Diligent Guys Finish Last

Right, I have something to complain about that is caddy and quite frankly does not represent my best qualities. That's exactly why I created this blog. Thanks, blog. So here it is. My Antitrust professor announced a few weeks ago that he would like to see drafts of our papers to give us feedback before the final draft was handed in. I worked diligently and got a draft to him early - last week. Today in class my professor thanks the three of us who handed in drafts, schedules meetings with us for tomorrow to give us feedback, and tells everyone the due date for the papers. Sounds to me like the people who didn't hand in drafts just hand in the final. The people who did hand in drafts have to do more work revising them. So by working diligently, I get more work to do. And I can't exactly say this to him because the response is "So your paper will be better." Yes, it might be. But I also have to do much more work on it than anyone else. And honestly my priority right now is getting all of my law school work done. As quickly as possible. We'll see what the feedback is tomorrow and how much revising he expects me to do. But right now my reaction is: Damn. It.

Moving on to complaining about Trusts and Estates, a now-weekly segment. Yesterday, we spent an hour and a half learning about fiduciary duties. Or re-learning. Or re-re-learning, as it were. Since I've already learned about fiduciary duties in at least two classes that I can think of. So basically this was nothing but a gigantic waste of my time. I really must thank my previous professors for teaching my trusts and estates. Full of rage.

I spent the weekend in Boston for Passover. Seder at our house included nine delicious bottles of Veuve Clicquot. Seder at my cousin's house included nine crazy relatives. It was a mixed bag.

Finals pressure is beginning. Even though little is on the line, I'm beginning to stress out and feel pressure. I have rarely wanted something to be done as much as I do law school. I might have a "Suck it, law school" themed graduation party. You can come.

Goodbye, Rick Santorum. It's been real. My presidential race prediction: there will be a serious lack of sweater-vests on the campaign trail. Another prediction: Mitt Romney will say something disingenuous.

Facebook has been threatening to give me a "timeline" for a while now. And gmail has been telling me it will update its look soon. But I like my profile and my current "look." You can take them when you pry them from Charleton Heston's cold dead hands! Ew, that's actually a creepy reference. Though appropriate for Passover.

Go Down Moses

Had a nice little 6 person seder tonight with some friends from school. It was very informal, for example the photocopied haggadah mentioned the parting of the "Reed" Sea, and I'm not sure it mentioned the burning bush at all. Was Moses ever named? I can't remember. But it was still nice for the ritual and tradition of it, particularly since I was a little bummed that I couldn't go home for the regular seder at my mom's house, full of Veuve Clicquot.

Two people in the elevator think I'm a drug addict. They were discussing what people do when they get old. I am assuming they were talking about a grandmother or some relative. The girl said "go to exercise class twice a day." The elevator door opened and I said "Heroin. That's what they do." Then walked out. I'd call that a good first impression.

I need to get to sleep earlier. It's my new goal. That and winning at the game of life. But that second one is more of a long-term thing. A marathon, rather than a sprint. Sprint sucks, I'm glad I have AT&T. Now I'm free associating; time to sleep for real.

John Denver did some things.

Also, before I forget (and this is actually sincere), I want to thank everyone I've improv-ed with and improv itself. Improv has helped me so much in law school, particularly getting on ADR Board and (more saliently) Moot Court Board. The competitions, and many aspects of school, are heavily reliant on thinking on your feet, giving snappy responses, and going with the flow of an unpredictable situation - all skills that improv helps immensely in developing. Who knew something so fun would be so useful? I totally lucked out in this regard.

Another Convert; I Win

I woke up this morning feeling somewhat dissimilar to P-Diddy. Perhaps that's because I woke up before 8 am despite the fact that it was Sunday morning. Ugh. Round 3 of moot court was slated for 9:30. I got to school at 8:45, did a mock argument with Tracy for a warm up, then did my actual argument. I didn't think it went incredibly. Not as good as yesterday. Plus I had an extremely petulant judge who would not quit with his abrasive questioning. He interrupted my answer to another judge's question to ask me some inane question. Multiple times. There were three judges, one asked me maybe 2 questions, the second about 3 questions, and this one probably 17 questions. Many of the questions were completely preposterous and irrelevant. He did the same thing to my opposing counsel, who also felt he was more than a tad overbearing. I thought maybe it was supposed to be this way because it's the final round of the competition and it's supposed to be more difficult. Nope, turns out he's just a self-important jerk. In the feedback portion (after the arguments are over) he was the only judge who felt the need to introduce himself and tell us that he was a 3L in charge of some clinic. He's kind of a big deal, I was very impressed. Nope. I was far more impressed that I didn't lash out at him during my argument: "Your honor, that question is completely off topic, inapplicable to the facts of this case, and was delivered with a smug hint of superiority which neither I, my opposing counsel, or your fellow judges appreciate." Wouldn't that have been great? Instead I stood there, sucked it up, and dealt with it. Apparently I dealt with it well enough - I made moot court board. Woo, another thing to throw on my resume. I can also now represent my school in external moot court competitions should I so choose - not likely.
A lot of my friends made it to the third round but did not ultimately make board. I felt bad for them, they put in a lot of work and I'm sure they did really well. It's ultimately such a subjective judgment. In this regard, announcing your accomplishments on facebook is a pretty tacky thing to do, and one which is certain not to win you any friends. We all see that your name is on the list, you don't have to rub it in everyone's face.
The most gratifying part about the competition turned out to be winning my individual oral arguments by implication. Opposing counsel from the second round didn't make it to the third round and opposing counsel from the third round didn't make board. Does that mean I won? I think it does. I win! Competition! Yes, the meaning of life is proving that you are better than your competitor. That and happiness (note: probably not the actual meaning of life, this is mere speculation, but if someone tells me what the actual meaning of life is I'll post it here). Oh yeah. Now that I don't have a sport to be constantly competitive about this is how I get my competitive kicks. Sad, really. Law school, you disgust me.

Speaking of disgusting, four of my friends foolishly participated in the Golden Monkey challenge last night. One finished, but didn't remember it. Two remembered everything but didn't finish. One did not come close to finishing or remembering. Who really won? Well depending on how you look at it, I think Reza won (he finished but didn't remember). Reza came over this morning feeling and smelling awful. It was after I came back from my oral argument. He chose to lie down on the floor, despite offering him my bed to lay down on. But it was productive for him, he's about one episode away from being hooked on the West Wing thanks to yours truly. He got a big kick out of Sam being unable to discuss the Roosevelt Room (which is actually named after both Teddy and Franklin), and of the President's entrance in the Pilot (go figure). Another convert is coming.

I can't stop listening to Flogging Molly. Fantastic.

Goodbye bread! I'll miss you for the next week or so. You too, rice, you were always a good friend. It's not you, it's Passover. That stupid Pharaoh kept changing his mind. It's his fault. He should have just been decisive, and either let the Hebrews go or not. And if you let them go, then give them some time to let the dough rise. As it happened I'm pretty glad he let them go; the outcome worked out pretty well...kind of (there's apparently some sort of ongoing conflict in the Middle East). I'm no bible scholar though. For a more complete understanding of Passover I'll have to refer people to the Rugrats, Prince of Egypt, or the Ten Commandments. Or the bible, but that thing is cumbersome at times and not written in contemporary English.
Fun fact that I just made up about the Exodus story: the burning bush was an early allegory for STDs and served as an early caution to use birth control.