I know Kung Fu

Well, not exactly. But I did get a semester's worth of CivPro crammed into my brain in one sitting.

It all started with an innocuous little email in my inbox this afternoon. It was from Bar/Bri, one of several Bar Prep courses out there (for those outside the law school microcosm, it's like Kaplan or Princeton Review... on steroids), inviting me to attend a few of their 1L course review sessions. There's one for each core class, one class a day from today until Thursday. It was free, so I figured I'd check it out. Today's subject was CivPro, 6pm.

I didn't realize how intensive the review was until I got there. A couple of people were talking about how long it was -- 3 hours. At this point I'm reconsidering my choice in coming. If it's not that helpful, I don't want to waste 3 hours sitting through this thing. So I snag a seat near the end of the aisle so I can bolt if necessary. I ended up staying the whole three hours, and it was a very good and worthwhile review. There weren't too many people there (about 15 from my section, tops), but most seemed to find it helpful. Though many might cringe at the thought of watching a videotaped lecture for 3 hours, the Bar/Bri people did a pretty good job with it.

Of course, the material was presented in a somewhat different fashion than Prof. Bauer. I'll still have to go over the material several more times and come exam time I'll process it into the format Joey B. prefers. But it was a good presentation of all the topics in CivPro.

There are three more of these sessions, and I'm looking forward to them. But next time I'm bringing food.

ND 1L: The Movie?

If a cheesy Hollywood director were making a movie out of my law school experience, now would be the appropriate time to cut to a montage sequence.

It would probably feature me doing the following: studying in the law library, walking to class while deftly dodging blasts from the ND sprinklers (ok, so they haven't been up and running lately. But you know, artistic license.), reading while eating lunch, bouncing a ball off the wall a few times before furiously writing down a good idea, studying in the law school lounge, laughing with some friends (with whom I'm presumably studying), typing on my laptop late at night wearing glasses and a wooden pencil clenched between my teeth, writing on a whiteboard during a group study session, sitting at a desk covered in papers and a cool desk lamp (probably wearing glasses again), sleepily studying in the law school library, etc. It would all be set to some montage mood music. It probably wouldn't be something upbeat like Eye of the Tiger; a more likely choice would be some soulful ballad. If you can think of something appropriate, feel free to leave suggestions in the comments.

After the roughly four minute montage, the movie would cut to me sitting down to finals.

Thankfully, my life is not a cheesy Hollywood movie. Though it would be cool if I could effectively study for all my finals in four minutes.

Acceleration

Imagine you're on a deserted country road lined by telephone poles. You start driving, and you watch as the telephone poles slowly pass your car. As the car picks up speed, the poles pass by faster and faster. Soon you're careening along at break-neck speed and the telephone poles are nothing but a blur. That's how things seem to be progressing at the moment. No sooner do I finish one thing, another pops up to take its place. It's the mythical Hydra meets pop-a-mole.

This past Friday was the first 1L exam, Legal Research. Like my classmates, I'd logged quite a few hours studying for this one credit, one hour exam. Why? Mostly because there was so much material that could be on the exam. I think it went fairly well, but it's hard to say for sure. While the ten citation problems were straightforward, the bulk of the exam consisted of T/F and evil multiple choice. Why evil you ask? Here are your options: a, b, c, a&b, a&c, b&c, all of the above, none of the above, q. Ok, so there weren't any q's. But I think you get the point.

After I finished the exam, there was little time for celebration, as my second memo to the court for Legal Writing was due on Monday. I devoted the better part of my weekend to it, and handed it in this morning.

One might think that with two big events behind me that there might finally be a time to catch my breath. Not so fast- tomorrow I submit resumes to the Career Services Office law firm resume drop. I'm still deciding which firms I'd most like to send my resume to (read: receive rejection letters from). I figure an initial volley of 50 resumes should suffice for now. That's just to law firms; the drops/mailings for Federal Work Study programs, Alumni Funded Fellowships, Public Interest jobs, and Judicial Clerkships will come later.

Of course, there are finals to look forward to as well. At least Thanksgiving break is just around the corner. Getting to see Honor, family, and a few friends will be nice. Not to mention food. And maybe a little R&R. Then it'll be back to the breakneck speeds of the law school rat race. I don't mind the telephone poles racing past. At least, as long as I don't hit one.

LOTR:ROTK Super Long Edition

Brendan's posted some screen captures and a link to a two-minute preview of the upcoming Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition DVD. Looks to be pretty cool, and will reincorporate many of the scenes from the book that didn't make it to the theatrical release. And since it's on DVD, you'll be able to pause it to take a bathroom break. 'Cuz you'll probably need a few during a four hour movie.

S.O.S.

That's Secretary of State, not a plea for help.

As everyone is undoubtedly aware, Colin Powell has resigned his post as Secretary of State. Though Bush has nominated Condi Rice for the position, she has yet to be confirmed. Leaving all that aside, Derek has posted a new poll, asking who should be the next S.O.S. - Derek, me, Brad, or a Ficus Plant. (Unfortunately, Biscuits the Turkey did not make it onto the ballot.)

I think I am clearly the best candidate on the ballot. And though I know I'd never get the job, since I didn't even vote for Shrub, Jr., I think it would be a nice gesture and in the spirit of non-partisanship and non-nepotism for him to appoint me. I'm not a black woman, but I am a short Asian ice dancer; I'd add diversity, and according to Brad I'm a member of a disadvantaged group that only recently got the right to vote. I like to travel, and if appointed I promise to send cool postcards from all the exotic locales I visit to each person who votes for me on Derek's poll.

Okay, enough fun for now. I hope to write an update on real life later tonight, for all of you who prefer that stuff to my attempts at humor.

Let's get ready to rummm-ble

In less than a month, I shall be fighting the good fight: 1L first semester finals.

But every main event has a few warm-up bouts, and here it's legal research and legal writing. We're already hard at work at our legwri graded memo to the court, and our legwri final is due after Thanksgiving. The legal research exam is this Friday.

Legres classes met today for an official review session, where students could ask any questions they have before the final. It was pretty clear that our prof didn't even want to be there, nevermind answer any questions. I couldn't tell if he was being purposefully evasive just to annoy us, or if he really couldn't communicate intelligibly if his life depended on it.

Fortunately, Cordell, a friend of mine from my study group, had arranged to have one of the other legres profs meet with a small group of students for an independent, unofficial review. She clearly and patiently answered each question and cleared up a few misconceptions about the exam. I learned a lot during those two and a half hours, which sounds kind of bad, but it's good that it happened before the exam. Oh, and Cordell's wife baked cakes for the group. She's an outstanding cook.

In other news, law school craziness continues. Between scrambling to prepare for the 1L job application process and scrambling to prepare for finals, everyone's a bit on edge. I'm not as stressed as I thought I'd be yet, but then again I tend to save that off until much closer to impending doom. And since I've been pretty diligent in studying, I think procrastinating on the stressing out is acceptible. Getting out of the law school every once and a while helps too.

I'll be back in Ohio in about a week and a half. I'm lucky enough to be having two Thanksgiving dinners this year, thanks to Honor's family and some considerate rescheduling by my family. Besides that I expect to be on the busier side (didn't I just say that there's job applying and legal writing to be done?), but if anyone wants to meet up for a little while, hit me up with suggestions.

On a final note: I'm trying to keep this page as updated as possible. A big thank you to those who have commented. But there's more to be done. As of this writing, only one person has submitted a caption for the photo captioning contest, and no one has submitted a suggestion for the new name of this blog. Let's get our heads in the game people, and start cracking. Now.

Career Services, or Job v. London

As if there isn't enough going on here at law school these days - legal writing memos, legal research final, profs trying to catch up to the syllabus, and finals just around the next bend - we're supposed to start looking for summer jobs soon.

Later this month, the Career Services Office (CSO) sponsors a huge resume drop, in which they flood the inboxes of various firms with all the 1Ls begging for summer work. Such positions are highly coveted for two reasons: 1) they are hard to come by (supply/demand, anyone?); and 2) they actually pay. Of course, there are other options for summer work. There are non-paying jobs in public interests, NPOs, etc. Then there are judicial externships, which are unpaid but prestigious because they are difficult to get. And though the non-firm jobs don't pay, there are ways to finance the summer so that you don't have to subsist solely on Ramen noodles and the occasional lime (you know, to avoid getting scurvy). Any work is good work, since it is imperative to develop experience, recommendations, and writing samples during the first summer.

Now for the proverbial catch: I was planning on studying abroad in London this summer, but most firms aren't interested in someone only able to work half the summer. The non-profits and other unpaid positions tend to be a bit more flexible.

I met with a CSO rep, Erika, yesterday to discuss getting a job for this summer. She recommended some changes to my resume (including adding that I have some foreign language ability - I might have to brush up on my French; you know, in all the spare time I have) We discussed where I was interested in working (most likely Ohio), and the problem of juggling London with summer employment. She more or less suggested that I rethink London, especially if I manage to get an offer from a firm. She also said that the other London option - studying there for the entire second year - probably wasn't viable unless I get a firm offer of 2L summer employment before I go. While it is possible to do some interviewing before and from London, callbacks would be something of a problem and most firms prefer to talk to candidates face-to-face rather than via phone or teleconference.

So what does this all amount to? Well, I plan to at least apply to several big firms. I'll know if they're interested in me before I have to apply to the London programme. I'll also apply to the various other employment options, and if they choose to hire me I'll discuss the possibility of working half the summer. As much as I would really, really like to go to merry ol' England this summer, I don't want to shoot my future career in the foot. And as Erika noted yesterday, there may be time after I take the dreaded bar exam (I don't even want to think about that right now) to get in some travel. If I don't have to start working right after graduation...

***Star Wars Dork Alert***

The teaser trailer for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith has now been released online at the official site, starwars.com. It's pretty cool. Anyone even remotely interested should go check it out.

Okay, okay, I'm done.

Caption Contest Photo #2

Yes, I'm still alive.

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's been eons since I last updated this thing. Lots of things have happened since my last post, so there's little point in trying to rehash it all. I'll just touch on some of the more important stuff (read: what I can remember right now). And I'm going to avoid the typical post-election analysis and complaining. Suffice to say that it's over, and let's all move on. Besides, you're here to read about my life, right?

Hmmm.... well I got my practice exams back. The verdict: I'm on track, but need to do more. I see the practice exams as recon work on the professors. As a member of my study group likes to point out, "You're not taking a torts exam. You're taking Tidmarsh's torts exam." A successful exam answer gets into the head of the professor. Now that I've gotten a little feedback, I think I'm better prepared to do that.

Things here at the law school have gotten considerably more hectic. We're a week and a half (roughly) away from the legal research exam. Legal writing continues to bombard us with assignments. Finals loom on the horizon, and everyone's scrambling to revise their outlines. It's beginning to get more stressful, and the competitive side of many people is starting to surface. There's talk of a few of my classmates being very secretive about their notes and study aids. It's all their perogative, I feel, but those in study groups have pledged to cooperate with everyone in the group.

Despite the frenzy, there are still some light moments from day to day. My CivPro class, through the efforts of some hardworking 1Ls, threw a birthday bash for Professor Bauer this week (it's something of a tradition for the 1Ls to do this). We got another prof to serve process on Bauer (Dutile, the Smiling Assassin- seems fitting). We paraded cakes, adorned with toys representing some of the cases we've discussed, into the classroom. Everyone ate, drank, and was generally merry. The "merry" part was mostly due to the fact that the celebration preempted any semblance of having class. It was just like elementary school again.

To go completely off topic for a minute- who else thinks that t.v. programming for kids is completely insane? Gone are the days of good wholesome cartoons with coyotes trying to drop anvils on roadrunners. Two of the weirder things brought to my attention as of late are this and this. Bizarre. I worry for the youth of this country. And not just because of the results of the election, because I promised not to talk about that.

At the request of my loyal readership, I will try to update this site a bit more frequently. Look tomorrow for another photo captioning contest. Also, I've decided that the name "Alex's Blog" is too boring. To remedy this, I am now taking submissions from my readers for a new name. Just leave your suggestion in the comments. The winner will get a prize to be determined by me at some later date.