an end and a beginning

We careen rapidly toward a messy but definite ending of the summer term. And I am glad. It has a different feel, less definition than the regular semesters in the fall and spring. More possibilities, both for adventure and failure, or so it seems. It is easy to get lulled into a false sense that the pressure is off, the expectations are less. And suddenly my Crim Pro final looms, and WTF!

Saturday is my oral argument for Moot Court, and I'm mostly ready, and excited about that. I did not think I would enjoy it but I want more.

Books for next semester are coming this week. Another beginning, almost like a clean slate. It matters not what I did last year, or last semester. New opportunities and new challenges...

I wonder how life without law school will ever measure up, after the intensity and intellectual stimulation of these 4 years.

a new rabbit trail

The history project begins, and I am excited to partake of it. The roots and basis for all kinds of law, and only ourselves to guide us. What a lovely world, where one finds others with a curiosity about things, and the will to follow the rabbit trail.

yearning without end

We think the next thing is going to satisfy us. For some of us, it's religion, some drugs, others the next relationship. And on a minor level, we all seek that certain something in many small ways.

I find a brief slaking of this thirst in travel, in the study of law, in the arms of someone who cares about me, in the knowledge that I belong to a community of others. And yet...

I know some claim to have found it in religion, but I can't see that. For me it is not that simple. Perhaps that is the draw of organized religion, like the package deal on a cruise, or the bedroom set of furniture. No discretion or discussion necessary, because it has been so decreed. I kick against the pricks, and see no end in that. I don't eschew a spiritual path, but I very much doubt that the pursuit of that will give me the peace of arrival at that unknowable place. In fact, it may very well unsettle me further, as I examine my place in this world and with my fellow humans.

What does this have to do with the law? Nothing directly. But one of the things that briefly satisfies is intellectual discourse with interesting and questioning others, and I find that in spades via this law school experience.

Yet never enough, of anything.

briefly

My Moot Court brief is finished, for better or worse. Once I checked the bound copy to know that all pages were there, I have been afraid to review it further. If I find mistakes now, I'll fret, and there really is nothing more I can do. The printer is closed today, the brief is due tomorrow. It's a closed chapter.

The case was not an interesting one, a personal injury lawsuit by a person who was at fault in an accident, suing the municipality for negligence and design negligence. I was assigned the appellant's side, the plaintiff. I learned a lot, which is the point. And now, orals.

And hopefully I will catch up on my reading for my other classes in the next week or so.