Lawyer

In about a month, I can officially use that title. I'm having my new "esquire" admitted to the bar business cards being made up.

When I saw my number on the list, I think I was more excited that I wouldn't have a winter from hell following the summer from hell than anything else. Maybe it's because I got my scores a month before the majority of my classmates, I feel a bit of a surreal disconnect from what it all means.

Perhaps it will happen at the ceremony or when I have my first job as a practicing attorney, but for now, I still don't feel like I'm about to be a lawyer.

The countdown has nearly concluded

I thought the LSAT was hard.

Then I went to law school.

I thought 1L fall semester finals were hard.

However, spring semester, 2L, and 3L just kept getting harder.



But now those seem such simple tasks with the weight and magnitude of the Bar exam on my shoulders (and boy, they have twisted my shoulder muscles into some deformed state).

I expect the next two days to be two of the most painful in my life - both in a figurative and literal sense. I don't know if I'm ready, but I don't know if anyone ever is.


I just look forward to breathing when it's over.

Weblogger's Day

According to blogsphere, it's the 4th Annual International Weblogger's Day! This year, the theme is "solidarity." Questions asked are:

How can bloggers get together to overcome some of the problems we face in the real world? Can we police acts of hate, intimidation, and sexual violence with what we write? Or do bloggers only inflame what otherwise would be unknown?

It's very easy to write words to inflame anger in others. Yet, seeing words that bring forth realizations of a collective humanity gives me hope that we will be able to put the smack down on the inflammatory words and lead to more encouraging ones instead.

I'm attempting to save time to actually read the international law blogs to which I subscribe along with those of my friends while balancing studying for the bar, but I still haven't quite found the extra push to really start making strides as an international blogger.

Even if my participation may be more passive reader (especially in the next six weeks of personal hell), with what I see in the blogs of others, I believe that some of the questions and goals can be answered and positively accomplished.

At a crossroads

I guess because a *few* months have passed since I last updated, that means it's time for an update.

I've been back Home for more than four months now, and I sit and wonder where I will be in another four.

I don't think I had the same return culture shock as I did the last time I was abroad. There are several reasons this could be: 1) I didn't return to "classroom" instruction - I had an externship this time; 2) I wasn't returning to where I had been immediately prior to being abroad - so the return culture shock being two-fold may have cancelled itself out; or 3) I was not returning to a plate that was quite as full this time.

At times, it still feels a little strange to be home, but that's not always a bad thing. It doesn't feel as hard to reconnect with people; in fact, I think I've seen a greater variety of old friends in the past four months than I have in years. I've gotten back into the theatre scene. Although I'm sad to say I'll have to put that on hiatus again with my attention needed elswhere in the coming months.

I have a few weeks of balancing fun with getting my life in order - with a trip to D.C. and graduation in Malibu thrown in for good measure - before I hit the review books (quite possibly literally) and classes for the Bar. If I thought I had no life during law school, I'm really not going to have one until that nasty test is out of the way. Thankfully, I have the ethics test passed and no longer have to worry about that one.

But the road doesn't end with passing the Bar - I still have to find a job. Scratch that - a career. Knowing how much the Bar alone will be stressing me, I'm really not looking forward to the joblessness that awaits once that it over. The past three four years have, for the most part, been an uphill battle, but the end of the battle still looks very uncertain. :/

16 November

Next year, someone remind me not to get out of bed on 16 November.

It is gaining a reputation as a REALLY bad day for me.

If nobody is opposed, we can just start skipping it.

Europe v. EU

I loved the bumper sticker - or rather back window sticker - I saw today while I was out on my walk. I forgot the exact wording because my brain is too overloaded right now, but the drift of it was Loving Europe, Hating the EU.

I've always been a fan of Europe, and I've had slightly negative feelings about the EU...not that my view on it is as relevant as people actually living in the middle of it. But now that I'm studying EU law & institutions, it is beginning to remind me of the ICC - all bark, no bite.

I just wonder how far this growing dissatisfaction will grow - enough to create big waves? What will happen if someone wants to pull out? It is set forth in a treaty, and signatories are supposed to be able to withdraw from a treaty, right? If one country pulls out, will others follow suit? And what happens if some country is in such a huge violation of EU law and doesn't pay the penalties against them *cough*Greece*cough* - if it gets really, really, really bad, can they kick someone out? That would be scandalous!

Growing Up & Getting Older

Age can certainly catch up with you in a split second. While I don't really feel that old nor look that old - as the poor check-out woman at Somerfields can attest to her complete embarrassment that I was much older than 18 - age is something I now need to take into consideration for many things in life.

I'm too old to go backpacking through Europe. Okay - so I wasn't exactly *backpacking* as the guy at the hostel in Prague indicated I had far too much luggage, but moving from city to city and country to country covering 5 countries & 9 cities in 20-some days was close enough. I was tired before I even left the UK. And by the time I did get to Prague, everything was looking and feeling the same; it really wasn't fun any more. I'm at the age where vacationing in nice hotels in one or two cities over a week or two sounds much more appealling.

I'm also too old not to have certain niceties. Living in a dorm-like environment in London at 20 is one thing; living in a dorm-like environment in London at 27 is quite another. Among other things, I need a real kitchen where I can actually cook meals & store food - not just microwave a frozen dinner or boil some pasta.

At one time, I could do many things while doing without many things as a poor student. I still may be a poor student, but now I'm less able to live as I once did. These thoughts may not inspire much in the immediate future as I'm stuck in this condition until mid-December, but it does open my eyes to what I want to look forward to once I'm back in the real world.