So apparently someone commented on a post I made ages and ages ago, which reminded that this blog does indeed still exist. I’d forgotten all about it. But hey, that’s not such a bad thing. It’s not like I forgot I had $100 or that I left my kid at the grocery store. …oh shit.

Kidding, of course. What self-respecting law student would have $100 lying around when it could be used for things like alcohol or buying a gunner’s outline or maybe some alcohol?

All I’m sayin’ is that this “studying” shtick is gettin’ pretty damn old and New Zealand is sounding attractive. Then again, I do have a thing for cows.

Well, here we are – finished with our 1L year and nearly through 1L summer. Classes begin again in a few weeks (or less) for most of us. Does anybody have thoughts? comments? advice? Anybody decided to give up this law school stuff and become a sheep herder in New Zealand instead?

Paying attention now, aren’t you?

Which classes are you excited about?  which are you dreading?

As for site news, I have a few newbies who may be interested in chronicling their 1L year and I hope some of you will be able to contribute for 2L. Also, I’ve cleaned up the comments section (apologies to the authors who were notified of comments about naked pics and the like.. unless you’re into that kind of thing. In which case… well, I’ve no comment on that).

How’s everyone’s summer going so far? My computer promptly died once exams were over. I haven’t gotten my grades back so I’m still worrying that something happened to my exams and they got lost. If so, I’m screwed because I think my hard drive is toast.

Otherwise, I am working for a judge a few days a week and for a small firm the other days. It should be a nice change of pace from law school even if I didn’t manage to land a coveted high-paying job. I have not started either job yet and am trying to finish up the write-on competition this week. It’s not due until June 15 so something tells me I won’t get too far.

i’ve been done since the 4th. i then went on a drinking binge. picked up my journal write-on packet (400 pages), put it away for two days, and watched some baseball and hung out with people. yay. finals were sooo much better this time around. phew.

the write-on competition is ridiculous. i hate it so much. it’s a pain in the ass and meticulous and all i want to do is sleep, especially since i am driving across the country on tuesday (i got a nice job in CA for the summer. woo!). le sigh. i’ve lost my mind and am writing songs. for instance, my faux rap song:

my name is steph-a-knee and i am cite-in. the law school likes to torture me but you are gonna see…that i ain’t givin in until i win. fuck sleep.

Dear fellow 1Lers (now 2Lers!),

Congrats on finishing first year law. After much sweat, tears, and whining – whether internal, external, or repressed – it’s over. We deserve a medal, but instead we are paying tuition from the nose. Eh…it could be worse.

We slacked off on this blog, but that’s just a testament to how wrapped up we became in our studies. I don’t know about you, but I became a complete law nerd. Law took over my life; it became my oxygen. And it still is. I became antisocial and forgot my hobbies. I was tried emotionally and intellectually in ways that I never knew could be so painful.

But in the end, I survived. We survived. And for that…congrats to all.

Now go and enjoy your summer. Get back your life. In fact, if you’re smart enough, you won’t even be reading this blog

Which reminds me…I am going to read a novel. An actual WORK OF FICTION. WOW.

1L is over. Hooray! I’m now a 2L and don’t have class for almost 4 months thanks to the lovely British trimester system. I still have to do the write-on competition, which is the same as one of my final exam questions, so that should be fun.

It’s the big time of year when 1Ls do their first oral argument. I have to admit I was nervous. One of my judges was a professor known for being the “Silent Assassin” because he’s a harsh grader but really friendly and funny in class. His questions were tough but I think I did well until the Cough from Hell started during my partner’s argument. I went on the first day so it’s funny seeing all the other students completely freak out and start getting nervous early in the day when I know that once you get in there, it’s actually a lot easier than you’d think. I was more nervous in my practice argument than in the real thing. I think I could even sign up for moot court but I’m doing my school’s London year and don’t know if it’s offered.

In other news, the rankings come out this week. I have a feeling my school is going to drop as a result of the admissions issues/overenrollment and it’s interesting to see how far in the other direction my school has gone with this year’s set of admissions. It seems like you can be a woman and get in with no problem but if you’re a man you have to have cured cancer or something.

Have you guys discovered Overheard In Law School? It’s a collection of ridiculous, and/or hilarious things you hear in (surprise) law school.

I’d love more, though (seriously–there’s got to be more out there), so what say we have our own collection? I’ll start:

*Phone rings in class. Everyone scrambles for cells, then realizes it’s the classroom phone*

Professor: (picks up) Joey’s Pizza!

My school used to have an open study group that was lead by people who were on law review or otherwise did well, but now it’s limited to people who the school has determined might need more help academically. Of course most of the students in the group are minorities- way to welcome people by saying, “Hey, we just accepted you because we need to be more diverse.” I always assumed the study group was something voluntary set up by a few clubs because it would never occur to me that a school would have something like this. A few points on the LSAT could be attributed to a bad day at the test center, lack of time to study, or the fact that many other people spent $800+ taking prep courses.

Now that everyone’s gotten their grades, I’m just curious how most schools work in terms of curves. Mine doesn’t have one so I am a bit clueless, but at least I’ve gotten that point, which seems not to be the case for a lot of people who get annoyed when a professor says he doesn’t curve. None do- they all use a rubric/point system and you get whatever grade you earn. There’s at least one 3L who is in a 1L class for the third time because he’s failed it twice before. It sort of sucks when you’re trying to find a job and go to a non-curved grade deflation school. I still don’t know where I am in my class. I came back sure that I was probably in the bottom 10% but I think I’m really just average now.