I am an Epic Fail

I am a published writer, as in books. Don't let my typos fool you.

I am the person who took graduate level English Classes in undergrad for fun, sometimes 2 at the same time when I needed "cheese" classes.

I am the person who had their papers used as examples for other students on the CORRECT way to write a paper.

I just got my first Memo back for review from my legal writing teacher. I haven't seen this much ink on one writing assignment in my entire life. My lofty sense of writing talent fell to the ground like a deflated balloon (don't worry, there wasn't a 6 yr old in it!).

I am the person who thought they could write, but apparently was mistaken.

I am epic fail....

*sigh*

Now, its a pride issue that I have to turn in the final draft of the memo that is AWESOME.... will keep you updated.

Calm Before the Storm

It's coming, the crying jags in the bathroom, 1Ls walking around, muttering to themselves and the 2/3L's looking at us with pity.

It will start the week after Halloween, when it hits all of us that finals are really only 4 weeks away and we really are expected to know all of this crap, er, legal knowledge that the proffesors have been talking about while we facebook-ed. Our hearts will skip a beat, or 5, or hands will shake and we will realize the reason that we have had so much free time this semester when everyone told us how hard it was going to be was because we were only doing 25% of the work we were supposed to.

How do I know all this, and how can I be so calm? Because I did the same this this past summer, and I am wiser for it.

For those of you saying, "NO!! We don't want to be those 1L's? What can we do?"

Well this is what I am doing: outlining after each class (Its a lot easier to outline 3 classes of notes per day, then outline 3 months of 5 classes in 2 days) and I try to do 2 review sessions per subject, per week. Usually this is either a chapter in one of my Examples & Explanations books, or a lesson in CALI. While this wont get me through everything leisurely by finals, it will give me a nice solid foundation of stuff I already know, so I can focus on points I have struggling with.

Good luck everyone. It won't be as bad as you think!

Girls in Tuxes?? Not if This School Can Help It!

An openly gay girl in Mississippi wants to wear her tux in her senior pic. However, she is told that the photo will not be included. Why? Because it is against the "convictions" of the people who run the school, even though there is not policies in place to effect that women can not wear tuxes, or other masculine attire. Translation for those of you who don't have the pleasure of living in the south. "These weirdo q*ueers freak us out and instead of trying to find common ground, we are going to pretend that they don't exist."

Take the time to email the people with "convictions" and let them know that everyone's convictions are important (and in this case, protected by the first amendment), not just theirs.

Of course, this just affirms why I, an openly queer woman, am in law school and is busting her hump to open her own practice. This is the kind of thing I hope to have a small hand, if not a large one, in abolishing.

"Freedom is not the same thing as being Free" ~ PC

*edited because of my lack of grammar skills at bedtime, :)

The Second Wind Cometh

I feel rejuvenated, not literally, but mentally. I am still physically tired and wish I could sleep in on weekends, but the fact that I wake up early all week has jinxed that.... but I digress...

I am caught up in school work, so much so that all my classes are outlined to the most recent day, I am slightly ahead on reading and a written assignment and have had time to start reviewing. I realized I slacked off the first few weeks of the semester and now have to review that concepts I half ignored the first weeks cuz I was not on my game. But I am doing it!

I started a new, yes another biz venture (let me know if you want info) because I have a firm goal/idea for my solo career and want to work as hard as I can towards it, both financially and academically. For those of you that scoff and say I am only a 1L or that i should be doing something legal with my time, I say this... Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. And while do intend to find a legal job 2L year, but in my podunk area they are harder to find then a person who reads. And to quote Ani DiFranco "you gotta have an alternate plan."

So, yes, I am still yawning, I am still tired, but I feel good about the semester, the year and my future.... lets see how next week goes, lol.

Fall Biz

Well I have to admit that fall is kicking my tail all over the damn place. School is busy as all get out, to the point where I am pulling 13-14 hour days some weeks. Add in my new business venture and tyring to have somewhat of a social life, and I feel like I am burning the candle at both ends. And the candle is precariously short.

Of course, part of me is enjoying it as well. I like the feel of deadlines, to do lists and generally being busy. I love my new little biz venture and feel like between that and law school, I am making my finals steps towards being what I want to be. I like the constant struggle of time management and paper shuffling.

But I miss sleep, I miss staying up until 2am and getting up at 9. I miss being productive when the urge hits me rather than when I am able to be awake. But I guess this freedom will come back after I graduate.... here's to hoping. And on the sleep note, f this post makes no sense, its because of the lack of sleep and feeling generally out of whack this morning.

Shameless Self Promotion

Time to plug my biz.

As a 1L I was, as the people at orientation put it, "stongly discouraged" from working my 1L year. Of course, even if I wanted to, I dont know where I would find the time as at least four of my days a week are 12 hr days between class, meetings and driving. So, in order to supplement the 1L income and start socking money away for my solo office I hope to open after graduation (well, its also so I have an excuse to talk/read about makeup and fashion... "but, baby, I have to read my Glamour now, its market research!!) , I am selling mark brand makeup. Its a lovely venture as I can completely ignore it on weeks I am swamped with assignments, and have some fun with it when I have time. I wont go into all the details here, I will just simply link to my other, non-legal blog so that you can choose for yourself whether or not to read more about it or check out my site.

Shameless self promotion is over, we now return you to your regularly scheduled blawgging.

High School

I have come to notice that law school is a lot like being back in high school, except for this time around, I could care less if I am popular. I am just finding it highly amusing to see us all gathered at our lockers between classes, the majority of the 1L class huddling together in their little groups in a vain attempt to look like they know what the hell is going on, and we still have the sorority sisters looking down their noses at everyone and snickering together.

Come on people, how old are we really?

I wish I could have looked at situations like this with humor when I was actually in high school, probably would have made me a less angsty teen :).

Group =/= Group

We were put into groups today in my Legal Research class. I, of course, had been dreading this all week. From my experience in undergrad group work usually meant that of the 4 people in the group, 2, at the most, would be doing the work while the rest traded stories of how big of a b*ong hit they could hold. I didn't expect the law school to be completely the same, but I still dreaded it.....

Gods be praised, this group is only required to work on the same assignment and share information through whatever means we choose i.e. facebook, email, phone, shouts across the building mall, etc. My whole group breathed a sigh of relief. Not only are we each turning in our own assignments, but we are not even required to actually talk to each other! Now this is my type of group assignment!

Is it too Early to Wish it was Over?

Its week 2 into the fall semester and I already feel mentally frayed (evidence: I am typing this when I should be glancing over my Torts cases, today will be the day I am called on, lol). By 8pm every night I am unable to speak coherently, especially if the words that are required have more then 1 syllable, and I can't read anything that uses brain cells (hence I am happily re-read my beloved Sookie Stackhouse series again). While I am keeping up with the work, I feel like I am reading every minute of everyday and am struggling to find the school/life balance that everyone says is essential to mental health (and my relationship, lol.) I am not stressed as a lot of my fellow 1L's are, just tired. I loathe being tired.
Since I live an hour away I am wasting 2 hours of my day just driving, plus in an effort to be more social I am trying to re-connect with friends and I actually joined an student association (those that know me in RL just fell off their chairs). While I am excited about being a member of our chapter of OUTLaw, I am stressed about meeting new people (my hermit ways is what made me decide to force myself out of them) and hate that our first social event has me up at the school for 13 hours so I can attend. But I think it will be good for me to see something other then my beloved, my doggie and my office walls.
I am already looking forward to my 2L year where I can choose my classes and hopefully get at least one day where I am not at the school every week. Hopefully this is just what I usually go through at the beginning of each semester and I will be in my groove by next week. Any suggestions?

Summer Starting & Orientation Lewtz

Today was day 2 of 1L orientation. The first day I did not have to attend because I got the super-duper condensed version a few months ago at the start of the summer semester. However, all 1Ls have to go the the professionalism seminar given by the state bar association. Basically it involved some speeches from the Dean, Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court and then some small groups with local attorneys and judges where we talk about being an ethical lawyer and how to face the myriad of crappy choices we could come up against as practicing attorneys. However, we ended the day with some nice walk aways such as a jump drive from Lexis and some really good info from other organizations. Plus it was really cool to see all the people that started with me in summer and it really helped me get back into the groove again for the coming fall.

I do want to say that I am glad I was a summer starter. I feel like it gave me a nice and easy introduction as to what to expect from the coming fall. I was able to see what kind of studying methods worked for me for the exams, I had both a closed and cheat sheet exam, and get me used to how classes went with only the stress of having two classes. If you are a pre-law and don't mind spending your summer in a class room, I definitely recommend starting in the summer. It definitely gives you a leg up on fall and you can enjoy the beginning of the semester instead of having panic attacks every night before bed :).