Ending Another Week

This by far has been the longest week of the semester so far. It's hard to convey how tired I am. Most of my friends are going out tonight. I had thought about going but I was just to tired to go so what did I do? I came to the library.

On Thursday, I volunteered at a shelter here in San Antonio. 4:00AM to 8:00AM. I picked that shift because I figured I'd be able to do some studying while everyone slept. I was right, I studied till about 6:00 then worked around the shelter for the next two hours. I still haven't fully recovered. I was dragging all day yesterday and although I got a pretty good nights rest, I'm still really tired today.

I'm sure some of you have been wondering about the test. Well I think I did ok. We still haven't gotten our grades back so there's no way to really know. We should have them back this coming week so I'll post as soon as I know.

I'm going to get back to work. One thing, for those of you who still read this, a quick note on email would be great. I don't have much contact to the outside world. My life revolves around this school. So let me know what's happening where you are. Include what's happening in the news because I'm pretty lost when it comes to current events. No cutting and pasting, that takes away from the unique value of your spin on the news so if you have a minute I'd love to hear from you guys.

so tired...

The Big Day

I've got a test tomorrow in civ pro (civil procedure). This test will be the first time that we'll be able to measure our grasp of the law. Nervous, scared, emotional, worried, on edge, all words that describe pretty much everyone of us. It's been normal this week to hear people talking about not getting any sleep or waking up at their desk with their face in a book. I went to bed at 3:30 this morning at woke up at 6:00. With the exception of the 2 1/2 hours sleep, I've been going at it for about 40 hours straight. Up until about 5 hours ago, I really thought I should just drive to Galveston and let the hurricane just take me away. Then it started to come together and I feel pretty confident going in to the test tomorrow. This test will be on a tight curve so a B will be a good grade and a C+ is almost just as good. I'm hoping to be somewhere in that range. And for the fans, Teeter was amazing today, he's absolutely fantastic. Harvard graduate. He was in the top 5 percent of his class. He's a top rate thinker and he brings out the best in us. We've got a professor, Jeff Addicott who was an attorney with the Judge Advocate General (JAG) core. He served in the army and is a terrorism specialist. Pay attention and you might see him on MSNBC or FOX News. Well Teeter loves to make fun of him and create these crazy hypotheticals where Addicott is shooting some other professor or booby trapping the halls in the middle of the night. Well today, Teeter starts class by mentioning hurricane Rita. He says, "Here at St. Mary's, we don't have the most devout staff but we all have some type of spiritual belief. We got together to pray this morning and Mather (property professor) prayed for safety for those in direct harm from the hurricane, Kastely (contracts, kinda cooky) prayed for the poor, and Addicott prayed that he'd have an opportunity to shoot some ludders." The class broke up laughing, and then Teeter shouted about as loud as any bald white guy in a Hawaiian shirt can yell, "LET'S GET STARTED, MR GROSS (he's one of the guys in our class)." We all jumped and then let out a collective sigh, relieved that he didn't call on any of us.

I hate the 24 hour day....

I wish there were more time to study, I woke up today at 7 and started studying at 8. I went to school at 12:30, stopped at a taco place to eat lunch. I had a highlighter in my right hand and a fork with rice on it in the other. I had class from 1:30 to about 4:00. I studied from 4:00 to about 4:45, then a meeting (SBA is planning a community thing for Halloween, Steve I need flyers, color preferably, I can only spend $20). Drove home at about 5:45, finished cooking at 6:30. Ate dinner while I watched TV. Started studying at about 7:15. It's midnight now and I just started to read Teeter which means I'll be up for at least another 2 hours and that's because we only have about 5 pages to read. So I'll go to sleep at 2am and I didn't even get to the legal research homework, the civ pro stuff (I have a test in civ pro on friday) or my law clerck stuff for the lawyer I work for. I don't really know where I could have fit some extra studying in. Alright, back to work.

Insight to our everyday habitat

Room 101 is cold, very cold. A few of us think that the school does this to add to our already nervous condition. You see, sitting in Teeter's class waiting for the clock to hit 9:30, is an extremely anxious time. We're all talking till about 9:29, because we know Teeter's going to start right at 9:30 on the dot! See here we are, already nervous and now sitting in a room that feels like it's about forty degrees. So you can imagine that each and every one of us are shaking in our seats.

People do different things to pass the time in class. Everyone has a little things they do to help cope with the anxiety of being called on. First, there are the Red Bull drinkers. These people drink a Red Bull in every class, or so it seems. Red Bull is an energy drink, consisting of caffeine and sugar. I've never had one but I hear it's a real pick me up. Then there are the "head nodders." These people seem to nodd their heads constantly in class. I would imagine they do this hoping that their head nod of agreement will keep them from getting called on. It's worked so far. A funny thing happened to a head nodder just today. Teeter was ranting about some court opinion and the head nodder was nodding in agreement. All of the sudden, Teeter says, "And then court made the right decision!" She nodded in enthusiastic agreement. Teeter then shouted as he likes to do just to make us all jump (I hear some people with weak bladders have actually peed in their pants a little), "WRONG, the court was wrong." She immediately correct her head nod of agreement to a head nod of disagreement. Sometimes I really think Teeter is just playing a game in class. There are also the screen stairers. These people never look up from their computer screens. I have to admit that I've been in this group on occasions. The theory behind the screen stair is that Teeter can't make eye contact as he prowls around the room looking for his next victim. The last person is the nail biter. This person chews off the nails of their left hand as they take notes with their right. You can tell that they're really nervous. I feel the worst for these people but to tell you the truth, we're all feeling the exact same thing, FEAR.

Busy Busy Busy (Katrina...)

Yeah, it's pretty busy here. Coming off of a weekend with Katie is always busy. Homework to do this morning, class during the day, SBA meeting tonight and studying after that...

I've got Katrina up there in parenthesis because I just wanted to encourage all of you to get involved in the relief effort. We had a big drive here at school that I was able to help out with through SBA and it was really rewarding. I've given blood, donated money and I signed up yesterday at church to help at a shelter. I'm telling you this because it's important that we get involved. Look for ways that you can help. Maybe it's donating blood or volunteering at a shelter. Donate a dollar to Red Cross at HEB or blockbuster. Just wanted to stick that in there!

I'm on my way back to school. I've got a meeting, there's gonna be food there, YAY! Don't have to spend money on dinner. Tomorrow I'll be telling you all about legal research. I think you'll enjoy hearing about this class. So stay tuned in . . .

Coming up for air.....

Hi, I know some of you have been keeping track of the blog pretty regularly. Thanks! I'm sorry I haven't posted but describing my schedule as having a "full plate," would be a drastic understatement. Let me give you a brief run down....

SBA had a meeting Tuesday at 4:30p, discussing a disaster relief effort here at school. Had a soccer game on Tuesday night, I signed up because I need a way to unwind and this seemed to be it. I ran around like crazy and felt like I was in perpetual heart attack mode. Thanks to Steve and Mario, the Perez family now has a "history" of heart attack so I figured I need to start exercising. Wednesday, I was at school by 8:00a or so, Had to sit at the BARBRI table. I'll tell you about BARBRI later on next week. I sat at the BARBRI (pronounced bar-bur-ree) from 10a to 11a, studied from 11:15 to about 1:15, class till 4:00, studied from 5 till about 1. Today was busy too, CLS (Christian Legal Society) meeting at 11:30 (free pizza), PILA (Public Interest Law Association) meeting at 3:15, they do free stuff for the poor, and they had free tacos. I went out tonight and it was my first chance to go out with my section (the 70 other people in my class). We had a little get together at a restaurant called Cha-Cho's. The food was good, there were about 15 or so of us there and we all had a great time. I'm home now and getting ready to work. I also have a job with a great lawyer (he might be reading this) here in town. He was actually a professor of mine at LABI. He's only given me two "projects" but it's new stuff so it takes me a while to get it done. So believe it or not, I've got a busy schedule, no time for anything. I've been working hard to get ahead, Katie will be here this weekend. I can't wait.

I found a church here in San Antonio. It's awesome. I really like it and I think it's perfect for me. K, I've gotta go. I'll post again tomorrow!!!