Date Two

So many posts! I only wish I had my camera and could put outfits up with them. BUT...

Another amazing night. Sushi first--I've never had it, but I'll try new things. One of the rolls was okay, but the rest...not so much. I have trouble choking down the squid and salmon eggs. So I had a pile of edamame and some miso soup, and I'm about to eat some hummus at this grand hour of three in the morning. Maybe the sushi is an acquired taste--I'd go back, but nothing holds my heart like enchiladas.

So then we were going to go to a movie, but nixed that because really, who has time for movies? We ended up in UpTown at a wine bar, talking for hours, and downed two bottles of Spanish wine before he dropped me off.

I like how he makes fun of me, and isn't offended that I mocked his pink shirt, and what's better than being young and full of hope in the city and mellowly tipsy and walking through the quiet streets of UpTown hand in hand with a guy you've had hours of amazing conversation with?

He's just so interesting, and fun, and did I mention he's handsome and smells good and and my stomach is kind of sore from laughing? I'm watching the game with him tomorrow, and then he's off to Ohio, and I'm kicking up my heels (pink suede platforms with a delicious gray silk 1940s style dress!) at my best friend's wedding before it's off to my Papa's house in Illinois to cool those same heels....

Thanks so much for the excitement and encouragement!

*Squee*

UPDATE: 1 bottle of wine + 1 110 pound girl=never, never again.

Late-Night Update

Okay friends!

Wow. As Ally said, I didn't have super high expectations for my first date, but I felt like it was a good ice breaker into my new life as a vivacious single woman with an arsenal of confidence and kick-ass shoes.

So, started out with Peruvian food (delicious!) and had an amazing time. I feel so relieved--within five minutes my nerves were completely gone. I was articulate, he made me laugh (hard), we talked for hours and now eight hours later the date has ended, followed up by a sweet text. (Despite the late hour, the date ended with all my clothes on, don't worry.)

I'm going out with him again tomorrow. That seems kind of soon and crazy, I suppose, but I did enjoy his company and I'm about to head out of town till July, so there's no harm of me jumping into things.

However, I did fall over a table and cut my knee, and also misinterpreted him leaning in as an invitation for a good night kiss--which it wasn't. Which was kind of awkward. But you know what? The kiss was exciting, it's been a long time, and I can own my awkwardness.

Getting Them All

Hi blog world,

Today I turn in my last paper of the year! It's not for a grade but to get on law review, which is prestigious and looks awesome on a resume.

More importantly, I have a date tomorrow. (Different guy--told you I would get them all!) I haven't had a date in five years, which pretty much means I've never dated as an adult--as someone who's confident, and has experiences and opinions and isn't half-formed. Zach and I grew into adulthood together--I don't really remember getting to know him at all. It was like I always knew him, and there was never really that uncomfortable, getting-to-know-you, sizing-you-up phase.

So I'm a little skittish about this whole process. What if I'm too nervous to be myself? What if he's not as literate and witty as he seems? Dress or jeans? Drink with dinner? How do people end up married, anyway? This is more stressful than the torts exam, to which there was also no answer.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited, though. I'll let you know how this goes.

My Post-Its Bring the Boys to the Yard

Back from a 1L celebration with one of my best beautiful friends (who was told by two very drunken people in the bar that she looked like Kim Kardashian! Because she does!) and filled with mojitos and fun.

Anyway, in regards to the last post, flirtatious text messaging ensued and talks of a date arose, even though we're both heading out of town for the summer very soon. And date or not, that was totally empowering and I definitely won't be sitting around waiting for guys to come find me. I can find them! They're everywhere and I will get them all. Well, maybe that's the mojito speaking. I'll just pick up one here and there every now and then.

Law school ending for this year is such an amazing weight off my shoulders...so ready to just be with my friends and relax and find my happy, cheerful self again!

"Do you always slip your number to bookstore employees?"

"No, just you. Bold, right?"

Post-It Princess

Today was my last law final, and this is the only test that I've ever felt I truly blew. I'm not used to that feeling, but that's what happens when you don't study.

But then I decided to stop worrying about my life choices and looking too far down the road and be Brave! And Sexy! So I went to sell my last book (thanks for that $14, Barnes and Noble! I paid $150!) and gave the Bookstore Boy my number. I walked by and dropped it on his keyboard and didn't even bother looking back, because sexy girls don't look back. But I should have looked back and down, because apparently one of my big yellow "claim preclusion" Post-its was on my ass.

I think that might be a fail, but it's a funny one.

The Grass is Greener, and More Fragrant, and I Want to Lie in It and Contemplate the Sky

Tomorrow is my last 1L law school final, and then this year will be...over. Oddly, I'm not overjoyed or even that excited (possibly because there is a writing competition almost immediately afterwards, so I can't exult in my freedom just yet).

But really I think my lack of pride and excitement in coming through a stressful, busy year is that I just don't care. I don't care that I finished a year--and I don't want to finish two more. This year saw amazing change in me--I've learned more in one year than I thought possible, I dealt with a financially and emotionally trying robbery experience without falling apart, and I had the strength to get out of a relationship that had been draining me emotionally for some time.

But I don't care about the law. I don't have passion or patience for it, and I don't have interest in it. I worked hard this semester, because that's who I am, but it was just getting through. Getting out of bed became more and more of a struggle, because there didn't seem to be anything to look forward to. I can't remember a time in my life when I've be so doggedly, draggedly unhappy.

And that's ridiculous--I know so many people would love to be in my position. However, it's like your mom telling you to eat your peas because there are starving children in Asia. There's no way they can get my peas, obviously, so the rationale does not hold up. (I will hide them in my pockets and feed them to the dog--haha mom! Tricked you all those years!)

I've spent hours in class this semester looking at English PhD programs, an option I didn't originally pursue because I wanted to make money and it takes so long to get the degree and then to find a job and obtain tenure. But I do have passion for the inconsistencies in Jude the Obscure, and patience for Chaucer and his damn Chanticleer, and interest in the world of academia. I remember when I was excited to go to class, when I loved what I was learning and doing and writing and reading. When I was eager and interested in what the professor had to say. When my peers discussed things with me, not to flaunt their own intellectual superiority, but because they were genuinely enthused about the topic. I miss that passion in myself--the exuberance of education. I took it for granted, that I would always be walking across our beautiful tree-lined campus with a stack of literature in my arms.

Anyway, maybe practice will be different and I'll like being a lawyer. I have to try, because my debt kind of has me in a corner, especially in this economy, and my grades put me in a better position than most. It's just hard to try out for law review, and seek a legal job, and check off all the requisite boxes to create a resume worthy of eventual employment when I'm just going through the motions.

But on a lighter, happier note, my bookstore boy winked at me the last time I was in there. *Fans self.* Actually, he looks a little young for me...maybe I am a law cougar. Ha!

How to Be a Slacker and Make Dean's List

This (second post of the day) has nothing to do with my life, but rather is for people who search for random law-related things and stumble on my blog. Since exams are about to start or have started, here are my slacker tips for studying less than other people during these hellish two weeks and still making decent grades.

(Unfortunately, this might only work if you went to class and actually listened during the semester. You may think you don't know a concept, but if you were there you probably do.)

1. If the final is open book, make "canned answers." For example, you know that your property exam is going to ask about easements. You can't be bothered to learn what all the easements are, and furthermore you don't even really understand the difference between in gross and appurtenant. Nor do you care. So, get your supplement and your class notes, along with an old practice exam, and make a canned answer.

See what format the professor wants, and make your answer follow that pattern. Then, use your supplement to make definitions for the concepts,including any policy arguments. Profs love those.

On the test day, copy your canned answer onto the test and work the facts around them. This is a tricky but legit way to "apply" the facts to the law without actually understanding the concept. I got my best grades in classes where I did this. (Ie, crim law--I have NO IDEA how to tell a conspirator from an accessory. But I kicked that exam into the dust.)

Plus, canned answers save a lot of time flipping through an outline, and you can use this time to polish and spell check.

2. If it's a closed book exam, study old practice tests. Lots of crusty old law profs have tenure, which means they have been teaching since the Jurassic and the library probably has a pretty hefty compilation of their old exams. Realistically, there are only so many ways you can ask about justiciability. Read the prompts, and then read the student answers that got As. See if they raised a lot of policy, or were more focused on the law itself. Remember their formats and phrasing, and try to apply them to the exam prompt. There are only so many ways to analyze a concept. If you memorize an analyzation road map, that will help a lot.

3. Don't listen to other people before or after the test. They are only pretending to be smart. Actually, they are dumber than you and afraid to let on. They subscribe to the power of positive thinking in a sick combination with psychological warfare, and they are wrong. Don't let them ask you questions about calculating damages; they will just confuse you. And for God's sake don't listen to them when the exam is turned in--and that point it's too late, and you're kicking yourself for not catching that conspiracy issue, and there probably was no conspiracy issue. Don't listen.

4. Don't just say what the law could be. Say what it is not, and why. This might just be particular to my profs, but they love that. It shows that you really do know what's going on and maybe you listened to them in class, even if you sounded pretty damn dumb every time they called on you (case in point: me).

5. Most professors say they don't care about case names or restatement provisions, and this is a LIE. They do want you to throw some case names in there, and a relevant UCC provision. If your exam is totally amazing, you might not need them. But throwing them in can't hurt, just as backup for your arguments. Analogizing to cases from class is never a bad idea.

*Take all of this with a grain of salt--right now I feel really positive about my grades, but obviously earlier today and this week I was about to jump off the patio.

Monday NoFunday

Ugh, getting dejected...I worked so much harder this semester. I did all the reading, had my outlines and review materials done weeks in advance, and actually understood the concepts. And yet the finals this semester seem so much more random...they aren't really testing what we know at all. The torts final today...I had no idea where to start. I ended up writing a ten page opus trying to demonstrate all kinds of tenuous connections, so that the professor could see that I DO understand torts and the complexities of the concepts.

As soon as the final was over everyone started buzzing about the content, and I flew out of there on wings of caffeine and desperation. Someone was talking about how they interwove the rights of fetuses (Doesn't that make more sense as feti? I should have stayed an English major) into the exam, which is insane, because it was about strict liability for a motorcycle accident. Or at least I thought that's what it was about!

And then for Wednesday the two-hour final got expanded into three, and it's closed book and so much memorization that it's going to be horrible between now and then. Horrible as in, I'm dejected and go to the mall instead of trying to memorize what justice wrote what opinion on Constitutional Law.

And I went to the bookstore all confident and ready to be bold and ask out Bookstore Boy, but he wasn't there. That boat probably sailed, which is fine. I'm not in a hurry. Well, except in getting to Friday and freedom. And then my 1L year will be over, finally and ignominiously.

(Also, my problems are not even remotely real. If you're religious, please pray for my beautiful friend Kayleigh over at Fashionably Later. If you're not religious, just think good thoughts for her! She is an amazing wife and mother and woman and I can't imagine what she's going through.)

Where Does Time Go?

I really am horrible about posting when I don't have outfit pics! But my parents are very generously buying me a new camera for my European whirl in June, so after that I should be back in business.

I took two law finals this week, and while I feel like I did well on the first one, so did everyone else. So that might not bode well. The one today...ugh. Questions from last semester, questions about things we didn't even discuss this semester, questions from footnotes in our casebook! Craziness, and who knows what I will get in there!

But then three more finals, and 1L year is over, and I will have a load of advice for all the 0Ls looking for comfort (or confirmation of their fears, ha!).

In other news, as of yesterday I was single for exactly one month. That's the longest I've been single since I was 18, but it's not really been an adjustment. I'd already been moving toward independence for a while. I've learned a lot about myself, though--that I can carry all my bags of groceries by myself at once, in a bout of superstrength. That I'm actually a more positive, self-sufficient person when I don't have a shoulder who is obligated to listen to my every little whine. (I still can't open the V8, however, so I shouldn't get ahead of what an independent girl I am!)

However, law school made me realize that having a family is something I want, and since I'm almost 25 (not that that is old, of course, but really your ovaries only last so long) I'll probably start casually dating again soon. I had a nice flirtation with a guy working in the campus bookstore today, and Monday I'm going to go sell some more of my text books and ask him out. I'll let you know how it goes. :)