(no subject)

[vicarz]

Maggie dahling - I owe you a drink or 5. Oh, and you're hawt.

I can't not talk about boxing. It's really important to me right now. I've finally turned the corner where I feel ok about my skills - I'm comfortable with where they are. I'm not about to break into the ring, but I'm happy with my level of sucking. I'm not good, I can't box, I mean I can hit but I can't not be hit. I can do the moves, but I'm not used to the interaction. Still, my condition is insane, I just keep bloody going. I have areas I want to improve, but I can go-stop-go-stop-go for many hours. I don't need to rest for days afterwards. My body is used to this crap. It's hard to care about other things, like lifting weights, running, biking...everything is not boxing. Nothing is as hard or as fun.

I don't give a leap about how I look. I'm not trying to lose my obvious gut - I just like the rock-hard muscle underneath it. I like the stamina I have. I was goofing off to felix the kittin, shadow boxing kinda, and saw myself in the mirror. My leg muscles are not big, but good god I'm hawt. They're all defined and bulgy and shit. I just rock back and forth and you can see each muscle outlined and flexing, yum. Yum! I mean I see people that don't look nearly this fit and want them, but wow look at me. Funny thing is while I often chalk up parts of my workout to vanity, I pretty much blow off the world when I work out. I am fixated on what I'm doing, not on who is looking. I'm not showing off, and while a couple of YUM might catch my eye, staring would just defer too much of my attention from what I'm doing. I wouldn't mind being interrupted, but I'm not breaking my cycle unless someone moves in. I'm focused. I want the attention, and I want to give the attention, but maybe after this set, that machine, and a protein fix.

One drawback, interpersonal conflict in the new boxing class already between the coach and the gym manager. It's sad to see a really tough guy acting like a passive-aggressive bitch. I'm sure it'll work itself out, but humans...egads man, keep learning social skills past the 8th grade, will you?

Cris notes and I concur - law school is a mistake for most people. It certainly is not something I would repeat - it was a mistake for me. I started with the idea of quitting my job OR that law school would be easy. I didn't count on getting all competitive and actually working hard. I also didn't fully factor in what law salaries were like - I listened to a couple friends of mine, and overgeneralized from top firm salaries. For the money per hour, I think tech is the way to go.

And she told me so. In advance. I have no-one to blame but myself. No...wait...I can blame my mom. I'm just in law school so she'll have something to brag about.

Lawyer ethics: "First, in a rhetorical flourish, the profession is committed in general terms to all that is good and true. Then, specific questions are answered by uncritical reliance upon legalistic norms..."
Monroe Freedman, Lawer's Ethics in an Adversarial System.

Comments

[not-one-of-us.livejournal.com]

About your "obvious" gut...you don't have one and you know it. This is the point where I'd normally tell you you're hawt, but you know you're hawt, and I know you're just fishing for reassurance. ;-)

And about the law school thang: You're not 23 and staring a $25K-a-year entry-level grunt job in the face if you leave. You have a good job, and there's no one holding a gun to your head forcing you to stay. If going was a mistake for you, why are you still there?

[vicar.livejournal.com]

I don't fish for reasurrance - I demand attention, but when I do it's physically, not LJish. I grab hands and put them on me, subtle? I wasn't fishing, I actually have a not-skinny-defined tummy. It's not a hang over the belt issue, but it is clearly and measurably a gut. If you look at my tummy, you may not see fat by the lb but you don't see the ab muscles.

I am still in law school because I invested too much into it to quit now. I've done the hardest parts. I get competitive, same as in the gym, and when I get wrapped up in something it's hard to quit.

25k is livable, and the tech field still seems like a better bet. Remember when I started I was also job hunting. Now I have developed skills that allow me to work many places, though since it's all HR related I'm limited to the US.

[not-one-of-us.livejournal.com]

I don't fish for reasurrance - I demand attention, but when I do it's physically, not LJish. I grab hands and put them on me, subtle?

Not exactly, but I for one didn't mind. :-P

I am still in law school because I invested too much into it to quit now. I've done the hardest parts. I get competitive, same as in the gym, and when I get wrapped up in something it's hard to quit.

Fair enough. Personally, I don't care about either making more money or proving a point if I find that law school makes me miserable. Staying local means that if I drop out, I will still have my job, my family, friends, and a life to fall back on. And if nothing else, I'll be able to break out the pimp hand when our biweekly staff meetings devolve into hours-long arguments about copyright and fair use.

[anarcha.livejournal.com]

"The pimp hand" is definitely one of the best benefits of LS.

I know that my degree has been fantastically helpful in all facets of my life for that alone, regardless of the benefits of a law career. In my everyday dealings (with plumbers, insurance adjusters, people I meet socially, and also sometimes clients) I often swim uphill against a first impression that I'm ditzy, naive, innocent, inexperienced, ad nauseum (one reason I like the internet for communication; if people assume I'm stupid, it's because I actually wrote something stupid, and I can live with that).

[of course, doing cartwheels in night clubs doesn't really help with the maturity impression either, but I actually do carry myself differently when out of that environment]

If I'm ever having a real problem (i.e. excessive use of the term "honey" or "sweetie"; assumptions that they can pull something over on me; asking where the "lawyer" is), I just drop my degree and where I went to school into the convo. Usually patches the problem.

[not-one-of-us.livejournal.com]

Being 5'1" and spending my childhood as the neighborhood bully target has necessitated much cultivation of the pimp hand. Even now, the pimp hand gets used a lot, because people ALWAYS make the mistake of assuming I'm either much younger and dumber than I am, interested in "getting freaky" with them, or both. There was nothing like the time I told some redneck who made fun of my hair that "I (could) be blonde again in 15 minutes, but you're stuck with that sad little penis for life," or the time an asshole ex-cop in one of my JHU classes tried to commiserate with me over bad paper grades only to find out I got an A.

[anarcha.livejournal.com]

I think the trap (and it's certainly not one limited to law school, or to the legal profession), is that, though long term it makes sense to get out, in the short term it makes sense to stay in.

Basically, J's perceived benefits from completing law school are dropping, but so are the remaining costs.

I'm thinking mathematically today, so bear with me. Oversimplified:

B1 = Perceived benefits of law degree/career when starting law school
C1 = Perceived costs of law degree/career when starting law school

B2 = Perceived benefits of law degree/career two years into law school
C2 = Perceived costs of law degree/career two years in law school (excluding sunk costs -- tuition already spent)

B1>C1 (so you go to law school)

B1>B2 (perceived benefits of degree drop over time as one learns more about career path)

C1>C2 (remaining costs of completing the degree also drop)

|dB|>|dC| (i.e. the magnitude of the drop in perceived benefits is greater than the drop in remaining costs of completing the degree)
Unfortunately, B2>C2, and so he stays in law school.

The point I try to make to prospective law school students is that C1>B2 in many cases, and that it's a very good idea to try to divine B2, rather than assume that B1=B2.

[not-one-of-us.livejournal.com]

Makes sense. My first temptation was to say that with José being where he is on the gov't pay scale, the only way that the benefit of law school would outweigh the cost, at least in terms of money, would be if he took the biglaw route upon graduation. But really, I'm sort of in the same boat. Web developer salaries tend to be at the low end of the tech-sector scale, and mine is on the low end of that because I gave up the big-agency path to work for an educational institution. But still, the salary I'm getting now is more than I'd get in a clerkship or government position, or if I decided to do public-interest work. Given that Baltimore doesn't have the volume of firms that NY and DC do, that may be where I find myself if I don't do terribly well in law school. And while there will always be that part of me that would love to do public-interest work, the poor-white-trash-done-good part of me wins out. It won't take me more than a semester, I imagine, to find out if it just wasn't meant to be. And if that's the case (although I really don't think it will be), at least I tried.

[jwitcraft.livejournal.com]

Nice meeting you...and remembering your face the next day. :)

Dollhouse was not the best venue for that. Too much dancing was to be had!

[vicar.livejournal.com]

Hee! Yeah - I wasn't sure who you were on-line until I saw your pic, then I remembered. Too bad you're about to take off already...I'm sure CA beats VA, yeesh.

[jwitcraft.livejournal.com]

Here are my pro's and cons thus far-

Cali Pros: Beach/Mountain, more $$$, beautiful activist non smoking bunny hugger state.
Cons-expensive as hell in all ways, shit ass public transportation.

DC Metro Pros: Friends, politics, cheaper, close to NY, CT, etc, excellent public transport system.
Cons: Poorly paid, job market is smaller, too friggin hot in the summer. Smells funny.