In which things get a little hairier

Ah, where does the time go? For those of you keeping score at home, it has been more than three months since my last real blawg post, a fact from which I have tried to distract you by posting a couple of non-blawg posts, but I know you weren't fooled. I can only hope you'll forgive my lack of diligence and not remove me from your bookmarks entirely. Fortunately, I doubt anyone but my friends and family have bookmarked me anyway, and they wouldn't delete me, right?

Well, anyway, here it is, four-and-a-half weeks from the end of my third semester of law school, and I am behind in all my reading, overcommitted and overwhelmed, and outlines? Don't get me started on outlines. (Actually, if you could, that'd be great, as I can't seem to get myself started on outlines.) All the same, with one small exception, I'm feeling pretty good about things. What things? These things:

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A Completely Non-Law-Related Book Review

  Herzog by Saul Bellow

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I didn't realize it until about twenty pages from the end of the book, but Moses Herzog is one of the most endearing characters I have ever encountered in a novel. He probably shouldn't be. He's washed up, broken down, and quite possibly a little bit crazy, and spends a great deal of time mentally composing letters full of obscure philosophical references, addressing them variously to former colleagues, past lovers, or the dead philosophers themselves. All the while he is anguishing over the destruction of his second marriage, the distance between himself and his two children, the woman who may actually love him despite everything. As the wreckage of his actual life is slowly revealed, the pointlessness of the letters, even were they actually written down and sent, becomes increasingly, painfully apparent.

But then, somehow, that changes. Herzog's letters begin to seem more relevant, more significant, even with their persistent indecipherable academic jargon. Their abstract seriousness begins to seem like a front, a shield, and one that Herzog himself seems to see as increasingly flimsy and, more importantly, superfluous. As he divests himself of scholarly baggage, the meaningful parts of his life begin to reveal themselves, and suddenly, imperceptibly, Herzog the human being comes to light. (The unresolved question for me here is, did the letters themselves change, or did I change, and gradually come to recognize the truth hidden within them all along?)

For a considerable portion of this book, I admit I skimmed a lot of the letters, stuffed as they were with their hyperacademic maundering, thinking, as long as I got the gist, there was no need to bog myself down with the details. But when the book ended, so soon after I finally realized how fond of this shambling academic I had become, I began to regret my casual attitude. In a scaled down version of what we so often feel at the passing of a loved one, I wished I had paid better attention, had listened more carefully to what this earnest soul was trying to say before he was gone. He deserved that much. But now it was too late.

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Oh, hi. Nice to see you again.

OK, so, it's been a while. I haven't checked, but I'd guess I last posted here about three or four months ago, "promising" to blog throughout the summer. Fortunately, if you've been following this blog at all, you didn't expect me to keep that promise anyway. In any case, let's just be up front about this: I am writing now mainly because it seems like I probably should. I have no subject, no theme; I'm just gonna write about stuff and post it so I don't start wondering why I even have a blog in the first place and delete it. 

"I'm Comic Sans, Asshole."

One Year Down

Well, that's that, then. One week ago, I clicked "Submit" and sent my feverishly composed Criminal Law final into the ether, officially and unceremoniously ending my life as a 1L. I then proceeded directly home to drink wine and watch Mystery Science Theater with my wife, and I've sort of been slacking off ever since. It's not bad.

Overdue Progress Report

Did I say "biweekly"? Apparently, I meant "bimonthly."

The Spring semester is now virtually over, with only 2.5 weeks remaining before the reading period, and all I can think to say is, boy, it's nothing like last semester at this time, at least as far as I can recall. I'm not sure how to characterize the difference generally. Maybe it's just that I feel like I've been a bit less . . . diligent? I don't know. I do know that just today I started seriously trying to outline my courses, which I know I put off last semester, too, but I don't think I waited quite this long. And for one of my courses -- Contracts -- I'm really hoping the outlining process will be what makes it all come together, because right now, I feel like I just know a bunch of random tidbits with only the most tenuous of connections between them. I certainly do not feel remotely prepared to be tested on any of it. So yeah, I'm hoping the next few weeks are very productive.

Here We Go Again

OK, so, we're back. The spring semester started about three weeks ago, after a nice, long winter break, and I thought probably it's about time I catch everyone up.

So first of all: I passed my fall classes. I don't think anyone but me had any doubt this would happen, but it's a relief.

As for the spring, Torts and Civil Procedure have been replaced by Contracts and Criminal Law. (That Lawyering Process class is two semesters long, so it's still going.) I hope to do some summary posts for both courses soon, but here are my basic impressions to date: