Tears of Rage

This afternoon I made the mistake of reading Tax in bed. You guessed it, I fell asleep. But I was rudely awakened by 15 minutes of an Audi SUV's car alarm going off. I did a good job of ignoring the first 5 minutes of the racket, but it eventually became too much and I succumbed to the pressures of consciousness, followed immediately by anger. Someone turn that damn car alarm off or just steal the car already.

Last night I went to dinner with a college professor of mine who was in town. He contacted me on Tuesday to say he would be down in DC, and would I like to meet up. Of course I would! It was nice to catch up with him. But it was rather saddening giving him my honest (read: negative) impression of law school. He was quite interested because he has a J.D. himself and is often consulted by college students for advice on law school applications.

Barrister's Ball (law prom) is tonight. Reza is worried about dancing. I gave him Will Smith's advice from "Hitch." We can pretend like that's not the advice I follow also. The event includes an open bar and "heavy appetizers." I'm not sure what heavy appetizers consists of - an edible ten pound weight? But the open bar excites lots of people. I remember two Halloween's ago as an open bar cautionary tale. Plus how badly can you abuse an open bar when you are wearing a suit? "A lot," is the answer that creeps to the front of my mind. Uh oh. Let's all hope for the best. At very least, it might help Reza dance!

Happy Purim! Someone give me a Haman effigy to burn.

Last night at Damien's there was a serious debate about the spelling of "tear" (meaning rip). Some very intelligent people argued it is spelled "tare." They are wrong, though that is a word as well. They were getting tripped up by the fact that "tear" also refers to what you shed when you cry. I was staunch in my defense of the "tear" spelling, and rightly so, but it did make me question my own sanity very briefly.

Felonious Escape

It was another long study day. But a very rewarding one. I went into it having a shaky notion of the material on my exam, and I end the day having at least a decent grasp on the material. A noticeable improvement. I may yet get out of this class with a decent grade. The problem with Crim is there are so many damn rules to remember which vary between common law and the Model Penal Code (sounds funny, i know), and they vary jurisdictionally, and there are tons of minority approaches for the rules. Basically for each rule I want to know, there are at least two ways to do it, both of which I have to know. Huge pain. Also, the only crimes we really seemed to cover were larceny, burglary, rape, and homicide. I guess conspiracy, solicitation, and attempt also. But that's a pretty limited range of crimes, isn't it. Like if you get arrested for drug possession, I can't help you; I've got nothing. I thought this was supposed to be practical training here. Most helpful would be learning about drunk in public charges, for all you lushes. Also, for a while there I was working to get some guy out of jail who didn't commit the crime he's in there for. If I could learn something that might help in that regard, that could be good too. It's only his life on the line here, no big deal. And, to say the least, my old boss ain't getting the job done by herself. She needs all the help she can get (on this and in her life generally). That means me, Shaked, and Schutzer have to get ourselves some book-learning 'bout this. (Citation for the phrase "book-learning" goes to Mr. Ryan Fanning, as per his request.)

The nice thing about finals, particularly today, is that we are kind of all in it together (read: all completely screwed). It is completely different in law school than it was in college. Exhibit 1: I spent a crapload of time studying today. Exhibit 2: I'm not terribly confident about my grasp on it. Exhibit C: I am graded against my classmates rather than on my own merits. I don't mind the hard work, but it's Exhibit C that really gets me. I wish we could just be graded based on how we do, but alas it is not to be. So I've just gotta be better than other people. It can happen. Step up. "Step Up 2: The Streets." Brush some dirt off my shoulder. This will be resolved whenever I get my grades back, probably in February. Great. Lots of anticipa...........tion.

I wish more happened to me today, but really I spent the day moving from study group to study group, absorbing knowledge and losing my sanity. At least everyone is losing their sanity as well. Law school jokes are seeming funny. Like the irony involved if someone got hit on the head with a Torts casebook. NOT FUNNY. I know, I know. I'm done.