Casebook rainbow

I still follow the multicolor highlighting method. If it works, why fix it?

Besides, it's pretty. :)

Just in case you're curious:

Green are the facts

Pink is law and reasoning

Blue is the question or issue in the case 

Yellow is the holding or conclusion

Purple is concurrance or policy 

Orange is dissent

I also write in the margins a lot. Especially on confusing cases or those with antiquated language. 

Highlighting helps keep me from passively reading and the different colors keeps me from just highlighting everything (another way to read passively.) A nice side benefit, if I get called on, I can usually find the answer faster than the people frantically trying to search their case brief. My first semester, I still typed it all up in my class notes outline but now I try to keep each case under 3-4 sentences. At this point, that's all I need for finals but that sure wasn't the case when I first started. 

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HEART ATTACK

Generally, I have no problem with my computer's battery dying while I'm at school so I never bring my charger with me. Yesterday, I really should have brought my charger. About seven minutes before my last class let out, I got the notification that I should shut my computer or it would go into sleep mode soon. Okay, no problem. I shut it and finished my notes by hand. I went home and charged my laptop. Only instead of turning on like normal, it wouldn't let me sign on! I googled (on my phone) the problem and was told to force a shutoff and try again. So I did. Nope. Wouldn't work. Finally had to do a repair start and it let me in but even then, it wasn't working right. I couldn't access any of my documents or even safari. I thought it was due to how I had to start up so shut down correctly this time and tried again. That didn't work either. Finally, after numerous google searches and one or two tears, it just randomly corrected itself and got back to acting properly. I checked my files and other than losing some of today's notes and such, I'm good to go.

I have no idea what the problem was but I was/am freaking out! This computer holds my life in it's hands. Even though it is only the third week of classes, I have pages and pages of notes. I also have my internship work on there which is irreplaceable. I do back up regularly but for me, that is about once a week. A weeks worth of work would still be TERRIBLE.

It's been hours and I'm still shaking.

If You Wear Pants, You Will Die

So yesterday I was doing the client interview for the wills event I'm a part of. This meant I had to wear a suit. I've finally gotten so used to it that I don't even notice. However, yesterday when I woke up, it was in the high 30's or low 40's. Do you think I wanted to wear a skirt in that kind of weather?? No Way!

I know I've written about how the school occasionally sends emails that explain the proper dress code for interviews or networking events. This email is always very careful to explain proper dress for both men and women but there is always a section that explains that some people do not approve of women in pants. If a women were to wear pants, they may not get a job and terrible things could happen.

I find this ridiculous. I have always thought it was ridiculous but I want a job. Hence, I wear skirt suits. Yesterday though, there was no way I was going to wear a skirt. Blue and shaking is not a good look on me. So as I was getting dressed in pants, I told Fiancé that I felt like such a rebel.

He asked me what the school really thought was the worst thing that could happen if I wore pants. My response was death. He thought I was joking so I walked him through it.

If you wear pants, someone might not hire you. If you don't get a job after graduation, you won't have any money. If you don't have any money, you won't be able to afford a place to live. If you're jobless and homeless you'll have to hide under a bridge. If you're living under a bridge, you might die.

Hence, pants = death.

Busy Week

So in the upcoming week I have to:

1. Write a two page paper for my Cuba class.
2. Write a discussion post for my Advanced Legal Research class. 
3. Conduct a fake interview with a friend for my Estate Planning class.
4. Write a Finding of Fact and Engagement letter for Estate Planning.
5. Conduct a real interview with a veteran to write his will. (Program though the elder law program at my school to give us real world experience.)
6. Actually write his will. 
7. Meet with my interviewing and counseling group to divvy up our group assignment (due the first week of February.)
8. Put in 10 to 20 hours on a research project for my internship.
9. All my reading and other materials for all six of my classes. 
10. Appointment with Career Development to figure out what the heck I am doing this summer. 

They say that your 2L year they work you to death and I'm starting to see their point.  

Strange Obsession

I'm not sure what is in the air but I have wanted to go camping so so bad for over a year now. I haven't gone in probably a decade but when I was a kid, we went camping a lot. And even when we didn't, my stepdad threw a tent up every summer for us kids and I would sleep outside pretty much every day from the middle of June until August.

If I could, I'd drop everything and go tonight. Unfortunately, two things are stopping me. One, I no longer have any gear and I don't have camping friends nearby to borrow from. Have you seen how expensive some of this stuff can be? The other thing stopping me is that my fiancé hates the idea of camping. It took me over a year of regularly bringing it up before he'd even consider it. And I had to bribe him. I think the only thing that finally got him to consent was I found a campground that is right on the beach and it has an off the leash dog park/beach. And it's close enough to our house that if it starts to rain, he could turn around and go home.

I could go two ways with this. Get the bare minimum that I personally would be fine with and probably never see Fiancé camp again. Or I could try this whole glamping thing and see if I can get him to actually like camping. I've been looking around Pinterest for ideas and it seems like small, inexpensive upgrades could make it a lot more fun for both of us. A little extra comfort, romantic lighting and cute touches I could bring from home seems doable.

I doubt we will be able to go anytime soon but I am going to start haunting craigslist to see if I can find some starter gear. Maybe if I start now, we can go next year. Besides, that'll give Fiancé some time to get used to the idea.

If you were a non-camper, what would make it more fun for you? And please don't say "staying at home!"

This is not helping my motivation problem

So I have a schedule of when I'm supposed to do what for which class. Yesterday I failed at finishing the reading for evidence so I need to do that today plus my other class preparation. 

Someone doesn't think I need to read for evidence today. I know she's wrong but I don't really want to argue with her either. 

I may have made a terrible mistake

So I knew this semester was going to be time intensive but I didn't realize it was going to be this time intensive. I thought my estate planning class was more a traditional law course and because the professor did not send out the syllabus until yesterday, I had no way of learning otherwise. Well, once I looked at the assignments, I immediately started to hyperventilate. We have two memo's due, numerous letters, wills, advance directives etc and a 20 minute presentation!

This is on top of my other classes where I have weekly writing assignments, presentations and projects. I am seriously considering dropping a class in order to make this work but the classes I would be able to drop are all mandatory classes for the elder law concentration. So . . . I feel stuck. Take them now or take them my last semester. Either way is going to suck.

I guess the only good thing about this is that I'll only have two exams but . . . I think I'd rather have an exam.

Please help a law student. Send redbull.