pintsize2270

pintsize2270 @ 2008-09-28T12:47:00

2008-09-28T17:18:51Z

Hey everyone.

There hasn't been a whole lot of change since last I posted. I can't really believe that September is almost over, and it feels like I should be working harder than I already am, which of course makes me nervous about preparing for finals already. I also still have to do some big writing projects before Thanksgiving break, which I plan on getting a start on soon (assuming there isn't another cite checking assignment this semester, I could conceivably finish one of them this week).

I'm also waiting to hear back on the jobs I've applied for from various different areas. Two of them have stopped taking applications, but I haven't heard anything back from any of them. I'm starting to get a bit discouraged, as I've already been turned down for interviews at two of the three on-campus interview sites I applied for, and from what I can tell on the career network's webpage it's not looking good on the third interview.

In other news, I've picked up some new comic series. I have the latest issues of Runaways, after taking almost a year to publish. Seriously, Joss Whedon may be a fine writer of dialogue, but he delayed the series by almost a year by just not publishing anything. Granted, in the intervening period he created Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long blog, but still, I think I have a right to complain about that. However, the new writer is relatively good (with the exception of the new character Klara, who I just dislike in general), but the artist sucks ass. Seriously. I don't mind the cartoony, anime influenced facial expressions or anything, but it doesn't even look like he spent time on the illustrations. Like in some panels, a characters eyes are waaay offset (i.e. one eye where it should be, other eye in forehead). I'm looking forward to the new stories, but am dreading the art.

I also discovered 100 Bullets, which is just an interesting concept for me. Suppose after your life's been ruined in some way or another, a man gives you a briefcase containing a gun and 100 untraceable bullets, and if applicable proof as to who is responsible for ruining your life. What do you do with this? Who would give this to you, and why? It's an interesting concept for a series at the very least.

Well, that's about it for me for right now.

I assure you I'm still alive

2008-09-20T15:51:09Z

Hello everybody!

Life kinda got crazy for a bit, but I have a little free time now, so I'm posting.

Classes are going better. I'm more back in the swing of things, but at times I feel like I should be doing more work than I am.

Speaking of classes, in retrospect picking most of my classes to fall on Monday and Wednesday doesn't leave much time for homework inbetween. As such, I basically do all week's homework over the weekend, which makes for very long weekends.

Also, I really enjoy criminal procedure, mostly because it combines my two favorite classes from last year into one. That and it makes me think odd thoughts, like "Is my shopping bag opaque enough to constitute a reasonable societal belief that its contents would be private?"

There isn't really much in terms of social news, as most of my social life consists of watching random things with Melissa. Lately it's been a lot of Mission: Impossible (the TV series) and Due South.

Well, that's just about it.

pintsize2270 @ 2008-08-24T14:38:00

2008-08-24T18:57:28Z

Hi everybody!

Things are going alright. I'm all moved back in, settled, and have my first assignments done. Classes start tomorrow. I decided to drop one of them; I wasn't too excited over the prospect of taking six classes including a journal that requires a 20 page note. I'll probably expand my course load next semester, once I get a better feel for the journal's workload.

Aside from that, there isn't very much that's new with me.

Talk to you all later.

pintsize2270 @ 2008-08-17T21:03:00

2008-08-18T01:24:28Z

Well, I'm all moved back in for classes.

One quick note on my dorm. This year, maintenance went through and took out all of the carpeting and most of the furniture to make the room easier to clean (or harder to completely trash. Either or). As a result, all of the rooms look incredibly bigger. The downside, however, is that now the room is basically a bed and a desk and, because I have brought nothing with me to put on the walls or anything, it looks incredibly sterile.

But yeah, now I'm all moved in and settled down for another semester. I've started homework for my first assignments and have OCI stuff starting tomorrow.

...man, do I really not want to go back to classes.

pintsize2270 @ 2008-08-09T11:46:00

2008-08-09T16:29:38Z

Well, I suppose I should update this thing sometime...

Work has been going swimmingly. I'll be finishing up my internships come next week. They were interesting; I think the coolest aspect was doing work that made a difference. Plus it didn't hurt that I was switched over to a paid position for my clerkship. So woot for that!

Lollapalooza was a ton of fun. By far, the best aspect of it was seeing Flogging Molly live. They do an AMAZING live show.

So go see them.

Right now.

Other than that, the trip was amazing. We stayed at the Palmer House Hilton, which was incredibly nice and, because the bill was split five ways, was rather reasonable. We didn't get to do too much for touristy stuff, but Lolla was quite enough.

Um...

*checks last post*

God, it was that long ago? Woo boy...

The rest of summer was good. I got set up, in a combined effort by my mom and Megan, with a girl named Kate. It was nice, we went out a few times, but she made it pretty clear that she was pushing for a relationship right away, which I wasn't very certain about, so I told her I wasn't interested. She seemed to take it well enough and immediately found someone new, though, so that's good. (and, according to Megan, began fucking the everliving crap out of him. Great quote from drunk Megan on that, though. "Dude, Sherm, you totally missed the boat on that one.")

As a consequence of that adventure, though, I ended up finally settling whether my friend Kal (Melissa from State) and I are dating by forcing her to give a direct answer. She answered no, of course (otherwise going out with Kate would've been pretty awkward), but told me that she's "open to renegotiate." So that's good. I think.

Speaking of Kal, I went to visit her over the weekend of the Fourth. It was fun! We watched a ton of movies and the original Battlestar Galatica. I haven't really seen the current one, but what I've seen of the 1970s version has been interesting. I really like the concept of the Cylons; an entire race of robots left over from a long dead race, still following their last orders.

There was also the brewery tour, which was fun, and Megan's 21st birthday, which was fun until one of the guests passed out, smacked her head, and went unresponsive so we had to haul her off to the emergency room.

But yeah, that's basically everything that I've been up to over the past few months. Now it's just a matter of packing, doing first assignments, and heading back to school.

I'll be sure to update this much more often. Talk to you all later.

pintsize2270 @ 2008-05-25T23:48:00

2008-05-26T04:22:30Z

well, it's about time I updated this.

I made it through exams. I'll be receiving grades grades on June 6. Hopefully they'll turn out well.

I took a week off, which wasn't much of a vacation considering that I spent most of it working on my casenote for law review. The good news is that I'm almost done with it (there's still some tweaking I want to do before I mail out the copies), but I still also have the Bluebook exam to do. Then I'll be done with that, and only have a second Bluebook exam and will be done with the Journal of International Law application as well.

I started one of my internships this past week. I'm a law clerk working under a state district court judge here in Grand Rapids. It's interesting and challenging work, and I have no idea how well I'm doing right now, but I'm at least working hard at it.

Next week I start my second internship with the GRPD Civilian Appeals Board, which I'll only be working at part-time (read: one day a week), and will only be given one project to complete for the summer. But hopefully it'll be interesting as well.

Other than that, not much has been going on with me. I've hung out with Joel and company only a few times since I've been home. It doesn't look like I'll be able to make it to Comicon with Melissa this year, which is disappointing, but at least I'll be going to Lollapalooza (which features Flogging Molly this year, which I'm really excited for). And I'm getting some reading done in my spare time. I've finished the first two books of the Vorkosigan Saga, and have gotten a good way into The Comedians by Graham Greene.

OK, that's just about it for now. I'll talk to you all later.

pintsize2270 @ 2008-05-03T13:42:00

2008-05-03T18:06:43Z

Exams are... coming along. I have no idea how they're going, but at least I've been able to reason out the answers I've been giving, so I hope that they're going well.

Which brings up an interesting note that I've noticed recently: exam induced nightmares.

I've had three separate discussions on this topic in the past week. Evidently it's a fairly common phenomena in law school. I can say that I've woken up (screaming, in one case) three times this exam term (two weeks) due to nightmares about exams.

And the odd thing is that for me they aren't really (for me, at least) grounded in reality. I've heard of people having nightmares about over sleeping the exam, or forgetting they had an extra class until the day of the exam, but mine are more along the lines of zombie clowns chasing me because I did the title search on their property wrong.

My subconscious is a strange place.

In other news, Sue's post about Warren Ellis's webcomic made me want to go out and read Transmetropolitan, so I did that in my free time. I thought it was pretty good. If you can get past the initial weirdness, you get a story that's real similar to what All the President's Men would be if it were written by Hunter S. Thompson and set in the future.

And also, congratulations to all people graduating or that have graduated! I have no idea who reads this blog who hasn't graduated yet, but to those of you who have just graduated, congratulations!

But that is all for now. I'm off to study for my last exam this semester.

pintsize2270 @ 2008-04-20T12:57:00

2008-04-20T17:41:13Z

My life right now can by summed up in a single sentence...
"OH GOD FINALS AAAA!!!!"

OK, now that that's out of my system, I should probably do this thing, seeing as how Missa tagged me.

Once you've been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 random things, facts, goals, or habits about yourself. At the end, choose 5 people to be tagged, listing their names & why you chose them. Don't forget to leave them a comment (you're it!) and to read your blog for instructions. You can't tag a person who has tagged you. Since you can't re-tag me, let me know when you've posted your blog so I can read the answers!

1. Even though I'm currently in law school, I don't have much desire to be a lawyer. I enjoy the problem solving portion, and the capacity to make some degree of actually effective change in the world, and the subject is both challenging and interesting, but I don't particularly care to be a lawyer. As such, I spend most of my time searching for and applying to strange jobs that most people wouldn't normally recommend (like the Office of Special Investigations in the Justice Department).
2. I've had basically the same outfit since I decided in the third grade that the fashion industry is a total waste of human resources, and that by wearing something with a logo on it I'm effectively endorsing this group which I know nothing about.
3. My parents and I made a deal when I was in high school that they would continue to support me so long as I was in school. As such, I worry about both being viewed as a spoiled rich kid and as taking advantage of this arrangement even though I try to be neither.
4. I may or may not be in a relationship right now. Every time I ask Melissa (not Alma Melissa, MSU Melissa) if we are, she refuses to answer, so honestly I don't know at this point.
5. I really like plain cake doughnuts.
6. My head hurts. It usually does during the start of spring due to my allergies, mostly due to some wicked sinus headaches. Fortunately they rarely turn into sinus infections.
7. I hate sleeping in even though it's usually quite necessary.
8. I really like barbecue and soul food, with the exception of fried chicken. Everything else I really enjoy, though -- ribs, brisket, cornbread, collard greens, everything.
9. I'm actually pretty stubborn when arguing most things and rarely change my mind once I've committed myself to one side or another regardless of the evidence that the other side may bring up or whether I now know that I'm wrong.
10. I often think that I own too much stuff. Mostly right about when it's time for me to pack up and move.

I tag:
1. ladybirmingham
2. blueeye_jedi
3. morgenlust
4. pixie83
5. hiccupingwalrus

(Sorry if any of you have done this already.)

pintsize2270 @ 2008-03-29T22:36:00

2008-03-30T03:05:06Z

Okee-dokee. Let's post, shall we?

This week has been rather interesting.

Since appellate briefs were due on Monday, my class decided to follow the time-honored tradition of skipping the day the appellate brief is due to maximize the time you have to edit, the appellate brief process being a time-honored tradition in law school itself, which most professors compare to fraternity hazing. I, of course, having maximized my time earlier in the week had it done early and so showed up for class.

A class of 16 people. Out of 100.

Although it was interesting to see how fast the class went. We covered basically an entire chapter in one day (usually chapters take about a week).

Tuesday was the etiquette dinner, which went well. I was Melissa's escort and the food was pretty damn good, though the pointers were sometimes interesting (like never drink with your left hand, fold your napkin in a triangle when on your lap to maximize napkin-usage space, silverware placement to signal when you're done and when you aren't, and the mystery that is "Continental style dinning." I now know more about the importance of good posture and hand placement in the business world than I ever cared to.

Wednesday was just an average day.

Thursday I had a job interview with the 63rd District Court in Grand Rapids, which I got.

Friday I had another job interview with Legal Assistance of Grand Rapids, which I probably would have gotten had I not decided to cancel the interview in order to take the 63rd District Court job. So this summer, that's where I'll be working as an (unpaid) legal clerk!

Today I had my oral argument over my appellate brief, which consisted of me getting pummeled with questions of every conceivable form and fashion for 13 minutes, then 2 minutes for rebuttal. Apparently I maintained my composure and demonstrated an excellent grasp of the facts and the law (especially in the rebuttal), but came off looking too rigid.

After that, I got the first actually restful sleep I've had in a while. (big brief + scary arguments = nightmares for the past week about judges asking me for cases I've never heard of)

So now I'm wide awake. Which is good, since I've still got plenty of homework to do, plus have to start seriously studying for exams, which start in 3 weeks-ish.

Alright, I'm off.

****
Ah. Almost forgot to post this thing.

Ask me for "top five" lists of pretty much anything, and I will list you my top five of that thing or things.

Copy and give your own top fives.

pintsize2270 @ 2008-03-23T23:54:00

2008-03-24T04:22:44Z

Hooray, I'm done with my appellate brief! And not a moment too soon. I've been working on it so long that I'm beginning to make interesting mistakes in my thought processes. Like "OK, I'm under the page limit, right? I mean, 22 is less than 25, right? RIGHT?!?! OH GOD! HOW DO I CHECK THIS?!?! THEY SAID THERE'D BE NO MATH!"

But now all I have to worry about are oral arguments (which are apparently mostly a hazing ritual that 1Ls are put through before you're allowed in the cool kids club) and finals.

....wait... finals? *looks around* Where did the semester go?

But yeah. Missing chunks of my life aside, I also have an etiquette dinner on Tuesday with Melissa, and two more job interviews (one on Thursday, the other on Friday, both in GR).

And in not-related-to-law-school news, I've recently fallen in love with a new (well, new to me) comic series called Runaways. The premise is interesting: a group of teenage (read: OH THE ANGST AND SEXUAL TENSION! If you can't stand that, then I don't recommend reading it.) super-persons who are the children of a supervillain team go around trying to fix the mess that their parents created. Interesting points: seeing the Punisher get beaten up (and narrating it in his grim, film noir-ish style) by a 12-year old girl who looks and acts like I'd imagine the spawn of Jenny to be (only, ya know, a super-strong mutant); interesting questions raised about gender and sexuality among shape shifting races; and the character of Gert, who is really just cool (snarky geek girl with a pet Deinonychus).

Alright, that's all for now. I'm off for bed.

pintsize2270 @ 2008-03-16T11:57:00

2008-03-16T16:45:24Z

Ooookay...

Let's post, shall we?

Not much is really all that new with me right now. Spring break was interesting, if only to hang out with people I don't get to see all that often. And to see the Hopcat, which Joel now has a part time second job at.

The job interview I had with the Kent County Prosecutor's Office went well, but I didn't get the job (mostly because I wasn't that interested in doing litigation, which is what most of the internship would be, and told them so), but they did recommend my resume to the general intern pool and the Kent County Court of Appeals, and they highly suggested that I apply again next year.

I had an over-the-phone interview with the Grand Rapids City Attorney's Office in regards to a possible internship with the Grand Rapids Police Department's Civilian Board of Appeals (the group that hears Internal Affairs cases for interdepartmental reprimands). The attorney I contacted said that they don't actually have a standing staff that I could intern with, but did say that she's been talking with the other City Attorneys and the Chief of Police(!) to try to get me an internship with either Crime Prevention (which will mostly be an informational/analytical job, plus educating people regarding what their rights are when stopped and interviewed by the police) or Internal Affairs(!!). I haven't heard back on anything from them, but she said they should be making a decision by the end of March.

I also had an interview with a probate/drug court judge for the 9th Judicial Circuit in Kalamazoo County and got a job working as a Judicial Clerk if I want it! All I need to do is pass a drug test (no problem there) and I'm in.

I also have another interview with the 2nd Division of the 63rd District Court in Kent County regarding an (unpaid) Judicial Clerkship there as well.

And another one with a legal aid clinic in Grand Rapids.

So I suppose to answer your question, Ty, yeah the work pays off, but mostly in terms of (unpaid) job openings. But then, that could also be because I'm willing to work 40 hours a week for no pay.

My practice oral argument went well. Apparently my rebuttal went well, but I need to have a wider range of cases and need more confidence speaking in front of a group. However, in my defense, the judge asked me questions that had fucking-impossible-to-know answers ("What is the breakdown, circuit-by-circuit, for the entire United States, for use of unwelcome contact as an injury in fact?") So now I have two weeks to improve on that.

I also have one week to finish up my appellate brief to hand that in for half my grade in RWA. It has to be 25 pages. So far, I'm at 17. So that's got a ways to go yet, but it's slowly on it's way.

Melissa's been subjecting me to old Man From U.N.C.L.E. episodes, which has been interesting, mostly in how they divide up the agents. The Russian is cold, slightly inhuman, and mysteriously good at everything he does while the American is suave and relied mostly upon his gun and his charm than anything else. I just kind of find it interesting to see how people viewed the opposing side well after the war was over, as that way it is easier to divorce yourself of the same views. In total, though, the series is just fun '60s camp, much like the Batman series from the same time.

And don't worry. I'll be making it up to her. I've brought my collection of bad kung fu, including Master of the Flying Guillotine. hehehe....

And as far as Melissa goes.... honestly I don't know if we're dating or not anymore. I don't think we are, as we've discussed it and came to some sort of awkward agreement that now might not be the best time to start (that and she told me it'd be alright if I dated around because "I don't like sex and would feel bad if I got another boy stuck in a sexless relationship."), but we like hanging out with each other quite a bit and she's let on that she feels like we are ("If you don't like this, I'd be forced to break up with you." "*rather confused* ...we're going out?" "Yes, well... *turns back to computer game*").

Plus there's the great postmodernist debate going on around all that: if everybody THINKS two people are going out, then are they ACTUALLY going out simply because everybody has constructed that as reality?

But I'm not letting that bug me much. Mostly because I've got so much else going on that I haven't had much time to dwell on it.

Alright, off I go to do homework.

I assure you I'm alive

2008-03-03T05:06:12Z

gah!

Life is, has, and shall continue to be crazy.

Good news: I survived first semester.

Bad news: The work never ends. I now have 10 more pages of a motion-turned-appellate brief for the client from hell due in a little less than two weeks, plus oral arguments in a little more than one week.

Interesting news: I'm looking for summer jobs right now and interview with the Kent County Prosecutor's office tomorrow.

That's all for now.

I miss actually talking to people.

pintsize2270 @ 2008-01-04T13:45:00

2008-01-04T19:14:06Z

Well, break is almost done now, which is just as well. I'm starting to get antsy about doing stuff and am running out of reading and viewing material around here.

So far this break, I've read the Tao of Pooh (which is good for anyone interested in learning about daoism, but is uncertain about where to start), Battle Royale (It was alright as an action-adventure, though I wouldn't go so far as to call it the Lord of the Flies of our generation), two TPBs of Checkmate, assorted stories out of Alone Against the World, including "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktock Man," which was the story (one of many) that inspired V for Vendetta, and am now halfway through Finding Serenity.

I've also watched the first season of Hustle, Amelie, Zodiac, Superbad, and Steve on most cable news shows. I went to the wake of my guidance councilor (Mrs. Novakowski. Her son Matt went to high school and Alma with me), a holiday party, and a New Year's party. I did doughnuts in a church parking lot, and sent my car into the shop (those two items aren't related. My four wheel drive got stuck in the "on" position). I beat NeoContra and Baulder's Gate II. I had to deal with people who were far too drunk for their own good, including getting Joel to realize that he scared Megan when he started fighting with her late on New Years after they were both incredibly drunk.

I've also done my first assignments for the first class of next semester.

I also realized how much I miss people. I miss my friends around GR, and the hijinks that ensue. I miss my friends from Alma, and being an unabashed nerd. I miss hanging out with Melissa over at State. I also miss being able to dictate my own time.

So for now, I'm going to enjoy the rest of today and tomorrow before I head back. And as for the rest, I'm going to have to figure something out.

pintsize2270 @ 2007-12-21T12:39:00

2007-12-21T17:48:18Z

Back home for break.

Things are going alright. I'm glad that finals are done, but I don't really know how I did on them. I have homework to do, but am currently ignoring it in favor of pleasure reading (I'm almost done with Battle Royale), playing Baulder's Gate II, and hanging out with Joel. I've also finished my Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, and went to the visitation for my former guidance councilor (she passed recently).

Also, apparently my friend Steve's become a minor celebrity, which has been kind of surreal to see him on most major news sources.

Anyhow, that's what I've been up to recently.

pintsize2270 @ 2007-12-01T11:49:00

2007-12-01T17:09:36Z

blah.

I need to remember to update this more often.

OK, here's what's been going on.

I had my thanksgiving/midterm break last week (I find it odd that the midterm break would be at the end of the term, but hey, that's just me). The break was nice. I got to go home, study, hang out, and helped Joel and Steve brew some beer. It was cool. It's a bit of a variation on an English/Irish stout (uses English grains, but American hops. And Nigerian cold-steeped coffee and Bavarian chocolate). I'm hoping it turns out well.

Other than that, school continues to eat my life. I have a project due on Wednesday which I finished up and turned in yesterday. I've also updated all my outlines, but still have to cut my criminal law one down to make it usable on the exam (17 pages when only 3 are allowed).

Finals are also in a week, which means that I'm starting to study now.

A word on finals.

Finals in law school determine literally your entire grade. Teachers are allowed to change it by as much as half a grade point for class participation, but other than that the final is your grade. The final itself tends to be the same format for all classes: half multiple choice (with questions straight out of old multi-state bar exams) and short answer (closed book), half long answer (open book, but usually a one-to-two page fact pattern that you have to analyze). The whole things lasts three hours per exam. Since they're so long, they're usually spaced out quite a bit. As such, exams take up two weeks.

Since everybody's final grade is resting on this, and since grades are determined by bell curve grading, everybody is now in panic mode in terms of studying and preparing for exams.

OK, that's about it. Wish me luck guys!

pintsize2270 @ 2007-11-09T20:54:00

2007-11-10T01:57:33Z

OK, time for an update.

Uh...

I don't really know what to say. My life is still pretty much taken up by school. Not much else is really going on. I've got my second memo office memo due in exactly one week. I've got it mostly written. Now I just have to edit. I also have oral arguments on Tuesday in Civ Pro, and a client letter due next week Friday.

*shrug* that's just about it.

pintsize2270 @ 2007-10-28T16:05:00

2007-10-28T20:36:17Z

OK, sorry for lack of an update, but my life's been pretty busy the past few weeks.

RWA is wrapping up, which means that for the month of November we have an exam or a paper due every week.

It's also the beginning of exam crunch time, which means extra sessions with profs, refining outlines, and practice exams galore, which means that the workload has increased by about 1.5x (I know this because I did the math because I'm a lame, boring person), but most of it is optional. This makes me a nervous law student, and I often have arguments with myself over how much work I should actually do.

"Well, this is only optional, so I could skip it."
"Ja, but everyone else ist doing it and you vill fall behind. Zen you vill fail, ja?" (I've determined that my inner student is a former-East German boarder guard. It seems pretty appropriate to me.)

But in other news...

Last weekend was Powers' wedding, which was very nice. Not too many friends showed up, unfortunately, though it doesn't surprise me much that he wouldn't invite many more than just me given all the crap basically everyone put he and Robin (his wife) through.

The weekend before that my computer ate my CivPro outline, so I had to scramble to put it back together. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to cancel on hanging out with Joel and Megan, which made me pretty bummed.

The weekend before THAT I hung out with Robyn, who is currently on the road with Ben, being a trucker, which isn't all that surprising either. I can imagine Robyn as a trucker. Can't you?

In my free time, I catch odd episodes of Criminal Minds with Melissa, and she's slowly warmed me up to the series. Not so much for the character development, though. That's just slow and... not interesting at all. I mean, so many of the characters are stock that it's not surprising that when an actor decides to quit, they can introduce the same exact character back into the show, but with a different name and backstory.

But I do like the fact that the writers then don't try to make the character issues overbearing, so you don't get the stereotypical "Interoffice romance, how will it affect the case" stuff; it's more like "Here's something going on with my private life but it's not that important so let's just do our jobs." If they tried doing the former, then it would just suck since there's no real reason to care about the characters to begin with.

Though I do give them credit for the subtle meta-plot reveals over the course of the whole series, ala that the straight-laced, by-the-book leader Hotchner (played by Thomas Gibson from Dharma and Greg. If you want a mindfuck, watch a few episodes of that before Criminal Minds. It's weird to see Greg making serial killers cry by getting inside their heads. But I digress...) and his very subtly alluded to history as an abused child.

I've also gotten back into comics, mostly the series Checkmate and Suicide Squad.

Alright, that's about it for now. Talk to you all later.

pintsize2270 @ 2007-10-10T15:38:00

2007-10-10T19:45:21Z

Most common reason for taking a position from 1L's: "Well, that just doesn't seem fair/just/right."

Most common answer from profs: "Do I care?"

I wonder if this is what they mean by "thinking like a lawyer"

2007-10-04T00:51:32Z

While doing my civil procedure homework, I thought "Man... I'd sell my soul to get an A in this."

I them immediately began figuring out whether that statement would constitute a contract with the Devil, and how to prove that it wasn't in order to get out of it.

I lead a sad, sad life.

pintsize2270 @ 2007-09-27T10:31:00

2007-09-27T14:32:26Z

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070927/sc_space/meteoritecrashbreedsmasshysteria

Meteorite crash?

Unexplained illness?

Written off as mass hysteria?

Obviously zombies.

I need to get out of my room more....

2007-09-19T03:45:33Z

Actual quote from a case: "The psychiatrist testified Mrs. Veith told him she was driving on a road when she believed that God was taking ahold of the steering wheel and was directing her car. She saw the truck coming and stepped on the gas in order to become air-borne because she knew she could fly because Batman does it. To her surprise she was not air-borne before striking the truck, but after the impact she was flying." Breuing v. American Family Ins. Co., 45 Wis.2d 536, 173 N.W.2d 619 (Supreme Court of Wisconsin, 1970).

Later on in the case, it's revealed that this wasn't necessarily the first time she's had such an episode, and as such the court ruled that she meets the unreasonable conduct requirement of negligence (driving when she knew she had episodes of insanity was acting negligently).

My biggest problem with her testimony? When she said that Batman can fly.

pintsize2270 @ 2007-09-16T22:32:00

2007-09-17T02:44:39Z

blah.

I'm still alive... kinda. All I do is homework and sleep, really. But at least the stuff I'm learning is interesting. Except the grammar and citation stuff; they can die in a fire.

[internal monologue: fire... Garcia case... NIED claim valid for direct witness to accident and possibly depending on jury interpretation of close familial relation, in this case an uncle who lived with his nephew]

Life is going alright generally. I got an email from Emily after a two year hiatus, and have been corresponding with her off and on. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about all this, just because she managed to leave me pretty damn well broken (twice), so I'm kinda keeping her at arms length right now. I met up with Robyn for dinner on Thursday night, which was good if only to get my mind off classes for a while. I'm writing my first for reals legal-type document right now; I'm about half-way through the rough draft and it's due Friday, but I still have a lot of editing to do to it since it's gonna be graded and considered like a judge or senior partner at a firm would consider it. And I'm still amazed when girls tell me I'm cute.

I have tentative plans to see a Henry Rollins spoken word performance (RAWK!) and to go to Powers' wedding. They're both in October and on weekends (Read: Friday and Saturday. Sunday is not a weekend day for me. No day where you work from 9 AM till 11 PM should qualify as a weekend).

But as for right now, I'm gonna enjoy the rest of my Oberon and then finish up my memo and maybe, just maybe, do some more case briefs for Contracts (extra class this week = me doing notes forever. Reading's done, but it's not nearly enough).

pintsize2270 @ 2007-09-09T23:36:00

2007-09-10T03:37:53Z

Here's my weekly post...

FUCK BLUEBOOK CITATION METHOD!

That is all.

pintsize2270 @ 2007-08-31T15:34:00

2007-08-31T19:41:39Z

Hey everyone.

I'm getting used to this whole "law school" thing.

My first full week of classes seemed to go alright. I didn't get yelled at too badly, nor humiliated in class (which isn't necessarily a good thing, as it means I'm not getting any class participation points). I'm learning how to write like a lawyer. And people are beginning to respect my ideas (for God knows what reason).

It doesn't sound like I'm gonna get much of a labor day weekend, though. Professor Callen in CivPro assigned us a project that's due the Tuesday afterwards, and I would very much like to do well on it. So I'm gonna be doing that, plus all the normal homework (read: reading, notes, and briefs for Contracts, Criminal Law, and CivPro. Reading and assignments for RWA. The Torts schedule is a confusing mess that I refuse to touch).

I've also been reading Miracleman. It's a pretty damn good series. I mean, any series that has half of it written by Alan Moore and the other half written by Neil Gaiman has got to be good.

So yeah. That's about it for me for now.

Like deja vu all over again...

2007-08-19T13:46:08Z

Hey guys,

I'm all moved in up here at East Lansing. I've got most of my books (I still have to pick up about three more, but can't seem to find the book store for professional students), I've made a friend (her name's Melissa and she's a huge comic geek, like even bigger than I am), and I've been doing homework. Still nervous about class, but also getting anxious about getting started.

In short, things are going alright.

A note on Owen Hall:

The graduate dorms are nice. Too nice. Like, disconcertingly nice.

They are very much like how the South Complex dorms are laid out. Single suites with a shared bathroom. Now, you know how the average dorm comes with some furniture, right? Bed, desk, chair, dresser and that's about it. Here, they also give you a TV table, a floor lamp, and an easy chair. Plus the bed folds up into a couch. And all of it's in really good condition. So I was quite impressed with that.

Second, the bathroom is about average for a bathroom, with one exception; they provide you with toilet paper and trash bags. In fact, Owen provides you with most necessary items, either with the room or for rent. Each room gets its own bedding, towels that are replaced weekly, replentishable toilet paper and trash bags, and a cleaning staff that will CLEAN YOUR OWN ROOM FOR YOU!

Plus the dining facilities are in the dorm, which is nice, but the meal plan is based on money spent rather than actual meals eaten, which I think is weird. And there's 24 hour quiet hours all the time.

In any case, since it's me, there's gotta be something weird or wrong with the whole thing, right? Well, there was. My former suitemate, who just moved out (taking with him all my bathroom supplies) yesterday, apparently never took out the trash, shat in his dresser, never flushed the toilet, and in short just made his room uninhabitable. So now the cleaning crew is going through, cleaning the carpeting, washing everything down with bleach, and will have to repaint the bathroom. *shakes head*

In any case, things are going well. Orientation is boring, but that's to be expected. The homework is tedious, but the reading's interesting. I now know of two comic/game shops (one of which is apparently heavy into Dag). Things are going well for the most part...

except for missing all the people who would normally drag me away from all my work and remind me that there's life outside term papers, or in this case case briefings.

Talk to you all soon.