Happy Blogiversary to A Season of Mists!!!

I've been so wrapped up of late that I nearly missed it! July 29 was this blog's blogiversary! It's been up and running for the past year. Though the direction of the this blog has gotten away from me a bit, especially of late, on the whole I'm pretty happy with it. I'm not sure what the future holds for this place but I plan on continuing to blog for the foreseeable future!

In commemoration of this hallowed event I'd like to present an assortment of posts from the past year. Enjoy!

~//~

The most sought-after post on the blog is one on Rock Toxin, an ABC made-for-tv movie starring Gary Cole. For the month or two after the movie was first shown, I keept getting visitors from various search engines based on the movie. To this day, it's the number one search leading to this blog!

One of my absolute favorite links was from this post -- linking to an amazing tale of a biker's suburban encounter with "an evil attack squirrel of death." I love squirrels. (In a purely platonic sense of course.)

Another favorite post of mine was one describing The THL Yeti Meltdown. So tragic! Especially for the Antarctican yetis! *sob*

Occasionally I attempted some more unique art forms, including haikus , ASCII pictures, and miscellaneous poetry.

I've apologized to my Republican friend for some of our Democrat rabble-rousing.

I've discussed the U.S. Open Squeegee Machines.

My Forensics class experience with guns got a post.

We watched SpaceShipOne win the Ansari X prize and lamented over the passing of Jerry Orbach.

How does a guy go about purchasing women's underwear?

Ladder Theory for Dummies.

Male behavior partially dissected.

What it might be like to be a superhero.

Practicality vs. Ruthlessness.

My birthday.

Post-apocalyptic musings.

Futurama and Family Guy quotes.

Why do I want to be a lawyer?

The Law School Wrap Up Post.

Words are a recurring topic. Every now and then you'll hear about words that I find funny or ones that catch my eye, such as snark , ciabata bread, smite, Satan, schadenfreude, grok, AYB, and schattenjager.

You'll note that I haven't mentioned the Top Ten Lists or Movie Reviews. Even though I haven't updated either of those master lists for the past 6 months, relatively little was added of those in the past 6 months. Check out the links to the left if you're interested.

You'll also observe that I've spared you recaps on my personal life -- things like the girls I've gone out with (all 2 of them, one being The Ex), my health problems, and my bar exam studying gone awry. Although those were certainly some of the more interesting things for me in the past year the posts I wrote on them do not make for good reading. Perhaps that's a category for improvement in the future.

Occasionally a more serious law school-related topic becomes ripe for discussion. We've seen Blawging For Dummies Law Students and The Pre-Law School Advice Recap (Sort of).

Law is an ever-present topic. Especially some odd things like Space Law and some non-odd ones like Living Wills and Antitrust Law.

I met my first anonymous reader. Someone I didn't know and hadn't met before introduced himself and complimented me on the blog. Very scary.

I did find one other fellow UConn law blogger. Since then he's stopped his blog. A shame too since it was a nice one, very well done, lots of interesting law discussions.

Then there was the time when one of my law professors mentioned this blog in class. Pure instantaneous terror. I think I'll remember that last day of class for the rest of my life.

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Before closing, I want to make one statistics observation. I first began using Site Meter last August. According to Site Meter, this blog spiked in September 2004 with a total of approximately 1500 visits and 2800 page views that month. Since then, no other month has come close. In fact, this past July 2005 has been the next highest month for statistics with approximately 1100 visits and 1550 page views. eXTReMe Tracking has similar statistics. I attribute this past month's increase to the bar exam and the new readers my bar exams posts have attracted. Although some of those readers may stick around, I anticipate a drop in readership as compared with July. One reason I mention these statistics here is because Site Meter only visibly tracks the previous 12 months. Hence, once the blog hits August tomorrow, no more visible stats for last August via Site Meter.

~//~

All in all it's been a good year for the blog and for myself. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it! Cheers!

I can't believe it.

I spent the majority of today helping two friends move their worldly possessions. I hadn't really thought ahead to this point but now that the bar exam is over, various friends are moving away to wherever they're going. It reminds me a lot of the end of college -- having to say goodbye to really good friends, not knowing when I'll see them next, hoping we stay in touch. I'd forgotten this was coming and it snuck up on me when I wasn't expecting it.

And by the way, moving two friends' things -- not the best way to spend a Saturday. I am very, very sore. Lifting, heaving, ugh! But it's good exercise and it's always nice to help out friends, however you can. I don't anticipate needing their help when I move. I've got movers and a truck. Movers, suckers! Movers!!! (Yeah! Eat that!!)

So I was relaxing in my apartment tonight, screwing around in a computer game, when one of my friends who's leaving (granted he's only moving to elsewhere in CT, 45 min. away) gave me a call. He and I went out and hit the town, got a bite to eat then did what any red-blooded recent male law school graduate would do -- we went to the strip club.

Now I want to stress that I feel kind of bad knowing that this post will stay up on my blog's main page for the two weeks I'm away in Italy. You know, this post mentioning the strip club and briefly discussing it. I'd like to mention that, as far as I can recall, no previous posts of mine have discussed the local strip clubs. Whether this is a dire problem or a blessed success I leave for the reader to decide.

So we went to Kahoots. There's one in East Hartford that's pretty good. Only 10 min. away or so. I've also been to the Gold Club (Hartford I think) and another Kahoots that's 25 min. East of Hartford. Despite being in a fraternity in college, I hadn't been to a strip club before until my first year of law school, back when Old School was in the theaters. It was an interesting time. A group of us first-years had decided to go on the spur of the moment. Probably one of the best ways to hit a strip club for the first time. And it was the first time for almost all of us there. Since then I've been back to them a few times. Not often but randomly, rarely.

But this isn't a post about strip clubs. I suppose I could write one on my experiences with them and findings but it doesn't appeal to me. (Such a post, I mean.) Personally, I still have reservations about going to strip clubs and I think I always will. Eh.

Tomorrow I'm going to clean my apartment -- throw all the empty bottles away and take out the trash. Start getting ready for an Italian vacation. Pay the bills. Hopefully pick up the dry cleaning. Not sleep in (sadly). Not play my video games (also sadly). Probably not see another movie in the theater. Probably not read my book. (You get the idea.)

Also, some of you have not been doing your job here. For same I say! FOR SHAME!!! I asked you to leave a comment with the previous post. Thus far 2 of you have been kind enough to respond and share your reasons for becoming a lawyer. Obviously some of you are afraid to contribute! (For shame, again! FOR SHAME!!!) So rarely do I ask for your cooperation and participation. And then when I do only 2 people are NICE enough to respond? You're lucky I don't disinherit the lot of you!

So no cookies tonight! "You have failed me for the last time."

Why do I want to be a lawyer?

An older anonymous comment to my Why do I blog? post posits:

I am a lawyer. I wish I stuck to my original plan of becoming a pre-school teacher. I read why you blog. I haven't stumbled on your reason/s why you want to become a lawyer. I am rather curious why you want to become one.

Seeing as I stumbled across this comment just now, I thought I'd respond.

And I'm foregoing the Google search. This time it's personal. (And I briefly tried Googling that latter phrase but could find nothing substantial to link to within my first 30-45 seconds of skimming the results. So bleh.)

To understand how I got to law school and/or why I "want" to be a lawyer, you need to look back to my high school and college days. I knew I was going to study physics long before I even knew what physics meant. I'm talking back in middle school I knew. I just did. No real basis, I just knew. Like I knew at a young age that I'd play the trumpet in the Trumbull High School Marching Band, which I did.

So, holding true to form, I majored in physics in college. Funny thing is that I enjoyed it the vast majority of the time. It was fun! The math classes were a piece of cake, the physics classes, while obscure and obtuse at times, weren't bad. On the whole, it helped make my college studies interesting and engaging. Probably the last time I really paid attention in a class and learned something.

The problem with a science degree is that it's difficult to be half-assed about it. What I mean is that with an undergraduate degree in a science, your options, should you choose to pursue a career relating to that scientific field, are very limited. You can get your master's then do research. You can get your PhD then try to find one of those rare teaching positions or you can do research. Hmmm.. I'm not a huge fan of 'research' and I'm not too psyched to spend and additional 4-7 years only to try and fight for a low-paying position that may or may not be out there. If you're not going for your MA or PhD, what do you do? Few science-based jobs want someone with a B.A. or B.S. There are plenty of non-science jobs but those would be available no matter my specific college major nor my own personal inclinations.

So what do I do? I go to law school and get into intellectual property, specifically patent law -- where the money is good and a physics background is a strong asset. The odd thing was that as I became exposed to intellectual property law and worked for a patent firm I learned that I actually liked it. I found it to be engaging. Even the most menial items, such as looking up obscure points of patent practice, were not boring to me but interesting. I honestly like it.

For me, it's not so much why do I "want" to be a lawyer as why am I becoming a lawyer. "Want" had relatively little to do with it. I went to law school because it sounded good, it fit with my physics background and potential aspiration for becoming a patent lawyer, and it was my "next step." I wasn't ready to go find a job in the real world just yet right after college. It wasn't time. 3 years of law school and becoming a lawyer -- that's a direction that would tide me over to the present day at least.

Of course the sad thing is getting to where I am and being unsure as to whether or not it's the direction I want to pursue. Friends of mine say that a lot of people in the world, lawyers and non-lawyers alike, feel this uncertainty at some point or other. I don't disagree, I just don't think that's quite my issue. Yes I'm not convinced I want to be a lawyer but it's more than that for me. 'Cause if I don't, then what do I do, who am I, and where do I go? And those latter two are the tougher ones to answer.

As a law student, you hear of so many unhappy lawyers. Our profession has a horribly high rate of alcohol and substance abuse. Lawyers are not known for being genial, convivial people. Lawyers are generally known for being ball-busting asshats who work 60 hours a week if they're lucky. Bill 2500 hours a week or die trying. (Okay, okay, 1750 at the firm I worked for but they were really nice and lenient!!!) As a lawyer, if you want a family or a life outside the law, good luck! That's the hardest thing to coexist with the profession. And it sucks. It completely and utterly bites. But if you want to make a decent wage as a lawyer, earn some good money, then you give your life to the law. You make a sacrifice on the altar and hope it all works out in the end, that some sort of cosmic balance is achieved. More often than not, the sacrifice isn't worth it and the bigshot lawyer comes to fundamentally regret his choices and where they have led him or her.

I refuse to be that lawyer. To my last breath. But if you don't play the game you can't reap the rewards. And I do want to make good money. I do want to do something that actually interests me, something I enjoy -- the true holy grail of lawyerdom. I have little doubt that I will end up practicing intellectual property law in the end. It fits for me. It fits well. But right now I'm just not sure it's where I need to go, what I need to do. Plus I don't have a job waiting for me right now. So I still have choices and freedoms, options that close off once you really begin down your chosen path. And I'm unattached. The only ones I'm really accountable to are the credit card companies, the loan company, and my mom (for continuing support and accrued debt). While those 3 are certainly not insignificant, they won't dictate the metes and bounds of my future, merely speed bumps to be passed on the way.

Somewhere in my digressions and musings I think I've explained why I "want" to be a lawyer. To those other would-be lawyers who read this, those who have just sat for the bar exam, those still in law school, those entering law school, even the actually-am lawyers:

Why do/did you want to be a lawyer?

Please respond in the comments. That's probably one of the best questions to ask yourself and consider. It tends to show not only where you've come from but where you've gotten to thus far and what you've learned on the way.

Live for the journey, not the destination. (link)

Just Got Back

From The Actuary's party. Still drunk. One beer + A strongly-self-mixed white Russian = A drunk Alan make. And this is even after the 15 min. walk back to my apt.

I havent' posted this yet but on Monday my mom and I leave for 2 weeks in Italy. We have an apartment rented in Florence for 2 weeks, 12 days really with the other 2 in Paris, right before our flight back to the states via Amsterdam. A nice post-Bar exam vacation. Should be fun. We've got 1st class tickets so I anticipate utilizing the airplane's alcholic beverages. Yay for those in advbance.

You ever notice what it's like and what you think about when drunk? Sometimes, as in college for me, it's like a slow-motion strobe light flickering on and off at the street corners. Sometimes it's like there's a film of jelly between you and the surrounding world, obscuring things and making your motions and actions imprecise. Dunno why I write abvout it, other than I'm drunk.

The Lebowski Party was semi-successful. Watched Evil Dead II for the first 1-1.5 hours. Then I sat there, alone half the time, watching The Big Lebowski, drinking a strongly-self-mixed white Russian. Good stuff. The other 3 non-residents there were actuarial-types. Okay people. We hung through the Evil Dead II but only I stuck in the same room for the Lebowski. I mean I'm generally antisocial with unknown peoples but I was feeling no specific need to mingle tonight. So I watched and drank.

And now I blog. And then I stay up a bit before sleeping before waking early to help 1 friend move then another. Gonna be a busy tomorrow. Hopefully I'll squeeze in another movie or 2. Cheers!

The Island! Which Island? TheIsland!!!

I saw The Island this afternoon. It didn't do all that much for me. The plot was thin, somewhat predictable, didn't really go anywhere. If I told you to predict the end of the movie, you would be spot on with your first guess. Nice special effects though and Ewan McGregor and Scarlet Johansson were excellent.

Haven't been up to much today. Tonight I'm going to a friend's party. There will likely be actuaries and lawyers mixin' it up tonight. It's going to be a Big Lebowski Party. Something like we're supposed to have a white russian every time The Dude has a sip of a drink. Don't know how long I'll hang out there, I'm pretty tired. Someone was calling me at 9:30am. *groan* 'Least I got a haircut today.

I'm continuing my ponderances (pondering? ponderosa? pond?). I thought of a refinement to the idea. Spend some time working & living at home first to build up some starting capital. Plus there are 2 weddings in October that I'm going to. If I do this, however, I'll want the work to be non-lawyer so it doesn't hurt me professionally if and when I leave early to cross the waters and start anew. I'm really liking the idea though.

The Late Night Report

I've been drinking more or less since my last post. I did stop drinking at some point a while ago so I'm sobering up these hours. Was fun to hang out with friends. Half Door, Braza, Half Door, Spigot. Certainly made the rounds.

Today was interesting. The dynamics of the Connecticut day were *completely* different from New York. The half-hour essays changed things a lot. Some of the essays even felt facile in their simplification while others felt enormous in their scope. "Discuss all potential theories of liability." Riiiiight. In speaking with friends tonight, not one of us could agree what the subject was of one of Connecticut's essays, number 11. Very amusing. 5 people, 5 different topics, none obviously wrong or misplaced. So the Connecticut exam was both easier and harder. Only time (and test results) will prove which weighed in more.

My hand hurt horribly today. One hour into the morning session - lots of pain. 10 min. into the afternoon session - lots of pain. Ouch. At least it's over.

In a nonsequitor.. One of my growing concerns has been my disquiet with my own laziness, my own sense of a lack of direction or purpose. I was talking with two friends tonight, outside the Spigot. They said some things that rather hit home with me. One of the things one of them said was to reiterate the freedom we possess, the choices available to us. I don't know if that's what's been bothering me but it made me think long and hard. What I really want to do is get out of here. Leave Connecticut behind and go find a life somewhere else doing whatever. Really just find my way in the world, figure some things out for myself in a place I can't be right now and a way I can't foretell. So I'm going to mull this over for the next month or so. Maybe instead of looking for a legal job or a local job or whatever, I need to do what I can while I still can, while I have the freedom to do it. Maybe go to York, England and just live there a while, find a job and just live. It has tremendous appeal to me on a very fundamental level. It feels good. It's also scary and I can't imagine pitching the idea to my mom. That's why I want a month to ponder, to see what I come up with. This may be the only chance in my life I get to really be free, really get to act on my desire to just do something. I don't know.

One other thing I wish is that my dad were still around to talk this over with. Even though I don't know it and I have no way of guessing this, I feel like he must have had some similar desire, some wanderlust in him. Maybe it's just wishful thinking but it feels right, it feels like something he would have understood if he were still here. Something he might have appreciated and recognized.

For the first time in a while, part of me is calm with this idea, this theory, this notion of somehow appeasing my own wanderlust, of striking out on my own and proving something to myself. I don't know if I can do it. When the one friend mentioned this point, the other friend out there expressed how maybe she lacked the courage to follow through on something like it. I know I don't I don't think I lack the courage. I'm just not sure this is what I need to do, what I should do. But I'm pretty sure, even now, that it's something I want to do.

Well, I have a month or so to really ponder this idea. I can pretty much guarantee that I'll give it some good mulling over. And it feels like, even now, the sort of crazy thing that I want to do. That I need to do. I wonder if I can or will...

IT'S OVER!

WOOHOO! GOODBYE CRUEL BAR EXAMS! GOOD BYE I SAY! (Although I may say "Hello" again when I see the results in late September.) BUT GOODBYE I SAY!!!

I'm off to find a pint. Probably multiple pints. At least one car-bomb. And dinner. Maybe. All I know is I have a credit card itching to start a tab and a body ready to imbibe. Later on I'll put up a more substantive post about today's exam. For now, I shall go nurse my claw-like right hand with alcohol.

CONGRATS TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE SURVIVED THE BAR EXAMS!

He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:‘
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'

...

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whilst any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

CONGRATS AGAIN & BOTTOMS UP!

twodownonetogo & MONKEYS!

twodownonetogo.. twodownonetogo.. twodownonetogo.. twodownonetogo.. TWODOWNONETOGO.. TWODOWNONETOGO!!!!

Oh yeah, two days down and one more left - tomorrow's 12-essay day of Ye Olde Connecticut law. Considering my right hand is cramping (STILL!) from Tuesday, I'm not sure how tomorrow's gonna go, especially since they collect the essays every hour. I'm not too worried though I'm contemplating ice on my hand tonight.

Today's MBE wasn't all that bad in my opinion. I can't talk about any specific questions or answers 'cause otherwise the National Board of Law Examiners will hunt me down and crucify me. No seriously, it's in the instructions. What, you didn't see it mention crucifying blabbermouths? Okay, maybe you're right but it DID mention disbarment and that's essentially the same so...

I have to say, the 7-week BarBri course really shined today. A few times I recognized answers as coming straight from BarBri lectures. Plus there may have been a question or two of the type that instructors indicated with "this subject only shows up in the following one or two limited situations.." Spot on at times.

Personally my background in Evidence, as from my experience with the UConn Student Trial Lawyers Association and trial lawyer competitions I participated in, was incredibly helpful. I saw questions on Evidence that I instinctively knew the right answer to from my experience, not from my studying. Saved me quite a bit of time.

Also, general test-taking strategies really help too. Things like eliminating answers, pairing it down, guessing and moving on, etc. Often times I got the four choices down to two candidates. And I remembered what one of our BarBri lecturers had said to us:

We're asking you to do slightly better than trained monkeys.

In other words, get it down to two answers and try to choose the right one more often than not (+50% of the time). With only 2 choices, a monkey stands to hit 50%. Our goal is 65% or so. Hence, if we can do slightly better than trained MONKEYS we'll be just fine. MONKEY MONKEY MONKEY!!!

Some of today made me wonder why our law school classes themselves don't better prepare us for the MBE. If the MBE only tests 6 subjects and is taken by almost every law student sitting for a bar, why not help prepare us for it? Especially in subjects such as Torts where the law, while individualized by state on particulars, is generally consistent and based on the same or similar predicates. I don't know. Guess I just wish law school helped prepare me for this thing when, for the vast majority, it did not. At all.

You may wonder about the time on this post seeing as the MBE is given from approximately 9-12 and 1:30-4:30. Well, I finished both sessions with over 30 minutes to spare, meaning I got to leave early and return home early. Pretty cool. Even as I type this, there are students still taking the MBE in Hartford. (SUCKAS! :P)

That's all I've got right now. I'm gonna relax a bit. Maybe catch some dinner later with friends though if I do, a contingent to my presence will be the explicit non-discussion of anything law or test related. I'm not done, I'm not talking about it. Talk would probably freak me out and I've been good thus far with the perceived pressure. twodownonetogo.. twodownonetogo.. TOMORROW'S THURSDAY! YIPPEE!!!

To those who still have one Hellish day left, GOOD LUCK AND HANG IN THERE!

(Half Door tomorrow night after the exam. Dinner, beer, monkeys, the usual - if we're still conscious and not passed out in a heap in a corner from exhaustion, which is a distinct possibility.)

ADDENDUM: I'm sitting for Connecticut at the CT Expo Center with 500-600 others. Not bad though a little warm. Big open room, lots of tables. I like the person who sits next to me. They never make a sound, never cause trouble, don't even breathe loudly. Of course I'm surmising all this since the person never actually showed up.

Also, apparently Porsche announced a 4-door. (CNN article.) *shrug* I need more details but I'm too lazy right now to coallate them. [4:39 PM]

Grimace, Squawk & Cypress

Man, I am just drained right now. I was fine after the exam. Fine on my 2-hour drive back to Connecticut. Fine up 'til the end of dinner (Mexican food just down the street). But now... *whew*

I'm currently watching the movie Cry-Baby. Nice one to relax to. Does mean it's gonna take me a bit to finish this post. Hard to type and watch a movie at the same time.

Tomorrow is the Multistate (aka MBE) over at the Connecticut Expo Center. 100 multiple guess in the morning and 100 more in the afternoon, two 3-hour sessions. Oh joy.

Quickie on today. The 5 essay topics: Contracts/Corp. Agency/Professional Responsibility, Crim. Law/Crim. Pro, Dom. Rel./Fed. Juris., Torts/____, & Wills. The MPT was a persuasive letter to a Zoning Committee for rezoning a residential house so the owner could relocate her geriatric dentistry with a side of pro bono.

So the title of this post: Grimace, Squawk & Cypress (It relates to the exam today, I promise!)

My mascot for this 3-day exam-sitting ordeal is a little, pencil-sharpener shaped like GRIMACE, you know - the big, amorphous purple McDonald's spokes-thing of yore. (Picture here, More here and here.) The security notices say pencil sharpeners are allowed so every day, even Thursday when I'm only using pen, he'll sit there with me, silently cheering me on. Every now and then, when my mind strays, I look at him and smile or chuckle quietly to myself. Then I get back to the exam.

During the BarBri course, at some point, and it might have been the Essay Advantage guy, they gave us a suggestion for the essays. The guy said something like "making the right sounds," as in try to put something relevant down for your essay answer that sounds like something coherent and meaningful. Hopefully they'll give you points for being on-point if not actually thorough or right. So if you make sounds like a bird you SQUAWK. This too was running through my mind today.

The fourth question in the last essay, on Wills, asked about the cy pres doctrine. I missed the BarBri Wills day so I had absolutely no clue what the cy pres doctrine is. My second thought (my first consisted of laughing quietly to myself) was to put down something silly, something like:

The cy pres doctrine refers to a small island off the coast of Greece. It is renown for its trees and a rap group of the same name.

(Think CYPRESS.) Then I thought to myself:

Gee, that might tip off the examiner that I know nothing about the cy pres doctrine. Then the examiner might take a closer look at the first 3 parts of my essay and lord knows I don't want that. Better not be funny then.

So I settled for a single sentence saying it didn't apply or some such. Hehe.

Those are my 3 thoughts for today. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't that good either. Have to wait and see how it goes. One thing I learned, I can write essays fast when I don't know much about the answers. I also learned that my right hand is not meant to write for 6 hours a day. It huuuuuurts. Huuuuuurts. Owwwwwww. 'Least tomorrow is multiple choice and not more essays.

Okay, that's today's report. *sigh* One down, two to go!

ADDENDUM: Forgot to mention one other thing of minor amusement. The instructions tell you that when they say it's time, you put your pen or pencil down, stop writing immediately and stand up behind your chair. Then you put your papers back in the envelope and wait for a proctor to come around and collect it. The guy next to me, as the proctor is collecting from our table, is trying to convince her that he needs to add the word "sincerely" to the end of his MPT-letter. I walked away after hearing that. If I'd stayed there I think I might have broke out laughing. [9:07 PM]

Good Luck!

Sometime in the next hour or two I leave for my aunt's and upper-state New York. Tomorrow is the New York day of the bar. Wednesday is the Multistate (aka MBE) and Thursday is Connecticut. I will be incommunicado until a blog entry Tuesday night. I plan on providing daily commentary until I leave for vacation. (After the bar, of course!)

Here are some excellent tips from New York Lawyer. Nothing new per se, just the usual good stuff.

To those sitting for a bar in the next few days, I wish you good luck! Keep your spirits up and remember, it's not too late to become a dog-catcher! Okay maybe that's not the greatest rallying cry for this Hellish ordeal. Cry havok and let slip the dogs of war? No, no... Farewell, and may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest? Nope, not good.

Being deeply learned and skilled, being well trained and using well spoken words; This is good luck.

-- Buddha

Yeah, that'll do.

Good luck to you all and may we meet on the other side for a pint or two!

(Incidentally, I will be at The Half Door on Sisson Ave. in Hartford on Thursday night, enjoying a few pints and toasting the night away until toasted. Do join me if you like.)

Cheers!

Classifieds

I found this quoted in a trade paperback, Universe X Vol. 1:

MEN WANTED FOR A HAZARDOUS JOURNEY
Small wages, bitter cold, long months in complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.

-- Advertisement written before mounting the National Antarctic Expedition in 1900 by Sir Ernest Shackleton

Sounds like law school and/or the bar exam. *shudder*

Yeah, It's Like That.

Don't worry. Don't worry, I'm not gonna do what everyone thinks I'm gonna do and FLIP OUT man. All I wanna know is who's coming with me?

From Half Baked. (Found here and here.)

'Cause I'm about ready to flip out. Who's with me? Ehhhh?

Law School Wrap Up Post

Part of my problem with the drafting of this post has been my inability to figure out the direction of it. Do I give helpful hints? Do I tell my story? Do I merely reflect on the past 3 years? In other words, what do I want to write and what do I think you want to hear about? I'm still uncertain but I refuse to put this off any longer. This thing is getting written tonight. Damnit.

Law school is like a 3-year vacation in Hell. Not that I actually know what a 3-year vacation in Hell would be like but I'm surmising here and I imagine the description is appropriate.

In other words, law school sucks. It's not fun, you're not going to learn how to practice law and it eats away at your soul like Michael Bolton. (The singer, not the character in Office Space.) Law school is more something you tolerate than enjoy. Granted there were times, classes and experiences that I did enjoy but you have to balance those against the other 95%.

Don't take this to mean "don't go to law school." No, by all means if you think you want to be a lawyer, hit it. Law school, as with college, will teach you to think like a lawyer. Plus the academic surroundings and law school friends you make are fertile ground for legal discussions. And that is the heart of not only the law school experience but also the practice of law. Getting caught up in the latest case, the newest client, the next court appearance, they all have the potential to be exciting. But one of the best parts is being able to read the latest momentous Supreme Court decision and understand exactly what happened then discuss it with your friends or teachers.

As I stated above, law school does not prepare you to actually practice law. The only place anyone learns that is by actually doing it. The best you can do in law school to prepare yourself is to take a clinic. Know that clinics are a lot of work. Don't take one unless you're ready to really dedicate a good chunk of your life for the next semester or year to the clinic. Seriously. But if you do take one and you do put in the necessary effort, you will learn a bit of what it's like to be a lawyer.

Another way to gain this valuable experience is by getting a legal job. My first year course called Lawyering Process may have tried to teach me how to research and write but it was my internship that actually did it. A lawyer posing a potentially-tricky legal question to you and expecting you to find the answer with supporting statutes or binding or influential case law - that's when you learn what to do. I worked for 2 years in an intellectual property firm, performing a variety of tasks, researching various issues, preparing numerous memorandums, undertaking various patent and trademark searches. That was where I really learned about intellectual property law. As a lawyer, I can reasonable expect some of those tasks to continue in addition to other activities such as client correspondence, application (patent, copyright, trademark) preparation and so on.

Law school has a very odd connotation to non-lawyers. Non-lawyers view it as a nearly-insurmountable 3-year venture whose outcome is never certain. Personally, I view law school as a bitch but certainly doable if you want to survive it. That is - Should you so choose, you can and will survive law school. Yes, it can be a lot of difficult work, a great number of hours spent studying and learning, a lot of time spent in class, but by no means is it insurmountable if you don't want it to be.

In my previous 2 versions of this post I had a paragraph all about me not being a strong student. (I'm not.) I guess the gist of that paragraoh was that if I can survive it so can you. And you can. You don't need a paragraph to tell you that. All you need is the confidence that this too shall pass and you will be okay.

One thing you can do to make law school more bearable is to make some friends. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, in the beginning of law school it is very easy. So do it. Use your orientation, your first year classes. Make some friends and then revel with them in the common pain and torture that is the first year. You won't have classes with some of them after that first year so befriend them then and stay friends. Except for one of my friends who transferred to UConn for his 2nd and 3rd years, I met all of my current law school friends that first year of law school. To this day they remain some of the best people I know. I will stay in touch with many of them, if not all of them, after law school and hopefully we will stay good friends. Unlike college, most of them are staying in the area so this is a very real possibility.

Now I never worked very hard in law school. I didn't do all the reading. I didn't prepare for all of my classes. Some of my courses I only attended about half the classes (rare occurence for the courses/professors I disliked the most). Two of my courses I passed due to the outlines friends shared with me. Law school is very odd in its work-input-to-result ratio. That is, if you want a really good grade you have to put in an insane amount of work and time. You have to be willing to be neurotic and obsessive and uncompromising in that regard. However, if that's not your idea of a good time and you're not a super-competitive militant, you can do less than half (comparably) of that effort and still pass with a decent grade. If even that amount of work and effort is annoying to you, as it was to me, you can put in a minimal amount of time and still pass your classes and graduate from law school. It is possible. In fact, it's more than possible. It's not for everyone. In fact, it's not for the vast majority of law students. But that was my take on it and that's how I eventually graduated. Just know that to reap the best grades in law school, you must expend insane amounts of time and effort and dedication thereto.

If you're a prospective law student, you'll hear lots of the same advice, one bit of it going "Find a relaxing hobby or activity and keep at it through law school." That one is pretty important. If you eat, drink, live, breath and die law school, it will eat you up. You need to do other things. Friends will certainly help with this, dragging you out to the bar for a pint after a particularly trying Con. Law class. But you should also keep up your pre-law school hobbies or activities. Make time for them in your schedule. They will help you retain your sanity.

I can't personally speak to significant others and/or dating in law school. I've had 2 dates in the last 3 years, the latter of them resulting in a 5-week relationship-thing with another law student. Sometimes intra-school relationships work, sometimes they don't. Just like non-law school ones. I don't know - I want to pretend to be Yoda here, giving good relationship advice that will save your ass when you need it most. All I can suggest is that if you're the "other" to a current or prospective law student, try to be as understanding and supportive as you can during their 3-year stay in Hell. It'll be rough, it'll be unpleasant, it'll be nasty at times. (Are you into the kinky?) But then again non-law school life is like that too so... I dunno. Personally, at this juncture I'm holding off on looking for anyone/anything. (Relationship-wise! Mind, gutter, out - now!) Alright, I should probably delete the entirety of the preceding paragraph but I won't. Maybe it says something or maybe it doesn't. You decide.

All in all, I'm glad I went to law school. It was an overall positive experience for me. I learned a lot, had some great experiences and learned that I really wouldn't mind practicing law. I went to law school because it was my next step. Not my next step in becoming a lawyer but my next step in life. I met some great people and made friends that I'm sure will become life-long friends. I like to think I've also learned a bit about myself, not that this has helped me to change my habits but I know what they are and can better anticipate them. Hartford wasn't such a bad city. Don't get me wrong, I hate it, but to spend 3 years where I did wasn't the worst. And I do like living half a block from an Irish pub. UConn Law was a good fit for me too. The price was certainly right, in-state tuition being on the order of $10-12k a year. The teachers, for the most part, were good with some of them being downright excellent. It's a good school, though arguably underfunded, being a state school. I'm glad I came here.

Yeah, this looks like a pretty decent Law School Wrap Up Post. Think of it like the nice ribbon on a wrapped law school present. 'Cause I didn't buy you one.. so this is the nonexistent ribbon that it's tied with. Yeah, that's the ticket. If anyone has any additional questions they'd like me to respond to, please feel free to either leave me a comment or shoot me an e-mail. Also get in touch if you have any good recipes for moose sorbe. I like that stuff. (Hold the antlers!)

Cheers!

Next Week's Plan

My plan for next week?

First I plan to soil myself. Then I'm going to regroup and come up with a new plan. Any thoughts?

(From Austin Powers.)

A Question For The Ages

What is the sound of one law student scared shitless beyond belief?

Ah, so.

Scrubs & Subway

[thinking to himself]
Do not under any circumstance say what you are thinking.
[says what he is thinking]
Why don't I ever listen to me...

More Scrubs goodness there.

Earlier this afternoon I ran into a former classmate of mine while at Subway procuring lunch. The two of us being law students and sitting for the bar next week, of course we briefly talked about it.

Me: I haven't studied enough for it.

Him: You'll do fine.

And there's the rub. See, whenever anyone asks how it's going or some such and I respond with a negative comment, as I did, they automatically reply much as my classmate did, with something positive that's meant to reassure me.

And that's the thing. The only person in the world who knows how ill-prepared I am for the upcoming bars is myself. No one else knows how little I've done, how much I don't know, how bad I've been. It doesn't bother me that they don't know. What bothers me is that they automatically assume the best, that I've been working hard, that I've been preparing for these exams for the past 2-3 months, that I'll pass them.

About a week ago I thought to myself that if I really worked hard from then to the exams, really studied and applied myself, I'd have about a 50% chance of passing. 2-3 days ago I gave myself a revised estimate of 29%. Today I'm thinking it's more like 20-25%, optimistically. (I refuse to revise lower. That would hurt.)

For some reason, for the past 3 years (at least), I've been pretty lazy. I haven't done my reading, I haven't done my studying, I haven't worked very hard if at all. At the end of my final semester of law school, I had 4 papers overdue. I spent the majority of this Summer agonizing over them, not even working on them. Eventually I did finish them, turn them in and get grades. But it was in the barest nick of time to sit for the bar exams next week. And I certainly haven't been studying for the bars all Summer, let alone for the past few weeks, since I turned in the last of my papers.

When my classmate asked me in Subway, I eventually let the truth out, or at least a lesser version thereof. I was almost brutally honest. I didn't say "I've barely done any studying at all," rather I said "I haven't done much studying." And there's really nothing someone can say to that. They can't respond with "I'm sure you'll be fine!" or "You can do this." Not in the face of self-purported, strong evidence to the contrary. Not when there are facts to back up my assertion of "These exams are going to kick my ass next week."

Of course, as J.D. (aka Zach Braff) expressed in his thoughts in Scrubs so quoted above, my mind races around in circles while I calmly ignore it. When my classmate inquired why I hadn't been studying for the exam, my response - "I've been a lazy bastard this Summer." (No kidding, that's what I said.) And I have. And I'm not sure how to break that cycle. I think I've been living that cycle for over 3 years now. It's not so bad, I get to read a lot, watch TV, see a lot of movies, play my video games, but it sucks in the end. Especially when I hit a streak of self-loathing over it, thinking to myself that the reason I am where I am, as ill-prepared as I am, is because of who I am and what I haven't done or made myself do. It bothers me at times. And then I put on another episode of Scrubs, play more video games, get back to reading my book, watch a movie, and I go on.

And that my friends is brutally honest. That's the truth, that's what I do and that's where I am. So next week, I'll go to Albany, then I'll come back to Hartford. I'll sit for 3 days in six 3-hour blocks (roughly), taking 2 exams that I really doubt I'll pass. And I don't think I should pass them, not with the non-preparation I've done and the non-knowledge I possess. And come next February, I'll likely be sitting for the same exams though, at that time, adequately prepared for them and finally ready to pass them.

Sam: If you can't laugh at yourself, life's gonna seem a whole lot longer than you like.

Andrew Largeman: All right, so what are we laughing at you about?

Sam: I lied again... I have epilepsy.

Andrew Largeman: Which part are we laughing about?

Sam: had a seizure at the law office where I work, and they told me their insurance wouldn't cover me unless I wore preventative covering.

Andrew Largeman: What's preventative covering?

Sam: The helmet I was wearing... Oh come on, that's funny. That's really funny, I mean I'm the only person who wears a helmet to work who isn't putting out fires or racing for NASCAR. But what do you do, I can't quit... their insurance is amazing, what do you do? You laugh. I'm not saying I don't cry but in between I laugh and I realize how silly it is to take anything too seriously. Plus, I look forward to a good cry. It feels pretty good.

From Garden State. (I guess I'm in a Zach Braff mood.)

Oh one more from the same:

Sam: How's your head?

Andrew Largeman: I shall live through the day.

Sam: Cool.

'Cause I certainly shall live through these days (and many more.. I hope).

ADDENDUM: Though I gotta say, this JDJive post makes me feel A LOT better. I still think I'm going to fail, but I feel better. (Thanks go to GG for the link from a post on her blog. Cheers!) [5:08 PM]

By Reason of Insanity

I just love that phrase. No real reason.. other than a mild touch of insanity perhaps.

I want to respond, officially (or at least as officially as there is around here), to two comments recently left on this blog:

(1) A Friend: hey where's the wrap up post

(2) GG: **SO** jealous that you are taking the CT bar (or whatever non-CA state you are doing!) and have time to watch TV.

N.B. I'm sitting for the NY and CT Bar Exams next week.

*runs around in circles, bangs head on wall, thrashes about wildly like a rabid lemming*

*AHEM* Better now.

(1) The Official (See infra introduction.) Law School Wrap Up Post has been delayed due to creative differences among the authors. (Seeing as there is one author to the forthcoming post, me, that would be creative differences amongst myself. See infra insanity notes.) That is, I have gone through 2 drafts thus far and am still working on a final product. It's coming, I just want to make sure it's the post I want it to be. "We apologize for the inconvenience." (link, THHGTTG)

(2) I love your question. Here's why:

Throughout law school, I read non law-related books (Sci Fi, Horror, Misc. Fiction). I'd read them before class, after class, around campus, etc. Other students and friends would occasionally say to me something like:

I can't believe you have time to read for fun and to read for your classes!

I would always, always respond with the same answer:

Your question carries with it an inherent assumption. You assume I read for my classes.

And so, to return to the original question herein.. Don't be jealous that I "have time" to watch TV and study for the bar. It's real easy to do the former when you're not doing the latter.

Scrubs Season One

Earlier this week when I was at BJ's and picked up Constantine, I also snagged Scrubs Season One. I'm up to the 6th episode thus far. Just a brief quote:

Your ex-wife, she's the answer!
Uhh.. Things that ruined my life! Things that took half my money! Things with sharp edges!

Such an awesome show.

A Riddle

Q: What's the difference between a lawyer and a bucket of monkey defecation?

A: The bucket.

(Courtesy of a Harvey Birdman commercial, 1-877-MANBIRD, and [adult swim].)

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince

I just finished reading this new installment of J.K. Rowling's masterful saga. Absolutely brilliant. In direct contrast to the juvenile coming of age tales that the first 4 books provided, this latest one (6th one and second-to-last in the series) is quite serious and ominous, though not without the standard dose of hilarity, paranoia, and enjoyment. I feel as though Rowling's writing is developing with her characters, becoming something more meaningful and heartfelt. The first few books felt like kid's books, even laughable at times in their attempts to portray a serious and totally involving story. This one changed my perceptions of Rowling and her series. Granted the fun still lies in the characters, the settings and the stories, in that order, but her tales have become more believable and more engaging as they begin to lead to some as-yet uninvisioned climax.

If you liked the previous book, this one is better.

If you have yet to delve into the Harry Potter Saga, I strongly recommend reading book 5 and then this one, book 6. The books are becoming distinctly more adult in their tone and stories. These are no longer the kid's books that the first ones are. (Do not take this to mean you should ignore books 1-4. Rather if you lack the patience to read them, books 5 & 6 make a good mid-way starting point.)

I can hardly wait for book 7. If the current trend is anything to go by, it will be the best one in the series.

Top Ten Worst Things To Do Other Than Study For The Bar Exam(s)

15. Play a video game. (World of Warcraft, ugh! But an awesome game!)

14. Desperately try to think of a 14th entry in a Top "Ten" List so the list does not have 13 entries. (Then come up with two ideas, thereby negating the explicit need for the special 14th one.)

13. Purchase and play a new video game. (Digital Devil Saga for the PS2. An excellent RPG!)

12. Go on vacation. A vacation from your problems! (A la What About Bob?)

11. Develop a drinking problem a la Airplane. (Surprisingly I'm drinking less these days. Huh.)

10. Develop a consciousness problem a la bar exam. ("Reality is the leading cause of stress among those in contact with it." -- N.B. Google the phrase and you'll find a comment of mine made elsewhere. Weird.)

9. Start Googling the phrase "a la" to learn of its origin and real definition. (Courtesy of TheFreeDictionary.com by Farlex: French, short for à la mode de, in the manner of.)

8. Purchase and read the new Harry Potter book. (Working on it. Up to page 190-something 349 [EDIT: 4:30am] so far.)

7. Learn how to fly by throwing youself at the ground. (See Life, the Universe and Everything.)

6. Not graduate from law school. (Inapplicable for me, thank G-d!)

5. Stay up late drafting Top Ten Lists of things you should not be doing (but are doing).

4. Purchase and watch a recently-released movie on DVD. (Constantine for me. Man do I like that movie!)

3. Check out the local "bars" and see what information you can "tap" there. (The puns! The puns! Save me from the puns!!!)

2. Move to Australia. (With nods to Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.)

1. Wish you were studying for the bar exam(s).

Happy studying, everyone!

It's Coming!

My Law School Wrap Up post is on the way! When it arrives, you will almost certainly note its behemoth-like stature. In other words, it's gonna be a long mutha. I'll probably finish it up Monday morning, Monday afternoon at the latest. Keep your eyes peeled!

1-877-MANBIRD

After having my original post eaten by a minor program crash.. Try #2!

Adult Swim roxxors my world:

Harvey Birdman will get you cash!
Slap your monkey on the ass!

This from a pseudo-advert for Harvey Birdman. The advert has a mock lawyer sitting there as if advertising for a real lawyer, except it's for Harvey Birdman. Too funny. And they post a real phone number too! The one in the subject line. I called it and it's a recorded advert for Harvey Birdman. Kinda funny.

And I imagine that if I had a monkey there would be plenty of ass-slapping taking place. And poo-flinging. Though I could probably do without the poo-flinging.

I <3 Adult Swim!

For those not in the know, tilt your head to the right to translate the above. It reads: "I [heart] Adult Swim!"

In recent years, Adult Swim has begun to use bumps (lead ins and outs for commercialls) which are simply black screens with white text written on them, called cards. These cards have given viewers a sense of the personality of [Adult Swim] so that the following is not only to the shows, but to the block itself. Following the relaunch of their forums, [AS] began to post quotes from the boards on their cards, starting with the now infamous phrase "cuz anime is teh s uck." This idea became so popular, and brought so many users to the forums, that eventually Thursday nights were devoted to viewer cards, and their responses from adult swim.

From Adult Swim Wikipedia Entry.

The Adult Swim bumps are awesome! The entry is dead on - the bumps help create a mythos and loyalty to [adult swim] itself as opposed to the channel or even the shows. Very unique. I wonder what advertising experts would have to say about this unique form of branding. You often hear me comment on [adult swim] on this blog. Also about the shows but never "the Cartoon Network."

Oh man! Their last bump complained about a music channel showing the reunion of Pink Floyd but not showing the musical portions. The last two lines:

Maybe we should call you MCSONAAVC
[music comes second or not at all video channel]

Anyone with sufficient television viewing can tell you what VH1's slogan is - "Music Comes First." I wonder which music television channel [adult swim] was railing against...

I did a quick Google search to see if I could find a listing of [adult swim] bumps online, in text format. No dice. If I find some, I'll put 'em up. I'd check the official forums but that crashed my browsing last time so I'll post this first to be certain.

Attention restaurant customers. Testicles. That is all.

Okay, not an [adult swim] quote but Family Guy.

I am not a monkey. (Mine.)

I Should Be Asleep Right Now

It's been a few days since my last post. In fact, the reason you're getting this one is because I woke up at 4:50am, after only ~4.5 hrs sleep, and couldn't seem to go back to sleep for another 1.5 hrs. I s'pose the good news is that I won't oversleep this morning as I have for the previous two. Oversleeping is not something I am in the general habit of doing. At all. I rarely, extremely rarely oversleep. For me it's usually a symptom of something else, like me being *really* worn out or in dire need of a major bedtime/wakeup reform. I don't know what it is this time but, well, this morning is another chapter in the book.

I'm waking up, sorry, I was to wake up extra early this morning as I am taking my car to the dealer for service. Have you ever seen or felt a car limp along? That's what mine is doing right now. It's very sad. There's a weird vibration, the gas pedal isn't very responsive, the 'service engine' light is constantly on, even blinking often. In short, my car is decidedly not happy. Which means I'm not happy. 'Cause that's the way it works. If my car is unhappy, if my car is in pain, then so am I. I really do feel for her and I hope she'll be okay. I need my baby. I just did a Google search for that phrase, "I need my baby". Lots of songs with that phrase. I wonder which one I'm thinking of.

Last night I was up late. I ended up watching some television at 2:30am. Did you know there is nothing, and I mean nothing on tv at 2:30am? I started flipping through all the cable channels I get, in a vain attempt to find something, anything I could stand to watch. Zilch, zip, nada were all I found. Well, to be fair, I found a bit more than that. There was an infomercial advertising an all-natural supplement to help you increase your bust size. That was interesting until they started talking about PMS. There was a town hall meeting with a congressman. I heard a Vietnam Vet get up and ask the congressman what he was going to do about the inequal political division now inherent in the armed forces. Namely the large Republican support base. The congressman didn't answer his question. Then their sound system went on the fritz for 5 min. so I changed the channel. There was an interesting bit on Animal Planet about Japanese fighting fish. That was interesting until the show started showing old movie clips from movies about gladiators in ancient Rome. What does that have to do with Japanese fighting fish? Yeah, that was my problem. Then I ran across another infomercial advertising a special slimming shorts device. You wear the shorts and they help you obtain a better figure. That was also interesting but it lost my attention after a few minutes. The History Channel was not talking about breast size, fighting fish nor waist-slimming. They were discussing some elements of warfare, something to do with anti-submarine bombs and a U.S. submarine 90 miles off Cuba. That one also failed to hold my attention for very long. It was about then that I turned off the television and turned in for the night.

Hopefully I can get my sleep routine back in order. I sense something is greatly amiss here.

The Only Supreme Court Editorial You Need to Read

From a Volokh Conspiracy post we have: The Only Supreme Court Editorial You Need to Read. While I would like to copy & paste the majority of the post, I will instead strongly suggest that you click on the link and see it for yourself. (Fair use notwithstanding, I occasionally like to be paranoid about copyright protections. A little paranoia never hurts.. does it?)

A Quote for the Ages

Mankind doesn't perform his greatest feats when lounging about, it's at the edge of nerve and stamina.

-- Beldinn on Argent Dawn Server, World of Warcraft

I think I'm nearing the edge of nerve if not stamina though I doubt this will count as mankind performing his greatest feats so maybe I'm okay.

A Late Happy 4th!

Well, the 4th post never did arrive on time so, a belated Happy 4th of July!!! To the non-Americans who read this, ummm.. thhppt.

Oh my g-d, there's a forthcoming Tim Burton stop-animation movie - Corpse Bride. Judging from the trailer I just watched, it's in exactly the same style as The Nightmare Before Christmas. Looks incredible!!! I loved Nightmare and I anticipate a similar response to Corpse Bride! (Other cool thing - Corpse Bride features voices from lots of celebs. Check out the link for additional info.)

Anyways, the 4th. I ended up hanging out with a few friends, nothing big. Was a fun time. I did not light off any fireworks, of course. Especially not any airborne ones. And I most definitely did not accidentally burn my hand (really singe it minorly) while lighting a firework. Nope. But ouch. (Incidentally, it's perfectly fine. Not that it ever happened, mind you.)

So at the moment I'm attempting to pretend that everything is fine. It's not, of course. There are some big problems with my time table. Biiiiiiiig problems. I don't know how big, I'll find out tomorrow. If it's as bad as it could be, you'll hear about it. Otherwise you'll just hear the good news. 'Cause I'm a fraidy cat like that with this blog. (Trying not to preemptively inadvertently kick my own ass/shoot my own foot.)

By the way, I've fooled around a bit with Teamspeak and Ventrilo and World of Warcraft. That is, I've spoken with some of my friends in the game. It's really pretty cool. I did one Molten Core raid with the chat and it really helped coordination. Lotsa fun too. Despite the fact that the headset hurts my ears a bit after a while, I'm gonna keep using it.

I need to catch up on my movie-watching. That's slightly ancillary to other things at the moment, but not by much. I need to catch Mr. & Mrs. before it's out of the theaters. Also need to see War of the Worlds. Thinking of catching Dark Water when it opens on Friday. (Yay for Jennifer Connelly!!!) I'm very much looking forward to the Fantastic Four next week. I love the comic and anticipate loving the movie. (Yay Julian McMahon of Nip/Tuck!!!)

Time to turn in for a bit. Tomorrow's going to be rotten, I can tell. I think I'm due for a night of heavy drinking. Waaaaaay due.

ADDENDUM: Woohoo! I learned that I am not screwed (yet)! However, if I do not do the work I must, I will shortly be irrevocably screwed. Off I go! [10:13am 7-07-05]

"Well, 'ow did you become king then?"

ARTHUR: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!

WOMAN: Order, eh -- who does he think he is?

ARTHUR: I am your king!

WOMAN: Well, I didn't vote for you.

ARTHUR: You don't vote for kings.

WOMAN: Well, 'ow did you become king then?

ARTHUR: The Lady of the Lake, [angels sing] her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. [singing stops] That is why I am your king!

DENNIS: Listen -- strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

ARTHUR: Be quiet!

DENNIS: Well you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!

ARTHUR: Shut up!

DENNIS: I mean, if I went around sayin' I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me they'd put me away!

link from yesterday

I never tire of that. Quoting Monty Python is like chicken soup - never a bad idea.

I'm batting 0 for 10 today. Not literally 0 for 10 but in schoolwork product effectively so. For those keeping score at home, that is very not good. I'm not without my paddle yet but I'm certainly up the creek in the bottom of the 9th (so to speak).

In other news..

Well, I really don't have any news per se. I did finish my book though, William Gibson's Pattern Recognition. Fascinating book. A little futuristic but not nearly so like the first book of his that I read, Neuromancer. Pattern focuses on the patterns woven behind the commercialism running rampant in today's society. It also touches a little on 9-11, in an ancillary way. I think what really did it for me was the style of the book. Very short, abrupt at times, always to the point, and yet very descriptive. It's the descriptive aspect that really stands out for me. He would write something like "The morning sky was gray like an executive's desk and just as bleak." Short but very punchy, very visceral, that's the word. It's not even Sci Fi now that I think about it, though it feels like Sci Fi. I don't know. I rather enjoyed the book so take a look at it if you like. Read the inside inside cover (not a typo) and see what the story is about. Hey, you might like it too.

Tomorrow I get to test out my new headset/microphone thing. Yay! It'll be interesting for 2 big reasons. One, I'll learn how few of the in-game female characters I know match up to real-world females. (My bet is one out of a possible 6+.) Second, I'll hear voices of people whom I've known for 3+ years now but never met. Third, and I know I didn't promise a third but you're getting it anyway, third, I'll learn more information about people I've met online. E.g. "Ah, from your accent I gather you are a Southener. LONG LIVE THE NORTH!" That sort of thing.

Reminds me of a time in '92 when I went to Tennessee with a group from Boy Scouts. We went to this rodeo show called The Dixie Stampede. It had the North competing with the South in a variety of rodeo events. Of course the South won in the end. And of course almost everyone in there was rooting for the South. And of course us being a group of boys (ignoring the adult chaperones) from the North we were rooting for the North. Vocally. Loudly. Our adult chaperones thought we might get attacked in the parking lot on our way out. 'Twas fun. (Incidentally, we made it through unscathed. I still have the flags purchased for the show, small hand-held ones.)

Every now and then I hear various pops and bangs from outside in the neighborhood and/or surrounding area. I always things it's kind of funny how people light off their personal fireworks before the 4th. Not sure why. Me, if I had any to light, which I of course do not would not cannot never not, I'd light 'em off on the night of the 4th. To each his own. (Or her own.)

Tomorrow you get your 4th of July post. I'm not entirely sure what it will entail though I just had an idea to include fireworks you will never see me lighting off. Not a comprehensive list but more of a realistic one. For example, M-80s. (About M-80s. Fireworks Glossary.) After reading that 'About M80s' page I got pretty scared. Now I want to see what kind of m80's I don't have never have cannot will not never not have willem not wantem light fire. More on that in tomorrow's post, I guess. Sheesh.

On the other hand, my brief search did lead me to this page on Destroying M&Ms. Amusing.

Okay, see you tomorrow for some festive notes and fun!

Update

Not much to report yet. I'm still 3/4 of the way through my residual law school work. This will hopefully become 4/4 (or "DONE!") within the next 36-48 hours. When and if everything is finished, though the "if" part would be bad, your law school wrapup post will be forthcoming. I have high hopes for it as I think my post-law school comments will serve future and current law students ever so much more than my during-law school comments. Trees for the forest and all that. Plus I'm positive my experience in law school is rather unique. Let's just say that I'm sure at least 3/5 if not 4/5 of my graduating class could not relate. Read between the lines.

I'm looking forward to Monday, aka The 4th aka Ye 'Olde Day O' Fun & Goodness aka 'OH MY G-D, WHAT THE H*LL IS HE LIGHTING ON FIRE NOW?' Not that I have anything in my possession which could be misconstrued as airborne fireworks. Nope. None. Never. Would never dream of it. Not in a million years. Like I'd do that? Puh-lease! As if! Pfft! Before taking the Bar? I'd have to be crazy! Not on your life! Not in this lifetime! No way Jose! Uh uh! Inconceivable! Perish the thought! Etc. So if you're in the vicinity of somewhere on Monday night after dark, don't look up towards the sky expecting to see anything bright and flashy. 'Cause you won't.

Oh, my dog, Austin, who had surgery on Thursday for his cataract is doing just fine. He's getting around just fine, like his usual self. Or at least like his usual self when wearing a plastic collar around his neck. You know, one of those big, funny-looking ones. Actually it is quite amusing at times. He bumps into things pretty often, etc. I mean I hate to employ any form of schadenfreude with a nice cuddly doggy but hey, I calls 'em like I sees 'em.

A while back, you may remember posts of mine about the game World of Warcraft and fighting Onyxia every Wednesday night in a 40-man raid that I organized and put together. Well, 8 weeks of failure is my limit. It takes too much time, energy, and effort to repeatedly fail. My patience is gone and this past week was the do-or-die so no more forming up of those for me, at least not like I have been doing for the past 3 months (11 weeks/attempts).

However, I did join a newly-formed Molten Core raid group, organized and run by friends of mine (in-game friends). Last night, on their 4th night of trying I believe (my 2nd with them), we finally took down Lucifron. While not the hardest boss nor the most exciting of accomplishments, it's still very cool. I enjoyed myself, had an absolute blast! The only problem with this is that the raid itself lasts ~4-6 hours and starts forming up at 10:30pm. This means we're not done until 2:30-5am. That is baaaaaad when one has a 9am session. Baaaaaad. Baaaaaad. Even so, I think I may try to stick with this group for now. I really like the people and it is fun.

Last game item, today I hit up Circuit City (why does this remind me of Spatula City from UHF?) and picked up a combo headset with microphone. Why? I'm glad you asked! No really, I'm glad you asked. 'Cause the explanation is just phenomenal! PHE-NOM-EN-AL! Like totally wow! Awesome, gnarly, sweet, and bitchin'!

::AHEM:: (clears his throat) We apologise for the fault in the [blog]. Those responsible have been sacked. (link)

So yes, I bought this nifty new headset with microphone thingy. See, there's this neato system-thing, much like that Internet phone thingy system whatnot, whereby people can, you know, just--

::AHEM:: (clears his throat) We apologise again for the fault in the [blog]. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked. (same link)

With this headset and some cool programs, namely Ventrilo and/or Teamspeak, I can speak with other World of Warcraft players while playing. Not random people mind you, but certain ones who are on the same server. The idea is to provide increased communication during play. No more typing, you can simply talk to each other. Much faster and more efficient. I'm looking forward to loading this thing up when I get back to the game in a day or two. (SO EXCITING!)

Well, that's about that. I started getting caught up in reading the Monty Python and The Holy Grail script I've linked twice above (same link AGAIN), make that three times now. Such a great movie. Absolute classic! I'd quote more except I wouldn't be able to stop. And besides, if you can't do the quoting yourself, you are not fit to be in my presence. THOU UNCLEAN!!! STOP THE VIOLATOR!

Yeah, enough.