One Month.

One more month of this stuff. I’m already tired of studying. Well, at least sometimes. Other times, in a weird way, I actually enjoy it. I feel like things are gradually beginning to make sense and it’s beginning to be more connected in my brain, which is nice. I’ve been reading through the state subjects this week, making my outlines, so that as of July 1, I can bust out essay after essay after essay for the entire month. I read the Remedies section and HELLO - why didn’t they give us THIS as part of Law School 101?? So far, the explanation of all the remedies and how they relate to each other has been one of the most helpful things I’ve read. I guess this means I wasn’t a very good law student if I just NOW figured all this stuff out. I was complaining to my sexy man the other day about how law school kind of sucks in that you spend so much time reading case law and trying to keep up with classes, that you don’t really have TIME to sit down and figure out why/how a particular court applied a particular remedy to a case. So, I go through, just sort of throwing various remedies into exam answers w/o truly understanding how/why they apply. Obviously, I had some grasp on remedies before reading this section, but reading these 25pgs made everything a lot more clear in my head, and a clear head is always a good thing.

So far I’ve read and outlined Agency, Partnerships, Corporations, Community Property, Remedies and am working on my outline for Trusts. I read through the comprehensive outlines in the MicroMash book, and then paraphrase and reorganize their information into a 10-15pg outline for myself. I’ve been writing the stuff in paragraph form as opposed to the typical bulleted outline because if I’m going to have put the concepts into sentences in an essay, I might as well work on that a little bit here. My goal today is to finish the Trusts outline and read Wills, maybe outline that one too. I’m also doing 20-40MBE single-subject questions each day, although I have to admit I haven’t done any since Friday.

Even though studying on my own has been somewhat isolating (though less so since I’m staying with my sexy man), I LOVE the freedom and flexibility of my schedule. My sexy man keeps telling me, in a very encouraging way, that not everyone could do what I’m doing - sitting inside all day, not leaving the house, studying, five-seven days a week, 5-8 hrs/day. I’ve definitely taken little breaks, and spent a few hours laying out in the backyard enjoying the gorgeous day while studying my outlines. But, overall, I have remained pretty dedicated to a daily schedule of just STUDYING. Several of my friends took Bar/Bri, etc. because they needed the motivation to get up and study, etc. Somehow, I’m doing ok being self-motivated. Again, there are days when I feel like I’m not as focused as I could be, or maybe I’m going through the material a little too slowly, but I feel like I’m on the right track and am doing ok so far.

I cannot express enough how nice it is to not be around other people who are studying for the bar. My sexy man and his roommates are very supportive and understanding of the work I need to do and how I just lock myself in a room all day long when they’re being social and having fun. When I talk about how I did “nothing” all day, they instantly chastise me and say, “no! You studied all day! that’s hard work!!” Every morning my sexy man asks what my goal is for the day, and when he gets home from work, he questions, “On a scale from 1-10, what was your productivity?” to help me stay focused and hold me accountable for what I want to accomplish. This environment allows me to keep a healthy perspective on the Bar and life in general. (In addition, my internet access is limited due to the occasional disconnection because of construction on the house, and these guys don’t own a TV, so no Dr. Phil/Oprah/TLC/Simpsons to dull my brain and eat up valuable study time.) I know some people thrive on the peer pressure and competition to get certain scores, or do a certain # of essays, or whatever, but all that stuff just makes me nervous. I am existing in my own very very small, sheltered world, surrounded by only encouraging comments and supportive vibes, and this is the best possible place I could be.