Yesterday, I got a facial and acupuncture. Both were much needed and long missed, especially the facial.

I really love the esthetician I see (Kristina). She’s a hoot. In her twenties someplace, she’s much tattooed (not sleeved, but she’s got more than a few) and way into ComicCon and very much like me in that she says what she thinks and has little patience for fools. We crack each other up when I’m in her chair.

The best thing about her, though, besides that she is a miracle worker (I look at least 5 years younger today than I did yesterday–I swear) who doesn’t lecture you about all the wrong things you are doing (like touching your face) is that she doesn’t up-sell. She offers solutions from Sephora as well as the spa where she works, and even natural stuff you can do/make at home. She gets that not everyone is some La Jolla housewife with cash to spare. And she gives samples… big ones.

I’ve been really struggling with my skin lately and the difference in <24 hours is very noticeable. She’s amazing. It’s not cheap to go see her regularly, but I need to get back to doing that. Good for the soul as well as the skin.

The needles were needed too. The new thing I’m doing for exercise is running intervals. I had done my 10K and was kind of plateauing fitness-wise, and not yet where I want to be. So, I’m trying this on the advice of an old friend who is way into fitness. I run–not jog, RUN–for 20 or so seconds and then walk/jog for 40ish then repeat…for 30 minutes. Total kick in the ass workout-wise. I’m even sweatier than doing 60 minutes of jogging and, they claim, your metabolism stays higher longer after interval training. For additional cardio and cooldown, I’m swimming laps after the intervals–mostly breaststroke and backstroke. This change in routine has re-awoken my piriformis issue a bit, so I got myself in to see Eric the acupuncturist before things got out of hand. Much better this morning–I don’t feel like I’m sitting on a golfball now. Joy!

Oh, and in less than 2 weeks of doing the intervals, I see a huge difference in my hips/thighs. Yea!

Sadly, my neck hurts this morning, though. I blame cats. Not just Benito but also the female in heat outside last night… all. night. long. Ugh. Benito, even though fixed, kept jumping from pillow to window as she mewed, loudly, somewhere not far away. It was a tough night for sleep, even with earplugs in.

Still, yesterday was a pleasure and I’m headed into a weekend of social activities. Tonight I have a Thursday Happy Hour real live get together that will also include interactive professionals and a couple of photogs. Friday evening I have a gallery opening to go to. Saturday is a gallery/studio party in Oceanside. Busy, busy, busy.

Must get to finishing my chores now, though…

Yesterday evening I had been invited to a friend’s 50th birthday party. Unfortunately, he lives in El Cajon, which is a drive from here. GoogleMaps says it’s only like 17 miles, but it seems longer. Just because of the drive, I almost didn’t go. But, in an effort to get out there and meet people, I went.

The birthday “boy” (John) is tangentially connected to the photo world out here, so I would know a couple of the people at the party, but mostly, this would be a new crowd. That’s really what got me to go–I wanted to meet people who weren’t photographers and who were closer to my age than my law school friends.

The party was a black and white masquerade party: clothing in black and/or white only and you had to have a mask. I have plenty of b/w clothes, but I ended up getting a new pair of black jeans on sale the day before, so I wore those, a black knit high collared halter top and this Kenneth Cole (top line) jacket I got on uber-uber sale earlier this year. Oh, and my bowler and killer platform sandals that put me at or just over 6′ tall. All black. I had considered wearing about 5 other outfits, but really, I’m a dressy denim kind of girl so why try to be something I’m not. Besides, I can’t possibly compete with the bimbo-types (and don’t really want to) so why go down that path. Face it: I’m a silver-jewelry (more bracelets please!)-multiple-earrings-mostly-pants-and-great-shoes-wearing girl.

John’s house is large but the party was mostly outside. He owns an electrical contracting company and has more stuff in his back yard that any one person should: a metal/industrial kind of sculpture that bursts into flames by remote control; a fire pit (as seen here) that does as well (partially covered by a lovely arbor covered in white bouganvilla); a pool; and, even an observation deck (his property is on a high mesa over the 8). Oh, and lots of tool-ish stuff in the corners.

So, I went, solo. Not five minutes after my arrival I was approached by a guy in a leather kilt who complimented my hat. My friend Mike has a khaki kilt and I have to say, more men should wear kilts. They are terribly flattering. I’ve seen fat men in kilts before and they look better in them than pants, I swear. So I complimented his kilt and told him about Mike’s. We chatted.

Turns out this guy was from LA (originally from Pennsylvania, though) where he is a special effects technician for films. He worked on Star Trek (the Abrams film) and Oceans 13 (I checked his name today on IMDB, he wasn’t lying). Way cool. And he does magic. Earlier in his professional life, he was a clown with Ringling Brothers. Seriously. Graduated from clown college, class of ’83. He was outgoing, sure, but not at all clownlike, thank heavens. More goth-ish than I would expect a clown to ever be. Cause you know I do not like clowns as a general rule–too close to mimes.

Anyway, it was worth going to the party just to be able to say I was chatted up by a goth clown SFX expert in a leather kilt. Ha!

While we were talking another guy came up and started chatting with us. I would have bet money this guy was gay. My new friend in the kilt (David) went to the bathroom and as soon as he walked away this guy basically announced he was straight and, well, flirted heavily. My gaydar just does NOT work on California men, ugh. Sadly, I was totally not interested and had to duck him. No fun. Flattering, I guess, but no fun. The non-functioning gaydar just makes being a single woman in California that much harder. Joy.

Anyway, John had a DJ who played a variety of not so great music, unfortunately, because I really wanted to dance. Oh well. Probably just as well as dancing = sweating = drinking more and I did not want to even possibly run any DUI risk. So, instead, it was mostly convo for me and not much drinking. Again, just as well as one of the photo people I knew got totally smashed and ended up passing out in the guest room that David had planned on sleeping in. Ha! She has got to be feeling it today. I so don’t want to be the drunk girl people talk about the next day.

So, overall, good evening. I stayed too late past my bedtime and am seriously sleep deprived today, but I had fun. And was quite sober driving. All good.

That is the printed version of my Application for Moral Character Determination for the California Bar. No, really, that is what it is called… as if I have no moral character and am applying to be awarded one. Even having them “determine” my moral character sounds wrong somehow. Why not just call it what it is, a background check, and be done with it?

Oh, yes, of course, because this is from the California Bar and that means a bunch of lawyers hashed out the naming. A bunch of California lawyers.

In retrospect, I guess it’s almost a wonder it isn’t named Betty.

Anyway, that is thirty pages of data in that photo. Names and addresses and references and job history (every job since age 18!) and educational background and, well, pretty much my entire life from age 18 on. Excruciating in detail and a complete pain in the ass to research. For example, how many hours of credit did I get at OU? Why do they need to know that? I got a BA (eventually)… who cares the path I took to get there? And I had to provide a separate reference to confirm my self-employment on top of 5 other general references; at least one of those had to be a member of any US bar, no more than one could be one of my law professors, and none of them could be related to me by blood or marriage or be a previous employer.

It took me two months to put together all the info for that damn application. Two. Months. Ugh.

I actually completed and submitted this application online (with, of course, the site failing on the last page of the thing, for extra frustration), but like so many things legalese, I had to print it out to send in a hard copy as well. I also have to send in copies of my divorce docs to prove the name changes and that I was involved in civil litigation, even if only domestic. And I have to get fingerprinted and have DOJ and FBI background checks done, and submit the documents related to that.

Can’t wait to find out how much the fingerprinting and background checks will cost–that will be done tomorrow morning so I don’t have much of a wait. Yes, I have to pay for those as well.

As well as what, you may ask? As well as the fee for submitting the application to the Bar. That was $453.

Yes, just for the the moral determination. After paying that I can tell them my moral character: morally outraged.

The bar exam itself will cost over $550, plus an extra $125 to use my laptop rather than handwriting (talk about a scam there… the laptops make the grading easier!).

Well, at least the bar serves a good purpose with these fees–they train you early to bill high.

Remind me why I thought this law stuff would be a good idea?

I lost my Ray•Bans right after Michael’s visit in late June. They had gone missing before, but this time they were lost-lost. I hate spending $100+ on sunglasses, but after going through cheap pair after cheap pair out here, and never feeling like I was even wearing sunglasses on bright days, I finally bought the expensive ones. I had been ocularly happy since.

Until late June, that is.

Oddly, the sun disappeared from San Diego skies at about the same time. That was over two weeks ago. You know I’ve been kvetching about the dark weather recently. The only good thing about the darker weather was that I didn’t need the cheaters.

I gave it some time before considering buying new ones, just in case they reappeared. I called every place I could think of that I had been around the time they were lost in case someone turned them in. I checked all my pockets, etc. No luck. So a couple of days ago I went online to see how much I was going to have to shell out.

After perusing several sites, I found a pair on sale. Also, the store was offering an additional $10 discount for new customers and free shipping for orders over $50. Best of all, these were the classic old-style Wayfarers. The new ones have lighter, plastic lenses and a slightly altered shape as the lenses are a smidge larger. The old ones have dark green glass lenses and the tortoise shell is a bit darker. The frames are also a bit heavier, perhaps to balance the glass. They are also more expensive than the new Wayfarers.

Except that they weren’t. This was a big sale, and while they weren’t cheap, by any means, they weren’t the $145 they usually cost! I got them for a little less than $100. The store? You’ll laugh since it was me: Brooks Brothers.

Anyway, the FedEx man brought them at about noon today, just as I was headed out to the grocery.

And, please, note the sky.

I know I shouldn’t complain, but enough with the cool weather here. It’s supposed to go May Grey, June Gloom, July Fry, but there is no sign of the last. It’s 64ºF here right now, at 4:45pm. The sun never broke through today. And it was just barely misty for my run this morning.

Okay, that last bit is good. Even though the total time of running today was less than last time, it was split differently (2 x 22min versus 3 x 18min) and was a tough run. The cool air was welcome. Frankly, a bit cooler and mistier would have been even better. But I digress. Right now I’m wearing a light cardigan over a t-shirt and I am not happy about it.

All this cool darkness has not helped my mental state. I’ve been a bit down. Monday, the divorce became final and I think that hit harder than I expected.

Not being able to hang out by the pool, to soak up the sun, well, that has sucked, too. This was not how I planned on spending my days “off”–wearing sweaters and socks. I planned on reading bad novels and producing enough vitamin D to cure whatever might ail me, and then some. But no.

On the 4th of July, I was cold. Like shivering cold. That’s just wrong.

And now the ducks have gone missing, too.

Sigh.

But on the East Coast it’s well over 100 in many places. People are suffering! So, of course, I shouldn’t complain. But here I am, nonetheless, kvetching like a widowed Jewish mother at her only son who just got a serious girlfriend.

Don’t worry…once the sun returns I’m sure this all will pass. In the meantime, I’ll just sit in the dark here; don’t mind me.

************

UPDATE: After almost a week’s absence, Peking has returned. I feel much better.

Yesterday, Christopher and I went to the San Diego County Fair. Now, remember that SD County is about as big as 1/4 of Ohio, so this is a big “county” fair, but it’s definitely not the Ohio State Fair. It’s held at the Del Mar racetrack, which seems like an odd place to hold a fair, but it’s about the only place they really could have it. And it seems strange to have it so early in the year, but since the racing season opens in mid-July, it is when, and where, it is.

It’s incredibly popular. I guess the authorities worry about it being a target too because one had to go through metal detectors to get in. That was odd.

They have a few animals but not many. They were mostly in one outbuilding and more like a petting zoo. That is, there were pens of “example” sheep, goats, pigs and cattle. Here are the pigs:

There was another barn with the competition animals, but the public wasn’t permitted in. Boo. Some kids were showing their cows just outside of that building. I didn’t take a pic, but they were all dressed the same–like the 4H had a “jungen” division. Yes, that disturbing. Every teenage girl in pigtails and white blouse and green kerchief…odd.

There was a pretty big a midway filled with barkers and their games and carney-constructed rides that looked nauseating just to watch, much less actually get on. Speaking of carnies, there were Mexican carnies along with the usual scary white ones. Another cultural difference.

Of course, there was obscene fair food. I packed turkey jerky and other healthier nibblies so as not to get tempted by the chocolate covered bacon or “you name it, it gets fried” vendors (fried butter–ew!). There sure was a lot! But I don’t really trust those kind of food vendors anyway–who knows how clean they are. You can’t believe what they say, frankly. Inflated claims? You betcha…I think this booth must be owned by a male for its gross exaggeration:

Anyway, we looked at the woodworking, which was C’s purpose in going since he had classmates from the courses in woodworking he’s been taking at Palomar who had entered pieces. The examples, student and otherwise, were mostly ok, but not great. We both agreed that woodworkers tend to add too much (2 kinds of wood? Nah..let’s try 5!) and focus too hard on the technical (great joints, but the design sucks). There were a couple of “cleaner” designed tables that I liked–more modernist. And the inlay work in some of the Federalist-type pieces was impressive. Overall, though, lots of heavy, gaudy stuff.

Then we looked at the photography. That was painful, mostly, and there was a ton of it. The judges, sadly, fell into the “if it’s cute, it wins” trap far, far too much. A gazillion pics of toddlers and puppies. And there was enough HDR to make me cross-eyed. That trend is already beaten to death. There were a few good pieces, however–mostly Type 55 (Polaroid transfer) or even a few “tin type”-related images. Digital is great, but those “analogue” methods still have more depth.

Probably the best stuff we saw were the flowers–beautiful roses and several examples of the odd local flora. My favorites, though, were the dahlias. I had no idea they could look like this!

How did they ever evolve into these shapes? While I know there has been a lot of breeding by humans, the original plants had to have the basics–how/why did they ever evolve this way? Stunning.

At some point we went into one of the multiple building with the cheesy ShamWOW-ish sales people. There, I was totally shocked to see this, which I totally remember from the Ohio State Fair… in like 1976. I can’t believe they are still trotting this thing out and, moreover, that there were people paying $3 to get its “predictions.”

We did a hell of a lot of walking over several hours, so after we left the fair we went in search of a beer (there was beer at the fair, of course, but $7.50 for a single Bud Light… um, no). We ended up in Encinitas, at a dive-ish bar on the 101. Blind choice, but it ended up being a good one–they offered pitchers of any of their tap beers (except Guinness) for $8! These were good beers too–like Stella and Fat Tire and some local companies’ brews. We got a nice hefeweizen. I like this kind of beer in the summer since it has lots of flavor but is light on the alcohol. Add a big slice of lemon (some do orange, but I prefer lemon), and it’s really refreshing. Turns out that beer helps hydrate better than water, post-exercise.

After one of those we walked the couple of blocks over to the ocean. The marine layer had mostly come in, so the light was very flat but there were breaks over the water. Terribly pretty. I’m not much of a fan of north county, but I could live in Encinitas.

Earlier, as we walked from the car down the main drag of Encinitas (the 101) in search of a liquid refreshment establishment, we saw this store’s sign and wondered if it was deliberate (or if the owners had even noticed):

Anyway, post-beers and look at the ocean, we headed back down to San Diego proper, fighting traffic on the 5 the whole way. Sand Diego is one of the most popular holiday destinations so, well, forget about trying to get into town with any speed this weekend. After all that walking, etc., we were hungry and tired, so we went one exit past mine and got In-n-Out for dinner–a rare but yummy treat for me.

Except for the traffic, and some of the photography, it was a lovely day. This morning, however, my legs are sorer than the day after doing a 6-mile run. We did walk an awful lot, between the fair and around Encinitas, but wow. I think I’ll take another day before I try to do my week 4 day 3 run.

June Gloom I have mentioned before…well, actually it was May Grey, but the phenomenon is the same. Usually, it is something that starts to give way by the end of the month with July often bright and more typically summery, but today is maybe the darkest day thus far this month. The first pic (iPhone pic) I took around 9am today. It was so dark, I adjusted the levels to make the second.

But you get the point. Dark. Gloomy. Cool. Not what summer is supposed to be like.

It was good for running this morning, however. I had tried and failed at Week 4 Day 1 two days ago, on the beach. It may have been running on the sand, even though it was wet sand, or the sharp angle of the beach because of the very low tide or it may have just been my body needing a break, but I totally failed in that attempt. After about 3.5 miles and half-way through the second “run” segment I was wiped out and sore so I dropped to a walk and gave up. I walked another 1.25 or so and packed it in.

This morning, in the cool, grey, and misty (misty! in June, that’s crazy weather) air, I completed over 6 miles. Week 4 is 3 x 18 minutes running with 60 second walk breaks between segments, plus the 5-minute warmup & cool down segments. That’s 54 minutes running, plus 12 minutes walking.

I wasn’t sure I could do it. The failure was looming in my head. Also, 6 miles has been a barrier so far–I’ve gotten close, but never passed it. Finally, I woke up feeling sore and not very well rested (Benito woke me repeatedly last night). With all that, I was tempted to give myself another day off before trying again, but I forced myself to lace up the Nikes and head out. Glad I did.

This evening I got to go to the Dean’s House on Point Loma again. Lest you forget, I was there a couple of months ago for the “schmooze the new scholarship candidates” dinner. Nice location overlooking the Pacific:

This time the event was for the students who made the Dean’s List over the last academic year. That includes me. Yeah, it still seems pretty odd–Dean’s List in law school. Me. Go fig. I still have a hard time accepting that I’ve held an academic scholarship for law school. I mean, I’m no dummy, but it’s law school and expensive!

Anyway, dressed less conservatively than most of the others (I wore a dress and one of my hats), I looked around at who else was there. There were quite a few people, more than I expected, but it was for three terms so I had underestimated, I think. I looked over and saw Barakat, and that was it from my “regular” group. I was surprised. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Christina’s name on the list so I guess she couldn’t make it for some reason, but I didn’t ask ‘Kat, just in case.

I ran into this one guy whom I first met at one of the schmooze events before we started as 1Ls and whom I sat next to in Torts 2. Cute-ish tall guy who speaks rather surfer-ese, and whose name I can never remember. Yes, I’m that bad with names that I sat next to him for a whole term and can’t remember his name. Pathetic. Anyway, he introduced me to his friend (who came up to about my chest–but I was wearing heels) and said, “Leslie is hilarious–she is always cracking jokes.” I always thought he thought I was a dork since he’s one of the cooler guys on campus. I felt vaguely popular. Almost unnerving for me. (ha!)

Later, ‘Kat (not having heard the earlier remark) said “You are such the social butterfly!” and said that I talked with all sorts of people and was always all smiles. It was odd, but she’s sort of right. I do now go up and talk to people much more easily than I did before I was about 35 or so. And I do make a point of smiling and know that I stand out for how I dress and, I’ve been told, my apparent confidence (I’m a hell of an actress, I guess!). Well, if not letting fear stop me from asking questions is confidence, then, well, guilty.

Speaking of overcoming fear, I introduced myself to Professor Conte (pronounced “kon-tay” by the way) who is the lecturer for Trial Practice (and he coaches the competitive teams). I saw him standing on the other side of the pool and thought “Well, if I want to know what the workload is like in Trial Practice, here’s the man I should ask!” So I did.

Prof. Conte is a physically little man who is very good at what he does. He gave a lecture to us as 1Ls before we did our appellate advocacy competition in Legal Skills 2 and he looked like Central Casting sent a high-priced defense attorney–who’d been left in the dryer too long. Maybe it’s partially “little man syndrome” but I would not want to argue against him. Ever. Actually, he’s very personable and has a warm smile, when he’s not intimidating the hell out of you. To my question he said the work was variable depending on the student, of course, but gave me a range of time for prep. I think it’s doable. I’m going to go for it.

I also spoke with Prof. Thyfault, my Legal Skills prof whom I didn’t really like. She spoke with Barakat and me, but mostly because she likes Barakat, I think. Previously, I exchanged a few words with the Dean and his wife before he gave his little speech congratulating us on making it onto “a good list to get on in law school” and for having done something difficult; he ended by expressing his belief we had great futures ahead of us. Later, I joked with the Assistant Dean for Academic Support asking what sort of event the school puts on for the people on the “bad” list (she laughed and said “They come see me”).

Finally, I thanked Prof. Lynch for having convinced me I could do this. I will always remember him fondly for that.

So, here’s a pic with a couple of my profs in it. The one whose name I can’t remember is one of the profs for the pre-bar review class I’ll take next term (he walks just like Coach/gym teacher Larry Larson from Grandview).

I hope I do well my last term. I’d like to come to one more of these, even if as an alumna. Have I mentioned that I love my school?

No, that’s not an earthquake. It’s how far I ran this morning: 5.8 miles total (just over 5.25 actually running). Week 3 Day 1 of the B210K app meant running for 17 minutes, times 3, with 60 second breaks, plus the 5 minute warm-up and cool-down walks. That’s 51 minutes of running. Clearly, I’m slow (5.9 mph, ish, when running), but I’m doing it so I’m still impressed with myself.

This morning I finished in pain, however. No, it wasn’t my legs or my lungs, it was a friction rash just below and slightly behind my armpits on my sides (much worse on the right side) where, I guess, my arm and torso rub a bit. Hurt like hell near the end, although it didn’t look too bad afterwards. I run in what is essentially a heavy-duty sport bra, so there is nothing but skin there. I’m not rubbing against the top, I mean. I’d expect to get chafing from my loose shorts on my inner thigh or something, maybe, but not skin on skin like that. I don’t swing my arms much (I read it’s better to move your lower arms up/down but to keep your upper arms more still), but apparently there is enough motion and contact to make for unhappy skin. Very unhappy skin.

Clearly, I need to find a solution to this. I had a start of a similar rash last time out, but I thought maybe it was just acne or something. I didn’t realize what it was until this morning’s run. Ouch. A couple of people on Facebook have suggested vaseline. Ick, but if I don’t find something better, I’ll give it a try. Wearing something with sleeves is right out because of how hot & sweaty I get. I feel like I’m smothering in the sweat-wicking small t-shirt I sometimes start out wearing when it’s really cool in the morning–something with more coverage will kill me.

My rambling point to all this is how my progress is threatened by the last thing I would have expected to be a problem. Muscle pulls, breathing issues, dehydration, foot pain, there are a bunch of issues I have tried to anticipate and protect against, but side chafing wasn’t even on my radar.

I wish I had known about this problem last night so that I could have asked some of my friends at dinner. I know a couple of them run, including the guest of honor. It was Barakat’s birthday dinner (she’s a classmate) so a bunch of CWSL folks, mostly girls, went out for Thai food to celebrate. Lovely evening with only one downside–parking was impossible. I ended up parking half-way across downtown practically. Not a big deal for me, though, since I don’t mind walking, even in the heels I wore last night.

Anyway, the food was lovely. I had a Thai noodle soup with red chili that was just spicy enough to make my forehead sweat, but not burning to the palate at all. I have leftovers for today. Yum.

And the conversation was good. We had a lively, laughing debate about whether Professor Yeager really is the worst-meanest-most arrogant prof ever or if he’s only evil to 1Ls (I say “yes”–even if the latter is true, so is the former), and whether Professor Lynch is a sexist bastard (I say “no”–he’s utterly un-PC and insults everyone equally, which is one of the reasons I like him so much). I got everyone to laugh hard when I said that my biggest question about Yeager was how he managed not to topple over since he has the smallest feet I’ve ever seen on an adult male, adding “he’s got to buy his shoes in the boys’ department!”

We also discussed how much work was involved in Trial Practice, which, I’m happy to report, isn’t as much as I feared. I think I’m going to go for it, even if the class is late in the day and I may not have any of my friends in my workshop/section. Even if I didn’t have a good time otherwise, which I did, hearing about the workload was worth the price of the evening.

Well, I just registered for my last term of law school. Where the hell did the time go?! I swear I just started law school, and now I’m almost done… and feeling not-at-all prepared…

…except when I do…

…which is occasionally… like yesterday after I hung up the phone with Dad (who was asking a legal question to refresh his memory) I remembered about actions of apportionment in real property. Huzzah!

But mostly I feel like there is still so much to learn. Lots of courses I’d take if I could just putter my way through. I just love the learning and there is so much more to know! However, especially being on scholarship, I have to get done and move on with life. So, I registered. Last term. Wow.

Actually, my schedule is not completely settled. I’m struggling with it so I over-registered and will drop a class. I don’t like to do that since it takes a seat from someone else, but the automated waitlist system works well and I’ll make up my mind sooner rather than later. I hope.

So, for my last term, I will be taking the following courses:

• Federal Income Tax (just what it sounds like…a bear, I’m sure, but very helpful)
• California Evidence (recommended, but not required, for bar preparation)
• California Civil Procedure (ditto, plus I like CivPro)
• Telecommunications Law (good for IP issues and I’m taking it with an extra non-credit course that meets 3x, for scholarly writing credit)
• Pretrial Practice (motions and depositions, etc., for civil cases)
• Pre-Bar Review (no credit, but required to get the massive CWSL discount on the BarBri course)

and then, either Negotiation or Trial Practice. Negotiation is considered an easy course and the skills are certainly useful. Trial Practice is a lot of work, but in it one does (with a partner) a mock bench trial and a mock jury trial (I sat on a mock jury my first term, which is a prereq. for this) and, individually, in-class opening & closings plus learn about voir dire, etc.

I want to do TP. I’m just not sure I can with everything else. I’ll probably stick with it though. In the CA bar exam, there is a practical part (Performance Test)–where you have to actually perform like a lawyer. TP would be helpful for that as well. Plus it sounds like fun, mostly. But Negotiation I could probably get through without breaking a sweat (the grade is based on class participation and a journal…as long as you keep up with it, that’s easy-peasy).

What to do?

Is a puzzlement, as the King of Siam would say.