it's not life that matters but the journey...

It’s Sunday night and I’ve been studying. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in school, and I just can’t get myself into the habit again. Tomorrow I have my first quiz in Contracts Law. It’s mostly on vocabulary, and it’s open book and open note. So it sounds easy right? I’ll just have to wait and see. I’m actually quite nervous about it. The questions will be true/false (which I know is how they are on the bar exams), and situational, so it’s more like we have to understand how to apply the vocabulary, not just know definitions by rote. Wish me luck! Plus, before class tomorrow night, I have to still get through about 20 more pages of a chapter – and it’s already almost 10 p.m. Why did I wait so long to study and read? Well, I was super busy this weekend for one, and … um… I’m a procrastinator by nature. I’ll probably do fine, but I’ll just be staying up late every night this week.

So, since I last updated, a lot has been going on. I had my first two classes last week and here’s my impressions:


1) the teacher is a very fat, very memory-challenged lawyer (has a practice during the day and teaches as an Adjunct at night) whose lessons are lacking in much creativity. So far, he’s spent each class choosing students from his roll sheet to answer questions, going over the same vocabulary words many times, and giving some examples and situations to support the discussions. There isn’t any group discussion, which I would like so that I can feel more comfortable with the students
2) my fellow students are very smart and most already have prior knowledge of law and legal terms. One was even in law school for a year! There are several who really like to hear themselves talk (mostly women, which is surprising), and several who are going to be challenged by English (I can’t understand them when they speak because of their severe accents). So far I’ve only talked to a couple women, one who is a bit snobby and I think wants to be a lawyer; and another sweet girl named Nicki who I think might become a friend (at least in the class)
3) I definitely am not the smartest cookie in this class. In fact, the first night twhen the teacher called on me, I had to pass on answering, which was a bit embarrassing. I even talked to him during the break and told him I am new to law and that this is my first class in the program – but he said I will be able to do fine if I read the book and study. The class definitely will challenge me to learn more and study hard. I can’t wait until the intro class and Legal Research/writing class in the fall, and then Litigation in the spring, which will really give me the basics of this profession.



Other than school, work has been the same. Except that my friend Sarah had her last day on Friday. She got a better, higher paying job, and is leaving my company; so naturally, I will be taking over many of her responsibilities in the office (and she had many!). So I will be busier at work, and less motivated to do the jobs I have because I just want to study for my new career. Anyway, because it was her last day, several of the “girls” in the office went out for pizza and beer after work Friday to say goodbye to Sarah. It was a lot of fun, but I drank too much beer I think. The pizza and beer together gave me massive heartburn, which actually lasted all weekend! I think I need to stop eating pizza – the cheese is too much!

After I got home from the party, I decided to watch the movie “The Black Dahlia” – and boy was that a big mistake. I don’t want to offend anyone who liked it, but truly this movie was a waste of my time. I was so excited to see it because of the director, Brian DePalma, who has always made incredible movies (Dressed to Kill, Blowout, Carlito’s Way, Scarface), and the cast (Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart and Scarlett Johansen, three very talented actors). But all of the talent was just wasted on this mess – the plot was convoluted, there was too much time spent on the love triangle and not nearly enough time spent on the actual “Dahlia” case, and the attempt to make a “period” film backfired. The actors were all too stiff in their delivery and seemed uncomfortable with the dialogue. And the ending was just too gruesome and way over the top – it didn’t fit with the rest of the film and was altogether too macabre. I don’t recommend this if you haven’t seen it – unless you want to be bored out of your mind for about 1 ½ hours before the plot finally seems to actually be unveiled.

Saturday, Masahiko and his friend Yasuo and I went downtown for the Chicago Blues Festival. We left home about 12:30, drove to the park and ride at Cumberland near my work, and took the train downtown. First we grabbed something to eat and some coffee at a little café, and then we got to the festival around 3 p.m. We managed to see several interesting acts, and enjoyed the great weather (warm, but not hot, and clear), and headed home by about 6:30 p.m. I have a couple photos from there, but haven’t uploaded them yet, so I will have a photo post later in the week.

Today we went to the mall and both of us got our hair cut! I had my hair cut about a month ago, but it was just not short enough. So today I got it cut really short! I love it and will have to take a picture because it is so cute! And it will be so easy!! M got his hair cut really short too – we both look so good! After that we did grocery shopping, laundry, and made a great dinner. I had planned to do more catch up online – but I still think I’m missing lots of journal posts. Please forgive me for not being a better LJ friend!
Now I have to finish my chapter and sleep!

I’ll be online later in the week for more update and photos. Meantime, hope everyone is doing well. Please drop in to say hi – I miss you all!