Awww, the class of 2008 is graduating tomorrow. I must say, guys, you are def my favorite law school class after my own. Your class provided this blog with the most enthusiastic and loyal of readers. I'm sad that the four of you who still read will be going off to study for the bar and then travel and work, because it means readership will go from 6 people to 2 people. Also, you guys were totally all about the Jammies, and for that you will always hold a special place in my heart.

To the Class of 2008 UT Blawgers, past and present (Ex.Coll.Blog., HawkMagee, Los Chupacabras, Quixotic, Lizette, The Juddge & anyone I may have missed): enjoy this weekend and may your job prospects be much better than mine were. :P

I thought about also listing all my graduating friends, but then I remembered that there were too many of you. But you know who you are. Drink a Jack & Coke for me on Saturday (because quite frankly, in this past year my alcohol tolerance has gone from out of this world to out of commission and a single Jack & Coke is enough these days to make me turn over my keys...)

Oh yeah, and wear sun screen and stuff.

After weeks of waiting on pins and needles (not!), I'm finally able to display my $75,000 piece of paper on my bookshelf. And my name is printed in a plain, computer-generated, Roman-based, serif font. It's not even printed in italics. Borrrring.

However, it's all worth it when I glance down to see the words "WITH HONORS" written in small caps underneath my degree. My family thinks it's real impressive that I graduated with honors, so I'm not going to bother to tell them that over half the class did as well. I mean, why ruin the mystique of law school for them? Now my mom can tell her co-workers that her daughter graduated from a top 20 (we are still top 20, right? I mean, at least for now?) with honors. And that will make her feel special, even if it doesn't mean that I am.

I'm just happy that despite the Great GPA Decline of 2007, I still managed to stay above the cut-off and do my part to make the "with honors" designation absolutely worthless to people who have like a 3.6 or higher. Mwahahahaha. I get my kicks where I can these days.

On the other hand, I'm really disappointed in how plain the diploma is. If I'd have known that they were just going to print our names without first bothering to change the font to Edwardian Script or something pretty and flowy, I'd have requested my name be left blank so that I could have one of my fellow Southwest Calligraphy Guild members write it in real pretty like. (Yes, I am a member of the Southwest Calligraphy Guild. I haven't practiced in ages or paid dues since 2004, and it may have disbanded while I was in law school, but at one time I was a member and I can make some really pretty paste paper... so there.)

But instead I have to look at Plainy McPlainerson, aka my law degree and wonder why it took them so long to get it to me when all they did was run it through a printer.

After four solid semesters of inching my GPA up, I really outdid myself this semester by putting in next to no effort and watching my grades actually suffer for it. For the first (and last) time in my law school career, my highest grade was a B+. Interestingly, the B+ was in the class I thought I might fail. The ones I thought I might do better in garnered Bs and even a C+. At the beginning of the semester, I wanted to finish strong. I suppose in the end I did, only in the opposite direction as I'd originally planned. Oops.

I don't know that I'd have done anything differently, though. My semester was unbelievably busy as it was, and I'm not sure when I would have had time to put in much more effort without giving something else up to make time for it. (I am, however, taking this as a sign that a clerkship is not in my future and perhaps I should just give up on that front.)

Despite the Great Decline of 2007, I still managed to graduate with honors. Mwahahahahahaha (evil laugh).

In other news, I had my Mom read me Real Property flash card questions last night over dinner. It should come as no surprise to people from my section that every card that went in the "I-Need-To-Spend-More-Time-With-This-Concept" pile concerned future interests. On the plus side, I now understand all the "fee blah blah blah" thingamabobs. My understanding, of course, was probably evident in my use of such precise language.

Lastly, the Torts lecturer wins the award for Most Annoying Voice so far. His inflection patterns ("When you have NEGLIGENCE, that means the defendant BREACHED a DUTY he had to the PLAINTIFF") drive me crazy, and I catch myself grinding my teeth a lot during his lecture. This makes me sad, as Torts tends to be one of my favs. Now he's sucked all the enjoyment out of it by having annoying speech patterns. The only one who annoyed me more over all is the one who said "Fill in the blank" every time we needed to do so, as if we weren't following along already. Talk about overly distracting. He could have probably shaved another five minutes off his lecture if he'd just left out his 162 uses of "fill in the blank."

Not that I'm easily irritated these days or anything...

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Normally, I love Gmail notification. I'm pretty addicted to my email, and I love that I can see my incoming emails pop up even if my inbox isn't open.

Until today.

I was doing my morning blog check when the following popped up: "[Name Redacted]: Graduation Application, Spring 2007 Your application to graduate this May has been received, and your record has been checked. Based on the infor..."

Now reading just the above information popped up at the bottom of my screen, I freaked out. I assumed that the end of that sentence was naturally "...mation you provided, we regret to inform you that you will not be graduating." Or something equally earth-shattering.

So I freak out (duh) and rush to Gmail, cell phone handy so that I can call Student Affairs sobbing, and Gmail takes longer than usual to load, since--you know--I really need it to load.

Luckily, the rest of the email was "...mation you have provided:1. Upon successful completion of the courses you listed for the current semester, you will have met all of the requirements for graduation." Not as dramatic, but my heart is still pounding. A lot. Especially since I've already had the inadvertently-missed-graduation-requirement nightmare three times since Friday night. Ugh.

...is about 13 pages of Directed Study paper. Under normal conditions (read: when I'm sufficiently caffeinated and stressed out and at least know what I'm going to say), I can type between 6 and 8 pages an hour. Under today's conditions, all I want to do is check the Facebook and drink daytime 'Tinis with Antonin and those pesky ~13 pages are just not going to type themselves.

Meh.

Um... so probably no new content today. Here's another classic post (although it's being reposted a little late in the season).

Well, that did it. I'd made it this long without a tear-filled breakdown. Then I started emptying out my gmail account of all my law school emails, because I really don't need Tuesday's Torts notes from September 2004. Add to that two sad songs on the radio as I'm emptying our my AC labeled mail (including "fan mail") and that was it. I started crying just as Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry" came on. How appropriate.

*sigh*

I've dried my tears now, but if Boyz II Men "End of the Road" comes on, I'm not sure I'll be able to keep them at bay. *sniff*

How many of you are going to the graduation party at Scholtz Beer Garden?

More importantly, how many of you are going to end up at Spill at some point in the night?

I have an interview in Houston that morning, but should be back in Austin early enough to take a snoozer and still party hard that night.

I've reached that point where I feel like I have to start saying poignant things to my 1L and 2L friends because I may never see them again. And anyone who's read this blog knows that poignancy is not really my strong suit. In my younger days, I was an emotional sap and began spontaneously bursting into tears at least a month before graduation. I'm still a sap, but I don't cry as much these days. It smears my eyeliner.

Anyway, if you're a friend of mine and not graduating, don't mind if you find yourself on the receiving end of a random hug.



Also, the AC turned 2 back on April 11, and I... missed it. Last year, we had a week-long celebration, and this year... nothing. Last year was like My Super Sweet Sixteen and this year is like turning 28. Nothing special, no milestone, just blah. Which kind of sucks, since retirement is pending. Sort of feel like I lost my last chance for a big celebration. And now I'm losing chances to say meaningful goodbyes to my 2L friends. But I'm still not crying yet, so that's something.

Last, I'd like to thank the 500 of you who stopped by today. I'm sure most of you were here to read about the ongoing space allocation saga, which I actually don't get since most of the juicy stuff was posted elsewhere. Figures that on the day I get tons of readers, I decide not to post new content. So much for reeling people in, I suppose. I promise that if you come back tomorrow, I'll come up with something more to say about the space allocation. No, really. I will.

I couldn't find a ticker with sunflowers. This one seems more approp for finishing the bar exam. Ah well.

Well, not so much breaking. But los_chupacabras beat me to it. For those of you wanting the short version of the story: the honors distribution is set to change next year, affecting the class of 2008 and moving forward. Class of 2007 gets by. The current honors cutoff is a 3.35 GPA, but next year, it will go to a percentage cutoff. I do not know the exact percentage. The reason for this change is because with raising the curve to a B+ (but failing to raise the honors GPA cutoff at the same time), the result was nearly (over?) half the class graduating with honors.

I've known about this possible change for a while now, mostly because I pester Student Affairs on a regular basis and because I talked to someone on whatever committee is in charge of that stuff. And I was prepared to make a huge fuss should the change have affected us this year. I even had a scathing rant prepared for posting, should the need arise. Now that I'm in the clear, I just don't have the energy to rant and rave about it, because I'm an inherently self-absorbed being and I have a Blockbuster Total Access Queue to fill up.

That said, I do think it's unfair to change it for people midway through the game. Start with the class of 2010. Because while in law school varying arguments can be made about how much effort I put forth and what motivated me to do so, in college we didn't have + and - grades, so 100% effort got me the same 4 points as 90% effort. I could count the number of times in college that I put forth 100% effort on one hand even if I was missing two fingers, so I can completely understand people who hover around a 3.35, because while they may not be top 1/4 of the class, they'll have their honors, dammit! It's not a hard mindset to understand.

So my condolences to those of you who fall between a 3.35 and whatever percentage cutoff they choose next year. I know I was ready to be pissed off (now I'm just relieved), so I can imagine you are. Sometimes it just sucks to be average, doesn't it?

From what I understand, we have the option of wearing regalia or a suit to the Sunflower Ceremony. What I didn't realize was how pretentious looking and expensive regalia was.

So now my question is: does anyone actually wear regalia to the Sunflower Ceremony? I'm pretty confident that it will look ridiculous among people in suits. As my friend put it, regalia just seems like something that either everyone should do, or no one.

After much thought, I've decided to just wear my grey suit with white stripes, mainly because I've already had the pants hemmed, so I won't look like a little girl playing dress up in mommy's business clothes. I will probably wear some sort of pink shirt underneath. And now I don't have to worry about going out and finding a new suit and then having it altered to fit properly. Yay.

So... how many of you are actually wearing white suits to the Sunflower Ceremony?

Ladies, if you're not planning on wearing a white suit, what are you going to wear? Can I just wear a grey suit? A beige one? Pink? What about just wearing a dress? Let's say I decide to go white suit... where can I find one that won't break the bank?

Last semester, when I was at the height of my stress due mainly to my shoddy class attendance and the need to learn three classes just before finals, I promised that I wouldn't do it again this semester. I swore that this time I'd be better, that this time I'd learn as I go and not skip class for silly reasons like "oversleeping," "going out to lunch," or "playing 4 Square in the SBA office."

But then my final grade came in today. And despite all my freaking out, I did the same as I always do. In fact, my GPA even inched up 0.01. So, I now retract my promise. I'm a 3L, graduating, and apparently class attendance makes no difference on my grades at all whatsoever. It may even be that I need the stress of not feeling like I know anything in order to kick my butt into gear and actually study.

What does this mean for you all? Mainly that you get one final semester of Ruth's Finals Freakout. And everyone loves that.

ADDENDUM: I predicted on November 8 that I would not attend any more Oil & Gas classes and that I'd be better off learning it on my own. I feel oddly clairvoyant. And a tad invincible. I must have really brought my B+ game to that final.

Apparently the word on the street is that I have a short list of people to possibly hand over the blog to upon my graduation or employment.

First, I would never pass on the blog because of something as insignificant as graduation. If y'all think I freak out over stuff like being on call, finals, and trying to figure out why a balance sheet has to balance, then you haven't seen anything like what the bar will do to me. And I tend to blog more when I'm stressed out, so that pretty much guarantees multiple posts per day during the summer.

Second, I'll probably never be employed, so no reason to line people up to take over. Granted, when I'm just sitting around with nothing to do except look unsuccessfully for a job, the posts will get pretty redundant. But oh well.

Third, even if I am employed right upon finishing the bar, that's still like 10 months away. And looking at my current post rate, that equals approximately... a lot of posting.

Fourth, there is no such list. I've thought briefly (very briefly) about the fate of this blog. It's sort of my baby, and no parent should have to bury her child, right? So thinking about the possible end of the AC saddens me, and I would love to pass the torch on to a young, hilarious, and attractive up and coming blogger. But I still wouldn't have a short list. Where's the fun (and the blog fodder) in that? No, I'm thinking more like an American Idol type process with really bad audition outtakes, me telling the contestants how horrid they are in an English accent, and then voting by the readers. That's what I'm thinking.

Another possibility is going for a joint degree and prolonging my time here as a student and watching my debt rise to unacceptable levels. Because everyone could use a Ph.D., right?

My apologies if I left any known bloggers off. Congratulations to all the non-blogging graduates as well!