Kaulapi World

2 Finals down, 2 to go. Well, one more final, and a paper, same smell more or less. The nature of the study of law has blurred the intensity of test prep and papers that I don’t know which one I prefer anymore. Once upon a time I used to enjoy writing papers, even the more challenging and academic ones. Now it seems like its such a labor intensive and detail oriented process that seems like a mountain of work before you start and it just keeps piling on and on. Don’t get me wrong, I really do enjoy doing all this research, I find it very insightful and enlightening, its just that with a full 8-6 work schedule, after three or so years now I actually have begun to value sleep and downtime as a valuable commodity as well as education.

This exam was definitely a tough one. I could tell partly by the questions and the format itself, have to give props to my prof for designing a challenging final exam. Also I noticed that only 1 or 2 of my classmates left before the 3.5 hours time was up, that is out of at least 60 of us in the class. Also hardly anyone decided to take a piss break. This may seem like a trivial point, but when you’re really hunkered down in cranking out some legal IRAC analysis you just hold that shi-shi for the love of god, your grade depends on it. Unfortunately for me I was drinking Pepsi max the whole time so about 3.1 hours in I had to give in and take a whiz break. The look on some of my classmates as I was walking out the door was a mixture of irritation to sheer panic, maybe because they thought for a moment, I’m sure, that I was done already.

Without sounding like a broken record from a few days ago, I have no idea how I did, other than I was able to make what I think was a good hard effort and it more or less reflected that I went to just about every class and was pretty good about keeping up with the reading, which believe me is a feat in itself, going at night. I can also say that I enjoyed the class overall, and learned quite a bit. That means I’ll probably get a C or a B. Oh well. Again the curve seems to maybe be in my favor, I wasn’t the only one who thought it was a tough exam. Oh well, that all pau, on to the next exam.

Strange/insightful dream again last night, it seems like during my finals prep my subconscious is especially active nocturnally. This dream I was visiting Madison, Wisconsin, on either some kind of fellowship or sabbatical. I had become some kind of academic professor of law or something like that and I was visiting my old alma mater. I went to the union and noticed a bunch of changes to the layout and the old haunts I used to frequent many years ago. Out of sheer coincidence, I learned that Akiko was in town as well, visiting from Japan, and I was in touch with her over phone and blackberry to meet up later that evening. To kill time in the meantime, I went walking along lake mendota, which now had become a rough lake, with waves crashing on the shoreline. I thought to myself that it reminded me a lot like Hawaii, and noticed the amount of sand that had accumulated on what used to be the Union terrace. The water was green and dirty looking, churning with microbiotic life, yet there were a lot of people jumping in, playing in the water.

Thanksgiving break this week, and of course I’m pretty swamped with work and school coming up towards the end of the semester. I just realized that this is the first year since I started night school that I’ve actually been in town for turkeyday. The last two years I spent thanksgiving in Vegas of all places. Have to say that it was a fun distraction from business as usual.

Busy stretch for work, I think in my few years in the workforce I’ve learned quite a bit about the inner workings of agencies and the ongoing dance between the various power players that drive the process. I got a kick out of reading the list of the various types of professions that are supposedly a good and/or bad match, based on my myers-brigg temperment, which is still a solid ENTP.  The P to J deviation is not nearly as prevalent as before.

On a more somber note, I got news recently that one of my mentors from Madison recently lost an ongoing bout with cancer this past week. I had heard that she was going through a rough time earlier this year which in part lead to her decision that it was time to retire. She was definitely the type of person you just feel fortunate and blessed to have met, one to hold up as an example of a kind and caring human being that we should all strive to being. She always had a moment to spare for the random student who stopped by the office, whether you were a sleep deprived graduate student, or naive freshman in the first week of college. I remember seeing so many students go from timid and apprehensive to being visibly more comfortable being around her even for a moment.

She was a dedicated civil servant, one that broke the stereotype of lazy government workers, even towards the end of her career in an academic program that ranked low on the priority of the ivory tower food chain. I was very impressed with how seriously she took her position, and the amount of passion and zeal that she put into making do with what little resources she was given. It was her personality and presence that drew students, myself included, to volunteer their time to help the program out. She made it very easy to want to help and more importantly, to get involved and in to learn in the process.

She was a mentor, a friend, a teacher, counselor, and spiritual guide to everyone that stopped by that office, whether they stayed for tea, or went on their way and never came back. I especially remember her sheer strength of her spirit during her chemotherapy and her ability to keep a sense of humor, everything from the silly hats during the wintertime. I will always remember her laughter and a broad smile accompanying her occasional serving of brutally honest, real world advice, much of which I have found on point years after I left Madison. I am a believer of the saying that we are all the sum of the people we have met in life, and in living life to the fullest you honor their wisdom and spirit after they have moved on.

Linkes 11/20/2007
Primo making a comeback
Political psychology and Ron Paul
Myers Brigg Rationals ENTP
Ongoing battle between TSA and GAO
Can you imagine being $500,000 in student loan debt?
7 Saving Tips and all that fun stuff
American Lawbreaking and Prosecutorial discretion
Cargill recall listing moo, cow
Seg fees continue to increase and increase
Polling the leaning
Empire of Debt unraveling or crashing

Busy days continue, but I did have a chance to answer a Sociology Survey I got via email. Thought it would be worth posting the questions/responses.
Sociology Alumni Survey - So what did you do with a sociology major? We know that our majors go on to do many different things with their lives. We’d love to hear from you about what you have done, and how your education in sociology might have affected you. The whole survey includes four open-ended questions (your answers can be as long or short as you want) and a couple of short information questions. We are interested in hearing from you to help us improve our program. Optionally, please give us your contact information if you want to get our newsletter a few times a year. You will NOT be getting a lot of junk mail from us, nor will we share your information with others.

Linkes 10/10/2007:
Book of sadness
Facebook stalking new college pasttime
Ann Telnaes: Cartoons
Greco Weightclasses light to middle to heavy
Whats in a score anyway?