Sigh of Relief. Take a Deep Breath. Now, Exhale.

I disappeared for awhile. I'd like to say I dropped off the radar, but once they had the Security Guard set up in Pence Library, i could probably be found at any time in the past 3 weeks in the exact same location. Pence Library. Second Floor. Carrel #27.

Legal Rhetoric finished in November. That left plenty of time for Exam studying....

Civil Procedure. Awesome. You follow the rules. Done. maybe you'll miss a point or four, but it's a straight forward request, and that's the way it goes. No problem.
Torts. Ugh. After a term of mistaken identity, I'll luck out thanks to some blind grading number. That being said, the test was difficult only in trying to apply the 5 key policy arguments to every situation. Well, it's unfair for the Dads to not get any damages for the death of their son. Let's see though, it would be immoral to hold BisneyWorld responsible for allowing the customer to make an educated decision to their own harm. Then again, BisneyWorld is in the best spot to allocate the cost of injury by upping costs by a minimal amount upon entry. Not meeting the recommended height of a BisneyWorld ride isn't necessarily negligence for the courts to decide, but rather, if there is a problem, a change or adjustment in policy from legislation. Again, BisneyWorld may be responsible for maintaining and enforcing the height requirement and be in the best position to know it because of their specialized amusement business; holding BisneyWorld responsible would likely be a deterrent for other amusement parks to prevent such a tragic mishap. Money to the Dads because some case said so. And with that, I'm done in a fraction of the time a normal student would take. No better feeling than finishing a 4 hour-exam in 27 minutes. I am awesome. Really, that should be a complete answer, and it only took me seven minutes. ... Actually, I was scærred (the æ is for pronunciation) of the test and tried smokking out more of the issues on the test. So I did (really, I did) take the full time for the exam. I'm also pretty sure I didn't fayl.

And Contracts. You know when you play Hearts, and you go into a round shooting for the moon? You really commit to a game plan and hope it plays out properly. Well, try imagining you're shooting the moon, but you don't get to see what actually happens with the tricks, you just keep going and you'll find out whether you got all the points you had hoped for, or if there was some factor you missed completely that ruined the whole gambit. Yeah, I wrote a lot down for Contracts, I missed the earlier plays in the closed-book part of the test. Maybe, just maybe, I shot the moon on the second round. Have to wait until January to flip the cards over and see if I got 'em all. Let's just say, without much consideration, Contracts was way more than I bargained for and there may have been some uneven bargaining power on the professor's side. Oh well, just have to see what I get later.

On that note, allow me to recap a little. 3 Exams, two fellow students, and one big semester are DONE. So, as you can imagine, at the end of the term I am ecstatic to be done. And now that I'm home I'm able to talk about it. Being home of course is not actually being in this house that I'm staying. My room from when I was younger has since been changed into a game room, and now an office. The second room I had from my come-home-from college days is now a craft room. And I'm in the guest bedroom, which is the most tolerable at Christmas time--it's usually referred to as 'the santa room' where 50 or so Santa statues and figurines are upon the shelves staring at you when you sleep but at Christmas all the Santas come out to play and find new places throughout the entire home to cheers with hot chocolate or check their list a second and eternal time.

Being home is more than just the room, obviously. It's Mom. It's Dad. It's my Godfather. The best is having my friends. I love you Mom and Dad, but know that the feeling of home without the boredom of sitting around the house is thanks to the relationships i've developed with my best friends.

I've been home for less than 24 hours, but I know I'm home. I've taken a shower, a well-pressured, hot, glorious shower that comes after a term of shower snake-dancing to rinse. Upon arrival I've managed to scrimmage with some 7th/8th graders at the old work-place. I enjoyed some Ninkasi, Total Domination IPA. Saw the Footes, won a game of scrabble, enjoyed another Oregon beer. I also managed to play a little Dr. Mario. Oh Dr. Mario, I missed you. Naturally there are a few other things to do while in town, as in, see everybody I haven't seen yet, enjoy some stumptown, play a little chess, eat a lot breakfast, have breakfast over a nice bloody mary with my old partner. You know the good stuff. Man, oh man, it's nice to be home!

PS. Because this is not a walk in the park, and it would be very difficult to say I have gotten through this long first step completely on my own....

Thanks to:

Mom and Dad for the love and support.

Zoe, Aaron, Justin, Sarah, Jon, Anie, and Angie for the mental health support.

Sheesh, Maki, Mr. Wilson, B-Vir, and Hunter for all the study tips, outlines, drinks, eats, and friendly/unfriendly competition.

§ 3 for a continued momentum that collectively drives us to achieve. Yeah, we're the intense section; so what, you better believe I'm showing up 90 minutes early to get that seat in the third row slightly off the center.

Spooky Scary Halloween

Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm a little late on my expectations. It's been a few weeks and I've been pretty busy. What with the fun at the whole school and all. Actually, some of that fun of law school went away with the excitement of doing something new.Imagine if you suddenly went and jumped out of a plane. You're excited, you're heart is pumping, and you've never really done anything like it before. The thrill is there as the plane takes off, and you're up in a rickety plane, and the lead jumper is giving you all the information you need. What to do with your body when you leave the plane, how to look around and enjoy the scenery, and what to count to before pulling the chute's cord, are all explained in great detail. It's scary, but exhilarating. You jump. The plane is flying away. You're falling and screaming. You're looking around and taking in the gorgeous scenery. You realize then that you're count to ten has come up, and you pull your cord. The chute opens and when that anvil comes out you realize that all of you're excitement is that fleeting sense of silly security. The jump transformed into an exercise in survival.

When you're tired of trying to keep your head above water, sometimes the only thing left to do is give in and take a drink. So, thank goodness Halloween came around. Let me tell you, everyone hit up this little house party. Pop-eye and Olive Oyl, a dinosaur, Snoopy (me), and there were witches, and soldiers, Sarah Palin, republicans, frat boys, skeletons, and of course swine flu. Some strong points were the ninja turtles, and the D*** in a Box boys, and the "Bridges".

Yeah, there were a ton of great costumes and photos. But just wanted to highlight some of my favorites. So yeah, this is what's been going on. Outside of that, I've been going to school, taking my classes, getting lost in all of the information, wrote a memo, and oh yeah, got a group of students in my section together to grow mustaches for the month of Movember.

What's 'Movember'? you ask. Well, it's essentially a month long effort of men across the States and the world, growing mustaches for a good cause. Yes, you've heard correctly, I'm growing a mustache, or a 'Mo', for those in the know. Yes, it's a little silly and a little obscene, but it's to raise a few dollars to help prostate and testicular cancer research and awareness. So, Section 3's Legal Man-Mos (because, similar to most of our new ventures into writing legal memos, we're embarking onto a mustache venture). So, please, check me out, or check us out, and donate a few dollars to the research and to the cause. us.movember.com/donate (you can look up our team name "legal man-mos" if you'd like to donate).

...

fine, here.

That's not my name....

Every once in a great while everybody gets called the wrong name. It happens from a friend, from a family member, from your coworker. There are times when it's acceptable, and there are times when it's even funny. The sort of 'laugh with you' funny, instead of 'laugh at you' funny. Then of course there are those times when someone gets your name wrong. Period. As if, making the extra-effort to learn your name is too much work for them.

The Italian professor that teaches the Torts class for my section, has an accent. It shows. It's no big deal, sometimes things come out funny, "pleasure me", "little boys shouldn't play with their balls in the pool", and other juvenile phrases as such. Sometimes she mispronounces names: Evan becomes Even; Asheesh becomes Ashesh; and Lawrence becomes Christopher.

What? Christopher? Yeah.

I started classes 7 weeks ago. I'm not silent. We used to have a name tag bit, so that professors would know our names, and we have since moved past that. I'll admit, there are 80 students in the class. I don't know all of their names. Most of them, yes. Not all of them though. Just the same, the students' names that I don't know, don't speak. They don't say anything unless they absolutely must. I, however, am fairly vocal. I speak on a regular basis, and have spoken on a regular basis for the past 7 weeks. In those past seven weeks, I've been called several things: Christopher, Christian, Christopher, Michael, and Christopher. Apparently, because i sit near a guy named Christopher, I'm a Christopher by association. It's fairly ridiculous, and become more of a joke than anything else. Everyone knows my predicament, and everyone laughs all together about it.

Last week however, the light shone through. After 6 weeks of classes, mistake after mistake, after mistake, My professor finally got it right! I was shocked, visibly shocked. She called me by my rightful name, and I was dazed for a moment. After that point however, I spoke, gave my point, and it was a decent one. Score one for Lawrence, finally.

After that, it was smooth sailing for the class. Filled out some evaluation forms, that she read and acted upon. No, i didn't complain about my name; just other issues such as telling people when they're wrong, and that participation would probably increase with cold-calling, instead of strictly voluntary. It was sweet.

Last Tuesday, we worked through a hypothetical situation. In this situation, it was stated that CA had a statute that drivers can't talk on their cell phones while driving. Mary Nobody was driving at night when she saw someone was following her, and she decided to call 911. While calling 911, she hit John Doe, another driver who had his infant son in the front seat because the child was sick and John was in a hurry to get to the hospital. Sections of the class taking the plaintiff's side, and defendant's side. It was interesting, and somewhat useful to try and work through the arguments of both sides in the situations. We were working through them, arguing back and forth, argument, point, argument, point, and as things got a little off track, I was going to settle it down, and try to bring it back to the original hypo by focusing on a couple of arguments by the other team. The hand went high, and a very confident professor called out, "Christopher."

"DAMN!" loud enough for everyone in the class to hear.

For the record, after that I went ahead and tore up the other arguments. At least, I thought I did. The professor seemed more convinced with what I had said. Though, I think it may have been more persuasion and confidence in the speech than actual points; my team had already made the key points, they just needed to be driven home. (Oh, I'm so funny.)

PS. I don't see how she can get my name wrong after that...everybody else knows who I am at this point.

What Happened?

So it's been two weeks. And it's been a whirlwind. Well, that's not entirely true. It's really just been crazy and study-filled. Well, not-so-much study-filled, as it has been work filled. Pretty crazy actually. Had to write this memo, for the 4th time. Nothing says hard work like trying to write the same paper/ideas down 4 times, and turning in an assignment that i have no confidence in.

oh.

well.

For the record. The only thing anybody missed last week was this...

the AU campus has had some 120+ cases of swine flu, and 5 have been at WCL. Naturally this would leave me to be less inclined to hit the library...if I didn't have to be there to study. Oh well. I suppose a little swine flu scare won't keep me away. Besides, it happens all over the place, and the moment any person gets sick, as we're instructed every opportunity a professor has a chance, we should just stay home. Do have one particular instructor who must be at the forefront of WCL Swine Flu defense. So naturally, a slight scare, a deft sneeze, a reported student with the potential to have swine flu (which usually involved hitting the health center; being told they can't really test for swine flu at the health center...so they assume you have it; work off of that), all leads to a reminder of the proper procedure. When this person has found out they have swine flu, they need to stay home. Period. Stay home, don't worry about classes, they can be recorded/taped. We can watch them on our time.

So, if I ever miss class, I won't really be missing it. Ever.

Back to the library. Been studying there, but the reasons to stop going pile on, as there was an incident recently. First, I wasn't involved in any way. I didn't know the person, nor the witness. That being said, here's the great e-mail I, and everyone else received:

TO ALL STUDENTS, FACULTY & STAFF

INCIDENT REPORT

Incident:

On Monday, September 28, at approximately 11:00 pm, a male visitor to the Pence Library exposed himself to a WCL female student while in the quiet reading room of the library. The male then ran out of the library and although chased by WCL students across Mass Ave was able to avoid getting caught. During the chase he dropped a bag containing personal papers possible indicating his name but no address. This information is being processed by the AU Public Safety and the Metropolitan Police Department for investigation and further action to a possible apprehension.

The following was reported to WCL and to Public Safety:

A WCL female student observed a male sitting two carrels next to her with his pants open gratifying himself while watching the student. When the male noticed her he got up and started running towards the library exit. The student ran after him telling and yelling to stop him. As they ran by the Security desk, a WCL Security Officer chased the male offender across Mass Ave in the direction of 49^th Street where the male offender was able to get way.

Yeah. There's nothing else to be said. Period.

I'm a little tired, but I'm thinking i'll put up something a little more pleasant next time.

I must be completely into the swing of things. School has picked up its pace, and where I thought I was ready, I was wrong. At some point between the Tuesdays, an assignment built up on me, consumed me and my time, and I still couldn't get it together until the minute of class it was due. Ridiculous.

In my Legal Rhetoric course, which is essentially "How to read and write, legally," we have been given several assignments which are meant to eat up all of our time.

There are Quizzes/Exercises on how to "cite" the law. (The law, by the way, consists of statutes and cases and everything else that governs that special way we interact with each other. There is an amazing system of 'citing' all these different places that laws come from, based on state, the reporter its in, how many balloons were released after the case, very important distinctions that lead up to a complicated method that requires a book with tables at your side at all times.)

There is, of course, reading out of the "how to write legally textbook". Actually, there are two textbooks that explain how to write. We are supposed to read both of them. Then, when the time comes, they tell us what was written in the book by giving us a large incomprehensible, impossible to follow along, and truly boring lecture on a Monday morning at 9 complete with powerpoint presentations that have slides of pictures of various websites that we'll be doing the majority of our legal research on. These slides are of course meant to show us how to navigate the sites, and search using proper terms and what not; realistically it's a lot like taking pictures of a large deserted island, complete with a jungle and some water features, then showing these pictures to a group of people explaining that there is treasure underneath a particular tree in one of the pictures, and then telling them to go find it. But, before you do that, you also take pictures of another deserted island, with a slightly different jungle, and a slightly different water feature (you know, a larger waterfall or something cool), telling the group that the same treasure, or potentially the same treasure, is under a different tree that looks like the one you just saw but on a different island. Then you tell those people, who want the treasure, truly do want to be able to find it, to go get it ... and no, there's no map--only the pictures of the islands. ... Have fun.

The work to be done is an "Office Memo". Apparently I didn't get it. It took forever. I don't want to go into great detail about it...still a little sensitive. Just know that I'm trying to learn how to write in legal language, and form. It's not easy. It took a lot of time last weekend. It was my first draft. This week is the next draft. I haven't gotten feedback yet, but I'm pretty sure i need to overhaul the paper. Which means it'll take a lot of time this weekend as well. Ugh.

It's okay though. Thanks to the Jewish Religion I have a three day holiday. Ah, Yom Kippur. Thanks.

On that note, I'm headed off to the library. I took most of Friday off from studies and am going to hit the books today!

Law Pal

I am what I am, and that's all that I am...

Man...am I ashamed? Maybe. Am I embarrassed? A little. Today, somehow, I became that kid who ruins it for everybody. Inadvertently of course, but the homework did say there was a handout....Well, that kid who is up front and really, really, really wants to do the homework. All of it. Yeah, I was the one to ask about the "handout" on the syllabus.

On the other hand, I'm also the kid who went ahead and yelled, "YES! Thank You!" After this cool guy in the back made the point that I'd been waiting to make. (I came to find out later that I wasn't the only one who felt that way; just the only one to say something about it.) In any was, it was a decent Contracts class. Except for all the wasted time. That part was less fun. OH, and all those times where I really don't fully understand the key terms-'cause their meaning and importance seems to change every class.

On that note, I'd like to file an official (maybe unofficial) complaint about a little something.

Let me tell you how I feel about all this "Promissory Estoppel" business.

Well...actually I'll tell you some other time. You can try to figure out for now, and I'll complain after this coming week. I think that theoretically it should be somewhat explained; the problem is, as far as I can tell, it's just something that the courts created in order to make some injustices in the law that they had established, magically disappear.

At least I'll stand out in the professor's mind.

Law Pal

Nice Shirt

Had to make a little note. So, I started on Tuesday.

Today I wore the shirt that the school gave me. That's right, the school was quite willing to give out a "free" t-shirt at teh beginning of the year. The first day I got it, I was stoked, but wanted to wait it out. And I did.

Days passed. Now weeks. It's been nearly a month. Running low on shirts, and it still being warm out, I figured today is the day.

Grabbed my shirt. Threw it on. Picked up a long-sleeve to go over it. Layering will never get old after all. Feelin' good, biked to school just like every other day of the week. Sweet. Nothing too serious.

Got on the elevator, Hah, figured that the first person Id see would have the same shirt. Oh well, as ridiculous as it was, those were the odds.

Hit the locker, passed a few people from my class, ran into the chill Matthew McCauno..i already forgot how to spell it. Well, he had the free Washington College of law shirt on too. On a roll.

...

...

There were 11 out of 80 of us in class wearing our free WCL T-shirts.

We were lookin' good.

Sometimes you want to go....

where everybody knows your naaaame....

Well, it's late on a saturday. Okay, not too late, only 9, but it's late for dinner and I haven't eaten yet. It's been a long short week. The four days of class seemed to pass slower than the usual five days. Oh well.

Its been a rough week as I said. Why? Simply put, nothing happened. I went to class. I went to the library. I've been going through the motions just like everybody else, and in reality this is the slowest it's been. Part of the problem, I believe, is that as a result of better understanding in our classes, they are becoming more difficult to grasp. There is nothing straight forward. There are no rules to study, guidelines to follow, or histories to study that make the lessons clear. Instead, there are constantly changing cases, constantly changing supreme court justice decisions (on what seem to be the same subject), and more and more frustration from a lack of understanding in the class.

On a short note, as this will have to be because I'm pretty tired and don't have too much fun and exciting things to tell you about, it's pretty nice going to school. Having class with the same 80 people every day makes every one feel like part of the crowd...or at least me and some other guys seem like part of the crowd. This is important because soon when the real hard stuff starts to settle in, everyone is going to need help. It's nice to establish these basic acquaintance relationships, in addition to the cool friendships, so that you can go and find the smart guys and girls from the class and make a solid study group. At least, that would be the theory.

Already I think that there are some expectations for myself and for a few of the other people in the class. Yeah, yeah, I know. Really though, you can see the recognition and the general sense that people have about you when you talk to them. And when you drink with them.

Again there was a going out on the town trip with the kids from the section. Mr. B and I hit up this other little bar first, $6 cover to get in, free drinks from 9:30-10:30. Good situation. After that Mr B., Buckley, and some of Mr. B's lady friends and I all hit up the bar where the party was at. Thank goodness we didn't show up at the start, jello shots had been given, taken, and the more had been given out again. After the first bar I focused on water, thankfully, and ended up making it quite a late night. Took the metro home, hung out with a buddy for about an hour more; very relaxed southern california kind of guy, he has a pet hedgehog, he's cool. In any case, it wasn't too bad, but it's a strange feeling going out to a bar, seeing a tone of people you know, and having to make the rounds. It's kind of fun. You hear, 'there he is', or a, 'where ya been?' or even just, 'hey man'. Finally, I understand that 'Cheers' theme song.

Even with all this fun. Studying is definitely taking it's toll. So many words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and sentences have just been absorbed. Also, I may have created a slight addiction to coffee and caffeine. It's nothing serious, but last Friday I was definitely moving a little slower in the morning. I didn't have my coffee, or my orange juice. It was pretty rough.

Law

PS. Hopefully when this coming week is over, I'll get out during the daytime. Hopefully.

I FEEEEL GOOD! an' i knew that I would now...

Well boys and girls, week 2 has come and gone. Well, week 2 of schoolin'. As a result of my new found education, I have discovered many new found things, about people, about the law, and even about myself.

It's been a week, and in the past week I've been noticing a lot more about people here in Law School. Yeah, yeah, I'm coming back to that old high school analogy, but it only serves to remind me that very few people have any idea as to what they're doing here. Yes we all have a common goal, graduate with a legal degree. Yes we all accept that we will take different paths to get there. Most importantly though, Yes, we are as eager as possible to go out and drink with as many acquaintances as possible while badmouthing the village idiot [and NO, he is not an idiot savant], and sweet talking/commending the varied assets of the opposite sex...many of whom really are quite smart.

Yes, the characters in the classroom have been well established, the groups have been very nearly formed, but there was a lot of camaraderie between everyone after "Bar Review".

Bar Review is a very cleverly named attempt at allowing the 1Ls (that's the 400 people who just started at AU) a means of going out to a bar and getting reasonably priced drinks and reasonably drunk. [As I'm studying law, I've realized/learned that many aspects of the law boil down to being reasonable. Whether someone was reasonable in making some particular choice is the difference between...well, everything.] And, as it stands that we few hundred legal students have hit up the bar in hopes to become better friends with the other few hundred people we haven't met yet, tend to jump from reasonable, to rakish, to rubbish. And, we all do it as a team!

The next morning of course, everybody was in high spirits. No wait, they were high spirited. No, that's not it either. Everyone had the spirit...and the beer, seeping out of their pores as we spent an entire class discussing the 'efficient breach theory' and the 'efficient theft theory'. Yes, two full classes spent learning the efficient breach theory, one that basically says 'person A should breach a contract with person B, if person C offers them enough cash to make a profit even after paying the expected difference in money that they owe to B'. Long story shorter, if nobody loses anything, and at least one person gains something, it's a good deal, an efficient deal. 2 days. one idea. Transaction costs, we'll talk about those later. 2 days. 1 idea. efficiency.

People are pretty interesting, except when some of those people slow down the efforts of the class's educational flow. Classes have been crazy. It's been 2 weeks, I've had four classes. Two classes are 2 hours a day and 2 days a week. One class is 1.5 hours a day and meets 3 days a week. The last is 2 hours on Tuesday. So, according to my calculations, and my experiences in class, I've spent approximately 2.42 eternities in class. The past 2 weeks have been crazy. Most classes I'm sitting, listening to a lecture, understanding half of what's being said for about half the class and spending the other half the time trying really, really, really hard to figure out the complicated legal language being used. I admit, that's a bit of an exaggeration, sometimes the class slows way down, then I'm working really hard to resist the urge to check facebook, or utilize my resources to find out what the 23rd president's middle name was. Well, all that aside, these classes have presented lots of information, lots of new challenges of language and people, and a feeling that I haven't felt in awhile.

I. am. excited. It's been straight crazy these past two weeks. Sitting all around me are people who're after the top spot. The top spot isn't just about reading the words, or reciting the analysis; you need to commit. I've spent hours, upon hours, studying at the library. Me. Law Pal, at the library in weeks one and two of school. What's more? I want to be there, I'm excited to hit the books. I'm so excited about everything at school. The entire experience is currently overwhelming. It's hit a point where the difficulty of what I've enrolled in, and paid $40,000 to participate in, is currently way over my head.

This feeling is being thrown into a river for the first time. You know it's water, but everything is new. The floor is made of pebbles, or sand, or bugs, or fish. The water is freezing, you have to catch your breath and slow your heart. That first time though, you know that you're underwater, taking a deep breath, playing the normal game doesn't work. As the current flows by your body at different speeds, so do the questions of what's touching you and swimming by you and grazing your thigh and your chest. Suddenly all this information is just too much, five of your six senses are pulling in massive amounts of new information. Fresh water that's seeped into your mouth tastes cool and clean. Your touch has been heightened as every part of your body is connected to something tangible. You open your eyes to rays of sunlight pouring into the water around you, and the clouds of dust and sediment that explode from each touch on the river floor. The silence in your ears is broken by occasional gusts of flowing water. This overload of info quickly kicks your psychic self into overdrive. The visions of real and unreal possibilities all strike at once. Float to the top? Swim to the bank? Crawl on the ground? Turn into a fish? Jump to a tree? Drink all of the water? Drown?...

Here, here's where you have to make your choice. And when thinking about the choice you make, you find out more about yourself. What is it that scares and motivates you? Do you freeze up? Some would probably go for the bank, get out and take a look at what just happened. For me, I love it. Being completely overwhelmed offers me a challenge that I can't even imagine how to get over it. But putting aside all these possibilities of course the first thing to do is kick your legs, move your arms a bit, and peek your head out for some fresh air. Then, once breathing, I think plainly, "I don't know how yet. I don't know what I'm doing. I do know that there is a way; my way of navigating this water. I'll use the flow, make my own way, and come out on top."

I'm intimidated. I'm scared.

I haven't been this excited about what I'm doing in a long time, if ever.

As a kid you're excited to do whatever strikes your fancy; not so much as an adult. As an adult though, instead of being innocent excitement; it's packed with fears and experiences that children can't appreciate. Having an appreciation of this feeling magnifies the feeling twofold. I may not be ready, but then again, I don't mind being thrown in.

Everyone reading this,

Thank you. You've helped me get here, some more than others. But knowing those out there that are reading this, I really want to say, "Thank You".

I appreciate all of your love and help that got me here.

Law Pal

PS. Some post feel-good stories.

On the way home from 'the Container Store' where i purchased a small clothes rack for my closet, I crossed the street and had to walk around this little red sedan with its flashers on sitting in the crosswalk. This incredibly frail, 374 year-old second generation gypsy woman got out of the back seat with her cane and bag in hand. I think she might've been a gypsy, or Italian, she had an accent, but not strong enough to be misunderstood. Instead, the aged larynx made her tough to understand. Well, I walked by about 3 steps and waited to see if someone was going to get out of the car to help her. Nobody else got out. I was in a small hurry, it was 11:45, I was about 5 minutes from the house, and I wanted to be home by noon, but didn't have to be. Well, walked up and she took my arm. She was headed into the bank right there on the corner. So I walked her in. Then I waited for 20 minutes as she ever so elderly got cash from the banker. So finally having finished her transaction I helped her out of the bank to locate that small red sedan again. Luckily it was parked about 4 car-lengths down the road. So we gingerly made it to the car, her using my arm as balance. just before getting there, her grand-daughter got out and took her from me. And for the record, she was very sweet, and very appreciative. Sometimes, when thinking about the negative view people have of other people and the state of affairs in general, it is nice to play a role on the side for good.

Have you done your good deed today?

People are people...

Law School.

My first week of Law School has finished. In a sense I'm in awe. This being the first step toward the finish, it's as if the gun just went off and in a sudden rush a small pack of Usain Bolts sprinted. Only, nobody told any of them that they aren't running the 100m; instead they're running a marathon, potentially a triathlon, depending on what path they take.

I'm in the 3rd Doctrinal section. That is, there are 5 different groups of entering law students with approximately 80 students in each section.

In the beginning, before classes got started, some older students, 2Ls, 3Ls told us during orientation that Law School was a bit like reverting back to high school. Big text books you don't want to carry. Lockers. Gossip about others. And, I didn't really get it then. Truly the feeling of high school didn't occur until week one of classes. Placed into class with a bunch of strangers. Trying to feel out who will be the cool people in the class to have as friends. Which of them are better as acquaintances.

Already there is a kid that manages to show up 5 to 15 minutes late to every class. He shows up, sits down uncomfortably (though the professor doesn't make a deal out of it), and at some point he thinks he has something to add to the conversation. Unfortunately, he doesn't. He isn't the cool smart kid who can get away with just about anything because he's learning it all and contributes to the greater educational flow of the classroom. His is a brilliance that seems to exist with the sole intent of stopping academic energy. Questions that have no bearing on the current issue (rather 5 back). Questions that have already been asked. Questions that truly to make everyone in the room stop and think, hmmm, where did that two come from? In the five days of classes, this young master of non-sequiturs managed to miss the final class of the week.

Oh well, thankfully he's not in my legal rhetoric course, as there are only 12 of us and it would be quite close quarters.

Other than that, there are several good folks in the class. Many of whom I don't know yet, but they're probably pretty chill. I've made some decent friends, or advanced acquaintances really as it's only been a week. There's Buckley. He's a real WASP looking guy. 6 foot and change, fit rugby/new england build, married 3 weeks ago, has a confirmed but not rugged jawline, and a strong interest in the law makes him at present the guy I'm probably competing with the most as far as grades go. Basically, he's loud, somewhat obnoxious, and constantly testing how far he can go to be a brown-noser/ over-excited achiever without looking like a total jerk. Admittedly, I wasn't sure how to handle him at first, but he just seems really over-eager in a lot that he does. So, I'm down, I think he's an alright guy...besides, he's been packing teddy grahams at lunch time and sharing them down the table so that's awesome. Plus, as I said, he seems to have a good understanding of what he's reading, and that's always a good player to have on your team.

Chief, a thin dude with crazy red and wild hair seems pretty cool. Honestly, he just seems like an all right kind of guy without much to remark. He gets his stuff, he does his work, and he seems equally as astonished at some of the people that hit up the class an hour and a half early to get the 'good' seats. He joined me for a free trial aikido lesson Friday night at a dojo nearby, so I think he's a pretty good guy.

Mr. B (for balla, I can't think of anything better without using his real name). Recently returning from Afghanistan, this young Indian kid, sporting the trim beard, and aviators at night, has done it. He's basically a smart, cool kid. He already has a Masters in Public Health, and is pursuing a law degree now. Of course, this seems to go against family wishes that he become a doctor (like his father, and everyone else in the family....of course), but they've accepted that he's doing law, and if this should fall through, or he changes his mind, he can still go back to medicine. His ex-girlfriend's brother is the lead singer of MGMT, and there are words floating around about his family being involved with a couple of NGOs. Again, smart, and cool, a guy you want on your team.

These are some cool guys I've been having lunch with, high school. There are other people in the class that are interesting as well. A real Matthew McCaunehey (how do you spell his name anyway?) looking guy. He's hit the popular note and everyone likes him. You have to, he's nice, funny, and so irresistible. There's this cute vegan half-Japanese girl. She seems super nice, interesting, and is in my legal rhetoric class, so that's cool. A stalky and burly looking Californian who sports a pair of key lime pie green headphones everyday--take that iPod Nation! He's in my rhetoric class as well. He's a decent guy though, despite what you may have thought before I said he was decent. Unless you thought he was decent before then in which case just ignore the 'though'.

Let's face it, they're all characters and this list could go on forev...well, for about 80. I don't know most of the other sections that well. Sure there's one or two I've met. Orientation, and lunchtime. Most of them seem to be in the same boat though, some crazy committed classmates, and other who're just chill.

Honestly though, I'm just feeling lazy. Last night was our first week Friday. It was a late night. I hung out with Chief and Mr. B, and met some of Mr. B's old NYU friends. While out we ran into a bunch of other people from the school. It was a familiar experience. Going out to a bar, hanging out with people, then seeing others from class at the bar, acting cool and unexcited to see people, having a good drink together, and then having one more drink together.

Hmm, maybe high school got upgraded to freshman year of college.

Anyway...I'll tell you all more about classes later...it's Saturday morning, and I didn't expect to be up at 10:30, much less writing...so here you go, and think good thoughts while I get myself gathered and ready to go--to the library....ugh, I need some OJ.

Law

PS. I really hate mosquitos.

PPS. That reminds me, I could go for taquitos.

What a day, What a day, What a mighty mighty good day!

What a day, what a day, what a mighty mighty good day. Sort of.

Well, it's Saturday. Orientation concluded yesterday with the Dean's Barbecue. Barbecue chicken, hot dogs, vegetarian patties, and of course burgers were on the menu. Laid out beautifully for incoming students to choose, right off the two-inch hotel half pans. That is, cafeteria style. The barbecue had to be moved inside because of inclement weather. So, they packed everyone into the dining hall again, though, it wasn't required and was thus a little easier.

Dean G is a man's man, with a thick spanish/chilean accent ( I couldn't tell you the main difference) and a list of accolades longer then the three men closest to you put together. He's been everywhere, speaks at least 4 languages, probably more, and can hit his heartfelt jokes in a tired welcome speech every time. Awesome. Nothing else to say about the man other than he makes any accomplishment you've done pale in comparison.

It's actually a little exciting.

Today's adventure.

It was to be a simple enough day: buy a book from the book store, do some homework, eat a little lunch, meet my student mentor at a bar, let him assuage any fears I may have, return home for dinner.

Book.

After waking, having breakfast, and getting ready for the day, I made my way to the bookstore. My legal rhetoric and research class requires several texts. After having purchased all of them I came to find out yesterday that the store has the wrong book on the shelf. Perfect. I've returned my books once at this point in order to repurchase all of them with a 10% discount; now I'm heading back to return another book. Oh well. I arrive at the store, backpack and smile on. Hit the shelves and find, not to any real surprise, they are out. I guess when 350 students find out that they have the wrong book, most of them will want to pick up the correct one. Oh well. I grabbed a pocket black's law dictionary, a small picture for my empty walls, and an weekly homework planner instead.

Homework.

After returning home from a failed adventure at the bookstore, I managed to hit the books. Really just one book, and after having read the entire 20 pages of my handbook I was exhausted. Well, it was about 1:30 and I figured a little nap wouldn't hurt. So I took one. Really, I took about 3 all jammed together.

Lunch.

I woke up at twenty to four, and was supposed to meet my student mentor at 4. I ate a banana.

Mentor.

The bar we agreed upon was only 3 miles away and so could be easily biked in 20 minutes. Brickskeller, sounded cool enough and they dozens of varieties of bottled beer. So I grabbed my bike and took for the door. It's raining. No, It's more than raining, it's pouring out. Without a lot of time, and dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, I grabbed my helmet and a long-sleeve shirt thinking that the storm would probably let up in ten minutes; the same as the other storms form the week. It didn't. After getting lost, I showed up to Brickskeller at about 4:10 drenched. All of my clothes stuck to me, everywhere. My shorts were now see-through. Upon trying to lock my bike, and realizing I have no idea what my mentor looks like as this'll be the first time I meet him, a dude standing in front of the bar yells at me, "Are you going to the Brickskeller?" Brilliant, I thought, that was a pretty smart move just waiting outside. I said, "yeah", and he informed me that he was my mentor and all that. He then continued to tell me that Brickskeller was closed until 6. On the corner I saw another bar called "the Fireplace" and they had a nice fireplace in the outside wall. I suggested, we agreed, so we hit up the corner fireplace.

After parking my bike, we strolled in. I was dripping everywhere, my clothes were stuck to me, and I was still wearing a helmet. Looking to sit next to the fire we strolled over and after getting a look from the 3 thin curmudgeons at the high table next to it, we sat one table down, close enough to hang my long-sleeve on the fire's glass gate. After the denial I finally noticed the music playing. A darker bar with deep wood tones, high tables and the bar in the center; playing a mix of european electronica and pop-divas. Huh. Everyone likes different music, and you know, I think that the bartender might've had some feminine tendencies. Still sopping, I asked where the restroom was and the well-groomed bartender smiled and pointed the way to the other side of the room. Strange there'd only be one restroom, but it was a small bar.

Stranger still was that this one small restroom had a sign that said gentlemen. Huh. Maybe there was a ladies room around the corner in the hallway nearby. Well, after trying my best to use paper towels to dry up my clothes and self I walked out and caught the eye of more than one gentleman at the bar. Matter of fact, they were only gentlemen at the bar. Matter of fact, there were only gentlemen in the bar. Huh. Every inch of me is covered in sopping wet clothes; I look like something that the cat dragged in, ate, and then spit up again; and I'm just now realizing that most of these men are probably looking at me and my drenched t-shirt. Now I'm feeling a little embarrassed 'cause I know that some of them are thinking, "Ugh, how tacky," and worst of all they're right.

We had a beer there, while I tried unsuccessfully to dry off. I came to find out, through my mentor's friend's text, we had stopped in the 'gayest bar in DC'. I'm not sure if that's true, but the house didn't really get hoppin' until Beyoncé started playing. These men were into it. We talked a bit, and really just talked about a few things here and there, histories and futures. He didn't have any of my professors, and had only heard of one of them--so any fears that I may have had were not necessarily assuaged.

Dinner.

After the Fireplace, we walked to "The Big Hunt". Watched the majority of the Red Sox and Yankees game. I was starving. So along with my double dead-guy ale (thank you rogue on tap), I ordered cajun chicken tenders and fries. Mmmm-mm! Fried chicken tenders sound good. And they were. And after not having saved $20 on dinner like I had originally planned my taste buds were satisfied. My lips were burning a little, but overall my palette was content. Standing up and heading back to my bike, and my mentor's car, I felt like someone had laid down some bricks inside my stomach and then moved into their new home. It was heavy. It was gross. It was not a fun bicycle ride home.

Afterward.

To make my stomach feel better, I joined the family. Everyone having arrived at last, they were partaking in an apero while they prepared a little gazpacho for their dinner. They were making mojitos. It was probably the best way to finish. A little rum, a little mint, some sugar and seltzer water. Everything settled and I had nice chat with the newly returned family. So, in my day where nothing planned went right, it's nice to return home and be able to just sit down with a comfortable drink, in a comfortable chair, and have a nice conversation with the family... even if it is somebody else's.

Orientation Day 1

As with any new matriculation, there is the requisite 'Orientation'. As many of you already know me, and my tastes in people and events, forcing a group of 350 people together and telling them how to socialize is about as fun and exciting as a rope-less jumprope. It is however, required that we show up. Hoo-ray.

On that note, this morning at 8:30 there were 400 or so people packed into the dining room area on the 6th floor of the Law school building. This being Washington DC, and the tuition costing 38000/year, there was air conditioning in the building. Luck was not a lady this morning, instead it was that monster that you wake up next to with buck teeth and hair that's matted and nappy from spilt long island ice teas. The a/c was broken... only in the dining room. Little is the fun that sitting in a room of 400+ people dripping sweat is; the sad relief being that everybody is dripping. Needless to say, hearing the dean speak was an honor unmatched by the 30 following faculty members. Thankfully bananas and blueberry muffins were supplied.

Part 2 (which was actually part 3, but I skipped the financial advice meeting as it was filled with gems exploring the difference in projected average salaries and probable average salaries, given the current state of the economy; and beauties such as stop paying for cable, just get rid of it).

Part 2, The First Year: Students' Perspectives (or some equally inane title)

This was a glorious hour or so made up of the majority of students within my doctrinal section. This is the first exposure I've had in seeing these kids gather together without the dilution of the other 4 sections. After the 2Ls and the one 3L gave their individual spiels on professors and classes they've had in the past (none of which were to be my professors this term) there was an open ended 'q and a' section. The benefit of which was clear, some students just have difficulty understanding what their peers are telling them. A prime example, lesson number 3, don't fret about finals yet, much less the classes that are in the 2L and 3L line-up. Good point. Thankfully there were a few students who didn't really know what they meant. Naturally, these are the brave souls that insist on asking the brave questions. "Does Professor X have a hard final?" "What does it take to get a clerkship when I finish school?" "Do you need to have strong grades to get externships?" Thanks. Yes, we're all concerned about this. Yes, we want to know. No, this isn't the time to ask. Well, at least one bright girl managed to make everyone at ease with her brilliance: "What exactly is the policy on working? Because I saw..."

"You can't work your first year." Lady 2L

"I saw that there is 10 hours allowed. There's an exception and we're allowed 10 hours."

"No, it's written in the ABA and WCL, 1Ls are not allowed to work." Dude 2L

"Oh, well, I saw that there was..."

Bla. Bla. We get it. You don't. Stop asking. Well, at least the room was air conditioned.

Part 3 Getting to know your Professors (or rather, my professors)

Let's see. Prof 5. Cool enough gentleman. Early 50's. Seems to appreciate the change that all 1Ls go through when they reach that certain time in life. Understands that most 1Ls won't be able to understand most of what they're reading.

Prof 2. Italian lady. Maybe not Italian. Nah, she's Italian. Super nice, went over her class and the expectations therein. Not too much to note other than an accent that might be difficult to get over when I'm particularly frustrated.

Prof 4. I didn't pay much attention to her, she's heading our section's legal rhetoric course and we'll be spending about 2 hours with her tomorrow. She really didn't have much to say, other than she'll see everyone tomorrow, where she'll talk about the class.

Prof 5. Very nice guy. Early 40's. Down with modern technology, and apparently has a child in middle school. He seems like he'd be really light, especially when the work load is going to be so heavy.

My point in this is simple, they were nice people and they gave decent descriptions of their courses, except of course Prof 4 who assured everyone in the section that tomorrow would be her day. Thankfully my matriculamates were on the ball again. "Q and A" with the professors. Excellent. "Will you be recording your lectures and making them available as podcasts?" (All right, a decent question.) "I've heard that some professors ban laptops, how do you [four] feel about that?"(Sweet, some redemption after all, maybe I can get down with these people.)

"Prof 4, can you give us a better idea of what to expect from Legal Rhetoric?"

"Well, I'll be going into that more tomorrow..."

"I was hoping that you could tell us just a little more of what to expect though, like the other professors have done?" (Thanks Stewart.)

At least this soul has done some of us a favor, as 15-20 of us are glancing around hoping to find whom would make a good study group. The other 70 are also looking, but they're a little more tactful.

Orientation Day 1 : Complete.

As a brief side note, i tried doing the homework for my Contracts class. I managed to read the words on the page. I managed to turn the pages. I even managed to finish the 9 pages within an hour. I don't know what I read.

As another brief side note, I forgot about this until typing out this blog. Over the weekend I saw a family about to go into the art museum. They were sitting down to try and rest and relax, but it was hot out. The mother says to the family, let's just go inside, (groans), there's a/c." In a flash the middle son popped up off his part of the oversized stoop in front of the museum and was inside. All that was left was Dad, muttering, "Wow son, two letters of the alphabet, a and c, got you goin'. Fastest I ever seen you run. Shoot, shoulda called you a/c." This brought a smile to my face.

Week 3 Pre-Orientation

Here it is another week come and gone. That is, another week of nothing terribly exciting has happened; as I'm waiting for the financial aid office to come through with those thousands of dollars in loans.

They think that their gettin' that cash back....

...

...and they will. With Interest. Lots of interest.

So on the note of having no money, I had a great weekend. Check it out:

I made a trip to the Smithsonian. Well, not the entire Smithsonian. Actually, very little of it.

I managed to get myself out of bed, and into town. I visited the National Museum of African Art. Which had a couple of main exhibits which were somewhat interesting. Honestly though, "Animals in Art" was not so impressive. Yeah, the pieces were all right, but the set-up was less than impressive.

At least they had various examples of African animal art. The rest of the Museum was a much better treat. There were masks,

speaking sticks, and some other small trinkets. Some of the speaking sticks were really more like staffs that were apparently used when communicating between tribes. Cool.

To be truly honest though, I liked the mask of "oloju foforo". It seems to mean "the owner of the deep-set eyes". Naturally an important mask of vision and representation of wisdom. At least, that's how I see it. I like to imagine this mask as a physical representation of myself, with the deep-set eyes and all. Especially since those very noticeable adornments above the holes would serve as enormous eyebrows when looking through the mask. Maybe not.

Then joined up with V and we hit up the Freer Art Museum. She was into the "Tsars and the East" exhibit, and I checked out the "Tale of Shuten Dooji". You know me. It was an interesting tale to learn about, and the prints were really pretty amazing. All of the examples did manage to resemble each other, just in different forms. Some on fans, some on those changing shades. It was a pretty fun little story:

Scary demon on a hill kidnaps girls, local warlord type figure sends out his samurai squad, they find him, cut off his head, bring back the girls who are still alive, and parade through town with the head of Shuten Dooji.

Hooray. Apparently taking photos wasn't allowed inside. I guess they didn't want images of their special exhibit to get out. Understandable.

I uh, found that online. On a different note. Checked out Georgetown a little. I didn't take any photos out there, though it was allowed. There was an old building made of stone, I guess its the oldest self-standing building, or some business like that, built in 1765-ish. The university was super nice, with mighty impressive brick buildings, you know, old churches and whatnot.

After walking around all day, the night ended at Capitol City Brewing Company. The Pale Rider Ale was nice and pale, bitter, but it didn't really hit the spot. I might order it again, but really, one was probably enough.

Thanks guys, I miss you. As for now, classes start next week. That means that tomorrow I'm hitting the books, and should get my homework done before orientation starts up. Yeah, I know, homework already. What's a few pages?

Well I'll tell you. "The Legally Enforceable Promise: Basic and Recurring Themes"

Huh???

Law

Field trip to the Zoo

I thought that I'd let guys in on a little secret. The weather here is not fun. Period.

It's hot. It's humid. It's unenjoyable.

Stuck inside a dungeon is no way to pass the time, while staring out my child-sized window, I realized that I should get outside. So I left my room. I took a beautiful field trip to the Zoo.

At least, it would've been beautiful if I hadn't been sweating for the entire time. It was too hot. Plain and simple. I know, Maybe he's just not used to the weather yet. Maybe. Or maybe it was so hot that any intelligent animal would spend their time inside a temperature monitored room. Well, needless to say aside from animals that were forced to be outside, the elephant, the flamingos, the cheetahs, it was a pretty disappointing trip to the zoo.

It wasn't disappointing, I had a good time. Walking around the zoo,

headphones in, soundtrack to Slumdog playing, and having staring contests with large birds that would probably maim me if there hadn't been a big enough fence in the way.

Don't worry, I'll go back. Once the temperature goes down a little.

PS. The lions and tigers are to be enjoyed between 10 and 4. Showing up in their area at 4:15 doesn't cut it. Thanks National Zoo.

Week 1 is done.

Week 1. is done. I haven't started school yet, but I have been here for awhile and figure I should probably get some of this business down before I forget it all.

So, this is where I live.... It's a pretty swank little place with character.

The most frustrating being the fact that I liv in the basement, where the only daylight I get comes through a 2' x 2' window. This has made adjusting to the time difference pretty difficult. So I'm still waking up at 9:30 disappointed 'cause I missed part of the day and feel like I should sleep in for another couple of hours.

I've been given a box fan, which must have been from the 70's and has subsequently died due to natural causes I'm sure. So I got me a sweet tower fan, one of those thin quiet jobs that's supposed to circulate the air better.

Finally, as far as complaints of my living space, the shower is terrible. With a fancy shower head that has the ability to switch and adjust stream levels using advanced 80's bike gear technology that one must swivel around to find the right spot, the water still drips out. In order to rinse off I have to perform some type of snake charming ritual with my arms and body so that I can maneuver around enough to get clean. All in all, I'm thankful to have it.

This little situation lets me go to school, here. This little gem of a school has given me a rough time already, weeks before the whole thing gets underway. As if trying to get under me and disqualify me from the preliminaries, coincidence has allowed for our schedules to not agree. Living in the home that I have, means that I have to be available from 3:30-6ish. Yes, I'm a babysitter. But it's a fine time to continue my own studies and help with my French.

So, my classes have been scheduled roughly from 3-5, 2 of the 5 days I need to be watching kids do homework, and 5-7 another one of those magical days. Hooray. Simple enough solution though, right? Just change the schedule. After changing my schedule, and being done with it; I was discontented to find an email assuring me that despite my schedule having changed, the school had corrected the problem. I emailed a reply to Ms. D, she wrote back telling me to send a request through the registrar. I sent an email request to the registrar. I received a response from Ms. D, the registrar, telling me that schedule change was not possible. Yikes.

Being here in DC, I tried to go reason my case in person. It paid off, she assured me that she hadn't said "no" yet. Granted it wasn't true, she had written and said it was "not possible". I accepted that response for a glimmer of hope. After a week, a hand-written thank you note to Ms. D, and another email to the registrar, more concerned and desperate than the others, I have received the means to change my schedule.

All I need now are some documents outlining my previous engagements that are to be triple signed, initialed at all of the responsibilities and time-restricting explanations, laminated, and dated 3 weeks before any of the scheduling had occurred.

Thank goodness I can stay.

Law

PS. Sales Tax is not fun, and DC can be pricy.

First Hello

My first posting is simply a "hello". I wanted to tell my closest friends and family what's happening in my life as I venture into the world of legalese and struggle against odds as a legal student.

My published adventure will probably consist of classroom experiences, thoughtful and thoughtless dialogues with peers, and anything else that might be of some interest to those dear to me. In this way I figure that you can witness my personal growth without me having to repeat my stories, or try and explain the ways that I feel I've grown. Instead, watch, witness, and please drink to me when you're out having a good time and I'm in DC struggling to wade through the jargon in my legal books and replaying lectures in my head until I can repeat them in reverse.

If you can't figure out why I have such a ridiculous title for my blog, then you probably are not my closest friend. Essentially, I recognize that I am a traditionally type B personality. I will be fighting against the current, striving against a group of people who are predominantly going to be type A people for grades, internships, and futures. Don't fret though, I am adaptable and confident.

If you read, thanks. I appreciate you guys more than you know. After all, for those times when I can't be home for birthdays, yours or your newborns', you understand the reason. These are my adventures in School. These are my adventures in Washington. These coming accounts are the complaints, the courses, and the accomplishments of your countenance.


PS. I like lists. It's the humor side of me, it's the result of a lifetime of the classic joke being set up in threes, it's the absurdity that was drilled into me by many evenings watching the Dick Van Dyke Show.

PPS. Sterling was right, LP in DC was a good name for the blog, so that's the address, LPNDC.blogspot.com. Maybe I'll change the official name later.