Watch out for those Gangsta Seals, they be clubbin.

Days till the bar:46


This is the one useful theorm I have ever come up with, which when applied to your life, will make many more situations bearable and yes, even funnier. I will now explain the theory in the abstract and then give a concrete example from this evening to illustrate the power of the Hangover Theory.

The Abstract: Have you ever been at school/work/hanging out and a classmate/co-worker/friend comes in hungover? Not just hung over but ready to die, wants to crawl into a corner and puke till they do that cool inside out stomach thing sharks can do hung over? That is funny as hell. It just is, no real way to explain it.

Now why isent it funny when it happens to you? This is the core of the Hangover Theory - If there is something that is funny when it happens to someone else, you should view it as funny when it happens to you.

A quick example. On the way to a party with some friends. My buddy Bill is cutting across the neighbors yard at a good clip. They have one of those fences that has posts and then 2 big pieces of wood across them. Its dark and there is clearly no top piece of wood on this fence. He assumes that there is no bottom piece and continues sprinting across the yard. He trips on the bottom piece (still there) lands face and belly first and slides, penguin style, a good 15 feet across the yard. Hangover Theory to the Max.

Tonight I was at Office Max, getting a desk and a chair, and I locked my keys in my car, which was running and parked in front of a mall enterence at the time. This was followed by a parade of shadier and shadier cabbies coming along until one of them finally got my car open. I couldent stop laughing the entire time. Think of it this way: had I jumped online and MVP was like, wow that really sucked, I just locked my keys in my running car in a fire lane in front of the mall (but got it taken care of eventually) I would have been laughing my ass off. So why is it not funny when I do it?

If you take this and apply it to your life, you will be much better equiped to deal with random, stupid, annoying (but really hilarious) things when they happen to you.

I'm thinking about using my journal to track my studying hours for the next couple weeks, so if you see posts that say things like "just booked a solid 4 hours and absolutely nailed down AK torts" that what it is.

Anyway, gotta do the final unpacking and assembly of my desk.

-Jus

That's a pretty good theory, mate. I'll try applying it in the next few days.

Days till the bar:44

Just posted a nice little 4 hour session. Got the crim pro lecture series knocked out.

Random Bar Fact of the Day: Evanescent Evidence does not require a warrant to collect. What is Evanescent Evidence, you might ask? It is evidence that will go away given the time it takes to get a warrant, such as the material under someones fingernails.

Total study time for 1/8: 4 hours.
Total study time 1/1-1/8: 10 hours. This is not what I wanted it to be, but considering that I got off a plane on the 1st with no car, no place to live and no study set up (not to mention no access to my bar materials, which were sitting in my office), I'm not too upset. I now have my apt completly set up (in a pretty pimpy manner I might add), my study room set up (finally got my desk built today) and my study schedule mapped out. I should now be able to start churning out the hours.

Goal for 1/9-1/15: 50 hours. I'm still a bit behind, mostly due to the fact that my apt was not ready till the 6th and that I spent most of the last 3 days setting it up. But if I can put 50 hours in next week (basically depending on if I can book 2 10 hour days on the weekend), I should be caught right back up to where I should be. I did miss one essay review deadline, but I can just get someone in the office (or one of their friends who does crim) to go over my practice essays, so I should be ok.

That having been said, I have a 7:30 meeting tomorrow, so time to hit the sack.

-Jus

J-

Way to go on the studies. Real men drink Yerba Mate.

Days till the bar:42

Study time for 1/10: 5.5 hours.

Again, an up and down day. Got the headlights on my car switched out. I am now that guy with the crazy, blue tinted ultra bright headlights. I also got spare keys made, so hopefully no repeats of the lock the keys in the car running and parked in a fire lane incident. Unfortunately this took up my lunch hour, which cut about an hour off my hoped study time. One of these days the errands will be done and I will book a good 7 hour day. I need to get a car podcaster so I can hit up the lectures when driving around, which, while not as helpful, will still give me an extra 45 mins to an hour of review a day.

Still not doing so hot on the crim, but I'm not too worrid. First off, the AK material was awful. Absolutely horrible. The lectures were disjointed, the outline and the work book did not mesh and were just terribly written. They were so bad that I am going to call (or more likely e-mail) Barbri and say something like "Im paying you how many thousands of dollars and this is the crap you give me?"

Also, outside of family law (which I have never taken), crim is the subject that I am least farmiliar with. The only crim class I have ever taken was my first year crim class (waay back in 03) and I have never taken crim pro.
Plus, much of crim law is sitting down and memorizing the parts to the various offenses, which I have not yet done. One of the associates offered to lend me his flashcards, so I think I am just going to take them and get some of that tacky-wall stuff and cover 1 wall of my living room with flashcards with various defnintions, so I can walk up and review at any time (and easily move them around as I get them nailed down).

As long as I
A) stay positve
B) stay focused
C) keep putting in the hours
D) acknowledge the areas I need to work on and
E) ask for help if I need it (or get to the point where I am in danger of devoting too much time to something that should not take that long, which is a bad habit in my work too)
I will be ok.

Well, time for my 6 hours of sleep.

-Jus

Did you hear about the spelling contest between Bill Clinton, Clarence Thomas and George W. Bush?

Dubya won, because he was the only one who knew that harass was 1 word. Cha Ching!

Law professor humor. What can I say?

Days till the bar:40

Study hours for 1/12: 5.5

Not a bad day. As long as I can get 6 or 7 hours tomorrow (considering I can sleep till 9:30 on sat, should be do-able) and 10 each saturday and sunday, I should be ok.

Got through the rest of the con law lectures today, have to do AK con tomorrow + some con multistate questions. I am much more comfortable with this then with the crim stuff.

Random Bar Fact of the Day: Cross Burning is Protected Speech unless done to Intimidate or Threaten. Next time you want to fire up some crosses to roast some weiners, go ahead.

I will probably have 1 or 2 poker days between now and the bar. There is no way that I can continue to do 12-16 hour days for 50+ straghit days. I will have to take some time off in order not to burn myself out. Plus, I figure I will be more relaxed and rested if I take a whole day off than if I take an evening off on a day I work. I think I have MLK day off, so maybe I will shoot for that as my free day (assuming I get enough work in the weekend before).

So here is the Poker Plan for those 1 or 2 days:
Mad amounts of .50/1 stud h/l. I have not tracked it, but my win rate has been very good. Just need to put in the time.
Multi-table LO8 while playing stud8. I do not yet have the skill to multitable stud8, as it is a pain to keep track of the out cards, not do I have the broll to play PO8 (although I think I have the game). However, my limit game has improved to the point where I think I would not try and stab myself with a pencil playing LO8. If I play 1 stud8 and 2-3 LO8 tables, I should be sticking to my starting hand requirements.
Play the $5R+A MTT. I really do dig this tourney. Its time to go deep again. Got knocked out in 271st last time I played, hoping for a better result this time.

So I suppose the plan it to quad table 1 stud8, 2 LO8, and 1 MTT all at the same time. Considering the low % of hands I want to play in each of those, I dont think it should be too much of a problem.

I also might try a CJ run in stud8. I think I will sit down at the .5/1 game with 30BB, try to run that to 90bb, then take 60 (30 bb) to the 1/2, run that to 180, then take 120 (30 bb) to 2/4 and see where it goes.

Anyway, off to snoozeland to prep for another day of running at the bar tomorrow.

-Jus

Edit: PT Stud Beta. Time to Wrecktify (and hopefully all the bugs will be worked out by march)

Days till the bar:39

Study hours 1/13: 1.5

Definately burned myself out this week.

Decided to hit up Party to relax, as I was essentally taking the night off.
Roll at 80
SIt down at a stud8 .5/1 and immedately run an A high flush into a runner-runner-runner full house. -20
Decide to play a few SNGs, as there was no $5 mtt starting anytime soon.
Ran QQ into AQ, JJ into AJ and KK into AK. -18.

Decided to play a $1 mtt and do a CJ run at stud8. Got up to 1/2 and had about 96 (or 24 away from 2/4) when I ran A23, 245s, a34 into great 4th streets and then brick-brick-brick on all 3 hands. - 60

Have about 30 left, decide to sit down and play some abc nlhe. SIt down at a 25nl table, feeling pretty good. Play some tight taggy poker. Mize that up to about 45, then run KK into AA (and this guy had been betting every other hand). Make the 2nd flush to his nut flush. I have $5 left at this point, so I decide to buy in and push on the first hand (knowing this guy will call anything). 87 v q10. My river 8 makes his flush.

Bam.

I am exhausted, worn out and such. Need to regroup and get back on track.

I am going to make some adjustments to my study schedule starting next week. I should be caught up after 3 full days of studying (I have MLK off).

One positive was that I fould the play easier at 1/2 than .50/1. Amazingly, I could get people to lay hands down. Untill I hit brickville I was actually running rather well. May just stick to that once I come back.

Anyway, Im off to bed. At least I can get 8 hours of sleep before getting up to go to a gun show and pick something up. I'm thinking a nice Model 10 for the car. I would like to get a nice 1911 officers, but I dont think it is in the budget (or needed till I get my CCW).

-Jus

Days till the bar:36

Study time for 1/13 - 1/15: 7 hours.

Study time for 1/16: 9 hours.

These are for entertainment purposes only. I am not licensed to practice law anywhere and only post this stuff because I think it is funny. IF you do something stupid based on any of this and your defense is "some dude on an internet forum said it was ok" you deserve to be locked up and I take no blame of your close relationship with your cellmate Ramrod. I'm not your lawyer and I'm not endorsing anything. This is just funny stuff I hear in class.

Random bar fact of the day: Alaska has a state constitutionally protected right to possess and use, in your home and in your home only, a small amount of dope. Small is defined as less than 4.5oz. This comes from a case in the 70s called Revin, which was proceeded by AK decriminlizing this type of possession. It was recriminlized in the 90s, but Revin is still good law. This does not grant immunity from any federal prosecution, does not cover sale, and does not apply to other places (like your car or a hockey game, which apparently happens a lot).

Interesting week. Completly burned myself out by friday, took the night off and blew my bankroll (a whopping $80). Got up on saturday, went to a gun show (in a local high school no less) and purchased a nice 3" stainless S & W Model 15. Had dinner with my boss and spent the rest of the night putting up approximately 600 flashcards in my living room, containing all of the info necessary to pass the bar (photos to come later). Caught up on some sleep and did some work sunday. Did more work today.

I keep vascilating between feeling ok about the bar and wanting to projectile vomit due to my own ignorance. I'll do something like an advanced question set and get 20/33, which is not good, but I will know that the subject area is one that I need to review (basically know which standard I need, but not yet have reviewed it) on 8 of those, miss 4 stupidly, and have 1 that was in the "prof skipped because you cant learn everything" pile (had a q on the ability of a state to start its own intra state mail system, apparently the feds have exclusive power to create a mail system). I still dont know whether this is good or bad. I suppose it is good to be able to say "I know this is X test, I just have not memorized the details of X test yet".

I have revised my study schedule slightly. I'm going to shoot for studying smarter, not longer. I found that if I try for too many hours, I end up exhausted and am not as productive (or get burned out and have to take a day or two off).

Totals for 1/9-1/15: roughly 30 (which is terrible). Total study + work hours: 70. I did not get near enough done over friday night, saturday and sunday (see burnout above).

Goal for 1/16-1/22: 40 hours. I think this is going to be my goal for the next 3 weeks, while I am still working. If I can do 5 hours a day m-f, and then 8 hour days on the weekends, I can be caught up to where I should be by the end of next week. I am still behind. Right now my plan is to plow through the lectures and the multiple choice questions till I am caught up, then go back and do the essays once I have a better handle on the material. I also think I will be better served by focusing on the essays at the back end of my studying, as opposed to now, when I should be concentrating on getting the material down. I think I have a pretty good grasp on the format of the essays tthat they are looking for, so I want to concentrate on the substantive elements for the next couple weeks.

As always, any words of advice or helpful hints or anything else that might make this process easier is greatly appreciated. I think the self study, while not necessarily more difficult, is mentally harder. I do not have a group of people who I see every day in class that I can gauge myself against, so I have less of an idea of where I am in my preparations. I think I have a good plan of attack, now I just need to do it.

-Jus

Well my suggestions as a once professional student I used to put in a shit load of hours when studying for exams or what have you and what I have found out that the best time for me to study was very early in the morning (5 am or so). After a good night sleep your brain just functions better than at the end of the day and I know I retained much more from these early sessions than when I did while studying later in the day/night. That time of morning is also usually very peaceful as noone is up making noise, no vehicles, etc. so you have your full attention on your material. I would say that a good two hour morning session is worth as much as a 4 hour session later in the day, at least for me.