Halfway

Tomorrow is July 1st. 1 month til this is all over (and hopefully not to be repeated). I am allllllmost finished with the red PMBR book and the Barbri MPQ 1 book. I started the yellow MEE book today on Agency and hope to start the blue PMBR and MPQ 2 books soon. I'm still not scoring where I need to be--but I'm hoping that missing the questions and reading the answers why is starting to sink in (I'm pretty sure it is in some areas). I think I just need to keep plugging along doing questions and working on the essay questions.

I went to the MBE practice review--it was 2 days and around 14 hours. Truthfully though I think it was two of the most helpful Barbri days yet. The only thing that annoyed me was one lecturer said not to just keep doing questions and to instead focus on reading the outlines--and the next lady said exactly the opposite--not to spend time memorizing the outlines and instead to do as many questions as you can. One would think that Barbri would have come to some sort of consensus on that by now.

31 days--I can do this.

:)

Half and Half

We took the MBE today. I self scored my exam this afternoon and got 55/100 right on the first part and 53/100 right on the second part. That means that after almost 6 months of studying this stuff I am STILL getting almost half wrong. Talk about depressing. I'm beginning to worry that I really might not be able to pass this thing.

Unlikely

What I need to get finished before Wednesday:

1. Property review
2. 175 Property PMBR questions
3. Property MPQ 1-6 and drills
4. Review Torts
5. 175 Torts PMBR questions
6. Torts MPQ 1-6 and drills
7. MBE review for the practice MBE on Wednesday

Riiiiiiight

:)

Sweet Sweet Slumber

One of the few good things about being sick: those 2 green Nyquil pills that promise a night of uninterrupted slumber. I never ever am able to sleep through the night. I'm usually up 2-3 times to pee and one or two more for no good reason. I generally feel like I never get enough sleep. Consequently, I am almost excited when I get to take the Nyquil because I know I will wake up feeling rested for once. In fact, the one or two times I have woken up on a Nyquil night I am so confused that it takes me awhile to figure out what is going on. Too bad I can't take Nyquil every night!

:)

Sickly

Somehow I have managed to get a cold in the middle of June. I can't remember the last time I had a cold in the summer. We are talking runny nose, sore throat, and general achyness. I went to class on Wednesday and decided that I was making both myself and those around me miserable with my incessant sniffing and nose blowing, so I took the tapes and watched them at home. This morning I went and picked up the tapes for Torts and am watching them at home. To be honest, I think I actually prefer watching them at home. I can sit on my comfy couch and not freeze to death in the classroom. However, I will admit that it is somewhat more difficult to pay attention here.

I'm finishing up the Evidence questions tonight and moving on to Property tomorrow. :)

The Beginning

I met my fiancee B almost nine years ago. It was the middle of July and I was working as a lifeguard at the pool. I loved working as a lifeguard. My parents actually didn't want me to work in high school--but they were so proud when I passed the lifeguard test. (I remember vividly my Dad on the porch telling me how proud he was--obviously my parents were very supportive!).

I was very thin back then and as flat as a board in front. It didn't help that I only wore Nike onepiece swimsuits to guard in--that flatten you out even more. B definately knew what he was getting into when he met me!

I had just broken up with my first boyfriend--whom I had dated for almost 2 years. I actually at the time had a crush on one of my fellow guards--but he was much much too cool for me--and I knew it. I was up in the chair one day when a group of guys waled in. I actually thought that they probably were going to be ornery...and I was right. They purposefully disregarded the rules for the diving area and provoked me to reprimand them. However, at the same time they were so funny that I couldn't put any force behind it as I was laughing while yelling at them.

I actually thought that B was the boyfriend of one of my fellow guards because I had seen them talking on a few previous occasions. It turned out that they had played tennis together in high school. (Yes--my then 6'3 230lb fiancee played tennis in high school. and threw his racket into a tree during one of his matches. lol.)

It was increadibly hot that day, and at our pool during the last 15 minutes of every hour we have "Adult Swim" during which the kids had to get out and only the adults could swim (I guess that is obvious). During that time the guards went on break and were free to swim. I decided to get in and get wet to try to cool off. We also had to retrieve the grates from the bottom of the 12'6 area of the pool. I got in the pool and one of the guys--who I really only knew vaguely started talking to me. I was actually a little surprised cause I just wasn't the type of girl that I thought those guys would talk to. I probably need to explain how I was back then (not that its much different now!) I had only had one boyfriend--and he was the only guy I had kissed at that point. I had never had sex. I made straight A's and was a starter on the basketball team from sophomore year on. I worked out every day except for Fridays. I even worked out when I was sick--I remember almost passing out one Saturday morning before my Mom made me go home. I wasn't working out for my weight--I was obsessed with basketball. It was seriously probably one of the top three most important things in my life back then. Additionally, I had severely bad acne when I was in grade school and was made fun of badly. Consequently, I wasn't overly self-confident when it came to my looks or boys--although I was confident when it came to school and sports.

To be continued.... :)

Whoa

Today's lecture was the singing lady. Although I actually got an "A" in property first year--about which I was shocked--and thrilled--I just don't really like property too much. I don't really find it interesting and it bugs me that we need to know rules that no longer exist. I don't really get how that makes sense. If my client has a property question am I going to inform him about what the law USED to be, or what it currently is?

What made the lecture interesting was the lecturer herself. She is the first female lecturer we have had so far, and she used SINGING to make her points memorable. She sang snippets from Destiny's Child's "Survivor" and from MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This" among others. Interesting to say the least.

I can't believe we are already halfway through June. Today I am going to get the Crim questions finished (at least I'm really going to try) and then start the Evidence questions tomorrow. We have the practice MBE next Wednesday and I can't day I'm looking forward to it. Lots to do before then!

:)

Tired

I worked for about 6 hours today--a part time job that I have that involves a lot of running. Fortunately I just got new shoes--the Asics gel ones (they are awesome!! I highly recommend even if they aren't overly cute) so my feet aren't killing me. But the legs! Oh the legs. Back in the day I used to play 6 basketball games in a day and be trying to conince my Coach to sign us up for "just one more". I guess all of the hours parked on the couch aren't great for the stamina. I try to go run on the treadmill a couple days per week, but it just can't compare to the workout from a game. Wouldn't it be nice if girls got together for a couple games of pick-up like the guys do?

I read 16 pages of Evidence today on my breaks at work and am close tofinishing the Crim Law PMBR questions. I want to finish the Crim Pro PMBR questions tonight if possible. People keep telling em that the PMBR questions are supposed to be much harder, but somehow I do better on the PMBR ones than on the MPQ paced program ones. I'm not sure if its because the MPQ ones are online so I feel pressured or what.

We got my Dad a cool lamp and set of Pro V1 golf balls for Father's Day. Hopefully he will like them. I really can't wait for this to be over--yet at the same time I feel like its going too fast and I just can't seem to keep up.

:)

It can't get much worse than that, right?

Day 2 of property was mind numbingly terrible. 4 hours long and way more than I can hope to remember. I can't wait to see what my scores on THOSE practice questions will be. Doing Crim Law PMBR this weekend. I'm a little behind, hoping to catch up soon.

Only 48 more days!

:)

Evidence

Today was the first day of the Evidence lecture. It was painful--by far the most painful yet. It lasted 4 hours and 20 minutes, and apparently I had forgotten how difficult Evidence is. Its just so complicated and there are so many rules to remember. The lecturer (Rossi) was about in the middle as far as lecturers go. The positive was that he was kinda likeable and reminded me of Alan Alda (as someone pointed out in the restroom during the break). The negative was that he had a tendency to repeat himself, thereby dragging out a lecture that was alreay long and complicated enough.

No pool time today--although it was nice out B was just a little too cooked to sit in the sun again so he played GTA IV while I did Crim Law PMBR questions and a little online shopping.

More evidence fun tomorrow--but at least it will be Friday! :)

:)

This Sucks

This just sucks. I know I signed up for this and there's no choice if I want to practice--but I just don't want to study this stuff. I can't seem to grasp any of it well enough to get most of the practice questions right. I can't even imagine what it is going to be like when we start the essays.

On the bright side, today was an absolutely gorgeous day in which I both ran some errands this morning and got in some pool time in the afternoon. I did review my Crim Law notes at the pool...but I don't feel like doing any more tonight.

Top Chef season finale--I definately will not be studying from 9-10!

:)

Rejuvination

This weekend at home was just what I needed to recharge the batteries for some more Barbri fun. We'll see how Crim Law goes--that was just a mighty strange lecture. Particuraly where he told us about how he likes to stay up at night thinking about beastiality multiple choice questions for the MBE.

B is coming down tomorrow--that means good nights of sleep, home cooked meals, and plenty of snuggles! Less than 2 months left--52 days!!

:)

Last Day of Contracts

I really feel like I have a much better foundation upon which to rely for Contracts. However, there is ALOT to remember. I feel like the subjects just keep passing by and the info just keeps piling up and I have no clue how I am going to remember it all. And I'm still not doing well enough on the practice questions. Am I supposed to be doing well at this point? When we complete a subject and I have to move on to study the next subject, should I be getting good scores on the questions for the subject we completed? Seems like the answer is obviously yes--and I'm not. I'm seriously afraid I might fail the bar.

In happier news, I'm home. and it really just makes me so much happier to be here--even if I do have to study. Its supposed to be in the 90's tomorrow--I'll be spending the day in a lounge chair with my Contracts notes!

:)

Penguins

I really enjoyed watching the Penguins-Redwings series. I was for the Penguins--but I had to admit that the Redwings were a really tough team. They were dominating on both offense and defense. But speaking of tough--how about Malone who TOOK A PUCK TO THE FACE, had his face reconstructed, and then PLAYED THE NEXT DAY! After suffering a broken nose myself--I am utterly amazed at such a display of toughness and heart. I also had to respect the Redwings player that took a skate to the face and kept playing.

One more day of BarBri class and then its home for the weekend!!!

:)

Contracts continued

Today Epstein told us that "Contracts are not like masturbation." I don't even know what to say about that. Yesterday he gave us the image of him and Sharon Stone in the shower. At least it keeps it interesting, I guess.

I can't believe we have 2 more months of this--and at the same time I feel like there is not enough time to learn all of this. I am not sure how many hours per day I should be studying--and it makes me feel guilty all the time.

Just 2 more months--actually a little less. Then I can move into my new house and get a month off and start the rest of my life!!

:)

Week 2

This week we are on contracts. This is not such a bad week for several reasons. First, we only have a 3 day week since we get monday and friday off. Second, contracts was one of my favorite subjects in law school--whereas con law was one of my least favorites. In fact, while studying con law for the bar I have realized that I probably did not deserve to pass my 1L con law exam. I owe a thank you to my con law prof for saving my butt.


Today didn't really seem so bad--I actually am liking Epstein's style of lecturing much better than Chemerinsky's style. His use of examples is much clearer to me.

I also realized that I need to be looking at the CMR instead of focusing on the lecture outlines. When I was doing the questions last week I hasn't even looked at the CMR, so when I finally read the CMR on con law I realized that most of the answers to the questions I missed were in there!

Finally, I get to go home this weekend! Nothing like the family and the fiance to raise my spirits! Despite the fact that I feel like I shouldn't be seen out because I should be studying, I hope someone feels like taking me to dinner!

:)