Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone! From the law school library. While doing research. With an empty bag of candy. Oh, the life of a law student.

Memos

"The beast got so tiresome, I just went out the window."

And that, my friends, is how the last hour went. I was on a roll with my legal memo, and I was proud of the way it was turning out. I took a quick break, came back, and realized I had no idea how to structure the thing. It was as if it had suddenly started speaking Russian, and I was speaking third-grade English. We just weren't clicking. I tried to make it work, but the longer I tried, the more I realized I was making things worse. So, I dashed it off, and went right on home. Because sometimes, that's all you can do.

Carrots

I've always been one of those people who physically manifests stress. Usually, I end up getting sick but I've been keeping a regular sleeping schedule and have been taking vitamins so luckily, I've dodged that bullet so far. Unfortunately, my stress is showing up in different ways. I'm a horrible tooth grinder. It is HORRIBLE. It hurts. It makes my dentist yell at me, which in turn makes me sad. But I just can't help it. To save my molars, I've been eating baby carrots. I won't even tell you how many bags I've been through because it is that obscene. Carrots and almonds. Being inadvertently healthy.

I've also read online that petting a purring cat lowers stress levels. Considering the fact that I basically live with this guy on my shoulder, I can't imagine how stressed I would feel without him. Yay law school fall?

The Snowball Avalanche Effect

I know a little while ago, I mentioned that law school is kind of like one giant snowball effect. This was not a correct assertion. 'Snowball' implies that something small gets bigger and bigger as it rolls downhill, and that you can actually see it growing in size. See:

Law school is actually more like an avalanche. A tiny snowflake might fall on your nose and the next thing you know, you are under a mountain of snow. Never saw it coming.

I can't think of a more adequate description for October. A month ago, I was actually ahead in readings and getting 8 hours of sleep a night. Now, I can read for ten hours a day and barely have prepared enough for the next few days. There are memos and papers due every week (well, this past week and the next 2), and the time for outlining and studying for finals has arrived. Pro: the weeks are flying by, so hopefully, it'll be Christmas in no time. Con: I will be a shallow shell of a human being by Thanksgiving.

Wish me luck!

First Fifty Days

I've been putting off writing this post because I knew I couldn't do it justice until I could get pictures uploaded. Now, I'd like to introduce you all to the two little handfuls that have been keeping J and I on our toes for the past fifty days:

This is Rufus.

And this is Charlie.

They were orphaned kittens, and came into our lives when they were 10 days old. We were blessed enough to be their surrogate parents and have since bottle-fed them, taken them to emergency vet clinics late at night, kept them on heating pads, bought them fleeces, and they're growing up so well. They snuggle at every possible opportunity, they follow us around, they sleep on shoulders and in laps. They kick litter everywhere, and every once in a while, they choke a particularly large piece of food and run around the house trailing vomit with them. Real talk, they can be very gross sometimes, but we love them.

I mean, look at these faces. How could you not?

 Note: My hand is actually really small.

So happy first fifty days of life, Rufus and Charlie! Here's hoping for plenty more!

Things I'm Missing

1. Sleep. One day. One day...

2. The fall weather that visited for one weekend. Fall is my absolute favorite season, but it never seems to stick around much in Texas. This past weekend, the temperature dropped into the 60s, and it was gorgeous. Everyone was clustered around the coffee shops, drinking their favorite seasonal drinks (or so I assume, since that's what I was doing), wearing adorable jackets and boots. Then, just as quickly as it came, it left and we're back to highs of 90. I know- ridiculous.

3. This place. I was able to study here for a semester and fell in love. Already counting down the days till I can go back.

4. This place. It was the apartment I lived in my last two years of undergrad with some of my best friends, and though the kitchen was tragically tiny, there was zero natural light, and the whole place kind of smelled like the 70s, you best believe that by this time last year, we were baking the Pillsbury holiday cookies, and dancing around the whole place to Jason Derulo.

Fall weather always makes me so nostalgic (or the lack thereof in this case.) Anyone else feel the same way?

The mantra

Bad Habits

Kind of going off my last post, there are definitely some bad habits I've carried over from undergrad. They'll probably lead to my ultimate demise in law school, unless I can get a handle on them. SO, here I am, throwing them into the wild, in the hopes that you guys can keep me honest if I start to exhibit any of them again. Without further ado, my bad habits:

1. Procrastinating. Seriously. Most of my thesis was written between 2 and 6 in the morning, because I didn't do it any earlier. Some of my best work is done under pressure, but law school isn't really that kind of world. Papers? Maybe, but not studying. Studying is a semester-long project. And I cannot believe I seriously just said that.

2. Saying 'yes'. A trait of mine since middle school has been that I'm hyper-involved. I love to be part of organizations, I love to be in charge of things, and I kind of like having a full planner. BUT, right now, classes are top priority. So why did I join about 4 clubs and 2 journals? And take on a 30 hour volunteer project? Because I can't say no. I'm very much a 'yes' person when it comes to people asking me to join extra-curricular things. And maybe it'll look good on my resume... but it can't make an ugly GPA pretty (if it were to get out of hand).

3. Chewing gum. I had a dentist tell me it's probably not a really good habit because it wears on teeth, but in times of great distress, I HAVE to chew it! If not, pens, my nails, gummi bears, food- it's all fair game.

4. Running late. I think this is more of a 'world' thing than a 'me' thing, though. I mean, how can a person wake up 3 hours early and still run late? There's a wormhole out there that's got it in for me.

Anyone have any advice on how to fight these things? Any is appreciated! Oh, and happy Wednesday!

Studying, Part 1

A big part of law school is figuring out how you work best. How do you study best? What methods work for you? What time of the day are you most productive? Now, real talk, I didn't study especially hard in undergrad. I mean, I did my homework, and I did well (for the most part) in my classes, but I never had to work especially hard at it. I'm a quick reader, a quick typist, and I tend to retain things pretty well. This was all fine in undergrad, but it made for one crappy law student. Now, all of these important study method questions that so many figured out so long ago, I have to answer now.

SO, as of today, how do I study best? I still don't know. Sometimes, I'm in the library. Other times, I'm at the kitchen table, or my couch, or my bed. (The last one is definitely not conducive to productivity). Every once at a while, I'm at my desk. I'm not a big fan of silence but my mild ADD makes having the tv or music on pretty distracting.

What methods work for me? Highlighting is pretty cool. Briefing was nice, until I ran out of time to do it (DEFINITELY need to pick this back up again). Jury's still out on typing and supplements.

What time of the day am I most productive? Ummmm, never? Is that an acceptable answer? I am actually ALWAYS distracted or exhausted. Yesterday, I fell asleep on my book with a cat on my head. Mornings are nice because it's quiet, I have coffee, and my sleepy kittens lounge next to me instead of on top of my notebooks. BUT, they require waking up early. Afternoons are great but I'm usually in class, and when I'm not, I'm eating and then sleeping. Evenings? .... Night? I do work because I'm down to the wire but mostly I'm just sleepy the whole time.

A classmate of mine said it best when she told me that everyone in law school is smart. So now, it's not a matter of how smart you are, but how hard you work. And THIS, my friends, is going to require me to step up my game.

Wish me luck!

The Snowball Effect

I don't know who organized the great law school curriculum hundreds and hundreds of years ago, but it is a poorly planned out thing. School started at the very end of August, and it was actually manageable. (See: false sense of security) Then September got a little busier with people joining journals, and clubs, and taking on pro-bono projects. That was fine, too. Now October is a little busier yet, and a quick glance at my planner has verified that I don't actually have a free day until November, and that's only because I haven't copied down November activities into my planner yet! It is ridiculous to me how much is crammed into the last half of the semester. On a kind of unrelated tangent, it's also just as incredible to me how people can survive without planners. I LITERALLY write everything down. Even fun things. Even things I've already done just so I can cross them out and remember I've done them. It looks kind of like this, but colorful:

source

Is anyone else feeling the mid-semester craze?