Little Bit of Everything

Law school continues to click right along.  3 weeks done, 12 to go.  Next week, more than a quarter of the semester will be in the bag.  Time to really start cranking on my outlines.

I've decided that in class, I'm only going to raise my hand under two circumstances:

1.  Nobody else has their hand up and the prof is asking for a volunteer.
2.  If I genuinely need clarification on something.

The reason for #1 is that if a prof asks for volunteers and doesn't get one, they pick somebody at random.  I'm finding that a lot of folks aren't preparing for class and they end up being embarassed when they get called on.  So, I'll try and answer questions I can to prevent an awkward moment for a classmate.

The reason for #2 is pretty straightforward.  Sometimes I really need help understanding something, or more likely, I need help knowing what the prof wants.

An example the other day is that we were studying negligence, which is generally defined as reasonable conduct under the circumstances.  (There's more to the definition, but keeping it simple for this illustration.)  The case was one where somebody was driving the wrong way down a street.  A driver saw the guy, then crossed over to the left, into oncoming traffic in the other lane.

The question was whether the guy's conduct was reasonable given the circumstances.

My question to the prof was, "is it possible that somebody's conduct can be not-reasonable, but also not-unreasonable?"

The idea being that crossing over the center line into oncoming traffic was stupid, but that faced with an emergency, he didn't have time to react and think clearly.

The prof clarified that for torts, it's either reasonable or not.  There's not a third category in-between.

Now, the reason I bring up raising hands is that the class is already identifying the gunners and the other classmates freakin' hate them.  I'm trying really, really hard not to be my usual Arnold Horshack self and end up as one of the guys the class hates.

So, self-discipline:  I will not drink a big-gulp immediately prior to class, and I will not raise my hand except in the two circumstances above.

I also note that although I could be working more on my outlines, I'm keeping up perfectly well with school and yet not destroying the rest of my life.  I'm still getting to the biz on a regular basis.  I'm still spending time with my son and helping a little bit with his football team.  I'm still catching a movie or two with my brother and his girlfriend every week.

Law school does put a crimp on things, for sure, but frankly, it's really like having a job.  You can still do a lot of activities in life, you just can't do all of them right away.  I got pretty spoiled these past few years given the amount of slack time in my schedule.

Now, time to start studying.  I only have one shot at this semester.  Better make it count.  Need to free up a little more time to start cranking on outlines here, soon.