Finally Done!

My last exam of the semester, the 5 hour torts extravaganza, was yesterday afternoon. That means that I am completely done with my first semester. It was funny seeing everyone after the exam... we all just stood there kind of dazed and unsure of what to do with ourselves now that we don't need to study 10 hours a day.

The torts exam was less horrible than I thought. 5 hours goes by pretty quickly when you're typing like a maniac. I was resistant to the idea of a forced 30 minute outlining period before we could start to type, but it turned out that it was just enough time to do an outline and I was still able to type a coherent answer to each question. I'm sure I missed some issues though, but everyone does. All in all, I feel like I did okay on my exams although I'm still very unhappy with my performance on Civ Pro. Fortunately, some of my classmates mentioned that they feel the same, so maybe we all did crappy and it will balance out and we'll all wind up with a decent grade.

We'll be leaving to spend Christmas in NJ tomorrow. I'm so excited to be done with school for 2 whole weeks!

Career Services advises you to do the impossible

I recently submitted my resume to career services for approval. I was advised to cut down a 2 page resume to a one page resume while at the same time putting additional spaces between each item on my resume and spelling out the full name of my all my former places of employment (i.e. Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management Contractor Certification Department -- there's a reason I used abrieviations-- I prefer to keep the place of employment to one line, not four).

The only way that my resume can include the information they require (Info on law school, interests, education, licenses, skills and at least all my jobs held since college plus any other relevant ones) is to go to a second page. Or I could just go ahead and turn in a piece of paper with my name and education experience and tell them to give me a call if they want to know what jobs I've held. Or I suppose I could try just listing the jobs I have held with no information on what I did there-- I suppose that could work out for me. Maybe the employers will assume what I did was too important to put into words.

The point is, have any of these career counselers actually tried to do what it is that they propose. I only have 8 years of work experience and I can't fit it on one page. How about my classmates who are in their 30's and 40's-- what are they supposed to do?

I know from experience that if you send a 2 page resume, people read the whole thing. I always get questions about information listed on the second page of the resume.

Gack! I hate career counselers. First I'm told that there's no way in hell I can get the job I want after graduating from this school and now this. Maybe I should just become a career counseler after I graduate -- the hours are probably much nicer than those of a lawyer and I would get to sit around and pass judgment on people all day.

Finally, an easy exam

Easy in that I was actually able to get it done in the allotted time.

Here is a fabulous site that you should visit if you are ever stressed. http://www.cuteoverload.com/

Marriage Fact

Now that I am married, every utility and account I hold has put my husband's name first on the account. Today I called with a question about the cable bill and was told I wasn't authorized to speak with them about the account (although they have no problem cashing my checks). This is the 3rd time this has happened (first with my bank -- where I was the original account holder and added hubby; next with Verizon who kindly switched me to the primary account holder after I yelled at them). At least it's not as bad as what happened to my mother. They took her name off of her bank account completely when she married my Dad.

With the cable company, I only had to threaten to close the account (or rather, have my husband close it. How demeaning.)and they decided I was authorized after all. Sigh.

Speaking of husbands, my husband can be seen on the video game network being kicked in the crotch by a can-can dancer. He thought he was going to be a contestant on a game show, but apparently they just needed someone to take a stilletto to the groin. I'm annoyed that they made him sit for 8 hours for that and only gave him a measly few bucks and an XBox controller. I have no idea when the show will be airing -- at the rate they were filming, probably not for months.

One Exam Down, Three to Go

I had my first exam last week. Even though I had taken 3 practice exams successfully, I don't feel at all happy with how I did. I definitely feel like my answer for the real exam was much weaker than the answers I came up with for the practice tests. I guess it was just luck of the draw -- I was able to pick out many more issues on the old exams.

This week I have just one exam: property. I feel like I will do fine on it if I can remember to slow down and read the multiple choice carefully. My wrong answers on the practice questions I've done have all been from misreading the questions. So I guess if I had one tip to share for multiple choice type exams, it would be SLOW DOWN. (As compared to essay exams, where you really need to go as quickly as possible after putting together your essay outline.)

Other than studying, which I have not been doing enough of, I have been Christmas shopping (I love when the decorations are up at all the stores -- although hearing that "Baby it's cold outside" song in every store gets old) and cooking new recipes from my fun new cookbooks. (I decided to also pick up Vegan with a Vengeance as another treat for me since someone I know and happen to be married too is always buying himself video games. Website for that book is here: www.theppk.com)

Behind today's advent calendar door: an elf in the shower -- I'm not kidding. 13 days til Christmas!

Study period begins

Classes are all over and we have exams starting on Thursday. (Exam period is 3 weeks long and my four exams are very evenly spaced, so no complaints really.) I'm feeling pretty comfortable with the information for my first exam, but I haven't really started studying for any of my other classes yet.

I studied for about 6 hours straight yesterday, then rewarded myself by playing on the internet and treating myself to a new cookbook. (La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer, I have her first book and everything I tried from it was super yummy. I plan to cook lots and lots over the next few weeks cause I need some kind of study break.)

I also found another fun blog (www.veganlunchbox.blogspot.com)on this site. I don't remember my lunches looking like that when I was in first grade. I'm pretty sure I ate a lot of bologna sandwiches. Ick.