Sickness and Bad Luck

I was sick with a fever last night, yet I still worked on my legal memo for legal writing and research. I worked for at least 5 hours on it, until almost midnight when I just could not stay up anymore. With my head pounding, I went to bed, thinking I'd saved the file. You can guess what happened next. Just now, I opened the file again and found that none of my changes from last night had saved. I don't know how or why, I must have neglected to hit ctrl S somehow. I just don't remember anything, it's all a blur. All my days are a blur. I try to stuff so much in my brain that no many details about the day remain.

I also have been having bad weeks because I hate how law school forces me to be the annoying student that bugs the professor every week at office hours. In undergrad, I NEVER went to office hours. But now, all the upperclassmen's advice has been to go to office hours, learn what your professor wants. Really, you sure about that? B/c I go to office hours, and all I do is incur their annoyance. One prof told me to my face that my questions are too vague and don't show that I've thought about it(aka, airhead?!). Dude, the reason that I ask is b/c I'm totally clueless. Another prof gives me the look like he's forced against his will to entertain my questions and wants to get them over with as quickly as he can so that he can get back to whatever it is that really interests him. Maybe it's all in my head, maybe it's me being an overly sensitive, overly emotional woman projecting my insecurities. But I don't think so, I generally think that my intuitions are on point. And so what if they hate me, most males would push on ahead and try to get whatever they need, not caring about the vibe the other party's projecting.

Crappy email systems

This is one of those days where I just get so annoyed with my school's email system. Firefox users can't get a search feature, that's only available if you use Internet Explorer to access the web-based email system.

Worse, emails to multiple parties are impossible to send off because inevitably, one name will be wrong, or a comma will be there instead of the crazy semi-colon that this systems prefers (even though Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, all use commas to separate addresses), and then you can't send the email out. You have to go through address by address, guessing which email address was wrong. It turns users into computer programmers, checking errors line by line, letter by letter.

Moreover, if you're trying to email a recipient address in a mass email, you can't just click on the name like you can in gmail, and a new compose window pops up. You have to specifically copy, paste, then go back to the main inbox page, then click compose. It's such a pain!

Our school's system is not user-friendly at all!

GRRRRRR...

I'm a sucker for points

I have to say that our school's Lex Nex rep really does a good job of selling LexNex. I am addicted to all the points and tips we get from doing little searches and tutorials. There's such joy in checking how many points I accumulated that week, and counting the points until I can get another $25 giftcard to give as Xmas gifts. Those freebies are working to make me a loyal follower.

Most of my classmates for some reason prefer Westlaw, in part perhaps because of the nice graphical history of the case from trial to appeals. I'd probably use Westlaw a little more if the Westlaw rep were ever here on campus to give training / tutorials. Just the fact that he neglects the 500 of us here just makes me think Westlaw's too smug with its laurels. Westlaw seems to have a big presence in SF, especially in the gov't sector. But because I like being courted, I like LexNex better.

Judicial groupie

I've become a law nerd. Or more specifically, a judicial groupie.

After coming back from China, I prepped myself for law school by reading Gideon's Trumpet and Jeff Toobin's The Nine. The Nine opened up the mystery of the world of the "Supremes," as popular blog "Underneath the Robes" calls our Nation's Highest Court. I became addicted to all the juicy gossip and little stories here and there about the very human judges presiding over the law of the land. When C-SPAN aired their Supreme Court week and featured rare on-camera interviews of all the justices, I gave up studying time just to watch 3 hours of close-up footage of the justices' chambers, the pictures they have of their clerks, the room where they sit and discuss cases in complete confidentiality, the room where they put on their robes and judicial collars; it's all so revealing, like the judicial version of Entertainment Tonight! :D

Ever since high school, when we went to D.C. on a civics lesson trip, I've been mesmerized by that place where women's privacy rights and minorities' affirmative action programs are decided. Too bad we never got a chance to hear oral arguments b/c the line was too long to get in. I hope one day, I'll be able to return to D.C., hear an oral argument, and stand/sit in close proximity with our nation's legal superstars. Their lives are more mysterious than that of Hollywood celebs.

Not only that, I just emailed a NY friend about the new Chinese American nominee for Justice Sotomayor's empty seat on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. I used to email her interesting stories about art, fiction and food, but now I'm emailing about judges! I'm a legal nerd already.

The Halloween Grinch

People who know me often remark on my wide grin or loud and high laugh. Yet what they don't know is that I'm a bit of a Halloween Grinch. Maybe it's from my non-existent trick-or-treating experiences as a child (try convincing an Asian mom to let her daughter risk getting kidnapped at night getting (possibly poisonous) candy from strangers). But nowadays, I don't like the people ringing my doorbell the whole night. The knocking and ringing bell interrupts me in the midst of my outlining, and gives me no peace. Plus, it's not like they're cute or anything. So many are big high schoolers or grown-ups who have just so-so costumes, some don't even bother to dress up. And you expect me to give you candy? I admit my grinchness. Don't bother me, I'm trying to remember the MPC categories of mens rea.

Wise 2 cents

I met with an alumna from my law school today for an informational meeting. She's a down-to-earth, warm-hearted attorney (very hard to find in this profession) who's been in public interest and now government work for 20+ years. I love her practical tips about what questions not to ask: "What's your typical work day like?"
"What do you love most about your job?"
(B/c the person you're asking may not like her job, and the last thing she wants to talk about is her "typical workday.")

And what not to put in your cover letter: "I'm a 1L interested in _____ area of law. I've grown tremendously in the past year. I've honed my skills in law school...."
(B/c it's boring and not helpful to the employer. Tells nothing about you.)

As newbies, it's hard to know what pitfalls to avoid and how we should sell ourselves to the ones in hiring positions. I know I've definitely bored a few top-level attorneys with my "typical workday" question (undergrad career offices used to recommend this question!).

Dark and Twisty

I just realized that like Meredith Grey in Grey's Anatomy, I am pretty "dark and twisty" too. It accounts for why I sulk so much in law school.

I love Grey's Anatomy b/c so much of the competition in med school is like law school. Sometimes I feel like Izzy, barely holding on to compassion and humanity while trying to prove that I can be "intense" too, but today I realize I'm sort of like Meredith too.