My take on things after 3 hours of sleep

[Nash]

Originally posted by Neubob
Thanks for the avatar, Nash

Yer welcome buddy!

[Ripper29]

Forget all that advice about sticking it out....you really only have one choice


http://www.ambafrance-us.org/atoz/legion/index.asp

[Neubob]

Originally posted by Octavius
Neubob, what are you now, pre-law?  

Take a break.  Don't burn yourself out.  Keep things interesting.  Save up some dough and travel for a year... or a few months even.  Get a taste of everything you can, but not too much so that your motivation to finish school fades.

Play it like the Big Lebowski... buy milk with a personal check.  Make a few white russians, and relax.

When you gain your second wind, then go back to school and finish strong.

There isn't a formal Pre-law program, at least not at UMD, where I go to school. You can segue into law school from most any major though, depending largely on what you want to practice once you're finished. Most patent law people start off with engineering, for obvious reasons. Many others take the more predictable route and choose criminal justice or an English degree of some sort or another. I'm an English major, myself, having started out in Bio to appease my dad. I'd like to go into entertainment law, but have not decided for sure yet.

The dream has always been to be a novelist, and having had two lit agents, albeit largely worthless ones, I think I've come closer than most aspiring writers my age. The dream is still out there, somewhere. Right now I'm looking forward to the post-exam period when I'll have some time to make progress on my most recent foray into the realm of pseudo-pop literary masturbation. After that it's off to Russia for two weeks and then back to school.

Taking time off is, well, a nice thought, but probably not gonna happen. The way I see it, I've done a great deal of very time-consuming soul-searching as it is. If I ever get that elusive best-seller, though, I'll be happy to revisit those days... Maybe even stay for good.

Anyway, it's raining outside. Gonna go take a nappy...

[Curval]

"My dad is a self-made man, my hero, and I'm an idiot."

Dude, why do you think you are an idiot?  

That certainly isn't my read at all.

[eagl]

A guy I know graduated from law school a year or two ago...  Patent law or something like that.  Anyhow, he was amazed about 2 things:

1.  How hard it is to get into law school.
2.  How easy everything becomes after you get accepted to law school.

This guy graduated from the USAF academy in my class (1994), so his take on the courseload was "At the academy, you worried about passing and washing out.  At law school, I worried about getting a B or an A."  He also said that the day he was accepted, he got offers from law firms that would pay him 6 figures to go to school.  That's right, 6 figures, and he didn't even have to show up at work or pretend to be an intern.  Just take the money, study, and graduate.  The day he graduated, he moved into his new office at the same law firm that paid him to go to school, and found out that they'd increased his salary 50% or more as a way to say "thanks for showing up to work mr. lawyer man".

It's even better than being a doctor because it's pretty rare for someone to sue a lawyer, while doctors get sued all the damn time.

I'd say suck it up, work hard for a few years and don't spend anything, and then start being picky about your clients so you can live the good life while you're still young.  If you gotta get married, do so, but make sure you first have an understanding with your GF/fiancee/wife about such things as study time, work schedule, financial management at home, and plans for children.  If you don't, you'll end up coming home to a grumpy lady who mopes around all day muttering "if I only knew..." and that's no fun at all.

[StarOfAfrica2]

Originally posted by Neubob
There isn't a formal Pre-law program, at least not at UMD, where I go to school. You can segue into law school from most any major though, depending largely on what you want to practice once you're finished. Most patent law people start off with engineering, for obvious reasons. Many others take the more predictable route and choose criminal justice or an English degree of some sort or another. I'm an English major, myself, having started out in Bio to appease my dad. I'd like to go into entertainment law, but have not decided for sure yet.

The dream has always been to be a novelist, and having had two lit agents, albeit largely worthless ones, I think I've come closer than most aspiring writers my age. The dream is still out there, somewhere. Right now I'm looking forward to the post-exam period when I'll have some time to make progress on my most recent foray into the realm of pseudo-pop literary masturbation. After that it's off to Russia for two weeks and then back to school.

Taking time off is, well, a nice thought, but probably not gonna happen. The way I see it, I've done a great deal of very time-consuming soul-searching as it is. If I ever get that elusive best-seller, though, I'll be happy to revisit those days... Maybe even stay for good.

Anyway, it's raining outside. Gonna go take a nappy...

The best novelists have one thing in common.  Experience.  No matter their age, their background, their place of origin, gender...........they all write from their experience combined with an imagination.  Nothing wrong with being a lawyer, depsite the jokes that say different.  Just choose a specialty you will enjoy and that will give you the kind of life experience that matches your interests.  No matter what, bad things will happen in life.  Make the most of the good ones and write it all down, good and bad.  As time goes by, I'm betting you'll see things emerging from your journals that sound like interesting writing ideas.  In the end, no matter how long you live, life is too short to spend it all doing something that makes you unhappy.  Enjoy it.

[TheDudeDVant]

lol You guys are pretty strong! Yall made ME feel better and I wasn't even feeling bad.. lol Peace!

[hawker238]

I know what you mean Neubob, some days you wake up and take a shower and ache, and you think "this is never going to end".  But you just gotta keep thinking better days will come.  And they do.

[Neubob]

Originally posted by Curval
"My dad is a self-made man, my hero, and I'm an idiot."

Dude, why do you think you are an idiot?  

That certainly isn't my read at all.

Thanks Curval--much appreciated, definitely much appreciated.

I don't think I'm stupid, per se, but definitely a watered-down version of the old man. Different set of ambitions, different set of priorities. I really do have everything way, WAY too easy--now at least. I guess if there'd never been suffering in my life, I'd never appreciate what I have now, but those memories are growing more and more distant by the day.

[Dune]

Don't make up your mind what type of law you're going to practice until you get a chance to try a few internships.  If you can write, you can pass law school.

Dude, you got way too many depressing thoughts in your melon to make any life-chaning decisions right now.  Tell the girl to wait.  No way in hell you want to try to go through law school with no money and a new wife.  Trust me on this.  Law school is too hard on relationships.  Most don't last.  You end up spending too much time around other people, the person your with doesn't understand what you're going through and they do.  So you end up more attracted to them.  

I have no idea what your feelings are about being an attorney.  I wanted to be one and found law school to be a blast.  

If you're smart enough to get accepted to law school and need two literary agents, you're not an idiot.  

Take a piece of advice from me.  It doesn't sound like you're happy with who you are.  I've been there.  Until you learn to be comfortable in your own skin, your life will be one crushing dissapointment after another.  Because you will always end up in situations and places that wind up with you feeling like you ****ed up again.