Spring Break Day Two

Today I:
-Spent way too much time researching something (that needed to be done);
-Started a contracts outline;
-Drank way too much green tea because I thought I was over caffinated with coffee (yeah, because tea is decaffinated); and
-I proably ate something somewhere in there.

Procrastination is a bitch

This morning at 10AM our second writing project for this semester of legal writing was due. The assignment asked for 12 pages (too short) of predictive memo (too boring) goodness, all to be done in the span of 2 weeks. The special part about this project is that it was the same type of project we had to do for our last project last semester, except then we had a month plus to do it (and it was over the course of 5 projects).

I am not sure what happened, but my much of my fellow classmates this was an all-nighter sort of project. 10 people were missing from my morning class (btw, I have a couple of day classes), and when signing in, about half marked themselves as "here" instead of "ready to participate." Between that showing and looking at Facebook last night, I am starting believe that either (A) I must have done something horribly wrong, since I submitted my project at 7PM last night instead of 8AM this morning or (B) I really suck at procrastinating. My answer probably lies somewhere in the middle.

I do recognize this though. After looking at my research notes in Onenote (the greatest program ever), I started my paper 10 days ago. I started my research on Monday of last week. Meaning, I started the hard part of my paper last week and was really chugging along. By Thursday I had a handle on a majority of my research, including the summerizing of the cases, so by Saturday morning I was putting the last parts of analysis together.

I am not saying that my method is better than everyone else's. Who knows? Maybe those crazy procrastinators are getting the better grades and I am an idiot for not running around like I am freaked the hell out about my grade (I am, but I contain it and just lose ample sleep over it).

This does remind me of a story, and possibly the reason why I hardly ever procrastinate*. When I was in 3rd grade, for my Black History Month project I had to do a book report on a biography of Martin Luther King. (OMG, I remember when "book reports" were valid projects. I miss those.) My mom decided that I was going to be busy all month and therefore I had to get to project done immediately. In one afternoon, I read a 63 page book, wrote a report, and made a pretty cover (where I cut out the picture of MLK from the cover.)

Granted that was 16 years ago, but the principle still stands. If you got the time, do it. Although, I must say "Got the time" now means grabbing a few extra minutes after class to get ideas down when they strike me. Still, it helped me out this project.

*I did procrastinate a few times in college. The results were not pretty and neither was I the day the project was due.

Donate Your Lexis Research Points to Haiti

From now through March, you can donate your research points that you earn on Lexis Nexis to the Red Cross and it will benefit the Haiti Earthquake relief efforts.

Go! Go now! Even if you don't have the cash to do so, you can still help out and make those hours looking up cases count for something!

Friday Musing- because the weather sucks and so does legal writing

So you know that thing deep inside of your that is somewhat intangible but still sort of helps you to feel good. I think we used to call it a "soul." Well, that thing is crushed now, and law school is to blame.

That is law school though, isn't it? One day you feel on top of the world. It is so great to be in law school. I am so lucky to have this opportunity and the opportunities that it will open up for me. Wow, I am thinking on a whole new level. I totally nailed that question in Contracts. I'm awesome. The next day you think, "Gee, the word "shit" doesn't quite cover this feeling." It doesn't help that the DC metro is being slammed with the crappiest weather all semester.

So, what now? I think I will stay on the roller coaster and hope I don't puke (not a hypothetical vomit, I really am getting stressed to the point where I want to puke.) In the process, I think I will try to avoid the communal bitch-fest about LRWA (legal writing). Listening to other people complain really only makes the feeling worse.

Research Points!

So one of the coolest things to come out of law school (ok, the whole concept of me going to law school is pretty damn cool) is that my research is meaningful. It is meaningful in the "I am looking up stuff to help change the world" kind of way. It is also meaningful in the "I can win a Wii" sort of way. Both Lexis Nexis and Westlaw, which are research databased for law school, let you earn points by looking up cases.

Getting LexisPoints:

• Earn 15 points per day for looking up cases (30 in September)
• Earn 100-500 points for online training. Must complete a quiz at the end of each training. Takes about 20 minutes per training.
• It takes a little while for research points to post.

Getting Westlaw Points:

• Each 10 per day for looking up cases
• 500 for the "Attorney Journey" series of tutorials. A set of four tutorials.

For both Lexis and Westlaw, it takes 23,000 points to get a Wii. On Lexis I have 1000 points (plus the research points that have posted.) On Westlaw I have 390 points. I just began this quest for points the other day though, so it isn't like I am totally behind. I am totally excited!