Tipping Point

It's that point in the semester where people are starting to shift into Hyper Law Student Mode. 1Ls are especially vulnerable to this illness and large groups of them can be found frantically paging through their copies of the Blue Book and quizzing each other on promissory estoppel. By the time Thanksgiving rolls around, the tension in the library will be thick and oppressive. Feng sui is not nearly enough to counteract that kind of mojo.

It's hard not to get sucked into that whirling vortex of despair and stress, especially as a 1L when you're a)facing the unknown and b)most likely in a city where you have no contacts outside of law school. The second part is the most important. Having only law school friends means that many-- or in some cases, all-- of your conversations center around the latest torts reading or the fearful first open research memo. It's not healthy.

Not that this is limited to 1Ls by any means. 2Ls are either trying to recover from the stresses and disappointments of OCI or they're stressed out about finding a summer job on their own. 3Ls are similarly stressed about finding permanent employment. This semester's grades are the last ones that really count for most of us, since the transcripts we'll be shopping to employers along with our resumes all Spring semester will show those grades. Therefore, you still have to keep your game face on.

All of this means that people are starting to get possessive about study carrels and cranky about other people talking in the library. More and more people are riding that ragged edge with the result that the "Straw-Camel Snap" is becoming more and more common. Even people you would never suspect are susceptible. A girl that I associate with the most vivacious, contagious laugh like cold water bubbling out of a mountain spring on a hot summer day was shooting homicidal laser beams from her eyes yesterday.

The only cure for this is... well, there is no cure. It can, however, be treated with large doses of alcohol and meaningless conversation in which the phrase "res ipsa loquitur" never once pops up. Sunshine and unseasonably warm days are also helpful, especially if you don't insist on staying in the library to study. The great part about books is that they are portable, y'all! There is nothing more that I would like right now than to combine those things and sit in the sunshine under a tree somewhere, drinking a lovely red wine while reading whatever crap is on the agenda for Business Organizations with a certain member of the class. Maybe tomorrow...