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. 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. 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.

Some stuff...

Well, it has been a week since I've written in here.  Here are some things about this week.

1. Having awesome memorials/monuments that people pay hundreds of dollars to travel to see in my neighborhood is encouraging my desire to go for runs.  
2. Near miss by Hurricane Earl I suppose.  Not really that near.  We just had one of its tentacles go over us.  It didn't even rain.  It's been great weather temperature-wise.  Thanks Earl!
3. I saw a guy that looked just like Gary Coleman, only 6 foot 2.
4. I got a lot of free stuff this week from various student organizations and local businesses.  Even a shoe shine.
5. Being graded on a strict curve against my classmates is not great.
6. Just found out that the Supreme Court had a vote on how to spell Marihuana/Marijuana.  They chose the version with a J.  
7. My teacher gave us a hypothetical the other day about a cow named Jonathan.  It was hilarious.
8. I love my institute class.  It's only 45 minutes long, but it's great.
9. I decided one of my professors should have the nickname: Gray-Hair Colbert.  He has the exact same mannerisms as Stephen Colbert.  (Yes, this would be the comedic-genius behind Jonathan the Cow.)  
10. One of my other professors reminds me of Garry Marshall.  He's not funny.

K, see ya next time.