A Strong Finish - August 31, 2007

That, my friends, was one for the books. No, really. There were a lot of books involved this week. Let me fast-forward past class today. I promise, we shall return to chronology soon enough.

I came home from class. I sat at my desk. I looked at my open civil procedure book. That is where the story ends. I could not bring myself to do any work.

What was wrong with me?

I was resolute to get as much work done today as was humanly possible so that I could enjoy my extended weekend. I guess an entire weekend without work is beyond me and my best intentions. My brain is not working correctly. I guess that is what happens when you use it too much for too many days in a row. My brain is out fishing.

Back to the earlier mentioned chronology.

I was, surprisingly, social last night. I accompanied my roommate and her group of Section B friends to a bar. I actually felt both odd that law school was not on my mind and I was without stress, and guilty that I was not doing work that awaited completion. It was a much deserved break.

I slept incredibly well last night as a result of the festivities, which was more of a detriment than a positive. It took me 1-hour of pressing my snooze button every five minutes to awaken fully.

Today I would attend my first Legal Research and Writing class with the professor who taught Legal Methods during orientation. Class with exceptionally engaging. I loved the discussions we had and the elements of writing and analyzing about which she spoke. She warned us that English majors usually have the most trouble with Legal Writing, closely followed by political science majors. I happen to fall into that second category, and was very afraid that I would struggle with the complete change in writing style and elements.

As luck would have it, I see legal writing as being very close to that of news and opinion journalism. The inverted pyramid style method of news journalism is combined with the opinion style writing of persuasive factual writing. This type of writing is not new to me at all. This is a good thing. It also seems that I am especially well-oriented with the basic analyzing and deciphering of concrete wording in statutes, laws and court decisions. I made a solid argument in opposition to both my classmates and my professor based on the plain wording of a statute today , in class, and was validated by the professor.

In addition, even though we have not seen her for 8 days, she remembered that I was the student who made an observation of the same likeness during legal methods. I was impressed because it was the only thing I said in class on that day. I guess she was impressed as well.

That was the conclusion of my week. Good start, sudden down-turn in the middle followed by a very strong finish. It is my hope that I will continue to know enough to keep my mouth shut as long as I can, until I have spots of brilliance again.

Week One: Done!


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Whereas it is said:
"...grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference."


The more applicative version is such:
"... grant me the opportunity to learn that which I do not; the ability to correctly apply those things I do; and enough wisdom to know the difference."


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An afterward: We discussed Senator Craig's happenings today in class. The professor brought up gay sex in a bathroom and realized that she did not give us a set up, which made her statement about doing such awkward and very funny at the same time. She is very quick on her feet and enjoys a good joke and a comedic story. Obviously, this makes it easier to pay attention in class, as the hours are full of fun. We talked about how absurd it is that a United States Senator would act as if he does not know the law. He makes the law. He also had a few weeks in between his arrest and arraignment. Absurd. My professor said she did not think he would resign at all. I said that I would be surprised if he did not resign TODAY, if not by Monday at the very latest. (Let's face it: if your own party hates and wants you out, you leave. It is no longer your party. You cannot cry if you want to.) I was correct.

I love this class. The professor is great as well.

Here is to being right. Cheers!

Senator Craig To Resign