End of Week 4: Getting the Hang

I'm about a quarter of the way through the semester, and I'm getting the hang of this.

Today, I should be able to finish up all my reading for the week and begin working on my outlines. 

Really, I figure this whole thing boils down to 3 tasks:

1.  Staying current with the material.
2.  Preparing great outlines, especially my 1-page summary outlines for each class
3.  Getting the test-taking down.

Right now, I've been doing a good job of #1.  I think I've only showed up to class once having not-read the material in advance.  I know this sounds really odd, but it can be difficult just knowing what you're supposed to read for the next class.  Every prof gives the reading assignments differently.

Some of them (the more organized ones), have all the reading for the entire semester laid out in their syllabus.  That's the easy ones to stay current with.

Others will post the assignment on the class web-site.  The class web-site, unfortunately, can be in one of three (and maybe more) places, depending on the prof.  It can be either on our UT account, on the Lexis class web-site or the Westlaw class web-site.  Or they e-mail our reading assignments to us.

The third category tells us at the end of class what to prepare for the next class.  I need a better method for this.  I had been making a note in my class notes, but that didn't work very well.  (That was how I missed a reading assignment for class.)  I switched to posting any assignments to the top of the notes page and making a note in my day planner.  That works a little better, but still is problematic.  I think I just need to have a separate file on my computer for "assignments due" when they're not specified in any of the other methods and work it that way.

Today, I'll be able to start my outlines.  I know what my torts outline is going to look like.  Property?  I think I've got that one figured out, too.  Contracts?  I may need to visit the prof because he invented his own tool called "Davis Boxes" which others have said practically substitutes for the class outline.  I'm already pretty far along on POICTARACO.

That leaves Civ Pro, which I'm maybe 30% clear on what the outline will look like.  Our school teaches it backwards from the way most schools do:  we learn pleading first and venue in a subsequent semester.

I hope to have the outlines substantially done sometime in October with just minor tweaking from then on out.  This would leave all of November for test practice. 

My 5th class is Legal Research and Writing (aka, "the bane of my existence.")  We've got the first of our two papers due.  This one is not-graded.  My initial reaction was, "Oh, great, ungraded homework.  Like I don't have enough to do already."  Now, though, I'm eager to have them look at what I can do to see where I need to improve for the second, graded paper. 

LR&W is a mutha.  The other classes?  You can stay current on the reading in anywhere from 1 to 4 hours a week.  (4 hours is extreme, too.  Most don't involve that much reading and the one class that does, doesn't involve that much every week so far.)  LR&W?  Including class time?  Probably takes up 15 hours a week. 

I can't wait to be done with it.  I realize it's all necessary.  They're making me practice things I would not practice, otherwise.  However, it's a muthafargin' black hole of study hours.  To add insult to injury, it's only a 2 credit hour class. 

So far, a few aspects of my life are fraying a little bit. 

I'm still managing to make time to be with my son.  That's not so bad, actually.  I'm still helping coach his football team.  (Total workload there is maybe 16 hours a week.)  I'm still available to him in the evenings.  I might start having him sleep over at his mom's house, though, so she can have him in the mornings.  That'll free up my mornings and give him more time with her.  Her work schedule has changed.  She sees a little less of him, now, because she has fewer days off.

Exercise has been a diaster.  I was making good progress until recently, but did no workouts last week at all.  I also probably need to drop my gym membership.  I barely have time to bathe.  Getting to the gym is out of the question.  I can still hit the weights at the biz, though.  So, that's not a big deal. 

I need to start just taking 25 minute exercise breaks.  Taking an hour away from the books, then taking a shower, for a total of 90 minutes away, is just not a good idea.  However, taking 25 minutes away from the books a few times a day is probably actually beneficial.  So, I need to just nail 25 minutes on the rower or dreadmill every few hours to clear my mind and pump up my energy level.

My diet has been absurd.  I think I'm going to start going to an all-oatmeal for breakfast routine.  The rest of the day?  Who the hell knows.  I'll figure it out as I go.

My time at the biz?  I just need to be there studying in my office a lot more. 

The end result of all this?  I'm going to be getting a lot less sleep.  So far, I'm doing well, physically, but we'll see how long I can keep this up.

If I do well on 1L grades, I will try to get an internship with the SEC or CFTC this Summer.  It'll be unpaid for 10 weeks.  So, it'll be a big hairy deal, but I think it'd be worth it.

In my typical "go big or go home" fashion, if I don't manage that, I'll probably end up reverting back to plan B, which is to set up a PI practice here, locally.

And that's all there is to say about that at the end of week 4.