Week 2

Last week the workload wasn't that bad. This week, for some reason, it seems hectic. I mean, I really don't have that much more this week than last and I'm still on top of my shit like I was last week, but for some wierd reason it just seems more hectic. Maybe it's because I've met some good people and have been slowly drifting further away from work because I've spent a ridiculous amount of time with them (ok, not ridiculous in the normal sense, but ridiculous in the sense that I really don't have all that much time to give). At least I'm still technically ahead in the reading, but it seems like it's quickly becoming A LOT harder to do so. Oh well, at least I'm still having a blast (even more so now). I predict that this weekend will be extremely hectic, even though it's a long weekend.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens to know what'll happen.

What I learned my first week of law school

1. The case where the lady who was awarded $2.7 million by the jury for being burned by the McDonald's coffee wasn't a frivolous lawsuit afterall.

2. If you think you worked your ass off in undergrad, you're probably not clear as to what, exactly, "working your ass off" means, few exceptions.

3. A funny professor really does mean the difference between absolutely sleeping through a boring subject or laughing through it.

4. If your professor isn't one of the professors mentioned in 3 above, you better hope you happen to like this normally boring subject.

5. Wifi is a curse on law students who have both the non-funny professor and the boring subject.

6. Not being able to study at home wasn't an actual inability to do it, it was an unwillingness to do so.

7. Beer is an essential part of the law student/lawyer diet.

First couple days

I've now had some "real" law school experience under my belt and I must say, I LOVE it. Yes, it's hard work (and A LOT of it), but I really do enjoy it. I've been getting up by 7 to get to campus by 8, reading/working on briefs about 6-8 hours a day (excluding Sunday) and yet it's one of the most enjoyable experience I've had in my life (where work is involved).

I've also learned that you really have no idea what you want to do before you come to law school. I really wanted to be a judge (preferably federal, but I'd happily take state), but here I am 2 days into it questioning if I really do want to be a judge.

Based on the few cases I've read thus far, I think I'm going to enjoy property the most of the subjects I have this semester. Note that I said subjects, not classes. Classes are a whole other case and since I've not been in enough classes w/my professors, I'll not pass judgment on them just yet. At least nothing I'm willing to put down officially.

On another note, I LOVE SD also. Little to no traffic (by LA and Bay Area standards), pretty close to the beach (and they're great beaches), the people are terrific, etc., etc., etc.

I definitely plan on being more involved than I was as an UG. Club fair thing is on Thursday and I will certainly be on the e-mail list to AT LEAST one of them. Alright, babbled enough for the time being, giant nap time (a.k.a. sleep).

Orientation

Orientation is over, I've had my "sample" of a law school class and I must say it really doesn't seem so bad thus far. The classes I mean. The work seems killer (eg, here I am on a Saturday two days BEFORE classes start in the library reading. NEVER would have happened when I was an undergrad, I was far too lazy for it).

Orientation was good, met some people, can't say I really "connected" with anyone but it's in my nature not to that quickly. The reading doesn't seem all that difficult as of yet. I had more trouble understanding my undergrad philosophy readings (of which there was plenty). Maybe it was a good thing that I chose philosophy despite the fact I totally didn't enjoy it. More on this subject later since I really haven't had enough to really know what I'm talking about.

I, supposedly, got one of the harder (if not hardest) professors for legal writing and research. Most people cringe at the thought but I'm actually glad I did. Hopefully I'll learn a lot more than if I was in another class with another professor. I've just heard from far too many sources that this is one of the most important classes when it concerns a legal career since it is a huge part of what you will be doing as an attorney. Again, we'll see.

It's official

I am a 1L at USD. For those of you that don't quite get what I mean by that, registration was today. If you still don't get it, I am now a registered student at the University of San Diego School of Law. If you still don't understand that, I really don't know how to help you any further, but feel free to ask.

Got my schedule, it's not too bad at all. In fact, I rather like the schedule. What I didn't like, however, was the amount charged to my credit card today at the bookstore. $598.81 for four classes seems rather extravagant to me. I'm used to the under $50 avg. per class my former major (philosophy) allowed. I considered getting some of the books from Craigslist at a much cheaper price, with the catch being they're used and already been written/highlighted in. Came close to pulling the trigger, but I really despise having writing in my books and figured that the money saved would be a relative drop-in-the-bucket compared to the total cost of law school. Conclusion: Screw the $, I'm going with what I like. Such a change from the beginning of my college career where I sought out books which were already highlighted so that I wouldn't have to do it myself. It took several classes to learn that you'd have to hope and assume that the person whose book it was knew what they were doing.

Alright, back to work. Would hate to look like a jackass in orientation, the earliest possible time to look like a jackass in front of your section (I believe).

Mexico

I'm definitely settled now. I've taken what I believe is my last trip to LA until probably Winter break. I am "officially" a San Diegan.

La Jolla Shores is awsome. Very clean beach, beautiful surroundings and very easy to get out to the line. Unfortunately it's because the waves are rather small and slow which isn't so bad, but it makes catching a wave a little harder, even on my 8 ft board. Need to check out some other spots and I'll be doing that tomorrow.

Went to Mexico this weekend, had some good seafood and drank a little. All in all, good times. Except for the fact that I still didn't get my fish tacos. The delicious fish tacos I had in San Felipe all those years ago will probably never be had again. Sadness.

Finally got around to taking a walk around campus last week. I mean all around despite the fact that I will probably never go past the law building. At least it's a nice campus?

Today will be grocery shopping day so that I may feed myself without having to eat out all the time since, well, that gets expensive. Speaking of which, time to go and do that.

Settled

I think today I can finally consider myself "settled" in San Diego. It would have happened earlier, but my surfboard was in a shop in Santa Monica due to an unfortunate dropping incident two weeks ago. I picked it up yesterday, did some surfing and now have my board here, watertight and all. With it, I am settled in. Well, that and the fact that my organizing efforts are now about 95% complete.

So I think I'll take some time out to explain the title of the little shindig. Having gone to the UG that I went to I was surrounded by a bunch of overachievers who probably never saw a B until they hit the UG. I, on the other hand, had seen the full spectrum. Well, almost. All but an F, I did briefly see an F for a few months but found out the next school year that there was a mistake and I actually got a D-. I had the same teacher and she informed me of the error when I saw her again in the Fall. Thus far in my life I've always been an underacheiver, just one that did enough to get what he needed/wanted to. I'm going to put in my best efforts to change that in the upcoming months/years and, hopefully, it will lead to better things in life that would have never been had I chosen to remain the underachieving fool that I've always been.