checking up on the overachievers: part two, or, blogging the first day of second year

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6:00 a.m.: I got up this morning, had a bath (my new apartment doesn't have a shower curtain yet, so washing is strictly horizontal), ate the shitty one-sided first slice of a loaf of bread, and was on the subway at about 6:45. It takes under 4 minutes to walk from my apartment to the subway. It's a nice walk right now. In December it will be dark and blustery. But that can wait.

6:45 a.m.: One nice thing about getting up at such a horrendous hour is the subway is uncrowded and there's nobody on it you know. I was permitted to read in peace and didn't have to tell anyone about my summer --- they can read the blog --- or pretend to care about anyone else's.

7:30 a.m.: During the walk between the York Lanes bus stop and Osgoode Hall, I got that cold, tight feeling in my stomach and I felt like crying a little bit. I chose to interpret this as a sign that I am excited --- nay, thrilled, thrilled! to be back at school. In the foyer were a bunch of orientation leaders in rather attractive Osgoode soccer jerseys. Their excitement was non-sarcastic.

8:45 a.m.: My nerves diminished somewhat over the next hour and a half while I stood in line to purchase some books and a locker. These purchases set me back $313 and I am by no means finished. The staff were unwilling to let me buy a locker with an absent locker partner, but just as I was about to lose my spot in line, somebody else volunteered to share with me and screw over my proposed partner. Win-win for everyone! Except my original partner, she loses.

8:50 a.m.: I know no one here. How is this possible? I was here for a year, an interminable year! So far I've seen like ten people I recognize. One of them told me she was surprised that I had returned, given how much I hated first year. I wasn't aware this was common knowledge. I don't know how to feel knowing that some of my bile spilled over and affected another person's first year law school experience. I told her that I had resolved to quit if I didn't like my summer job, but that I had liked my summer job enough that I was willing to give it another shot. This was only partially true. It was my mother's idea that I should quit law school if I didn't like my summer job, and I only tacitly agreed. I don't like quitting, because Greens Do Not Quit, I Am An Army Of One, O'Doyle Rules, Mandelbaum, Mandelbaum, Mandelbaum, etc.

10:00 a.m.: The cafeteria at Osgoode has been "renovated". The walls have been painted a more lawyerly colour and the dated inspirational posters have been removed and replaced with nothing; now we're a lost cause. The Asian kitchen staff has been replaced with presumably a more agreeable Caucasian troupe. I feel bad for the old staff. I hope they found a better home, with windows and adequate ventilation. The coffee remains execrable, but the number of blends has been reduced from three to one, because obviously the problem with the coffee before was Choice.

10:35 a.m.: Shortly before it was scheduled to begin, I dropped out of Intensive Legal Research & Writing. If they're going to put Intensive right in the name, it's clearly not for me. I already know how to use QuickLaw, and, as someone pointed out to me earlier today, I am good at binding documents. Instead I'm taking Intellectual Property at 12:30 with the professor who last year gave me my best-albeit-still-mediocre mark.

12:00 p.m.: Tomatoes should be kept separate from bagels until the two are ready to be served.

12:30 p.m.: My IP prof is a deep bronze colour. I recall from first year Property class that she has a chalet in Italy. It appears she has made good use of it this summer. I know four people in this class by name, in a class of 40 or 50. My section was a quarter of last year's first-year class; this is a statistical anomaly.

12:50 p.m.: Dear God, did she just say we might be relocating downtown during construction of the Osgoode addition? Please let this be true.

1:05 p.m.: 15% of the mark for this class comes from "the blogging component". [Tim Allen sound!]

~

Conclusion, one week later: Second year is already less loathsome than first.  Even the individuals whom I found most unbearable last year now have a place in my heart, in large part because new, more annoying people have emerged to overshadow them. I haven't managed to get up at 6:00 a.m. since that first day, but I haven't missed any classes either, so things are looking up. As I anticipated, my Criminal Law-related courses are far more compelling to me than anything I've taken heretofore, but even the money stuff, Business Associations and I.P., don't make me want to hole-punch myself to death. At this stage I can even delude myself into believing that I may enjoy this term. Is it premature to say that New Model Will is being forged?

Likely.