With my 1L year now behind me, I've found myself with a certain amount of free time that I haven't known since last August. Even though I'll be doing summer school and wage-earning legal work in the coming months, I'll still have more free time, comparatively, than I did during that hectic 1L year. So, I have two big projects in the works:
A Container Garden
This winter I got the garden bug something awful, and I've been mentally planning an herb and tiny vegetable garden for many months. But I acted the Good Law Student, and focused the bulk of my time and mental energy towards my legal studies, putting off the garden until after the end of the semester. Thus it was with great pleasure that I started buying herbs, tomatoes, peppers, soil, and containers this past week. And this evening, after the sun was low in the sky, I planted and planted until I ran out of soil. One tomato plant remains, and I'll fetch more soil tomorrow and get him settled in his container.
In all, I'm growing two tomato plants, three pepper plants, a rosemary bush, and an herb garden. I'm most proud of my herb garden, because of my ingenious container solution. See, there's been an old non-working charcoal grill sitting in our courtyard since we moved here. (Since ours was stolen almost immediately upon arriving here, we had hoped that we could salvage the old one, but no such luck. It refuses to function as a grill.) So I threw away the lid and the grates, lined the vents with cheesecloth -- so my soil wouldn't fall out the bottom -- and used it as a super-sized planter.
It worked perfectly! It contains my entire herb garden: basil, parsley, mint, sage, cilantro, dill, thyme, chives, and oregano. The creepers -- thyme and oregano -- are toward the front edges so they can do their thing and cascade down the side of the grill, and the tall boys -- mint, parsley, and basil -- are toward the back so they can grow high unimpeded. Delicate cilantro and dill are in the middle, where they can be protected by the shade of the taller growers. (Rosemary has its own pot since its a perennial here in NOLA.)
The veggies are each in their own separate, large pots. I wish I could share photos. I have some, but since my laptop is dead I'm without a good way to get the photos off of my memory card...
Updating My Online Presence
This is a big project. First, I'm going to sever this blog from my professional life. I'll still provide updates as to what's going on with me and my legal career, but I'm not going to make an effort to steer clear of the mundane. This blog is going to be geared at folks who know me IRL and who want to know what's going on in my day-to-day life.
Second, I'm going to create a whole new blog dedicated to legal issues and the kinds of things I'm interested in professionally. Ya'll will be free to visit over there, but I won't feel like I'm boring you with my legal interests.
Third, I'm going to compartmentalize my website, separating the personal from the professional. This will entail making a legal sub-domain which will serve as the portal to my professional services, accomplishments, interests, etc., leaving the main site much as it is now, although I do intend to redesign it a bit.
So this is a big project, but one which will be somewhat enjoyable (because I am, after all, an old-school HTML geek) and wholly worthwhile. Stay tuned for links to the new pages as they get up and running.
Otherwise,
I been enjoying spending time in the kitchen without feeling guilty or rushed. This weekend I made fresh-squeezed lemonade, a crock-pot roasted chicken (the leftovers of which are soon to become chicken salad for lunch), from-scratch jambalaya, and from-scratch fettuccine alfredo with prosciutto, mushrooms, and green onions. Not only were the results of my hard work in the kitchen yummy, but I relished in the slow pace of it all. Yay for kitchen therapy!
So I'm all poised to make the most out of whatever free time I can squeeze out of this summer.
Monday, May 10, 2010
a 1L no more and other law school news
My first year of law school is officially over. Yay!
The feeling of accomplishment is immense. I can only imagine how good it will feel to get that JD in hand come 2012...
The exam period was daunting, but I survived. No word yet on grades; they'll be weeks in the coming.
In the midst of it, though, I was dealt a major set-back: with two exams down and one to go, my laptop died. It wasn't completely without warning; Mr. Lappy had been giving me fits when powering up and when waking from sleep, so I had been regularly backing-up my Absolutely Essential data, but I haven't yet managed to save all of my digital photos or archived e-mails. Alas, I remain hopeful that I can salvage those things some way or another.
Luckily, my trusty old ThinkPad, with his dead battery and held-on-by-one-screw-screen came to the rescue so that I didn't have to hand-write my Constitutional Law exam. He'll serve my portable computing needs for the summer, and at home I can share hubby's desktop, and by mid-August I should be able to save up for a new laptop. I will not, however, be buying another HP. Instead, I'm looking to custom build with AVADirect, so that I can tailor my computer for doing what I need it to do: helping me to be a better law student and someday-soon-lawyer.
So, with my 1L year behind me, I'm all geared up for a busy summer. I've got my judicial internship, and not one but 2 part-time law clerk jobs for local small firms. And I'm taking a summer externship class. Although summer school means I'll be super-busy, it will be a good thing because I'll start my 2L year with more credits than students who don't do summer school, which will mean a lighter class-load at some point in my law school career. On top of that, the externship meets Tulane's "skills course" requirement, which is a fancy way of saying that you can't graduate without doing hands-on legal work for class credit. By getting that requirement out of the way now, it will be one less thing to worry about down the road.
The externship involves two components: classroom and field placement. During May and June I'll have class 1-2 times per week, and then during July I'll be working in the Family Law Unit at Southeast Louisiana Legal Services. Classes start on Thursday, so I haven't really had much of a break, and the way things are looking I'm not likely to get much of one.
Not that I really mind working through the summer. I'll get some great experience and it will feel good to be working again, but I hope that at some point we can plan a few weekend trips here and there to visit friends and family in Mississippi...
The feeling of accomplishment is immense. I can only imagine how good it will feel to get that JD in hand come 2012...
The exam period was daunting, but I survived. No word yet on grades; they'll be weeks in the coming.
In the midst of it, though, I was dealt a major set-back: with two exams down and one to go, my laptop died. It wasn't completely without warning; Mr. Lappy had been giving me fits when powering up and when waking from sleep, so I had been regularly backing-up my Absolutely Essential data, but I haven't yet managed to save all of my digital photos or archived e-mails. Alas, I remain hopeful that I can salvage those things some way or another.
Luckily, my trusty old ThinkPad, with his dead battery and held-on-by-one-screw-screen came to the rescue so that I didn't have to hand-write my Constitutional Law exam. He'll serve my portable computing needs for the summer, and at home I can share hubby's desktop, and by mid-August I should be able to save up for a new laptop. I will not, however, be buying another HP. Instead, I'm looking to custom build with AVADirect, so that I can tailor my computer for doing what I need it to do: helping me to be a better law student and someday-soon-lawyer.
So, with my 1L year behind me, I'm all geared up for a busy summer. I've got my judicial internship, and not one but 2 part-time law clerk jobs for local small firms. And I'm taking a summer externship class. Although summer school means I'll be super-busy, it will be a good thing because I'll start my 2L year with more credits than students who don't do summer school, which will mean a lighter class-load at some point in my law school career. On top of that, the externship meets Tulane's "skills course" requirement, which is a fancy way of saying that you can't graduate without doing hands-on legal work for class credit. By getting that requirement out of the way now, it will be one less thing to worry about down the road.
The externship involves two components: classroom and field placement. During May and June I'll have class 1-2 times per week, and then during July I'll be working in the Family Law Unit at Southeast Louisiana Legal Services. Classes start on Thursday, so I haven't really had much of a break, and the way things are looking I'm not likely to get much of one.
Not that I really mind working through the summer. I'll get some great experience and it will feel good to be working again, but I hope that at some point we can plan a few weekend trips here and there to visit friends and family in Mississippi...
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
yikes
Let's hope this won't be my fate!
Unlike poor Mr. Parker, I feel I've got Constitutional Law in the bag. It's Property Law and the Rule Against Perpetuities that just might kill me...
h/t to Josh Blackman
Sunday, April 25, 2010
mental marathon
The curse is come upon me,
the curse of law school exams, that is. When TLS will test not merely my aptitude for applying the principles of the Uniform Commercial Code, Constitutional Law, and Property Law to hypothetical fact patterns, but also my mental endurance.
The exam period, which began on Thursday, is like a mental marathon. The challenge is to have a working understanding of the legal doctrines and rules we've been learning all semester, not merely in the abstract, but in order to apply those doctrines and rules to new facts and predict an outcome during the three hour exam. The pressure is enormous, not only because of the massive amount of law we've covered over the last 16 weeks which must be condensed into something that is mentally digestible, but also because in law school one's entire grade for the semester rests on that final exam. Nevermind if you've come to every class, done all your homework, and participated in class discussions; it doesn't count towards your GPA. All that counts is your performance during those stress-filled three hours of testing.
I've been working diligently since classes were over on Wednesday. And I'm secure in the knowledge that, in the end, it will all be alright. I'm not going to fail. I will have my J.D. in 2012, and with it I will carve out a satisfying, meaningful career path for myself.
But I can't help but feel the pressure. And I sincerely wish to do my very best on all 3 exams. So, I've been putting in 9+ hour days of studying, and I will continue to do so until May 3rd, the day of the last exam. For this reason the law school exam period is like a marathon.
It's exhausting. And it's excruciating to be locked up in the climate controlled library, day in and day out, while all I want to do is revel in the glorious New Orleans spring time. I feel like the Lady of Shallot: trapped in the tower of the TLS library while shadows of the world pass me by, damned if I quit weaving the web of my study guide to go down to the Camelot that is the French Quarter.
I am half sick of shadows.
If I can just persevere, though, it will all be over two weeks from tomorrow. And then I'll be able to enjoy a much-needed 3½ month break from the rigors of law school.
the curse of law school exams, that is. When TLS will test not merely my aptitude for applying the principles of the Uniform Commercial Code, Constitutional Law, and Property Law to hypothetical fact patterns, but also my mental endurance.
The exam period, which began on Thursday, is like a mental marathon. The challenge is to have a working understanding of the legal doctrines and rules we've been learning all semester, not merely in the abstract, but in order to apply those doctrines and rules to new facts and predict an outcome during the three hour exam. The pressure is enormous, not only because of the massive amount of law we've covered over the last 16 weeks which must be condensed into something that is mentally digestible, but also because in law school one's entire grade for the semester rests on that final exam. Nevermind if you've come to every class, done all your homework, and participated in class discussions; it doesn't count towards your GPA. All that counts is your performance during those stress-filled three hours of testing.
I've been working diligently since classes were over on Wednesday. And I'm secure in the knowledge that, in the end, it will all be alright. I'm not going to fail. I will have my J.D. in 2012, and with it I will carve out a satisfying, meaningful career path for myself.
But I can't help but feel the pressure. And I sincerely wish to do my very best on all 3 exams. So, I've been putting in 9+ hour days of studying, and I will continue to do so until May 3rd, the day of the last exam. For this reason the law school exam period is like a marathon.
It's exhausting. And it's excruciating to be locked up in the climate controlled library, day in and day out, while all I want to do is revel in the glorious New Orleans spring time. I feel like the Lady of Shallot: trapped in the tower of the TLS library while shadows of the world pass me by, damned if I quit weaving the web of my study guide to go down to the Camelot that is the French Quarter.
I am half sick of shadows.If I can just persevere, though, it will all be over two weeks from tomorrow. And then I'll be able to enjoy a much-needed 3½ month break from the rigors of law school.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
spring time in New Orleans
The weather is perfect: mid-70s and sunny with a breeze.
Flowers are everywhere, and there's verdant new growth cropping up on every branch, shrub, and vine.
The air, humid as always, is lush with the rich scents of wisteria, jasmine, and other mysterious blossoms unrecognizable to me.
It's so wonderful I'm having difficulty staying focused and on task. All I want to do is wander around and experience the beauty of each day, occasionally stopping to sit and wonder at my good fortune to be alive and well in such a lovely place. But law school finals lurk in the background, and anxiety never fails to disturb my tranquility. So I'm striving to find a balance between working diligently and not taking a single precious day for granted.
Flowers are everywhere, and there's verdant new growth cropping up on every branch, shrub, and vine.
The air, humid as always, is lush with the rich scents of wisteria, jasmine, and other mysterious blossoms unrecognizable to me.
It's so wonderful I'm having difficulty staying focused and on task. All I want to do is wander around and experience the beauty of each day, occasionally stopping to sit and wonder at my good fortune to be alive and well in such a lovely place. But law school finals lurk in the background, and anxiety never fails to disturb my tranquility. So I'm striving to find a balance between working diligently and not taking a single precious day for granted.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
spring break
For the last 8 days I've done absolutely nothing productive. It's been beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
My vacation began with a jaunt up to Brandon, to spend the weekend with the in-laws. I enjoyed a belated birthday supper of steak and fried mushrooms and cauliflower, and the next night hubby and I cooked from-scratch jambalaya.
From there, we went to Jackson and spent a few days with old friends. While in Jackson we made sure to eat at the Thai House and Sakura Bana. And, of course, we spent our Tuesday night at the very best place to be in Jackson, Mississippi on a Tuesday night: Fenian's Pub.
On Wednesday, we went to McComb, and floated down the Homochitto River in kayaks with some new friends who are NOLA-McComb dual residents. (The kayaking, I must say, was incredibly fun -- much moreso than I imagined. I hope we can do it again this fall!) Then on Thursday we returned home, where our kitties were waiting.
Since returning home, I've done a few chores here and there, and Hubby and I have enjoyed cooking together in our own kitchen. Tomorrow, though, I must get serious again with my productivity. April 15th looms very near, meaning taxes must be done. And final exams will be over and done at 5pm on May 3 --one month from today, meaning outlining must begin without further delay.
For tonight though, I'll continue relaxing. And come tomorrow, I'll be grateful to have had such a restful, rejuvenating vacation to fortify me for the long, busy weeks to come.
My vacation began with a jaunt up to Brandon, to spend the weekend with the in-laws. I enjoyed a belated birthday supper of steak and fried mushrooms and cauliflower, and the next night hubby and I cooked from-scratch jambalaya.
From there, we went to Jackson and spent a few days with old friends. While in Jackson we made sure to eat at the Thai House and Sakura Bana. And, of course, we spent our Tuesday night at the very best place to be in Jackson, Mississippi on a Tuesday night: Fenian's Pub.
On Wednesday, we went to McComb, and floated down the Homochitto River in kayaks with some new friends who are NOLA-McComb dual residents. (The kayaking, I must say, was incredibly fun -- much moreso than I imagined. I hope we can do it again this fall!) Then on Thursday we returned home, where our kitties were waiting.
Since returning home, I've done a few chores here and there, and Hubby and I have enjoyed cooking together in our own kitchen. Tomorrow, though, I must get serious again with my productivity. April 15th looms very near, meaning taxes must be done. And final exams will be over and done at 5pm on May 3 --one month from today, meaning outlining must begin without further delay.
For tonight though, I'll continue relaxing. And come tomorrow, I'll be grateful to have had such a restful, rejuvenating vacation to fortify me for the long, busy weeks to come.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
fare thee well, LRW
Last night, as of 8pm, my appellate brief -- one of the formative rites of passage of the first year of law school -- was finalized & bluebooked. (I've been merrily reviewing & revising since Tuesday when I finished my drafting.) Today, it's not yet noon and already the brief has been proofread, the table of contents & table of authorities checked-and-double-checked, and the whole thing copied and professionally spiral-bound. And it's not due until 12noon tomorrow. WooHoo!
It feels so good to have successfully not procrastinated to the last possible minute. Thank heavens I'm not still writing, which would leave me scrambling to get it copied and bound tomorrow morning. I'm so proud of my time-management skills!
The feeling is extra sweet because it marks my last weighty assignment for LRW (Legal Research and Writing; we're big on acronyms in law school). All that's left for the class, after Spring Break, is oral argument. And I'm not sweating that. Even though public speaking is not my forte, 'tis something I've become more accustomed to through the years, and after becoming intimately familiar with my argument 'lo these last 6 weeks of researching and writing, talking about the case and the precedent will be a cake walk. Add to that the fact that oral argument only counts for 5% of my grade, and I'm simply not all too concerned about it.
Now, with LRW moving to the background, I can take a short time to relax and then focus all my energies on preparing for final exams.
It feels so good to have successfully not procrastinated to the last possible minute. Thank heavens I'm not still writing, which would leave me scrambling to get it copied and bound tomorrow morning. I'm so proud of my time-management skills!
The feeling is extra sweet because it marks my last weighty assignment for LRW (Legal Research and Writing; we're big on acronyms in law school). All that's left for the class, after Spring Break, is oral argument. And I'm not sweating that. Even though public speaking is not my forte, 'tis something I've become more accustomed to through the years, and after becoming intimately familiar with my argument 'lo these last 6 weeks of researching and writing, talking about the case and the precedent will be a cake walk. Add to that the fact that oral argument only counts for 5% of my grade, and I'm simply not all too concerned about it.
Now, with LRW moving to the background, I can take a short time to relax and then focus all my energies on preparing for final exams.
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