Operation Paced Program Plus Deployed

That's right folks. The Paced Program just isn't cutting it this week, so based on my self-diagnosis, I'm adding to it. I feel surprisingly less stressed, having done more today.

I spent about an hour and a half reviewing community property and finishing my flaschards since this was entirely new subject to me. (Thank goodness I remember my parents' divorce or else it would all be completely foreign!) Then I spent an hour or so memorizing the flaschards I had made. Then I outlined the first two Community Property essays. I think I'm going to like the CP essays- very straightforward as long as you know the rules. This completed the Paced Program for today.

So here's my plus program:

• Essays: Per Sakai's instructions and my own assessment of weak essays, I am writing out one additional essay each day. I started today with Torts. Why? Because that was the first subject we covered so let's start at the very beginning... a very good place to start... Anyways, I did the one from the graded assignments workbook because the feedback is a lot better on these. Tell me again why they include an essay in this book from every subject if they have no intention on having us turn them in? I was surprised at how much I remembered. That's a good sign. Let's hope it's true of the other subjects.
• Evidence: I did a set of 17 evidence MBEs from the PMBR book. I got 65% right, but always at least had it narrowed down to 2. I just have to figure out how to pick the right one of those two...

So far, so good. Now, I just have to keep up this pace for three more weeks. Three weeks from TOMORROW to be exact!!!

Pacman takes the bar

In an effort to postpone today's inevitable list of paced program tasks, I decided to read my fellow bloggers thoughts for the day. And I found that we are all very much at that wall. It's not that I don't have the motivation to pass the bar- under no circumstances do I want to do this again- but I'm just starting to sort of feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall. I sort of feel like Pacman- every time I get time to freeze so that I can memorize one subject, those damn ghosts (the other subjects) wake up again. I have this fear that every time I memorize something new, something old falls out of my at-capacity brain. But still... the paced program keeps us chugging on.

I'm also finding myself more incapable of handling the smallest things. Children are the worst- especially when I'm in Target or at my apartment gym. There was a story on GMA today about some people who complained about their neighbors' loud kids who apparently live in the pool in the summertime. The parents' were actually criminally charged with violation of a noise ordinance. The GMA hosts were of course acting as if this were the silliest thing. But my sympathy immediately went to the complaining neighbors- maybe they're stuyding for the bar, I thought. (a tangential point- the GMA hosts kept commenting about how litigious our society is getting- suing for every little thing, and I was literally screaming at the TV "They said CRIMINAL charges, not a CIVIL law suit you idiots!!")

I also feel like basic information has escaped from my brain to make room for the elements of defamation and justiciability doctrines. Such as... I had to drive to the office I used to work at today to pick up some baseball tickets (It's Law Clerk Appreciation night tonight) and I literally could not remember which street to turn on. I worked there a month and a half ago!

On that note, I'd better get to work. Law Clerk Appreciation Night at the ballpark means I'd better get crackin' on memorizing my agency and partnership flashcards, knocking out a few essay outlines, and reading the Civ Pro conviser for tomorrow. By the way, Kaufmann was a total hoot- even better that he seriously annoyed the douchebag who sits in front of me.... even though he kind of looks like him. (If you're wondering why the guy is a douchebag, it's because he thinks he's smarter than all of our lecturers... combined)

Oh and for inquiring minds that want to know, I got a 'pass' on my property turn-in essay- Passed on all 4 judging criteria. Woo hoo. Now if only I could get more than 50% of the Property MBEs right, I'd be good to go.

The Paced Program Made Me Do It

So today, me and the girl I sit by in Barbri realized that we both wore green shirts, and ate bananas on our first break. We agreed that it must have been on the Paced Program. Otherwise, why would we have done it? Then we started to talk about our sick devotion to the paced program- if it told us to jump off a cliff, would we? Probably... these Barbri people have years of experience in figuring out how to pass this thing, and apparently green shirts, bananas, and jumping off cliffs have something to do with it.

In other news, we finished Contracts today, thereby wrapping up the Big 6 subjects. Epstein was good- entertaining hypos that proved he is obsessed with armadillos, grits, and Sharon Stone. The highlight, however, was learning that Conviser is a person- the founder of Barbri to be exact. Shows what I know- I thought it was some fancy synonym for 'Summary' or something. I loved when Epstein pointed out that a buyer still has a duty to pay even if the subject matter of the contract is destroyed- after all there is still money left in the world... and Conviser has most of it. : )

Speaking of Conviser overcharging us for his services... was anyone else angered by the 'Evidence Update' email we received last night. Thanks Barbri- those corrections would have been super helpful BEFORE I spent the weekend memorizing what you'd told me before. Now I have to go back and figure out the differences. No worries, I'll do it in all the free time the paced program allows me. [insert sarcasm here]

Oh, and we survived another day without a bar prep rival gang riot in the hallways... ah well, we can always hope for tomorrow.

The Pace is Picking Up

I can feel it. The pace (the paced program that is) is picking up. Studying at home went well, but I just feel like regardless of where I am, it's never ending. Even when I finish everything on the schedule, I wonder if I should do more. Should I go through my flashcards again? Review Torts since I'm not really sure I mastered it before moving on to con law? Maybe do those torts questions I mistakenly skipped last week? But alas, it is a marathon, not a race.

My husband got home when I was watching the DVD that goes over the introductory drills. "Tim Allen!" he exclaimed... "Your teacher is Tim Allen?" Now I can't look at that guy without picturing him making that weird grunting sound that my dad used to imitate. But no, he is not Tim Allen. And worse, he kind of sucks. Does anyone else feel like watching him go over the questions is a little pointless? I can read the explanations in the back of the book much faster! And I see enough of those fake Barbri trees in the morning.

But I digress. Off to bed, then up to do it all over again. Is it August yet?

No blind squirrel here.

On intro day, Barbriman told us to make sure to review all the MBE explanations because we would often get questions right but for the wrong reason.... as he so eloquently put it, "Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then." I did the 40 assigned torts questions and got 88% right- I was especially proud, because reading through the explanations I generally was not that blind squirrel. woo hoo!

Then I went ahead and outlined the first two essays, which isn't technically assigned until tomorrow, but my husband wasn't home yet, and I figured the more I got done when he wasn't here, meant more time I could spend with him when he was. That was probably a bad idea, since they killed my confidence a bit. Like Biff noted earlier, doing the essays makes you realize that you actually have to be able to recite this stuff, not just know it well enough to guess best out of 4.

So I whipped out the flashcards I made while going through the conviser and spent a solid two hours memorizing them. I actually like memorizing stuff, and when I was in college, I developed quite a system... memorize 5 cards at a time, review after you make it to 20, then 5 more at a time, then review at 40, etc. etc. Just reviewed the thick stack of all 100 or so and I'm feeling pretty confident again. Don't worry... I actually understood the concepts that I was memorizing, and if I didn't I made myself look it up in the conviser or the 'big book' if need be.

On the agenda for tomorrow: 50 advanced MBEs, and 2 more essays, but this time full out simulated. If I can also squeeze in getting through the Con Law material in the conviser and making flashcards, I would be done with the paced program until Tuesday, and I might reward myself on Sunday with a trip up to Bass Lake to see my grandparents and go out on their party boat. My grandpa called me about an hour ago asking if I would come (they're only about 45 minutes away) but saying that he understood because he knew I was really busy studying, emphasizing again how proud of me he is. He must have read that handout I sent with my graduation thank you notes...