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Only 4 days until the bar exam in Oregon. I am flying to Portland today with plenty of time to adjust before the exam on Tuesday and Wednesday. My mind is racing with so many competing thoughts right now.
"I have been studying every day, I will be fine!"
"What if I'm not fine, what if my brain draws a blank and I choose C for every answer?"
but the worst...What if I go there, feel like everything went great, threw up all the knowledge I have about the law and in 6 weeks and my name is NOT on that list. Gulp.
Well, at this point there is very little I can do about it so I'm going to go to Oregon with excitement at seeing my family and friends who I haven't seen in 2 months, take this stupid test, and then proceed to piece back together the parts of my life that were neglected while I was giving everything I had to the law.
Please, if you have a minute next Tuesday and Wednesday, throw some good thoughts my way...I'm going to need everything I can get. And if you are reading this and are in the same position as me, GOOD LUCK!!! We are all going to rock this thing!!!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Trader Joe's Kettle Corn
I weighed myself at the gym again today. Another 2 pounds. According to the scale I've gained 20 pounds since April. How is that possible? Maybe it is time to give up my new favorite snack. Trader Joe's Kettle Corn. It is seriously addictive and yummy.
but it might be time to say goodbye...
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Jump and Jab
I was feeling especially restless on Monday while trying to study so finally around 5:30 I decided to go to the gym. I usually only go to the same couple of classes but I decided to try a new one. Jump and Jab. I walked in with about 25 other women and saw the teacher was one that I had experienced before in my bootcamp classes. I swear she was actually in the military at some point because she is intense. So I was ready for a lot of jumping and jabbing, and boy was I right! The class was very crowded but I found a little spot in the back (furthest from the mirrors). Right before the class started this tall, blond woman with full makeup on (Boston style) comes in and stands next to me on my left so she could be next to her friend.
As we started jumping and jabbing, I was about a beat behind on all the moves because I wasn't sure what I was doing and at one point we were supposed to shuffle to the right while punching to the right. I suddenly found tall makeup woman's fist about an inch from my face and she wasn't stopping! She did not even attempt to watch out for me, she just kept punching along like I was invisible for about a half hour! I finally just accidently punched her when we went the other direction and told her to wash her face before coming to the gym.
Ok, I didn't really do that. Instead I left the class halfway through because she was annoying me. Someday though I will grow a backbone and tell people to just get out of my F-ing face. Or maybe I should just move back to the West Coast where people are nice and don't try to punch you...
As we started jumping and jabbing, I was about a beat behind on all the moves because I wasn't sure what I was doing and at one point we were supposed to shuffle to the right while punching to the right. I suddenly found tall makeup woman's fist about an inch from my face and she wasn't stopping! She did not even attempt to watch out for me, she just kept punching along like I was invisible for about a half hour! I finally just accidently punched her when we went the other direction and told her to wash her face before coming to the gym.
Ok, I didn't really do that. Instead I left the class halfway through because she was annoying me. Someday though I will grow a backbone and tell people to just get out of my F-ing face. Or maybe I should just move back to the West Coast where people are nice and don't try to punch you...
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Countdown begins
While there is still 17 days until the bar exam, it feels like it is tomorrow. I have about one day per subject to memorize everything and get myself totally ready. No pressure at all! I am currently in major freak out mode and will be there until July 30th at 5pm.
The only thing keeping me going are the thoughts of what I'm going to do after the exam. The month of August is going to be amazing. I'm going to do nothing! Except of course look for a job, but that will be minor compared to studying for the bar. I can't wait to:
Read a magazine
Go for long walks to nowhere
Have a beer in the middle of the day
Sleep
Watch mindless TV
Sleep
Go shopping (window only of course since I am broke)
See friends
Umm...that's all I can think of right now but I'll add more later as I think of all the wonderful things awaiting me in August.
Back to studying Contracts and Sales on a Saturday night while Frenchie is out playing poker with his buddies.
The only thing keeping me going are the thoughts of what I'm going to do after the exam. The month of August is going to be amazing. I'm going to do nothing! Except of course look for a job, but that will be minor compared to studying for the bar. I can't wait to:
Read a magazine
Go for long walks to nowhere
Have a beer in the middle of the day
Sleep
Watch mindless TV
Sleep
Go shopping (window only of course since I am broke)
See friends
Umm...that's all I can think of right now but I'll add more later as I think of all the wonderful things awaiting me in August.
Back to studying Contracts and Sales on a Saturday night while Frenchie is out playing poker with his buddies.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Homesick
It was a beautiful day in Boston today. Not too hot, not too muggy, breezy and nice in the shade. I found myself wandering into the Brookline Farmer's Market, hoping to buy some bread and see what else was in season. It made me so homesick for Oregon! It's a tiny market with about 2 farmers, a meat guy, a cheese guy, a bakery and some random stuff. It's not bad, but it was voted Best Farmer's Market in the Boston area!! I mean, it's just sad. Needless to say, they were out of bread, the only vegetables in season are beets apparently and I got too depressed to buy anything.
I miss Eugene and my friends. I miss Portland and my family. But most of all I miss Oregon and everything that makes it the perfect place to live. If I had some sort of plan about how to get there I think I would feel better but right now Frenchie and I are just in "wait and see" mode. Ahhh!!!
Well, I'm obviously feeling sorry for myself today. Better go back to the real world of studying secured transactions (what the hell are those you ask? I have no idea either. Uh-oh).
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Microsoft doesn't want me to take the bar.
The computer saga continued this week. We went to Costco, exchanged the computer for a spanking new HP laptop which was surprisingly nice for a PC. Took it home, played with it and finally tried to download the bar exam software. I successfully downloaded it but when I tried to open it, a little error came up.
"Softexam not compatible with 64 bit"
WTF is 64 bit? I have no idea but it didn't sound good. And it wasn't. I frantically called my cousin, a computer expert, who told me I was screwed and needed to get an operating system that was 32 bit. Basically, a new computer. After a complete mental breakdown I called Frenchie, told him he had to fix this and he did. He went out, burned the credit card and bought a refurbished IBM ThinkPad with XP (apparently 32 bit) and got the program working just in time. This bar exam business is expensive!
"Softexam not compatible with 64 bit"
WTF is 64 bit? I have no idea but it didn't sound good. And it wasn't. I frantically called my cousin, a computer expert, who told me I was screwed and needed to get an operating system that was 32 bit. Basically, a new computer. After a complete mental breakdown I called Frenchie, told him he had to fix this and he did. He went out, burned the credit card and bought a refurbished IBM ThinkPad with XP (apparently 32 bit) and got the program working just in time. This bar exam business is expensive!
Monday, July 7, 2008
Costco doesn't want me to take the bar
For all of you non-lawyers out there, the bar exam requires you to bring your own computer, install some ridiculously expensive software, and pray that it doesn't break down. But, on top of that, it HAS to be a PC. Thanks for telling us that when we started law school and about half of us bought our shiny new Macs. I had a couple ideas about what I was going to do to solve this problem.
My mother works at Intel, she can probably get me a laptop! umm, not so much
I'll borrow one from the school's tech office! oops, forgot to do that
I know, I'll make Frenchie let me borrow his computer because we are married now! That's what marriage is for. Perfect.
His computer is a newer Mac so we could install Windows on it (some tricky way neither of us understood) and then install the exam taking software. Well, that turned out to be the best option until yesterday when I realized I only have three days to do download the software, Windows was on its way in the mail with an unknown arrival date, and there were already some preliminary problems with Bootcamp (which has something to do with running Windows on a Mac, don't ask me).
New idea! We'll go to Costco, buy the cheapest laptop they have, use it for the bar exam, then return it under their liberal 90 day return policy. Brilliant idea by Tesa (few and far between these days).
So we GPSed our way to Costco, found a computer, purchased the computer (along with a slice of their yummy pizza) and dragged ourselves to Frenchie's office to check it out. After plugging in and pushing buttons, I turned it on and...the user was "Costco" and it was asking for a password. Hmm, I thought, that's weird. Maybe that's just because we bought it at Costco, the password must be "costco" or "password". Hmm, neither of those work either. This is starting to look a little shady. "Oh, look at that, it's all scratched up" "This was a GD display model they sold us and we can't even use it because we don't know the password!"
This better freakin' work this time!!!
My mother works at Intel, she can probably get me a laptop! umm, not so much
I'll borrow one from the school's tech office! oops, forgot to do that
I know, I'll make Frenchie let me borrow his computer because we are married now! That's what marriage is for. Perfect.
His computer is a newer Mac so we could install Windows on it (some tricky way neither of us understood) and then install the exam taking software. Well, that turned out to be the best option until yesterday when I realized I only have three days to do download the software, Windows was on its way in the mail with an unknown arrival date, and there were already some preliminary problems with Bootcamp (which has something to do with running Windows on a Mac, don't ask me).
New idea! We'll go to Costco, buy the cheapest laptop they have, use it for the bar exam, then return it under their liberal 90 day return policy. Brilliant idea by Tesa (few and far between these days).
So we GPSed our way to Costco, found a computer, purchased the computer (along with a slice of their yummy pizza) and dragged ourselves to Frenchie's office to check it out. After plugging in and pushing buttons, I turned it on and...the user was "Costco" and it was asking for a password. Hmm, I thought, that's weird. Maybe that's just because we bought it at Costco, the password must be "costco" or "password". Hmm, neither of those work either. This is starting to look a little shady. "Oh, look at that, it's all scratched up" "This was a GD display model they sold us and we can't even use it because we don't know the password!"
This better freakin' work this time!!!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Independence
Frenchie and I had a very successful BBQ yesterday to celebrate our country's independence. I actually did some cooking! I have always been more of a baker because of a lack of confidence in my cooking skills, but I decided to give it a try. I made:
Molasses-Ginger Baked Beans
Feta Burgers
Watermelon Feta Salad
Rosy Peach Sangria
Raspberry Cream Cheese Tart (made patriotic by adding blueberries)
I forgot to take pictures because I was sampling too much of my sangria while making it, but I have to say it was a huge success! Frenchie also made steaks marinated in oyster sauce, balsamic vinegar, mustard and red chile pepper flakes and a friend bought some sausages from Northern Africa called merguez (which were amazing). The sangria was a disappointment, not very flavorful. I think I should stick to the traditional kind with citrus fruit and red wine.
Then we walked to the Charles River in Boston to watch the fireworks. We were sort of far away (on the BU bridge) and we had a kid next to us who would yell every time one of the fireworks went off. Usually he yelled "bitchin". One of our friends was practically peeing her pants laughing at first but then it became a little annoying because he wouldn't stop. And the Boston show is quite long!
It was a nice break from studying and reminded me how wonderful life will be when this is all over. Ahhhh...
Molasses-Ginger Baked Beans
Feta Burgers
Watermelon Feta Salad
Rosy Peach Sangria
Raspberry Cream Cheese Tart (made patriotic by adding blueberries)
I forgot to take pictures because I was sampling too much of my sangria while making it, but I have to say it was a huge success! Frenchie also made steaks marinated in oyster sauce, balsamic vinegar, mustard and red chile pepper flakes and a friend bought some sausages from Northern Africa called merguez (which were amazing). The sangria was a disappointment, not very flavorful. I think I should stick to the traditional kind with citrus fruit and red wine.
Then we walked to the Charles River in Boston to watch the fireworks. We were sort of far away (on the BU bridge) and we had a kid next to us who would yell every time one of the fireworks went off. Usually he yelled "bitchin". One of our friends was practically peeing her pants laughing at first but then it became a little annoying because he wouldn't stop. And the Boston show is quite long!
It was a nice break from studying and reminded me how wonderful life will be when this is all over. Ahhhh...
Friday, July 4, 2008
Homeland Security
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is about to receive a whole bunch of money from the Frenchie's. We sent our green card application yesterday! After probably about 20 hours of paperwork, organizing, double checking, medical exams (which included TB tests, HIV tests, syphilis tests and an inconclusive chest x-ray) a little fighting, picture taking and one giant envelope we have mailed it off. Now we wait.
Frenchie's visa expires at the end of August so we have 57 days for his work permit to arrive. If it does not arrive before then, Frenchie gets an unpaid vacation until it does! They say it will take between 30-90 days to arrive so we'll see. Nobody has ever accused the government of doing things quickly so we may be looking for somewhere to crash in September. Or maybe I'll get a job finally, we'll see.
In other news, I am awake way too early on the one day BarBri says I get to take off from studying. I'm going through a little period of insomnia which is exacerbated by the fact that every night I wake up with another mosquito bite itching like crazy. How do you get rid of mosquitos anyway? I'm sure it would help if we closed the window but the cats insist we leave it open so they can roam in and out all night. I'm tempted to dowse myself in bug spray before I go to bed but that seems kind of gross. Maybe mosquito netting?
Frenchie's visa expires at the end of August so we have 57 days for his work permit to arrive. If it does not arrive before then, Frenchie gets an unpaid vacation until it does! They say it will take between 30-90 days to arrive so we'll see. Nobody has ever accused the government of doing things quickly so we may be looking for somewhere to crash in September. Or maybe I'll get a job finally, we'll see.
In other news, I am awake way too early on the one day BarBri says I get to take off from studying. I'm going through a little period of insomnia which is exacerbated by the fact that every night I wake up with another mosquito bite itching like crazy. How do you get rid of mosquitos anyway? I'm sure it would help if we closed the window but the cats insist we leave it open so they can roam in and out all night. I'm tempted to dowse myself in bug spray before I go to bed but that seems kind of gross. Maybe mosquito netting?
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Grr
I am currently a full time bar studying crazy person. Of course I am using the worlds only bar review course, BarBri, but I am doing an iPod program so I'm responsible for figuring out which of the 40 lbs of books they sent me to use for that day. Well, I did well for about 30 days, but yesterday I screwed up! Apparently I did the wrong 6 hour practice exam!!! Grrrr... Now I am supposed to listen to 12 hours of lecture specifically targeting those 200 questions that I have not done.
Of course I realized this as I sat down in Starbucks to begin the review lectures and a giant thunderstorm started outside so I'm stuck here for a bit until the downpour is over and I can go home and figure out what exam I was supposed to be doing.
not sure what to do next...
Of course I realized this as I sat down in Starbucks to begin the review lectures and a giant thunderstorm started outside so I'm stuck here for a bit until the downpour is over and I can go home and figure out what exam I was supposed to be doing.
not sure what to do next...
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