A Whole New Life

To say it has been a while since I wrote a blog post might be the biggest understatement ever! A lot has happened since I last wrote. That awesome guy I was dating that everyone kept asking if it was serious...well it got serious and now we have been married one month yesterday. I absolutely LOVE being married to Eric. Every night I get to hang out with my very best friend. We can be doing nothing and still have an absolute blast.


It is amazing how much marriage changes your life. Your life is no longer just about you. Eric and I have had a relatively easy adjustment but marriage never comes without adjustment. Every now and then you kicked in the middle of the night (on accident of course) because neither one of us is used to sharing a bed. I think we have been very fortunate. Eric and I are both pretty easy going so the transition has been smooth and more fun than stressful. 


One big thing that has changed is our evening time activities. We have become addicted to the Food Network (in HD). There are a lot of fun competition shows on there. We like Chopped, Cupcake Wars and Iron Chef. We pretend to know what we are talking about when we guess who is going home to been sent home because of the presentation of their dish. (Haha like we could do any better). Anyway it is fun to watch shows that are not full of garbage that I don't want to hear or see. 


One of our favorites is called Restaurant Impossible. It is sort of like Extreme Home Makeover for restaurants. A chef goes to failing restaurants and revamps the restaurant and the menu to try to help the owners turn it around. Chef Ramsey also has a similar one called Kitchen Nightmares that is also good. I'm amazed at how in denial people initially are about the reasons that their restaurants are failing. Somehow it is never because the food is bad in their eyes and yet that is almost always the problem. 


One of the biggest problems that happens frequently is a menu that is too large. If the kitchen has too much to keep track of the quality of the food goes down and more mistakes are made. Eric and I experienced this first hand. We went to a newly opened diner that had a massive menu. I ended up getting a dish that in no way what was described in the menu.  Smaller menus where the quality of food is the focus seems to make a more successful restaurant (at least based the TV show).


We really like that show not just because it is interesting but because it helps normal people just trying to succeed. It is heart-warming to see people's attitudes change and a desire to make changes in their lives. 


Anyway, I want to catch you all up on the craziness that is law school so hopefully more posts to come shortly. 

Now what kind of a question is that?

It has been a while. I have completed my first finals week and just have two more tests. I promise to write all about finals and the rest of the semester...after it is actually over. For now I'm going to take a break from mind-numbing memorization of Torts rules and to ask a favor...


I've been dating an awesome guy for just over two months now. (For those of you who aren't Mormon please understand that Mormon dating relationships in relation to non-Mormon dating relationships as dog years are viewed in comparison to human years...multiply by 7...so by non-Mormon dating standards we have been dating for just over a year...Eric came up with this rule and I find it to be a generally accurate comparison.) Anyway, things are great. We have a lot of fun together. We obviously like each other and we intend to continue dating. Now I thought that the Provo culturites acted weird when I was not in a relationship...it gets worse when you are in one. Well maybe not worse but still weird.


Eric, my boyfriend, has a brother, Ethan, who lives with him. For whatever reason, more people seem to ask Ethan about how things are going than Eric and I about things. This of course makes sense because naturally he knows all the details of our relationship...minus any details of course.


Also, people wait to ask Eric and I about our relationship until we are not together (which doesn't happen often unless we are at school). Call me crazy (which is a real possibility) but I will answer exactly the same way if he is right next to me as I will if he is not. I also submit that it is incredibly unhealthy if the answer does change based on whether or not your significant other is around to hear what you have to say. Please please make sure your significant other knows how you feel. 


Now for that favor I asked for...can someone please tell me what is meant by "are you guys serious?" Eric likes to answer this question with "I like to think we are pretty lighthearted." I am usually trying to hard to figure out what they mean to give much of a determinate answer. It is like with the law. Everything is measured by a standard of reasonableness and yet no one can tell you what that word means. Back to what serious means. Is it a measure of length? Is it a measure of intentions? Is it a measure of feelings? (You're getting a little too personal if it is...unless you are my close family). 


My Bishop here made it even more complicated by asking this is the most serious relationship I've ever been in. Nothing against my Bishop. He is an amazing guy but I simply do not even know how to begin to answer that. I think I stuttered out something about it not being the longest but that I felt it was the best one I had been in so far. Both those statements are true. However, I don't know if that answers the question. 


You would think that I would be used to subjective tests with multiple factors to consider given law school which is  full of those. But I'm not. Anyway the judges that apply those tests usually get to mull over things in opinions that can last for several dozen pages. So if you want to ask me about the seriousness of my relationship either clearly define what you mean or expect a full blown judicial style opinion...when I get around to it.

Please Don't Touch Me...Another Odd Observation....

I'm taking time out of a busy school schedule to comment on a weird phenomenon I've noticed here. No one hugs each other here...Ok not no one but pretty close. In Boise, you give out hugs like candy on Halloween. You hug all of your friends regardless of their gender whenever you see them and then again whenever they leave. The campus has people standing out in the quad giving out free hugs during dead week. Here it is almost dead opposite. People don't hug each other and especially do not hug someone of the opposite gender unless interested in or dating him. It just doesn't happen. I wear my free hugs shirt to school here and no one wants one. I've only ever had one person hug me when I was wearing that shirt and he is the only guy to have ever hugged me here besides the guy that I am dating. There is also an assumption that if you are dating someone, you shouldn't hug other members of the opposite sex...unless they are family members. It is like some weird idea of quasi form of cheating. In fact, physical touch overall seems to be much more significant here than Boise. Touching someone of the opposite gender here definitely constitutes interest in dating the person. In Boise, it can mean that too (key word can not always). I'm afraid I don't understand the different meanings of physical touch here so I find it better not to try at all lest I commit some unforgivable sin. Even hugging among the same gender seems to be oddly low here. I think I have given a few of my roommates hugs...that's it. Eric, the guy I am dating, commented a few days ago that he has hugged more guys here than he has girls....That's not just weird that is flat out wrong. Come on Utah...hugging is not the new making out; it does not imply a commitment of any kind; really, it is just a nice, normal thing to do. Get over it.

A Note on Gunners

Gunners are probably the single most annoying thing about law school. The urban dictionary defines a law school gunner as such:


1. Noun:
Someone who hijacks class discussion (and hence, class time) with irrelevant, or tangential opinions and/or questions.

2. Noun:
Someone who attempts, usually (and repeatedly) failing, to demonstrate his or her intellectual prowess by asking questions "out side the box." These questions, and the answers/discussion they force the professor to entertain, are never tested and rarely add positively to the lecture.

3. Someone who repeatedly asks questions during lectures that would be more appropriately discussed after class.


There are a few such gunners in my classes. The biggest one I will call Mr. R. Mostly because I don't actually know his first name and don't know how to spell his last name. Luckily I only have two out my four classes with him. His favorite pass time is to bring up cases referenced in the book that we haven't actually been assigned and that the professor doesn't even know into his position. One time in contracts, he said and I quote "I'm glad you brought up that point Professor, it was just what I wanted to discuss." He then proceeded on a commentary that really had nothing to do with anything pertinent. His favorite topic in Torts is trespass of chattels which he has now been told several times that we will not cover in this class and yet somehow at least once a week he feels the need to ask "would this not constitute a trespass of chattels". The rest of the class is getting frustrated with him. The other day we were going over a medical malpractice case. The question being discussed was whether or not the lady would have consented to the surgery if she had known the risks and alternative treatments. He raises his hand to read off the list of symptoms of her condition on the Mayo Clinic. All of the symptoms were related to female menstruation and none of them sounded particularly burdensome beyond the normal symptoms for that sort of thing. He chose to use these symptoms (because they were so bad by his estimation) as the reason she would have consented to a surgery despite the risks. A female student quickly rebutted, "Obviously you don't have any idea of what it is like to be a women". Priceless. 


Too be fair, Mr. R is not the only gunner. There is Mr. W who keeps his hand raised after he has been called on while he is talking. "Excuse me professor, I would like to comment on my comment as soon as I am done commenting". Really? Why is that necessary? Put your hand down.


There is the girl that makes assumptions mostly based on important words she missed in the reading like NOT. Then comments are always followed by an incredibly smug smile that screams "Aren't I the smartest person ever?"


In short, gunners are a waste of time. Their entertainment value, which is not slight, is far outweighed by the level that they annoy me. Unfortunately class schedules are up for the next semester and guess who is still in at least two of my classes....

Sorry BYU, mustaches are tacky

The BYU honor code requires men to be clean shaven unless they have special permission to have a beard. I fully support this policy. There are VERY few guys that I view as attractive when they have beards. There is one problem. The policy allows mustaches. Consequently, there are a plethora of mustaches here. (I think it might be a due to a need to prove that they can grow facial hair...still not to sure on that one...) As much as I dislike beards on guys, mustaches are ten times worse (sorry Dad...yours suited you so it was ok). Furthermore, these mustaches are bottom of the barrel as far as mustaches go. They are generally thin and wispy looking which adds to their attractiveness. 





This is an example of a full mustache that guys can sometimes get away with. While I still don't find it attractive for a guy to have a mustache, this one at least looks descent.





Here we have what BYU mustaches tend to look like....See the difference??? This is just creepy and all sorts of wrong. Guys the only thing you are proving by this mustache is that you will not have a date this weekend or probably the next. Seriously you need a shave.

So its been a while....

Ok so it has been a while. Somehow when school gets busy blogging becomes low on my priority list...weird. Anyway, this is my fall "break" (I'll explain the quotations marks later) right now so I figure I'll do a series of posts to catch you up. This first post will be kind of a prolonged status update. Then today and tomorrow as a study break I plan to write a few more of my random observations etc. 


Obviously a lot has happened since I last wrote so if this seems a little bit like news vomit it kind of is. Classes are plugging along. The classes that are based on case law are getting easier and I can get through cases quite a bit quicker than before. On the other hand, legal writing has gotten out of control. (This deserves an entire post of its own and will get one). 


I have started to "get involved" I guess. I applied and was selected as one of two first year board members for Timpanogos Legal Center, a pro bono clinic that works to help low income families with legal issues. I'm excited for this opportunity. I don't know if I want to go into public interest law and my inclination says that I probably don't want to. However, I feel that lawyers have an obligation to help those who legitimately cannot afford vital legal needs with their problems. My property professor told our class that usually law students feel that way at the beginning and then don't do anything about it during law school because they are too busy. He emphasized that if you are "too busy" now it won't change later on and pretty soon you will be looking back saying I used have such good intentions. I decided that if I truly felt strongly about pro bono work then I should do something now. I have not yet had an opportunity to do much with the board but that will change after break.


I also mentor two fifth grade girls every Tuesday. The law school has been doing this program for years. Students from the elementary school across the street come over for one hour on Tuesdays. We help our mentees with their American History homework and then have time to play games with them. It has been pretty fun.


I am still dancing about three nights a week. It continues to be a good form of stress relief. I also watch football pretty obsessively. I've become friends with an apartment of guys less than a block from my house and they have a pretty big TV that we watch football on. I joke that all I think about is dancing, football and sometimes the law...but it is kinda true. Knowing that I'll be able to do those activities if I get my work done is probably the greatest motivation I have found.


That's it for generally information. The funner stuff is yet to come. :) 

The Question I'm Not Sure How To Answer

Just a quick note and then I'm off to dance the night away (literally).


There is one question that I get asked constantly. I shouldn't be surprised. It is the sort of question someone in my position would get asked frequently, but even still it is a tough question to answer.


How is law school going?


How long do you have to listen? Really, it is a complicated answer. Law school is tough; it is intense; it is draining physically, emotionally and mentally. I have a teacher that I'm literally terrified of. Yet somehow the whole experience is exhilarating. I don't know how to describe it. It is a fast paced sort of environment with thrilling discussion. Classes are intimidating while at the same time being very rewarding. I spend my days getting a make-over on how to think about life and situations. I find myself trying to apply what I learn in law school to everything and not intentionally either. For example, I tried to read a flier for an event that was on the kitchen table this morning. I stopped when I realized I was looking for the relevant facts, the overall rule and the application. I find myself watching people's stupid actions and thinking...this is going to end up being a tort. When someone uses a word off hand that has legal meaning, I start thinking if the elements of the current situation fit the legal definition. On one hand, this constant thought process is exhausting. On the other, it is amazing how quickly my whole system of thinking about and analyzing things has changed.


There that is the answer to that question. Now finding a way to boil that down into a simple concise answer that won't freak people out.....That's another story.