2L happiness, peace, and satisfaction

Hello everyone. I’m sorry that I have ignored this blog for so long. In truth, it is a reflection of the end of a battle. Up until this semester, law school was a mission. Something I had to do, that I knew would have a positive end somewhere, and that I knew was important to me. And then it all clicked. So I am writing to tell you that happiness exists in the law and at law school. It is possible to achieve a purpose in the world, and to acheive what might at one point appear to be near impossible.

Today is my son’s birthday. He is sixteen, and he is mentally ill and alone in the world. To him, I owe a debt, and for the first time in years, I feel satisfied with my progress. I promised him that I would do my best to make sure that what happened to him does not happen to other people. To tell the world that what happened to him is wrong, and to devote my life to the purpose.

So here is where I stand: I am less than two months away from finishing the second year of law school. Despite my fears, I am fine. My grades are fine, my scholarship is safe, people are approaching me for various tasks and assignments, and referring me to awesome opportunities. I just finished representing my school at the ABA National Appellate Advocacy competition. I didn’t win, but I had a good time. I am working on a paper concerning parents rights to make health care decisions for their children and children’s rights to bodily and family integrity. Believe it or not, that Constitutional Law class actually did serve a purpose. I have my first paying legal job (paid by a firm, not work study…). And this summer, I will be working side by side with a public defender on a death penalty case. Conveniently, my role will involve assembling the mental and emotional health records from childhood forward. So, it is coming together. My dual criminal law and mental health law focus is going to work out fine. In the meantime, my administrative law class and commercial law class are just there. I’m managing them just fine while spending hardly any time worrying about it. Strange.

I hope everyone here is well. I was so surprised to see my readership has stayed almost steady while I was away. I’ll make it a point to write more often. Have an awesome evening and a happy St. Patrick’s Day.

moody

That’s me. Sometimes I think my mood affects my perception of things. Most of the time I think things affect my mood. I am tired. Law school is full of highs and lows and it just never balances out. There is also a distinct disconnect between why I’m in law school and what law school involves. Only rarely do the two things meet and every time they do I become confident I’m in the right field. So yesterday I got a chance ot talk about child sex offenders. Here’s the interesting thing: I think we have a problem with how these people are treated. I would never advocate sexual abuse. But I think we are violating the rights of some of these people who are accused. We are also violating the rights of those people who have been convicted, served their time, and been released back into society. It is crazy. And it does no good for the children. The most dangerous people to children live in their own home and have never been accused of molesting anyone. And recent cases prove that we don’t protect children better just because we know a person has committed sex crimes in the past. Look at Jaycee Dugard. Or the sex offender on the news right now who had eleven bodies in his apartment. These are terrible crimes, but they are unrelated to the convicted sex offenders who are homeless because of laws restricting where they can live. It’s a fine line. So….its my weekend. I need it. I am taking one solid day off from law school on Saturday. I need to plan a weekend long break pretty soon, before I lose my mind. I hope all my readers have  a lovely day.

Study week Thursday

So today I focused on criminal law. All day, and into the evening. I am calling it quits. I am tired and need to have the energy to do one more day of this tomorrow. All in all, I am very happy with my strategy of devoting an entire day to one class. I learned alot today, found out I was misunderstanding a few things, got that straightened out via email with the prof, and then took a sample exam and reviewed it. Criminal Law is my one closed book exam, so I transferred most of my outline onto index cards for study and memorization purposes.  I feel much more comfortable with the material tonight than I did this morning, so that is helpful. While I am not forcing myself to do more today, if I feel up to it later, I will read a bit  in the horn book. I think a hot bubble bath sounds nice. Or perhaps just some cookies, tea, and a movie. Maybe I will just go to bed and watch television there until I fall asleep. My honey works nights, so I am on my own until 1 or so. I think that is part of the reason why I like to study late into the night rather than early in the morning. Next semester, I need to be in class by 9 every day. I think that might kill me. I love law school, but mornings have never been my thing. Well, I have had a productive day. I hope all my readers have had a productive day as well. I will be back tomorrow night to give you that final update on reading week. Torts.