Graduation Day Extravaganza!

Today I graduated from college. Well, provided I passed all my classes... I walked in two of the ceremonies - the Honors one (at 9:00 am) and the Arts and Sciences ceremony (at 1:00 pm). Both ceremonies lasted about two hours, though one would have expected the Arts and Sciences ceremony to last two to three times as long. Though there was probably only 1/3 of the seniors there. I know I was the only Honors graduate in my major. All the other graduates who received honors in my major (about four of them...) skipped the Arts and Sciences ceremony. My parents wanted me to go though. So, I did. After all, without them, who knows if I would have made it this far? If I would have been as successful as I am so far? The graduation ceremony is as much as a celebration for them as it is for me. So, if they want an all day affair, then so be it. I'll happily oblige.

Next week is my baby brother's graduation! I have a feeling that my parents, or my mom at least, will be more emotional at this one. I think my college graduation got downplayed a bit as a big symbolic step into the "real" world since I'll be going to law school in August, but my brother is the baby. Once he moves into his dorm in August, my parents will be...childless. I mean, of course they'll still have us, but I guess, well, we're gone.

Anyway, I'm excited to go to my brother's graduation next week. It feels a bit unreal, that everything is happening so fast, yet so slow too. I like it all though. No complaints, yet.

List of 10

Mostly because I wanted to, here is a list of 10 random things about me.

1.) I love to make lists. It is the easiest way I have found to organize my mind and everything that needs to get done. I'm constantly making to-do lists and if you ever see me in person, you'll see these lists on my left hand.

2.) I used to watch the news (MSNBC and CNN) almost every day. I craved the information, I like to know what's going on in the world. But, anymore, I have found that the biases in the talking heads has began to bug me. I just want to know what is going on, not everyone's opinion about it!

3.) I don't kill insects. Even when I see one walking in my house, I'll just let it go. A few years ago, I stepped on a bug in front of my Dad and he asked me why I stepped on it. I didn't really have a response, truthfully, I just killed it because it was a bug. It wasn't even a spider, I just assumed that is what you do to bugs. Now, I just let them go. If they're not attacking me, I'm not going to attack them.

4.) I could eat cheese and peanut butter (not together) every single day. Happily I would do this too.

5.) I have never seen The 40 Year Old Virgin . Sometimes I feel like the only person in the world who hasn't.

6.) I love love love animals. I want a puppy more than anything else in the world.

7.) I have never met anyone famous, but my parents once rode an elevator with Tom Brokaw and saw the Reverend Al Sharpton when they got off the elevator, all in the same day. That is the closest brush with celebrity that my family has experienced.

8.) I am an economics major. Many of my friends are business majors, but almost all of them wish they were engineering majors now. I like my major, my only wish is that I would have double majored with sociology. Either way, I'd still be going to law school now. I just really liked my sociology classes.

9.) My friends say that the best quality of mine is my loyalty. I'm intensely loyal to my friends. You can say whatever you want to me to hurt my feelings and I'll be fine, but insult my friends? Bad, bad idea. That's all I'm going to say.

10.) I hate mushrooms, onions, and eggs. Though I will eat eggs smothered in cheese and salsa. I wish I liked mushrooms and onions though. I feel like a pain in restaurants when I'm always asking the waiter/waitress for 'no onions and no mushrooms' on my food.

Oh, and final count: 3 rejections, 2 waitlists, and 9 acceptances. The highest ranked school I got into is at 55 on the US News and World Report list (if you want to take that as your guide). So I'm pretty pleased. I have no desire to practice in New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago. I'd like to stay in the region I'm in (I'd like to stay close to my family) and I do not dream of BIGlaw. The school I will be attending in the fall won't cost me much. I'll graduate without any loans in my name and I'll be graduating from a respected low tier 1/high tier 2 school in the region I want to practice in.

And, in even better news, I graduate in 5 days!

The Future

Yesterday I went to an end of the year celebration/food thing for an organization I'm in. One of the members asked me if I'm ready or excited for law school. It's a question I've been asked before by friends and friends of parents and so on and so forth. As for my answer, I don't know. I'm ready to graduate, that's most definitely for sure. I can't wait for May 16th to get here. I think after that, it'll hit me more that in the fall I won't be an undergrad anymore, but a law school student instead. It'll be weird too. All my friends will still be undergrads, because I'm the one that is graduating in three years, but it'll be nice for them to still be around. Hopefully, it'll be comforting and supportive too. Also, my brother starts Undergrad school in the fall and his dorm is maybe one minute from my apartment and since my apartment doesn't have a washer and dryer, I'll so be using his dorm and that's exciting. I'm really looking forward to living so close to him. Also, he and his girlfriend won prom queen and king last night! I'm happy for them. It feels so...American or something. I feel like I should be eating some apple pie and watching baseball.

I don't know what the future holds, but I'm looking forward to it.

Exhausted

Capstone paper is done. At 22 pages. Submitted it for final grading on Wednesday.

Wrote my philosophy paper on Voltaire's satire "Candide" criticism of Leibniz's philosophy. It's a 3000 word paper, which is 10 pages. Wrote that in two days. Wrote 800 of the words in 40 minutes.

Now tonight I need to write a paltry 3 page paper, so I can start on the 8 page take home final papers that my History professor passed out today.

So freaking tired. Though there's that part of me telling me that I just have to keep going and to be honest? I like being busy. I like working. I like being challenged.

So, yeah, law school? I'm ready. (Okay, I want summer break, then when that ends, I'll be ready. Well, probably not, but I'm tired of Undergrad so might as well move on to bigger and ... better (?) things. )

Lawyer Jokes and Metaphors

I have found 4 somewhat bad lawyer jokes in my Law & Economics textbook in Chapter 10: An Economic History of the Legal Process. They are:

- A businessman receives a bill from his lawyer that reads: "Crossed street to see client. Thought it was you. $50."

- A sociologist studying longevity found that the average lawyer lives twice as long as the average doctor and three times as long as the average school teacher. Life span for lawyers was computed using billing hours.

- Q; Why don't sharks attack lawyers? A. Professional courtesy.

- "It was so cold last winter, that I saw a lawyer with his hands in his own pockets."

Now for the metaphors:

- "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."

- "If you think justice is expensive, try injustice."

I like the metaphors better than the jokes. Though both, admittedly, make the reading more interesting. Don't know how much context they add, but oh well.

Also, finished editing capstone paper and I made a powerpoint presentation for it. Yay! and the presentation for it isn't until Tuesday. It's done and ahead of time.

I like being productive like this, while also watching House and Law & Order today as well and eating Ben & Jerry ice cream.

All in all, a pretty decent day.

Capstone

Capstone paper is done...enough that I could turn it in/present it next week.

Does some tweaking and maybe adding a paragraph or two NEED to be done? Yes, I think. However, it is done enough that I am relieved and content with it. It's a good feeling. I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. All that is left is editing. Thank goodness.

Now, all that is between me and graduation is: presenting aforementioned Capstone paper, 32 days, Law & Economics test (no final in the class, last test is on May 7th), and Ancient Greek History take home final. Doesn't even matter if I pass Early Modern Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Psychology, though I do expect myself to pass these classes and hopefully ace them as well.

Just so so so glad to have finished capstone (though it is a very rough draft.) Good enough for me right now.

A few things

First off, I must stop procrastinating. Seriously, that capstone paper isn't going to write itself, no matter how much I wish it would. Plus, the sad thing is I have 11 pages so far and have a list of what all I need to finish for the paper to be considered 'finished.' All I have to do is the work. Easier said than done, I guess. Well, obviously.

Secondly, I'm getting more excited about law school since I paid the seat deposit. It kind of drives me crazy that I don't have my class schedule yet, but oh well, not much can be done about that. Must. have. patience.

Also, about 35 days left until graduation! Thank goodness is all I have to say about that.

I'm so tired of this semester and I need summer employment. I have taken some steps to fix the latter part of the previous sentence. Like talked to my current employers about tutoring this summer and filled out an application to help with freshman stuff this summer (for the Undergrads). Hopefully, one of those will come through, if not both.

Additionally, I have 3 friends that are currently engaged. One of which, I am the Maid of Honor. I love her (the bride), so it's a huge honor to me to be up there with her when she gets married. Plus, I can pick my own dress, as long as it's black. Good deal, I think. And since this wedding has been in the works for about five years, I don't have to do much as Maid of Honor, since everything has been taken care of for a while. Basically, I just have to show up, appropriately attired and be supportive. This I can totally do. I'm so happy for her, that this wedding is finally happening.

Fourthly (or Fifthly) well, I don't really know what else I have. Oh! I have no motivation or incentives right now. I'm already accepted and paid the seat deposit for my law school. I have an A in one of the classes I need to graduate in and a B in the other class. As for the other two classes I'm in, I have an A in one and a B in the other. I'm a-okay with these grades. As far as showing up to class and doing the homework for said classes, just yeah. Where's my motivation? I should probably find it...eventually...some day. Yeah, I'll get on that... and the capstone paper as well.

Seat Deposit

I paid my seat deposit this week. $500 that I'll never see again... oh well. It had to go, I guess. Kind of amusing fact, I changed my facebook status to "Paid my seat deposit today." My friend asked me on facebook chat if that meant I was getting butt implants. Um, no, but then I asked him if I need butt implants and I got more of an ambiguous response there. Hmmm.

Moving on....

I'm beginning to really look forward to law school. 41 days left until I graduate! I have an A and a B in the two classes I actually NEED to graduate and an A and a B in the other two classes I'm in. As far as the capstone goes, I present my paper presentation on the 21st this month. And then, I don't know what else I have left. Commencement? Finals? We'll see. I'm getting excited though!

Rambling

My Spring Break is coming to an end. It's been a nice week of laying around, being lazy, watching tv, rubbing Lola's (the miniature poodle) belly, telling Bruno (the yorkie) what a handsome boy he is, petting Hercules (the cat), and sleeping. I'm sad to see it end.

In strange news, well I think it's strange, I have a lawschoolnumbers.com account. I tried to update it regularly, because I think they are helpful, or at least other people's accounts were helpful for me when applying to law schools. However, I got an anonymous comment on mine that was like, "Congrats on your acceptances. You should be withdrawing from schools so other people can have your spot." A part of me agreed. I do know where I'm going in August, 95% certain of it at least, but another part of me... wants to wait. Some of those schools I really like, just don't have the money to go, didn't get the scholarship offers. I kind of want to wait a bit and see if I do get some offers, or at least wait until I'm 99% sure I'll be staying at Undergrad for Law School. Afterall, it was my hard work that got me into those schools in the first place. Aren't I entitled to wait until I'm sure, nearly 100%, until I start withdrawing? So I appreaciate the congrats from the person (the anonymous person, seriously, who makes that comment anonymously?), but kind of feel it was a bit rude to tell me to withdraw. Maybe that's just me though. People are strange.

Maybe I'll write about this more on another day, but my roommate and I are having trouble with our friends (different set of friends). As far as mine go, I think I overrated them. I thought Clementine and Amelia were fantastic, the best friends some one could have, but... they're not. It's sad. To me, they are my top priority usually, up there with family. If they need something, I'll drop what I'm doing. I make compromises, concessions for them, but they can't do the same for me, the thought doesn't even enter their mind. Sure, if it's convenient for them, then maybe. Oh well, what can you do. Sometimes you have to take what you can get.

I don't want to go back to school.

Spring Break

doesn't actually start for me until Monday (the 23rd) but I just took my Law and Economics test, so in my head, break begins now.

The test wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. I couldn't remember well the probabilities associated with expected performance damages and restitution/reliance damages when the buyer is risk averse and seller is risk neutral, and vice versa, and vice versa, and so on and so forth. I could remember what the definitions of liquidated damages, expectation damages, reliance damages were, what are formulation based defenses and performance based defenses for voiding a contract are, the advantages and disadvantages of specific performances, gap-filling by the courts, and using subjective valuations are, and what the economic rationale of enforcing unilateral contracts are. (why did I write this all down? so I can look back and remember that I did learn this at some period in time...)

I can't wait for break. Sure I'll likely have to write three papers over it, one of them being the all important capstone paper, but I just am so looking forward to no classes and no work for one week. Thank goodness. I'll take what I can get.

Also, I withdrew from 2 law schools the other day. One of them was the first school that accepted me... but it had to be done. Still haven't heard from 3 schools. I just want to know! I don't even care about the result so much anymore...good grief.

Bargaining in the Shadow of the Law ?

Oh hey, it's March...

I've been meaning to post, just haven't had anything to post about. Still haven't heard from 2 of my law schools. Still accepted into 9 and rejected at 2. Still deferred at 1 and still have only withdrawn from 1 (I really need to get on that!).

However, after my spring break, I'll be attending an open house, so yay! That'll be something to write about, of course it isn't until March 31st. Figures.

I'm supposed to be in my Law and Economics class, but alarm didn't go off (or rather it did, but was on silent) and my body alarm didn't wake me up until 8:03 am. But! since I feel guilty about missing class I did some capstone research. And I did actually do the reading for class, so I figured I'll email my professor in 30 or so minutes and make an appointment to meet with him to go over some of the questions I had over the articles.

And on a related note, can someone explain to me what 'bargaining in the shadow of the law' means? Much appreciated.

Applying Early...

is such a fantastic idea.

Today, I got into a school that according to chiashu.com (which is not the authority on law school admissions, but is given a lot of credence it seems) gave me a 45% of being accepted to. Granted, my LSAT was slightly (like a point) below the reported 25th percentile score and my gpa was above the 75th percentile score. Also I wrote a "Why us?" essay.

Its just exciting because this was the first law school I applied to as well and they want me. Yay!

Now if only they will give me money....

I dropped my terrorism class today. Though it's probably my most interesting class and the professor is fantastic, the students in the class are... well, to put it politely, they express themselves rather poorly and needlessly. I think they speak just to hear their own voice. Plus, a project in the class that is worth 50% of the grade is due at the same time as my senior capstone project, which is necessary to graduate. And you know what? I've gotten attached to the idea of graduating in May...so, yeah.

Capstone wins!

Long Day

I started the day at 7:00 a.m.

I am not a morning person, but honestly it wasn't so bad getting up. Probably because I've been having nightmares about missing class... which didn't happen today. Though I did miss now President Obama's inaugural speech, which really really bummed me out. Oh well.

My professors assigned a lot of reading, but my classes don't seem so bad. I started the day with Law & Economics and I like the professor (he's also my capstone advisor). The material doesn't seem to difficult and he's fairly funny for 8 a.m.

Then I have History of the Ancient Greek World. The professor obviously knows the material, but he's a bit intimidating, especially when he goes on the whole time about how he very rarely gives out A's.

At 2, I have an honors class - Terrorism and Conflict Resolution. The material is interesting so far.

After that I have my Modern Philosophy class with one of my favorite professors in the University, so it's a good way to end the day. Well, class wise that is. I'm not looking forward to next week when my day goes from 8 am to 7 pm, instead of 8 am to 5 pm like it is now. Ugh.

Could be worse, I guess.

I had more things to say about law school websites (like lawschooldiscussion.org and lawschoolnumbers.com) and about financing a legal education, but maybe next time. I'm sleepy.