Chipped Polish & Wornout Jeans

Woke up this morning to find that Jacob had emailed me a recording of him singing happy birthday; his voice tends to make me melt, and it was something special. Nice to hear the voice of someone you love when you live far from home.

Well I'm all moved into my new Bettie Johnson apartment, which is really nice even if its a little small. I unpacked as much as possible last night and did the last of my property for the week as well as my contracts, which will allow me to work on typing up my briefs and fleshing out my notes in those classes. There is going to be a workshop on outlining Thursday, and I've already planned ahead so that I could attend because I have no idea where to begin with that yet. I also wanted to get unpacked and caught up so that I could hit the gym in the new building when I got back from class today. Maybe I'm a freak, but I'm actually really excited about hitting the gym on a regular basis. Working out and getting healthy is part of my birthday present to myself. I bought work out clothes because I know I will feel better if I look better. It was an amazing work out, even if it was a short one. I did 30 minutes on an exercise cycle before my knee started to feel like someone stabbed it with a hot knife. Tomorrow I will definitely be shooting for longer and doing a little more stretching.

I feel pretty good actually, a touch sore in places but that is to be expected. Starting my workout today was an amazing and excellent birthday present. I turned 22 today, and I am taking control of my life in ways that I can. That means I am learning to manage my stress levels, eat healthy, and treat my body better. I'm setting goals that are reasonable instead stupid and dangerous. I am teaching myself to take the time to relax when I need to relax, and I'm working on managing my time better. If I can learn take control of the things I can control and let go of the things that are out of my hands, I can learn to live a healthier and happier life. And that's the plan.

Happy Birthday to Nic!

It's been three weeks, pretty much, and I am finally getting into a rhythm. I have figured out how to manage all my work and my books are filled with brightly colored highlighter. I've got a study schedule that I try to stick to as best as I can. I've ordered a new laptop because there is something wrong with the screen of my current one. It's been a good one and has worked very well until now. I've got two blue/purple lines running down the screen, and shipping and repair will cost me more than its worth. Plus I can't be without my laptop for the week to two weeks for them to look at it and possibly determine that it can't be fixed. But the new one is completely customized with my free upgrades, and its super cute. I won't get it for a week or so, but my current lap top should last me until then. The hard part will transfering my notebook to the new one. Its a serious pain.

I am moving into my new apartment tommorrow afternoon, which is also a hassle. I finally got the apartment closer to campus, so I'm packing everything up, cleaning up the old apartment for inspection and moving fifteen minutes or so down the road. The new apartment is much nicer, even if its a bit smaller. I'm sort of excited about it, though the swapping the rent payments and making sure everything is straight money-wise is a royal pain.

I have tried to get ahead of the game with all my reading and briefing because it is a long weekend up ahead, and I would like some time to relax. It seems that I have just a little work this weekend because I don't have Legal Research for the next two weeks due to Lexis and West Law training, I've got almost all my Torts done for next week, BLS takes no time at all, and half my Property work is done. Contracts is the only class that I don't have my assignment for yet. That means that I can have Sunday off and part of Saturday as long as I work Friday night when I get back to TN and Monday night when I get back to my apartment, which I plan to do. Since Tuesday the 8th is my birthday, and I will be away from everyone, Jake and I are hopefully doing something Sunday. The family and I are doing things Saturday, or at least thats the current plan.

Other than some things I don't think I will talk about here, things have been going well for the last three weeks. I'm not behind in anything, though I do need to type some things up and fill in my notes. Those things won't take long really so I'm alright.

Week one of law school is over, officially. I have had at two classes of each of my courses, except for Legal Research, which had three, and I just finished my first piece of legal analysis, though I'm not quite sure that I did it right. Either way, I actually tried, and that is what matters since my professor is not grading these. I'm actually just proud that I got it done before tomorrow night since it's due Monday. That means I can print it off here instead on in the library. The week has gone pretty well, except that it's been super busy. That coupled with the fact that I'm pretty sure I was developing a sinus infection, which I pretty much killed with some over the counter medicine, it's been an adventure.

I tried to get my TV and DVD player hooked up, but it failed. Right now, when I am not swamped with briefs to write, I watch TV on Hulu, which I'm pretty sure is a gift from heaven. I managed to unpack everything and get it all put away. I kept the apartment rather clean with the exception of my bedroom, but even it isn't as bad as it could be. I cooked real meals for the most part, which is something I am very proud of to be honest. Other than my diet cokes and cookies, which I eat sparingly, I've managed to eat rather healthy. I can't really cook with much oil, so I bought light popcorn for the microwave, and I bought apples to snack on for the week. I also have apple juice and orange juice in my fridge, and I'm practically chugging water. While I haven't worked out my exercise issue yet (ha ha unintended pun), I am managing that whole eat healthier bit. There is a gym on campus, but I would have to carry gym stuff to work out there. Either way, I'm going to have to get some exercise and figure out how to get some sleep, otherwise I will just remain fat and tired.

I've been able to keep up with the reading and cases pretty well, and I am understanding almost everything very quickly. I'm not a fan of BLS, Legal Research, or Civ Pro, which are all pretty boring classes. BLS and Legal Research are important, or so they tell us, but they are mostly lecture and research/writing practice so it's pretty dull. Civ Pro is just boring and mostly a review of things I learned in undergrad. I really like torts, which has been straight forward and easy, and I'm pretty sure it is the most interesting class I will have all semester. Starting next Friday I will have to attend structured study groups almost every week, which I'm not sure will help me, so even after I don't have Legal Research I will be stuck at the law school.

Well having completed one assignment and only having maybe 7 or so cases to brief for Monday, I think I will call it a night.

I am sitting here in my little apartment, next to a huge stack of very expensive textbooks, officially a law student. Thursday was the last day of orientation for the 1L students, and I went to pick up my massive stack of books. My books were contained in two boxes, and they are huge. My four main texts are the size of dictionaries; I also have a pocket version of Black's Law Dictionary and various smaller books. My first day of actual classes is tomorrow, and already I am covered in work to do. There are lots of cases to brief and pages to read, but I have divided everything up so that it will be manageable. I've bought all my supplies for class as well, like my pens, highlighters, and notebooks. Everything is set now, and as soon as I finish this entry I will be finishing up my work for tomorrow. I already started on it earlier.

I moved into the apartment, completely, as of today. I finally unpacked all my stuff and put it away, and I even made a pitcher of sweet tea; I believe that a place isn't home until there is a pitcher of sweet tea in your fridge. My apartment is a one bedroom place on the top floor of a building right in the middle of the hospital district in downtown. While living by myself is an adjustment, to be honest perhaps the biggest one is the fact that I live where there is a truck load of traffic, pun not intended. I'm not used to the noise outside really; every night is a struggle to get to sleep, but I'm slowly but surely getting better. Life up here is an adventure. I say up here, even though I'm not extremely far north because for the most part Southern accents are few and far between, and I've yet to get a decent glass of sweet tea except for the stuff I made tonight, which is really good. My own accent has been progressively stronger, and I think it is because I seem to be compensating for the lack of accent everywhere.

As for the plan I mentioned, I'm working on getting with it. I haven't bought a lot of junk food for the apartment, but one of my new problems is that I haven't found the gym close to here yet. There's a gym in the student activity center, but it would require me to stay on campus to use it. Since I live downtown there is really no place for me to safely go on a walk. When I finally get my TV and DVD player hooked up I can go back to my cardio work outs on DVD, which were working when I could do them. The Barrister Ball is in the spring, and I am determined to make myself less fat and jiggly by then. It's actually a good thing because it gives me even more motivation to keep up with my plan to get healthy.

Well readers, I better get to work. I have several more cases to brief and about 50 pages more to read.

So tomorrow morning I head to Louisville to move into my new apartment, and I am both nervous and excited. It has all become real, the move, the new place, the fact that I am in law school.. Almost everything is packed up, with the exception of things that I needed for the last couple of days like pillows and a few clothes; there are boxes sitting around waiting to be loaded into my blazer. My father is finishing up the work on my blazer, and I will put in my locks this afternoon. Yes readers, there is no denying that Nic is moving tomorrow. I packed up my books, which was difficult because I am an admitted bibliophile with too many books to take, and I got all my clothes washed to take with me. I'm coming back next weekend to run the blazer through emissions for my tags, have lunch with my Grandpa Eddie, and a few other things; hopefully Jacob will have time off so that I can see him next weekend before I leave sometime Sunday. I will have some reading to do that weekend so I can't do much.

I registered my classes wednesday night, so all that's left there is to order my books. I'm not a fan of my schedule, but I didn't get to pick it because I am just a 1L; I only have one class on Fridays, which is nice, and a huge break on everyday, which I'm not sure I like very much. I'm not looking forward to the price of my books; they are super expensive. Here's what my schedule looks like for the semester:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday

• Legal Research 9:00AM - 9:50AM

Monday/Wednesday

• Basic Legal Skills 10:25AM - 11:40AM
• Civil Procedure I 1:00PM - 2:15PM
• Torts I 2:25PM - 3:40PM

Tuesday/Thursday

• Propert I 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Contracts I 2:25PM - 3:40PM

I've got a to do list that keeps growing: everything from picking up the last things for the apartment to getting my laptop connected to their system and doing my first assignment in contracts, which I have just now gotten to open up for me. I think I will probably get started on my contracts assignment tonight, that way maybe I will have it printed off as soon as I possibly can. It's just a case brief, which I've done before, so it shouldn't be too difficult. Well I better get back to work. The next entry will be from my new apartment.