But Seriously, I Could Lose It At Any Time

It has been a Day, with a capital D. Between dealing with group projects, being sick, trying to find the perfect case on point, convincing my former place of work that, yes, they DO have to send me my w-2 form according to the law, switching insurance, and finding out that the new insurance requires that I pay out of pocket and send a claim for EVERY prescription, I am so over this day.

I've found that while Those Days were bad before, they're worse now with all of the extra pressure and stress of law school. I've had group projects and problems with research before, but usually that's the extent of the school stress. I'm sure that everyone deals with such stresses differently, but maybe if you're having one of Those Days, too, this will help.

#1. Watch TV. Yes, I know that the Academic Support people told us at the beginning of the year to limit our nights off to one night a week. But I'm not saying take a night off! I'm saying take 20-45 minutes to shut your brain down! Sometimes falling into the relaxing buzz of a laugh track while you're eating lunch is just what you need.

#2. Deal With It. Maybe I'm just completely OCD, but I make to-do lists all the time. People say it's because I like the feeling of checking things off, but I'm not really goal-driven, so that's not true. I just like seeing all my tasks laid out in front of me. When I can see what needs to be done, I'm far more likely to do it and not forget about it. And what you do today is one more thing you don't have to do tomorrow. Plus, when you're really stressed out, that feeling of "Well, there's ONE LESS thing on my plate," is amazing.

#3. Call someone. Maybe it's your mom, maybe it's your SO, maybe it's time and temperature. Hearing someone's voice can make you feel calmer. Also, when you get to speak your troubles out loud sometimes they don't sound so bad, and what was a tragedy can be turned into a comedy in the telling.

#4. Nap. Just say screw it. Get a half hour of sleep. Sometimes when you're under too much stress, your brain is breaking down anyway. Twenty minutes (be sure to set your alarm) can make all the difference. Not to mention the fact that between the hours of 2 and 4, your brain shuts itself off anyway. You might as well let it do so. It will recharge you and give you the get up and go you need.

#5. Exercise. Yes, I know that for someone who, up until last year, was pretty much sedentary, this is a bit preachy, but it's good for you! And you feel like you accomplished something! And it gets you away from the stressful situations that you're not ready to deal with. Plus, in the words of my favorite fictional lawyer, "Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people don't just kill their husbands!" Or their former places of work. Or the ASPCA people constantly outside my front door.

Karl Jung Resides In This Post

My mother didn't constantly tell me I was beautiful.

I don't mean she didn't tell me at all. She did, when I needed to hear it, or when I was dressed particularly well. "You look nice." "That's a pretty dress on you." And when I was upset, "You're pretty, you're smart, you're talented..." But I never heard it all the time. And in fact, when I wanted to hear it, I usually had to get it out of her with a "Come on, Mom, tell me I look nice. Go ahead, I want to hear it." And all I ever got was a "You look very pretty," and then she was back to whatever she was doing.

And I want to say thank you.

On this, the day I celebrate being alive for 23 years, I want to say thank you for letting me learn to accept myself. She's always told me that she didn't fawn because of the "evil eye", a superstition that most of us would dismiss. And whether that's true or not, I thank her for letting me come to terms with who I am, for letting me strive to be more than just nice-looking. For letting me hit the ground, and get back up with dirt on my face. For letting me fail, and not consoling me with physical beauty, but telling me to try again. For giving me the chance of self-validation, and learning to search inside myself for strength and self-esteem.

For letting me look in the mirror and see a whole person, not just a pretty face.

Thanks Mom, for not telling me I'm beautiful.

POWER UP!!!!

I love the whole Nike + iPod thing for one reason: THE POWER SONG. Apparently, if your shoes feel you slowing down, they send psychic messages to your iPod to play the song that keeps you moving. While I can't get into the psychic message that Nike and iPod are trying to tell you (You need us both to work out!), I've always loved having one or two songs that really do keep you going, whether you're working out or working on outlines. Since for some reason, this blog always takes list forms:

MY TOP FIVE POWER SONGS:

5. I'm Gonna Make You Love Me, by the Jackson 5. The fact is, you can't go wrong with a little Motown when you're feeling down. Plus, when you're preparing for that terrifying interview, what's better than those lyrics? Also, they're good if you're stalking someone.*

4. Bottom of the Barrel, by Amos Lee. This song is a surprisingly upbeat song from a singer who is all about the blues. It's a short, quirky little number that basically says that things can only suck so much before they get better. "Get right down to the bottom of the barrel, and you float back on top."

3. The Galway Girl, by Steve Earle. It's positively positive. When I'm doing homework, I can't help but want to dance, when I'm walking home from school, I want to skip, and when I'm working out, I run to the beat. "I took her hand, and I gave her a twirl, and I lost my heart to a Galway Girl."

2. When You Believe, from the Prince of Egypt soundtrack. I know it's cheesy, but this is the greatest thing to listen to when stretching or when you're in the last lap of any workout. And it has to be the movie version, NOT the Whitney Houston version. Because the chorus with the little kids singing in Hebrew and getting faster and faster totally pumps me up.

1. Don't Stop Believin', especially the one by the Glee cast. Not to diss Journey, but I just love the a capella beginning. So good. The soaring vocals, kickass guitar solo, this song makes me want to run two more miles and find five more cases.

So there you go. My top five songs to get excited to. Man, now I almost want to get bored so that I can listen to them!!

*I am not a stalker.

Suburban Myth

Back in the lovely days of undergrad, when I was working diligently on an anthropology degree, I took an American Culture class. You would think we would discuss big important things like immigration and domestic policy. But you would be wrong. Mostly we discussed middle class white girls, like me. Girls who aren’t rich, but aren’t poor, go to their senior prom and have slumber parties. Girls who, when asked about themselves, say, “Me? I’m just…average.”

Which isn’t strictly true, but it’s what we’re taught to say. I’m not special, I’m just like everyone else. There’s a culture of fitting in as a typical white girl, because there’s nothing significant about you to really stand out. You blend, you go unnoticed, you try desperately to quietly and subtly stand out. It’s an oxymoron to the fullest degree. And it’s working against me.

At job interviews I find it impossible to talk about myself. “Me? I’m just your average white girl.” But telling someone you’re an average nobody does not make you into someone to hire. So I’ve spent a lot of time lately doing some soul-searching. What makes me, me? I’m loyal, but that makes me sound like a dog. I’m hardworking, but that seems like a cliché. I’m smart, but if I weren’t why would I be in law school?

I decided to work from a more specific angle. I studied flute for ten years. I know how discipline works. I can break down tasks into parts, three and four measure groups that get worked over and over again until they’re right. I can focus on one thing for a long time, but if I get overwhelmed by a project I know to walk away. Go back a step to what I know and try to work forward again, or just walk away entirely and go grocery shopping until I’m ready to try again. I can set goals. I need to learn the adagio by my next lesson, so that I can get to work on the presto, which is going to take quite a lot of time because of the intensity of the piece. I’m optimistic. It’s not going well today. Everyone has off days, I’ll try again tomorrow and things will get better. I can take constructive criticism. My technique is all wrong, and my posture is cutting off my air supply, but that can be changed with work. And even though I can take direction well, I’m a better leader than a follower. I can see the big picture, the overall theme of the piece, and I can see just how everyone’s efforts make up a whole project.

As it turns out, using one metaphor alone, I have all sorts of good qualities. I just need to learn how to talk about them to other people, and get past the myth that I’m “average.”

L: Is for the way you LARC with me!

Every law school has some sort of legal writing class. And every student hates it. At my school it happens to be called "LARC" (Legal Analysis, Research, and Communication). And we hate it just as much as everyone else.

What most people don't realize about law school is that for every class you go to lecture, take notes, study, and take ONE 3-hour exam at the end of the semester which determines your whole grade. Except for legal writing. Class is two hours long every week, but you get four credit hours for it, because there is so much outside work that you're spending hours researching statutes in the library.

And while we all bitch and moan about not being able to find a case on point, there are a couple good things about legal writing. And so I give you:

THE TOP 3 THINGS TO LOVE ABOUT LARC-ing!!!!!

1. It's only once a week! And that's once a week for three semesters, but at least you're not having as hard a time keeping up as you do in your other classes. You have plenty of time between lectures to figure out what's going on, and if not, your professor should have two or three days of office hours. You'll get it much faster.

2. Practical Knowledge. You're not going to need the Equal Protection Clause every time you take a case in the future. (The legal shows are lying. Not everything is an issue of protected classes. Sometimes it's just defamation.) You are, however, going to need to know how to go to the stacks and research legal theories. And even if you hate it, you need to know how to write with Plain Language Drafting. (NO ADVERBS. EVER!) LARC teaches you things that you need to know no matter what type of law you're doing. And it's nice to see your skill set growing throughout the course.

3. Playing Lawyer. In this time when none of us have passed the bar or do anything other than read and sit in class, it's fun to pretend we're grown up lawyers. Today in class we learned how to do intake interviews and our T.A. had to pretend to be our client and we got to ask questions. In two weeks, we get to present our findings to our "supervising attorney." It makes you giggle a little bit to think about, but we're 23 years old and playing pretend. How awesome is that?

The three reasons to love Legal Writing. Notice there were only three. Because that's all I could come up with. Not everything about Legal Writing is quite so lovable.

Winter Wonderland

SNOW!!!!!!

In case you hadn't noticed, it snowed in Chicago! That meant that it was blowing in my face all the way to my eye appointment! (Thanks google maps for giving me the wrong directions!) Looking down on State Street from my window, it is quite clear that Chicago is unable to keep up with the snowy state of our fair city. Quite honestly, I saw a Chicago Dept. of Sanitation truck pull up today and start unloading about 25 snow shovels. There were only about 5 people there TO shovel. Does anyone see a discrepancy here? Was I supposed to pitch in? Because I'm pretty sure I pay the city to clean the streets.

And so without further ado, THE FIVE THINGS I AM HOPING FOR FERVENTLY:

1. The snow stays pretty for awhile. I love this city, but I hate it once the snow gets gray and ugly. And it happens FAST.

2. The snow gets cleared off the sidewalks within a reasonable period of time. Having soaking wet shoes CANNOT be good for you.

3. Chicago gets around to clearing the snow for more than just the tourists. Seriously, State Street and Michigan Ave are cleared, but once you get past Roosevelt? Ankle-deep snow on the sidewalks. Cold wet and mushy.

4. It's not too cold after it gets done snowing. Have you ever noticed that when it's snowing, the temperature warms up a little? I just hope that it's not icy cold with a windchill of -7 tomorrow.

5. PLEASE PLEASE cancel my 8:30 am contracts class!! And it would be nice if DePaul would TELL US about it this time.

In other news, and for a good laugh, I went to the optometrist today. The nurse had me take my contacts out, and then I followed her to the exam room, where I began groping blindly for the chair. The optometrist walked in behind me while I was acting like a blind old lady. After putting in new contacts for me, I found out that the optometrist was HOT. And he saw me trying not to fall out of a chair.

Thanks, God. Hope you enjoyed the laugh at my expense.

Amanda v. Blackacre

So sorry to run off for a week. I was quite busy taking an extra-long vacation in South Bend. That being said, I have a law-related rant for you.

I AM TIRED OF BLACKACRE.

Yes, I know there's some sort of famous case where somebody sells Blackacre. I assume I'll actually get to read it at some point this semester for property class. That being said, I am tired of every hypothetical in every class every time someone sells ANYTHING to be about BLACKACRE.

Or Greenacre.

Or Redacre.

As soon as the publishers of textbooks become a little less repetitive, I'll probably be more eager to do my reading.

Actually, that's a lie. I will never want to do my reading.

21 Days Later

Did you know it's been three weeks since the earthquake in Haiti? I can't decide if I feel like it just happened or if it feels so long ago that it's at the back of my mind. We get so wrapped up in our day to day life here that we forget there's a whole world beyond us. And it's not easy to help someone so far away when your life is so narrowly focused.

So to all the DePaul 1L's out there, here's how you can help:

Penny wars in the second floor lounge. Until Thursday afternoon, penny wars are happening between all three classes. Don't understand how it works? Let me explain. You want to put change in your own jar and bills in the other classes jars. Any change in ours gets added up, one point per penny, any bills in the other jars takes the other classes points down, $1=100 points. So find your competitive edge and get rid of that spare change I KNOW you have lying around in your apartment/wallet/backpack. Just dump it out. And throw a dollar each in the other buckets. There are 60-80 of us in EACH section. If we all donated one dollar, we could not only win this, but help Haiti without ever having to pause before we eat our lunch.

Blood drive Thursday afternoon. In the 7th floor lounge on Thursday we're having a blood drive. Now, I probably won't be there since they never let me donate anyway. But you could donate, or even volunteer to help organize if you have a fear of needles. Just email Rochelle at rochelleturrisi@gmail.com and she can tell you how to sign up online for a time to donate. It's an easy way to help and you can do your reading at the same time! Once again, no law school time lost. PLUS, you get a snack. Who doesn't love snacks?!

So there it is, easy ways to help without losing your narrow law school focus. You can catch me tomorrow between Contracts and Crim dumping all of my leftover change into the 1L jar. Hope to see you there.

Everywhere You Look....

One of the best/worst things about law school is that you begin to see lawsuits EVERYWHERE.Taxi pulls too far up in the intersection, narrowly missing a pedestrian? Negligence. A kid hits his little sister? Battery. You come to a bar with one girl and leave with another? Failing to negotiate in good faith. (Thanks for that one, Jacobs.)

And while I can’t yet offer legal advice, at some point during my procrastination while trying not to read property I ran across THIS book cover:

Does that look wonky to you? (Yes, wonky is now a legal term.) It’s because in the interests of censureship, the model has no right breast. Seriously, it’s photoshopped out. And while I’m technically not able to offer legal advice, she should sue. Because if everyone thinks that’s what her breasts look like, she’s never going to work again.

I’m not exactly sure what legal theory we’re going on here, but there’s got to be SOMETHING. I feel bad for her. All those lost future wages. Call me in 2.5 years, kid. We’ll do business. I’ll be researching until then.