Well, I'm halfway through exams! Both my half year courses're done and I don't have to think about them again until the bar exam. I felt pretty good about both exams too. I think my essay was much better written than the practice for Civ. Pro.
I'm ready to get home, though. Only two to go, and I'll get there! It's probably really warm, which'll be hilarious.
My next exam is Property, which I'm already fairly comfortable with, but future interests is a complicated thing, so I'll be concentrating on that over the next few days. After that, I have contracts, which is the political agenda class that doesn't teach contracts, so that'll be a load of fun to study for, since she'll likely be testing us on things not her political agenda. :/
Oh well, I'll be back for the Christmas Eve party and, from what I hear, I'm invited (or potentially invited) to the gingerbread house party? That should be pretty cool!
I can't believe I found these videos! I've been looking for them for a little while now.
Well, I may not be able to go to Thanksgiving in Atlanta, like I thought. Turns out I got the distance pretty wrong. I thought it would be 11 hours because it was 19 to Albany, and it's 8 to Atlanta (both from my home). I just subtracted and assumed that would be right. :/ It's actually more like 16 hours. I don't know if I'll be able to realistically do that...
Parents and brother are telling me to think about it, but unless they feel like buying me a ticket to Atlanta, I'm having trouble seeing it happening. I was looking forward to seeing my cousins and my Uncles and Aunts along with my fam too. :(
So, Kate and Marie visited, that was amazing! It was also 2 weeks ago. I wish it was now. :(
I got another practice test back today. I didn't do as well as I'd have liked because I continue to be conclusory! It's really annoying. I try to explain every position I take, but I always manage to miss one. I guess I need to take a LOT of practice exams to get out of that habit before the real thing comes up. I also have to make sure I understand EVERYTHING.
I'm having a little trouble with venue and removal jurisdiction. I think I'll look over that tonight. We're actually starting to write something for lawyering! I must say I'm very excited! I enjoy writing immensely. It'll definitely be better than those frikkin' research paths that we stressed over for most of the semester until just last week discovering that they're proportioned very minutely in the overall grade! >_<
I'm going to Atlanta for Thanksgiving, for sure. Time is permitting, but tight. I'll have a few days there, and I'll probably be working a little over the break as well. Still, it should be fun! I really like hanging out with my cousins, and I don't get to do it a whole lot. Sometimes a couple of us are working and hanging out at the same time anymore, because we're mostly the same age. I don't have much time to screw around, though, if I want to do well on exams. :D
Law school has taught me so many things. Including jobs that I could never do. Some I already knew, but my classes are sure to reinforce it. Here's a list:
Taxicab driver Emergency phoneline operator Medical professional Railcar inspector Medical malpractice lawyer Psychiatrist Psychologist School Administrator Chimney sweep
I'm sure there are lots more that I'll learn about, but these are some that yield the most or the worst facts. Definitely not for me...
Kate and Marie are gonna be here in 25 hours and 26 minutes!!!!! I'm really excited!!!
So, it's 2:30 am and I'm still up because I just caught up with the class on my outline for Property! I had to get it done today because we've got a study group tomorrow and I won't have a chance to work on it. So I figured, what the hell's another 10 minutes for an update?
For those non-law students out there, an outline is just what it sounds like, an outline of the entire class. One usually starts them about this time.
Anyway, school's been going really well! I feel like I'm learning a lot! I love detail work, so this is definitely the profession for me. My favorite class is Torts, because it's really straightforward and clear. Plus the Professor rules. The other class that's very straightforward is Civ. Pro., but that's probably more because of the Professor.
Just today, it hit me how much work I'm going to have to do over the weekend. There's a whole research path to get done, which is basically an excuse for the professor to send you to the library and really get you frustrates, and that'll take about 10-15 hours, I guess. Plus, there's a practice exam in Property on to study for. That's in addition to all the normal readings that need to get done for classes according to the weekly schedule I keep.
We formed a study group! I'm very excited because it's all awesome and wicked smart people, so I think there'll be a huge benefit (especially because there're SIX of us!!).
In fact, until just a few minutes ago, 3 of us were in my room working on stuff, and it was hilarious! It might have been because Thursdays are really long for us, or the fact that it was 2:30, or a derivative or combination. It was awesome and should be done always. (Best sentence ever, I know)
I think, in my schedule this weekend, I MAY be able to squeeze a ride in, but I'm not positive. I guess we'll see. I haven't been riding much lately because of school or retarded roommates.
Speaking of which, one of them came in drunk at 2 am on a Thursday night tonight while we were studying. He's one of those in what Tina affectionately calls "The Dud Corner". My theory is that the dud corner is really only the generals, and that they command moronic legions. These are the people who come over to my apartment screaming, guzzling beer, and banging on walls at midnight while I'm trying to sleep. XD
Anyway, I'm tired. I spent way more than 10 minutes on this.
Well, I've been in Albany for about two weeks now, and I haven't really posted about it. So here it is! My post! It's cold sometimes and hot others here. I haven't found a group to ride with, and I don't think I'm going to, so I'm trying to create one myself instead. I HAVE found a great mountain to climb, though, and I do it often! The area is nice in some places and really NOT in others. There seem to be a lot of the latter, though. :( School started this past week. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I expected it to be the most terrifying and testing experience of my life. I guess I just came in with REALLY high expectations. It's still really interesting though! We read lots of interesting cases, and it seems like class is beneficial for different reasons than the book is (I never really experienced this in Undergrad, they just preached the book). Reading, learning, and writing are all very different here. It's like learning a whole new language (in fact, that's really what it is). The most interesting thing I've found so far is that there is never a right answer in law. You learn law concepts, as well as some specific statutes, and you're expected to use these concepts to make an effective argument. Your argument does not have to take one side or another, it only has to be effective. I love that. I feel like I can already be somewhat effective in doing this, so hopefully I'll become better! I did have one really scary event on the first day of one of my classes. The teacher pranked us. It was Wednesday, and my first Torts class. We have assigned seats in all these classes, and I sit close to the front. There were two girls sitting to my left. The Professor walked in, wrote the names of some students on the board, announced that those would be the students called on during the class, and immediately called on the girl sitting directly to my left. She asked, "What happened in Caudle v. Betts?" The girl stuttered and stated some incorrect fact. The professor questioned her, and she reversed her answer. She proceeded to grill the student for a few minutes while the rest of the class sat petrified. I had my hand to my mouth, and had since she called on the student. Finally she said, "Why don't we ask your neighbor-" mind you I was now petrified it would be me "-Ms. Phillips," That girl then respond with "But my name isn't on the board," The professor said, "Just because your name isn't on the board doesn't mean I can't call on you," They got into a spat for another moment or two, and then the room went silent. I was frozen, hand still over my mouth, thinking "Don't move, don't flinch, don't breath, don't blink or she'll see you and you'll be the target!" After a few minutes of intense, fearful silence, somebody in the back of the room raised his hand and asked "Are we going to have class today?" I was thinking, "Are you STUPID?! She just destroyed two people in a row! Why open your mouth!" Then she said, smiling, "There was supposed to be a fourth that came in late, and we had a big fight before he left. The three students I just grilled are my T.A.s and they'll be helping you through this semester. You could see the room relax a little. We were all still pretty tense, and slightly un-trusting, but we felt much better after she revealed that it was a joke. XD Turns out she's pretty nice and very helpful! Below are some pictures of the cooler parts of Albany, so that you can live my life with me! ( Albany picterrrs!Collapse ) So there you have it, Albany in all it's glory, or lack thereof. :)
I miss everybody pretty bad, especially my fam, and KT and fam. :(
So there you have it, my entire vacation in some kind of a nutshell of some sort.
Let me know if you liked/disliked any of the pictures. I'm working on my camera handling skill and I'd like to know if you have any points for improvement.
When yukihoshino linked to this, I looked at every single one. The best, by far, was this one:
I've been working with photoshop a long time, but I've never done anything spectacular with it. I don't know if you'd call this spectacular, but I really worked hard, and I think it came out well. This was inspired by that dumb-ass movie that just came out this weekend, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I was complaining about how the surfer looked awful and he was just a supped up version of the Capri Sun man. Then I thought of the Silver Surfer's job. Capri Sun delivery man! XD
I've discovered that I'll be incredibly poor after law school. I'll be about $150,000 in debt after 3 years! O_O $60,000 of that will be interest! So that's gonna really suck. :(
The love bugs over here have been completely insane. I can't believe how much they've been breeding!!! These are pictures of the love bugs around my house today. Apparently, they like bright colored things that have been freshly painted. That describes my yellow house. :(
In other news, I graduated, so I'm concentrating heavily on my future law education. By the way, I'm going to Albany Law School. So I've been filling out loan forms and dorm applications. Fun stuff! Here's what it looks like!
We're going to Savannah again next week, and since I read (or really listened to) "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", I'm even more excited than I was before I listened to it! Yay for awesome small cities!
Speaking of Savannah makes me think of Paula Deen, and we saw Jamie and Bobby Deen (her chilluns) at the Borders in Winter Park the other day. They look exactly the same as on TV. O_O They're really nice. After the book signing, nobody else was in line so we went up and harassed them some more. 'Twas awesome. Jamie's gonna be in Savannah when we're there. He said he'd remember us and get us in the restaurant (but I don't believe them. XD).
I'm in Albany Thomas Jefferson Dayton Suffolk I'm wait-listed John Marshall I'm out Emory Stetson Seton Hall I haven't received a response yet Duke Penn State FSU
I was flipping out a few days ago because I hadn't received a response from 4 schools and the seat deposit deadlines for a lot of them were rapidly approaching. Luckily, I emailed them and they all granted me an extension until the end of April/beginning of May. So, feeling frustrated, I called these other schools (who each told me it would be six to eight weeks for processing and a decision to be sent out. It's been over two months now). One of them had made a decision (and declined me. That was Seton Hall). Duke and Penn State could only tell me that my file was under review. Truly, that's all FSU was supposed to tell me as well. Instead, they told me it would be six to eight MORE WEEKS as of last week! That's really asinine. So because of their incompetence and incapability to produce a result, I all but have to forget about them. Right now, my school choice is between Suffolk and Dayton. Suffolk because it's the highest ranking of the schools I've been accepted to, and Dayton because it has a small business law program, and is offering me a $10,000 scholarship.
I'm in Albany Thomas Jefferson Dayton I'm wait-listed John Marshall I'm out Emory Stetson I haven't received a response yet Duke Seton Hall Penn State FSU It's looking promising Suffolk
So far, I've received four application responses. The one from Emory declined me (not that I wasn't expecting that) and three (Dayton, John Marshall, and Thomas Jefferson) accepted me!! I was super excited. I was a little worried in the back of my mind that I wouldn't get into any! O_O John Marshall wait listed me, though. That isn't all bad, because if I decided that was the best school for me, it's likely that enough people won't go there for me to be able to get in.
This Tuesday, I totally ran 4 miles in 30 minutes! So that was good.
Kate and I went to Typhoon Lagoon for our anniversary. It was awesome. Also, I took her to Victoria and Albert's for dinner, which was super expensive, but the best food I've ever had. It's totally worth it to be completely poor right now. XD
I got a new bike frame that I can actually use for a fixed gear conversion. So, when I get money I'm going to paint it myself! It'll be fantastic.
I've never been so stiff after a bike ride. On Saturday, they were really slamming and 5 of us got shot out the back of our group ride about 30 minutes in. So we got in our own little paceline and tried to catch them. We never did, but we finished the ride anyway. One of the guys (Tom) was doing most of the pulling, another (Doug) was doing the second most, and I came in at third. I did as much as I could, and it wasn't that I was breathing hard because thanks to running my cardio is really good now, but my legs just burned a lot quicker than theirs I guess. Anyway, the other two on the back did NOTHING. One of them was a Clydesdale (not that there's anything wrong with that!) and when he dropped off, I was a little glad. The second guy seemed like he could have (wasn't acting tired at all) but he didn't. He pulled off too. So then there were 3 of us, and we kept going as hard as we could to the end. About 3 miles before the finish, I was really stiffening up, I think it's just because I'd never ridden on the front that much before, and about a mile before the end, my legs muscles screeched to a halt and refused to do any more, no matter how hard I tried to make them. I had to let the other two go. It was a lot of fun, but DAMN! Right after the ride I could barely walk, and when I walked upstairs I thought my leg muscles were going to tear out of my body!
The Winter Park Library has awesome music to steal and rip. I did it and now I'm listening to Aerosmith! Yeayuh!
All my school apps are in, and now I'm waiting impatiently to hear back from all the schools to see where I end up. Right now, though, I have to concentrate on work. I've got LOTS of stuff due after spring break, so I don't really get a spring break this year. :/ oh well. Last slog at UCF. 6 more weeks!!!
Oh and I didn't win or place in the King of the Court, but I should have. >:( A lot of those other ideas and presentations were absolute shit, and I was completely polished. Mom thinks I didn't get a place because one of the judges was her old boss and so he couldn't vote for me. I have no idea if that's the case or not, and I'm not making excuses, I just know I should have a least placed over some of that crap.
I can't believe I finished the group ride today. People were attacking constantly and I still made it. I saw a lot of people get dropped that I've never seen get dropped before and I MADE IT!!! :D I know its because I've been running, and I knew running would help, I just didn't expect that drastic of an impact. 1 down, 3 to go. :)
We get to do stuff that could make us money during class time, we get great consultants for future ventures, and the best part - Capstone means naptime! As an entrepreneurship major, I and my class mates have done and been taught everything they do in that class already. While others are probably sweating the industry analysis paper, I'm not worried at all because I've already done one so I know what I'm doing! That's all I had to say. :)
Man, what an awesome day! I went for a run on the 1/8th mile track in the wellness center and ran for 16 minutes non-stop! That's one more minute than I've ever done PLUS the first time I've run without stopping to walk once. It had a lot to do with Marie's suggestion though. She told me that when you're running and feel like you absolutely have to stop and walk you should instead just slow way down and keep the running rhythm. I'm really getting to like running exclusive of its benefits on my bike (which I haven't had the opportunity to try out yet). I can feel the different muscle groups really adjusting to the impact. After that I ate and got to work on projects and such. I got a lot of research done today. Where I was feeling really uncomfortable a week ago with where this semester was heading, I'm now much more comfortable because I have a better and more focused idea of what exactly I'm doing. My groups seem to be pretty good too. In Business plan, my group from last semester is really excited about continuing the project from entrepreneurship. That was such a relief to see, because I thought they'd be ok with it. We're going to fix and improve everything about the project that we didn't have the time to last semester. That shouldn't be too difficult. Especially because we're so far ahead of the rest of the class. Now I'm off to a group meeting with my international management group (which is awesome)!
Had my first run on Sunday. I still can't believe how much pain 15 minutes of running has caused me. I STILL hurt from Sunday! Of course, I'm sure it doesn't help that I ran again today. Speaking of which, I felt much better about this run. I performed better (even with tired legs) than on Sunday, though only probably noticeable by me. I also discovered that I ran 1 and 3/4 miles in that 15 minutes, because the track I ran on in the wellness center was 1/8 of a mile long and I did 14 laps. It was awesome. My shoes are REALLY comfortable. I noticed on my first run that I'm running on the outer edge of my feet. When I tried to fix it, I felt more tired. Probably just a psychological thing. I'll work on it.
calm
bouncy
disappointed
What?
Super Excited!!!
I dunno... something...
accomplished
crazy
sick
busy
awake