I passed!

I passed the bar exam and will be sworn in at the end of the month. That is a huge relief.

I am thinking about starting my own law firm while continuing to work in my current part-time job. We will see what happens. I think that, as of right now, I would want it to be officially open for business in January 2010, but things could change. I'm nervous about the idea, but I also have a couple of good mentors, so I'm not as nervous about it as I once was.

I am still applying for jobs, and getting a lot of rejection letters and emails. The economy is (I'm going to state the obvious) unbelievably tough right now for job-seekers.

Rat Dog had surgery on Wednesday. He had a "mass" removed from his leg, and he had his teeth cleaned. He is not supposed to jump onto furniture or run up/down the stairs for ten days. This is supposed to prevent his stitches from ripping. He loves to run and jump, so it has been really difficult. He also has to wear a cone in order to prevent him from licking his stitches. It is really exhausting; I can't imagine how exhausting it must be to be a parent to a toddler. Dealing with post-surgery Rat Dog is enough for me right now.

We are still waiting to hear whether his mass was an infected bug bite or a bad (cancerous) tumor. I am really hoping that it was a bug bite.

Other than that, not much is new around here.

Shiny Happy People

This weekend, Becca was in town, and we (Becca, E & I) ended up driving to visit Andy; he lives close to the town where the three of us (Becca, Andy, and I) grew up.

It was so nice to be around my closest friends. My life has changed so much in the past 3 years; law school, moving to suburbia, getting married, and having surgery. These changes have been for the better, but it was still so nice to hang out with my old friends. They are so positive and they take risks (like being a freelance photographer or creating art for gallery displays) and they do what they love and love what they do. Lawyers are often referred to as being deal-breakers; part of a lawyer's job is to think about things that might go wrong and to advise their clients about how to prevent those things from happening. A lot of people in my field are negative. For the past three years, I've attended school with people who were also being trained to think negatively. So it was GREAT to be around my friends who really don't care about law school related things. I felt like myself again. It's so great to have friends that you can go months (or sometimes even years) without seeing, and when you see each other again, it's like no time has passed. I'm so lucky.

People used to say that I was a "free spirit". I don't think that I ever really was that much of a free spirit; I have always liked to plan things and to have goals for myself. I worried about things a lot; I still do. I've always wanted to know where my life is heading. However, I would like to take some of this "free spiritedness" (or whatever it was) with me into my career. Obviously I need to be able to advise clients about what they should and shouldn't be doing, and unfortunately this advice can sometimes be negative. But I still want to be a fun person to be around; someone who encourages people to be happy and to do what they want with their lives. It's so easy to get caught up in negativity; I think that I need to shut out some of these negative influences from my life. I think that this might be easier said than done, but I'm going to try it.

Long time, no update

I'm feeling a little flakey right now. Lots of projects/end of the year stuff to finish up, and not a lot of time. My somewhat decent eating habits have gone down the drain. I've eaten a couple boxes of Girl Scout cookies on my own in the past week. Drinking too much coffee. But at least I'm taking a multivitamin.

I have some good recipes to post, but it probably won't happen for a few more days.

I've been on a few job interviews in the past 2 weeks. I think that one firm was probably looking for a 2L instead of a 3L, so I don't think I will be getting that job. Oh well, interviewing is good practice. They also wanted someone to work for them 40 hours/wk this summer, and that wouldn't be very doable while studying for the bar, so it's probably for the best.

I have another job lead, but have been playing phone tag with the possible employer, so I don't know if it's a good lead or not. Hopefully I will find out more today.

I've also interviewed with a couple legal temp agencies so that way I'm at the top of their list after the bar exam. At least if I'm working somewhere and making money (any money), I will be able to hold out longer while looking for a permanent job. I've been told that it could take between 6-12 months to find a law firm job in this economic climate. There are too many law schools in this area (which I already knew). So I definitely need to find a way to bring in some income while looking for that job. Especially once the student loans come due in December. *gulp!*

E has changed his plan for going to school. As of Fall 2009, he will probably be taking 11 credits/semester at a local university that has a more friendly night-class schedule for working adults. For the amount of money and time that he is spending at the Giant Bureaucracy University, he will be able to earn 11 credits at the Working-Adult-Friendly University. He has to switch his major from Engineering to a double major in Accounting and Math. But he is going to try it out for a year, and then after Spring 2010, we will have a better idea of whether an Engineering major will be possible. Since there are no more night classes available in his major at Giant Bureaucracy University, and because he gets tuition reimbursement, there is really nothing for him to lose by trying this out. He took a Myers Brigg test, and Accounting came up as a top career choice for him, so it's not a totally crazy idea.

E & I also found a church in our suburbia to join, so I am going to New Member Classes (E can't make it, because it's during his lab). It is making me feel more like I "belong" in our suburbia land. It's good to meet some of our neighbors.

Alright, I think that's all for now. I need to miraculously write a paper on Saturday. I woke up at 4:30 this morning and have been working on it until a few minutes ago, so I think it's possible that I will finish it tomorrow. Cross your fingers for me :)

Long time, no update

It's been a busy month. I've managed to put off a lot of schoolwork this month, and yet I still haven't managed to update my blog. I'll make up for it by posting several recipes :)

Plans

The job market, our house and its issues, and this weather have been making me feel pretty down lately. I felt so happy after my surgery was over, that I am disappointed in myself for letting my emotions swing down so quickly. Yesterday we had our first January thaw (I think). It was great.

E & I went out for lunch and talked about how our goals need to change. The plan was originally for E to go back to school full-time when I graduate. It doesn't seem like that is possible in this economy, and it is probably a bad idea right now. We already have our house mortgage, and thanks to me we also have my student loans to deal with. We can't afford to pay out of pocket for him to attend school full-time, and we definitely aren't going to take out loans to pay for his tuition until I have a full-time secure job with health benefits.

The other problem is how we will pay for our living expenses (especially since we are "grown-ups" with a mortgage) while he is in school. We can take out loans for those, but the thought of putting ourselves "in the hole" even more is pretty nauseating. He's going to keep on taking night classes, and we are going to start searching for scholarships (even $500 or $1000 scholarships) for him to apply for so we can cut down on the amount of money we will have to borrow. He will also work part-time while in school. It is really annoying that he can't keep his current job and attend the I.T. full-time. Most of the classes that he needs to take are not offered at night. It is really annoying. It makes it almost impossible for him to get his degree while still holding down a job. And the tuition is so expensive, especially considering that it's a public university. All in all, I know that I will never donate money to that school (if I ever have money to give).

It's also depressing because I don't know how we are ever going to be able to afford to pay for our own kids to go to school someday, especially when we will still be paying off our own student loans. I can only imagine that college prices are going to continue increasing. Maybe we shouldn't have kids at all.

Although the tone of this post is depressing, we really are feeling better about things. Basically E's thought is that he has a good and stable (knock on wood) job in this economy and it pays the bills. It would be pretty crazy to quit working there in order to go to school and incur more debt right now. Especially when the legal job market is on the downswing, so my contribution to our income is not guaranteed.

I regret my decision to go to law school every day. I wish that E had gone to school full-time instead. It would have been a better use of our money. I hope that I forgive myself for making such a dumb decision.

Last night my thought was: some people have great careers and some people have great economic success and some people have great love in their life. At least we have one of the three :) And that is probably the most important one.

Hiring Freezes

Last week I met with the CEO of my dream job. She told me (which I already knew) that due to the economy they are not even filling open positions right now. It was extremely depressing to hear. She had no solid career advice for me. She was only able to tell me about all of the other employers who are also not hiring. I can only hope that things improve by October when I get my (hopefully positive) bar exam results.

It was very heartbreaking for me, because I have done everything I can to prepare for that career. I took lower paying summer clerkships in that field the past two summers. I volunteered during the school year. Now I am finding out that it might not matter. I'm worried that my resume now looks too "specialized" and as a result it will be hard to land a job in a different practice area. I am disappointed in myself and find myself regretting the decision to sign up for law school; hating myself for it. I can only hope that things will improve and that I will be able to get my dream job, or that someone will hire me and pay me enough to keep up with my student loan payments.

Because we own a house that has now decreased greatly in value (we only have negative equity right now), relocation is not a realistic option.

After seeing the news about yesterday's layoffs, it's hard to imagine that anyone will ever want to hire me when I graduate.