Frequent Citations

Deja Vu Again

I keep running into the same people, sometimes on purpose and sometimes by accident. They all have the same bleary-eyed and careworn look... yeah, former classmates.

I've run into them at coffee shops and on the bus, coming and going from class. And, of course, on a friend's patio where we gathered last night for drinks and commiseration. It's nice to keep seeing people for a little while before we scatter to the four corners.

We compare notes on bar exams, which states are covering which subjects, who's making flash cards, where people are studying. Sometimes we break out of the bar exam stranglehold on our lives and talk about clerkships and bar trips, or who's still looking for a place to live and have you sold your place yet? me neither.

We know each other so well in some ways, not at all in others.

Old-Fashioned Blog Hopping

Way back in the day, before I even started this blog, I stumbled upon blogs by googling for something and then following link to link to link. It was fun, and I never knew quite where I'd end up. There was a certain rhythm to it, too. Click--nothing new, go back. Click, read. Click--oh look! Shiny new template! Click, read, click.

Then two things happened. One, I got Google Reader and started pulling all my blog reading through that. Two, Blogger changed commenting procedures so that I couldn't leave comments without logging out of my gmail account, back in with another account and a password I could never remember, etc. So even when I went to a blog, I often couldn't leave a comment.

And you know I can't stop myself from contributing my two cents.

I realized the other day that I was beginning to feel estranged from my own little blogging community. Also, it seems that Blogger has somewhat reformed itself and will allow me to again post as Citations. Putting all that together, I think I'm going to stop using Reader for the blogs I like to visit regularly. I'm going to go back to the click and read, and drop a few comments here and there. Maybe I'll make some fun discoveries while I'm at it.

In the meantime, Google, I know you're reading this. Please figure out a way for me to be logged in under two different names simultaneously. That would greatly facilitate my double life. Thank you.

Fearing Flailing

Last night it was a spectacularly beautiful evening, temperate and clear with an enormous moon, and TFL took me for a long ride on Bonnie. It was a long enough ride that my mind finally disengaged and floated, happy to be on the bike and watching the moon and not studying for the bar. Then I came home and worked for another couple of hours, staying up too late once again.

LL often has a way of capturing my thoughts on family and husbands. It's funny, even though she's at a far different place in her life in terms of the husband-and-family timeline, she's the only other woman in our class who understands from experience the pull they exert even when you really really need to find a cave to hide in until you've learned enough to pass whatever test is looming. (Other classmates are married, so they definitely understand some of it, but she's the only other woman in the class who's a mom.)

Sometimes they're a huge distraction, and sometimes that's a wonderful thing. Sometimes they're a huge help, too, like when they cook for us or listen to our whining give us a big hug when we most need it. Either way, my life is infinitely better for having my husband and children in it, so I'll just cope with being woefully behind in bar prep (there are practice questions? really? and where would I find those and the time in which to do them?) and not let myself fall into despair (yet) and start flailing around in an endless fit of panic over the test the lecturers have informed us is "fearful."

I'll save that for next week. Or maybe the week after. I might have to have a conniption fit about the flat not selling before I get around to freaking out (more) about the bar.

The Obligatory Whither Now? Post

Lots of law school bloggers find themselves wondering, whither now? Do we keep blogging when we can no longer complain about professors? Is there much point to blogging when we can't say one word about work, which will consume 110% of our waking hours?

I started this blog to keep my family apprised of my continued existence while buried in the non-stop fun and games that is law school. I don't see my life becoming less hectic, even if it becomes less share-able.

One of the main benefits of the blog for me has been the way it forced me to look up from my mound of work sometimes and find something else to say about life. Whether it was noticing that the trees were, in fact, blooming again, or ranting about some current event, I would occasionally break out of the law school mind set and that was good for me.

So for the moment I think I'll continue. I'll regale you with the thrills of my Bar preparation adventures, agonize over the unsold status of our flat, keep you up to speed on our progress to the new and improved location.

Bonus picture: GirlChild's wall pocket with a flower.

Training Dogness

Dogness thinks she's a rottweiler. Every time the doorbell rings, she goes into full alert mode and is phenomenally loud. Finally, I snapped and ordered a training collar--one that sprays a citronella mist instead of giving a shock. It's organic, harmless, works by distraction instead of pain. I had to give it a try.

It arrived today--in a storm of hideous barking, once again waking me up. (Yes, the dinner last night was all kinds of fun.) The first thing I did once I was coherent enough to open the box was to assemble and attach the collar. I was going to be home for a while, and several deliveries were due.

Well. The first time she started barking, she sort of choked it off, restarted, stopped again, looked confused. As soon as she shushed, I expressed my sincere admiration of her quiet with gushing compliments and a treat. The next time the bell rang, there were a couple of bark attempts, and renewed quiet. Bliss! I again shared my enthusiastic appreciation with Dogness.

The last time the bell rang, there was one rather soft bark and that was it. Hurrah!!

Also, we have run out of dog poop bags. I'm thrilled with the demise of the plastic bag, and the uptick in the use of canvas or other reusable bags, but cleaning up after Dogness must be done. So I was very happy to learn about these bags, but I have to find a cheaper source. Ow.

Close Encounters

I saw very few movies when I was growing up, maybe three or four before I was in high school. One was a Jodie Foster movie--I think that must have been for someone's birthday. Anyway, one of the movies I saw was Close Encounters. Though I remembered almost nothing, I carried around an image of a guy sculpting a mountain and a vague impression that it was a happy movie.

Ha.

I watched it again tonight (instead of doing anything remotely productive) and sure enough, there was the mountain. Smack dab in the middle of the guy's living room. Why did anyone ever think that made sense? But, somehow, it was a great movie. I don't know if I would say it was happy, exactly. I mean, the guy did go off into the wild blue yonder without a word to his freaked-out family, but no one got eaten or anything.

In other news: TFL is traveling for work (not to anywhere exciting) and I am going through Board applications, trying to decide who I think would be good for which positions. What a crapshoot it is! Sadly, everyone emailed in their applications. I'm telling you, we should have stuck with hard copies. It would have been much easier for them to slip bribes in with their applications that way.

Writing An Opinion (Or Four)

For my First Amendment class I have to write a Supreme Court opinion. But it has to address two separate issues, so that's really two opinions. Only I also have to write a dissent for each opinion, so voila--four opinions.

And I have less than 24 hours in which to do it.

I've done (most of) the reading I need to do, including some articles that made my head spin before it exploded. I've even sketched out some of my arguments. But the actual writing? Erm, not so much. Egad, it's going to be a long long night. And day.

And then I get to plunge into studying for Securities, which I rescheduled for Saturday due to my Tax exam today (well, yesterday now--Wednesday). The people who took Securities today came out of there looking ashen and mentioning that their hopes of graduating with honors were now permanently dashed. The omens are not propitious.

So...here I go. Write write write. Starting now! ish.

. . .

It's now about an hour and a half later. I've written . . . some. And I've maybe read a few news items. Possibly, I've taken a quiz and caught up with a blog or two. Yes, I'm nearly as bad as LL, although not having quite such a bad week. Seldom have I been so happy that those days of miserably ill (though adorable) babies are so long behind me.

But now I've decided that even I, self-professed political junkie, am sick of the news. So maybe I'll go back to writing about freedom of speech.

. . .

Several hours later and I'm both hitting a groove and getting pretty darn tired. Sigh. I think I have a pretty comprehensive outline of the opinion(s) done, but it's no more than an outline and a few paragraphs right now. The footnotes have already begun, though. He's going to kill me. Time to go make tea and try to write while it's flowing.

. . .

Oof. It's 5:30 am. I've got some decent stuff down on paper (electronically speaking) but I have a long way to go. I may need to go take a nap. I wish I didn't do my best writing between 1 and 5 am. It really messes up the rest of my schedule.

Bus Sense

I admit it--I go to a school where the average student is freakishly smart and has the nerdiness to prove it. (I'm talking mostly, though not entirely, about the undergrads.) So you would think that they have enough sense to recognize the obvious. Then again, I guess being smart doesn't mean you can see past the end of your nose.

That would explain why people get on the bus when it's already full and then, instead of shuffling back and filling it in evenly, they all bunch up by the driver. It's as though they're afraid to move more than three feet away from him. So you get a bus with half its aisle empty, probably even an empty seat or two, and 20 people jammed into the 9 square feet of space between the driver and the door.

Really, people? What's so great about that particular section of the rail you're hanging onto that you can't move down and give people room to breathe? Do you have no sense of spatial awareness? Don't mess with me--I'm a mom. I will not only speak to you directly, I will tell you to move. Politely, of course, but possibly with an undertone of "you bleeping inconsiderate idiot."

February Chill

It's been so brutally cold this month. We're in one of those spells of nasty, nasty cold that somehow feels different in this city than anywhere else.

Somehow the chill of the weather seeps through everything. Days drag, even as you lack half the time you need.

But last night as I was driving home the moon hung, low and enormous, in a not-quite-dark sky. Later, when I took Dogness out for a speedy walk, we admired the eclipse for a few seconds before hurrying back inside.

The problem with February ending is that March follows relentlessly on its heels, and with March come finals.

Ten Dollar Words And A Great Start

It's not even 8:30 in the morning yet, and I want to go back to bed.

I woke up to an email full of $10 words and veiled accusations of bad intentions.

I couldn't find my make-up bag, and I have a videotaped negotiation this morning.

I had to unbury my car, although one benefit to parking right along the lake is that the wind had already blown most of the snow away. And when I got to school there was still parking on the same block, which is always exciting.

And then my 9 am meeting got canceled because 3 out of 7 people can't make it or even phone in for it.

You would think having a meeting canceled is good news, and maybe it is, but right now I'm just cranky enough to be annoyed that I went to the effort to prepare for it and now it's not happening.

Guess I better go prepare more for my negotiation instead.