Thursday, October 27, 2011
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.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
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....
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.
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. :)
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. :)
Thursday, September 8, 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
My Weekend and Other General Topics
I thought I might quickly do a general update on life. Things are good. Mostly thanks to dancing and football. Law school gets intense and I need outlets. Football and dancing have been my saving grace here. The few friends that I've made here have been people that I connected with either over football or dancing. It breaks the marriage question awkwardness.
Here is a quick recount of my weekend...I went salsa dancing Thursday night. It was SO fun! I don't think I sat down for more than a minute at a time. It was really hard to leave when I had so many partners. That being said I stayed out way later than I should have...oops. By some crazy stroke of luck (I would generally call it a miracle from God but I don't think God rewards irresponsibility), all of the law school classes were canceled on Friday. A power box blew and power couldn't be restored for a few days...happy dance.....
Friday I mostly rested. It was a nice break. If I was smart I would have gotten ahead on my homework. I did hoof it up to campus to retrieve my Contracts book which has sat unopened on my desk here all weekend. Saturday I wasn't any more productive either. I did get a lot of grocery stuff done including getting my Bountiful Basket which has a ridiculous amount of fresh food. It even had some plums that tasted exactly like the ones we used to pick off of my Grandpa's tree when I was younger (they were my favorite) so that provided a great childhood memory. Then it was a day full of football.
I LOVE football (at least college football...NFL not so much). It is my favorite sport to watch and it was opening weekend. The first game I watched was the BYU game, and it wasn't pretty. An entire game of bad football on both sides. I'm reluctant to say that BYU won because I think Ole Miss just lost. I'm more reluctant than ever to pick up BYU as my secondary team (Boise State will ALWAYS be first of course). They play Texas next week and I'm not sure I want to subject myself to that kind of torture by watching it. The Boise State game was beautiful though. Great football by both teams with my team outplaying the others. It was nice to get home to a bunch of facebook posts about the game. It made me feel connected to Bronco Nation again. I do a mini version of fantasy football with some classmates. We make predictions on 10 games each week and then rate them based on our confidence (the higher the confidence rating the better the points). After week 1, I'm tied for first with one other person. See girls can know a bit about football too.
Sundays are always great because of church. Church is such a spiritual boost for the week. The only problem is I struggle with keeping my blood sugar up on Sundays and I'm nor sure why. Today was incredibly frustrating. Low blood sugars make me feel tired and sometimes I end up taking a nap. I realized today that I have a reoccurring dream when I have a low blood sugar...well nightmare actually. I dream that I'm trying to wake up but I can't. My eyes won;t open. My arms won't move. Sometimes I try calling for help but can't get any words to come out. It is frustrating because it all feels so real. I know I'm in my bed. Sometimes I dream that I open one eye and I'm in my room but I just can't wake up. Eventually, I'll startle awake and then I'm scared to go back to sleep. I had the dream earlier today and even now as I'm getting ready for bed, I'm a little scared of falling asleep. Anyway, blood sugar issues are frustrating because they are very much still a work in progress. Also, it is a constant thing. I really want a break...one day where I didn't have to worry about it.
No more complaining now. It is the start of a new week. Tomorrow is a big day. I didn't get any homework done so I'll be hard at work on that. I'm hoping to get a little ahead so that I don't feel guilty when I decide to go dancing this week (which will happen regardless of how far ahead I am). Hope everyone enjoys their Memorial Day...spare a thought for the poor law student studying away... ;)
Here is a quick recount of my weekend...I went salsa dancing Thursday night. It was SO fun! I don't think I sat down for more than a minute at a time. It was really hard to leave when I had so many partners. That being said I stayed out way later than I should have...oops. By some crazy stroke of luck (I would generally call it a miracle from God but I don't think God rewards irresponsibility), all of the law school classes were canceled on Friday. A power box blew and power couldn't be restored for a few days...happy dance.....
Friday I mostly rested. It was a nice break. If I was smart I would have gotten ahead on my homework. I did hoof it up to campus to retrieve my Contracts book which has sat unopened on my desk here all weekend. Saturday I wasn't any more productive either. I did get a lot of grocery stuff done including getting my Bountiful Basket which has a ridiculous amount of fresh food. It even had some plums that tasted exactly like the ones we used to pick off of my Grandpa's tree when I was younger (they were my favorite) so that provided a great childhood memory. Then it was a day full of football.
I LOVE football (at least college football...NFL not so much). It is my favorite sport to watch and it was opening weekend. The first game I watched was the BYU game, and it wasn't pretty. An entire game of bad football on both sides. I'm reluctant to say that BYU won because I think Ole Miss just lost. I'm more reluctant than ever to pick up BYU as my secondary team (Boise State will ALWAYS be first of course). They play Texas next week and I'm not sure I want to subject myself to that kind of torture by watching it. The Boise State game was beautiful though. Great football by both teams with my team outplaying the others. It was nice to get home to a bunch of facebook posts about the game. It made me feel connected to Bronco Nation again. I do a mini version of fantasy football with some classmates. We make predictions on 10 games each week and then rate them based on our confidence (the higher the confidence rating the better the points). After week 1, I'm tied for first with one other person. See girls can know a bit about football too.
Sundays are always great because of church. Church is such a spiritual boost for the week. The only problem is I struggle with keeping my blood sugar up on Sundays and I'm nor sure why. Today was incredibly frustrating. Low blood sugars make me feel tired and sometimes I end up taking a nap. I realized today that I have a reoccurring dream when I have a low blood sugar...well nightmare actually. I dream that I'm trying to wake up but I can't. My eyes won;t open. My arms won't move. Sometimes I try calling for help but can't get any words to come out. It is frustrating because it all feels so real. I know I'm in my bed. Sometimes I dream that I open one eye and I'm in my room but I just can't wake up. Eventually, I'll startle awake and then I'm scared to go back to sleep. I had the dream earlier today and even now as I'm getting ready for bed, I'm a little scared of falling asleep. Anyway, blood sugar issues are frustrating because they are very much still a work in progress. Also, it is a constant thing. I really want a break...one day where I didn't have to worry about it.
No more complaining now. It is the start of a new week. Tomorrow is a big day. I didn't get any homework done so I'll be hard at work on that. I'm hoping to get a little ahead so that I don't feel guilty when I decide to go dancing this week (which will happen regardless of how far ahead I am). Hope everyone enjoys their Memorial Day...spare a thought for the poor law student studying away... ;)
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
In Which I Shoot Myself In the Foot Repeatedly (Metaphorically Speaking Of Course)
Yesterday was probably the longest day of my life to date and most of that (luckily not all of it) was my fault. Here I raise a caveat (look at the law school lingo coming out). The following post will have a lot of instances where I clearly used less than half of my brain and the part that I did use I don't think was working properly. If you would like to keep the image of me being totally brilliant (that I'm sure you have), don't read any farther.
I had to go in early yesterday to get reading done because I decided going to an activity and trying to meet people would be more beneficial to my overall sanity than struggling through Contracts Monday night. Luckily I got everything done just in time to attend a painfully boring lecture about what an environmental lawyer does which only succeeded in helping me check that off the list of potential fields of law to go into.
Next stop was lunch with my Contracts professor (yup the one I am terrified of). The law school gives money to all the first year professors to take their students out to lunch so that we feel more comfortable going to talk with them and such. I already had lunch with my legal research and writing professors last week. This one was different though. It was Contracts, my dreaded class. You would think that I would realize that it would be in my best interest to get on good terms with said professor. Of course I'm not that clever. Somehow in the course of the group conversation (we go in small groups...not alone...that would be awkward) I manage to tell him how Property is my favorite class and the professor there is my favorite professor, that Contracts class is never very clear and that I think Contracts is by far the most difficult class. (I also told him that he was very successful with putting the fear of God into us, but I think he took that as a compliment....) In my defense what I actually said about the clarity issue was that our Torts teacher was very clear and suddenly it got quiet and I realized that he might take that as a hint that I thought he was doing a bad job teaching the class. Tried to salvage that one with things like "It's not a bad thing" and "It's just different but both are good". You can imagine how well that worked. Well I guess you can fault me for not being completely honest. I also decide to get a Mexican Coke (made with real sugar not corn) at lunch because I never get stuff like that....This will come into play later on.
Lunch is over and we have Property before Contracts. Property was great as usually. Full of jokes that I would tell you but I tried to tell one to a non-law student yesterday and it didn't work out so well. By the time Contracts roles around, I'm feeling pretty good. I've forgotten about all the stupid things I've said. You see I have this formula worked out. A few of us in the class, he already knew by name from an orientation event. As far as I could tell, none of us had yet been called on in class. My theory was that he called on those he didn't know because he wanted to be more intimidating. In fact, I shared this theory with one of the other students that went to lunch right before class started.
I'm not so great at foreshadowing but I think that you can kinda guess what happened. I got called on. Several times. I know the selection was probably random but I can't bring myself to fully believe that given my lunch word vomit. I'm trying my absolute hardest and doing ok but man it took concentration not to wet myself. Somehow I lost the ability to read the words on the powerpoints that explained the hypotheticals so at times I would have to be corrected on the facts. My strategy was to repeat over and over again in light of each new situation the only thing that has really clicked in this class for me. He did mention that always tying things back to the basic principle was good but I was too frazzled to notice that as a comment at this point. Then a little more than halfway through the class, I notice that my blood sugar is getting low (remember that coke that I wanted....yeah). I'm up a creek without a paddle. I didn't have any food with me and anyway I would never eat in class and especially not his class. Also, there is no possibility of getting up to get something because he has been questioning me all class off and on and I think he would probably notice if I got up and walked out. I'm loosing concentration quickly and when he next calls my name I realize I do not know what he has been talking about for the last several minutes. Rather than admit I wan't paying attention (he would have made me answer anyway), I answer the EXACT same thing that the person before me answered which was wrong....I'm pretty sure that it could not have been more clear that I was not paying attention. Go me. I know just how to do them.
Anyway at the end of class I feel pretty dumb. My friend Mitch is kind enough to point out that my theory of how people get called on just blew up in my face. Jason reminds me that I was asking for it with lunch. I fix the blood sugar issue (not before Jason had a few good laughs at my silly irrational behavior that comes with low blood sugars), and get back to work. I have a raging headache from the sugar (sugar and caffeine both do that now), but I have to get a lot done. I had an outline that needed to be emailed off to a professor. I out what I remember to be the appropriate title for the subject line in and send it. She sends it back asking me to fix "the title". I would just like to point out that is an ambiguous term. I go back through notes and don't specifically have the way to title things written down so I ask someone in my section about it. I got super annoyed when the only difference in my subject line was where the dots went and the fact that I only put my last name. So I fix it and send it again. Only to get back a message congratulating me on getting it right in the subject line and asking me to correct the file name to mirror it. Wow. Once again I feel stupid realizing what "the title" meant.
At this point, I've given up on salvaging any productive drive and once again determine that early morning studying will have to be the answer. Mostly I needed to go dancing. I was at my breaking point and dancing was the perfect fix. It was amazing. I walked away smiling and happy about life. Then I get home to find out some disturbing news. One of my roommates had smelled a gas leak which turned out to be from the dryer hose. When the gas guy came to the house, he also found dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide. We don't currently (although that is changing tonight) have any monitors in our house for that sort of thing. If we had went to bed before knowing about that problem, odds are none of us would have woken up again. (I'm still thanking the Lord over and over again that there was another leak that did have an odor). The problem ended up being that there is not enough ventilation in the room that has the gas heater. They turned our gas off until it was fixed. Essentially our house isn't up to code (luckily we got some of it fixed today but we are still having some inspectors come look at the house to be sure that we are indeed safe). Anyway, I was up late with my roommates figuring out what demands needed to be made and actions to take if we ran into any obstacles.
I did get up early today and now I'm dead tired. I'm going to bed in just a few minutes because I also need to get up early tomorrow to finish reading because I was much too tired to pull myself through a Contracts reading today. There was one thing that made me feel worlds better about life. Shortly before Contracts today I got this email:
I had to go in early yesterday to get reading done because I decided going to an activity and trying to meet people would be more beneficial to my overall sanity than struggling through Contracts Monday night. Luckily I got everything done just in time to attend a painfully boring lecture about what an environmental lawyer does which only succeeded in helping me check that off the list of potential fields of law to go into.
Next stop was lunch with my Contracts professor (yup the one I am terrified of). The law school gives money to all the first year professors to take their students out to lunch so that we feel more comfortable going to talk with them and such. I already had lunch with my legal research and writing professors last week. This one was different though. It was Contracts, my dreaded class. You would think that I would realize that it would be in my best interest to get on good terms with said professor. Of course I'm not that clever. Somehow in the course of the group conversation (we go in small groups...not alone...that would be awkward) I manage to tell him how Property is my favorite class and the professor there is my favorite professor, that Contracts class is never very clear and that I think Contracts is by far the most difficult class. (I also told him that he was very successful with putting the fear of God into us, but I think he took that as a compliment....) In my defense what I actually said about the clarity issue was that our Torts teacher was very clear and suddenly it got quiet and I realized that he might take that as a hint that I thought he was doing a bad job teaching the class. Tried to salvage that one with things like "It's not a bad thing" and "It's just different but both are good". You can imagine how well that worked. Well I guess you can fault me for not being completely honest. I also decide to get a Mexican Coke (made with real sugar not corn) at lunch because I never get stuff like that....This will come into play later on.
Lunch is over and we have Property before Contracts. Property was great as usually. Full of jokes that I would tell you but I tried to tell one to a non-law student yesterday and it didn't work out so well. By the time Contracts roles around, I'm feeling pretty good. I've forgotten about all the stupid things I've said. You see I have this formula worked out. A few of us in the class, he already knew by name from an orientation event. As far as I could tell, none of us had yet been called on in class. My theory was that he called on those he didn't know because he wanted to be more intimidating. In fact, I shared this theory with one of the other students that went to lunch right before class started.
I'm not so great at foreshadowing but I think that you can kinda guess what happened. I got called on. Several times. I know the selection was probably random but I can't bring myself to fully believe that given my lunch word vomit. I'm trying my absolute hardest and doing ok but man it took concentration not to wet myself. Somehow I lost the ability to read the words on the powerpoints that explained the hypotheticals so at times I would have to be corrected on the facts. My strategy was to repeat over and over again in light of each new situation the only thing that has really clicked in this class for me. He did mention that always tying things back to the basic principle was good but I was too frazzled to notice that as a comment at this point. Then a little more than halfway through the class, I notice that my blood sugar is getting low (remember that coke that I wanted....yeah). I'm up a creek without a paddle. I didn't have any food with me and anyway I would never eat in class and especially not his class. Also, there is no possibility of getting up to get something because he has been questioning me all class off and on and I think he would probably notice if I got up and walked out. I'm loosing concentration quickly and when he next calls my name I realize I do not know what he has been talking about for the last several minutes. Rather than admit I wan't paying attention (he would have made me answer anyway), I answer the EXACT same thing that the person before me answered which was wrong....I'm pretty sure that it could not have been more clear that I was not paying attention. Go me. I know just how to do them.
Anyway at the end of class I feel pretty dumb. My friend Mitch is kind enough to point out that my theory of how people get called on just blew up in my face. Jason reminds me that I was asking for it with lunch. I fix the blood sugar issue (not before Jason had a few good laughs at my silly irrational behavior that comes with low blood sugars), and get back to work. I have a raging headache from the sugar (sugar and caffeine both do that now), but I have to get a lot done. I had an outline that needed to be emailed off to a professor. I out what I remember to be the appropriate title for the subject line in and send it. She sends it back asking me to fix "the title". I would just like to point out that is an ambiguous term. I go back through notes and don't specifically have the way to title things written down so I ask someone in my section about it. I got super annoyed when the only difference in my subject line was where the dots went and the fact that I only put my last name. So I fix it and send it again. Only to get back a message congratulating me on getting it right in the subject line and asking me to correct the file name to mirror it. Wow. Once again I feel stupid realizing what "the title" meant.
At this point, I've given up on salvaging any productive drive and once again determine that early morning studying will have to be the answer. Mostly I needed to go dancing. I was at my breaking point and dancing was the perfect fix. It was amazing. I walked away smiling and happy about life. Then I get home to find out some disturbing news. One of my roommates had smelled a gas leak which turned out to be from the dryer hose. When the gas guy came to the house, he also found dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide. We don't currently (although that is changing tonight) have any monitors in our house for that sort of thing. If we had went to bed before knowing about that problem, odds are none of us would have woken up again. (I'm still thanking the Lord over and over again that there was another leak that did have an odor). The problem ended up being that there is not enough ventilation in the room that has the gas heater. They turned our gas off until it was fixed. Essentially our house isn't up to code (luckily we got some of it fixed today but we are still having some inspectors come look at the house to be sure that we are indeed safe). Anyway, I was up late with my roommates figuring out what demands needed to be made and actions to take if we ran into any obstacles.
I did get up early today and now I'm dead tired. I'm going to bed in just a few minutes because I also need to get up early tomorrow to finish reading because I was much too tired to pull myself through a Contracts reading today. There was one thing that made me feel worlds better about life. Shortly before Contracts today I got this email:
Diana,
I was just getting ready for class, and I remembered that I wanted to commend you on your contribution to class yesterday. You were excellent.
Contracts Professor
So apparently I'm not completely stupid. Although next time I should probably take a different course of action to figure that out. Oh and don't worry...that email definitely won't go to my head so long as it takes me 3 hours minimum to get ready for one hour of Contracts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)