Yes, I’m still alive

I really should have known that NoJoMo wouldn’t happen. I knew NaNoWriMo wasn’t going to happen, but I still had hopes for NoJoMo. It’s been a busy last several days, to say the least.  Looking back, it appears my last entry is from Thursday morning. So I’ll recap since then :).  Torts went well enough, though I got cold-called on for the first time.  After class on Thursday, I went upstairs to the Marshall Gallery and read through cases while I waited for the PILS raffle to start (Public Interest Law Society). Once it got too loud, I started playing on my laptop instead.  I didn’t win any of the prizes, but that’s okay. The money went to a good cause (goes to stipends for those law students here who end up in public service internships over the summer – since many of them don’t pay). I left about 4:45 and it was already pretty dark. I have to say, that’s fairly depressing. Sun goes down about 4:30 and by 4:50ish it’s nearly all the way dark.  At home, I spent the night going over cases and figuring out which ones I was going to use and which parts of which cases I wanted to use. In doing so, I discovered I needed to find a better case for one of my elements so I had to do a little more research.

Not much to tell about Friday.  I left for class really early, hoping to convince myself to study Friday morning before classes but it didn’t work. I had hoped it would help, since I definitely don’t do much on Thursday and Friday mornings before classes.  Classes went well enough overall.  After classes, I sat downstairs near the vending machines and took care of Contracts and Criminal Law for Monday.  Took a little longer than I wanted to, but that’s alright.  I got home and started dealing with the memo.  I finished figuring out where I wanted to go with it and got the memo set up.  I say set up,  because we had to format it a certain way and have certain sections labeled (facts, question presented,short answer,discussion). Sticking the labels in my word document before writing the sections ensured I wouldn’t forget any of them. In class that week, our professor had gone through and helped us figure out what paragraphs we needed for the discussion section and how to write the question and short answer sections. She suggested we write the question presented section first to make sure we knew the issue.  After that, she suggested we write the discussion section, since it was the bulk of the points. It was the analysis section and would take up most of the 11 pages we’d need to write. Within that section, she suggested starting with the overall thesis paragraph, then start with the first element and write the rule paragraph for the element. For each element, we would have a rule paragraph, 2-3 case discussion paragraphs, an argument paragraph, a counter-argument paragraph, and a rebuttal/conclusion paragraph. Following the discussion of all elements is a 1-2 sentence overall conclusion. My professor suggested that we start with the first element and write the rule, argument, counter argument, and rebuttal/conclusion paragraphs first and then go back and write the case discussions for that element. The reason it’s best to write them out of order is that the case discussion paragraphs consist of the facts from the major cases you use in the arguments.  It’s easier to write the case discussion paragraphs once you know what facts you need in the argument paragraphs. In some cases, the rule paragraph can be combined with the first case discussion paragraph for that element (if the rule doesn’t need much explanation). Then after finishing the first element, to go on to the next two elements which would be discussed together.

Our particular issue had 4 elements that needed to be proved in order for our “client” to be successful. Two of the elements however had typically been lumped together by the courts in their discussions. As a result, we had three sections within the analysis. One of the elements was a pain to deal with. The two combined were fairly easy (and also intertwined with the first element). The final element was a piece of cake and is without a doubt in our “client’s” favor. Of course, that made it’s counter-argument hard to write and thus fairly small. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but our topic was undue influence in wills. The last issue is whether the beneficiary under the will was involved in procuring the will in their favor and just how involved they were.  I won’t go into the rule, but in our fact pattern, the beneficiary was WAY too involved. 

I spent nearly all of Saturday writing my paper. However, I did bring up ESPN3.com to listen to the Badger game (and I admit, I did watch some of it).  On that topic, with the exception of the idiot pass in the 4th quarter, I don’t have a problem with the score. The bootleg was from a quarterback so far down on the depth chart, he doesn’t end up in the stats sheet as a QB! Beyond that, at some point Indiana just has to make a stop.  They have many scholarship players and play in a major conference. Their first string defense should be able to stop 3rd and 4th stringers on an opposing offense.  Indiana’s defense was so awful I think I could have scored a touchdown!  There’s also a great blog post on Death to the BCS about why the BCS is flawed and uses this game as evidence. It’s an interesting article (it was re-tweeted by ESPN_BigTen on Twitter). You can get it here. All of that aside, the Badgers are clicking on all cylinders right now.  Several weeks ago, I was a little concerned with the Michigan game this coming weekend.  At this point, I’m no longer so concerned – even if Clay doesn’t play.  Several weeks ago, I’d have said Wisconsin was in no way the best 1-loss team in the country – wouldn’t have even been an argument. However I think they just might be.  I also think the Badgers could truly beat TCU or Boise State in a BCS game.  There aren’t many defenses that can handle the Badgers right now and while the defense isn’t anywhere near as good, they are fairly solid (of course, it’s rather hard to be as good as the offense these days). One thing that helps the defense is that as part of their practice routine, they go up against the Badger offense 🙂

Going back to the paper, I got through about 1/3 of the analysis before I realized I was going about it wrong. So I stopped, took a breath, and started doing some very basic outlining. I took the other two sections of my analysis and broke them up into the rule, argument, and counter argument paragraphs. I also separated the cases I was using into each rule I was using them for, since I was confusing myself. Then, I wrote out the points I was using from

the different cases and the points from our “client” I was using for each of the paragraphs. That definitely helped. By the time I went to bed at 10, I’d gotten that done along with most of the discussion for the 2nd of the 3 elements in addition to the question presented section.  I got up at 8 on Sunday morning, hopped in the shower, and then dealt with my hair before having breakfast and getting back to work.  I did some reading through of what I’d written and got a handle on where I was in terms of information and page limit (since our 11 pages was a firm limit).  By the time I got ready for church, I had finished the 2nd element and had a handle on the third element.

For a split second, I’d thought about not going. But I realized church was where I needed to be. Plus, I was going to be sustained :). Yes, I was extended a calling the Sunday my mom was here.  So this week, I was sustained as the Relief Society Chorister.  It’s perfect for me, since I love music, I’m enjoying relief society, but it doesn’t require a lot of work outside of church.  It will require a little, in terms of the practice hymn, but it’s definitely something my schedule can handle.  Between that and when I was set apart, I was reminded that the Lord knows each of us, and there are many things I need to be better about.

When I got home, it was back to the grindstone.  I got the discussion section done and then wrote the short answer section.  I then took a break and took care of some other things that needed doing. After that, I came back and wrote up the overall facts section. The overall facts section is really just restating the fact pattern we were given. My professor strongly suggested writing this section last, even though it would be the easiest to write.  I decided to write it last for two reasons. First, writing it last would ensure I didn’t include details I didn’t need and ensure I added the ones I did need (and wouldn’t have to go back and add more facts as I decided to use them.  Second, I could tailor the facts section easier than the others if I had space issues. As it turned out, I had a line and a half go onto the 12th page and all I had to do was rewrite a few things in the facts and that was that. It was done!  Such a relief too! When I turned it in on Monday morning, it was like a weight off my back.  It was really my last big thing prior to finals.  I mean, I’ve got the timed writing assignment on Friday of this week for my Legal Writing class, but there’s not really a whole lot of studying I can do for it.

Classes yesterday were good too, though we were all a little muddled in Contracts.  I’m surprised our professor didn’t figure it out (the others all know when memos are due, but he might since this is his first semester here).   As a class, we definitely had problems with what he called “softball” questions. The terrific thing about yesterday was that I was done with class at 11:45.  That’s because research ended last week and we didn’t have writing.  This week for writing we’re talking about the timed writing assignment and last week she let us vote whether we wanted to discuss it as one group in Monday class, or within the two small group sessions. Most of us voted for small group sessions (including everyone in the overall Section 2, since we wouldn’t have research right before.) I decided I didn’t want to have a large break between Criminal Law and Writing. Plus, on Tuesday I already would have to be at school through 1:50…not too big a deal simply to stay for the next class at 2.  By the end of the afternoon, I was VERY grateful I was able to have lunch and get started on homework early, as I wasn’t done until after 3pm! I shudder to think about how long I’d have been at it if I’d had all my classes.  I stayed at the law school to do all my reading instead of doing the last class at home because I decided I wasn’t taking any of it home.  After all the work on Memo 2, I decided once I got home, I wasn’t going to do anything connected to law school. I was going to (mostly) take a night off. Unfortunately I couldn’t completely take it off and leave at 11:45 like I wanted to, but what I did do was as close as I can come for awhile. I puttered for awhile, watched some tv, played online :). I also watched Castle, which was terrific.  It’s one of my top two or three favorite episodes of Castle.  Between the possible Alien type story line, them getting “kidnapped by aliens” and Castle’s dinner with Ashley’s parents (of course followed up by his parents joining the hiking trip)…it was terrific. If you’re not watching Castle, you really should. It’s on ABC at 10 eastern/9 central.

It’s now Tuesday and things are mostly going well so far today.  The class still seems a little hung over from Memo 2, but it’s gotten better as the day’s gone on.  I actually get to go home right after writing today, as I’ve taken care of Contracts already.  I’ll deal with Civil Procedure tomorrow during my large break (and I’ll also start its outline for finals). However, I am taking Torts home to work on its outline.  I want to play with the section of my outline of intentional torts and do an outline for negligence (which is rather complicated!).  But I should still have some time to myself tonight. I still have to watch the last two Bones episodes, mostly because I want to watch them before they disappear from Hulu. I won’t be watching this next week’s ep live because I’ll be going to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings with many of the girls from my section.  Right now there are 12 of us confirmed going. 

Still a little hard to believe that next week I only have two days of class and that’s it for the regular semester. But then I’m home for several days.  I’ll be sleeping in my old room, but studying in my brother’s room since he’s got a big desk area.  As far as Christmas goes, I haven’t decided yet how long I’m going to stay. I’m thinking of driving up sometime on the 18th (that’s the Saturday before Christmas). My last final is the 14th but by the same token I like my apartment and this area.  I want to be home though before the ward Christmas program and I have to beat my brother home to claim my old room. My brother flies in on the 20th I think.  As far as how long I’ll stay, I haven’t decided yet. I’m certainly staying through probably the 2nd (just so I don’t have to deal with idiots on New Year’s Day). Given that the 2nd is a Sunday, I’ll probably drive back either the 3rd or 4th.  Regardless, I don’t actually start classes back up until the 17th or 18th.  However, all these dates will be subject to the weather (since this is the Midwest and snow&rs

quo;s a fact of life). Man has this semester gone by fast! I wonder if all of law school will go this fast…

"Life is measured not by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."