First Test, Kind Of

We have a practice test in Con Law on Monday. It is 2 hours and has 2 questions. For the third hour of class the professor will go over a model answer. Then we get to take someone else's answer home and write them a one page "you should have done this instead" thing. Participation in this exercise will give us one point toward our final grade in the class.

I honestly just don't get Con Law. It is not like other law classes in structure or material. Frankly, it is too much like Civics/Political Science for me to even want to care about it. Those were always the classes I hated the most, and it is hard for me to take an interest in something that bores me to tears.

So, what is my plan? Well, I do have a number of student outlines for the class. I'm somehow hoping to blend them and my own class notes (which I can use on Monday) into some magical document that will give me something to say once I get that exam. Not that I think that is likely to happen, but it is my goal.

One Month

It's been one month since I returned from Boston, leaving my daughter there at MIT. I guess I've kind of gotten into a new routine with my second year classes and without her being here. I don't really like it though. When I am home, it is usually just me and my 16 year old son, and 16 year old boys are not exactly big on talking or hanging out with their moms, so it feels like I'm alone more. Most of the time I'm busy reading for school, but I just really miss my daughter.

Usually, we would both get to a certain time at night and stop our schoolwork, and she would come downstairs and watch tv with me. It sounds dumb, but hanging out with her, laughing at and enjoying the same things meant a lot to me. Maybe because she choose to do it. I didn't have to ask her to. And I don't know many teenagers that willingly choose to spend time with their parents.

Neither my daughter nor I are "huggy" type of people. We both tend to be shy (at least until people really know us), yet sometimes she would come and not just watch tv with me, but come and sit right next to me and pull my arm around her. Yeah, that seems really corny I know, but those were the times I really cherish. Now, with her so far away, it is hard to tell how she really is. She says she is ok, and I don't have a real reason to doubt her, but I guess it's just that I wish I knew if she missed me as much as I miss her.

I know I've spent a lot of my posts on here recently about my daughter. "Officially", this blog is about my law school experience, from the viewpoint of a stay at home mom, but sometimes the mom part just steps in and takes over. Having to adjust my life to living without her here has been a bigger challenge than adjusting to the heavier load of second year classes, and the accompanying emotions are what weighs most on me. And it comes out here.

I did buy her ticket to come home for Christmas, so I cannot wait until Dec. 21 when I get to drive up to San Jose and pick her up. She will be here for at least 2.5 weeks, maybe longer depending on if she is able to arrange a research opportunity over the break. Still, it's hard to think that it is still another 3 months until I see her again. If I wasn't in school, I would go back and visit her before then, but with my schedule, I don't see how that is possible.

Thank goodness for cell phones and email.

3 More Small Claim Shifts to Go

I love Small Claims so much and wanted to stay on, but once I had been persuaded that another course was better for me, and I decided to pursue that, I was ready to move on. Not that I don't love working there, because I do. But now that I have different plans, I'm ready to get on to them. Now, I have only 3 shifts left, so by the end of next week, I will have completed 2 full units there. I've really enjoyed it and those I have worked with, and feel like I have learned a lot and gotten a measure of confidence about working with clients.

In anticipation of hoping to find a summer job in the legal profession, I submitted my resume and writing sample to 4 of the companies that will be interviewing on campus next month. Honestly, I don't expect those to result in a job, but hoping to at least get some interviewing experience. I have other ideas for summer jobs in case these don't pan out to anything.

For now, it is a constant struggle just to keep up on all the reading. With 5 classes, it seems like I'm never caught up. At least I'm taking notes on my laptop this year, but I still have yet to really go over any of them and start to compose any outlines. I'm being forced to do that this weekend for Con Law, though, as we're having a practice test on Monday. We get a participation point for taking the test and then reviewing a classmate's exam and giving them one page of feedback. I have a feeling I will need every point I can get in there, so need to do this.

I've still got 48 pages to go for next week's Crim Law class (at least I'm still working one week ahead), so I better see how much I can get done before class tonight!

First Test at MIT

My daughter had her first test at MIT on Thursday- for Calculus (18.02 for MIT people). The nice thing about MIT is that later that day she was able to look up online not only her grade, but a copy of the test with answers! She got a 99 out of 100! : ) Way to go Erin!

I wrote my cover letters yesterday, had them reviewed by several people, and reworked them until I was happy with them. Then I printed them and my resumes out on nice cream-colored linen paper and made up my 4 packets for the companies I will be submitting them to. The hard part is going to be waiting 2 weeks to find it if anyone wants to interview me.

All this business has taken away time from my reading, so I need to read for both Bus. Org. and Con. Law. this weekend. And since I woke up early and everyone else is still asleep, I think I'll go get a start on that right now!

Resume

I've gotten some good feedback on my resume, so after a few minor tweaks, it will be ready to go. Tomorrow I will work on my cover letters and put all my packets together. I'm not stressed about that and will easily meet the Monday deadline to turn all of that in to the office. While I would be happy to get the experience of going through an interview or two, after talking to the school's Director of Career Services (who reviewed my resume), I think I may have a decent chance of actually getting one of the summer jobs that will be available. Not counting on it yet, but it would be nice. (Finish up my clinical units, get great experience, AND make a few bucks.)

In my Business Organizations class, the professor calls on students, in alphabetical order, to brief the cases and/or answer questions in class. I knew I would either be called on later in class today, or early in class next week. I haven't been called on in there yet, and was nervous, because, well, that professor just makes me nervous. I had prepared by making sure I knew all the cases for today very well, and then what does he do? He pulls out a hypothetical and starts asking questions on that! Ugh. At least when he did call on me, it wasn't that bad, and I was able to come up with answers, even if not perfect. I feel like I can be a little less nervous in there for a couple weeks now.

Of course, I'm up to be "on call" for questioning on Monday in ConLaw, which I'm not looking forward to. Not that I'm intimidated by that professor, but I don't like the subject. I have absolutely NO interest, and unfortunately, when I have no interest, it is next to impossible for me to motivate myself in that area.

Right now I'm sitting in Tax class. While the professor seems like a genuinely nice guy, what frustrates me is that it seems like he could be more straightforward about the material and get us out of there in half the time every night. Thursdays are my long days (wake up at 5:45am, work Small Claims 8-12, Bus. Org. 1:30-4:30pm and Tax 6:30-9:30pm, get home at 10pm), and I am TIRED and not in the mood to listen to three hours of tax lecture, especially when it could be boiled down to one and a half. I'm particularly tired tonight, and seriously could fall asleep right now if in a horizontal position for more than a couple minutes. Because he let us out early last week, I'm assuming there is no chance of getting out early tonight.

Guess I ought to try to pay attention for a while.....

News from MIT

My daughter (a freshman at MIT for those who don't read this blog regularly) and I are in contact every day somehow. Now that her classes have started, it tends to be email, as we aren't usually both free at the same time. She is sounding like a real MIT student. Here's part of her last email:

"went to a meeting last night for the undergraduate women in physics group. that was cool... but not much happened. just some free dinner basically. and i have to leave soon to have dinner with my advisor and the other kids he advises. so free dinner again. and i'll be staying up until about 4am finishing the insane psets that i am nowhere near finishing. but on saturday night i'm going to this "hacker meeting" with some people with b entry and they apparently take you on top of the dome and whatnot."

"Psets" is MIT speak for problem sets, or basically the notoriously hard homework. I had a post about the latest "hack" at MIT last week. Hacks aren't what most people think of as hacks....more like a sophisticatedly planned trick, with no harm done. Anyway, she has wanted to get up to the top of the dome, so I'm glad she will finally get up there. I asked for pix of the view from there, so we'll see if I get any.

Overall, she seems to be adjusting fine and doing well. If she is lonely or homesick, she is not showing it. The nice thing is, even with her being on the other side of the country, between emails, text messages, cell calls, IMs and such, it doesn't really feel like she is so far away.

As far as my classes, I'm doing ok, but feeling not quite like I'm getting it in 2 classes. Hopefully things will become clearer soon. But I am getting excited about doing the on campus interviews. I really hope I can at least get one. Even if I don't get a job offer from it, it would be nice to have the "practice" of doing an interview since it has been so long since I did one.

Well, the last 28 pages of the Property Future Interests book is calling me, so I guess I need to close this up and get to it!

On Campus Interviews

About a dozen local companies are coming to conduct interviews on campus next month. Some are only looking for graduates, or those who will be graduating, but most are looking for students to hire for summer jobs. I think I have picked 3 companies that I will submit my resume to. From there, they will decide whom they would like to interview, so you're not really guaranteed anything but it doesn't hurt to try.

I already have my writing sample and resume ready. Now to write the cover letters. I have until next Monday, so I don't think that will be a problem.

It would be nice to get a summer job lined up now. A full time job would make Moot Court and Professional Responsibility, both of which I will be taking in summer school, a little more hectic, but summer school goes quickly. We'll see. I'm not going to count on it, as I'm sure there will be plenty of talented competition for the few positions that will be open.

Resumes, Road Construction and Cats

Since last night I have gone through about 6 revisions of my resume. I'm not sure how good it is, but I have a nice full page of info about me. I'm going to get some feedback on it tomorrow, so that will give me some direction on what I need to change or add. Hopefully it isn't too bad.

I've got about 60 more pages to read for Property to finish this book on future interests. I'm not sure if I'm going to get that done tonight or not. I may have to finish it tomorrow morning.

Since I've mentioned the lack of work on the torn up streets around my neighborhood, I thought I'd post a current photo:
Normally a scene like this would frustrate me to no end. As you can see, the south bound lanes are completely closed. This does cause me to have to take a detour, and is not exactly convenient, but I am THRILLED! This intersection was supposed to be completed last November, and it has been sitting in this ripped up state since way before then. I'm just so happy that someone is actually working on it, with full crews for full days, that I don't even mind having to go around. I just hope they get it done before it rains so we don't have to wait until spring for the final finishes.

As long as I was taking pictures today, I had to take some of my cats, so I thought I would include a couple of them here as well.
They normally don't want much to do with each other, at least the older (dark) one doesn't want to with the younger (white). The younger one is pretty much aloof to everything and everyone so she really doesn't care what happens as long as someone will give her fresh food every 2 hours. (That is a story for another day.) But today they were looking particularly sweet as they took a nap together! At least until my photography woke them up!

I see I'm not the only one who enjoys celebrity gossip

Yes, folks, I do look at the different stats and stuff for my blog. And believe it or not, the most out-clicks from my page are for the various celebrity gossip blogs on my page. Just kind of amused me, as I didn't know others enjoyed that little indulgence as well.

Well, I'm trying to start my resume, and I feel like it looks so pathetic. I mean, I've really only worked 2 real jobs since graduating from college, and that has accounted for only 3 of the last 20 years. Yes, I've been busy raising kids and volunteering, but I don't think that does much for my resume. Hopefully someone will be impressed by my motivation and drive in going back to school (when I didn't have to) and look at all the ways I stepped up over the years to fill needs in my church and children's schools. It's just my nature to step up and get involved, at least where I feel I can make a difference. I want that to come through in my resume somehow.

Anyway, I better get back to it. I did finish my Biz Org. reading today, though I haven't done any more Property reading yet. I guess that will be for tomorrow. Oh, and the gun show was kind of a dud because my favorite vendor wasn't there, but I did pick up a bunch of knives for son (he collects them) for Christmas. Ok, back to it....

I feel like I got my butt kicked...

...but in a good way. Ok, that sounds weird. But, here's what happened. I went in and talked to my professor. I came away realizing how low I was thinking, and now I have an entirely different outlook and plan for the next 2 years.

At first, I was kind of unnerved, because, I admit to being stubborn and not one to easily want to change my plans or ideas. But, this professor has a way of saying things that are both encouraging and challenging at the same time. And it made me realize, I need to get as many selling points as I can to be able to market myself effectively.

What does all this mean? First, that I'm going to stop working at Small Claims after I finish my second unit there in 3 weeks. I really love it there, but as this professor told me, being comfortable isn't always a good thing. I've probably learned all I'm going to learn there. That time would be better spent doing other things. The "other things" category has a number of possibilities, which I hate to disclose until I'm more sure of which direction I will be taking.

Other than that (the having my whole focus changed thing), I need to get some reading done this weekend. I've finished about half of the Property book on future interests and would like to finish it over the weekend if I can. I also need to read Biz Org. for next week. I'm going to try to get a lot of that tonight, because I'm going to a gun show tomorrow and want to have fun without doing any work for a while. Oh yeah, and I need to work on my resume! Yikes!

The Perfect Way to Start the Weekend

Well, maybe not perfect, but close enough for me! We got out of Tax an hour early tonight. Thank goodness! I can honestly say I truly hate that class. The good thing is that it will be over at the end of the semester.

But yeah! My weekend has now begun!

Linear Thinkers

A conversation with a fellow classmate today made me realize why I like the 2 classes and professors that I do. They are linear thinkers and teach in that fashion. That is how I work, so I mesh well and feel like I understand where they are going and what they are saying.

The other 3 professors do not appear to be linear thinkers. If they are, then they are not teaching that way. They are more all over the place. If I was a creative thinker, I would probably be fine with that, but to me, it is more frustrating than anything. I end up feeling like I'm not taking good notes in these classes, and that I don't have any idea of what is being taught. Ugh. My world would be so much easier if everyone thought the same way I do! : )~

I'm looking forward to a meeting with one of my professors tomorrow. I want to go over my plans for the next 2 years, and kind of make sure they think I'm on the right track with what I'm thinking of doing. I want honest feedback, but really, I suppose, I want to hear that I have good ideas. I am excited about my plans and don't want someone to derail them before I even get there.

My New Vehicle is Being Custom Made, For ME

I decided I did want to get the new SUV, and I wanted a very specific set of options on it. I do not like to pay for ones I don't want, so they are having the factory make it just how I want it. Hubby had them do the same thing for his last one. Mine is made here in the US, not in Germany, so it won't take quite as long, but it isn't supposed to be here until December. No problem. Gives me time to sell my 2 other vehicles.

When I was in the local dealership about a month ago (for a repair), I was chatting with a salesman, and told him that our last purchase was made at the dealer in Belmont, who sold to us for $100 under invoice. He said that we should buy from them here next time, implying that they would give us the same deal. At that time, I wasn't considering buying anything so soon.

We went in a couple weekends ago to test drive the SUV and make sure I really liked the new model. Of course, then, the salesman's story had changed. We were supposed to see the value of buying the vehicle here. Um, sorry. The vehicle here had been spilled in in the back seat. Even if it was cleaned up, I would know it had been there. And if anyone is going to foul my new car, it is going to be me. (Not that I would do that to MY car.) AND, I did not want to pay for $1500+ in options I didn't even want!

I think he thought, as a woman, I was going to fall in love with THAT vehicle and have to have it. Sorry, dude. That vehicle is just a commodity. And frankly, I want something clean and with the options I want, not just what happens to be sitting there. AND, I don't appreciate being led on that you were going to sell at invoice when you won't. You'd better learn that with the internet, better deals are everywhere, and if you're not going to be competitive, you are going to lose sales. You lost this one. Yes, I will have to make a 3 hour drive to pick up my vehicle in a few months, but it is going to be perfect, and just as I wanted it, and I'm only paying invoice for it. Guess you can sell your car to someone a bit lazier than me.

Gotta Love a Professor Who is Actually a GOOD Teacher!

I love my Property class. It's not that I'm super interested in the topic, that I'm not completely disinterested. My professor is just really good. She explains things well, doesn't have an attitude, and makes sure we get it before moving on to other things. I can only wish my other professors were more like her.

In other news, my daughter saw her first hack (MIT-speak for "prank") as a student today. (We did see the Cal Tech cannon, which was stolen, on campus in April while there for Campus Preview Weekend.) Apparently some students put a real, full-size fire truck on top of the MIT dome, as a tribute to 9/11. I want to know how they did it. Here's some pix my daughter took:


I will have to start a list of all the hacks she sees while there. I'm betting there will be a lot! You can go here to check out past hacks.

I like 40%

I like 2 of my 5 classes. Is that bad? For me it is, because 2 of the 5 I don't like are evening classes that seem to last for 10 hours, not three. I can barely make myself stay awake in these two. At least one of those is a one semester class, so I think I only need to make it through another dozen coma-inducing sessions.

I've been able to stay on target this week with my reading, and have all my reading for next week finished as of now. Of course, the following week for Property, we have to read 100 pages of a separate book, which includes questions every few pages which you are supposed to do, but which slow the reading down a lot! I started that this afternoon, and it is not hard, but it is going to take me awhile.

Last week was so much more manageable without having 2 classes on Monday because of the holiday. That, combined with a slow day at Small Claims day on Tuesday, really helped me get all my reading done. I don't think this week will be quite as easy, so I'm anticipating having to do a lot more work next weekend.

Since I'm free with nothing I have to do, I'm going to the sold-out Bulldog game tonight with 7 other family members. That's always fun. It's just nice to have a weekend without having to do school stuff. I mean, I may read some tomorrow, but I love not having to. In fact, I should go get ready to leave now....bye!

Small Claims Fun

I'm still working 2 mornings a week at the Small Claims Advisory Office. I love it, even though it is totally unpredictable. Yesterday, we had a grand total of TWO phone calls (both in the last 20 minutes of the shift), and NO walk ins. At least I had brought my CrimLaw book with me, and was able to read all 36 pages for next week.

Today, I brought in my laptop, intending to organize my class notes, which I had been typing in separate documents. I also needed to type in my notes from the very first Property class, which I hand wrote my notes. I did manage to type in 2 pages of those notes, but that is all I did. We were SWAMPED today. It was basically non stop clients, in person and on the phone. Of course, being that busy made the shift go by SO quickly!

We had a funny message on our machine today. (Since we are constantly taking in walk in clients, all our calls go directly to an answering machine. In our time in between walk ins, we return those calls.) An old, fiesty woman left us a message expressing her displeasure that we were not answering the phone, and informing us that she was a taxpayer! LOL! We actually listened to it several times, in between clients, to give us a chuckle and spur us onward.

I've come to the realization that my life is going to be crazy this year. I'm just not going to have the luxury of as much free time as I did last year. I'm going to be up late (because of 3 night classes) and up early (working 2 morning shifts, and driving son to school everyday). The good thing is I'm not taking a writing class this year, and if I get my reading done during the weeks, I won't have to spend my entire weekends researching and writing.

I've also come to the conclusion that I really don't care about competing. I've proved I'm a good student. I don't need to kill myself to be a certain ranking. I'm obviously going to end up in the top 50% (more likely, the top 20%) and what difference is it going to make if I'm ranked #3 or #10? I don't know, I guess I just feel like my priorities are different. It's not that I don't want to do well, but my life is not that of a single, non-parent student. I have a husband and kids, and they are important to me. Because my daughter is on the opposite side of the country, when she calls or is available to chat online, I AM going to be there and drop whatever else I'm doing. I want her to know she can ALWAY come to me, and ALWAYS count on me. If you aren't married and don't have kids, I suppose it is easier to get caught up in the "competition", but frankly, I have a life and don't need to do that. The people in my life are more important to me than a number.

Speaking of my kids, my daughter had her first day of actual classes today at MIT. She is taking Physics, Chemistry, Calculus (I think it is actually Differential Equations?) , Art History, plus a PE class. Her schedule is worse than mine, except she doesn't have any night classes. Every day her schedule is different, but in general, she has classes from 9a-5pm. MIT has both "lecture" and "recitation" sections for each class she has (other than PE). The lectures are the big group classes and the recitations are the small groups, often with a TA. She has 19 class sessions that she has to attend each week. She is going to be as busy, or moreso, than I am!

The Mystery Baby Makes Her Appearance

I'm too much of a celebrity gossip blog addict to ignore this one. What do you think? Does she look like Tom? What's with all the hair?

Something to look forward to!

We booked a trip to Las Vegas for our anniversary in November. Last year we went to Maui for 5 days over the Thanksgiving break for our anniversary. This year, we need to go the week before our anniversary (because of a lame Biz Org. midterm on the Friday night of our anniversary weekend). We're going to stay at the Wynn and go see a show while there. Of course, it goes without saying that plenty of shopping will also be part of the weekend. : )

We're also contemplating a trip to the east coast (NY, Boston, etc.) in May once finals are over. That one isn't booked yet, but we still have time. We would end up there as my daughter finishes her finals, so she could maybe join us for a day or two before we all come home.

Another fun thing....I think I'm going to get a new car. I have 2 cars now, an SUV and a 2 seat hardtop convertible. For the last 2 years, my daughter has driven the SUV. Now that she is gone, I have both cars back again. I spent all last week driving the SUV, remembering how much I like that vehicle. But it is 7 years old now, and has over 85,000 on it. My little one is a lot newer, but I'm probably going to sell both and get the new model of the SUV, which I test drove and loved this weekend. I'm not sure when this will happen, as I need to sell both vehicles first, and I want to have it ordered so it comes with exactly the options I want (and nothing more or less).

I'm still missing my daughter (but getting more used to having her away), but at least I feel like I have something to be excited about now. Yeah! :)

Caught up, I guess

So this afternoon I finished all my reading for the coming week, which is where I always try to be before each week begins. Finally for the first time this semester I don't feel behind.

Since this is a long weekend, I'm going to use the next 2 days to get a jump on my reading for the following week (week of Sept. 11). My goal is to have all my Property and Con Law stuff for that week read by Monday night, which will leave me Tuesday to read Crim Law and Wed. to read Biz Org.

Thursday are my psycho days (Small Claims from 8am to noon, Biz Org. from 1:30-4:30pm, and Tax from 6:30-9:30pm---UGH!) where I get nothing done. If I can keep to that schedule, then I will have Friday free for an appointment and errands. (Unfortunately, life does go on, and as the resident "homemaker" I still have all the chores and duties that entails, which means several hours a week of that kind of stuff.)

I'm getting more used to my daughter being gone. Not that I like it. I'm just lonely without her. Even though we email, chat online, and talk on the phone, it's just not the same. It makes me sad because maybe, probably, it will never will be the same. And it's like no one else understands how I feel. Ever other parent/person thinks you should be happy to get rid of your kids, or that somehow, kicking them out of the nest is easy and natural. Well, it's not. Maybe if you're the type of parent who sent your kid off to day care and saw them only an hour or 2 a day it's not so hard. But when you see them ALL the time, and choose to be a stay at home mom because you wanted to be involved in ALL of your kids' lives, it IS hard. I choose this job because I wanted to, not because I didn't have other options. I just don't appreciate people thinking something is wrong with me because I actually miss having my daughter around. I feel sorry for people like that, because I think they missed out on the best part of having kids.

Whatever. I guess I'm just not in a good mood. All I see ahead of me is endless reading with no breaks. No travel, no trips, nothing fun to look forward to. Even when my daughter comes home at Christmas, it will only be for 2 weeks, and one of those I will already be back in classes. It's not like I can just jump on a plane and visit her for the weekend anytime. It takes basically a full travel day each way. : (

I really need something to look forward to, something to motivate me. Because right now, I feel like I am dragging.