Another exciting Saturday night spent with my books.

I have the MPRE (Multi-state Professional Responsibilities Exam) coming up on November 7th. That is the first part of taking the Bar. They encourage students to take it as soon as possible after taking Professional Responsibilities, which I did over the summer, so here I am.

Unfortunately, I got my worst grade in law school in that course. The prof was quite useless and the exam was so horribly written, I knew that I had done poorly. The material isn’t that complicated and there are actually rules, which I never would have really understood from that class. That is, we looked at rules, but the prof spent most of his time talking about how in the real world you could work around them. He seemed fixated on never letting a client get away if you could possibly finagle a way of getting him/her. Lower your rates! Do whatever the client wants! Can’t let a dollar out of your grasp! Ugh.

So, I have been, essentially, teaching myself everything the prof didn’t teach us. For example, who knew there are questions about the rules for judges on the exam? No one in my class would have since the prof never mentioned that. Or that you can say you specialize in one kind of law (the prof said you can’t use the word “specialize” or its variants ever — I asked that question specifically — turns out that is an older interpretation of the rule that conflates two separate parts of the rule); however, you can’t say you are a certified specialist unless you have been certified by the appropriate body. Or that there are few restrictions on advertising (content) by lawyers (1st Am. rules; can’t be misleading, must include name and address), but solicitation is another beast entirely and is very restricted.

Lots of rules, lots of details, and lots of studying.

Add to that I want to read ahead so that I have time next weekend to enjoy the visit of John & Sammy. Yes, that means another Saturday night at home, in the books. Sigh.

I’m doing much better with my flu. In fact, I’m writing this from my usual hang-out on campus. First day back in classes.

The odd thing is that, in some ways, I feel worse. I had a bit of a runny nose, but no bad cough or congestion when I was sick-sick, but now I feel rather like a 300-lb angry Ukranian is giving me a bear hug. This seems to be the usual thing with the Oink (that’s what I’m calling it.. “the Oink”): after you are “better” you wheeze and hack and snot around for 2 weeks at least.

I’m using the neti pot regularly and taking my vitamins and drinking my ginger tea (although I do have coffee with me today), so I’m trying to flush the ick out asap, but still, it’s odd to have that post-nasal-y sore throat when, in fact, I am much better than I was. At least on the energy front. And my color is definitely better. And no more chills and, although my temperature is not completely normal for me (I run quite low when fully healthy) it is lower than it had been and technically “normal.”

I will say that I don’t think I’m at 100% mentally yet. I noticed when I was reading yesterday that I had some issues that slowed me down more than usual. Still, I could read, and that was pretty much impossible last week.

Oh, and the parking gods decided to cut me a break today. I got a place a block from my classroom building. While I have more energy and am feeling better, I’m sure by 5:20 this evening I will be wiped out. It will be lovely not to have to walk half a mile or more uphill, dragging the heavy bag, to get to my car.

I’m sick. I was really hoping that my feeling sloggy yesterday was just some environmental/stress thing, but no such luck. I’m down with chills, scratchy throat, cough, aches, a little queasy, and low fever. Oink? Probably. They are saying that if you get the flu in San Diego these days, it’s H1N1.

At least it explains why I was about to die walking the mountain last night with my friend JD. Usually he’s panting way before I am (last night he referred to my usual pace as “Nazi-death march-like,” which is a funny mix of WWII enemy imagery when you think about it)–not yesterday. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it to the crest, I was working so hard, and we were definitely going more slowly than usual.

Not sure if doing that walk was good or bad for the course of whatever I do have, but I’m sick now. I’m taking care of myself and drinking tons of liquids, etc., but I don’t like being sick, alone. I get nervous. C has kindly been texting me every so often to make sure I’m not dead, and that helps.

I reported my illness to my school as they are asking students to do that to track the absences. There are no “excused” absences in law school and if you miss too many classes, the ABA says you can’t get credit for the course. That is a concern, of course. Besides, I just hate missing classes. But I don’t need to be infecting everyone either, so I’m down for at least tomorrow. They ask you to wait at least 24 hours after breaking your fever before returning to class and, last time I checked, I was still running a low fever. So, early weekend.

Hope there are some great movies on TCM tomorrow. For now, more ginger/honey/lemon/hot water for me and back to bed.