Tuesday, October 31, 2006

I'm all about George's, but...

...I'm not all about ice.

George's Cafe (the new UT Law School Cafe) has fountain drinks, and fountain drinks mean ice. And when given to stressed out law students, that means eating the ice. And the sound of people crunching ice has followed me around ALL DAY today.

So, I looked it up. Apparently, the craving to chew on ice is called pagophagia and is a symptom of lack of iron. Fellow law students, I beg of you, for the purpose of not hearing ice crunching going on as I try to read Con Law, take your vitamins and eat your greens.

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Saturday, October 28, 2006

Ex Ex Parte

With (amazingly) only a mild hangover, I can officially say I survived my first Ex Parte. My favorite costumes include the full team from Double Dare that also brought their own Marc Summers, the functional box of Franzia and my costume, of course.

And while there were three Borats, I was dissapointed that none of them rocked the man-thong. Now THAT would have been genius. Also mildly surprised that I didn't see a Steve Irwin with a barb through his heart. Alas.

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Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Not my fault: I'm in 1L

With my father coming in for dinner tomorrow night, and the royal state of messy that my apartment is in, I started thinking of all the things outside of law school I can blame on being a 1L approaching November. Feel free to post your own in the comments.
  • Messy apartment, completely cluttered with empty bottles of Shiner
  • Haven't gone grocery shopping in three weeks
  • No longer cook meals, instead subsist on take out, sandwiches, lean cuisines and beer
  • Often answer friend's phone calls with "I'm too busy to talk to you right now"
  • You still have to catch up on tivoed shows from three weeks ago
  • Laundry? Ha!
  • You have a newspaper subscription, but haven't read one in a month
  • In fact, you have no clue what's going on with current events whatsoever
  • The last time you had a nice manicure or pedicure was at orientation
This isn't to say that I have no free time. It's simply to say that in my free time, I'm going out drinking because that's the quickest way to forget how mind-numbing Con Law is. And ya know what? That's ok. Because I'm a 1L.

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Monday, October 23, 2006

Don't be a Jurisprude...

...is apparently the theme of Ex Parte (UT law's Halloween party).

I suppose that goes along well with the general tendencies of myself and the rest of my gender to go as slutty fill-in-the-blanks (slutty cop, slutty stewardess, slutty pirate, slutty nurse, etc.) for Halloween. Seriously though, when did Halloween turn into a lingerie party? I think if men are to be rewarded with such behavior on Halloween, women should officially get a new holiday....I'm thinking "Shirtless Volleyball Player Day" or something along those lines.

Oh, for the simple days of candy corn and ballerina costumes.

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Saturday, October 21, 2006

Paper Chase

This torts paper is driving me crazy.

We have to write a 6-8 page decision as if we were a district court judge deciding a case based on a provided fact pattern. (UT requires a writing assignment for the one class you have in small section, and uses this as reason to bump the class weight up to 5 units instead of 4) We are not supposed to do any research, and rely solely upon two provided cases, neither of which are longer than 4 pages. So you tell me, with barely any material at all, what exactly am I supposed to write about for 6-8 pages?

Moreover, it's well known that my torts professor is a fan of brevity. The sections of the casebook which he edited have incredibly short opinons, with barely any additional notes. It's odd to get an opinion that goes for more than three pages. So why would he require that we be so verbose in these stupid papers?

I've been working on this thing for a week, and at 4 and a half pages, I'm convinced that I've more than adequately addressed every legal issue that could possibly be tortured from this hypo, and yet, I'm now forced to decide whether to insert some rambling, repetitive bullshit or change my font to Courier New. The fact that I'm incredibly hungover from bar golf last night isn't helping.

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Thursday, October 19, 2006

Sue the Pants Off Him

Non-law school friend: So when do you get to start suing people?
Lioness: After I pass the bar exam.
Friend: That would be so awesome to just be able to sue anyone anytime you wanted to. I'd sue everyone who pissed me off. Like ex-boyfriends and stuff.
Lioness: What would you sue them for?
Friend: Money, of course.
Lioness: Yep. Now you're thinking like a lawyer.
Friend: There must be something you can sue an ex-boyfriend for, just for being annoying. I dunno, you're the law student, you think of something.
Lioness: Wellll....I suppose you could attempt to prove that he negligently caused you injury to consortium.
Friend: Oh, that sounds fancy! What does it mean?
Lioness: It means you're not getting laid anymore, and it's his fault.
Friend: Hmmm....
Lioness: What, don't like it?
Friend: Well. Maybe I shouldn't sue him. Wouldn't want to give him the impression I in any way enjoyed his miserable attempts at sexual prowess.
Lioness: That bad, eh?
Friend: Oh yeah. I'd rather sleep with one of those dead guys in your Con Law book.
Lioness: Like who? John Marshall?
Friend: Yes. I'd rather sleep with John Marshall. Sexy, sexy, John Marshall.

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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Misery Loves Company

Apparently, the kids over at UCLA law didn't learn anything from our recent scandal. Who Owns the Fox has the dirt on UCLA's racist mock-trial competition.

http://uclaw.blogspot.com/2006/10/deja-vu.html

(Note: for now, I'll leave comments on, but that is so you can talk about THEM and THIS INCIDENT not what occured last week at UT.)

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Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Stomp, Stomp, Stomp

Today I ventured away from my usual study perch due to the just plain moronic football talk occuring near my normal study spot. (To said moron, 1) don't talk so loud in the library, and 2) Matt Leinart played great last night, it was the Cardinals defense and kicker that lost them the game.) Being ousted from my normal spot, I ventured over to the lounge area outside 2.138.

There I found what can only be described as the most annoying structure in the law school: the obnoxiously loud handicapped ramp. While I fully support its use by anyone on wheels, its use by perfectly mobile students and faculty results in this: STOMP, STOMP, STOMP, STOMP, STOMP. There are stairs right next to it, and yet, it appears the majority of our fellow students choose to ignore these in favor of clomping up and down the ramp like Clydesdales.

Oh, there go two more clomping by, as I write this....

But really, they can't be blamed, they are just following the faculty's bad example. While I sat here, the biggest stomper of all--a certain popular Contracts professor--literally RAN up, and then a few minutes later RAN back down the ramp, resulting in the loudest clomping of all.

Oh, there goes another clomper, this time with a rolling backpack too.

It appears the world just doesn't want me to start on my torts paper. Not today at least.

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Friday, October 13, 2006

We are the lucky ones...

I have always thought that it might be possible I am a good luck charm. I could refer to numerous football coincidences (I was a fan of the Cowboys in the early 90's, they win three superbowls. I go to a bunch of A&M games when I'm in high school, they always win when I am there. I attend USC, they have three Heisman winners and two national championships. I decide to go to UT for law school, they win the national championship.) or I could refer to my astounding ability at games of chance such as paper, rock, scissors and/or king's cup. But today, my fantastic luck was proven once again:

I skip torts because it is just much too lovely of a day to be stuck in a classroom, and I just find out that my professor overslept and missed class.

AWESOME.

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Cold Weather!

So a cold front has blown through Austin, and it is currently a lovely 68 degrees outside! How fantastic is that? I love the first cold front of the year. What better reason than to throw on a sweater and burrow under a blanket for some quality time with.......my torts book.

Cause, ya know, nothing makes me feel more warm and fuzzy inside than personal injury law.

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006

I Thought We Were Done With This...

...But I guess we weren't

Today in the atrium, the Thurgood Marshall student group had displays comparing a photo of 1950s performers in blackface to a photo of white (not-UT law) people dressed "ghetto."

Also, word on the street is that someone at the party "rolled" on their fellow students and reproduced a list of attendants at the party for the dean. The dean has individual meetings with these students later today. Apparently, the people fingered in this incident include both people that were in pictures and those who were not, leading students to believe it was an "inside job."

This blog's official position remains one of neutrality. (And to answer the numerous e-mails I've gotten, no, I wasn't there.) But, to the rest of you anonymous viewers, your discussion is welcome.

EDIT (10/14/06)- With 50 comments now accompanying this post, I think everyone has had ample opportunity to adequately debate the issue. While there has been some very healthy discussion in the comments, I think everyone on both sides of this issue would now like to see this thing cool down. I'm turning off new comments here and on my other post on the issue.

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Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Rainy Days and Mondays

Ok, so actually it's Tuesday, but it's raining. In fact, it's raining and thundering. And I'm lying in my comfy bed with my adorable cat cuddled up by my feet, and I can think of NO REASON that makes me want to get out of that bed to go to law school on a day like today.

So I figured, just go look at the weather channel, the rain will probably be over soon and then you'll feel guilty about skipping class. And what did I find there?

A TORNADO WATCH!

Now, to the "ordinary man of reasonable prudence" driving around in thunderstorms during a tornado watch may seem like a bad idea. But not to me. I love tornadoes. Always have. So up and at em, slugger. My first tornadoes since being back in Texas! Yay!

Monday, October 09, 2006

Oh, Westlaw, you just don't get it, do you?

Last week's Westlaw breakfast tease was documented here and here.

Today was the "makeup" breakfast. And what do they bring us? Spinach and mushroom kolaches. Really? Really, Westlaw? I'm sorry, but did you not hear about this? Dissapointing at best. And in a city full of 99 cent breakfast taco makers, no less.

Between that and the nifty Lexis water bottle I got at Lexis training today, I may just have to switch to the other side.

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Friday, October 06, 2006

Air your grievances here

Everyone is whispering in hushed tones about the 1L "ghetto fabulous" party and the backlash that resulted. Stop whispering. While this blog's official position is one of neutrality, I encourage the rest of you to say what's on your minds.

Facts:
-A costume party themed"ghetto fabulous" was held and attended by 1Ls
-Pictures from the party were posted online, and a link to the pictures was places on the 1L myspace group page. (They have now been taken down)
-Some other students at the law school saw the pictures, were offended, and petitioned the dean to take action
-An e-mail was sent to all law students from the dean condemning the party as having "negative racial overtones" and telling students to "think twice" before engaging in such behavior again.

Feel free to post your thoughts/opinions/etc. Annnnndddd....go.

EDIT (10/14/06): New comments have now been disabled. See above post on this topic if you have questions.

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Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Dirty pinko bastard.

I hate pink.

You see, since the beginning of classes, I have had not one, but TWO pink highlighters dry out on me. None of my other highlighter colors have run out even once. (Yes, I hear you laughing at me because I use multiple color highlighters....ya know what? Bite me.)

But seriously. It's not like I used the pink ones more than the others. If we were going with most frequently used color, yellow should've been long gone. But yellow is doing just FINE. So what the hell is wrong with you, pink? Think you're too good for the other highlighters or something? Are you a commie bastard? Well? ARE YOU?

There is clearly only one way to fix this problem. I'm getting a beer. Maybe it'll help my neck feel better too.

EDIT: After re-reading this post, I realized how crazy law school has already made me that something this trivial would even bother me. Damn you, UT. I know you're in on it, Manchurian Candidate style.

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Bound to Happen Sometime

So today, I feel as though I reached a very important milestone in my legal education:

I skipped a class for the first time.



Yep. It's true. I feel like such a bad girl. But in a good way.

(Of course, before anyone gets too excited by my wanton disregard for attending class, I suppose I should mention that I'm only not there because I got hit so hard in flag football last night that I fell backwards, hit my head on the ground, and achieved a mild concussion. The immense pain in my head and neck today seemed like a good enough reason to forego lectures by 70 year old men, and to instead catch up in the following areas 1) my sleep 2) my laundry 3) my tivoed shows. Yep. A true bad girl am I. )

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Monday, October 02, 2006

Sex Par-tay

So apparently, the law school holds a contest to name the theme of Ex Parte (UT's annual law halloween costume party). Past winners include "XXX Parte" and "Ex Parte: Leave Your Briefs At Home". Contests like this thrill me to no end. Unfortunately, my ideas so far generally suck:

Ex Parte: The drunker you get, the more it will sound like "Sex Par-tay."
Ex Parte: Because where else is [Professor X] supposed to meet his 4th wife?
Ex Parte: If you don't go, you're probably the gunner.
Sex. Bar. Yay.
Ex Parte: Latin, meaning "really great reason to get drunk with your classmates, go home with one of them, then act really awkward the next time you see them."


See, I told you they all sucked. My readership, you are encouraged to show me up with your genius ideas.

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Lessons Learned in 1L, volume 1

First installment in what I hope will be a nice new series.

If you anticipate being called on in class, for the love of all that is holy, sign on to AIM. By about the third week, enough people will have been called on and sounded stupid that they will take pity on you and help you out when you start to sound stupid. The key here is making it look like you are looking at your book and not at a random flashing answer on your screen. Also important is to position your IM windows so that your smartest and most reliable buddy is at the top of your screen, and that no other IM "helpers" that may or may not be correct will flash over theirs.

And, even if no one knows the answer, instead of feeling like a failure, you can be reassured by the fact that no one else knew it either.

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Sunday, October 01, 2006

New Links

Updated my links section to add a few new UT law blogs and a few of my favorite non-UT law blogs. Also alphabetized them.

(I'll do anything to put off doing my reading for Con Law.)

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