Yay!

Dear Christine Harding Hart: We are indeed pleased to advise you that your name is being certified to the Alabama Supreme Court today as having successfully completed all of the requirements for admission to the Alabama State Bar. The Supreme Court of Alabama will mail a Certificate of Admission to you within a few days and you may begin the practice of law upon receipt of said Certificate. The formal Certificate of Admission will be presented to you at the Admission Ceremony to be held in the Montgomery Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, May 30, 2012. In order to participate in the ceremony, you must register with the Young Lawyers’ Section of the Alabama State Bar,http://www.alabamayls.org THIS IS THE ONLY NOTICE YOU WILL RECEIVE ABOUT YOUR BAR EXAMINATION RESULTS! CONGRATULATIONS on this most significant achievement! Sincerely, David G. Hymer, Chair Board of Bar Examiners

Done!

I felt okay, we'll see at the end of April if I passed. I got home around 7:15 last night from Montgomery, and Curtis and I went to a fun dinner. I'm taking my time this morning before going into work and jumping back into the fray, unpacking so that I can repack tomorrow for our firm retreat in Florida this weekend.

Kenny is very funny this morning - I think I'm going to keep him home from daycare today since I'm going in late, but when I woke up at 7:45, Kenny was in the den, sleeping on the futon, with the door almost closed, and has no interest in moving from there. He's just crashed.

happy leap day!


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Watching NASCAR, no joke

You may have heard that I'm a bit of a sports fan. Well, I was watching ESPN this afternoon in my hotel and had heard that the Daytona 500 had been postponed to tonight because of weather. I ended up turning it on since there was nothing else on, and after the nasty wreck during lap 2, I was hooked. I am a bit of a Danica Patrick fan, although unfortunately she was knocked out of the race in that first wreck, along with Jimmy Johnson (another recognizable driver) and later Jeff Gordon because of engine issues. (I probably sound like I know more than I actually do, I know who the popular drivers are, but I know absolutely nothing about racing, except that there is this whole pit stop thing where they get new tires and more gas - otherwise its all Greek)

Anyway it's about halfway done and I have to say that, southern accents of the commentators aside, will all the cameras on and inside the cars, the audio from the drivers, the sound of the cars going 195 mph, it is actually somewhat interesting to watch, and I've been pleasantly surprised. I might even watch until the end.

Anyway, in other news, I had the first part of the Alabama Bar today, 3 hours of Alabama Civil Procedure. It went okay, I felt like I had a good handle on the questions but we'll see. I took a nice nap today which helped me catch up on the 6 hours I got last night (I couldn't help myself, I had to see who won best actress). I had some delicious lunch from Dreamland BBQ, which is a block away from my hotel, and I've probably eaten more in the last three days than I've eaten in the past 2 months, but I'll deal with that on Wednesday.

After getting the lay of the land this morning, I realized that I don't have to get to the convention center as early tomorrow, so I'll get to sleep in. I forgot my earplugs, but I actually don't need them because there aren't very many people taking the exam and half of the people are handwriting it. Most of the people I've spoken with have already taken an exam in another state like me. Anyway, enough with the boring stuff, I'm looking forward to going home tomorrow night, back to NASCAR! (lol)


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Here we go again...

I'm settled in my hotel room in Montgomery, AL, after a 2 hr, 15 min trip up highway 65 from Mobile, to take the Alabama Bar Exam for the next two days.

I've had some notice that I would be doing this, in fact, I knew when I was taking the exam in CA that I would get this experience again, but it really didn't feel real until I packed up my stuff yesterday and today. And let me tell you, I hope this is it for me. There has been some suggestion that I take the Florida Bar, but I think I will wait at least a year, because this is really annoying.

Here's the schedule:
Tomorrow (Monday): 3 hour essay exam in the morning on Alabama Civil Procedure and Remedies
Tuesday: morning is the "Multistate Performance Test," for three hours, and the afternoon is the Multistate Essay Exam, for three hours.

I'll drive back to Mobile Tuesday evening and head back into work probably around 11 am on Wednesday.

In the meantime, I will be studying (I didn't have three months without work this time to prepare), watching a healthy share of tv (the oscars! The All star game! The NFL combine! All the weekend before the bar... :-/), enjoying a few days without makeup or dress clothes, and hopefully performing well enough to pass, so that I (maybe) never have to do this again.

Have a good week.

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Location:Montgomery, AL

Mardi Gras Ball(s)

We have been invited to one ball so far in Daphne.  We might go to another in Mobile that "everyone goes to."

(now that Wikipedia is available again, thank goodness, here's a good explanation of Mardi Gras in Mobile)

We're going easy on the Balls this year so we can enjoy the parades and I can pass the Alabama Bar Exam, which takes place one week after Mardi Gras Day, which is a holiday for my office (perhaps the start of Lent will make everyone solemn, creating a good last-minute study environment for yours truly).

I got my first Mardi Gras Ball gown in the mail yesterday.  Bought it from David's Bridal on Amazon for about $85, including shipping.  It's purple, and it fits. Yay :-)

(Now I just need to take it to the tailor to get 3 inches chopped off the bottom)

(And we need to rent Curtis' White Tie tux....)

(And I need Shoes...)

Have a good weekend!

11/18 I am thankful for...

Passing the California Bar Exam!




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Bar Results Tonight

Tonight at 8:00 my time in Alabama (6 PM California), I will find out if I passed the California Bar Exam.  If I passed, I will likely send an email out to close friends and family tonight, and probably even post on this blog.  If I failed, and it was all a complete waste of time and money (since I don't live in California anymore), I'm not sure how I will feel like getting the word out, but will probably post that by Monday.

I feel good about it, but as of tonight it won't matter how I'll feel, because I will know :-) I'm not going to lie, I am nervous, as hard as it is to pass that exam, and as many distractions as there were around that exam, my pride will be a little (okay a lot) hurt if I didn't pass.

If you're curious about other CA Bar-takers, the pass list goes public on Sunday morning. Info is here: http://members.calbar.ca.gov/exam/

(I am holding back my Thankful post today in case I get good news tonight)

Bar Wall

As part of my Bar Studying (and after Curtis flew to Alabama), I made posters for several Bar subjects, to try and help memorize. For fun, and to remember, here are pictures of the crazy :-)

Random Bar Notes

***** One night I missed having facebook and twitter to rant at (although I realized that being cut off like that made the stress level go up, so I took it back a few days before) so I started a draft blog to post after the bar to giggle at - here it is ******

 Here are my random thoughts during my time away from social networking and in Bar Land.

1. this is torture.
2. Law and Order: Criminal Intent has won the contest for my drug of choice.
3. Robert Goren is pretty awesome. Kinda sexy in that nerdy way.
4. I can't wait for football season in Alabama.
5. This new Blogger interface confuses the heck out of me.
6. This has become a sort of, how close to the edge of sanity are you willing to go in order to pass?
7. I don't really need to pass this exam, I won't be in CA for a least 3 years anyway (I tried to keep this one suppressed as much as possible)
8. How do people pass this?!
9. They should really use closed book exams more in law school.
10. Our womens world cup team is awesome!
11. Everything is starting to run together.
12. I love the ESPYs - and Serena Williams has an impressive booty.
13. Kenny has been so cute today.
14. These law and orders about killers with disabilities or mental illnesses are depressing.

Bar Exam Day 3

I'm finished!!

Not much to say about today, except that I slept better, and was able to get checked out of the hotel and ready in time to have some time to relax in the exam room.

The morning was pretty tough, but everyone thought it was tough, so I'm not worried about it anymore. The afternoon was pretty straightforward, so it was a nice way to end. No puking, as far as I know, although I heard that apparently I missed the multiple puking incidents on Tuesday morning because I was so focused on the exam questions.

All told, that was a tough experience, and I hope not to have to do it (in California) ever again.

Right after the exam, I jumped in the car and went to Tustin for a Camp meeting! Santa Ana District Senior High Camp starts this weekend, and I will be a counselor! I'm excited for a week in the wilderness, without a computer, and without BarBri books to look at! The fun has started!

Thank you again (really) for all of the well wishes. It really made this summer more pleasant.

Bar Exam Day 2

I'm tired!

Today was the Multistate Bar Exam, which is taken by everyone in the country on the same day. It is two sets of 100 multiple choice questions, 3 hours each. I was coming off a bad night of sleep, so by the last hour, I was totally ready to be done.

I splurged on a half burger and fries at lunch today, I was worried about an early afternoon food coma, but I needed a fun meal to raise my spirits. I definitely thought the exam was pretty tough today, but I think it'll be okay. Now I'm very nervous about tomorrow, but am thrilled that I'm almost done.

There was some gross excitement today when a girl threw up twice in the bathroom during the afternoon session. I couldn't tell if it was nerves or illness, but I could definitely hear it happening in the bathroom and it was pretty gross. But I felt for her, nausea is the worst. It made me grateful that I'm in good health this week and am not easily stressed.

Related to that, the people watching has been fun. There's a girl who has worn super high heels both days. There's a very pregnant woman taking the exam, who looks fab. And there's a girl who likes to wear sleeveless neon dresses over black sweatpants. Hopefully I haven't stuck out in a similar way.

Tonight me and the USC Ayres hotel crew (2 other guys from my big section from first year, same guys I had dinner with last night) went to cheesecake factory, and sat out on the patio - it was fabulous. It was great happy food, yummy mojito, BBQ ranch chicken salad, and white chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake :-) Now I'm watching big brother, and am going to try to study a little bit and get to sleep early, I have to check out of the hotel early tomorrow.

After the exam tomorrow I'm hoping to go to the camp staff BBQ, and try to get to Nordstrom to get a post bar new pair of sunglasses for my fun month of August!

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Bar Exam Day 1

Today went as well as could be expected. 2 days to go!

I got a decent 7 hours of sleep last night, hoping for 8 tonight. [update: could not calm my mind to sleep last night, got 5.5 hours, hoping for more for day 3] The hotel that I'm staying at in Ontario is really nice, and is a 5 minute walk from the convention center. I have a nice space with a couch and a coffee table, and a bar with a microwave, sink, and refrigerator so I have more food here than I could possibly need.

It turns out that there are a handful of people from USC taking it here. I am even sitting next to, and in front of people from my old I-L section. And there are two people from that section that are staying at the same hotel, so we had breakfast in the hotel together, and dinner out at The Olive Garden (I got chicken and tried not to go too carb-crazy on the breadsticks and capellini).

Computer worked exactly as it should today, I won't need it again until Thursday. There are about 1400 people taking it here all in the same room (wish I could get pictures!), and it looks like I was the first person to sign up at this location, because I have the lowest application number and am sitting in the left front corner. I'm right next to the bathroom and water fountain, which is great. We also have a really nice proctor (each proctor has about 30 test takers) that has worked this a few times before, already knows all our names and is constantly smiling :-)

The exam itself went well, without going into more detail, I was happy with my performance. Other than some nerves in the morning and some fatigue in the afternoon I felt good. I think more than anything I'm really happy that I'm finally taking it and that I can soon put it behind me.

I've gotten a ton of wonderful well wishes the last few days, they are really boosting my spirits, so thank you, so much!

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Please blog!

I'm enjoying your blog posts while sequestered in Ontario. Please continue posting this week!

Just finished part 1 of 6 of the exam, going back now for the afternoon session. So far, so good :-)

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Until the 28th...

Today marks a final disconnection from the outside world until July 28th. I have deactivated Facebook, and changed the passwords for both Facebook and Twitter to something too complicated to remember. I am creating a "forbidden" file on my iPad.

I'm a little worried that I won't memorize enough in time, so I'm giving myself the best possible chance to avoid distractions. I will probably turn off the internet on my computer for extended periods of time as well.

So, obviously this will be my last blog post. I will likely keep my workout journal up to date, but other than that, I shouldn't be blogging. Curtis, however, is planning to become more active on Facebook and our family blog so that he can convey his impressions of Alabama.

Have a wonderful July! And, if you remember, please send up a nice thought on my behalf sometime from July 25-28th. This process is almost over :-).

Bar Studying - The Plan, Part I

Bar Study Starts Monday, May 16! Let's look at what I've already thought about:

I will definitely give up: Facebook and Blog Stalking
That's right, I will be disabling my Facebook from mid-May to the end of July. Partly because I've grown bored with it, and so it does waste my time. But, as you see below, I will stay on Twitter. Blog stalking is much more interesting than Facebook, but it doesn't really matter in my life and does take up some time, so I'll have to resist that temptation.

I will likely ration: my television consumption
The good thing is most of my shows aren't on during the summer anyway, and I haven't been watching that much TV lately anyway. But I'll probably eliminate Reality TV and just watch some Sports, like the NBA playoffs (although the Lakers and Celtics are making it easy for me right now, both down 0-2 in their respective conference semi-finals...ugh!)

For the sake of sanity, I will keep: Twitter.
I love Twitter b/c it's an efficient way for me to stay connected w/ the outside world. I think Twitter will be a useful tool during this time.

Subsequent parts will look at study schedules, plans to maintain a good amount of sleep and fitness, what I need to actually take the exam at the end of July (like a new computer?) and what to do about Kenny on days that I have class in LA all day.