Minor Victories

I keep forgetting that on Wednesdays there is free beer and food in the lobby area of the fitness center.  Every Wednesday I put on my workout clothes after class and have to walk past tables and tables full of fellow law students drinking free beer and eating free cupcakes (or whatever they have) in order to get to the gym.  Since I forget, the experience is equally painful every week.

The week went by quickly- studying on Sunday, classes on Monday (including a guest lecture by a magistrate judge whose case opinion we had read and who asked for us to tell him what parts of the opinion were weak- he had no takers for that line of questioning), classes on Tuesday (after which I spent far too long working on a research project for legal writing), classes today (options contracts- exciting- not really), and of course rehearsals.  We got a new music director this week (our previous one got a gig in NYC that she couldn't turn down) and he is fantastic.  Really knows how voices work and how to get people to sing the way they should be singing.

Tonight I had a day off from rehearsal, so I was able to go to a floor-wide potluck dinner.  Where I ate many free cookies to make up for not having had beer and food this afternoon.  It all evens out.  I also got to read notes that my professor made on my first legal memo.  It seems my organization and objectivity is good but I need to restrict myself to the issue at hand and stop trying to litigate an entire case in 1300 words.  Seems less fun, but fine.

If time keeps passing as quickly as it has been so far, I'm going to graduate some time before I'm actually aware I'm in law school.  

All In

I'm starting to become what I imagined I would have to become while studying law.  This means I had my first study group session (for Torts) on Friday.  And I also went to an optional seminar about how to do Westlaw and Lexis searches (I mean, I knew, but I wanted to know how to do them faster/better/stronger).  And I've signed up for several moot court sessions (to watch the actual attorneys who are going to argue in front of the U.S. Supreme Court).  Oh yes, I'm doing this.

At the same time I spend a good portion of my days doing absolutely nothing related to law.  Most of this time is spent rehearsing for Curtains with GGSS.  This is time very well spent because it allows me to keep both my sanity and my identity intact.   Last night, of course, we had another cast party.  Because that's what we singing lawyers do.  Pete came by, too, and we went and got a drink at the bar down the street.  A very good evening.  

Today I did a bit of work and then went for a study break to a few museums with some guys in my class.  My favorite is still the National Gallery.  Having gone through it extensively with Absi a few months ago I practically felt like an expert (Dutch guys over there, Renaissance over there, etc...).  There are always gems to be found... like the realization that Renaissance painters are incapable of drawing children, or the fact that certain statues look like they're going to kill you.

Case in point.  You really have to zoom in on the eyes.  Phil does a great job here.

This guy just went to a painter and said "Make me look badass."  I'm not scowling nearly well enough.

So there's a "Wish Tree" in the Hirshorne sculpture garden, and it invites people to take tags and write their wishes on them and then tie them to the tree.  Most of them are "I wish for world peace" or "I want to be a fireman," etc... but there are some real winners in there, too:

"This Branch on Sale This Week Only!  $9.95"

This sculpture is called "Lady on a Bench."  Really.

After the museum I went and played poker with Justin and some other guys.  Justin was at one point a professional poker player of some sort, so it is with no small deal of pride that I say I won.  My stack of chips was referred to as "The Death Star" from about the midpoint of the game onwards, and I mostly used it to bully the smaller stacks until they were no more.  

Now I'm going to study, because that's what I do on Saturday nights, apparently.  I take comfort knowing that I had my fun earlier in the day.

Nobody Expects the Socratic Inquisition

I've been having a good time in classes so far- and for the most part, with so many people in (at least two of) my classes I never really worry about getting cold-called.  Today was my first day getting grilled in one of the large classes, Civil Procedure.  And it was about reading we had done last week and which I had basically forgotten, so I employed some of my tried and true delaying tactics: specific vagueness ("It sounds like that would be unduly burdensome to the defendant"), humor (which isn't funny unless you are also studying Civil Procedure), and misdirection ("can't we analyze this under Rule 11 just as well?").  After a couple of minutes I figured out what the professor was actually asking me and think I did okay from that point on.  After fifteen minutes it was over and she was on a different topic and my friend Chelsea leaned over and said "good job."  Just when I thought I had escaped the professor started on me for another ten minutes.  It was fun fun times.  Everyone in my class was very nice to me afterwards.  Probably they were glad it wasn't them.  Also, it seems to be policy in my section that whenever someone gets inordinately grilled everyone else has to go offer encouragements.  We're all very friendly.

Sunday night I went for my longest run ever (7.25 miles) with my new running friend Will.  He sets such a good pace and provides such interesting running conversation that I feel as though I could have gone twice as far.  We hit all of the major monuments and I tried to take pictures as we ran past.  As you can expect with pictures taken while running and with a phone, they did not turn out well.  However:

 See?

 Not very good.

Right?

Last night we had an excellent rehearsal ("Climb over the box seats.  Don't fall.")  and afterwards I went and had a drink with the director.  If I could have invented a director in my head, I don't think I could have done much better.  That doesn't mean he's nice- he's very mean- but he's also very funny and knows how to direct well, so I respect that.  Also there was another guy in the show, Ben.  He drinks scotch, knows how to Tuvan throat sing, and was in a mime group in college, so I like him. (link goes to example of Tuvan throat singing.  Not him.)

Today after my in-class grilling I had a grilled cheese sandwich.  Seemed appropriate.  After Torts I went to Ritas and then out to dinner at a fantastic Thai place, which was an excellent payback for the morning.  Afterwards I went and sang for two hours: yay rehearsal!

Of special note today (now that it's past midnight): it's Rachel's birthday!  She's the best little sister ever (19, wow!) and I'm just going to leave this here to remind myself to call her tomorrow....

"You're Going to Blog About This, Aren't You?"

Last night I was fortunate enough to attend my first Gilbert and Sullivan Society after-rehearsal party, and I came away from it certain that joining up was a good decision.  As it was explained to me, a lot of members in GGSS get their best grades while doing shows because rehearsal creates an artificial studying schedule (whenever you aren't rehearsing) that you sort of have no choice but to follow.  Not that I care about grades, but it's also interesting that out of the past three years, two of the valedictorians (out of a class of 500) have been from the GGSS (total membership around 20 per class year).  At the very least, they know how to throw a good party.  A til 5AM sort of party, at least.  We played games, of course, and I learned a couple of new ones.  My team won.

Earlier in the day I went to a meeting for the Innocence Project.  It's an on-campus group (part of the larger national organization) that takes cases for convicted inmates who maintain actual (not technical) innocence and attempts to verify their claims, usually through record-combing and DNA analysis.  It's one of the few opportunities for a 1L to actually do something hands-on that is law related, so I'm considering possibly joining a case team.

While walking back to my apartment from the meeting, I ran right into David Husband.  Literally.  I didn't know he was going to be in town, but he had come down for a firm interview for the summer.  It's looking like he's definitely going to be in DC over the summer, and if I pull off getting an internship somewhere up here we would consider being temporary roommates again.  How fun would that be?

I'm purposefully omitting the part of this story where I make fun of David for an hour because he didn't tell me he was in town.  He bought me a buffalo burger and a beer, so that made it okay.

Dance Better

I should have been able to predict that my struggle in musical rehearsals was going to be dancing.  I was not able to predict my character having a five minute fantasy dance-break with the female lead.  Everyone is being wonderfully patient with me.  Also with my Boston accent... because I've never had to do a Boston accent before and somehow everyone else in the cast either lived in Boston or knows so many people from Boston that in their minds it is a really easy accent.   I'm working on it.  Struggling is important if you want to do something worthwhile.

Classes were great this week, and now they are over.  Of particular enjoyment was a set of cases in Civil Procedure that had to do with initial complaints and pleading.  The first case, from the 30's, established that you didn't have to say much in initial pleadings because the point of pleadings is just to let the defendant know that you're suing them.  The second case, from the 50's, reiterated this point and added that you didn't even need to include facts within your pleading as long as there was a conceivable way in which you could be correct in your assertions against the other party.  Then there were sixty years of silence on the issue.  In 2007 and 2010, our current Supreme Court issued two cases which are almost impossible to decipher and which effectively overturn everything we've thought about pleading (which should be easy, but now in a lot of ways really isn't) up to this point.  I'm not saying it wasn't for good reason, but I am saying I should have gone to law school a few years ago so as to avoid this issue entirely.  I just know there's going to be an exam question about this.

In Torts my professor told us a story about a lecture she gave to an auditorium full of doctors called "Malpractice Suits: A Doctor's Best Friend."  In addition to being hilarious, she has a keen sense for marketing, I think.

People have become bolder in class about making up hypotheticals that don't matter.  One day I really want someone to raise their hand and say  "Professor... but what if you took everything about the case you just raised and changed it so that it was a completely different case?  Would it still be the same?"  Because that's basically what they're doing.  I don't mind for the most part- it gives me time to write my notes without rushing.

Last night Ben and I got a group together and went out for happy hour sushi at a place in Chinatown.  $1 nigiri and $2 beer is a pretty decent deal in this area, so we did well.

Normally I wouldn't have class on Friday, but I've signed up for a mandatory library information session about something or other, so I'm about to go to that.  Afterwards I have to go get a tetanus shot and a TB test to finish out my "no really, I'm immunized, stop bothering me" initiative against Georgetown health services.  Then a couple of meetings, then rehearsal, etc....  Weekend! (studying)

Lunch Counter Mornings

Since everything (including rehearsals- I forgot how much I love being IN a rehearsal as opposed to running some aspect of a rehearsal) seems to be running pretty smoothly and predictably right now (no buzz saw yet, but I hear it in the distance, approaching with the threat of exams) I thought I would post some pictures of our kitchen for no good reason.

Actually, there is a good reason- we ordered an online shipment of food yesterday from Safeway and so now it looks like we actually have food.  And we do- it's real food!  Online shopping is the best.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays Ben and I usually eat together in the hour we have between Contracts and Torts.  Ben also goes over his Torts briefings, because he's actually a good student.

On the left is the much vaunted panini-maker.  It really is the best thing ever.

See?  We have food!  And we keep it appropriately cold when so indicated.

Ben rearranged the cans right before this shot to make it look like we bought tons of Campbells Pork and Beans.  We only have five.  Make that four- we ate one last night, and it was delicious.

Today we also had our first ever room emergency- a bottle of Chalula hotsauce placed on top of the fridge fell and shattered as we were getting things to make lunch.  It created a spatter pattern on Ben's door highly reminiscent of many scenes from Dexter.  We cleaned it up quickly and efficiently and determined that our roommate-emergency-response-and-recovery time was quite good.  Then, because we're L1 nerds we discussed theoretical negligence actions against each other and/or Chalula.  

Alright, off to Torts, where we will be discussing... negligence.  Perfect.

Everybody's Looking Forward to the Weekend

On Friday night we had our first rehearsal for the show- a workthrough of the Act 1 ensemble music.  It was so much fun and I am really glad to be spending time with this group of people and doing this completely non-law-related thing.  Afterwards the cast went out to have a bonding party at a nearby bar, but I was unable to attend because Kacey and Brian and Kay were in town (and they get priority)!

We went to an Irish pub and had a wonderful time.  Brian and I became enamored with the description of a drink called "black velvet," which we TRIED to order in the manliest way possible.  "You mean Guinness and cider?" said the bartender.  "Yes, just listing the ingredients would have been a better way to phrase it," said we to each other.  Pete also came and ordered the same drink, but I'm sure he did so correctly.  While we were in the pub someone tapped on the window behind me and it was Jake Reeder along with several other friends from William and Mary.  DC is the best enormous small town ever.  

Earlier that day, I took Kacey to the Library of Congress (or rather, my phone took us both to the Library of Congress) since she was doing some research there for her thesis.  

"Kiki, do you want to take a picture with the Capitol in the background?"  "No."  "Great, stand there."

Today, because Kacey was still here, I finally got to go to some museums again.  We went to the National Gallery of Art ("What art do you want to see?"  "Middle Eastern?"  "They don't have that."  "Indian?" "That either."  "Modern... oh, that's at the other one"), the Hirshorne (video of 67 Flamingos in a pool reacting to sporadic gunfire is both hilarious AND modern art, apparently), the outdoor sculpture garden ("oh look, decapitated people."), and the Natural History Museum ("I bet giant sloths would have been cuddly."/a giant squid in a glass case looks a lot like the alien from the movie Independence Day).

"Did you take a picture?"  "Yes."  "Is it a good one?"  "I took many."

Lies.

After doing the museum circuit we went out to dinner at La Tasca, which had some excellent tapas and sangria, with one of Kacey's friends from Dubai.  Then we played Settlers of Catan with Ben.  I won.  Ben pointed out that, in fact, I have never lost a game of Settlers since I've been here.  True story.

Well, that went a little too well...

I went into auditions not really knowing what to expect.  Then again, I really should have.  Here's how I break it down:

1.  If you appreciate musical theater, then you can better appreciate one huge side of me.

2.  If you understand why I'm interested by the law, you understand another huge side of me.

3.  If you understand and, in fact, identify with both, then it is almost certain that we will get along very well.

The Georgetown Gilbert and Sullivan Society was sort of like that.  Super friendly, not too serious (I mean, we are law students first and foremost), and very smart and talented.  I did Stars from Les Mis as my audition song, and I think I was the only person that was asked to do their song twice.  Not because I did it well, but because I was so nervous the first time that the director told me to relax and try again.  I haven't actually been IN a musical since 2005, after all.  As I tried to learn all of the dance moves during the second hour of that first audition, in my head I was apologizing to all of the actors to whom I had ever given an "actor challenge."  Especially Brian and his twenty-pound dancing rocket-propelled-grenade-launcher.  I was sweating about as hard as I do after a six mile run, which is a lot.

I read a few different parts, one of which was actually the role of the composer of the show-within-a-show in the musical, which felt weird....  and then I got a callback for today.

The callbacks went well and I was offered the lead in Curtains, Lt. Frank Cioffi.  A singing detective who longs to be on Broadway?  I'll take it.  Yes, even realizing that I'm being exceedingly foolish with my time as a 1L.  You see, I titled this blog "Walking into a Buzz Saw," and perhaps it's just that I need to rev up the engine myself to get the blade spinning.  I have no doubt that by accepting this role I have done so.  I have royally screwed future-Mike out of all the time he is going to need to study.  Sorry, buddy, but this is your first lead role in a musical, and I think you're capable enough to do law school and this at the same time.  You also have no choice.  Have fun.  Love, past-Mike.

Hide and Go Library

Ah, class again.  Now it's like we're all old pros at this whole law school thing.  Cold calls- bring it.  Case briefs?  Got 'em.  Fact patterns?  Memorized.  Contrary analysis?  Ready and waiting.

Then, of course, I made the mistake of looking in one of the old exam books at the library.  I pulled out a civil procedure exam from 1986 and my jaw just about hit the floor as I realized I understood nothing about the first thing about the first question.  That's okay, I've got a few months.  I'm sure I'll get there.

I'm growing to really like the library- it's quiet, beautiful.... the Pelican Brief was shot there... and it just feels like you're learning something when you're in there, even if you aren't.  I had to do my first assignments involving citing statutes today, and they forced us to use books for some of them so I got to run around the fourth floor cursing the fact that California legislation took up five stacks and Alabama was almost impossible to find.  Really, though, there is something to the act of physically procuring the book that you need, opening it, and finding information right where you hope it will be.  It seems almost magical that a categorization system existed before the internet and that it really did work well.  For the rest of my citations I hopped on Lexis-Nexis and popped out one per minute.  I didn't feel the same sense of accomplishment, though.  Unfortunate.

Ben suggested that we go to Bojangles tonight because he is a fantastic roommate, so now my stomach is full of delicious grease, butter, and sugar.  Bojangles is close and tempting, so I have to make sure to keep it to a once a week maximum.

I had decided to forego most extracurricular activities for the semester, preferring to focus on academics, but then I saw that the Gilbert and Sullivan Society were holding auditions for a fall musical....  Here's my thinking: I chose Georgetown not knowing that it had its own musical theater group because honestly, why would anyone think that a law school WOULD have one?  The fact that it did and that, as far as I know, it is the only one with a musical theater group in the country, suggests to me that this was not a coincidence and that I should at the very least go and try out for the musical tomorrow.  Right?  I'm going to take special care not to mention that I worked as a tech director for a year, lest they come to think I actually know how to do anything tech related.

If You Can't Find Something to Study, it's also Your Fault

So, to sum up:  Friday I was with China friends, Saturday with Woodberry friends, Sunday with Law School friends, and today I went into Crystal City to get a burger with Christian Amonson, which rounds out the weekend with William and Mary friends.

Of particular note was a performance I saw on Sunday of Julius Caesar.  It was at the Harman Center, where I got the backstage tour a while back, and was absolutely amazing.  I had forgotten how many classic lines are in that show.  Not just "friends, Romans, countrymen," and "beware the Ides of March," but also things like "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!" (which was said and staged in the most terrifying and menacing way possible).  My favorite, though, occurs just after Brutus, Cassius, and the rest of the conspirators have killed off Caesar.  They're sort of taking in the reality of what they've done and Cassius says: "How many ages hence shall this our lofty scene be acted over in states unborn and accents yet unknown!"  Of course, the audience laughed at this because of the obvious meta-implications, but I also love it for the epic and overwhelming truth of it all.  I wonder if Shakespeare sat back after writing that line and considered the thought that his plays would bear out the same truth....

That evening there was a National Symphony Orchestra event on the lawn of the Capitol.  Since it was free, like most things in this town, I decided to go for an hour or so.

I took this photo while waiting in security at the airport-I mean concert.

The concert was excellent and predictably patriotic (and now, Sousa!  Followed by... Sousa!).

Today my metro out to Crystal City to get burgers with Christian represented the first time since I've been here that I've left the district and gone back to Virginia.  It was nice to visit.  After I got back I spent about five hours in the library doing all of my homework for tomorrow plus half of my homework for Wednesday and Thursday.  Theoretically this will still force me to work on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and will make me more productive than if I had finished all of my work for Wednesday and left all of Thursday for the next two days.  Theoretically.  

If You Can't Find Something to Do in DC, it's Your Fault

Last night's bar review was plenty fun, if crowded.  I learned immediately which of my classmates thought they knew me well enough to start with hugging on first sight, and I guess that means we're friends.  Or they were drunk.  Maybe both.

This morning we had a relatively meaningless "class" about how to use the library to access statutes, opinions, and regulations.  I say meaningless only because the librarian read verbatim off of a slide show to us to explain what to do.  The slide show was useful.  I would have liked to have that e-mailed to me.  I just have a thing about slide shows being read to me.  It bothers me.  I feel like someone thinks I can't or won't read on my own.

I left the afternoon and evening completely free, going under the general assumption that something would come up.  And indeed it did.  Around four I left with around twenty folks from the dorm to go to the sculpture garden at the National Gallery for an evening of jazz.

It's the same fountain that Absi and I sat around when we went to the 

National Gallery to see the "forest" of Capitoline statues.

As far as the eye can see in this picture- law students who enjoy jazz.

They had some excellent bands and I stayed there with Matt (who lives across the hall and plays lots of Settlers and Monopoly with us) and Nikki (the only section-five member with whom I share every class) until around eight.  At that point, Matt and I went to Union Station so that I could get Bojangles. Because I already miss sweet tea.  The fried chicken wasn't bad, either.

From there I went far north on the green line to meet up with Maria, Ben, and Amy (friends from China).  Remember how I ran into Maria the other day while walking down the street?  We don't kid around when we say we're getting a reunion together.  

The picture is blurry because my phone is difficult to control.

At Maria's we played some games (I guess it's not just a law school thing.) and I played the piano for a very popular singalong session (I found out that when I'm among non-musical drunk people I'm basically Billy Joel, regardless of my ability to play only four chords... (parenthetical-inside-parenthetical: most songs can be played with only four chords, just not well.)).  Then the group went out to a bar on U-street.  

At one-AM, the metro was empty except for our group.

It was great getting to know friends-of-friends, including a 3L at American University who gave me some more law school pointers, which are always welcome.  I made sure to hop back on the metro before it closed down for the night.

And this is the last image I see before I step onto campus.  Yay weekend.

First Week Complete

It's Thursday, and yet today Ben and I fist-bumped to our success at completing our first week of law school.  Why?  We don't have Friday classes.  Sometimes there are just no words to describe certain types of happiness.

Yesterday I went out for a while with Chris, and while we were walking from pub to pub (because you can do that when you don't have a car and you live on the red line) I ran into Maria, one of my friends from China!  This seriously is a giant small town.  We made plans to do a China reunion either this weekend or sometime very soon.

Today I realized why I like Torts so much.  Since it's the only class wherein the professor uses the "strict" Socratic method, it's the only class that, to me, feels like acting.  I mean, that's all acting is- getting put on the spot to say something that you've read with a convincing amount of feeling.  She also found out I play the bagpipes (it's my go-to "interesting-thing-about-you" when we play the "name/undergrad/interesting-thing-about-you" game in class) and has announced that one day I will play the bagpipes in class.  We'll see about that.  We're currently studying some tort rulings by Judge Learned Hand, who has the most awesome name of any judge in history, and he employs an economic equation to determine fault liability, so I like him automatically.

Before class I went ahead and ran the here-to-Lincoln-and-back trail that I did a few days ago, but this time I did it with five other runners.  I was intimidated at first because all of them had run in college or had done marathons, but I ended up being at the front of the pack the whole time.  Yay consistency.  It's still the most beautiful run that I can imagine- while on it you get wonderful views of the Capitol, Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Reflecting Pool (it's under construction, but still...), and of course the Lincoln Memorial.

After class I met up with David, since he is in town interviewing for law firms.  We had a few happy hour drinks and talked about law school and other such subjects.  I hope that he gets a job in DC so that we have ample opportunity to hang out in the next few years.

Tonight there's a presentation by the Gilbert and Sullivan Society that I'm planning on attending (we ARE the only law school with an in-house musical theater company, after all) and then there's something called "Bar Review," which I hear is a must-go event.  It's a pun, and there's no law involved, if that wasn't obvious...

I apologize for the half-day lateness of this post, which resulted in my phone and e-mail blowing up with family members who have gotten used to my posting once a day.  I'm running out of relevant and new daily things to post, so this is fair warning that the blog will no longer be daily after this week.