Sun Tzu says...

"on difficult ground, keep steadily on the march...on desparate ground, fight"

This semester I see more of the cut-throat things that everyone hears rumor of before they start law school (but still the majority of people haven't turned into cut-throat warriors.) Once first semester grades came out there were some surprises (as there always are) as to who did well and who was disappointed. The gunners quieted down a little and some even started to listen to other people's answers. A couple of "sleepers," now feeling confident from good grades speak up in class and offer incredible insights. As we get closer to finals though, its now obvious who the big competition is in class and who you need to beat to get that elusive "A." People are less willing to share class notes with each other if someone missed a class, and many will not share outlines they've found from 2Ls. Everyone's keeping it quiet how far they are in outlining and what their study schedule is.

Guess this means the battle for top class rankings (and success in OCI) has begun?

I've found that the best thing for me to avoid all this behavior is to avoid everyone but my study group and non-law school friends. I seriously don't have time for drama.

Only a few more weeks until I start my summer job :-)

Don't Panic!

But finals are almost here! Holy S**t!!! Where the heck did the semester go? What happened to all of my plans to start outlining really early this semester? I just finished my exam study schedule and I want to just get back in bed and hide under the covers.

I'll be sad to see this year end. It's been brutal at times, but being a 1L is kinda fun, in that "everything's new and there's still hope for us all to become big successful lawyers and make enough $$ to pay of these debts" exciting way.

I Got A JOB!!!!

It's official! I will be employed by..."1L Summer Firm" :-)

Come on, do you really think I would give up some of my anonymity and reveal who I'll be working for this summer? Not a chance. I'd rather stay under the radar in law school.

All I will say is that I'm very excited about the firm and the work I'll be doing. And that i will get PAID!!!!!! Yes, that's right, I'm going to be one of the lucky 1Ls that I know who will be earning enough $ this summer to be able to survive AND still have $ to pay off some of the bills I racked up during 1L year.

How did I get this job? I'm not at a t-14 school, I'm not anywhere near the top 10% of my class, and I don't have a father who is a partner in the firm. Nor did I blanket applications to every big, mid and small firm, judge, and public defenders office. Instead I focused on the areas that I really wanted to try out and that interested me and worked with my counselor to write targeted cover letters and perfect my resume. I received a lot of rejections which really sucked, but then I got a couple interviews and focused my energy on winning over the interviewers.

Something must've worked because I HAVE A JOB!!!

Happy Valentines Day!!

...Now stop hugging and kissing and get back to work!

Appellate briefing season is here and 1Ls at law schools across the country are spending hours in the Westlaw labs printing cases hoping to find the one supreme court decision that pulls everything together for the winning brief! The trash cans are overflowing with Starbucks coffee cups and everyone's so uptight that at any minute someone might snap if someone in the reading room dares to cough or type too loud.

It may be worse than exams. There's more at stake now that fall grades are posted. The library that was empty for the first few weeks of class is now full of 1Ls trying to get their $**t together and rebound from the below the curve grades of first semester or outstudying the rest of the class and win a few more Cali's.

Sorry I haven't posted in ages. I'm feeling more overwhelmed this semester. Classes that i loved last semester are pure torture this semester and the new classes seem to be piling on the reading all the while i'm trying to work on my brief. The competition is pretty fierce in class as we're all competing for 1L summer jobs. Instead of friends being happy for you when you get an interview or an offer, its 1/2 happy and 1/2 silent thoughts wondering how the heck you are better than them.

That all said, I'm still loving law school. Briefing is so much work, but i'm not hating it. What i'm hating is that I'm struggling to not fall behind in class reading. Attendance is really slipping in some classes, which just puts a bullseye on the small group of us who show up. when only 25% of the class shows up there's even more pressure to be prepared b/c now instead of a 5% chance of getting called on, its more like 30-40%.

Just a few more weeks til Spring Break right?

alrighty, back to briefing!

We Did It!!!

I can't believe it, I survived finals! I survived my first semester of 1L!! For better or for worse, its over and for 3 weeks there is nothing to do but relax, catch up on some trashy reading, have a few drinks, catch up on sleeping, catch up with non-law school friends and just forget about law school for a while! I'll catch up on blogging too, I promise!

Have a great holiday all!

Keeping Stride

Thanksgiving break is over and it's officially "that time of year." No, not the Holiday season, for us law schoolers it is Exam Season. It's the time of year that we all dread and fear and give thanks that it only comes around twice a year. The holiday season won't officially begin until my last bluebook is turned in. Then I'll be able to enjoy some holiday cheer.

Thanksgiving was a nice 3 day break from law school. Many of my classmates made me feel guilty for being a slacker and actually going home for the holiday and taking a quick break from school. But I needed it. After turning in my Open Memo (which was a a piece of garbage IMHO **fingers crossed that I did better than my last one, even by a smidgen). When I arrived back in Law School City almost all the 1Ls were in the library already. It was 11am on a Saturday for gosh sake! I did not join in the frenzy. Instead I unpacked all my treasures from Mom, more specifically all my Christmas decorations. My apartment for once doesn't look like study central w/ books all over the place, instead it looks like Santa's Workshop with law book interspersed with snowmen and reindeer.

I actually took books from one of my classes home, admittedly I knew when I left that I wouldn't even open them (hence I only carried 1 subject home). I did peak at the outline I am working on and did a few edits, for a few minutes. There was just so much excitement around the house, all the siblings together again for the first time in ages and ages. Who wants to study at a time like that? Now I'm paying for it. For the next 2 weeks I'll be in outlining hell! And then I'll be in exam hell!

1L is a marathon. You have to have a plan to finish and stick to it. If you go out too fast, you'll burn out early. If you wait til the end to push it, you'll finish but you'll be running hard to catch up and when you finish you'll feel like there was more you could have done to finish better. Thanksgiving Break was "hitting the wall" for many classmates. Everyone is feeling the exhaustion and the pain and they just want it to be over. All we have left is less than a month, in a marathon most people hit the wall around Mile 20, where there's only a 10K left, but that last 10K feels harder than the first 20 Miles! This is time to be a smart studier. Time to rediscover your stride. For the law school 1L marathon i don't feel like a back of the packer/penguin, but i'm definitely not a Kenyan either. I'm a "just hope to finish and finish well"

Good Luck to all the other 1Ls! "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming"

Dear Family and Non-Law-School Friends,

Consider this your notice that from Monday until Exams are over in December, I will have limited time to gchat, AIM, email, skype, txt (who am I kidding?), talk on the phone for hours at a time, go out drinking every night, spend all weekend parying and shopping...basically spend quality time with you.

Sadly, you will all be replaced by law school friends competition, our days spent shopping and partying will be replaced by hours in the library writing and re-writing my memo, outlining and re-outlining, reading and re-reading.

In light of this, I have scheduled times that I will still have fun and go out in Law School City . If you want to see me then that's when it will have to be, unless you want to come sit in the library with me ;). However, I will still be going to the gym M-F mornings, so if you really miss me, get your cul out of bed and join me at spinning!

Friends, the following are definite events that are currently planned and your attendance is welcomed: saturday brunch, thanksgiving break re-hash (saturday following Thanksgiving), christmas party, wednesday night we-almost-survived-another-week dinner and the Fave Band concert. There will also be at least one more crazy Saturday night (i said at least!) or Thursday night Bar Review.

Family, I will be home for Thanksgiving, but only for 3 days. You have me completely on Thanksgiving, so bring on the Beaujolais Nouveau, Turkey, Champagne, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!!

If, however, you bring a care package (or just coffee/redbull/no-doz) I'll find time to squeeze you in!

I will miss you all dearly.

XOXO,
1L Elle

Frugal Law Student

It's mid-semester and I've realized that I have spent most of my money for the semester already. Don't be so shocked, most of that was used to pay for moving expenses. Moving from abroad I had to buy all new furniture and furniture is definitely NOT cheap! So I've been trying to find ways to save $$ and still enjoy the finer things in life and afford the essential of law school survival (COFFEE).

I realized after looking at my quicken that I spend as much $$ a week on Starbucks that I do on food during the week (weekends I always go out and spend waaaay too much!) I spend a minimum of $5 a day on coffee, sometimes as much as $10. OUCH!! That's between $125 and $200 a month on Starbucks!! HOLY BOLLUCKS!! No wonder I'm broke! I order a quad grande soy latte, sometimes vanilla if I'm feeling extravagant. That darn "latte" and soy part adds up. On Monday I discovered that with the creamers they finally have soy available for free too!! woo hooo!! Now all those dairy allergic people aren't discriminated against!! So I now only spend $2.50 on the same amount of caffeine. How do I do it? I order an extra hot quad espresso in a grande cup and add my own soy milk. It's not steamed milk and I do miss out on that little frothy-ness on top, but seriously an extra $2.50 for warmer and a little froth?? I let it cool off so much anyway before I drink it that it's not much different anyway. At least the way I reason it!!

And on that note, I'm off to Starbucks to get my fix to help me get through the reading due for today!

XOXO

3 Years

All the recent law school grads are hitting "refresh" and holding their breath, waiting for Bar Exam results. Good Luck to you all!!



this will be me in 3 years!!!

until then I will continue to pretend to study and drink lots of wine.

Gossip Girl

Hello Fellow Law Students,

1L Elle here.

Remember that song you learned in kindergarden "make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold" ? Law school is really challenging that! My old friends, my best friends are all starting to bitch that they heard from me more when I lived 5000 miles away than they do now that we live in the same city, 1 mile apart! It's getting really hard to manage new friends, old friends, family and law school!

I wish law school friends could merge with old friends, but old friends are all at completely different places in their lives than all the 1Ls who are straight out of uni and are all about getting wasted every night and hooking up with each other.

Speaking of hooking up, the incest (dating/hooking up within the section) is really starting to get around! The beginning of the semester everyone was being discrete, not no more!! Their discretion is no competition with the gossip girls in our section. Our section night out last week was one huge gossip night! Oh my goodness the things that i saw and heard! I'd love to share, but I don't want any gossip to come back around about me, so I'll keep my mouth shut...for now.

until then, back to studying
xoxo

Hate the Law?

I'm reading law school message boards and there seems to be a lot of 1Ls who hate law school. Is that what's supposed to be happening? I don't really see it at my school. Everyone is stressed out about midterms (which can't hurt your grade) and starting to fret over outlines...I mean, I bitch about the reading and the research and the writing, but honestly, its not that bad. Definitely not bad enough to drop out and lose $25K. But now that they mention it, I wonder if that's why my Civ Pro class seems so empty. Or maybe they just decided that they can teach themselves the law? I'll have to investigate and see who's missing.

On another note, I have my ticket home for Thanksgiving!!! :-) I'm leaving super early on Tuesday and coming home on Friday night. It's a short break, but it's so close to finals that I'm one of the only ones who is even going home! If it was any other holiday then maybe I'd spend it w/ my friends in New Law School City, but Thanksgiving is the only holiday that my family isn't completely dysfunctional, only minimally! Plus my baby bro is home from Iraq and about to be deployed back to another military conflict area and I want to spend some quality time with him (i.e. try to beat him up, get beat up by him, and then get some brotherly advice). I can't wait!!

What Weekend?

Look what law school has done to me! I spent my whole weekend studying and not partying in New Law School City! Well, not the whole weekend studying, I did do brunch with the girls on Saturday AND Sunday. And I did catch up on all the shows that have backed up on the DVR. Oh, and I did some reading for fun (the first time since classes started 5 weeks ago!). And there was some baking time spent. And I cleaned my room and kitchen (the living room and dining room is on the list for this week). I did get through the first 3 LEEWS disks (for the 2nd time). I did get caught up on my Crim reading and finished my Civ Pro reading for the week, but don't even get me started on Con Law!!!!

Ok, so its not like I wasted the weekend, but I didn't party OR get all the studying done that I needed to. This is what law school has driven me to. I spend the week in class, library, Starbucks, studying all the time, drafting memos, or sleeping. The law school dominates so much of my time that I'm now skipping out on going out with my friends so that I can stay home and clean and bake and do all those ordinary people things that I couldn't find time to do during the week. I do always manage to go out on Thursday night, that's my reward for surviving another week. And I usually manage to go out on Saturday night, but that depends on how much studying I get done during the week and if I have Legal Writing to work on.

I really wish there was a break somewhere, time to breathe, relax, go on vaca, time go visit my family, lots of time to go shopping (that of course requires $$ which is in short supply these days). Just time to sit outside with a cup of coffee and read the paper and not be worrying about the reading that is due and the exams that are looming in the distance.

I think this week I will kill myself getting ahead of all my classes and i will spend the weekend with my best friend shopping, gossiping and drinking lots of wine!

Law School Secret

I found this on http://postsecret.blogspot.com a site where pepole anonymously send int their secrets.



I wonder, is this a secret that I'll harbor in 3 years? How long after law school will I regret becoming a lawyer? I'm still determined to not let anyone break my spirit and deter me from becoming a lawyer, but it's getting more difficult. Yesterday someone saw my portfolio from my around-the-world trip and they offered me a pretty sum for some of the pictures. Could I make it as a travel photojournalist?

I've been in law school for 5 weeks now. Some classes are starting to "click" and others i'm SERIOUSLY drowning! I want to go to office hours but I don't even know what questions to ask to help me understand! On a good note, all that work I put into my first memo really paid off! My rewrite was not too hard!

Back to the library, on a friday night, my life is really starting to SUCK...but here's my secret...I'm actually loving the law school challenge!!

Fall is Here!!

It's 7:30am and I cannot sleep. 6.5hrs of sleep and I'm completely energized. Ask me on Thursday morning if I'd get up at 7:30am and I'd punch you in the face, but today I woke up to the first real Fall day of the year! I slept with the windows open last night, it was around 50 degrees and I was able to sleep snuggled up under my warm duvet. I woke up and watched the sunrise. The weather reminds me so much of arriving in France. And listening to a city is wake up is amazing. At 6:30 all I hear is birds chirping, 7am cars start moving around, by 7:30 the kids are up and off to school, neighbors are out for their morning jogs and Starbucks runs. By 8am horns will be honking and construction will resume on the building across the street and the puppies will be barking. Until then I'm sitting on my balcony watching the world wake up, drinking my coffee and actually thinking about opening my crim book. I love the mornings so much more than the nights, for observing that is. In the morning its a brand new day, everything smells so fresh, and there is so much possibility and optimism, like the dream that I'm actually going to get in a run this morning, finish my reading for Crim AND finish my memo rewrites. By nightfall, the day is over, everyone is tired after the long day of working, you realize that you didn't get 75% done of what was planned, but there's still that optimism that you'll stay up all night and be ready for the next day, after you watch all the shows you've Tivo'd and share a bottle of wine with your friends and caught up on all the law school gossip.

The semester is already almost half over!!!! Not to panic anyone or anything!!!!!! OMG, I haven't started outlining yet! I haven't finished listening to LEEWS again! All the panic is already starting to hit everyone. Just as we're starting to understand the cases and the classes are finally starting to "click", Legal Writing is ramping up to kick our a$$es. If it's only October 1 and people are going crazy what will Dec 1, right before finals, be like?????

I Should be Studying

It's Friday night, and I'm still hungover from too much partying on Thursday night. Whoever said that there's no fun in law school is clearly a looooooser! Of course there is a lot of work, and you have to stay on top of it or you'll drown, but if you're efficient in the study plan, there is definitely still time to make friends and party!

I wasted my day off today though. Between cable tv w/a dvr and a hangover, this was a very unproductive day. I have all of my reading still to do for next week, serious cleaning that needs to be done in my apartment, I mean SERIOUS cleaning, and i have a memo due on Tuesday. AGH!! Looks like this weekend is going to require some studying on Saturday (between college football games of course) ;)

I'm trying to decide when to start outlining. I'm not even sure how to outline, but I'm thinking that if i get my memo done tomorrow and my reading for Monday, then I might try to start outlining, at least for Civ Pro. The time might be better spent, however, doing some hard-core studying for Con Law, the bane of my existence! I am so seriously lost in that class!! Civ Pro is all coming together, Crim is fine too, law and order helped with that ;-), Legal Writing is gonna kill me because of all the work, but I'll survive that. Con Law just is not "clicking"!!!!! Damn!!

Code of Conduct

I was just reading my student code of conduct (hey, don't laugh, anything is scintillating than reading Con Law!!) and I came across the section on inappropriate relationships between students and professors. In undergrad I don't think it was ever mentioned, frowned upon, but not forbidden. At Law School we're not allowed to have sexual relationships with our professors! And if we do we have to end it until they are no longer our professor...LOL...DAMN!!

1 Day down! How many more??

First day of school went pretty well. I didn't get lost, I had people to sit with in the cafeteria, and when I got called on in class I got the answer sortof right! Go Me!! Of course this is still orientation and none of what we do or say counts, but still, I SURVIVED!!! I have like 60 pages of reading to finish before my first Real class tomorrow. UGH! Its really buckle down time. No more playing. Of course, if I could just get a good night sleep, wake up without a massive headache and find my appetite I might do better, and before you ask, no I'm not taking adderall or any of those "smart pills"! I think I just really need my new bed to be delivered!

Ok, back to studying!

And so it begins!!

I'm finally moved into New Big City! Well, almost moved in, my apartment doesn't have any furniture, and nothing is set up or organized, and the cabinets are empty, but I do have a bottle of wine chilled, wine glasses are unpacked, and i've bought my first semester books! Go Me!!

I love my new apartment and my roomie is a crazy awesome girl! Love her! I was really looking forward to living on my own again, but this is better, b/c we have separate schedules, and our own lives so we won't be on top of each other 24-7.

Now its time to really crack open the books and get down to business! Wish me luck!!!

A Pink Dolphin?

Ok, my world is complete now. Two of my favorite things on earth are now one! I know I shouldn't be excited about this, it probably isn't safe for the poor albino dolphin (i'm thinking the pink is sunburn?), but its so cute!

The Shock of My Life

This morning I woke up at 4am to a sound that I dread, serious thunder and rain pouring down. UGH was this a sign of how my day was going to be?

and this is a hint of how my day went...



Some days its just a better idea to climb back in bed and pull the covers over your head!

Not quite High School

I remember back in high school, the teachers gave us a summer reading list and first day assignments to go with them. Usually it was the night before school was starting and all my friends were trying to guess which book we'd start the semester with. Praying we pick the right book, we stayed up all night reading and then writing our journal assignments. Then we got to school and, in all the excitement of seeing all our friends again, promptly forgot anything we had read the night before. Law school is a little different, there's a little more pressure and expectation that you will actually read the assigned books, before the night before classes start.

My first day assignments are posted and the booklists are out. Classes start in 3.5 weeks and I'm already ahead in Civ Pro :-) Woooot, summer reading didn't fail me! Buffalo Creek Disaster is part of the 1st day assignment and our text is Glannon's Civ Pro E&E! Of course I still have LEEWS to finish and Delaney's Learning Legal Reasoning to finish. I haven't started 1L so I don't know if any summer prepping did any good, but it calmed my nerves and kept the boredom at bay. This is not to say that I followed the Planet Law School 1 year prep (that guy is crazy!) I took the advice of 2Ls and 3Ls and enjoyed myself during my last summer of freedom. I partied, I travelled, I drank a lot of wine, and I slept. But at the office, the mornings are soooooo boring and when I got hired my boss made an exception to the rule for me and we agreed that I could read instead of staring off into space for 3 hours, so long as it was reading for school! No Cosmo or US Weekly, whatever I was reading had to be school related. So I skimmed the E&Es for Civ Pro and Torts, skipped Criminal (bored me to tears, hopefully there's a better Crim hornbook out there!), and then I started reading the "suggested" summer reading list from the law school. Ok, so it sounds like I did a lot of prep, but I promise I'm not the gunner!!!!! Instead, I'm the nerd who loves to read (even if I don't completely understand what I'm reading) and I'm the girl who hates to be bored so I always have a book on hand.

Ok, I think I need to go sit by the pool with the girls, drink a margarita, and open up a really trashy novel!

Cheers!!

Bonne Chance!!

Sending out Happy thoughts and lots of luck to everyone out there taking the bar today and tomorrow! That'll be me in 3 years! UGH! 3 years sounds so far off all of a sudden. I haven't even started classes yet and I'm already dreading the next 3 years and studying for the bar. I think I need to back up, I'm getting ahead of myself, I need to make it through the next month!

Summer is almost over. My years of just "playing" are almost over. In 3 weeks I'll be back in the academia world. Soaking up the law like a sponge. That list of "To Do's" is still long and I have now accepted that that's the way it'll stay for the next few months. I just don't have the time to get everything done before I move in 2 weeks. I barely have time to finish up at the awful office and pack and say my good-byes!

Today at the awful office job I started reminding all my clients that I only have 2 weeks left! Most of them are so sad to see me go. The supervisor on the other hand, well, she replaced me faster than 2 shakes of a lamb's tail. Hope the new guy realizes what he's getting himself into. Some the clients have hinted that next week I'll be finding going away gifts on my desk. awwwww :-) I heart some of them so much. We've bonded over the disgustingly early mornings filled with energy drinks and looking for ways to stay awake and keep the boredom at bay. One of my clients this morning told me that he wants to set me up with his young, eligible, successful son. Unfortunately, said son lives on the opposite coast, 3500 miles from Law School City! Maybe if he's so successful he'll be the one willing to put in the effort to come visit me, b/c i've seen my school calendar and its looking like I am not going to be taking too many mini-break vaca's this year. Grad school isn't like undergrad with lots of long weekends for Homecomeing, Veteran's Day, Columbus Day, Teachers' Day...

All said, I can't wait to start law school!!! I'm so excited to be moving to the Law School City in 2 weeks!!! :-D

Required Reading

My law school hasn't sent out our syllabus with the book list, first day assignments, etc., but some of the other schools that I was considering published "suggested" reading lists. The "suggestion" is polite way of "requiring" that students read long lists of books that are supposed to prepare students for law school. I know that with only a month to go until I start school there's no way that I can read 30+ books, as well as pack up my household for a long-distance move. I decided to begin with the most popular books that sound at least a little interesting. We'll have to see how many books I actually finish before classes begin in August. There are so many non-law books that I want to read before i start living in the library and have to spend 23 hours a day reading case books! I love reading for fun, not having time to read for fun this year is going to be so hard!!

I started my "suggested" pre-law readings with The Buffalo Creek Disaster. . It is surprisingly good! It's about a disaster in coal-mining town in the 1970's and how the victims sued the mining company. It moves fast and explains the litigation process without being to complex. I finished it in a day and a half!

Next up is either biography of Holmes or The Supreme Court by Rehnquist.

Then again I'm really wanting to read Dispatches from the Edge by Anderson Cooper or a fun fiction. Suggestions?

Faith Restored

I know I complain and rant all the time on my blog. In person I'm not really this way. I'm truly an optimistic and very cheerful person, but sometimes a girl's just got to let it out, and its not like anyone reads this anyway!

Well, today I'm not going to complain or rant, my faith has been restored that there are truly good people out there. Random acts of kindness is not gone forever!! What, you may ask, has restored my faith? Well, I was wallking home from the gym today, nasty sweaty, tired, and a little cranky since blood sugar was too low. Oh, and did I mention that it was also 95 degrees and sunny and humid? UGH! I'm walking along mentally deciding if I could physically run home (i'd just run 8 miles on the treadmill) and if I did run home how soon I could be jumping in the pool. I'm completely oblivious to anything around me when I hear a passing car stop and the driver yells "One L, do you want a ride?" This may not seem like much, but on the days that I've walked or ridden my bike from the gym friends from the gym pass me and the next day as we're chatting they say "I saw you walking yesterday. You looked so hot and miserable!" they say this and yet they never stop to offer a ride. They probably don't want my sweaty body sitting on their new leather seats, and I don't blame them ;)

Anyway, thanks Gym-guy for the ride today!

Getting In Shape for Law School

So summer is here and I'm way behind on staying in shape. I have motivation though, one of the Besties is getting married in a few weeks and I need to look HOTT to snag a cute groom's man...J/K (sorta ;-) ). I also have the motivation that being in shape will help keep me sane during the crazy stressful time known as "One L Hell" I used to be such a fitness nut, swimming 5 mornings a week, spinning or running 3-4 times a week, and strength workouts while I watched my shows. Now, I'm just making it to spinning once a week, running 3-4 times a week and strength or swimming? Well, I'm building muscles by lifting a glass and swimming in pre-Law School debt already!

This week I was awesome! I got to the pool early enough a couple of mornings to gossip with the girls, get the best lane, and during our kick I got to gossip even more! It made the killer sets worth it. Of course all those calories burned were for nought b/c brunch was calorie and alcohol-laden hours of yumminess. I also trouv'd my iPod Nike+, FINALLY! So on my run I had Lance cheerin me on, it made the run so much better! All in all, my short run was 3 mi, my long run was 5.4 mi, my short swim was 1.25hr, my long swim was 3hr and in between there I just had some average workouts. I think I lost 2 lbs., but won't know for sure til Monday when I use the gym's scale (its the most accurate). I'm still well far away from my goals.

On the law school front, I have a place to live!!!! :-D Its a super cute little apartment in a neighborhood that i LOVE! I'm debating how I'm going to move up there. I don't have any furniture, but I have a TON of boxes. I'm sure my mum would love for me to finally get rid of all my stuff from high school and uni that I've been storing in her attic. My options for moving to New City are 1.) moving truck, buy furniture here and drive up, 2.) SUV with as many boxes I can fit, buy furniture in New City and have it delivered to the apartment, 3.) ship all boxes via UPS, fly up to New City with 2 FULL suitcases, and have furniture delivered and rent a truck to go to Ikea one day. The prices come out to be pretty close after gas, hotels, flights, shipping, etc. The flying/shipping/delievering idea is the most appealing, but i'm just not sure how secure I feel in shipping my new LCD TV via UPS? I'm so worried they'll break it or lose it. Just about everything else can be packaged in peanuts and I'm not too worried. I'm so indecisive. I need to make a spreadsheet and figure this all out (my nerd backround is showing!) and SOON! Mum and I keep going antiquing and there's so many things that she loves for my apt, but I'm ambivalent about buying anything until I know how I'll get it up to New City. Ok, resolve, I will decide this week how I'm going to move! But for now, I'm going to lay by the pool with a cool drink!

Cheers!

62 years ago

Today is the 62nd anniversary of the Invasion of Normandy, D-Day, J-Jour...I would think that every person over the age of 12 knows what D-Day is. Living in France I've visited the beaches and tried to imagine what those boys saw and felt as they fought for inches, losing so many of their brothers. The American Cemetary is haunting, with its rows upon rows of crosses. These boys fought for the freedom that we have today.

At work I was sitting at my desk and it hit me what today is, I asked one of my co-workers if he realized that today is D-Day. I work with an idiot. He had no clue what D-Day was and asked if I was going to have a party to celebrate?? Ummmm...what?? We honor the memory of the men who fought on that day, but it's not a light the fireworks and tap the keg kind of celebration day!

Merci for what you and your friends did that day on Omaha beach! Je t'aime!

Proud to Be an American

Every day should be Memorial Day. We should never forget the brave men and women who defend our freedom.

Bub is in Iraq right now. Everyday we pray that he comes home safe. He is a third generation militaryman. Grampa T and Grampy fought in WWII. Grampa T was Army-Airforce, he flew rescue missions and was shot down over the English Channel. Grampy was part of the Normandy Invasion on D-Day and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. I am so honored to call Bub and Grampa T and Grampy, Family. I'm proud of the sacrifices they made to keep us safe.

A Little Common Courtesy and Consideration PLEASE!!

**Rant Begins** Bad manners is one of my biggest peeves. This is not to say that I am always the best example, but I try 90% of the time. I had a MANDATORY meeting, on a Sunday evening no less! There are 2 reasons that the scheduling of this meeting annoyed me. 1) The scheduler knows that I have to be up @ 4am on Monday mornings, 2) I don't drive (lots of different reasons), i walk or take public transpo; usually no problem except on Sundays the buses stop running before 8pm. I told the scheduler of this issue, made sure she knew it was inconvenient for me, but that I would be there. So what happens? I get my butt to the office, such a hassle, only to find that they cancelled the meeting but failed to tell me!!!! WTF??!?!? Come on! OF all the people to not tell, you forget to call the one person who you're really screwing over? THANKS!! I ended up having to walk all the way back to mere's not getting home until late and missing out on important hours of sunday night sleep, therefore making me very cranky when I had to get up @ 4am on Monday morning!! GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! I'm so ready to be done with this girl and her lack of courtesy! I'm not coming to your next "Mandatory Meeting"!!!!
**Rant Over**

In Law School news, I've conditionally decided on a school!! Some of the friends are happy w/ my choice of New City, others are disappointed b/c I didn't choose their city. :-( Sorry Girls! I'm excited about moving into a new apt. and getting to decorate a new place! Sadly, every time I move I seem to pick a new color scheme, which means that I need to get all new decor! Expensive habit, but fun too!! I've already found my bed, dresser, and desk! I'm starting to get nervous about the actual moving process though. I'm sure that I can find people to help with the big stuff, but I'm already in "moving help debt" to my friends in the city I'm moving to! I'm going to need a LOT of ice cold beer and a yummy dinner to bribe them this time!

Trapped Inside

I have to say HAPPY MOTHER'S Day!! to all the mommies out there!

What I learned today: i have a LOT of crap! As a mothers day present today I'm packing up and getting rid of a lot of stuff that I've had cluttering up my mom's house for so many years. It seems that every time I move btween places I bring stuff home to Mere's and throw it in storage, to be saved for that house that I'll buy someday in the future! Well, it's been 10 years of moving and I've still yet to buy that house and now Mere is wanting to move at the end of the summer. that means that either I pack it up and take it with me when i move to school or it'll be thrown out on the front lawn, and I wouldn't put this past Mere, she did it to me when I was 16 and refused to clean my room. I came home from school and my whole bedroom was on the front lawn for all the world to see. So embarassing! I don't want to have all my possessions thrown out, so today I gave Mere the best Mommy's Day gift, I cleaned out the chest of drawers, 1 of 2 walk-in closets, and emptied 3 boxes that I shipped home when I moved back from abroad a few years ago (yes, they were still sitting there unopened from all those years!!).

Happy Mother's Day, Mere!!!!

Fumée et Brouillard Enfumé

(trans: smoke and smog = SICK!) :-(
I hate being sick! It's so not fun and so not fair when it's not even my fault! I mean if I had gone out partying and skipping sleep and not working out and not eating right then, fine, I deserve it. But all because of global warming and some idiot causing a forest fire I'm trapped inside my house. The smoke is so bad outside that you can't even see 50meters infront of you! At least I have stuff that I need to get done at home so its not a complete waste of a day.