This term I’m taking, as I’ve written before, Business Planning (for the modest enterprise) and Accounting for Lawyers. Those two courses along with Community Property involve a lot of math and learning things I never planned on actually learning.

For example, I spent yesterday morning learning the tax implications of forming a General Partnership. We have 3 hypothetical clients and in deciding what to advise them we are supposed to look at the liability issues, flexibility issues, control issues, and tax implications of General Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, Corporations, and LLCs. My sub-group gets to do GPs. Thursday we started on the tax stuff, and I was utterly lost. I spent yesterday morning figuring it out and emailed my prof to see if I was in the ballpark or still totally lost. Seems I’ve figured it out at least enough to be in the ballpark. Whew.

If someone had told me 15 years ago that I would be learning taxes, at any level, I would have laughed. Hard. But here I am, learning that contributing services for an equity share in the partnership can have negative implications for the personal taxes of that person unless the cash contributors structure their contributions partially as loans.

Yes, I know, it’s exciting stuff. Not.
But it is important and I plan on taking Federal Income Tax, hopefully next term. I’m not looking forward to that on one level, because it is hard for me, but it will be good to learn.

So yesterday it was the math and “logic” of taxes, and today I read my Community Property (a bit of math in dividing estates) and then did my Accounting homework. There I learned how to do double-entry bookkeeping, the old-fashioned way, with a pencil and paper. I had to create T-accounts and a balance sheet for an imaginary company. $5000 initial cash investment… record in Cash and Owners’ Equity; $2000 purchase of equipment, on credit… Assets and A/P get entries; etc. Surprisingly, I got it right the first time.

Again, I never expected to learn that stuff in that detail. I’ve used Quickbooks and have seen (and generated) balance sheets before using that application, but I never thought about learning how to do it manually. Like anything else, learning the old way is a good idea– QB things make much more sense now.

Scary.

Now I’m going to have a beer and watch some of the Chargers game.

It is extremely hard to focus on school while trying to find a way through the rubble that was/is your closest relationship. I have four-day weekends this term. That should give me plenty of time to do my reading for the week, to do it really, really well, especially since I have less reading this term than last. But is isn’t working out that way.

Instead I’m spending far too much time and effort trying to calmly and rationally discuss things with the semi-ex. I’m using everything I’ve learned in therapy, couples counseling, conflict resolution (as explained in Getting to Yes) and numerous legitimate web sources. Focus on interests, not positions. Brainstorm solutions. Look for commonalities. Use objective metrics/standards. Be open and caring. Anger is not productive. Strive for calm, rational understanding.

But I am failing. That is, I can’t get through. I don’t yell or call names, but I do cry more than I’d like. Not to manipulate, but it could be perceived that way so I try not to do that. When I feel like screaming and running, breather and speak in a calm, caring voice. No matter how many times I fail, I try harder. It is what I do. I’m like the Energizer Bunny that way. If I’m not being understood I must try again. Use different words. Try a new analogy. Offer outside sources…

Struggle.

And all that takes time from my reading and studies. Yes, I got done what I needed to, but I don’t feel like it is well done.

So here I am at the start of another long Tuesday, trying not to give up. Trying to remember that all beings suffer and to offer mine for the good of all sentient beings. Trying to get my shit together for class.

This term my schedule is differently crazy. I’m taking 5 classes (14 units): Licensing, Business Planning for the Moderate Enterprise, Torts 2, Community Property, and Accounting for Lawyers. Four of those courses meet on Tuesdays and Thursday. Accounting meets only on Wednesday. That means I have 4-day weekends this term. Huzzah!

However, that also means that Tuesdays and Thursdays are long slogs through 4 classes and my bookbag is so full I can’t even fit my lunch inside. I weighed it last week (the bag, not my lunch) and it was about 45 pounds. Thank heavens for wheels! But still, it’s hefty and awkward.

My long days start with Licensing which is something I am very interested in. Unfortunately, the prof wants us to work in small groups a lot and since I know practically no one in the class, I got stuck with a group of people who just happened to be sitting near me in class. I’m afraid these people may be the “short bus” group of the class. We had out first assignment as a group and out of the 5 of us, only 3 responded to the group email about the assignment. Not good. This was after one of the members, in class, could not seem to understand that the logo another student was going to present as an example of a trademark was, well, a trademark. Seriously. I loathe being graded as a group and may, in fact, ask to go solo if things don’t rapidly improve.

Community Property is depressing. Of course, it doesn’t help to be separated while taking this class, but what really gets me is how greedy people are. That’s what frustrates me in this class–the cases where the intentions of the parties was clear but one of the couple dies and some child wants more from the estate. Gimme gimme. Ugh. I have to take the class though because it’s on the bar.

Business Planning seems very interesting, and the prof is (so far) really good, but again we have to work with a partner. My partner is competent, but she’s someone I know from a previous class and she is rather negative in her approach. Maybe we’ll balance each other out… hope so. The material of the class looks really informative and we’ll gets lots of drafting practice, so I’m looking forward to it.

Torts 2 is, well, a huge lecture with some people who make me wonder how they made it out of their first year. Some of the questions in class have been mind-bogglingly obvious–like why the prof is calling the parties who were plaintiffs now defendants, when she’s talking about imputed comparative negligence in countersuits. You’d think all the students would know when there is a countersuit, the Ps and Ds switch (trust me, that is basic stuff… the imputed comparative negligence isn’t, but the countersuit switch is). By the time this class starts at 4:05, I’m pretty fried from the day and don’t have much patience left for the inane questions. Bad me. I’m trying to focus on the class and not the students to get past that.

Accounting for lawyers is taught by a nice Czech lady who sounds a lot like Gene WIlder in The Frisco Kid. Her accent, I mean. She gets a bit distracted and off-track, but she seems to really know her stuff so I expect to learn lots in that class.

Anyway, that’s the haps, as the kids say. I’ve got to get myself together for Licensing now and the start of my long Tuesday.