I'm alive

It's been quite some time since the last post, but I've been avoiding the thought of law school over the holidays. In two weeks, I'll receive my first set of grades. I get more and more nervous as the day approaches. Maybe we'll receive our grades early so I can wash away the misery with some ice cold golden brown ale before next semester starts. Since I'm currently away from the house during the holidays, I am unable to share my "Notes & Quotes." In keeping this short, I'll leave you with one of my new favorite tips of advice from my Torts professor:

"If you stumble across a kid drowning in a pool, lake, etc., let him rough it on his own. Maybe he'll make it, maybe he won't. At least his parents can't sue you for a Tort. Remember, you have no duty to willfully act."

Combo

I have yet to compile together my quotes for the semester, so that'll have to wait until later. Instead I've drawn together a semester ending hypo that combines the knowledge I've gained in my first semester.

Alfred orally agrees to purchase Barry's whiskey still located on Chester's property for $12000. Alfred gives a $6000 check to Barry as a down payment. Barry fails to deliver the whiskey still and cashes Alfred's check. Chester decides to sell his property to Daubert. Alfred learns of the location where the whiskey still is located and goes to the property to pick it up. Daubert sees Alfred entering his property without permission and confronts Alfred. Daubert charges Alfred with a baseball bat. Using a flamethrower and leftover whiskey as fuel, Alfred toasts Daubert before Daubert can deliver a blow. The whole property, including the timber, went up in smoke. Amazingly the still is just as shiny as it was before the blaze. Chester learns of the still being on his former property and returns to take back what he believes is his. It is clear the contract value of the property sold to Chester did not include the value of an authentic Redneck still. Discuss the rights of all parties.

I would attempt to answer this, but my brain is still mush. Figure out the answer on your own. I'll provide my model answer at a later date.

Break time

The first semester is finished. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my new freedom. I feel lost at sea searching for a beer...oops, two different thoughts blended together. It's almost like life just came to a sudden halt. It's actually uncomfortable. I'm not sure if I'd rather be in the bar or in the library. Maybe they should just put a bar in the library. Then we'd never want to leave. Most people worry more and more as the days roll by knowing that we will not be receiving any grades until the first week of January. I, however, see it from a totally different perspective. Receiving grades before the holidays will be analogous to receiving either (a) a lump of coal in your stocking or (b) a new IPOD. Neither is worth a crap. So why waste time worrying about it?

And this chapter comes to a close...

Meet you at the bar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fireworks in the sky...almost

One to go. Last night's exam was in Contracts and it proved to be much more difficult than my first exam. I finished it in about 2.5 hours as did most people. I felt like I did well. There's a chance that I got an A although slim. When I left the exam room, I felt like I produced B or B+ material. After discussing it with some of my peers, it seemed that they felt the same. It's advised that you don't discuss the exam contents with others because everyone catches issues that you didn't. On the reverse side of the coin, there are always a few issues that you catch and they didn't. Once again, it's now in the hands of the professor. Let us pray for the A. This professor has been around since 34 B.C. and his grade trends tend to be a little higher than most professors. Hopefully this works out in my favor. Monday is the season finale. I'll bless you with some comical relief after the exam periods are over. Be sure to look out for my notebook of quotes.

2 bottles of beer on the wall

The first exam has come and gone. Now I know what it feels like to take a real law school exam under real conditions. I must say it's the quickest three hours I've ever spent. It seemed like it was over as soon as it started. Maybe that's because my exam answers accumulated in length to be longer than my final writing assignment. Time is definitely an issue. Every single person in the exam room was working away up until the very last minute. I felt like I could have used another hour to expand my analysis of the issues. However, making due with the time allotted, I felt very pleased with my performance. I think I successfully knocked everything down. Even if I did, my grade will be weighted against my peers. I guess I'll just wait and see. Two more exams to go...I have an extra pep in my step now that I got that first one out of the way. It's a big relief to have that first one down. As soon as the exam was over, I grabbed a beer with a friend and then we hit the books to study for the next exam. If the other two exams go as well as the first, I'll be pretty damn happy.

Tick, tick, tick...

It's here. 16 hours until the first exam. Torts...and I'm ready! I intend on getting some good sleep, some good food, and browse my "skinny" outline just before the test. I'll arrive an hour early to setup shop and then we'll be ready to kick it. I'm sort of nervous, but not really because of the exam. Everyone has the option to either take the exam on paper or on a laptop. I've chosen to take it on the laptop since I can type much faster than I write. Plus, my penmanship sucks. For those taking the exam on the laptop, we must use this software package to prevent cheating (e.g., using resources on the computer). When you start the software, it reboots the computer locking everything but this test software which consists of nothing but a Word processor application. My fear is the crap won't work. So hopefully everything will go well and I'll end up with a good grade. Here we go...

Status Yo

Want some updates? Well here ya go. I've been working my tail off trying to prepare for this whole law school exam thing. The material is rather easy to comprehend, it's just that everything is so questionable. Nothing is ever certain. The law school stress that people talk about comes from the mass amount of preparation needed for finals. I wish it were like normal school where you get graded based on how well you do. Instead, it's how well you do against the other jokers. I know I repeat myself often on this topic, but I just can't stress how important it is.

What about me? I've been concentrating primarily on my first two exams as of late...and trying not to get mugged. There's been a lot of purse snatching in the news lately. Luckily, I don't carry a purse, only a backpack. I bet criminal defense attorney's enjoy the holiday season in this city.

I took a practice exam for Contracts and did pretty damn well compared to the model answer provided. I'm happy about that, but I still need to take a few more exams and brush through my outline a few more times. Luckily, or maybe not, it's my second final.

My first final is Torts. I wish it were last since it seems to be the most straight forward (if that's possible). I've studied a lot for Torts and I'm about 80% done studying. I'll be taking some practice exams for Torts tomorrow. I'll fill you in later.

My last exam is Property. It's the only Civil Law course that I have this semester. I started studying for it first, but have abandoned it somewhat to concentrate on the other two courses. I'm relying on the fact that we have an additional weekend to prepare for it. I want to knock out studying for Torts and Contracts before I revisit Property. I veered away from the 3-2-1 study plan. It worked well in the beginning (and I'm sure I'll reuse it next semester), but now I'm more concerned with refining my knowledge for next week's exams.

It seems I'm blabbering in this post. So I'll quit before I get further behind. Off to study for a couple more hours before hitting the sack. I'll keep you up to date.