I bought a Macbook Pro prior this past August, prior to my first semester of law school. Previously, I was using a Dell Inspiron 5100 I purchased four years prior, which gave me no problems, but was a bit slow and getting to be past its prime. I figured it was time for a new computer, so after a lot of consideration, I decided to buy the Macbook Pro.

The first and second computers my family ever owned were Macs, but there was simply no good software out there for Macs at the time so we switched to a PC. But over the past couple years, I noticed more and more people switching to Macs, so I became curious. One thing led to another, and I spent a lot of money to get the shiny thing I’m typing on right now.

Looking around at my law school classmates today, I notice a lot of people have switched to Macs, even during the semester. One day when I was working in the library, one of my friends asked me about whether or not I liked my computer. She said she was having trouble with hers, and wanted to buy a new computer. A few days later, she had a Mac. Similar situations have occurred with other friends.

Last night was the end of my first semester of law school.  For the next two and a half weeks, I don’t have class, which is absolutely fantastic.  I can really use a break right now.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m really enjoying law school.  My torts class in particular was undoubtably the most invigorating class I’ve ever taken.  I actually really looked forward to going to class every day, and lectures really put me on the edge of my seat (partially out of fear of being called on).

However, the challenge of law school is like something I have never experienced before.  It’s not necessarily because it is “impossible,” or “too much work.”  Certainly, it’s too much work.  However, the part that really made law school difficult was the fact that it’s so difficult to ever be sure of yourself.   First, you’re unsure of yourself because your grade is entirely determined by how well you do relative to the rest of the class.  Thus, when everyone talks about how much they’ve been studying, it can be disconcerting.

It’s interesting how law school can suck you in.  I think I’ve posted twice on this blog since the fall semester began, and ironically I’m posting now just before finals.  I told myself that I would maintain balance in my life during school and keep posting on gimme-five to allow myself to breathe.  Well, I’ve kept some balance but gimme-five has not received much attention.

Law School is very, very different from undergrad.  For one, there’s a CURVE.  The average grade for every class must be a B-.  Thus, you can look at things in two ways.  One: you are graded based on how well you do relative to everyone else.  This is the optimist or autonomy view.  Two: you are graded based on how well everyone else does compared to you.  This is the view of the out-of-control pessimist.  I need to stop thinking like the second.

But regardless of how you look at things, the competition is real.  Someone has already stolen a required book that my section needed during the semester for our legal writing class.  That was pretty lame.

There are plenty of complaints about the fact that O.J. Simpson is all over the news.  Just like when Paris Hilton was all over the news earlier this summer.  Why are these no-good celebrities dominating the TV screen on nightly newscasts and all of the major papers?  Easy Answer: People who run news broadcasts respond to incentives.

Many people who watch the news, or read the newspaper, or who have blogs they update with nonsensical posts once every two weeks claim that this news is unimportant.  They claim the newspapers and newscasts should focus on important information like the war, politics, the environment, and other such topics.

But it’s very expensive to run a newspaper or a newscast.  Bills have to be paid.  The only way to do that is to find enough subscribers or viewers.  And to do that, you’ve got to give the people what they want.  Sure, there are plenty of intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals that want the “real” news and none of this celebrity news all over the front page.  But the average American news observer craves this celebrity, human-interest pseudo-news.  So the papers and the news broadcasts are going to keep feeding it to them.

I’m naming this past Sunday, the 12th, through this Thursday, the 16th, the “Week of Pain.” I have decided to give myself a challenging week of athletic endeavors just for the heck of it.

On Sunday I raced a 10k. The 10k (6.2 miles) distance itself is not incredibly challenging, as I run regularly throughout the year, but a race always makes me sore. Especially when it’s my first race in about five months, and I’ve just really started training well again after an IT band injury.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), I’m going on a 100 mile bike ride with my college roommate, Steve. I haven’t been on a bike since early June. Hello sore back!

On Thursday, I’m going on a 17-19 mile long run.

All of these days have required or will require waking up well before 6am.

I’m still looking forward to it, though. I know it will hurt on Thursday night, but I just love setting weird goals like this an accomplishing them. I suppose that’s why I’m starting law school this Friday as well.

Anyways, just wanted to write this on here for some reason. Hope everyone else is having an exciting week.