Preemtive New Years Resolution

Finals are about to begin.
And after that, a new semester.
And a New YEAR.
Resolution: Blog.

I have an odd obsession with due dates.
Most people dread them- I know. It makes sense. A due date is foreboding. Threatening, even. To some it is an ever creeping, ever deepening, ever growing force that can take over and possess a person, I get it.
But to me- a due date is freedom.
When I wake up on a due date, as a natural-born and unashamed procrastinator all I can think of is, "WOW. This is the LAST time I will EVER have to think of this in my ENTIRE life. crazy awesome."
Granted, I should add a dose of concern to my celebratory stress-release. Maybe just an ounce of the teeth-grinding, down to the wire, sweatin it out sort of stuff? Just a touch of the gut-wrenching, nail-biting obligatory "ughhh" that comes with a due date....but no. not my style. why ruin a good thing?
And on THAT note- my Civ pro paper was due tonight :) I am DUN.

And you know, as a tangent of/disclaimer to that thought...
It's not that I'm lazy.
I'm not.
Or at least I don't think I am...
It's getting harder and harder to find a balance. I used to think I had a really healthy sort of apathy toward my school work. Then i realized a) there is no such thing as healthy apathy and b) there are far fewer apathetic people in law school then there are in undergrad.

This leads me to another revelation:
Living relatively is not an option. You can get lost in this endless sea of, "Well, i'm not as bad as him, but I'm definitely better off than her..."
This isn't a competition.
I'm here for the ride.
I need to learn discipline but not obsession.
I know my identity.
I know that I am "a stranger with a stranger's indifference"
I know my my value is in Christ.

Yesterday I was reminded by an "old friend" what I live by:

Your money, your singleness, marriage, talent, and time,

they were loaned to you to show the world that Christ is Divine

that's why it's Christ in my rhymes

That's why it's Christ all the time

my whole world is built around him He's the life in my lines.

Thanks Lecrae. Thanks for reminding me of how Christ changed my life, heart, plans, priorites. How He made broken things in my life whole. Joyless things in my life full. Thanks.

---

And here's to a wonderful night a with a new bf :)

*insert pic of jess and I having a lovely glass of wine and a sleepover that I am too impatient to wait to load. maybe later :)*

What is it that makes me think updating my blog isn't important?

Don't I KNOW that I and the entire functioning universe will collapse and simultaneously self-destruct if I fail to post?

I mean, pshh, seriously. How selfish can I be?

Sorry for the delay, ladies and gentlemen.

Well... ladies.

~

Today is the 8th. Our final legal reasoning research and writing papers are due the 18th. That, as Jean Dailey, writing specialist extraordinaire, informed us today is less than a week and half away, woohoo.

In those few precious precious days, I have to:

-write, correct, edit, revise, RErevise, analyze, punctuate, cite, grammar check, spell check, format check, read, REread, rip up, redo, and eventually submit the paper that will eventually prove to be the end of me.

-spend 5 hours in torts because Cady is dictator

-study for/take a contracts midterm

-read a semesters worth of Civil procedure material

-take an optional civ pro midterm and an UNoptional civ pro unit quiz

-write my dreaded assigned torts brief

-keep up with the general, ever-piling up work load of day-to-day law school

-pray that my new debit card comes in the mail

-find my old debit card that I presumed lost and curse it for not being found a day sooner

-go home and eat some of momma's fine home cookin :)

-pay the municipal court $20 for a parking ticket I've had since March

-call Beth. If you're reading this- I really do love you, despite my crappy friend routine.

-Load Citrix onto my computer so I can pretend that I'm going to have enough time to work this semester in addition to the rest of my craziness.

and still...

there is a glimmer of hope.

a light at the end of the tunnel.

Because when it's ALLLLLL done, so am I :)

I can breathe look back in satisfaction at the things I have accomplished and remember that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phil. 4:13

I love those moments.

~

I got to Skype with Kait tonight! Kaitlin, for anyone who doesn't know, is my best friend. She was my roommate for 2 years in college, and after graduation, she decided to move to Maracaibo, Venezuela with Campus Crusade for Christ to take the Gospel to students there who don't know about Jesus.

I'm so proud of her and I love her with all of my heart.

I miss her like crazy.

I like it better when she's only one room a way :(

Here's a snapshot I took of her while we were skyping tonight!

Notice the spaghetti strap tank top....Maracaibo knows no winter!

Soooooo jealous!

Thanks for reading bloggers :)

A brief dissertation.

There's a reason I called this blog my necessary outlet.
Things that are necessary are not always easy, but they are, well,
necessary.
I turned in my first case prediction on 8:30 Monday morning and what was supposed to be a 3 page paper I could barely trim down to a 4 page paper and easily could have made a 15 page saga. I've spent the last four years earning an English degree and learning things like "creativity!" "expand!" "flavor!" Now it's "clear." "concise." "mechanical."
Put a girdle on your work, Chelsy.
A girdle...really?
Ok, let's work through this analogy. I promise by the time you're done reading this girdles and law school and blogging will all tie together- How do you put a girdle on a case prediction?
When you put a girdle on- you're smoothing things out. But the extra "stuff" doesn't disappear, right? It's gotta go somewhere. It needs an outlet.
So this blog is more or less...my girdle.
Though I have precious little free time, and despite the fact that it's not a deeply ingrained habit yet- I will blog because I need to. My creative writing has to go somewhere so that only the fine grainy boring stuff gets sifted back into my case predictions.
Much love.

As a side note:
to anyone considering buying the hotpockets paninis- don't go with the ham and cheese. the rye bread is undesirable.

My Multiple Identities

In the last three weeks, I have heard shpeel after shpeel about how I am in law school now and how I am no longer going to be treated as a student, but as an attorney. Slowly, today I found that some professors use this only conveniently and to their advantage, case in point:


I am an attorney when you want me to deliver the facts of the case in fluent legalese.
I am a student when you don't show up to teach class and don't have the courtesy to let me and 152 other "attorneys" know about it.

not very nice Professor...



Oh well...at least when he's there he makes me laugh :)
He reminds me a lot of Lewis Black. Especially when he's doing his disgruntled, suit-wearing bit.

This picture's from his website...am I gonna get sued for using it? look what law school is doing to me...

*On a MUCH more ECSTATIC note*

09.05.09- CEDAR POINT-WOOOO!!!

There's a commercial that runs for the Cedar Point in my area that has all these hard, edgy teenagers that look really imposing and they all stare right into the camera and ask, "Are YOU a ride warrior?" Every time I see it I want to stand up, gather whatever weaponry a ride warrior gathers, and stand shoulder to shoulder with my comrades declaring, "YES! I AM A RIDE WARRIOR!" All while epic music is playing in the background.

I cannot put in words the love and affection I have for roller coasters. Things that go high fast and come down faster....ahh. Words cannot describe. There is truly no recreational activity in this world that I enjoy more.

Well, this attorney/student/ride/warrior needs to go be a regular adult for a little bit. Pay bills, clean the apartment, etc.

Fare thee well.

Thank GOODNESS I have these lovely ladies...

...to save me from DROWNing in this:

This weekend was supposed to be a nice concentrated chunk of time for me to get my work done for the upcoming week. I read approximately 6 pages of contracts (which, in all fairness, is the equivalent of at least 84 pages of anything else...) Even with that in mind, I barely touched my assignments for the week, and yet here i am- once again- blogging.

obsession setting in...

Law school is a funny thing. Not quite funny strange and definitely not funny ha ha... just the kind of funny that wakes you up trying to remember which statute permits you to sleep an extra twenty minutes... The kind of funny that has you wondering if you've made a formal binding contract enforceable by law when you promise a friend to call at a certain time... the kind of funny that has you yelling, "I object!" when your boyfriend suggests watching another UFC fight. ...That kind of funny.

I am one week in to this 3 year journey, and so I realize that my opinions and critiques are not yet founded in a heap of authority or expertise, but if you're reading this I will assume you are at least somewhat interested: So far, I highly recommend law school to anyone with a desperate curiosity and a glass-half-full kind of mentality while I greatly dissuade the pessimistic naysayers. Law school can be the surge of power that a thinker needs to become a DO-er, or it can be the poison that already angry person needs to become a permanently embittered soul.

I like to think of myself as fairly sunshiny.

and I have an insatiable appetite for facts. (also called a nerd.)

At the end of the day, God is good. He has provided everything that i have needed. He has made me content :)

And so I think Im going to be ok :) Till next time...

Minima Lefty

When Jess left last night she said, "I feel bad leaving you here without explaining this whole thing to you...there's still so much I wanted to tell you about how to blog."

"I'm pretty good at finding my way around these sorts of things," I said.

Minima Lefty.

That is all I have to show for my supposed ingenuity. minima lefty. It's a template, in case you weren't sure, and I'm a lefty and so it made me feel more comfortable in a very new an uncomfortable environment. But it is, quite literally, the only thing I am capable of doing right now. I feel like a kid who's lost their mommy in a mall.

In addition to the left hand margin making me feel at home, my first three comments and followers were warming as well, so thank you!

Well, *deep sigh* I'm sure with time and multiple tutorials I will figure this whole thing out and make this blog my own. Jess will probably also regret offering to help:)

As I wrap up this afternoon post, I think I wil post a picture. Because:

A) my blog is very white and needs some color.

B) i want you to see one of the very greatest blessings in my life <3

C) it is one of the only things I know how to do on a blog.

*two of the happiest people in the world under one of the prettiest sunsets of all time*

As promised, I will be brief...

...for the most part.

this is my first blog. Law school, as some of you know, restricts those of us who have creative writing urges. Thus, I am establishing this blog as my necessary outlet.
Jess, whom many of you may follow, is a new friend and INCREDIBLE girl who has introduced me to the world of blogging. A strange, mysterious, and frightening world. I am hoping that the blogging society will roll out the welcome carpet for me and kindly excuse any beginner faux pas that I may exhibit.
I look forward to, at a totally non-creepy level, involving myself in your lives, and hope that you vicariously relish in mine.