More hating on legal research.

So I’ve never really been one to ruffle the feathers of my superiors. Whether they were bosses or teachers, I always thought it prudent not to rock the boat since, you know, they were the ones who either signed my paychecks or assigned my grades. I’ve been accused of being a suck up, but I always justified everything by saying that I knew how to play the game. It isn’t just merit that gets you ahead in this world. So much of your success is dependent on other people’s opinions of you. I’ve learned how to be very charming and curry the favor of my superiors. It comes pretty naturally actually.

But guess how many credits the legal research portion of legal practice workshop is worth? ZERO!

I therefore feel absolutely NO compulsion to put any more into this class than I feel is necessary for my personal achievement. So I’m really offended by these bullshit assignments we have and I intend to be quite vocal about it in my course evaluation.

I mean no disrespect to our instructor, but this research log assignment is utterly worthless. She gave us a sample we’re to follow and what it basically does is act as a research diary whereby not only do we write in each step of the research process we take, but we are also to recount our thoughts and feelings as we take those steps. Quoted verbatim from the sample research log: “After my e-mail plea for assistance, Carissa helpfully pointed me towards Carmody-Wair 2d, which had no extensive coverage of adverse possession in a specific section, but directed me to NY Real Property Acts Law…” and “…I wouldn’t have too much time with the volume if I wanted to go through the whole section right there. (Perhaps a bit of overkill, but I wanted to be safe rather than sorry at this point!)”

No. Just…NO.

Again, no disrespect to the reference librarian who teaches this class, but I know myself and my work habits and I know that it will not serve my purposes to have to recount everything I do to research this second memo as I do it and describe my thoughts on the process for an assignment that not only will not be graded, but that is also for a class worth no credits.

I won’t engage in civil disobedience by refusing to turn in the assignment altogether, (not because of any fear of reprisals, mind you — CLS does not fail students in legal research — but because I think that would be rude to the instructor) but I’m certainly not going to follow this sample to the letter. I will follow it only inasmuch as I think the information will be useful to ME at some later point. I refuse to recognize the validity of this assignment as anything other than what it can do for me.

 

It was only a matter of time.

 

November is quickly filling up with obligations. And now, the career services office is hounding us about researching job opportunities and getting our applications together and mock interviews and resume reviews and…gah. Every week is slightly more awful than the last as far as STUFF goes. I just realized that last Friday I had FOUR more weeks of class left. FOUR WEEKS! It’s unbelievable to me. Classes end December 4 and then we have a week of reading period. My torts exam is December 11, civ pro is December 16, and contracts is December 21. I’ve only just started outlining. I’m in a study group for torts now and my contribution to the collective outline is due this Friday. We’re really getting down to the wire now. I don’t know why this is just hitting me now. I guess it’s because I have the first five days of December written into my November calendar and I have LAST DAY OF CLASS!!! staring at me in the lower right corner.

Even though I’m starting to research jobs I want for the summer, I’m not yet allowing myself to start freaking out about funding my activities this summer. I guess I’m just hoping I’ll have enough from my student loan award left over that when it’s coupled with the $4,200 guaranteed summer funding from Columbia, I’ll be able to get through those three months without having to resort to food stamps.

Worst case scenario I might have to sublet my apartment, move to New Jersey, get a job with the Division of Law, and commute to Trenton every day with my mom. I don’t even want to think about subletting and moving yet again. Although it wouldn’t be so bad to work in state government in New Jersey (at least, not now that Corzine is gone). But whatever. I can’t worry about that right now. Too much to do.

Oh! I have a bit of good news. We got our Legal Methods exams back and as I was waiting in line to receive mine, my classmates were all congregated trying to decipher the prof’s scrawlings on their exams. Most people had long paragraphs of comments at the end telling them what they missed and what needed more work and where they went wrong. Every now and then someone would exclaim, “I got a ‘fine’!” or “I got an ‘OK’!” When I got mine, I flipped immediately to the back and at the bottom all it said was, “Well done!” I was filled with glee for the rest of the day. I haven’t read through the model answer yet, but I intend to at some point when I have more time (read: when I’m dead). So that was a good shot of confidence that I’ll definitely need to power through to the end of classes (FOUR WEEKS!!!).

Not to be a total bitch but…

…I’m not going to feel bad about essentially kicking you out of your table in Lenfest CAFE during LUNCH when my study group needs it and there’s no tables and you’re just one person.

I know you were there first, but I just feel that if you “need to read” and our talking is distracting you, then you should really find someplace other than the cafe at lunchtime to do your reading. The library is just down the hall. And that’s what it’s for.

And the reading increases to almost 90 pages/night…

It’s almost as though the professors don’t realize that the increasing workload is coinciding with memos and career services meetings and the ever-approaching apocalypse that is finals…

Wasting time.

I was able to spend an hour spacing out and daydreaming without feeling guilty about not looking at my casebooks. All I had to do was get a needle jammed into my too-deep veins and have a pint of blood drained from my body. Sure, I almost passed out twice, but I got cookies and apple juice when I was done.

This week is looking worse than last. Legal research continues to waste my time with its insipid assignments. I have my first meeting with my torts study group Wednesday morning. There’s a mandatory professional development meeting on Thursday. Memo re-writes and our contract drafting assignment are due Thursday. Legal writing is canceled Friday but our memo outline is due that Monday so my weekend will be spent memo-ing.

My treadmill debacle is still a debacle. In fact, as I write this, I’m on hold with the manufacturer to see if they’ll send me free parts. I’m sure they won’t. Even if they do, I’m not sure I’ll be able to fix the thing. So I’m anticipating going back to Wal-Mart and telling them they better refund me AND arrange for someone to come to my apartment and haul this thing away without my having to disassemble and repackage it. (I still have all the packing materials but I had to rip apart the largest box which was secured with industrial-quality staples.) This has turned into a much bigger thing than I anticipated.

But I still want a treadmill.

As soon as this is all over, I’m going to try again and buy a new one. But it really is awful for now. It’s taking up my whole apartment. I can’t even read on the floor like I like to.

And I’m STILL on hold!

- – - – -

Huh. Looks like they will send me the parts free of charge. Now the next challenge is to see if I can fix this thing all by myself even with the replacement parts. I’ve never been adept at this kind of thing. I didn’t take physics and although we had a physics unit in 8th grade, my balsa wood bridge collapsed under the slightest pressure. In this case, I had assembled the treadmill (all by myself even though they say two people are needed) without the broken part thinking it was too small to be of consequence. I stepped onto the side rails and ran the belt. The belt kept veering left and bunching up into the side of the machine so I turned it off and went to my manual to troubleshoot. Turns out I had to use hex keys to tighten the belt. I was able to tighten the right side without incident, but I couldn’t even find the bolt in the left side. So I took her apart (this part was assembled in the box) to investigate. I now saw that that little part belonged here, in the left rear of the machine and served some purpose having to do with tightening the belt. The left side of the bar was all out of whack but I managed to even it out with the right side. I turned put her back together, stepped on the side rails, and started up the belt again. This time she ran evenly! Ready to begin my run I put one foot on the belt — and it stopped. (I’m nowhere near the 275lb weight limit for this machine.) It was utterly perplexed. No amount of tightening and loosening would fix the problem.

I’m just not convinced that the presence of this little part is going to fix my machine. Although — I do have a 90 day warranty so it shouldn’t be a problem even if it doesn’t.

And I’ve put studying off long enough…

 

I hate Legal Research.

Not the concept — the 50 minutes of my week spent in “class” and the requisite bullshit assignments that go along with it.

I should be reading for contracts, you know, a course for which I’ll actually get a real grade. But no, I’m stuck wasting my time with a “research plan” for my second memo. No, it makes no sense especially considering we got by just fine on our first memo without such pointless assignments.

I guess it’s high time the bitterness started to set in.

Benadryl is no joke.

So I was upset after some treadmill-assembly related drama (long story short: damaged in shipping, small piece broken, spent 3.5 hours assembling, the thing is unusable) and I took some Benadryl to induce sleep. Well, that shit WORKS. I slept 13 hours last night.

This is Columbia Law School.

We just spent our hour in writing class playing with Play Doh. I made a pumpkin. It now sits in my writing instructor’s office.

And also? She extended our outline due date one week and our memo four days. I can now have a weekend.

Hm.

I may have used the decidedly un-feminist phrase, “But I’m just a girl!!” on the the phone with the deliveryman the first time he called.

Wellesley called, they want the diploma back!

Feeling froggy.

So I ordered this treadmill from Walmart.com. It’s supposed to be delivered today. In fact, I’ve skipped civil procedure to wait for it. Yesterday, SEKO Worldwide called to schedule the delivery. They told me it would be between 11AM and 3PM but that they would call me one hour ahead of time so I could plan accordingly. (This was back when I thought I might make it to civ pro.) So I get home and at about 11:25AM, someone from SEKO called. I think he was the delivery guy. He confirmed my address and said I would have to come down to get it because I have “curbside” delivery.

Oh hell no.

I told him that I live up one flight of stairs. I asked him if he could at least help me bring it up the stairs. He told me he was “not allowed” to go up any stairs. I told him there was no way I could carry a treadmill up the stairs by myself. He said something about calling somebody and seeing about an “upgrade” and that he’d call me back.

So now I’m gearing myself up for a fight. There is NO WAY IN HELL I’m paying an extra fee (on top of the initial $100 shipping charge) to get my treadmill from the street to my apartment. Not happening. If they refuse to deliver it without me paying extra, they’re just going to have to send it back to Walmart. And Walmart will issue me a refund.

- – - -

And urge to kill fading.

So a lady from SEKO called me back and the following dialogue took place:

SEKO Lady: I understand you refused your Walmart delivery because it was curbside?

Soleil: Yes, I paid for delivery to my address and that includes my apartment so I can’t accept it unless it’s delivered to my apartment.

SEKO Lady: Okay well I got approval to bring it up to your apartment so we can re-deliver in an hour if that’s all right?

Soleil: And that’s at no extra charge?

SEKO Lady: No extra charge, that’s right.

Soleil: That would be perfect! Thank you so much, I really appreciate all your help!

And thus, I got into war mode for no reason. I was ready to TEAR THEM A NEW ONE. But when she called, I was absolutely sweet as pie to her. Very polite and not at all in a rage. (I was saving my rage for when she informed me it would be an extra $100 charge to bring the treadmill up the stairs.) I belong to the “honey” school of fly catching. But all’s well that ends well! I should have my brand new treadmill this afternoon. Yay, fitness!!