So today I had one of those ‘oh shit’ moments when you realize that you’re vastly underprepared for something. With me, that moment was squarely centered on my bankruptcy class. Just as I was settling down to sleep last night, my eyes popped open and I started to sweat as I realized that my exam is on Monday and I haven’t studied for it at all. And I mean at all. All semester, I kinda put it on the back burner, instead choosing to spend my time on addictinggames.com. In retrospect this may not have been the wisest course of action, but then again I’ve never claimed to be particularly brilliant – evidenced by the fact that I decided to take bankruptcy in the first place. Sigh… The sad thing is that bankruptcy could have really been an interesting class except for a few minor drawbacks. Number one of course being my charming professor who spoke in such a soothing monotone voice that he could have made a living charming kids with ADHD. Second, the fact that last year Congress significantly reworked the bankruptcy code and now no one really knows if anything is still good law. Since the laws only went into effect in October ’05, there haven’t been many cases interpreting the various new provisions. So after the first few classes, when I would listen intently to a lecture only to have it summed up by the caveat “That was the old law. We’ll have to see if it’s still good.”
I haven’t lost all hope yet. There’s always the chance that I can be horribly burned at work tonight or get struck by a meteor, or get abducted by aliens. The sky really is the limit.
Also this morning I had the pleasure of undergoing my financial aid exit interview. In sum, this is where they sit you down and gleefully remind you that you have mortgaged your soul for your education and that it would be better for you to go without food, heat, and shelter rather than miss a single payment. Talk about uplifting! Then they hook you up with this little amortization table that shows you how much interest you’re going to pay over the next ten to twenty years… I think ‘yikes!’ just about covers it. Thank goodness I lived relatively frugally during law school (although that frugality will have been for not if I can’t ever find a job). No wonder lawyers drink.
Oh and before I forget. The one thing I remember from my bankruptcy class is that student loans are almost impossible to discharge. So much for that plan…
Friday, April 21, 2006
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Outlining sucks
Netflix is great. It’s like Christmas every couple of days. Well… Christmas on a shoe-string budget. It’s particularly great during finals time as it gives me ample opportunities to avoid the work I should be doing, (i.e. studying for entertainment law). Today I happened upon an outline for that class, so it takes a ton of weight off me. Though not literally as I happened to eat way too much for dinner tonight. I went to Bombay House with Brad and Emily and ate a huge amount of a spicy chicken dish with coconut milk and rice with cilantro. Good times. I’m hoping to hit my stride with this studying thing soon. What the heck was I thinking setting up a schedule with four finals during my last semester?
Yesterday at the Minority Law Caucus auction, I ended up buying a dinner for four at Professor Kogan’s house. $85! It had better be darned tasty. This was a total peer pressure moment where my friends Brett and John stared me down until I bid on the stupid dinner. The thing is, Kogan hates me! Well… he may not hate me, but considering that my seminar paper was for his class and I turned it in over a year and a half late, and as such I had spent the last 18 months ducking every time I saw him coming down the hall…
So I’m sitting here, enjoying my Netflix selection of the week, slowly working my way through the fourth season of the HBO series OZ, and resolving not to commit crimes. Frankly I don’t think I’d make a good prisoner. I’m just not angry enough. Anyway, my attention is wandering so I’ll wrap this up.
Yesterday at the Minority Law Caucus auction, I ended up buying a dinner for four at Professor Kogan’s house. $85! It had better be darned tasty. This was a total peer pressure moment where my friends Brett and John stared me down until I bid on the stupid dinner. The thing is, Kogan hates me! Well… he may not hate me, but considering that my seminar paper was for his class and I turned it in over a year and a half late, and as such I had spent the last 18 months ducking every time I saw him coming down the hall…
So I’m sitting here, enjoying my Netflix selection of the week, slowly working my way through the fourth season of the HBO series OZ, and resolving not to commit crimes. Frankly I don’t think I’d make a good prisoner. I’m just not angry enough. Anyway, my attention is wandering so I’ll wrap this up.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
last last day
So today was my last day of classes. Again, my last last day of school. Wow. It’s starting to sink in, but it still hasn’t yet. Granted I still have two yucky weeks of finals ahead of me and I’m not entirely sure that I’ll be able to pass my bankruptcy class, but assuming that I somehow make it through, I’m gonna graduate!
Tonight is the family law clinic. Yee-hah. This is a great project where people with family law related problems and who are unable to afford an attorney come to the courthouse and are assisted by law students and lawyers free of charge.
It’s a great cause and it really helps people but at the same time it’s sometimes hard to handle because by and large because we’re often dealing with people without much formal education and who feel completely overwhelmed by the system. So I go and I listen and I try to help with what little knowledge I have. And I worry that I’m steering people in the right direction, that I’m giving people good advice that will help them and not mess them up further. In the end though, I think that a big part of the job there is just to listen to people who may not have anyone else to talk to them and who can help them take the next step.
And tonight I get to be in charge! Oh the abuses of power will be rampant! Well… at least to the extent that one can abuse the ability to hand out forms to the volunteers… So I’m off there now so that I can be ready to help the thronging masses.
Tonight is the family law clinic. Yee-hah. This is a great project where people with family law related problems and who are unable to afford an attorney come to the courthouse and are assisted by law students and lawyers free of charge.
It’s a great cause and it really helps people but at the same time it’s sometimes hard to handle because by and large because we’re often dealing with people without much formal education and who feel completely overwhelmed by the system. So I go and I listen and I try to help with what little knowledge I have. And I worry that I’m steering people in the right direction, that I’m giving people good advice that will help them and not mess them up further. In the end though, I think that a big part of the job there is just to listen to people who may not have anyone else to talk to them and who can help them take the next step.
And tonight I get to be in charge! Oh the abuses of power will be rampant! Well… at least to the extent that one can abuse the ability to hand out forms to the volunteers… So I’m off there now so that I can be ready to help the thronging masses.
Monday, April 17, 2006
Duck and cover
So it’s time for another posting. My good friend James tells me that it only takes fourteen consecutive repetitions of something before that thing becomes a habit. He was stating this in reference to me working out regularly, but if it’s true it’s probably applicable to things like blogging. So I’m starting a challenge with myself today: Blog for fourteen consecutive days (quality of the content not necessarily being my highest goal) and see if it sticks. This is day one. Good times so far.
As far as updates go, tomorrow is last last day of school. Possibly forever! Who’d have thunk that I’d make it this far. Frankly I expected to die in a particularly spectacular fashion sometime ago…
Nevertheless, kudos to me. Since I managed to complete my seminar paper last week (only 2 years behind schedule) things have seemed much better. I didn’t realize how heavily that darned paper had been weighing on my conscience. Now that it’s done, I can begin to concentrate on the four finals I have to take this semester. Oh gosh. Probably should have started those earlier too… Oh well. No time to live in the past.
As far as updates go, tomorrow is last last day of school. Possibly forever! Who’d have thunk that I’d make it this far. Frankly I expected to die in a particularly spectacular fashion sometime ago…
Nevertheless, kudos to me. Since I managed to complete my seminar paper last week (only 2 years behind schedule) things have seemed much better. I didn’t realize how heavily that darned paper had been weighing on my conscience. Now that it’s done, I can begin to concentrate on the four finals I have to take this semester. Oh gosh. Probably should have started those earlier too… Oh well. No time to live in the past.
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