Suddenly there he is again
That guy
You know the guy I’m talking about.
A little older – maybe back in back in law school after a long hiatus – maybe here for the first time – maybe he retired or something
He talks all the time. He raises his hand or has a comment at least half a dozen times in every class. Sometimes he does so with only minutes left in class. He always has a question. He always has an answer.
He is the hyperactive old guy.
He is excited to be here, and he shows it. He is, in his mind, is the comeback kid.
There is only one small problem. Everybody already hates him.
I really want to sit him down and talk to him and explain what he needs not to do, but I don’t really care enough about him to do it. On the other hand, if I do not, I will have to sit in class with him and be annoyed every day. Oh the delima. Do I stand back and watch this guy commit social suicide or do I talk with him. It probably won’t do any good anyway. And if I do talk to him, I immediately become a friend to him and he will talk to me all the time. I don’t want to talk to him all the time. I don’t even want to know him. I just want him to not annoy me every day for the rest of the semester.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Starting my second year of law school
As of Friday, my iron fisted dean relinquished her hold my schedule and I was allowed to complete registration for this fall (this fall being Monday). I am now a full time law student. My room mate faired similarly and is moving to full time as well.
So….
Monday brings about a new year, a new set of obstacles, and a new set of people to either make friends with or grind under my heel.
If the thought of grinding people under your heel makes you laugh – then you are an extreme overbearing “type A” weirdo - and there are some things that you should know:
A. Nobody likes you.
B. Everybody hates you.
C. You should just go eat worms.
I still have a few 1L classes to take. We start fresh in three classes with incoming 1Ls and have two classes with the returning 2Ls. I guess this makes me something like a 1.5L (I think I had a Honda once with that engine).
But that means a whole new set of faces to get used to and also to have to put up with.
Unfortunately in alienates me from the group of students with whom I started night classes. (There have been a few that have voiced there disapproval because of the tight bond that the group has formed. We didn’t have ANY of the proverbial backstabbing and infighting over grades. Nobody tried to screw each other over with false info or holding back critical info. All the same, it is just too bad. I am not going to law school to make them happy.) It also alienates us a little from the incoming 1Ls. I am torn between being really nice & making new friends by helping them, or letting them squirm and suffer as I did.
In the end I suppose it will be a little of both. After all, I have stuff to do.
This semester looks to be loads of fun and hard work. For some strange reason I am looking forward to it. I am not excited in the traditional nerdy sense of being happy to be in school
But more in the way of:
Each class being part of the puzzle to take the final,
Each final being part of the puzzle to finish law school,
Law school being the part of the puzzle required to take the bar.
The bar being the part of the puzzle that makes me able to start practicing.
I know it is all a long way off, but I have to remember what I am here for.
Surprisingly if you concentrate too much on the end goal you end up missing the ball in front of your face and your goal will move that much further away.
So on the first day of class we sit through the thing where all the 1Ls have to stand up and tell who they are and some interesting fact that makes them great. Instead of listening to everybody I take the time to make a list of all the hot 1L girl’s names as they speak and a quick note so that I can talk to them later on.
So….
Monday brings about a new year, a new set of obstacles, and a new set of people to either make friends with or grind under my heel.
If the thought of grinding people under your heel makes you laugh – then you are an extreme overbearing “type A” weirdo - and there are some things that you should know:
A. Nobody likes you.
B. Everybody hates you.
C. You should just go eat worms.
I still have a few 1L classes to take. We start fresh in three classes with incoming 1Ls and have two classes with the returning 2Ls. I guess this makes me something like a 1.5L (I think I had a Honda once with that engine).
But that means a whole new set of faces to get used to and also to have to put up with.
Unfortunately in alienates me from the group of students with whom I started night classes. (There have been a few that have voiced there disapproval because of the tight bond that the group has formed. We didn’t have ANY of the proverbial backstabbing and infighting over grades. Nobody tried to screw each other over with false info or holding back critical info. All the same, it is just too bad. I am not going to law school to make them happy.) It also alienates us a little from the incoming 1Ls. I am torn between being really nice & making new friends by helping them, or letting them squirm and suffer as I did.
In the end I suppose it will be a little of both. After all, I have stuff to do.
This semester looks to be loads of fun and hard work. For some strange reason I am looking forward to it. I am not excited in the traditional nerdy sense of being happy to be in school
But more in the way of:
Each class being part of the puzzle to take the final,
Each final being part of the puzzle to finish law school,
Law school being the part of the puzzle required to take the bar.
The bar being the part of the puzzle that makes me able to start practicing.
I know it is all a long way off, but I have to remember what I am here for.
Surprisingly if you concentrate too much on the end goal you end up missing the ball in front of your face and your goal will move that much further away.
So on the first day of class we sit through the thing where all the 1Ls have to stand up and tell who they are and some interesting fact that makes them great. Instead of listening to everybody I take the time to make a list of all the hot 1L girl’s names as they speak and a quick note so that I can talk to them later on.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Why I am here
I posted this blog on myspace a short while back and thought I would move it here as well.
Why I am here
I have this friend named Tom. He is lawyer in N. Alabama & a pretty successful one too. He has a wife and two fantastic kids. Tom has a brother named Tim.
Tim was in a car accident when we were kids. He was hurt pretty bad and had health problems every since. He occasionally has seizures. A good guy all the way around though. He helped me move one time.
Years ago Tims family sued the car manufacturer because the truck they had bought their son did not have any side impact protection. The case went through several appeals. Finally the court found for the car manufacturer. The reasoning was simple:
If Tim’s family wanted more protection, they should have spent more money and bought a better vehicle.
Wow! Think about that. Follow the logic. That is the kind of decision that people who have always had money make.
I met Tom in college. He became one of my very best friends. We came from similar backgrounds and had a lot in common. Because of the things that happened to him when he was young (lets say he had some legal troubles of his own as a kid) and because his family got the short end of the legal stick on Tim’s trial, Tom decided to become an attorney.
This was not an easy task. No one expected him to make it, certainly not the local establishment. He didn’t come from the right family. They didn’t have money. They wrote him off as never amounting to much. Tom was like me. We come from humble backgrounds, no white collars. No fairy tails. No princess and princesses. No castles in the old country. No senator’s sons. No southern mansions or graceful plantations. No. Just men who came home at the end of a day with dirt under their fingernails and sweat soaked shirts. Tom was not part of the old guard and certainly not part of the good old boy system that permeates so much of southern small town law.
But he struggle through it. Tom graduated from a prestigious law school.
Tim’s struggles created a drive in Tom to become a lawyer. Tom was the one (along with another good friend) who after some trouble in my own life drove me to make the decision to go to law school. So in some strange way, Tim is responsible for me being where I am at today.
Your life is like the threads of a giant spider web, a tiny vibration can be felt very far away. A thing that seems so trivial in your life may affect a person so far away in such a huge way, and you will never know it. In other words: You do not know how the events and decisions of your life will affect a person who your life comes into contact with.
Tom’s wife called me late last night. Tim died. He had a seizure and aspirated in his sleep.
I hurt for my friend Tom. He loved his brother very much. Even though Tim was older, Tim looked up to him.
So Tim, this is what I promise you
I will pursue this thing to its end with a renewed vigor.
No life is wasted, because you have the power to affect other people. And in the end, that is what it is all about.
Why I am here
I have this friend named Tom. He is lawyer in N. Alabama & a pretty successful one too. He has a wife and two fantastic kids. Tom has a brother named Tim.
Tim was in a car accident when we were kids. He was hurt pretty bad and had health problems every since. He occasionally has seizures. A good guy all the way around though. He helped me move one time.
Years ago Tims family sued the car manufacturer because the truck they had bought their son did not have any side impact protection. The case went through several appeals. Finally the court found for the car manufacturer. The reasoning was simple:
If Tim’s family wanted more protection, they should have spent more money and bought a better vehicle.
Wow! Think about that. Follow the logic. That is the kind of decision that people who have always had money make.
I met Tom in college. He became one of my very best friends. We came from similar backgrounds and had a lot in common. Because of the things that happened to him when he was young (lets say he had some legal troubles of his own as a kid) and because his family got the short end of the legal stick on Tim’s trial, Tom decided to become an attorney.
This was not an easy task. No one expected him to make it, certainly not the local establishment. He didn’t come from the right family. They didn’t have money. They wrote him off as never amounting to much. Tom was like me. We come from humble backgrounds, no white collars. No fairy tails. No princess and princesses. No castles in the old country. No senator’s sons. No southern mansions or graceful plantations. No. Just men who came home at the end of a day with dirt under their fingernails and sweat soaked shirts. Tom was not part of the old guard and certainly not part of the good old boy system that permeates so much of southern small town law.
But he struggle through it. Tom graduated from a prestigious law school.
Tim’s struggles created a drive in Tom to become a lawyer. Tom was the one (along with another good friend) who after some trouble in my own life drove me to make the decision to go to law school. So in some strange way, Tim is responsible for me being where I am at today.
Your life is like the threads of a giant spider web, a tiny vibration can be felt very far away. A thing that seems so trivial in your life may affect a person so far away in such a huge way, and you will never know it. In other words: You do not know how the events and decisions of your life will affect a person who your life comes into contact with.
Tom’s wife called me late last night. Tim died. He had a seizure and aspirated in his sleep.
I hurt for my friend Tom. He loved his brother very much. Even though Tim was older, Tim looked up to him.
So Tim, this is what I promise you
I will pursue this thing to its end with a renewed vigor.
No life is wasted, because you have the power to affect other people. And in the end, that is what it is all about.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
confessions of a low GPA law student
So finals for the summer are over and in just a few days we re-embark on a brand new year of law school.
I can’t say that I am particularly ready but I am excited.
There are still some things up in the air concerning my schedule for this coming year. After a year of part time law school, I am poised to enter this year as a full time student. There is only one tiny hiccup.
My iron fisted dean still holds my schedule in her hands. Depending on this summer’s grades, I will either be back in part time or in full time.
I can’t say that I blame the law school in not wanting a part time student to switch to full time status, particularly in the second year. By moving to full time, I will be taking two 1L classes. This will close a seat to an incoming 1L in those classes and therefore effectively close an entire 1L slot. This reduces the incoming 1L class by exactly one person. To make things worse, a handful of my fellow part time students have made the same decision.
Here is the funny part
Grades are due in AFTER classes start. WTF! What are they gonna do? Let me start taking the classes and then bump me back if needed?
I can see it now:
“Hi, we hate to interrupt your class professor, but we have a kid in here that isn’t smart enough to be here. Let me see. Oh yes, there he is. The big dumb looking fellow sitting 3rd row from the back - The one in flip flops – looking surprised – the one trying to look smart and doing a really bad job of it – yes that one.
Have him bathed to see if you can remove the smell of stupidity and bring him to the faculty suite. We will put him in a cage and poke sticks at him. You may want to have someone escort him. Otherwise the poor dumb SOB will likely get lost. Someone that stupid should not be left alone. He may hurt himself. Why is he not wearing a helmet anyway?”
I have to check in with the Dean next week and we will find out.
By the way – my room mate is in the same boat.
So we sit and wait.
I can’t say that I am particularly ready but I am excited.
There are still some things up in the air concerning my schedule for this coming year. After a year of part time law school, I am poised to enter this year as a full time student. There is only one tiny hiccup.
My iron fisted dean still holds my schedule in her hands. Depending on this summer’s grades, I will either be back in part time or in full time.
I can’t say that I blame the law school in not wanting a part time student to switch to full time status, particularly in the second year. By moving to full time, I will be taking two 1L classes. This will close a seat to an incoming 1L in those classes and therefore effectively close an entire 1L slot. This reduces the incoming 1L class by exactly one person. To make things worse, a handful of my fellow part time students have made the same decision.
Here is the funny part
Grades are due in AFTER classes start. WTF! What are they gonna do? Let me start taking the classes and then bump me back if needed?
I can see it now:
“Hi, we hate to interrupt your class professor, but we have a kid in here that isn’t smart enough to be here. Let me see. Oh yes, there he is. The big dumb looking fellow sitting 3rd row from the back - The one in flip flops – looking surprised – the one trying to look smart and doing a really bad job of it – yes that one.
Have him bathed to see if you can remove the smell of stupidity and bring him to the faculty suite. We will put him in a cage and poke sticks at him. You may want to have someone escort him. Otherwise the poor dumb SOB will likely get lost. Someone that stupid should not be left alone. He may hurt himself. Why is he not wearing a helmet anyway?”
I have to check in with the Dean next week and we will find out.
By the way – my room mate is in the same boat.
So we sit and wait.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Finals are done. Went to go see a band tonight called "Rehab"
Check 'em out on Myspace!
I felt really good because I had just finished my last final. The bouncer tried to stop me but I walked right by like I own the place and he never said another word.
(Confidence saved me a $15 dollar cover charge - I rock!!)
They had the best song lyrics ever
"She broke my heart in the trailer park
so I jacked the keys to her f'n' car
And Crashed the peice of s*&^!!!!
then I stepped awaaaaaaaay"
or then agian there was
"I got a drinkin' problem maaaan
I got one mouth and two hands
and an empty can"
My friend Ed found it appropriate and funny to give my phone number to some really big girl and then charge me $5 for a hat that the Miller guys gave him for free (but I really wanted it). I am going to his house tommorrow and drink enough of his beer to pay for it.
I am home.
I am happy.
I am relieved. One more rounds of finals is over.
Check 'em out on Myspace!
I felt really good because I had just finished my last final. The bouncer tried to stop me but I walked right by like I own the place and he never said another word.
(Confidence saved me a $15 dollar cover charge - I rock!!)
They had the best song lyrics ever
"She broke my heart in the trailer park
so I jacked the keys to her f'n' car
And Crashed the peice of s*&^!!!!
then I stepped awaaaaaaaay"
or then agian there was
"I got a drinkin' problem maaaan
I got one mouth and two hands
and an empty can"
My friend Ed found it appropriate and funny to give my phone number to some really big girl and then charge me $5 for a hat that the Miller guys gave him for free (but I really wanted it). I am going to his house tommorrow and drink enough of his beer to pay for it.
I am home.
I am happy.
I am relieved. One more rounds of finals is over.
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