The End

Technically, this blog was set to chronicle "the next three years as I attempt to get a J.D." Well, I got the J.D. in May and by that time I had learned that having the J.D. isn't really the end of law school. For that reason, I gave this blog an extension on life as I went through the bar examination process.

I did not write any while studying for the bar exam because there was nothing about bar exam studying that I wanted to remember. It was, easily, the worst exam that I have ever had to study for. Everyone I knew seemed to think that it would be no problem for me, but that did not make me feel any better because, at least with regard to law school, I have severe impostor syndrome. People said that it would change me and the way that I thought, but I don't feel any different today from how I did before I started three years ago. I know more words to describe legal things, perhaps, but I never felt "transformed" or like I was suddenly a "lawyer."

With that in mind, as I was going through the bar review process I constantly compared myself to others who were preparing for the test.

You use flashcards? I don't use flashcards. I bet flashcards are the secret. I'm going to fail.  

You got a 6 on your first bar review graded essay? I only got a 3. I'm going to fail.

Oh, you took the bar and failed it? But you're very smart. I'm going to fail.

Part of this great self-doubt was due to the odd way that the bar is presented. On the one hand, there is this narrative:

The bar is nothing more than a gigantic hazing ritual. You will pass it just so long as you stay calm and don't panic. It is a test of minimal competency. All you have to do is get a "D-". So long as you study and take it semi-seriously, you have nothing to worry about.

On the other hand, there is this narrative:

The bar is an arbitrary measure of nothing that has anything to do with being a lawyer. You will not be able to memorize everything and you will not be able to predict the questions asked. Lots of very smart people have failed the bar exam. 30% or more people in your jurisdiction will fail the bar exam. You must memorize every single rule that belongs to every single law in your jurisdiction and be able to regurgitate it in flawless paragraph form. Otherwise, you will fail. 

After the first day of the bar exam in Baltimore, there were two essay questions (out of ten) that I just had never even thought about before. There were maybe two that I felt really comfortable with, and the other six could have gone either way depending on whether I missed something important. After the second day of the bar exam, there were maybe 50 questions that I knew I got right and another 150 that could have gone either way. So while I walked out feeling like I hadn't necessarily failed, I also didn't feel extraordinarily confident.

I managed to stay mostly calm until the week before results came out, at which point my brain rebelled against me and decided I should stay up until 3AM thinking about the prospect of studying for the bar for three months all over again. On Friday, the day that results were supposed to come out, there was no end to the internal monologue that told me I had no idea what I was doing on the bar exam and I basically made up all of my answers and that since everyone I know passed the bar exam then statistically I must be the person destined to fail because that's how statistics work when you are self-sabotaging.

Anyway, all of that is to say that I didn't fail. I passed. And, after getting half of my score back (if you pass you only get your multiple choice score- not your essay score) it seems very likely that I drastically over-prepared for the bar and passed with a very comfortable margin.

So that's it. I have to attend a swearing-in ceremony and go to a required professionalism course, and then I get to actually say that I am licensed to practice law.

As the original purpose for this blog no longer applies, it is now retired. Kelsey and I are still working on concepts for our joint blog, but it will be at http://kelsandmike.blogspot.com/ whenever we do start writing it. Thanks for reading!

The Post-Beach Post-Engagement Post-Lawschool Post-Study Post-Bar Post

Kelsey very helpfully pointed out that it has been about three months since my last update. She has been covering most of the basics of what we've been up to in her blog, so my update will mostly add to her coverage. I'm going to entirely skip over studying for the bar because it's something I would prefer to never do again (keeping my fingers crossed) and also to never think about again.

So let's talk about nice things, like getting engaged. First, some background information.

The night that I met Kelsey was December 30, 2011. David Husband was visiting, and we were supposed to meet up with someone who got a stomach bug and canceled last minute. About ten seconds later, I got a text from one of my W&M friends saying that we should come join them at a bar where they serve liquor out of old ketchup bottles. Had David not been there I probably would have declined, but I felt the need to be a good host while he was in the city.

When we arrived at the bar I saw tons of W&M people I knew- people from my business program, from my freshman hall, from my musical, from Shakespeare in the Dark- and one person I didn't know. She was wearing a sparkly headband and somehow seemed to be best friends with all of these W&M people I had known for five or six years. I was curious as to how this was possible. 

David started talking to her, and I saw my opportunity to throw him under the bus so as to make myself seem more likable in comparison. That's the way he would tell the story, at least. Kelsey noticed that we were wearing the same style of jacket, so I guess that was fate. There were lots of things to talk about, because she was unfamiliar with the city and was very honest about what she didn't know. I generally try to convince people that I know everything, so it was fascinating to talk with someone who took the opposite approach.

Throughout the night, my friends kept coming up to me and saying things like "Kelsey is a great person." "Did you know that Kelsey had these five things in common with you?" And finally, "we would be okay with it if you wanted to ask Kelsey on a date or something." I don't generally hang out with subtle people. Anyway, at some point Kelsey semi-invited us to a New Year's Eve gathering the following night that was happening at the house of one of my very first roommates ever, Jake Reeder. This was a fine excuse to see her again while being able to tell other people that I would be hanging out with my old roommate. She left and I did not get her number because I knew that everyone she was with had my number, but apparently this was my first misstep in our relationship and I will never be permitted to forget that I didn't ask for her number.

Regardless, she got my number from one of my friends (as I knew she could the entire time) and David and I went to the party the next night (following our own New Year's Eve party with other WM friends). It was awkward at first, because we walked in right as that group began giving each other secret santa gifts replete with inside jokes, but everyone was very friendly except for Kelsey. Kelsey wouldn't even look at me. Later, I found out this was what she does when she likes someone and is nervous, but at the time I thought that I had made a huge mistake. Over the course of the evening, our friends maneuvered us next to each other and then found convenient excuses to exit the conversation. Not subtle. We ended up talking until around 5AM, and everyone who kept checking in on us seemed very pleased. When the sun was about to come back up, I figured that I had kept David there long enough and we walked back to my dorm.

Over the next few days Kelsey and I talked online or on the phone and tried to come up with all of the reasons that we should not date one another. Neither of us actually wanted a relationship, both of us were in the middle of graduate school, and the prospect of a long distance relationship just sounded terrible. So of course we decided that we should give it a shot because we are very rebellious. It turned out to be a very good decision.

Since I knew that we would be going all sorts of places with the Navy (hopefully), I proposed at the beach- a place we will hopefully be able to get to at least once a year or so. For the next few years we're excited to be tentatively staying in DC so that we can experience the city outside of grad school. Our next step is figuring out a good name for our joint blog, which will replace both this blog and Kelsey's blog. Suggestions are welcome.

Helicopter Apology Accepted

A few weeks ago I got a random e-mail asking if I, as a new JAG selectee, would like to be a special guest of the Navy for the opening of Fleet Week in NYC. Obviously the answer was yes. Ben was invited too, and we had the brilliant idea to leave DC at 10PM on an overnight bus and then come back the next evening so that we wouldn't have to worry about lodging.

Our bus broke down at 1AM in the middle of nowhere so we thought we would miss our 5AM arrival time, but a new bus was sent in a shockingly quick time and we arrived at our meeting point, Pier 6, at 4:30. 

And there was a beautiful sunrise.

Oh, and Pier 6 isn't a port for ships. It's a heliport. 

Because the Navy has helicopters too.

Nicer picture of the sunrise and a helicopter arriving taken by one of my fellow JAG selects.

There were five of us there in the JAG student program. One had already gone through ODS AND had a similar experience being medically disqualified multiple times so it was great to be able to bond over shared frustrations.

But then for some reason I completely forgot about the time it took to get into JAG.

We were strapped in, so they left the door open so that we would have a nice view and also be terrified.

After an amazing thirty minutes or so, we saw our ship.

Just for fun, the helicopter took us right next to the ship and then got within five feet of the water to scare us. 

It was a very smooth landing.

The JAG crew.

After a tour around the ship by a couple of current JAG Officers and some coffee, we went up to watch the crew man the rails for the ride into the harbor. 

They all did this for three hours. It was very impressive.

Any picture that is of good quality- I did not take that picture.

There were excellent views the entire time.

And in the middle of the trip, Adam Baldwin, one of the actual VIPs and an actor who was in one of my favorite shows, came over to introduce himself and thank us all for our future service as JAGs. So, pretty much the best day ever.

No, Jayne Cobb, thank YOU.

When we pulled up to port there was a Navy band playing traditional Sousa tunes and everything continued to be awesome. We said goodbye to our wonderful JAG hosts and most of us went as a group to a hamburger place. Afterwards, Ben and I wandered around the city and went to the library. We got on our bus around six and were back in DC by eleven. Then we slept forever because we had been awake for forty hours.

Today I did some bar study and then Ben and I went to a thing called Trapped in a Room with a Zombie, which is a group-adventure-puzzle-game in which twelve strangers are trapped in a room with a zombie and must solve puzzles in order to find a key to the room. According to their statistics, 22% of groups make it out alive. We were all out within 37 minutes and set a new national record for fastest time. The previous DC record was 41 minutes. I didn't have much to do with it, but I learned that Ben is crazy good at solving puzzles. 

Now time for more bar study! 

Ensign Johnson, J.D.

As of today I am technically a law school graduate and also technically an Ensign in the United States Navy. I say "technically" because I still have to pass the bar exam for my law school graduation to be worth anything and because I am in the most inactive of the inactive reserves until I go to Officer Development School in November. It just doesn't feel like all that much has changed. I know it has, of course, and I have pictures to prove it.

See? Ben and I took a selfie at graduation.

And I got a picture with the person who had to suffer through 

law school as much or more than I did. Very important.

My commissioning ceremony happened on Friday, and the weather forecast was bleak. Monsoon bleak. Flash flooding bleak. 100% chance of thunderstorm during the time of the ceremony bleak. Good thing this has been the year of ignoring when people say there is a 100% chance of anything.

Because it turned out very nice and we were the only people there.

I chose the Jefferson Memorial because of my connection to Jefferson through William and Mary and Woodberry, and also because there are some great legal quotes inscribed on the walls, and also because it is one of the prettier memorial locations. My original idea was to commission next to the Apollo 11 command module in the Air and Space Museum, but that had absolutely no connection to either me or to the Navy or to law and so I thought better of it. It would have been cool, but less meaningful.

Kelsey arranged for a co-worker of hers to come and take some pictures of the ceremony.

She got some especially good pictures of us posing for other pictures.

It was a bit windy.

Good shot of TJ's shadow looming in the background as Papa Buck has me recite the oath.

As far as I can tell, this is technically the moment that I legally became an officer.

The whole group (minus Papa Buck who was in the bathroom)

All in all, a very special weekend with perfect weather and excellent family time. Thank you to everyone who helped get me here- you know who you are. 

The End of an Era

Law school ended, not with a bang, but with an eight hour take-home exam finished yesterday around 3PM. I spent my final minutes officially in "law school" writing about due process, which I suppose is fitting. At some points during the exam it was difficult to keep going- not because the subject was difficult or because I didn't want to end my law school experience- but because I was taking the class pass/fail and and I kept thinking "well I've certainly PASSED by now."

So that's that. That was a fast three years. I'm sure it will seem like an equally long amount of time between now and my bar exam. My bar exam prep company helpfully emailed me just minutes after I had finished my final exam to let me know that "directed self-study mode" was now active. Super.

This week is all a wind-down. Lots of potlucks and dinners and receptions and exit-counseling and such. Next Friday I will be commissioning as a Navy JAG (though I won't actually go to officer school until November because of how the bar result release schedule works). I'm really looking forward to that, because I still don't feel like that whole thing is real and perhaps actually commissioning will help. I didn't know that this would be an option, but apparently active officer OR any officer in any branch of service who has retired with more than 20 years of service is able to commission me, and so I'm very excited that Papa Buck has agreed to give me the oath.

I imagine that at some point, perhaps after I finish the bar, which most certainly qualifies as being part of the buzz saw, I will start a new blog and consider this one completed.

All in all, law school- not that hard in retrospect and without any prospect of having to do it again.

Timeline

There have been many times in the past when I have sat down to write a post and then, mid-post, something has happened that created a bigger story that needed to play out before I could write anything. It's sort of like Lost or most formulaic single-plot shows that last beyond one season. You know- you start with "we've got to get off the island and not let nature kill us!" and then suddenly "there are other people on the island who want to kill us!" and then "there's a conspiracy bigger than the other people and THOSE people want to kill us!" etc.... There's always something bigger just around the corner that is teased in the final few seconds of each episode. So that's why I haven't blogged about certain things in a while- the story kept changing too quickly.

Though I have kept track of much of my fun experience in attempting to become a JAG, I haven't posted everything. For my future reference, I decided to make a timeline:

July 15, 2013:
I go to MEPS (military entrance processing station). Fail hearing test. Am told to get a waiver and there will be no problem whatsoever.

August 12, 2013:
Waiver denied. Am told there are no waivers for hearing being granted. Am told this is pretty much the end of the line.

August 20, 2013:
Request to retake hearing test denied. Am told this is pretty much the end of the line.

October 14, 2013:
Earliest appointment I could get with an ENT in the city. ENT thinks I could probably pass the test if given another chance and writes a letter to the Navy.

December 18, 2013:
Request to retake hearing test denied. Am told this is pretty much the end of the line. Also, my original recruiter is transferring and I get a new recruiter.

December 31, 2013:
Ear surgery. Tiny bones are superglued together.

February 24, 2014:
I find out the ear surgery actually improved my hearing by about 10 decibels in the appropriate range.

March 5, 2014:
New waiver consideration package sent in with results from surgery.

March 11, 2014:
I receive an e-mail telling me that my new waiver was denied because I failed the hearing test. Am told this is absolutely the end of the line.

March 11, 2014:
I question why my having failed the hearing test previously would result in a denial following a surgery to correct the hearing.

March 11, 2014:
I am told that I failed the hearing test twice and that's why I can't take it again. Am told my only resort is to complain to my congressman.

March 11, 2014:
I respond that I am aware I took the hearing test twice because both tests were done on the same day. I ask whether it is official policy that having ever failed a test means you can never take that test again even if the underlying condition is corrected. I point out that I am asking because such information goes against everything anyone in the Navy has ever told me, ever.

March 11, 2014:
A new recruiter calls me and says he is taking over my case. Also, my original recruiter comes back and starts working with me again.

March 12, 2014:
The hospital says they will mail me my records.

March 19, 2014:
The hospital apologizes for having said they will mail me my records without actually mailing me my records. They say they will mail me my records.

March 24, 2014:
I go to the hospital. I take my records. The hospital apologizes for having told me that they would mail me my records twice and then losing all my paperwork. They helpfully point out that I have a very common name and that my paperwork would be easy to misfile.

March 25, 2014:
The appropriate paperwork is sent for another waiver.

April 10, 2014:
I receive my files from the hospital along with a bill for $11.04 for copying fees. I write them a message that includes the phrase "reasonable reliance." They apologize and waive the fee.

April 11, 2014:
I am told to go back to MEPS for another hearing test.

April 16, 2014 (5AM-11AM):
I go back to MEPS. As always, the Navy covered my hotel room and food. What they may not have covered was the communication between the people who told me to go back to MEPS and the people at MEPS, because when I was finally called in to do the test the doctor (who was the same doctor who saw me a year ago) was very confused as to why I was back there. He said that I needed a waiver for the surgery before I could retake the hearing test. I started to explain that someone at MEPS had authorized my return because I had a letter from them saying as much, and he told me to stop acting like a lawyer. While he was trying to sort out what to do with me, another doctor told me to go take the hearing test, so I went ahead and did that and passed the test.

After passing the test, I went to turn in that paperwork in order to apply for a waiver for my surgery. I expected this process to take a minimum of three weeks, as usual.

April 16, 2014 (3PM):
I make it back to DC and am on my way to give Kelsey her car back and go to a class. My recruiter calls and tells me that my waiver has gone through (in record time- I imagine someone sitting in the waiver office just saw my name one too many times and said "not him again!"). So - I now have hearing within range and the surgery that I got in order to get my hearing in range has been given a seal of semi-approval.

April 17-18, 2014:
I turn in what should be the last of my paperwork to an officer in DC. This brings the my total number of recruiters/processors/people assigned to my case to something like eight. Well, the more the merrier.

At this point I am just waiting for the paperwork to process and, according to everyone, I am back on for Navy JAG and should be able to commission whenever all of that paperwork comes back. I was going to delay posting this until that actually happens, since I am now very wary about counting chickens before they hatch, but since Kels posted a new blog mentioning it, I figured I had to put something out there.

Just two exams stand between me and an entire summer of preparing for another giant exam. And then maybe after that I will have the job that I thought I had a year ago and then was certain that I had lost up until a week ago. Yay!

Today is My Last Day of Class in Law School

Which would be a lot more celebratory (like it was at W&M) if I didn't have exams. Ah well, yay anyway. I'm going to be breaking up exam time with a lot of fun theater and concert experiences- Ben Folds, Henry IV Part 2 (saw Part 1 yesterday and it was great), Frozen (the singalong version), an orchestra concert at GW, Children of Eden at the Kennedy Center, escaping a zombie in a room with Ben... I didn't actually plan all of these out to happen at the same time, but I don't mind that it happened this way.