first final exam nightmare...

I just woke up from the most awful dream:

Contracts exam.

I took the exam, thought I did pretty well. Went home, took a shower, then realized I had missed clarifying a certain point...I forgot to write one sentence clarifying the difference in my analysis of two paragraphs (for some reason, the two paragraphs looked identical, but would have shown I understood the difference if I had inserted two or three words to mark the difference).

Got the exam back with a C- !!!!! with a comment in red saying that I didn't even demonstrate I knew the issue was there!!!

I got very upset. "of course I knew the issue was there, why in the hell would I write two nearly identical paragraphs in the first place if I didn't get the point!"

At this point in the dream I picked up the exam and tossed it, shouting, "I could be the best tax lawyer in the world, but I'll never get there because I chose to come HERE!" (to my school with its insane grading system, instead of Boalt or Yale, where I would have at least gotten a "P" for the exam.)

Lesson: never read practice exams right before going to bed. Especially for your "fear and loathing" class.

Perhaps I can blame my anxiety on my neighbors who began arguing in Italian at 2:30am. Not your normal loud Italian discussion, but a real fight.

"TUTTO...blah blah blah..."

I'm feeling TUTTO stupid right now. I can't believe that I am stressing so hard on contracts. It is supposed to be a common sense class. I guess it is because it is one of those "cornerstone" classes -- it is essential that I get a high grade.

Civ Pro = no anxiety whatsoever. Know this stuff like the back of my hand (I guess it helps having years of doing "nexus" analyses for corps doing business in CA).

Crim = no anxiety because I could care less. The material isn't particularly difficult, and I know that I will never practice criminal law.

Property = golden. I love this class, and I got an A+ in property in Paralegal school, so my only anxiety is remembering to show my entire thought process.

Torts = not much anxiety here, either. this is one of those, "b.s. both sides well enough and you'll do fine" classes. my only anxiety is remembering not to cross over concepts from crim.

I suppose there is a reason that many of the top students don't begin to study for finals until the third week in november. It's probably a good idea to forego the sleepless nights until classes are actually over. I really shouldn't be having exam nightmares when it is still only OCTOBER!

Now...maybe I can get another two hours of restful shut-eye before I wake up at 5am and finish my crim law reading on conspiracy.