Tired...

The Appellate Brief's "A" argument is due on Monday... I work on it at least 2 or 3 or 4 hours a day... it is basically all consuming. 

I have a mid-term in Criminal Law on Thursday, 7 days from now... it counts for 40% of my grade. I haven't even begun to study, and probably won't until after Monday. Oh and the criminal law prof has a horrid cold... and I'm convinced she is going to infect our classroom... if she gets me sick I'm going to be pissed. 

I'm tired. I'm not sleeping well.... I think its the stress... I'm so ready for spring break. So very ready. 

Well... I guess that's all I have time for. But here are some more professor quotes from the past few days...

Administrative Law-- Get ready, cause this is going to hurt your brain

I read the statistics and am sad that 14 year olds seem to be having more fun than I do

You can rape my daughter but don’t take my F*in hub caps cause I will blow you away… maybe it was the same dad… I don’t know.

We would hope that a 20 year old who had sex with a 14 year old would get more than probation, unless he’s a cardinal.

But I’m a man so I don’t know.

Plenary power… that’s a lawyer’s way of saying doing whatever the hell you want.

Even if it’s a gun I made in my own back yard… Ok… don’t fight the hypo.

But a horse is a horse of course of course.

If I were into cross dressing I’d have a complete wardrobe… that’s the good news.

Don’t be afraid… do you think I’m going to remember tomorrow if you were wrong or right? 

Frustration and Procrastination

Frustration-
I'm working on writing my appellate brief for legal writing. I feel like I'm doing everything wrong, that I'm not going to be able to write it, that the more I work on it the more I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. I wrote point headings for my "A" argument last night, and sent them to the prof. She said I'm on the right track, but to limit it to two point headings. I had 3. Ok I can do that.

I wrote my "A1" argument tonight. I am confident I did it wrong. I am going to go in to see the prof. tomorrow to go over it, I emailed it to her tonight. Hopefully she looks at it and can get me going on a semi-right path. I don't want to write the A2 argument or the general intro until I know I'm going in the right direction. (I write introductions last...) Gah I just don't know what to do with it! I mean seriously.

I'm back to feeling like an idiot. Wondering why they even let me into law school. I mean I know a lot of my classmates are having a hard time as well, but honestly that isn't much comfort. Well it kind of is... idk

Procrastination-
I feel like a shitty student because I keep only doing the argument in little chunks and waiting to go over it. But then I think that is being smart about it, I'm not working down the wrong path... At least that's my justification.

I am done with all my reading for the week. Which is good. I'm going to start reading for next week tomorrow. Why?

Next Week I have:
1. Argument 1 of appellate brief due on Monday
2. Constitutional law take home midterm (worth 10 points... which is quite a few in law school) Received Monday, due Wednesday
3. Criminal Law Midterm worth 40% of my grade Thursday
4. Assignment 3 for Basic Legal Research due Friday.

In addition to all the reading etc. that normally absorbs all my time.

Gah this week is busy too... Wed I have night class, its part of the "Professionalism Series" usually I don't mind the lectures or the after dinner, they are fun, but it does kill my Wednesdays (which are already booked from 9-3) Thursday I'm meeting my mentor/ going to a networking pizza party thing, which means that Thursday is shot as well. Its not that I cannot do homework when I get back from these things, but my day gets so full and so stressful and there is just so much to do that by the time I get home I just want to sleep.

Perhaps I should work on some Monday reading... but I'm confident that the Contracts professor will cancel class tomorrow (there is a massive blizzard in IL right now and he hates driving in bad weather, and its a 9am class). So I'll have a little extra time to read/work on Assignment 3/meet with my legal writing prof tomorrow.

Maybe I am procrastinating too much. Writing it out like this doesn't make it seem like I am... it makes me anxious to know I have this much to do before spring break... but I mean whatevs.

I have a great plan for spring break. Its really amazing... ready?
1. Write the Appellate Brief
2. Outline all my classes up through break

I tried to set something up with my family and my boyfriends family for the first weekend... but idk if thats going to happen... we'll see. I'm planning on spending most of break absorbed in the law. I may spend it at my moms or my boyfriends... its better then chillin in DeKalb alone. My boyfriend has to clean up the house though if I'm going to stay there for a week. His roommate and he have truly turned the house into a man cave. I'm a type A personality... ya.

Ok well perhaps I shall read some more Contracts... oh plug for Economics classes, it makes understanding expectation damages way easier. Special shout out to Professors Schoofs & Hauge for helping me understand economics well enough to make law a little easier. :)

Hope its nice where you are, there are ice pellets hitting my window... eww.

Good News

I have been offered a Graduate Assistantship at the Students Legal Assistance Office! This means I will go to school next year for free! And gain valuable legal experience. I am so very excited!

And now for your reading enjoyment more professor quotes:

If you’re not in a continuous state of fear you cannot go to law school.

Sarah did you have your hand up? No I was just… Yeah well too bad.

My favorite commentary on mental illness: the most interesting man I ever dated was in the waste water treatment business. And one of the things I learned was, everything that goes into our commodes ends up in our water system. So they found a certain kind of fish that had a high level of anti-anxiety drug in them. And it turns out these fish have no fear, they swim in places where their predators live and they are eaten. So doesn't this tell you that it is ridiculous for people to take anti-anxiety drugs when all it does is make them susceptible to dangers.

I was weaned on Falstaff beer I think too.

I wanted to be a professional bowler but I gave that up when I was very young.

There was that professor who took out a 9 mm at a faculty meeting when she was denied 10 year. It’s been a fantasy of mine.

Ladies if you’re going to get drunk wear a skirt. No indecent exposure if you have to pee outside.

If you guys aren’t briefing your cases you will probably go to hell when you die.

Maybe this judge took it in the shorts during a divorce.

Stupid

I have never felt so stupid in my life. Why? I don't know. How's that for stupidity?

I read the homework for today. Then in Con Law I realized that I hadn't understood well any of the reading. Part of that can be attested to the 50+ pages. Thank God he goes over everything and explains. I mean a lot of the concept questions about why things happened I knew, but what happened in Knight? What happened in this other case? I don't know. I didn't even realize that 2 of the cases overruled 2 of the other cases. See stupid.

Money management. I'm working on it, and sticking to my budget, but (and this is going to sound childish) but being all grown up and keeping track of bills and budgets and rationing money... is HARD. I don't wanna do it no more.

Basic knowledge and common sense is leaving me. Its like see ya on spring break until then... you're just going to sound stupid. I hate having to go to my mom for help, for her to help me sort this stuff out. Its like I write papers and have her read them so she can see what I'm doing, and she cannot understand them... but I cannot seem to multi task the way I used to, to be able to grasp simple concepts. Its like impossible.

Then there are the joys of being a Lady. Gals you know what I'm talking about. That once a month when you just want to lay in bed and die. Yeah. That and law school. together. NOT COOL.

Ahhhhhhh! Anyway I'm going to finish my taco salad dinner and get back to homework... if I can understand it. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

More Quotes From Class

My classmates and I have decided that keeping track of things law profs say is pretty entertaining... so here are more quotes from class this past week. 

Contracts: Its ok to screw 'em fair and square. Not ok to screw them unfair and un-square.

Contracts: Who’s going to go out and buy the furniture on the after market after people have been sleeping on it and everything else people do in beds for two years?

Criminal Law: I always make it difficult for my kids to commit suicide. They have to hold their breath. I don’t have a gun or aspirin or car exhaust. We can talk more later about athletes foot. I have a lot of areas of expertise that have not been tapped by NIU. (you may be wondering what she was talking about... if you know let me know...) 

Criminal Law: I hate valentine’s day I've been single for 25 years, valentine’s day? That’s why I don’t have a gun in my house. Yeah somebody gave my dog a heart shaped treat; I'm like hello give me something.

Criminal Law: In regards to Polka-- Grab somebody’s stinky smell grandpa and dance him to death. That is fun.

Criminal Law: You can find love in jail, but almost no money.

Changes

So I decided I'm not going to France this summer. I just cannot afford the flight and living there and not having any money. So I need a new light at the end of the 1L tunnel...

I applied for some internships, one with the IL Innocence Project, one with CASA, and I've talked to my mentor about working with the public defender's office. So perhaps I shall find an internship for the summer.

I'm going to take summer classes in order to get my 711 early. Which will be good.

I'm in the process of hopefully being allowed to get my dog allowed into my apartment, which would be happy.

School...

Criminal Law: I kind of love it. I NEVER thought I'd enjoy the class. But it is fascinating. The crimes, the reasons behind the decisions, why something is Murder 2 and not Murder 1... the ways that people come up with to commit crimes. The good that is done by locking up the bad guy, and the amazingness that is accomplished by helping the wrongfully convicted. I hope I get one of the internships I applied for... they are both related to criminal law... so I'll be able to tell if I really like this stuff.

Contracts: Going okay. There are getting to be so many tools, and so many of the problems are solved by "creative lawyering" and it is confusing. I mean I usually know what is going on, I just am not sure if given a fact pattern I'll know which tool to use.

Constitutional Law: Why do I dislike this so much? Ok I guess its like... I like the historical aspect (I was a history major...) but reading LONG decisions about stuff that has already been pretty set in our culture is just soooooo boring. And the prof, who is an amazing lecturer, assigns SO MUCH READING! It's kind of crazy. I think the average has been over 50 pages a class. With briefs and all that needed. blagh....

Civil Pro: No clue what's going on. Dreading the final. Yup.

Basic Legal Research: Order of Operations for Legal Searches. I get it! yayayayaya! It is also kind of fun... its like a treasure hunt.

Legal Writing: The Appellate Brief. It is so beyond crazy. So much reading. So much writing. So much thinking.... gahhhhhhhhhh and of course the issue is one of first impression which the Supreme Court has failed to rule on yet as well, oh and its in a made up jurisdiction where everything BUT the Supreme Court is persuasive. Ya.

Dealing: My mom has been very understanding lately. I think she is seeing more and more how much work school is and how hard I work for class every day. Its hard that the only people you can talk to about this are other law students, who are equally busy, so we all can't just rant to each other ya know? So Mom has been taking a lot of my confusion and helping me out... which is good.

Graduate Assistantships: Waiting to hear back from the one I interviewed with. They said they'd let me know either way... but so far its been crickets... for a week. ya. A friend of mine also interviewed for the job, we are both pretty jumpy.

More Quotes From Classes

So I feel as though I should post more quotes from professors to make up for some not so happy posts recently. Happy Reading

Can you hear the contract language screaming from the torture it has been through here?

There were 750 people in line to see a Supreme Court Justice. How cool is that? She didn't rap or take off her clothes. (Singing and shimming) “It’s getting hot in here”.

Yeah I’m an elitist but I deserve it. You practice law for 30 years, it makes you old bald and fat

Professor scratches head… “I don’t have an itch, I just don’t get it! Do you?”

Carry your Constitution with you. What’s your phone number again… I’ll put it right here next to the 14^th amendment. If you’re not married don’t get married yet. Commonwealth v. Carroll whew.

I want you to think about indecent exposure in MN, which is an interesting thought because my niece goes to school up there and they have 28” of snow so indecent exposure is a pretty brave act. 

Cry

There is a point. A point when your mind, your body just wants to quit. Just wants to cry. Misses having close friends, misses being able to say screw it for a day or two and not do homework, misses being a kid. I've reached that point. I'm trying to be normal, I'm trying to be a human, trying to participate in life...

I have depression. Sometimes I bounce back slower than others because of it.

My brother's baby has an enlarged kidney. Allegedly. By brother is a pathological liar. It makes life hard. You never know what to believe. We heard this from his girlfriend. So its true, probably. It will be amazing if this baby is born alive after all its been through.

My boyfriend. Is a dumb guy. I'm worried about us. His roommate has been treating me like dirt. Last night he called me a "ho" not once, not twice, but repeatability. Why? because I called while they were watching Gold Rush. It may prove to be the last straw in my relationship with my boyfriend. He did nothing to stop it, even after I asked him to.

Closing Argument Competition. I did it. I competed, I didn't advance to the next level, but neither did my friends. There were over 30 of us, and the next level only had 12. So eh whatevs. It meant I got to come home.

Homework. I cannot focus. Real life keeps pulling me away. I'm unable to dive into it and hide from reality as I have been doing the last few weeks. And its just getting harder. More reading. More expected. I'm catching on, getting the drift, able to handle the workload really well. Its just this semester I am not going to have time for ANY LIFE outside of school. What's to blame? 4 crazy classes, and THE Appellate Brief! AHHHHHH. Its a BOOK, literally like a BOOK I have to write this semester. Ya. In addition to Contracts, Constitutional Law, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, and Basic Legal Research. Its just so much. It'll be ok. It has to be okay. I'll get this.

I need to re-focus on the light. My trip to France this summer. I need to just work towards that. Deep breaths. Its going to be okay. It has to be.