Another First In Being A Real Grown-Up.

Tonight was a first for me, attending a fundraiser honoring two Judges. It was nice, but relatively boring since the only people I knew there were the folks I attended with and one other person from school. I knew a few of the Judges that were in the crowd, but since I don't have much experience in that field I don't know them well enough to chit-chat. Even though it had the makings of being a boring evening I was still glad I went and I hope that in the future I get to attend more of these things. Of course it would have been nice to be able to say, "I'm an attorney at [x, y, z]." Maybe next time I will!

Thanks to Prof. Arrogance for giving us the tickets and to my LSBFF for being there so we could suffer together. But next time let's eat...I was starving by the time I got home and my left over sour cream noodle bake just didn't cut it!

Totally Crushing On My Prof!

I seriously don't think I could be any exhausted or feeling off than I am this week. I am hoping that this is just a small little blip on my radar. I'm also hopeful that I don't screw up my streak, but I'm not betting any money on that. I don't think I've consumed all of my water one single day this week. But I do know that I have more than consumed all of my calories every single day plus some. I'm hoping this is just a result of my hormones and emotions. Yes Mother Nature, I'm laying a portion of the blame at your feet, but I will take the brunt of it, I promise!

When class started today Prof. Arrogance announced today was out last class. Woo-hoo!! This means that when I finish my last final a week from Monday at 7:50pm I will officially be done with law school. Well...officially done with attending classes and finals! I will have to finish the my Externship and the work that goes with it, but I'll be all done with classes! I cannot believe it! I've waited for this day to come for a very long time. Some times I think I've waited for this day for over 34 years. Then during class as we were all filing out a survey Prof. Arrogance gave me a present! Yes, me...a present!! :)

He said all Criminal Defense Attorneys need one! I heart Prof. Arrogance!! And to think that 4 years ago I hated Prof. Arrogance. I guess it goes to show that most people I end up loving in my life I start out hating... Thank You Prof. Arrogance!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 15 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28

Just getting started: 7, 9, 10, 14, 29, 30

Needs attention: 8, 13, 20, 22, 23, 24, 31, 32

Consider It Completed

This week I actually made all of my scheduled time at my Externship! Kudos to me!! Monday I attempted to shadow one of the attorneys Prof. Arrogance suggested I follow. I actually stood outside of her assigned courtrooms for about 50 mins waiting for her before I realized someone from the office whom I never met before was covering as my A's Girl called in sick. Once it was determined she was basically just adjourning all of the cases for a week and Funny Man from the office popped in saying he had 4 Prelims going I opted to follow him for the remainder of the day in court. Of course he worked my butt out making me go up 2 flights of stairs, then back down, and up one final time. Yikes! But I survived and we finally left court after 1pm.

Today I followed a younger defender and he basically let me run his entire docket in the courtroom for the morning. I was so scared yet excited. I did one bail hearing, which was totally granted (neither he nor I expected that to happen either) and the defendant even thanked me with a wink. Go figure he was just declared competent to stand trial in the last few days... I got one Prelim Exam adjourned and performed another one. It was so damn exciting. My newly adopted leader kept telling me how great I did after we were leaving. It made me feel so good. I was totally proud of myself.

When I left court my weekend was filled with so many errands I lost count! From there I swung by my chips & salsa place to recollect the money they owed me for the extra charge from two weeks ago. Then I went to the Federal Courts for a docket printout of one of my 3 litigation files to put with my Bar Application. Then I drove out and was fingerprinted twice for the Bar Application. Then I made my way to my ortho's office where I was told there was nothing he could do today for my wrist. I was not a happy camper.

I swung by one of the declared best pizza places in the area, but not for pizza...for their yummy yummy salad. I raced back home to go to the local court to get copies of my local litigation docket sheets and some of the pleadings. I wasn't sure I was going to make it before they closed, but I did. Heck, I even made it to the bank so I could get my money orders for the Bar Application. I went to Staples to get envelopes for my Bar Application and then finally headed home. That's when I did it...I hit "complete" on my Bar Application and printed it out. All that is left is to put it together, sign everything, get it notarized and put it in the mail!

All in all...today was a great day!! Of course this all left me exhausted tonight, plus I suspect I may have a little cold, but I'm trying to fight my way through it all...

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 2223

Just getting started: 5, 10, 11, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26

Needs attention: 6, 7, 8, 9, 12

All It Takes Is 3 Weeks

This past week really sucked. Last weekend was lost on both days, which continued Monday. During the week after stopping my nose spray my headache continued to lessen and seems to have pretty much disappeared. Then on Thursday while I was off to study and take my final exam, my man called and gave me the results of his hearing. It wasn't good and he won't be coming home this year. I spent the rest of that day studying the best I could and then went up to school to take my Tax final exam.

Of course before hand Prof. Tax Guru had told us two things. One, we could use our Code book and two, he wrote the exam as a two-hour exam and shouldn't take longer even though he thought we had 3 hours to take it. Well, the first issue blew up when we got ready to take the exam, because there was nothing in writing saying we could use the book. So we had to waste like 17 minutes while the proctor and the registrar's office attempted to call Prof. Tax Guru to get approval to allow us to use the Code book during the exam. I knew if they wouldn't let us use that book I was totally screwed with my exam! Finally he returned their calls and everyone settled down. One issue down...

As for the second thing we were told, that was a blatant lie! The exam was brutal!! We actually had 4 hours to complete the exam, because it is a 4 credit class. Of course one bitch stood up and handed her finished exam in within an hour of starting it. I wanted to F her up! She was a know-it-all during class too! Bitch! The majority of the rest of the class finished between hours 2 and 3. I, however, finished 5 minutes before time was called. When I walked out I left one lone student to finish in the next 5 minutes. Now I just have to hope and pray that I passed. That is all I need to do is pass. Yes, this is my usual mantra; however, this is more necessary now than ever, because this is a required course (yes, my school is ran by crazy people!) and I'm about to start my last semester in school. I do not want to have to repeat this damn class during my last semester in law school...

They say that all it takes is 3 weeks to break a bad habit or develop a good habit. After two weeks of losing on with using sparkpeople I was hoping to test this theory out; however. They say that that is how long it takes to break a bad habit or to develop a good habit. I had hoped to test this theory out this past week, but with the week I had that so didn't happen. I ate like a pig all week...it really started last Saturday and just continued throughout the week.

I had moved me weigh-in up a day to Saturdays the last couple of weeks. Well, I am starting to wonder how wise of a decision that was. I think it may be giving me too much freedom. However, I went ahead and weighed-in yesterday morning and was so mad at myself because I had gained 6lbs. YIKES! Maybe it was the Quizno's, McDonald's, Taco Bell, Reese's Dark PB Cups, chips, tuna lasagna... What I find very interesting is the fact that when I got up this morning I had last 3.8 of those pounds. So I've decided to go back to my Sunday weigh-ins and use this morning's numbers for Today's Stats:

Starting weight (7/8/09): 363lbs

Current weight: 320.8lbs

This week's results: +2.2lbs

Total weight lost: -42.2lbs

I had no idea a week ago how horrible this past week was going to be, but I'm ready to get back on track and start at the beginning of my 3 weeks to try and break my bad habit and build my good habit of healthy eating. Here's to a much better week this week...

In other news, well I haven't accomplished much this week, but I have relaxed a bit by not doing much, of course I'm ready for a nap right now too, but anywho...on to another week tomorrow!

Consider it done: 1, 4, 7, 8, 21

Just getting started: 2, 6, 11, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25

Needs attention: 3, 5, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 26, 27, 28

Need To Find My Week Before The Whole Week Is Lost

Apparently having a semi-lost weekend leads into a pretty crappy week. I think I mentioned the last week or so I've had an annoying headache, well yesterday morning that blew up! When I woke up Monday morning my head was hurting, so I reached up and touched my temples and thought I was going to cry while vomiting! I couldn't believe how bad my head hurt just be touching it. I called off work and went back to bed. Now mind you I was actually in the bed by midnight Sunday night so it wasn't an over-tired thing, but I ended up sleeping until after 12:30pm...

When I woke up yesterday I felt better, but definitely 100%. I sort of didn't do much all afternoon even though I thought I would get my ass in gear, get showered, go and workout before I started dinner or studying. Well, I never did get those things done. But I did work up the nerve to send Prof. Tax Guru a request for my midterm grade. I sort of figured that once I saw my crappy grade it would motivate me to study for my final. Hmmm...I got a 53 out of 57. Daym...needless to say I haven't been motivated to study and my final is Thursday. Guess you know what I'll be doing tomorrow night, huh? Opps...

I still had my headache today and I'm really starting to wonder what the hell is causing my headache... I'm going to stop taking my nose spray to see if that is contributing to it. I sure hope it is that and it goes away very soon. I really don't have time to be sidelined with a stubborn headache.

As for my battle of the bulge...this week isn't going so hot. It is so hard to eat healthy and get all of your water in and workout when your head is hurting. All I really want to do is swing by and pick up a good ol' juicy bar cheeseburger with curly fries and some Mexican fried ice cream... But that isn't going to help me with my goal, now is it?

I'm hoping tomorrow is uber productive and that I'm headache free!

On a separate note...I just placed a huge order form Nordstrom's for some professional clothes for my externship. Now I just hope they fit! Ha!!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

Just getting started: 6, 8, 21, 22

Needs attention: 12, 13, 14

A Lost Saturday

Last night I knew I had to attend my Tax review, which was scheduled for 9am this morning. Do you think that got me to bed at a decent time? Um...that would be a negative! I still thought maybe if I went to bed at 2am, which seems to be my usual bedtime I would make it there with no problem. I thought I would even have time to run and get fill up and pick up a diet coke too! What was I thinking??

Needless to say, that didn't work out for me. I live approximately 40 miles from school so when I got in the car at 8:40am and started driving I thought maybe I should just attend tomorrow's afternoon session and should just turn around. Then I decided to just go for it...if I was too late I'd just punish myself with going tomorrow instead. Plus I had no desire to get dressed and go up to school tomorrow, so that was a huge motivating factor for me!

As I pull up to the school I see that our parking lot is locked. I park on the street and realize I'm only running about 15 mins late. Cool! I walk up to go inside and realize that everyone in class is sitting on the side steps listening to the lecture. Prof. Tax Guru didn't ensure that the school would be open so our review consisted of us sitting on cement steps, outside, for almost 2 hours. Are you frickin' kidding me?!? WTF?! I just busted my ass, drove like a crazy woman to sit on cement for almost 2 hours? Ugh...

After the review I headed back home, but upon stopping for gas I realized I didn't have my driver's license with me! WHAT?! Thank goodness I didn't get popped for doing 85 up the expressway on my way up! Believing my license was at home, I obeyed all of the traffic laws and came straight home. I look at the only other place my license would be (in the case I collect quarters for my Friday night visits) and it isn't there. Just great... I look in my wallet again and there it was stuck behind my health care card. So I did have it with me the whole time. Had I known that I would have stopped off and watched the munchkin at his Soccer Striker Clinic...

The rest of the day was not productive at all. I felt like I would start something and then without finishing I would move to something else. Needless to say I've accomplished very little today. Well except that little nap!

I've had a headache the past couple of days, so I decided to lay down around 3pm for a little nap, thinking I would be up in time to run to the meat market before it closed. Well, I thought wrong. I didn't wake up until close to 8...long past closing time for the meat market. Guess I'll be getting up and getting dressed tomorrow regardless since I have to go to the meat market...

For all intents and purposes though I consider today a lost day with not really accomplishing much other than sleeping and eating...

I did accomplish my weekly weigh-in this morning and I'm happy to report Today's stats:

Starting weight (7/8/09): 363lbs

Current weight: 318.6lbs

This week's results: -1.8lbs

Total weight lost: -44.4lbs

I am only 1lb away from here, the lowest I've been since starting this journey a little over a year ago. Now if I can get below that point I'm back on my way of actually losing weight versus what I've been doing for the last several months, which is playing around with the same damn 8lbs...

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 16

Just getting started: 5, 9, 17, 18, 19,

Needs attention: 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22

Do You Know Who You Are Talking To?

A fall extern at the Defender's Office! Woo-hoo!! I'm so excited to say that I called today, finally, left a message and when the big cheese called me back I didn't even have to schedule an interview. He told me that Prof. Arrogance called him about me and he would be happy to have me as an extern this fall! :) Thanks Prof. Arrogance! You rock Mister!

I was going to celebrate my good news with a candy bar (a York Peppermint Patty! Yummy!!) this afternoon. I literally had it in my hand in our little store, but I put it down, grabbed my bottle of water and checked out.

I was in a super good mood even though I had to drag my butt to tax for a "make-up" class! I even completed my assignment that was due back on the 7th. Opps! I get to class and we wait 25 mins before Prof. Tax Guru finally shows up. I was totally ready to book too when he came rushing in, telling us to "quiet down." Dude...where have you been?!?

Of course I got called in during class and I confessed that I had not read Chapter 25. Double Opps! Hey...I'm on Chapter 12! What more does he expect?! After class I had to turn in my assignment late, again. Of course there had to be 7 people around the podium when I did it, so I spit out some excuse about my son's grandma dying of cancer and here it is, blah, blah, blah... I don't know if he blew me off because my other assignment was late or because he had so many people around or what and to be honest, I really didn't care.

It wasn't a total lie...my mom's neighbor who my mom sees as a pseudo-mom-figure and who treats my son as if he is her grandson (hello! she bought him a $100 savings bond for his first communion!) and she is unfortunately dying of cancer. I know...I know...I know...I suck... I just felt like I needed an excuse and the whole 'I hate your class and avoid doing anything in here as if your stupid-ass assignment is the plague!' wasn't going to cut it and this just sort of fell out of my mouth!

If you knew me...the true me...you would know I don't turn assignments in late. It just isn't my style. I'm a slacker in all respects, but to the degree I've became a slacker in this damn class even scares me! I swear this required class is a mental block for me! This is as bad as my SADO class...just in a different way!

But in all seriousness, our Maddie is very sick. She is such a wonderful woman with a wonderful heart. She has been taking chemo for a very, very long time and is just not in a place to admit that she is losing her battle. Her cancer is spreading like wild-fire and instead of enjoying the time she has left with her loved ones, she is still fighting. Every day we hope and pray for the miracle that she wishes for or for God to give her the strength to find peace and enjoy the time she has left here...

Maybe it was the fact that I couldn't get her off my mind today after my mom told me she was back in the hospital this morning, because her lungs continue to fill with fluid on a bi-weekly or maybe it was her thinking of me tonight. I don't know why and there was no plan to use her as a part of my excuse, but when I handed in my assignment her situation just fell out of my mouth. I hope I can be forgiven for using Maddie as my "excuse" and I hope she knows that we love her and hope and pray for her everyday... Hugs Maddie!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27

Just getting started: 11, 28

Needs attention: 14, 15, 17

Guess It Isn't My Alarm Clock That Is The Problem Here...Opps!

In an effort to start to get up earlier or actually just on time I picked up a new alarm clock Friday night. It is definitely louder and a different sound, which is good. Of course I think what will really help me with this is getting my butt to bed earlier! Since I was up until after 2am Sunday night...busy procrastinating...that certainly didn't help me get up on time this morning. Opps.

This week is gonna be a long week! Prof. Tax Guru appears to be smoking some bad stuff, because originally he scheduled this week...our last week of classes...to have a make up class tomorrow night. So originally he set out the following as our schedule:

Monday (tonight): 6-9:40p (regularly scheduled class)

Tuesday (tomorrow): 6-9:40p (make-up class)

Wednesday: 6-9:40p (our regularly scheduled final class)

Thursday: 6-8p (make-up lecture)

Saturday: 9-11a (review)

Sunday: 3-5p (review)

Final Exam on Thursday the 22nd!

Um...dude...when the hell am I suppose to study for the final?!? Ugh... I sent him an email telling him Thursday was a bit much! I'm sure others did too, so he canceled the Thursday lecture! So now I just have to suffer 3 nights this week and plan to do the Saturday morning review. I'll be so glad when this stupid class is done!!

Of course while rushing to finish my midterm the hour before class started tonight I was so pissed at myself for all of the procrastination I did this weekend! Damn me! Then during tonight's lecture I got mad at myself again for just now starting to pay attention. Needless to say I'm just praying I pass and am done with this last required class of mine! (Keep your fingers crossed!)

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27

Just getting started: 11, 28

Needs attention: 12, 13, 14, 15, 17

Happy Birthday Momma!!

So today (Tuesday the 29th~~in case there is any confusion since I am posting at 1:47am Monday night/Tuesday morning!) is my mother's birthday. She is 56!! Holy shit Mom!! :) Everyone who can make it will be having dinner together @ a local dive a couple of towns over. Of course it is gonna be chips & salsa!! LOL I'm hoping to get time before my allergy tests to pick up a cake at my favorite bakery for her, but if not (or they could be closed as they always close around the 4th for a week!) I'll pick one up between my tests and dinner! Either way I will produce a cake for her!

In other family news my bro had to BBM me during class, where I was suffering, to inform me that they sold their place and are moving into a house. I'm trying to be happy for them, but I'm totes jealous!! I wish it was us moving from our place into a house. But I cannot let it get to me. Someday will be my turn. Right?!

The best news I bring is that I turned in the rough draft of my S&L paper around 12:40am Sunday night/Monday morning. It was due at 8am. I have already received feedback from my laidback Prof and he said..."Really fine work on the seminar paper. I have a new appreciation for [Prof. Arrogance] -- I have always admired him but now it's a little more. I really like how you interviewed other attorneys and found the blogger who was so open about her feelings after her client murdered again fascinating. I think adding in a couple more interviews makes sense, too. My only criticism is that it would [be] nice to know more about how you will approach your job as a [criminal] defense attorney and what you will use to reduce stress. Nice job!" Woo-hoo!! Some more tweaking over the holiday weekend and next week and this should be completed! Yes!!!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

Just getting started: 7, 22, 23

Needs attention: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Mother Nature Was Pissed Off On Hump Day!

Last night before I went to bed I sent an email to my laid-back Prof. from my seminar about changing the date when our rough draft was due for our S&L paper. When I got up this morning he moved the due date from this Friday to next Monday! I agree with him "laid-back Prof. is a nice guy!" Having accomplished that I was ready to face the day...and what a day it was...

At work I accomplished very little actual work. Apparently I've become a true slacker! But knowing all along that I would pull my crap together and get done what needs to be done by the end of this month I wasn't concerned at all, until later when my boss called to tell me that I may have to pick up my co-worker's slack and do double the amount of work I have to do by the end of the month...mine & hers! Um, yeah...so who is going to pick up my slack?! I guess that is going to be me too. So needless to say I will be busting my ass for the next week! Not even my own fault either...ugh!

Then early afternoon as I was getting ready to go and get my yummy salad for lunch I felt funny all of a sudden. I felt like the ground under me was moving. I wasn't sure if I was about to faint, if the office building was really moving or if my blood sugar had dropped too low and I was just feeling funny. Nope...it really was the ground moving. There was an earthquake of 5.5 magnitude and I had just experienced the tremors from it. In all of the previous news reports I always thought people acted a little too scared in earthquakes (not the big ones...I'm talking the little ones). Well, now that I felt little tiny tremors and almost went running out of my office and down 13 flights of stairs I will no longer judge others! That was some scary stuff.

Well, as my day was coming to a close at work I knew it was time to face my tax class, which I had avoided for 2 full weeks (thanks to my 2 skips last week and class being canceled this Monday due to the fireworks). There was anxiety for me. I hate returning to something that I've missed. There was also anxiety because I was completely caught up with my reading. I did a little prayer that I wouldn't get called on and then discovered I was about to be late for class so I ran off. During class I suffered for a full 3 hours and then decided I needed to approach Prof. Tax Guru with my assignment that was due 2 weeks ago this past Monday. After class I went up to Prof. Tax Guru and executed my plan of attack...

j'lynn: Prof. Tax Guru, here is my assignment that was due 2 weeks ago. I'm sorry it is late, but I was not in class last week due to a personal situation. I still wanted to turn it in even if I don't get credit for it.

Prof. Tax Guru: No, this is great. Thank you for turning it in. Don't worry that it is late.

j'lynn: Thanks!

fellow student #1: Is that the assignment that was due last week? I didn't know we were suppose to turn that in. Do you want mine?

fellow student #2: Are you talking about the questions you assigned? Can I turn mine in next week.

Looks like I started a trend! Ha!! I was glad class was over, I was glad that things went exactly as I hoped, I was glad that I wasn't called on. I was not glad that even though in the last week I went from being 490 pages behind in tax to 309 pages behind in tax I am now back to approximately 524 pages behind in tax. Are you kidding me?!? Ugh... I'm so never going to catch up! But in other tax news...Prof. Tax Guru is considering giving us a take-home exam. I'm totally down with that! :)

After class I drove home, charging my phone on the way (thanks for the reminder Daisy with your tweets!), because we were expecting some serious storms. When I parked in front of my house our weather sirens were going off. I walked into my house to find my munchkin freaking out, a tornado warning posted and my weather-alert radio going off! Within 10 minutes things started to pick up in the crazy department. I had the munchkin in my bed with my aunt trying to go to sleep when my bro called my aunt's cell (yes, I took the call for her. Ha!) to tell us that a tornado touched down about 30 miles from us and was headed straight for our town. Um, thanks bro! At that my phone started going off, the weather-alert radio started going off again, the outside sirens started up, the munchkin is crying, and I'm yelling at my aunt because I cannot find the GD remote! Bro is telling me what channels to put the TV on and telling me how he cannot get ahold of mom, so I'm using my cell to try and call her. I thought maybe a tornado would have been much calmer than all of this! We caught the weather report, got the candles and flashlight out. And then we started to wait...

The power went out once, the wind was crazy, the satellite was searching, the rain was pouring, the thunder was booming and the lightning was flashing. We survived it without any real damage that I could see. Reports of touch downs were confirmed. I'm definitely now ready for a crazy day tomorrow, but I'm really hoping that mother nature takes tomorrow off!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23

Just getting started: 9, 10, 11, 24, 25

Needs attention: 15, 16

I'm Officially In Summer School

Tonight was my first Tax class for my summer semester. I forgot how borderline rude Prof. Tax Guru is!

We are placed in the biggest, but hottest rooms at school. There are 6 rows in this room. And when I say that this is the biggest room we have I'm not saying that there is room for more than 80 people in the room, if that. It isn't like my school has a lecture hall that can accommodate hundreds of people y'all! The room is so little a prof. doesn't even have to use a microphone for everyone to hear him or her.

So tell me this....why the hell has Prof. Tax Guru demanded that we all jam together in the first 3 rows?!? WTF?!? Apparently he doesn't get the whole concept that if you cram people together into a smaller space it gets hotter. It sure as shit don't get cooler.... Ugh... He also doesn't get the whole buffer system either. How is this a foreign concept?!?

On other news I finally got 2 of my 3 grades for last semester. I've passed so far! :) Woo-hoo!!!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 15, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 33

Just getting started: 13, 14, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35

Needs attention: 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 29, 36

A Week In Review

So, last Sunday night I started with a crazy little cough. I really thought it was my allergies acting up due to all of the rain and wind we've been experiencing. I soon learned that it wasn't just my allergies. Monday I hacked my way through work and then onto Urgent Care. By 7:30pm that night I was diagnosed with (another) sinus infection and an upper respiratory infection, had (re) started my antibiotics, and was already sound asleep!

Tuesday morning I got up at 5:40am, called into work and went back to bed. I got up again at 11:30am. Yes, 16 hours after I originally went to bed! I ate, emailed my laid-back Prof. about class that night and as soon as he responded saying that I was excused from attending my butt was back in bed by 2:30pm. I got up around 8:00pm that night and went back to bed by 10:30pm. Wednesday morning I called in again at quarter till 6am and didn't get up until 10:30am that morning after I talked with my guy and he told me I needed to get some fresh air to start feeling better. I was in complete agreement so after I got up I stripped my bed and lysol'd my room. I think did my laundry, picked up the house and got ready to go to class that night...I didn't want to push my luck.

Thursday I returned to work, but still felt pretty crappy. After work I went to my last S&L class and then picked up taco bell for the munchkin, aunt & I for dinner. When I walked through the door with dinner my aunt tells me that my bro is in the ER with what they think could be a broken jaw. WTF?!? This is where things really started to heat up this week! We were told how his manager sent him out to deal with a drug-dealing trucker and to tell him to leave and the guy hit him and took off into the woods. So I bbm his ol' lady and she starts going on how he is going to get fired because OSHA won't take his urine sample because they didn't collect it and the hospital gave him pain killers, etc. My mom is at their house with the 2 boys and the ol' lady is at the ER w/bro. In an effort to help I call my other aunt and we go to the hospital to get bro's keys and get his truck from work to his house. This was partly done, because I suspected that the two of them would be stupid enough to attempt to get the truck home upon bro's release regardless of the amount of drugs in his system.

We arrive at the hospital upon ignoring his ol' lady's bbm telling us there wasn't a need to be there. We walked into his ER room and were instantly hit with a wall of hostility. There was only one person in the room, his ol' lady. To say that she was hostile and rude to us is an understatement. I have never been treated with such disrespect by a family member in my life! After my bro returned to his room from radiology she threatened to go home so we could carry on with our party. Huh?!? Bitch, are you high?!? After constant unacceptable disrespect, I snapped. I fired back that I just came to help and obviously I'm harming so I took my bro's key and walked out of the hospital with my aunt. We went to bro's work, talked to his boss and the co-worker that was with bro when this went down. This is where we got the true account of what happened and it was just as we suspected...my idiot bro was his typical hot-headed self, confronted said drug-dealer against his manager's wishes and wouldn't let the man leave the premises while they waited for the police to show up. Dude pushed bro, bro pushed back, dude decked bro and according to his boss, bro got his ass whooped.

Well, Thursday night I finally got home around 11:30pm still pissed off. In an effort to unwind I decided to work on my TIVO backlog and started watching the Grey's Anatomy season finale. OMG!!!! Nine minutes in I was standing in the middle of my living room with my mouth wide open! Needless to say it did not help me unwind! Did anyone else see that???? I went to bed around 1:15am. I was still wide awake at 2:30am. Still pissed off about how we were treated hours earlier, so I rolled over, deleted both of them from bbm on my phone and rolled back over. I finally fell asleep sometime after 3am...

My ass was exhausted come Friday morning at work! I pushed through, got lots of stuff done at work and then made my way out to see my guy. :) I hit two hiccups on the way out there. The first one actually developed at lunch with a co-worker. The entire time we were at lunch I kept catching her looking at my boobs! It got to the point that I wanted to ask WTH?!? Instead I started to get the feeling that maybe you could see my green bra through my top so in a panic I decided to stop on my way out to see my guy and pick up a new bra! I just didn't want to relive the designer hole incident. The second hiccup was the frickin' rain! It has been raining off and on for days here. And when I say rain...I mean downpours! Thunder and lightening were in tow, of course. At one point I was driving 35mph in a 70mph speed zone. But it was all worth it to get those 2 hours with him. :) After my shitty week I really needed those 2 hours of down time... Needless to say I slept like a baby last night...

Consider it done: 1, 2, 15, 27*, 28*

Just getting started: 12, 13, 14

Needs attention: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36

*~~Well, I decided not to cancel and reschedule, so I've been waxed and facialized.**

**~~Yes, I know that isn't a word, but I like how it sounds so I'll be keeping it! :)

Need A Break...

When I planned out this week, I had planned on going to the gym tonight after my last TP class. When I left the house this morning I was a bit undecided as to whether I was going to the gym or not. I really needed to go to the gym, but I also knew if I came straight home after class I would have an hour or so to myself because the munchkin had a CubScout meeting. Of course when I left the house I totally forgot my gym bag. I still thought I would maybe just stop by the house, change and go on to the gym.

I got to work, in a great mood, did a little organizing, and got a few files closed and then 20 minutes before I was set to leave the office to go to my pizza party a/k/a my last TP class I received an email from the munchkin's teacher. My little 7 year-old angel got his ass suspended for tomorrow. :( I do not know all of the details at this moment other than this is the 3rd conduct report for fighting/pushing on the playground and according to their rules he must serve a one day suspension. I was very upset when I received the email. I scrambled to find someone to watch him tomorrow. I started running through scenarios of how I was going to punish him for this. Then I went to my pizza party, got wonderful comments from my fellow classmates and Prof. Arrogance. I really sort of put it out of my mind during those few hours.

By the time I was ready to leave school I knew I had to run to Walgreen's and then fix dinner. The idea of going to the gym was totally off the table in my head. After I fixed dinner, waiting for the munchkin to come home from his meeting, my head and body are telling me...I'm exhausted and I need a break and I was no longer nearly upset as I was several hours earlier...

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24

Just getting started: 25, 26

Needs attention: 11

Doing More Than Just Surviving

So I did my oral argument tonight and I survived! I actually did more than survived! So thank you for all of your little prayers folks!! There were no tears, no screams, no blood, no vomiting and no passing out.

Do you know what there was though? Redemption for me!! Woo-hoo...

Remember this when Prof. Fergie told me how much I sucked? Well, I argued the couple of issues that I wrote and then the 3 "judges" asked me why I didn't argue my original first issue...you know, the issue that I was told I couldn't argue because it was "based on bad law." Ha!

Take that Prof. Fergie, because your co-workers (a/k/a my judges) told you that you were wrong and I was on the right path all along!

BOOYAH!!!

On a separate account...not only did I notice before I argued my brief that I~~#1) I put a case that kills one of my arguments in my brief; #2) That I misspelled my last name on it; and #3) My inability to spell bleed-over to my blog last night...opps!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28

Just getting started: 7, 29, 30

Needs attention: 13, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22

Come On Already!

I was definitely feeling better this morning when I got up, so off to work I went. I busted my tail all day too. I'm losing almost 2.5 days this week at work, so I need to pick up the pace while I am there. By early afternoon I had a killer headache, but I continued to push my way through, plus I had my writing conference scheduled for this afternoon and had class to attend tonight.

I arrived at my writing conference early, of course, only to feel like a complete and total worthless jack-ass, loser and failure all rolled into one within 15 minutes of arriving to Prof. Fergie's office and her informing me that my entire first issue was based on bad law. Opps! My bad! Nothing makes you feel like a failure then when your professor says, "This was bad. Very, very bad." No shit Sherlock Holmes! And trust me, there is no need to ask, "What would have happened if this was filed?" First of all, if this was totally real and I didn't have you to be my watch dog I would have done much more work on my first draft...isn't that why I'm still a student and you are not? And isn't that why it is a first draft? Yes, I know I should have done better, I know that I should have worked harder and obviously I should have performed better research. Duh! But guess what Prof. Fergie...you revealed to me that 2 of the other 4 students haven't turned in anything yet and we are like in week 12 (out of 15). At least I tried and failed instead of not tried at all! Don't I get credit for that?!

When I left my conference my headache was killer, but I still summoned my courage and went on to E&T for class. I really tried to put my gigantic failure behind me, but when we spent the last 15 minutes of class going over details of our final my now non-existant headache (amen for Motrin & Diet Coke) had emerged into nausea...

I knew this was going to be a doozy of a week, but come on already!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 18, 21

Just getting started: 8, 15, 20, 24, 26, 28, 29

Needs attention: 7, 10, 14, 16, 17, 19, 22, 23, 25, 27, 30

Starting To Feel The Pressure From All Sides

I am definitely feeling the pressure. It is coming from all over. It is coming from school, work, home...

Yesterday I had to give a closing argument in Trial Practice. I prepared nothing! I was hopeful that I would have time before class to get something together and it just didn't happen. So I did the only thing I could...I made quick notes of facts on my paper and went up when I had to. I received no feedback after I finished, so I sat down and wondered how I did. I spent the next 2.5 hours wondering. It wasn't until we were all walking out of class did I finally receive my feedback, "j'lynn very well done." Well, thank you Prof. Arrogance! ;)

I then hauled my exhausted ass on to E&T. I was unprepared. My contacts were so blurry from sleeping in them the night before that I felt like I was drunk. I was starving. I crazily only counted one case in our reading material and when someone told me 10 minutes before class that there were a total of 4 cases I knew things weren't going to go well for me in class. As we got ready to move on to the last case, I finished quickly scanning it (just in case), took a bite of apple with peanut butter and blinked at my contacts. After about 5 people being called on, one person confessing he wasn't prepared and the other 4 not responding because they were absent, my name was called. Of course!! I had a mouth full of apple and peanut butter, go figure. I muddled and mumbled my way through and 3 minutes later class was over fifty minutes early!

I survived another Thursday at school and came home. Once I was home I started to feel the pressure of all of the school work I need to accomplish in the next week. :( I think even if I did homework for 48 hours straight I couldn't get it all done.

I usually haul a bunch of homework with me to work in the hopes that time will stop while I'm there and I can do some homework! Ha! Yes, I am delusional!

Thursdays I leave work at 1pm, so I always try and check my work email to see what I missed and what I'm headed into come Friday morning. When I opened my email and saw that I had a ton of "rush" work added to my current work, which is stacked in 3-18 inch high piles I decided to pull everything out of my work bag for today. I desperately need to get things at work under control in the next week!! It is no longer an option...it is a requirement for me!

Of course all of this was on top of getting ready to walk out the door yesterday morning, late of course, and receiving an email from my son's teacher telling me we have to meet next week. Mind you, there is already a standard second parent/teacher conference set for us at 6:15pm Monday, March 29, 2010. Apparently my munchkin is being accused of punching another little boy in the privates during recess. My munchkin maintains his innocence. I was so upset with the whole thought of having to deal with this I left the house upset and didn't tell the munchkin that I love him. Then I felt horrible!! It took 5 phone calls to the house and to my mom's cell to get him on the phone to tell him I loved him and to have a great day! I felt a little better, but was still upset. After three emails back and forth and the fact that the only time I could meet with his teacher was next Friday morning at 7am (next week is crazy busy for me!) she agreed to keep our currently scheduled meeting the following Monday evening...

Oh yeah...and my guy called twice and both times he was down and wasn't having a good day. :( Weren't we all having a bad day? Where is the moon and Jupiter yesterday, because the totality of the circumstances lead me to believe they were out of whack!

Do I even need to say it? TGIF y'all!!

My Friday To-Do List:

1. Bust my ass at work for 8 full hours!

2. Go and see my guy

3. Write out my shopping list

4. Go shopping

5. Do laundry

6. Pick up the house

7. Do all of my E&T homework

8. Do all of my SADO homework

10. Do all of my Trial Practice homework

11. Write out my bills

12. Balance my checkbook

13. Get my hair cut

14. Workout

15. Write my guy

16. Dig out more paperwork that my guy needs and mail it

17. File this week's papers

18. Catch up on my emails

19. Send out the munchkin's first communion invitations

20. Get ready for Easter

21. Take down the St. Patrick's Day decorations

22. Put up Easter decorations

23. Continue preparing for all of the things we have coming up in the next several months.

24. Catch up on my TIVO

25. Get organized

26. Refocus to tighten my belt with regards to following WWs

27. Refocus for next week

28. Get me some serious sleep (I am so exhausted this week my whole body is achy!)

29. Plan out my week

30. Get my shit together

Exhaustion Has Taken Over

I'm beyond exhausted this week. It has been one hell of a week and I had a bit of disappointment today when I thought I kicked butt on my opening statement in Trial Practice and after class Prof. Arrogance told me he was disappointed in my opening statement and expected more from me. :(

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28

Needs attention: 18*

*~~sorry baby, apparently you were the only thing I couldn't get to this week, but on the other hand look at how I rocked it this week.

Surviving More Than One Critique Today

This week has been exhausting. All I can think about is sleeping in Saturday morning! I feel like all I've done this week is homework, but I am happy to report that before classes started today I had completed all of my homework for the week! I'm pretty sure that this is the first time all semester I've accomplished this task! However, this has been exhausting, to say the least.

I had a headache that started this morning and didn't really go away until I finally thought about taking some Motrin. Of course this didn't happen until almost 5pm. I know, I know...so smart of me, huh?!?

I started my day at work irritated already for really no particular reason. Of course within just a couple hours I had several reasons to be even more irritated. We are finally starting to lose some of our files. I don't know how I feel about this. I'm partially upset that it is happening and what this could really mean for me. I'm also partially glad it is finally happening. I've been tired of the state of flux, that is for sure. Of course the fit will hit the shan for me and the two other gals in my position in my department. Ugh... Needless to say I will have no choice to bust my butt for the next several weeks! I'm up for the challenge, I hope...

Then onto class I fly, but not until I hit the parking snag. There were 7 cars waiting to get in the lot, so I drove around the block and parked on the street. So in addition to the $340 I pay for the school's parking lot I got to fork over $4.50 to park on the street today. Thank God I carry a pouch with me to stick quarters in through out the week for my Friday nights with my guy! Of course while I was getting myself together on the side walk and digging quarters out to feed the meter I almost ran into a homeless man. I was walking backwards onto the sidewalk while grabbing all of my stuff. The following conversation ensued:

j'lynn: Oh my, I am so sorry sir. (I was a good 3 feet from him, but still wanted to apologize because #1 I didn't see him, #2 if I wouldn't have noticed him when I did I would have knocked him down with my bag and/or my butt!)

HG: I'm okay.

j'lynn: Good. Again, my apologies.

HG: Honey, please do not apologize for almost walking into me. It happens.

j'lynn: Thank you.

HG: But please get that car washed! That you should apologize for.

j'lynn: Since it is suppose to be beautiful this weekend I had hoped to get it washed.

HG: Yes, it should be close to 50 this weekend. You really need to get your car washed.

j'lynn: (while feeding my quarters into the meter) I hope to, because I know I really need to.

HG: (while walking down the sidewalk away from me) What I really need is to find some work.

At this moment I decided to stop responding, because there isn't really much to say at that point. Plus I was just coming to realize that I was just admonished by a homeless man about the level of dirtiness of my car... Gosh, I didn't even think it was that bad!

I made it through another Trial Practice today and actually was proud of myself. My critiques from Prof Arrogance were all positive today! Yay me! I was nervous as hell, but so was everyone else. Each week I feel stronger and more confident! It makes me very excited about my future career in litigation! Then on to E&T I went!

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

Just getting started: 12, 13

Needs attention: 14, 15

March Brings Sunshine...So Close Yet So Far Away

Today we were treated to lots of sunshine and weather in the 40's! It was lovely. Of course in this area we all know too well that winter isn't over and I do fear that today was just another tease. But I'll take it regardless.

After working today I joined my aunt and uncle for a free dinner at their neighborhood French Italian Bistro. Of course it entailed sitting through a two-hour presentation on Fire Safety. Boring you say? Actually it was quite nice and very informative. More importantly it was free!! And better yet, it was what I order every time I go there...Chicken Parmigiana! Yum Yum Yum

Of course we didn't get out of there until after 8:30pm, which meant no workout for me! I don't know if I will get one in this week as I have a very busy week ahead of me. This, of course, is my own fault. Last week was Spring Break and I had this master plan of all of the things I would get accomplished during my time off from class. And that plan, I failed!

I scheduled tomorrow off from work so I can write my appellate brief for SADO, which is due by 5pm Wednesday. Since this will likely take the entire day and then some, I will be skipping E&T tomorrow night as well. And since Prof Arrogance refused to give us Thursday's assignment until last night, I now have that to do too. If not for that I would have my Trial Practice homework done. Ugh! I'm 12 pages away from completing my E&T homework too. So close, yet so far away from being on top of this...

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22

Just getting started: 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 19, 20

Needs attention: 14, 15

An Uncontrollable Swearing Lazy Student With Irreversible Bra Problems

Well, I made it to 9am before I swore yesterday. I think. What I mean is that I know I swore at 9am, but I don't think I swore before then, but I'm not sure! We had a meeting scheduled from 9am-1pm and two of my co-workers were able to get out of it, so on my way to the meeting I popped into one of the co-workers' offices and told her she was a lucky b! It came out so easily, of course! Then I told her, "Look at what you made me do!! I gave up swearing for Lent, so let me rephrase~you lucky girl!" We laughed, I went on to my meeting and suffered for the next 4 hours. It totally sucked!

Of course working on my SADO homework until 3am Tuesday night and not even touching the assignment I had to turn in by 5pm did not help me. I don't know if being uber tired or the fact that I had to draft my statement of facts before class was more distracting. So after the meeting I worked on getting through more of my client's 1,500 file and threw together something that had the title "Statement of Facts" on it. I emailed it at 4:30pm and off to class I went. I feel like I'm turning in stuff that isn't even worth of being printed out, let alone being a completed assignment.

After class while a couple of us remained a conversation started with Prof. Fergie. It revolved around a student who opted to drop the class the day before, but failed to let her know. She then went on to tell us how the thing she can't stand is a lazy student and continued to expound on her feelings about this...of course the entire time she was staring at me...perfect eye contact. Nothing like being subtle, huh?!? She did conclude how a lazy student really has to prove something to her and show her something spectacular to bail themselves out. Does anyone need to guess what I'll be doing next week? Yup, you've got it...doing something spectacular to bail myself out.

I guess I should have known yesterday was going to be a challenge when I was getting dressed and couldn't figure out why I was having such difficulty putting my bra on. Apparently they are not reversible...who knew!?! I do now...

Consider it done: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20

Just getting started: 7, 16

Needs attention: 11