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It’s finals season which means there will be a great increase in the consumption of Red Bull and anti-depressants. I don’t have much advice to offer because those that are going to over-study are going to over-study, while those who are going to procrastinate are going to procrastinate. It is the way of things (please excuse the Obi-Wan moment).
But I do have the following to offer:
1L’s: Enjoy the hell out of yourselves this summer.
2L’s: Experience everything you can get out of your internships, keep your options and eyes open.
3L’s: Really dedicate yourself to relaxation and self-spoiling in between your last final and the start of bar review. Seriously, you’ve earned it. Wallow.
I graduated law school last May. I took the bar and passed. I assumed hell was behind me but you know what they say about assuming.
The other night I had a vivid dream which is also a brand new recurring dream. I dreamt that I was in my last semester of law school. Unfortunately, I was having a bit of difficulty. You see, I forgot to go to classes for a couple of weeks. Yep, just forgot or blew them off altogether. Whichever it was, I was aware in my dream that my non-attendance was purely my fault and I had a sense of overwhelming guilt combined with embarrassment. It was unclear whether the professors would even allow me back in class. If allowed back in, I wasn’t sure if I could even pass the classes. I was faced with an outcome too horrible to contemplate…I wasn’t going to graduate law school.
I’m having this dream about once a week. I used to have the usual dreams of forgetting to write papers or missing exams. Those nightmares went away a few months back to be replaced by this Nightmare of Never Getting Out Of Law School.
To those who may arrive at this post by Googling the title of this post (and you are out there, I know it), I apologize for the grim forecast of life after law school. But I can assure you that law school does end…one way or another.
This weekend I went on a Martha Stewart frenzy. I cooked hearty food and decorated for autumn. It was pretty out of control. I have lots of space above my kitchen cabinets that I’ve wanted to do something with for years (literally, years). We had a mish-mosh of things up there that didn’t match and didn’t scream “theme”.
Well, now we have an autumn theme going on up there complete with maple leaf garland. I had to start my attack armed with a dust mask and hand-held vacuum. It was ugly. In hindsight, a large shovel would’ve been the better tool.
That night I was feeling incredibly self-satisfied when it hit me that my level of self-satisfaction was at an all time high because I had no guilt. For the first time in seven years was able to do a big project around the house without silently freaking because I wasn’t working on a paper, reading 100s of pages of textbooks or casebooks or working on an outline. I worked all the way through my undergrad and law school so weekends and evenings were pretty much swallowed up by study. If I wasn’t studying, I was worried about studying.
Just icky.
Enough whining about the stress of law school. I’m going to start a new thing with this blog where I post a random dog photo, just because. I have four dogs and I they are usually the subjects of my photos. In fact, even if I’m taking a photo of something else, a dog usually wanders by and I cannot resist.
Today’s Random Dog Photo is Koba playing dress-up with a shower curtain.
Last weekend, with pomp, circumstance, and bagpipes (bagpipes?) I went to my commencement ceremony and pretended to receive a J.D. diploma.
I have a crazy urge to wear my hood as an everyday accessory. After all, just a few minutes of wear doesn’t do the ornate thingiebob justice.
A good time was had by all. My parents, brothers and sister-in-law made it for the weekend. When we weren’t eating, I was opening presents. It really didn’t occur to me that graduating was a gift occasion. But I love presents, so I adjusted rather quickly.
In true fear-wracked-law-student fashion, I won’t feel like I’ve graduated until my grades come in a couple of weeks. The carefully cultivated paranoia built into all law students beginning with orientation will not allow me to believe I’ve actually done it until I see the final batch of grades.
I have a couple of glorious weeks with absolutely no responsibility until BarBri begins. I plan to enjoy every lazy second.
Tomorrow, with much fanfare, I will proceed across the stage, get “hooded” and receive…nothing. That’s the humor about this whole thing. Since grades are not in, none of us are officially graduated. Being an anal-retentive little pup, I’m not going to be completely thrilled until I’m official.
This blog will be eventually migrating over to Blogger. Since this journal documents my journey through law school, it is scheduled to end with the bar exam. As a result, I’m not going to pay for server space just to archive a blog, so a move to a free service make sense. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to migrate entries other than to cut and paste the little fiends one-by-one.
I’ll be starting a new blog of a more day-to-day nature, purposely not focused on being a lawyer.
Meanwhile, Becoming a Jackal, will continue to be a “live” blog through the bar exam. Since bar exam prep is a whole new experience for me, I will likely post about it a whole lot more than I posted about my 3L experience.
I downloaded American Doll Posse from iTunes the second it came out.
I love it. Tori is back!
It gets me through these last few finals.
Yesterday:
Today:
Me, I’m not so relaxed.
I downloaded American Doll Posse from iTunes the second it came out.
I love it. Tori is back!
It gets me through these last few finals.
In exactly one week I will be a law school graduate.
I have two more finals to go. One of the exams is a take-home and I’m hoping to get that one out of the way Monday. If all goes as planned, I will be DONE with law school exams by Wednesday.
The light at the end of the tunnel grows brighter.
Today is my last day of class. Ever.
Seven years of class attendance comes to a close this afternoon.
For awhile there I wasn’t sure this was going to end!
Graduation in a couple of weeks, a short break, and then Barbri begins. When bar review starts, this blog will morph into a pre-bar blog complete with whining and self-doubt.
