[Setting: Third and fourth floors of the law school library. The fourth floor consists of a large loft area with an open staircase to the third floor. Student #1 is working on the fourth floor; Student #2 is working on the third floor; both are wearing headphones.]
S2: *singing*
S1: [listening to hockey game online, hears a noise over the hockey game.] Huh? What the heck is that?
[S1 removes headphones and realizes it is someone singing. S1 puts headphones back on and turns up the volume of the hockey game.]
[20 minutes elapse. The hockey game has ended.]
S2: *still singing*
S1: [hears noises as the hockey game ends] Really? You're kidding.
[5 minutes elapse.]
S2: *still singing*
[S1 walks to fourth floor railing, and can see S2 at the table below.]
S1: Excuse me!
S2: *still singing*
S1: *waves arm* Hey! Excuse me!
S2: *still singing*
S1: *whistles loudly* Excuse me!
S2: *still singing*
S1: *slaps wooden railing with palm of hand, whistles*
S2: *still singing, but louder*
[S1, bewildered, decides it is not worth the effort and returns to library carrel. 5 minutes elapse.]
S2: *talking on cell phone in Russian*
[5 minutes elapse.]
S2: *still talking on cell phone in Russian*
[Frustrated, S1 walks down the stairs to the third floor and towards S2's table. Meanwhile, S2 finishes her phone conversation.]
S1: Excuse me, would you mind being a little quieter?
S2: *stares at S1, at first blankly and then with mild hostility*
S1: With the cell phone, and the singing. Could you please keep it down?
S2: Singing?
S1: Yes, singing.
S2: *stares blankly*
S1: The singing. A few minutes ago, before you got on the phone. Your singing.
S2: My singing?
S1: Yes. You were singing.
S2: I was singing?
S1: Yes. You were singing.
S2: I was?
S1: Yes, you were. Singing.
S2: *stares blankly*
[5-10 seconds elapse. S1 returns to the fourth floor.]
Showing posts with label law school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label law school. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Bring Steak!
I've entered bring steak...known as spring break to grown up people and people whose brains have not been deteriorated by law school. This of course means that I can work on work without having to worry about pesky classes. It also means I get to do laundry...seven loads of it, to be exact. And clean up a bit. And sleep. Mmmm....sleep...
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
I'm Not Dead Yet
...I feel happy!!! I feel happy!!!!
For all the times I thought I was busy before, but still had time to post once a week or two, the last two months have been quite the joke on me.
But, I'm almost done. My last "real" final is tomorrow, then next Monday I have a kinda-final, which counts for 20% of that class (compared to the other finals, which are 100% of their classes).
So I figured, while I'm whittling away the final days, the following tribute would be a good way to try to relate the last nine months of my life to you.
To compare me to the video:
- Haircuts come few and far between; I'm generally much shaggier than I was before. And I bathe less. I do still USUALLY brush my teeth every day, unless I'm running late that morning.
- My computer is in fact broken (the keyboard doesn't work, I have to use an external one), but it's a Mac, not a Dell. (If it was a Dell it would probably be smoking right now.) It looks hokey, but the external one was cheaper than fixing it. The only truly annoying thing is answering questions about it.
- I haven't lived on mashed potatoes - my cuisine has mostly been generic Mac n Cheese with a can of tuna thrown in, usually made without milk (milk is expensive, and it goes bad). Stretch one box into two meals, and you've got under 75¢ a meal, baby! And oatmeal for breakfast - do you realize how cheap oatmeal is?! Cereal has become too rich for my blood - 8¢ per meal vs. 50¢? No contest.
(In the interests of full disclosure, for the last few weeks I've discovered that the oatmeal is really good when you make it with milk, so I've been sucking it up and spending the $1.50 for a half gallon each week, thereby having milk for the Mac n Cheese, too.)
For all the times I thought I was busy before, but still had time to post once a week or two, the last two months have been quite the joke on me.
But, I'm almost done. My last "real" final is tomorrow, then next Monday I have a kinda-final, which counts for 20% of that class (compared to the other finals, which are 100% of their classes).
So I figured, while I'm whittling away the final days, the following tribute would be a good way to try to relate the last nine months of my life to you.
To compare me to the video:
- Haircuts come few and far between; I'm generally much shaggier than I was before. And I bathe less. I do still USUALLY brush my teeth every day, unless I'm running late that morning.
- My computer is in fact broken (the keyboard doesn't work, I have to use an external one), but it's a Mac, not a Dell. (If it was a Dell it would probably be smoking right now.) It looks hokey, but the external one was cheaper than fixing it. The only truly annoying thing is answering questions about it.
- I haven't lived on mashed potatoes - my cuisine has mostly been generic Mac n Cheese with a can of tuna thrown in, usually made without milk (milk is expensive, and it goes bad). Stretch one box into two meals, and you've got under 75¢ a meal, baby! And oatmeal for breakfast - do you realize how cheap oatmeal is?! Cereal has become too rich for my blood - 8¢ per meal vs. 50¢? No contest.
(In the interests of full disclosure, for the last few weeks I've discovered that the oatmeal is really good when you make it with milk, so I've been sucking it up and spending the $1.50 for a half gallon each week, thereby having milk for the Mac n Cheese, too.)
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Summer and San Francisco
Long time, no post. My last post mentioned the ridiculousness of the semester so far, and I'm happy to say the situation has fairly improved, thanks very much to two things - as you may guess from the title, those two things would be summer and San Francisco.
First, with great excitement (and relief) I have my summer internship lined up - woohoo! I'll be working as a law clerk with the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) which is one of the leading GLBTQ legal organizations. They're based out of San Francisco, but I'll be working with their one attorney who is down here in Los Angeles. Not only does this mean that I no longer have to spend time looking for a job, but it's given me a great infusion of enthusiasm and excitement, which actually started back when I interviewed with them a couple weeks ago (which I didn't have time to post about). First and foremost, it's a fantastic organization to work with. Despite its name, it is one of the most inclusive GLBTQ legal organizations out there. In terms of impact litigation, some organizations can tend to be pretty selective in the cases they take--namely, they take cases that they think will be the best vehicles for the causes they are trying to promote. This is good and worthwhile work, but it leaves people in all the other cases out in the cold. NCLR certainly doesn't take every single thing that comes their way, but their scope is amazingly broad, and they tend to focus more on fighting the fights that need to be fought, rather than those that they want to fight.
I knew going into this process, though, that whatever organization I ended up with would be doing good work. What was more of an amazing surprise for me is that the attorney I'll be working with is transgendered, which is simply amazing beyond words. Nonconformity is not a hugely common characteristic in the legal world, and while the public interest sector is not quite so unforgiving as traditional law firms, the interviewing process was not something I was looking forward to. Then, lo and behold, I'm going in for my first interview, and I'm sitting across the table from a trans lawyer. It was amazing on so many levels. The most obvious was the sense of freedom and relief, knowing that this person would truly be interviewing me, not wondering why I didn't have makeup, why I looked like a 12-year-old boy, why he was interviewing some weird woman in a man's suit. He would see and evaluate me, actually me, not my lack of panty hose. There was also an amazing sense of self validation. I was looking at someone I could identify with, who was in a position I wanted to be in. It was proof positive that it is possible, it can happen.
So that's the summer part of things. It dovetailed nicely with the other half of my recent relief - I got the phone call offering the NCLR position while I was on a train heading to San Francisco two weekends ago with LT. Thanks to cancelled class giving me last Friday off, and Presidents Day giving me Monday off, I had a nice four-day weekend to relax, with no memo due upon my return. LT similarly had Monday off, so she took a vacation day on Friday and we hit the road. Er, we hit the rail. It was really a great weekend, and offered a chance for LT and I to just relax and be together, which we really didn't have a chance to do during the semester break.
As somewhat of a mass transit junkie, it was pretty spectacular. We took Amtrak up there, and spent the weekend wandering pretty much all over the Bay area by transit, from Palo Alto to various parts of San Fran, out to Berkeley, and then back on Amtrak to head back south. We got to sleep a lot almost every night. I got to have some weather and rain (a lot of rain, actually), which I have missed horribly. We got to see a number of LT's friends, all very awesome people. We ate some amazing food - I highly recommend Tartine in the Mission for pastries and coffee, Sausage Factory in the Castro for good Italian (insert gay boy joke here), Celtic Cafe near City Hall, and Barney's in Berkeley for great burgers. Oh, and any running and coffee aficionados should check out Zombie Runner in Palo Alto. I didn't have the coffee there, but one of LT's friends works there and I can attest that the owner is obsessed with having everything they do be the highest quality, so I'm sure it's as good as the store is cool (and the store is pretty damn cool). They have a website, too...though I guess that won't help if what you want is the coffee.
It was my first time up in that area, and I found it to be pretty amazing, and definitely a good bit more in line with my heart than LA is. I've never seen so many bikers and people walking dogs, and types of mass transit all in one place! Oh, and most amazing to me, on Sunday we happened to be near the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, and saw a veritable mob of people waiting to get in. We heard one passerby tell their friend that they were at capacity, and wouldn't be admitting people for at least a few hours. We asked someone what was going on that it was so crowded, assuming that there was a special exhibit opening or something. But no, there was no special exhibit. A lot of people in San Francisco just decided that on this random rainy Sunday, they should go to the museum. As a lifelong nerd, this made my heart spectacularly happy.
Oh, and HILLS!! Hooray HILLS!!!! No, not the old defunct department store chain. Living in a hilly area, amazing views, fun topography. I know LA has the surrounding mountains, but let's face it--the parts where everything is are pretty much flat flat flat. And I really don't like flat places so much. Hills are just better.
First, with great excitement (and relief) I have my summer internship lined up - woohoo! I'll be working as a law clerk with the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) which is one of the leading GLBTQ legal organizations. They're based out of San Francisco, but I'll be working with their one attorney who is down here in Los Angeles. Not only does this mean that I no longer have to spend time looking for a job, but it's given me a great infusion of enthusiasm and excitement, which actually started back when I interviewed with them a couple weeks ago (which I didn't have time to post about). First and foremost, it's a fantastic organization to work with. Despite its name, it is one of the most inclusive GLBTQ legal organizations out there. In terms of impact litigation, some organizations can tend to be pretty selective in the cases they take--namely, they take cases that they think will be the best vehicles for the causes they are trying to promote. This is good and worthwhile work, but it leaves people in all the other cases out in the cold. NCLR certainly doesn't take every single thing that comes their way, but their scope is amazingly broad, and they tend to focus more on fighting the fights that need to be fought, rather than those that they want to fight.
I knew going into this process, though, that whatever organization I ended up with would be doing good work. What was more of an amazing surprise for me is that the attorney I'll be working with is transgendered, which is simply amazing beyond words. Nonconformity is not a hugely common characteristic in the legal world, and while the public interest sector is not quite so unforgiving as traditional law firms, the interviewing process was not something I was looking forward to. Then, lo and behold, I'm going in for my first interview, and I'm sitting across the table from a trans lawyer. It was amazing on so many levels. The most obvious was the sense of freedom and relief, knowing that this person would truly be interviewing me, not wondering why I didn't have makeup, why I looked like a 12-year-old boy, why he was interviewing some weird woman in a man's suit. He would see and evaluate me, actually me, not my lack of panty hose. There was also an amazing sense of self validation. I was looking at someone I could identify with, who was in a position I wanted to be in. It was proof positive that it is possible, it can happen.
So that's the summer part of things. It dovetailed nicely with the other half of my recent relief - I got the phone call offering the NCLR position while I was on a train heading to San Francisco two weekends ago with LT. Thanks to cancelled class giving me last Friday off, and Presidents Day giving me Monday off, I had a nice four-day weekend to relax, with no memo due upon my return. LT similarly had Monday off, so she took a vacation day on Friday and we hit the road. Er, we hit the rail. It was really a great weekend, and offered a chance for LT and I to just relax and be together, which we really didn't have a chance to do during the semester break.
As somewhat of a mass transit junkie, it was pretty spectacular. We took Amtrak up there, and spent the weekend wandering pretty much all over the Bay area by transit, from Palo Alto to various parts of San Fran, out to Berkeley, and then back on Amtrak to head back south. We got to sleep a lot almost every night. I got to have some weather and rain (a lot of rain, actually), which I have missed horribly. We got to see a number of LT's friends, all very awesome people. We ate some amazing food - I highly recommend Tartine in the Mission for pastries and coffee, Sausage Factory in the Castro for good Italian (insert gay boy joke here), Celtic Cafe near City Hall, and Barney's in Berkeley for great burgers. Oh, and any running and coffee aficionados should check out Zombie Runner in Palo Alto. I didn't have the coffee there, but one of LT's friends works there and I can attest that the owner is obsessed with having everything they do be the highest quality, so I'm sure it's as good as the store is cool (and the store is pretty damn cool). They have a website, too...though I guess that won't help if what you want is the coffee.
It was my first time up in that area, and I found it to be pretty amazing, and definitely a good bit more in line with my heart than LA is. I've never seen so many bikers and people walking dogs, and types of mass transit all in one place! Oh, and most amazing to me, on Sunday we happened to be near the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, and saw a veritable mob of people waiting to get in. We heard one passerby tell their friend that they were at capacity, and wouldn't be admitting people for at least a few hours. We asked someone what was going on that it was so crowded, assuming that there was a special exhibit opening or something. But no, there was no special exhibit. A lot of people in San Francisco just decided that on this random rainy Sunday, they should go to the museum. As a lifelong nerd, this made my heart spectacularly happy.
Oh, and HILLS!! Hooray HILLS!!!! No, not the old defunct department store chain. Living in a hilly area, amazing views, fun topography. I know LA has the surrounding mountains, but let's face it--the parts where everything is are pretty much flat flat flat. And I really don't like flat places so much. Hills are just better.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Rain, Rain
I'm sitting up in the Tower Reading Room in the library, in a work cubby thing next to a window, listening to and watching a pretty decent rain storm. I can't quite tell if the rain is making me peaceful or a bit melancholy, or maybe it's just putting me into a slower pace, which can lead to a bit of both. Certainly, it's hearkening me back to pre-California times in my life, where sitting and listening to rain was a much more common event than it is out here. And that is certainly an occurence that has upsides and downsides.
The semester has been spectacularly insane. I would say that it's all I can do to keep my head above water, except I don't feel like I am keeping my head above water. In order for me to do everything that school requires right now, I feel like I would have to quite literally cut out ALL non-essential school things...and I just can't do that. So, I'm doing what I can.
Readings have been much heavier this semester than last, and the pace of our legal writing skills papers has been much more brisk. On top of that we're in the midst of job searches for the summer, which is simultaneously exciting, excruciating, stressful, exhilerating, but most of all time consuming. I have four interviews on Saturday (yes, FOUR), and really hope that one of them pans out sooner rather than later, so I can relax on that end. Plus there are scholarships and financial aid for next year to apply for (ugh, FAFSA), and the extra-curricular activities certainly don't cease to exist at this time of year. Extra-curricular, yes. Non-essential to my happiness with law school? Absolutely not.
And I think I'm dating someone, too. I seem to recall this.
That's not to say that things are all bad. Busy? Yes. Stressful? Yes. Constant guilt for all the friends and family that I've not been keeping up correspondence with? Yes. Overloaded brain to the point of becoming stupid in some regards? Yes. But also fulfilled, excited, and still absolutely positive that I made the right choice.
Case in point, the summer job search. Applying to all these different organizations just kicks my brain into high gear at the thought of the myriad worthwhile, positive work I will get to do. It's somewhat anxiety-inducing when I'm thinking of a few certain organizations that I really want to get a position at, but even if those at the top of my list don't pan out, the total picture is like a do-gooder's buffet. I'm extremely confident that no matter what organization I end up at, it will be fulfilling and amazing.
Certainly, way more so than my old basement cube. I might miss the 'Burgh, but not that particular piece of the 'Burgh.
The semester has been spectacularly insane. I would say that it's all I can do to keep my head above water, except I don't feel like I am keeping my head above water. In order for me to do everything that school requires right now, I feel like I would have to quite literally cut out ALL non-essential school things...and I just can't do that. So, I'm doing what I can.
Readings have been much heavier this semester than last, and the pace of our legal writing skills papers has been much more brisk. On top of that we're in the midst of job searches for the summer, which is simultaneously exciting, excruciating, stressful, exhilerating, but most of all time consuming. I have four interviews on Saturday (yes, FOUR), and really hope that one of them pans out sooner rather than later, so I can relax on that end. Plus there are scholarships and financial aid for next year to apply for (ugh, FAFSA), and the extra-curricular activities certainly don't cease to exist at this time of year. Extra-curricular, yes. Non-essential to my happiness with law school? Absolutely not.
And I think I'm dating someone, too. I seem to recall this.
That's not to say that things are all bad. Busy? Yes. Stressful? Yes. Constant guilt for all the friends and family that I've not been keeping up correspondence with? Yes. Overloaded brain to the point of becoming stupid in some regards? Yes. But also fulfilled, excited, and still absolutely positive that I made the right choice.
Case in point, the summer job search. Applying to all these different organizations just kicks my brain into high gear at the thought of the myriad worthwhile, positive work I will get to do. It's somewhat anxiety-inducing when I'm thinking of a few certain organizations that I really want to get a position at, but even if those at the top of my list don't pan out, the total picture is like a do-gooder's buffet. I'm extremely confident that no matter what organization I end up at, it will be fulfilling and amazing.
Certainly, way more so than my old basement cube. I might miss the 'Burgh, but not that particular piece of the 'Burgh.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Gift Horses and Mouths*
The grades from the first semester have been returning. I've gotten the grades for the courses that had final grades--Torts, Criminal Law and Civil Procedure--and later this afternoon will be getting back last semester's paper from Lawyering Skills.
When I took the exams for the three doctrinal courses, I felt incredibly uncertain about Crim, really good about Torts, and pretty decent about Civil Procedure. I've told a lot of people how poorly I thought I did in Crim, and am currently preparing to be made fun of. I want to stress that thinking I did poorly was not the prototypical drama of the attention-hogging smart person who always claims they did poorly but always does well. It's pretty rare in my life that I've left a test thinking I did poorly, and the times I've thought that, I was right. With the Crim exam, it was a pretty objective feeling, knowing there was a lot of stuff I didn't include that needed to be included. In being short on time to prepare, I hadn't taken any practice exams for that class, and in the course of taking the exam I mismanaged my time horribly, spending an inordinate amount of time on one area and leaving myself very shortchanged for the rest of the exam. As a result, time ended before I was able to include a whole slew of things that needed to be included.
I'm kind of torn about the whole thing, because on the one hand I really want to know how on earth my exam merited an A grade. On the other, I'm afraid that if I ask, a mistake will be uncovered either in the professor's grading or in the school's grade entry, and I will really have gotten a C. (It wouldn't be the first time a clerical entry has worked out to my favor; just ask the Rutgers scholarship committee.) Exposing such a mistake would of course be a very ethical thing to do, but...well... Yeah. And from still another point of view, I'm almost afraid to learn that the grade was legitimate, which would mean that this whole thing really is a crap shoot, which is of course what everyone has tried to tell me, but deep down inside I really don't want to believe! Either that, or the future of Criminal Law is very bleak indeed, if so many people really did worse on that exam than I did.
Perhaps in the end it's a matter of some sort karmic gift, for my being willing to jeapordize my performance for the sake of working on Prop 8 over the semester. Yeah, that's it.
* Updated around 4:15 - Having gotten our papers back, we here at UCLA Law have learned that it's much better to get the grade without the raw score (as we do for exams) than it is to get the raw score without the grade (as did for our papers). They've since posted the distribution so we can get a feel for our placement relative to others, but there were many anxious people looking at their scores without any means of getting a bearing.
When I took the exams for the three doctrinal courses, I felt incredibly uncertain about Crim, really good about Torts, and pretty decent about Civil Procedure. I've told a lot of people how poorly I thought I did in Crim, and am currently preparing to be made fun of. I want to stress that thinking I did poorly was not the prototypical drama of the attention-hogging smart person who always claims they did poorly but always does well. It's pretty rare in my life that I've left a test thinking I did poorly, and the times I've thought that, I was right. With the Crim exam, it was a pretty objective feeling, knowing there was a lot of stuff I didn't include that needed to be included. In being short on time to prepare, I hadn't taken any practice exams for that class, and in the course of taking the exam I mismanaged my time horribly, spending an inordinate amount of time on one area and leaving myself very shortchanged for the rest of the exam. As a result, time ended before I was able to include a whole slew of things that needed to be included.
I'm kind of torn about the whole thing, because on the one hand I really want to know how on earth my exam merited an A grade. On the other, I'm afraid that if I ask, a mistake will be uncovered either in the professor's grading or in the school's grade entry, and I will really have gotten a C. (It wouldn't be the first time a clerical entry has worked out to my favor; just ask the Rutgers scholarship committee.) Exposing such a mistake would of course be a very ethical thing to do, but...well... Yeah. And from still another point of view, I'm almost afraid to learn that the grade was legitimate, which would mean that this whole thing really is a crap shoot, which is of course what everyone has tried to tell me, but deep down inside I really don't want to believe! Either that, or the future of Criminal Law is very bleak indeed, if so many people really did worse on that exam than I did.
Perhaps in the end it's a matter of some sort karmic gift, for my being willing to jeapordize my performance for the sake of working on Prop 8 over the semester. Yeah, that's it.
* Updated around 4:15 - Having gotten our papers back, we here at UCLA Law have learned that it's much better to get the grade without the raw score (as we do for exams) than it is to get the raw score without the grade (as did for our papers). They've since posted the distribution so we can get a feel for our placement relative to others, but there were many anxious people looking at their scores without any means of getting a bearing.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Buon' Nuov' Anno!
See, I was nice and I spared all of you the obligatory sappy tranquil holiday posts. Peace, happiness, blah blah blah, same old same old, boring boring boring.
Nah, actually I kinda dig all that stuff. But I have to admit, I totally missed out on the holidays this year. Not because I had flights on both Xmas and New Years (although I did) but because there was neither the time nor the weather. My last final was on the 19th, after which I took a couple days of brain-dead respite, then had to hurriedly catch up on things I fell behind on during the semester, and start looking at the summer job hunt and scholarship applications for next year. Somewhere in there I found what I think were some really fun presents, but I must admit my shopping and present-pondering was much more crammed in than it normally is. And there was not the typical leisurely evening of lovingly wrapping and decorating each present amidst breaks to gaze at the Xmas tree. Nope. I think they all got wrapped in a 15-minute span at around 2 am Xmas morning, so they could be crammed into my luggage and flown east.
And don't even get me started about seeing Xmas tree lots spring up while I'm still wearing shorts, and how much that helped my holiday spirit.
At any rate, it was a good two-week break between semesters. I had a good trip back east, seeing a lot of my well-missed friends and family. It was very strange, being back in Pittsburgh. It's odd how a place can seem so much the same but so different after just under five months. The first thing that struck me was how small it felt. Even the streets felt narrower than I remember. The other thing that struck me, which made me kind of sad, was that I definitely have lost that sense of ownership and intimate belonging that I felt such a short time ago. It was great to see so much that I love, and so many people that I love, but the feeling I had towards the city was very much that of a loving visitor, not of a resident or someone with an existing stake in the place. I guess that's just how it goes when you've naturally fallen out of touch with the daily goings-on of a community, the changes, the ebb and flow of events. It definitely confirmed to me that yes, I have moved away.
On the other hand, though, the feelings I had were also still definitely that of a close connection, love, and appreciation. It wasn't quite like slipping on a glove and having it fit perfectly, but more like pulling on an old hoodie or t-shirt that feels a little weird because it's different from most of your newer clothes, but has a comforting familiarity to it. So, at the same time that it confirmed that I have left the 'Burgh, it also confirmed that I will always love it dearly.
And I would be absolutely remiss if I didn't mention the PEOPLE! It was great to see so many people. I missed one or two that I really wanted to see, but also got to see some who I thought I would miss, a very pleasant surprise. I even got that greatest of time-passers, a quick road trip with MT! Complete with Headstones! I couldn't ask for much more....except perhaps more time with everyone. It's a very new thing for me to think, "A few months ago we used to talk almost every day. Now I have about three hours to sit with you for a meal, and that's all I'll see you for half a year." I'm not quite used to visiting places where I have a number of friends to see--something I'll have to adapt to!
At any rate, it was a good break and a good visit, and I feel like I'm entering the new semester refreshed and rejuvenated. We'll see if I still feel that way in a week or so, when first semester grades are in.
Nah, actually I kinda dig all that stuff. But I have to admit, I totally missed out on the holidays this year. Not because I had flights on both Xmas and New Years (although I did) but because there was neither the time nor the weather. My last final was on the 19th, after which I took a couple days of brain-dead respite, then had to hurriedly catch up on things I fell behind on during the semester, and start looking at the summer job hunt and scholarship applications for next year. Somewhere in there I found what I think were some really fun presents, but I must admit my shopping and present-pondering was much more crammed in than it normally is. And there was not the typical leisurely evening of lovingly wrapping and decorating each present amidst breaks to gaze at the Xmas tree. Nope. I think they all got wrapped in a 15-minute span at around 2 am Xmas morning, so they could be crammed into my luggage and flown east.
And don't even get me started about seeing Xmas tree lots spring up while I'm still wearing shorts, and how much that helped my holiday spirit.
At any rate, it was a good two-week break between semesters. I had a good trip back east, seeing a lot of my well-missed friends and family. It was very strange, being back in Pittsburgh. It's odd how a place can seem so much the same but so different after just under five months. The first thing that struck me was how small it felt. Even the streets felt narrower than I remember. The other thing that struck me, which made me kind of sad, was that I definitely have lost that sense of ownership and intimate belonging that I felt such a short time ago. It was great to see so much that I love, and so many people that I love, but the feeling I had towards the city was very much that of a loving visitor, not of a resident or someone with an existing stake in the place. I guess that's just how it goes when you've naturally fallen out of touch with the daily goings-on of a community, the changes, the ebb and flow of events. It definitely confirmed to me that yes, I have moved away.
On the other hand, though, the feelings I had were also still definitely that of a close connection, love, and appreciation. It wasn't quite like slipping on a glove and having it fit perfectly, but more like pulling on an old hoodie or t-shirt that feels a little weird because it's different from most of your newer clothes, but has a comforting familiarity to it. So, at the same time that it confirmed that I have left the 'Burgh, it also confirmed that I will always love it dearly.
And I would be absolutely remiss if I didn't mention the PEOPLE! It was great to see so many people. I missed one or two that I really wanted to see, but also got to see some who I thought I would miss, a very pleasant surprise. I even got that greatest of time-passers, a quick road trip with MT! Complete with Headstones! I couldn't ask for much more....except perhaps more time with everyone. It's a very new thing for me to think, "A few months ago we used to talk almost every day. Now I have about three hours to sit with you for a meal, and that's all I'll see you for half a year." I'm not quite used to visiting places where I have a number of friends to see--something I'll have to adapt to!
At any rate, it was a good break and a good visit, and I feel like I'm entering the new semester refreshed and rejuvenated. We'll see if I still feel that way in a week or so, when first semester grades are in.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Huzzah!
Well, it finally happened -- 40 minutes ago I finished my last final of the semester, and the beginning of my law school career was officially in the books! I'm currently waiting for the bus, and thought I'd take this moment still within reach of UCLA's wireless to jot down a quick note.
It's funny, how stress builds up to a boiling point without you even realizing it, like the proverbial frog in water. I knew I had been feeling stress all semester, between school and the campaign, and I certainly knew that stress mounted as the semester wound down, between final papers, exams, and constantly dealing with fallout from the campaign, as well as attempting to piece together my own gender identity.
I definitely felt moments where the stress hit hard. Particularly, after my first final which I don't think I did very well on. Having your first final not go well is rough--I had a decent crisis of confidence, and momentarily became convinced that through the time spent on the campaign I had painted myself into an inescapable corner. I didn't regret that, but it was still hard feeling that way. I did eventually recover, and my last two finals went much better--I learned a lot about how to best prepare for an exam under sub-optimal conditions!
But, that one-day crisis aside, I didn't realize just how much stress and pressure had built up until after my last final. It was like the opposite of losing 50 pounds gradually, then suddenly hoisting a 50 lb. pack and realizing just how much weight you're not carrying around anymore. It gradually built up, insidious strain by insidious strain. Then suddenly....whoooosh! Freedom! I lost 50 lbs all over again!
Oh yeah, and I'm also surprised by the sense of accomplishment. I went along this whole time knowing in my head that law school is a tough thing, but not feeling like in and of itself it's a congratulatory event. The result-driven side of me thinks, "Well, congratulate me when we see how I did!" But regardless how I did, I do feel a significant sense of accomplishment. I still can't quite understand why, but it's nice!
And so, my task for this weekend is getting back in touch with all you beautiful folks who I have neglected for the last month, and planning my trip back east!
It's funny, how stress builds up to a boiling point without you even realizing it, like the proverbial frog in water. I knew I had been feeling stress all semester, between school and the campaign, and I certainly knew that stress mounted as the semester wound down, between final papers, exams, and constantly dealing with fallout from the campaign, as well as attempting to piece together my own gender identity.
I definitely felt moments where the stress hit hard. Particularly, after my first final which I don't think I did very well on. Having your first final not go well is rough--I had a decent crisis of confidence, and momentarily became convinced that through the time spent on the campaign I had painted myself into an inescapable corner. I didn't regret that, but it was still hard feeling that way. I did eventually recover, and my last two finals went much better--I learned a lot about how to best prepare for an exam under sub-optimal conditions!
But, that one-day crisis aside, I didn't realize just how much stress and pressure had built up until after my last final. It was like the opposite of losing 50 pounds gradually, then suddenly hoisting a 50 lb. pack and realizing just how much weight you're not carrying around anymore. It gradually built up, insidious strain by insidious strain. Then suddenly....whoooosh! Freedom! I lost 50 lbs all over again!
Oh yeah, and I'm also surprised by the sense of accomplishment. I went along this whole time knowing in my head that law school is a tough thing, but not feeling like in and of itself it's a congratulatory event. The result-driven side of me thinks, "Well, congratulate me when we see how I did!" But regardless how I did, I do feel a significant sense of accomplishment. I still can't quite understand why, but it's nice!
And so, my task for this weekend is getting back in touch with all you beautiful folks who I have neglected for the last month, and planning my trip back east!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Things I've Learned During My First Law School Finals Period
- It's really cruel that the greatest learning resource and the greatest source of procrastination are found in the same place, namely your laptop.
- I work a lot better with headphones, rather than just music playing from speakers.
- I don't work at all if there's no noise.
- I don't regret the decisions I made through the course of the semester to work on the No on 8 campaign as much as I did.
- That being said, those decisions are probably going to affect my grades.
- When crunched for time, practice exams are way more important than memorizing more minutiae. Minutiae do you no good when you run out of time to write them down.
- The keycode to get into the bathroom at the Starbucks at Pico and Rimpeau is 1-2-3-4. Omar the barista told it to me.
- I'm eight years older than when I graduated from college, and I can't get away with hardly any sleep like I used to.
- This needing-to-sleep thing is VERY inconvenient.
- Sometimes, other people's past outlines just suck.
- Someone will look at my outline down the road and think it sucks.
- Buying the spring semester books during the fall semester finals period gives you first dibs on finding the used books in the best shape.
- This law school shit is hard!
- No matter how you feel about how you did on the exam, you have absolutely no way of knowing how your exam rates in the larger context of everyone else's exams.
- The Pens win if I listen to them online while I'm at the dining room table, but not if I listen to them online while I'm on the couch.
- Law school exams are the first time I've truly felt mentally hit by an A-bomb after a test.
- I work a lot better with headphones, rather than just music playing from speakers.
- I don't work at all if there's no noise.
- I don't regret the decisions I made through the course of the semester to work on the No on 8 campaign as much as I did.
- That being said, those decisions are probably going to affect my grades.
- When crunched for time, practice exams are way more important than memorizing more minutiae. Minutiae do you no good when you run out of time to write them down.
- The keycode to get into the bathroom at the Starbucks at Pico and Rimpeau is 1-2-3-4. Omar the barista told it to me.
- I'm eight years older than when I graduated from college, and I can't get away with hardly any sleep like I used to.
- This needing-to-sleep thing is VERY inconvenient.
- Sometimes, other people's past outlines just suck.
- Someone will look at my outline down the road and think it sucks.
- Buying the spring semester books during the fall semester finals period gives you first dibs on finding the used books in the best shape.
- This law school shit is hard!
- No matter how you feel about how you did on the exam, you have absolutely no way of knowing how your exam rates in the larger context of everyone else's exams.
- The Pens win if I listen to them online while I'm at the dining room table, but not if I listen to them online while I'm on the couch.
- Law school exams are the first time I've truly felt mentally hit by an A-bomb after a test.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Exam Tomorrow (Today?!)
Yeah, so - as the semester has wound down, the catchup I've played after the election has become increasingly more time consuming, as evidenced by the dwindling posts.
Tomorrow (technically later today, I guess!) is my first final, Crim. Happily I get to start off with the only closed-book final I have; nice to get it out of the way, but not so nice for my nerves.
It's funny though - through all the preparation, while I've been very busy and somewhat more stressed than usual, I haven't been nervous. Until this evening. This evening I definitely have been hit with a big case of the nerves, feeling unprepared, etc. etc. etc. It's kind of a funny feeling.
So, we'll see how it goes I guess!
Tomorrow (technically later today, I guess!) is my first final, Crim. Happily I get to start off with the only closed-book final I have; nice to get it out of the way, but not so nice for my nerves.
It's funny though - through all the preparation, while I've been very busy and somewhat more stressed than usual, I haven't been nervous. Until this evening. This evening I definitely have been hit with a big case of the nerves, feeling unprepared, etc. etc. etc. It's kind of a funny feeling.
So, we'll see how it goes I guess!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Pitter Patter!
Two things finally happened this week: We finally submitted something which counts for a grade, and it finally actually rained.
It's been raining most of the evening and I'm absolutely ecstatic about it! I knew I'd missed weather, but actually getting some actually brought it home for real. I've been laying around for a while now doing nothing except listening to the sound of it falling outside. Ahhh.... I hope it's still rainy tomorrow morning; I would love a rainy morning. But, a rainy evening is almost as good.
And, thinking about all the oil from the last however many months that is being stirred up on the highways...makes me glad I got new tires on the car today!
The item-for-a-grade was a paper. Well, a memo. A faux legal memorandum in which we offer predictive analysis on a particular claim based on a set realm of case law. We've done two much smaller ones through the semester; of course those were much less angsty because, y'know, they didn't count, and before we turned in the final versions of them we had writing advisors help us fix big ugly problems. I must admit it's more nerve-wracking basing an entire analysis on the tests you've devised when you don't really know if your tests are correct!
Beyond the memo, things are rolling right along at school. Next Tuesday is the last day of classes, then our first final is the Tuesday after that. Fun fun fun!
It's been raining most of the evening and I'm absolutely ecstatic about it! I knew I'd missed weather, but actually getting some actually brought it home for real. I've been laying around for a while now doing nothing except listening to the sound of it falling outside. Ahhh.... I hope it's still rainy tomorrow morning; I would love a rainy morning. But, a rainy evening is almost as good.
And, thinking about all the oil from the last however many months that is being stirred up on the highways...makes me glad I got new tires on the car today!
The item-for-a-grade was a paper. Well, a memo. A faux legal memorandum in which we offer predictive analysis on a particular claim based on a set realm of case law. We've done two much smaller ones through the semester; of course those were much less angsty because, y'know, they didn't count, and before we turned in the final versions of them we had writing advisors help us fix big ugly problems. I must admit it's more nerve-wracking basing an entire analysis on the tests you've devised when you don't really know if your tests are correct!
Beyond the memo, things are rolling right along at school. Next Tuesday is the last day of classes, then our first final is the Tuesday after that. Fun fun fun!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Still Here
Yes, I haven't posted in forever. The few days after the election when I allowed myself time to breathe on account of needing to recover, the process of recovery pretty much took most of what I had, and little was left for blogging. Honestly, little was left to say.
Once I began to recover substantially to have something to say, I remembered I was in law school and said, "Oh, SHIT." And have since been playing catchup.
So don't expect a lot of posts in the next few weeks.
But some brief updates:
- School is frantic. I'm not too frantic, but I'm not the frantic type. I'm the CT version of frantic. Everyone else, however, is having an aneurysm, which amuses me, because they're all further ahead of me in terms of work progress.
- It's still 90 degrees here half the time.
- I miss snow, and Pittsburgh, and my east people. No urgent pining or catastrophic emotional breakdown, I just miss y'all.
- LT now lives in Fullerton, which is in Orange County, where at election time there were Yes on 8 signs HANGING FROM THE BLEEPING TREES. But the apartment is really nice, and Fullerton itself has a not-bad feel to it, and LT's daily routine gets to include a train. And of course, we are happy to be relatively together again.
- The cats are doing well.
- I can't believe the Penguins are still playing hockey without me.
- Skype rocks! (HI MT!!!)
- The Cali Supreme Court granted review to determine the validity of Prop 8 (it is being challenged on the grounds that it was too substantial of a change to have gone through the amendment process, and should have instead gone through the more stringent revision process). Deadlines for various briefs and responses stretch until January 21, and word is that the hearing will likely be in March, with the decision sometime after that.
- The Steelers got the first 11-10 final score in NFL history (MGGramskyGramboski!! Hi!!) but it was cheapened because the TD that was disallowed on the last play should have been counted. Either way they won. I'm happier with the oddball score, but betting folks aren't.
That is all.
Once I began to recover substantially to have something to say, I remembered I was in law school and said, "Oh, SHIT." And have since been playing catchup.
So don't expect a lot of posts in the next few weeks.
But some brief updates:
- School is frantic. I'm not too frantic, but I'm not the frantic type. I'm the CT version of frantic. Everyone else, however, is having an aneurysm, which amuses me, because they're all further ahead of me in terms of work progress.
- It's still 90 degrees here half the time.
- I miss snow, and Pittsburgh, and my east people. No urgent pining or catastrophic emotional breakdown, I just miss y'all.
- LT now lives in Fullerton, which is in Orange County, where at election time there were Yes on 8 signs HANGING FROM THE BLEEPING TREES. But the apartment is really nice, and Fullerton itself has a not-bad feel to it, and LT's daily routine gets to include a train. And of course, we are happy to be relatively together again.
- The cats are doing well.
- I can't believe the Penguins are still playing hockey without me.
- Skype rocks! (HI MT!!!)
- The Cali Supreme Court granted review to determine the validity of Prop 8 (it is being challenged on the grounds that it was too substantial of a change to have gone through the amendment process, and should have instead gone through the more stringent revision process). Deadlines for various briefs and responses stretch until January 21, and word is that the hearing will likely be in March, with the decision sometime after that.
- The Steelers got the first 11-10 final score in NFL history (MGGramskyGramboski!! Hi!!) but it was cheapened because the TD that was disallowed on the last play should have been counted. Either way they won. I'm happier with the oddball score, but betting folks aren't.
That is all.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Walls, Dinners, and Leaves
You're in a new place, living a new life. You constantly have tons to do--the endless readings, needing to be ready for class discussions, papers to write. You have endless opportunities presented to you to do exactly what you've always wanted to do--actively work to make the world a better place. And you take them--how could you not?! Then suddenly, you find yourself in the middle of a huge fight, against people telling you to your face that they don't think you're equal. It's nothing personal, they hope you can still be friends, but they don't think you're deserving of the same rights as they are, that deep down they feel you are morally repugnant, and they are willing to spend tens of millions of dollars to prove it.
You find yourself in this fight, not where you are comfortable. Not in a place with your long time friends and family around you. True, with a strong number of budding new friendships, but not the time-tested, weathered ones that you can truly lean on. Not in a familiar place, with comforting changing leaves, soothing rainy days and invigorating crisp ones. But in a place with alien looking palms stretching starkly to the sky, and only bright, intense days. The rays of the sun call for constant energy, but little true relaxation.
And little by little you feel yourself losing pace. The water rises, centimeter by centimeter (which is odd, seeing as it never rains). The readings go from being read thoroughly before class, to read quickly before class, to now and then not being read before class, for those professors who don't cold call. Readings begin to take twice as long, because concentration comes hard, as well as staying awake. You hit rough spots in class and don't feel quite like the competent intelligent person you were convinced you were after the rousing convocation speeches. Exams begin to loom on the horizon, and with them the feeling that you should be doing more to prepare, even now. You're not doing enough. You don't remember the last time you got six hours of sleep. Your shoulders and neck turn into knots, and the headache from the stress, lack of sleep and poor blood flow becomes somewhat constant. The enthusiasm with which you tackled everything just a couple weeks ago is fading fast.
You tell yourself, it's just until the election. You're tired, and you're stretched a bit too thin, but the end is in sight. The hours of phone banks, debates, meetings, stress, and angst will be over on November 5th. All you need to do is find a way to push through these last two weeks, just stick it out, and you'll wake up November 5th with fewer obligations. But until then, every moment has to be productive. Every second has to be working towards the larger goals, whether it be school, new friendships, old friendships, or justice for someone somewhere.
And finally, fuck it. You just can't do it.
This is all a long and dramatic way of saying I really learned the value of taking a little time off this week. Friday rolled around, and I just couldn't do anything. No matter how much I wanted to insist on trying to write, read, work, or whatever, I was simply not going to be any good to anyone, anywhere. So after class ended, I caught the first bus home, slept for three hours in the middle of the day, then took the evening off with an amazing dinner out with some new friends, and some good old hockey. Today was back to work for most of the day, phone banking and school work, then a movie with some other new friends. (W...it was OK...given the subject matter, they didn't have to make a phenomenal movie, and it showed.)
Earlier this week I was talking to one of the faculty members at school, and he was asking how things were going. I said they were going OK, I was pretty tired and stressed from all the election work, and was looking forward to the election being over. He commented that yeah, it's a hard thing to learn how to balance yourself, and that it's not just now for the election, but it will always be this way. I didn't think too hard about it right at that time (too busy, ya know) but I realize now that he's right. It's not as though after this election there won't be anything else to work towards, no other causes that I'm passionate about, people who need help, justice that needs to be fought for. That's never going to happen in my lifetime. So, for this election, however it comes out, I'm certainly taking away the lesson that I'm only one person, and I'll need to work on my skills a bit when it comes to picking and choosing where and how thin to spread myself. It's a good lesson, that I'm grateful to have begun to learn without (hopefully) any consequences worse than stress headaches and sleep deprivation.
An added bonus is that in taking a bit of time off this weekend, I've gotten to begin to connect more with those budding new friendships. At school, it's been connecting and realizing that, while not everyone has quite the number of obligations I've committed myself too, we all have had our moments of feeling like the class dunce. We're all feeling overstressed, and we're all feeling like we're hitting a bit of a hump. At the election work, it's been connecting and realizing that these don't have to be transient acquaintances, but the beginnings of lasting bonds with amazing, hard working, passionate people.
And then, the feather in my rejuvenation cap, I got a package in the mail today, containing genuine, honest-to-goodness, Western PA leaves of various shades and colors, courtesy of MT. And along with a few minutes of misty eyes, they brought final added strength of remembering that even if we're on opposite sides of the country, the love and support I have with all those crazy people stretches infinitely.
You find yourself in this fight, not where you are comfortable. Not in a place with your long time friends and family around you. True, with a strong number of budding new friendships, but not the time-tested, weathered ones that you can truly lean on. Not in a familiar place, with comforting changing leaves, soothing rainy days and invigorating crisp ones. But in a place with alien looking palms stretching starkly to the sky, and only bright, intense days. The rays of the sun call for constant energy, but little true relaxation.
And little by little you feel yourself losing pace. The water rises, centimeter by centimeter (which is odd, seeing as it never rains). The readings go from being read thoroughly before class, to read quickly before class, to now and then not being read before class, for those professors who don't cold call. Readings begin to take twice as long, because concentration comes hard, as well as staying awake. You hit rough spots in class and don't feel quite like the competent intelligent person you were convinced you were after the rousing convocation speeches. Exams begin to loom on the horizon, and with them the feeling that you should be doing more to prepare, even now. You're not doing enough. You don't remember the last time you got six hours of sleep. Your shoulders and neck turn into knots, and the headache from the stress, lack of sleep and poor blood flow becomes somewhat constant. The enthusiasm with which you tackled everything just a couple weeks ago is fading fast.
You tell yourself, it's just until the election. You're tired, and you're stretched a bit too thin, but the end is in sight. The hours of phone banks, debates, meetings, stress, and angst will be over on November 5th. All you need to do is find a way to push through these last two weeks, just stick it out, and you'll wake up November 5th with fewer obligations. But until then, every moment has to be productive. Every second has to be working towards the larger goals, whether it be school, new friendships, old friendships, or justice for someone somewhere.
And finally, fuck it. You just can't do it.
This is all a long and dramatic way of saying I really learned the value of taking a little time off this week. Friday rolled around, and I just couldn't do anything. No matter how much I wanted to insist on trying to write, read, work, or whatever, I was simply not going to be any good to anyone, anywhere. So after class ended, I caught the first bus home, slept for three hours in the middle of the day, then took the evening off with an amazing dinner out with some new friends, and some good old hockey. Today was back to work for most of the day, phone banking and school work, then a movie with some other new friends. (W...it was OK...given the subject matter, they didn't have to make a phenomenal movie, and it showed.)
Earlier this week I was talking to one of the faculty members at school, and he was asking how things were going. I said they were going OK, I was pretty tired and stressed from all the election work, and was looking forward to the election being over. He commented that yeah, it's a hard thing to learn how to balance yourself, and that it's not just now for the election, but it will always be this way. I didn't think too hard about it right at that time (too busy, ya know) but I realize now that he's right. It's not as though after this election there won't be anything else to work towards, no other causes that I'm passionate about, people who need help, justice that needs to be fought for. That's never going to happen in my lifetime. So, for this election, however it comes out, I'm certainly taking away the lesson that I'm only one person, and I'll need to work on my skills a bit when it comes to picking and choosing where and how thin to spread myself. It's a good lesson, that I'm grateful to have begun to learn without (hopefully) any consequences worse than stress headaches and sleep deprivation.
An added bonus is that in taking a bit of time off this weekend, I've gotten to begin to connect more with those budding new friendships. At school, it's been connecting and realizing that, while not everyone has quite the number of obligations I've committed myself too, we all have had our moments of feeling like the class dunce. We're all feeling overstressed, and we're all feeling like we're hitting a bit of a hump. At the election work, it's been connecting and realizing that these don't have to be transient acquaintances, but the beginnings of lasting bonds with amazing, hard working, passionate people.
And then, the feather in my rejuvenation cap, I got a package in the mail today, containing genuine, honest-to-goodness, Western PA leaves of various shades and colors, courtesy of MT. And along with a few minutes of misty eyes, they brought final added strength of remembering that even if we're on opposite sides of the country, the love and support I have with all those crazy people stretches infinitely.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Popup Blocker
Well, I made it through my 12+ computerless hours; it was aided by the fact that I was in post-memo sleep deprivation, so I actually slept for a good eight of those hours. (Eight hours of sleep--unheard of!!) Factor in time cooking, eating, doing some reading, showering, and biking home yesterday, I only had an hour or so of jonesing.
I am now, however, missing my MAC. Not a computer, my Mac. The loaner laptops from the school are all Dells. When I switched to the Mac, I knew vaguely that I liked it better, but couldn't pinpoint for you why. Now that I'm using a Windows machine here for a bit again, I think I can do it better. I'll sum it up for you in one word.
Popup.
I've gotten more stupid popup messages in the hour and half that I've been on this laptop than I get in a month on the Mac. Would you like to do this? Watch out for that! Are you sure about this other thing? Really? No...I mean...really really?
And then there are the things it decides its going to do automatically without telling you. Such as, deciding behind the scenes that it's going to apply an update which requires a restart, so that in the heart of Torts class, as you are taking notes, it shuts down without warning as you are in mid-sentence.
Fun stuff, really! But, I shall not complain much--an old fogey like me is just amazed at the mere existence of a loaner laptop program to begin with. Young whippersnappers these days...I tell ya.
I am now, however, missing my MAC. Not a computer, my Mac. The loaner laptops from the school are all Dells. When I switched to the Mac, I knew vaguely that I liked it better, but couldn't pinpoint for you why. Now that I'm using a Windows machine here for a bit again, I think I can do it better. I'll sum it up for you in one word.
Popup.
I've gotten more stupid popup messages in the hour and half that I've been on this laptop than I get in a month on the Mac. Would you like to do this? Watch out for that! Are you sure about this other thing? Really? No...I mean...really really?
And then there are the things it decides its going to do automatically without telling you. Such as, deciding behind the scenes that it's going to apply an update which requires a restart, so that in the heart of Torts class, as you are taking notes, it shuts down without warning as you are in mid-sentence.
Fun stuff, really! But, I shall not complain much--an old fogey like me is just amazed at the mere existence of a loaner laptop program to begin with. Young whippersnappers these days...I tell ya.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Oh Yeah...I'm in Law School!
Right...I have a blog. Hello!
So the one thing I haven't posted about (yes, just the one thing) is the whole reason I'm out here in the first place - law school! A bunch of people ask me how school is, and I give them all the same corny, drippy, silly answer: Absolutely fantastic. On so many levels.
The easiest is the return to academia. I've always said I was born to be a professional student, and I still think that's true. Listening, reading, absorbing, this is all right up my alley, and I get it in giant huge bunches here. The classes and the material are hugely challenging. The work is tough, and often being in the spotlight in class makes you squirm, but it's clear that the spotlight is there to challenge you and make you better.
On a deeper level, the atmosphere at UCLA is better than I ever imagined. The stereotypical image of law school is stuffy and tradition-oriented. The first year, the only goal is to weed out the weak; classes are handled with half an eye towards teaching, and half an eye towards getting the unfit to crack and fail miserably. Some schools cut as much as the bottom third of their students after the first year. Innovative thinking may be allowed as you progress (or maybe not) but in the first year, you're not presumed to have enough of a brain to think your own thoughts. These cultures also create a fierce competition among students, as everyone frantically struggles to step on everyone else so as to not be at the bottom. For those who aren't worried about being on the cut list, everyone else is an obstacle in the way of your six figure firm job. As far as public interest work goes, every school pays lip service to it, but the feel is more that we owe it to chip in a few hours of pro bono work now and then, and let the little people have a taste of our brilliance.
Much to my surprise, at UCLA I've found myself able to put the words "law school" and "nurturing" into the same sentence. Right from the get-go, the culture has been positive, supportive, and encouraging. The convocation speeches were a giant pep talk, all about how, as we go through stress and uncertainty in the next few years, remember that we rock, the school rocks, the faculty and administration rock, and when we get done we'll be able to do thinks that rock. (In contrast, MG's description of her convocation speeches was: "The next three years will be hell and a bunch of you will either die or fail.") Over and over, we hear the message that if we need support--whether personal or academic--the faculty, administration and other students are here to help us. They make no bones that the next three years will be difficult and won't always be fun, but they make it equally clear that their goal is not to break us, but to push us to excel. There is no thought of separating the wheat from the chaff.
This atmosphere of support spills over into the student body. Yes, there are those who are still hyper-competitive and gunning for that firm job. There is a mandatory curve on the first year, although the thought of mandatory cuts is downright absurd here. But there also seem to be just as many students who have no interest in such competition and mistrust. Help is offered freely, notes are shared, tips and tricks are passed around, class outlines obtained from a 2L or 3L are forwarded along for others' benefit. Although not everyone shares it, enough students feel that there's room for all of us to be successful in the end. One person's success doesn't come at another's expense. That feel is also passed along by older students and alumni. We've heard repeated often that the next three years are only as cutthroat as we make them.
As far as public interest and innovation go, this is where it is singularly personally fulfilling for me. UCLA has twice the percentage of graduates that go into public interest work as many other schools (8% vs. 4%), and this is a reflection of the academic and extracurricular activities they have here, and the effort that they put into developing a solid culture of progressive, social justice-oriented thinking. These opportunities are available from the start; even though we can't do anything academically yet (all 1Ls have a standard class schedule), they immediately welcome us in and encourage us to begin making connections. The number one detriment to law students maintaining their ambitions of social justice is the larger culture of law as a means to a lucrative career and personal gain. The programs here recognize this and provide us a place to meet others who are like minded right from the get-go. And, they encourage students to come up with their own ideas and actively contribute to both the administration and the activities of the school. I've counted at least four different legal clinics so far that only just started over the last few years, entirely at the initiative of students who saw a need and had the support of the school to try to fill it.
Aside from the obvious reasons that this is fulfilling, for me it's a dream come true. Going back to school, I expected the next three years to be a necessary evil to my eventual goal of working in a social justice capacity. I figured it would be three years of swimming almost entirely against the grain, with occasional support here or there, finding my own way among a culture pursuing purely corporate and political aspirations, with little opportunity to have immediate impact. Instead, everything has been exactly the opposite, even in terms of immediate work.
A month and a half ago, I was sitting in my cube feeling like actual work to do good was a million miles away. Then I got here and find that everything I've ever wanted to do is in my immediate grasp. "You want to change things? Here. You want to help people? Here. You see things you don't agree with? Here." Next week I'm going to my first clinic, helping rehabilitated (-ing) ex-convicts navigate legal hurdles in the course of getting re-established in society. I'm also signed up this semester to work a few days at a mobile legal clinic that sets up at a local food bank, helping people there address problems they've had such as minor offenses related to homelessness, and denial of rightful benefits. As if that wasn't enough, I'm also slated for a third clinic that helps people with HIV and AIDS find and keep affordable, livable housing.
And oh yeah, I go to class, too.
At any rate, this post has become ridiculous. I'm sure you have something to go do, and I certainly have reading to do. To quote something I saw recently (although I'll be damned if I can remember where...maybe LT?) I can't promise to try to post more often, but I promise to try to try!
So the one thing I haven't posted about (yes, just the one thing) is the whole reason I'm out here in the first place - law school! A bunch of people ask me how school is, and I give them all the same corny, drippy, silly answer: Absolutely fantastic. On so many levels.
The easiest is the return to academia. I've always said I was born to be a professional student, and I still think that's true. Listening, reading, absorbing, this is all right up my alley, and I get it in giant huge bunches here. The classes and the material are hugely challenging. The work is tough, and often being in the spotlight in class makes you squirm, but it's clear that the spotlight is there to challenge you and make you better.
On a deeper level, the atmosphere at UCLA is better than I ever imagined. The stereotypical image of law school is stuffy and tradition-oriented. The first year, the only goal is to weed out the weak; classes are handled with half an eye towards teaching, and half an eye towards getting the unfit to crack and fail miserably. Some schools cut as much as the bottom third of their students after the first year. Innovative thinking may be allowed as you progress (or maybe not) but in the first year, you're not presumed to have enough of a brain to think your own thoughts. These cultures also create a fierce competition among students, as everyone frantically struggles to step on everyone else so as to not be at the bottom. For those who aren't worried about being on the cut list, everyone else is an obstacle in the way of your six figure firm job. As far as public interest work goes, every school pays lip service to it, but the feel is more that we owe it to chip in a few hours of pro bono work now and then, and let the little people have a taste of our brilliance.
Much to my surprise, at UCLA I've found myself able to put the words "law school" and "nurturing" into the same sentence. Right from the get-go, the culture has been positive, supportive, and encouraging. The convocation speeches were a giant pep talk, all about how, as we go through stress and uncertainty in the next few years, remember that we rock, the school rocks, the faculty and administration rock, and when we get done we'll be able to do thinks that rock. (In contrast, MG's description of her convocation speeches was: "The next three years will be hell and a bunch of you will either die or fail.") Over and over, we hear the message that if we need support--whether personal or academic--the faculty, administration and other students are here to help us. They make no bones that the next three years will be difficult and won't always be fun, but they make it equally clear that their goal is not to break us, but to push us to excel. There is no thought of separating the wheat from the chaff.
This atmosphere of support spills over into the student body. Yes, there are those who are still hyper-competitive and gunning for that firm job. There is a mandatory curve on the first year, although the thought of mandatory cuts is downright absurd here. But there also seem to be just as many students who have no interest in such competition and mistrust. Help is offered freely, notes are shared, tips and tricks are passed around, class outlines obtained from a 2L or 3L are forwarded along for others' benefit. Although not everyone shares it, enough students feel that there's room for all of us to be successful in the end. One person's success doesn't come at another's expense. That feel is also passed along by older students and alumni. We've heard repeated often that the next three years are only as cutthroat as we make them.
As far as public interest and innovation go, this is where it is singularly personally fulfilling for me. UCLA has twice the percentage of graduates that go into public interest work as many other schools (8% vs. 4%), and this is a reflection of the academic and extracurricular activities they have here, and the effort that they put into developing a solid culture of progressive, social justice-oriented thinking. These opportunities are available from the start; even though we can't do anything academically yet (all 1Ls have a standard class schedule), they immediately welcome us in and encourage us to begin making connections. The number one detriment to law students maintaining their ambitions of social justice is the larger culture of law as a means to a lucrative career and personal gain. The programs here recognize this and provide us a place to meet others who are like minded right from the get-go. And, they encourage students to come up with their own ideas and actively contribute to both the administration and the activities of the school. I've counted at least four different legal clinics so far that only just started over the last few years, entirely at the initiative of students who saw a need and had the support of the school to try to fill it.
Aside from the obvious reasons that this is fulfilling, for me it's a dream come true. Going back to school, I expected the next three years to be a necessary evil to my eventual goal of working in a social justice capacity. I figured it would be three years of swimming almost entirely against the grain, with occasional support here or there, finding my own way among a culture pursuing purely corporate and political aspirations, with little opportunity to have immediate impact. Instead, everything has been exactly the opposite, even in terms of immediate work.
A month and a half ago, I was sitting in my cube feeling like actual work to do good was a million miles away. Then I got here and find that everything I've ever wanted to do is in my immediate grasp. "You want to change things? Here. You want to help people? Here. You see things you don't agree with? Here." Next week I'm going to my first clinic, helping rehabilitated (-ing) ex-convicts navigate legal hurdles in the course of getting re-established in society. I'm also signed up this semester to work a few days at a mobile legal clinic that sets up at a local food bank, helping people there address problems they've had such as minor offenses related to homelessness, and denial of rightful benefits. As if that wasn't enough, I'm also slated for a third clinic that helps people with HIV and AIDS find and keep affordable, livable housing.
And oh yeah, I go to class, too.
At any rate, this post has become ridiculous. I'm sure you have something to go do, and I certainly have reading to do. To quote something I saw recently (although I'll be damned if I can remember where...maybe LT?) I can't promise to try to post more often, but I promise to try to try!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
State of Affairs
In making this big move to the left coast, I thought I was going to be presented with an interesting shift to this blog--from introspection/commentary to news delivery. I'm doing my darnedest to keep in touch with all the folk back east, but as you can imagine law school keeps one a bit busy, even when not combined with moving across the continent. So, I really started feeling the need to put some basic, bald news up here. That posed a problem on several fronts, 1) I feel like it puts me in danger of feeling less responsible for communicating with people directly, 2) it's not the purpose of this blog, and 3) if I spend all my time trying to communicate daily (weekly, whatever) news, I risk losing the random ruminations on thins, which I really like doing.
A week into law school, though, I am realizing that this won't be an ongoing problem. "Why?" you ask. Well, let's put it this way: as far as straight news goes, while the last couple weeks have been an absolutely thrilling whirlwind of activity and goings on, there really won't be a whole lot to say about endless hours spent in a law school library. It's not exactly gripping reading.
So, for now, I will do what I can to balance the newsy and non-newsy pressures.
For the news, last Tuesday my roommate, SL, and I got all moved into our apartment, which is really very cool. It's pretty big and seems to be very well maintained--the guys did a more thorough job of patching/painting/cleaning than anywhere else I've ever lived. It's also in a much older house than I expected to find in this area. I think it was built in either the 10's or 20's, and as a result has a lot of really neat built-in details and considerations that you don't generally find in your usual house built these days--cupboards built into the walls, decorative edging, etc. The doors that open out onto our little balcony are very distinctly not-modern as well, and the wooden window and door frames are incredibly well preserved.
Unpacking has progressed at a ridiculously slow pace for me. Last week didn't really afford much time, what with trying to get situated, actually moving in, starting classes, etc. Over the weekend I had intended to do much more than did, but in the end after the insanity of my last few weeks at work, driving across the country, etc., I just took a couple days and let my mind vegetate. This coming up weekend is a long weekend, so even if I don't make much progress again through this week, come next weekend I won't have an excuse!
There is also the minor news detail that, oh yeah, I started law school, but my reading assignments call so you'll just have to wait for any real info on that one. Suffice to say, "I started law school."
Two fantastic factoids about where I'm living that I will close with, to satisfy my love for imparting completely un-newsworthy things:
1) I live on the 2nd floor, with entry doors at both the top and bottom of my stairs. At the top of the stairs is a handle sticking out of the wall. If you pull the handle, it actually closes the door at the bottom of the stairs. So, if you come home and have a big armful of groceries or whatever, you don't have to try to juggle everything to close the door. Go upstairs, put the stuff down in the apartment, and pull the handle. (In the interests of full disclosure, I must admit that we can't practically use it--the door at the bottom of the stairs is the main secured entrance to the apartment and it locks by deadbolt, which the handle can't help you with. All the same, I think this handle is the funnest thing ever.)
2) I live in the heart of LA. On a residential street, yes, but still in the middle of a primarily concrete jungle, buildings lined up like sardines, on street parking maxed out on most streets, the middle of one of the biggest cities in the country. Of all the things I expected to encounter in this environment, a rooster certainly was not one of them. And yet. It's far enough away somewhere that it doesn't wake me up, but days when I'm up already I'll hear that unmistakable crow.
A week into law school, though, I am realizing that this won't be an ongoing problem. "Why?" you ask. Well, let's put it this way: as far as straight news goes, while the last couple weeks have been an absolutely thrilling whirlwind of activity and goings on, there really won't be a whole lot to say about endless hours spent in a law school library. It's not exactly gripping reading.
So, for now, I will do what I can to balance the newsy and non-newsy pressures.
For the news, last Tuesday my roommate, SL, and I got all moved into our apartment, which is really very cool. It's pretty big and seems to be very well maintained--the guys did a more thorough job of patching/painting/cleaning than anywhere else I've ever lived. It's also in a much older house than I expected to find in this area. I think it was built in either the 10's or 20's, and as a result has a lot of really neat built-in details and considerations that you don't generally find in your usual house built these days--cupboards built into the walls, decorative edging, etc. The doors that open out onto our little balcony are very distinctly not-modern as well, and the wooden window and door frames are incredibly well preserved.
Unpacking has progressed at a ridiculously slow pace for me. Last week didn't really afford much time, what with trying to get situated, actually moving in, starting classes, etc. Over the weekend I had intended to do much more than did, but in the end after the insanity of my last few weeks at work, driving across the country, etc., I just took a couple days and let my mind vegetate. This coming up weekend is a long weekend, so even if I don't make much progress again through this week, come next weekend I won't have an excuse!
There is also the minor news detail that, oh yeah, I started law school, but my reading assignments call so you'll just have to wait for any real info on that one. Suffice to say, "I started law school."
Two fantastic factoids about where I'm living that I will close with, to satisfy my love for imparting completely un-newsworthy things:
1) I live on the 2nd floor, with entry doors at both the top and bottom of my stairs. At the top of the stairs is a handle sticking out of the wall. If you pull the handle, it actually closes the door at the bottom of the stairs. So, if you come home and have a big armful of groceries or whatever, you don't have to try to juggle everything to close the door. Go upstairs, put the stuff down in the apartment, and pull the handle. (In the interests of full disclosure, I must admit that we can't practically use it--the door at the bottom of the stairs is the main secured entrance to the apartment and it locks by deadbolt, which the handle can't help you with. All the same, I think this handle is the funnest thing ever.)
2) I live in the heart of LA. On a residential street, yes, but still in the middle of a primarily concrete jungle, buildings lined up like sardines, on street parking maxed out on most streets, the middle of one of the biggest cities in the country. Of all the things I expected to encounter in this environment, a rooster certainly was not one of them. And yet. It's far enough away somewhere that it doesn't wake me up, but days when I'm up already I'll hear that unmistakable crow.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Yahtzee
...or, "How a $130 Test Changed My Life".
So, I'm pretty sure that most people who read this blog know most of the story already, if not the entire thing, but I really feel the need to put up an actual post about the ridiculously insane past two weeks.
Every once in a while, life turns into a big game of Yahtzee. I'm not talking about breaking up with a significant other, or getting a new job. I'm talking about quietly sitting on a table, when suddenly someone scoops you up, shakes you around in a giant blue cup, and dumps you back out onto the table in an entirely different configuration than you were just in. (Hopefully metaphorically, but I suppose anything is possible.)
On the morning of Thursday, July 3rd, at around 10 a.m., I finalized the last piece of administrative stuff that I needed to do to arrange my move to Philly and attend Temple Law. The student loans and scholarships were lined up. Registration was complete. An apartment and roommate were found. The moving truck was reserved. Specific plans were entirely in place.
At around 2:00, I got the piece of news I referenced in my last post--my new LSAT score. In that post I said I wasn't sure if it would help with UCLA. Again, I have proven that I should not pursue work as a psychic.
After a few annoying meetings at work, at around 4:00 I sent an email to the Dean of Admissions at UCLA to let them know about my updated score. At about 5:30, I got an email back from him stating that they would review my file and be in touch. At about 7:30 that evening, I was on the phone with said Dean of Admissions, doing a phone interview. At about 8:45 that evening, I was back on the phone, receiving an offer of admission to UCLA, a scant 5 1/2 hours after getting my new LSAT score.
To be brutally honest, it was not an automatic decision for me. Here I had on one hand a path that was already all figured out, sorted out, arranged: a known entity which with I had been coming to terms for several months now. On the other hand, this entirely unknown path was suddenly plunked down in front of me: a much bigger move; much farther from my friends and family, and from the city that will always be home, regardless of whether I ever live here again; a much different culture and way of life; heck, even a much different climate.
Over the course of a few days, I began to swim through the mix of emotions that surrounded this decision. Not just the scary differences, but also the exciting ones. Being so much closer to LT. Going to a very highly ranked school. Going to a school with so much specialization and support for public interest work. And, I began to realize that the primary thing guiding my initial reaction was fear of the unknown. If this had happened even a few weeks earlier, before I had found an apartment in Philly, it would've been a no-brainer.
I began to think back to my original desire to go out there. The differences and unknowns were part of the attraction, the desire to experience something new. They weren't bad, they were good! And yes, I remembered the painful disappointment LT and I felt when we first learned that I had been waitlisted even at Loyola Marymount, and would most likely be staying east. LT was with me when I opened that envelope from Loyola. We didn't even make it into my apartment for a while, we just sat in the hallway hugging each other.
So I decided to accept UCLA's offer, and that is where I am headed. It is a decision with which I have become progressively more comfortable, and as plans and arrangements have begun to solidify, the fear surrounding it is slowly but surely fading, leaving the genuine excitement I would have felt if this had been the path I had been on all along.
Is that drippy saccharine sweet or what? Well hang on, now here is where the story just starts to get gaudy.
The one downside to UCLA was cost. Temple was going to be pretty cheap, both because it is a cheaper school, and because I received a partial scholarship. UCLA was going to be more. Not prohibitively more, but considerably more.
That is, until LAST Thursday, July 10th (Thursday is quickly becoming my favorite day of the week), when I once again found myself on the phone with the Dean of Admissions at UCLA. This time I was being offered a giant bucket of merit scholarship money, in ADDITION to a much more modest need-based financial aid award. As a result, UCLA will probably cost less than Temple when all is said and done.
Seriously? This is the kind of crap that people write stories about. I mean, not specifically, because a story--even a short one--about emails and phone calls for law school admissions doesn't make for terribly gripping leisure reading. But you know what I mean. It is unreal.
So there you have it. I don't have everything exactly all lined up yet, but through some series of events my act is going to California to attend UCLA School of Law. Way back when I first started piecing together my plan of law school action, this was the ideal scenario I had envisioned. As events unfolded I got used to life with a different reality, so you'll have to forgive me if I'm still a little stunned that all the sudden, out of the blue, it actually happened.
And to top it all off, last Friday the Dean of Admissions at University of Virginia, ranked 10th in the country and which had also placed me on the waitlist, called and offered me a spot. I do have to wonder how many people who are offered a spot off the UVa waitlist actually turn them down.
So, I'm pretty sure that most people who read this blog know most of the story already, if not the entire thing, but I really feel the need to put up an actual post about the ridiculously insane past two weeks.
Every once in a while, life turns into a big game of Yahtzee. I'm not talking about breaking up with a significant other, or getting a new job. I'm talking about quietly sitting on a table, when suddenly someone scoops you up, shakes you around in a giant blue cup, and dumps you back out onto the table in an entirely different configuration than you were just in. (Hopefully metaphorically, but I suppose anything is possible.)
On the morning of Thursday, July 3rd, at around 10 a.m., I finalized the last piece of administrative stuff that I needed to do to arrange my move to Philly and attend Temple Law. The student loans and scholarships were lined up. Registration was complete. An apartment and roommate were found. The moving truck was reserved. Specific plans were entirely in place.
At around 2:00, I got the piece of news I referenced in my last post--my new LSAT score. In that post I said I wasn't sure if it would help with UCLA. Again, I have proven that I should not pursue work as a psychic.
After a few annoying meetings at work, at around 4:00 I sent an email to the Dean of Admissions at UCLA to let them know about my updated score. At about 5:30, I got an email back from him stating that they would review my file and be in touch. At about 7:30 that evening, I was on the phone with said Dean of Admissions, doing a phone interview. At about 8:45 that evening, I was back on the phone, receiving an offer of admission to UCLA, a scant 5 1/2 hours after getting my new LSAT score.
To be brutally honest, it was not an automatic decision for me. Here I had on one hand a path that was already all figured out, sorted out, arranged: a known entity which with I had been coming to terms for several months now. On the other hand, this entirely unknown path was suddenly plunked down in front of me: a much bigger move; much farther from my friends and family, and from the city that will always be home, regardless of whether I ever live here again; a much different culture and way of life; heck, even a much different climate.
Over the course of a few days, I began to swim through the mix of emotions that surrounded this decision. Not just the scary differences, but also the exciting ones. Being so much closer to LT. Going to a very highly ranked school. Going to a school with so much specialization and support for public interest work. And, I began to realize that the primary thing guiding my initial reaction was fear of the unknown. If this had happened even a few weeks earlier, before I had found an apartment in Philly, it would've been a no-brainer.
I began to think back to my original desire to go out there. The differences and unknowns were part of the attraction, the desire to experience something new. They weren't bad, they were good! And yes, I remembered the painful disappointment LT and I felt when we first learned that I had been waitlisted even at Loyola Marymount, and would most likely be staying east. LT was with me when I opened that envelope from Loyola. We didn't even make it into my apartment for a while, we just sat in the hallway hugging each other.
So I decided to accept UCLA's offer, and that is where I am headed. It is a decision with which I have become progressively more comfortable, and as plans and arrangements have begun to solidify, the fear surrounding it is slowly but surely fading, leaving the genuine excitement I would have felt if this had been the path I had been on all along.
Is that drippy saccharine sweet or what? Well hang on, now here is where the story just starts to get gaudy.
The one downside to UCLA was cost. Temple was going to be pretty cheap, both because it is a cheaper school, and because I received a partial scholarship. UCLA was going to be more. Not prohibitively more, but considerably more.
That is, until LAST Thursday, July 10th (Thursday is quickly becoming my favorite day of the week), when I once again found myself on the phone with the Dean of Admissions at UCLA. This time I was being offered a giant bucket of merit scholarship money, in ADDITION to a much more modest need-based financial aid award. As a result, UCLA will probably cost less than Temple when all is said and done.
Seriously? This is the kind of crap that people write stories about. I mean, not specifically, because a story--even a short one--about emails and phone calls for law school admissions doesn't make for terribly gripping leisure reading. But you know what I mean. It is unreal.
So there you have it. I don't have everything exactly all lined up yet, but through some series of events my act is going to California to attend UCLA School of Law. Way back when I first started piecing together my plan of law school action, this was the ideal scenario I had envisioned. As events unfolded I got used to life with a different reality, so you'll have to forgive me if I'm still a little stunned that all the sudden, out of the blue, it actually happened.
And to top it all off, last Friday the Dean of Admissions at University of Virginia, ranked 10th in the country and which had also placed me on the waitlist, called and offered me a spot. I do have to wonder how many people who are offered a spot off the UVa waitlist actually turn them down.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Well Then...
Umm...
OK, so. Back in September I took the LSAT for the first time. I got a 162, which ranked in the 86th percentile, which was all very respectable, and all well and good. It wasn't enough to get me into the top schools on my list, but I got wait listed at UCLA and UVa, both very highly ranked schools, and got a scholarship offer from Temple.
While I was bummed that I didn't get into my top choice, UCLA, I had operated under the mistaken assumption that the September LSAT was the last one that would really do me any good for applications this year. I didn't realize until the enrollment deadlines had passed that the December, and even the February, dates could have been used.
After getting waitlisted at UCLA, I decided to retake the LSAT in June. I've since come to terms with going to Temple, and am looking forward to it, and see all the pluses it has (not the least of which is the MUCH lower tuition fee). But, it seemed worth the $130 exam fee to take another crack at it. And besides, there was also the minor issue of my pride, which wasn't too used to being in the 86th percentile. So I took the exam a few weeks ago, and while I felt good about it, I didn't have a good feel for just how well I had actually done--whether or not I did significantly better than the first time around.
Apparently, I should not pursue work as a psychic, because I just got my score today: 173, ranking in the 99th percentile.
I don't know if this will help with UCLA--seats off the waitlist are not a guarantee, even whether there will be openings. However, at least my pride is a little happier.
OK, so. Back in September I took the LSAT for the first time. I got a 162, which ranked in the 86th percentile, which was all very respectable, and all well and good. It wasn't enough to get me into the top schools on my list, but I got wait listed at UCLA and UVa, both very highly ranked schools, and got a scholarship offer from Temple.
While I was bummed that I didn't get into my top choice, UCLA, I had operated under the mistaken assumption that the September LSAT was the last one that would really do me any good for applications this year. I didn't realize until the enrollment deadlines had passed that the December, and even the February, dates could have been used.
After getting waitlisted at UCLA, I decided to retake the LSAT in June. I've since come to terms with going to Temple, and am looking forward to it, and see all the pluses it has (not the least of which is the MUCH lower tuition fee). But, it seemed worth the $130 exam fee to take another crack at it. And besides, there was also the minor issue of my pride, which wasn't too used to being in the 86th percentile. So I took the exam a few weeks ago, and while I felt good about it, I didn't have a good feel for just how well I had actually done--whether or not I did significantly better than the first time around.
Apparently, I should not pursue work as a psychic, because I just got my score today: 173, ranking in the 99th percentile.
I don't know if this will help with UCLA--seats off the waitlist are not a guarantee, even whether there will be openings. However, at least my pride is a little happier.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Chick Peas - They're Neither Chicks, nor Peas. Discuss.
I'm getting the feeling that the next month or so would be a LOT easier if I could just quit my regular job now.
The move to Philly progresses. One big step seems to have been taken care of, in that I've found (hope hope) a good potential roomie. Which has a lot of plusses...personal comfort being the highest on there. Plus not having to figure out what to do with all my stuff, and not feeling completely like I'm a guest in someone else's home.
Wow, I just realized I'm not even writing in complete sentences at this point. Wahoo.
So now all I need is an apartment to move into. Details! Oh yeah, and a new computer. I found out last week that Temple's exam security software only runs on native Windows, and I'll be damned if I'm letting Windows gunk up my Mac. So yippee...off to find the cheapest laptop available that I think will last me three years. Because, y'know, I had an extra few hundred dollars I didn't really want anymore.
Really, I'm not as bitter as I sound. Just scatter-brained!
But hey, queers are getting married in California today!!! *happy dance*
The move to Philly progresses. One big step seems to have been taken care of, in that I've found (hope hope) a good potential roomie. Which has a lot of plusses...personal comfort being the highest on there. Plus not having to figure out what to do with all my stuff, and not feeling completely like I'm a guest in someone else's home.
Wow, I just realized I'm not even writing in complete sentences at this point. Wahoo.
So now all I need is an apartment to move into. Details! Oh yeah, and a new computer. I found out last week that Temple's exam security software only runs on native Windows, and I'll be damned if I'm letting Windows gunk up my Mac. So yippee...off to find the cheapest laptop available that I think will last me three years. Because, y'know, I had an extra few hundred dollars I didn't really want anymore.
Really, I'm not as bitter as I sound. Just scatter-brained!
But hey, queers are getting married in California today!!! *happy dance*
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Up...Down...Up...Down...
To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Nothing like a few drastic ups and downs to really make your weekend.
Up! - This past week the California state supreme court ruled that laws banning same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, making Cali the second state to allow gay marriage. Such an amazing and stunning turn of events! One YouTube video in particular showed activists waiting for and hearing the ruling outside the courthouse...absolutely amazing and inspiring.
down - This past week was also the last week of my most senior writer at work. I'm left with me and two very junior writers who need a good deal of babysitting. My job is about to get really shitty, really quickly.
UP!- LT graduated this weekend from CMU. Seeing everything she did during just one school year--all the great people I've met through her, seeing the challenges she met, what she's achieved, it was a great thing to see her complete this step in her life. I can't imagine how proud I would be for her if I had known her all four years or longer. It also really got my juices flowing for school next year--recognizing the passion that I saw in the grads, especially the masters and doctoral candidates, and feeling that same passion for the road I'm about to go down. It's a great feeling, exciting and exhilarating. Combined with the recent developments in Cali, I am downright chomping at the bit.
down - Along with LT graduating, however, came the visit by LT's family to see her graduate and pack her stuff back off to DC. LT's family is great in a lot of ways--it's your typical big crazy family, fun-loving, sarcastic, funny and loud. They support LT so much in many ways, they are proud of her and care about her. In other ways, not as much, and for that reason, the two of us being around them is a bit of a strain. Especially with us likely being on opposite coasts next year, I know LT could really use the support and love of her family, the recognition of the importance of our relationship and the difficult times to come for both of us. We hold out hope that someday they'll be able to reach that place, but in the meantime, it's hard to see that they haven't.
UP! - Of course there's also been the Pens' spectacular post-season run. They hit a temporary glitch against the (fucking) Flyers on Thursday, but finished them off in fine fashion with a 6-0 spanking this afternoon, sending my boys to the Stanley Cup finals. I said a number of times earlier this year that there was no way they would make it this far, and have been very glad to be proven wrong. GJ, hope you're ready to make good on the promise of tickets for a Wings/Pens final!!
down - At the end of the game, I was looking out my door and realized something was missing from my porch. Namely, my bike. Locked up on my balcony, Bumblebee has taken one last trip to an unknown destination. I swear, I will never understand people who feel the need to take other people's stuff. Bye, Bumblebee.
I mean, I love roller coasters and all, but really...this is a bit ridiculous.
Nothing like a few drastic ups and downs to really make your weekend.
Up! - This past week the California state supreme court ruled that laws banning same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, making Cali the second state to allow gay marriage. Such an amazing and stunning turn of events! One YouTube video in particular showed activists waiting for and hearing the ruling outside the courthouse...absolutely amazing and inspiring.
down - This past week was also the last week of my most senior writer at work. I'm left with me and two very junior writers who need a good deal of babysitting. My job is about to get really shitty, really quickly.
UP!- LT graduated this weekend from CMU. Seeing everything she did during just one school year--all the great people I've met through her, seeing the challenges she met, what she's achieved, it was a great thing to see her complete this step in her life. I can't imagine how proud I would be for her if I had known her all four years or longer. It also really got my juices flowing for school next year--recognizing the passion that I saw in the grads, especially the masters and doctoral candidates, and feeling that same passion for the road I'm about to go down. It's a great feeling, exciting and exhilarating. Combined with the recent developments in Cali, I am downright chomping at the bit.
down - Along with LT graduating, however, came the visit by LT's family to see her graduate and pack her stuff back off to DC. LT's family is great in a lot of ways--it's your typical big crazy family, fun-loving, sarcastic, funny and loud. They support LT so much in many ways, they are proud of her and care about her. In other ways, not as much, and for that reason, the two of us being around them is a bit of a strain. Especially with us likely being on opposite coasts next year, I know LT could really use the support and love of her family, the recognition of the importance of our relationship and the difficult times to come for both of us. We hold out hope that someday they'll be able to reach that place, but in the meantime, it's hard to see that they haven't.
UP! - Of course there's also been the Pens' spectacular post-season run. They hit a temporary glitch against the (fucking) Flyers on Thursday, but finished them off in fine fashion with a 6-0 spanking this afternoon, sending my boys to the Stanley Cup finals. I said a number of times earlier this year that there was no way they would make it this far, and have been very glad to be proven wrong. GJ, hope you're ready to make good on the promise of tickets for a Wings/Pens final!!
down - At the end of the game, I was looking out my door and realized something was missing from my porch. Namely, my bike. Locked up on my balcony, Bumblebee has taken one last trip to an unknown destination. I swear, I will never understand people who feel the need to take other people's stuff. Bye, Bumblebee.
I mean, I love roller coasters and all, but really...this is a bit ridiculous.
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