Advice for incoming 1Ls....

You're going to get a long list of things you should do when you enter law school. I figured you'd need a list of things you should NOT do upon entering law school.

1) Do not hook up with anyone at the law school for at least three months. I've never eaten at the proverbial place where I shit, so to speak. That doesn't mean some people don't. If you are considering doing this, wait at least three months for the "new" sheen to wear off and allow you to see most of your legal cohorts for what they are....assholes who will most likely tell of your lack of bedroom prowess while getting sloppy drunk then calling you from the bar to pick him/her up for a little late night (shitty) bootay. Refrain. People like to gossip in law school....in fact, they act worse than middle schoolers. Except now, instead of hearing how Suzy likes Johnny, you are overhearing stories about Stacey's mismatched boobs and affinity for cracking a (non-proverbial) whip over the backs of unsuspecting 1Ls. Don't be a Stacey, people.

2) Do NOT run out and buy every single casebook on your reading list (especially at the bookstore). A lot of people would do a heck of a lot better in classes if they set aside some money for Emanuel's Crunchtime rather than that 200 dollar casebook they haven't touched all semester. Be honest with yourself....are you even going to show up to classes? If the answer is maybe, then speak to some upperclassmen, ask them if the professor even expects you to read or mostly lectures the entire time, then get some tips as to the best study guide for the class. While you're at it, ask for someone's old notes.

3) Do not outline....if it's not for you. Not everyone is an outliner. I am one of those people who would rather jump off a building rather than outline (and who gets about the same studying effect out of the two). Some people like to organize their notes in outline form. Some like to make flashcards. Some have photographic memories. Those with the photographic memories can fuck themselves. Everyone else....find out what works for you. Outlines (as hyped as they are) may not be the answer.

4) Do not be afraid to ask a question in class. I don't give two flying rat turds about being called a gunner. If asking a sincere question about something (if you HAVE READ...if you haven't, assume it's in the material, scan the material, then ask after class because otherwise, your classmates will --rightly-- want to pop a cap in your ass) qualifies you as a gunner, then so be it. That being said, don't ask a question that rephrases the last thing the professor said in hopes of making yourself look good to the professor. It makes you look like a tool.

5) Do NOT get shitty drunk at the first bar review. Without fail, at least one 1L gets a DWI after my school's first bar review. A few years ago, a person got one on a moped. Don't be that person (because you'll be remembered, but not in a good way. Maybe in an epic way, but trust me, you don't want to be the moped guy).

6) In fact, DO NOT drink and drive at all. There's another person I know that supposedly hit a police cruiser on her way back from the bar. Another person I know had a breathalyzer in his truck. And yet another had to ask everyone for rides because he had no license due to DUIs. This sucks, you have to divulge it to the Bar and future employers, and it shows up in a background scan. Plus your pictures are in the police database. And if you think those pictures don't circulate....think again. I know many people who have made them their computer's backgrounds.

7) Do not rely on other people's outlines to get a good grade in a class. People make outlines to retain information. You reading an outline may help a bit, but putting in the time to make that outline was what earned that person the A in the class. Don't kid yourself.

8) Don't expect to be one of the few A's in the class. At my school, we are graded on a B- curve. This sucks, because it means A's are in short abundance (and that our GPA averages are lower than the national average). While it's awesome to aspire to a good grade, just remember there are a lot more B- grades than A's.....and that someone has to be on the bottom of the bell curve.

I've got lots more, but this is probably the best advice I can offer. Have fun, read for class, and make friends outside of law school. Trust me, you'll need them.

The Possession of Joseph and Theolbald Bruner

Most cases of possession can ultimately be explained by medical and psychological causes, but in some cases there is no easy medical answer and the supernatural is the only reasonable answer.  The case of Joseph and Theobald Bruner was a a tragic one that baffled all the medical professionals of the time.   Their case is one of the most striking and violent cases of demonic possession ever recorded.  The records of the local priest say that the possession began when both boys began drawing pictures of devils and demons on the walls in their bedroom.  They would whisper to the demons at night and treat them as friends.   Shortly after, the boys began going through terrible physical contortions.  Their limbs would lock together in unnatural positions and they couldn't be unlocked.   They would arch their backs backward in impossible positions and speak in languages they had never heard.

The symptoms became worse with time and eventually their bodies would begin to bloat.   Shortly after the bloating, the boys would vomit a lovely mixture of foam, feathers, and seaweed.   They vomited all manner of things they had never eaten and many of the objects they vomited weren't even available at the house they lived in.  The boys were constantly covered in seaweed and feathers and vomit no matter how often they were cleaned. Their beds levitated and objects in the room around them were flung about inexplicably.  The boys also gained psychic abilities and were able to predict the deaths of people in the village.  The boys parents eventually sent the boys away for the exorcism ritual and spent the rest of their lives at the St. Charles Orphanage.  During their stay at the orphanage they told the nuns that they were "The Lord of Darkness."  It took four years to exorcise the boys, during which time they lived in constant torment

Even after the exorcism, there was no happy ending for the two cursed children.  One boy died shortly after the exorcism at the age of 16 and the other boy died at 25.   The case of the Bruner boys still baffles people to this day.   Assuming that the priests and witnesses weren't lying, no natural explanation for what happened to the Bruners has been found.  If their case wasn't an elaborate hoax perpetrated by an entire village, orphanage, and the clergy,  it is one of the most conclusive cases of possession.

Summer's Here

We seem to be well served with writers' clubs where I live.

Trowell Writers have packed up until September. We had our annual summer fuddle on Monday night. A few sandwiches, cakes, sausage rolls.

Nottingham Writers Club also has a summer break. Wednesday was their social and took the form of a murder mystery night. A few nibbles also on offer.

Erewash Writers held a two-hour workshop over Wednesday lunchtime. I'm not a member here but they often take part in some of the Trowell events and vice versa. A couple of us paid our £3 and went along. I thought it was two hours well spent.

Just results day coming up in a couple of weeks and that will be the last of my duties at college until the retakes in January.

With all these 'seasons' coming to an end it feels like old fashioned school holidays at the moment. And with the news that the story I sold to T-a-B Fiction Feast back in April has finally appeared in the latest (September) issue plus the fact that I've sold another to That's Life! (Australia) I'm starting to get into holiday mood.

Old Photographs with Old Orbs

Although I have always loved a good ghost story, for many years of my life, I wrote off all paranormal experiences as part of my overactive imagination.  I was a rationalist.  In many ways,  I still am.  I always look for natural explanations for everything before  I look to supernatural.  It is only when there is no other explanation that I will look to other answers.   When I lived in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, I was plagued by a series of bizarre occurrences that I explained away with whatever natural explanations I could.  I still explain them away.  I honestly can't believe that house was haunted.

For example, one night I was watching television and the garage door just started opening and closing over and over again.  I couldn't get it to stop.  I mashed the button and yelled at it but it kept going.  I figured the damned thing was broken.  It finally stopped and worked fine after that, but mechanical malfunctions happen, right?   Another night all the electronic toys in the living room started going off at the same time.  Remote control cars buzzed around the room and toy Buzz Lightyear's screamed out about infinity and beyond.  A cow flashlight bellowed "moo"  over and over again.  I laughed.  It was funny.  I don't remember how I explained that one, but it made a lot of sense.  Similar things happened often in that house, but it was a new house and I didn't think it was haunted.  One night I did panic.  The garage door opened and I couldn't get it to close.  Every time I closed it, it just opened again.   It really freaked me out, but what are you going to do?  In the morning it was OK.   We moved,  I forgot about all these oddities and I had wonderful explanations for all of these types of events even if I can't remember them now.

However,  as I went through some old photo albums,  I found a series of wonderful photographs in that house with some lovely orbs.   Orbs in no way prove the presence of the supernatural, but I find their presence interesting and they make me wonder if maybe all my explanations weren't wrong?  Who knows?  They are lovely orbs.  I'm not going to put them all here because I was much better back then and I have them glued in scrapbooks I hate to destroy, but I placed one on the top of this page.  All the photos look similar. Some of the orbs almost have little faces in them. 

Adderall is NOT for all

A few months ago, I became highly incensed at someone over at the Bitter Lawyer's blog when she referenced the casual and illegal use of Adderall, then discussed how she was in constant search of a prescription (you can find that blog here). My response went something like this (okay, exactly like this):

This makes me sick. I’m mostly very easygoing about most subjects, but it pisses me off when people abuse prescription drugs to gain an advantage over other people. People that actually need Adderall face a negative stigma because of people like you–those that abuse it just to churn out the work.

If you need Adderall, that is one thing. But to shamelessly act as if you are entitled to it because you want to get ahead? It, quite frankly, pisses me off. 

Now allow me to explain why I get so angry about this particular subject. Two years ago, I began law school. I have always been highly hyperactive, although for the most part, I used my excess energy to achieve other things. Many assumed I was medicated, and many others recommended that I medicate (to which I always politely asked where they received their medical degrees and why they were working in such a low-paying field since they were a DOCTOR). But I digress...


As I said, I began law school two years ago. I loved it. I still do. Loved everything about it...including the people....all of them....for approximately 2.5 months.

Then it went downhill really, really, REALLY quickly.

You see, most people don't understand that ADHD comes in three different types: inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive, and combined. For the most part, when people think of ADHD, they think of children bouncing all over the damn walls asking too many questions and never paying attention. That's combined ADHD, and the most common type, which is why most people think of it when ADHD comes to mind.

I am hyperactive-impulsive ADHD. I'm no longer ashamed of it. For a very long time, I assumed my symptoms were merely due to a Type A personality. It wasn't until I went to law school and began to run into the severe social stigma associated with these symptoms that I began realizing it could potentially be a problem. Hence the downhillishness (which was straight up Elle Woods style--aka: take your damn muffins and go away; we don't want you in our study group). In fact, most people do not realize that many people diagnosed with ADHD do not medicate to focus better, but to become more acceptable and in-line with societal expectations.

I finally broke when I had a group of "mean girl" law students (and I'm talking women in their 20's and 30's) send a "representative" mean girl over to one of my few friends to tell her if my "behavior" continued, then they would be contacting the teacher of a particular class to essentially tattle on me.

This came shortly after the beginning of my second semester in law school. Grades had been announced, and (SURPRISE) I had not done nearly as well as I would have liked. I had approximately two friends in law school, and had been abandoned by all of my initial group of friends when the hustle began for first semester final exam studying.

Mind you, my behavior was not over the top. However, hyperactivity and impulsiveness is not easily managed, and pisses a few people off. Although I would argue others should really (REALLY) become more tolerable to the differences in others and should strive to accept others, the harsh reality was that my symptoms, although acceptable to almost everyone around me, had a couple of others willing to come forward and essentially try to ruin my life.

I went to the psychology center on campus and started testing for my problems with Tom, an incredible grad student who didn't just test, but also dug in depth to my past and current problems. (A lot of people are also misdiagnosed with ADHD when they really have depression, FYI.) I explained to him how unfair I thought it was that I was the one who should be considering medicine, when others should have just considered tolerance, and that's when his counseling came in. If anyone has seen the Glee episode where Emma speaks to a Psychiatrist/Psychologist (fittingly, from the episode named "Acceptance"), his speech was VERY similar to that. However, he was a bit more understanding as well, because he said IT WASN'T FAIR. It shouldn't be me who has to change. He explained to me in many ways, my brain had already rewired to get along more easily in society. He was the one who explained to me how many people who are ADHD medicate in order to meet societal expectations (for those of you that think it's about studying or paying attention in class...it's a LOT more than that). And it's because of him I was officially diagnosed ADHD....

Hyperactive-impulsive ADHD, to be exact. That means that I have trouble controlling my impulses (like speaking out in class or eating six cupcakes when I'm not hungry). It means that I go at a faster speed than a lot of people. And yes, sometimes I do have trouble concentrating, because I have impulses to do OTHER THINGS. Or because I get so caught up on one little detail, that I miss the big picture (which is hell on a law school exam).

Because of my diagnosis, I was now able to speak to a psychiatrist about medicine. I did go to one on campus, and he was also incredible. We spoke at length about how I didn't want to medicate and become another person. I told him I didn't want medicine just to be able to do better in school. And I also expressed (again) my frustration regarding others' reactions around me.

I'm now on a low-dosage of Adderall. In some ways, it has helped immensely. I can sit down and listen to a teacher without feeling the need to ask questions. I don't get hung up on the small details nearly as much anymore. And I still feel like myself.

But let me tell you, it should never have come down to others FORCING me to take action because of my symptoms. I should never have been made to feel like a terrible person because of things I couldn't help. And even though the medicine does help, it still incenses me that I broke down in tears many times because of a bunch of mean girls threatening me about something over which I had no control.

I didn't intend for this blog to become my own personal story about my battles with Attention Hyperactivity Deficit Disorder, but now that it's out, I feel a lot better. If you are having problems, I urge you to seek counseling. Medicine is not everything, and does not heal all, but talking to someone definitely does.

And it's nothing to feel ashamed about.

I have dubious tastes....but IT'S OKAY

I normally don't do linkups, because I'm not a huge part of the blogging community, being that I'm new and all. However, today, I found one to be worthwhile thanks to Ty and Neely. So without further ado, here it is....

IT'S OKAY.....

to want to dropkick people that have pictures of themselves "planking" (when they really are just laying there like a friggin' piece of wood).

to expect children to say thank you, please, ma'am and sir, and excuse me.

to occasionally eat chocolate for breakfast....

that you were 23 before you properly learned to spell the word "judgment".... (and it took law school to do it).

when it storms....and you just washed your car....by hand....

to wish really bad Karma on really bad people under your breath.

to delete people from Facebook on the basis that they don't know the difference between your/you're; two/to/too; and their/there/they're...

to have 19 little black dresses hanging in your closet...

to laugh at your own jokes.

to spend all day watching Law and Order, SVU marathons....(have I mentioned they are ALL on Netflix?!!??!?!)

to not bathe because you're watching a marathon of Law and Order, SVU marathons and you can't shower fast enough to do it in a commercial break....

to secretly like the song "Chicken Fried."

to want to grow up to be a movie star AND a lawyer.

Fringeology

Fringelology is an exploration of the paranormal by award winning journalist Steve Volt.  Steve Volt explores the world of the paranormal with a cautious eye in this fun book.  The book covered a lot of ground and explored a wide range of the paranormal.  Volt started with a unique hypothesis.   He set out with the argument that the study of the paranormal is polarized and biased to the point that it is almost never regarded in any kind of  real fashion.  He argues that there tend to be three groups and that all three groups are so passionate and furiously biased that they can't even really look at the subject of the paranormal in an unbiased light.  He lists these groups as skeptics, religious folks, and paranormal true believers.  He says the skeptics tend to lump religious and paranormal together and will defend the most unlikely natural explanation  before even thinking about a paranormal explanation.  The religious people tend to view the paranormal as the dark arts and the true believers in the paranormal will fight to believe any paranormal event no matter how unlikely it is to have occurred.   He is most passionate about skeptics who he believes are irrational in their closed mindedness.  He neither endorses nor argues against the paranormal but rather says that we should study it with he same objective, open mindedness we do any other occurrence rather than say faulty plumbing is the explanation for every phantom noise when it couldn't possibly be faulty plumbing.

Volt then presents a number of interesting chapters which cover various aspects of the paranormal.  The chapter called Death and Not Dying was the most interesting to me as it covered Elisabeth Kulber-Ross's interesting journey from being the authority on death and coping with death and grieving into a world of near death experiences and the paranormal.  Her journey is riveting.  Other chapters discuss UFOs, lucid dreams, ghosts, telepathy, and communicating with the dead.   Volt's usual way of exploring these topics is to pick a respectable scientist who has studied or been involved in the study of said subject and explore their findings, life, and opinions.

Overall,  I love this book.  It is well written and covers a lot of ground that has never been covered.  I couldn't put the book down.  I like Volt's argument that the paranormal should be study objectively and I believe he does an excellent job supporting this.   Volt is a good writer and his style made this book a quick and easy read.  However,  I am nit picky and Volt spent a good deal of time with psychologists and psychiatrists.   It did bother the hell out of me that he couldn't seem to keep the two straight.  Kubler-Ross is  a  psychiatrist.  She went to medical school.  Psychologists don't go to medical school.  We aren't MDs.  Throughout the book he called her a psychologist so often I didn't know in later chapters when he talked about psychologists if he was really talking about psychologists or psychiatrists.  This is important because psychiatrists study the medication end of the field, while psychologists are more mired in research and talk therapy.    He also presented new theoretical ideas that groups of psychiatrists or psychologists (I can't tell) dreamt up and presented them as actual diagnoses followed by statements that diagnoses aren't  real.   Just for the record,  according to the international medical community diagnoses are real and help to treat people who are sick.  For example, diagnosing someone with schizophrenia helps find the proper treatment for them.  In order to be a real diagnosis to be considered real,  it must come out of the DSM or ICD (the most current revision) and have a code and have been agreed on by an enormous panel of professionals.  I can't just dream up farting monster syndrome write a paper about it and call it a diagnosis.  It would take years of study and tons of support and research by more people than me to make my farting monster syndrome a working diagnosis that I could bill for.  Volt was similarly weak in his explanation of  the placebo effect, which he described as close to paranormal.  I won't explain why, because that would probably annoy everyone but me,  but there are oceans of data explaining why the placebo effect occurs and none of it is paranormal.  Volt also ignored theories on poltergeists that attribute them to one person when he described his house as being haunted by a poltergeist.   I could go on like this with other nit picky points of science and medicine and the paranormal for pages, but I'll stop here and say that had Volt been a little more careful in these types of details I would say his book is up there with Spook as one of my favorite paranormal books.  Volt managed to collect some really fascinating paranormal stories and tie them together with a brilliant writing style.  For me the devil may be in the details, but perhaps I am being too harsh.  To the normal reader who isn't a psychologist  these details would be lost.  The flow of the narrative and the structure of the book would be more pronounced and Volt certainly tells many good stories of those fighting for a scientific regard for paranormal subjects in a world than generally gives them as much regard as unicorns and fairy god mothers.