Hitting the Books

It's the end of the semester!  Time to start really hitting the books.  Here are my top 7 BEST study tips.  I'm sharing only because I like you.  (Yes, just you.  There.  Reading this.)

  5.   Location, Location, Location:  Think about where you want to study.  By the time finals came around, I was sick of the library.  So then I had to think about where else I could study.  I wanted people around, but I wanted to be able to plug my computer in so that I could listen to music without draining my battery.  My favorites?  Panera and Einstein’s Bagels.  Free coffee refills, bagels, soup, and they won’t kick you out.  I also studied in other parts of school (that nice little alcove on the second floor or the big heavy wooden tables of the seventh floor), and in my own room.*  By the time the end of the semester came around, I avoided the library like the plague.


4.  Use other people’s outlines:  Many have come before you, many will come after you.  Use other people’s outlines to explain what you didn’t understand, or show you a point of law you’ve missed entirely.
  

     3.  Make your own outlines!  (Or heavily edit someone else’s):  You don’t understand anyone’s language quite like your own, and the whole point of the outline is to put the law in your own words.  But don’t ask me HOW to make an outline.  I did it differently than everybody else.  Which is to say, wrong.**
    

           2.  Study in Frequent Short Bursts:  You can’t study non-stop, you’ll go crazy.  Study often, but not for very long.  Revise and memorize that outline for 45 minutes, take a ten minute break.  Every 3 cycles make a half hour phone call, go get food, watch TV.  Something to take you away from the work.  Don’t take too long to relax, though, or you’ll find it really hard to get back to work.
    

           1.  Don’t go overboard.  Figure out the major themes, and what cases define those major themes.  You studied the cases you studied FOR A REASON.  And that reason was to illustrate an important rule in the law, NOT to know an obscure fact or detail.

What are your well-guarded study secrets that you’re willing to share for the good of all?  Help a friend in the comments!

______________________________

*Not very often though.  Studying in my room is far too distracting.

**Not that doing it wrong didn’t work out.

Shiny, Happy People

Dear Diary,

I now remember why I never come home and I hate it here so much

Oooo. Too melodramatic. Must stop channeling eighth grade.

The fact is, everything that glitters doesn't remain gold for long. The other fact is that I spend a lot of time on a lawnmower lately, and I spend more than enough time thinking.

At first, being at home was a great joy. I remembered how life used to be and it was this weird feeling of mini-nostalgia. But now trying to get the lawn mowed before it rains while the neighbors laugh at my stupid mistakes doesn't feel so good. It mostly feels like I have to bust my ass to make $50 a week so that I can buy a tiny cup of $1 coffee twice a week and still afford insurance, etc.

Work is great, I guess, except that there's not enough for me to do. Today I sat for two hours while I waited for phone calls. I did all of the petitions and orders necessary for a guardianship case, made appointments, called attorneys for advice on appropriate notice, and sent three client letters. I was still done by 12:30. I'm beginning to think that efficiency is not appreciated in the working world.

So summer has lost its glow and it's mid-June. But that doesn't mean I'm excited for school to start. Just like time at home, law school has about a two-week shiny period. Classes are new, the cases are different and exciting, you're caught up with your work and get to see friends every weekend. And then, just like that, the glitter is gone. You remember that the reason you're learning all this information is to take an exam, that you're paying far too much money in tuition to spend time going out with friends and that you're already behind in reading those exciting new cases.

No, I'm not ready for a whole new period of shiny yet. Shiny can be disappointing. It's better to wait until life is unbearably dull, because then shiny, though short-lived, is incredibly exciting.

She Works Hard For (No) Money

Oh, redesign. You look so modern. Or overly busy. I can't decide.

I like trains.

And with that having been said, I drafted my very first guardianship petition completely on my own. I've been doing them for a couple weeks now, but I've always had a model to work off of so that I just had to tailor to specific facts. But this week, I went to client meetings, took notes, did research, and drafted a completely new petition to file in court sometime next week after the client signs it.

And when I got it back from the attorney, it was all marked up in a good way. I didn't make "You forgot to say this" mistakes. The editing marks scoring the paper were all about making my language sound better. I forgot to cite to one statute, that I didn't even know to cite to. And one of the sections was in the wrong place. (Remember, Amanda, PUT THE BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT. Has LARC taught me nothing??) It was such a great feeling.

Beyond that, I've done all the documents for three of the hearings for grandparent guardianship day, helped write and edit a grant proposal, and gotten the paperwork and accounting ready for a fee request from a client trust. And the best part is? I know my work is GOING somewhere. I don't do busy work. There aren't enough hands to do the necessary work, so there isn't any time to LEARN what I'm supposed to be doing. There's just "Do the work and we'll deal with the mistakes when you're done."

The efficient, list-making, enjoy-being-busy side of me loves it. I can already see the result of the work I'm doing. Things is good. And my boss just decided last week that since I get things done so quickly, they're going to try to do ANOTHER day-long guardianship proceeding in a different county. Who gets to do all the work?

ME.

So. Excited.

Whistle While You Work

My quote of the last two weeks? "It's on my to-do list." Want to know a secret?

I don't have a to-do list. Well, not REALLY. I have a running list in my head of things I need to do. Or rather, I have several lists of things that I need to do. Things for me (GET A HAIRCUT), Things for other people (MOW THE LAWN), Things for work (2 Petitions, Doc Request, Formal Letter, Motion to Consolidate, and these legal blogs). The lists keep crossing in my head, every which way, and I'm not really doing a great job staying focused. Oh, I know what I have to do, and even what order I need to do it in. But while I'm working diligently on one list, another list creeps in and takes over my mind. There I am, doing data entry and before I know it my mind has moved on without me. "I need to make that appointment, and I really need to talk to that one person, and didn't someone e-mail me that I need to respond to? Did I already respond to them? Dammit." It's getting frustrating. And there's too much going on to be making lists. Sigh.

So you can imagine how badly I needed to just walk away from everything for a little while. And that's how I ended up in Milwaukee, land of the hipsters.

Well, not really. You see, my aunt is moving back into the home she and my sisters lived in when they were growing up. She's been renovating for a couple months now, and while she's not done, I have to say it's going to be gorgeous. However, she's renting out her old house, incidentally to a friend of mine. We'll call this friend Sweatervest. (Because he wears sweatervests. And trench coats. And spent his time looking at Italian leather shoes during class.) He needs to move in on Wednesday, so I spent this weekend moving stuff into the new house and helping to clean the floors and whatnot of the old house. My calves are killing me because my aunt's new digs? Are on the second floor of a great big old house. (Let's be clear, Sweatervest. You owe me a drink. I'll be in town this weekend to redeem my well-deserved reward.)

Beyond that, I pretty much spent time with my aunts, parents, and cousins just doing what families do: Nothing and mocking each other. Because I really have nothing else to say, I'll just throw you some quotes from this weekend.

"You know, hipsters. Twenty somethings with huge ironic mustaches wearing at least two scarves?"

"You have no screens on your windows! You're not afraid of bugs?" "No, my bigger concern is squirrels."

"He's pimpin' my crib."

"Did you see that fox?!" "Butch, that was a cat. Did you see that elephant? Oh wait. No, that was a mailbox."

As you can see, there's no love lost between my family members. Because there wasn't much there to begin with. ZING! Just kidding. We like each other. Usually.

Till Wednesday, then. I still have to write about DUI's. I'ze gots to get paid.