(no subject)
well, journal, it's been a long time, and a long time coming.
in 2 days, i begin my path towards a career in the law. that's right, after 10 years of trying, failing, and trying again, i finally have the stars aligned in such a way that i'm actually going to come out the other side as a bona fide practitioner of jurisprudence.
i have really positive energy flowing in my life right now; i think i'm as ready for a challenge like this as i will ever be in my life. i've got enough life experience, combined with the remaining grey matter not killed off by post-college excess, to really give my studies the proper diligence and attention they deserve.
I've had several conversations/lectures with jayjay, and after finishing his first year, he had one piece of advice that led him to top 10% and law review: "outwork everyone else." along with this, sit in the front, handwrite your notes, ignore the cool kid cliques, be polite but not overly engaged in any particular group, and surround yourself with a handful of allies who are working as hard as you.
i am really taking this to heart. i have already identified one particular person--a peace corps veteran and fellow internationalist in his late 20s who shares my secret game plan. add to the fact that he's ethnically korean (adopted by an anglo-american family at birth), it's like we kind of already had a lot in common to jump off from. hopefully we can add one or two more like-minded people to our study group and rock the first semester.
never in my life, i have come to understand, has so much rested on so little. our future as attorneys, our earning potential, the trajectory of the next 10 years of our lives, primarily rests on the first year's--the first semester's, even--round of exams. add to the fact that each class gives you exactly one--one!--chance to prove yourself academically at the end of the term, and it's stress on the magnitude not seen for most of us in our entire lives.
i am under no illusions that i am smarter than all, or even most, of my classmates. one thing that i am quite sure of, though, is that i have a decade of false-starts, let-downs, rejection letters, frustrated tears, excuses, and explanations to instill that cold fear of "this is it, your last chance to really DO IT," in me.
the only person who has the ability to fuck this up is me; conversely, the only person who can get me on law review is me. my brain and my work ethic are really my only true assets of considerable merit, so in the immortal words of nancy sinatra,
"are you ready boots? start walkin!"
in 2 days, i begin my path towards a career in the law. that's right, after 10 years of trying, failing, and trying again, i finally have the stars aligned in such a way that i'm actually going to come out the other side as a bona fide practitioner of jurisprudence.
i have really positive energy flowing in my life right now; i think i'm as ready for a challenge like this as i will ever be in my life. i've got enough life experience, combined with the remaining grey matter not killed off by post-college excess, to really give my studies the proper diligence and attention they deserve.
I've had several conversations/lectures with jayjay, and after finishing his first year, he had one piece of advice that led him to top 10% and law review: "outwork everyone else." along with this, sit in the front, handwrite your notes, ignore the cool kid cliques, be polite but not overly engaged in any particular group, and surround yourself with a handful of allies who are working as hard as you.
i am really taking this to heart. i have already identified one particular person--a peace corps veteran and fellow internationalist in his late 20s who shares my secret game plan. add to the fact that he's ethnically korean (adopted by an anglo-american family at birth), it's like we kind of already had a lot in common to jump off from. hopefully we can add one or two more like-minded people to our study group and rock the first semester.
never in my life, i have come to understand, has so much rested on so little. our future as attorneys, our earning potential, the trajectory of the next 10 years of our lives, primarily rests on the first year's--the first semester's, even--round of exams. add to the fact that each class gives you exactly one--one!--chance to prove yourself academically at the end of the term, and it's stress on the magnitude not seen for most of us in our entire lives.
i am under no illusions that i am smarter than all, or even most, of my classmates. one thing that i am quite sure of, though, is that i have a decade of false-starts, let-downs, rejection letters, frustrated tears, excuses, and explanations to instill that cold fear of "this is it, your last chance to really DO IT," in me.
the only person who has the ability to fuck this up is me; conversely, the only person who can get me on law review is me. my brain and my work ethic are really my only true assets of considerable merit, so in the immortal words of nancy sinatra,
"are you ready boots? start walkin!"