The Law of Encroachment

Tomorrow is December 1 and I am three classes and five exams away from being finished my first semester if 1L.

Law school is encroaching on my ability to do laundry, or bake muffins (I need to invite people over for breakfast more often), of my budding career as a blogger (but what would I write about if I wasn't in law school); I've spoken to my husband for maybe 25 minutes over the past four days and I haven't seen my kids on the webcam since they dropped me off in Ottawa on Monday. I have spent more time in the library this past week than in my entire four (or five if you want to count it that way) years of undergrad.

But one of my friends said something to me tonight. She said she knew she would be at my funeral many years from now. It kind of surprised me, in a nice kind of way. I've met more people that I like personally and intellectually over the past 12 weeks than in my entire life before. These are the people who will be my friends for the rest of my life. I find this comforting since coming to law school was the first undamaged, real decision I ever made for myself.

It's overwhelming at times to feel as if I've found my way.

Food for thought (cliché but apropos)

There's this scene in the movie A Bug's Life where the praying mantis is doing his magician thing and he points to the Chinese takeout box and says, "Transformation, transformation, transformation..." and the butterfly emerges. That's kind of how I'm feeling right now about me and cooking.

This weekend I actually cooked a whole chicken! With creamy mashed potatoes and a really good looking mirepois and "the best tomato salad" one of my guests had ever had. That's pretty cool for me. I've had a complex ever since someone started baking brownies to win over my sister. And then went to chef school. And now cooks gourmet meals at home just for fun. How does one like me live up to that?

By moving to Ottawa. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. No money to buy take-out (and I just can't even handle that anyway, since living with a chef has made my standards a tad out of the ordinary), so it was either cook or starve.

It's pretty simple usually, but I'm up to a nice stew, chicken cacciatore, a perfectly rare pepper steak, and my whole chicken (rubbed with olive oil, coarse salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary, then slow-cooked in wine and chicken broth). Plus I'm pretty good at omlettes.

And this morning I even baked muffins. Muffins!

Transformation...

Awkward Web Moment, Part I

I don't know why we (as in my favourite partner and I) decided this, but Friday night we thought we'd leave the webcam running, I guess so we could just holler at each other across the ether.

Lesson #1 on why people on reality TV do really ridiculous things in front of a camera: it's easy to forget about the camera.

That's right. I forgot about the camera. I was getting ready to go out, and I turned on a little Hawksley Workman and, of course, I started to dance. Because you can't listen to Jealous of Your Cigarette and not. And then, bizarrely, I sort of felt like I was being...watched. And indeed, my charming monsieur, attracted by the loud music coming across the ether, came to investigate and saw me gettin' down. It was very similar to secretly watching children play acting - it's beautiful but they're frequently embarrassed when they're caught out even though they shouldn't be.

At least it wasn't his parents! That would have been the end.

Gotta love those judgments

This is the best line I've read all day (of course, it is only 8:45 a.m. and there's always a good chance that things will get better in torts):

"Such circumstances can easily be distinguished from those of a corner store that carries the odd porno flick among an othersiwe unremarkable video collection."

I feel the need to share that kind of line with those of you who may not spend any time reading case law. It just wouldn't be fair to keep these gems to myself.

Wordsworth Repeating

Okay, it's only barely like me to be poetic, but given the title of this post, I thought I should make an attempt at finding some actual Wordsworth. Here's what I've got:

A BRIGHT-HAIRED company of youthful slaves,
Beautiful strangers, stand within the pale
Of a sad market, ranged for public sale...

That part of it kind of made me think of law students and law school and my law future, but in the bad way. (The rest of the poem is here.) Sorry to the Wordsworth fans and scholars who I've insulted by totally misinterpreting this for my own selfish uses.

In any case, I’m going to deviate from the norm and post excellent words from the law paper of a true friend and colleague, instead of my favourites from judges. Anyone who can use these words in a criminal law context is okay by me.

conundrum n. 1 a riddle, esp. one with a pun in its answer. 2 a hard or puzzling question or issue. How law appropriate. And, if I could be defined in any way, I think it would be as 1, though sadly, I don't really think I'm that cool.

consternation n. anxiety or dismay causing mental confusion. Also conveniently law relevant.

surveil v. not technically in the dictionary, but clearly the verb associated with surveillance n. 1 close observation or supervision, esp. of an enemy or suspected person.

vestige n. 1 a trace or piece of evidence; a sign. 2 a slight amount; a particle.

contrite adj. 1 penitent; sincerely filled with guilt, regret, etc. and desirous of making amends.

trope n. a literary or rhetorical device consisting of the figurative use of a word or phrase.

Thank you for your most worthy use of the English language! You get an 'A' for awesome.

Counting sheep

I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night and not even reading about contract law could put me out at 1 a.m.

What kind of a sign is that? That I actually like contract law?! On the plus side, it may mean that I'm not going to fail (and I mean that kind of indulgently. As if I'd actually fail) and that law school is a good place for me (as if I had any doubt).

On the con side (ha ha, the con side of contracts) , how am I supposed to get to sleep now? It's tough being too interested in what I'm learning. I could try the property book next time, but I think my general resistance to the topic may just agitate me.

Maybe I'll take to singing Twinkle Twinkle, Stars Come Down, Suzanne and You & the Candles. Just like home...

This is what law does to you

The effects of law school on one's life are legend, perhaps.

This weekend I went home and I failed to pack any clothes. All I brought with me were 4 textbooks and my laptop.

Then, on Saturday, I visited my friends and their beautiful new baby boy, and I somehow got drawn into a discussion about prior conferral of benefit ("past consideration is [usually] no consideration at all" and following my Contract Law epiphany re: Pao On v. Lau Yiu Long) and how I could never claim they owed me any money for the baby stuff I gave them for free.

And then, on Sunday night about the time I'm normally getting anxious about leaving my family behind, I started to feel anxious about the fact that I wasn't studying or doing law stuff. Not that leaving my family didn't suck as much as it usually does, it was just a little overshadowed by the mounting anxiety of first year law exams on rapid approach.

And tonight, I started work on my first law resume and my first law cover letter and I have an appointment tomorrow to have them critiqued at the career centre.

I don't know what all of this means. I just felt I should get it off my chest.