rainy days and mondays

It's raining this morning - definite bad omen. I spilled soda all down my pants this morning, forgot my keys in the office bathroom (could have been a BIG disaster, as i still have the enterprise key chain on there that lists the make/model, year, and color of my car), my favorite purple umbrella broke, and i'm downright exhausted. I got home from Chicago at midnight last night after my first meet and greet reception at Jenner & Block. All in all, I was very impressed - especially after talking to Tom, a rising 3L I know from Notre Dame who works there this summer. But bouncing back from my 8 hours of driving yesterday is proving a tad difficult. I might try and sneak out the back of the office soon and run to starbucks.

brrrrrr

so cold in the office today! i have a space heater less than a foot away from my legs in the middle of July - go figure.


saw harry potter last night, and was pretty disappointed. somewhere b/t the rushed plot (who thinks it's a good idea to turn the longest book in the series into the shortest film?) and the obnoxious teenage girls sitting next to me who repeatedly clapped loudly when they saw a scene they recognized from the book, laughed at very inappropriate moments and were very vocal and swoony over their love for ronald weasly, i decided that i'm going to rent this movie when it comes out on DVD, pretend i'd never seen it, and give it one more shot. although, I loved the characters of umbridge and luna and wished they'd been given more time to develop them b/c i thought the actresses were brilliant.

My late-night calls.

Two nights in a row at 10:30 pm and 10:32 pm someone from King of Prussia, PA has called me and not left a message. If this someone is you, I don't pick up unknown numbers, so (610) 337-9080, you either need to leave a message or find some other way to contact me.

On another note, this has lead to lots of curiosity on my part as to who my friend in King of Prussia is. I think if it were a telemarketer, they wouldn't call so late and at the exact same time both nights. It's not the dartmouth hater (who does live in PA but not that area) and I don't believe it's my only other (known) friend in PA. Wonder who it is?!?!

p.s.

finally google stopped listing this blog when people google my name and school, so i can rest easy and apply to firms without taking it down. or at least i think i'm safe...


...god help me if i get rejected because i'm offensively liberal. or offensively stupid.

On to bigger & better

This week I marked the half-way point of my summer job. Today I sent out my third, fourth, and fifth resume/cover letter bundle for a job for NEXT summer. If you haven't heard me go on about this before, (and if you have - bear with me) law school is like being on the most settled and definite of five-year tracks. This August and September I'm going to be interviewing with law firms for my jobs for next summer, and so long as I don't drastically screw things up, that's supposed to turn into my job after I graduate. Plus, it's pretty difficult to switch jobs your first few years out there, so it'll likely be my job for a good 3 or 4 years. The process is so settled that I would guess a good 60% of law students out there are doing the same thing (the others are still looking at public interest, government work, clerkships or the like). I'm not actually complaining - I like how definite it is, and if I can just get a good job in the next few months, then I'll be pretty settled for the next few years or so.

The problem is: WHERE THE FLIP DO I WANNA WORK?!?!?! Last year around this time, I decided that I really wanted to live in Boston. Not sure why, but every time I looked outside (mind you, with my feet planted firmly in Indiana), I felt like Boston was the place for me. The four years before that (the whole time I was at Dartmouth), I kept saying how the east coast wasn't for me, and I wanted to go back to the midwest to be near my family. And now a days, I really like the idea of getting a kick-ass apartment in Chicago. Plus, Mark is selling me on the idea of DC - where the winters are the least heinous of all my options. That's a big plus given that i've spent my last 5 years in the worst winter conditions possible in the continental US.

Location indecisiveness aside, there's also the pay/quality of life difference too. In Boston or DC, I'd likely be getting paid more, a LOT more. (Like on the order of 40K relative to Denver, and 60-75K relative to Omaha.) But life in a big firm is MUCH more easy to manage in Denver or Nebraska than it is on the east coast.

I guess what I'm saying is: does someone want to tell me where to go next summer? I'd greatly appreciate it! :)

Oh, and I used to debate the merits of Seattle, but now my stupid sister has a stupid boy who lives in stupid California. ALTHOUGH, word on the street is that he was debating a move to be closer to said stupid sister. Stupid Sister, care to comment?

My youngest roommie

This is Molly, my youngest roommate, after we discovered the fun features on my webcam... just thought I'd add a visual to go along with the previous post.

I don't know what's scarier

This morning Mollie (my latest roommate, age 18 months) and I were walking down a very big flight of stairs after blowdrying our hair. She tripped on her jeans and flew face down the stairs (we were at the very top) for about 2-3 stairs before I caught her, literally by the crotch of her pants. She cried for all of 1.5 minutes but it took me MUCH longer to recover. I think it'll be a while before we do stairs together again. An hour later I was sitting on the sofa playing websudoku and got the crap scared out of me again as 2 huge dogs came bounding in the house and went straight for my head. They're the newest visitors this week.... I'm hoping my allergies hold up.

Suffice it to say that today has seen too many surprises for me.

2 hour lunch! :)

The nice thing about juvenile court is that it doesn't resume until 1:30 in the afternoon - that means, if i finish my morning work in time for an early lunch (like around 11:30) and want to take the afternoon to observe in juvenile court (which my boss is okay with), then I have a 2 hour lunch! :)


So today, during my 2 hour lunch, I discovered what is quickly becoming my preferred law firm for my 2L job: not-so-heinous-firm
One of my biggest concerns this summer has been the fact that of all the firms doing On Campus Interviewing this fall, very few of them have practice areas I'm actually interested in and NONE are from Denver. So this one looks really promising although I could be in trouble b/c they seem to have a strong preference for people who go to Colorado schools, but here's hoping!

Question: does any law student out there know, if I'm applying by sending them a resume and cover letter on my own, what's the earliest I can/should do that?

And speaking of applying for jobs for next summer, since whenever you google my name and school, this blog comes up, i'm thinking of changing it up a little. Hopefully all I'll have to change is my profile to get this site to stop popping up in google, otherwise, I might have to take it down for a while or move it.

Today I'm done being a 1L!

That may sound weird to say now that it's 5 weeks after my last final and one week after I got all my grades, but this morning I finally mailed in my writing competition entry and this is the first time I've felt like my 1L year is finally over. Here's hoping I get on to a journal now - I don't know that the entry was good enough for Law Review, but I don't think it sucked.

Hooray, I'm officially a twol!

It pays to do your bailiff's homework!

So yesterday I spent most of the day observing (per usual) and in the afternoon I went to a trial that another intern, Jennifer, had been observing already for most of the day. Apparently, the bailiff in there had been bugging her, trying to get her to do his outline for him. The outline was for a speech that he had to deliver later that night for his communications class. She flat out refused, but later that afternoon when we ran into him another court room, I started asking questions about the outline and before I knew it he had his computer in my lap with his outline up and his speech up and had me working on it.

In reality, I didn't do much, I just read them both - he had already started the outline and was doing fine and the speech was entirely written. I was just curious. So I made a lame comment or two about how maybe he should stick this segment into that box on the outline (the outline was actually a template the professor had given them and he was expected to fill it in), and didn't actually do anything for him. (Which he blamed Jennifer for, entirely. He said that she was screwing everything up for him. ;>) The whole thing was just kinda entertaining and this morning when I ran into him, I asked him how it went.

It went well, apparently - he won the award for best speech in the class. So then we randomly started chatting about various other things and I mentioned how I went to the gas station this morning to get a soda b/c i'm exhausted! (haven't slept well for a couple of nights) It wasn't till I got into the gas station that I remembered that you can't bring liquids through security in juvenile court. So I was screwed.

Low and behold, apparently, in a back room that you need employee access (like the kind a bailiff has) to get to, the court reporters keep a big canteen of all sorts of food and drinks. JACKPOT! instant caffeine. I was soooo grateful, I might just spend the rest of my summer running around the court house seeing if there are any bailiffs who need their homework done for them. :)

I will never sleep again!

I just woke up from a nap to discover that I missed my sister Courtney's only call so far this summer. FLIP! New plan: I will never sleep again. She's at camp - so the only person who gets to use the phone less than she does is her bf who is in boot camp. I tried to call her back, but it's been so long since I've called her, I forgot her number on speed dial. and I got her voice mail anyway.

Week 2 of work is over, and I did a naughty thing and left work early today. The problem is my boss is out of town and there were all of 5 people in the office, none of whom could give me any work. Here's hoping they don't fire unpaid interns for leaving at 2:30 on Fridays...


This weekend will be very low-key for me. I'm locking myself in and finishing this darned writing competition entry. Which means I'll have very little human contact with other people because the family I live with is out of town. I see this as going very badly.... be prepared for some very dark, sad entries. I don't handle being alone very well.

(p.s. I realize this post is really long and rambling for the squat amount of interesting info it conveys. you're going to have to deal though, I'm a dull, self-involved person. ;>)

Why have a blog???

Yesterday morning, I found myself getting frustrated because I was bored and trying to read people's blogs, but none of my regular blogs had been updated in a while. I found myself muttering out loud: well, why have a blog if you aren't going to update???

Pot calling the kettle black. Obviously.

SOOO - the job has started, and while I've come close to posting a couple of really interesting stories on here many times, I stopped myself because I'm not actually sure how much information I'm allowed to share. But as for general observations, now I'm really glad I opted for this internship over the public defenders - from what i've seen of the PDs, I was not at all impressed. I even saw one case where an attorney came to represent his client (who was incarcerated at the time) in a termination proceeding (meaning that the state had filed to have his parental rights terminated forever) and the darned PD hadn't even contacted his client! I've found that a lot of them are so disheartened or jaded that they barely even represent their clients at all, let alone to the best of their abilities.

Meanwhile, this job is different than what I thought it would be in a lot of ways. For example, so much of what I've been doing is actually parent-focused. Basically, if there is a case for abuse or neglect and the children are removed from the home, then the focus switches to what services the state can provide the parents and have those parents completed them. There isn't a really wholistic evaluation of the problem or situation or causes or solutions as far as I can tell, just an evaluation of is this person mentally competent, and if so, what services should we make him/her do before he/she can get the kids back. But the services are really limited to services the state already provides (like substance abuse, parenting classes, domestic violence classes, etc.). So in court, usually we sit down for any given case and just discuss what services the parent has or has not completed, and typically, there isn't even an evaluation of what put the parents in the courtroom in the first place. So it's not a very thorough system in as much as it doesn't really address the problem as a whole and how to solve it or whether it's solved.

That said, I do enjoy watching the process. The job isn't as sad as I thought it might be - mostly our cases involve substance abuse on the part of the parents. Although there have been some really sad cases of molest where it's pretty certain that the kids are going right back to the home (and in one case this will be for the 3rd time) without anyone ever being charged with molestation or treated for that kind of a problem. My favorite part of the job so far is probably mediation - those occur when the state has initiated termination suits against the parents and the parents and the foster parents sit down to try and work out a guardianship or an adoptive agreement or whatnot, without the use of a judge or courts. My second favorite part of the job are the characters in the courtrooms cuz between the judges and the bailiffs, you never know what will be said. One judge got annoyed when a mother who gave birth to a crack baby asked why she can't have her baby back. She leans over the bench, looks her straight in the eye, and yells: BECAUSE YOU POISONED HER!!!! well put, I thought.

Let's see... not much else in my life. I might be getting a part time job at a country club soon though - keeping my fingers crossed. But for now I've rambled for so long that I should get back to work.

Long Term Rentals/Short Term Leases?

Had a great weekend in Omaha! Went to visit paige and lynn and get a bridesmaid dress (see pix below) and now I've got to get ready to leave again to go back to Indianapolis. Quick question: does anyone know of a cheap place to rent a car for 3 months or to sign a short term lease? Right now, all the rental car places are quoting me some 700 dollars a month and that's more than half my summer stipend, not even including gas. So I'm trying to figure out the car situation for the summer and I'd appreciate any and all advice!





This is my dress.... although it'll be in navy. Despite all the halter debate, I had to agree. It's the best style of dress for me. SOOOO excited for this wedding!

I just lost 2 cars, a house, and a trampoline.

1L year is done, I'm in Denver for two weeks, and I'm doing all I can to procrastinate on my writing competition entry.

Case in point: last night I spent 45 minutes gambling with Peggy, my 10-year-old cousin. The game? stack 10 dixie cups up into any sort of arrangement and then take down your arrangement and stack all the cups together faster than the other person. I was a rockstar at this game - if you know me, I very rarely lose to little kids because, truth be told, I'm a jerk. That said, last night I was thoroughly whooped in the highest stakes round we had all night. I had already won both Peggy's grandparents' cars, their house, and her trampoline. I had wagered it all in exchange for her little sister too, and then the unthinkable happened. She kicked my ass. Soundly. Kudos to her, but now I'm still without a car or a house or a trampoline and so life is not looking too bright today. Well, that, and this darned writing competition entry is calling. I'm only about a third of the way through the 253 pages of material we have to read. Yuck.

Last Day as a 1L

And then next year, we will have caught the dreaded twol-itis (better pronounced toolitis). I haven't been able to sleep since 5:30 - I'm so ready for this year to be done!!!!

My new firm:

Life's Short

I think this is about the funniest ad I've ever seen.

Straight from the words of a goddess:

welcome to the cynical world of "if you don't work as hard as I
do, then shut the fuck up and leave me alone!"

-BC-

(p.s. laurencady, get off my back about never posting you high maintenance stalker. ;>)

Half-way there

2 exams down, 2 to go.

Honestly, damned if I know how I did. I wrote a ton, and thought I was getting stuff right, and I didn't panic because I didn't know anything, but in the end, I'm just not at all sure I got the right stuff. Civil Procedure was much better than Constitutional Law - I really felt confident about myself coming out of that exam until I had to hear 2 days of people complaining about how hard it was. Then I remembered the valuable lesson from last semester that I had just completely disregarded - do NOT talk to law students about how they did about an exam or how they feel about an upcoming exam. It'll only make you panic.

So now i'm in the library, about to start in on the dreaded property. This exam will either be ridiculously easy or ridiculously hard - I'm pretty sure there'll be no in between. But come this time Friday, I'll be done! YAY!

Plan for the Day.

8 - 12 : Cram like it's nobody's business for Civil Procedure final

12 - 12:30 : Feed ducks, and remember what I like about Notre Dame.

12:30 - 1:30 : Make my way over to the law school where I will try and find the one corner in the school that doesn't contain 1Ls and hide so they don't panic me.

1:30 - 4:30 : Civil Procedure Final *insert death march here*

4:30 - 5:30 : Dinner. Possibly more ducks and re-remembering what I like about Notre Dame.

6 - I Pass Out : Study. Not for sure what yet, but it'll be scintillating, I guarantee.

Goodbye 1L Classes.

Hello finals.


Yesterday was my last day of classes for my 1L year. Sort of anticlimatic, I must say. Although, once we remembered at 9 o'clock or so that we were done for the year with classes, we had to go to the grocery store and buy alcohol, coloring books, and back massagers.

All in all, I'm feeling much more confident about myself this finals period. Whereas last semester at 9 am on the first day of study period I still had 3 outlines to finish out of 4, this semester, I have 4 of 4 done. :) Not that the material is any easier, and I still hate property with a white-hot glowing passion, but it feels nice to only have review left to get through. Oh yeah, and taking the darned things....

I also found a place to live for the summer in Indianapolis. It's a house in the suburbs with a young couple and their 18-month old daughter (hooray!) and so now all that's left to do is find a short-term lease on a car and i'm ready to go. Oh, and I also bought my plane ticket home for mothers day - so after finals end I'll be in Denver for 2 weeks working on the Law Review/Law Journals writing competition, trying to lose the weight I've gained this semester (fat chance with my uncle John cooking!) and relaxing before I start my job the day after memorial day. All in all, this semester is winding down nicely. I say this of course, because I haven't quite yet started studying for my first final on friday. The step between finishing an outline and getting myself to review is a huge one as it turns out.

I'm a 4-eyes!

I finally did it - I joined the land of the diagnosed visually impaired. Chelle, I fully concede defeat. You are the last remaining Hamilton with 20/20. Trophy to follow....

Duck Rape, Classes, and the Stupid F'ing Supreme Court

Highlights from my day:

*Saw my first ever duck rape. Kid you not. Walking down south quad after dinner, we saw three male ducks gang rape a female duck. They were running all over the sidewalk, and I swear to God, the female one came running to me for protection. (Ask Lynn, she doesn't lie). So I do what any good duck lover would do - i chased the damn male ducks so they'd leave her alone. And let me tell you, ducks don't scare easily. finally i gave up and we saw the most traumatizing thing i've ever seen in my life. (and yes, i know this is the standard way with ducks, but you watch it just once and tell me if you aren't scarred for life.)

*Registered for classes. Despite all the drama and the whining I heard later, it was a pain-free process for me. I got all the classes I wanted and this fall I'll be taking Business Associations, Conflict of Laws, International Law, Law of Education, and Civil Rights Law. Basically we devised our schedule by combining the most liberal professors we could find with the best average GPAs. Why do I say we? Because Lynn and I have all five classes together, and Sean is in 4 of them. I foresee this going very badly - not because of the classes (i love all of our classes) but because I'm as competitive as they come.

*The Supreme Court. Don't get me started. Cuz I'll cry. I swear I will. If you don't know, read here.

No Ben & Jerry's for Me

Today is free cone day at Ben & Jerry's. And while we use to loooove free cone day at Dartmouth and wait in line for hours (usually in rain or snow), they don't have a Ben & Jerry's here in South Bend. So no free cone for me today. Everyone else should go celebrate free cone day in my honor though, at least those of you who live in a Ben and Jerry's town.

Guess who's a moron?

1 hour ago I was soooo proud of myself. I completed and filed my taxes all by myself. I even thought that I'd go ahead and mail them tonight to get them out of my hands even though they aren't due till tuesday. so i did. and i walked home holding my head high - cuz dork that I am, I think it's kind of cool that I filed my taxes for the first time all by myself. I know - gold star or a chest to pin it on, huh?


Point is, I get all the way home. Walk in the door, and go SHIT!





I forgot to sign the damn things.

Facebook Stalker

So I know all I do these days is post youtube clips instead of actually writing anything substantive, but this one is my last one, I promise. ;)

Fun Clip...

...I believe this was on SNL, although not entirely sure. Compliments of the Dartmouth Hater:

My Humps

Busy weekend - Mark comes Friday and I go to Chicago on Sunday. The one good thing about going to a Catholic school is all the time you get off for Easter.

Backer on a Wednesday...

I came home early this morning from the Backer. That's clearly gotta be a sign my life is in shambles.


Oh. And I was sober. That's clearly gotta be a sign I'm just naturally that skeezy.

Vote for Fred & Milty!

Hey all, so I have a plea to make. My friends Fred & Milty are currently entered in a competition to raise funds for the clinic they built in their home village of Lwala, Kenya. All the competition involves is getting people to vote online for you - the first project to raise 20,000 votes gets $20,000. After about a week and a half of being in first place, Fred & Milty's project has slipped to third.

So, please, please, please! Just go check this website out. Take 5 seconds: Lwala
All it takes is one vote a day - i've been doing it for 2 weeks now and it takes me 5 seconds every morning when I wake up.

Fred & Milty are just about the most amazing guys you'll ever meet. They both went to Dartmouth with me, and while we were there, both their parents died of AIDS complications. Despite that, they brought their younger sister Grace to come to high school here in the states and their older sister Flo to go to nursing school. Currently, they are both at Vanderbilt Med School and in the summers and spare time, they somehow have managed to build their village a health care clinic that's going to open next month.

If you need anymore inspiration, read this blog: Abbie's Blog
It was written by a girl who traveled to Lwala to help them last summer and is the most inspiring blog I have found to date.


Fred, Milty, Grace, and Flo (L to R, top to bottom)...

Way to go, PH!

My constitutional law professor was on jeopardy tonight and won! This is about the most exciting news of my entire semester. this is the same professor who asks his class to tape veronica mars and gilmore girls when he's going to be out of town. go figure - he's a multi-faceted guy apparently. he's approaching tex dutile in the list of my favorites. now if it weren't for this damned heinous assignment he's given us....

See his "hometown howdy" here.

Towing Cars

This afternoon we were chilling on a bench in South Quad because we didn't want to be inside anymore. Up walks Lauren who just got back from driving her boyfriend to pick up his car - it got towed from her apartment this weekend. She was telling the story of how they had no clue it had been towed for *hours*, and her exact comment was: "his car was parked like RIGHT outside my apartment. You'd think we'd notice the f*cking car being towed away." It was an entertaining story to hear her tell, it was all the more entertaining because right as she delivers the line about the "f*cking car" Father Coughlin, the priest who teaches first-year ethics class, walked up behind us and told us hello.

And speaking of towing cars, apparently my mom's apartment complex noticed today that she had expired tags on her car (tsk, tsk, Miss Kitty - you're terrible at this) and took it upon themselves to have her car towed! Seriously! My only reaction is - who the heck do they think they are?!?! I mean, granted, I have personally yelled at my mom numerous times because she IS terrible at this stuff and I've was pulled over while driving on her expired tags a couple years ago. This is quite possibly the most absurd thing I've ever heard. It's not like they were trying to get back at my mom for other issues - she's never late on her rent, she's lived there for almost 3 years now, and the worst they have on her is that she got a ticket for parking in the handicapped spot once. And it's not as though she has more cars than she's allowed to have (she has one) or she has a non-functioning defunct car chilling in their lot. It's a nice subaru outback that she drives daily so they have no reason to think she just stuck a car in her lot and let it sit. Bah, I am outraged for her. Cuz you know me, I need a reason to get outraged - it's how I keep myself young and lively. ;)

"I can't live... if livin is without you!"

The power adapter to my laptop is on the fritz. I think some wires are kinked from wrapping the cord around too many times, and so it is being very temperamental and has given out on me several times in the last 24 hours. This is SO not the time for such antics, and so I'm stuck in the library computer lab, rotating between my laptop (when it decides it wants to work) and the lab computers.

Every time I get my laptop to work and start working on it again, I am reminded of how much I love my apple (stupid mo'foing power cord aside). All it takes for my extreme apple frustration and hatred to dissipate is 30 minutes on the dell lab computers. Functionality, speed, compatability and all of those other useful features essential to computers aside, my apple is just infinitely prettier, hands down. And that my friends, is all that matters to a vain, materialistic girl like me. ;)

*hides face*

Lynn is in 3 weddings this summer, starting in May. Lynn has decided to go tanning to get read for these weddings. Lynn invited me to go with her last night. Bagel is STUPID. Bagel forgets how poorly she tans. Bagel tells the attendant she wants 12 minutes. Bagel inwardly laughs at the look of shock the tanning attendant gives her. Bagel thinks: "HAHAHA! I spit on your time limits!" Bagel tans for 12 minutes.

Bagel wakes up this morning. Bagel thinks: "Damn! it's hot in this apartment." Bagel goes to get ready and looks at herself in the mirror. Bagel jumps (seriously) and gasps. Then Bagel collapses in a fit of giggles (hopefully not waking up the roommate).

Bagel looks like a fool! (seriously, my head is ridiculously red, except of course for the huge white circles under my eyes. where is angeles when I need someone to remind me what a giant moron I am before I do such moronic things?!?!)

Not Dead Yet...

...the key word being yet. This semester is killing me thus far, although I think it's for the best. I have way less free time than I did last semester in week 7, but I also am more on top of my game, especially with the outlining and whatnot. For everyone in my life who thinks I hate you or that I'm just about the worst long-distance friend/sister/daughter in existence, I apologize.

In the meantime, I took the job at Child Advocates and so I'm living in Indi this summer. I only know one other person in that whole city, so visitors will be more than welcome.

And since there is literally nothing else exciting in my life, I thought I might ask advice once more (this time, on a less controversial topic i hope ;>)... The pix below are my top three choices of bridesmaid dresses in Paige's wedding. She's letting us pick our own dress, but we have to stick with a particular designer and get navy, floor-length. I think I'm going to choose between one of these three (all of them come in navy, fyi). Thoughts?

Job Offer... HELP!

...So about two weeks ago I interviewed with a Judge for a clerkship and I never heard back. I assumed that meant I was S.O.L. - especially when he didn't respond to my follow-up email. But then today I got an email asking me to call him, so I did. He offered me a position, but not the clerkship. Instead, he said he had a spot for me in the public defender's office, or if I wanted it, he could get me an internship at Child Advocates, Inc., an organization that does the guardian ad litem stuff for that county. Basically, they are appointed to investigate cases of child abuse and neglect and report to the courts on behalf of the best interests of the children. It definitely *sounds* right up my alley, but the problem is that I would only be compensated $4,000 for the whole summer and it's in Indianapolis ~ which presents all sorts of fun housing and transportation issues (me being without a car and all...).

So my dilemma now is two-fold:
1. Do I take one of the two positions even though the compensation is so little? The money is a big issue, but at the same time this seems to be a very solid 1L summer job.
2. If I take the position do I go with the public defenders office or do I go with the child advocacy program? While child advocacy is much more up my alley, I still want to get a firm job next summer and I wonder if a public defender position might look more impressive on a resume.

These are my thoughts.... any advice? anyone? Especially law school kids who know what they're talking about as far as legal careers OR anyone who knows me personally and knows how much money I like to spend. ;)

indexed

this is a fun blog lauren told me about:

indexed

"Hi. We just wanted to say that we want to be you."

...said by Lynn to a Probate Court Magistrate who spoke today on her careers in juvenile law. She was spunky and fascinating and we loved her. She reminded me not to be so quick to sell my soul to firms this early and got me interested in family law again. Lynn and I got her phone number - hopefully we'll have lunch or coffee soon. I'll update y'all later, but for the record she might be my new hero.

and one last shout out i swear....

....cuz a blog isn't supposed to be the equivalent of a facebook wall, i get that. but i had to make one last shout out: to Big Mama (a.k.a. Mark Herman) who got a mother-f*cking 4.0 at georgetown law his very first semester. I didn't think a 4.0 in law school was even possible, so WAY TO GO!!!!!

(if i didn't think he was kinda keen, i'd totally hate his guts)

Team We Wanna See Jack Get in a Fight

I did it. I joined a bowling team.** We're "Team We Wanna See Jack Get in a Fight" in honor of the fact that Jack is the most meek, quiet guy we know who also paradoxically plays competitive hockey like nonstop. The first game I went to of Jack's I went to I got into BIG trouble for hollering "We wanna see you get in a fight, Jack!" because, apparently, it was not that kind of league. Maybe this bowling league will be more h-core.

Anyway, this Thursday is the first bowling game - and incidentally it starts at 9, the same time as Grey's. I'm going out tonight to buy the patch and the gum and the hypnosis tapes to kick this addiction, or at least survive my insane cravings from Thursday night until the episode is posted on iTunes Friday afternoon.

**yes, originally this post did read "boiling team" - i'm sorry. i'm a law student, i'm just counting down the days until hopefully i'm smart enough to have a secretary to proof the crud I write.

Shout out to Doubly Dead Duck....

....whom I think is Michelle. I finally caved last night and bought my first pair of snow boots. I've fought it for sooooo long (and fought Michelle on hers for so long), with the argument that I've lived in ridiculously snowy places all my life, have never needed snow boots, and don't need to start now. But everyone finally convinced me yesterday when my tennis shoes were soaked, my toes were frozen and the cuffs of my jeans were a wreck. So i went out and bought the dreaded UGG boots.

And this morning God or karma or the snow fairies decided to show their approval of my purchase with foot high drifts on the walk to school. It's snowing like a crazy mo'fo here!!! And my feet are sooooooooooo WARM. Lynn got a kick out of walking to school with me, or rather walking behind me while I trudged and busted my way through all the drifts clearing a path. I will never make a case against snow boots again, you win Chelle.

Swan Lake & snow

Wendoline and I went to see Swan Lake last night because a friend of ours got tickets and then couldn't use them. It was really phenomenal. Apparently, it was a really rare fluke that this company (the Moscow Festival Ballet) came to South Bend (according to Emily, who gave us the tickets), so we were doubly lucky.

Now I've got to do lots and lots of work, which should be made the easier by the fact that it hasn't quit snowing since yesterday so there's nothing else I can do. One would think.... somehow I can still find a way to be unproductive though.

Also, quick shout out to Big Colle who has her general exam this week. I still don't know what the heck a general exam is but I do know that whatever it is, it's the reason why I'm glad I'm not getting my ph.D. anytime soon. She's been working nonstop for weeks and hasn't even had time for a Mr. San Francisco visit. So whatever it is, that means it's gotta be very VERY serious. Good luck, Big Colle!!!!!

To bowl or not to bowl

I got an email this afternoon that began with the following greeting:

"Law Students:

It is that time again. The best of the year to be a law student . . .Thursday
night bowling!"

My least favorite part of Notre Dame Law School is the bowling. It's really a big deal here. In the fall, there's football games. In the spring, there's bowling.I loved the former; I HATE the latter. I hate rental shoes and I hate the uncomfortable seats and I hate stupidly watching my ball roll into the gutter each and every time I bowl. But I think Lynn got it right when she said that the worst part of bowling is that you have this obligation to react every single time you bowl and there's only so many times you can do the "Aw, shucks!" motion with your arm before you just feel dumb.

The problem is that everyone is doing it. And it won't really kill me..... unless one can die from the foot fungus that comes from rental shoes. So do I suck it up and be social and give up on everything I hold dear? Or do I stand firm and spend my Thursday nights alone and bemoaning the fact that I went to a bowling school and now have to watch Grey's Anatomy all by my lonesome? In the end, I think the peer pressure will get me. Because my anti-bowling sentiments aren't *really* worth pitching a fit about such a "time-honored tradition." Nonetheless, although Thursday nights will probably find me with an obligatory pair of rental shoes on, in my heart and on my blog, I will always be a vehement resister.

That's deep, yo.

Me: "I got really drunk last night and wound up saying a lot of things I probably shouldn't have and definitely wouldn't have if i weren't drunk."
Miss Kitty: "Hmmmm.... well. there's always tomorrow."
Me: "Tomorrow? There's always tomorrow for what?"
Miss Kitty: "I don't know. To get drunk and do it all again?"

She's deep yo, that mom of mine. ;)

"she's so accidentally cool"

this is bagel the m&m

;)

Apparently I'm not alone....

....and 51% of other American women are also not ready to be married yet. Although, I'm not going to lie, this article kinda made me wanna hurry up and get there:

Unmarried Women

Funniest phone call of 2007

So I called Courtney this morning because she's driving back to campus today and I promised to make her and Shane-o dinner. Shane-O gets on the phone b/c he wanted to talk and the following ensued:

S: So, Bagel, what are you doing with your life right now?
B: Well, Shane-O, I'm studying contracts. What are YOU doing with your life right now?
S: Well, I don't know if you heard but I joined the army.
B: I did hear something to that effect...
S: So. Bagel. How's that whole law school thing working out for you?
B: Shane-O are you trying to recruit me for the military?
S: Why, yes, Bagel, I am.
B: (laughs so hard she can hardly breathe)

Apparently, when Shane joined the Reserves, part of the deal was that he was expected to give his recruiter the phone number of one other person a week that might be recruited to join. I was a little surprised at how much the military resembles a pyramid scheme. But nonetheless, the idea of me joining the military is very entertaining. So I told Shane to give my number to his recruiter because that's one conversation I think I could learn a lot from. Anyone else who thinks this is entertaining, let me know. I'll have Shane pass on your number to his recruiter.

*guest post by Big Colle*

Little Bagel left her blogger logged in and let me borrow her computer. Mwu ha ha ha.

We are snowed in, in Denver. Michelle and Megan are drinking 200 proof permafrost and getting ready to douse me, too, as I am becoming afraid that my flight Saturday morning will be canceled and I will be here all weekend and not get to see Mr San Francisco. :(

And his Christmas presents are on my bed, all wrapped up, sad and alone. I hope they don't stay that way. Boo hoo. My sisters aren't taking to my depression very well so I must go get drunk now.

Love,
Big Colle

Freedom in Peril

(Disclaimer: my sister is faulting me because of the overtly political/liberal tone of this post. I would just like to say before I offend anyone that I do believe in the right to bare arms, I just hate conservative propoganda of all sorts. Hence my liberal diatribe in response...)


This morning, I found the following fascinating piece of literature on a friend of a friend's blog: (click on the photo for the full brochure)


My favorite part is the picture of Mr. Whitey and his lovely wife in the background guarding their child from the black threat that lurks in the distance. Apparently, we need rifles to do this. Forget that fact that Mr. Middle-Class-Whitey and his wife would have been long gone by this point and safely tucked away complaining about the oppressive taxes they have to pay in order to keep that black threat in line. And poor Grandma who had a pistol ready and waiting when those commie, bastard rescue forces tried to help her. The thing is, I wonder what these same people would have to say about Iraqi civilians who feel threatened by the rescue forces and want to arm themselves and fight anyone who encroaches on their homes. Would Granny still be allowed to carry a gun if she had brown skin instead of white and instead of a crucifix in her home she had a prayer rug? Anyway, by the time I got to the "Illegal Alien Gangs" I had to quit reading I was so enraged. Let's see how long you can hold out.

Merry Christmas

In life, as I see it, there are two kinds of people: Christmas Eve present openers and Christmas Day present openers. (Well, there's non-Christmas present openers too, but we won't address them.) In my family, we are Christmas Eve present openers. That's the way life should be - I just don't trust Christmas Day present openers. I can't tell you what it is about them, but they really cross me the wrong way. They're too wholesome - too Hallmark greeting cardy. And I'm pretty sure that as a Christmas Eve present opener, I am among the minority. But that's fine by me because as I see it we are an elite few. And god help me if the man of my dreams is a Christmas Day present opener - that would be a total deal breaker.

All this is an elitist, sarcastic, judgmental way of saying: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! :)

Snowdays

"I could totally make out with myself right now..."

Michelle and I are snowed in. And by snowed in, I mean SNOWED IN. there's a foot of snow on the ground already and there's supposed to be 2 by tomorrow at noon. We have no car because we had to leave hers at work and have someone with four wheel drive bring us home. We're going nuts. and messing with the photo features on my computer. I'll post them later, but trust me, it's sick and demented. We look like aliens or REEEEEALLY obese - like elephantitis obese. Then Michelle discovered the "mirror" feature on the webcam of my camera and she tried to take a picture of her making out with herself. It's sick. Sick and demented. And we've only been home 2 hours. We probably won't be able to leave for another 22. I don't think we make it.

Stupid internal clock....

....that wakes me up at 6 am for no good darned reason. I'm suppposed to be passed out cuz exams are over. :(

and to celebrate yesterday, i had 3 long island ice teas with dinner and then went to the mall and spent more on a bra at Victoria's Secret than I did on a pair of boots. Woops.


Thanks to Mike for making my whole morning:
I want this baby!!!

Last One!

3 hours, 20 minutes and I'll have all these heinous exams behind me for the next 5 months. WOOOOOHOOOOO!

And even if I can't do this....

The world apparently will end soon anyway:

End of Ze World

2.5 more days

Today: Criminal Law
Friday: Torts
Friday Night: Copious amounts of drinking
Saturday: hungover flight home where I watch every episode of Grey's Anatomy from the 3rd season and drink more copious amounts of alcohol in O'Hare

i can do this. i can do this. i can do this.

a little perspective

Went to a cafe this morning to start studying at 7:30. I grab a bagel and a banana and sit down and start hauling out all of my criminal law materials, all the while trying to fight back that anxiety that wants to creep in. (And was greatly increased yesterday after a couple 2Ls asked me who I had for Criminal Law and then after I told them replied with an "Enjoy your C.")

Just when I think I'm sick of this, and I'm ready to give up, enter Pauline, a woman who is employed on the maintenance staff here in Grace Hall. Pauline has 9 kids, and she raised them all by herself, after her husband died in a truck accident. She used to work in the fields in Colorado ~ that's how we got to chatting, and has been here at Notre Dame since the 70s. At one point, she had me tearing up when she was describing her two children who have already passed away. She used to work as maintenance staff in the dorms, and she was so close to her "kids" that she'd loan them her car whenever (she offered it to me numerous times), and the football team once came and painted the entire inside of her house. She's the same age as my mother, with 21 grandchildren and even some great-grandchildren. And now I think no matter how difficult this crim law stuff and Dutile's issue spotter are, I'm going to count my lucky stars that I'm not trying to raise nine kids on my own and I'm still at the point in my life where my friends and family don't fault me for only taking care of myself and trying to better myself and get an education. Especially because should I ever find myself in a situation where I was responsible for 9 other people, I'm pretty sure that I couldn't do it with even half of Pauline's spirit and charm.

In the mean time, back to mens rea and complicity.

it's a mystery!

at first I thought concerned 2L was nicolle or michelle just being clever, but now i'm intrigued..... do I get a hint as to who this is?

i'm still kickin!

finals aren't going to kill me, and i'm doing fine....well, maybe. the thing that gets me about law school is that no matter how you feel about your own performance, it only matters how you do relative to anyone else. so the "how'd you do?" question can't actually be answered until january when i find out how everyone else did.

but sometime after my contracts final I decided i've been a big crybaby about this whole process and I just need to suck it up and get over myself and keep trucking. if I was meant to get average grades, I will. if I was meant to make law review, I will. and right now all i can do is suck it up and study civ pro. and quit bitching. that's my new years resolution.

breathe in, breathe out

I'm so screwed. 27 minutes from now. going to die. can't even think. i'm fuuuuucked.


HELP!

Death by Finals.

I put on a skirt, boots, and mascara today.



Because when this Contracts final finally gets the better of me, I at least want to be able to say I did my damndest to go down while still looking kinda cute.

Law Student Humor

i laughed out loud when I read this.... Hard up for humor much? I think so....

"You can't spell manslaughter without laughter."
-Random law student's IM away message-


Then this is a quote from my Torts prof:

You have to look at law school exams like this joke: "A guide and a tourist are in the jungle and they come across a ravenous tiger. The guide starts putting on his tennis shoes and lacing them up. The tourist turns to him and says: "Are you serious?!?! Do you really think you can outrun this tiger?" The guide responds: "I don't have to outrun the tiger. I just have to outrun you."

Who says there's no fun in law school? (Well, actually, I do. but not today. today i'm bemused.)

haha, fuuuuuck.

Thanks Colle. Thanks for that....

Death via Brady

I came six inches from my death last night. This golf cart came flying out of nowhere and literally missed hitting me by 6 inches. As it veered off I stood there ranting and raving and mad as all get out. That didn't even change when Sean explained to me that the golf cart passenger was Brady Quinn (quarterback for NDame, fyi, and headed to the NFL). That just made me more mad. Stupid Brady. Can't win against USC and maniac driver to boot.


*plus*

*equals*

I smell! YAY!

Some lady sitting at a table next to me in a cafe in Lincoln just got up from her table and walked behind me. It was a little odd, I thought, because it looked as though she were trying to see what I was doing on my computer. I wrote her off as nosy and then went back to work. But when she sat back down, she turns to me and asks me if I was wearing a particular brand of perfume. Normally, I do wear perfume, but today I'm scrubbing down, so nope, none on me. Anyway, she was highly complimentary of my odor nonetheless.

This is a big step for me: when I started Dartmouth, my friend Chris once commented to me that I have no odor whatsoever. I was sad b/c everyone else had an odor and I was completely nondescript in that department. Apparently, I've overcome that problem naturally though. Well, in reality I'm entirely sure I smell like nothing today, and the lady had misplaced where the smell was coming from. But whatever, I take what I can get!

Tex Dutile

Quotes from my favorite law school prof: (of criminal law)


"The first controversial issue about M’Naughten, and quite probably the most crucial, is how the hell do you spell it?!?!"
"It was later supplemented by the irresistible impulse test which was interestingly defined as an impulse that was irresistible."


Happy Thanksgiving Break

While my mom is the queen of making comments that just make no sense whatsoever, my dad is the king of the uber offensive jokes. Case in point from his visit this weekend:

"The ACLU?!?! Really? They're just a bunch of commie, pinko, f*gs." (*I die of shame*)

"The last time Dartmouth won a game, Bagel was still a virgin." (Given that this comment was issued in front of not only my family, but Sean as well, I decided I would kill my father at the earliest opportunity.)

And they were more, lots more. Three of which I started to type and then realized they were just too inappropriate. But, I survived, and my liberal morals and values are still in tact.

*Gulp!*

First final is tomorrow.

Granted, it's for Legal Research - the dumbest class ever, and only one credit hour, but I'm used to Dartmouth where every class is weighted the same, so I'm having a hard time accepting that I can take a final exam for one class less seriously than for another and it won't affect my GPA.

Also, this site made me homesick for Hanover.

I'm a godmommy!!!

Hooray, I have a godson!

Carter William Ebbers
7 lbs 1 oz and 18 1/2 inches long


No pix yet, but wait till I get to NE for Thanksgiving!

Ben Folds Concert = AMAZING!

Miss Kitty = EQUALLY AMAZING!

I've got to say, my mom is the funniest IM buddy ever. She sent me an IM saying "goodday my daughter" and that was the only message she sent me that didn't include 7 million sentences in one. For example, "goodday my daughter" was followed by "Hey I have bills to pay and other stuff, ND is playing AirForce this weekend in Colo Want to go?? Okay, See ya then, and I haven't seen bob all week" which was followed by a kissing text smiley that I'm pretty sure was a mistake. Bob is my mom's pseudo bf. And by pseudo bf, I mean he has a crush on her and she constantly refers to him as "bald, fat, and a liar" (although I think she added the last bit only after he called her 'hot').

I wouldn't trade my mom for anything in the world.

Ben Folds is Tonight!

Holy Crap! SO excited!



and in other news, last night was the first night I fell asleep without having to deal with my anxiety. A big step for me. Today: conquer anxiety. Tomorrow: conquer law school. The day after that: conquer the world.

Election Night + Alcohol + Party + Hottub = Bad Idea. REAL bad idea. Mind you, I'm posting this at 5:55 am.... I just got home and I have class in three hours.


fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Abortion & Supreme Court

I don't know if anyone is interested in this other than me, but this Wednesday attorneys will argue a case on partial birth abortion. The case involves a federal law banning partial birth abortions - the EXACT same statute was passed in Nebraska and struck down in a previous Supreme Court case, Stenberg v. Carhart. This federal statute was passed as a direct challenge to that decision and is the first Supreme Court case dealing with abortion under the new justices. Of course, the decision won't be published for a while and this Wednesday is just the day that oral arguments are made. But nonetheless, at the end of the day, the arguments will be posted here under the case of Carhart v. Gonzales.

Mark my words, nothing good will come out of this case.

North Carolina Game

Lots of fun. Lots of hats. Lots of "rum deals."



(click on the pic for more pix)

And I lose.

Today in torts we dealt with issues of liability and duty owed in civil cases to unborn fetuses. For example, if X injures Y and she is pregnant with a fetus, later born and named Z - is X liable to Z if Z was injured?

I made the argument that it was logically acceptable to hold people responsible for injuries caused to viable fetuses and not to those fetuses who were previable. Mistake. BIG mistake. It was called a legal fallacy, a logical inconsistency only argued so that aboriton would be legal, completely incosistent and arbitrary, etc. In fact, it was argued that b/c the viability argument I put forth was based on whether the baby was capable of independent funcitoning or was completely dependent on the mother for life that I would then take away the legal rights of disabled or handicapped people.

I was the only one who made the argument. The other liberals who I know exist somewhere in that class of 100 are just a bunch of spineless jellyfish. Jason, to console me after class, promised to update me as soon as the "megan hamilton is a baby killer" facebook group goes up.

Nov.1 & Dec.1

Gulp. Yesterday was November 1st. The official American Bar Association sanctioned day where before which the Career Services Office isn't allowed to have any contact with us and must turn their head to the wall when they walk by us in the hall and and after which our law school anxieties and tensions multiply exponentially as we are hit with an onslaught of material on finding a summer job. I've gotten hit with 6 emails in the past 24 hours, one open house yesterday and resume feedback, one orientation session today, another set of emails from Job Search engines, and a direct one-on-one counseling session next week.

The only day that could be worse than Nov.1 is December 1st. The official American Bar Association sanctioned day where we can officially start talking to employers. And even thought that's the *first* day for contacting employers, according to my mentor, it might as well be the last too, because if you don't send your resumes out on that day exactly, then employers won't even look at you for summer associate jobs. You've got the dreaded 1Litis and the employers willing to risk their time, money, and energy on you are few and far between so you better do everything you can between Nov.1 and Dec.1 to be ready to send 1,000,000 resumes and cover letters out on Dec.1 or you'll be stuck volunteering your efforts this summer in a legal aide clinic. There are definitely worse fates in life, but law school is expensive and I for one am sick of being broke.

And in other news, today is the day we throw my civil procedure professor a birthday party in class. It's a 20 year tradition and I'm excited to not have to finish my reading. Instead, I'm spending the morning trying to find a job.

Trick or Treat!

This afternoon the graduate housing sponsored a trick or treat event for kids from the local homeless shelter. My favorite was the very first group who came through. When asked what they were, this was the response:

"I'm a ladybug!"
"I'm a firefighter!"
"I'm a giraffe!"
"I'm - I'm - I'M a mighty christian warrior!!!!!!"

The last kid had a tin foil crown on that said "Mighty Warrior for Jesus Christ" and won the the award for most creative innovator. Granted, there wasn't actually a competition, but I gave him the prize and snuck 5 pieces of candy into his bag.

This is me: (reincarnated as a baby panda of course)

Video

Ben Folds Tickets

This morning tickets went on sale. While waiting in line to purchase some, I was inspired to write a poem to post on a friend's Facebook wall. This sums up my feelings entirely:

Ben Folds, Ben Folds, how I love you.
So much so I don't know what to do.
Oh WAIT! I know, I'll get up at seven
and go wait in line - OO! That'd be heaven.

But wait! there are others who had that idea too
So many of them that it's literally a zoo.
There are hundreds and hundreds of girls and of boys
They whine and they grumble and they make too much noise.

I wish they would die, these people in line.
Cuz then I'd move up, and that'd be just fine.
But for now they're still breathing and I'm still stuck waiting.
Now my plot is so dire, it's Ben Folds that I'm hating.

From the dry erase board in Room 121

Written in the corner of a completely clean dry erase board in my first class of the day:

"These are the times that try mens' souls!!!!"

Indeed.

Bye, Bye Fall Break

Fall Break is officially over. How do I know? I've been cooped up in my room for hours today doing work. Over break, I heard the "how do you like law school" question a million and a half times. My answer was always the same: "I like it a lot. The work isn't that bad, I actually have more free time than at Dartmouth. Except it's so frickin' intense. Everything you do has a heightened sense of importance and added stress levels about it."

Case in point: I'm reading for my legal writing class, a chapter on how to write a breif for the court. The introduction reads as follows "The briefs you write will be vital to your clients... Your brief-writing will be important to you as well... So write as if your practice depends on it, because it does." Once again reminding us that everything we do this year will affect us forever. And while I understand this exaggerates the passage a tad, it's really one of the lighter examples I have.

Welcome back, anxiety.

Fall Break Pix

"It's Naughty-Boy-O'clock!"
-Nicolle, after receiving a savory text message from Mr. Sanfrancisco and while Michelle was talking to her drunk ex on the phone in the other room

Merry Christmas

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!

I'm SOOOOO excited - BEN FOLDS is coming to Notre Dame in November!

HOLY FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

Plus, I'm going home today! Today is motherfucking christmas in motherfucking october!

Welcome to NDame on game day.

Went for a walk this morning for a break from work and to get some breakfast. The following things reminded me that it was game day at Notre Dame:

* No less than three people stopped me to ask where they could find Jesus. (Touchdown Jesus, that is)
* I don't care where you were on campus - even if the very farthest corners where no people dare to walk - you could hear the sound of bagpipes
* At 9:30 in the morning men wearing nothing but speedos propositioned me to buy their brats
* The woman who is at least 60 years old and works at the counter of the campus Burger King had died her gray hair green
* For every four men I passed, at least one of them was throwing, catching, or carrying a football.

A baby chipmunk ran into my foot today while I was walking into class. I was so shocked and felt so guilty, I didn't even notice all the worms I stepped on and smeared all over my shoes. It was ridiculously gross.

This morning was all about how nature and I are completely out of sync.

This is sick....

BabyToupee


.... and yet i'm still kinda chuckling.

Oh, Biermann!

Got a blitz from Biermann last night about his one pitch stint on a friend's baseball team. He was subbing for his friend as a favor......

my first at bat:
i swing at a less-than-perfect pitch which hits off the bottom of the bat, the ball bounces right in front of the plate and hits me in the face

that's an out

Facebook song

Robes

I went jogging around the lake today and part way around I saw a guy walking in what looked like a black or brown cloak. The immediate memory this brings back to me are the weird kids at Dartmouth who would wear dungeons and dragons type cloaks freshman year. The kind that were in Phi Tau, and not like likely to get laid anytime soon.

The closer I got to this cloaked figure however, the more I realized he wasn't the dungeons and dragons type. Rather he was a seminarian (one of the guys here to study to enter the priesthood). The funny thing about it was that the robes were likely going to keep him from getting laid anytime soon as well.

What's the deal with robes and celibacy?

ACLU = Death.

at the Legal Voices for Children and Youth meeting yesterday, the president (a guy named Ben) brought up an idea he had to go around and teach local kids about the constitution and civil liberties. he got the idea because he went to an 8th grade class for career day and asked the class if they knew who made the law. they voted unanimously that the police did.

anyway, so he suggests that this is a problem and maybe we could do something. In fact, he's pretty sure the ACLU puts out informational videos for kids on civil liberties.

Well, the meeting ended shortly thereafter because a class was starting in the same room. We didn't really get to finish the discussion. But after the meeting ended, Ben was approached by like 4 people (out of the 14 at the meeting) accusing him of making our organization too political and he's clearly sending the wrong message and he's going to alienate all of the conservatives who might want to help and on and on. all just by mentioning the word "ACLU" - I was shocked. what kind of whackjob school is this?!?!

I ran home to comfort myself by watching Bill Clinton on the Daily Show.

Randy

There's a slight problem on the home front with Miss Kitty. She and her bff, Randy (whom she describes as :"He's gayer than a 3 dollar bill!"), are getting to be quite sassy. I've noticed as of late that she is a lot sassier in conversation and ridiculously blunt even if the situation doesn't require it.

For example, she told me that about a week ago she turned to a gal she works with and said: "You know, you really have a bad mouth" - apparently meaning the girl is vulgar or something. The girl was offended and told others that she thought Miss Kitty hates her now. I probably would have been hurt had a woman I worked with said that to me, but more importantly, last night when Randy said at work "Now I've stuck at lot of things in my orifice, but that isn't one of them!", Miss Kitty just giggled and didn't feel the need to lecture him about the quality of his mouth.

So clearly she's got her favorites in this world, and sucks to be the people who aren't on that list. Thus far, she hasn't directly turned her new attitude on me, so I'm lucky. And in the mean time, I sure get a kick out of hearing how ornery she's being, but here's hoping she doesn't become ornery to me anytime soon.

Quote from my Criminal Law Prof.

I’ve been here a long time and there’s always a tendency to overreact after a loss like this. You’ve got to look at it like I do: [long pause] God let his people down.

-Tex Dutile-

Needless to say, we got our asses handed to us by Michigan this weekend. :(

It's Official

Paige's Announcement

I am the only single girl in the world. (And for the record, that line was meant to be sung to the tune of "The Only Living Boy in NY")

It's cases like this....

....that make me wanna be a personal injury lawyer:

Criag's List Baiting

Apparently I'm supposed to hate this

First home game today - SOOOO much fun! Tailgating was crazy - looked more like a packed state fair than a college campus. And in the process I found out that I'm a little out of the loop when it comes to law school. Apparently, everyone's more or less hating it. Or at least doesn't like it all that much. We ran into a kid who Jack and Sarah knew and he's a 2L at chicago. He was wishing us luck and telling us not to worry that we hate law school, everyone 1L does. We all just kinda laughed it off and then went on our way. Walking away, I commented that I must be doing pretty good - I certainly don't hate law school. At the exact same time, both Sarah and Lynn responded "I Do!!' To which I inquired of everyone else: out of the 7 of us at the game, 2 of us don't hate law school, 2 do, and 3 strongly dislike it. I guess I'm ahead of the curve then.

Anyway, for visuals of the above mentioned people see pic below. (From L to R: Wendolyn, Lynn, Sarah, Jack, Jason, me)

I renew my allegiance to Saturday mornings.

This morning I woke up waaaaay to early (6:30) and had a stomachache. Then I started thinking about finals and that was enough to panic me out of bed. It’s my new favorite thing – whenever I’m only half paying attention this weird little gremlin (yes, that’s right, gremlin – what other animal form would finals come in?!?) pops in to my head and scares the crap out of me and makes me think I should be studying for exams that are 4 months away.

Anyway, that’s completely beside the point. My point is that I got out of bed and decided that now would be the perfect time to do laundry. So I head to the community center and realized that I don’t have the proper change to get quarters from the change machine. Next stop: the visitor parking lots. Even though it’s only 7 in the morning (and the game doesn’t start till 3:30), they are already filling up with tailgaters who want to get prime spots. 2 5’s and 1 10 later, I head back to the community center.

When I get to the laundry room, I find I’m no longer alone. Meet Joan Claire – a 2L from Portland who is very friendly. Before she leaves, she offers me her Civil Procedure study guide and gets my mail box so she can leave it in there for me. A study guide is a book published by an independent company (there are several of them) that is supposed to be a comprehensive guide to your law school courses. They run about 30 bucks each, and I’ve decided that it would probably be best not to use them unless I’m completely lost. But hell, I’m not going to turn down a free one.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: early morning people are hands down the nicest people you’ll ever meet.

Brangelina

I wonder if Brad Pitt is going to wait to get married until brothers & sisters and motheres & sons can get married:

Marriage

I agree with his point mostly, but it was very awkwardly worded.

Update....

I am now the executive secretary for Legal Voices for Children and Youth.... woops!

Don't get me wrong, I'm really excited because I think this is a perfect extracurricular to get involved with (they even train members to become guardian ad litem's for children in suspect abuse situations - basically you just investigate the situation and make a report to the court as to your findings of abuse or no abuse), but I probably should have been a little less hasty in signing up. On the flip side, I think it's going to be an amazing experience and I really think it might help me find funding for Africa as well as a possible job for the summer!

So, I guess the overall conclusion is YAY!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!! HERE'S HOPING I DIDN'T JUST SIGN MY SUICIDE NOTE!!!!!

Woops

I did the one thing I told myself I was NOT allowed to do this year.

I ran for office.



They're tallying the votes now, I kinda hope I don't get it.

Slow Learner

Yesterday I went to a meeting called "How to be Successful in Law School." It was a panel talk with 4 3Ls (the editor of ND's Law Review, the President of the Student Bar Association, the captain of the moot court team, and the executive officer of the Public Interes Law Forum) discussing their methods of success while in law school. There were a few standard, to-be-expected comments like "don't fall behind," "don't skip class," etc. One interesting commonality in all of their speeches, though, was that they all started out with a story of how when they were freshmen, they were too paranoid with work and studying. They spent all of their time in the library and all they did was work, work, work.

The take home message they wanted us to get out of that was that we shouldn't be too obsessive or anal retentive our 1L year. We'd be happier with balance, we need to calm down. Cuz once they hit their 2L year they slowed down on the work and started doing other things and then they felt happier/more balanced/etc.

The take home message I got? Well, clearly everyone of these students is at the very top of his/her game. They have the most prestigious spots one can have here at ND Law, and every single one of them spent their whole freshman year in the library, obsessing over work and not much else, and then their 2L year they tackled extra curriculars and got to the top of those, and then their 3L year, they had all of the positions most coveted here. All four of them had almost the exact same story. So, CLEARLY, despite their warnings and advice, I need to be doing EXACTLY what they did if I want to succeed here.

The ironic bit is that maybe this is evidence of how I'm a slow learner. And slow learners probably aren't going to succeed in law school....

Prediction

Hillary v. McCain

McCain wins.

Unfortunately. Although he sure as hell isn't as bad as Bush.

I wanna be a sex & the city girl

Before I end up as a settled, hopefully successful, midwestern wife/mom/attorney/judge what have you, I really want a chance to be a sex & the city girl. Today in Legal Writing I sat by a window, with the sun on my back and an incredibly dull lecture in front of me and somewhere in the mix I started wishing I lived in Boston. This is a new habit of mine - in times of good weather, I randomly start thinking longingly of life in Boston on the one hand and being a Miranda-type NY lawyer on the other.

It's incredibly bizarre if you know me. I don't like big cities, I hate New York, I love the midwest, and for years I've told any who'll listen that I'm going to settle down and spend the rest of my life somewhere between the Rockies and the Appalachians. But now adays, somewhere between my homesickness for Hanover and the culture shock of adapting back to life in the Midwest (where as Mike found out everyone is on the surface exactly the same), I feel a total drive to go back to the East Coast at the very first opportunity. This is so bizarre, I'm almost ashamed to admit it. But for right now, my plan is to go to Boston (I could never be a true Sex & the City girl in the NY sense) after I graduate and spend my first few years living the Miranda lifestyle until I'm ready to settle down with a guy and a family.

But one addendum to that lifestyle: this weekend we fed the ducks again a couple of times and at one point, I had four ducks eating out of my hands. Mike, ever the NYer, was terrified and grossed out. So I only want to be Miranda to the point that I can still have ducks eat out of my hands. Which to me says Miranda and Charlotte combo. The job and lifestyle of Miranda without the hardassedness. Who knows, maybe I'll do the whole born-again virgin thing too. ;)