Letter 13 from former mooter from 05-06:
Look I hate to pull the 2L card....but chill out and get back to studying you lowly 1L's....hahahaha
Letter 14 from former mooter going to another law school:
[his tier one law school] would win. This school is so deeply connected to the right wing, we could actually declare war. I would be a conscientious objector, but my little law school would wiretap you all, lock you in Guantanamo, and torture you until you proclaimed us the winner.
Letter 15 from me:
I agree that George Mason would win, but they would
definately take [my law school] in becuase we're faith based.
(Methodist?? Isnt that what W is? ) So, the school is
basically right also. Its the secular devil
worshipping non-affiliated schools that would go down.
PS. My torts professor graduated from George Mason and
shes really scary.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Ex-Moot Court Member email discussion
I love and miss our Undergraduate Moot Court Team. I sent them a link to a slate article written about our former Moot Court Rivals, Patrick Henry. That email transformed into a crazy discussion about my law school's legal writing credentials. So, I decided to post the whole series.
Letter 1 (from me to all the moot court people from the last two years):
This article is a series of emails discussing Patrick Henry students and their outlooks and effects of politics. Some of its kind of funny...but definitely informative. Anyway, I thought it would entertain some of you. Hope you're all doing well.
http://www.slate.com/id/2174006/entry/2174007/
Letter 2 (from a former teammate):
Amy, it's so good to hear from you. How is law school?
COMMENT: well, if that isn’t a loaded question. Maybe I could have said, oh its great, and left it at that, but I just couldn’t let that happen. I proceeded to write a "book" as it was later called.
Letter 3 (written from me in response to former mooters email):
For efficiency's sake, I’m going to reply to everyone.
Law school is awesome and horrible all at the same time. I REALLY wish I knew I could read, brief, and study this much in undergrad. My grades would have been MUCH better. But anyway, law school is interesting and challenging (big surprise!), but it is also very overwhelming. It’s more work each week than you ever though you could get done (at least from my point of view). And it kind of takes over your life. (I.e. you pretty much don’t get to do anything but study most of the time). Somehow it’s more doable than you
Think it is before going in, But people don’t realize just how much time it will actually require, even if you know technically that you will have to study 50-60 hours a week outside of class. I think the key is to just stay on top of the reading, and stay organized so
You know what you have to do and when.
DISCLAIMER: the following paragraph might at times sound like I am being Arrogant. Please do not take it this way.
Anyway, more specific to my experience, the first week I was freaking out because I felt like everyone was really smart. And I was thinking to myself, I went to [my law school], why is everyone so smart!?!?! Didnt I go here because the competition was going to be
EASIER!?!?! Well, later I realized that everyone just PRETENDS to know what they're talking about. Also, as a side note, don’t go to law school looking to find a husband/boyfriend/whatever. From my experience, about 95% of them men seem to be ASSHOLES. (No offense, guys- yall are in the other 5%). The first week of class,
Our teachers didn’t really force the Socratic method, and that only reinforced my feeling that everyone was really on top of things. People were allowed to raise their hands, and it escaped my thought process that people only raise their hands when they know the
Answer. Then, the next week started and they started calling on people and making them stand up and answer questions. (PS its really scary...not as scary as [moot court coach]
Questioning you in moot court practice though :) ) THEN I realized.... ok, people aren’t ass awesome as they project themselves to be. I was OK after that.... and although there is some strict competition, how well you do seems to be related to how much time
And effort you put into it.
So, to conclude, Law school is pretty cool, but I do miss my life. (I don’t even have TV in order to prevent distractions).
Oh, and if your planning on going to law school, try and get a grip on your competitiveness now. Law school has pretty much made me a monster. I have a story to
Demonstrate this point: In Legal writing, they made us do a diagnostic exam. The highest grade in the class was 19, average 13, and lowest 7. I got my paper back and I got an 18. Instead of being happy that I didn’t fail, all I could think about was who got the 19. (I
Still don’t know). So, I’m just saying, if you could start working on not being so competitive now, that would probably save you some issues in Law school.
Oh, and I finally got called on and kicked ass (if I do say so myself). Not to brag, but I had people come up to me and say they were really impressed. That frontloading training you get in moot court helps...well pretty much everything you do in moot court helps. I answered every question efficiently and correctly, right on point. And I read the case and
Briefed it like a whole week and a half ago. (I don’t usually get this ahead, we just got behind). I have been told I sounded really confident, but inside I was about to have a heart attack, and I was shaking. But whatever, no one could tell and I totally knew all the answer. I’m just saying, I’m kind of a badass. (lol)
Anyway, I miss everyone, and I miss moot court and the good old undergraduate days.
Oh, I have another really funny story for yall. A guy who went to [former undergrad university] ended up going to law school at [my law school]. We were talking, and he was like "[moot court coach/pre law advisor] tried to talk me out of it" (we were talking about law school) and I said "yeah me too! [Moot court coach/pre law advisor] tried
To get me to go to [other better law school out of state], rather than [my law school]."
And he replied, "No, I meant she tried to talk me out of law school in general, not [my law school]”.
[Long uncomfortable silence].
AHAHHAHA.
(I’m sorry, it’s mean to laugh at him). Needless to say, I don’t think he’s staying up
With the reading.... So, [moot court coach/pre law advisor]--I think you were right.
When are you ever wrong?
Anyway, again, I love you guys...call me.
Love,
Amy
Letter 4 (from last years moot court captain):
All right Amy, If you have this much time to write a book about law school, you have much more free time than you think you do. Good lord. Lol, j/k, I should be listening to my tutor instead of writing this email. See what I mean, no time.
Letter 5 (reply to letter 4):
Well, Allow me to retort...(picture, me saying it, only I’m Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction). Don’t push me or Ill pull out the Ezekiel 17:25 or whatever.
I’m usually [where my parents live] at this time. I go home every Friday morning at 630am and clean my dad’s house and do paperwork for 8 hours and he pays me $100. This is the
Only way to pay my bills because I chose to live alone. Anyway, I’m not there because I faked being sick so I didn’t have to go. There I said it.
So, I can write a book if I want to. Plus, I’m obviously much faster at typing than you are.
I still love you,
Amy
Letter 6 (from captain):
I don't know what they teach in your writing class at [my law school], but brevity and clarity are very important. I'm just saying. It was a good retort though. :)
Letter 7(from me to captain):
Hey, did you just insult my legal writing skills? Now your really tempting me to pull out the bible and start quoting.
Listen, I would like to point out, besides the 18 I got on the diagnostic, I also was one of two people in my writing section to get a check plus on our writing diagnostic. I’m just saying, I’m doing awesome compared to everyone else (Please don’t take these two grades
Away from me, they are all I have to measure my success).
Also, I don’t know what they teach you in writing class at [his law school] but here they teach us that details are important. I don’t think you could have understood why exactly I could write a "book" to everyone today unless you understood that I usually don’t have this time and why.
Letter 8 (other mooter from last year jumps in):
Whoa. This is getting heated. In the interest of preventing a full on law school gang war, can I just say that that article was really interesting?
Mkuh miss yall buhbye.
Letter 9 (my reply to letter 8):
[Mooter who jumped in],
I’m sorry to get you pulled into this.... It’s not right for [former captain] to subject the innocent to his violence. People who start wars go to hell. :) I guess the only way for him to redeem himself is to transfer to "God's Harvard". HAHA.
Amy
***Note: The Slate article called Patrick Henry "God's Harvard"
Letter 10 (from my former moot court partner):
Okay, all I can say is...
DEAR GOD! I walk away from my laptop for a few hours, and ya'll are going NUTS!
I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Amy, I read the article last night, and was going to call you about it. It was really funny. And congrats on the high grade in LRW!
Amy is totally correct about guys in law school being arrogant jerks. They all act like they are so smart...but then they totally choke when they are called on. This, of course, does not include any guys on our team. You guys know better than that, right???????
Love you guys, and miss you so much! We need a reunion!!! (But we have to pencil it around study time!)
Letter 11 (from former moot court partner, again):
Who would win in a gang fight? Amy's law school or former captains law school?
On one hand, [Former captain's law school] would have to storm [Amy’s law school] with tractors and pitchforks. They would be at a clear disadvantage due to the fact that they are storming an urban area.
On the other hand, if [Amy’s law school] went to [former captain's law school], They could see them coming from miles away. There is nowhere for [Amy’s law school] to stock up on provisions. (Besides that shitty Mexican restaurant, which would probably give everyone food poisoning.)
End of comments thus far.... God damn we are some funny people.
Letter 1 (from me to all the moot court people from the last two years):
This article is a series of emails discussing Patrick Henry students and their outlooks and effects of politics. Some of its kind of funny...but definitely informative. Anyway, I thought it would entertain some of you. Hope you're all doing well.
http://www.slate.com/id/2174006/entry/2174007/
Letter 2 (from a former teammate):
Amy, it's so good to hear from you. How is law school?
COMMENT: well, if that isn’t a loaded question. Maybe I could have said, oh its great, and left it at that, but I just couldn’t let that happen. I proceeded to write a "book" as it was later called.
Letter 3 (written from me in response to former mooters email):
For efficiency's sake, I’m going to reply to everyone.
Law school is awesome and horrible all at the same time. I REALLY wish I knew I could read, brief, and study this much in undergrad. My grades would have been MUCH better. But anyway, law school is interesting and challenging (big surprise!), but it is also very overwhelming. It’s more work each week than you ever though you could get done (at least from my point of view). And it kind of takes over your life. (I.e. you pretty much don’t get to do anything but study most of the time). Somehow it’s more doable than you
Think it is before going in, But people don’t realize just how much time it will actually require, even if you know technically that you will have to study 50-60 hours a week outside of class. I think the key is to just stay on top of the reading, and stay organized so
You know what you have to do and when.
DISCLAIMER: the following paragraph might at times sound like I am being Arrogant. Please do not take it this way.
Anyway, more specific to my experience, the first week I was freaking out because I felt like everyone was really smart. And I was thinking to myself, I went to [my law school], why is everyone so smart!?!?! Didnt I go here because the competition was going to be
EASIER!?!?! Well, later I realized that everyone just PRETENDS to know what they're talking about. Also, as a side note, don’t go to law school looking to find a husband/boyfriend/whatever. From my experience, about 95% of them men seem to be ASSHOLES. (No offense, guys- yall are in the other 5%). The first week of class,
Our teachers didn’t really force the Socratic method, and that only reinforced my feeling that everyone was really on top of things. People were allowed to raise their hands, and it escaped my thought process that people only raise their hands when they know the
Answer. Then, the next week started and they started calling on people and making them stand up and answer questions. (PS its really scary...not as scary as [moot court coach]
Questioning you in moot court practice though :) ) THEN I realized.... ok, people aren’t ass awesome as they project themselves to be. I was OK after that.... and although there is some strict competition, how well you do seems to be related to how much time
And effort you put into it.
So, to conclude, Law school is pretty cool, but I do miss my life. (I don’t even have TV in order to prevent distractions).
Oh, and if your planning on going to law school, try and get a grip on your competitiveness now. Law school has pretty much made me a monster. I have a story to
Demonstrate this point: In Legal writing, they made us do a diagnostic exam. The highest grade in the class was 19, average 13, and lowest 7. I got my paper back and I got an 18. Instead of being happy that I didn’t fail, all I could think about was who got the 19. (I
Still don’t know). So, I’m just saying, if you could start working on not being so competitive now, that would probably save you some issues in Law school.
Oh, and I finally got called on and kicked ass (if I do say so myself). Not to brag, but I had people come up to me and say they were really impressed. That frontloading training you get in moot court helps...well pretty much everything you do in moot court helps. I answered every question efficiently and correctly, right on point. And I read the case and
Briefed it like a whole week and a half ago. (I don’t usually get this ahead, we just got behind). I have been told I sounded really confident, but inside I was about to have a heart attack, and I was shaking. But whatever, no one could tell and I totally knew all the answer. I’m just saying, I’m kind of a badass. (lol)
Anyway, I miss everyone, and I miss moot court and the good old undergraduate days.
Oh, I have another really funny story for yall. A guy who went to [former undergrad university] ended up going to law school at [my law school]. We were talking, and he was like "[moot court coach/pre law advisor] tried to talk me out of it" (we were talking about law school) and I said "yeah me too! [Moot court coach/pre law advisor] tried
To get me to go to [other better law school out of state], rather than [my law school]."
And he replied, "No, I meant she tried to talk me out of law school in general, not [my law school]”.
[Long uncomfortable silence].
AHAHHAHA.
(I’m sorry, it’s mean to laugh at him). Needless to say, I don’t think he’s staying up
With the reading.... So, [moot court coach/pre law advisor]--I think you were right.
When are you ever wrong?
Anyway, again, I love you guys...call me.
Love,
Amy
Letter 4 (from last years moot court captain):
All right Amy, If you have this much time to write a book about law school, you have much more free time than you think you do. Good lord. Lol, j/k, I should be listening to my tutor instead of writing this email. See what I mean, no time.
Letter 5 (reply to letter 4):
Well, Allow me to retort...(picture, me saying it, only I’m Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction). Don’t push me or Ill pull out the Ezekiel 17:25 or whatever.
I’m usually [where my parents live] at this time. I go home every Friday morning at 630am and clean my dad’s house and do paperwork for 8 hours and he pays me $100. This is the
Only way to pay my bills because I chose to live alone. Anyway, I’m not there because I faked being sick so I didn’t have to go. There I said it.
So, I can write a book if I want to. Plus, I’m obviously much faster at typing than you are.
I still love you,
Amy
Letter 6 (from captain):
I don't know what they teach in your writing class at [my law school], but brevity and clarity are very important. I'm just saying. It was a good retort though. :)
Letter 7(from me to captain):
Hey, did you just insult my legal writing skills? Now your really tempting me to pull out the bible and start quoting.
Listen, I would like to point out, besides the 18 I got on the diagnostic, I also was one of two people in my writing section to get a check plus on our writing diagnostic. I’m just saying, I’m doing awesome compared to everyone else (Please don’t take these two grades
Away from me, they are all I have to measure my success).
Also, I don’t know what they teach you in writing class at [his law school] but here they teach us that details are important. I don’t think you could have understood why exactly I could write a "book" to everyone today unless you understood that I usually don’t have this time and why.
Letter 8 (other mooter from last year jumps in):
Whoa. This is getting heated. In the interest of preventing a full on law school gang war, can I just say that that article was really interesting?
Mkuh miss yall buhbye.
Letter 9 (my reply to letter 8):
[Mooter who jumped in],
I’m sorry to get you pulled into this.... It’s not right for [former captain] to subject the innocent to his violence. People who start wars go to hell. :) I guess the only way for him to redeem himself is to transfer to "God's Harvard". HAHA.
Amy
***Note: The Slate article called Patrick Henry "God's Harvard"
Letter 10 (from my former moot court partner):
Okay, all I can say is...
DEAR GOD! I walk away from my laptop for a few hours, and ya'll are going NUTS!
I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Amy, I read the article last night, and was going to call you about it. It was really funny. And congrats on the high grade in LRW!
Amy is totally correct about guys in law school being arrogant jerks. They all act like they are so smart...but then they totally choke when they are called on. This, of course, does not include any guys on our team. You guys know better than that, right???????
Love you guys, and miss you so much! We need a reunion!!! (But we have to pencil it around study time!)
Letter 11 (from former moot court partner, again):
Who would win in a gang fight? Amy's law school or former captains law school?
On one hand, [Former captain's law school] would have to storm [Amy’s law school] with tractors and pitchforks. They would be at a clear disadvantage due to the fact that they are storming an urban area.
On the other hand, if [Amy’s law school] went to [former captain's law school], They could see them coming from miles away. There is nowhere for [Amy’s law school] to stock up on provisions. (Besides that shitty Mexican restaurant, which would probably give everyone food poisoning.)
End of comments thus far.... God damn we are some funny people.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
I own murphy's law
I had to take my puppy to the emergency room again. Last friday she got stung by something and her face swelled up. She had to go stay at the vets office for several hours. She was given a steroid and benedryl. THIS friday, she was due for her 12 week vaccines. The vet gave her benedryl before just to be on the safe side, but by the time I got back to the apt, she had started swelling. Eventually (even though I gave her another dose of benedryl) she developed hives all over her face and neck and started whining constantly. I rushed her to the local vet, and 150 dollars later, she was doing alright. Apparently, she cannot recieve more than one vaccine at a time becuase shes so sensitive, and even then, the new vet said they should probably give her benedryl before the single vaccine. Great. My dad said I should just hit her in the head really hard and start over, and hope that i have better luck the next time I get a puppy. (He was kidding by the way). Shes my baby and I love her, but I really hope this doesnt set the tone for the rest of her life. Poor baby. Shes doing much better though. I on the other hand, am having to read incesently for the rest of the weekend.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Suprise!!
So, Bush decided he would visit Iraq today out of the goodness of his own heart. Mr. President, being the smart man began a conversation with an unidentified marine:
"How is morale?" asked Bush.
"Very high, sir," said the unidentified Marine.
Now we all know that morale is NOT very high right now. What kind of answer did Bush expect? "Well, Mr. President, you know to tell you the truth, it kind of sucks ass over here".
A rant about bush's spy program is here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2173106/nav/tap2/
God I love slate.
"How is morale?" asked Bush.
"Very high, sir," said the unidentified Marine.
Now we all know that morale is NOT very high right now. What kind of answer did Bush expect? "Well, Mr. President, you know to tell you the truth, it kind of sucks ass over here".
A rant about bush's spy program is here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2173106/nav/tap2/
God I love slate.
law students are masochists: the hurt feels so good!
I really believe this....It makes alot of sense. There has to be a part of every law student that actually enjoys being in some sort of pain. I think my current feeling about all this is due to the fact that right now Im reading Pennoyer v. Neff. This case is by far the worst one Ive tried to read so far. Anyway, back to the masochist thing....according to wikipedia, Painful experiences such as law school can be addictive:
Endorphins are released by pain experiences and can be perceived as pleasurable and possibly psychologically addictive. It is due to this same release of endorphins that people can become addicted to self harm. In this way, the acts of self harm and engaging in masochistic behavior can be similar in function though most would agree, not in causality.
Brain chemicals such as serotonin and melatonin can be affected by emotional or stressful experiences.
Epinephrine and norepinephrine are released during stressful or painful experiences, and can cause a pleasurable 'rush'.
The effects of S&M on body chemistry possibly reinforce the behavior and therefore might create psychological states that seek to further such behavior.
This would explain why law students complain so much about law school but continue to go back....
Endorphins are released by pain experiences and can be perceived as pleasurable and possibly psychologically addictive. It is due to this same release of endorphins that people can become addicted to self harm. In this way, the acts of self harm and engaging in masochistic behavior can be similar in function though most would agree, not in causality.
Brain chemicals such as serotonin and melatonin can be affected by emotional or stressful experiences.
Epinephrine and norepinephrine are released during stressful or painful experiences, and can cause a pleasurable 'rush'.
The effects of S&M on body chemistry possibly reinforce the behavior and therefore might create psychological states that seek to further such behavior.
This would explain why law students complain so much about law school but continue to go back....
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