It's Tuesday night, I've just finished half a tub of peppermint cookie dough ice cream, and I'm now upstairs with three compatriots in law trying to get meaningful work done. I can't believe the stress level of some of these people at law school -- and if these are supposedly the "happiest" law students in the country, I should be counting my blessings.
I was doing great at maintaining my image as the Westcoast coaster for such a long time, too, before I had a spectacular breakdown over Saturday and Sunday. Having taken Thanksgiving completely off -- meaning lots of turkey, and generally not getting to bed until 4 AM -- and seeing people studying in the lobby at 2 AM in the morning, I think I was starting to get guilt-tripped into not freaking out more.
Do I know anything? On quick reflection, yes. Do I know enough? In all honesty, who knows. That's the beauty of the grading curve; it doesn't really matter how much you know, as long as you know more than everyone else. Funny that they should use that system in a school that prides itself for camraderie.
What works? What doesn't? I went to a talk by the first Asian-American tenured professor at this school, and I have to say that this superkid from Harvard really managed to freak a few people out. As far as I can gather -- and I was admittedly distracted by the mushrooms on my pizza -- he spent most nights in the library, reading and coming up with every conceivable argument for every topic broached in class. I like to think I'm more of a seat-of-the-pants, on-the-fly kind of kid. Depending on the end result, that makes me either a skywalker (not the Star Wars kind, the law school kind) or a slacker.
More cheerfully -- snaps for Lindsay, who won a whopping 3% for the Greens in her southern Alberta riding in the recent election! Now that's keeping perspective. I've also taken to introducing people to the Hobbit Name Generator that brought me so much joy in my days of math and physics.
I'm saving the Quenya translator for my darkest hour in the days ahead.
I was doing great at maintaining my image as the Westcoast coaster for such a long time, too, before I had a spectacular breakdown over Saturday and Sunday. Having taken Thanksgiving completely off -- meaning lots of turkey, and generally not getting to bed until 4 AM -- and seeing people studying in the lobby at 2 AM in the morning, I think I was starting to get guilt-tripped into not freaking out more.
Do I know anything? On quick reflection, yes. Do I know enough? In all honesty, who knows. That's the beauty of the grading curve; it doesn't really matter how much you know, as long as you know more than everyone else. Funny that they should use that system in a school that prides itself for camraderie.
What works? What doesn't? I went to a talk by the first Asian-American tenured professor at this school, and I have to say that this superkid from Harvard really managed to freak a few people out. As far as I can gather -- and I was admittedly distracted by the mushrooms on my pizza -- he spent most nights in the library, reading and coming up with every conceivable argument for every topic broached in class. I like to think I'm more of a seat-of-the-pants, on-the-fly kind of kid. Depending on the end result, that makes me either a skywalker (not the Star Wars kind, the law school kind) or a slacker.
More cheerfully -- snaps for Lindsay, who won a whopping 3% for the Greens in her southern Alberta riding in the recent election! Now that's keeping perspective. I've also taken to introducing people to the Hobbit Name Generator that brought me so much joy in my days of math and physics.
I'm saving the Quenya translator for my darkest hour in the days ahead.
