I have never read so much in my life

I've got to be bordering on 500 pages in the first month. The life a law student is busy.

First Assignments and Orientation

Orientation is tomorrow and I'm considering tweeting although I'm not sure how I feel about that. If nothing else, I'll be posting a rundown of the day's events. There's also a SBA mixer tomorrow night at the Jean Wine Bar for 1L's, from 6-9pm. The dress is business casual. But it's the Jean Wine Bar. I'm confused.

My first assignments have started rolling in. You can find them here if you're interested.

For Section A students, only three class assignments have been posted. Torts, Contracts, and Legal Writing. Three classes, sixty pages. I have feeling this is just "easing" us into it.

I haven't started class yet and I've been to school three times this week already. Fail.

Unemployed Happiness and Loose Ends

I never thought it would feel so good to be unemployed. Friday I was freaking out but when I woke up Saturday, I had this overwhelming feeling of clarity. It was nice. But then last night I couldn't sleep and I'm pretty sure it was due to sheer terror.

Been tying up loose ends at school all week. They seem to be moving slow on parts of my financial aide, but I was told not to worry. Signed up for health insurance, the price wasn't as horrible as I had once feared. Also got my laptop all set-up for school intertubes and printing.

Thursday is Orientation, all day. There's an SBA mixer Thursday night, not quite sure if I'm going to go or not.

Got my first assignment today, seven pages for torts and thirty for contracts. There are three other classes yet to assign anything. Scary.

My brother is in town this week, time for more relaxing and what-not.

Walking the Line

Just had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine. The crux of the talk centered around using this blog as an outlet for frustration, personal attacks, and general un-coolness.

The purpose of this blog is to shed light on my experiences in Law School. At no time will I be engaging in unethical practices, libelous or slanderous speak, or overall jerkiness. It is not my intention to use this space as a soap box.

People will find this blog many ways including through Google and Twitter. For those of you finding this through Twitter, I either directed you here or someone else did and my anonymity is not in question. For everyone else, it probably would not be too hard to find out the identity of the author.

In short, I will not be attacking the students, my professors, or the administration of the Law School that I attend. Frankly I find that unethical and, overall, wholly immature.

What I do hope to accomplish is to keep my friends and family in the loop of my new life direction and to share my experiences with everyone who happens to come across this space. If you become a follower and you feel I have crossed the line, I want you to call me out on it. Simply put, I am not willing to put my education and career at stake for trivial issues and spite. Although you may find sarcasm and the occasional cynical remark come through on these pages, please know that they are made in jest.

Last Week of Work and Book Mortgages

I had a difficult time sleeping last night. I couldn't put a finger on it until I got up and around this morning: it's my last week of work.

I have been working in television news for 12 years, 10 of those as a director. I love what I do, I always have. For the past six and half years, I have been blessed to work with the most professional, competent, and genuinely nice people in the business. The decision to leave TV was not an easy one, made difficult not only because I love what I do but also because I feel like I am leaving my family. I have made some of the best friends of my life at this place, friends I hope to have until the end of my days. However, I have to do what is best for myself and my wife and Law School is the best thing I can do.

Today was the first day one could purchase case books at the bookstore using your borrowed gov't money. I headed down to the University Bookstore at 8am to get first dibs on used books. I'm very particular when it comes to used texts. I don't like a lot of highlighting or writing because I find that everyone who owned this book before me has worse handwriting than me, highlights WAY too much and they are most likely less intelligent than me. I got lucky and found two casebooks with zero marks and a third with limited ones. I had trouble finding my required torts text, "Cases and Materials on Torts." I enlisted the help of one of the nice ladies who worked in the store and she helped me find it. Apparently I am unable to see things right in front of my face. I told her I was particular about the amount of writing in the books and she graciously helped me look through the stacks. We stood there for a few minutes, perusing through books and we started making jokes.

"Oh, this person dropped out on pg. 30."

"This one made it all the way to pg. 232."

It was fun and scary. I cannot be one of those people.

We finally located a suitable copy and I made my way to the checkout.

A quick aside: I wore workout clothes to the bookstore because I was headed to "boot camp" afterward and I also hadn't showered...hence, I was disheveled and dirty.

As I was checking out and signing multiple pages of my casebook mortgage, another guy walked into the store to buy books. He was dressed in a polo, khakis and some sort of boat shoe. I scoffed, I judged. I know I shouldn't have. The day will come when I have to dress appropriately, this is not that day. At the ripe old age of 32 I don't have the time nor the inclination to dress like I just walked out of John Hughes film (RIP) dressed as the preppy villain. However, his attire did make me wonder if he would one day be my Law School nemesis. I quickly envisioned us facing off for SBA President, me winning on the last ballot because, if nothing else, I don't dry my hair with a blow dryer. Or that we'd be vying for the last spot on Law Review and I would win because I rock the house and he does not. The truth is, he is probably a very nice guy and just as nervous as me about starting this adventure. We're actually in the same section so I'm sure I'll find out here very quickly.

All told, I have spent $540 on books for the first semester. Actually not as bad as I thought, especially since two of the case books will carry over to the spring. One more class to buy books for, hoping to come in under the $650 mark. I think it's doable.

First Post

So my idea for this blog is two-fold. First, to write about my experience as a law student whether they be good, bad, or indifferent. Second, to give some insight (maybe) to others who are considering law as a career.

There's actually a third reason for this experiment, wasting my valuable time with an unneeded distraction.

So I'll start this off with a quick update. Went to campus the other day and picked up my student ID. As a non-trad student, it has been quite some time since I have had a student id. One more thing to add to the surrealness I have been feeling lately. Stopped by the bookstore to see if my required books were in. They were. I was interested in finding out how much value the university placed on these items and tossed around the idea of maybe picking up one of my casebooks just to get an idea of what to expect. After looking at price tags I then promptly left. I've been all over half.com, amazon, and ebay the last few days looking for deals. After complaining on Facebook about the cost, a very gracious friend who just graduated from SMU School of Law gave me some good advice. Basically, buy earlier editions and whatever cases aren't in the book you can obtain from Westlaw. Nice.

So I'll continue the hunting of books that don't cost as much as a car. Not sure what kind of luck I'll have.