Best Week Ever #14 & 15: Surprises

The past two weeks have been somewhat…surprising.

During week 14 I signed a lease for my first apartment and took a random road trip to Pease, Minnesota to pick up my new dog, Harley-Scalia Jansen.

Moving in was a painfully slow process because of classes, work, and the furniture situation: I only rented a single room at the Gamma house so I had to buy and assemble most of the furniture for the apartment. And assembling furniture is not1 my forte…

I spent that weekend lugging boxes up the stairs and got the big pieces (couch, bed) done. Good thing too because on Sunday I caught a bullet in my back

Week #15 started and ended in the ER.

I was shot Sunday, slept Monday (since I was up all of Sunday night) and then went back to school on Tuesday.

ATL picked up the shooting story, so I got to sit in class on Tuesday and watch people read about the hole in my side on their laptop screens.2

Last week was a case study in Minnesota chaotic: over the weekend there was a riot in Dinkytown (where the Gamma house is), a shooting threat that shut down part of campus, and a cyclist run over one street over from the Gamma house.

Thankfully all I had to worry about was dressing my wounds, getting new property handouts, and walking the dog:

A dog walk is what sent me to the ER the second time – Harley lunged after a squirrel in the park and the leash jerked me so violently that the bullet shifted to a new, painful position.

After six or seven hours of neglect I was finally metal-free. I feel like a B-list celebrity in a Jenny Craig commercial who says “I feel lighter than ever before!”

Yes. Thanks to the new Bullet-X plan…zap that metal in your mid-section!

Although I’m actually not lighter than ever before because my running schedule was completely annihilated by “the whole getting shot thing.”

I’m going to let the stitches and the gunshot wound heal for a few more days, and then I’m back to training. Vöt!


1Yes, that was me strangling my Ikea instruction sheet in the middle of night going “ARGG!” The dog would wake up, roll his eyes, fart, then go back to sleep.

2 THAT wasn’t awkward at all… what was awkward however was that kids from Section Fail (who we have crimlaw with) were plotting to piss me off so I would write about them…who does that? Hi.

Best Week Ever #13: Changes & Drama

The end is near! This past week was the week of changes and drama. Finals are creeping closer and so is the law review petition…

Oh and classes are still going on apparently. Most of my section has become impatient with classes. Here’s a rundown:

  • Crimlaw is a waste of time. Even the “nice” girl has stopped reading Crimlaw and simply outlines during class. We can tell that our professor is extremely knowledgeable, but he is a thoroughly inept teacher. Our professor is also late for almost every class. What the hey?The whole Crimlaw experience is exacerbated by Billy Scratch N’Sniff. Scratch N’Sniff (SNS) is a boy from the other section who spends the entire  class period scratching his nether regions. Yes, even during the double-session we had on rape. Actually, the sex crime topic prompted an unusual amount of participation from SNS…it was bizarre. And yes, he was scratching as he opined about rape. The horror
  • Corporations has really picked up. Several of my friends refused to take corporations because of Professor M’s verbal ticks1 but the professor has really relaxed and the stuttering has almost disappeared. The class is usually amusing, with Professor M taking plenty of pot-shots at the Delaware courts. I love it.
  • Property is a death march. I really like the subject but the class has become tedious. Professor P has a stiff, mechanical style and is relentless when questioning students.It’s really painful to watch. When a student doesn’t know the answer to a question, Professor P simply repeats the question. Over, and over. Have you ever seen two kids do that, “Yeah-huh, nuh-uh, yeah-huh” bit? That’s how questioning feels in Property. Today’s class was especially brutal. please let it be over soon…
  • But there is always Civil Procedure. I have been preaching the gospel of Professor V since last semester, but most of the section hasn’t come around until this semester. Professor V is the best professor ever and has amazing powerpoints. Today’s slides started with a Yogi Berra quote. Past classes have featured Diana Ross and Anna Nicole. I love it…although we’ve spent so much time on Erie/Hanna analysis that it better be on the exam…

On Thursday I was the distraught 1L in computer services when my laptop suggested that OneNote had deleted ALL OF MY NOTES. Yeah. I was almost the kid howling “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” in the study carrels. My laptop then proceeded to do this:

Unacceptable. Everything turned out alright, but I could have done without the 20 minutes of remmidemmi…

Things in the Gamma house have deteriorated ever since the trashing. The housemates are divided into two camps. People are pissed off and it is getting hard to be civil to Slovenly Housemate.

I tried really hard to be accommodating. But I’ve had to walk over too many beer bottles, pizza boxes, and Coke Zero cans. Slovenly’s friends are also annoying people and over WAY too much.

Charity stops here. I’m pissed off.2

There is going to be a contested election for house president within the next two weeks, but I’m done. I’m moving out after finals. I refuse to live in filth.

I visited an apartment building today that I’m probably going to move into. There were two apartments for rent. The first unit was a dank place on the bottom floor that rents for $575, and the second unit was a huge place on the top floor that rents for $650 a month.

The problem is that the huge apartment is…well, huge. Like, “I entertain” huge.

I’m negotiating a lease right now. We’ll see how it goes.

The building allows dogs, which is crucial. I need a canine running partner.

I arrived for the apartment showing a bit early so I stood outside of the building while talking on the phone. While I was on the phone, a lady left the apartment building with two small dogs.

I was on the phone with Jack  and mentioned that the humane society has a lot of pitbulls on its website. My main concern is that a formerly abused pitbull is going to have a flashback and rip my throat out in my sleep. EXTRA: MINNEAPOLIS LAW STUDENT MAULED TO DEATH. DUMBASS ADOPTED AN ABUSED VICIOUS DOG.

Of course potential-neighbor-lady overheard this and started writing down websites where I can find non-throat-ripping dogs. She then detailed the various substance abuse3 problems of the tenants. It looks like it’s going to be an interesting experience…

This was definitely the week of changes. In addition to the apartment hunt, I gave up Splenda and started running because I signed up for a marathon. The marathon is in October, but I’m training now. My first run was 3 miles. The next morning I was so sore that I thought “OH MY GOD I BROKE MYSELF!”

I bitched at myself for a good half hour before I went back and ran 6 miles. The 6 miles were not as painful as I expected. Running is a great people-watching opportunity. The funniest thing I saw was a gay guy walking a pair of chihuahuas.

How do I know he was gay? Well, besides the Juicy Couture sweatpants he was wearing… there was also the fact that his DOGS were sporting pink camouflage hoodies. Diva please.

I had two “Diva Please” moments at bars this week because I was mistaken for a 32 year-old TWICE.

I’m actually 22. I think it’s the beard that does it.

Ah well. Age is overrated, as Sloven Housemate has proven…


1 Professor M used to string together “uh, uh, um, ers” … he never went over six in a row though. Yes, we counted.

2 I refuse to lecture someone who is OLDER THAN ME about “how NOT to be the dirty irritating housemate.” If you haven’t learned how to respect your peers by college, then you have some deep character flaw that’s not getting fixed any time before your wife serves divorce papers on you…

3 Sounds like a UMiami dorm…

Best Week Ever #12: The gates open

This week started with my oral argument. The argument went well, although the practice was a bit of a hot mess.

The oral argument was the last of this semester’s “special projects” – ie , briefs, papers, statutory interpretation assignments and all of the other random that terrorize our schedules…

This week also started with an “intro to OCI” session, which was hilarious. The career counselors basically said, “OCI is going to be a disaster for 75% of you guys, but for the top quartile, it’s going to be great!”

Well, isn’t that dandy?

It feels like some sort of gate opened up this week because all the things that I’ve been kept in the dark about were finally explained.

First semester I felt like the school purposefully kept 1Ls ignorant1 about really important things. Career services? Oh worry about that later. Employers aren’t even allowed to contact you yet – you’re worse than dead to them. OCI? Don’t worry about it. Summer jobs? Petitioning law review? Later. We’ll explain that later.

Well, this is the week that everything was explained. I now know what to expect for the next eight months and it is such a relief.

Finals are next month. Immediate after finals is a 2 week journal hazing petitioning period. This summer I’m working full time while taking Professional Responsibility and Wills & Trust.

At the start of next school year I may get to do OCI, depending on whether my grades are good enough for employers to interview me. If my grades tank, then I’ll get to start the semester without running around in a suit. Shucks.

Knowing what to expect for the rest of year is great because I can prepare accordingly. I don’t think this view is shared by some of my classmates because a lot of people are crabby at Mondale High…

In order to avoid joining the ranks of the cranky, I made a list of the five things that kept me from being stressed out during my first semester:

  • Going to bed early, and getting 8 hours of sleep.
  • Hanging out (a lot) with cool law students and non-law students.
  • Going to the gym.
  • Reading ahead during the weekends.
  • Studying with friends somewhere other than the law school.

After I made my list, I made sure  that I did all 5 things this week. I read ahead. I bar hopping with friends. I studied at cafes. Basically, I worked hard and had fun and by the end of the week I was  intolerably chipper again. I love it.

This upcoming week my diet and gym schedule is going to get an added boost because I bought a Jillian Michaels book:

And homegirl scared the crap out of me. Jansen is 110% organic now. Yes, the McDonald’s boy has gone organic. Go ahead and laugh. While you’re laughing I’ll be crushing some flax seeds…


1 Okay, it’s very possible that I was the only one unawares…