something that I advocate, although, come to think of it, I really don't advocate anything so there's not much to worry about there). At some point - and really I don't know when it was - I emerge from my carrel like a hairy beast that has been drug out of its lair into the sunlight for the first time in months. I growl at those I see. Especially those jerks who don’t even have a memo assignment yet. Take pleasure in knowing that they will be doing theirs while I'm prepping for finals. Laugh maniacally - on the inside. Snickers. Smoke. Smile. Talk with fellow memo'ers. They are all here. Gotta love a school that is open 24/7. The lot of us, just dragging around, strung out on coffee and pixie stix, chain smoking, putting a brave face on, some 'padding' their status - "I've just got to proofread...and do a few other things", others blatantly admitting they're 3 No-Doze shy of wigging out and/or crapping themselves in a combination of fear and shame for having waited so long. They are all here. The gunner, the do-gooder, the freak who screwed the curve for everyone on the midterm (said with love), the LLM, the hot guy, the other guy, the prissy girl, the girl who stopped smoking at the worst time, the saint, the sinner, the slacker, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. My friends. My collegues. My competition.
Late: Left. More to do tomorrow. Grocery shopping. I fucking love 24 hour grocery capability. Drive home in the rain. It was an odd feeling - the kind of night that I usually love...a chill in the air, the smell of fireplaces burning, the pitter of little raindrops and the swishing of my wiper blades, jazz on NPR, heated seat - that's right - I get to use my heated seats now - screw the desert...but I didn't really enjoy it…OK I enjoyed the toasty seat. I mostly thought about the memo...the assignment worth 2/3 of my grade for legal writing. I thought about my grade for the closed memo (the other 1/3) and wished it had been better....and knew that I would have to do better this time. I went to bed late knowing that I would have to get up early.
23 Oct - D-Day2 (Sat)
9:00: (didn’t get up as early as I had planned) School. Read work from yesterday...still pleased...good sign.
9:30 - 10:30: Hit the library - tie up loose ends.
10 ish: Curse the fucking copier in the stacks - the piece of crap, bane of my existence throughout this damn memo. If, and that's a big IF, the copier would be generous enough to actually copy AND release the freaking paper, it would come out looking like the little paper fans I made as a child. If the copier was not so generous, I'd get a multiple site paper jam indicator which a fucking copier engineer (are there such people?) couldn't decipher...upon which the dance would begin...open this door, close it, slide this piece, turn that knob - where is the stupid paper??? Round and round we'd go until one of us was too run down to continue...then back at it we'd go. At some point, I managed to get all my copies made, remembered to take my swipe card out of the machine and flipped the copier the bird as I left. PC Load Letter this - you POS.
10:30 - 10:45: Shepardize again. Shepardizing still sucks...only more now.
10:45 - 11:30: Read new material, make notes, good stuff.
11:30 - 1:00: Write, re-write, re-write.
1:00: Nearly leave for lunch. Opt for a snack size snickers and 6 candy corns instead.
1:05 - 2:00: Final touches. Re-working, polishing, more cursing, a few cigarettes, 3 swigs of vodka (not really...)
2:00 - 2:30: Final Bluebooking. Bluebooking rocks. I told you - the Bluebook is my bitch.
2:30 - 2:55: Print, re-print, re-print, re-print...typo, typo, typo and then....
3:00: It's done. My legal love child is born. 2 hours before the deadline. I rule. Pack up all source material...seal...take The Walk.
3:01 - 3:05: The Walk. Down the hall...past the folks on my floor still working...spontaneous cheering erupts…not really…up the stairs...around the corner...through the library...past more folks still working...smiles all around...wonderful feeling begins to bubble...up the stairs...around the corner...more smiles...up the stairs...around the corner...down the hall...into The Box. I wasn't first...but I was far from last. The Walk back was just as good.
3:10: Time to leave. I see a few people along the way...some done, some not. Those done have a smile they just can't erase...what a relief. The feeling is incredible - like I’m a new person. I drive home a born again law student and enjoy the rain drops, the fireplaces, the fall colors, the picture perfect postcard that is Lexington.