I am an Idealist!

You scored as Idealist. Idealism centers around the belief that man is moving towards something greater. An odd mix of evolutionist and spiritualist, you see the divine within man, waiting to emerge over time. Many religious traditions express how the divine spirit lost its identity, thus creating our world of turmoil, but in time it will find itself and all things will again become one. Idealist 63% Postmodernist 56% Cultural Creative 56% Existentialist 44% Modernist 44% Materialist 31% Romanticist 31% Fundamentalist 25% What is Your World View? created with QuizFarm.com

A Perfect Storm

This took place outside my bedroom window. No redheads were harmed in the shooting of these pictures. (They did get pretty wet though.)

Happy Friday the 13th!

I was accepted to Georgetown on a Friday the 13th and then I went out with lLee and Dave to the Best Mexican Place ever, and now this is my last weekend here during my 2L year and it is Friday the 13th again, and I went out with Lee and Dave to the Same Best Mexican Place ever… again! It’s like a big circle. I think that’s pretty cool.

Things I will do when I have time

As of next week, I will begin to have free time. I am really looking forward to that because I can finally take the time to focus on the things I really love. Someone from choir asked me earlier this year, don’t you love law? She couldn’t imagine doing something for the rest of her life that she didn’t love. I thought about that for a while, because I, too, don’t really want to spend my life doing something I don’t love. And even though I don’t love legal work, it’s okay because I do enjoy it. And work is ultimately just a means to an end, and being a lawyer will give me some pretty nice means.

So anyway, beginning next week, I want to spend a lot of my free time playing piano. It was a very soothing pasttime, and I have barely done it at all this year, and I think my nerves have suffered because of that. I also want to get more use out of my superduper camera and actually practice the craft of photography, maybe take part in some of the photography contests over at DPChallenge. I would also like to spend more time reading for pleasure, and more time at the gym.

Five days until I am home.

Opium Monkeys take the stand… on the next CourtTV.

With five minutes to go, the proctor called out, “Five minutes!” and the room gave a group gasp, a collective jump. “Two minutes!” Another jump, even more intense. Ah, we Type A law students who always finish every exam and can’t imagine NOT finishing, unlike all the slackers out there? Time for a role reversal. I haven’t spoken to anyone who finished the whole thing. Most who came close wrote one line answers for the last few questions, as opposed to the recmomend ~five line answers. Personally, I didn’t even get to some of the questions in each section. And the ones I did answer? I’ll be lucky if I got them right.

Let’s say you’re representing a drug dealer. Alleged drug dealer. And you want to put someone on the stand, an expert drug tester, who says he can test the opium on the stand — by sampling it, mind you — and tell the court whether it is pure. Discuss the evidentiary issues involved. I swear, that was one of the questions.

“Well, Mister Judge, I really want this cutting edge science practictioner to snort, or lick, or — what is it we do with opium?” (My client whispers into my ear, “We eat it. You wanna try?”) “Ahem, your honor, with the court’s blessings I would really like to get my opium eating monkey on the stand and he can do some tricks, fling some dung for the spectators and press, and then he can try the opium. Oh, he’ll know if it’s pure. He’s been doing this for years. We flew him in from Southie. South America, yo. Whaddya say? It’s all good, right? You want my Monkey in? Who don’t want my monkey in? Rule 702 will get him in! He an EXPERT. 7-oh-two in da houz!!!”

I don’t know if I did anything right on that damn test today. I know I probably did a lot wrong, and I know I didn’t even answer a lot. So we’ll see what happens. I also know I am eager to move on.

Damn you, Opium monkey!!!!!!!

*[EDITOR'S NOTE] When I wrote the above entry, I was doped up on Ambien to help me sleep. If you take an Ambien and then stay awake longer than you are supposed to, everything starts getting all wavy and shimmery. I was playing online chess at the time, and the pieces started dancing around and the board began to melt! Anyway, I cannot be held responsible for the paranoid, somewhat uncharacteristic tenor of the above post. Thank you, that is all.

Setting Goals

My evidence final tomorrow will be tricky, but I’ll make it through. I’ll finish my paper, and it will be good. I will pass Constitutional Law 2 (I’m taking it pass/fail). But this is all not good enough. Why just survive when I can thrive? (Hey, someone’s got to be responsible for stupid rhymes now that Johnnie Cochran has moved to the Great Appellate Court in the Sky.)

I want to set goals. It’s good to have goals. My People are always striving, after all, and I don’t see why I should disappoint the Flock.

So here are my academic goals for the upcoming year:

1) Get published in a legal journal, and
2) Make Dean’s List at least one semester.

Mind on the Future

I am in the midst of finals season and my mind is totally on the future. I think this is one of the only finals periods whre I care very little about the outcome. Oh, I don’t really mean that, of course… I don’t want to flunk, or get anything below a B, but honestly I am having a really hard time concentrating on the work that is before me. My mind keeps flashing forward to this summer and beyond. And when I say “beyond,” I mean after law school. My mind is totally overlooking my 3L year. I know my third year is important — I’ll be learning a lot of Interesting and Necessary Things* — but I am really looking forward to being a full-fledged adult and going into practice. I actually spent time tonight browsing Craig’s List apartments back in Michigan, and looking at floorplans on rent.net!

Me: Hmmmm….. search for 1 or 2 bedrooms, between $800-2000, pets allowed… Ooooh, look at this! It’s got a terrace!

When did I gain adult sensibilities? When did my idea of an exciting purchase change from TurboGrafix 16 to 2-bedroom-apartment-so-one-of-the-bedrooms-can-be-my-office! It’s funny, years ago I used to play games like “Jones in the Fast Lane” and “The Sims,” where I would push a make-believe boy through school and into adulthood, land him his first job, furnish his apartment… these were the games I played, and now I get to do it for real! And all I keep thinking is, I want a lot of counter space in my kitchen, and ooooh an island would be very nice, and maybe I can get a nice wooden dining room table and have dinner parties.

Okay. Focus. Focus. Still two finals to go, plus that pesky paper. You want to get it published? First you gotta finish it. And then edit it. And then revise it, and update it.

On the 17th, with finals and paper behind me, I will return home to Michigan. After a four-day jaunt in Cleveland, I will begin my firm job in Detroit. And I will kick major ass. Because that is what I do. And maybe, just maybe, this summer will be the summer when I regain the Body for Life sleekness that I had in 2001.

2001. Four years ago. My God, has it been that long?

Yes, yes it has. But it’s not too concerning… you see, I am just beginning the adventure. We’re still in the early part of the novel, and it shows promise, and we haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet!

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* Interesting and Necessary Things include, but are not limited to, Commercial Law, Federal Tax, Comparative Cyberspace and Telecom Law, Administrative Law, Professional Responsibility, Appellate Litigation, and Supreme Court Advocacy!

Mark your calendars!

On March 8, 2007, I will turn 10,000. In days, that is. My 10,000th day! Wow! I plan to have the biggest party ever known by me. Mark your calendars.

I’m a sexagenarian!

This just in from US News’ Washington Whispers:

Those Sunday Morning TV Wars
In TV, it’s all about attracting the 25-to-54 age bracket, and new Nielsen ratings provided to Whispers show that Fox News Sunday and host Chris Wallace own that crowd, with a median viewership age of 52. Face the Nation comes in at 57; This Week draws a median age of 58; Meet the Press gets the oldest crowd, at 60.

I can’t help but feel slightly concerned that, as a 25-year-old, I fall with the old timers as a Meet the Press fan. Then again, the more I think about it, I’m not concerned about me; I’m concerned about most of our nation’s news viewers don’t realize that Tim Russert is the fairest, best, and most hard-hitting reporter working today. Moreover, I am concerned about an entire demographic that doesn’t care a whit about important national issues. Look at the median ages: 52, 57, 58, 60! From what I remember about statistics, the median is the middle of a distribution. This means that fully half the viewers of these Sunday morning news programs are older than mid-fifties! Makes me wonder what all the 20-somethings are doing on Sunday morning. I thought everybody gets bagels and watches Meet the Press. Huh.