Small Victories ...

Those unfortunate people who accompanied me while I attempted to find the Cheesecake Factory when I lived here three years ago will be quite proud of my accomplishment tonight: I drove to the restaurant without making a wrong turn, without finding myself lost in the parking lot at the Pentagon, and without shedding a single tear. Hold the applause, please. And maybe, just maybe, if anyone ever visits me here, I could repeat the feat. OK technically my roommate deserves the credit as all-star navigator, but I did the actual driving, so that should count for something ...

And The Creatures At My School ...

I know I already posted once today, but this occurrence just had to be reported. Today I found an ant crawling through the pages of my notebook. Yes, an ant. A little black ant. I squished it, of course, but ew. So, just one question: How do paper ants compare to book worms on the list of intelligent insects?

The People At My School ...

So for one day at least, Socrates and I could be friends. I made it nearly two weeks here without being called on, but my luck ran out yesterday in the class with my most intimidating professor. I knew I would be called on when he started going down my row, so of course for the 10 minutes before, my cold and sweaty hands could not type and my foggy brain could not concentrate on anything other than my impending humiliation. However, I luckily got an easy question (one the professor had warned us about no less) and I managed to say something that evidently made at least a shred of sense because he told me I got it right and moved on. I anticipate a nightmare speaking-in-class scenario somewhere in my future, but I avoided it for one more day ...

The same professor took a poll of my class (about 110 students) that showed some interesting information about the people at my school:

• 23 described themselves as "somewhat" or "very" conservative
• Only 1 viewed the country as "clearly headed in the right direction," while 86 found it "clearly" or "somewhat" headed in the wrong direction
• 107 expect their grade point average to be at least a B this semester (too bad they grade on a curve and this will be highly unlikely to occur!)
• 52 believe a woman should have a right to abortion in "all or almost all" situations
• If the 2008 presidential election were held today, 43 would vote for Barack Obama, 27 would vote for Hillary Clinton, 8 would vote for John McCain and 8 would vote for Mitt Romney. (No one else received more than 6 votes.)

So I expect to have some interesting discussions over the next three years ...

Hugging Can Be Hazardous ...

I consider law school a success already, in that it has now provided me with a semi-legitimate reason to avoid my least favorite social practice: superfluous hugging. Now, before people start calling me a misanthrope, let me clarify. I like hugging in some varieties: the I-am-dating-you variety (and my mom breathes a sigh of relief), the you-are-closely-related-to-me variety (another sigh of relief from my mom) and the we-are-really-good-friends variety. What I do not like (and basically avoid if at all possible) are those other types of hugging that happen so often: the we-only-met-two-hours-ago-but-I-paid-for-your-dinner variety and the we-once-spoke-to-each-other-in-high-school variety, to name just two of the many, many examples. Well, in my torts class today, we read a case about a man who gave a "friendly, unsolicited hug" to a rather shy person. This jovial fellow just wanted to be friendly, I am sure. But this seemingly harmless little hug injured the poor girl's face and caused it to be paralyzed on one side. Yes. I am not lying. You can look up the case yourself: Spivey v. Battaglia. I feel so vindicated ...

Shortbread Fingers And Digestives ...

I survived my first real week of law school! Hooray! I must say, I have never, in my entire nerd existence, studied more than I did in the last seven days. When I say I did nothing but eat, sleep, study, and go to school for the first three days of the week, I am seriously not exaggerating. But I think I see the light now.

And speaking of seeing the light, I am currently reading cases about a few people who have seen the light (and gone towards it) in an entirely different way (this one being the way where they end up not among the living). This week alone I learned that cannibalism cannot be tolerated in jolly old England, but that the queen (the old one, not the current one) sometimes pardoned cannibals anyway. (I knew I loved that country for a reason! And I have another reason below.) I also learned that a persuasive ruling can convince me that one particular murderer should only be given probation instead of her original 10-year sentence. (In my defense, I think she killed the girl in what she believed to be self defense. But still.)

Along with murders, I am reading about many other unpleasant events, too. As I typed up my summary of one case last night, I had to include words that I am embarrassed to say made me embarrassed to type. (OK, we know I embarrass VERY easily. But still.) This could pose a problem. What if a professor calls on me to discuss one of these uncomfortable cases? To prepare for just that situation, I am now compiling my favorite euphemisms. Thanks to my professor, who used this in class today, I have chosen my first one: "reproductive behavior."

Now, finally, to my other reason for loving England: food (no surprise there). Happily for me, a store right across the street sells the British treats I love best, so I can now purchase them anytime I have a bad day, a good day, or just a Friday. Shortbread fingers! Digestives! And Haribo peachies (the good triangular kind) ...

"Oh Tree, I Feel Sick"

I take a break from ranting about rain and forlorn study spaces to mention some choice gems from the day. First, I am happy to report, we have clouds but no rain so far today. (At least not when I had a glimpse of a window. Which quite honestly has not been all that much. But I only care about rain when I am in it. Which I am currently not.) Next, I have discovered a lovely study space. I am not going to reveal where, just in case I have an Internet stalker who also happens to attend my school. But I feel much better about the state of school thanks to said study table. Now to the title. I am not sick, and I have no friends or family members named Tree. But one man did feel sick, quite suddenly, while driving a vehicle. He turned to his wife, named Tree. (Actually Teresa. Tree is a nickname. But that does not matter.) He said, "Oh Tree, I feel sick." Then he fainted and crashed the car. Then the two women in the backseat (one of whom had never even driven a car, by the way) sued him because they flew out of the car and became injured. Then the judge ruled on the case. Then my professor made us read it. And now I will give my three (actually I think I now have five) blog readers a chance to experience A Law School Class:

Wise Professor: What happened in this case? Tell me the facts.
Student: We can skip this part. I just typed it above.
Wise Professor: OK then smarty pants (actually I have met no self-respecting law professor who would say that. I embellished the story a bit to add some flavor) then what do you think of this case? Should the defendant be held liable in this case?
Student: I am not sure. The defendant did cause an injury to those two women who do not drive. I feel bad for them, since they will suffer the consequences of the injuries they received at no fault of their own.
Wise Professor: So the man who fainted, through no fault of his own, should be liable?
Student: No. I don't know.
Wise Professor: OK, I will give you another example. If someone reads your blog and laughs so uncontrollably that he falls from his chair and injures himself, should you be held liable?
Student: No ...

And now you see why I should really be studying instead of blogging ...

I Need A Better Umbrella ...

Disclaimer: This post sounds like a really long complaint. For the record, I actually really like school so far. But normal occurrences do not make for interesting tales, so I am posting the more interesting elements of the day so far ...

So Day Two of law school and I am already drenched, literally and figuratively. First, the weather: rainy. Very rainy. Then the humidity: very humid. (I think 90 percent. Or maybe higher. Or maybe in the rain it reaches 100 percent. I am not sure about that.) Then, my red umbrella: small and slightly broken. It basically works, but every so often one side dips and trickles all the water down on me, my backpack, and my new shoes (Keds, and very comfy ones at that). Then the sweat factor. When a person walks in the rain as fast as possible in an attempt to get out of the rain, all while carrying a slightly faulty umbrella, a really heavy backpack, a lunch sack, a sweatshirt and a purse, that person becomes really really sweaty. I made it to class on time (actually, 10 minutes early, though basically the entire class got there at least 11 minutes early, so on time seems relative) though thoroughly soaked. And then class starts and the sea of assignments and cases just keeps swelling ...