Ribbit's Riddles of the Revolving Runiverse Forum

[Ribbit]

I think it hit me this past weekend. Friday night. I had been getting text messages for hours to go to the bar (yes, hours...I have a friend that might have a drinking problem) and I kept making up excuses not to go. Why? Did I have a superhot date? No. Did I have a paper to write/test to study for? No. Did I have a heart palpitation that was acting up particularly bad that night? No. I really just wanted to see what everyone on TLS was doing.

That might be a bit of an overstatement, but the fact is, I enjoy talking with the people on this site more than I like talking to most of my "friends" here at school. Sad, really, but I tried to figure out why that is. First thing I thought of was my age. I'm a few years older than the average undergrad student, so I have problems finding things in common with most of my fellow students here. But that's not everything. I think it's the same thing that keeps all of us coming back on here day in and day out.

We all share something.

Sure, all of us are different. We have different personalities, different ideals. Some of us are crossing our fingers for that Tier 2 school to give us that one acceptance we really want while some of us are (maybe not so) silently cursing Yale for not giving us a full ride. Plus stipend. And a yacht. Some of us are idealists who, longing to make a change, plan to pursue human rights law or maybe even politics while others of us look forward to the challenge and hustle of big city corporate law. Some of us were good undergrad students while some of us took the easy way through college. But all of us share something. Yeah, we all are going to go to law school, but honestly, I don't even think that's it. I think that there's something in all of us that compelled us to make that decision to pursue law in the first place, and I think that it is that part of us that clings on to one another. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I think that all of us have it. And I think that is why we keep coming back. At least, it's why I do. I know that most of the time, I'd probably rather joke with Slash and Brittlynn or debate with longodds or Alf then hang out with people here who don't have that " " that I'm talking about. Hell, I'd rather even argue with stjobs than argue with people here.

I don't know exactly what I'm saying, partly because it's 2 am and partly because what I'm talking about is somewhat indescribable. Either way, you guys have me hooked. I'd prefer you all wait to go to law school until I get there. But if you don't, there will always be new people, I guess. And I'll send you all viruses through PM's. Beetches.

[Ribbit]

What's most important when choosing a law school? I guess it's different for everyone. For me, it's the 30 years practicing law after law school that matters most. I'm not a huge quality of life person, honestly. I really don't need to go somewhere where everyone is happy and lovely and eating sherbert and baking love cookies. I want to go somewhere that puts me in the best position at graduation to get the job I want where I want at the right salary. I don't know what kind of person that makes me...maybe someone that I don't necessarily really want to be, but it's who I am. I still have awhile to make a decision on where I would want to go to school, but I'm looking less and less at how much "fun" I might have for those three years and looking increasingly as "What can you do for me for the rest of my life?" People consistently rag on UC and CLS because the students there "hate it". I don't know...maybe those students are pussies. Maybe those students should have went somewhere else. Or maybe I'm completely wrong. We'll see.

Forgive me...it's rainy and cold today.

[Ribbit]

I'm on the weirdest schedule of all time.

I stay awake all night because, honestly, I can't help it. Just can't sleep. I start watching the Squawk Report at 4am my time and keep it on CNBC until the market opens. I'll fall asleep around 9am Mountain time for like four hours and then I start my day.

I'll be a zombie in about 2 and a half years, guaranteed.

[Ribbit]

So, apparently I have a paper due on Monday that I forgot about. Worse, it was assigned like three weeks ago, so I've had plenty of time doing it.

I apparently have to write from a US State Department official's position on why the United States should or should not get involved with the Chechnya conflict. The problem is not that the answer is difficult...it's obvious. But my prof won't let me state the obvious. So I have to come up with new reasons? Made up ones? I don't know. We'll see. I guess I should first figure out what's really going on in Chechnya, first. I'm only mildly up to speed on the situation.

There will be little alcohol drinking going on this weekend, now. Wait..wait. Red Bull/Vodka is a drink, right? Sweeeet.

[Ribbit]

So, I finished my paper. It's pretty good, I think. Sort of my kind of assignment. I also won a couple hundred in a poker game last night. Warming up to kill you suckers on Monday night.

I have three weeks of school left, and the end can't come soon enough. It's not that I hate school or anything, but I'm superbored with everything this semester. I'm just ready for summer. Speaking of...

I get out of school first week of May and then I'm taking a trip to California to visit some friends. I have my old crew in San Diego, so I'm excited to see them again. We might take a road trip to Vegas and take over the city. My ex is apparently having running guest role on ER and she said I could go to the studio when she's filming. Might even be able to get Uncle Jesse's autograph. Holla. Then I might take a trip up the PCH to Norcal. Never been there, but I think that I might end up there so I want to take a look around. See San Fran, try not to get shot in Oakland, and check out Boalt and Stanford. Might even get to meet our Founding Father of TLS. Pretty excited, nonetheless. Then, while all of you effers are getting ready for law school, I'll be back here taking summer courses in Chinese and getting ready for another year of undergrad. And cursing you all.

[Ribbit]

I am in love with Becky Quick.



That is all.

[Ribbit]

For the last few days, the forums have been congregated with topics that are both relevant and contentious, lending to debate that has been, at times, quite heated. One of my favorite things is to discuss issues that have many competing ideas and viewpoints and I feel that, for the most part, the sum of ideas being shared on this forum have been respected and debated with civility.

However, one thing that I wish people would understand is that when personal attacks enter the fray of lively, intellectual debate, the logic and weight of the attacker's arguments loses it's ability to convince rationally. No matter what one might say before a personal attack is made, it loses any intention it might have had when that attack is leveled against someone else. Not only this, but it deadens the debate and shifts it into an attack/defense/attack thread between parties. It doesn't do anything to spread idead or reach conclusions.

Just something to think about...I'm sure that I've been guilty of it in the past.

[Ribbit]

Don't buy a house and rent it out. Ever. I have learned my lesson, and I will now share it with you. I may exhibit abnormal levels of frustration, anger, and helplessness so you don't have to.

I saved all my money when I was deployed in Iraq so when I came back, I decided to buy a house. I bought it outside of the San Diego area because house prices were cheaper there, but the payments still pretty much strapped me for the rest of my enlistment. I didn't care, though. It was a good investment (real estate!) and it was pretty bomb owning my very own three bedroom in California. I closed on the home in December of 2004 so when I got out of the military this past July, I couldn't sell it yet without having to pay prepayment penalties on my mortgages. Soooo, instead of just taking the hit on my equity (would have been around 30 grand) and making out with what I could then, I decided to rent the house out for a year so I could sell it this summer with increased equity and no prepayment penalties. I had calls a-plenty for the house as soon as I put it up for rent and had decided on a renter less then a week after it was up. I checked credit reports, references, and income statements. This lady seemed perfect. Good job, mother of three, references checked out great.

I was wrong.

After moving to Colorado in July, I was obviously physically unable to check up on the house, but my ex's cousin lived about 20 minutes away so he said he would check on it from time to time. I didn't use a property management company which, in hindsight, was a bad decision. Either way, when me and my ex broke up, she went back to California. She put off checking up on the house, but she finally went and viewed it in January (maybe February) so that we could start making arrangements to put it on the market for sale. She called me crying telling me that the house was completely fucked up. She emailed me the pictures and I wanted to punch a hole in my computer monitor, I was so pissed. Black walls (that we spent a week painting before she moved in), black carpet (that we had professionally cleaned before she moved in), gum on the hardwood floors, etc, etc, etc. So, we gave her three weeks to get the entire place looking like it had before she got there or she would be evicted. The problem is, this was just a threat. I can't afford to evict her. I might be able to rent it out again, but for another year lease at the minimum and I would have to go in there and clean it all myself to make it presentable enough to collect the kind of rent that I need. She cleaned the place up, but only half-assed. There's just nothing else I can really do about it.

In addition, she hasn't paid me for March's freaking rent yet, much less April's. She was supposed to buy the house a month ago or so, which would have been wonderful, but the deal fell through this week.

I'm pissed and irritated. But most of all, I'm helpless. I can't evict her because her rent helps pay the mortgage. And I'm a couple of states away so I can't go there and check on things myself.

Other than that, temperatures were in the sixties today so I feel pretty good.

[Ribbit]

So, I actually slept last night. Probably the greatest thing to have happened to me in weeks. I woke up around 5:30 refreshed.

Felt a little like this guy:
--ImageRemoved--

Then, after my shower, bagel, and coffee, I walked outside ready to confront the day.

Then everything changed. Shittiest weather day, EVER. Cold rain. Dark. Depressing. I immediately felt a bit more like this guy:



Then, when I came back home, beholden in front of me was a kitchen full of groceries that someone besides me bought! I can't explain how wonderful this is: I've bought food for the damn house for over a month, so this was like getting a valentine's day card from Satan. Well, sort of.
Only problem is, by the end of the week, I'll probably look like this now:

--ImageRemoved--

[Ribbit]

So, apparently one day of normal sleep is all my body can handle. Screw this body. If it wasn't for my spectacular muscle definition in my upper gastrocnemius, I'd trade it in in a heartbeat.

On another note, I'm getting a bit sad. All of you (most) have made your decisions about where you are going to law school in the fall. Some of you will be interning in NYC this summer. Brings back feelings of regret for not just taking care of business the first time I went to school. You know, back in the nineties.

At the same time, I do believe in some semblance of fate. I don't believe in letting 'fate' make your life, but I do think the things we do and the decisions we make are for some reason that isn't always understandable, but meaningful nonetheless. I wouldn't have come to know all of you, nor would I have even necessarily made the decision to go to law school if I had done everything "right" the first time.

I don't know..I just feel like reflecting, I guess. Either way, I've met some great people here. Friends. And not in the 'online' sense. There's people here that I've told secrets to, and there's people here that I contact when anything is going on in my personal life. This site has been superb to me, for many reasons. So, for what it's worth, when you're all immersed in LS work and reading your hornbooks late into the night, I'll miss you. Congratulations to all on your amazing acceptances and good luck.

[Ribbit]

Good weekend. Relaxing. I was in a bit of a funk but I think I'm out of it. Slept the past two nights.

Now, I have to hit the books pretty hard. Finals on Saturday, next Monday, and next Wednesday. If I ace them, I should 4.0 the semester, even with a half-assed effort. I need to get out of my lackluster attitude towards classes I'm not particularly interested in, though. It definitely won't serve me well in law school.

[Ribbit]

Today was badass. Two main reasons.

1) Spring is here and it's amazing. Eighty-two degrees, sunny, and all the things that come with those two things. I never knew how amazing the women look here until today. I had number-getting fever. I couldn't help it. Thank God for warm weather.

2) Ever heard of Old Chicago? Well, it has this thing called the "World Beer Tour". You drink 110 different beers in a year and you get some prize. Like a t-shirt or something lame. But it DOESN'T MATTER. Give me a task and I approach it with ferocity. The unfortunate thing is, they only allow four beers a day to be marked off the list. Apparently, they don't want to encourage drunken debauchery. So, I have a mini tour going right now to knock out eight Mexican beers before Cinco de Mayo. Got the first four done today. I love having goals.

[Ribbit]

So, I started writing again today. I started a book a long time ago, but got sick of it about 60 pages in. I don't even know if I'm writing it the right way. Either way, I read what I had today and only liked half of it. But I think I'm going to press on anyways. I don't know if there's any point because I'll be sick of it again later, but whatever.

On another note, if you'd like to write it for me, longy, and let me pretend that I wrote it, that'd be swell.

[Ribbit]

Last day of classes...which means I'm skipping. No reason to go, really. First final tomorrow, one on Monday, and two on Wednesday. Pretty excited to be at the end. Not stressed about the finals at all, which is a relief.

Next weekend, I'm going to see my mama. I haven't seen her in almost a year....pretty excited.

[Ribbit]

Cinco de Mayo. Always one of my favorite holidays and I have no idea why. It doesn't really apply to me at all, but having lived in Southern California for a half decade at drinking age has led me to believe that there is no better day to go crazy and have fun. So, I brought the tradition with me to Colorado.

I had a final yesterday at 1:30 and I knocked it out of the park, so I was in a celebratory mood anyway. Bought some Patron Silver and Patron Resposado. Me and two of my friends split that over about four hours. Then, me and Joe decided to go to the cigar bar. Nice place...classy, laid-back, good bar. We drank a couple of Anejos and then decided 'what the hell' and got a bottle of Dom and a couple of Mysterios and headed back to the smoking room. I ended up talking to the VP of Operations of a certain upstart Tech firm for a couple of hours. Got the card because 'who knows'?

Now, I have a headache. But it was worth it.

[Ribbit]

Yeah, I just won a 10,000 entry online poker tournament.

I'm the shit.

[Ribbit]

So, I've had a ridiculously busy summer. Summer started out like a neverending party (remember, I'm not yet going to LS in the fall) and wound up being remarkably life-changing. I transferred schools to go back to Arkansas, for both cost of education and proximity to family, and am opening a hookah bar, of which there are none in Arkansas, with my best friend who is moving with me from California. I have not changed my desire or aspiration to go to law school at all. However, with all of the business I have had to do, I have seen how much of a passion I have for that as well. I was very interested in corporate law anyway, however, now I think I may be interested in doing a joint J.D./MBA. The two downsides of transferring and moving: my new undergrad school is not as highly ranked and they do not have a Chinese program either, so I will have to continue my studies independently.

Anyway, I'm sure I wasn't missed, however, I'm glad to be back contributing.

[Ribbit]

So, I've been away for awhile, which was probably mutually beneficial to both this site and myself as I had not really contributed anything substantial in awhile as well as allowing myself to step away from any LS thoughts for awhile.

Over the past eight years or so, I've changed my mind on what I wanted to do with my life many, MANY times. I was getting a little worried that I was getting ahead of myself planning for Law School and that I was going to slowly get sick of that idea and move on as I had done so many times before. So, I got away from anything LS or Law career related and just went to school, worked, etc. for awhile to see how I would feel.

Surprisingly (to me, at least) I still want to go to law school. This is, like, off-the-charts HUGE to me. I feel more confident in what I want to do then I ever have before. Which is good for a 26 year old undergraduate.

Anyways, I'll be back here, posting periodically whenever I feel I have something to contribute. I'm going to retake my LSAT. Not sure a 170 gives me the confidence I want going into LS applications. I'm pretty sure that I am going to go to a West Coast school now, but I'm not deadset on it. Obviously Stanford, Boalt, and UCLA top my list right now of potentials, but we'll see how that goes. Anyway, looking forward to hearing everyone's admissions responses over the next few months! Good luck, all.