Study Hard, Play Hard, and Write Blog Posts During Class

We, the writers of this blog, Type A-Minus, Doodie, and myself, the Breacher, have failed you.  And that's mostly because this blog has no billing code and/or will not get us a job.  We have not posted since February, and have not posted in earnest since the bar exam.  And that's mostly because now we need money in order to eat. 

Therefore, we are looking for a few good writers who can carry on the Stuff to do During BarBri tradition.  Start by sending us a guest posting via e-mail: stufftododuringbarbri@gmail.com.  We will post it.  If you show some commitment and send us one or two, we'll be in touch about getting you an account to post to the blog. 

What's in it for you?  Nothing.  Except the joy of having your posts read by the masses depressed J.D.'s studying for the bar exam.  And you'll have something to do during the mind-numbing lectures.  Send us a guest submission and we'll get you going.  If we get more than four, we'll figure out a way to pick among you.  But I doubt we will.

We won't stop posting; at least not more than we're already not posting.  But you'll definitely be the star of the show.  C'mon people - we all passed two bars while writing this blog, and have since vowed never to pass one again (without going in for a drink).  You can do it too. 

Oh, Hey - Look, It's Bar Exam Time

Across the country people are going to begin a process they already know.  It is a process they already know they cannot succeed at.  Or at least, didn't succeed at last time.

IT'S BAR EXAM DAY!!!  YAYAYAYAY!!!

Sorry we didn't entertain you the way we entertained ourselves.  But, for words of inspiration, see our posts from July:

KICK ASS

by The Breacher

 

BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID

by Doodie

(just change July references to February, and vice versa)

Use a Tactical Pen During Practice Exams

If you are taking the bar exam for the second, third, fourth, or fifth time, you're probably feeling frustrated. You need something to invigorate your studying and somehow imbue you with new skills and confidence. Enter the tactical pen.

You might remember tactical writing instruments from kindergarten disputes that got out of control and ended with ink or graphite bits lodged in someone's 6-year-old arm (news coverage of these events in Atlanta, Iowa, Indiana). Or maybe you had a young client who got tired of the legal advice he received from Yahoo! Answers and availed himself of your school's juvenile legal clinic. Maybe you even experienced a traumatic pencil- or pen-related injury as a child and have turned to the Facebook group, "People for the Prevention of Pencil Point Injuries," to cope.

I urge you to look beyond your past experiences and think about the future: the tactical writing instrument in YOUR HANDS . . .

during the bar exam. If Jason Bourne can do that much damage with a mere pen, think about how much damage you could do to commercial paper and civil procedure.

Just ask the makers of Tuff-Writer Tactical Pens:

"From Marines hunting terrorists in burning deserts, SAR expeditions in bone chilling mountains, SWAT officers executing high risk warrant service, EMTs functioning in extreme conditions, or a civilian working in a non-permissive environment. All of these special operations groups have something in common - they all require a pen that they can depend on. "

Consider the bar exam testing facility a "non-permissive environment."

Now, depending on your political views on tactical pen control, you might think that tactical pens should only be placed in the hands of trained experts.

Thankfully, these guys are here to help YOU become an expert in time for the exam!

The tactical pen can increase your fitness level, your self-confidence going into the exam and can even boost your positive impact on the world by donating to breast cancer (pink AND deadly)!

*Poster disclaims all liability for any untrained use of pink tactical pens against bar exam administrators.

Keep Track of Your Stuff

The February exam sucks.  My guess is that there are four categories of you people taking the February exam: (1) those who just graduated, mostly going to school part time; (2) those who took July, passed, and want to be licensed and a second, third, and/or fourth jurisdiction; (3) those who failed July and still want to be a lawyer OH SO BAD; and (4) those who missed the deadline to register in July and have been making excuses for the past few months but are now back in the legal saddle.

What most of you have in common is that you're working - either because you went to law school part time or because you need to wait tables because you're student loan bills are coming do.  And that means you're going to school and studying in addition to doing something else.  And that means you're going to lose stuff.  Don't.  There's nothing worse than writing out by hand 150 index cards describing the prima facie elements of every tort, along with exceptions, and leaving them for some homeless guy at the coffee shop.  Or taking a $50 cab ride back to the class location to pick up your keys that you left on the desk.  Or realizing that your prosthetic limbs aren't where you thought they were.

Well, there is one thing worse than all that.  Losing your pet snake on the train.  Like this lady:

The woman who says she lost her pet snake on the Red Line Thursday has turned to Craigslist in an effort to recover it.

In a post on the online classified ad site headed "penelope- lost snake (T-between park and andrew)" the woman wrote that her snake "is a very mellow snake- never hisses or bites and is very timid. she is a bit under 3 feet long with a brownish, almost pinkish paisley looking pattern on her back. she is 3 years old and i've had her since she was 5 days old. if you see her, if you find her- please call me . . .you will be rewarded and will also be a hero. please help!"

She included a phone number and an e-mail address. In an interview, the woman, who asked to be identified only by her first name, Melissa, said she is accustomed to taking Penelope everywhere, and was wearing her around her neck, concealed by a scarf, when she boarded the T Thursday.

She felt for Penelope at multiple points during her trip, she said, and first noticed her missing as she headed outbound on the Red Line in the late morning. MBTA employees helped her look in the car in which she was riding at JFK/UMass, where they held the train for a few minutes, and performed a more exhaustive search at the Braintree terminus, walking through each of the six train cars and looking under the seats.

Melissa said she considered the search cursory. "For about 20 minutes or so they looked, and they couldn't see her, but they don't realize that no matter how thick she was, she can get into really small places or often under things. You can't really tell. She's related to a ground boa, so she's not likely to climb very high."

She said Penelope belongs to a species known as Dumeril's boa.

"Snakes can get lost in the strangest and smallest places for a very long time before they come out," she said. "The transit authority, they originally asked me if I was hallucinating and if I was on drugs, because I was really frantic looking for her." She said the snake was her and her husband's "dearest pet."

She said people should not be afraid if they encounter Penelope. "If they come across her in a train car, they don't have to be scared about picking her up. I know that people are really squeamish. She's never bitten anyone, she never hisses, she's not aggressive at all."

MBTA officials believe the trains are snake-free, and that passengers should not be concerned, spokesman Joe Pesaturo said.

Quoted from http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2011/01/woman_seeks_hel.html
 
For crying out loud, keep track of your shit. And don't ask for help looking for it from Craig's List.  I can't wait for Mr. Samuel L. Jackson's new sequel: Boa's on a Train!

Life Sucks ... For You!

Hello February 2011 Bar Exam Takers.  I'm sorry that you don't get a January or February this year.  I'm also sorry that you probably didn't get a "2010 5771 holiday season" either.  I'm also really sorry for 80% of you that you already failed the bar exam once.

You're studying for the bar.  Which means your life sucks.  And we're here to help.  Because we already studied for and passed the bar.  And we're unemployed lawyers.  Which means our life doesn't suck as much as yours, although it still sucks a lot.  We just have ways to cope. 

We started this blog as four students sitting next to each other in a New York Exam BarBri class.  We all became proficient at filling in the blanks (a skill surprisingly irrelevant for actually passing the bar exam) and decided that we needed to do something else to occupy our time.  So we started this blog to figure out stuff to do during BarBri.  It should give you stuff to do during BarBri too.

Now we're three busy people (one dropped off the face of the earth and got an ipad) without any real motivation to do anything.  But we'll do our best to post when we can. 

If someone sends us a New York paced program for February, here, we'll do our best to make fun of your "teachers."  Also, if you get bored during class, and you know you will, feel free to e-mail in a guest submission of stuff to do during BarBri and we'll be sure to post it for you.  Follow us on twitter and fan us on facebook.  Hell, add us to your Google Reader subscription.  Spread the word, it'll make this miserable two-month experience a modicum less miserable.

Thanks and enjoy!!

Note to self: buy stock in index cards.