Immigration Final

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. There were two essays and 135 True/False questions. The essay on asylum I think I hit out of the park. The other one was, I guess, more like a line drive to first. I think I got the answer, but I didn't understand what was disputable. Maybe I'm being paranoid, and it really was cut and dry, but that's so unusual for a law exam. Anyway, the True/False questions were not horrible, but I had about a 75% "False" rate, and I don't know how well that bodes. What really upset me though is that he specifically told us several times that we did not need to know case names or statute numbers, only the principals and doctrine. While there wer no case names on the test at all, there were at least 10 or 15 out of 135 questions that were specifically about statute numbers. Anyway, I was not pleased, but for now I have to get to Evidence, which should be better, I am a lot more confident there. Peace.

Inspiration

Someone on Livejournal just posted this link. It is the video for Johnny Cash's "Hurt." It is a large part of why I picked the guitar back up. It is a beautiful song, a cover of Nine Inch Nails. The video is... touching. I am pretty sure I cried the first time I saw it. Maybe it just has a special meaning to me, because while NIN's version was really about a drug addiction, Cash's comes off more about maintaining who you are, not getting lost in the fame and the money. I think that selling out is one of my biggest fears in becoming a lawyer. I mean, you come out with a hundred grand in debt, it's like it's set up so you don't have any other choice. Anyway, the video is magnificent, it's shot at his actual home, with no makeup, and he made sure that they didn't cut out his shaking hands. It's honest, and heartfelt; it's a legend warning us not to make his mistakes. He and his wife are both gone now, I really think he was saying goodbye with this video, writing his own eulogy. Every song on his last album was in some way about death, and it ends with "We'll Meet Again."

Back to Immigration Law.

Unstoppable and Dominating

Yesterday was my first exam, and despite numerous roadblocks, I think I did really well. I got up at 7:00 am, and left by 7:30 for my 8:30 exam, figuring that having an extra half hour is a good thing. So I get there about twenty minutes left, because traffic eats poo. I go upstairs and get a bagel and some orange juice, which was surprisingly good AND surprisingly cheap. So I walked back out into the main area and saw a line of people getting their BAGS (Something Anonymous Grading System) numbers. It is at this point that I realize that I got my BAGS number last week because I wanted to be a non-procrastinator, and unfortunately it was sitting on my desk at home, and I could not remember it. So I got in the line and waited to find out what the BAGS number was that they had already given me. So it is now time for my exam, so I go up to the room where our class meets to find another class in there just beginning their exam. Crap, where is my exam meeting then? So I go to the administration office before I interrupt anymore exams, and they tell me they don't have a schedule, so they go on the FSU Law website for me and look it up and print it out, which is nice of them. So I get into the only room on the other side of the law school, and they had already started so I just got my stuff from the proctor and sat down. I was only about two minutes late, so I got started, and I think I did really well. I got pretty much everything in my notes into the exam some way or another, except for cybersquatting law, which didn't really fit since the internet wasn't mentioned anywhere in any of the three questions. Three hours later the exam ended, and I went to save my test to the network, and surprise, it didn't work. The tech guy helped me out and just pointed out that I needed to sign into the password protected network before I could save to it, and to do so I had to log out of the secure exam software, but that I could sign back in and then save it to the network. Before I signed out I saved it to a floppy, but their way worked too. Anyway, it worked out in the end, and I really think I did well. Now, Immigration tomorrow, Evidence the next day, and then Bioethics on Friday. Peace out, word to your mothers!

I'm going to make a horrible lawyer if I ever graduate.

I was at the law school today, seeing if there were any old exams on file from my professors, so I would know what the tests would look like, when an acquaintance from my Intellectual Property class came in. He asked if I was studying for IP, and I responded that I was studying for Immigration law instead, because it was on Monday, and thus took precedence due to immediacy. He then informed me that our IP exam was on Monday. I was not sure whether they had changed one, or if I had merely gotten them confused, or if he was just wrong, until I got home and checked my calendar to find that he was right, and thankfully, I had merely gotten the dates confused, there was no conflict. So, I have been focusing on Immigration for several days now, which isn't horrible, because I needed to work on it, but if it hadn't been for that chance meeting in the library copy room, I probably wouldn't have realized until Sunday night at bedtime that I had been preparing for the wrong test for a week. At least I have been working on both IP and Evidence as breaks from immigration, so I have a good groundwork for IP done too. It's lucky that I still have plenty of time to prepare the more detailed points. I will survive. Peace.

Let's get it on.

That is the song I had stuck in my head all day. I got some very odd looks from people as I walked down the hallways subconsciously humming and muttering the words. It is the song I woke up to this morning, because last night I remembered that I was tired of waking up to static in the mornings, but was too tired to find a radio station I actually liked, so I moved the dial to the first channel on which I could make out the words, which happened to be "Cool 99.9" Anyway, it was an interesting day, debating end of life issues in Bioethics, etc. No more classes for the rest of the semester, just the exams and some review sessions tomorrow. And it turns out that the profile class (where they center the curve around the class GPA average rather than middle C because there aren't enough people in the class to have a statistically sound sample size) is going to be centered around 81, which is awesome, compared to 75 (middle C). I'm excited, but that means that there are a lot of people in there who get very high grades, so it's still good news, but competition may be really tough. Anyway, speaking of grades, back to studying. Peace.

It's raining again.

I didn't think that it rained this late. I mean, it's cold, I thought rain was a summer thing. Anyway. I am full on into studying now, my first final is now officially less than a week away. Not much else to report I guess. Lots of fun this weekend with friends who came up, and a surprise visit from Erin. Saw the new Harry Potter, and went to a Harry Potter party, where the decorations and ambience were incredible. But before this study break becomes a study ending, I better get back to work. See you all later. Peace.

Goodbye law and literature

Well, I got my last paper back from my Law and Literature professor today. It was interesting, I wrote essentially that I was tired of him accusing all of us of being future sellouts. He kept implying that we are all going to go out and let ourselves be corrupted by the world of lawyers. I basically said that I was going to do what was right, rather than what was profitable, and that I do realize at the outset that there will be times that it seems like I am never getting anything done, and that for every case I finish, there will be three more coming in to replace it. Anyway, I figured, based on the class discussions and the comments on my last papers that he would just call me naive and idealistic, and I would change my opinion as I got older. Instead, he told me "Good. You got the point. A+" I will not miss waiting until 4:45 for a class, or getting out at 6:45, but I will miss the discussions, and getting my thoughts down in writing once every other week. I am almost sure that I will not be able to keep that up without a deadline and a grade. Anyway, peace out, word to your mothers.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good:
I am excited about the party this weekend, and I look forward to seeing people. Speaking of Harry Potter, a friend found this band, Harry and the Potters. Indeed, Voldemort CAN'T stop the rock, though the quality of the rock that Voldemort cannot stop is... questionable. Also, creative juices are flowing, and my own song pieces are beginning to fall into place.

The Bad:
The rage in my heart cannot be measure by mortal means. FSU Law decided, apparently between the time I booked our reservation a few weeks ago, and now, that next year they want to start classes at the same time as the main campus, a week later than usual. This has it's benefits for most people. Thanksgiving will no longer be the last weekend before finals, and therefore people will have more of a chance to go home for Thanksgiving. This is because finals will be a week later. Which means that graduation will be a week later, December 16th. This would be entirely insignificant except that I am supposed to be getting married on the 17th. Even if I chose to skip walking, it is still not unlikely that I will have an exam the Friday preceeding, which is the night of the rehearsal, etc. MASSIVELY pissed. And the worst part is that I can't really get upset AT anyone or anything. It is a perfectly logical decision, if you don't have your own wedding that weekend. The only thing I can really be upset about is that they only published it 13 months in advance, which isn't really something I can bring myself to hate anyone for. Oh well, that'll teach me not to plan 14 months ahead, I guess. Again, furiously livid, but without a goat to scape.

The Ugly:
I didn't write anything the other day when Rob posted about conservatives, because I just wasn't in the mood to stir up a hornet's nest that day. And honestly, after the scheduling incident, I'm not today. However, I must point out that calling all conservatives prejudiced is in itself prejudice. I probably could have made that a comment instead of a post, but then I couldn't have had such a cool title. Anyway, being intelligent AND not prejudiced AND unselfish do not exclude one from being conservative. I do not consider myself to be on one side or the other, but the entire concept that giving one an education cause them to agree with you is contrary to the definition of an opinion, or contrary to the concept of an education being factually based. The person with that bumper sticker on their car is obviously a supreme douchebag, and it pisses me off too, but he doesn't represent the entire right anymore than people with "High Times" bumper stickers represent the whole left. Anyway, I am not trying to take one side over the other, but hating the other side is only divisive. No one is going to listen to you if you open your argument with "you are selfish and prejudiced, and my goal in this discussion is to fix you." It pisses me off to hear Bill O'Reilly make racist comments about the French too, but you can't let that make you hate "the right" or "conservatives," just Bill O'Reilly (who it is TOTALLY okay to hate, individually). All of this is of course just my opinion. Part of me doesn't want to post this for fear of making people feel that they cannot post their true feelings where I can read them. This would be horrible because I think that as important as freedom of expression is in society, it is especially important to strong friendships, but another part of me recognizes that not saying this for that reason would in fact be limiting freedom of expression between friends.

Anyway, I just heard someone say there is free pizza in the rotunda, and I have twenty more minutes until my next class, so I'm gonna go grab some, peace out and word to your mothers.

Wading waist deep through molasses

That's about how I feel trying to write music lately. I have been trying for a week and have one riff down, and a possible intro to that riff. This is extra frustrating because I remember writing with a band, where we could seriously come up with two or three songs in a day, lyrics not included. There are three major differences, I think. First, there were more people, and second, more time. I never had to write all of the parts myself, because each person wrote their own part, and we would practice for at least four hours, sometimes six, whenever we met. Third, and perhaps most importantly, I didn't care as much. When there are four people, each of them knows that they are not going to get the song to be "perfect" because everyone disagrees on what perfect is. One person thinks perfect is having unusual time signatures, while others may think that perfect is something you can tap your foot to. Either way, one must compromise, and you can't make the song your version of "perfect". Contrast this to writing alone, where you can just sit on something for months thinking "it's almost perfect, but it needs something more, I just don't know what. Maybe I'll think of it next week." Oh well, I do have more pressing matters, finals are coming, and I need to finish my outlining. Also, I have to write the last paper for my Law and literature class that is chronicling the last century. What do you guys think are the biggest news stories since 1980? Since 2000? September 11th is pretty obvious, but other than that... Anyway, peace out, and word to your mothers!

Do musical juices come from musical fruits?

If so, then why is bean juice not more readily available in American supermarkets? I need to get my musical juices flowing. Anyway, today I finally figured out how to get my Cakewalk to work. Kind of. There was a technical issue, because DirectX 9.0 is not as backwards compatible as Microsoft would lead one to believe, and my version of Cakewalk is a couple years old. However, when I finally figured out what to do, via the troubleshooter, I was asked for the serial number. The serial number is in the box, which I can only assume is in the trash, since, as previously stated, the program is two years old, and even I don't keep empty boxes that long. So, I called technical support, who promptly directed me to customer service, who promptly put me on hold. It was actually slightly interesting hearing what kind of music a company who enables music creation plays on hold. Mostly non-descript techno beats. Anyway, I was finally geeted by someone whose name I couldn't make out because of the static (admittedly on my end) who kindly told me that if I e-mailed him a picture of the actual cd, then he could send me a new serial number. I got his e-mail address, took a couple webcam shots, and sent them. I hope he will get back to me tomorrow, as I know they close at 6:00 eastern. So, the point of this ramble is twofold. Firstly, it's just cool that I completely expected to have to yell and beg for a new serial number only to be ultimately turned down, that I am incredibly excited that things turned out so well, assuming he actually e-mails me back with a new serial number tomorrow. Secondly, I don't have to use Adam and Janelle (and their guinea pigs) as guinea pigs. Or rather, I can make recordings, and use all of you as guinea pigs, assuming you consent thereto. Mwahahaha! Peace out, word to your mothers!

Real quick

Starting the first hearing on motions in five minutes. Wish me luck!