Where the hell have you been?: I've been at law school. It's really a black hole...kind of like the roach motel and all that. No, I'm not there because it's fun. No, I'm not there all the time (such as would preclude my blogging). I've just been lazy, uninspired and boring.
I thought maybe you dropped out/failed out/burned the place down: No/No/No.
How much longer do you have this semester?: In precisely two weeks I will officially enter my rising 2L summer. Those two weeks will be no fun at all. My first exam is Wednesday (two days) - Administrative Law, and it's a bitch. Then Saturday is Crim Pro, and it's a bitch. Then Civ Pro II and Property...
Do you have a job this summer?: Yes. I still have more than one offer out there, but I think I am settling on one in particular.
What are you taking next semester?: Close Business Arrangements, Copyright, Death Penalty Seminar, Con Law, and Evidence.
Isn't it cool to be able to pick your classes now?: No (see above chosen classes). It is definitely not fun to be weighing Fed Tax against CBA.
How does registration work at your school - is it some kind of hip modern system and what are the chances of getting what you want?: All first year students are randomly assigned a number in the draw 1 - 130 (the number of students in the first year class). You register in this order for Fall 2L, then the order is reversed for Spring 2L and Fall 3L, then the order is again reversed (back to original order) for spring 3L. The long and short of it is - getting a low number your first semester is nice, but then you get a shitty draw for two semesters in a row. Get a middle number and you will always have a moderately good draw. Plus, the school/class sizes are quite small and the school offers a shit load of classes - so the chances of being foreclosed from something for the next two years is insanely low. Keep in mind that every other class also received their numbers in their 1L year, so the order of registration is also relative to class year - all rising 3L's choose first in their respective orders, then rising 2L's choose in their respective orders. The result - most of the classes the rising seconds want to take are full (of rising thirds) before they ever to get to choose. The actual registration system is the farthest thing from modern. Your registration number is assigned a time relative to that number (i.e. #1-1:00, #10-1:20, #100-4:00). You have a large registration sheet with all the offered classes. At your time you take that sheet up to the records office and check off the class you want. You give that sheet to the registrar and she looks up the classes to see if they are available. If they are, boom - you are registered for those classes. If a class is not available, you pick something else (and hope it doesn't conflict with anything else), you give the sheet back and so on and so on until you are registered for at least 12 units with no conflicts. The whole process takes about 5 minutes...aside from all the time you have to wait in the hallway for other jackasses ahead of you*. Then you leave the office and think about your shitty schedule.
*I was one of those jackasses. I ended up being allowed to register for two classes which meet at the same time. I admit to my part in the retardedness, but to be fair - it was after I had been unable to get into 3-4 classes and asked about this one and was told that would be fine. Turns out one class was entered as meeting at 1 am instead of 1 pm, so the conflict didn't show up. I noticed it shortly thereafter and had to return and get it straightened out - much to the dismay of all those behind me.
Are you going to try to write-on for Law Review?: Maybe. I paid the registration fee and will get my packet next week. I can't open it until the following week. At that time, I will read through it and decide if I want to do it. I will have two weeks to finish it and mail it in - then a summer free of LS responsibilities. Of course, that awesome summer could be two weeks longer if I decide to skip the write-on altogether. Law Review is overrated. It's not fun. It's a huge time sink. It looks good on a resume. Meh.
Are you going to be blogging this summer?: Yes. I will not be blogging much about work - the real world of lawyering and the blogosphere do not tend to live in harmony - nor should they.
What is bothering you the most right now?: The school works hard to keep up the exterior appearance of the place...mostly through landscaping and the like. To keep the flower beds nourished, they spread mulch all over the place. I'm sure the flowers love it, but you have to walk by it to get into the building and it smells like rotten assholes. It's terrible really. Then - they put in a bunch of flower...uhh crates? They look perfectly lovely. They put them all along walkways and near all the benches in the courtyard and so on. Then they put moth balls in the crates (to keep the squirrels out, I am told). Flowers smell pretty. Moth balls smell like ass. Flowers with moth balls in them don't smell like pretty ass, but smell pretty ass-ish all around. Rotten asshole mulch + ass-y moth-balled flowers = over-exposure to ass-smelling components every day.
What are you digging on the most right now?: Starting law school, you think about the three years ahead of you and it seems like a long fucking time. It is a long fucking time, but it goes by in a flash. A month ago, I celebrated my 30th birthday at a surprise party. I've always wanted a surprise party. 3 weeks ago, I moved from out in the sticks to the center of town. I am walking distance from the bars; I have a great roommate and a killer house. Three days ago, I attended my last ever 1L class. Three days ago, a U.S. Supreme Court Justice came to my school to talk about constitutional interpretation. Two days ago, 1L's, 2L's and 3L's packed the moot courtroom for some sketch comedy parodies of the infamous moments of the past 3 years. This came after a rousing cocktail party (which was continued during a healthy intermission). The show was funny as hell. I laughed with my friends and thought about how great law school can really be. Yesterday, I turned in my last assignment for legal research. I think I skipped back to my car. Two weeks from now, I will drive away from this place, have no law school responsibilities and giggle to myself that the undergrads still have a month left to go. Four weeks from now, I get to start a cool job. 3.5 months from now, I will be some 1L's Law Fellow. 4 months from now - that 1L and others will be the ones in the library doing those crazy ass research assignments. A year from now, I'll be heading into my last year of law school - wondering where the past two years went.
This year has been everything it was supposed to be plus some things it was not. I've met some amazing people, drank insane amounts of alcohol and worked harder than in all my years of college. I've learned a lot and I've enjoyed almost everything...except those fucking research assignments.
Cheers.
