They Knew we Would Want to Kill Ourselves, so they Gave Us a Break

There's a magical thing in law school -- it's called Placement Break. I mean really, I don't know if it's just BYU that does this or if it happens across the board, but it's actually one of my favorite things of all time.

What they do, is they get you about six weeks into school, you know, when you're feeling all shades of helpless, exhausted, and idiotic, and then they give you a week off. It's like drinking from the fountain of living waters. And you think that maybe I'm exaggerating, and maybe I am a little, but guys, you don't even know.

I haven't been ignoring this blog for the last six weeks because I just got bored of it. It's not even because law school is kicking my trash. It's because law school combined with life is kicking my trash. They talk to us all the time about balance, about doing school but still having a life and so that's what I've been trying to do. It turns out that there's where the challenge actually lies. Wanting to have weekends and still pull good grades? Wanting to go to birthday parties and still understand what's happening in the cases? Wanting to see the sun occasionally and still create an outline? That's the struggle people.

Although the real struggle may actually be that I think my sense of humor is failing. Not failing in the fact that it's leaving, failing in the fact that it's becoming so lawyerized that it's just not even funny anymore. Now I make jokes about torts versus tortes. (One's a pastry in case you didn't know. The other one is a class that I may or may not fail, we'll see in a couple months.) Now, when I read a case about a house being built on unstable soil and it falls apart, someone will say something about a foolish man building his house upon a rock and I laugh for days. (Although, in all fairness, that isn't a lawyer joke that I'm laughing at. That's a Mormon joke compiled with a lawyer joke. It's doubly not funny.)

But then they give me a week to recuperate. I have a week to breathe, research, read cases, write memos, update my resume, apply for internships, create outlines, draft cover letters.....

You know, I'm not actually sure if this is a week off.

I think they've lawyered me.

(But guys, fall is here! Colors and joy! Pumpkins and apple cider! It's all I love!)