Exciting Life

Well, my hot date friday night was class till ten. Heading back there now. I know, it doesn't get much more exciting than this!

The good news is I've got ALL KINDS OF KICK ASS SNACKS thanks to Kara!!!!

The other good news is that this is the last day of the second course until July.

Off to class!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...

When Sean was little (I know, hard to picture Lurch as little), before he would go to sleep at night, he and my mom would have this routine that they did. They would talk about one good thing and one bad thing that happened during the day. I don't know what made me think about that, but I decided to organize posts (or at least this one) in that fashion. However, being that I'm slightly talkative, I'm sure there will be more than one thing in each category...

The Good

• The pizza place next door to the building where I live is pretty good (It's no GHill - but come on - nothin is)
• RITAS - DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET!!!
• I met a girl who is living in my building until the end of August. She's in both my courses and she's also going to be working with me. We commute home together at night - you know - home from Beruit, uh, I mean Temple.
• The Phils have a day game today so I get to watch it right now on my lunch break (as I eat the pizza from next door and type this)
• The fact that I am getting workouts in fairly regularly in the gym in my building - AND studying at the same time because of the 20 CDs the PMBR class gave us to listen to.
• The fact that I surprisingly retain a TON of the information on the CDs...(If only there was a treadmill during the lectures, maybe I'd be able to stay awake and learn something!)
• The Bar exam is two months from today (and tomorrow) - then it will ALL BE OVER
• The fact that every time I walk by the DA's office I get a renewed sense of purpose, passion, and excitement - realizing that the only thing standing between me and the dream now is kicking the bar's ass.
• The fact that when I pass prominent private defense attorneys on the street I get also get a renewed sense of passion - knowing that all that stands between me and kicking THEIR ass is passing this damn exam!

The Bad

• I only have two months to memorize all this information!!!!!!!!!
• I've never been so tired in my whole life
• Today's really BORING FOUR HOUR lecture on wills and trusts
• Tonight's FOUR HOUR lecture on torts!!!
• The fact that I have to go to the Ghetto in a few hours for my second class of the day (On a side note, I never thought anything could be more excruciating than high school preseason two a days....I was wrong)

The Ugly

• My eating habits
• My appearance (yes, Sean - uglier than usual!)
• The bags under my eyes
• The really strong chance that many of the people I ride the subway/bus to and from Temple with were or will be defendants!!!
• The fact that I can't keep my eyes open right now and have many miles to go before I can sleep!

Okay, that's all for now - tune in later.

Quick note of thanks

Just when I think I'm gonna absolutely lose it - my friends and family always come through. This may come as a shock to many of you, but I may sometimes be categorized as unstable! (Think padded room needed). The stress of the bar has taken its toll on all of us already down at Penn and Temple. I'm lucky to have you guys. Despite the fact that my brother and Rob tell me no one will read this, if you guys are - thanks. It's gonna be a long 8-9 more weeks, so bear with me! Anyway, just wanted to say that even though I'm crazy busy, I'm very grateful for the support!

"In the end, you always go back to those who were there in the beginning."

Okay gotta run - I have a bar exam's ass to kick. I will leave you with one final thought. If I end up failing, Kara and I are going to become bounty hunters together.....GHILL BABY!!!!

What About Bob

Well, my loyal friend and drinking partner suggested I go through this hell what about Bob style -baby steps. Pretty good mantra to keep in mind. It's definitely training for a marathon and not a sprint. Today in the morning class we did corporations. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but I gotta say that during all the "Board of Directors" hours - the only frame of reference I had was the board from Meet Joe Black. Everything else was like Charlie Brown's teacher talking. That subject is going to take a lot of work!!!

Right now I'm taking a break until 1:30 and then doing a practice essay.
I'd really like to work out before the next class starts but I don't think there's time.

Shout out to Es if you are reading this! Thanks for your message I will call as soon as I can. So excited for you!! When do you leave to meet the almost in laws? (I can't keep any of the dates straight).

Okay - hope everyone's having a good day :)

PICTURES

DK -
You took the COOLEST pics!!!!
THANK YOU SO SO SO SO MUCH!!!!!
LOVE YA!!!!

Rob - No matter how old we get..... you're still not photogenic! hehehe - just kidding - love you too!

NEVER FEAR!

For you doubters (ROB!) - I finally have the internet! YAY!!!!!!!! Me and my friend in India spent some quality non-bar studying time on the phone working out the kinks - but the good news is that I am now ONLINE! Ready, willing, and able to inform you about the exciting details of my life.

At this point, I must make a very important shout out to Drinkin Kate for being the coolest drinking partner in the world.

Another shout out to DK and Kara, (if you're reading this) for always sticking by me and keeping in touch and keeping my spirits up - especially when I am buried under 25 hours a day of studying. That's right 25.

Okay so this week is the busiest week OF MY LIFE.

There are two sections to the bar exam. The exam itself is two days. The first day is all essay (6 hours) of PA law. The second day is 200 multiple choice questions that everyone in the country takes. Most people (the die hards at least - meaning those of us scared sh*tless of failing because we get fired if we do) take two courses. One every day in the morning. And then a supplemental one at night. The morning class now is 9-1 at Penn and the one at night right now is from 4-9:30 at Temple. This of course, leaves no time for the 8 hours of homework/studying/practice questions the morning class assigns/expects you to complete after you leave their course. I do feel like the night course is very worth it though.

Anyway, I have to go study. I have a practice essay question due tomorrow. We hand it in and they give it to the professional grading peeps to read and mail back to us. I have a feeling I'll be making some of these guys laugh or gasp that I actually have a law degree. The topic in tomorrow's class is corporations (funny since I avoided that course in law school like the plague!) and the night class is property (SNORE). WISH ME LUCK!

One final note - good news! I ended up graduating in the top five percent of my class and with honors. So, thanks for all those good luck wishes and prayers (and basically for putting up with my psychoness/MIA-ness during exam time.

For better or for worse, this hell will all be over July 26th.
Keeping reading - now that I have a connection - I'm not giving up on the blog! (ROB!)
Bye for now!

MONSOON

So, today is the start of the ten week hell. There are two classes everyone takes to prepare for the bar - barbri and PMBR. Barbri is the main one, and that's what starts in a half an hour. When I stepped outside my building this afternoon, I was greeted with the loudest thunder I've ever heard, combined with a downpour that could whipe out a small country.

I stopped for a minute and considered the strong possibility that this was a sign from God, a nice warning like Noah had - seek refuge and stay as far away from the bar exam as possible. Alas, I'm glutton for punishment, so I headed to the subway and here I am. I figured Rudy would never bail, so neither will I.

Being obsessive, I left early so I'd be sure to find the building and not miss the important parts of my first day. So now it's a little after 7:30 AM (yes, the clock really does have that time on it!) and I've located the building on Penn's campus. Right now I'm sitting in this cute cafe called Cereality that has all breakfast foods and coffee, but also a full cereal and milk bar. It's kinda cool - and even better, it gets me out of the rising tide outside.

In other news, all the grades for my last semester are in except one (of course the hardest one). If the registrar doesn't post that one soon, someone is getting a big old kick in the teeth.

Well, time to look over some material and then head back to the building.
Wish me luck!!

My Brother

So my brother writes me back with this email, regarding my blog:

"WOW! You are really really really gay, I hope you get one hit on that site, and its mom, only out of pity."

Sometimes, when I get down, I think about how much my brother loves me, get that warm and fuzzy feeling, and realize that all is right with the world. :)

First Blog Ever/Freaky Ice

Well, I had this great idea to start a blog during my time studying for the bar. That way I could keep my favorite people posted on my exciting life. Of course, Sean tells me that catatonics are the only ones who'd find my life exciting, but what can you do.

This weekend was the best weekend ever! I got my J.D. and had the greatest time at dinner, the ceremony, and the GMan. I did a shot with my Dad, and ate Freaky Ice with my Mom, Drinkin' Kate and Rob!!

If you're reading this, thank you so much for all the support over the years, and putting up with my crazy/obsessive nature! From what I understand, the bar exam prep time (the next ten weeks) is supposed to be the worst 10 weeks of your life. It starts first thing Tuesday morning! I will keep you posted! I would not have gotten this far without the greatest family and friends ever!!!

Okay, well, hopefully this works - not that I'll have anything all that interesting to say.
Chase Utley, if you are reading this, we really need to set a date for the wedding. The invitations have to go out soon.