Injustice for All

The Results are In

2006-11-19T23:59:00.000-08:00

I passed!!!!

This blog is likely dead to rights...now that I've passed and I never need to look the Cal Bar Exam in the eye again (or, let's HOPE I DON'T).

What a long strange trip, indeed...

The party's over...

2006-07-28T00:13:00.000-07:00

...or, hell...maybe it's just begun!!!

Final day of the Cal Bar Exam. I finished and it's out of my life. For now. And hopefully FOREVER.

It was more straightforward than I had imagined it would be and I was a pretty good predictor of what subjects would be tested for the essays (was so certain Corps would be on there that I kept studying and restudying it...don't know if it made a difference in the long run, tho).

I know there were rule of law I just couldn't remember (Sakai says: "Make it up!") and there were some MBE's that were just downright EVIL (I mean how can you HONESTLY conspire to steal your own coat? huh? Who's calling the cops on that particular crime, exactly?), but it's done. And I didn't pass out, freak out or wimp out. And neither did old Bessie my Dell laptop who wheezes and sputters when she powers on, but stayed the course.

I don't have to kick ass on this exam. I just need to pass.
But for right now, all I have to do is SLEEP.

California BLAH Exam

2006-07-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted since graduating. Mostly because I've been in BarBri classes and generally being a slave to studying for the Cal Bar Exam.
And drinking occasionally.

To say that I cannot wait for this to be over is the understatement of my life.

I have also heard alternately that taking the exam at Cal Expo is going to be HORRIBLE. They better have A/C. I know that the Exhibition Halls always had A/C growing up. You would go wander around the 4H displays in order to cool off between corn dogs and the Tilt-A-Whirl. Preferably in that order.

Let's hope they crank it against the 105 degree Sac heat, eh?

I'm driving up on Saturday and wasting basically the whole day doing that. If I was smart, I would run thru laws in my head while driving. But I'm afraid that will cause me to run off the road and take out an unsuspecting cow. Thus, I'll be listening to a NON-LAW audio book.

I'm at mom's until Monday afternoon when I check into the hotel. Hopefully, I can study a bit before heading to a final dinner with the family. I'm having a martini.

My brain has ceased working properly and I honestly don't know what good I'm doing any more.
It's far more interesting to watch my friend, Storm, on Rockstar:Supernova or my friend, Bonnie on Project Runway than study the rule in Shelley's Case.

I'm certain that both Corporations and Professional Responsibility will be on the exam. My two weakest links. Tomorrow HAS TO BE about working on those. I'm running out of time.

And brain cells.

End of the Era

2006-05-24T12:54:00.000-07:00

Well, law school is finally OVER. Commencement was on Sunday and I threw a large grad party at Hotel Cafe afterward (during which I ate none of the epic-ly prepared food I made all weekend and got hammered).

I got my grade back for the one class i was EXTREMELY concerned about (Income Tax) and I passed and actually scored above the mean -- so I'm happy. No other grades back yet and I'm hoping my GPA doesn't fall. But if it does, oh well. Depending, I could fall anywhere between top 20% and top 30%. Let's hope it's closer to the former.

BarBri starts on Tuesday and I've been RELAXING. I haven't even opened my PMBR books yet, but think I should do it today. I need to drive over to BarBri and pick up my books for next week, but might have to do that tomorrow. I really need to mop my kitchen floor. It's grotesque.

I'm trying to figure out a quick, low-cost post-Bar trip. Maybe just San Francisco or Lake Tahoe. We'll see. I will need a couple of days "away from it all," to be sure.

It feels so WEIRD that this is over...

Last Law School Class Ever

2006-04-29T01:48:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe...but I had my LAST LAW SCHOOL CLASS EVER on Thursday night. At 7:30 p.m., when my Income Tax Class was over, I realized I was done -- in terms of lectures/classes, that is. I obviously still have finals and papers to write.

It feels odd. And not quite real yet. Probably won't until I'm walking down the aisle at Graduation! But I've made it. Barring a catastrophe (knocking on wood next to computer), I will be done in 3 weeks.

It went by very fast. It really doesn't seem 3 years ago that I went to Orientation and bought that first load of heavy books. I know the path isn't totally complete, since I still have bar review classes and the dreaded Cal Bar Exam in July...but Part I is nearly over.

It's been great, honestly. There were trying times and times I questioned what I was doing. But overall, I learned a ton and am really proud of myself.

I turned in my final negotiation file on Thursday, too, so that class is complete. I got my Death Penalty paper draft back and need to spend this weekend rewriting it. My first exam is on the 12th and my Income Tax final is on the 16th. I have papers due the 9th and the 18th. The one on the 18th is more "stream of consciousness" and is for a Pass/Fail course, so obviously I'm stressing more over the Death Penalty one.

Now...if someone would only hire me.

Do They Know It's Christmas?

2005-12-10T01:34:00.000-08:00

So I realized I haven't updated this in eons and the final 3 people who were even reading it have probably been lost forever. It's been a busy life...

The bad news: I didn't get the job I really wanted. They decided to only to extend offers to their Summers from last year and not to any additional entry-level lawyers. I'm not giving up forever, tho, and have made a mentor-friend in the woman who originally interviewed me. So I do not have a post-grad job yet and it's making me a wee bit nervous.

The good news is that the rejection lit a fire under my butt and I got myself both an internship AND an externship next semester. So in addition to taking 5 units of "work," I will still be taking 4 regular classes. It's going to be one nutty semester -- especially Mondays, when I'm working at Sony and then in class until 10 p.m. ugh. Then I have to wake up and drive all the way to Orange county the next morning for my externship. Hope it all works out and I don't lose my marbles along the way.

I've made it thru one 25-page research paper and one 3-unit final. Just three more finals left and then home for Xmas. I'm looking forward to spending some additional time with my family, since usually I get out of school around the 22nd and only spend about 5 days at home in Sacramento. I plan on sleeping tons.

It doesn't feel very Xmassy here in L.A. Only a slight chill in the evening to remind us that it's not June. It's one of the times I really miss NYC. A friend is having a Holiday party tomorrow nite and I'm hoping to go later for about an hour. Have to study TRADEMARK all day tomorrow, tho.

Better get to bed. I'm exhausted.

Waiting for your letter...

2005-10-16T22:59:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd use a title of one of Cary Brothers' new song for this post. Give him a little love while I'm whining.

I had my callback with the firm on Tuesday. I met with 2 partners (including the managing partner of the LA office), an associate and a senior associate. I liked everyone. I felt like the meetings all went well...but you just don't know. Everyone was really laid back and intelligent. They asked me about both business and non-businessy things and I tried to keep eye contact with everyone and be enthusiastic and poised. It's a casual office, so I was the only one in a suit, but that's OK. I felt like a million bucks in it having just gotten it tailored and I was carrying my hand-me-down Armani handbag from Sam.

The recruiter told me they had one more interview-callback the following day and would be making their decision by week's end. I didn't hear from them on Friday, which worries me slightly, but Thursday was a firm holiday (Yom Kippur), so it is possible they didn't make their decision yet. Last time, I was told I would be called by Friday and they called Monday nite. So here's hoping the silence doesn't mean they hated me.

I'm really really nervous because I loved the firm and the people and it seems like the work would be incredible (1st Amendment defense stuff). Also sounds like they might throw me right into litigation. WHEE!

For anyone reading this, please think "offer" thoughts for me tomorrow (and possibly Tuesday). I really want this. And think I would be great at it.

Hangin on the telephone...

2005-09-28T00:27:00.000-07:00

So they finally called! Hooray! Obviously, I'm not home free or anything with a post-school job, but I've made it one more step: to callbacks.

I go in on the 11th to meet with a couple of attorneys and then go out to lunch with them. My friend will be back from his vacation by then, so hopefully I can drop by and say hello afterward. Also hoping I can get at least one of my new Loehmann's suits altered by then. Skirt is OK, but the jacket needs some help. eep.

I need some cute hosiery, too.
In other news, a class that was supposed to be cancelled last week apparently WASN'T at the last minute, so I missed an antitrust class (my hardest class -- ugh). I will figure out a way to get the notes or something, I guess. But oof.

My Trusts & Wills prof is cancelling all classes next week AND we have Tues off for Rosh Hashanah. All hail a day without SCHOOL. He said he might do a video lecture as a makeup. Kewl.

I'm very excited about my callback and want to impress the crap out of them, if I can.

High Anxiety

2005-09-25T12:47:00.000-07:00

I still haven't heard from the second firm from OCI, despite my friend from the firm saying they were going to call me. I had hoped to hear on Friday, but no call. I even changed my voice mail so that it's more professional sounding (removed the Radiohead music in the background). ::sigh:: Hope they call.

Being in my final year of law school is obviously having an effect on me. Tho I seem calm, every nite I dream about the law. I dream I'm explaining the law to someone and I get it wrong. I dream I'm taking the LSAT all over again (gah) and I can't finish in time. I dream I'm taking a final and I've never gone to class. Gah. Even my regular dreams seem to be about fear and anxiety. I dreamt a little boy was drowned in a pool owned by my parents and I jumped in the pool and resuscitated him. He was all right, but was dead for a second. Boy = my law career?

If this job with OCI firm #2 indeed does not work out, the onslaught of cold resumes will begin. I figured it wasn't entirely worth sending them out during OCI, since recruiters have their hands full with the resumes they got thru the program. But I should probably start sending them out no later than the first week of October, right?

I had to turn in my paper topic for Law & Pop Culture last week. I'm writing on the effect TV shows, Court TV and the media have on jury deliberation and outcomes. I saw my friend Laura Ingle last nite and asked if she would contribute some quotes and information for it. She covered the Scott Peterson and Michael Jackson trials and had the opportunity to talk to jurors from both. She is moving to Dallas in a week to be a reporter for Fox there. I'll miss her, but she was always so busy, I barely saw her anyway!

Gotta get to studying and have to turn in my paper bibliography this week. I'm supposed to go to a CAA party on Thursday nite. Free booze, YAY! Should be a nice ending to a long week.

Hmmm...maybe a future after all?

2005-09-22T04:24:00.000-07:00

I got the Thanks-No Thanks from OCI interview #1 despite how much the chick and I clicked.

In other news, appparently interview #2 didn't hate me* and are hopefully going to call me back. I don't want to jinx it so not going to say any more about it.
Honestly, I'm just thrilled they didn't think I was a tool.

*friend at the firm got the scoop.

Passed the MPRE

2005-09-13T16:19:00.000-07:00

Thank God! And while the score was nothing to paint on the side of my car or anything, it was at least high enough to pass in ALL states, so I wouldn't have to retake it if I decide to take another state's bar.
Phew.

Had my second OCI 3-L interview today. The firm is HUGE and has been involved with several SUp Ct cases on 1st Amendment and privacy issues. The interviewers were REALLY QUIET and mellow. I do much better with outgoing types. I felt nervous and like I wasn't really selling myself very much. bleah.

Oh, well. Practice makes perfect!
hee

1st OCI of 3L

2005-09-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

Had my first interview of 3L today with a fairly large (and rather FAMOUS) firm in town. The interviewer was both a grad of my school AND a non-trad student (she had been an actress in NYC for 9 years before going back to law school). I really liked her. She was laid back, but you could tell she was a viper in the courtroom.

Several times during the interview she said "Kicked ass." As in, "I decided to work for this firm because I didn't want there to be a glass ceiling. The women who work at this firm are pretty, intelligent and kick major ass." Love it.

The firm itself has a fair amount of prestige in this city and I don't know that I really have a shot at an offer. But, they asked to see me despite not being really within their hiring criteria, which isn't too shabby, right? I only have one other interview and it's next week. At the end of the interview, she told me to just keep perservering and never underestimate myself. As I walked out, she said "And keep kicking ass!"
Love her.

My RA professor has been a dream to work for and despite me being a total loser and not finishing the second project he gave me, he still loves me. I had to fly up and take care of my mother right before going back to school and that was when I had originally planned to work on the project. He was very understanding. I really want to get it done this weekend, so he doesn't lose respect for me.

In other news, I "won" the contest at school to name the Katrina Relief effort we're mounting. It's a candygram sale, so I suggested "Sweet Relief." Apparently, so did someone else. The "prize" was $50 which they split between us. I asked them to just put my portion back into the relief effort. Obviously, Katrina victims need it way more than I do. I'd just blow it on sushi, anyway.

I also donated $25 to the Humane Society (see previous post) to help them rescue and take care of all of the abandoned animals. Many people were unable to take their pets with them when they were evacuated and the Humane Society and others are rescuing new pets every day. Help them, if you can.

Gotta get reading my Antitrust homework.

Help for the Animal Victims of Katrina

2005-09-06T20:42:00.001-07:00

You Haven't Got Mail

2005-08-16T16:46:00.000-07:00

So here I was so proud of myself for ordering all my books online and now I'm worried they won't show up in time for CLASS!!! gah.

I've never had a problem before with getting my barrister book orders by Media Mail, but when I just checked the tracking #, it merely showed the package being "accepted" by the USPS on 8/10. And no other info. Which makes me think it's still sitting there in Kansas. I'm now wishing I would have paid for the $8 rush. But I was being cheap. And look where it got me.

Hoping I will at least get my Amazon books in time for those classes (which are later in the week). But the books for my first two classes on Monday are coming from Barrister. And there are only 4 mail days left to receive them. eep.

Maybe I should email the profs and ask if the books are on reserve?

p.s. 3L OCI sucks ass. They only want to see like 4 people apiece and they want you to be top 10%. Um...don't THOSE people already HAVE jobs after school?

Almost that time again...

2005-08-15T01:41:00.000-07:00

I don't post for months and the only comment I got was spam about some shit mortgage. I deleted it. Lame.

Took the MPRE last Friday. It went pretty much as I thought. Could always seem to narrow down the tough ones to two choices, but then just had to go with the gut shot at the end. No idea how I did. And don't really care as long as it's the passing scaled score of 79 that I need to pass.

School starts one week from tomorrow and I got most of my books on Barrister and Amazon and saved $50 before sales tax over my overpriced on-campus book shoppe. I only had to buy one casebook on campus and was lucky enough to find a used copy that wasn't too marked up and saved another $35 off the new retail price. My two supplements weren't in yet, so am hoping there's no reading in those for the first day.

I've sold most of my old books on Half.com and Amazon Marketplace and just have a few remaining books left unsold. Even if I only get 1/4 what I paid new, it's more than they are earning underneath my bed, right?

I have to go home next week as my mom is having surgery and I wanna be there for her and my 77 year-old stepdad. Make dinner, run errands, go get movies, whatever. I'm definitely getting my mom a huge bouquet of lilies for when I pick her up from the hospital. The smell fantastic and look so pretty.

While I'm gone, they are finally going to fix the gaping hole in my ceiling caused by last year's rains. It actually works out, but poor Ms. Patchouli will have to hang out in the bedroom (and her litter box, too!) until the workmen leave. At least she can lay on the bed in there.

So far, I only have one interview for OCI. They are much much pickier for 3Ls than 2Ls. Not all the firms have posted their interviews yet, so I could still get a few more. Or, hell, this might be the only one. I see that Robert Shapiro denied me. Oh, well...I didn't really want to work for an OJ lawyer, anyway, right?

I am excited about the interview I DID get is with a firm that I'm not really qualified for per their OCI requirements, but they were one of my ranked bids. I don't know whether I got it from the lottery or whether they actually read my resume and liked it. But no matter. I'm thrilled with the interview since it was one of the firms I was most excited about applying to (and thus why it was one of my ranked choices). They do a lot of trademark and copyright protection and litigation and the guy who's interviewing me has quite a prestigious resume (Harvard grad, etc). Since this is the field I really want to work in, could be great...at the same time, I'm having a difficult time really embracing working for a big firm. It's just not really ME. But the $$ is. And the opportunities.

So...not getting my hopes up (since I'll be interviewing with the top 10% of 3Ls), but not shooting myself down early either. I'm doing research on the interviewer and the firm and will be ready when called.

In other news, I've been preparing for school by going to the gym and doing a lot of yoga. I feel really good about myself right now -- spiritually and emotionally and physically -- and I'm hoping that will help keep me focused during this killer of a semester (hello 16 units!).

I still need to finish the final project for the Prof. I will probably take it up to Sac with me and work on it from my Mom's house.
I can't believe this is my final year.
Wow.

Law Students are Boring

2005-08-03T16:16:00.000-07:00

I never post here any more. I post on my PERSONAL blog daily. Sometimes twice a day.
Why? Because my social life is at least marginally amusing. My law school life sucks ass. Or is just so hum-drum I can hardly haul my patoot over to blogspot to update it.
BLEAH.

I've instead been writing a collection of nostalgic essays about growing up in the 1970's and 80's and the rock music that influenced me. This is far more interesting that writing about how I am taking 16 units this semester and have turned in my bids for OCI.

I am no longer linking to my personal blog because there are stories about sex and drinking over there. And while I don't imagine any future employer will ask me to be either celibate or a tee-totaler at 37 years old, they might not take too kindly to my escapades being plastered all over the internet. Avid Googlers will probably find me anyway.

This summer, I've been working for my favorite professor (Evidence and Torts I) and helping him research and edit his various tomes. He's such a great guy and I get the added benefit of being able to sleep late, go out at nite and work in my PJs. I want my law career to always be like this. Do you think clients will mind meeting with me in a pair of Bedhead pajamas over a cup of coffee, while FUEL TV is on in the background? C'mon. Maybe I can be an "Action Sports Lawyer." That would be cool.

I just wanted to have SOME posting over here that was more recent than 2 months ago. I have now accomplished that feat. I now return you to your regularly scheduled blah programming.
::yawn::

Who needs to be Ethical anyway?

2005-05-22T00:44:00.000-07:00

As I've posted elsewhere, I did not receive the grade in Ethical Lawyering that I thought I would. I'm pissed, honestly. I studied super hard for the final and went in there really feeling like I had a handle on the Model & Cal Rules. I also felt like my partner and I did an OK job on our oral presentation and we worked our butts off on the paper. In fact, I'm quite certain we worked harder than most people. I don't know where it all went wrong...but it did. I didn't FAIL (thank God), but I was 1 point below the mean. Which is FINE, but not what I was hoping for to bring my GPA up this year. Now I'm going to have to score well above the mean in my 3 other classes in order to make up for that and bring up my GPA. I just don't know if that's going to happen. I thought Eth Law would be one of my good grades.

This is the most surprised I've been about a grade since my Crim Law grade. And that was partly due to a proctor error. I don't know what this is due to, honestly. I really don't. And since I thought this would be my best final...and it turned out badly, I don't have much hope for the other 3. Let's think good thoughts...and maybe, somehow, the curve pulled me out on the others. Grades don't really bother me. But since I found out that the legal community are complete WHORES for grades, I thought if I could at least get onto the Dean's List, it would be better than merely "Top 30%" which seems to have gotten me bupkiss.

Anyway...I'm trying not to freak out about it. Because I sort of KNOW I will end up getting a job somehow, somewhere...even if I'm top 30%. But that grade still hurt. Darnit.

In other news, I've been working on the prof's research project. The first chapter took me WAY longer than I imagined and I'm now a little worried about being able to finish in time. I am at least onto Chapter 2, Subsequent Remedial Measures, and did a pretty good search on Lexis. I'm not sure how much more I can drum up on the subject...so hopefully, it will go somewhat faster than Chapter 1. It's hard to sit here researching for hours and hours at a time. Hard on my back and my eyes. I need a real desk and real desk chair. Oh where is my massage chair?

Have postponed looking for a job until after this research thing because honestly if I do anything else right now...I won't finish in time.

Over finally...

2005-05-14T13:34:00.000-07:00

I made it thru 2L. No more professors, no more books, no more 1L dirty looks.

The exam yesterday was pretty difficult, but I feel like I did OK. The multiple choice portion was sort of horrible because the choices were all somewhat wrong and you had to pick "the most correct" answer. Yuck. I hate that...cuz then you can't really do the old process of elimination. So it's not really "objective" at all any more, is it? Because couldn't I make a case that several of the answers were "the most correct?"

Oh well. Part of the second essay question was on pleas which I thought was sort of unfair since we literally spent ONE class on that and that was the last day of class. I read everything and took copious notes, but honestly didn't think I understood everything to write a massive essay on it. So I just did the best I could.

And it's over now.

Time to shove the books and notes under the bed and just be happy I made it through all this. And wait for the grades. BLEAH.

The Last day of the First Day of the rest of law school

2005-05-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I've made it to this: the last official day of my 2L year. I have my Crim Pro (4 hour) exam at 1 p.m. I studied quite a bit for this, plus found the subject matter pretty interesting, so I'm HOPING to do all right. You never really know with this stuff, tho.

I stayed up later than I'd hoped doing a case list, because I spent the day yesterday doing the practice questions in the Emanuels I borrowed. So last nite, realizing I am SO BAD with names, I basically just made a list of cases by Amendment and one-liners to help remember them. I literally woke up this morning with things like "Caballes = dogsniffs not a search" and "Dow = aerial surveillance" and "Katz = phone booth REOP" running thru my head. If you haven't taken Crim Pro, none of that means anything to you. If you have, I probably just gave you hives.

I'm trying to do mnemonics right now to help myself. Like, for example, there is a case about Ineffective Assistance of Counsel called "Nix" which is an exception to Cronic (which I love the name of cuz I always imagine Snoop Dogg tokin on a fattie) where a defendant cannot claim ineffective assistance of counsel by conflict of interest where he told his lawyer he was going to perjure himself and lawyer told the judge. I remember it like this: Nixon was a liar. Nix = perjury. Nice, eh?

I also have one for the "beeper" cases: Knotts and Karo. I just made up the phrase "Knott's Karo Beeper" as a takeoff on Knotts Berry Farm. I'm strange. But this shit works for me.

I will post when this is all over and hopefully the post won't begin..."What the hell have I done?"

WISH ME LUCK!

Detour

2005-05-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

Well, searing back pain yesterday put a bit of a wrench in my studying game plan. I almost had to postpone taking my exam today...but I just wanted it to be over, honestly. So I did everything in my power to get my back to a point I could sit for 3.5 hours and take the exam. I learned I can massage my own back if I need to (tho I almost dislocated my shoulder doing it) to work thru the muscle spasms. I took a lot of Advil, hot baths and used all kinds of Flexall, Icy Hot and both a heating bad and blue ice alternatingly. I was able to at least go thru my Flash Cards once and still make it to the exam with time to spare. My grasp of the actual elements of each rule were kind of shaky since my brain was a little addled from all the Advil (Advilled?) and I had sort of a traumatic day yesterday. I honestly was really scared because I couldn't MOVE AT ALL when the spasms kicked in and it felt like someone sticking a knife in my back and then twisting it every few seconds.

I'm pretty proud of myself for even taking the exam, honestly. But I really am a fighter. I've been thru way more pain then this and somehow made it thru.

Unfortunately, I also lost part of my Crim Pro study time to the back spasms. So, probably can't do a real outline, but will have to figure out SOME way to study effectively for 2.5 days. I'm worried about my back and sitting for that long each day...so might have to sit on the couch with the heating pad for part of it.

I had to take tonite off because my brain was just dead. I'm off to take another bath and then do some stretching. Wish me luck on the final final.

When will this be over???

2005-05-09T00:51:00.000-07:00

I haven't even really started studying for Crim Pro yet -- unless you count printing out my notes, Matt's outline and reading thru the prof's Q&A sessions. I had to take a huge chunk of my day on Thursday to do the MONTH of laundry that's been piling up and then spent the evening with P. Friday, I ran a bunch of errands, studied and went out with Liz for my birthday. I actually came home and studied some more, tho. But was exhausted by midnite.

Yesterday, I studied Torts II all day, went to dinner with my Aunt & Uncle and then studied a but more until I was literally falling asleep at my computer by 11 p.m. Today, I've been making flash cards for Torts and reading the RS rules and comparing them to the Cal Rules. I liked my Torts II prof, but he's sort of all over the place and I realized my notes don't make the most sense EVER. So the making of the flash cards is kind of tedious because I have things written like "Cal overruled this in 43 CalApp 3d 1267" and then when I look up the citation, it's not right. And I can't figure out where it's wrong and the parties I have written down don't bring anything up. Eeek.

I've made flash cards thru Week 8, tho (Defamation) and have already dealt with "actual malice" in 2 other classes (Con Law II and Entertainment Law) under NY Times v. Sullivan, so those cards should go pretty fast. I really have to move over to Crim Pro tomorrow, tho, if I'm going to effectively study it before the Friday final. The good news about BOTH of this weeks finals is that they are in the afternoon (thank you!) which is so much easier for me. (a) I don't have to worry about oversleeping (tho I have found a nifty Wake Up call service) and (b) I can study on the day of the final a little bit.

The plan is to finish the Torts Flash Cards tomorrow morning and then move over to Crim Pro in the afternoon and then back to Torts II in the evening/Tues Morning. He's giving us a 3 hour final even tho, technically, it's only supposed to be 2 hours since it's only a 2 unit class. UGH.

I am so tired of studying, I can barely stay awake. I actually fell asleep on the couch today for an hour while studying Torts. I think I'm going to make a few more flash cards and then head off to the sack, so I can get up at a decent time tomorrow morning. At least these are interesting Torts!

Not half right

2005-05-05T12:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm half-done with my finals. My Bus. Assoc, 4-hour final was pretty shitty, but at least it's over. I spent the rest of the day after the final yesterday sleeping, eating and drinking. I deserved all of it. Now I've gotta get crackin on Torts II and Crim Pro. Torts II is only 6 people, so there's no curve (which could help or really hurt me, honestly). Crim Pro is scaring the daylights out of me...but it's the last one (Friday the 13th!), so hopefully I can get some good studying done on it. The Torts II final is only a 2-unit grade and Crim Pro is 4, so you know where I'll be concentrating my efforts!

Gotta print out my notes for both classes now and definitely have to do some laundry today since I'm completely out of underwear.

Did you ever know that you're my hero?

2005-05-03T21:55:00.000-07:00

Alex @ The Staples on Santa Monica/Vermont is totally my hero. I finished my Bus.Assoc. outline at approximately 8 p.m. and then FOUGHT with shitty MS Word trying to add the Table of Contents for 20 min. I hate that program. I don't know whomever programmed that crap, but when I add a Table of Contents, I really don't want my entire OUTLINE numbering system changed!

Who would want to do that? ever????!

So, after 5 min of printing, I skidded to the Staples only to have Alex tell me he couldn't do it for me. I started asking people where the nearest Kinko's was and Alex said "hold on. I'll do it for you." and he did. I love him. He was so swamped with like a million jobs back there that apparently someone else had dropped off late and I cannot thank him enough. I was so stressed out, he must've seen the fear in my eyes. Of course, while he was binding my outline, some crazy freak made me read some newspaper article about how blacks and latinos shouldn't move up to the Antelope Valley because it's just white farmers up there and there isn't the right kind of healthcare for the types of "problems black and latino babies have." I mentioned that maybe the State could create an incentive program to lure better doctors up there with the right credentials, rather than shunning those communities and he actually said "Those sensitives don't work. They take money." ack.

I came home and fed my cat some baby food (her poor stomach has been horrible today and I figured baby food is made to be gentle on baby tummies). I just have to tab my outline and then I'm ready to get some sleep and get up EARLY for the exam which starts at 9 a.m. tomorrow and goes until 1:00 p.m.

I feel Ok about most of the stuff I learned in Bus Assoc, but have to admit being kind of shaky on the proxy stuff. I missed a few classes toward the end. BLEAH.
I'm really pretty nervous about this exam. And will be glad to go out to dinner with Liz tomorrow nite and be study-free for ONE nite.

One Down!

2005-05-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

Finished my Eth Law exam at around 11:40 a.m.! I'm really glad I did all those practice questions yesterday (even though they were incredibly tedious) because 4 of the questions were on the exam verbatim! YAY! I also felt like I knew most of the answers to the other questions. There were definitely a couple that were really close between two answers and I just had to pick and a couple that I honestly had NO CLUE and just guessed. But all in all, not a bad first exam.

Tomorrow's will suck FAR MORE. Must get crackin on the Biz Ass outline as we speak.
Crack
Crack

Club Dread

2005-05-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

In just two hours, I will be sitting with my pencil poised ready to tackle my Ethical Lawyering final. I finished my flash cards on Sunday nite and literally spent the ENTIRE day yesterday doing the practice questions in our book. They are those long, rambling multiple choice questions that take a full minute and a half to read and another minute almost to answer. Also, because I remember things by writing them out, I began by writing out all the questions AND answers AND the correct answers. By about halfway through, I was only writing out the answers and the book answers. I hope it will also help me study for the MPRE in August.

The bad thing about the book practice questions is that, despite being called California Legal Ethics, the questions only dealt with the Model Rules. I honestly don't see why they didn't go the extra step and give the difference in the CA rule where applicable in the answer explanation, since I'm going to be tested on that and the bar exam tests on that in essay form. Lame.

I still can't believe how long it took me to do all those questions. There were 7 - 8 questions per chapter and 14 chapters, tho...so I guess it adds up. I also had to break to (a) shower, (b) go to the grocery store and (c) hang out with P for 2 hours watching a live Radiohead DVD -- which was the best part of my day, hands down.

Since no computers are required for this exam, I'm heading over a little early and will probably sit in my car and do my yoga breathing to calm myself. I honestly have no idea how I'm going to do on this exam. I did OK on the practice questions (tho some were harder than you can imagine). The only good news is that it's only 50% of my grade. But I don't feel amazingly confident in my oral or my paper, either. Oh, well. Not much I can do about that now!

If you are somewhere reading this between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and noon PDT, send smart Ethical thoughts my way, would ya?

As soon as I get out of the exam, I basically have to rush home and finish my Bus Assoc outline for tomorrow. I don't even know how late I can get that thing bound at Staples, so gotta call about that. I hope I can finish it. Oy.

Are we there yet?

2005-05-02T01:24:00.000-07:00

I am about halfway done with my Bus. Assoc outline and finally done with all my flash cards for Eth law. I took a break around 6 to go get some Mexican food with my friend Jeff and talk about my love life which was breaking my heart this weekend.

I also took a break to talk to P. (the love) and my mom. But then right back to the cards. Those last few nearly killed me, I tell ya. Damn Advertising and Solicitation rules!

So tomorrow, I can awake refreshed (or MORE refreshed) and begin actually going thru the cards and doing the practice questions. It would nice to be able to work on my Bus Assoc outline some more so that I'm not truly waiting until the day BEFORE the final to finish it -- but it wouldn't be the first time. I do need to be able to finish it in time to get it bound at Staples, tho, so I have a feeling I will HAVE to work on it SOME tomorrow.

T-32.5 hours to Eth Law exam
T-56.5 hours to Bus. Assoc. exam

Beat-nik

2005-05-01T01:50:00.000-07:00

I am so BEAT TIRED right now.

I have been working on Business Associations for MOST of the day (except when I was talking to Sheridan on the phone for 2 hours!). I read thru all my notes and highlighted them and then printed out my friend Matt's outline from his class at Boston (removing the bits beforehand that we didn't cover in my class). I also tabbed my notes with all the rules (which I found really helpful in Evidence last year, just in case I couldn't find something in my outline). Now for the past 4 hours or so, I've been working on my outline. I'm only thru Week 5. Oof. There were 14 weeks of class. This is the exam which I have on Wednesday, so I actually have MOST of the day on Tuesday to finish this up. I need to return to old Ethical Lawyering, unfortunately, so I think my plan will be to wake up tomorrow and slog thru as much Bus Assoc as I can by about 2 p.m., then move over to Eth Law. Bus. Associations is my only Open Book final, so the key to that one is all about the outline and the fabulously tabbed notes and rule book (which I have done already).

I still have SO MANY MORE rules to learn for Eth Law. It is truly going to be the death of me. The good news is (a) it's multiple choice, (b) it's only 50% of my grade. But, on the other hand, we've done so much work for this class already, it should really be about a 5 unit course (rather than 3). Lame!

I will be glad when these first two finals are behind me (May 3rd and 4th). Then it will be all about Torts II and Crim Pro! WHEE! Won't that be a fun way to spend my birthday on the 6th? gah.

yawn-inducing

2005-04-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

Got thru the LONG last day of classes. At least my Eth Law prof brought Krispy Kremes and macaroons (for those in the middle of Passover) for us. She also brought in some examples of the kinds of ethics essay questions that seem to be appearing on the bar rather regularly now and we went over them. All I can say is DANG.

I also remembered that there was a stack of commercial outlines in the OutLaw office (donated by previous members/officers) and went to check for any for Crim Pro and Bus. Associations. I actually found Emanuels which were in pristine condition for each class! Very excited. Saved myself $50 by being able to borrow these. I will obviously return them after finals for other students. I find the outlines help me organize my own notes/thoughts.

I went to Vons and picked up some veggies to make stir-fry and settled in to watch some bad TV (read: Gilmore Girls). After eating and relaxing a little, I made myself a Jack & Coke and started printing out my Eth Lawyering notes. I made another one to print out my Biz Ass notes. By the end of all that printing, I could barely SEE (not just from the J&C, mind you) and went to bed. I was BEAT.

Ended up sleeping for 10 hours, which felt fantastic. I took my notes over to Staples to get them bound and then ran my dry cleaning over to the laundry. Also finally picked up my boots from the shoe repair. And went to the gym to work out my mental and emotional stress. That felt amazing (except for the dead cockroach on the third floor by the exercise bikes -- EW!). I felt about a million times better after my workout. Got a brief text from P. Not much said. Left ball in his court to contact me later.

Came home and made up an XL chart of all the Ethics rules chapter by chapter that I need to memorize. Then resorted the rules (Model and Cal) into a list so I could tab the crap out of my Rules book. I would normally not do this for a closed-book exam, but figured the easy reference will help me make flash cards, etc. I think flash cards are the way to go for Eth Law since it's all memorization.

Getting my hair cut & colored today and must work on the flash cards. Then tomorrow is Bus. Assoc. I hate having finals 1 day apart. It blows.

The Beginning of the End

2005-04-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

I made it thru the oral part of my Eth Law final and have spent the last 4 days working on the Memo and Client Letter portion with my partner. We worked all day Friday, Saturday and yesterday and then a little bit more this morning (tweaking). The two docs are in a good place; tho, were we to have another week, I'm sure they could have been even better.

I am a little annoyed because some of the other Eth Lawyering classes only had to do the Memo and had 2 weeks to do it! Not sure why we got screwed. Making us do a 20 page writing assignment in the last week of classes before finals, pretty much assures that we are NOT studying for finals during that week. LAME.

It could be worse, tho. A girl in my Biz Ass class was bemoaning the fact that she has finals on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th + a paper due on the 13th. Gah. My schedule ain't THAT bad. I have finals on the 3rd, 4th, 10th & 13th. I am annoyed, tho, because a friend of mine works for XL Recordings and will be at Coachella this year for her client, M.I.A. and I could have gone with the "hook up." Bauhaus is playing and I've had a thing for Peter Murphy since I was 17. But, being somewhat responsible and realizing this is my career we are talking about here, I'm begging off. Liz has promised to take me out for a steak dinner at some point on the corp dime, tho, since M.I.A. will be on Jimmy Kimmel next week.

I'm in my usual freakout mode on this, the last official day of classes. I have so much to do and study and it all seems so overwhelming. I went to Staples yesterday to stock up on paper, 3M tabs and a wrist support. I forgot to get some ink cartridges for the printer, tho, which I will have to do when I take my notes over for binding. I just put in a new one today, tho, so should last me thru at least a couple of outlines.

I still don't have a "real" job this summer. As soon as finals are over, I have to get KICKIN on the Professors research project which is due on June 15. I see some long days ahead of me. I have a wedding in Chicago at the end of June and would love to get a clerk job (even part time) that starts in July and continues into the school year. My friend, Sarah, is going to talk to an Entertainment lawyer friend of hers who just moved from a big firm to a smaller one (taking his high profile clients with him) to see if he can used any help. You never know. Can't hurt to talk to him. Otherwise, I'll probably just keep an eye on the job board.

I've been attempting to balance school and a new love and it's difficult. Made more difficult by the new love's personal baggage (read: divorce) and him not wanting to "burden" me during finals. Yesterday, the freakout over finals and school combined with the personal freakout and made for a very messy spycygrl. There was sobbing...drinking...and a hot shower at midnite. I feel slightly better today, but I know that I really need to go to the gym tomorrow and work some of this crap out of my psyche.

Well...off to my last day of class for 2L!!!! Mazel tov.

Tired of being Ethical

2005-04-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

Today is my Ethical Lawyering final Interview/Counseling session with my partner. We worked on our "script" for 7.5 hours on Sunday and another 4.5 hours yesterday. It's still too long for the 45 min., so we're going to have to talk fast and cut it down a little. 45 min just really isn't enough time for everything they want you to accomplish. In addition, the problem given is totally annoying and has a bunch of different variables that add so much complexity, it's absurd. Grrrr.

I'm so damn exhausted, I will be glad when this is over today. Of course, then I have to write a Memo and a Client Letter due a week from now.
Oh, yeah and then I start finals.
Not sure where I'm supposed to sleep in all this.

Sorry about my suckage

2005-04-12T00:23:00.000-07:00

I realized I haven't updated this in FOREVER. I have, however, been updating my PERSONAL blog like a fiend. Because those are the bits of my existence which have been truly tasty of late. But since I have vowed to not mix business and oh so much pleasure (due to future employers who might not look kindly on my blog voyeurism), good old Injustice for All has been getting short shrift.

Lessee...the Cliff Notes:
1) Called Ian "my boyfriend"
2) Told fellow classmates we were dating
3) Broke up w/Ian about 2 weeks later to be "friends with benefits"
4) Went to Vegas on Spring Break with fellow law student
5) Got kickass massage in Vegas and met a great bartender named Paul
6) Didn't do as well on second Ethical Lawyering practice round ("Counseling"), in fact...failed to get to resolution!
7) Co-hosted (OutLaw) a St. Patrick's day Turf Club with the Catholic Law Society. I made a mix cd of Irish music (mostly Pogues and Flogging Molly). Whole thing was a huge hit.
8) Went to Ian's birthday party on the dreaded West Side. My opinion of the West Side only declined further.
9) Ran into old crush from 10 years ago at a local bar
10) Had expensive French dinner with Ian and then officially, totally broke up with him (a little inspired by old, now renewed, crush)
11) Accepted Research Asst. job for my favorite professor
12) Interviewed with and was never called back by an IP firm
13) Have now seen old crush 2 weekends in a row for HUGE periods of romance time and am loving life. Cute, funny, sexy, talented, brilliant, silly, sweet, kind, loving. ::swoon::
14) Contracted horrible head cold from crush
15) Coughed myself into severe back pain last nite and had to miss Business Associations because I couldn't get out of bed. Ouch.
16) Haven't started Prof project yet thanks to head cold/backache and impending Ethical Lawyering oral final.
17) Burnt out on law school
18) Used handy ABA discount to garner sweet hotel rate for friend's wedding in Chicago in June
19) Realized 10% ABA discount on airfare still more than booking thru the American Airlines website.
20) Finished Nick Hornby's Polysyllabic Spree (I recommend it wholeheartedly)
21) Am freaking out that there are 3 weeks left of class before finals start.
22) Might take job at labor law firm in San Pedro. (at least Bukowski spent some time there)
23) Had a little crying breakdown last nite that maybe I'm not cut out to be a lawyer. This happens around this point in each semester.

Ok...now you're all caught up. I am a complete insomniac right now and am actually going to read MORE Crim Pro to try to become tired. Who knows if it will work?

Spicy's Law

2005-03-14T09:41:00.000-08:00

"When things are going poorly, just expect them to get much much worse." -- spycygrl, this morning, as she wiped up a puddle of cat vomit

I woke up with a stomach ache in addition to my allergies running rampant. Despite the fact that I felt like garbage, I rallied to go to Business Associations anyway.

Little did I know that the City of LA would have CLOSED the only major thoroughfare near my house for road construction. Brilliant -- 8:00 a.m. on a Monday morning and you CLOSE one of the biggest streets into downtown. Idiots.

The traffic was so bad on the side streets that I literally moved 1 block in 20 minutes. I decided to just come home (which still took 25 minutes). I wrote the Bureau of Street Services about their stupid road move (cc'ing the fabulous City Councilman, Eric Garcetti -- who may possibly hate me from all my "letters" about the community).

I had just gotten home when my cat projectile VOMITED onto her little sleeping box, a pile of magazines and a chair. This day sucks.

I'm going back to bed.

Hate of the Union

2005-03-07T20:18:00.000-08:00

So the OutLaw Hate Crimes Panel is finally upon us. Tomorrow at noon in the Loyola student lounge, we will be putting on a panel re: Hate Crimes and laws. I was able to get an LA County Deputy Attorney, Nohelia from my summer job at Anti-Violence Project, a woman from the Muslim Public Affairs Council and a guy from the Asian Pacific Legal Center. I hope it will be a good turnout.

Unfortunately, there are also appellate arguments going on tomorrow on campus. Professor Laurie Levenson convinced some judges to come hear oral arguments at Loyola so that students have a chance to see what really happens in them. Pretty cool. I am grateful that they are taking a lunch break when we are having our panel!

I made 200 copies on lavender paper of our flyer and am going to get to school early tomorrow to leave them on desks, chairs, bulletin boards, etc.
It's so hard to wrangle 4 different speakers. I just hope it all works out. This is OutLaw's first big student program!

Wish me luck.

In other news, things with Ian are going swimmingly. We've been together 2 months now and I'm actually using the term "boyfriend" somewhat freely. I have begun to feel better about the age difference after learning that Susan Sarandon is 10 years older than Tim Robbins. And that she is almost 60. She's still freakin hot!

I can't wait for Spring Break and my trip to VEGA$!!!! I'm going with a friend from law school and some of her friends. Unfortunately, we planned the trip way back in January and it falls over Ian's 25th birthday. In order to make it up to him, I have an elaborate gift/evening planned involving massage lotion, lingerie and new 600 TC sheets. I might even bake him a pie.

Did you think I died?

2005-03-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

No, unlike Hunter S. Thompson, I did not sit in my cadillac and blow my brains out. Even if my Business Associations reading made me want to.

Sorry I haven't been updating. I HAVE been updating my personal blog quite a bit...which tells you my personal life has been far more interesting than my school life. Thank God.

We are on Week 8 and I'm a little freaked out about it. I've been pretty well keeping up with the reading and understanding stuff -- except Biz Ass which, honestly, I have no idea about. You would think the fact that I had worked in corporate communications for a major NYC corporation would have helped me understand the corporation in terms of statutes, form, etc. But it didn't. The Delaware Code can suck me.

Things with Ian (24 year old law school boy) are going very well and we had our first weekend away together. I have officially started referring to myself as his "girlfriend" which is a big step for me. I still don't know if he's "the one," but we are having a good time and I am loathe to analyze it too much.

It does, however, cut into my study time (and my TV-watching time) -- which is something to be careful about.

I put together a panel (sponsored by OutLaw) on Hate Crime at Loyola which will be Tuesday, March 8. We are having the LA Asst. District Attorney, my old boss from Anti-Violence Project, a woman from the Muslim Public Affairs Council and a guy from the Asian Pacific Legal Center. I am very excited about it and hope it turns out well. PILF is co-sponsoring with us and Office of Career Services is giving us some $$ because Graham loves me.

I still don't have a summer job which is start to FREAK ME OUT. I am considering doing the summer Civil Rights program in Costa Rica as a backup plan if I don't get a job. It is sometimes very depressing to me that all my years of working in the real world count for NOTHING when you are top 30%. God forbid I was only top 50%.

Lawyers are assholes.

Not as dumb as I thought I was

2005-01-23T23:28:00.000-08:00

SO it turns out I did pretty well last semester. Especially when you consider how I rarely kept up with the reading for one of my classes and literally studied for 2 days for Con law II. Obviously, I learned something from 1L about what and how to study. Phew.

I'm up to date on my Business Association reading for tomorrow and started reading the E&E today on Agency. Figured it couldn't hurt to have some back-up info for class tomorrw.

I spent the nite with Ian last nite and am still wavering about how I feel about him. I've written about this ad nauseum on my other blog, so I won't bore the 2 "Injustice" readers with the details. But I still don't know how I feel...and am trying to figure out if it's him...me...or the fact that I haven't had a boyfriend in a long time. Hmmm.

We watched Garden State last nite and I was excited to see my friend Michael Weston as the cop. I didn't realize he was in the movie, so that was a nice surprise. I wrote my friend Cary a little text message when his song came on in the movie. I wish it wouldn't have been so far in the background, but still cool.

Cary is actually playing a show at Sundance on the 27th, so if any of y'all happen to be trekking out there, go to Suede on the 27th and see Cary along with Jason Mraz, Joe Purdy, Ian Ball of Gomez, Jim Bianco, Butch Walker, Alexi Murdoch and more...More info available HERE.

I'm really proud of Cary. He put out his record by himself and was able to capitalize on the reach of the Garden State soundtrack to get fans. Now, playing at Sundance, hopefully some new converts to the CB fan base. I miss him. We never hang out any more...probably mostly my fauly thanks to law school getting in the way of my LIFE.
::sigh::

Do I think the reason I'm not sure about Ian is because I'm somehow carrying around my crush on Cary??? Even tho I think we are just destined to be great friends and nothing more? Or is it deeper than that? Comparisons to boyfriends past?

In other news, when Liz was out here, she played me M.I.A's new record on XL. It's so awesome. That girl has a great sound. She's originally from Sri Lanka so she is doing a benefit show here in LA at the Knitting Factory on the 3rd for the Tsunami Relief Fund. I might try to go...I'd like to see how she is live.

My friend Jen sent me an hilarious cd called Sabbath in the Suburbs: A Lounge Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. AWESOME. Kitschy and the joke wears out fast...but I love the Salsa version of "Ironman."

Well...back to E&E Agency and then into my new 400 TC sheets. Yum.

God speaks thru the Lanham Act

2005-01-19T18:10:00.000-08:00

So I finally got my IP grade (Con Law is still somewhere out there in the ether). I got a freakin "A!"

I still can't believe it. LIke they might have accidentally given me someone else's grade. Truly. Remember, this is the exam I thought I FAILED. And I wasn't saying that in a "Oh, no you didn't, Spicy." kind of way. As in, I walked out of that exam feeling like I'd been beaten about the head and shoulders with a canned ham. And not in a good way.

There was an entire essay question that I never even studied and didn't realize we needed to know for the final...so I GUESSED and used a bunch of crap from the rest of the class. Oddly, I think it was half-right.

I hafta say, I feel pretty good right now. Though, now I'm worried about Con law because, I felt great coming out of that one...maybe it's an inverse relationship! But my prof is now on sabbatical, so who knows when that grade will even be posted. I wrote the Registrar and their one line answer was "Why don't you write your professor and ask him when he's posting them?"
Uh...because that's your JOB and I'm paying $30K/yr for your salary to take of this sort of thing.

In other news, I believe I saw Matt Damon at my gym today. Funnily enough, I had to brush by him in order to get a band-aid from the front desk since I had somehow sliced open my finger in the locker room. Hot.

Reasonable person?

2005-01-16T23:29:00.000-08:00

I'm slightly freaked out about dating someone in law school. Especially someone who is 12 years my junior.

But we have had 3 great dates. And he's a pretty wonderful guy.
But there is still something really "90210" about the whole thing when we are on campus.
And I'm trying really hard NOT to feel like "Mrs. Robinson Goes to Law School."

I know...I should just shut up and enjoy it.

Flailing, but not failing...yet

2005-01-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

Entertainment Law grade finally posted. I did OK. I was just below the mean which is, honestly, FINE with me since I thought I might have flunked -- considering how I felt when I walked out of that exam. I'm grateful for the grade and with my nice Evidence grade, actually evens out to an OK GPA thus far.

I still have IP to break my high, tho. Not posted yet. Nor Con Law. I feel OK about Con Law (tho maybe I shouldn't), but IP sucked so much ass...I just can't imagine I did well. Additionally, with only 13 people in the class, I'm always worried about how the curve works. 1 raw point is suddenly the difference between an A and a B or a C and a D. I really hope that I, at LEAST was within the "standard deviation" from the mean. Otherwise, I might cry.

And on the second day...

2005-01-11T19:41:00.000-08:00

I've made it thru the first two days of class and have to say, I'm liking this semester better than last ALREADY! While Business Associations is a bit dry, it's being taught by my faculty advisor for OutLaw, so I went in knowing she was cool. She actually had us read an article on the Disney-Ovitz disaster as well as an article on the Dalkon Shield and the plea from the judge to the principals of that company. Coulda been a lot worse. She also let us out early as she said until people get settled into their classes (after add/drop), it's difficult to do too much crazy stuff. That will start on Thursday!

I was done with class by 10 and then mailed some books out that I sold on Half.com. Was going to go to the gym, but it was still pouring and pouring yesterday and I just decided to stay in and read.
Today, I had Crim Pro and Ethical Lawyering. I like my Crim Pro prof so far -- she's an ex-Federal Defense attorney which is pretty cool and has some vehement opinions about the U.S. criminal justice system. I have a 3 hour break between classes, so I picked up my loan check, went to Staples and mailed out another Half.com book. I'm quite pleased with how many books I've sold in 1 week. Gets them out of my house at least.

I got all professional and bought book boxes, bubble wrap and invoice envelopes. I also learned that I should be sending with delivery confirmation so someone doesn't shaft me by saying they never got my shipment! I have another book to ship out tomorrow. Whee.

Ethical Lawyering was pretty good. We watched clips from The Practice, Anatomy of a Murder and a couple of news shows abou lawyers. She seems cool. I hope she ends up being so.
A friend from 1L is in my class and mentioned he would like to do the partner assignment with me because I'm a "great communicator." Wow. That was a really nice thing to say. It's possible this blog doesn't reflect this...or that he's just easily impressed. But it still made me feel good.

In other funny news, my friend Brian yelled in the middle of Crim Pro (after I told him I date on Thursday nite with someone from school) "You're dating Prof Evidence!"
Note: Prof Evidence is MARRIED with Children. While I have a crush on him, yes, it is a harmless schoolgirl crush that I would never act on and doubt he would either. Despite our emailing about music and books. All very platonic and harmless. Anyway, I had to yell back "I am NOT dating Professor Evidence!!!!' I really don't want that getting around. Just awful. So now, of course, all of my friends are dying to know who it is I am dating. Let them wonder. In the mean time, date boy and I spent several hours text messaging while I was running errands = DORKS.

My mom told me she watched this thing on the Biography channel last nite on Leonard Peltier. I know quite a bit about him actually, since my friend Tom was very involved in trying to get him released and Rage even had a song about him. In addition, I took Native American Studies in college (yes, in the late 80's, early 90's -- oof) and we watched Incident at Oglala. Talking to my mom reminded me about that, so I recommended she get that DVD. My mom can be pretty cool for a 66 year old gal from Marion, Indiana.

Can't believe it's starting again...

2005-01-07T01:56:00.000-08:00

Class starts up again on Monday. I finally got the books I ordered from Barrister, so I can actually do my Bus Assoc. assignment (phew!).

I still need to go to school tomorrow and buy a couple of books that were unavailable on barrister or Amazon. And drop off the Tony Hawk - Simpsons photo I got for Prof Evidence to use as a visual aid in his future skateboard hypos.

So far, the only grade which has been posted is Evidence and I did pretty well. Not top 10% of the class or anything, but pretty good -- above the mean, at least. Since it's a 4 unit class, I'm happy about the grade and hope it will offset the truly shitty grades I'm certain to get in IP and Entertainment Law.

I also sold my IP book and supplement today on Half.com -- YAY! And have learned that people will buy even your grossly highlighted note-ridden book if the price is right. So I'm off to the post office tomorrow to ship them.

I'm exausted from my "date" last nite which went all night. Not in that way, you dirty prevert. We were chatting about books, law school, music, life until 5 a.m. No, really, we were. He's in my Bus. Assoc. class, so I wanna make sure I don't rush things and then have an awkward semester. He's a great guy -- even if he's 12 years younger than me. Yep, you read that correctly. 12 years. I was seeing Star Wars at the drive-in with my parents 3 years before he was even born. But he's wonderfully tall. Like 6'5." I love that. I'm 5'2" so it feels like I'm dating a GIANT. I feel tiny and slim next to him. Awesome.

And now for something completely different....

2005-01-04T01:19:00.000-08:00

Sorry, was watching a lot of Monty Python yesterday.

Well, I know you all have been horribly depressed awaiting the release of my annual top ten records list.
Cry no more.
Here it be.

I will also preface by saying that I know there were plenty of fine records released this year that did not make my list. Because I limit my list to only those records (yep, I'm going to continue to call them "records" even tho they are, technically, CDs) to those I've PURCHASED and as a law student I have little to no $$ for mass purchasing, this represents only those records I loved enough to buy or someone forced down my throat and I ended up embracing like a favorite son.
Agree...don't agree...but if you go to Amoeba to stock up on any of these, please drop some ducats into the Tsunami Relief fund. Amoeba will supposedly match all funds collected and send them on.
Or you can donate to CARE directly through the Amoeba website at:
http://www.amoebamusic.com/html/

Now...on with the list. In no order other than how I thought to write them down:
1. Patty Griffin - IMPOSSIBLE DREAM
While not as strong as prior Patty records (in my opinion), there is some wonderful diversity on this one and a couple of trademark Patty songs to send you into tears. Bonus track of Ma and Pa Griffin singing "Impossible Dream" which is too cute for words.

2. Loretta Lynn - VAN LEAR ROSE
Loretta has a voice like no other. I grew up listening to her duets with Conway Twitty, but this here record is a whole different dance hall for sweet Loretta. Jack White has added some lovely geetar and grit-rock touches that give a little dogged rust to the old gal's gorgeous candy country vocals.

3. Cary Brothers - ALL THE RAGE
Cary is a friend, first. Sometimes friends make terrible records. Sometimes they make amazing ones. This is one of those amazing times (thankfully). When Cary gave me this over the summer, I literally played it on "endless" loop for 6 straight days. And it's only 4 songs. The deep production and swirling guitars are icing on the already lovely lyrical cake.

4. Various/Soundtrack - GARDEN STATE
Ok...so Cary is on this, too. And I first listened because he's friends with Zach and told me the soundtrack was too too awesome. And you know what? It is. Most of the songs are available elsewhere, but this soundtrack is like a truly brilliant mix tape your best friend made for you before you went on a cross-country trip. I recommend it for the elliptical trainer at the gym. Perfect timing.

5. Iron & Wine - OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS
You may be seeing a pattern here. I heard this man on the Garden State soundtrack doing a cover of the Postal Service. And it was beautiful. And hauntingly lovely. And I had to know more. The entire record is just as gorgeous. Sam Beam sings softly and darkly and at times, reminds me of a fitter, happier Nick Drake.

6. Grant Lee Phillips - VIRGINIA CREEPER
I saw Grant play a song at Bring the Rock and I knew I needed to go buy this record. I've loved Grant's voice since Grant Lee Buffalo, but hadn't picked up any solo work. Never hurts that I hear him often in combination with Sam Phillips on the Gilmore Girls. Just a sweet and sparkly record.

7. Tom Waits - REAL GONE
Tom does it again. I own everything he's ever done. I'm still a sucker for albums like Raindogs and Frank's Wild Years, but I am continually amazed at what Tom continues to come up with. Interesting, weird, complicated, brilliant, stunning.

8. Terry Reid - SUPER LUNGS: THE COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS
My friend, Nick, discovered this guy on the loudspeakers of a NYC record store. He aptly described him as equal parts Nina Simone and Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys. Or if he didn't describe it that way, he should have. His cover of Nancy Sinatra's "Bang Bang My Baby Shot Me Down" should be the theme song for something. Get on that, people! And, apparently, this cat still shows up at The Mint and plays a set occasionally. Unsung and unstrung hero.

9. Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter -- OH MY GIRL
Basically, my new Mazzy Star. This record is shoegazing country with Jesse's incredible voice rising through the lush and jangly soundscapes. It's perfect for driving around in all this rain we've been having.

10. The Postal Service - GIVE UP
Being a fan of Death Cab for Cutie meant I had to buy this the day it came out. I got tired of it more quickly than I wanted to...but every time I pop it back in, I really like it. It's a solid cd...and the idea that Ben & Jimmy will be shilling for the USPS at some point thanks to a Trademark settlement is just too funny.

Bonus Track:
11. William Shatner - HASBEEN
Yep. You read that correctly. That says "William Shatner." And to be honest, I don't own this record. I just heard a bunch of stuff off of it and was literally blown away. It's partially thanks to Ben Folds who plays behind Shatner's wordjazz (Bill actually reminds me of Ken Nordine on this record quite a bit!). Track guests include Aimee Mann, Joe Jackson, Brad Paisley, Lemon Jelly and Henry Rollins. The track, "What Have you Done" literally made me cry. Get this record. NOW.

And that, my friends, is my 2004 listening devices.

Slow Moving Vehicle

2005-01-02T23:06:00.000-08:00

I am a sloth in 2005.
No, that's not my New Year's Resolution...it's just the state of affairs of the past two days.

I had finals (as you know) right up until 10 p.m. on the 21st. Went out to dinner with my friend Bridgette and her friend, Jon, and then ran some errands on the 22nd. Went for yummy steaks with Bridge and Sheridan at Taylor's -- my fave beef in La La. I convinced the valet to park our vehicle in the overflowing lot because we were "3 girls in heels who didn't want to brave the streets of Koreatown at night." He was so sweet and wedged us in there somehow and even brought our keys to our table. The parking is free, so I tipped him $5.

The dinner was AMAZING (as always) and I really love hanging out with my girlfriends. We decided we really need to have a slumber party at Bridge's new apt -- Dave Gibbs suggests a web cam.

I woke up on the 23rd and packed up my car (including the cat) & drove up to Sacramento. I stopped by Vons and got a sandwich and put it in my little thermal lunchbox, so I could stop along the way and eat something more healthy than a Big Mac. I also discovered the rad Drive-Thru Starbucks on I-5 just past the Grapevine. I took advantage of the extra caffeine and listened to Patty Griffin. Wait...did I just say, "RAD???" I did, didn't I??? Well...it was. Rad, that is. This is also about the time I realized that I forgotten a coat OR scarf. It had been 75 degrees when I left LA. Not so in Sacramento...uh oh.

I made pretty good time -- about 6 hours -- and my mom had made these pretty yummy homemade enchiladas with a blackbean sauce. I chowed, talked with my mom and we watched some TV. My mom took me to her fave thrift store "run by the Mormons" and I found this amazing 1940's vintage grey wool coat from Lord & Taylor for $6. It fit me like a glove. And I bought it. Also bought a cute camel-colored wool blazer that just needed cooler buttons for $3. Then we stopped by Joann fabrics and I bought some yarn for my mom to knit scarves for my friends and one for me. The one for me we made out of this super soft baby chenille. I think it's the softest scarf I ever owned. My mom is totally awesome and can knit a scarf in like 2 hours.

On Christmas Eve, I carried my guitar over to Dave Puketza's for our annual Xmas Eve carrolling. We play guitars and sing Xmas and non-Xmas songs and tell stories and jokes. I love it there. He has a great family. I made them an hilarious novena candle featuring his family and me and our friend Blu as "angels." Blaspheme, for certain. They loved the candle and promise it will be a part of the holiday decorations every year.

My mom told me she would let me sleep, but didn't realize I would stay up making her a birthday card. She woke me up at 9. yawn. We had a big breakfast and opened our gifts. All of us are a bit strapped for cash and my poor parents have been amazing about helping with my finances during school. But I did get a new digital camera, which was super great! I got the Canon PowerShot A75 and I already LOVE IT! I have been using this old Kodak warhorse from 5 years ago. At the time, it was a really good camera...and still takes great photos, but it's only 2 megapixels and is like carrying around a small anvil. The new cam is fairly lightweight and fits in an evening handbag!

I had gotten my mom a velour hoodie cuz she's always coveting mine. Also some smelly soap and candles. Because Xmas is also my mom's birthday, I made her a homemade Coconut cake with pineapple filling and made dinner -- grilled filet mignon with rosemary garlic potatoes. MMmmm. Meat.

The 26th, we did our usual after-Xmas sale shopping, arriving at Arden Fair Mall by 9 a.m. and mostly beating the crowds. I was looking for sales on "career wear" and picked up a nice pair of grey flannel trousers at Banana Republic and an Anne Klein jacket for 50% off at Nordstrom.

On the 27th, I drove to San Francisco in the pouring rain (while listening to David Sedaris at Carnegie Hall -- BRILLIANT and so funny, I almost had to pull over to laugh & pee). I met up with my friend Suzanne who was out for the holidays from Ohio and we went to Citizen Cake for tea and cookies. Then I headed to Therapeia for my hot stone massage, which I think is quite possibly the most amazing thing someone has ever done to my body. Almost. or that I paid for.

Unfortunately, Sarah's cat died and she ended up having to drive all the way back to L.A. Her lovely dad, Dr. Lum, still invited me to stay in the guest room and he took Suzanne and I out to chinese food in SF. There is just NOT good chinese in La La. bleah. Dr. Lum grew up in SF's chinatown and knew the owner of the place and ordered in Mandarin. The food was INCREDIBLE. I ate and ate and ate until I thought I might explode. Then we all went back to Dr. Lum's and watched House of Flying Daggers on DVD (Dr. Lum has friends in Hong Kong!) which is one of the most beautiful martial arts movies ever made. I'm a huge fan of HK films -- used to go see them first run at the Chinese movie theatres when I lived in SF. But I just loved this movie. I can't wait for it to be released in the US on DVD. A definitely buy.

Woke up and went to Green Apple Books -- one of the best used bookstores in America. I spent $100 on used books, including a couple of gifts. My mom used to work for Edward Teller when she first moved to California, so I got her his Memoirs for $5. I also got Dave a book called The Hidden Book in the Bible, because he loves stuff like that. The rest were for me. Books ranging from Don DeLillo to Jonathan Littman to Thomas Pynchon to a book about the Cathars. Not sure when I think I'm going to read all this. But at least I have books for a while.

I was supposed to have dinner with my college boyfriend and his new girlfriend in Oakland, but he called and had the stomach flu, so I just drove back to Sacramento. I ended up getting a drink with my friend Jerry Perry who i've known since I was 16. I used to have a radio show in high school that broadcast thru all of Sacramento (KYDS). It was 1985 and we were the coolest radio station in Sac because we played Bauhaus, the Cure, Black Flag, Nina Hagen and all kinds of stuff no one else was playing back then. Jerry ran a club downtown called The Vortex which was a teenage dance club that played all that same music. Being the born marketer, I approached Jerry and offered to advertise The Vortex on our show and give away passes, as long as Tanya and I could always get in free. We all became local celebs. Once I moved away, Jerry stayed and opened the Cattle Club where bands like Pearl Jam and the Deftones played before their stadium days. Jerry is still a music promoter and publishes a music mag called Alive and Kicking. Even tho he's married and the father of a 10 year old, he hasn't really changed. He just looks a bit more like Kyle MacLachlan than he used to.

I spent most of my Sac break hand-crafting gifts for my friends. I made eye pillows with flax seed and lavender. I made dream pillows with camomile, lavender, roses, mugwort, spearmint and lemon grass. And I made sachets with roses, lavender and rose oil. I hand made them all, including sewing tiny roses on the velvet strings to the sachets.

The nite before I left, we went out to the Olive Garden for a "nice meal." That place is always packed in Sac. Oh, I forgot to mention I also ate at an Applebee's, which is the first time I've ever eaten at one of those. Sacramento = chain restaurant heaven. Both experiences left my stomach feeling unwell.

I drove home on the 30th, listening to an audiobook I purchased called RUNNING WITH SCISSORS. Yep, you read that correctly. And AudioBook. I gotta tell ya: I find them incredibly relaxing while driving. I'm such an NPR nut, that I listen to a lot of jabbering in the car, but there t'aint but mariachi and/or Christian radio in some of the rural areas of I-5. It's really pretty interesting and made the trip go pretty fast. But it's somewhat strange to be listening to someone describe basically being raped while you're driving. It's not all that bleak. But...wow. It was 7 cds and much longer than the car trip, so now I need to finish listening. But without a long car trip, it seems weird to just be driving around L.A. listening to it in tiny pieces. Hmmm.

New Years eve was at Dave & Peter's. I spent the day with Bridgette and Lou after my power went out at around 11. We got breakfast at Fred 62 and then walked around Vermont St, shopping. I bought a cute corduroy jacket which I will wear as soon as it stops raining. Bridge and I paid for and provided the appetizers and wine for the evening and it was a small group of us, having a good time.

Since then, I have barely left the house and my greatest accomplishment is putting away my clean laundry and uploading my photos from the new digicam. I really need to clean my house, but I just can't seem to get motivated. And it has been raining so much, I'm thinking of building an ark.

Tomorrow, however, is a new day and I plan on going to the gym and cleaning my bathroom (if nothing else). I love having nothing to do. It will all start again in one week, so I gotta be slow moving while I can.

Holidazed

2004-12-23T10:42:00.000-08:00

I'm off to Sacramento today to spend time with the parents for Xmas. I think we have finally convinced Dave Gibbs to host a NYE dinner party (with me cookin), so I'm driving back on the 30th I think.

I made an hilarious Xmas Novena candle for my friend Dave Puketza and his family. I spend every Xmas Eve with them and we play guitars and sing songs. So I pasted a photo of his family on the candle and then made myself and our friend Blu into little "angels" around the edge. And of course, glitter-glued it. It's perfectly kitsch and awful, and yet glorious simultaneously.

Will spend two days in SF, getting a hot stone massage, going out to dinner and seeing som old friends. And hopefully shopping a little (always love Fillmore St).
Looking forward to some relaxation and sleeping in.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Not remotely entertaining...

2004-12-22T00:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm finally 1/2-way done with law school. Barring failure of any of exams.
And these last two are definitely contenders.

Just when I thought it couldn't get worse than yesterday's IP exam.
It did.
Tonite's open book Entertainment Law exam was a bit of a racehorse exam and much harder than I thought it would be. The multiple choice was really insane and took a lot longer than I had hoped, leaving me only about and hour and 15 minutes for the essay. I didn't even totally finish the essay portion, but hopefully blabbed enough on Parts I and II, that my meager offering of Part III will come out in the wash. But dang. It was rough!

At least it's over.

When I walked in, this girl said she was totally impressed with my uber (OCD) organized tab structure on my casebook, my supplement and my notes. It's my weird way of feeling like I'm in control of something when I feel utterly out of control of everything. I feel like I should sell my books with the tabs in them! Too bad I hi-lite the crapola out of all my books and the bookstore won't take them back!

I wore my brand new eBay-purchased Juicy sweatsuit in green to the exam. It's lovely. It's definitely a fake, but it's a daarn good fake, so I don't mind that much. The reason I love the Juicy suits so is the fit and the feel and this has both. You honestly wouldn't know it was fake unless you checked out the tag, which has the letters stitched a little too close together, the tag isn't anchored quite right and the interior wash tag is missing a tiny size marker. But other than that, they did a good job.

I sort of can't believe after all the trademark infringement reading I've done that I am supporting the black market. However, there is just no reason a velour tracksuit should cost $140. So sue me. Oh, wait, you could. I claim "consumer confusion."

Went and had dinner with my friend Bridgette and her nice friend Jon and he PAID for my salad and cocktail! Awfully nice since he had just met me.
I am exhausted and going to go snuggle under my covers until the gardeners start using the power blower tomorrow morning. Then I'm going to the gym and hopefully a yummy steak dinner at Taylor's with Sheridan.

Then Thursday, I'm driving to Sacramento with kitty in tow. Whee.
I'm just so excited to be half-way DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Huzzah.

Well, THAT sucked!

2004-12-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

I would like to be able to tell you my IP exam was easier than I thought it would be. It wasn't. It sucked from beginning to end. In fact, the 5th essay question about something we spent like 20 minutes on in class and, honestly, I didn't spend my time studying. Unfair Competition. Yeah, that sums up the whole damn exam, honestly. I have a feeling I got a big fat ZERO on that question. Or maybe 1 point.

I felt like the multiple choice were easy, but thanks to his gross caveat where you could potentially get a negative score on it...I'm not too sure. Turns out there are only 10 people who remained in the class. Everyone seemed at freaked out as I did about this exam. But the curve does strange things when you are only dealing with 10 people. I have bad feelings about this exam.

Coulda been worse. At least I didn't look at ALL the exam questions and think "huh?"
And...at least it's OVER.
I have to take a nap now and study for Ent Law tomorrow. Is it possible for it to suck worse than today?
Yes....yes, possibly.
God, I need a drink.

Bitch on Heels

2004-12-19T17:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the bitchiness of late. I am just so freakin exhausted and I truly think that my IP professor is a dick. I mean, in addition to making a code-based class CLOSED BOOK, he didn't even provide any practice questions and the entire exam is essay (no multiple choice).

I have been studying since 10 a.m. this morning and I feel like I can't remember anything.
I've been doing the practice questions in the Emanuel's because it's all I can do.
My back hurts, my neck hurts and I'm freaking out about this stupid exam.

I cannot WAIT for this to be over.
There are only 16 people in the class, tho, so the curve will likely be INSANE. I have to pray that I don't fail...since I actually want to do copyright/licensing work someday. That will look great on my transcript, eh?

UPDATE: My professor posted on his forum site that he decided, after all, to give us 5 essay questions (whose answers should be approx. 1000 words apiece) and 18 multiple choice. So I feel SLIGHTLY better knowing at least there will be some multiple choice. But I still have the essay questions to contend with. oof.

Also, he included this LAME caveat re: multiple choice:
These multiple choice questions may be different from the ones you have done before — where there is only one correct answer per question. Here there may be several correct answers for a given question. One (raw) point will be awarded (a) for each correct answer circled and (b) for each incorrect answer not circled and one (raw) point will be deducted (a) for each incorrect answer circled and (b) for each correct answer not circled.

He also said that knowledge of the actual statute numbers is not "required" but he would like it. Which, I assume, translates into "extra points."

So tired...

2004-12-18T10:57:00.000-08:00

I am tired of making IP flash cards.
I am tired of going to Staples and having notes and powerpoint slides bound.
I am tired of my back & shoulders hurting.
I am tired of trying to memorize the Patent Act, the Copyright Act and the Lanham Act since my professor is a sadist and won't let us have our supplement in the exam.
I am tired of missing my friends' bands play because I have to study.
I am tired of missing Xmas parties and dinners out for the same reason.

I am tired.

Well, lets see...

2004-12-16T20:32:00.000-08:00

3 days and I have to learn an entire semester of BOTH IP & Entertainment Law.
Awesome.
I'm doomed.

One more...

2004-12-15T14:21:00.000-08:00

One more down. Other than my computer having a freakout just before the exam started, it was fine. I was actually sort of worried because I was going thru my Flash cards this morning and was having the BLANK response to them. My brain was just totally overloaded, I guess.

But once I got into the exam and started doing the multiple choice, I was fine. I don't know that I kicked its ass or anything, but I felt fine about it. We always have this philosophical thematic essay question to write. Last nite, Robyn and I talked on the phone for about an hour about what we thought it might be regarding and how we could answer it. Hilariously, we totally predicted TWO of the question choices!! One on Carolene Products Footnote 4 and the other was on judicial discretion and how it makes for uncertain law. I called her after the test and we were laughing that he's going to read our answer (we both chose the judicial discretion one) and we will have similar answers. We weren't even in the same room for the exam, tho, so he can't possibly think we cheated. Can he?

Awesome. I felt really good writing it. I finished about 15 minutes early and while I could have written more, I felt 4 pages was enough and I had made some quality points supported by case law. He actually prefers if you are concise and on point with your analysis, rather than giving 15 case examples for a single point. It's a good thing I've had him before.

Now, I have got to get crackin on IP & Entertainment Law. I can't believe I have 4 days to study for BOTH of them. Luckily, there is some overlap (Copyright, for example). But OY. Since Entertainment Law is open book, I have a feeling most of my time will be spent on IP.

At least my two 4-unit classes are done done and done.
I think I'm going to NAP now. ::yawn::
I really need to go to the gym. But a nap is so much more appealing.

Free my Speech

2004-12-14T21:59:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is Exam #2 -- Con Law II. I gotta say that I'm not terribly fond of Loyola's decision to have my two 4-unit required class exams within a day of each other. The only good news is that all 2Ls (except the evening students) had the same schedule, so we are all in the same shitty boat.

I also have to be somewhat grateful for that heinous midterm we had just after Halloween because (a) I had less to study (b) this final is worth only 65% of my grade and (c) this final is only 2.5 hours long -- instead of 4 hours like the other classes.

I made my little case matrix and had it bound at Staples. I made my Flash cards. I had a freakout when I couldn't find the flashcards from my midterm, but dug them up. It is not 10 p.m. and I'm just starting to look at them. He said it would be 2/3 on post-midterm stuff, but who knows if he'll hold to that. He's weaselly, sometimes.

All the post-midterm stuff was 1st Amendment stuff which I find incredibly interesting and very on-point with what's going on in the world right now. Thus, it's somewhat easier to remember this stuff than the Equal Protection stuff.

My exam is at 9 a.m. which means I have to wake up at 6:30 a.m.
I'm having a hard time with vocabulary right now which worries me for my thematic essay. Oh, well.

Think Constitutional thoughts for me around 9 a.m. PST.

Black Eyed Sneeze

2004-12-14T10:47:00.000-08:00

Apparently, I am so tired that my dark circles have just decided to flaunt themselves like the whores they are. I actually woke up today and look like I have a black eye! I was up until 2 a.m. last nite working on my Con Law case matrix.

I took a break to print out my holiday cards -- which I want to try to send out tomorrow and to watch CSI: Miami. I don't like that one as much as the original, because I think David Caruso overacts. Definitely a graduate of the Willam Shatner school of acting. I used to watch it because of hot Rory Cochrane (who I've met before when he was chain smoking outside a bar with my friend Vince). But they killed him off last season. Some new adorable young guy took his place, tho -- whom CBS has not deigned to actually list on their website yet. Anyway...it was better than studying Associational Rights.

I could not wake up this morning, depite my jazzy alarm (I have this great jazz station on my clock radio which alternates between traditional bop-style jazz and swing jazz). Now I gotta get eatin and studying. I'm so brain dead, I will need a whole pot of coffee.

Hall of Whoville

2004-12-13T18:59:00.000-08:00

I just bought these new Dr. Seuss stamps today. Is it just me, or does Mr. Geisel actually look animatronic in them?

Very Hall of Presidents.

Deathrace 2004

2004-12-13T18:10:00.000-08:00

Well, I made it thru my 4 hour Evidence exam. It was pretty straightforward. There were a couple of questions that I truly did not know the answer to and just blindly guessed. A couple that I had to choose between two really good answers and I couple that I thought were ambiguous (and said so).

My prof sprinkled a few silly questions throughout the exam, so that you would have a chuckle here and there.
i.e. If this class were a movie title, it would be:
(a) Hard Day's Semester
(b) I still Don't Know What I Did Last Semester
etc.

Cute. Anyway, I'm heating up my leftover sausage pizza from last nite (I think I'm going to gain 15 pounds during finals) and gear up for Con Law. Gotta do that Case Matrix tonite for sure. BLEAH.

In other news, I have now lost out on a 3rd Tony Hawk-autographed skate deck for my Godson. At least the price keeps going down. I lost out today cuz some Cooz was able to overbid me by $4 after I left for my final. That sucks.

I'm gonna keep tryin. I have two decks left I can bid on. Then I'll have to come up with someone else. Anyone got a Tony Hawk signed skate deck they wanna sell me?

Ready as I'll ever be.

2004-12-13T01:35:00.000-08:00

I studied all freakin day. I have my outline bound, tabbed (and gagged), my FRE tabbed and organasized and both my primary and back-up mechanical pencils filled with lead (like my brain).

Now I'm off to take a Lush-bombed bath and try to tire out from the Pepsi I had earlier.

I feel pretty OK about tomorrow but my tummy is doing flip-flops.
Think non-hearsay thoughts for me around 1:00 p.m. Pacific time tomorrow.

T-36

2004-12-12T01:17:00.000-08:00

36 hours until my Evidence final. I still don't feel ready. I've been doing practice questions ALL day today (taking tiny breaks for Con Law) -- 170 questions answered thus far (combo multi choice and short answer) -- and I'm still only running at about 74% correct. That's not awful, but I really feel like I should be hitting at least 80% before going in. The good thing is that I am figuring out where my weak spots are. The bad thing is that time keeps on slippin slippin slippin into the future and I still need to print & bind my outline, reorg my tabs in my F.R.E. and take the REAL (4 hour) practice exam under practice conditions.

It's 1:30 a.m. now and I'm setting my alarm for 9 a.m. so that I can try to get as much done as possible and still get a good nite's sleep on Sunday nite. Up side: Exam isn't until 1:00 p.m. on Monday. Down side: I didn't even get my Case Matrix done for Con Law which makes me think I'll be doing it Monday nite after my killer exam and just CRAMMING all day on Tuesday for my Wed morning final. UGH.

I realize that there is a point I just have to let Evidence go. That might be at around 6 p.m. tomorrow. As lame as it sounds, I really want to watch the Survivor finale.

Did you ever know that you're my hero?

2004-12-11T01:54:00.000-08:00

Well, with the help of Schteino, I have a presentable mini-outline prepared and ready to use. He helped me with the basics and then I added in a bunch of Rules we are responsible for as well as the California Evidence Code sections. He really is my hero.

I luckily am a mad "tabber" throughout the school year, so my Fed Rules are already anally tabbed. I just need to update a few of the tabs and organize them a little. Worse comes to worse, I always have my bound & tabbed notes. But that thing is just insane (and the size of a Russian manuscript). And I really hope I never need to consult it because, honestly, I doubt I will have time.

My Con Law prof is hosting a review session tomorrow and I'm deciding whether or not to go. The time I take to drive to school, sit in the review and then drive back, I could be doing practice questions. The problem is that I went to his final review last year and found it really UNhelpful. There are also some people in my class that I find abhorrent and I honestly don't want to see them again until they are tap-tapping on their keyboards with their big mouths shut (please note I just typed "shit" by accident...or Freudian slip).

I think, instead, I will finally get to bed and wake up tomorrow and begin doing practice questions for Evidence with breaks for creation of a new Case Matrix for Con Law. Sunday I plan on doing the Big Momma practice exam which is actually a prior year's final of 200 multi-choice Evidence questions and 4 hours and doing it under Exam conditions (which means taking one 3 minute break and gobbling a protein bar in the bathroom).

I will know more about my progress after the practice questions tomorrow and I STILL have IP & Entertainment Law hanging over my head (which I'm somehow going to cram into 5 days of studying after Con Law! ha! I'm a fool.). But Evidence is 4 units and worth the most GPA value. And it's kind of the hardest. So I feel like once this is out of the way, I'll relax somewhat.

I want to thank everyone who has been so supportive of me through all this. You've been amazing. And I couldn't have done it without you.
Gosh, I'm tired.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross would be proud

2004-12-10T21:05:00.000-08:00

So I realized I've gone thru the Kubler-Ross 5 Stages of Death and Dying with my Evidence Exam. I don't entirely remember what order these were in, but I'm pretty sure this is how I went thru them:

1) DENIAL -- The first few days of the reading period, I read (as mentioned below) barely any of my notes, didn't outline and did approximately 1 CALI exercise. "My exam isn't even that close!" I thought.

2) ANGER -- I hate Evidence! I hate it! I hate hearsay, I hate character evidence and I especially hate privileges!!!! See Evidence Made Me Cry post, below. And thanks to Schteino for helping to tourniquet the bleeding (and the heaving, racking sobs).

3) BARGAINING -- If I can just study for 2 more hours, I can watch Survivor.

4) DEPRESSION -- I have no reason to even BE in law school. I'm stupid. I'll flunk this exam and never get a job and my professor will sit around the dinner table with his family, guffawing about how ridiculous my exam was. (Please, note, that I love my Evidence prof...and in fact have this totally weird teenage crush on him...and he would likely not guffaw when discussing me -- not because he has a crush on me, but because he's a kind person. But it's a recurring dream I have. So I thought it should go here).

5) ACCEPTANCE -- I will do the best I can do. And if I fail Evidence, oh well. Maybe Prof Evidence will teach it again next semester. And we can talk about interesting books and authors after class, some more.

In other news, I've eaten an entire bag of Rolo mini candies. Which I believe is 63 grams of fat in toto. I ate them over a 3-day period. But STILL! Yum.

Evidence made me Cry!

2004-12-09T10:56:00.000-08:00

I actually began sobbing last nite while studying. SOBBING! I realize I am PMSing and that during times like these, AT&T commercials make me cry....but still.

I thought I understood character evidence. Apparently, I don't. I did the fucking CALI exercises for it and I scored like a 53% overall. The more I did, the more confused I got. It's like character can't come in EXCEPT EXCEPT EXCEPT EXCEPT...which ends up seeming like it gets to come in an awful lot.

The example was about entrapment -- which I know nothing about because I haven't had Crim Pro yet (is that even covered?). And when I said evidence of the defendant's prior heroin sale conviction should not be able to come in beause it seems like the prosecution was using it to show that he was selling it again. It said it COULD come in because it showed a "propensity toward selling heroin." huh? How is this different from the robbery example where evidence of a prior robbery was NOT allowed in to show that the defendant committed this one?

The answer says it's because character is part of the defense of entrapment. But I felt like that was pushing it. Is it really? As I said...now I'm just totally confused. And feel like an idiot.

The Residual Exception

2004-12-08T22:51:00.000-08:00

I continue to loathe the CALI exercises (literally screaming at the screen and pounding my fist on the table) and yet, like a crack addict, I keep reloading the pipe. Sigh.

Even though he's smarter than me and probably doesn't need the help, I'm sending positive Evidence ions to Schteino for his exam tomorrow morning. Won't you send them, too???

In other news, I took a break from Hearsay and CALI to watch America's Top Model. I really don't understand how Ann got this far. Who HASN'T seen The Matrix, for chrissakes? Does she live on an ashram? Or maybe she's Amish? That would have been a good reality show Amish's Next Top Model. They had that Amish in the City show...so why not?

I'm pitching that right now...hello, Rumspringa.

CALI-gula

2004-12-08T01:05:00.000-08:00

Because I am lazy, I have not even started outlining Evidence yet. And the exam is Monday. What I have done is bind my notes and begin reading and highliting them at a snail's pace. I've also intermittently been doing the corresponding CALI exercises. Ugh.

First of all, I grouse at some of the chapters which are literally done in some sort of DOS-like shell interface. You can't resize the window and the answers are wonk. In the "Concept of Hearsay" chapter for example, one of the questions read:
In a slip and fall case where plaintiff said he was injured when he slipped on a banana peel, the plaintiff calls a witness who testifies that 15 minutes before the accident, he told the proprieter that there was a banana peel on the floor. Is this hearsay?

My only two choices were "Yes" or "No." "Maybe" was not an option. "Need more information" was not an option. "Need to know what it's being offered for" was not an option.

And I understand that if it's only be offered to show "notice," then it's not hearsay. But if it's being offered to prove there was a banana peel on the floor, then it is hearsay. Do you have any idea how it's being offered here? NO!!! You don't. And yet when I chose "Yes," it tagged my answer as incorrect.

This is not helpful. Add to the fact that there is a myriad of typographical errors that make you have to re-read the question 4 or 5 times and I'm not entirely sure why I'm wasting my time. The more modern CALI chapters seem better. And better-explained. I just don't need this sort of frustration when I'm trying to study inefffectively.

In other news, I watched the first two installments of The First Amendment series on Court TV. I actually only saw the last 15 minutes of the Al Franken one. It was marginally interesting, but I didn't really learn anything new in that one. I mostly just liked it because O'Reilly is portrayed as a tool. But again...knew that already.

The second one, Poetic Justice, was about the ex-poet laureate of NJ, Amiri Baraka and his incendiary poem, "Who Blew Up America." It was directed by Mario Van Peeples and obviously has an opinion of its own to present. I thought there was some good dialogue about art and content censorship. I convinced myself that watching these were school-related. Since Con Law II is all about the First Amendment, I somehow felt justified.

I also drug my sorry ass to the gym and worked out back and biceps. I realized that I should be taking advantage of my "free" daytimes and use the gym when thousands of muscleheads, yoga bunnies and children aren't. By 5 p.m., it's a zoo in there. I think I should schedule my studying around a 2 p.m. gym jaunt.

I added some T.Rex, Massive Attack, Patty Griffin and Beth Orton to my mp3 workout "tape." I really need to add some more stuff in there to mix it up, but that will probably have to wait until the new year.

I lost out on the bidding on a Birdhouse skate deck autographed by Tony Hawk. The auction was to benefit PFAW, but $265 is an obscene (see Justice Stewart) amount of money for this. I wanted it as a Xmas present for my 12 year old Godson who worships Tony Hawk. Oh, well. Over the summer, I had a date with this professional BMX dude who knows a lot of the XGames pros. I told BMXBoy about my Tony Hawk plight and he said he would "give him a call" and see if he would hook me up. He added the caveat, "No promises, since I was better friends with his ex-wife than Tony." Immediately, I thought to myself "EX-wife, eh? Forget the autograph, how do I get to date T Hawk?"
I assume it's poor etiquette to ask BMXBoy (who I had a date with) to set me up with his friend's ex-husband?

It would be nice, tho, to get that skate deck for my Godson.
And maybe a smoochie from my favorite Xboy.
Does that make his ex-wife an "ex-X-wife?"
ouch. that was awful.

Back to Party Admissions. Whee.

One Wish

2004-12-05T22:43:00.000-08:00

If I could have one wish this holiday season, it wouldn't be world peace.
Or finding a cure for cancer.
Or legalizing gay marriage.
Or even making sure Nick and Jessica never host another TV variety show.
No...it would be to have elves come in the night and turn my Evidence notes into a proper outline.

Tho, technically, that sounds more like a gig Rumplestiltskin would cover. Spinning straw (notes) into gold (outline). I'm cool with that. As long as I don't have to give him my baby or anything, it'd be fine. Heck, I'd even go to dinner with the little man in return. And maybe even give him a goodnight kiss.

I've done worse.
For less.

Hunting the Great White Chicken Tender

2004-12-05T20:02:00.000-08:00

You'll be happy to know I finally finished that E&E reading for Con Law. I also printed out all of my notes for both Con Law and Evidence (and spell-checked them prior!) and bound them with bulldog clips until I can get them bound up proper at Staples. I've learned that the $2 it costs to get that little nylon comb put on them is the best value around. No more notes flying everywhere as I attempt to outline my class in 48 hours. And worse comes to worse...I just circle stuff in the bound notes in red pen and flag the pages with the post-it tabs.

My friend Jeff was flying in from Fort Lauderdale and asked for an airport pickup. Asking your friend who is studying for finals to pick you up at LAX on a Sunday nite is an ENORMOUS favor. You might as well have asked me to clean your bathroom with my tongue at 6 a.m. on a Monday morning. I tried to give him some guilt about it and then I remembered that Jeff has been a truly amazing friend -- bringing me kleenex and Gatorade when I was sick and always giving me left-over schwag from awards parties. So, karmically...I owed him.

I checked the Delta website and it said the flight was running mostly on time, but would be about 10 minutes late. There is also this uber cool graphical flight tracker thing that my mom uses which shows you the flight path (and approximate location) of the flight. The flight was supposed to land at 6:10 p.m. and by 5:15 p.m., the little graphic was over Phoenix.

I drove out to the airport and arrived at around 5:50. I always wait in the Burger King parking lot that's near the back entrance to the airport and tell people to call when they've picked up their bags. It saves me from driving in circles around LAX and is also handily near trash food, if I feel peaked. I began listening to Studio 360 on KCRW. It was on Moby Dick. They had that dude who plays the Grandpa on Gilmore Girls reading bits of it. Also interviews with Laurie Anderson, Frank Stella and a pretty wack Ray Bradbury. It was a pretty interesting lil radio piece.

In college, when I was in the Theatre dept., one of my favorite directors did an ensemble piece of Moby Dick. It was all very improv and collaborative and the end result was pretty incredible. So incredible that the troupe ended up taking it on the road to various Fringe festivals around the globe. In one of those strange turns of fate that always seem to happen to me, right after I moved to NYC, I met Moby at a party. Yes...that Moby. This was before Play came out and he wasn't so famous yet that he could still eat a brown rice salad at Dojo without being recognized. Anyway...he took me out on a couple of "semi-dates" which were interesting, if not slightly bizarre. But he's actually a sweet person. And always was very kind...and weird.

The Theatre troupe was performing at the NY fringe festival and I found out about it. I actually drug Moby along to see it. I liked the irony of that. Moby contends he is the great grand-son of Herman Melville or something. His middle name is supposedly "Melville." All I know is that whenever he phoned, it said "Richard Hall" on my caller ID. But I digress.

So while I sat in the rain in the Burger King parking lot, listening to Studio 360, I kept phoning the Flight Information line. Literally every 5 minutes, it would say "The flight is in the air and above Whittier. It will be landing in 6 minutes." and then another 5 minutes would go by and it would say, "The flight is in the air and above Malibu. It will be landing in 4 minutes." This continued with the flight being "in the air" above every conceivable Southern California city for the next 30 minutes. The flight was now officially 30 min late. And I was hungry...listening to all this talk about hunting the Great White whale. So I pulled into the drive-thru and ate 5 chicken tenders (w/BBQ sauce) and drank an entire medium coke. And then Jeff finally called at 6:45.

So I navigated my way through the sea of drizzled Wally Park shuttles to the Delta terminal and picked up Jeff. The traffic wasn't too bad on the way home, so at least we got back quickly. I was slightly peeved at having to waste all that time in the Burger King parking lot when I could have been reading the hearsay rule. But then again, my Evidence notes don't come with chicken tenders.

Or Moby, for that matter. Moby was vegan. I assume he still is. He would've been disgusted with my chicken tender-munching self.

But I think Melville would have approved.

25 pages in 2 days

2004-12-04T17:51:00.000-08:00

I'm pathetic.
No, really.

I just can't seem to GEAR up for studying at all. I did need to do laundry desperately yesterday...since I was down to the 3 pairs of underwear I reserve for emergencies which will not entail an encounter with any member of the opposite sex...including my doctor.

And I also needed to go to Trader Joes and Gelsons because I had no real food to speak of.

What I didn't need to do was shop for Xmas presents online for like 2 hours, watch Medical Investigation or look up old boyfriends in Google. I literally made it through about 15 pages of the Con Law E&E before getting so tired, I just had to go to bed.

Today, I've managed to read another 15 or so pages. I've also listened to This American Life, talked to my mom on the phone, shopped for more Xmas presents, looked up more old boyfriends and taken a shower.

Oh...and updated this blog.

I guess I better finish that E&E now. ::sigh::

Last Days

2004-12-03T11:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my last day of classes. Pathetically, I couldn't even drag my fat ass out of bed to make it to IP. SAD. It's wholly my fault for going out on Wed nite to Sweethearts of the Rodeo at Molly Malones. I haven't seen my country rock friends in ages and decided to go.

It was nice to see Shilah and Bryson. Travis Howard was there, looking like a thug instead of the southern hottie he truly is. But that boy can still give me the shivers just by touching the small of my back while talking to me. shivvvvvver He also told me my hair looked excellent and that I looked "like Farrah Fawcett." ha. Lucinda showed up and played about 4 or 5 songs. It's always nice to see and hear her. She really is a queen of alt-country. And she was wearing her cute eyeglasses.

Anyway, this made for a late evening drinking Jack Daniels and listening to country rock and by the time I got home, I would have gotten 4 hours of sleep before IP. So I made the executive decision to sleep instead. I worked my last day in Career Services, as well. I'm trying to get a law clerk position for next semester, so I've informed financial affairs that I wll not be doing work study next semester. The good thing was always getting to see the job postings before everyone else.

Now...there's nothing left but the studying.
And, well...the crying.

I'm Not As Dumb as I Thought

2004-12-02T11:55:00.000-08:00

My Con Law prof posted the aggregate scores for the midterm.

Turns out I still scored in the 70th percentile, even with 20 pts.
Out of 102 students, only 31 people scored higher than me. 7 people got the same score. So I actually did better than last year, even with the same score.

This raises my spirits somewhat as I begin studying for the final.

The Final Furlong

2004-12-01T13:26:00.000-08:00

Well, tomorrow is my last day of actual classes for Fall 2L. It's my long day, so entails IP, Con Law II and Entertainment Law. And I'm stressed.

I think I got precisely the same score as I did last year on this prof's midterm. The good news is that despite me doing average on the midterm last year, I rocked the final and ended up scoring in the top 15% of the class. Not saying I will do that again. But it gives me hope. It's weird because I obviously understand the black letter and am one of the people in class who constantly participates in discussion about relating the law to modern times or other cases. I don't think I could have studied any harder than I did. But every year, I get an average grade. Hrmm. I try to assuage myself by thinking, "In the real world, no one asks you to IRAC something in 1.5 hours." Or at least I hope they don't.

I think the class that has me the most concerned is Entertainment Law. IP has me concerned slightly, too, but as long as I can memorize factors and basics from Patent, Copyright and Lanham Acts, I will be all right. But i have NO idea what to expect in Ent Law! There is some crossover from IP which may be my saving grace, since I will already have memorized those bits. I have IP and Ent Law on consecutive days. BLEAH. Dec 20th and 21st respectively. I dunno. I'm taking lots of homeopathic stress meds to combat my anxiety.

Today we don't have class because they are holding the Cal bar swearing in at our school. I slept for 9 hours and it felt grand. I am planning on going to the gym and then off to Sweethearts of the Rodeo at Molly's in order to have one final fun nite before I disappear for the next 3 weeks into the study hole. I always feel like Fall semester is more difficult. Maybe because of all the holidays and it seems like it's over more quickly. I don't think it is, technically, but it just feels like it. I also think you take the first 2 weeks of the semester just to combat your summer lethargy.

I still don't have a summer job which is adding stress to my already mountainous pile. I did interview with a licensing firm on Monday for a possible part-time position next semester. But they weren't sure if there would be anything. I garnered the interview thru Graham in Career services. Turns out he helped this fellow get the job HE has and he sort of owed him one. Great guy and I think the job could be fun and cool. My friend Gilda already works there, so that would be additionally swell to have a friend in-house. Think good thoughts. He said they would be making their decisions for Spring semester before Christmas. I could really use this.

If I don't get it, I'll be surfing Emplawyernet for a clerk position. Who knows where I'll end up?

The Hot Librarian

2004-11-20T13:07:00.000-08:00

Why can't all librarians be this brilliant and witty?

Kittens and Rascals

2004-11-19T01:29:00.000-08:00

Liz got in on Saturday around 4ish. We cleaned up and headed to Jones to share some food and cocktails. We got there super early (since she'd been on a plane all day and was STARVING) -- 6:45 p.m. -- and Jones wasn't open yet. We went across the street to Formosa and had a cocktail while we waited for it to open. At Jones, we shared the steak (yum) with Wasabi mashed and sauteed spinach. Jones knows how to grill a steak, that's for certain.

Then we drove back to LAX to pick up Dizzee's DJ and hype man, Scope and Frisky (aka Nazeer and Aaron). We parked and went into baggage claim and Liz scrawled "Scope/Frisky" on a piece of paper. We walked around saying "Scope, Frisky" really low and under our breath like we were selling drugs. The people from the flight were somewhat freaked out. I also thought it looked like maybe we were picking up our CATS from baggage (with names like "Scope" and "Frisky," right???!). Liz started calling them "The Kittens" as they were sweet young boys with cat names. We eventually found the boys who looked like they could not have been more tired. Since they had flown in from Rome with a 2-hour layover in Philadelphia, I could imagine.

We dropped them off at the hotel and went downstairs to the Standard Lounge for a cocktail. The clientele in the Standard Lounge was very "Asian Prom" and the ONLY cute guy worked there. We left and went to 3 of Clubs where my friend Chris was DJing. We basically spent all of our time picking out what records he should play. hee.

Then we left around 12:30 and hit Jayburger on the way home. This was apparently a huge error on my part. While liz also got a Jayburger, I awoke at 8 a.m. the next morning with the worst stomach cramps I think I've EVER experienced. I then spent the next few hours doubled over in pain and suffering from searing abdomenal pain and other stomach issues I shall note describe here. I literally was certain I was going to pass out and my skin tone was GREEN as kermit the frog. not cool. I spent the day on the couch recovering from my disgusting food poisoning (or whatever it was). I wanted to D-I-E it hurt so bad.

I slept for another 3 hours and felt slightly better upon waking up. Liz had made reservations at Ago for us, the boys, their publicist and Peaches' manager. I was able to eat some delicious Italian food (and not hurl!) and drank about 3 glasses of Ginger Ale. While we were eating, this tall blonde woman came out of the bathroom wearing the ugliest dress I've ever seen. It was a white babydoll dress and had a macrame top and this blousy crinkled tulle and was barely thigh-length. I actually thought she might be Trans, because she had very large hands a lot of makeup on. I saw her leave with her beau, Duff McKagan! Oops. Guess that was his wife. They both looked very scary in person.

Last nite, we went to the Short List awards and Dizzee was great but the folks who run that show are assholes. They treated everyone from Dizzee's label like second-class citizens and there were hardly any people there anyway. They obviously did not promote it properly or maybe they treated EVERYONE the way they treated us and they boycotted?

TV on the Radio won instead of Dizzee, which was actually my prediction because the press on them lately has been crazy.

I still feel a little bit gross today and am exhausted and skipped Entertainment Law tonite (again -- oy!). However, I did come home to a decision from my infamous Parking Citation hearing and I WON!!!!!!. They will be refunding my $65! YAY! Gee, that only took 4 months and a chunk of my life that I won't get back. But I feel pretty good that the stupid cow who ticketed me WRONGLY did not get away with it! That felt nice.

I'm off to put on my Juicy sweats and watch me some Gilmore Girls. Liz left this morning for Nashville and I miss her already. I so wish we didn't live 3000 miles away.