Ted Rodriguez
Age: 27
Undergraduate major: Psychology
Hometown: Houston, TX
Status: Full-Time Day
Email: tsrodriguez@mail.txwes.eduDear Diary,
4/18/08 - Well my readers, this is the last official blog you will ever see from me. It has been a pleasure to share my experiences as a 1L. It has been a rough year, and I can say unequivocally that I am glad it is over. I am happy I did it, but I never want to do it again. Most of my professors were top notch, although I sadly still can’t write properly, or so I have been told.
I learned a number of things. I learned it is better to be volun-told then to volunteer. I learned that teachers will respond in a smart-alek way to smart-alek questions (none asked by me thankfully). Lastly, I learned that when 100+ people are typing at once, it sounds like a pack of dogs running on a marble floor.
As I sit here writing my last blog I am wracking my brain to say something deep and meaningful to end on. All I can come up with is law spelled backwards is Wal. As in, studying for the LSAT makes you want to bang your head against a wal. Writing your first memo makes you want to throw your Blue Book through the wal. Some day during one of your finals you will hit a mental wal. Lastly, once you are done, you will be a member of the Wesleyan Alumni Legions.
Wish me luck on my finals.
4/11/08 - Trial Briefs are in. We turned them in last week, and boy, am I glad that is over. This week we had our oral arguments. Since we have never had any training on this, it was an experience. For the most part, people did well. Overall, I am glad that we are finally totally done with the trial brief. No more writing assignments ‘till next year. Now is the time for buckling down and studying for finals, and beyond.
I would personally like to try and get a job at a law firm; even if the pay is slave wages or less, but I am not sure what options are available to a 1L.
On Wednesday we studied poetry in Crim Law. Not sure why, and have no reason putting this in the blog other then the professor asked me too. Hi Professor Ayers! *wave*.
4/4/08 - So, this Tuesday the school was eaten by radioactive abstractly advanced alien space bats (RAAAsb). April Fools! In all honesty though, don't send a text to your friend saying you are in the hospital with a collapsed lung unless you are very quick with the next text that says "April Fools!" Poor B learned that the hard way when J tried to collapse his lung for real when she found out. It was only his ninja skills that saved him from a fate slightly better then death.
This week, our trial briefs were due. "That's all I got ta’ say about that." -Forest Gump.
To those of you who are coming to the meet and greet at the law school this Friday expressly to see me…ahh…for those of you coming to the law school for the meet and greet and would not mind seeing me on the panel, sadly I will not be there, and I know this is a run on sentence but I am all edited out this week. I will not be there because my Cousin R is getting married in Austin this weekend. I would have loved to do it, but I will see you all next semester (or the next meet and greet, whatever comes first).
3/28/08 - With the first trial brief due next week, most of my energy has gone toward that. As a result, I am going to punt, and post a blog I wrote last week, that didn’t get posted due to a holiday.
So, last week I wrote…
It was a cold and stormy afternoon when it was brought to my writing class’s attention that we were manifestly incapable of writing properly. Let me tell you, after that speech we were all super exited about turning in our trial brief in a few weeks. It was very, ahh, inspirational.
In our crim law class we have successfully destroyed the despot that rules our lives. Great rejoicing was had at the destruction of the clock. Its face will no longer leer at us from its lofty perch on the wall. In all actuality, the clock is broken through no malice of ours. Although, I would like to point out that our contracts teacher was the last to touch it…
Civil procedure was a blast as well this week. We have been covering the Erie doctrine. The Erie doctrine is good stuff. It compels the federal justices to…never mind, I would assume that you either know or don’t care, but trust me, it is good stuff. If you don’t know, and do care, look up
Erie Railroad v. Tompkins.
All the other stuff pales though compared to my next news. I got a cat last week (spring break); pictures available upon request.
3/7/08 - It has been a great week. The professors have been vitalized by the idea of the spring break, and the classes have been great. There is a feeling of freedom now that nothing is immediately due except a simple research assignment in legal writing. Now we have the brief due in the next few weeks, and there is plenty of time to freak out about that later.
Some points of interest – we have learned that at least one person uses the Internet during Contracts, and specifically that “[They] have mail.” We also know that that person forgot to turn off their sound.
I would like to inform those of you who care about such things that C is now the “smartest woman in the world”, which is an honorary title given to those who see the stunningly obvious answers to the problems that we are all trying to over-think and over-analyze.
Take care ‘till next week, and if you are geographically close to me, stay safe and snug. In Fort Worth it is sleeting and slushing, and to BW, sorry about the snowball to the face.
2/29/08 - Class this week was a blast. I think the teachers are as excited as the students over the upcoming spring break. That’s right folks; spring break is only a week away. In contracts the prof was amusing as we went over the cases, and even our legal writing prof perked up, although if that is due to spring break or just because he likes statutes we will never know.
At least my section did not have any major projects due this week, so it was a relaxing week; all we had to do was read. That last sentence blew my mind; when I started law school the reading seemed oppressive in the extreme. Now ‘just’ reading is almost like a day off. Well, no more days off, we got our stuff for the brief that is due in five weeks.
On a more important topic, I hope to relax, sleep late, and possibly visit friends and family in Houston, but with this brief I am not sure I will be able to find the chunk of time. Last, I would like to say “Happy Birthday” to B, who has turned 20-something for the ninth year running.
2/22/08 - Bad blog Writer, BAD. I had some family come up and visit and totally forgot about the blog. It was nice though. My stepfather came up, and we all had dinner with my brother and his wife. It was very enjoyable and a great cool-down from school. I can complain to my brother about school and teachers and he gets it because he is an alum from Tex Wes. I want to say hi to my Mom. She could not be in Dallas when we got together because we have a neurotic, antisocial, and foul-tempered cat, whom I like to make up fake hereditary titles for, that needed looking after. Example: Lord Boofuz von Davis, lord of the furred bottom.
We had the mid-term in Criminal Law this week; it was not as bad as it could have been, but not as easy as I would have hoped. And of course, we are still arguing about who got what question right in my study group. But we are not arguing loudly, or in front of the people who were not in class.
In addition to the mid-term in crim law, we had a practice problem in property. Now, aside from my liking property anyhow, the problem was for a grade, and all you had to do was show up to class. So to recap: fun class, completion grade, AND good practice, and there were still people who missed the class. Well, no accounting.
2/15/08 - The best way to get rid of a cold is to give it away. My class will agree that I have been very generous.
So, Memo number three was due this last Tuesday. I am sure that the general rule with sequels will hold true (more blood and less plot then the original). Since the memo was due, the entire 1L class has been walking around like they didn’t sleep this last weekend. On an unrelated note, I was working on the memo all last weekend and didn’t sleep.
Big deal with the 1Ls; in Crim Law next week, we will have (I have been told) the first mid-term in 1L history. We are all looking forward to a nice restful weekend like we had last weekend.
To all (or any) of my readers: I hope you had a good Valentine’s Day. I hope no one else was attacked by a giant stuffed horse firing Silly String this year.
2/8/08 - Spring comes our memo
Panic and chaos rule all
Write, sleep comes later.
2/1/08 - *cough* *hack* *urk* *wheezzzee* *gasp*
The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I am still sick, but I think I am getting better. Over the weeks, I have gotten good advice, and less good advice (at least the watermelon juice was good), but I got the best advice ever in class on Monday. My classmates told me to try cough drops. Now, I know most of you have never heard of these, so I will explain. A cough drop is a little thing that looks like a candy, and tastes like a candy, and works by primarily distracting you from the fact that you are coughing. What a revelation, and such wonderful timing to shout that to me in the middle of class.
This week we had the last research class. These classes were fascinating in how they showed us how to use the online legal databases. Now that those classes are over, the work on the memo can begin in earnest. On a less fun note, we have gotten ICW homework again. ICW is instruction on how lawyers write in such a way as to make what they write illegible to the population at large. Seriously though, I understand the need. I just don’t have to enjoy doing it.
1/25/08 - So, it has been an exciting week. We had Monday off, so it was late sleeping all around. Coming back on Tuesday, I got to park at the farthest parking space from the school that was still in a student lot. Also, I am sure you all care about my health (makes me happy to pretend), so I will provide an update. I am still sick; the pool going around my section is that I have the plague. At my brother’s instruction, I acquired some watermelon juice. According to my brother, watermelon juice is a cross between the water of life, ambrosia, and a magical healing elixir. So it was with high hopes that I made a special trip to the store to get some…I am still sick.
On the school front, I think the teachers from the first semester are warming to us. They seem to enjoy themselves, and are more, err, ‘playful’ with those ‘lucky’ people who are in the hot seat. Sadly, my illness has made it impossible for me to participate actively in class. I was even called on in contracts and was unable to answer due to a lack of voice. This is frustrating for me, because I have at times been accused of having diarrhea of the mouth. Well, it is all gathering for when I feel better, and get my full voice back. Then, I too will be among those squirming in the hot seat, with those sitting near me cowering in fear that they too will be brought in to answer questions I get stuck on.
Cheers till next week.
1/18/08 - So, I am still sick, but I will not dwell on that. On a totally unrelated topic, it seems that about two to three of the people who sit around me in class are feeling poorly – weird, don’t you think?
This week has not been too bad. We have been given our first assignment in legal writing for this semester, and it seems like a doozy. In preparation for it, we are actually being given four classes on how to research.
I would like to give my best to my Civ Pro teacher for making the world a better place through his selfless act of working
pro bono to represent his client. He is giving all lawyers a better reputation, and almost as importantly, allowed me to sleep late since his is the first class on Thursday.
To CC, I hope you feel better, and if I made you sick, you have my permission to take your aggravation out on either B.
1/11/08 - Well, they let me back. I would like to say hi to those people that sent me e-mails over the break; it is always nice to know people care about what you write.
So, down to news. This holiday season I lost something dear to me, my hat. I got this hat my very first year in undergrad nearly eight years ago. Now, seeing as how I am a hat person by nature this was a devastating blow to me. What’s worse is that I know I am going to have a hard time replacing it, not just in my heart, but on my head. After trying on a myriad of other hats, I have come to understand that I have a big head. Now, I like to think the size of my head is due to all the knowledge in it, but others have suggested the contents to be hot-air or even less savory things (I do have brown eyes).
Current events: I am sick. My body has been doing battle with being sick the majority of the break, and about three days before school restarted it finally gave up the ghost and as a result, I am sick. I have about five prescriptions from my doctor and am just trying to keep on keeping on.
On the school front, it is nice to see my study group again. We were able, once again, to all sit in about the same place as last semester, so that made us happy. We only have one new class/teacher and we only lost one class/teacher. So torts is going on the back burner, and on we go to criminal law.
11/30/07 - You know, at least there is nothing of any great importance going on in school. I mean, law school is a breeze and once you take the required number of classes they just give you your license, right? -whispered voices- WHAT! You mean there are tests, when are these tests? -whispered voices- The first one is MONDAY!
Enter panic mode sub threshold level five. This is the time. Thank you to all the people who have helped me with tough love, and genuine support. I feel good about the final (as good as I can feel about a single test worth 100 percent-ish of my grade). I am looking forward to taking the tests, the looming fear is worse than the actual. We had the citation exam earlier this week, and where it was not such an OH-MY-GOD test, I feel I did well and it really helped my confidence.
To my readers (all five or six of you, Hi Sweetness) I will see you next semester.
11/20/07 -
MMMMMMM……
Tryptophan
Happy Turkey Day.
11/16/07 - I think some of us in property are getting slap-happy. We are working on various types of future interest. Keep in mind, any capital letter is a person alive at the time of the grant. I was talking to one of my friends after the class on Tuesday and we have come up with a shirt we really want to have made:
O to A for life, ...
A is immortal.
I can just imagine people following me around wondering why all the lawyers are laughing.
On a sad note, we lost one of my study group. He had to withdraw for medical reasons. His withdrawal was not unexpected, but was still depressing. It is in my nature to find the humor in everything, and even this situation can be funny. Think about it this way:
We are graded on a curve,
We are ranked against each other.
Just imagine how badly he is going to mess up the curve after having already attending 13 weeks of the first semester when he comes back. Here is some direct advice for those of you reading this who are planning on coming in with the next batch of 1Ls. FIND THIS PERSON – he is who you want in your study group.
11/9/07 - When all the world is falling down around your ears. When you have nothing to look forward to. When up is down, and black is white, and you feel that you can no longer count on anything, just remember: there will be pizza. That’s right, pizza is the key. Every seminar or special speaker the law school hosts also plays host to a host of pizza. Even better, there are seminars or speakers almost every day.
On to the business at hand. My contracts professor uttered the funniest phrase any teacher has possibly ever said. He asked some of the class how [unhappy] we were. He had forgotten to pass the roll sheet around ‘till the last five minutes of class, (bear in mind it takes about 20 minutes for it to go around). He did right by us though. He stayed the entire time, about 10 minutes after class, and when the roll was almost through he said “how [unhappy] are you all right now?” It was an instant classic.
The secret, I have found, to a successful time at law school, is to have a strong supportive family and peer group who are willing to, in some cases, drive five hours to comfort you in your time of need, and threaten to break your legs if it looks like you are slacking off…I’m working hard, I swear.
11/2/07 - Law school is surreal. I know that we had a practice test in property, and the memo was due, and we even had Jack Sparrow show up in class, but it does not FEEL like I have been in class. It just feels like an unconnected series of events that I just happened to participate in. Writing this on Thursday I almost want to say that yesterday was Sunday. As a side note to that, we learned that a grown man walking into class dressed as Jack Sparrow, eye liner and all, was sufficient enough to stop the contracts professor for a good five minutes. Let that be a lesson to all you aspiring 1Ls; if you’re going to be late for class, eye liner, a bandanna on your head, and pirate clothes are the way to not get into trouble.
Upon discussion with B on the Tort’s practice test, we have decided that yes, Judge Learned Hand can in fact do whatever he wants because he is freaking Judge LEARNED HAND.
We had no legal writing this last Tuesday. Instead the school hosted oral arguments. That was really cool to see. The lawyers who came to speak before the justices probably didn’t know what exactly they were in for. I think the first speaker had some bad stage fright to start with, but all the speakers did a great job with showing us how these oral arguments are done. As a result though, we get to go to class again on Friday. Let me tell you, I love coming to class…nah, I really don’t like coming to class on Fridays, but such is the life of a 1L.
10/26/07 - It has come to my attention that literally tens of people read my blog (hi Mom) and this makes me smile. In addition, these people help me come up with ideas for what to write about. One of my researchers named B (oh, in law school any capital letters all by themselves stand for a person, and by researcher, I mean a fellow 1L) informed me that on Tuesday there was no parking to be had. Apparently the convention center was, wonder upon wonders, having a convention. Now, the reason a 1L, or any Texas Wesleyan student should care is because these convention goers decided to park in the student lots. The farthest I heard of someone parking was five blocks away. I was able to avoid this problem through a misheard alarm, and what I am sure was a fold in the space-time continuum. Basically, I thought I heard my alarm and went to school an hour and a half prior to class thinking class started at 9 a.m. as opposed to 10:30 a.m. I think I am going to stick with fold-in-time theory, because I know I heard my alarm.
Last week we had a torts practice exam and somehow (possibly black magic) the exams were graded and we were able to go over them in my academic support section. Even better, I did okay on the test. As I was going over my test (which was in the form of an essay) and it was not swimming in a sea of red ink (the corrections were made in blue, but it wasn’t swimming in a sea of blue ink either), and some of the comments were even positive comments as opposed to corrective. With another week finished, on to the weekend where I plan to sleep late, and have nothing to do with school (anyone believe me?).
10/19/07 - Life in the hot seat. For those of you who are not hip to the 1L jargon, the “hot seat” is when the professor calls on you to break down a case. This is generally a long and painful process (for the student, professor, and class at large) that can take as much time as needed for the professor to reach the point that they are digging for. My time in the hot seat for Torts was this Wednesday, and no there was no warning. I think I carried myself well when I got called on. I liken my performance to that of Napoleon; I started strong and ended exiled on an island. Let this be a lesson to all you newbie law students. Reading the case is not enough, you need to brief them. Now, generally I do, but the other huge thing that happened this week was that memo one was due. Memo one is like taking all the normal homework, tests, quizzes, from the last nine weeks and making them into one assignment. No pressure, right?
My plans for this weekend are to sleep and relax. For those of you who read this blog, you know that sleeping might well be my plan, but it isn’t going to happen. I need to catch up on my outlining, my reading, and get ready to do another set of online ICW tests (ICW tell us how to write like a lawyer and not like a normal person, very important).
10/12/07 - SO, the panic starts to set in. With practice tests, make-up days, skipping academic support for the make-up days, then making up the days that had to be skipped because of other makeup days. Add in the hours spent communing in the library with other harried students fighting for reading time on one of the six books that hold a little bit of the information we needed. Oh hey, did I mention the Memo assignment that isn’t life or death (or so I have been told) that is due on Tuesday of next week?
The best part of this week, the nicest thing done for my class this semester, was a gift from our contracts teacher. He gave us a practice test, and it was good. I don’t mean we DID good, because I doubt any of us did very good overall, but I mean “good” in so much as it was a good experience. It was good to see what the test would be like. It was good to get experience and to realize that these are do-able.
If those of you reading this (assuming anyone is) are not yet in school, let me leave you this bit of advice: Do any practice test you have the option for. If you must get up off your sickbed, or be wheeled into class still in bed, don’t miss it.
10/5/07 - Law school does strange things to people. My study group decided a little fun was in order, so starting Tuesday we decided to make this week Dress-up Week. Tuesday was sports jersey day. That was not too bad, but not everyone came dressed up. Wednesday was formal day and that went very well. My group showed up dressed to kill. I think the most fun was Thursday. Thursday was gangster (pronounced gan-ST-aa). Sagging pants, bling-bling, do-rags and even sideways ball caps were in evidence. As ridiculous as this sounds, it was a great way to decompress a little and have some fun in school.
Law school isn’t easier but there is some comfort in the routine. By now most 1L’s know what is required of them, and can plan for it. This means we get less stressed, but still no sleep. Hey, but who needs sleep? I can sleep when I gradu… when I pass the bar, ah…when I retire. That’s it. I’ll catch up on sleep when I retire.
9/28/07 - So, when thinking about what to write about this week I was coming up blank. As a result, I set about polling other classmates what they thought was noteworthy about this week. Most people agree that rule 2-207 is not any fun.
Some advice to the non-lawyers reading this: just remember that if someone comes to your house for their own benefit and falls down the stairs because “someone” hit some of the stairs with a hammer, just be sure you are able to prove to the court that you didn’t know it was damaged.
The biggest news, ironically about the smallest physical thing, is that my property teacher once more appears in my blog. I would like to congratulate my property teacher for doing his part for bringing more lawyers into the world. I am sure the school is already making plans to admit his son to Texas Wesleyan sometime around 2029.
9/21/07 - Law school is hard. As I pause for the one percent of you who are surprised by that, I can’t help but think about the Texas Wesleyan students who are, for lack of a better description, hard core. Early in the week, one of my classmates came in, tears in her eyes, suffering from what I can only assume is a science fiction movie level of pain. Apparently all four of her wisdom teeth are coming in, and some of them are impacted. I think we can all agree that Shamaila is in fact hard core.
We turned in our first memo assignment on Tuesday, our first assignment ever. Let me tell you, there is no anxiety quite like a “1L turning in an assignment” anxiety. We have so few grades, that every one is a golden opportunity. I think I did well, and am not looking forward to getting it back. As a first shot at memo writing, I expect the professor to write nearly as much as I did on my memo. One step closer to using my powers for good not evil regardless of what my property teacher thinks (he does not really think that, it’s another inside joke).
Disclaimer: If you want to know about this, or any other inside joke feel free to e-mail me.
9/14/07 - Good times, good times. So this week we had another library assignment due, as well as the first three Blue Book exercises. For those of you not in the know, the Blue Book is an invention designed to make a 1L’s life hard and ultimately teach us how to write in such a way as to be totally incomprehensible to the public at large.
On another note, let’s assume that Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Assuming that the peppers were not Peter Piper’s previously, then Piper must prove that the peppers were previously abandoned by their prior proprietor. If it can be proven that the prior proprietor of said peppers has a policy to abandon un-picked peppers, then Piper is free to pick the peppers.
As you may have guessed, we are studying acquisition by find this week in property.
9/7/07 - ‘They’ (the Horde of Ecumenical Yodelers ~ Pinky and the Brain) say that you will start neglecting your friends and family in favor of law school. Sadly, I had this problem this Labor Day. Due to my procrastination, I was stuck doing reading assignments and I had to cancel plans to go to my brother’s new house for Labor Day. I am not sure Corbin will ever speak to me again. On the up side, Corbin is a dog and us not being on speaking terms does not hurt our relationship at all.
On the school front, my writing section is looking forward to a super-exciting trip to campus on Friday for a make-up class. I have it on good authority that only the cool 1Ls get to go to class on Friday.
8/31/07 – I can feel my sleep schedule changing from late night/ late morning, to early night/ early morning; it is not a pleasant feeling. This change is not as smooth as I would have liked, and as a result, my body is getting used to less sleep, and to quote Men in Black “you’ll get used to it or have a psychotic episode,” (Zed).
I am also getting a better idea of what is expected of me (any professors reading this, please don’t send me a curve ball), and I can even get a parking space most days. Once this week I overslept. I woke up, looked at the clock, read 9:30 a.m., and PANICKED. I threw on some clothes, forgot to make my lunch, skipped shaving, hopped in my car, and took off toward campus. I tried three different meters that didn’t work before I finally found a functional one, and at last made it to class at five after ten, SURE that I was going to get destroyed. Imagine how ‘happy’ I was when I realized that class didn’t start ‘till 10:30 a.m. and not 10:00 a.m. like I thought. (Now to see a doctor about my blood pressure.)
8/24/07 - A deer in the headlights never had it so good.
My birthday was the first day of class, and I must say, class starting was a great gift. No joke, for the last year all I have heard is horror stories about the first year of law school. Now that class has started I have come to the understanding that whether law school is as hard as everyone says is, you’re too busy to notice or care.
So far, I have made it to every class on time and prepared, and I have even once this week been able to get a parking space in the parking lots. I am looking forward to a weekend of partying (edit, reading), staying up late playing games (edit, reading), and sleeping late into the day (edit, getting up early and reading). With many more fun weekends to come in the next three years.
The most important thing I have learned is that in the 18th century the most offensive beast known to man in New England was the deadly and cunning cat-FOX (inside joke, but you can get the context in Pierson v Post). But whatever you do, don't trust in a beagle to do a hound's job.