Scream

A fitting quiz, since I just polished off my Coldstone leftovers tonight:

You Are Strawberry Ice Cream

A bit shy and sensitive, you are sweet to the core. You often find yourself on the outside looking in. Insightful and pensive, you really understand how the world works. You are most compatible with chocolate chip ice cream.

What Flavor Ice Cream Are You?

Fifteen Minutes

I don't know about other states' exams, but in NY, you can't leave your seat in the last 15 minutes of any session. Presumably, this is because it's the last minute rush period and they want people to be able to concentrate. So, to make the simulated exams as close as possible to real testing conditions (I admit, I do envy the NYC people who actually get a test run at the Javits Center), they told us we couldn't leave our seats during the last 15 minutes of a Barbri test session. Not to go to the bathroom, not to hand in your paper, not to stretch, not at all.

They told us that 2 days ago when talking about the simulated essay exam.

They told us that yesterday when talking about the simulated MBE.

They told us that this morning before the simulated exam started.

They told us that on the video with the countdown clock, when the clock hit 15 minutes left.

So, what do you think happened?

At least 8 people got up between the 15-minute-left mark and when our admin finally had enough and had to remind everyone again, that you could not leave your seats in the last 15 minutes.

I was surprised when the first girl got up to hand in her paper. And then the next person. And the next. From all sides of the room. I guess they figured, if one person did it, it must not really be a rule. But they just said it on the video! Am I the only one who heard the instructions? (I know I tend to follow the rules more than most people, like the rule about not carrying anything with you when you march at graduation; I hid a tiny flat bag under my gown, but some people carried huge purses. I didn't even take my camera, which, if you know me, is shocking itself.) But they told us this so many times, I didn't think anyone could have possibly missed it. Apparently, I was wrong.

Before that 15 minute mark, what I was going to write in my blog when I got home was: I know nothing. I know nothing about contracts or corporations or anything. What I ended up knowing the most about during the essays were the requirements for personal jurisdiction in NY courts. Most likely, that is because I just studied it yesterday, but I studied contracts too, and that didn't get me very far. I don't know if I'm just not retaining because of limited brain space, or if I just don't get it. That remains to be seen.

But it was really refreshing to get to the MPT (bankruptcy-related memo). Especially after yesterday's horrible practice MPT (writing a will). After feeling like a clueless corporations dummy, it was just so nice to actually have the "law" right there.

And with that, I should probably learn property. I typed my notes up immediately after the property classes, because I couldn't deal with the 90+ page outline and going through it again, but when I type up notes (as opposed to charting/outlining them), I don't remember much. And it was the couple of days before graduation when family was here, so I didn't do much studying. And I haven't touched property since. No wonder I was so amused when Barbri Guy said on the video yesterday about simulated MBE strategies, that if you're not finishing in time, skip a section you're bad at, for example - property. Yeah, that would be the one I dislike most. I've been avoiding it because I just don't want to do it. I can't do that anymore. *slaps self on the back of the hands*

Lunchtime. And then property. *shudder*

Frustration

Well, that was awfully frustrating.

We got back our second graded essays today from Barbri, and it turns out that I'm just as much of a failure as I was last time. (On the bright side, I'm not more of a failure, but there was little room to go down.) And by failing, I mean an actual failing grade. You need a 5 to pass the actual essays, and I'm, let's say, 3 below.

No improvement from the last essay either, even though I felt like I actually did better. I didn't expect any sort of stellar score. I'm glad I read comments on other people's blogs about Barbri grading, because it set my expectations low. But considering I stated some actual rules memorized from our lecture handouts in the appropriate sections of the essay, I thought I'd do at least a point better than last time.

On the last essay, my grader was nice. She (I think I assume all of the graders are female, I am not sure why, as this is clearly not realistic) said my organization was good, but concentrate on the law and don't be so verbose. I knew that was one of my problems, but it was the first graded essay; I figured I had time to work on it. The other comments in the actual essay were also pretty helpful.

In the second essay, I took some of that advice (organization was good) and added some tips from the essay workshops. Yet the score was exactly the same, and instead of getting positive feedback about anything, all I had written all over the place was, "You really need to learn the law." In fact, the tone of all the comments were kind of cranky. I realize that the graders grade a lot of papers in one sitting under time pressure, but they do know what the recipients are going through at the moment, don't they? It's not that hard to sound nice, as opposed to condescending, when you know how much Barbri crap people are dealing with at the time they get their papers back.

My frustration doesn't really stem from the actual grade and not doing better. I know I need a lot of work. I know that I don't know the law cold, and I need to review it a lot better before the exam. I know that I still need a lot of work on the essays. So, what does my frustration stem from? The fact that I followed some of the exact things that our lecturers have told us to do, and then I'm either told that they're incorrect or don't get points for them like we were told we would.

Some examples:

Essay Workshop Lecturer (who used to work for the bar examiners) told us that we should state the applicable statute and we would get points (well, fractions, but still). But apparently "This contract is for the sale of goods, so it is governed by Article 2 of the UCC" does not get points according to my Barbri grader.

I got no points in that entire section of the essay. Apparently my grader did not follow Lecturer's method of looking for things to give you points for. And while some of my larger issues weren't quite right (I knew this was my problem section of the essay), some of the smaller rules and applications were the same as the model answer. No points.

Another example. Corporations Lecturer told us that if we got a problem with an interested director transaction, here is what we should do:
- State the duty of loyalty standard
- State the rule for interested director transactions
- Apply the rule

What I did:
- State the duty of loyalty standard (exactly from the handout, since that I had actually memorized)
- State the rule for interested director transactions (also exact)
- Apply the rule

What my grader said (paraphrased): "This is not a question of loyalty, but the effect of an interested director transaction." I eventually got partial credit for stating the interested director rule, but only after the grader told me that this had nothing to do with the duty of loyalty.

But I did exactly what Corporations Lecturer told us to do! And you're telling me it's wrong? Who am I supposed to listen to - grader or Corporations Lecturer? Grader or Essay Workshop Lecturer? I would have assumed the lecturers, but I also would have thought that the things they told us to do in the lectures would have made their way to the Barbri grading sheet.

Done ranting. It's not so much the grade that bothers me, as why it ended up being that grade - because what they tell us to do and how they grade seem to be 2 entirely different standards. Maybe I should just concentrate more on the MCs. After all, there is a right answer there. (I know I can't really just concentrate on that. I'm just feeling frustrated.)

I am consoling myself over this ridiculous essay by downing gummy bears that I was supposed to save for tomorrow's simulated essay exam. (Wheee... get to hand in another essay. Let's see if they tell me I was supposed to know the law for the MPT too. If so, then I know I can disregard everything they say.) But I rationalize this as just being hungry and having to wait 30 minutes for my chicken to bake, after having gotten out of Barbri an hour later than usual with 15 minutes still to go on the tape. Not such a great Barbri day today was.

But maybe this kick in the head is what I needed as a wake-up call to start really doing work. *shrug* If I actually knew which rules I was supposed to be following!

Grand Crayon

Some more searches that (somehow) led to my blog, some of which were too strange to not list:

Crayon found in O'Charley's salad
I've never been to O'Charley's, and haven't heard about crayons being found in any salads there (although today's Torts lecture told the story of a toe being found in chewing tobacco and also referenced the unfortunate Wendy's finger incident). I don't think crayons are part of their salad ingredients; after all, if you go to their home page, it says, "O'Charley's Restaurants serve good food!" Crayons don't taste good. I speak from experience.

Hot Derek Jeter pictures
Not here, but I do think he's hot. :)

Cosi sandwiches diarrhea
EWW. WHY are you searching for that? Would you really want to know if people got diarrhea from the sandwiches? Unless this is some form of research for a study or something, I can't imagine any good reason why you'd search for that. Gross.

Sweet Sixteen gifts
I'm not really a good person to ask, seeing as how I didn't have one (and didn't particularly want one). I also didn't go to prom (and don't regret not going), so I'm not much of an authority on that either.

Bedazzler Michaels
Either someone watched an old episode from Apprentice 3 or they want to go shopping. I want to go shopping at Michaels. But there isn't any near me, and bar time is really not the time to go searching for one.

Baker McKenzie ketchup trousers what really happened
Is there some behind the scenes story of "what really happened"? If so, do tell.

Grand Crayon pictures
I thought at first that it said "Grand Canyon pictures," but I've never been to the Grand Canyon, so I couldn't imagine why that search would lead here. But no, "Grand Crayon pictures." No idea.

And that's about it. I think I'm going to try to finish my workers compensation outline tonight so that I can say I've finally finished another outline. Of course, it's like 2 pages in the CMR, so it shouldn't take that long, but at least I can say something got done. :)

Silence

Now I remember why I don't watch politically related things on TV.

The news has shown less than 30 seconds of Bush speaking from his stupid TV-preempting speech and I've already felt my blood pressure rise as I scream at the TV and his smug expression and his ridiculous logic that the war in Iraq started on 9/11. No, really, it didn't. Shut up!

If I watched more of his speeches, I know my blood pressure would be so much higher. So, to keep myself sane and relaxed and healthy, I avoid anything related to him. And I'm so much happier for it.

This is why, not more than 30 seconds of Bush-talk later, I couldn't take it anymore and switched to the Daily Show. (I originally was watching the news because they said something about how the heat wave wasn't going to last much longer, but I can't stand the Bush-crap!)

I wish I weren't hearing my neighbors talking in their apartment next door. (Not the same as Noisy Neighbor - the other one.) I think they have guests, because when I put my ear to the wall earlier today after hearing music, I heard lots of jovial carrying-on. Really made me want to work on my torts outline. Knowing that other people were having dinner parties and fun...

I still haven't finished typing up today's torts notes yet, but that's partially because I watched Empire. It wasn't bad, but if they had just killed Caesar earlier so they could get on with the more exciting parts of the miniseries, that might have been better. I didn't read reviews in advance of watching, but apparently, a lot of them saw the same parallels to Star Wars that I did. (We must do this to save the Republic!) I'll watch the rest of the mini-series, but it makes me wonder if my inability to stay focused during some of the slower parts was due to: a) the fact that I haven't seen a new drama in awhile and my brain is not used to functioning; b) the fact that the only TV I've watched lately is trashy or mindless reality shows; or c) the fact that the bar exam has also killed the good TV-watching brain cells. I really hope it's not the last one.

Okay, going to finish torts notes, take a shower and do more cleaning. They're doing a stupid walk-through of the apartments tomorrow and my place is a Barbri-induced pigsty. Last thing I want is for them to walk around, trip over something, and break or mess up something important. Why are they doing walk throughs now? Don't they realize I'm busy with Barbri and don't have time for that crap?

Taste

Despite my best efforts to stay awake, I ended up taking a nap this afternoon since I kept falling asleep while typing up my torts notes. After napping, Alvin and I went out for dinner... at the Taste of Chicago.

Even though it was Monday night and sticky and humid and hazy, it wasn't that much less crowded than it was on Saturday in the early afternoon. (That big open section of sidewalk in the picture was rare.) I expected it to be a lot less crowded, but I've had a history of underestimating everything lately. There were about 275,000 people at Taste on Saturday - I should have expected that, but instead I thought it would be easy to get soap actor autographs!

Here's a street shot from tonight:



An example of one of the booths. The numbers indicating "price" refer to tickets, not dollars. The festival sells ticket strips in sets of 11 for $7. What's good about each booth is that they have a "taste portion" for 3 tickets, so you can try different things from each restaurant instead of spending all your tickets in one place. Some places have larger taste portions than others. At this booth, we got the catfish. It was good.



This large samosa from Arya Bhavan (they're up on Devon) was a taste portion. Compared to the sizes of the taste portions at some other booths, it was really big! And it was so good. We plan to go back to Taste to try some more stuff another day and back to the samosas we shall return. (I also have a little obsession with samosas...)



And now for a Taste classic... the turkey leg from Helen's. Alvin told me about it in his past stories about Taste and I was really curious about it since so many people there were eating them. I only had about two bites (all I really wanted, although it was good), but I can understand why this 9 ticket item is a big seller. I imagine it must be really filling too, so I can't figure out how some people eat a turkey leg and then more full plates of food from other booths (I saw people with lots of food on Saturday).



So... I did a little bit of half-asleep work this afternoon, took a nap, went to Taste, took a long shower after getting back and having a frozen lemonade, and now I'm tired again and want to (and should) go to bed. I really need to start doing more work!

Not Here

Apparently someone got to my blog by searching "woman drives naked." I was alarmed until I realized that it was part of my "blogging my boring safe driving course" entry. For that reason, I think the searcher must have been majorly disappointed.

Weekend in Review

This entry should be titled:

What I Did This Weekend Instead of All the Things Barbri Told Me to Do

(And they told us to do a lot in preparation for the upcoming simulated essay exam and simulated MBE this week.)

Effectively, I "took the weekend off" from Barbri. That doesn't mean I didn't do anything at all; I did some MC questions here and there. But for the most part, the weekend was bar-free. And a fantastic break.

It was hard not to take a break this weekend, because there was so much going on in Chicago. The Cubs-Sox series. Taste of Chicago. Nextfest. Pride Fest. Country Music Festival. And more.

So, accompanied by photographs... this weekend, I:

- Attempted to get autographs and pictures


Of soap opera stars


For my mom, who is a big soap opera fan


But failed because I seriously underestimated the devotion of ABC soap opera fans (or the number of girls who wanted to meet the hot soap actors)


- Saw a giant cheesecake


Made to celebrate Eli's Cheesecake's 25th anniversary


To whom the band Chicago sang 'happy birthday'


- Went to the Taste of Chicago in Grant Park


Where I saw many booths, but ate nothing


- Went to an event at Navy Pier


Where I got to see a cloned kitten


And a pet robotic seal


And got to enjoy fun and games galore (including 3D Pong and no-touch air hockey)


And saw a machine just like the one that did part of my secondary screening at the Jax airport


And (not pictured) visited friends in the suburbs, went shopping at the mall, played board games, ate at Chevy's, looked at the poor garaged Jellybean in Millennium Park, and took a lot of long cool relaxing baths to remedy exhaustion from the heat.

Concluded the weekend with dinner at Burrito Beach


And dessert at Coldstone (from which we have leftovers!) and a walk down the butterflied Magnificent Mile


And now I'm back where I always am, sitting on the couch, pondering rules of law and playing on Study Smart. But it was a nice weekend break. If only Barbri weren't 5 days a week (or more!)... it would be so much nicer. :) I should probably be working right now, but instead I'm watching the finale of the Next Food Network Star. Oops.

Slanguage

More later on how I've spent my weekend. But since I'm going out to Nextfest now, here's a quiz instead.

Your Slanguage Profile

Aussie Slang: 25%

British Slang: 25%

Canadian Slang: 25%

New England Slang: 25%

Prison Slang: 25%

Southern Slang: 25%

Victorian Slang: 25%

What Slanguage Do You Speak?

Considering I guessed on half of them, because I've never heard of them... interesting results.

Floats

Yesterday, as I was walking around in the 95 degree heat (just the temperature, not the heat index), I saw this ad on the side of a building on Chicago Ave.



















Drenched in sweat and carrying bags since I was walking home after Barbri and lunch, I wanted nothing more to relax on a float in a pool. But since that wasn't going to happen, I settled for second best and took a long relaxing cool shower. And didn't get very much work done in the afternoon. And then fell asleep. Nice.

It's still going to be in the 90s today, but about 5 degrees cooler than yesterday. Instead of staying in my nice air conditioned apartment, I'm going to head out to take pictures at the Taste of Chicago and maybe stick around for the Eli's Cheesecake party. (Despite the fact that, aside from the david burke & donatella lollipops, I don't really eat cheesecake.) Maybe I'll have more summery pictures to share with you later. :)

Referrers

I love reading the searches that lead to my blog. Half the time I just save the lists as drafts for my own fun, but sometimes they're too much fun not to share. Then again, this has also gotten me into trouble before by putting me high up on a list of search results when there's nothing concrete on the blog about the topic. (Mostly about the Contender and Grey's Anatomy.)

So, here's some recent searches that amuse me as I procrastinate from learning about libel and slander:

Could be a pissed off giraffe
I had no idea what this Belgian web surfer was looking for, and I didn't think I had ever talked about giraffes on the blog. Until I ran my own Yahoo search and realized I had talked about giraffes. It was a side comment about Lost, and I think it was referring to some interview that someone from Lost did, talking about what the monster could be. Pissed off giraffe v. security system... which one sounds better? :)

LaSalle Winter Wonderfest pictures
I have them, but I am curious as to how Winter Wonderfest came up in a search when temps in IL were in the high 90s.

Swollen mosquito bite
It's the reason why I hate mosquitoes. I got bitten alive while at a party at a partner's house last summer, and I suspect that's why the search came here. But other than hearing about how I was bitten alive, there's nothing here.

Baseball world series + Bowling for Soup + theme
No idea.

SATC theme song composer
I don't know who it is, but I can hear the whole theme song in my head from beginning to end. I guess that's what happens when you watch all 7 DVD sets (6 seasons) in a little over 3 weeks.

Free CA Bar Exam Evidence hypotheticals
Well, I might have something for this if I were taking the CA bar exam. But I'm not...

Shu mai
Yum. I could go for some right now.

Marissa yawning
Happens ALL the time, especially when I get 4 hours of sleep and then go to Barbri. But I'm not sure what a search for this could lead to.

Ketchup trousers
What? OH... must be the little ketchup email thing. Now I get it. :)

It always tastes better when someone else makes it
That would be most foods, especially sandwiches.

From the same searcher: Carly Patterson oops and then 3 minutes later Carly Patterson butt
No comment.

Cool grey crayon for kids
Any will be good. But I don't think most kids go for grey when they color. I didn't. Except for clouds.

Project Runway DVD
I hope there will be one. But as of right now, I haven't heard anything about it. Given my TV on DVD addiction, I'd probably post if there were one coming out soon.

Okay... I suppose I should get back to libel and slander, since I'm watching SVU, eating Skittles and not doing much of anything. Being useless is not an option right now. :)

Smiles

Based on the past 24 hours...

Things (and just things, not people) that make me smile:

• Yoga
• Not doing as pathetically horrible on evidence intro questions as every other subject
• Long showers
• Therapeutic masks
• Sleep
• Pita chips with hummus
  
• Looking at the moon low over the lake
• Hit Me Baby One More Time
• TNT afternoon TV
• Lounging on the couch
• The amazing calmness that comes with Savasana
• Anticipation of the Taste of Chicago
  
• Summer

Things that don't make me smile:

• Waking up and not being able to breathe because of a neighbor down the hall's predilection for heavy smoking
• Not enough sleep
• Falling asleep in Barbri and ending up with 4 pages of illegible writing and missing words
• Irritated skin conditions due to stress
• Not enough hours in the day
• Strangers calling at 6 am (really, who does this?!)
• The never-ending to-do list
• Having to go to Barbri on a steamy and sweltering summer day, which would be better spent sleeping, going to the Taste or catching up (or watching a movie...)
  

And with that... Barbri awaits. And today, there's no handout in class. Which means either a) I'll be more awake because it's active note-taking instead of filling in the blanks, or b) I'll end up with 4 pages of illegible writing and missing words and really be in trouble.

Torts time!

Impending Doom

I was having an email exchange with Alvin as to whether or not he was getting the weekend off over July 4th weekend (he's not, unfortunately), and then it finally sunk in.

The bar is actually really, really soon.

We're sitting here discussing plans for July 4th weekend, and then I realize, the next weekend there's Barbri class, the next weekend there's PMBR, and then the next weekend I'll probably be on a plane headed for NY and the trauma of the Jacob Javits Center.

What went through my head? Oh, crap, the bar's really freaking soon. (Okay, so it wasn't that polite. I just don't feel like swearing on my blog right now.)

We haven't even been in Barbri for a month yet. According to the essay lecturer today, there are still 16 topics left to go. (I just checked, but I only counted 15, and that includes the stuff like Workers Comp that aren't a full day.)

Not going to panic. Not going to panic. Deep breath. Breathe. Go to yoga later and just let it all go.

I'm actually not feeling that panicked, mostly because there's a huge list of things I am supposed to have done by now, and I've convinced myself that had I done all of those things, I'd feel much more prepared than I currently do. Or the alternative theory - I'm not that panicked because I don't know enough to know what to even panic about at this point.

*shrug* Who knows. I'm more angry at the people who have kept my boyfriend working every weekend for the past weeks, and are making him work this weekend and July 4th weekend, my last free weekend before the bar, just so they can go play on the weekend. How the world works sometimes, I know. Just kind of sucks that we were looking forward to going to see Martin Yan together and now he can't go (among other things). Oh well.

I am supposed to be writing my essay right now, but I stopped because of that work-weekend discussion thing. I had a fleeting thought that maybe I'd get more done if I studied outside, and then I remembered that it's 90 degrees. Not likely.

Must get back to corporations essay and then get back to evidence stuff. I intended to make a list of all of the unfinished projects I have to do at this point (which is quite long, considering that, after checking off all the fully completed days on the Paced Program, I'm still back at June 3rd), but I should probably finish my essay first before I add that to the list of things I'm supposed to do. It doesn't help that I really want to go on vacation and the Weather Channel is showing shots of steamy and stormy Florida. (I don't have the Travel Channel, so the Weather Channel serves as my substitute.) Want to go to Miami and go to the beach... if it weren't stormy...

Anyway, corporations. Right. I'll make a to-do list later tonight. At least I finally sent in my handwriting specimen to the bar examiners and my MBE transfer form this morning. Small things count. :)

And other little questions fill my brain where the law should be. Stuff like, should I go see LL Cool J tomorrow night? How much walking around do I want to do tomorrow when it's going to be 97 degrees? Is it really going to rain on Saturday when I go over to the Taste?

Okay, must stop procrastinating. Must not give in to my desire to go to Walgreens to buy bags of Skittles.

Rehabilitation

I'm going through some of the evidence handout for today and am reminded of a couple of things that happened today during lecture.

First, I was tired and sleepy during hour one, so I figured out a new way to keep myself awake and alert for the rest of class that didn't involve a permanent sugar high. I'm right handed. But I decided to start filling in the blanks in the handout while writing with my left hand. At least for the short answers. The longer ones that required more writing, I wrote normally, but any one-word answers, I started to write with my left hand. I used to do that a lot during high school. Kept me awake. If Barbri helps me to develop the muscles and skills of my left hand, I would appreciate it more.

Second, there was a hypothetical about a car accident between Tom and Nicole, and a witness Penelope who became Tom's lover. All I could think about was how the question was outdated and it really should be about Katie Holmes. I still can't believe she converted to Scientology for him. I wonder if the rumors of the contract are true. Clearly, I spend a good amount of bar studying time reading online gossip sites.

My outlining for Barbri is taking its toll as I looked at this blog post and thought the text was too plain and needed to be broken up with bold and italics and underlining (like my outline). I need to start practicing MC questions again. But so many unfinished projects!

Coping

One way to cope with the neverending list of things to do for the bar exam is to not give up your hobbies. Lunch dates on your boyfriend's day off can also keep you sane.

This week's sanity break, courtesy of CPK:







Today, when I started dozing off in the first hour, I didn't dream of Harry Potter. Instead, I had some half-awake delusion that I was sitting behind a black laptop that had just gone on screen saver. I jolted awake as the screen saver was coming up, presumably to hit the touchpad to make it go away. Of course, I then realized that not only was there no screen saver on, but there was no laptop, since I don't bring my computer to class.

I really need to sleep earlier.

Moonlight

Somehow, I haven't gotten very much done today. I felt like I did a decent amount of work, but looking back on it, I did less than 10 MC questions and finished typing up my corporations notes (but not done with the outline). Oh, I wrote another bad essay - I think I'm getting worse. And I don't think I even cracked open the CMR to read anything today.

I was supposed to be asleep awhile ago, but I delayed showering because of a compelling episode of Without a Trace on TNT that I hadn't seen before. So here I am, 1 am, moonlight streaming through the window. But I'm going to sleep soon. It's much better than 3:45. *sigh*

I'm curious as to how some people get my IM name. It's not like it's completely private, as it's in a number of profiles, but it's clear from the conversations that none of those public listings are how the person got my name. The latest person trying to carry on a "conversation" (name removed):

X (3:48:50 PM): whos is this
X (3:49:41 PM): is this kathleen
X (3:51:15 PM): ???
X (3:52:17 PM): is this kathleen
X (3:54:09 PM): ...
X (3:59:25 PM): its chris
X (4:17:11 PM): tsk tsk
X (4:21:08 PM): i just wanna know who this is they left it in my yearbook
X (5:03:18 PM): kat awnser already

I was doing contracts MC questions (yes, the few that I actually did today) during his opening barrage, so I just ignored the messages. But are people leaving my IM name in other people's yearbooks? That's just... weird. Got to be illegible handwriting or something.

I didn't respond though, because I didn't think responding in the middle of Study Smart would be a good idea. "I am not Kathleen. I don't know who you are. I don't know who left it in your yearbook, but I doubt I know them. Now leave me alone so I can study for the bar exam in peace! And while you're at it, try using some punctuation!"

No, I'm not that mean. But the orange bar kept blinking constantly as he kept sending useless messages of "???" and "..." that I wanted to growl at him for the blinking. But, eh, it's okay. Not really worth my time. Or the effort of growling. ;-)

(I'm not quite sure why I jumped to it being a guy as opposed to a girl, since Chris could really be either. I guess I pictured the person as a high school graduate, and the only high school graduate I know right now is my cousin, and he's male.)

Enough babbling. I really need to catch up on some sleep. Happy Harry Potter dreams to all! :)

Asleep

Barbri class at 8:30 am meant I only got about 3.5 hours of sleep. Not good. *shakes head* (As even more proof of how tired I am, I wrote "shakes heads" inside the asterisks just now. That's really, really bad.)

I was definitely sleepy during lecture, and my handwriting shows it. We did the shareholders section of the corporations handout during the first hour, and most of what I wrote was illegible. (But I think I know what most of it says because I was trying to correct it to make it more legible in the more coherent points of my half-asleep stupor.)

But the highlight of the first hour was what happened when I actually fell asleep. It was like one of those moments when you're dozing off and you feel your head start to drop, and then all of a sudden, it jerks back and you're pulled back into reality. Have you ever had a dream or delusion during those quick seconds? It happens to me all the time, and I don't know if it's normal.

Today, during my quick one-second dream, I was dreaming about Harry Potter. (This is probably from watching the movies yesterday.) It was just a couple of images, but I must have been writing at the same time, because in my notes, I found this:

"Yes - in certificate only. (Exact same as HP)"

Yes, HP. Harry Potter definitely has a lot to do with supermajority votes and quorums.

I saw it and was immediately confused. I tried to think about what could possibly be HP in corporations law. Nothing came to mind, and I even knew substantively what was supposed to go in the parentheses, but kept trying to find something HP because I couldn't believe I could have possibly slipped and written HP for Harry Potter.

But I did.

After an hour of battling the sleep demon, I finally gave up. It was only 9:30, and if I was going to make it through class until 1:30, I was going to need to be on a permanent sugar high. Luckily, it worked and only required 1 bag of Skittles, 6 Jolly Ranchers and a Smores granola bar. I really need to get more sleep.

But for now, it's back to outlining corporations. Without Harry Potter.

Seconds

I wonder how this reflects upon my thoughts on Barbri/corporations, if at all.

We were being lectured to about quorums on Friday, and in the handout, I read this sentence as, "If there are 9 dictatorship positions on the board, at least __ directors must attend the meeting to constitute a quorum." (The answer is 5, by the way.)

Dictatorship? No, it should be directorship.

Just now, I was going through my corporations handout to put my outline together, and was reading the handout aloud.

"If there are 9 dictatorship positions on the board..."

My mind refuses to see the word as "directorship." It keeps seeing "dictatorship." This has happened for quite a few words on the Barbri handouts. I should have kept better track of which ones they were.

Hmm, I haven't been conscientious in the outline about denoting what the "yellow magic marker moments" are. Maybe I'll highlight them in yellow on my outline. *rolls eyes*

And yes, it's past 2 and I'm still up and working. Not because there's some pressing deadline, but because I can't sleep. Sigh. I've really got to get a better sleep schedule going. Maybe tomorrow night I'll take some Nyquil.

Time Off

So I didn't get much done this weekend. I wrote a failing essay yesterday, but none today. I've done assorted MC questions, but nothing substantial. I haven't even finished my contracts outline. This wouldn't be such a terrible thing, except for the fact that I picked up a Taste of Chicago brochure today and anticipate that I'm going to need to take a lot of time off from studying between June 24 and July 4.

There's going to be free concerts every night, including Santana, Moby, Lauryn Hill, Blue Merle, Los Lonely Boys, LeAnn Rimes and Donna Summer. There's the usual fireworks twice a week, plus the special July 3rd show after the orchestra concert. There's going to be over 70 restaurant booths lining the streets, and I have a hard time passing up food festivals. There's going to be a ferris wheel, water flume and carousel. There's going to be hours of chef demonstrations everyday, including one day when Ted Allen is going to be emcee and even Martin Yan has an hour or so to cook. Not to mention the Wine Garden and plentiful locations for vodka lemonades.

I've never spent the summer in Chicago, and may not spend July 4th weekend in Chicago anytime in the near foreseeable future. It's summer in Chicago and bar exam or not, I am going to enjoy it. So regardless of how much I have to study... I am going to the Taste of Chicago.

That means I'm just going to have to work harder during the time period around the festival and in the hours when I'm not there. Efficiency has never been my strong point, but I think I might have a strong enough incentive to be productive this time. And since July 4th is when people say the fear and panic really starts to set in for the bar exam, maybe this works out perfectly, since July 4th is when the festival ends. (Yes, I am rationalizing.)

But that means I need to start working now. Yesterday, I watched Spiderman on TBS, then Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle on DVD, then the Harold and Kumar special features. Today, I have no idea what I did for a good part of the afternoon (oh, I watched VH1's special on all the things celebrity kids are spoiled with), but I saw Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 1.5 times. That is definitely not helping, because it's reminding me of all the willpower I'm going to need in July to not read Harry Potter when it comes out shortly before the bar exam. It's so unfair. Why couldn't the book be released in August? I anticipate having it done by the time the weekend after the bar is over. (I'll be apartment hunting that weekend, and I'm so sad that I have to miss Venetian Night in Chicago. It sounds awesome.)

Alright, enough procrastination. I either have to finish my contracts outline or type up corporations notes. But I'm going to do something so that I can spend more time in Grant Park this weekend. :)

Comfort

I'm going through my unread email (instead of studying) and was reading the NY Times Style newsletter from June 15th, when I found the following exchange.

The question posed to readers was, "Do you put comfort before style? Is it possible to be glamorous and still be comfortable?"

One person wrote in that the key to glamour is comfort, because it's unglamorous to watch people keep adjusting their clothes. Yeah, that makes sense to me. Another person wrote in that it wasn't an either/or question - to be stylish, you have to look good and be comfortable. That also sounds about right to me.

The third response selected for the newsletter: "Being comfortable is overrated and a bit low class. If you ... really want to look sharp, you have to forget about total ease and comfort."

As someone who spends a good part of the day in lounge pants, I must disagree. Being comfortable is not overrated. I wonder who that guy is and whether he wears a button-down shirt and nice pants all day long.

Stung

Remember the flies?

It's gotten worse. Eww.

They disappeared for about a week or so because of the sweltering heat, and I thought they were dead, or had just relocated or something. But no such luck. A couple of days ago, I noticed that they were back.

And while before, they looked like newborn flies, they've grown. Fast. They still have skinny little stick bodies, but they're longer and their legs are longer and they've got gross little eyes and they stare at me while they're clinging to my window screen and the glass on the other window. They're all different colors. Some have green legs, some have orange legs, some have black legs, but they all equally make me want to run away from the window. Although the low temps are supposed to be pretty cool this week, I sit here hoping and hoping that they will not turn off the building's air conditioning, because there is no way I am opening the windows to allow those monsters entrance to my abode.

Aren't the screens supposed to keep them out? Half the bugs on the screened window are inside the screen. Including the one that scares me more than some of the spiders. I know in some previous post (that I can't find) that I mentioned seeing a black and yellow striped tiny flying bug on my window. Well, it's still in the screen. And unlike before, it now has a stinger the size of its body. I guess before, when I thought I was mistaken about it being a bee, I was deluding myself into thinking it was a fly. I've never seen a bee this close before (thank goodness), but seeing it crawling around in the screen with its stinger was enough to give me the shivers.

If the bugs can get from outside into the screen, can they come in through some tiny hole in the window and terrorize me? :(

I love summer weather. I love that it's warm when walking around at night and the air carries with it a fresh summer scent. (Unless you're on a crowded street with garbage, an alleyway or a subway station... but I try not to frequent those spots in the summer heat. Well, it's not like I live near anything but buses right now anyway and I don't have to take my garbage outside.) I love that you can wear skirts and sleeveless shirts everyday. I love that the daylight hours are longer. But what I hate about summer is the infestation of insects and other creepy crawlies that invade my space. They make summer so much less pleasant.

Now that I've wasted all this time talking about bugs that hate me, I should probably do something useful. Or at least try. :)

Noise

So... almost 4 in the morning (see, the 2 hr nap screwed up my schedule...) and I turn off my iTunes to do a few MC questions before bed, and I realize I can faintly hear my neighbor's music.

Now, this is the same Neighbor who just loves loud music all hours of the day. I'm in the living room. It's not the neighbor on the other side of the wall here. It's the neighbor on the other side of the bedroom wall. (I'd look up previous posts on the music-Neighbor saga, but I'm too lazy and tired to do so.)

But luckily, it's not his subwoofer or bass going this time. It's just the music... which, if you've been keeping up with the saga, I usually never hear because all I hear and feel are the damn vibrations which make me feel like my head is going to explode.

Which must mean that he has his windows wide open or something, because the noise sounds like it is coming more from the windows than through the wall. That's probably what's going on... considering when I went out earlier, he was playing music with the door ajar. I love music, but really, it's not necessary for you (Neighbor) to share it with everyone. We can get along just fine without it.

Normally I wouldn't care because low volume music can easily be covered, except for the fact that it's 4 friggin AM. And if he has the music going now, considering his past behavior, what would stop him from turning up the bass now? It's not like he's ever been considerate before. (And it's 4 AM! Reasonable people sleep at 4 AM! That is why the little building handbook tells you that you can't use your washer at 4 AM!) I feel like maybe I should give him some credit for not having the bass on right now. How sad is it that I think he's making progress because he's not playing music with a loud bass beat at 4 AM? Yeah, don't answer that. I guess I just impute a lot more common sense and consideration to people than they might actually have. Oh well.

I think it's stopped (at least for now), so it's time to try to sleep and absorb more contracts in my sleep. It would be so nice if this CD while you sleep thing really worked! :)

Ketchup

Maybe it's because I've been working on contracts, but I thought this "news story" was hilarious. Apparently, a secretary accidentally spilled ketchup on a senior associate's pants in London, and he sent her an email asking for reimbursement for the dry cleaning. The series of emails was forwarded all over London, including:

"I apologize again for accidentally getting a few splashes of ketchup on your trousers. Obviously your financial need as a senior associate is greater than mine as a mere secretary."

She wrote that she had told various partners, lawyers and trainees about his e-mail and they had offered to "do a collection" to raise the cash.

"I however declined their kind offer but should you feel the urgent need for the £4, it will be on my desk this afternoon."

And what does Baker & McKenzie have to say about it? Basically, "no comment." But, really, what else could they say about something so ludicrous? :)

Additions

Well, child's pose seems to have done the trick. Didn't feel that great, since I'd been hiccuping for 15 minutes right after eating, but at least the body jolting seems to have stopped.

I was re-reading the previous post and all of a sudden it occurred to me that it's only been a week since graduation. Feels like a lot longer. A lot longer.

There's a trailer up for Rent at Apple Trailers. I hope it's done well; I have high hopes for it. I love the music of Rent. It always makes me think of high school and the countless number of times we listened to the cast recording. If it's as well done as Chicago, I'll be happy. There's also a trailer for Four Brothers, which I knew nothing about before, but has piqued my interest. We'll see. :)

Disruptive

I just ate a good Jimmy John's sandwich, but now my enjoyment of it has been ruined because I have been hit with a bout of the hiccups that won't go away. I hate when this happens!

And what a difference a week makes... currently, the temps outside are in the high 50s, maybe 60 degrees. Last week at this time? At least the high 70s at night, after being about 90 during the day. I'm trying to decide if I would rather have had this weekend's weather last weekend during graduation, but I can't choose. It wouldn't have been as enjoyable walking around at night or doing some of the sightseeing in the city if it were this cool, but at least we wouldn't be creating puddles of sweat under our heavy graduation robes and feeling so disgusting that we had to take 2 or 3 showers a day. But it was kind of nice to have summery weather. I can't pick. This is as bad as my answer when people ask me, "what's your favorite season?" I name them all, defeating the purpose of the question.

I have to get rid of these hiccups. It's been over 10 minutes. I never know how to get rid of them. Maybe I'll do some yoga or something. Because hanging upside down is what you're supposed to do after eating. Right.

Foggy

Now this is why I should not take naps in the afternoon.

I slept for a good 2.5 hours.

I don't get up to alarms. I fall asleep immediately after talking on the phone when I'm supposed to be getting up, but just don't. And I don't even realize I'm falling back asleep half the time. It's quite a problem...

But I think I really needed today's nap. I don't think I've hit 6 hours of sleep a night all week, which is quite troubling for my body, whether it was justified by studying or not. And when you sit there, doing MC questions on Study Smart, and fall asleep sitting up during a question, it's time to take a nap. It's not the same as feeling yourself start to doze off while studying... it's just flat-out awake to asleep in a matter of milliseconds. Terrible.

So now that I am finally awake, I will head back to MC land and contracts land. Today in Barbri, we had Auctioneer Corporations Man, who liked to talk really really fast and I kept feeling like I was at an auction by the inflections in his voice. He also liked the phrases "__th question in our running total" and "yellow magic marker moment," the first of which was really getting to me considering it was like question #8 when he kept saying it over and over.

Two days in a row now we've had the lecturer make reference to "trust issues" between the professor and the Barbri audience, because of the flipping of pages. Is this a common issue? Are they offended that we don't "trust" them somehow?

Enough about Barbri class. It's time to get more advanced crim questions wrong. :)

Fourth

This is the fourth time I've gotten the same exact question wrong. Clearly I am not learning from my mistakes. I'm being careless, because it's a rule I've studied and a rule I know. I just keep forgetting that it applies in this case.

I got it wrong in the book when I did the 6 or so questions there before learning about Study Smart. I got it wrong again on Study Smart. Then, running through the incorrect questions, I got it wrong again. At this point, I was slapping myself in the head because I know this rule and can't believe I keep getting it wrong. Yet I got it wrong AGAIN.

I should just put a big sign on the wall, "SOLICITATION MERGES."

Sigh.

Pasilla

It's been such a busy morning/afternoon that I haven't been able to do anything on Study Smart yet today. Wow! (I know I'm lame, but I think it's fun watching the bar graphs change.)

So how was my morning? Here's the start:

8:05: Woke up (late)
8:30: When Barbri class started
0:40: Amount of time it usually takes for me to get ready in the morning (minimum)
0:10: Amount of time it takes to walk to Barbri

Time I arrived at Barbri: 8:45. Not bad! I was impressed with myself. And I didn't even run. Ha. But I did miss the entire section on express conditions. Oh well. I copied someone's notes. I guess I'll just have to read that section of the book more carefully.

Ended up getting out of Barbri at 11:20 because our second tape (MPT) had bad sound. I could hear it from my seat, but I was sitting pretty close to the screen. They didn't think it was good enough to use, so now we have to make it up on Monday. Could have gotten out by 11 had we not sat there for 20 minutes watching them fidget with the tape and the sound. Oh well. (I kept hearing the same part over and over again: "on this part of the exam, knowledge of the law will hurt you!")

So, got out of Barbri early and came home. The original plan was to meet Alvin for lunch, since it was his day off, but since I was out about an hour earlier than expected, I decided to come home, do my essay writing early and then go to lunch. Did worse on this essay than yesterday. Oh well. That's why I'm practicing, right?

Lunch was yummy. We went to Cosi and I was having trouble making up my mind what to order, when one of the guys working there pointed out the sample plate for their new Pasilla Lime Chicken Sandwich. One bite and I made up my mind. :) It was pretty good! I wish the Cosi website were better so that I could get a picture of the sandwich! I guess I'll have to go by there another day and take a picture of the ad. ;-) It's a very yummy looking sandwich. And it tastes just as good.

A visit to Walgreens for rebate stuff and gummy bears (yay), home for a few minutes and then back out for a DDF skin screening at Sephora. Lots of walking so I can justify not doing cardio at the gym during the usual allotted time.

But now I'm finally back on the couch after running around all afternoon. I like contracts, but it's just not as exciting as a Pasilla Lime Chicken Sandwich. :) Oh well... to work I go!

Random

Because my brain has been overtaken by Barbri, some random notes:

• Reading multiple news articles about Katie Holmes & scientology will not help me on the bar exam. I, like Katie, liked Tom Cruise when I was younger (although I don't think I ever wanted to marry him), but having seen his current antics (post-Nicole), I am glad I got over that a long time ago. *shudder* I still don't know what to think of the whole Tom & Katie mess.
• The people studying sanitation problems on Mount McKinley couldn't come up with a better phrase than "virus-laden poo"?
• I am still addicted to Perdue popcorn chicken.
• I broke from my elliptical routine at the gym today and spent about 25 minutes on a bike instead. Actually, this week I haven't had much of a routine, since I had to use the elliptical machine I don't really like yesterday and switch halfway through once the other one opened up. They both step really differently and it was kind of an awkward switch.
• Ashton Kutcher did a good job with "Beauty and the Geek." Might be one of the most entertaining shows of the summer. I'm still a little annoyed with myself for not checking out the premiere of "The Closer" on Monday. It was supposed to be good.
• I haven't watched a DVD in a long time. That must change.
• I still need to go to the store for Fathers Day stuff. Also, a LOT of errands to get done before the end of this week. The to-do list never gets shorter.
• I am practicing self-discipline, in preparation for the Harry Potter release (not allowed to read until after the bar exam... we'll see). I am finally allowed to buy a bag of gummy bears tomorrow. Last bag I bought was Saturday, and I told myself I could not buy another one until tomorrow. I made it without breaking down and getting one!

I have begun discussing truly useless details, proving that I have nothing to talk about except the bar exam. How sad. At least before, during law school, I could talk for post after post about TV. But that was back when I had 3 hours of new (and good) programming a night. Now, it's barely a topic of conversation.

But I must read up on this MPT stuff and then go to sleep. My eyes have been closing for the past hour and class starts at 8:30 tomorrow instead of 9. More than 4 hours sleep tonight might be a good idea. :)

Trabajo

I think I like my new routine, implemented as of yesterday. The only thing I haven't been able to do is work efficiently in the evenings and get enough sleep. It's sort of a vicious cycle; I keep falling asleep and end up napping in the late afternoons and evenings because I'm too tired to work, and then because of the nap, end up sleeping late and not getting enough sleep at night. A 3 am bedtime when Barbri class starts at 9 is just not acceptable!

Anyway, the routine. Class from 9 to 1. Lunch, unwind, web surfing until about 1:30. Write out an essay in 40 minutes. Do other assorted work until around 3-3:30. Go to the gym until around 4. Spend the rest of the day watching TV (I can't help myself - I'm addicted to late afternoon TNT), doing MC questions on Study Smart and outlining topics. (And of course, procrastinating.) SLEEP. It's not fully structured, but it's just enough so that I don't feel horrible about not getting x amount of stuff done by y time, yet still hold myself to some sort of schedule. Of course, it's flexible, depending on other appointments and things going on, as well as any non-routine Barbri assignments. But I kind of like the way it's felt for the past 2 days (today's not over yet, but the essay writing is). So, we'll see how it goes.

Barbri only tells you to outline the essays, but I tried doing that and it just doesn't feel good enough. So maybe I won't get through 4 essay outlines in one day, but I feel like I'm learning more substantively and strategically from writing them out. I think I'll also feel better about the essay writing once the exam comes around, especially time pressure - quality over quantity, right? Or so I tell myself.

Barbri stuff aside (and really, what else is there these days?), I watched the episode of Hit Me Baby One More Time that I missed last Thursday. I've read so many comments on the show from other people - that it's horrible, it's embarrassing, it's really poor quality... but c'mon, it's a summer reality show. I don't hold it to any higher standard than pure entertainment value. And for me, it works. (And it's got to be better than the latest season of Average Joe and the monster of "I Want to Be a Hilton"...) Maybe it's because I love 80s music and still listen to 80s radio stations, or maybe it's because I'll watch any televised "talent show" (should I be embarrassed to admit that I saw episodes of both American Juniors and Fame?), but I think it's fun. No, it's not the best show out there. But it's fun! I mean, they're going to have Wang Chung this week! :)

Tonight, while outlining (hopefully contracts - I intend to finish con law before going to the gym, since I was really supposed to finish yesterday), there's Beauty and the Geek, Dancing with the Stars and a Lost rerun. Yay. :) And on a random TV note, I thought I heard the Contracts guy on the video today referring to the law firm at the "dearly departed Boston Legal." I wasn't sure if he thought the show was cancelled or something. (It's not.) I love how, when I am supposed to be paying attention to contracts hypotheticals, I sit there wondering whether or not the professor knows about TV show renewals. We all need a break sometimes. :)

Quince

I know it doesn't sound awful to people in the working world, but a 9-to-5 day of Barbri is brutal. I don't know how the people taking CA Barbri down at the UofC handled all those long days the past couple of weeks. Stronger than I am, that's for sure. :) Considering I fell asleep at least 3 times and have my lecture handouts as proof...

Working on Barbri today, it feels like the weekend was a long time ago. Family visiting? Spending the day touring Chicago? Brunches and dinners at all different restaurants? Feels like a distant memory. Even graduation feels like it happened awhile ago, even though it was only on Friday. I guess that's what it's like getting back to work - like you've been doing it forever and you've never left.

Considering that my work time was much more severely restricted than previous days, I got a surprising amount done. (But objectively speaking, I didn't do all that much.) I've also tweaked my work routine a little bit, which probably accounts for some of the progress. Before, I used to come home from class and type up all my notes from that day, and then later, use those notes to combine with book stuff to make my outline (or "condensed notes," but in chart form) that I take with me to memorize at the gym. Typing things over and over again has always been the way I've committed things to memory, so the extra work didn't seem like an inherently bad idea. But while it does help with learning, it also wastes a ton of time (I suspected this while I was doing it, but I told myself that I was learning it as I went along). So for Con Law, I've just been going straight to the outline. Doesn't seem like a terrible method doing it that way - but then again, Con Law isn't a very long outline. Something like NY Practice, I'm kind of glad I had typed out the notes. So I guess it's dependent on topic. But most likely, I'll go straight to the outline. Not enough time to do anything else.

And now that I've thoroughly bored both bar takers and non-bar takers with the minutiae of my work routine, I should talk about something more exciting.

But what?

The fact that I do less web surfing now that I've started using Barbri's Study Smart software, because instead of looking for random things on the web, I just do sets of 5 questions? (MC questions are like a game...)

The fact that there is so little on TV during the summer that I end up watching the Scholar and can't even piece together an entire night of L&O reruns?

Yeah, exciting life I lead. Me and my crim law multiple choice questions. :)

But I do want to see a movie this weekend - either Batman Begins or Howl's Moving Castle. They're both playing down the block, which makes it really convenient. I like it when the movies I want to see play at River East instead of City North. Who wants to drive to a movie theater when they can walk to one?

Hmm. The Weather Channel has claimed it's going to storm tonight. Yet they have said either isolated or scattered storms ever since Thursday, and I haven't seen all that much rain. That's a good thing, since it means it didn't pour on graduation (and thus, I did not go through with my plans to wear a swimsuit, although considering the heat, maybe I should have!) and I got to walk all over the city with my family. But I also don't want it to rain on my walk to bar review! I love my 10 minute commute by the lake. Rain would ruin the view. ;-)

Anyway, I should get to sleep before contracts (finally!) tomorrow. I vaguely remember liking contracts in 1L, but we didn't really do anything UCC-related, so let's see if I still like it once Barbri's done with it. :)

Catorce

Well, that was fun. I'm now a JD. :) Finally!

There's a longer post about graduation weekend in the works (although I hope that, by saying that, I did not curse the topic into the list of "topics I plan to write about in the future, mention on my blog and never address again"). It was great, although really exhausting. My parents are finally back home, and now it's time for everything to go back to routine. Well, at least a little bit. :)

Between the end of Barbri class on Thursday and this minute, I have done just about no bar studying. And you know what? I know I'm 2 weeks behind, but I'm not going to feel guilty about enjoying the weekend. I did about 20 MC questions over the course of the weekend, and that's more than I thought I was going to get done because of all the family around and things to do. (We kept ourselves busy - my computer now has 900 mb more pictures than it did before Wednesday.) After all, you only have your last graduation once. It's something to savor.

But now? Now, I have to get back to Barbri. If the red luscious sweet strawberries that we picked up from Costco don't keep distracting me...

Trece

Lucky 13. How 'bout that. :)

I passed!

All 4 of the classes I was waiting to hear about!

And I'm going to graduate!

Oh thank goodness.

They were putting the transcripts into the mail folders at exactly the time when I got to the school, so I stuck around to make sure I could get mine. Perfect timing. I'm so relieved!

Now that I finally know for sure that I'm graduating, I'm finally letting myself think about it. I held back on thinking about a LOT of topics (moving details, bar trip, graduation weekend plans, everything) because I felt so uncertain. (You probably noticed there were no posts about last classes, end of law school, end of school... it wasn't just an oversight.) But now I'm finally free!

I'm going to graduate!! :)

Doce

I contend that my reason for only having "average" general knowledge is because those parts of my brain have been usurped by Barbri. There's only so much space in the brain.

Your IQ Is 110

Your Logical Intelligence is Above Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Exceptional Your General Knowledge is Average

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Once

It's official. I don't like NY Practice. And it's not that I don't like the Professor who lectured. But this topic is driving me crazy. (Kind of a problem...)

Why?

1. It annoys me that I'm still working on the outline.
2. There are too many minute details and I have no idea which ones are important and which ones aren't. (Since most aren't mentioned in the CMR, which you would think would have the important stuff in it. But if not important, why was it in lecture?)
   
3. The CMR for NY Practice is horrible - the sections we covered in lecture have less info in the CMR and the parts that we didn't cover in lecture are really poorly explained. I guess I might have to use the really big book, because I don't know what the *&$# this crap is supposed to mean. I think the other subjects were done better, even for the stuff that we didn't do in lecture.
4. These are extremely useless details if you're not going to be a litigator. Who needs all the details of motion practice and the time limits for submitting different papers?
5. TOO MUCH INFORMATION. My brain can't handle it.

Luckily, I am almost done. Of course, I'll have to study it even when the outlining is done, but at least I won't be stuck paging through the damn book.

Now, bar stuff aside. Well, it's sort of related, but at the same time, not. Today I have felt like I am on a popcorn chicken diet. At Costco over the weekend, I picked up a bag of popcorn chicken because I need hot snack foods (junk food and cookies just don't work most of the time) and had run out of buffalo chicken. Today I microwaved some for lunch, some for a post-lunch snack, some for an afternoon snack... I hope I don't finish the whole bag of popcorn chicken this week.

Then again, maybe popcorn chicken could be my bar food. ;-)

Diez

Grade status: NSIT status is still red. No grade site available. No word on any new grades. This reminds me of the 3 day email failure just before our first 1L exam period. (Yes, it was brutal.) Please tell me, with the amount of money we're paying, just why none of that was spent on having computer systems that work?

Barbri status: More property. Landlord-tenant stuff is interesting. What I did not like was the fact that the lecture hall was freezing and my sweater couldn't cover both my legs and my arms. Too cold. Also, people drumming their fingers in the middle of lectures can sometimes break your concentration as badly as someone's cell phone ringing.

Current goal: Type up property notes by 2:30-3 pm, bring crim pro outline to the gym to study.

Let's see if I can do this. :)

Nueve

I think I've discovered my main problem with bar studying (besides a cluttered apartment and too many distractions, which while definitely problems, are not causing the main problem):

I don't have a routine.

Sure, I go to class from 9-1 everyday, come home, have some lunch, etc. But I think I'd be more effective and I'd feel better if I had a set routine, as opposed to trying to get a couple of discrete things done "whenever" during the day. One including gym time, break time, walking outside time, etc.

Part of the problem is that, with all this playing catch-up because of finals, it's hard to have a good routine. Or even to make a routine. But since I really do intend to catch up soon (no, I didn't finish NY Practice yet, but I'm on the last day of lecture), I resolve that I shall make at least a tentative routine to begin next Tuesday or Wednesday. (Going to catch-up classes on Monday, so any afternoon routine wouldn't work that day. See, more evidence of school messing up schedules.) I'll figure something out.

Besides, I need to work on my self-discipline. Because when mid-July rolls around, it's going to take all the self-discipline I have to not read Harry Potter before sitting for the bar exam.

I'm calling it a night. Tonight I plan to sleep before 1 am for the first time in awhile. (1 am is not even that good! I want to be asleep before midnight every day!) It's about time.

Ocho

You're kidding me.

I can't check my grades?!?!

Apparently, there was a hardware failure and they are rebuilding the "machine for web applications." Great, just great. Don't they realize I need to know my grades?

I guess this should make studying easier, since I can't check my grades. But instead I end up reloading the status page, hoping that it will change. And not change for the worse like it did before, when status went from yellow to red.

Sigh. If grading on a short time frame is so hard for professors, why can't they just make the last quarter of 3L pass/fail so they have grades in on time? Bah.

Siete

This is very very bad. I was on the NY Summer Restaurant Week site, and started looking at restaurant menus. I only went through about 4 restaurants, but now I'm craving sushi and tuna tartare and agh, this is horrible. I need to stop. Because dinner tonight for me is a salad of greens, chicken and tomatoes. Nothing restaurant-quality in looks or taste, so I have to stop it with these dreams of tuna tartare and just get back to indemnity and contribution. Sigh. Tuna tartare...

Seis

I was trying not to watch TV, but the random hammering is driving me crazy and I need to find some way to minimize it because I can't eliminate it. It goes loud and soft, at irregular rhythms, from different locations - granted it's not as overwhelmingly loud as the drilling, but why does there need to be construction noise at all??

And as usual, it didn't start until right now - just as I finished lunch and was about to start to work. I really think it's a conspiracy to keep me from working effectively. Damn noisemakers.

Cinco

Coming out of Barbri today, I ran smack into a line of tense about-to-be LSAT takers. They were lined up through the entire Northwestern lobby to get their room assignments and directions. It hit me when I finally got outside (into the humid summer heat) that it feels like a really long time since I was in their shoes.

Relatively speaking, it might be. I took the LSAT in June 2001, back home in NY at the local college. The LSAT was in 2 rooms - where you took the test depended on what time you got there; there were no pre-assigned rooms. It felt rather laid-back; I'm not sure if it's because there was no atmosphere of hypercompetitiveness or because everyone there was a stranger to me, so I wouldn't have noticed had that atmosphere been there. (I'm inclined to think it's a little of both, because I've taken tests in rooms of strangers before and sometimes you could just feel the tension. Or maybe I'm just remembering it as being a lot better than it was.) There were regular classes going on down the hall and maybe even some gardeners doing work outside the window. This rosy memory feels like it was ages ago.

I don't think that, at that point, I could have ever imagined being in the place I'm in now. Would I ever have predicted that I'd find myself in Chicago for law school? Doubtful. I didn't even know whether I'd do well on the LSAT, much less where I could get myself admitted. And I'd never even been to Chicago. I wouldn't know how to imagine it beyond what I'd seen on Oprah. And look at life now. I've been here for 3 years, I have a job, it's graduation week (if I could only pass my classes... I'm still in fear), and I'm studying for the bar instead of the LSAT. Things change so fast.

Yet some things remind you of the past even before you're confronted with them head-on. For example, today in Barbri we covered future interests. While we worked through the different estates and future interests, it came back to me that I actually liked this when we did it in property class. It was like a puzzle. Sure, there are some elements of rote memorization and I felt totally lost at points, but it was actually kind of fun working through the puzzles. And as I sat in the chilled lecture hall at Barbri thinking about this, I started realizing that what future interests really reminded me of: my favorite section of the LSAT, those logic games.

Now, I know a LOT of people who detested logic games. I, on the other hand, thought they were fun, and (intelligently or not) would work through them instead of working on other sections of the LSAT that I was, let's say, not as good at. (It all comes from these logic puzzle magazines I used to get as a kid. I guess I've just always found them fun.) Clearly, everything worked out fine with the LSAT, but I hope I don't get as attached to future interests questions because I really doubt there will be as many of them.

I don't think I even realized the LSAT was today when I was sitting in lecture. (Maybe I'm just oblivious.) I totally forgot that it was held on a Monday and for some reason, was thinking it was on the weekend whenever I saw the "proctor the LSAT" signs around Northwestern. Looking out at all those anxious faces on line for the exam... all I could think was that things really do repeat themselves. After all, what was I doing at Northwestern? Bar review.

For some inexplicable reason, this whole experience has sort of inspired me to get stuff done today. (Yeah, I don't get it.) I'm going to type up today's notes, finish NY Practice and make some progress on questions. At least that's the plan.

But all of this bar stuff still hasn't taken its place in the forefront of my mind just yet. I'm still fixated on the fact that I need 4 more grades to graduate. And that since the last time I posted about grades, I have had no new grades posted. I even cleared my home phone answering machine (it used to just blink because I never checked my messages) just in case the school called with bad news. Grades were supposedly due at the end of last week. But my transcript is still looking a little too empty for my liking.

Of course, I'd rather it be empty than a failing grade. But I really really really want (and need) to pass them all. Graduation is so close... yet so far away.

And with that anxiety out on my blog yet again, I am going to have lunch and get started with work. And probably check my grades every half-hour even though I know that nothing is going to change.

Cuatro

After last night's episode, I ended up taking a 4 hour "nap." The bags under my eyes are atrocious.

And even worse, I'll probably have to take a nap this afternoon if I'm going to be at all functional on bar stuff. Sigh.

But I must go to sleep early tonight. This week is going to be more busy than usual (lots of family coming into the city, graduation stuff if I pass everything and utter despair if I don't, and handing in first Barbri graded essay), so I really need a good night's sleep. Especially to compensate for last night.

Oh how sad... they're doing a story on children with skin cancer on the Today Show. I'm not sure I can handle a depressing topic like this so early in the morning...

So I will turn it off and finish eating my breakfast, and then go to Barbri and try not to fall asleep during future interests the same way I did during NY Practice. The best thing about taking a class by video is that, not only do you not have to worry about getting called on in class, you don't even have to care about how you would appear to the professor. Slumped over your desk, eyes closing, bored looks - there's no feeling guilty over offending a professor who can't see you. Now, this video situation would be perfect, if I could just watch it on my computer from my living room... (but on a set schedule, because I don't have the discipline to self-study). Oh well. Can't have it all. ;-)

Tres

Still awake.

Is it because I'm still trying to finish NY Practice I and won't let myself sleep until I do? No, nothing like that at all.

Instead, I think I have heartburn or something. I found some Pepcid pills somewhere in my bag and took one, so hopefully this will subside soon and I can go to sleep. But right now, it's just too damn uncomfortable to even try to sleep, even though my eyes keep closing. This hardly ever happens. I'm not sure what caused it. But I don't think it's from studying for the bar. ;-)

Anyway, being awake has enabled me to delve a little bit into NY Practice II. Yay. Now, as far as pages, I am a little more than 1/4 of the way through CMR and almost 1/2 through my lecture notes. Whee. (Mmm. Cotton candy on the Food Network now. Sweet sweet stuff.)

I also got to watch 2 episodes of the Next Food Network Star and I'm hooked. I had no idea so much preparation went into making a cooking show. But it's even further proof that the 30 minute meals really aren't 30 minute meals. They're only 30 minutes if someone else bought all the ingredients, prepared them and had them ready for you, so all you had to do was cook. Of course I could cook in 30 minutes if I had everything done for me (or if I could chop like an Iron Chef).

All the contestants seem really nice, and I found myself not wanting anyone to get kicked off. It looked like so much fun. It's hard to pick just one person/team to root for since they all have good qualities, but I think I found myself rooting for the gay couple from Chicago. I thought they just worked really well together. I liked their relationship. Oh, and the guy who had to frost the cake with the potato peeler? That was hilarious. And one reason to be glad you're not on a TV show? Reading a teleprompter seems like it's brutal.

Alright, maybe I'll read appearances and then go to sleep before tackling venue. Or try to sleep or something. Maybe fall asleep listening to PMBR CDs... :)

Dos

This feels very abnormal. I'm supposed to be condensing my notes... but since there are so many procedural details, it doesn't feel very condensed.

But that's not the abnormal part.

I don't think I've had any other unit where the CMR (the big Barbri book, not the biggest but the one I actually read, for non-bar study people) had less information than my notes/lecture handouts. I'm not talking about extra hypotheticals or anything like that. I mean, less procedural details, less content, less everything. It feels very weird to fix up my notes and then go to that CMR section and find that there's less there. It just feels unbalanced.

Or maybe that's just my tired brain talking. Or my distracted brain... since "The Next Food Network Star"is much more interesting than service of process.

Uno

I'm not feeling creative and I'm too lazy to go to translating tools, so I'm just going back to numbers. Something I can handle while my brain is devoted to other tasks.

I've determined that Word is sick of studying for the bar exam (not like there has been all that much studying so far, but still). Today, it crashed twice. Word has not needed document recovery in months, as far as I can remember. Yet today, it's been very unhappy. And today, Word has been engaged in nothing but bar review.

Oh well. It must suffer through some more, because I am not going to sleep until I finished what we covered in NY Practice I. (Even though, to get as much sleep as I would like to get, I would have had to go to bed an hour ago.) Then I'll be up to Wednesday. Sigh. So behind! (But at least I'm finally working...)

Perdida

I can't figure out what to do with the subject lines anymore. I'm sick of going to the dictionary. Maybe I should go back to the numbers. Ideas?

In the meantime, a quiz:


My life is rated PG-13.
What is your life rated?
And now, back to Barbri. I'm finally up to the work from this past Tuesday for the Paced Program. At least it's within the same 7 day period (better than I could have said yesterday!)... having final exams after Barbri started really screwed up any attempt to stick with the Paced Program. And provided that I pass all my remaining classes (still uncertain), next weekend (graduation) will not help much. But it will all get done eventually. At least I think it will. :)

Tempestade

I was watching the Weather Channel while working before, and they kept talking about the Midwest and Chicago. It's a big storm day today and the severe weather experts are working overtime. (Then again, it's not just the Midwest - it's snowing in Denver and Boulder!)

They anticipated that the thunderstorms would be here in 30-45 minutes (from the time I watched). Wisconsin had the possibility of tornadoes; we were just going to get some bad thunderstorms from a quick moving line. I looked out the window at the time, but it was kind of bright - could it really pour in 40 minutes?

Short answer? Yes.

I walked out of the living room and walked back in a minute later. It was only a minute but over the course of that minute, it had gotten pretty dark outside. So much so that I had to turn the lights on to read my book, while the minute before it was bright enough to work with just outdoor lighting.

It wasn't a really bad storm (at least I don't think so). It moved really quickly, the rain could have been harder and more plentiful (not that it wasn't pouring) and longer, there could have been more lightning... I've definitely seen worse while in Chicago. But I'm not complaining... it's better for everyone to not have a severe storm, and I still got to watch some great highlights.

I was hoping for better pictures, but here's what I got:

Starting to get dark...


Clouds beginning to move across the lake, really low clouds in the distance


The big cloud is making its presence known


And it's moving really fast!


And out over the lake with long gray cloud trails... this was the big cloud that produced the lightning strikes that I saw but could not photograph (they were awesome)


Hello cloud!


The city is just covered in gray clouds and pouring rain.... I hope the tourist boat I saw going out toward the lake when it started to get dark (no, I don't know why they continued to go out) wasn't stuck out there!


This is only about 10 minutes after the whole thing started, but the highway's pretty wet... and the cars have water wings! :)


20 minutes from bright to bright... there are blue skies from my window again!


But the clouds aren't fully gone (the blue skies are the view out the window, the gray clouds are up above the building)... and there's another wave of thunderstorms set to come through later. I wonder if that will interfere with the fireworks...


And now? Now, it's bright and sunny again. To the point where you might need sunglasses outside. It's only been about 40 minutes since the whole thing started, and according to the radar, the storm's already halfway over Lake Michigan. Fast.

But right now, I've got to get back to warrantless searches and trying to figure out why my Gmail won't connect. I want a Jimmy John's sandwich...

Verdade

Hmm. Not sure what I think of these results.

The True You

You want your girlfriend or boyfriend to be more open with you.

With respect to money, you spend as little as possible.

You think good luck doesn't exist - reality is built on practicalities.

The hidden side of your personality tends to be satisfied to care for things with a minimal amount of effort.

You are tend to think about others' feelings a lot, perhaps because you are so eager to be liked.

When it comes to finding a romantic partner, you don't have any particular type in mind, but you are inclined to look for someone who will say yes when you ask him / her out.

Who's the True You?

Ruído

I thought the drillers had stopped. I had turned on QVC and all of a sudden the noise seemed to go away, except for some intermittent hammering.

But apparently, the drill man only took a lunch break. That must be why there was no drilling for about an hour. And now he's back and better than ever!

And I'm still doing search & seizure. Making these study packets takes so long. Only problem is that if it's taking me this long to do Criminal Procedure, it's going to take me 3 times as long to do NY Practice. Blergh. Drill man, shut up! I know it's Saturday, but that doesn't mean that no one's home! I glare at you!

Brocas

You know, listening to it some more, the drill is making a very sick sound. Sort of like a sick and wounded drill. I really want to know what's going on up there with all this construction! I know they're redoing some apartments, but we got notice the last time that there would be construction noise. I don't remember seeing a notice this time about any sort of construction noise. Grr.

Broca

Okay. What the HECK is going on upstairs?

I don't know if it's one floor above me or two floors above me, but with the amount of drilling going on, I feel like the floor up above is going to collapse and fall on me. What's with all the drilling? The nonstop drilling?

And WHY?

And it's only been going on for the past half hour, which... coincidentally... is when I started trying to work.

As usual.

Oh well. It alternates between drilling and hammering, but the drilling is far more annoying. I just wish I knew what was going on, and whether it's going to get worse to the point where I have to leave.

Until then, back to search & seizure.