In three more days.... life will be so much better ...

That was my mantra last summer, and you know what? I was right. I'm lovin' life now and you will be too (you = July 2008 testtakers who are finding wisdom in my delightful prose from the past). So keep your chins up, stay positive and just keeping breathing for these next few days. You know it - now you just have to show them you know it. Good luck - I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you!

A new challenge...

I hope this update finds my blogging buddies from last summer well (even though I'm saddened that a few of them are still stuck in their awful study caves). I also hope that a few newbies (July '08ers) have stumbled upon my adventures and found them (a) amusing (b)inspiring (c)terrifying or (d) all of the above. I was just reading over a few of my blog entries from last summer and got a little nostalgic. Don't call me crazy - I said a little.

Anyways, I'm definitely on to bigger and better things these days. I'm still LOVING my job - I've already second chaired 2 trials with 3 more coming this summer and taken upwards of 20 depos. The challenge now is balancing all that workplace fun with other endeavors...

So.. I'm running a marathon. Yup. I figure the bar exam is sort of a mental marathon so this year I'll try a physical one. If you're interested in keeping up with my new adventures, I'm blogging about my training over at http://marathonamanda.blogspot.com/

Let me know how you guys are doing if you get a chance!

PS On an unrelated sidenote, if you're looking for a place to stay during the bar exam in Sacramento I would highly reccomend the Marriot Residence Inn. I stayed there recently when I was in Sac for a depo. It is right next to the convention center and a ton nicer than the Sheraton where I stayed. Each room has a full fridge, a whole mini-kitchen and a really nice big screen tv - plus a full on free breakfast included. I'm not sure if the price difference is huge, but it's worth looking into.

My First Deposition

I took my first deposition today. I was beginning to think I was a curse. I was supposed to take one last week, two yesterday, and one this morning but they kept getting postponed. Then this afternoon, one finally showed. He literally had alzheimer's disease and didn't remember much but it was a deposition nonetheless. It was such a rush. This is what rockstars must feel like every time they take the stage. Ok, maybe not exactly how a rockstar feels, but close.

I swear.

In front of a judge, with two lawyers, and a secretary as my witness, I was sworn in today to uphold the Constitution and act as attorney at law to the best of my abilities. We celebrated afterwards with licorice and moutain dew.

It was perfect.

Amanda, Esq.

Happiness is.... PASSING THE BAR!!!!!

Hi, my name is insane.

In my anxious state, I decided it would be a good idea to look for that ID card that has the info we'll need to access results on Friday. Found it, no problem. It was still in the ziploc bag that I have been afraid to touch since July 26th. So I set it on the dresser in the living room where I keep all the important stuff. Then I thought... what if during Husband's fabulous plans on Friday we get stuck in traffic or our car breaks down and I want to check my results from my fabulous new Samsung Blackjack? I should keep the ID card in my wallet, so that I have it with me at all times on Friday and can thereby check my results from anywhere. Pat on the back. I start walking to my purse and stop suddenly. Wait! What if my wallet were stolen between now and Friday at 6pm. That's when I realized I had gone insane.

The Talk

So this whole waiting thing is just plain awful- less than 48 hours to go. My boss sat me down today and assured me that (a) I won't lose my job if 'it doesn't go well on friday' and (b) taking the bar exam a second time wouldn't kill me. It was very very sweet of him to say nice things like that, but it really just made me want to cry. But that would have made me look weak, so I waited and cried in the car on the way home. I got home with mascara running down my face and Paul was confused as to why I was crying. "Why are you stressing? There's nothing you can do." My point exactly. I should note that to his credit, he may not totally understand, but he is still amazing. He, too, is taking Friday off of work and apparently has a whole day of activities planned so that I won't be watching the seconds tick away all day.

In other news, we got a 3 day notice to perform covenant or quit because our stupid apartment manager just noticed that we've had a satellite dish for the 11 months we've lived here and never paid the additional $100 deposit. I'm drafting a letter arguing waiver. Too bad they didn't serve it next week when I could (hopefully) sign Esq. after my name.

Ok. Gotta go puke now. Seriously, this waiting this is the worst thing ever.

Can't Sleep... the Bar Examiners will eat me

it's 11:00pm... far past my new grown-up bed time. but i can't sleep. not with less than 4 days to bar results.... a mere 91 hours to be exact. i started feeling it today- nervous, nauseous, shaky, on edge- sort of like how I felt with 91 hours before Day 1 of the bar, but this time it's almost worst. because there's nothing i can do. it's out of my control now.

one of the attorneys i work with sent me an email today to say how impressed he was with my work and how he can't wait until i get my bar results. that should be good, that should make me happy. but instead, i have this feeling in the pit of my stomach and this evil thought in the back of my head... what if i let him down?

but i've already done everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen. so for the next 91 hours, i'll just keep my fingers crossed. and i'll try to get some sleep too.

A New Chapter is Being Written

We had chinese for dinner tonight. My fortune cookie said "a new chapter is being written in your life." I hope that means the bar examiners are writing "pass" next to my name. 2 weeks to results. Deep breath.

I still love my job. I just finished second-chairing my first trial. Well, second-chairing in the sense of getting to do everything but actually talk. Although they did let me argue objections during sidebars and when we went over jury instructions. It was awesome. I'm working on an opposition to a motion for summary judgment now. I've already done 5 complaints, the first round of discovery in 3 cases (2 of which were class actions), 4 motions to compel, an appellate brief to the 9th circuit, and a handful of other random motions. I'm also getting ready to present the defense side of a case to a mock jury for a trial we have coming up in January. If all goes well in 2 weeks, I'll be questioning a witness or two in that trial. And best of all- I'm having one of our secretaries (a notary public) swear me in asap after results so that I can take my first deposition on 11/21. Yeah, my job sort of rocks.

So, take another deep breath. Two weeks from right now, we'll be attorneys.

Take this job and love it.

Just thought I'd pop in to report...

I LOVE MY JOB.

So law school was worth it. Giving up my summer to study for the bar was worth it. (Well... assuming the results are good in a couple of months).

But seriously- I could not have made a better decision. The fact that my firm is small is great because they are giving me so much responsibility right from the start, and at the same time I still have great access to two amazing attorneys no matter how stupid my questions are. Everybody I work with is awesome. I have been to two depositions and a mediation in the last week and a half. I've traveled down to Bakersfield, and up to San Francisco. I've met at least 10 real clients. I have an office- with a door. And I now have a full case load of 12 cases- cases that I will get to take depositions on as soon as I get sworn in this December. Cases that I will ultimately get to settle or take to trial. If all goes well, I will have filed my first lawsuit by the end of the week.

I have turned into a complete workaholic because I really love the work. I want to become an amazing advocate and litigator. I just can't help but smile. I am living my dream.

Almost an Attorney

And so it begins.... I start work tomorrow. I have had a wonderful break. Our cruise was awesome, my house is clean and organized once again, I have bought a whole new wardrobe of lawyerly clothes, and most importantly I believe I have had more drunken nights in the last three weeks than I had in all four years of college. The bar exam is but a distant memory at this point. That's all. Just thought I'd check in. It may be a while before I check back.... The small firm I'll be working at (read: 2 other attorneys) has a trial starting a week from tomorrow so my first few weeks promise to be anything but boring. It sort of feels like second year of law school all over again - just when you thought the worst of it was over (this time the bar exam), you realize that there's just a whole new set of challenges ahead. But this time- I get a paycheck, and truth be told, I'm really excited about my job. Good luck to everyone out there starting jobs or still looking for them. If the next 3 months go anything like the last three weeks, that fateful day in November will be here before we know it.

I think I drank the bar exam out of my system.

Literally. I'm not usually a 'drink until I pass out Britney Spears style' type girl.... but we went to a good friend's wedding on Saturday night. There was an open bar. Hubby and I both celebrated the wedding and the fact that the bar exam is over. We were driven home by his parents. Thanks in-laws! I don't really remember much of the ride home, but apparently I was very very drunk. I spent the next two days recovering from the worst hang-over of my life. Glad to say I survived it, since nothing would have sucked worse than to die of alcohol poisoning before results were released.

What's also interesting was that in the duration of that 2-day hangover, every time I fell asleep, I had really weird bar exam dreams- in one I had my ziploc bag but was lost in a residential neighborhood trying to find the convention center. There was a catholic school that I kept passing and the priest kept closing the gate, refusing to tell me where the test center was. Plus, suspicious looking people kept biking past me and menancingly looking at me as I realized I was openly clinging a very nice new looking laptop computer. And a ziploc full of earplugs.

In another dream, I kept reliving the Performance Test B as if it were that movie 'Groundhog's Day'. I would get through reading the file and library and outlining my answer, then get up to go to the bathroom, only to come back and realize that they had placed a brand new test in front of me, and I had done nothing yet.

But when I awoke this morning, my head felt fine, I was no longer nauseous and I realized I didn't have any scary bar exam dreams last night. I'm sure I'll have a few more, probably for the rest of my life.. but at least I feel that I've mostly excised the bar exam demons. I also think the mass quantities of alcohol I consumed on Saturday helped erase most of the useless information I memorized for the bar exam.

Now on to cleaning the house and 'things to do' list I've ignored for the past 2.5 months.

The Real World

Yup, it's really over. Yesterday and today when I woke up, my first thought was "Did I dream that? Is the bar really over?"

I still don't quite know what to do with myself. I went shopping yesterday, had lunch with my little sister, and then went out to dinner and for drinks with a bunch of my friends to celebrate. A couple of my really good friends gave me a gift card to a local day spa so I can enjoy a nice post-bar massage. What a treat! She also told me that she had a dream one of the nights I was in Sacramento that she was taking the bar exam and the proctors wouldn't believe her when she said I was supposed to be the one taking it. Ahh... sympathy dreams.

My husband is happy to have me back, and I'm being super nice to him. I will be eternally grateful to him for being so amazing throughout this whole process. In an odd way, I think it really strengthened our marriage.

On the agenda for today is starting to clean and make a list of all the things I want to get done before I start work on August 20th. In 8 days, I'll be on a cruise ship : ) Sometime between now and then I'll post my more collected, comprehensive thoughts about the whole process.

I just can't stop smiling.

Because the bar exam is OVER!!!!! And if the performance I gave over the last three days isn't passing, then quite frankly I don't know what is.

I felt like I did even better on the three essays today than Tuesday, and I felt pretty damn good about Tuesday's essays. After each essay, I get up for a bathroom break, but I always peak ahead so I can start thinking about what's coming. After question 5, I flipped ahead to question 6- "Husband and Wife...." I couldn't stop smiling all the way to the bathroom. The proctors must have thought I was crazy. I <3 community property. I am also crazy proud of myself because I spotted the agency issue on Essay 2 (I don't think it was a big deal to miss, I just talked about the liability of the agent when the principal is undisclosed and the liability of the principal for Ks entered into by agent in the mutuality of enforcement section of the specific performance analysis.) I'm surprised that they didn't hit us on civil procedure or professional responsibility. But even though a lot of the subjects they hit were unexpected, I couldn't have asked for a better test. I feel like it was fair- or at least as fair as the CA bar exam can be.

The PT was nothing crazy which made me overjoyed. I think I managed to interweave every fact I possibly could. Although I was thinking it would have been super cool if they'd managed to include the Anna Nicole Smith case in our library.

What an awesome feeling when the proctor called time. The convention center erupted in applause. We are done.

On the drive home, I started laughing uncontrollably. It's over and I feel damn good about it- not just that it's over, but that I think I actually passed it.

Now off to bed... I am freakin' exhausted.

The Finish Line

I'm ready to finish this thing with a bang. Of course, if the bar examiners are as evil as I suspsect, the light at the end of the tunnel I'm seeing is just a train... Either way, it's done in 9 hours or so. This will probably be my last post until I get home late tonight since I'm checking out of my hotel room before heading over to the testing center. Good luck everyone!! It's almost over!

Everyone should have to suffer equally.

I'm bored in my hotel room looking at other bar blogs and I find myself getting irrationally angry at people in states with 2 day exams who are already done. I want to be done. It's not fair. Why do we live in California again?

Day 2 made me sleepy.

The MBEs are done, and I'm back at the hotel almost an hour early. I finished both the morning and afternoon sessions in just a little over 2 hours each which is pretty on par for what I do in practice. I felt super confident about this morning's session. I think I lost some of my energy at lunchtime though because I was really dragging this afternoon. The questions seemed a bit more oddball this afternoon and I started tripping out because I had a very long sequence of 'D' responses that seemed odd. Oh well. Whenever I second guess myself, I'm usually wrong, so I left them alone. Overall, I'm still feeling pretty confident. I just know I have to get my energy back by 8:15a.m. tomorrow. I'm going to relax a bit, then figure out something for dinner and pack my car so I don't have to worry about it in the morning. Can you believe it- this is almost over!!

When in doubt, pick A.

On the way back from my run this morning, there was a news truck looking ready for a live feed from the covention center. Eh? Are they doing a story on the stressed out test-takers that have taken over downtown, causing a drop in tourism and a rise in crime?

Better get ready... it was definitely much harder to wake up today. This is exhausting. But it's time to go rock the MBE. Just remember.... when in doubt, pick A- because if we all do, they might think it's the wrong answer and they just screwed up.

And Dear God- please be gentle with the mortgage questions.

One more thing from Day 1

Totally forgot... I had a minor freak-out this afternoon when, after I finished reading the entire file I realized I hadn't checked the time when we started. So... I really had no idea how much time we had. I tried to guess based on when a lot of people started using the bathroom, but I really had no clue until they called the 1 hour mark. Yikes- must be much more careful about that tomorrow!

I <3 Day 1!!

Seriously. I rocked it.

Essay 1- a pleasant surprise- I <3 landlord-tenant because I did it for two summers at legal aid offices, not commercial leases of course, but still. I rocked it.

Essay 2- the call of the question was weird because it didn't flow nicely the way they wanted me to discuss it. But I think I worked it out nonetheless.

Essay 3- evidence..... my worst nightmare. But I did not freak out. I did not become a puddle on the floor. Quite frankly, I rocked it.

Lunch- Jamba Juice with an energy boost was just right- not weighed down and full of energy for ...

PT A- surprisingly straight forward, lots of facts to use- I could have talked for days.

Funny story of the day- Where in the world did I get the idea that power cords were not allowed? Why did I spend $160 on an uber-battery based on this false assumption? Don't know... but as I was walking over to the test center I kept seeing people with their power cords and I was thinking "sucks for them.... they're totally gonna be screwed." Yeah, no, I'm the dork. Whatever, my battery did fine and I got my power cord at lunch.

Dinner- walked to the downtown mall, got dinner and then wandered a bit. Bought a bag of my favorite candy at Sweet Factory and now I'm just chillin' in my room. Going to sleep should be no problem tonight.

By the way, certain people who sit around me are annoying, for various reasons which I won't go into because they might read this. Although I will say that I don't mind when they talk about substantive law, are clearly wrong and get those looks from everyone around them who is trying not to laugh but doesn't dare tell them they're wrong. Oh oh... and I love the guy that left the PT like over an hour early and was hanging around outside afterwards to get his laptop. I overheard him say "Well if you knew the rule about imputed disqualification, it was a breeze". Closed universe dude. Closed universe.