I\u2019m not trying to make this a habit, but I got four hours of sleep before the exam again this year. Why? Because I\u2019m stupid. Or because I was reading all the e-mails that people have been sending me. Or that I\u2019d hoped they\u2019d send me. Or maybe it was the male equivalent of menstrual cramps.<\/p>\n
Regardless, in the wee hours of this morning, I climbed into bed and read a book for about twenty minutes. I found that during law school, if I tried falling asleep right after studying, I\u2019d be tossing and turning all night (which was oftentimes four hours back then as well). So I brought a book with me, distracted myself enough to sleep well and woke up with a jolt when the radio alarm went off.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the worst part of getting up this morning was\u2026 well, I knew I had to get ready pretty quickly and I was heading out to take the bar exam, but as I kept listening to the radio, I heard the names of the DJs and thought they sounded rather familiar. Then after another song, they mentioned 94, 694 and 494—three interstates freeways that surround the Twin Cities. \u201cWhy would they be playing this radio show all the way here from Minnesota?\u201d<\/p>\n
Yeah, that\u2019s what I was thinking. Because the last four times I\u2019ve stayed in a hotel was out in L.A. (the film festival, final interviews for B&G, the night after leaving the mansion and the aftermath show—you can find out more about all of them in various posts in the blog). For some reason, even though I knew I was taking the Minnesota state bar exam, I thought I was out in California. Very strange\u2026<\/p>\n
So I got up, gathered my things, made sure I had my laptop packed up and headed down to The Liffey to grab some breakfast. I\u2019m claiming that I think better on a full stomach, but back in school, having a full stomach and being in class around 3:00 in the afternoon would put me to sleep, so it\u2019s debatable. I ate an omelet, walked over to RiverCentre and got myself registered to head in and start typing my fingers off.<\/p>\n
I have to say, using my laptop was a lot different than I\u2019d expected. It was kinda nice to be able to cut and paste, correct mistakes without leaving big blacks streaks on the page to cross out the crap you didn\u2019t want in there\u2026 it was also nice when I hadn\u2019t the slightest idea what to write, but I\u2019ll get to that later.<\/p>\n
Upon getting into the computer room to get everything set up, I discovered a bunch of little orange flags on all the tables. Apparently, if we needed help from a proctor, we were supposed to raise our hands; if we needed help from one of the computer proctors, we were supposed to hold up our flags (Vive la Bar Exam!). Thankfully, I didn\u2019t need to do either, so I got to keep the blood down in my fingertips for the most part.<\/p>\n
Then things got started. The exam started with the MTE, initials that signify something I don\u2019t remember. Basically, we were supposed to write a memo to a client using a bunch of materials provided for us in the MTE packet. \u201cHere\u2019s the stuff the opposing party is talking about; this is the case that refutes it and will make sure we win the case.\u201d Sadly, much like last time, I didn\u2019t finish.<\/p>\n
That was the most disappointing part of this morning\u2019s portion of the exam. I was all set to work fast, get things laid out and have plenty of leeway to double-check stuff, get in a quick nap, what have you. Considering I finished most of it last year and I type a lot faster than I write by hand, you\u2019d think that\u2019d be the case here, right? Apparently, I\u2019m an \u201cAssistant Boy Scout Master of the Keyboard\u201d as well, given how much I didn\u2019t get written. At least I had everything laid out right—I just didn\u2019t have enough time to explain the points I\u2019d made.<\/p>\n
Still, that was an hour and a half that got finished up faster than I\u2019d expected. (Yaaay!) Then came another two essays that took up another hour and a half (Boooo!) But it wasn\u2019t as bad as I\u2019d expected. In fact, I\u2019d say I sounded somewhat like I knew what I was doing. (I couldn\u2019t remember how to defeat the \u201cno warranty, express or implied\u201d clause, but I know there was a way to do it\u2026 crap.)<\/p>\n
Once I finished working on those—they were pretty much done aside from that warranty thing—it was lunchtime. I sat down, ate half that sub I bought yesterday and was washing it down with a can of Mountain Dew. Since we still had some time left before the exam restarted, I went outside and walked up and down the block. It was nice and sunny outside and it felt good to be outside the building where all hell broke loose today and won\u2019t let up until tomorrow afternoon.<\/p>\n
Then it was time to get going again. This time, we had four essays and three hours to write them (as opposed to the MTE for half that time and two essays for the other half). I opened up the booklet, read through the scenarios and thought, \u201cOh, shit.\u201d Unlike this morning, there were no issues and explanations for said issues that popped into my head. Translation: it was bullshitting time! I made up a whole bunch of rules, which probably didn\u2019t work in my favor, given that two of them dealt specifically with numbers—income taxes and dividing property between a couple getting divorced. (Fingers crossed\u2026)<\/p>\n
The urge to just pack up and leave after an hour was definitely there, but I knew I needed to write more to have any chance of passing, so I tried getting the issues organized and elaborating on some of them as well as possible. Did it work? It\u2019ll be a few months before I find out. Oh, and for those who read about last year, you\u2019ll note that I was pissed about having an Ethics\/Professional Responsibility question since they\u2019re part of the exam maybe once every two years. Guess what was part of the exam again this year? Grrrrr\u2026<\/p>\n
Still, I finished up as much as I could think up and handed in the whole lot except for the little question booklets. The bar exam people are nice enough to let us keep them so we can go home, look up all the rules and see just how miserably we did on the essays. What a nice gesture. Personally, I won\u2019t be using them for review—I\u2019ll be using them for tinder the next time I start a fire. Light those puppies on fire, use them to get some bigger sticks burning and end up with a big bonfire. I think my new motto should run along those lines: \u201cIf you\u2019ve got the bar exam, make smores.\u201d Kinda catchy, don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t really in the mood to eat by myself—I didn\u2019t have friends to eat lunch with like the last time around, so aside from saying \u201cHi\u201d to a couple people, the last interaction I\u2019d had with a person was Katie. I was going into person withdrawal. Not good. I figured I\u2019d give Justin a call, see if he had plans for dinner or if we could get together. As a matter of fact, he did have plans. And he told me about them yesterday<\/i>. Crap.<\/p>\n
So then it was time for another flashback to last year: I headed back down 7th St. looking for someplace to eat. I didn\u2019t want to grab anything at a pub—two meals in a four-meal span is enough for me, thanks—so I kept walking and walking and walking until I saw a sign for a caf\u00e9. I thought, \u201cOkay, I\u2019m hungry, it\u2019s not a pub, I\u2019ll stop there.\u201d And then it turned out to be The Day by Day Caf\u00e9, the place where I ate last year. As tempting as cauliflower soup sounded, I didn\u2019t want that much<\/i> of a flashback, so I kept walking until I reached one of those old train cars-turned-restaurant called \u201cVilla Roma Pizzeria.\u201d I wasn\u2019t really in the mood for Italian food, but I was tired of walking around, so I went inside. And I accidentally ordered my dinner to go.<\/p>\n
So I got to carry a calzone back to the hotel with me, but I think it was worth it—damn<\/i>, that thing was good. Flaky crust, melted cheese\u2026 maybe a little too much pizza sauce, but still\u2026 damn<\/i>. I\u2019m glad I stopped there for dinner. After eating my dinner, I went downstairs and spent some time jumping between the hot tub and the swimming pool, but I didn\u2019t stay down there for too long: there were no chicks around. But the primary reason was because I felt like I was going to fall asleep in the hot tub and that didn\u2019t seem like a very good idea. With all the money that\u2019s been spilled into my legal education, it\u2019d be kind of a waste to croak halfway through the bar exam—we wouldn\u2019t even find out if I could have become a lawyer this time around.<\/p>\n
I headed back upstairs after swimming, pretended to shave, then jumped in the shower for a while. Now I get to spend the remainder of the evening hanging around in just an open long-sleeve shirt and shorts, not caring about what\u2019s happening outside the four walls of this room (unless there\u2019s a fire, in which case I might seriously consider how much it would hurt to jump through a fourth-story window to save myself). Most importantly, I might squeeze a little studying in tonight, but I\u2019m definitely<\/i> going to get more than four hours of sleep tonight. I\u2019m aiming for five.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m not trying to make this a habit, but I got four hours of sleep before the exam again this year. Why? Because I\u2019m stupid. Or because I was reading all the e-mails that people have been sending me. Or that I\u2019d hoped they\u2019d send me. Or maybe it was the male equivalent of menstrual … <\/p>\n