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It’s been so long since I posted that I’m going to have to resort to bullet points.
- Spring finally arrived in the Northwest.
- J has launched into yard work. I have not. Weeds abound.
- My weight loss is now 24 point something. Hell, we’ll call it 25.
- Koba gained 3 pounds on prescription diet food.
- Turns out Koba is hypothyroid.
- Koba is a high maintenance little dog. He now takes 4 pills a day for his epilepsy and thyroid.
- I had my first raging case of lawyer burn out.
- Simultaneously with my first case of lawyer burn out, I caught a head cold. I’m such an overachiever.
- Lawyer burn out passed.
- We actually left our house to watch a movie. Iron Man. Awesome.
- Battlestar Galactica and The Tudors are on hiatus. Not awesome.
- I’m sick of Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen.
I know, that post title is oversharing, but seriously, how else do you describe a head cold? Please forgive me for the following gloat, but once again, I have a reason to wallow in my non-schoolness. Now that I’m not trying to pull off school and work simultaneously, having a head cold is pretty underwhelming. During school any sign of sickness was treated like impending doom and my mood followed accordingly. Ironically, stressing out over being sick just made me sicker most of the time. However, now I can just deal. I have the sniffles, I’m slinging snot to and fro and sleeping like hell. Whatever, it’ll go away.
I do have one concern today related to this cold. I’m supposed to handle a docket in court today and I’m not sure my voice will hold out. My supervisor can cover me, but I hope it doesn’t come to that. I don’t like to miss any opportunity to handle cases in court. Besides, there’s the whole wimp factor if I don’t pull it off.
Weekend plans are shaping up (wow, I have weekend plans!). My mom is supposed to drive over and we are going to go traipse through apple orchards and pumpkin patches. We’re doing the autumn thing. I’m also hoping to lure her into a mall. For some reason dad didn’t feel like coming along to follow the girls through pumpkin fields and department stores. Go figure.
Today’s Random Dog Photo is Lucy, the most bossiest dog in the house. She’s constantly attached to J and acts as his bodyguard, personal assistant and general all-around sycophant. They are inseparable and I’m a third wheel.
The final motion is done for legal writing. I’m turning it in this morning which marks my final legal writing duty until January. Oh, the bliss.
This one was a bitch. I was still in the throes of a chest cold while I struggled with it all weekend. I wore jammies, I didn’t shower until I stunk, and I ate ice cream for dinner at least once. I also went through all of the stages of grief. On Saturday I was paralyzed in panic and fear. I kept reading, reading, reading and all the cases were just big jumbles of confusion and unanswered questions. I’m proud to say I only emailed the prof once. I resisted the urge to track him down and visit him at his home clad in jammies. I also resisted the urge to either (a) not turn anything in for my final; or (b) quit law school.
Finally on Saturday evening I’d had enough. I slammed the haphazard stack of research on the table and pronounced all research done. I’d work with what I had and wing it where necessary. I forced myself to open up a blank page and started the grueling process of putting together the statement of facts with irritating cites to documents every sentence.
And amazingly I felt better immediately. The lawyer I worked for has always told me that when I fell lost to just start writing. And it works every time, although I often forget her advice until I’ve worked myself into a frenzy.
The brief finished at 14 pages. It pretty much sucks in my estimation. The arguments don’t flow and the organization is a bit wacky. But it is done. Done! My ugly little stepchild of a brief is either going to jump the curve or sink.
Yesterday I was whining with a fellow student. Of course, we checked with each other to see where we were at in our respective struggles. I told her I finished my brief, that it was crap, and I was going to put together the other junk that goes with it (motion, declaration, order). She said she does the “other junk” first and then briefs. She mentioned she was going to start her brief at noon.
I was stunned, but kept my poker face. She was starting her brief the day before it was due! And she wasn’t even nervous! I assume she has some magical outline and all her cases neatly organized into said outline. I do know that she had a bunch of synthesized cases up on her laptop screen a few weeks ago, so she did have jump on the rest of us. Unfortunately, I don’t work that way. I usually have scattered notes, chicken scratch outlines and a teetering pile of cases when I start writing. I wish I could say I’ll change my ways, but the forecast says no.
After work today I start my long weekend of relaxation and outlining. Then one more week of classes followed by the loathesome finals.
I’m still stuck with this chest cold which is causing everything to blow out of proportion. Yesterday was a nightmare.
I have my final motion and brief due for legal writing Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. sharp. And it’s a ballbreaker. Imagine writing a brief for a summary judgment on federal and state civil rights violations. Did you weep a little? I am.
Yesterday I got stuck in what I call Research Sludge. I had piles and piles of cases printed out from Westlaw to read through. Of course, I had started reading them previously, but yesterday was down and dirty. The more I read, the more out of control the briefing became in my mind. Everything was scattered, everything brought up new questions in my mind, I was imploding. And to top it off, I was feeling sicker by the minute. This led to FEAR. I was never going to get this sucker done. Could I get an extension? Unlikely. It’s a chest cold and procrastination – this does not lead to an extension. I was screwed, screwed, and more screwed.
Finally at about 8:00 p.m. I made the decision. No more research. No more bumbling. Just start writing and work with what I have on deck. Facts that I really wish I had are not going to fall out of the sky. They. Aren’t. There. Just go with it already.
So I started writing and putting myself through the agonizing Statement of Facts with string citations to exhibits after every freakin’ sentence. But I’m feeling much better. This sucker is going to be written TODAY dammit. It may not be brilliant. It may completely miss the boat. But it will be DONE. And when it is done, I have one day of classes and one day of work next week. Then it’s off for a nice long weekend of relaxation and outlining. The final legal writing assignment will be behind me and may it burn in Hell.
Yesterday I discovered that my fellow 2Ls were in the same boat as me with their final motion due next week. Apparently I’m not the only one with a pile of research I haven’t read and nary a keystroke on a blank page. I came across a few in the library between classes with furrowed brows and clenched teeth.
And it relaxed me.
There’s something about not being the only one who put off the inevitable final motion. I’m comforted in the knowledge that while I slave away over the weekend putting together a motion I should have done last week, my comrades are right there with me. We’ll all be miserable. I’m not alone.
The chest cold is slowly working it’s way out of my system. The prospect of getting this damn writing project done and then heading into a very long weekend is what gets me through the day.
An unfortunate consequence of spending the day with 200+ other people in a closed law school is disease. I was felled by a stomach virus Monday night. Tuesday I stayed home from the office. Turns out that was a good decision because I slept all day – they usually don’t pay me for snoring and drooling. Yesterday I made it to work for my two hour shift and headed for school. As I was circling the lot looking in vain for a parking spot, the realization that I felt like utter crap sunk in. I circled out and headed back home to bed. I wonder, if I’d found a parking spot immediately would I have gone to class? Serendipity.
Today I’ve shaken off the bug and I’m ready for a full day of school. Fortunately I have breaks with which to catch up on my reading for today.
J was out of town on business during this whole sickbed scene. He arrives home tonight and I am ready! Being the sole source of entertainment for four canines can be overwhelming. This morning I woke up to little paws dancing all over my head. They were bored, they were awake, and it was time to play! I bored them Tuesday whilst in bed all day. They broke into song a few times (my dogs sing). Unfortunately, Lucy the mini-dachshund is the soprano and she was situated on the bed during the singing sessions. I was jolted awake a few times by “eeeeyiyiyiyieeeeyiyiyi.”
I came back from my roadtrip feeling refreshed…at least on the drive home. Then everything went to hell in a handbasket.
While I was away, J had a houseguest. He and the houseguest had Krispy Kremes and possibly due to sugar overload, had an extreme lapse of judgment. They left a box of 8 donuts on the patio table.
Where four canines live.
The first night I was home, Koba vomited profusely. An emergency trip to the vet followed immediately in the morning. Koba was hospitalized with a severe case of pancreatitis. Apparently, Koba had the lion’s share of the Krispy Kremes. I became frantic mommy and phoned the vet incessantly. Koba was released chock full of antibiotics. My checking account was no longer chock full of money.
Then one of the cats stepped on my hand and pierced my finger next to my cuticle. A few days later the finger got quite angry. I tried home-doctoring the infection to no avail. Yesterday I spent money on my own medical treatment to deal with said infected finger.
Then this morning Koba took a downhill slide leading to yet another emergency trip to the vet. He’s running an odd fever, but his pancreas is fine. He’s now on his second course of antibiotics (the dog and I are on antibiotics together, ain’t it cute).
So I’m broke, frazzled and not so eagerly looking forward to school resuming on August 22nd.
End of update.
