Ricks v. Employment Law

I've never really written a blog post from my phone before, but I've discovered that it's not so bad if i use the keyboard. Please forgive me my grammatical errors, etc.

I got great news today, as i found out that i will for sure have the job with the employment law firm in DC. (thanks to those of you who previously congratulated me despite me not having the job for sure.) I'm excited for this job, but mostly it's just a huge relief to have my summer job set in stone. It's not paid, but thatwould be a rarity amongst summer jobs for 1Ls. However, they informed me that after my externship is over, it may lead to being a paid job for the remainder of the summer. That is good news. Talk to you later.

Check out legal articles!  There's some great stuff at my blog.  Hahaha...what?

Ricks v. MAAAAAAAAAARCH MADNESS!!!!!!

5 games are done, four of them were won by last second shots. 13 seed already took down a 4 seed. I LOVE THIS STUFF! My brackets already have begun taking on a red shade. I'm hoping for more green!

I'll be cheering like crazy for the Utah State Aggies tonight against Kansas State.

I've had a great week of spring break. It's been so nice to get to just be a tourist and enjoy living here. I never get to see all of this cool stuff around me. I went to Baltimore today to take Spencer to the airport. It was a stark reminder of just how much there is to do and see in DC. No offense, but Baltimore is pretty lame. From our perspective, there wasn't much to do except eat and see the National Aquarium. DC wins by a landslide in that comparison.

My summer plans aren't quite set, but it looks like I'll be working at a firm in DC. Pretty excited about that.

First step, get squared away with all my schoolwork so I can be prepped for a crazy finals gauntlet once again.

That's about all that's going on. K, Adios!

Ricks v. Writers' Block

Writer's Block vs. Writers' Block? Is it a collective problem? Or just one writer's problem that we all analogously apply to ourselves?

I'm just here. Finally got to the weekend. Must say that I have a new appreciation for weekends that I did not have before starting law school.

I don't have a lot to say. So...

Bye.

Um... that was a poem.

Ricks v. Imagine Dragons

It's only a matter of time.

Seriously, I love this band. I just recently discovered Last.fm. If you've never tried it, it's pretty great. It's kind of like Pandora online radio, but keeps track of everything you've ever listened to on it, on your iTunes, and on iPods. The featured band above made my top ten. And I only own 11 or 12 songs from them. That shows you how much I love this band already. "Pantomime" above and a few other new songs are probably coming on a new EP in the next few months. Can't wait. If you've somehow not heard of Imagine Dragons from me already, I highly recommend them. Check them out.

Ricks v. Sneezing

The title of today's certainly muddled and tossed blog post was inspired by one of the most distractingly joyful thoughts I've ever had in the midst of my terrifying Contracts class. My professor was answering questions and sneezed. As if on the wings of a Spangled Drongo, (which also doubles as a sweet fake insult!) to my mind came a most hilarious image. I tried to post my idea spawned by this image to my facebook status, but was defeated by weaksauce reception in my classroom. Just as well, I've saved the hilarity for my blog-reading faithful.

Enough ado, I decided it would be hilarious to throw confetti in the air every time I sneezed in public. I really want to try it out on the metro. I know I'm a nerd, but you have to admit that it would make you laugh if you saw someone do it. My plan is to carry confetti in my shirt pocket next time I'm in public and I'll just wait for that perfect moment. It helps too that I have rather loud sneezes. (The Infamous Ellison Sneeze. (TIES)) So, it was incredibly hard for me not to LOL in my class at the thought of having a TIES whilst throwing confetti in the air. For some reason I think that it needs to be big pieces of shiny confetti. Big sequins? Anyway, there's my most random thought of the day. Hope you enjoyed it.

So, grades turned out alright. I definitely feared they would be worse. These grades I can at least work with. Finding summer work has kind of been a big distraction and a bit of a hassle, but I'm feeling better now that I know I have a safety-net in a school program that I'm interviewing for next week. It's just hard when I have so much up in the air. It will all fall into place though.

A very interesting piece of news, I had a blood test the other day, and turns out I no longer have hypoglycemia! So... apparently I just get headaches a lot. When I don't eat. I don't get it. I'm always tired and don't have energy either. Must be something else, or, more frightening I think, it's all in my head. I haven't had a chance to talk to my doctor about it again, but the sugar addict in me almost decided to rush out and buy a couple packs of cookies to down instantly to make up for lost sugar time. So, that was unexpected, but kinda cool at the same time. One less thing to stress about.

Another act of nerdery: I just took the Jeopardy! Online Test. That's right. I'm going to be on Jeopardy! Well... probably not, but it's an entertaining thought. I did half decent on the test.

I know it's still basically two months away, but I'm already really excited for March Madness. I know. I'm ridiculous.

Um... I'm done now. Taking a break to watch the Utah State game. I love when they get ranked. I actually get to see their games on tv! (Even if it doesn't start until 11, it's still awesome.)

K, bye.

Ricks v. The Saddest Day of the Year

It seems that every year around this time I read an article about how the most depressing day of the year is in the next week or so. (It's been a few different days, but always in the 20s of January.) Anyway, this has prompted me to prepare by compiling a list of the best clips and youtube classics that I know of or have recently been shown. I hope that some of you will enjoy this list o' videos as well. Don't be sad. Do be not sad!

Don't you love January now?!
K, bye.

Ricks v. Snow Day/New Year/Grades/New Semester/?

(Jeff's blog-audience slides to the edge of their seats in anticipation for this long-awaited post.) It's 2011. I'm getting my grades back, and it's not fun having them trickle in, one-by-one. I'm still waiting on two more. It's made me a little neurotic. I started my new semester, and I'm excited about some things, and pained by a few things already. (I'm sure you'll hear more fascinating tidbits about these things at future dates.) Week one was kinda rough, but I made it through. Week 2? Hasn't started yet! We had yesterday off on account of Martin Luther King, Jr. having lived an inspirational life. I heard his "I Have a Dream" speech at halftime at the Verizon Center where I watched the Utah Jazz get beat by one of the worst teams in the NBA. However, I was among the few (it was a very poorly-attended game, with the exception of some rowdy single-digit-year olds in front of us who were hilarious and privileged to be watching their first NBA games) to get to see this, the number one play of ESPN's Top Ten Plays yesterday: (Jump to about 2:13)

Great dunk.

Today was a different story. I got up at about 5 am to finish up my homework and I was overjoyed when an email came in with the subject line that read: "Law School Closed Today." Yes, kids. Those dreams you have each day that the weather may avail you a snow-day respite from the doldrums that are characteristic of school days can come true. If you move to Virginia where a bit of ice scares them into such school-canceling fits. By the early afternoon the ice was all but gone. I love living here. Love it!

Look at all that snow and ice! Sure glad I didn't have to brave the roads this morning!

Anyway, I was happy to have some extra time to catch up on my summer employment search. It's quite the labor. I also have the chance to be able to play my new music loudly. (The Decemberists just came out with a new album.) Usually it's nighttime and that would be extremely impolite of me. I really want some ice cream right now.

K, bye.

(Jeff's blog-audience sighs, sits back in their chairs, and moves on with their lives.)

Ricks v. Heroes of 2010

Inspired by CNN's Heroes, I decided that for my usual year-end fanaticism with lists of "best of" or "top ten"s I'm going to make a list of the many heroes in my life. I've had a wonderful Christmas break this year, and it's given me some precious extra free time to think and reflect. I recognize now more than ever that I am not much of anything without the help I get through prayer to Heavenly Father. I owe so much more than I even know, and I come to know more and more of that debt each day. I also see clearly that God has placed people in my life for a reason, and I hope that I fulfill whatever reason that He has put me in theirs. Rather than just list off names or delve into too much of specifics, this list will take on more of a thank you card-style tone. *Warning: For readers who have a low tolerance for cheesiness, stop reading now.* Without further ado (except the present ado) and in no particular order (and some of these definitely apply to more than one person and more than one of these apply to individual people):

• You are my hero because you helped me to know a lot more about who I am, and helped me to open up in a way that I haven't in a long time.
• Your patience with me and ability to lift my spirits when I've felt pretty crushed astound me.
• Your ongoing campaign to get me to try new things, while often fought against, is not unappreciated. In fact the opposite.
• Your helpfulness in getting me through the end of my undergraduate degree was... helpful.
• Your prayers are so appreciated, and I wish that I made more time for you because you always make time for me.
• You are the fashion-guru that came to my rescue when I probably needed it most.
• You are always there to give me encouragement when I'm beating myself up.
• You are an example of who I hope to be.
• You helped me to learn stuff, and that's a feat.
• You really saved my bacon when I probably didn't deserve your help.
• Your ability to forgive my suckiness as a friend (and rude comments that I don't even notice) and to help me feel a bit more comfortable in the midst of a hard transition is most appreciated.
• Somehow, someway you're still my friend after all these years, and I can't thank you enough for all the cherished memories and for putting up with this old soul.
• You always can put a smile on my face.
• You've given me so much, set such a great example, and shown incredible endurance and I'll appreciate you forever for it.
• Your advice and inspiration mean more to me than you know.
• I can count on you.
• You always help remind me that I have people who care about me and that actually want to be with me.
• You helped me to get out of my house and live some life.
• There aren't adequate words to describe why you're my hero, but I know you're in my life for a reason, and you are my hero.
• You tell it to me straight. Such a rarity.
• You read this crap that I write for some unknown reason, but it makes a difference to me.
• When anyone says the word "patience" or the word "hero," I think of you first. You give so much to me, and ask so little in return. You inspire me everyday, and I don't have enough "thank you"s to satisfy all that you do for me, and have done for me.

Wow, I think I didn't even realize there were that many people that help me in my efforts to make something of this life when I had the idea for this list. And of course, there are many more that help in many other ways, but these are the first and foremost that I think of. Thank you. Even if you wouldn't dream of reading this entry and have no idea it exists, thank you.

Reading back through this makes me realize just how much I owe to you people. Looks like law school debt isn't the debt I should be most worried about after all. Ok, bye.

Ricks v. 49 Thoughts

Let's see if I can come up with 50 thoughts. Some random, some relevant, some... none of the above?

1. I'm now happy that my semester is over.

2. It's Christmas!

3. It takes having free time for me to remember how much I love living here, but I love living here.

4. I'm excited to see my fam, and not via Skype that my sisters think is super awkward.

5. It's funny to me when kids shows sneak political jokes into them for adults.

6. While flying makes me a bit nervous, I love doing it. It's always exciting because I only do it when I'm going somewhere I really want to go.

7. Dr. Seuss is awesome.

8. I hate hot chocolate, I love warm chocolate. I don't understand why people bother with a liquid that burns your mouth!?

9. My favorite new word that came out of this semester is "torted." (It's not grammatically correct, or a real word, at least not in the sense that I use it.)

10. According to my torts teacher, it's only a matter of time before your car will get "torted" in DC.

11. It's funny how we think we're keeping someone's secret when we tell someone else, but tell them not to tell anyone else.

12. Dozen.

13. This one's for Spencer, "Thirteen."

14. Rhythmic gymnastics is weird.

15. Whoever came up with the term "smart phones" and got it to stick was a genius. They got the rest of us to call our own phones dumb! Genius advertising!

16. I HATE cologne/perfume commercials.

17. Wonder what the weather is like in Djibouti today?

18. I'm excited to exercise again. I've missed it.

19. My house has a door to nowhere.

20. Rowan Atkinson would play me in the movie of my life.

21. Red Rocks in Alexandria is the best pizza place... ever.

22. I could really go for a FH'zookie right now.

23. Michael Jordan.

24. Paul Millsap is the bomb.

25. I'm a little surprised no one has come to visit DC while I've been here. I had a bunch of people ask if they could crash at my place when they came out here.

26. My eyelid has been twitching for weeks. I assumed it would stop when finals were over, but alas, it continues.

27. I saw the huge National Christmas Tree a couple weeks ago with my roommate and some other folks:We also saw Santa Claus.

28. Stuff exists.

29. It's weird to not have something so pressing on my Monday that I need to stay up all night on Sunday!

30. I expect the Aggies to win the rest of their basketball games this season. It could very easily happen.

31. I just randomly got the Charlie Brown's Christmas song stuck in my head.

32. Ocean Lion.

33. Narwhals are cool!

34. C.J. Miles has been playing well lately.

35. Truman G. Madsen was quite the insightful fellow. I'm a fan.

36. I HATE not knowing my grades.

37. I'm clearly a very patient person.

38. I always buy bread, but I rarely use more than half of it before it goes bad. Sad.

39. Milk, on the other hand, has rarely, if ever, expired under my watch.

40. Can you believe that you've read 40 of these? Because I can't.

41. I'm excited for some recreational reading over the break.

42. This one's for Shavonne: 42.

43. I'm happy that I have friends who help me to get out of the house when I have time!

44. Mmm... the over-priced shake I had at the Silver Diner after my property exam the other day was really good.

45. While I love NoVA, I still prove from time to time that I do not know it's roads very well.

46. My mom is the best. Hi Mom!

47. Ugh, I need to buy a new suit. Badly.

48. Am I lame for inserting the accents in résumé?

49. This one's for James Wilson Marshall, and for California history buffs.

That's all. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Ricks v. Cautious Pessimism (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Law School)

Woah. How did I get here? I really can't believe this semester is over. I can't say I haven't enjoyed it, because I have. (Parts of it at least.) I also can't say it was easy, it wasn't. It has not been what I expected. Well, that's not true. "It" has been what I expected, my interaction with "It" has not at all been what I expected. I haven't been how (who?) I expected me to be. I know I sound crazy, but this is the inane babbel you get to deal with because you read my blog.

I'm being cautiously pessimistic about how my first semester grades will turn out. Frankly, I think I did a lot worse than I could have, and even then I might not have done superbly. I say cautious because there's still an off chance that I'm making myself look worse than I really am by suggesting that I did poorly--when perhaps I did well. But mostly, I'm feeling pessimistic about my grades. However, I think I've successfully conquered the worrier (Worry Warrior--that should be an indie band name, along with Cautiously Pessimistic) inside me that would have me to think that just because my grades may turn out horribly that my life will be a complete ruin. While, yes, life would diminish to a rather rotten state, it would certainly go on. Should my grades cause an implosion of my plans, I'll find a way to go on. As I've said, I'll mow lawns to pay off my law school debt if I must. Honestly, I doubt that I'll manage to screw up that badly, but there's a sizable chance my grades won't reflect even my lowest hoped-for potential outcome. In that case, I'll just take what I've learned in this 1/2L semester, and move on. I'll keep trucking through law school, and I'll love it, too. Even when it just hurts.

And, it does hurt. I wrote the above two paragraphs at 4 am last night when I needed a breather from my studies. I just now got home from my property law, and last, final exam. I have a bad headache from not getting enough sleep last night, and possibly from only having eaten a shake at the "Silver Diner" with a bunch of my classmates who either don't drink or were just going to go drink later than that. (I can't imagine if I were to add an alcohol hangover on top of the way I feel right now!) Anyway, so, I'm done for the semester. Shouting for joy, jubilation, happiness... yeah... not really feeling like that at all. It might help if in a couple days I get a chance to take in the big picture of what I've been through, but for now I think I feel emotionless because the joy of being done for a few weeks and the anxiety over feeling like I didn't do very well are canceling each other out. I'm an emotional void right now. Emotion neutral? (Another indie band name! Wow, either I'm on a roll or I'm just particularly emo in this blog post.) Well, so... that's that. See you in a couple days when maybe I'll be more interesting or exciting.

Update on the previous blog post's subject: I saw my arrested-neighbor's father this morning. He kind of just stared at me while I scraped the snow off my car. It was awkward. Well, ... bye.

Ricks v. Terrorism Threats & News Stories

Ugh. Today has been very very distracting. So, my neighbor was all over the local news today for having supposedly made a terrorism threat on Facebook.



I looked so nasty. I really wish I had at least looked in the mirror. My story is wrong, too. I didn't know that I saw the dad instead of the son who's the one that was arrested. I've pieced together that I saw the dad being escorted around by the feds and I assume he was showing them that there were no bomb-making materials and that's why they picked up the blanket in our yard.

The news crews have been outside all day and they've been trying to interview us. I'm pretty mad at myself for opening the door. Now I know. Word to the wise, just don't talk to the news! The main reason I'm upset about it right now is that I see the dad a lot because we leave the house at similar times of day. Anyway, I hope this goes away fast. It sounds like the guy was making hollow threats.

Anyway, enough about my neighbor, I need to get all of that craziness out of my head so I can focus on my last final. This has made studying for property hard because I've been so distracted.

My econ test was yesterday. It went alright. I know it didn't go as well as the midterm did, but hopefully that will turn out ok. It felt very much like an undergrad test. It was mostly all stuff we'd covered, but the questions were asked in ways that tried to make them harder than they needed to be.

Well, speaking of studying. I'm off to do some more before I fall asleep. Remember, don't talk to the news. (But if you do, at least look in the mirror first.)

Bye.

Ricks v. Contracts

Jello, slush, water, liquid in general, lava-lamp contents, raspberry preserves (with the seeds), ketchup, Silly Putty, dust, pasta, couscous, empty vacuous space, a void.

These are all analogies for how my brain feels after my second law school exam which was for my Contracts class. I felt a lot better prepared for this one than for Torts, but my professor's ambiguous question approach left me feeling like I really wish it was the other way around.

(The above picture is really the deer-in-the-headlights look I had on my face right after the exam, one of my classmates was making fun of me. I honestly felt like my brain had leaked out.)

This test may have been ok, except that there was one question that I hardly got to and it was worth a lot. Again. I just have to pretend that I'm not freaked out, and now I have to focus on economics.

K, see ya. Hope your brain is less analogous to weird liquid/quasi-liquids than mine.

Ricks v. Torts/Terrorism?

Ok, I'm ready to vent about my exam, now. (Don't worry about me, I'm just getting it all out because I haven't really talked to anyone about it.)

The jury's out. If I even made it to a jury trial. Torts might be getting a summary judgment.

So, It's 8 am the next day at the moment. I finally fell asleep late yesterday evening after having stayed up pretty much all night the night before(despite my efforts to sleep for a decent amount of time.)

Before I rant, first a story:

When I got home from the test yesterday afternoon, my street was blocked off by random cars. I was really confused and frustrated because I just wanted to come home and sleep. There were a bunch of random people strolling around, too. It was bizarre. I drove around the block to try to get to my house and had to squeeze past a big truck. I parked in my driveway and looked at the blockade in the street trying to see what it was about. Then I realized that people were looking my direction. I turned the other way to see some dudes dressed in military-like gear cuffing my next-door neighbor who had apparently been hiding under a blanket in my yard. (Mind you, I'm super tired at this point, and probably look stoned and confused.) Woah, I was about to speculate about what my neighbor might have done, but I could be liable for libel. Let's just say, it appears that he did something to warrant the application of cuffs. The weird thing is that I can't figure out what kind of unit the guys would work for. I've seen enough military uniforms that I could identify one of the branches, but these guys were dressed differently. They definitely didn't look like regular cops either. I really don't know, but it freaked me out. I've been tweeting about my neighbor's struggles to start his car each morning, but I didn't hear any attempt to start it today. So weird. It's official. I don't live in Utah anymore.

About the exam. I will say that I'm happy that I was able to get to the exam early, my computer didn't have a meltdown, and I answered all the questions. My lone assurance of any points though is that I wrote my test number on each exam page, thereby avoiding an automatic 1% score reduction. Look at me! I'm 1% on my way to an A+!

I always think I do poorly on exams. It's a reaction I just expect from myself. This time feels different. (And I always say this, too.) (See examples: 1, 2) But for real, I often think I did alright, but that I could have done better. This time I really feel like could have done a LOT better. I was shocked that when I got home from the exam and laid in bed I couldn't fall asleep. Instead I was running over the test repeatedly in my mind. I thought of just about every question and ways I had screwed up, or things I could have done much better. I keep having flashbacks to my calculus class in college that I seriously screwed up in. I'm not comfortable with how it went, but I have to be. I won't get my score until February or something horrible like that. I don't do well with waiting for scores and grades, but I have to learn to be when it comes to law school. I'll find out how my LRWA paper went in January-ish, and then I won't get my grades until February or March. Yeargh.

Well, I think this probably wasn't a very interesting read to anyone except myself, and perhaps the government driving instructor who needs to teach his guys how to REALLY block a street. (Even from tiny Nissan Sentras.) Sorry about that. I promise to try to be more entertaining come December 18th.

Adieu.

Ricks v. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

(Obviously I'm only including the "Ricks v." in my titles anymore for tradition's sake.)

However, this is the ugly truth of how my Thanksgiving has gone so far:

Despite how much more exciting Strict Liability cases' fact patterns tend to be (explosions, guns, planes), it's still hard to keep going sometimes. (Actually, the truth is that I slept in, and I have been studying since I woke up.) I am really pretty terrified over finals that will begin in just two weeks. (A week and a half... CRRAP!) But... I do have a lot to be thankful for:

1. Family.

I have a kick-trash family. They are very supportive, even from a couple thousand miles away.

2. My good friend Jessie.

She was kind enough to invite me over for her roommates' shindig this evening, so don't worry, Mom. I have somewhere to go for Thanksgiving.

3. Friends in general.

I am very thankful for the friends I have back home and out here. The people who have been placed in my life have definitely helped me through my first semester, and I'm very fortunate to have their support. Spencer and Greg from my study group have been really helpful when I've been sick, etc. They're great guys.

4. Legal Research Writing and Analysis (LRWA) and Econ.

That's right. I said it. I'm grateful for my legal writing class. The fact that my econ midterm and that many of my legal writing assignments went well has been a serious blessing in keeping me motivated, and giving me a glimmer of hope that I can actually do this. (Plus, my grades won't ALL be awful if I bomb my three big tests! --Yeah... that's not SUPER comforting.)

5. Finally having full days off. Although I'll never have studied so much in my life the way I have/will this couple of weeks before finals, I'm very grateful that I have full days with an empty schedule to actually catch up and study.

6. Northern Virginia. Translation: NO SNOW. Haven't seen a single flake yet! Love this place!

7. Pumpkin pie. I'm off to study some more, and then I'm headed to Jessica's to probably eat some potentially weird vegetarian Thanksgiving food that her roommate made, and pumpkin pie supplied by the good folks at my local Harris Teeter Grocery Store.

K, see ya. Oh. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Ricks v. 1L (with the help of "A New Name For Everything" by The Weakerthans)

Wow. I don't really remember the last time I wasn't anxious about something. This has been quite the life-changing experience. I'm generally one to keep a positive attitude, even when I'm feeling negative about something, but my first 1L semester has made my answers to the most common questions change. "How's it going?" or "How are you?" used to be the simplest question in the world for me to answer. Now I hesitate EVERY time I'm asked that, and my answer now usually is similar to, "I'm surviving." It isn't all that bad really and I'm not unhappy, but 1L has come with many a challenge. When people ask me if I like law school, I usually respond that I do, but truthfully I don't have an emotion either way. It's what I chose, and it's just happening. I don't have time to really stop and think about my feelings about the whole thing, so perhaps this is me snapping in the midst of my studies to take a typographical breather and just reflect. I'm going to steal the words of a favorite song by The Weakerthans to help me explain... because, why not?

"When the bus shelter windows and napkin-dispensers surprise with distorted reflections; it's never the someone you're hoping to recognize." --Sadly, (or perhaps smellily) I don't think I've had my morning routine steady enough to get in a daily shower for a straight week since September. I hold on to sleep for every last minute I can grasp in the mornings (this probably isn't anything new, but the lack of showering at least 6 times a week, certainly is). Hence, I find myself on many mornings quickly assembling whatever high-fashion ensemble of clothing falls out of my dresser, making some attempt to brush, and at least rinse my hair and then I'm on my way out the door. I am often disgruntled as I'm walking from my parking garage to the school to see in my reflection off the shiny-granite walls of a neighboring building that my hair has dried in some funky Mohawk/Alfalfa/Dennis the Menace-esque style.

"When the... borders of night start to give."--Yeah, this is not a new problem, but, for those of you who know me, you'll be shocked to hear that it's WORSE. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I cannot sleep at normal hours. I apparently broke or seriously offended my internal clock because it definitely isn't telling my body the time anymore. It's not just that I stay up late (as I've done most of my life), now I never know when I'll be awake or asleep. It's not healthy, or fun. Sometimes I'll get home in the late afternoon, I'll get dinner, and then after a bit of studying I'll zonk out. Then when I wake up at midnight it's pretty confusing trying to figure out how I should divy up my sleep and homework time. Would someone teach me how to sleep like most humans? Thanks.

"When the one-ways collude with the map that you've folded wrong and the route you've abandoned is always the path you probably should be upon."-- This has less to do with 1L and more to do with living in the DC area. I get lost. This is not a problem I'm used to. Even in Georgia I could always find my way. (Perhaps God was helping me then.) Before moving here I could just check a Google Maps map and I'd be just fine. I'm pretty good with maps. However, DC is a serious conundrum because signage is terrible here! You can't rely on the signs to tell you where you are, where you need to go, or if they do tell you where to go, it's rarely with enough time to get to the proper lane to get there! GPS? Perhaps.

"When you can't save cash or conviction..."-- I've never been in a situation where I have a lump of money that just steadily disappears. I actually am pretty good at budgeting, but I don't like it at all. I go between thinking, "Oh, I've got enough money that I could actually get that!" and "Crap... it's not money, it's debt." I'm a much bigger fan of just having a steady income where I know exactly what I can and can't spend. Trying to stretch my money now is a lot of guess work, and I'm not a huge fan of feeling like there's a chance that I'll just run out of money.

"When the... threads of your fear are unfurled with the tiniest pull."-- It's pretty funny when I'm having a conversation at lunch with my classmates from my section and I realize that there are 2Ls or 3Ls listening in. Sometimes we 1Ls can get very uptight or panicky about pretty stupid things. It doesn't take much for us to worry we aren't doing enough, or could be disadvantaged in some way. Personally, I tend to worry more about big picture things. I don't know if you've noticed, but apparently the economy isn't great. This doesn't help me feel super secure all the time. I can be having a great week and feel like everything is totally fine, and then I'll struggle to answer a question in class or read a discouraging article and then suddenly I'm convinced that I'm not going to make it. I'll never get a job! Of course I know that isn't true. I'll get a job. I might have to mow lawns until I die to try to pay off my law school debt, but the point is that no matter what, things will work out. I know this, but it doesn't take much to cause me a brief fit of "I'll never make it because I couldn't remember the prima facie case for defamation"-syndrome.

"Stand with your hands in your pockets and stare at the smudge of a newspaper sky and ask it to rain a new name for everything. Fire every phrase. They don't want to work for us anymore."-- Words have seriously become very different to me now. Not that I talk differently, but I've found through my studies that there are a lot of words that I've always used incorrectly, been oblivious to, or that I've known existed but never knew of their meaning. I didn't know what "torts" meant before I started law school. I'd heard it a lot, but I had never actually known what it was about. Now I have an entire class about torts. (In short, it means wrongs done by an actor to another.) I learned that you don't get a mortgage, you give one. There are also many words that have differing regular and legal meanings. And there are words that are funny to get away with saying (i.e. bastardy.)

"So put on those clothes you never grew into and smile like you mean it for once."-- I have a lot of events that require that I wear a business suit. I presently own one suit. It's from my mission. It didn't fit then, and despite my addition of a layer or two, it still doesn't fit. I've been meaning to go get me a nice new suit. Speaking of the events that require a suit, the other day I got to feel really intimidatING, even as a lowly 1L. How you ask? I was a judge in a national mock trial competition for undergrads. It was fun! Not everyday that a 1L get's to don a judge's robe!

Anyway, I don't really think this song worked all that well, but it's a good song that you should listen to. Uh...pretty sure there was more to talk about, or at least more interesting things that I should have previously written, but whatever. You already know what I'm like. I'm hungry, so you're stuck with this crappy post. K, see ya.

Ricks v. "Facile"

fac-ile [fas-il or, especially Brit., -ahyl]

-adjective

1. easy to perform or achieve

2. working or moving easily or smoothly

3. without depth; superficial

4. archaic relaxed in manner; easygoing

--dictionary.com

I don't know if I ever talked about this before, but one of my favorite professors, (Professor Davies--who teaches my Torts class) gives away Supreme Court Justice Bobbleheads! Each class he will ask a few students to quickly define a word from the day's readings that are generally more difficult. (If ever there's a latin phrase, you can count on it being one of the vocab words.) Anyway, a few weeks ago, in my reading I came across the word "facilely." I don't think I have ever seen this word in my life before that point. I looked at it, and I decided that it must just mean easily. This because the Spanish word for easy is "fácil," and because it looks like the root might be the same as that in facilitate. The word didn't come up in that day's vocab, so I all but forgot about it.

Then today came along and I was given my second opportunity to define a word, I was given "facile." I got it right! Very fortunate that I remembered it from before, as I don't remember coming across that word in today's reading, and I didn't know the words before and after mine. But I secured myself a Justice David H. Souter bobblehead.

Do you know someone with a collection of weird things? Maybe not weird, but, things that people would not necessarily think of when they think of collections. Maybe it's your grandma, or another elderly person? Perhaps it's you? For instance, I met a lady once who collected cookie jars... who knew there were SO MANY varieties of cookie jars to be collected?

Have you ever wondered how these people get their start? I think it might look something like this...

(Prof. Davies gave us all the smaller one earlier in the semester.)

Ricks v. The White Board

Just once in my life, I'd like to be able to write something AWESOME on a white board like this:

As my roommate has been preparing to go to Nepal, I've been wishing I could go with his humanitarian group.  Perhaps I can go on one of his many adventures in the future.  But for now...

Updates

UPDATE:  Ricks v. Weather:  You may recall that I filed an injunction to stop the great weather from leaving.  That injunction failed.

UPDATE:  Ricks v. Male-Pattern Baldness:  I've attempted to settle out of court with MPB.  If it will agree to stop advancing across my head, and will encourage my mini-mullet to cooperate and stop growing at such an obnoxious speed, then I will drop this suit.

UPDATE:  Ricks v. Apple's iPod nano Pedometer:  I've decided not to appeal the "district court"'s ruling in Apple's favor.  I did this for two reasons, (1) I've figured out how to deal with the pedometer's lack of abilities (see photo and caption below), and (2) some of the contributory reasons for my anguish at the time of the incident (regarding my econ test) have been pretty well turned into joy.  I did SIGNIFICANTLY better than I thought I would.  I was shocked when I saw my score.  I asked someone to make sure the test was out of 100, and not 200 or something.  I know that I didn't nail that test, and so I'm led to believe that my econ professor was very lenient on his grading.  So it's certainly in small part that I understood most of the material, and in large part luck-- or divine intervention.  For real.

Ricks v. Apple's iPod nano Pedometer:  I figured out that if
I clip the nano onto a watch band, the pedometer works much
better.  Also it's way more convenient for changing songs, etc.

UPDATE: Ricks v. Keebler: I should probably implead Krispy Kreme.  They are also very guilty of "fattery."

UPDATE: Ricks v. October:  I mentioned this "case" in my comments of the "Squib Cases" post.  I hate October.  It's not a great month.  However, I will admit that at least here in Virginia it is still at least warm on some days.  And we actually got Columbus Day off.  That was nice!  Other than that, I'm still not a fan of this month.  

UPDATE: Time v. Ricks:  Yeah, probably contributing more to that case right now.  Best get back to my homework.  K, bye.

Squib Cases

Entered into evidence in Ricks v. Law School Reading

Brevity.

Ricks v. Male-Pattern Baldness:
My lawsuit against this culprit for IIED (intentional infliction of emotional distress) continues, and damages continue to increase.  The jury is out.

Ricks v. Law School Reading:
I've filed a motion for directed verdict for false imprisonment by the law school reading that I'm feeling buried under.

Ricks v. The Half-Way Point:
The events of the week surrounding my half-way point through the first semester of my 1L year were not kind.  This past week kinda beat me up.  I came out conquerer and won this suit.  Last week owes me a day off on Monday as damages for battery.

Entered into evidence for Time v. Ricks.

Ricks v. Perkins:
My car, Gregory Perkins, is being a butt.  I bought a new battery for it, and it ran great for about a day.  Then it decided to poop out on me again.  What does this mean?  I have gotten to ride the metro for about a full week now.  I'm suing Greg for my travel costs, and the repair costs I will incur tomorrow.


Ricks v. Today's Weather:
I'm filing an injunction to force the weather from today to stick around forever.  It was perfect.

Ricks v. Armstrong:
Not Lance, nor Niel, but Louis.  His rendition of "What a Wonderful World" is a darn good song.  That is all.  I made this one up.  (The rest of these cases are REAL*.  Trust me.**)

Ricks v. Bus Driver:
There is an awesome bus driver that always makes me smile who has the shift on my route home from school.  Why am I suing him then?  He made fun of me the first time I boarded his bus, because I had my earbuds in and he had to honk at me twice and was about to drive away before I saw him and flagged him down.  Sometimes I need extra help.  After I climbed aboard feeling pretty dumb, he was smiling at me and said, "You gotta come back man!" as he pointed at his head.  I said, "Yeah, no kidding."  (I was particularly mentally drained that day.)  He remembers me from that, and we both laugh on the inside about it each time we see each other.  Uh... he must pay?

Time v. Ricks:
Time is suing me for negligence.  I think that sums it up.

*Fake.
**Don't.

K, bye.  See you next month?

Alternate Dispute Resolution Society v. Ricks

I'm informed that the Alternate Dispute Resolution Society of George Mason University (ADR Society) is preparing to file a claim against me in the coming days.  It seems entirely frivolous.  (Obviously, every "claim" on this "blog" is going to be "frivolous" because if these were not "frivolous" I would probably be filing them in an actual "court of law."  Wait... forget those last two "quotation marks."  And yes, you should read that sentence by doing air quotes with your fingers each time.')

A note I received from an inside source at the ADR Society's representative firm (Lyons, Tigers, Behrs, & Ohmi) read as follows:
RE: ADR Society v. Ricks
The ADR Society felt that from the looks of excitement, diversion, and general relish on your face during the negotiation intramural today, you had too much fun.  They feel that the exercise wasn't supposed to be so entertaining, and that you should probably learn to better hide how much you really enjoyed the opportunity to get a taste of what real-world negation could feel like.  They feel that you've intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon them by not reacting appropriately.  You seemed to enjoy when you discovered that you're actually the type to go on the offensive and push to reach your "client's" objectives.  You didn't seem to mind when you felt intimidated by the 2Ls that you faced in the second round (of the two) that clearly had a much more coherent game-plan than your own team.  You seemed to have fun working together with your teammate, Spencer, who's from Payson, UT and is a very cool guy (but you know that already, why would I tell that to you?  Oh well.)  The judges, practicing attorneys from the area, could tell that you weren't highly experienced at this, but that your lack of experience didn't prevent you from acting like nothing was wrong and having "a blast."  As your friend and informant, I'd recommend:

• That you not participate next year unless you intend on having fun with it again.  
• If you should happen to have won the competition and be qualified to move on to the regional competition in Virginia Beach, I advise you to chill out and not enjoy it so much.
• That you not post anything about this on that weird blog of yours.  I know no one reads it, but if word happened to get back to our client, you could get yourself into even more trouble.
• Go eat some cookies.

--Your friend,

        Informant Behrs

So, as you can see, I competed in the intramural negotiation competition today.  It was really quite fun.  Spencer and I represented a man that was being recruited by a fictional university for a business program (round 1), and then we also represented a union who represented TAs that were getting hosed on their monthly stipend and on the amount they had to work (round 2).  Both pairs we faced off against were girls, the round 1 team were 1Ls like us, and the second round team were 2Ls.  It's funny, but I was telling someone the other day that there is a visible difference between 1Ls and 2Ls/3Ls.  You can just tell who has more time.  The first round was the easier of the two fact patterns, but I felt like Spencer and I might have done a lot better in the second round.  THe problem with that is that I feel like our opponents did better that second round as well.  I don't know what exactly the judges were looking for, but based upon the feedback we got in the first round, I really doubt that Spencer and I will "win."  I was surprised that I didn't get more flustered.  I tend to have that problem when facing situations like this where there are a lot of unknown factors.  It was tough, but quite fun.  

K, bye.

(Yeah obviously it's tough to work all the stuff about my real-life experiences into these dumb fake cases.  Whatever.)  K, bye...... for real.