"In vacant or in pensive mood..." I am: Bekah; 24; Law Student / Favorite Things: Carbs (so there!), Johnny Damon, Smiling at babies, Grilled cheese, Comfortable silence / Favorite Supreme Court Justice: Brennan / Favorite Wilson: Owen by an inch / Today's Special: Song: Elliott Smith, "Bled White"; Quote: "You know, there's like a butt-load of gangs at this school. This one gang kept wanting me to join because I'm pretty good with a bowstaff." Please love me: mmbekah@yahoo.com

 
Conversation Overheard at a Bar Thursday Night

Sad Ass Mofo: ...But after I got sick, my whole view on life changed.
Woman Feigning Interest: Oh. Really?
Sad Ass Mofo: Yeah. I learned what was really important in life. The people I love. My family. My health. That's where all my energy goes now.
Woman Less Effectively Feigning Interest: But...you're smoking and drinking right now.
Sad Ass Mofo: Er, I only do this occasionally when I'm out...
(At this point I ran away because you could cut the awkwardness with a knife)

Conversation at LexisNexis Training:

Lexis Rep: And then click on the Walmart case...
Random Student: Walmart? I could use a trip there.
Lexis Rep: (with a jovial chuckle) Ok, field trip to Walmart after training.
Me: (with a little too much enthusiasm) Nooo! Target!
Everyone Else: (Turning toward me, thinking to themselves) Who is this girl, and why has she not been stopped?
Me: (Obliviously, to myself, eyes glazed over) Mmm...Target flip flops.

Wrong Turn at Albuquerque?

My plan to begin a legal career virtually anywhere besides New York or my current place of residence is coming together beautifully. I just got an interview at a firm in Albuquerque, NM! Why Albuquerque, you ask? Simply put: Why the hell not? It's far away, it's new, it's pretty, and it's close to some pretty awesome hiking/skiing venues. And besides, I like Southwestern motifs. Woven baskets and Georgia O'Keefe cow skulls, here I come!

posted by Bekah at 3:56 PM :: |

 
Timing is Everything

Several weeks ago, I was told that being on law review would help me develop my time management skills. After getting my first assignment, I wanted to impale the people who told me that with my red pen and then bury them with Post-It notes to finish the job. How, I wondered, could I possibly manage my time if I just don't have any?

But when I turned in the first part of that assignment yesterday, I sat back and looked at the past several days and noticed that I really had been remarkably productive. In addition to working the previously described obscene hours over the weekend, I managed to do all of my reading for class, start two outlines, clean and reorganize my closet, do laundry, change my sheets, send out several packages/letters, etc. to friends, apply to a few law firms/organizations, dress in real clothes for the majority of the week (as opposed to scrubs and a t-shirt), cook an actual dinner (one night), pack my lunch, and shave my legs. This is more than I would usually get done all semester. I also noticed something when I was drying my hair this morning. As I was using the drier, I observed that the cord was about to knock an object (a product of some kind...I love products) off of my bathroom cabinet. Instead of doing what I would usually do (which would be to hold out hope for the endangered object and go on with my business, at which time the object would certainly fall/break/make a mess), I stopped, turned off the drier, removed the object to a safe location, straightened up the top of the shelf, and then resumed the drying. This may not seem at all remarkable to you, but I know myself. And I know that something is afoot.

Note: I realize that I'm writing about law review a lot. Please know that I am absolutely NOT one of those people who feels the need mention law review gratuitously. I think it's pretty obvious that I'm not in that category--I know as well as anyone that I don't really fit in. I only write about it here because, honestly, it is sometimes the only thing going on in my life. Yeah, I know, I can hear the violins now...

Damage Control

My friends just told me about some 1L who has started a law blog that includes his name, where he's from, and the name of his school. Even though he generously provides all of this info to the entire world, he apparently doesn't feel the need to hold back on trash-talking everyone and basically being an unpleasant person. As a result of this, he has already shocked and incensed a lot of people. Now, I haven't seen his site personally, and I'm not planning on finding out where it is, but the whole situation does raise some problematic issues about the internet, (like privacy, immediacy, easy transmission of info, etc). I didn't really think about any of that stuff when I started this site. I started writing on the internet because I wanted to write, not because I wanted to contribute to any online forum or anything. I don't mention the name of my school, largely because I don't want to get anyone mad at me. But because my friends know about my site, other people (aside from friends and family) could conceivably know who and where I am by now. It's a little disconcerting. That being said, I don't think I've written anything that would get people mad at me, or that compromises my moral or ethical duties towards peoples' privacy, etc. (possibly excepting the cavemen below...although their reading comprehension levels are questionable at best, so I'm not too concerned).

I guess I want this to be fair notice for everybody who reads this site: I'm going to be a little bit more careful about what I say, because the last thing I want to do is detrimentally implicate anyone else by writing about my personal experiences. I usually make any less-than-nice comments pretty unspecific anyway, but now I'm going to be even more cautious. Mmm...warm and fuzzy.

One more thing. In addition to privacy issues, I think writing online is kind of risky in terms of the writers' control over use of her written expression. I'm not saying that I've said anything brilliant enough for people to want to plaigiarize my work (although some of my astute and mature comments about the evils of Starbucks are Pulitzer-worthy, I'm sure), but I've definitely caught my friends unconsciously quoting my own material back to me. When it happens, I never really know what to say except, "Yeah, exactly! That's what I'm talking about." Well, it actually is exactly what I'm talking about, and it's published, and it's copyrighted. At least my expression is copyrighted; the actual ideas, however, are not. So I guess you can feel free to steal all of my thoughts and fulfill my goal of world domination. Godspeed.

posted by Bekah at 3:09 PM :: |

 
Emergency Undergrad Report or Why I Hate Eating Lunch in the Student Center

There were two troglodytes (freshmen boys) eating lunch at the table next to me today. Among other profound observations, one of them uttered the following two statements, sharing his staggering intellect with anyone within earshot:

"I'm just going to go put like 20 Nicotine patches on my stomach tonight. Ha. I don't even smoke, but that would be, like, drugs, right?"

"I wish there was a 'Clapper' that brought me girls."

In response to both of these comments, the other freshman merely emitted a stifled Butthead-type "huh huh," and continued staring at his pizza, apparently mystified.

posted by Bekah at 12:53 PM :: |

 
Psychological Study: The Effects of a Sub and Cite on a Previously Normal Girl

I spent most of the day on Friday, the hours between 8:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and every hour between classes today, doing my Sub and Cite assignment with my partner. You can try to count those hours; the very thought makes me nauseous. What, you might ask, could have possibly taken so long? Well, I will tell you. And I will tell you in detail, because detail is what I've been trained to obsess about lately.

I had to check the substance of every line of my assigned article, meaning that I had to pull every law journal, every magazine, every federal reporter, etc. mentioned in the article, find the exact reference, and check it word by word for accuracy. When there was an incorrect pinpoint cite (a cite to the specific page of an article or case), I had to read the entire article or case to find the reference, and correct the author's error. I had to correct everything with a red pen (neatly whiting out any mistakes), and I had to place a yellow Post-It note on the article explaining every change I made. I had to put everything in correct Bluebook form. I had to request interlibrary loans for every unavailable book. I had to make photocopies of the copyright and title pages of every book we used, and a copy of every page on which a quote of ten words or more appears. I had to highlight said quotes (yes, I said "said quotes;" I'm allowed to talk like a damn lawyer sometimes), but only the actual words that the author used. I had to do other horribly demeaning things as well, but I'm too tired and feel too violated to go on.

The important thing, though, is that it is now a little after 10 p.m. on Monday night and all I have to do is a final grammar read-through and put the source list on a floppy disk. (That is, until I get my next Sub and Cite assignment in a few days). This is a good thing, although I will grant you that I'm a little worse for the wear after this weekend.

I now invite you to take a little peek into my newly developed dementia:

My Partner: (Places a stapled packet of paper titled "Source List" on the table in front of us)

Me: Is that the official Source List?

My Partner: What?

Me: Is that the Source List we're going to turn in to the Senior Managing Editor?

My Partner: Uh, yeah...

Me: No.

My Partner: No? What are you talking about?

Me: The staple is too far in, and the pages are bent.

My Partner: The pages are bent?

Me: Print another copy out right now.

My Partner: Bekah. You have lost your mind.

Me: Just do it.

My Partner: You are a psychopath.

Me: I know.

We also had several Office Space moments; one where the copy machine said something remarkably close to "PC Loadletter," and one where the reference librarian (I kid you not) demanded that we return her stapler.

Goodnight. I am going to read this puppy one more time, and then...and then I should probably read for those little things called CLASSES that I'm supposed to be taking while I'm here. Which ones am I taking again?

posted by Bekah at 10:23 PM :: |