My car battery died. Again. Considering I just got a new battery a week and a half ago, something tells me the battery may not have been the problem the first time around. So once again I am car less, stuck with the same mechanic because I don't know who else to go to, and will be missing BarBri tomorrow. Lovely. Needless to say, I'm not what one would call "happy" at this point. As I'm incapable of studying within the confines of my apartment, or at the Starbucks across the street due to their very small tables, tonight was spent cleaning up a bit and watching the Deadliest Catch on my TiVo. I'm sure that will help me with all those crab-related bar questions.
And to think, I thought that remembering the RAP and the Rule in Shelly's Case was going to be the worst part of the day. Yes, Property review has started, and I'm thoroughly annoyed by the Prof. - Paula Franzese. She sings during class. At length. Granted, some people may find this useful in remembering certain key points for the bar, but I just find it grating. And we have her for the next 2 days. Argh.
The only good thing today was getting an A in my FDA class. I'm still not sure how that happened, but I'll take it.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
I had plans for both of us for a trip out of town
I decided to take a last minute trip out of town over memorial day weekend, probably to avoid studying. Not really a good call, but it was worth it. I've decided that under no circumstances will I leave Los Angeles until after the bar. The trip wasn't completely bar-avoiding; I did a bunch of the easy practice questions to remind myself that I wasn't a moron and got about 95% on those. I would have done more straight up studying, but I managed to leave my Con Law notes on the plane. Not good.
Today I got back into the game, doing all of my torts flashcards - about 100+ so far from the CMR. I just finished the torts practice question which I'll be turning in tomorrow, and based on the sample answer I did ok. I missed one issue (which I'll avoid pointing out because others will probably be turning in the same exam), but I didn't think that issue was as big of a deal as it appears from the sample answer. Normally my writing is pretty clear and "legal sounding" - so ideally the graders will agree with me.
As there was no lecture today, I started work at about noon... so I think I'm going to head home soon and maybe attempt some more MBEs later on tonight. Or not. The advanced ones scare me.
Today I got back into the game, doing all of my torts flashcards - about 100+ so far from the CMR. I just finished the torts practice question which I'll be turning in tomorrow, and based on the sample answer I did ok. I missed one issue (which I'll avoid pointing out because others will probably be turning in the same exam), but I didn't think that issue was as big of a deal as it appears from the sample answer. Normally my writing is pretty clear and "legal sounding" - so ideally the graders will agree with me.
As there was no lecture today, I started work at about noon... so I think I'm going to head home soon and maybe attempt some more MBEs later on tonight. Or not. The advanced ones scare me.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
So twist one more, although I know you'll break me
I did horribly on the first set of torts drills - 10/17. On the bright side, it's not my fault. The questions I missed all involved things that weren't covered in the torts lecture. I think the hardest part of studying for the bar will be accepting the fact that I'll get questions wrong - lots of them - but need to do that in order to learn the subtle distinctions that aren't included in the lectures. Listening to the PMBR Torts CD earlier today reminded me of this, which is a good thing. As is the CD itself, despite the Prof's insistence on using the word "gang" WAY too often. Apparently after 1500 MBEs or so things will start coming together and my percentages will improve.
One thing that I wasn't really prepared for with this whole bar exam prep was the notion of me getting regular migraines. In the last two days I've had two, and that's really rare for me. The last one I got was last summer during my "Buildable Hours" excursion with the firm. I don't have any normal migraine triggers - and it can't be stress related (yet) - so I'm probably going to have to see a doctor sometime soon to get hooked up with more meds. If only I could get through 48 straight hours in Cali without something going wrong. Argh.
Tonight's plan - 1/2 of the MBE IQ Torts questions, more if my plans for later tonight fall through.
One thing that I wasn't really prepared for with this whole bar exam prep was the notion of me getting regular migraines. In the last two days I've had two, and that's really rare for me. The last one I got was last summer during my "Buildable Hours" excursion with the firm. I don't have any normal migraine triggers - and it can't be stress related (yet) - so I'm probably going to have to see a doctor sometime soon to get hooked up with more meds. If only I could get through 48 straight hours in Cali without something going wrong. Argh.
Tonight's plan - 1/2 of the MBE IQ Torts questions, more if my plans for later tonight fall through.
Friday, May 25, 2007
I'm a victim to the impact of these words
This morning I decided that sleep was more important than attending the live session, so I held off on Torts 2 until 1:30. There were about 20 people there total, which seemed really strange. I was actually more distracted than I would have been if I was in the crammed live session, but only because there was a person sitting next to me who came in late and spent her time there by playing with her hair and her outfit. And texting people. I'm not sure why, but it really through me off. I actually should encourage this type of behavior so there are more folks out there lowering the curve. Ah well. I think I'm still going to try to make it to the early sessions so I don't start my day too late, but it's nice to have a morning off every once and awhile. And the sleep was fantastic.
As for the substantive portion of class - it went well. My favorite line from the prof went along the lines of "If you are doing drugs, don't stop between now and the end of the July. Now's not the time to go cold turkey." If it wasn't for BarBri, I would have kicked my coke habit like I had planned to tonight. And then I just be screwed. NIED was covered, but sadly the corpse cases were not. I was a little put off about his cursory treatment of nuisance, which I know will be on the bar, but there's always the mini-review and PMBR audio CDs for that. Torts should really be a 3 day subject instead of 2.
As I've not had any suggestions yet on a better coffee place, I'm back at my normal venice spot until close. I'm hoping to type up my notes from Torts 1 (when I didn't bring my laptop, as I assumed that we would have been given a handout form to take notes on like Con Law) and get through the MBE Drills. If I have time, I'll then get through as many practice MBEs as possible before calling it quits. Tomorrow we have a morning essay writing lecture, so I won't be going out anywhere tonight (or for the next 2 1/2 months).
To conclude - random thoughts about Cali thus far:
1) Apparently there is no such thing as "skim" milk here. It's "non-fat" milk. My barista almost gave me soy because she didn't understand what I was asking for.
2) It took me less than 24 hours to turn into a horrible driver, doing 50 in residential neighborhoods and 80 on the interstate, and weaving through traffic like a madman. And yelling obscenities at other drivers, of course.
3) I don't get the big fuzzy boots thing that I keep seeing people wear (with skirts or shorts) to the morning session. That sort of thing makes sense in Minnesota when it's 20 below, but not when it's 75 and sunny here. I'm never going to be trendy. Ever.
4) There needs to be a Ralph's in downtown LA. By the time I got back from the grocery store yesterday, my frozen food had been fully cooked.
5) Apparently your car can get impounded for not having valid registration stickers, or so my one non-law-related Cali friend found out last night at 2 AM when the cops pulled him over and drove his car away, leaving him on the side of the road.
As for the substantive portion of class - it went well. My favorite line from the prof went along the lines of "If you are doing drugs, don't stop between now and the end of the July. Now's not the time to go cold turkey." If it wasn't for BarBri, I would have kicked my coke habit like I had planned to tonight. And then I just be screwed. NIED was covered, but sadly the corpse cases were not. I was a little put off about his cursory treatment of nuisance, which I know will be on the bar, but there's always the mini-review and PMBR audio CDs for that. Torts should really be a 3 day subject instead of 2.
As I've not had any suggestions yet on a better coffee place, I'm back at my normal venice spot until close. I'm hoping to type up my notes from Torts 1 (when I didn't bring my laptop, as I assumed that we would have been given a handout form to take notes on like Con Law) and get through the MBE Drills. If I have time, I'll then get through as many practice MBEs as possible before calling it quits. Tomorrow we have a morning essay writing lecture, so I won't be going out anywhere tonight (or for the next 2 1/2 months).
To conclude - random thoughts about Cali thus far:
1) Apparently there is no such thing as "skim" milk here. It's "non-fat" milk. My barista almost gave me soy because she didn't understand what I was asking for.
2) It took me less than 24 hours to turn into a horrible driver, doing 50 in residential neighborhoods and 80 on the interstate, and weaving through traffic like a madman. And yelling obscenities at other drivers, of course.
3) I don't get the big fuzzy boots thing that I keep seeing people wear (with skirts or shorts) to the morning session. That sort of thing makes sense in Minnesota when it's 20 below, but not when it's 75 and sunny here. I'm never going to be trendy. Ever.
4) There needs to be a Ralph's in downtown LA. By the time I got back from the grocery store yesterday, my frozen food had been fully cooked.
5) Apparently your car can get impounded for not having valid registration stickers, or so my one non-law-related Cali friend found out last night at 2 AM when the cops pulled him over and drove his car away, leaving him on the side of the road.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
So you left me on my own to complete the mission
Today was the first day of torts... and went pretty well. The speaker, Robert Schechter, is pretty damn entertaining. Only 2 minor complaints: 1) he kept us over about 1/2 hour, which could have been eliminated if he spent a little less time on the details in some of his hypos, and 2) I think he's leaving out a few things that we really should know for the bar, such as the role of corpse mis-handling in IIED cases and the role of the 1st amendment in defamation cases. Granted, for the latter he told us to go through the conviser for the material, so that's excusable, but overall he tends to speak in pretty broad terms with clear-cut hypos that are a lot easier than we will get on the bar. This sort of scares me. But for pure entertainment value when I've had less than 5 hours of sleep and not enough coffee, he gets an A+.
Anyways, last night I did the first two sections of MBEs for Con Law, averaging about 70% correct. Of the 30%, I missed 2 where I think the question was fucked up for some reason, a handful I just misread, and the rest I straight up didn't know. I took some decent notes on what I fucked up, and will be converting that to flashcards tonight. Should be fun. I was actually surprised at how many I missed - I would have thought that coming out of 2 straight days of Con Law I'd pull at least an 80%. Welcome to my ego.
I also just finished the first Con Law essay, getting what I think would be most of the points on it, and missing only one minor issue. Sadly, it was the easiest Con Law essay (the book goes in order from easiest to hardest in each section). I think I'll do the second one after I finish my flashcards for tonight. Or perhaps tomorrow to see my ability to retain things overnight.
The BarBri schedule has "Review" section on it every day with a given topic. I have no idea how much time I'm supposed to spend reviewing each day - and it's a lot easier to just knock out the MBEs that are assigned and go home. Starting next week I'm going to have to set up a firm schedule for myself so I don't continue to procrastinate. I think that's where the extra MBEs will come in - I can set a goal of an additional 50 - 100 MBEs per day with time to go through the answers, which will tack on the additional reviewing time. And avoid me staring blankly at my outlines.
I'm also going to hunt for a different coffee shop starting when I get home tonight. The tables at my place in Venice are too small, they don't have diet coke (or any pop for that matter), and about 1/2 the baristas seem pretty pissy (although there are a few good ones here who I like). SO - if you know of a place between the West LA BarBri location and downtown LA that has: 1) free internet, 2) large tables, 3) power outlets, 4) diet coke, and 5) good baristas, please let me know. Good bar karma will come your way, I swear.
Anyways, last night I did the first two sections of MBEs for Con Law, averaging about 70% correct. Of the 30%, I missed 2 where I think the question was fucked up for some reason, a handful I just misread, and the rest I straight up didn't know. I took some decent notes on what I fucked up, and will be converting that to flashcards tonight. Should be fun. I was actually surprised at how many I missed - I would have thought that coming out of 2 straight days of Con Law I'd pull at least an 80%. Welcome to my ego.
I also just finished the first Con Law essay, getting what I think would be most of the points on it, and missing only one minor issue. Sadly, it was the easiest Con Law essay (the book goes in order from easiest to hardest in each section). I think I'll do the second one after I finish my flashcards for tonight. Or perhaps tomorrow to see my ability to retain things overnight.
The BarBri schedule has "Review" section on it every day with a given topic. I have no idea how much time I'm supposed to spend reviewing each day - and it's a lot easier to just knock out the MBEs that are assigned and go home. Starting next week I'm going to have to set up a firm schedule for myself so I don't continue to procrastinate. I think that's where the extra MBEs will come in - I can set a goal of an additional 50 - 100 MBEs per day with time to go through the answers, which will tack on the additional reviewing time. And avoid me staring blankly at my outlines.
I'm also going to hunt for a different coffee shop starting when I get home tonight. The tables at my place in Venice are too small, they don't have diet coke (or any pop for that matter), and about 1/2 the baristas seem pretty pissy (although there are a few good ones here who I like). SO - if you know of a place between the West LA BarBri location and downtown LA that has: 1) free internet, 2) large tables, 3) power outlets, 4) diet coke, and 5) good baristas, please let me know. Good bar karma will come your way, I swear.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Rather waste some time with you
I didn't do a single practice problem yesterday, as I couldn't seem to get out of the house. I'm not thrilled about my lack of motivation yesterday, but today I hope to rectify the situation by heading out for my coffee shop once the cable people arrive and leave. I'm going to stay there until close (10 PM). At least that's the goal.
Today was the last day of Con Law lecture, and went well, with Chem-Chem throwing out some even worse jokes. Tomorrow torts begins, though I don't know who the lecturer is.
Despite my pathetic bar studying performance last night and the lack of sleep I got overnight, today is shaping up to be a pretty good day. I found out that my firm is raising salaries to 160 for first years, which will mean that since I was hired on as an associate the first year pay has jumped $35,000. Not bad for me not having to do anything. Actually - someone just commented on the raise in my comments, though I'd love to know who - so e-mail me, whoever you are.
Also this morning I discovered that the mechanic gave me a remote control car door lock thing - which I've wanted for as long as I got my car. I'm not sure how or why it showed up on my keychain, but it's there and it works. Considering that they overcharged me for my battery, I'm going to not question anything.
Finally, my first grade came back from 3L second semester - an A in BA/Corps. Given that I completely bombed the last question, and that I attended less than 10% of the scheduled classes, I was pretty happy about how I did. Not that grades really matter anymore, aside from the ego boost.
As a side note, my sister called me last night to (1) request that I finance her trip to Sweden this summer, which I declined to do, and (2) to report that all my father wants for Father's Day is for me to pass the bar. I think (1) is more likely, but I'll do my best for (2).
Today was the last day of Con Law lecture, and went well, with Chem-Chem throwing out some even worse jokes. Tomorrow torts begins, though I don't know who the lecturer is.
Despite my pathetic bar studying performance last night and the lack of sleep I got overnight, today is shaping up to be a pretty good day. I found out that my firm is raising salaries to 160 for first years, which will mean that since I was hired on as an associate the first year pay has jumped $35,000. Not bad for me not having to do anything. Actually - someone just commented on the raise in my comments, though I'd love to know who - so e-mail me, whoever you are.
Also this morning I discovered that the mechanic gave me a remote control car door lock thing - which I've wanted for as long as I got my car. I'm not sure how or why it showed up on my keychain, but it's there and it works. Considering that they overcharged me for my battery, I'm going to not question anything.
Finally, my first grade came back from 3L second semester - an A in BA/Corps. Given that I completely bombed the last question, and that I attended less than 10% of the scheduled classes, I was pretty happy about how I did. Not that grades really matter anymore, aside from the ego boost.
As a side note, my sister called me last night to (1) request that I finance her trip to Sweden this summer, which I declined to do, and (2) to report that all my father wants for Father's Day is for me to pass the bar. I think (1) is more likely, but I'll do my best for (2).
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Consider this a sign
Well, the lecture with Chem-Chem got off to a pretty bad start, as the BarBri folks failed to mention to us yesterday that we were supposed to bring our in-class workbook to class, which meant that about 25% of the people there didn't have theirs and photocopies needed to be made. I was lucky enough to have mine in the car. Granted, it says on the front of the book "BRING TO EVERY CLASS" - but this thing was in the bottom of the 40 lb. box they gave us, and I hadn't gotten that far down in the box yet. So we started about 40 minutes late. After that, however, I thought Chem-Chem lived up to my expectations. Yes, there were a lot of awful jokes, but at least they were mildly entertaining. The guy clearly has done these lectures way too many times - having everything memorized down to the Roman numerals on our outlines. One kid in front of me thought he was using a teleprompter. I also feel like I got a lot out of the lecture, which will make getting up at 6:30 again tomorrow morning a whole lot easier.
Other than that, everything else has gone to shit. My car is fixed, though they charged me a small fortune to replace the battery. They mechanic also thought something was off with the steering, but didn't know what. Lots of good that did me. But at least my Saturn is running now, and hopefully can make it until next January, where I will dump it off at the side of the road and purchase a BMW like a good first year BIGLAW lawyer.
Speaking of driving, I put my new Cali license plates on my car today, only to find out that they had only given me one set of stickers. I'm assuming that's not correct, and will now debate going back to the DMV to bitch and try to get them for free, or just saying I lost them and paying $16 for a new set. I'm leaning to just shelling out the cash.
In other bad news, the cable guys also came today to try to fix my HBO and Video on Demand. Apparently the system was down when they came by, so I had to stay at home until the system was up and they could remotely send the correct signal to my box. Well, as it turns out the signal isn't reaching my box (same problem as before) and now I'll have to come home again tomorrow afternoon after class in order to sit around and wait for them to set up a new DVR box. I'm not happy. It's taking them 3 trips for what should have been done in one. I also could bitch to the cable company to try to get a reduction in the cost of service for this month (seeing as I'm losing channels), but once again I don't have the energy.
Yet another full afternoon wasted... now it's time for Con Law Drills and MBE practice questions until god knows how late tonight. Dormant Commerce Clause and PIC-4/PIC-14 here I come!
Other than that, everything else has gone to shit. My car is fixed, though they charged me a small fortune to replace the battery. They mechanic also thought something was off with the steering, but didn't know what. Lots of good that did me. But at least my Saturn is running now, and hopefully can make it until next January, where I will dump it off at the side of the road and purchase a BMW like a good first year BIGLAW lawyer.
Speaking of driving, I put my new Cali license plates on my car today, only to find out that they had only given me one set of stickers. I'm assuming that's not correct, and will now debate going back to the DMV to bitch and try to get them for free, or just saying I lost them and paying $16 for a new set. I'm leaning to just shelling out the cash.
In other bad news, the cable guys also came today to try to fix my HBO and Video on Demand. Apparently the system was down when they came by, so I had to stay at home until the system was up and they could remotely send the correct signal to my box. Well, as it turns out the signal isn't reaching my box (same problem as before) and now I'll have to come home again tomorrow afternoon after class in order to sit around and wait for them to set up a new DVR box. I'm not happy. It's taking them 3 trips for what should have been done in one. I also could bitch to the cable company to try to get a reduction in the cost of service for this month (seeing as I'm losing channels), but once again I don't have the energy.
Yet another full afternoon wasted... now it's time for Con Law Drills and MBE practice questions until god knows how late tonight. Dormant Commerce Clause and PIC-4/PIC-14 here I come!
Monday, May 21, 2007
Today is the first day of the rest of your life
I awoke at 6:30 this morning in order to leave my downtown apartment by 7:30 to ensure that I made it to BarBri by 9:00 - traffic was bad, but tolerable, and I made it there in about 55 minutes. After tracking down the one girl I knew from my summer class that was in the same session, I sat down to take in the Intro day at BarBri.
So far it's been pretty much what I expected. They made a point to tell us to actually do the assignments they give us, to not use the "big" books unless we need help clarifying something, as was pointed out in the comments yesterday, and there were a number of jokes that fell flat. The lecturers also made a few digs on PMBR - though not by name - telling us NOT to do 50 MBEs a day (in fact, they want us to take about 10 days off from doing them at all while they go through the essay portions). I'm still on the fence with this one - although I didn't take PMBR I bought all of the CDs and had planned on doing 50 MBEs per day. I guess it will all come down to how much time I have and my motivation to keep studying into the wee hours of the morning.
Another difference from the Bar Prep books I've read regarding the MBEs is the time vs. untimed approach. BarBri seems to want us to spend the 1 minute 48 seconds per question for the full amount of questions we're doing, then check our answers. The other book I read suggested 1 or 2 questions at a time, then read the answers, then increasing the number of questions before answer review later on. As my ability to retain information is horrible, I'll probably do the non-BarBri method for awhile.
The schedule for class and review looks pretty intense. I'm happy with the level of detail on the schedule - how many questions, what subjects, etc. Without a forced scheduled I'm sure I'd fall behind.
Class got out after about 2 hours, so I left and went home and was able to get my car towed to a mechanic. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the repairs won't suck up the rest of my bar stipend. I had planned on a new car in January or so, after I knew for sure that I passed the bar so my job wouldn't be in jeopardy, but worst-case scenario I'll be shopping for a new car this weekend.
Tomorrow the man himself - Chemerinsky - will be doing our Con Law lecture. I'm looking forward to it in a sick sort of way.
Now - off to the starbucks across the street to begin officially studying for the CBX. Here goes nothing.
So far it's been pretty much what I expected. They made a point to tell us to actually do the assignments they give us, to not use the "big" books unless we need help clarifying something, as was pointed out in the comments yesterday, and there were a number of jokes that fell flat. The lecturers also made a few digs on PMBR - though not by name - telling us NOT to do 50 MBEs a day (in fact, they want us to take about 10 days off from doing them at all while they go through the essay portions). I'm still on the fence with this one - although I didn't take PMBR I bought all of the CDs and had planned on doing 50 MBEs per day. I guess it will all come down to how much time I have and my motivation to keep studying into the wee hours of the morning.
Another difference from the Bar Prep books I've read regarding the MBEs is the time vs. untimed approach. BarBri seems to want us to spend the 1 minute 48 seconds per question for the full amount of questions we're doing, then check our answers. The other book I read suggested 1 or 2 questions at a time, then read the answers, then increasing the number of questions before answer review later on. As my ability to retain information is horrible, I'll probably do the non-BarBri method for awhile.
The schedule for class and review looks pretty intense. I'm happy with the level of detail on the schedule - how many questions, what subjects, etc. Without a forced scheduled I'm sure I'd fall behind.
Class got out after about 2 hours, so I left and went home and was able to get my car towed to a mechanic. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the repairs won't suck up the rest of my bar stipend. I had planned on a new car in January or so, after I knew for sure that I passed the bar so my job wouldn't be in jeopardy, but worst-case scenario I'll be shopping for a new car this weekend.
Tomorrow the man himself - Chemerinsky - will be doing our Con Law lecture. I'm looking forward to it in a sick sort of way.
Now - off to the starbucks across the street to begin officially studying for the CBX. Here goes nothing.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
To vanish into oblivion is easy to do
First - the good news: The Ramada in Arizona was very nice.
Second - the bad news: Everything went downhill once I got into Cali on Thursday. Well, things Thursday were okay - just moving in and unpacking. It's really amazing how much shit I had boxed up and really should have just thrown away. Ah well. Friday morning the cable guy came over to set up my HDTV service. Unfortunately, he managed to do this incorrectly, which I didn't figure out until hours later. A service tech will now be coming Tuesday afternoon, cutting into my bar review coffee time. So I'm not thrilled about that.
Friday morning I woke up early so I could go to the BarBri office to get my books. For some reason some of the books are 11 x 14, which I find relatively obnoxious. I'm going to class in West LA (which at the time I thought was a good idea so I could see a "Live" session, but now am regretting due to the commute from downtown) and discovered that the parking situation is pretty poor over there. I asked the BarBri guy about it, and he gave me a map with large parking lots posted. However, I was unable to figure out where these lots actually were, even after driving around for some time. I think Monday morning I'm just going to leave early and find some street parking a few blocks away.
Friday afternoon was DMV time, as Cali requires you to get your car registered within 10 days before you start racking up fines. I had a 2:30 appointment, but arrived a full hour early, which got me stuck in the no-appointment line. I explained to the number-hander-out person what I was there for - car registration and license - and he gave me my number. I waited for about 1/2 hour before talking with the DMV person, who then explained that I would need a smog test before I could get my car registered. I didn't even know what that was, nor was it on the list of things I needed to do according to the DMV website - but I figured I could at least get my license first. I did, but not until after I failed my first written test (which is written horribly, so I put way more thought into it than I should have). That whole process took an hour and a half. I then went across the street for a smog test, which cost me about $45. Then I went back to the DMV, drove my car though the verification line - which also took much longer than one would expect - then went through the DMV line inside to actually give my paperwork to someone else. 3 1/2 hours later I left. But at least I'm done with that place for the time being, and have new Cali license plates to show for it.
That would have been enough of a hassle for the week, but my car started acting funny the moment I left the DMV - I actually though I was getting hit from behind every time I hit the gas. I had no idea what was wrong, but once I got on the highway things seemed to be working ok so I pretty much ignored it until today hoping that the problem would solve itself. No such luck. On my way out to Target in Pasadena this afternoon, the same problem happened again, and on came the ominous "Service Engine Soon" light and the battery indicator (at least I think that's what it was). By the time I made it home from Target every auto place was closed, and I have no idea if there is a legit mechanic in downtown. To top it off, with BarBri Monday morning I don't have any time to deal with this sort of thing. After freaking out for a bit, I made reservations to pick up a rental car tomorrow morning, talked to my apartment manager to get an extra spot for Sunday night, and will come back from BarBri Monday afternoon and try to find a place that I can take my car which isn't too far from downtown. I have the rental car booked from Sunday through Wednesday, so ideally that will be enough time for them to figure out what's wrong with it. Argh.
I'm starting to feel pretty good about my decision to book a hotel during the bar exam.
Second - the bad news: Everything went downhill once I got into Cali on Thursday. Well, things Thursday were okay - just moving in and unpacking. It's really amazing how much shit I had boxed up and really should have just thrown away. Ah well. Friday morning the cable guy came over to set up my HDTV service. Unfortunately, he managed to do this incorrectly, which I didn't figure out until hours later. A service tech will now be coming Tuesday afternoon, cutting into my bar review coffee time. So I'm not thrilled about that.
Friday morning I woke up early so I could go to the BarBri office to get my books. For some reason some of the books are 11 x 14, which I find relatively obnoxious. I'm going to class in West LA (which at the time I thought was a good idea so I could see a "Live" session, but now am regretting due to the commute from downtown) and discovered that the parking situation is pretty poor over there. I asked the BarBri guy about it, and he gave me a map with large parking lots posted. However, I was unable to figure out where these lots actually were, even after driving around for some time. I think Monday morning I'm just going to leave early and find some street parking a few blocks away.
Friday afternoon was DMV time, as Cali requires you to get your car registered within 10 days before you start racking up fines. I had a 2:30 appointment, but arrived a full hour early, which got me stuck in the no-appointment line. I explained to the number-hander-out person what I was there for - car registration and license - and he gave me my number. I waited for about 1/2 hour before talking with the DMV person, who then explained that I would need a smog test before I could get my car registered. I didn't even know what that was, nor was it on the list of things I needed to do according to the DMV website - but I figured I could at least get my license first. I did, but not until after I failed my first written test (which is written horribly, so I put way more thought into it than I should have). That whole process took an hour and a half. I then went across the street for a smog test, which cost me about $45. Then I went back to the DMV, drove my car though the verification line - which also took much longer than one would expect - then went through the DMV line inside to actually give my paperwork to someone else. 3 1/2 hours later I left. But at least I'm done with that place for the time being, and have new Cali license plates to show for it.
That would have been enough of a hassle for the week, but my car started acting funny the moment I left the DMV - I actually though I was getting hit from behind every time I hit the gas. I had no idea what was wrong, but once I got on the highway things seemed to be working ok so I pretty much ignored it until today hoping that the problem would solve itself. No such luck. On my way out to Target in Pasadena this afternoon, the same problem happened again, and on came the ominous "Service Engine Soon" light and the battery indicator (at least I think that's what it was). By the time I made it home from Target every auto place was closed, and I have no idea if there is a legit mechanic in downtown. To top it off, with BarBri Monday morning I don't have any time to deal with this sort of thing. After freaking out for a bit, I made reservations to pick up a rental car tomorrow morning, talked to my apartment manager to get an extra spot for Sunday night, and will come back from BarBri Monday afternoon and try to find a place that I can take my car which isn't too far from downtown. I have the rental car booked from Sunday through Wednesday, so ideally that will be enough time for them to figure out what's wrong with it. Argh.
I'm starting to feel pretty good about my decision to book a hotel during the bar exam.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
It's the end of the world as you know it
Saturday was graduation, a rather pointless affair with mediocre speeches and cheap champagne. Dinner with my family, however, was very good - we ate at the Capital Grille in Minneapolis and my uncle splurged on an amazing bottle of cab. After meeting up with a few friends at an uptown bar to say goodbye, I went home, slept for 4 hours, packed up my apartment, and departed for St. Louis to visit a few friends there for two days. All went reasonably well there, aside from getting attacked by a slug and a June bug and being forced to watch an episode of Springer.
Earlier today I left for the next leg of my trip - a one night stay in Amarillo, Texas. It was an 11 hour drive, which doesn't really bother me, but apparently the lack of sleep I've been getting lately has taken it's toll - I actually attempted to drive away while pumping gas. Not good. Thankfully I didn't get that far and the hose stayed connected. Thanks to the bad gas station karma, I had trouble finding gas when I needed it the next time around, stopping at a gas station with a subway but no fuel. To not make the stop a total waste, I decided to eat dinner at the subway there - when a group of 3 people cut in front of me in line. The employee then proceeded to make all of their sandwiches (and a few extra for some people that were apparently in the car) with the speed that only a sloth would appreciate. After about 15 minutes of waiting I wanted to leave, but felt committed at this point and stuck it out.
I finally rolled into the hotel at about 9:30 this evening. Aside from a short wait, check-in was without incident. It was all downhill from there. My room was located at the other side of the hotel, so I lugged my two bags up to my room, plugged in my key (which worked), tried to open the door, and found it latched from the inside. Being the complete idiot that I am, I figured it was messed up some how and proceeded to try to jimmy it open... until the 60 some year old occupying the room came to the door, slammed it shut, opened it, barked "wrong room" and slammed it again. I trudged back down the stairs, told the front desk that someone was in my room, and they re-assigned me to a room farther down the hall. Back to the third floor again, I found out that my door to my new room (which was vacant, thank god), didn't work. The key was fine, but the latch was broken. I played with it for a good 10 minutes, attracting some strange looks by people walking by, tried calling the dowfront desk from my cell and got no answer, then resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to walk down there again. As I made my way down the hall (with bags in tow, which had somehow doubled in weight), a guy around my age asked if I was having room trouble. I explained what had happened, and he offered to let me use is phone to call the front desk. Not wanting to get gang raped (which, given my luck today was sure to happen), I declined. He then asked if he could just try my door for me. I weighed the risks of rape versus carrying my bags back to the front desk again, and at this point basically gave up. After a few minutes, he was able to get my door open. And he left after that point, dispelling any fears I had that he was going to accost me in my room.
After pretty much collapsing in bed, I ended up deciding to get a movie. Halfway through The Queen, I got a great deal of static until the picture finally cut off. After sitting on hold for about 20 minutes with the front desk, I was informed that I should reorder the movie and they would deduct one of the charges off the check, but seeing as there was no way to fast forward through the half I had already seen, I just requested that the item be taken off of my bill entirely. The night manager, somewhat disgruntled, agreed.
I've now officially given up on this being a good day by any stretch of the imagination, and will cut my losses now by going to bed. This, however, my be easier said then done, as I seemed to have seared off about half of my skin in St. Louis (thanks to all the direct sunlight, which I hadn't seen since before law school started), so now it hurts to have anything touching my back or arms. It's going to be a long night.
Tomorrow, I'm banking on getting food poisoning and then getting into a car accident. At least I'm finally used to the feeling of my life spinning completely out of control, which should help with the bar prep. And I'll have my PMBR Property CDs to keep my company all the way to Flagstaff.
Earlier today I left for the next leg of my trip - a one night stay in Amarillo, Texas. It was an 11 hour drive, which doesn't really bother me, but apparently the lack of sleep I've been getting lately has taken it's toll - I actually attempted to drive away while pumping gas. Not good. Thankfully I didn't get that far and the hose stayed connected. Thanks to the bad gas station karma, I had trouble finding gas when I needed it the next time around, stopping at a gas station with a subway but no fuel. To not make the stop a total waste, I decided to eat dinner at the subway there - when a group of 3 people cut in front of me in line. The employee then proceeded to make all of their sandwiches (and a few extra for some people that were apparently in the car) with the speed that only a sloth would appreciate. After about 15 minutes of waiting I wanted to leave, but felt committed at this point and stuck it out.
I finally rolled into the hotel at about 9:30 this evening. Aside from a short wait, check-in was without incident. It was all downhill from there. My room was located at the other side of the hotel, so I lugged my two bags up to my room, plugged in my key (which worked), tried to open the door, and found it latched from the inside. Being the complete idiot that I am, I figured it was messed up some how and proceeded to try to jimmy it open... until the 60 some year old occupying the room came to the door, slammed it shut, opened it, barked "wrong room" and slammed it again. I trudged back down the stairs, told the front desk that someone was in my room, and they re-assigned me to a room farther down the hall. Back to the third floor again, I found out that my door to my new room (which was vacant, thank god), didn't work. The key was fine, but the latch was broken. I played with it for a good 10 minutes, attracting some strange looks by people walking by, tried calling the dowfront desk from my cell and got no answer, then resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to walk down there again. As I made my way down the hall (with bags in tow, which had somehow doubled in weight), a guy around my age asked if I was having room trouble. I explained what had happened, and he offered to let me use is phone to call the front desk. Not wanting to get gang raped (which, given my luck today was sure to happen), I declined. He then asked if he could just try my door for me. I weighed the risks of rape versus carrying my bags back to the front desk again, and at this point basically gave up. After a few minutes, he was able to get my door open. And he left after that point, dispelling any fears I had that he was going to accost me in my room.
After pretty much collapsing in bed, I ended up deciding to get a movie. Halfway through The Queen, I got a great deal of static until the picture finally cut off. After sitting on hold for about 20 minutes with the front desk, I was informed that I should reorder the movie and they would deduct one of the charges off the check, but seeing as there was no way to fast forward through the half I had already seen, I just requested that the item be taken off of my bill entirely. The night manager, somewhat disgruntled, agreed.
I've now officially given up on this being a good day by any stretch of the imagination, and will cut my losses now by going to bed. This, however, my be easier said then done, as I seemed to have seared off about half of my skin in St. Louis (thanks to all the direct sunlight, which I hadn't seen since before law school started), so now it hurts to have anything touching my back or arms. It's going to be a long night.
Tomorrow, I'm banking on getting food poisoning and then getting into a car accident. At least I'm finally used to the feeling of my life spinning completely out of control, which should help with the bar prep. And I'll have my PMBR Property CDs to keep my company all the way to Flagstaff.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Smile like you mean it.
I just finished my FDA exam. In record time. That was nice. As I sent my exam to be upload with Examsoft, I leaned back in my chair, smiled, and thought: “That the last exam that I’ll ever have to take in my life.”
Then I remembered the bar.
Fuck.
Then I remembered the bar.
Fuck.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
I don't care if it hurts, I want to have control
The best one - Sad Kermit does Hurt by NIN - was removed from You Tube earlier today. Now that hurt.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Yeah I'm a selfish bastard, but at least I'm not alone
The moving company is set to arrive within the next hour. At about 3:00 AM this morning I decided that sleep wasn't really a possibility, so I got up, went to the Flameburger for a burger and fries, headed home, and cleaned. Well, not so much cleaned as throw away a ton of shit. The merry maids I hired will need to take care of the rest. Considering how bad my floors look, I'm now considering hiring a weekly maid service when I get out to California. Or perhaps after I pass the bar so I know if I can pay them.
This is my second all-nighter in less than a week. With an 8 hour exam either Tuesday or Wednesday, and a Thursday AM exam, it probably won't be my last all-nighter. Paranoia does some strange things to me. Ideally the inability to sleep won't kick in right before the bar - or I'll be up for a minimum of 72 hours straight. Although the all-nighters in law school lead to pretty much straight As, I doubt that the same can be said for the bar.
Moving van is here... excellent timing. I need to go to sleep.
This is my second all-nighter in less than a week. With an 8 hour exam either Tuesday or Wednesday, and a Thursday AM exam, it probably won't be my last all-nighter. Paranoia does some strange things to me. Ideally the inability to sleep won't kick in right before the bar - or I'll be up for a minimum of 72 hours straight. Although the all-nighters in law school lead to pretty much straight As, I doubt that the same can be said for the bar.
Moving van is here... excellent timing. I need to go to sleep.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Broke into the old apartment, this is where I used to live
Two days ago I received a list of cleaning costs for my apartment, which will tell me what they will deduct from my security deposit. The vast majority of the charges are insanely high. $50 to vacuum, $30 to wipe down the fridge, $30 to clean each and every one of the blinds, $10 to replace a broken light bulb, etc. If I left my apartment as-is, it'd cost me something like $2,000. There's no way that this passes the reasonableness test that has to be somewhere in the statute (because there's always a reasonableness standard), but as much as I want my current apartment complex to suffer I can't really deal with filing a small claims court action while taking the bar. So I've decided to hire a maid service to do the cleaning for me. It's kind of sad that I won't just suck it up and do it myself - but with my last final being on Thursday morning and my parents arriving for graduation Friday afternoon, I won't have the time or the energy to take care of things.
I had my BA/Corps final Thursday morning, of which I remember very little aside from me completely fucking up one question (along with rest of class, assuming the post-exam rumblings were true), and how poorly the exam questions were written overall. At least I think I did fine. Only 2 finals left now - Sports Law and FDA. I'm trying to get a large chunk of my FDA outline done today, and it was going pretty well until a group of about 40 people descended on my (tiny) coffee shop to look at the new artwork on the walls. Claustrophobia set in, followed by sheer annoyance at the people hovering over my table to look at the pictures. I'm not even that stressed out about the exam... so I can only imagine if something similar were to happen while I'm studying for the bar. Chances are I'll either burst into tears or throw something at the people around me. Hard.
So anyways, graduation is a week away. I'm in denial. I've been refusing to say "good-bye" to anyone, and instead have been making plans to see people this week that I know I won't be able to keep. It's probably a good thing that I start my drive out to Cali next Sunday - a quick escape may be my best bet to avoid unnecessary stress.
Speaking of stress - my graduation robe is wrinkled to all get-out. I packed my iron a month ago, and have no idea what box it is in. Anyone know if the local dry cleaners does ironing jobs?
I had my BA/Corps final Thursday morning, of which I remember very little aside from me completely fucking up one question (along with rest of class, assuming the post-exam rumblings were true), and how poorly the exam questions were written overall. At least I think I did fine. Only 2 finals left now - Sports Law and FDA. I'm trying to get a large chunk of my FDA outline done today, and it was going pretty well until a group of about 40 people descended on my (tiny) coffee shop to look at the new artwork on the walls. Claustrophobia set in, followed by sheer annoyance at the people hovering over my table to look at the pictures. I'm not even that stressed out about the exam... so I can only imagine if something similar were to happen while I'm studying for the bar. Chances are I'll either burst into tears or throw something at the people around me. Hard.
So anyways, graduation is a week away. I'm in denial. I've been refusing to say "good-bye" to anyone, and instead have been making plans to see people this week that I know I won't be able to keep. It's probably a good thing that I start my drive out to Cali next Sunday - a quick escape may be my best bet to avoid unnecessary stress.
Speaking of stress - my graduation robe is wrinkled to all get-out. I packed my iron a month ago, and have no idea what box it is in. Anyone know if the local dry cleaners does ironing jobs?
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
You're getting carried away feeling sorry for yourself
Two days ago I turned in my two-months notice at my apartment building. My lease runs through the end of June, so I'll be stuck paying rent in Minnesota even though I'm moving to Cali in less than 2 weeks. Yesterday, after a full day at coffee then 4 additional hours of studying/screwing around at Perkins, I came home at about 3:30 AM to find a note stuck to my door: "We will be showing your apartment home on May 1, 2007 at 12:45 and May 2, 2007 at 5:30 PM. Please have your home in showable condition at this time." I was annoyed at the fact that I'd have to clean up my place when I got home late tonight to prepare for tomorrow's showing.
Then I realized that May 1st was today.
Less than 24 hours notice from my management. I could have killed them. Instead, I was up until 6:00 AM throwing laundry in baskets, moving around boxes, scrubbing my counters and bathroom, etc. Most of my apartment is packed up, but the boxes are everywhere and a lot of them have yet to be sealed up. I left an angry voicemail with the building manager explaining that I was in the middle of finals and would appreciate at least 24 hours notice before they went through my place. 10 hours later and I have yet to receive a return call.
To make matters worse, after about 4 hours of sleep, I got up earlier than I had planned to take the trash out and clean up a bit more. As I walked out of my apartment I found a note stuck on my door: "We're replacing the boards on your deck. Please have any items on your deck removed by tomorrow morning." I have a few things on my balcony, which wouldn't be a problem to move aside from the fact that all of my sealed up moving boxes completely obstruct the balcony door. And some of the those fuckers are heavy.
I'm thoroughly contemplating using my worn down patio furniture to block my apartment door as I leave tomorrow morning. Or setting the furniture on fire. Or both.
Then I realized that May 1st was today.
Less than 24 hours notice from my management. I could have killed them. Instead, I was up until 6:00 AM throwing laundry in baskets, moving around boxes, scrubbing my counters and bathroom, etc. Most of my apartment is packed up, but the boxes are everywhere and a lot of them have yet to be sealed up. I left an angry voicemail with the building manager explaining that I was in the middle of finals and would appreciate at least 24 hours notice before they went through my place. 10 hours later and I have yet to receive a return call.
To make matters worse, after about 4 hours of sleep, I got up earlier than I had planned to take the trash out and clean up a bit more. As I walked out of my apartment I found a note stuck on my door: "We're replacing the boards on your deck. Please have any items on your deck removed by tomorrow morning." I have a few things on my balcony, which wouldn't be a problem to move aside from the fact that all of my sealed up moving boxes completely obstruct the balcony door. And some of the those fuckers are heavy.
I'm thoroughly contemplating using my worn down patio furniture to block my apartment door as I leave tomorrow morning. Or setting the furniture on fire. Or both.
If I could be sweet, I know I've been a real bad girl
Late last night I was talking with a good friend of mine, and learned that the questionnaires from the Moral Character folks had gone out. He has an odd sense of humor, so the conversation went something like this:
J: You better be nice to me.
Me: Why?
J: I received that form today for your lawyer thing.
Me: Seriously??? What does it say???
J: Not telling.
Me: C'mon! Please? I'm dying to know!
J: No.
Me: [Fifteen minutes of begging.]
J: [Fifteen minutes of refusing to tell me anything.]
Me: PLEASE!!!!
J: Okay, fine. [Reads off questions - 11 total - How long have you known the applicant? Do you know if the applicant has committed a crime? Been a party to a lawsuit? Has a mental illness? Has a chemical dependency problem? Is generally honest? Etc. Each question has a check-the-box answer: Yes, No, Don't Know, Prefer Not To Answer. If any are answered "Yes" then the person filling out the form is supposed to write out an explanation.]
Me: Well, you're going to check "No" for everything right? [Because I haven't done shit, I grew up in Wisconsin, for christ's sake.]
J: No, I think I'm just going to put "Prefer Not To Answer"
Me: That's funny. Please don't. Please. [Additional begging.]
J: Okay, fine. Oh wait, I forgot one question. "Do you think that the applicant should be admitted to practice law in the State of California?" I'm going to put no for that one.
Me: What?!? Why?!?
J: Don't worry, I can explain the answer on the back. I'll just write that lawyers are blood-sucking assholes, and that I don't want you to be one of them. They shouldn't hold that against you.
Me: Oh dear god.
J: Don't worry about it, it'll be fine.
Me: Right.
I really should have picked my friends' parents to fill these things out... Sense of humor + Bar App = Moral Charactrer Failure.
J: You better be nice to me.
Me: Why?
J: I received that form today for your lawyer thing.
Me: Seriously??? What does it say???
J: Not telling.
Me: C'mon! Please? I'm dying to know!
J: No.
Me: [Fifteen minutes of begging.]
J: [Fifteen minutes of refusing to tell me anything.]
Me: PLEASE!!!!
J: Okay, fine. [Reads off questions - 11 total - How long have you known the applicant? Do you know if the applicant has committed a crime? Been a party to a lawsuit? Has a mental illness? Has a chemical dependency problem? Is generally honest? Etc. Each question has a check-the-box answer: Yes, No, Don't Know, Prefer Not To Answer. If any are answered "Yes" then the person filling out the form is supposed to write out an explanation.]
Me: Well, you're going to check "No" for everything right? [Because I haven't done shit, I grew up in Wisconsin, for christ's sake.]
J: No, I think I'm just going to put "Prefer Not To Answer"
Me: That's funny. Please don't. Please. [Additional begging.]
J: Okay, fine. Oh wait, I forgot one question. "Do you think that the applicant should be admitted to practice law in the State of California?" I'm going to put no for that one.
Me: What?!? Why?!?
J: Don't worry, I can explain the answer on the back. I'll just write that lawyers are blood-sucking assholes, and that I don't want you to be one of them. They shouldn't hold that against you.
Me: Oh dear god.
J: Don't worry about it, it'll be fine.
Me: Right.
I really should have picked my friends' parents to fill these things out... Sense of humor + Bar App = Moral Charactrer Failure.
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