Balance Unbalanced

You know that feeling you have when you've just taken on more work than you can reasonably handle? I was teetering at the threshold of it all day and was shoved across about an hour and a half ago.

And I was so hoping this week would be relatively pain-free.

On the good news front, though: My resume is now completely updated and ready to be read by anyone whose job it is to evaluate me.

A Breakthrough!

My first PS was crap. It's now trash. However! I now have a first draft of a first essay that I really am pleased with. It was so key for me to write directly as a response to the school's prompt. It's really interesting what a difference it makes to me to have just a little additional structure.

But, oh, the relief! I was starting to feel so bogged down with the incredibly slow rate of progress I was making. I really feel like I'll be able to make my November 1 deadline now, with applications that are decent products.

Next Summer?

So a fellow 0L at my school asked me what I plan on doing next summer. A perfectly reasonable question - and yet it left me speechless with the realization that: There is a next summer. And during this "next summer" I will know where I will be going to law school. And then I will actually go to law school.

I've been so wrapped up in applying to law school that I almost forgot that something will come after the final submit button is pushed.

So, what am I doing next summer? Hopefully a lot of nothing. Hanging out with my boyfriend before the long-distance part of the relationship begins is my only plan. It's a little too overwhelming to think about life after undergrad right now. I think for now I'll just get through Friday and look forward to eating tofu pups and tater tots tonight while watching Debate #2. It really doesn't take much to cheer me up :)

One (Almost) Down

I've successfully filled out one application. It had some strangeness to it - like the question about whether or not my parents are: separated, divorced, married. I wonder if they realize that there are more scenarios than just these three, or if they don't care.

I need to update my resume. I've already decided to break the rule and have it be more than a page long. I'd rather include everything I think needs to be included than to cut things that could potentially make a positive difference.

I'm getting tempted (again) to add more schools back onto my list. After all that work getting them off...

Okay, that concludes my sharing of the perpetual thoughts of applications that run through my head, day in and day out.

Application Questions

It seems that many of us are currently starting the process of actually filling in the actual applications and preparing to send them off. I thought that this would be the simplest part of the whole extravaganza. I was wrong.

I have decided to go with the LSACD On the Web, mainly because going the other way seemed too complicated and there were too many places to get things from, and send things to, and, well, I just wanted it to be easier. So I start filling in the Common Info Form - and everything is going fine at first. My major wasn't listed, but you can fill in your own. Great. Then I get to the High School(!) area and I need to call customer service and ask them what to put there. As an aside, I'm glad that I'm trusting my application to someone who probably makes $5.50 an hour. Anyway, I have a GED, not a HS diploma so I needed some advice. Ultimately, I figured out that part.

But now: Employment history. What to do? I have had a lot of part time jobs, especially before I went back to school. The service representative said to just list what I want and leave the rest off. Is this true? Does anyone have any advice? I in no way want to be less than 100% honest, but I also don't think that they want to know that I worked at Pizza Hut in 1993.

A Draft Completed

I have officially joined the ranks of the Pre-Ls with a personal statement draft. I thought I was going to end up with an analysis of a specific life event, but it's turning out to be more of a narrative of a sequence of life choices. I guess I think it's a decent start.

I keep telling myself: It doesn't have to be perfect, but eventually it has to be done.

It's finally getting done.

Good Luck LSATers!

Good luck and correct-bubble wishes to everyone taking the LSAT today!

The Debate

Bush seemed tired last night. He didn't seem to really care so much about the debate - it was almost as if he wasn't prepped beyond someone telling him to stick to the talking points. Kerry, on the other hand, seemed very 'presidential.' He seemed in control of the situation, he used his time well, he seemed prepared and confident. He also did what I hoped he would do: answer questions clearly. In the past it seemed as if he felt the need to apologize for his actions by way of over explaining them.

This was my favorite moment of the event, from Kerry:

It's one thing to be certain, but you can be certain and be wrong.

It's another to be certain and be right, or to be certain and be moving in the right direction, or be certain about a principle and then learn new facts and take those new facts and put them to use in order to change and get your policy right.

What I worry about with the president is that he's not acknowledging what's on the ground, he's not acknowledging the realities of North Korea, he's not acknowledging the truth of the science of stem-cell research or of global warming and other issues.

And certainty sometimes can get you in trouble.

Off The Grid

This weekend I'm volunteering at the 2004 Tour of Solar and Green Built Homes and it has gotten me excited again about the dream of living Off-grid. What could be better?

First of all: No utility bill.

Second: Getting to build your own wind turbine. How cool is that?

But most importantly: Living with just a little bit more freedom. Knowing that you can provide electricity and climate control for yourself and your family. Knowing that you are decreasing the level of harmful emissions, if even just the tiniest fraction. Lessening your own personal negative impact on your world.

Plus: Being able to proclaim yourself Queen/King of the Hippies and having all other hippies bow down to your green-ness!

Come On, Now...

A funny sign at my school this morning located near the stairs:

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY CONFERENCE

5th Floor - Use Elevator

Moving Right Along

As happens in, you know, life things are ending and things are beginning.

The ended part: My student group had its first event on Friday and it went really well. No technical difficulties, people showed up, the caterers brought fantastic vegan food and we even had the added bonus of a vegan dessert table.

The event itself was a screening of the documentary Peaceable Kingdom with a guest speaker from the film following with a lecture and Q&A. The film was incredibly moving and I think that many in the audience learned something. So, all in all: Success!

The beginning part: I have officially begun a senior's honors thesis which I will defend in April. I'm very excited about the topic (extraterrestrial energy resources and the feasibility of using these on Earth) and about working with my advising team. This is more than likely very boring to others, however, so I will probably write very little about it here.

The stagnant part: The personal statement. Congrats to Janine for finishing a draft! I have a couple of days off of school at the end of this week. I'm feeling confident about making progress during this long weekend. No, really.

Why Law?

Anna Ivey from Vault.com helps applicants answer the question: "Why Law?"

Why are you going to law school? Or if you're already there why did you go? If you have a blog entry that answers this question let me know. I'd like to gather them all together and put them on the side bar.

It's Finally Here!

Happy Fall Day Everyone!

Am I The Only One?

Am I the last to complete the personal statement? I'm about to resort to the plan where I lock myself away somewhere with my laptop and resolve not to come out until I have a decent first draft. The logical to-do-list-obsessed part of me is screaming, "Just write it! Just do it! It's not going to get any easier! Do you realize it's September 21st already? Do you?"

I will write it. I swear. After I write my Dante paper. And my engineering paper. Oh, and after I study for my Econ test. Maybe this weekend...

A Little Sad

Two young kids, one from Colorado State University and one from my school CU Boulder, died recently. In each case the mostly likely cause of death was alcohol poisoning. The girl from CSU apparently drank the equivalent of 40 beers in 11 hours. She reportedly posted on her blog that day that she was going to "get extremely wasted" (or wording very similar) that night.

The boy was a frat pledge at my school who had just won a spot on the lacrosse team and supposedly told his mother earlier that the day had been one of the best of his life.

The alcohol culture at my school is extremely pervasive. I think it is incredibly scary and sad when 18 and 19 year olds feel like they have to apologize for not drinking. I think it is pathetic that the kids that come to class on Fridays with hangovers are seen as "cool." Yeah, yeah, it's all part of the "college experience." But why? Why does drinking necessarily have to be a part of every young person's life?

Maybe some of the young people on these campuses will have that realization where they think, "It could have been me!" and have one less shot of tequila or 5 less beers next time. Maybe.

Invites

I have some gmail invites. Let me know if you want one.

A Living Final

I'm pretty sure I was somebody's final exam today. I went in for my physical therapy - for my syndromed knee and sprained ankle - and much to my surprise I was therapied by a student. There was a lot of Socratic method being bandied about between doctor and student and way too much poking and prodding with nervous, cold hands.

I think maybe before a doctor's office has a new patient be a living final they might ask first. Or at least inform them that they are going to be looked at by someone who may or may not be competent. Just a thought.

I just hope she passed.

Fall Day

Fall Day may just be my favorite holiday. It signals the end of the go-go-go mentality of Summer and the start of settling into a few months of snuggly weather and hibernation behavior. Coffee and cider in the evenings with new TV, wearing a favorite sweater for the first time since early Spring, that satisfying feeling of long hours studying while the cold wind is blowing leaves around outside. That burnt orange and brown and yellow colors that are suddenly everywhere one day. The first snow of the season. The first big snow of the season. Cooking with pumpkins and squashes and apples and cinnamon. The holiday times when everyone's kind of nice.

Eight more days until the day!

Learning Latin

Instead of starting a new book I've decided to try and teach myself Latin. I've gotten through the first five units of the book/audio combo. So far it hasn't been too difficult, and is actually very satisfying. It's nice attempting to learn a language without the constant threat of oral exams and presentations.

I have a fascination with obscure languages. Latin is probably the most practical of the languages I'm most interested in learning. My boyfriend only wants to learn languages that we can actually, you know, communicate with others in. How provincial! ;-)

The tops of my language to-do list are Welsh and Latin. His are Portuguese and Japanese. We settled on Chinese (Mandarin) . Mostly because we want to watch Kung Fu movies without the subtitles.

Wicked

The last time I can remember being truly sad at having reached the end of a book was the first time I read the Hobbit. Don't get me wrong, I've loved lots of books in between, but that feeling of remorse as the right hand side pages decrease in number is unique. This most recent book to hit me where it hurts is Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire.

I love the cleverness that can arise from looking at a story or situation from a relatively minor character's point of view. I also believe that analyzing a "good" or "evil" character in order to find the grey areas of their morals and personality is an excellent exercise. Probably one that should be practiced in real life as well.

Anyway, this book follows the life of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz from her birth to her death. One aspect of the story that particularly appealed to me was the Witch as a defender of Animal rights. I could feel her pain when she looked around with bewilderment at how Animals in her world were treated, and wondered why no one else noticed - or if so, didn't care. She doesn't use the word "humanity" because to her, to be human is to be capable of the most horrendous acts imaginable. "That's all I want," she asserts at one point in the story, "to do no harm." Again - relatable.

A beautiful story that looks at "evil" and wonders if it really is.