I think I have recovered from Christmas

We had a nice Christmas (had fondue at my parent's house Christmas Eve, Christmas morning at home, later in the day at my parent's with the rest of the family, day after with my sister). I took the kids up to SF on the 27th. My daughter was testing at Johnson O'Connor. She had tests on the 27th in the afternoon, and the morning of the 28th. The final session was yesterday afternoon. While we knew a lot of what the testing told us, some was a surprise. But it was probably most helpful to hear that she has the aptitude for either a research scientist or a professor in Math or Science, which are the professions she is currently considering. She actually scored so high in many areas that is it more which one of them is she actually interested in. I think the testing was helpful in confirming some things, and even showing her some things she didn't know about herself. Perhaps those things are areas she is not so interested in now, but at least she will know she has those other aptitudes should she someday want to do something totally different.


What did I do in SF for 2 days while she was testing? Andrew and I went shopping. I was good and only bought 2 things....a new Sudoku book, and a pair of Louis Vuitton sandals (aren't they so cute!) that match my denim LV purse. : ) Andrew used his Christmas money to buy a PSP and a game and some accessories, so that pretty much kept him happy and occupied the rest of the time.

My son had a doctor appointment this afternoon, so we had to get home in time for that. I emailed my Torts professor to see if her grades were posted. I didn't get a response, so called the school and got a message saying the office was closed until Monday, but that the library was open today, tomorrow, and Sunday. So, I drove all the way over there before the doctor appt. to see if anything new was posted. UGH!!! ALL the doors were locked and a sign said the library was closed until Sunday. It WOULD have been nice if they had updated the school's message on their phones so I wouldn't have wasted my time and gas going all the way over there. I guess I'll go on Sunday, even though I will be there Monday, as I am dying to know ANY grades I can.

I'm still kind of tired and out of it from traveling, so I didn't get to any reading today. I hope to do CivPro tomorrow and Contracts either Sat. or Sun so that I can be 2 full weeks ahead. But, we bought the second season of 24 (bought and watched the first season earlier this year), and we are planning on watching the entire season this New Year's weekend. So, I MAY not get to the reading. ;) I didn't start watching 24 until somewhere in the second season, so I'm looking forward to seeing these last episodes that I've never seen before. BTW, I did see that 24 is premiering with a 4 hour season opener......2 hours on Jan. 15 and 2 more on the 16!~

Bummer!

I got my 4th paper in Legal Analysis back today. I didn't do as well as I had hoped, but I still have an 88% in the class overall, so I guess I can't really complain much. Even if I only get a 70 on that midterm, I would still have an 82% for the first semester. In that class, each semester is half of the final grade, so that isn't bad.

Today I finished up my CivPro and L.A. reading and briefing for the Jan. 2 week, so tomorrow I'll do my Contracts and then I'll have the first week's stuff done and out of the way.

Friday I need to go shopping for all the goodies I need to make for Christmas Eve and day. (I'm doing the dessert fondue for Christmas Eve, a salad and a cheesecake for Christmas day. Thank goodness I have a mom that loves to host and cook, so I get off easy!) Looks like after tomorrow, I get to take a little "school break" until at least next Thursday when we'll get home from SF. (I'm taking the kids up for a few days after Christmas.) I think I won't worry about getting started on the second week stuff. If I do, fine, but if not, who cares? I just want to be able to enjoy the holidays with my family! : )

Got a new cell phone- I'm styling with a Pink Razor

We get new cell phones and renew our contracts every 2 years. Our time was here, so this past weekend we went and picked out new ones. We all liked the Motorola Razor, so the boys got the silver ones and Erin and I got the pink (magenta) ones. I haven't had a camera phone before, so I've been having lots of fun playing with this one. I'm sure my cats are thoroughly annoyed with me for being subjected to my phone being stuck in their faces trying to catch the perfect pictures. But really, this phone is so cool. It is so thin, and of course, since I had to give up my "blinged" phone, at least this one is pink to start with. I don't think I have all the features figured out yet, but thankfully I have 2 kids that can explain it all to me.

I got back into law school stuff yesterday, reading and briefing the first Torts assignment. Today I did half of Legal Analysis' and half of CivPro's. Tomorrow I will finish both of those, and Thursday do Contracts. On Friday, I think I will start on some 2nd week assignments, which I'll also work on next week after getting back from SF on Thursday. It would be so cool to have 2 full weeks of assignments done, and work TWO weeks ahead this semester. I know, I must be a total dork. But, it just feels good to have stuff done and it gives me more flexibility on the weekends, which I like to keep free (as much as I can) for hubby and kids.

Just saw King Kong

I had my son for a date, and went and saw King Kong tonight. Overall, I liked it. I agreed with the reviews that said it was probably an hour longer than it needed to be. (I could have done without the bug scene, for one.) It seemed like it took a long time just to get to the island, an even longer time to get off the island, and then suddenly they were instantly back in NY City for the last couple minutes (ok, it was a little longer than that, but not much). And it was SCARY. I was hoping all the little kids there tonight don't have nightmares. (Heck, I hope I don't!) It wasn't really King Kong himself that was scary.....it was the freaky, zombie-like island natives, the dinosaurs of multiple varieties, the big bugs, the vampirish bats, and the continuing threat of falling, dangling and perilous heights.

I thought Naomi Watts made a perfect heroine. I liked Jack Black as the greedy filmmaker, and I have to admit, I think I have a little crush on Adrien Brody. I guess I like his tall, lanky and unusual looks. Maybe it's just the roles he plays, but he seems to have a kindness and sensitivity to him that I also find endearing.

Now I need to watch something calm for a while so I can fall asleep!

It feels weird not to be studying!

My last midterm was Monday night, and I have not done any law school related thing since then. It feels strange, like I SHOULD be reading, briefing, studying. I'm giving myself this week off. Of course, it's not really "off". I spent 5 hours on Tuesday finishing up my Christmas shopping, and all day today doing all the wrapping, and helping my daughter make spiced nuts and peppermint bark for her friends and teachers. So, although no school stuff, I'm still tired and hardly feel like I've had any break yet.

Tomorrow I'm going over to school to pick up my reading assignments for next semester. Other than that, I just have to run a few, small errands, and then I promised to let myself relax the rest of the day. Next week I'm going to do all my first week of January assignments (maybe more), so I don't have to do them the week after Christmas.

In other news, my daughter found out today that she was deferred in MIT's Early Action. I know she was disappointed, but I told her that since she was not flat out rejected, she knows she is up to their standards. It's just a matter of too many qualified people and not enough openings. I'm proud of her because just being deferred proved (to me anyway) that she is high enough caliber to make it there. So, I guess we get to wait about 4 more months to find out where she will be next year. I'm so excited for her, because I know she will do well wherever she goes. And I guess I wish my situation had been different when I was her age (had the opportunity and motivation to go away to school). It's a good thing we have our kids to live through. : )

Thoughts on the first semester of law school

Something I heard about law school before starting this August was, "The first year, they try to scare you to death. The second year, they try to work you to death. And the third year, they try to bore you to death."

I can only comment on the first year portion so far, but it is definitely true. It started the first orientation week, with the horror stories we were fed by the now second years. Oh, it is SO bad, and SO hard. You will never see your kids, you won't sleep. You're lucky if you get the required 65 to pass. They went on and on. They had us all questioning WHY we were even there. Then, of course, they kept talking about doing briefs and making outlines (without explaining what either were), and like clueless idiots, we all were wondering HOW THE HELL DO I BRIEF A CASE AND WHAT KIND OF OUTLINE ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

The orientation was not helpful. It was fear inducing. If that was their goal, they more than succeeded. Perhaps they were trying to weed out a few of the most weak hearted early in the process. But, I tried to keep the comment I had heard in mind, and NOT let them scare me. It was a game, I told myself....don't let them beat you!

I had always kind of thought that for a person to do well in law school, they would most likely be a liberal arts type of person.....good at reading tons, writing tons, and basically good at BSing their way through any situation. That kind of worried me because I am NOT that type of person. I am the more mathematically inclined, very organized, analytical, methodical. Another one of the quotes I heard prior to school starting was, "If you can't wow the professors with wisdom, baffle them with bs." That quote seemed to confirm my fears.

But I have found out that is not true, at least not at my school. You HAVE to know how to spot the issues. You HAVE to know the law. You HAVE to apply the law to the facts on the case, to draw your conclusion. There is no room for making stuff up or BSing. One professor was lamenting after a quiz last month that some students did not use ANY law on the entire quiz! Their answers consisted of them explaining what they thought was "fair". Needless to say, the professor was NOT pleased.

I have quite pleasantly realized that my analytical and methodical manner has served me quite well. I was able to approach all the exams and each problem on them in a logical and rational way, thinking through it, and going through the steps in order to completely discuss each issue. Honestly, I can't imagine doing it any other way. I feel that the way I am and do things helped me to do very well this semester, even though initially I had been afraid I would be struggling because of it.

Maybe I say this naively (because I don't have my grades back yet), but I am not struggling. I am enjoying and succeeding. Here's to being 1/6 of the way through law school!

Contracts is done, and I have officially completed my first semester of law school!

Not only have I finished my first semester, but I finished it well. I felt so calm and relaxed going into the Contracts test (taking a nice 3 hour nap earlier in the day probably helped....don't laugh....I had to because I woke up at 4:15am and would have never made it to the end of the test at 9:42pm if I hadn't) and I feel like I did really well on it. I really wasn't nervous at all. It was a long test (went the full 3 hours), but I methodically went through each of the two questions, addressing issue after issue. I felt totally prepared and ready for it. It was nice, because I feel like I really understand the concepts, so it isn't like CivPro, which to me seems to be this ethereal mist kind of hanging in the air, not really capable of being grasped. I not only understand everything we've learned in Contracts, I memorized all the law (70 individual statements~!) and was able to recall it all easily.

Now is the hard part.....I get to wait a month or so to find out my scores. I'm excited because I think I did well and I want to know NOW! : ) My final prediction for the lowest I could have gotten on my midterms (meaning I don't think I could have gotten lower than this score, though I could have done much better) is: 80 in Torts, 50 in CivPro and 70 in Contracts. It will be interesting to see how my actual grades compare. I promise to post.

So, now I have 3 "free" weeks. Of course, I need to finish my Christmas shopping (which I plan to do starting in about 4 hours), wrap everything, and then do my assignments for the week starting Jan. 2. I like to work a week ahead, so I want to get everything read and briefed before Christmas, as I'm taking the kids to SF the week after, and I am not sure that I will get any time that week to work on it.

I feel SOOOOO happy to be done, and it's not because of the fact that the tests are done. It is more like that I have accomplished something measurable.....I am a legitimate law student who has finished her first semester of law school......and enjoyed it and done well in the process.

CivPro is done!

Had my CivPro midterm tonight. While I'm sure I got an 80 or higher on my Torts, I will only say that I think I got at least a 50 on CivPro. The test was easier than the practice exams I've worked on, but I was fading (or freaking out, haven't decided which) by the end. On the last question, which was a statute of limitations (ERIE) question, I majored screwed up by not listing the twin aims of Erie, which I knew (to avoid forum shopping and inequitable administration of the laws), and while I mentioned Rule 15 and the plaintiff being able to amend her complaint to include issues that were associated with the same occurrence or transaction ("same nucleus of facts") as the original claim, I did not use the phrase "relation back" or say Rule 15c. Ugh. I hope that didn't count for toooo many points.

There were 2 fact patterns, and each had 3 questions. Out of the total of 6 questions, 2 were PJ, 2 SMJ, one venue, one SOL (Erie). Really, it was a pretty easy test. I think I did ok on the rest of it. If I said enough "magic words" or not, I don't know. I did find out that both Torts and CivPro should be graded prior to January 2, so that's good.

All that's left now is Contracts, which is Monday night My study group is meeting tomorrow and Sunday, for 3 hours each, to go through old exams. And my professor is having a review session on Saturday. Guess you could say I'm not going to have much of a weekend....or at least, I'll have a very contract-consuming weekend. At least the end is in sight!

Torts is done! And I kicked ass!!!!!!!!

Well, I probably shouldn't say that...for a number of reasons. But anyway, the test was 2 hours and 20 minutes and I finished a half hour early! I reread everything twice and still had 10 minutes to go. Hmmm....so either I did really well, or I totally missed something. I feel like I got at least an 80. I won't get it back for about a month, so I guess I can live with my little delusion for awhile. :)

Now, on to more sobering subjects....CivPro and Contracts. CivPro is just the most confusing jumble of a subject I have ever come across. Yesterday, I read all the old test and answers that are online. I would read the question and think WTF??? and literally have NO idea of what the answer was supposed to be. And this was for EVERY SINGLE question! UGH!!! Then I'd read the answer, and it was like, "well, that answer isn't that long and isn't that hard", but still, I have no idea about any of this. There is NO pattern, like IRAC, to use....it's kinda just like BLAH, there some stuff, and BLAH, here's some more stuff, and BLAH and now I'm done. And the professor is looking for VERY specific things in very specific places. It's not like you can just BS him. It will NOT work.

CivPro is on Thursday. I'm tired now after that test, so I have all day tomorrow, Wed, and Thursday to figure this class out. Hope I do!

Freakin' Legal Cause!

So, my Torts midterm is on Monday, which will be covering intentional torts and negligence (at least as much as we have gotten through so far). I feel like I really get it except for the Legal Cause part. UGH! It just seems so confusing....completely wishy washy and not clear at all. My study group did meet today and we went through an old exam, which did help some. I wish I would have some breakthrough in that area so it would all click for me.

Tomorrow, my group is meeting from 9-12, and then I promised the kids we'd go get our Christmas tree. All our decorations are in the attic, so it is a major hassle to get it all out, bring it downstairs, take it out of the boxes, and then put all the boxes away. I'm usually left with little bits of white styrofoam (which all the decorations are packed in) all over the place. And somehow, it is always ME who ends up unpacking everything, doing the lights on the tree (I HATE that job!), and then having to pack up all the boxes again (not to mention picking and packing up everything after Christmas). It's a huge hassle and pain actually, but of course, I will do it all, and not complain, and then afterwards look at our tree and decorated house and smile and be glad I did. :)