Auld Lang Syne

....Honestly, I don't even know what that means, but it's always sung on New Years Day, so....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Dear Casper,

It's the New Year! Here's the catch up--

My best friend, Double AA--I think I've mentioned him before once or twice--came down to visit over the New Year. He and his wife (of a year on New Years' Day), we'll call her Fate, for it's close enough and could be fate that they met...or something. Anyway, they rode the bus down from New Jersey for New Year's Eve celebrations. They came down and after some not very difficult planning, we decided on making dinner, staying in for the midnight celebration, and playing cards all night. It was a great night! We decided to do one main entrée together, and each person had a side or appetizer.

Entrée was roasted duck -- which may still have been quacking when we pulled it out of the oven-- fried brussel sprouts, beet salad, baked awesome potatoes (my side dish), and also awesome"fig jam flatbread" (Helga's side dish).

So I don't really know how to describe fig jam flat bread. It's got caramelized onions, fig jam, and blue cheese (it was a Rogue Creamery Smoked Blue---a $15 wedge of home), all on pizza dough from the pizza place down the street. It's gooey, and sticky, and pretty much an awesome mess.

Everything else looks pretty self-explanatory: sliced awesome potato (each slice filled with garlic and butter (more garlic than butter to be honest)). pink duck (which is supposed to be pink...but maybe not dripping blood when you pull it out of the oven), beet salad (which was delicious but if you eat too much you start to worry when you...well never mind), and the brussels sprouts were simply fried with some butter and garlic and then covered with cheese. Oh yeah, there was also garlic bread, which I'm pretty sure helps to make every evening meal totally complete. So that's the explanation that you didn't really need, since the foods are what they are, and since there's a picture here too....but i mean come on, that potato looks pretty awesome.

We played some card games, nothing too crazy. Then the New York Ball dropped (we're so proud of it growing up), and we celebrated the coming of the new year. Music was played (Double AA wanted to listen to his wedding music mix in order to start his own little tradition with his wife ('cause they were married on the first of 2010), it was very sweet). Sparklers were lit, and then swiftly burnt out.

I suppose that's the life of a sparkler though...brief, exciting, and dangerous when in the wrong hands.... beautiful and deadly! That's my love, Helga; Fate is standing behind.

That was our exciting New Year's Eve ...New Years' Eve ... which is it? New Years' Eve with apostrophe out, or New Year's Eve with apostrophe in? I guess they both work, I'm either comparing it to the plural Eves that are out there or the single one that we had, right? Whatever, if they both work, then they both work.

That was our exciting New Year's' Eve.

On New Year's' Day, we stayed in mostly. Helga had some work to do, and I wanted to keep her company. Double AA and Fate went out to some museums because it's DC and the museums are both spectacular and free.

Later on we went to the Zoo, for their final night of "Zoo Lights." As you can tell, there were two signs. One features a raccoon (which is a red panda) and the 2nd--actual Pandas.

To be honest, while I appreciate that there was no cost to the Zoolights attraction, for some reason I keep reading this first sign as either offering zoolights for the taking to any who want them, or as a political statement that Zoolights have long been unjustly imprisoned...probably because it seems silly to have the word FREE in Zoolights fashion. Then again, I suppose I'm not a Zoolights designer...which is probably why I didn't realize that the Red Panda is not a raccoon until Double AA pointed it out to me. Also, just for funsies, here we are in front of the dangerous Tigers!

Okay, so they're not dangerous....but there was a wolf that was crazy scary and howlin' at the moon...The moon was a little low in the sky that night. Well, you get the idea, there were lots of fun lights and lots of pretty shiny things.

---

So we had some good times on New Years. You already know that we had some dim sum, it was delicious (though i ate WAY too much). It was probably a good thing you called, otherwise I might have eaten two or three more sesame sticky balls....Hmm, can't tell you why that doesn't sound right, but I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be saying that I ate sesame sticky balls, much less two or three more of them. So in any case, here we are, 2011. The time for change...or maybe something like that.

---

So what kind of changes are we talkin' about? Well, this will likely be a big year for fun and different types of minor life accomplishments. I figure if I write them here, I'll definitely be committed to them. Resolutions? Sort of. Really, these are more like goals that I plan to accomplish and ...wait, i guess those are resolutions.

--> we talked on the phone, and I told you I was going to lose weight. Here's the plan, I'm rockin' the weightlifting scene and focusing on stamina and strength instead of size (hopefully it'll pay off). To set it out there, I started at 196.6 pounds. I'm being precise so that I can count each and every loss of a tenth of a pound. Losing a tenth of a pound of fat sounds significant (and like i'm paying attention). Although, i guess if I were to say out loud, I've lost ten tenths of a pound it doesn't sound like much at all. Well, whatever, I'm going to lose weight and get into some kind of shape (that isn't a pear). Totally saw a spare tire around my midsection in the mirror the other day. I was so disgusted, threw that mirror right out!

-Also in an effort to lose weight and get in shape and do something sweet, Helga and I are training for a half-marathon! Maybe a half-marathon doesn't sound as impressive as a full marathon (more commonly referred to as a marathon), but running 13.1 miles in a single go is nothing to shake your head at.

--> Helga and I are planning a wine tasting tour through Oregon and probably California as well. Sometime in beautiful August we're going to drive through tasting wines and enjoying each others' company. It should be a good time.

--> Helga will be working in New York for the summer, for some awesome firm, and as a result I'm doing what I can to get a job in New York as well. Send positive thoughts my way for that!

--> Later on I'll be headed out to France this year. I'm less excited about leaving Helga but am very excited about her coming out to visit me! Hopefully she'll be able to come out over Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years, and then for next year as well.

It's a little hard, I feel a bit like Vincent in Gattaca, "It's funny, you work so hard, you do everything you can to get away from a place, and when you finally get your chance to leave, you find a reason to stay."

--> well I didn't exactly work hard to get away, but I was trying to get into that France program, and now...well I'm going but it'll be really hard to leave (in September) when I'll want to spend more time with Helga (and having her help me through all the schooling).

--> I'm going to write you once a month, and that means at least posting here once a month.

--> Last but not least, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some things that are going on (like my good friends having a child!!!), but anyway, we're coming to see you!!!

We'll be out for our Spring Break, giving you a big hug and everything!

So be good. Prepare for our visit.

Love

Law Pal

PS. Don't forget, we're losing weight together so as I slim down, you will too!

I'll keep you updated as to each tenth of a pound I lose....

better late than never...

Dear Casper,

Cancun: Day 1.

Officially it’s day 2, but I’m writing a quick recap of my experience thusfar while I’m here in Cancun. I may have neglected to mention that I was coming here for a week, but figured you would likely have some type of 6^th sense connection when I got into Mexico and would know anyway…what with your “experience” with the country.

In any case, I got in yesterday. I’m here for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) or the COP-16, depending on how in the know you are. I’m here with my school, that is, they’re paying for us to be here and take care of business like note taking and analysis of different discussions happening over the next two weeks (I’ll only be here for a week and then tag-team out with some other people who aren’t as cool as me, but probably know tons more about the subject area). So, officially the conference starts tomorrow (Mon. 11/29), but I got here yesterday (Sat. 11/27) in order to get to the hotel and get settled in, and possibly have a nice Sunday to just get our badges for the week and then walk around.

I got in yesterday, at about 1 in the afternoon, with high hopes to get in, hit the fitness center (it’s an all-inclusive resort), shower up and cool off. Well, I’m rooming with my buddy Braun-Braun (I like saying the name that way ‘cause it sounds like Taun-Taun) and we both arrived in Cancun at the same time and on the same flight. It was coincidental. I flew out of Syracuse, thanks to my amazing and beautiful girlfriend who woke up with me at 3 in the morning to go to the airport. There was a stop in DC, where I caught the same flight as Braun-Braun.

We arrive and get through customs without a hitch. Following the flight however, we still needed to get to our hotel. We were both thinking, just catch a bus that will get us close to the hotel, and then we can save a couple of dollars. … Well, I don’t know if you’ve been to Cancun through traditional international jet-setter means, but it’s not an easy to navigate situation, especially when you don’t speak Spanish. There must have been a couple of hundred different taxi/shuttle/transportation service guys (ALL GUYS) working to get the tourists and saps to ride with them. Cutting deals and having to prepay was the name of the game. Each person we passed, asked if we needed a taxi, and gave us a price. Most were around $45, give or take a few dollars…mostly take—as far as the taxi and taxi customer finders are concerned. It was a like a three part attack, first the guy finds you at the exit of the airport. He’ll ask if you need a taxi or shuttle ride. Well, we savvy travelers knew that there had to be a better way. So we say no, about 50 times, and proceed into the more open areas, where the taxis and shuttles are just hangin’ out filling with suckers who couldn’t say no. As we walk by, we get bombarded by more guys asking, these guys seem to be luggage-loaders and customer-finders. As they load luggage and walk around they’re asking if you need a ride, and “clarify” the prices again. Thanks, but no thanks. We’ll just take a bus and it’ll be fine; Cancun isn’t that big. These guys are pullin’ in some stragglers who absent-mindedly made it through round 1. Braun-Braun and I keep pushing through—past the first round, past the second round, looking for buses. Well, past all the people and all the cars, taxis, and buses, there is …. Nothing. The third attack. There was nothing to help us, which meant we were stuck and had to go back through rounds one and two. Suckers.

We were on our way. Finally, we got into a shuttle, $30 for the both of us, prepaid. We were the first stop, and the second stop, and the third stop which was actually our hotel; apparently the existence of other Oasis/Be Live (pronounced believe) Hotels are confusing. So, landed at 12:20, got to the hotel which is 10 minutes away by 1:30. Well, we’re here, there should be a reservation, this should be easy.

In line to check in, there are only two groups in front of us. Two groups of people are checking in at the moment, this shouldn’t take too long. We stood there for an hour. Apparently the group of four Americans trying to currently check in were complete idiots. There was definitely more than a language barrier that was causing problems. There was a young troll woman, and her three compatriots who were trying to check in. I only notice the troll girl because of her hunched back and stretched face—plus I was getting impatient since her group was taking forever and she was seemingly in charge. After an hour in line, sharing our impatient concerns with the nice people behind us and enjoying a complimentary iced green drink, it was our time to shine. We knew that we wouldn’t be taking as long as the troll girl and her party crew.

The hotel’s computers did not have our reservation.

I should be clear, there were no reservations in our names. It was supposed to be under Braun-Braun, but obviously it wasn’t. Thankfully our coordinator was due to arrive about an hour from when we were able to try and check in. I would’ve called her but my phone wasn’t working. Again, to be clear I tried calling her but as soon as I tried calling out and taking the roaming charges, the phone decided it was too much work to connect to anything and just shut down. So we moved our stuff to the side and just sat on the nice cool floor. We played some Connect Four—well, I say played but really I dominated. We waited…and waited. I was tired of waiting so we made our move to the lobby couches. Where we worked on a crossword puzzle…and then a second crossword puzzle. We waited and waited. We were frustrated and frustrated. Finally, impatient as I was, I asked the guy at the ‘hospitality desk’ in the lobby for some help. In my impatient waiting around the lobby I had learned that he was not just a hospitality person, but actually a person for the group that we had made our reservations through. Asked him about our reservation, our name wasn’t to start until today (11/29). Strange though, considering I had asked the front desk to check reservations for both days and they had come up empty. Well, we finally got word from our coordinator, her phone was giving her troubles. She was on her way.

After another hour, she finally arrived. We’re tired and anxious and hungry and frustrated. Also, the lobby is like our prison, with grey Aztec inspired walls. Not grey Aztecs, but grey walls that have Aztec-ian angles. Well, she arrived and we started taking care of business. It took awhile. We had a confirmation email about our reservations. It had a confirmation number. The confirmation number was for somebody else. It made sense, the reservations for Braun-Braun and I were the result of taking over this somebody else’s room. But somewhere along the four-person reservation train his and my name got tossed out the window. (This is in addition to the reservation crew not knowing what the hell they were doing, as our reservations a. weren’t under Braun-Braun’s name and b. were confirmed via email for Saturday and not Sunday and c. they were stupid).

After some arguing, we finally got in. We had to get past another issue of payment; we had prepaid but apparently nobody knew. Well, they found it. We registered, got past the name and payment issues. It was ridiculous. We found our room, 4141 all the way at the end of the hall. Ugh, at least we had a room. Opening the door, looking for relief, and smelling mildew. It was nasty. Nasty, but maybe acceptable. So we dressed down and hit the gym. After the workout, we returned to the room, in hopes for something better. Still mildew. Still nasty. I took a shower…I was sweaty. The water came out brown, though changed to mostly clear after a little bit. The soap came out brown, but then cleared up. The shampoo, which looked blue in the container, came out brown to start. Yeah, I felt pretty clean after that.

After showers and changing, we decided to find out if our coordinator and the other had nasty mildew in their room…naturally they didn’t. That was it. We had to change. We didn’t want to deal with the front desk again, considering all the trouble to that point, but a week in a mildew room definitely was not happening.

So we hit the desk, I asked, and it was easy. So, we packed and moved. There’s no mildew, and there is working A/C. Sweet, sweet redemption. Then we ate and drank and it was good.

At the end of day 2:

I went to an NGO strategy meeting. It was tiring. I am tired…and supposed to get up for breakfast at 6:30. Oh, and tomorrow I’m going to be following MRV and IAC issues. That is: transparency and accountability issues that haven’t been solved yet….Also, I know about as much as you do. See you soon.

Love you!

Law.

Doodee doo-be do

Dear Bro,

I know, I know; I've been like a stranger for awhile. Well, let's face it, I'm terrible at multi-tasking. I mean I've been dating Helga (who's pretty amazing by the way, if I haven't mentioned it) and over the Summer I was in Montreal working (sort of) and I am now back to school studying again. Basically, I want you know that even though I'm not telling you about what's going on very often:

I'm still here, I'm still alive, I'm still thinking about you; and I'm hoping you understand when I'm inconsistent with writing to you! It's been ohh....3 months or so this time. What a consistent and amazingly dedicated brother I am to write to you so often! Sorry. Well, despite how often I've been writing, I do love you, and figure I should let you know.

SO, quick recap of the past 3 months or so.

CRARR (the center for research-action on race relations) or (le centre de recherche-action sur les relations raciales):

Officially i was a "legal intern" and did mountains and mountains of legal research in French and in English. Officially, I'm now incredibly well versed in the complexities of Quebec Criminal and Civil Law and am adroit at helping the underrepresented minorities who have been discriminated against. Officially these may be a bit of an exaggeration.

I lived, for all intent and purposes, kitty-corner from where I worked--right downtown.

It was very convenient and all...although the temptation to buy video games was intense because I passed the 'futureshop' (a Best Buy sort of store) and 'gamebuzz' a video game shop in the 50 steps from my apartment building to work. Plus they had Dr. Mario for the N64 in the window and I wanted to buy it but I didn't really want to spend $50 for a game to a system that is nearly a decade old and two video game generations in the past; plus I don't have the N64 anymore and would buy it only to play on others' game systems (which I still seriously considered 'cause I love me some Dr. Mario puzzle action). Aside from the temptations of everyday life, I did go to work and did do legal research in French and English. I mainly focused on 4 different cases (with a little bit of other research here and there). Here's the gist, despite a very open charter that gives rights and freedoms to everyone within Montreal and Quebec, there is a lot of tape to get through in order to get any compensation for an alleged abuse of those rights. So yeah, that's 3 months of Montreal in a nutshell: CRARR, research, video game shop, oh and I went to the Y fairly regularly.

I tried Poutine. In case you're wondering what Poutine is, or you're thinking to yourself, "Hmmmm, I've never had poutine but the people I've met from Canada love the stuff so maybe I should give it a try." Don't worry about it, you are not missing much. Despite the sound of the recipe (french fries, brown sauce and cheese curds) it was edible. So i tried it and would like to say that I don't ever need to eat it again...nor do you. Trust me, it's not all that exciting. (I got mine with "Spicy Italian Sausage" from Montreal Poutine which was in the Old Port area of town...the "spicy italian sausage" resembled thick sliced bologna with a hint of pepperoni. Uh......yum.)

More exciting then Montreal and my time spent there, were the few times I got to visit Helga in New York City. Okay, I'll admit it, though I'm not the biggest proponent of the Big Apple, I had a good time and there are a TON of cultural things to do there. I'm still not comfortable to say that I would want to live there or anything, but then again, The Cuban Roasted Corn was so good that I wouldn't have a problem eating it every day. ....

WOH! I just got hit hard by 100 pages of reading....okay. I was probably supposed to start sometime last week, but I was reading other stuff. Okay, Maybe I wasn't reading-reading, but I did a little bit of reading...for other classes. It's just that, well, sometimes a delicious crab boil gets in the delicious way and you have to spend time with your good friends. You understand, right?

So....5 classes: Juvenile Law, Trafficking in Persons, Environmental Law, International Organizations and Multinational Institutions, and Criminal Procedure. ... That 100 pages or so for tomorrow, yeah, Ishould probably get on that.

I'll try to update you and the others a little more frequently, it's just important that you know even though I'm not writing tons and tons, I'm still thinking and sending my love your way! Promise!

Love

Law

c-RARR !!!!

Dear Casper,

So here I am, and there's my view ~~~~~>

Anyway, I'm resigning to write to my brother and to the world all at the same time. Pretty clever huh? Okay, maybe a little lazy, but is that really important? No. No it's not. So here I am, about 2 months behind in letting you and everybody else know what's going in my life. Sorry.

The first year is done. Officially I'm a rising 2L. Some people have issues with the term 'Rising' 2L. Honestly though, I'm not in elementary school any more, I can't go on pretending I'm a 2L when I haven't even started the year or bought any books or any supplies or...well, you get it. So, as with many other hip legal students, I believe that 'rising' 2L is preferred.

In answer to your first question, I don't have all of my grades yet. I do have most of them though. Essentially, I'm doing much better the second term than I did the first term. That is to say, I managed to get an A in a class! Don't ask how, but I did. Criminal Law, one of the more ... uh ... difficult-to-pay-attention classes with little reading (which was awesome), gave me the A, and I'm proud to say that as far as the exam goes, I killed it. My other grades...well...I got an A this past term and that should be enough for everybody.

What now? Well, as every good law student knows, you're not allowed to really take time off. There is no summer vacation, only moments in the summer that you use to pretend to take personal time. Some are still in DC, working for the man, or for a man, or for a woman, or for a judge, or for a library. Some went to different courts in the country, to New York to work for the Federal Court of International Trade, some to some other places. Some went abroad, paying $9,000 to study international legal traditions, and international brew traditions as well. Some have gone abroad, like me, to intern for non-profit organization and try to help the world one small research assignment at a time.

Yup, I'm in Montreal, Quebec (or Montréal, Québec) and I'm working for CRARR. Which, as it turns out has no pretty way of being said. You can try "CRARR" but with the strong ARR sound at the end most people tend to either take is a strange pirate word, or an animal sound (as for me, i usually raise a paw and go for a lion). If you (like me) have trouble with CRARR, you can try it's full name, "the Center for Research Action on Race Relations." Which after saying outloud and stumbling through you may think sounds better in French, "le Centre Recherche d'Action sur les Rélations Raciales." Again, if you (like me) have stumbled through the awful incarnations of the name, you'll likely fall back to Crarr (and raise your paw). CRARR (www.crarr.org) does some pretty interesting work here in Quebec, Canada. As the name indicates they have a deep commitment toward righting the injustices of racism in all of its forms. From clear hate crimes to more systemic problems like racial profiling, CRARR works hard to raise the issues and get them fixed.

phew...take a breath and ....

What do I do? Oh, I sit at a desk and listen to music. They also have me doing legal research on specific issues addressing legal cases that come in, can't tell you what they are exactly, so let's just say that when you're looking through color tinted glasses, everything seems to come up unjust and based on race/religion/sexual orientation/national origin/culture/social position (class)/ etc.. Also, as I've been a part of the organization, I've attended a couple of hearings by the Commission on rights of the person and rights of the young (sounds better in French) whereby they invited several organizations in Montreal to give recommendations for the issue of racial profiling and any other race-based injustices that may not have been brought to the commission's attention. Well, turns out that Montreal, as its city officials would have you believe, doesn't have any racial problems, especially not racial profiling. What's ridiculous is that they were brought before the commission on hearings about racial profiling and how to better the problem--instead, they simply denied that there was a problem. Good work Montreal way to not only miss the point, but you've missed the bus filled with opportunities for solutions.

So here I am. In Montreal, learning about law, racial issues. Also, I'm waiting for my last grade...maybe tomorrow. Don't worry, like many of my peers I'll check when i get up in the morning as part of the morning computer routine. Gmail, grades, facebook, gmail, facebook, stumble. Somewhere in there I might check the news and will probably eat breakfast.

I love you,

Law Pal

PS. All these french cases and french briefs and french memos are exhausting.

PPS. If I missed anything, just ask a question in the comments and I'm sure when I write again, I'll get to it. Seeing how it's the Summer, I should be able to update a little more frequently, for those few of you that are interested to know what's going on in my little ol' life.

PPPS. If you read this and thought, "Hmm, that really wasn't that interesting," or, "Do I really care about CRARR and Lawrence's life?" Well, check it, this was written for you to know what's going on, and it was written to my brother--so there.

NAH nah na na, Nuh nuh-nuh na na....All right All right.

Dear Casper,

YEP! I'm writing this blog entry and trying to kill two birds with one stone. This way I can just print the blog out, send it to you and I'll have both written in my blog and written a letter to you.

As Finals are approaching and I've found myself far too busy to write a blog entry during the regular part of the semester where I was theoretically studying and being quite diligent, I thought that I would take precious time away from the hustle and bustle of the finals study schedule (which is supposed to be every waking moment) and apply it in a less-productive manner. (That may have been a run-on sentence...oh well). In any case, here's the sum up. Life's crazy. Crim Law isn't much fun. Property has a great Prof. Con Law is con-fusing. Comparative law is unlike any class i've taken thus far. I've registered for courses next term, and I will be struggling through: Family Law, Environmental Law, Trafficking in Persons, International Organizations, and the mandatory Criminal Procedure.

Family Law: I'm very interested to learn how we legally define families and all of the influences that can affect a family.

Environmental Law: Didn't know I was going to be interested in until I met the staff in the environmental department here. Because the staff is engaging and impassioned, I thought that perhaps the courses will be as well. That being said, I don't know the professor teaching the course but it seems like a good introduction into the field.

Trafficking in Persons: It's going to look at how we see international trafficking of persons from an international and comparative perspective. I'm looking into specializing my courses into dealing mostly with family, children, and people, and the potential injustices they may face. So naturally, this course should cover some of those issues, and I'll get new perspectives, always a bonus. I think.

International Organizations and Multi-National Institutions: Wait, what did I sign up for?

...

Criminal Procedure: I have to take this course. I'm interested, generally, in how the process works, but like so many before me if I have to take it then the class is naturally that much less interesting and compelling. (Because if it were REALLY good, i'd want to take it, non?)

Okay, Finals are coming. Con, Crim, Comp, Prop. Ready? Nope. Not at all. I have to learn and relearn all of the cases and facts that I missed throughout the term. It's okay, most people are just as confused (well maybe less so), but it was an overwhelming term. Though I'm scared, I'm going to go into the tests with the kind of overconfidence and hopes that have gotten me to where I am today... living in a French-American Family's basement in DC with spider crickets and, most recently, a new mouse roommate.

The final for Con Law, if the course is any indication, should be as clear and well communicated as a bell... without a tongue. Wish me luck and keep good thoughts, as I'll likely be working through the Commerce Clause which has hidden powers like Alex Mack, and the Equal Protection Clause which only applies to people that the court finds appropriate. Hypothetically speaking, I'm not looking forward to it. Basically, I just need someone to explain it all...

As for the Crim final, there R certain things that the prof doesn't want. She has certain PetPs that she said she could do w/out on the Xam. In a field of law that runs a gamut of misDs and flnys, we've really only covered H-cide. We've taken a couple of moments for burglary and robbery, and certainly touched on rape, but it's truly been an H-cide-centric course. Of course, at times it's also been slightly ego-centric, perhaps afro-centric (I'm sorry), but rarely edu-centric. All that aside, I'm going to prepare for the exam by grabbing my $17 latte (don't worry, I've got the Kreb Scout discount).

Comparative Law will be a breeze, once i understand the 1200 pages of reading from the term that I may, or may not, have actually done when it was assigned. That being said, most of comparative law was theory, so I suspect that I can work hard and come up with my own (well reasoned and supported ideas). Okay, I'm in a study group and it should go well.

Finally, I'll have a property final. This taste is really mine for the taking. Okay, not really, But if I hold onto it long enough I'm pretty sure it'll be mine. Though, someone is likely to be giving it to me on the condition that I give it back, so that might be an issue. Well, even if it isn't I think I'll do well, after all I have some interest in it. Maybe not an executory interest, but at the least there's some vested remainder left for me, unless I don't get the A, then I think B, in holding a FI in the EI and not a PI in the FSSEL, will get it...the test. Okay, I'm confused.

As a final What's What in your favorite Law Pal's life, I'm in.

I applied to the dual degree program here at school and I was accepted. That means that at this time next year I'll be...studying for finals. But shortly after that I'll be planning on how to get to France, and then studying there for TWO YEARS!

Yup, that's about it. I'll try and be more on top of it. When I have some time in a couple of weeks I'll let you know how Barrister's Ball went.

Love, Your baby brother,

Law Pal

PS. Bonuses for my theme of the day....

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010!

It's a new year, and 2010 has hit the ground running. Maybe it was just me that hit the ground running. I'm not really sure. Either way, if the year keeps up at the pace it started, this could be the most jam-packed year yet.

Day one of the new year had a wedding. This was probably the most emotional wedding that I've been to, and tears came falling out of me like a newborn. I was the Best Man, and did my darndest to uphold my Best Manly duties. The bachelor party was a success and I think we hit a majority of manly activities, you know, bullets, bbq, beer, and breasts (yes, the bachelor party was sponsored by the letter B). The wedding was on the 1st, so it won't be too difficult for A or K to forget. There were some beautiful speeches made by several of the important people involved, particularly the maid of honor, man of honor (a specially made position for their wedding, that was filled wonderfully by that man of honor), and a couple of family members. It was my turn, and my speech went fairly well, except for the break I needed every 20 seconds while I bawled my eyes out and regained myself. After everything, I think the speech went well, everybody seemed to like it and I definitely made A and K cry like babies as well, so it was well worth it. Then there was dancing, dancing, and more dancing. My usual dance partner wasn't there, so I had to dance with several other people, including the bride, groom, members of the wedding party, and random guests (who weren't that random at this point). Which reminds me, A and K you have some amazing and dedicated friends. Also, some are hot!

Congrats. and Thanks.

So, now the high school crew is cut down to half, two bachelors left and on the same playing field...so if anybody out there is reading this and has a fun, beautiful lady friend, I'm available. oh and G, game on! Which reminds me, J, S, and G, I had a great New Year's spending time with you guys! Reminds me how important you are, and how important our friendship truly is, and that G is probably a better dancer than J. Really, you guys should take a weekend to visit DC! Also, G, you should apply to school out here and then we could be school buddies who study and stuff, but then get together and we can hang out giving in to our vices while we try to convince the other it's not a healthy habit (me, coffee; you, smokes). It might be unrealistic, but I'm pretty sure it would be fun as hell!

Really though, I'm not that available, Lady Law School has a pretty good hold of me yet again. Here within her grasp I rush to read, write, and research for the hours, days, and weeks to come. The difference between terms is simple, Spring 2010 has me more knowledgeable of what to read the cases for and pull out while briefing; S 2010 also has me applying for summer internships and externships. Moral of the story? The term might be a little easier on reading, but I can't let up because there is still much more to do.

This particular post may not have been very gripping, but just so you all know here are the highlights of the past 3 weeks:

-Flew to Portland and missed the snowstorm in DC.

-Visited everybody I could. I miss them all already.

Friends and family, thank you and I love you. Next time perhaps we'll be able to spend some more time together. Next time I'm getting a Bloody Mary.

-Drove to Austin and missed the snowstorm in Portland.

-Visited Heaven on Earth, and sampled the pie.

-In a "town" called Desert Center in AZ I stopped and ate at the Desert Center Cafe. I believe the town's population was there by the 8 people sitting inside not being customers.

While I was there I met a French family traveling through, biker Dad and biker Mom with visiting Grandpa and meek daughter. They left as I finished my meal and Visiting Gramps backed up into biker Mom as they were leaving the "parking lot".

-Drove through El Paso and missed the snowstorm there.

-Arrived in Austin spent a lot of time with the groom's family.

-Great Bachelor Party thrown for the groom; at the end of the night I was punched.

-Great Wedding set-up with several people being stressed.

-Rehearsal dinner with some of A's old friends, again, some of whom were very attractive and whom I ended up....not getting to know that much better.

-New Year's on the waterfront in Austin, the band "Foot Patrol" played; 2010 is allegedly the year of the Foot, or maybe Foote.

-Wedding was great, many close friends having a good time, a very personal wedding.

-My best friend is now a husband.

-Drove to DC, didn't miss anything in Austin.

-Showed up in DC with plans to park in house's garage at 2:30 am; had to clean out the broken wood with nails that were lying about in order to make enough room to park my car.

....

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?