Well. It has been a while since I updated, and I'm sorry about that. I probably don't have to say this, but law school has made me a very busy person. So, yeah. Can't promise I'm going to be better in the future. At least until after Dec. 16, which is the date of my last final. But, I'll try. Today, I'm gonna be serving up an update in the mega-update mold.
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Things are going well in law school. I think. I'm not behind in my readings. I'm not behind in my outlines. And I think I'm getting a pretty good understanding of the material we've been covering. And I haven't made too big a fool of myself in class. These are the kind of comforts I've been able to find so far. That I'm not behind, and I don't look foolish. Not a high bar.
It's a little lonely heading to the library day after day and that has been grating. Class time is very challenging, what with making sure I'm understanding everything and that I'm engaged and prepared. And I can't say that if I were able to choose my classes, I would have chosen all of these classes. But, on the whole, I am liking this. I really am. And the odd thing is I don't know why. Perhaps I'm a sadist.
More likely is I'm starting to see the possibilities. Even if I can't quite see them in focus yet, I'm at least able to see the direction I'm heading. After having spent so much time feeling like I wasn't going anywhere and I wasn't doing anything, this is a big comfort. Huge.
It's been a really long time since I felt like I have the ability to make things happen. It's so good to feel it again. I'm trying not to focus too much on my grades and assignments and how that all impacts my future, because honestly it's hard to say how any of that will impact things. I'm mostly just trying to enjoy dreaming again.
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Of course, this has been stressful. And nothing will make everyone around me here freak out as much as one word: finals. We've got two full weeks of classes followed by two 3-day weeks (because of Thanksgiving and a couple class make-up days), before we hit finals. My first final will be on my birthday, which is just precious.
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This Thanksgiving, I'll be heading to my dad's. The way Dinah and I work holidays is to alternate between her family and mine. One gets Thanksgiving, one gets Christmas. Up until this year, that meant her parents got one and my mom got the other. Since I hadn't been talking to my father, going to his place for a holiday wasn't really a concern. Now, however, we are communicating. So. Yeah.
We sort of lucked out this year, because Dinah's folks originally had Thanksgiving, but they decided to make other plans. So, we were open when my dad asked us to his place. And since her parents are coming up here for a couple weeks around Christmas, we'll still get a chance to see them after we head to Des Moines to see my mom.
So. Yeah. It works out this year. Next year, I don't really know how that's going to work. And honestly, I am starting to feel like I am at the point where I just want to have holidays with my wife. I don't want to have to travel and I really, really don't want ot have to deal with all the juggling of interests and hurt feelings when I am trying to figure out how to spend my holidays. I don't want to have to consider anyone's emotions when I'm planning out what I'm going to do with my time off.
I know. It's not going to happen without hurt feelings. But I'm gonna dream.
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Speaking of dreams. Law school will crush your dreams. I'd like to direct everyone to this video. It's from a Pepsi commercial that was made when I was a kid. And it led to one of the cases I had to read for my Contracts class, Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc., 88 F.Supp.2d 116 (S.D.N.Y. 1999). (Proper citation!)
Basically in this case, we have a boy who sued Pepsi because he wanted to get the harrier jet that's "advertised" at the end of the commercial. The boy got together the points he needed to buy the jet, but Pepsi said the jet wasn't really offered. It was just a joke. And the court agreed with them, saying that a reasonable person would understand it was a joke.
But. That kind of sucks. I mean, maybe I was a dumb kid, but I took the offer seriously when Pepsi made it. I thought, well, Pepsi's a big company and if anyone could offer such an obviously awesome prize, it was a big company like that. What I'm saying is, I think the court used the wrong standard. Pepsi was advertising to kids, so maybe a reasonable kid should be the standard. (Note that I am not arguing that I was a reasonable kid.) I doubt it changes the case at all, because the kid had his lawyer send in his order with the required payment. So, it's not like he was acting like a reasonable kid in responding to the ad.
But still. I remember watching that commercial and thinking how awesome it would be to drive a jet to school. I mean, I didn't live very far from my middle school, but still. Awesome. I knew I'd never drink enough Pepsi to make it happen, but it still seemed so possible. Sucks to know it was all nothing.
Oh well.
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I gotta say. I know law school students have a reputation for being cut throat and hard to deal with, but I am really enjoying meeting everyone. Here at Mitchell, it's not cut throat at all. I mean, we're all striving to do our best and in that way it's competive. But mostly, everyone is very nice about things and willing to help if you ask questions. Or willing to chat. It's pretty cool here.
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