Me time...

So, after almost 5 hrs of OA prep I came home, made a meal, and watched all of Cinderella Man with the computer off and the cell in the other room.

BEST DECISION EVER

As it turns out, Cinderella Man may challenge Rudy as the #1 sports movie that makes me cry. To be fair, though, Rudy literally makes tears come down my face...at TWO points in the movie. Cinderella Man just made me glassy eyed for a few minutes and put a lump in my throat. Very few movies can do that to me. What is it about boxing movies with underdogs? Now I haven't seen all the Rocky movies, but is he an underdog in EVERY movie? After Rocky 3, wouldn't he be the favorite? But I digress...

Sports movies really do get the best of me. Field of Dreams, Rudy, Cinderella Man, The Rookie, Million Dollar Baby, etc. In fact, I have blogged before on my favorite sports movies:

(originally posted June 27, 2006)

10) Kingpin - ever wonder about the world of professional bowling? Bill Murray is absolute genius.

9) Dodgeball - "No one makes me bleed my own blood."

8) Million Dollar Baby - caught this one about 10 minutes in on HBO late one night and stayed up to watch the whole thing. Made me want to cheer, scream and cry all within 2 hours.

7) On Any Sunday - if you thought that dirtbikers have it easy just sitting on their bikes, you don't know anything. Mert Lowell is a god.

6) Seabiscuit - see above but replace "dirtbikers" with "jockeys" and "bikes" with "horses." Jeff Bridges is astounding.

5) The Rookie - for people who love underdogs and baseball.

4) Jerry Maguire - a chick flick based on sports, perfect! TONS of cameos and great lines, "I love the black man! Show me the money!"

3) Cinderella Man - just a fantastic movie all around. Great music and Paul Giamatti is superb

2) Field of Dreams - "The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come." This one goes in my top 8 favorite movies, sports or not.

1) Rudy - I cry every time I see this movie, twice. When he gets accepted to Notre Dame and then at the end. I could watch this movie once a week from now until eternity.

*note: I haven't seen Raging Bull, Bull Durham, Tin Cup, all of Rocky (or any sequels), Slapshot or The Natural. I hear that these movies would be on my list if I had seen them.

I just love sports, to quote Dana Carvey on SNL, "the precarious balance between infield and outfield suggests a perfect symmetry: the exhilarating tension between being and becoming." I just LOVE sports! I was thinking about the Jazz game yesterday (as I am wont to do) and I basically attributed the good night that I had to the fact that Carlos Boozer had 41 points and 16 rebounds, making him the first Jazz man to score 40 since Karl Malone did against the Magic back in '03. PLUS it put the Jazz in the playoffs for the first time since.... '03. (there were some other things that made it a good night, but that's for another blog). It really just made me happy. I think I have an unhealthy obsession with sports and with the Jazz in particular, my house keys are Jazz keys for crying out loud!! I have a Jazz shirt on RIGHT NOW!! I have been to a Jazz away game...in Chicago!!

I don't know what happened to this blog, I just wanted to talk about Cinderella Man and how it makes me want to cry...


"Did that blow your mind, because that just happened"

I'm 75% done with my 1L year, here are my tips...

For anyone will be going to law school but hasn't started, let me give you a couple of my personal views of the best way to succeed your first year. These tips are the culmination of some successful, and not so successful, attempts at gaining a leg-up on my fellow students:

1. Buy the casebriefs (and make sure they're keyed to your book)
Some people like to do it the old fashioned way, required casebooks only. This is a mistake. As soon as you read your very first case (Pennoyer v. Neff) you'll wish you had a plain-English description of what it is you just read. They are very handy when you have to skip some reading or were too busy singing karaoke and getting drunk the night before to do your reading. They will NOT save you from a Prof who likes to ask follow-up questions, so prepare accordingly. (side-note: I got the casebriefs for my contracts class but they were keyed to a different book. I had to eat the $30 because they're non-returnable)

2. Buy a commerical outline and stick with the same brand-name/publisher.
If you like Gilbert's, stick with it; if you like Emmanuel's stick with it. It's VERY nice to have the same format for all your commercial outlines, it makes it easier to process the information. This is another thing that "purists" think they are too good for. They are dumb. Buy the commercial outline and use it.

3. Don't highlight everything.
If you're going to highlight all but 4 lines of a case, you might as well not highlight anything. Notes in the margins are nice, but don't write a whole freakin paragraph. I used to highlight in 5 different colors (facts, cited cases, important dicta, holding/court, and dissent) I stopped after 5 or 6 weeks because the only really important stuff that you won't be able to remember is the verbatim dicta in the holding and the dissent. You'll remember what the case was about and which way it went (or will remember after skimming it). Spend your time working out the reasoning, not highlighting procedural history.

4. Don't try to sound like a lawyer
You are in your first year, you don't know how to argue with a law professor. Don't try and use big words or attempt to display an advanced knowledge of the case when you just read it 12 hrs earlier. This will make other students hate you and professors cringe when your hand goes up. You can give your opinion of a case when asked, but don't pretend to know more than the judges...you don't.

5. You don't have to like everyone, but be respectful and courteous
There are people here that make me want to scream when they give their opinions, and there are people that I want to strangle every time they open their mouths. But guess what, they probably feel the same way about me, and what makes me the lord of all things right? My closest friends are WILDLY different from me in many many ways, but we get along because the stuff that makes us different is minuscule compared to the stuff that makes us the same. You'd be surprised at what people are like outside of the pressures of class and school. Go out on a limb, be daring, hang out with some of the people that you think are completely opposite of you. You'll likely be surprised at what results.

6. Get involved
I know this sounds like a cliche, but it's worth it. When you join groups and go to events you get to meet people with similar interests. It's also nice, in some cases, to be able to have a break from the LAW every now and then. Go to the SBA events and meet some people, join the Running Club, or the Sports and Entertainment Club; talking about the Superbowl is a nice distraction from talking about res ipsa.

7. Do some non-law activities
Play basketball on Wednesdays, or go bowling on Mondays, or make Thursday night movie night. You will absolutely, without a doubt, need a real break from school at least once a week, and bonus points if it is active (sports, gym, walking, etc). If you don't you will get burned out, guaranteed.

8. Study hard, especially when you don't want to
This is one thing I wish I did more of last semester. When your breaks from studying become 2, 3, 4 hrs long, will you be happy when you end up with a C+? "But at least I got to spend time shopping at OldNavy.com!" If you don't study your hardest, there's no complaining about your grade. You will get exactly what you earn.

That's all for now, I have to do some Con Law reading.....

"Did that blow your mind, because that just happened."

Thank you for NOT flying

I really just hate flying. The cramped seats (I'm 6'1" and over 2 bills...) , the crying children, the pressurized cabin, the lousy treats, the super cold air from the overhead nozzle, the cramped seats, the ridiculous restrictions, the really really ridiculous restrictions, being herded like cattle, jet-lag, being cramped, the obligatory "we could crash into a mountain/ocean" thoughts, the ridiculous safety "training," and, of course, the stupid seats that are too narrow and too close together.

In the last 14 days I have flown 6 times, gone over 8500 miles, and spent 18 hrs in the air. NO ME GUSTA. (granted I went to Hawaii, so it was worth it...)


"Did that blow your mind, because that just happened."

Man fur.... I could totally do it

Just need the sunglasses and hair

Aloha!

So mom tells me that this is one of the best beaches in the U.S., according to the Travel Channel. Waikiki was pretty cool, but very touristy, a lot like Southern California. There were stores and beach shops and restaurants. Here in Poipu, there's no skyline, there's no hordes of Japanese tourists, and there's no traffic.

The best part, though, is that I am sitting on the beach (yes, with my computer) and I can order a drink with a little umbrella.


My plans for today are as follows:
- Sit at the beach and blog
- Sit by the pool and listen to Hawaiian music
- Sit IN the pool
- Read
- Eat pineapple
- Get a picture with a hula girl (or 3)


"Did that blow your mind, because that just happened."