A blessing in disguise

This weekend, most of us received our packets telling us that we have officially been approved to take the Kansas Bar Exam on July 29-30.  A bunch of papers came enclosed, and one of them listed all the topics that are going to be tested on the exam.  I put all those papers aside to read the week before the exam, but one of my friends examined the documents a little more closely than I and noticed that two of the topics we all thought were going to be on the exam were not listed.

I e-mailed the attorney admissions people who told me the following:  "Rule 704 states the topics which can be covered, however,  the letter from the Board for the July 2008 examination states the specific topics which will be covered."  Using my analytical reasoning skills that I so keenly developed in law school, I determined that those two subjects that were omitted from the list will NOT be on the exam.

Since I'm the representative for our bar review class, I asked the bar review company to check into this and see what they found.  They received the same answer.  Basically, something happened with the bar examiners that caused them to slip up and not make them available for testing next month.  Now, why they tell us this is beyond me.  Don't get me wrong, I'm more than grateful, but commercial paper has consistently been listed as one of the topics that could potentially be tested, and was not tested for many years, until this past exam.  If I were the bar examiners, I would have just let it go.  But lucky for me and the rest of my classmates, I'm not on the Board, and we know that conflicts and corporations aren't on there.

Don't interpret my joy about this situation to mean that I'm not going to study them; truthfully, I'm nervous that they may somehow appear and then I'll be screwed (especially with conflicts...I never took that course and don't know the first thing about conflicts of laws except that the supremacy clause beats everything else.)  It's a big thing to just throw out two topics, but it will certainly help me focus my studying a little better.

On a completely different note, before my stress fracture, I promised my friend Matt that I would do Dog Days with him the summer.  (For those of you who aren't familiar, Dog Days is a fitness camp--kinda-- run by an ex-marine.  He does it for free to whip Lawrence into shape.)  Well, I'm fully healed and am sticking by my promise: I will attend (and most likely get my butt kicked by) my first Dog Days Session tomorrow morning.....at 6 a.m.

It's coming....

Today and tomorrow mark one month until the bar. Doomsday approaches.


On another note, I haven't talked about my contacts for a while. You probably thought that I had mastered the finicky pieces of plastic, but you thought wrong. There was a delay in between the time that I did the trial run to the time that I actually acquired the pair(s) I am supposed to use regularly. In that time, my aptitude for putting in my contacts completely left me. When I finally got my "regular" contacts last week, it again took me at least 20 minutes to put them in. That time has since gradually decreased, culminating with me successfully placing my contacts on the FIRST try on BOTH eyes today. It was definitely a feeling of accomplishment.

Other than fiddling with my contacts, I spent the majority of today packing up my room. There is still a lot of crap strewn all around, but a lot of the big things that I don't use on a daily basis are in boxes and ready to be moved to my soon-to-be new residence. Fortunately, my soon-to-be roommate gets possession of our abode Tuesday, so even though I'm not moving in until after the bar, I'll be able to move a bunch of my stuff (which will help eliminate a lot of stress in the 24-hours we have after the bar to be out of our house).

Tonight, I'm working a shift for someone at the library. I have no energy (even writing this entry is draining), and if I"m this exhausted with still a month to go, I can't imagine how indecipherable my sentences will be after a month of even more intense studying and the actual test. On the bright side (and pulling it all together now...), because I was prescribed daily lenses, I was able to take my contacts out at school. Because I carry a toothbrush/toothpaste with me almost everywhere I go, my teeth are also brushed, and thus, I am half way to my bed already. :)

Things that make you go HMMMMM.....

I had one of those moments today where I heard about something, something I was "involved" in, and wonder if I should have taken a different route.  Let me back up, a few weeks ago, a situation happened that caused me to be very upset with a friend of mine, along with many other of my friends.  I've been contemplating  what/if I should do something to confront the situation, when today I heard that people who were both directly and indirectly involved have confronted our mutual friend about what happened. I'm sorry to be so vague, but the details are really irrelevant.  This caused me to step back and wonder WHY I didn't do anything. 

Generally, I'm a non-confrontational person. I don't like fights, arguments, or even disagreements.  That doesn't mean I sit by and let people walk all over me, but I certainly choose my battles. Often times, even when I choose to confront the issue, I will take the easier way out by talking to the person in a less direct manner.  I know this isn't always the most appropriate, but it's either that method or none at all.  I've certainly learned to become more confrontational over the past couple years having lived with the roommates that I do (not to say that they are bad roommates by any means.  In fact, I think we've worked out pretty well together. Just one roommate responds best to facing things directly and I've learned and --at least I think-- improved upon that.)

Is the less non-confrontational way better? Do I need to be more confrontational and say what's on my mind? What I'm upset about?  Or is that not me?  By changing that style, will I significantly change who I am and how I handle the ways of the world?  Obviously this isn't going to be settled by one post here, and it will take some development over time, if things are to change at all, but they are interesting questions to pose.

On a side note, I'm much more sore from running yesterday than I ever anticipated.  Guess I lost more of my running aptitudes than I thought.

And I was runn-ing!

Today was the day: the first day in 6 weeks I have put my feet to the pavement and taken off running.  I ran the Lawrence Half-marathon in April, and as a result of my training, suffered a very minor stress fracture.  I went to the doctor and he told me to stay off of it for 6-8 weeks. Because I got booted off of my parent's insurance and only have "major medical" coverage, I haven't been able to go back to the doctor (unless I want to pay for the entire visit...probably close to $300 or more if you count in the x-ray they would have to take). That being said, I haven't gone back. But it's been 8 weeks since the race and 6 weeks since the doctors appointment, so I self-diagnosed myself as "healthy" again.  I ran about 3.25 miles in 30 minutes.  Not too bad, but I will definitely aim to improve that. :)

Last night I got to play games again!  My friends and I gathered for a rousing rendition of "Scategories", probably my favorite game (which shouldn't be too surprising considering my soon-to-be profession and how you spent a lot of the time playing advocating that your answer fits the category).  I made some brownies to share with everyone, but much to my dismay, my box of Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies turned out to be Betty Crocker chocolate cake!  EEK!  I've drafted a letter which I intend to send them asking for a refund of my money because they have breached the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose in not supplying me the correct mix.  We'll see what happens with that.... :)

It's 9:30 on a Friday night, and I'm off to bed. Lame? Yes. Necessary? Yes. How it will feel: AWESOME. 

Cilantro: God's gift to taste buds

One of the few things I am still finding pleasure in during these bleak days of bar preparation is food.  Although fortunately (or unfortunately, depending upon how you look at it), the higher summer temperature is sufficiently keeping my body temperature up, and is thus decreasing my appetite, I still have (and make) plenty of opportunities to indulge in the delectable dishes I enjoy so much.  Tonight I made some black bean mango salsa. Since it's supposed to be refrigerated for an hour before eating, and I literally just finished, I have only gotten a small taste of its potential...but if that one bite says anything, I won't have any problem eating all of that...very quickly. 

One of the other things that brings me joy is getting a latte in the morning. Fortunately, I have not developed an addiction to caffeine...I can go an entire day without having a headache from no caffeine...but I just love the taste of them.  And as elitist and wrong as it may sound, no one makes a better latte than Starbucks.  Sorry you local coffee shops...I will patronize you when I can, but sometimes (most of the time) you just don't cute it.  My staple: skinny latte with sugar-free hazelnut syrup. Mmmm.

Some of the other things (read: food) that are getting me through the bar exam: lots and lots of propel mix packets, bowl appetite, bagel bites, wing and yummy's nights, ice cream in general, almond and cranberry trail mix, banana chocolate chip bread,  gummy bears, and frontega chicken sandwiches.

Yes, that is a lot of junk food. yes, my diet isn't super great right now.  Yes, I work out a fair amount to keep off the extra poundage.  Yes, you're going to have to deal with it. :)

Shakenspeare

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE board games? Well, I love love LOVE board games. (Clarification: by board games, I don't mean games that are restricted to moving pieces on a board. In fact, most of the games I enjoy most actually have nothing to do with boards.  But I'm pretty sure that you all know what I mean when I say board games. Oh, last point, this includes card games as well.)  For the past couple weeks, I've been attending a book club to discuss Walker Percy's Lost in the Cosmos (good book...deep book...read it when you're ready and able to think long and hard).  Tonight was our last night, and afterward we plated Taboo for quite a while. I loved it. I made a fool of myself at some points (see Shakenspeare supra), but had so much fun.

With the exception of when I'm at home, I don't get to play board games that often.  My roommates don't like them (actually, I only know about one of them for sure...the other I've never asked) and it seems whenever I'm with my other friends, we always have something to do. Hence, no board games.  I do believe that my soon-to-be roommate enjoys them, so playing them more frequently is almost assured. Woot.

Really, this post has no point except to exclaim that I LOVE board games. :)

Worry shatters the peace of life-- faith puts things back together.  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  John 14:27

Waiting for the World to Change

Despite catching the bouquet at the wedding, it was actually a pretty good weekend. I have to admit that I wasn't really looking forward to this wedding. I know and really like Adam and Jody, but they aren't my closet friends, and frankly (I didn't think it was possible) I'm wedding-ed out. But I'm really glad I was there...whenever I get to the actual wedding and realize the significance and the beauty of what goes on, my fears are washed away and am thankful to be part of such a big day in the lives of two wonderful people. This wedding was no exception.

It turned out to be especially because of the rest of the group that was there. I basically have three friend groups here in KS: the law students, the older St. Lawrence Crowd, and the younger St. Lawrence crowd. The older St. Lawrence crowd has really spread out all over the country and we don't all get together very often. But we were partially reunited this weekend and it was great. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my time with the other two groups just as well, but there is just something about being with people who you know believe in the same things you do, and have experienced many of the same things you have. Most of the people I was with have either been through grad school, are currently attending grad school, or will be entering grad school in the fall. That perspective on college and life creates a different understanding of life; the conversations you have change and the fervor with which you discuss and comprehend things changes. But, we have still been through enough things together to have fun. Now, I have to admit, I'm really a transplant into my "older" St. Lawrence crowd. They all went through college together, and I sort of went through their last year with them. Despite that, there is some sort of connections that was more than welcome this weekend and will continue to be so.

Sunday I hit up a Royals game with one of the friends I met last summer and two of his friends. It was also really fun. The best analogy I've come up with for what the bar exam does for you is a pop culture reference to Harry Potter. In the HP series, Harry fight the evil lord voldemort; voldemort's little worker dudes are the dementors. In one of the books (I believe book three) one of Harry's friends describes dementors in the following way:

"Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them... Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. If it can, the Dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself...soul-less and evil. You will be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life."

That is what the bar exam is like. And things like the wedding and the Royals game are absolutely necessary to maintain your sanity. The game was hot (not sticky, fortunately), but we got some sweet hats, I got a tan (just a little burn), won a free sundae from Sheridan's, and the Royals came out with a victory. A great time.


Lastly: my new internet love-Brad Paisely and John Mayer singing "Daughters". MmmmMMMmmm Totally worth the 4:30 video.

Some people only know how to make a living. With God as your Father, you can know how to make a life. "If you love Me, keep my commandments. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me." (John 14:15)