In the the sea of finals, there are bubbles...

Just wanted to come up for air and say hello ... yup, another week passed without a post ... and, well, don't expect me to get back to anything resembling frequent posting any time soon. Because we have reached that glorious semi-annual event known as EXAMS!

Now, the funny thing about me and law school exams is that I don't really hate them and dread them in the way that many of my cohorts do. In general I don't mind tests, and when I like my classes I don't even mind studying for tests, even tests which determine your entire semester grade based on one intense three-hour performance. But there are some things I hate about finals, such as Hofstra's idiotic curve (mandatory curve, I might add) in most classes. Also I hate when I am feeling a wee bit unprepared for a class here or there and wish I had just one more week to read. But probably the thing I hate most about finals is that they have taken away my holiday season for the last three years!!!

I love Christmas. I love the holiday season. I love Thanksgiving, food, snow, living in the desert and thinking about snow, trees, big dinners with family and friends, Christmas lights, Christmas music, football, sitting on the couch, get-togethers, gift exchanges, sleigh bells, you name it. Unfortunately, ever since 2006 my holiday season thought process has gone something like this:

"Yay! Thanksgiving! Uncle, I'll meet up--CONTRACTS. CIV PRO. CRIM--take the train, we'll get to Grandma's--CONTRACTS!!!!! TORTS. NEGLIGENCE. SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE--mashed potatoes, is the game on? Oh, it's snowing in New England--LEGAL WRITING IS DONE. ERIE. INTERNATIONAL SHOE--gifts for my nephew yet--CIVIL PROCEDURE FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME--what time is my flight? Wrapping paper? HUH?!?!"

You can just substitute second- and third-year classes right on in there, but don't forget to add the insane 30+-page papers you get to write in place of finals during certain upper level classes.

So. Once again this year, for Thanksgiving I gathered with the New England throng. Brian and I headed to cousin Kim and her husband AJ's place in Framingham. They've been married a year now, this was their first Thanksgiving in their recently bought house, and while I enjoyed the cousins, board games, football, and all the delicious food they made, in the back of my head I kept hearing that nagging little voice saying, "You have several cases to read for Patent Law. You really need to review the Model Rules for ethics. Have you even thought about what you're bringing to Criminal Procedure?"

Don't forget that during the holidaze immediately prior to law school I was in Korea having a decidedly unusual life moment, so it's actually been four years since I've had my Thanksgiving of old. I tell you I cannot WAIT for 2009. I swear I'm taking the entire two months off and doing nothing but being festive and Christmasy. Maybe I'll even host a big Thanksgiving meal. Hmmm...that will require knowing where I'm going to live next year...and *that* will require having some sort of job...job...human rights? mediation? global justice? my girl Hillary's State Department? INTERNATIONAL CRIM! TRADEMARKS! LANHAM OBVIOUSNESS 4TH AMENDMENT MODEL RULES!!!!!

Gotta submerge now. It's been nice breathing with you for a minute.