What Powers Law Students?

My classes begins at 9am...

Purely from observation:


between 15-30 students on any given day (not everyone goes to Starbucks, some are home brew, some from the cafe)


between 5-10 students on any given day (at least most people are going for sugar free...)


between 5-10 students on any given day (Gives me cotton mouth thinking about it)

The caffeine + whatever else consumption really shocked me. I guess it shouldn't surprise me too much, but as a non soda drinker and someone who rarely drinks coffee (when I do, I drink the foofey kind that has a shot of espresso and the rest is sugar and milk) hearing someone crack open a red bull at 9am is going to take some getting used to.

This is what people start the day with, and I've often heard discussions of night caps. The questions becomes, can I get through law school maintaining my limited consumption of caffeine and alcohol while maintaining a healthy dose of the good ole H20? Damn it if I'm not going to try! When it gets cooler I will reintroduce tea into my day, but until then its water all the time.

Law School in Two Words: Time Consuming

No, those are not my books. That would mean I actually had time to build the bookshelf to set them up on, and that I somehow had about 10 less books to read than last week, which sadly isn't true. Pictures forthcoming, but not sure when.

Not being able to move in to my apt. until the first day of orientation has gotten me a bit behind in the whole moving in thing. My kitchen is full of boxes and for someone who likes to cook, that's not a great thing; but honestly I haven't had time. It's a priority for the weekend I assure you.

Orientation week was filled with events, AND classes (we even had homework), and lots of helpful people doling out advice. Lets just hope I can remember it all and then utilize what will work for me.

Law school is unlike anything I've done before, but I am very thankful that I was a Law and Society major because I am not unfamiliar with reading cases, as some of my colleagues are. Also I am most thankful that I was able to take legal writing as an undergrad, which was basically like a little mini legal process class. I consider these experiences invaluable to my success this year, and I know this by day 1.

The reading is daunting in a way I never knew it could be. Its a mind fuck. You get an assignment that is 9 pages long, and yes, we are supposed to read it 2-3 times, but, I never thought it would take me 3+ hours to do what looks like a short assignment...for 1 class!

The first day of classes was surprisingly enjoyable, although I have already discovered the one person in class that you don't want to have sitting next to you. I shall hence forth call him Captain Douche.

If I know anything for sure it is that I never want to get behind in reading/assignments because I can already tell it will be like an avalanche and I would be buried fast.

On a positive note, the campus is pretty diverse...for law school. I make that distinction because there a long history of old white men running things and their well off white male kids attending, and then eventually a bunch of white men and women. So, its getting better if not far to slowly. On a personally specific note, there are two queer 1st year students, a guy in another section who I probably wont see often, and myself. There seems to be a few more queer 2nd and 3rd year students, and one faculty member. As such I got invited to the LGBT alumni association reception and it was really nice. ALL of my professors and the Dean were there in support, and there were a lot of successful alums milling about as well. I cannot complain about that!

Quick Fitness Update:
I hurt myself in one of my last training sessions at the IC, and have been unable to work out for about 2 weeks. It kills my soul. Somehow I separated the abdominal column that runs in between my ribs near the sternum. No fun. I am going to try to go swimming this evening, but I'm sure it will be one of many tests to see if I can in fact get back to the iron.

Hassel the Hoff

No, not that one...this one:



Katie Hoff has been a big disappointment at the Olympic games. It's been talked about a lot, see here, here, and here.

While I do think she chose an overly ambitious program, I think she did it for attention, not because she actually thought she could medal in all of those events. That bothers me. She wasn't talked about a lot prior to the Olympics. Dara Torres and Michael Phelps stole the show, and continue to do so. But guess what? That's life. Get over it.

What really bothers me is that in her quest for attention, she jeopardized her own chances and thus the U.S.'s chances at gold medals. So she earned medals in 3 out of 6 events, but none of them were gold. Maybe if she only raced 3 events, she would have 3 golds instead of a halo of disappointment following her around (for the record, I'm not a gold medal snob, I'll take them in any color really, its just the point of it. I think she could have done better, and I'm not alone).

Don't get me wrong, I think she's a great swimmer. I just wish she would have stuck to the events she wanted to swim and realized she would get more attention sweeping 3 events than having a poor showing at a 3 of 6 events.

I hope if she makes it to the London games she takes a cue from the lovely Natalie Coughlin:


Who's taken a much calmer/more relaxed approach to these games and has swam very well. And hey, I can't help but love the California girls. ;)

Olympic Love...

I have always loved sports so it's no surprise that I love the Olympics. Especially this year when it seems they are always on. Too bad I wont have TV all next week (damn starting law school the same time as the Olympics).

While poking around I came across this and thought it was pretty awesome so I'm sharing the love.

Please to enjoy a fun 4x100 sequence:

The End Is Just The Beginning

So, today was my last regular training session at the IC. I have committed to my trainer that I will come back for a PT session once a month. It's not that far and I think it will keep me honest when I am forced to get my act together with the open gym setup at the new place. Plus I have to get my haircut about that often and I refuse to find a new hair dresser again. Besides, Chrissy kicks ass.

Anyway, some big news...I got my first jumping pull-up! Only fitting I would get it at the end and on my own without "the pull-up club" to cheer me on and share my victory.

As far as stats are concerned:
In my time at the IC, from February - Present I lost 27 lbs and 6% body fat.

Not that I don't have a long way to go, but I can't help but be proud of what I've accomplished in 6 months. It will remind me when I have a bad week that I'm in it for the long haul. Thanks for everyone that has supported me in my fitness pursuits thus far, especially my trainer, girlfriend, ex-roommate, former boss, and fellow bloggers. O, and my mom :)