Does anyone else love lyrics the way I do? I know some people don't pay attention to lyrics, they just groove with it, but I love good lyrics - probably why I'm such a fan of Bob Dylan. Anyway, my last two posts have been lyrics, and I do believe I will make a habit of it. Incidentally, this is something practiced by a weird but cool site called the new shelton wet/dry, a site I haven't figured out yet, though truth be told, I haven't tried that hard.
Been too long since I've posted; I have too much to say. I'm thinking of a year in review type thing, though I doubt I can remember much from last semester. Stay tuned nonetheless.
Last Saturday: went to see the 3Ls graduate. It was at 9:30am, which is a little ridiculous in my opinion, but nobody asked my opinion (too bad - I'm quite opinionated). It was pretty cool. The guest speaker, some bigshot old white man, was tremendously dull. I'm sure it's the same at every graduation across the country, save for those who can get Bill Clinton or Jon Stewart.* I think we should get President Clinton for ours - who cares that we're a tiny tier 3 school? Let's think big, people. In fact, I think I've already mentioned it to the bmoc sba president.
Anyway, it was nice to see friends graduate, cheer for my favorites, and keep a running commentary to a couple friends sitting nearby, such as "oh, I like her. She was in my Sales class," or, "so THAT's who that is! I've seen his name, but never put it to a face," or, "that guy's a dick. I do not care for him." I believe I got a chuckle out of them once or twice.
That night we went out to a local pub and drank. It was pretty fun to see these recently graduated folks shrug off three years of law school and enjoy one another's company for a few hours. It makes me a little wistful, in hindsight, especially remembering one person in particular. She and became pretty close over the course of the last semester, and I will miss her terribly. Met her special man for the first time, who drove up for graduation and to help her pack up her stuff for their move back home. I have to say, I was a little worried that I wouldn't take to him for one reason or another (basically, I think I was worried I wouldn't consider him to be good enough for her), but I was happily surprised to find myself really liking him. In fact, I think we could be really good friends, and I'm actually hoping top correspond with him a bit, as we have a similar mindset when it comes to nerdy IP issues - and he isn't even a lawyer/law student. SO, AC, good job. You have chosen wisely.
I really liked the recently graduated class (except for that one guy, who's a dick), and I'll miss them. A few are still here, studying for the bar before they go off to whatever towns and cities they will settle down in, and I'm hoping for a few more drunken nights with them before they start their bar prep, which I expect will take up most of their time.
I also couldn't help but think ahead a year, and imagine myself and my classmates sitting their graduating (and drinking later that night). That will definitely make me sad. I love my class, and I think we're a pretty special group. It will be too bad when we have to split up and go our separate ways. I'm sure there will be a million who go to the city from which most of us came - maybe not me, though, as I'm thinking about NYC or San Francisco** or something. Maybe I'll retire there.
Okay, enough rambling for now.
*okay, you need to read this. It's freaking hilarious. And while I was searching for it, I also found Conan O'Brien's from 2000 at Harvard. Also, if there are any Family Guy fans out there, search YouTube for Seth McFarlane's speech (not graduation, but around that time) - he does a lot of voices, and it's pretty funny.
**see earlier post about that fellowship thingie - I spoke on the phone with a friend of mine last night (who will be entering law school this fall [!]), and every time I think or talk about it, I get more and more fired up about it. If anyone has ideas about how I should shape my application, please let me know.
p.s. Jenny, I hope you don't mind that I use your asterisk-footnote format. I know you didn't invent it or anything, but you are the only blogger I know who uses it. Besides, it's the sincerest form of flattery, right?
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Sunday, May 6, 2007
and by us, I mean everyone in the world who isn't you
Four finals in 5 days. It wasn't that bad, really. I was pretty darn underprepared for most of them, frankly, and I thought they went pretty well. The only one I had really been prepping for any significant length of time in advance had been IP, which exam was last Tuesday, and which I think I have mentioned already as being one of the hardest exams I had taken. I heard through the grapevine that a classmate of mine - he of notes on reading on his computer (I'm uber-prepared if I highlight and write notes in the margins) - spoke with the prof and was aghast at all he missed; I'm sure I missed all the same, and likely more than he did, but this is really neither here nor there, and I'm rambling again.
The last two finals I took were Corporations and PR (professional responsibility, for those not law school-inclined). I'd like to pause here and say a word about my school - that Corporations is its own 3-credit, semester-long course is one reason why we're not highly regarded. I've often mentioned to my classmates that Corps and Agency & Partnership (its own 3-credit, semester-long course) should be merged into one course, like a real law school. I think the Law Bitches* have mentioned that their school does this - they call it Business Organizations or something. This is the way to go. A&P and Corps were not only ridiculously easy courses (I could have learned as much writing a 1st year LR&W memo in a weekend), but that we learned so little over the course of those months made the classes themselves incredibly dull.
Now, I do have to say, I like my school. I despise the town its in, but this school is on the rise - I'm not sure how our new-ish Dean is performing; I have no standard against which to judge him, or his performance; I guess we'll have to judge him in a few years (much like NFL draft picks). I try to stay positive about this school - we have some great professors, and I feel lucky that I've been able to take a lot of them. But, of course, with the good you always have some bad, and this prof, who taught these two courses, is one of the worst. Just abysmally bad. He simply needs to retire, and I know of not one of my classmates who disagrees with me.
Not sure if I mentioned this earlier in the semester, but that midterm that I bombed? It had a huge typo, one that was entirely relevant to the fact pattern. After I discussed it with some classmates, I was feeling pretty good, because they had missed it. After further discussions, I was feeling pretty bad, because no one caught it - well, one did, but assumed it was a typo, which, it turns out, was pretty smart. Well, I received an extra credit point, but did poorly on that test, in large part because I wasted so much time analyzing why that mistake was relevant and how it related to the overall conclusion to be reached. Anyway, on the final on Thursday, jackass prof made another typo. I wasn't fooled this time, noting it for what it was. But I was just laughing on the inside at the inanity of it all. You could even say I was addled at its inanity. Now you know why I named this blog the way I did.
I don't know how good an idea this is, but I am seriously thinking of writing a message, via e-mail or snail mail, to the Dean, about this guy. Think it's worth it? The likely outcome of such a communique? Nada. I'm sure the Dean already knows of the worthlessness of said prof - there are rumors that the rest of the faculty is fed up with him as well - but there may be little he can do about it. I'm fairly certain he's tenured, and he started one of the big programs here; nevertheless, if the Dean wishes to improve our ranking and reputation, canning (or forcefully suggesting retirement) this guy is one of the first steps he needs to take.
The same could be said of the prof who teaches PR. Another older gentleman who has a long history here, and is likely untouchable. At least his class got through a lot of material - but the teaching method was mind-numbingly bad. Read off the powerpoint. Every frickin' day. Called on students maybe four or five times all semester. What was most frustrating though was this final I took on Friday. Now, I know some hate discussing exams after, but I love talking about it, and luckily, there were a couple of people who were willing. We all concurred - on virtually every question, there were facts missing which were material to whatever conclusion you had to come to. Now that I write that, I wonder if this was intentional, but I doubt it. On every question, it was "well, if this is true, then this is the conclusion. But if this is true, then this conclusion." On one question, I had to write a disclaimer at the top - "For the purposes of this question, I will assume that X is a lawyer, as it is indicated only circumstantially by the facts." Come on, man; on a PR exam, let us know who the lawyer is. Don't make us fucking guess.
Please excuse the language. The more I think about it, the more upset I get. This prof also had a couple of typos, which is really just ridiculous in my oh so humble opinion. These two profs must be making six figures. They teach, what 2 classes per semester? You can't proofread your fucking exams? Argh - I'm getting all riled up. And the caffeine is really kicking in, too. Probably a bad combination.
I'm sure there was more I was planning on talking about, but I think I better cut this short before I go on and on and on and on and on and on. Too late.
*I just visited their site to grab their url, and that post with the song about finals cracked my ass up. It's just too perfect. Please visit their great blog.
The last two finals I took were Corporations and PR (professional responsibility, for those not law school-inclined). I'd like to pause here and say a word about my school - that Corporations is its own 3-credit, semester-long course is one reason why we're not highly regarded. I've often mentioned to my classmates that Corps and Agency & Partnership (its own 3-credit, semester-long course) should be merged into one course, like a real law school. I think the Law Bitches* have mentioned that their school does this - they call it Business Organizations or something. This is the way to go. A&P and Corps were not only ridiculously easy courses (I could have learned as much writing a 1st year LR&W memo in a weekend), but that we learned so little over the course of those months made the classes themselves incredibly dull.
Now, I do have to say, I like my school. I despise the town its in, but this school is on the rise - I'm not sure how our new-ish Dean is performing; I have no standard against which to judge him, or his performance; I guess we'll have to judge him in a few years (much like NFL draft picks). I try to stay positive about this school - we have some great professors, and I feel lucky that I've been able to take a lot of them. But, of course, with the good you always have some bad, and this prof, who taught these two courses, is one of the worst. Just abysmally bad. He simply needs to retire, and I know of not one of my classmates who disagrees with me.
Not sure if I mentioned this earlier in the semester, but that midterm that I bombed? It had a huge typo, one that was entirely relevant to the fact pattern. After I discussed it with some classmates, I was feeling pretty good, because they had missed it. After further discussions, I was feeling pretty bad, because no one caught it - well, one did, but assumed it was a typo, which, it turns out, was pretty smart. Well, I received an extra credit point, but did poorly on that test, in large part because I wasted so much time analyzing why that mistake was relevant and how it related to the overall conclusion to be reached. Anyway, on the final on Thursday, jackass prof made another typo. I wasn't fooled this time, noting it for what it was. But I was just laughing on the inside at the inanity of it all. You could even say I was addled at its inanity. Now you know why I named this blog the way I did.
I don't know how good an idea this is, but I am seriously thinking of writing a message, via e-mail or snail mail, to the Dean, about this guy. Think it's worth it? The likely outcome of such a communique? Nada. I'm sure the Dean already knows of the worthlessness of said prof - there are rumors that the rest of the faculty is fed up with him as well - but there may be little he can do about it. I'm fairly certain he's tenured, and he started one of the big programs here; nevertheless, if the Dean wishes to improve our ranking and reputation, canning (or forcefully suggesting retirement) this guy is one of the first steps he needs to take.
The same could be said of the prof who teaches PR. Another older gentleman who has a long history here, and is likely untouchable. At least his class got through a lot of material - but the teaching method was mind-numbingly bad. Read off the powerpoint. Every frickin' day. Called on students maybe four or five times all semester. What was most frustrating though was this final I took on Friday. Now, I know some hate discussing exams after, but I love talking about it, and luckily, there were a couple of people who were willing. We all concurred - on virtually every question, there were facts missing which were material to whatever conclusion you had to come to. Now that I write that, I wonder if this was intentional, but I doubt it. On every question, it was "well, if this is true, then this is the conclusion. But if this is true, then this conclusion." On one question, I had to write a disclaimer at the top - "For the purposes of this question, I will assume that X is a lawyer, as it is indicated only circumstantially by the facts." Come on, man; on a PR exam, let us know who the lawyer is. Don't make us fucking guess.
Please excuse the language. The more I think about it, the more upset I get. This prof also had a couple of typos, which is really just ridiculous in my oh so humble opinion. These two profs must be making six figures. They teach, what 2 classes per semester? You can't proofread your fucking exams? Argh - I'm getting all riled up. And the caffeine is really kicking in, too. Probably a bad combination.
I'm sure there was more I was planning on talking about, but I think I better cut this short before I go on and on and on and on and on and on. Too late.
*I just visited their site to grab their url, and that post with the song about finals cracked my ass up. It's just too perfect. Please visit their great blog.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Two down, three to go
Last night I finished my second of five finals. Today I have a "day off" - from finals, anyway, but I'll be at work all day. I worked yesterday until 2, went to school and tried to compile all my materials for the exam (it was open everything - but she just writes the test that much harder), then typed for 3 hours. I was freaking exhausted by the time 9pm arrived - that club sandwich and those beers were much needed, and I think well-deserved. We'll find out in a month or so.
The first final was on Monday, and it went a lot better than I was expecting, which, of course, means it probably went just as well for everyone else also. That's a problem with curved courses. But I was rather worried about that one. Our professor has been nicknamed "the velvet hammer," as she is nothing but sweet and jolly all semester long, until you take her exam, when you realize you probably should have been doing the reading.
That being said, however, I think I did ok. I was a little unsure of all the ins and outs of the rules on character (this was evidence, btw), as there are a few that have different rules for different situations. One thing that did irk me a touch was the fact that she told us to concentrate on two or three hearsay exceptions, those which, incidentally, she used the mos often in her practice, but they were nowhere to be found. Oh well - I guess I learned them anyway, and hopefully they'll come in handy some day.
Last night's exam was a bear. I said to me classmates, "It wasn't a marathon, and it wasn't a sprint. It was like sprinting a marathon," to which my friend A added, "with a bear chasing you." That's pretty much correct. This was the fourth exam I've taken from this professor, and we all knew what we were getting into - not that it made it any easier...
Also, I feel a bit of pressure on that one because the prof is also my moot court coach next year, on a mot court team with that subject matter. It would probably suck to have gotten anything below a B and show up to face her - but let's burn that bridge when we come to it.
Anyway, tomorrow is Corps, Friday PR, and those are the classes whose midterms I crashed and burned on, so I am feeling a bit of pressure for those. Plus I rarely paid much attention in class. I am so happy I never have to take those professors again.
So, wish me luck everyone!
The first final was on Monday, and it went a lot better than I was expecting, which, of course, means it probably went just as well for everyone else also. That's a problem with curved courses. But I was rather worried about that one. Our professor has been nicknamed "the velvet hammer," as she is nothing but sweet and jolly all semester long, until you take her exam, when you realize you probably should have been doing the reading.
That being said, however, I think I did ok. I was a little unsure of all the ins and outs of the rules on character (this was evidence, btw), as there are a few that have different rules for different situations. One thing that did irk me a touch was the fact that she told us to concentrate on two or three hearsay exceptions, those which, incidentally, she used the mos often in her practice, but they were nowhere to be found. Oh well - I guess I learned them anyway, and hopefully they'll come in handy some day.
Last night's exam was a bear. I said to me classmates, "It wasn't a marathon, and it wasn't a sprint. It was like sprinting a marathon," to which my friend A added, "with a bear chasing you." That's pretty much correct. This was the fourth exam I've taken from this professor, and we all knew what we were getting into - not that it made it any easier...
Also, I feel a bit of pressure on that one because the prof is also my moot court coach next year, on a mot court team with that subject matter. It would probably suck to have gotten anything below a B and show up to face her - but let's burn that bridge when we come to it.
Anyway, tomorrow is Corps, Friday PR, and those are the classes whose midterms I crashed and burned on, so I am feeling a bit of pressure for those. Plus I rarely paid much attention in class. I am so happy I never have to take those professors again.
So, wish me luck everyone!
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