Bar results are going to be released and all of us, who took that fucking exam, are going to have to confront the reality of outcome. While I have no advice on how to cope in a constructive and mature manner, I do have several thoughts on how to preserve the small amount of perspective that you may have.
1. Read lots of depressing world news. Failing the bar exam seems rather insignificant in the context of regional civil unrest, global warming, genocide, rampant corruption, financial disaster, and widening inequality.
2. Use this time to indulge in all the vices that you swore off post bar prep. Binge drinking has only killed a few undergraduates, just be sure to keep a few friends on speed dial so that you don't end up driving around.
3. Think about all the more significant fuck ups you have made in the past and note that you are still doing pretty okay. (If you have not seriously screwed up before, first congratulations and second think about all the things you could have fucked up.)
4. Accept the sympathy of those who are offering it. Rarely in adult life is there opportunity to be really dramatic without a person dying.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Waiting
I like waiting for bar results. This gives me plenty of time to reflect on various decisions I have made in my life (which I can't do anything about now). I also have lots of time to pre-second guess the decisions I am going to make in the future (which I also can't do anything about now).
This is lots of fun, just like waiting for Godot or a medical diagnosis.
This is lots of fun, just like waiting for Godot or a medical diagnosis.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Links for your viewing distraction
On the links listed below: They are all interesting, novel (at least to me), and most importantly, I totally agree with their opinions.
Poverty, a more meaningful measure.
Same sex marriage, either Paul Clement is stupid or there just aren't any good reasons for sticking with DOMA.
Income inequality, let's not fight it, let's just do as the libertarians and just shame anyone who talks about it. Shaming has always worked to change society. Oh wait - libertarians encourage inequality.
Interventionism, the morality of a liberal hawk or how Libya is different from Iraq.
Happiness, even econ. profs. care about it, you should too.
Poverty, a more meaningful measure.
Same sex marriage, either Paul Clement is stupid or there just aren't any good reasons for sticking with DOMA.
Income inequality, let's not fight it, let's just do as the libertarians and just shame anyone who talks about it. Shaming has always worked to change society. Oh wait - libertarians encourage inequality.
Interventionism, the morality of a liberal hawk or how Libya is different from Iraq.
Happiness, even econ. profs. care about it, you should too.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
News Alert: Asians in America Don't Exist.
And they especially don't exist if they don't have a 'tiger mom' and don't excel at math, the violin, and karate. In fact the erroneous label 'asian' is merely a self assigned racist term that people from that far away land mass (coincidentally called Asia) call themselves to make real Americans feel inferior. It is a fact that those so called 'asians' are white. It is important to note that putative 'asians' are not American, in that they deserve recognition of American citizenry, rather the 'asian' unicorn is racially indistinct from white. Of course, it goes without saying that Euro-Americans are never white. To call a person, who is 2% Native American, 4% Irish, 30% Belgian, 20% English, 16% French and 28% Hungarian, 'white' is an immeasurable insult to their unique heritage.
Disclosure: Just in case it matters to anyone, I used to think that it was okay to check the asian/pacific islander box, but now I don't check any box, because my racial classification of white is never an option. I guess people like me just don't deserve to exist.
Disclosure: Just in case it matters to anyone, I used to think that it was okay to check the asian/pacific islander box, but now I don't check any box, because my racial classification of white is never an option. I guess people like me just don't deserve to exist.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Lawyer vs. Life Long Student
On the last day of law school school classes, my good friend turned to me and confessed that she used her Westlaw points to get a book titled "Running From the Law". While I wouldn't use graduate school to run from the law, I would use it to run from adult life.
How studying is better than lawyering:
1) Student poor is not that bad. While generally true that America shuns and humiliates its poor people, it has also carved out an exception for those who are 'student poor'. Even beyond that, a poor graduate student is considered somewhat noble by the middle class.
2) Casual clothing is both expected and more comfortable. Most professors dress like utter shit, so there is no shame in showing up to class (or even office hours) wearing whatever your richer roommate has left around on her floor.
3) No one notices or cares if you are having a nervous breakdown. Not like work associates or bosses are interested promoting your eudamonia, they do care about liability as a collateral matter to your mental state. At school as long as your tuition is paid no one is going to interrupt your next existential crisis.
4) A new semester is new opportunity for redemption. If you screw up in school, just wait 3 months and you get a chance to restore your reputation and academic record with a new set of professors and a new set of classmates.
How studying is the same as lawyering:
1) The deadline creep. No matter what, the calendar is against you.
2) The over-inflated importance of attendance. Woody Allen said that 80% of success is just showing up. True, but it can still feel like a waste of time.
3) A frustratingly artificial heirarchy. Most work bosses prefer and reward deference and so do professors, deans and administrators.
4) Pressure to conform. While it is no secret that the law demands homogeny of manner and punishes creativity, university departments indoctrinate students with a sense of 'loyalty' and retaliate against inner departmental criticism.
5) High probability of developing an inferiority complex. No one reads everything in their field. No one has perfect analysis. No one can run a protracted sleep deficiet and still be a decent human being for more than 12 hours. But, both life styles are unforgiving of failure. Thus we learn to fake knowledge, skill, insight, wisdom and personality. And voila! A fraud is born.
How studying is worse than lawyering:
1) Money. Students don't have any. Sometimes lawyers don't either, but at least lawyers have a reasonable hope to get some in the near future.
2) Isolation. A lot of school learning requires drilling facts and reading the work of smarter people. Unlike other adult versions of 'me-time', student alone time almost never involves bubble baths or wine.
3) Mysterious measures of worth. The working world's measures of success may be shallow, but they are objective. Stuff like winning motions/cases, gross receipts and salary can go a long way in bolstering a false sense of self worth. On the other hand, students are evaluated in a this nebulous cloud of pleasing some guy in a bow tie.
While I do love money, I've always fancied myself as extremely noble. This one requires much more thought and a visit to my local university.
How studying is better than lawyering:
1) Student poor is not that bad. While generally true that America shuns and humiliates its poor people, it has also carved out an exception for those who are 'student poor'. Even beyond that, a poor graduate student is considered somewhat noble by the middle class.
2) Casual clothing is both expected and more comfortable. Most professors dress like utter shit, so there is no shame in showing up to class (or even office hours) wearing whatever your richer roommate has left around on her floor.
3) No one notices or cares if you are having a nervous breakdown. Not like work associates or bosses are interested promoting your eudamonia, they do care about liability as a collateral matter to your mental state. At school as long as your tuition is paid no one is going to interrupt your next existential crisis.
4) A new semester is new opportunity for redemption. If you screw up in school, just wait 3 months and you get a chance to restore your reputation and academic record with a new set of professors and a new set of classmates.
How studying is the same as lawyering:
1) The deadline creep. No matter what, the calendar is against you.
2) The over-inflated importance of attendance. Woody Allen said that 80% of success is just showing up. True, but it can still feel like a waste of time.
3) A frustratingly artificial heirarchy. Most work bosses prefer and reward deference and so do professors, deans and administrators.
4) Pressure to conform. While it is no secret that the law demands homogeny of manner and punishes creativity, university departments indoctrinate students with a sense of 'loyalty' and retaliate against inner departmental criticism.
5) High probability of developing an inferiority complex. No one reads everything in their field. No one has perfect analysis. No one can run a protracted sleep deficiet and still be a decent human being for more than 12 hours. But, both life styles are unforgiving of failure. Thus we learn to fake knowledge, skill, insight, wisdom and personality. And voila! A fraud is born.
How studying is worse than lawyering:
1) Money. Students don't have any. Sometimes lawyers don't either, but at least lawyers have a reasonable hope to get some in the near future.
2) Isolation. A lot of school learning requires drilling facts and reading the work of smarter people. Unlike other adult versions of 'me-time', student alone time almost never involves bubble baths or wine.
3) Mysterious measures of worth. The working world's measures of success may be shallow, but they are objective. Stuff like winning motions/cases, gross receipts and salary can go a long way in bolstering a false sense of self worth. On the other hand, students are evaluated in a this nebulous cloud of pleasing some guy in a bow tie.
While I do love money, I've always fancied myself as extremely noble. This one requires much more thought and a visit to my local university.
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