The Great Mango Tree of Life
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Thursday, April 28, 2005
My exams are done! It's like the world was on hold for three weeks, and all of a sudden things are normal again. I'm still having trouble sleeping at normal hours, but staying up last night was fun because Firestarter was on tv. Today I got a bunch of OSCC stuff done, bought furniture (I'm going to have a Queen-sized bed!!!), listened to music, and just generally relaxed. I played some Sims, even. I have two days to pack and relax now, and then I move, which is pretty exciting. After that, insane month starts. :)
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Many of you will have heard by now that I am taking a vacation in May. At least, I think I am. Probably. See, my problem is this. I want to take a vacation for 5 days or a week to some place with something to learn, see, eat, and a museum and/or concert to go to. I was going to go in the middle of May, but then I had a dentist appointment and a book launch that I said I would go to. Then I was going to do it at the end of May, but now I found out that I am needed for a concert (plus 2 weekends of rehearsals). I would do it at the beginning of May, but that's the OSCC. I start work in June, and go right until school. Now I don't know what to do.
Oh, MT, please tell the parents that I have arranged for comp tickets for Sunday, and have fun with M&M. REMEMBER TO USE ALL CAPS. either that or no caps. and DON'T contradict ME on THE general LIST. :P
Sunday, April 17, 2005
If anyone is wondering why I haven't been posting much lately, it is because I am studying. I think I have studied more this year than I did for the whole of my non-law school history (including undergrad and highschool). I went to pick up the chairs I bought for my apartment on Friday (my first personally-paid-for furniture ever!) from a graduating law student who compared first-year finals to an endurance test. It's not that the material is hard, it is just that there is so much of it, and the exams are far to long to finish all the questions to the best of your ability. I wrote 21 pages in torts in 3 hours, and I wasn't being "wordy" by any stretch of the imagination. There were 12 major legal issues, 6 of which were negligence torts which require a 6-step test for each of them. (Duty, Standard of Care, Causation, Remoteness, Defences, Damages Assessment.) That works out to 42 legal rules, citing of authorities (cases and statutes), application to the facts and likely outcomes to write down in 3 hours. If you don't factor in time to read the question and think, that's 4 minutes per legal rule. We have been warned that the property exam will be longer than torts was.
Constitutional is next. I hope my concentration holds out for the whole exam period. It's a bit strained right now.
Big thanks to MotivatedTea for taking on my OSCC duties for the duration of exams. I would be more of a nervous wreck than I am right now if I had to deal with all of that, too.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
My criminal prof decided at the beginning of the year that he was going to award a few students with bonus participation marks for those people he felt were contributing in a meaningful way to the class. These marks would have the effect of increasing the student's grade by one point (ie. a B becomes a B+). I figured I was out of the running because I had a few health problems and a few general issues with some of the topics in class so, although I spoke out alot during some of the year, I wasn't consistent. I got the e-mail today saying that, despite that, he was giving me the bonus mark anyway!
This makes me very glad that I am taking his evidence course next year. I thought he would be disappointed with me for contributing less when he knew I probably still had stuff to say. Either I made a real impression with him when I did say things, or there just weren't enough people in his class to give the marks he promised to, so he had to resort to giving them to anyone he recognized. lol.
Monday, April 04, 2005
I'm sitting in the library with 15 minutes left before it closes when the lights go out. Everyone is saying things like "Who turned out the lights?", "I think the power went out.", and "Does anyone have a flashlight?" All I can think is "But I have two more books to read!" *grin* Picture me sitting in the stacks under an emergency light skimming through case indexes while people around me discuss emergency procedures and the fact that campus security has a busy signal (gee, I wonder why). I may not go to the library often, but is sure isn't boring when I do go!
In other news, the composition we premiered and recorded won the Juno! Guess what's going on my resume.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
April Fools was an interesting day. First, my crim prof convinced half the class that the final exam was going to be multiple choice. Then I went to the KSO concert, where we got our copy of next year's draft programme list. Here are some of the highlights:
Aug 14: Sheep May Safely Graze/All We Like Sheep/Worthy is the Lamb/It Took a Lamb/My Dear Shaggy Sheep.
Oct 23: Bach on a Budget: Wolf plays Bach's Complete Solo Cello Suites. Location: Street Corner TBA.
Nov 11: Guest Performers: Viennese Vegetable Orchestra (which, sadly, _does_ exist). Location: Loblaws Produce Section.
Nov 27: Guest Performers: K. Penitentiary Dance Troupe. Programme: Ballbreaker, on themes from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker.
Dec 31-Jan1: 36-hour Play-a-thon "I could have played all night" fundraiser concert.
Jan 21-?: Wagner's Ring Cycle (the whole thing, no overtime pay, no union breaks!!)
May 7: Cage 4:33 for orchestra, for trombone trio, for viola solo, for wind quintet, for string octet, for piccolo/gong/Wagner tuba/viola, for solo conductor, for interpretive dancer and clarinet, for audience members, for flute and bartender. Location: Cdn Tire Parking Lot.
I didn't do the whole list, because some were too long.*grin* Not the best way to get focussed before a concert, though! I think my favourite is "Bach on a Budget." And now I have another "orchestra story" to add to my collection.
