finals are over, the rest begins...

better to blog late than never. yes, I survived final exams. I thought it most prudent to wait a few days before blogging about exams (you never know if there is someone out there still waiting to take them -- as if they would read my blog???).

the last three weren't all that bad, crim was the most fun. pink fuzzy slippers ablaze, you gotta love the crazy fact patterns.

you have to wonder why and how someone could ignore their pink fuzzy slippers on fire and as a result, burn down the new york public library. the whole fact pattern was loaded with mistakes of fact, but in the end this crazy guy and his slippers breaks the causal chain.

I had to try to come up with some defenses for the guy. this is where the creativity comes in. I wondered, who on Earth could ignore his feet on fire??? Certainly not a crazy person -- he would freak out even if they turned out not to be on fire -- so no straight insanity defense available.

so, I decide that the only person who would do such a thing had to be on hallucinagenics. So I made two explanatory paragraphs, one where the guy is a total acid head and will try to claim 'clinical insanity' for taking LSD so many times (but rejected his voluntary intoxication as a defense), the other where the guy is a straight arrow, but someone slipped LSD into his drink at a party in 'the village.' this guy would get off on the involuntary intoxication defense, and I felt pretty bad for the guy in the end.

I hope there is no problem with making up missing facts, if you need them to give the guy a defense. pretty good stories, I think.

The only exam I'm truly worried about is civ pro. I'm kicking myself daily for not doing a straight minimum contacts/international shoe analysis in part 1, and instead talked about sufficiency of notice and assuming (wrongly) that the Lanham Act has a nationwide service of process provision (kicking myself again). My part 2 kicks butt because I did a really great analysis of the zippo test. The problem with the exam is that the whole thing was premised on a ME company making a MTD for lack of PJ on a declaratory judgment action. I didn't like it at all, and seriously had a problem trying to figure out why they would do such a thing when they were the ones who sent the cease and desist letter claiming TM infringment in the first place.

anyway, I guess it is because CA issued a court decision giving the okay to pop-up ads, but I didn't know that when I was writing the exam. But they could have just filed a forum non conveniens motion, so I didn't see the point of the MTD. I did, however, mention that they should get Rule 11 sanctions if they were doing to harass and delay.

no amjur award here 8-{

anway, torts was fine. nothing so extraordinary such as pink fuzzy slippers on fire, but I was thorough and concise. In fact, I'm a little worried because I only wrote 4 1/2 pages, and other people wrote 8-10 pages (how can they do this in 2 hours???) anyway, I hope I pick up points for clarity, conciseness, and presentation. I'm sure my prof will appreciate the quick read.

well, grades won't be posted until 'next year'...so I'm trying to relax and remember that there is nothing more I can do at this point to improve things.

the holidays are keeping me pretty busy. Its a very target (pronounced with a french accent, tar-JEY) christmas. I managed to get everything in one place and kept the prices down. the sucky thing is that I don't even celebrate christmas any more, but still have to buy christmas presents. hanukkah is much more fun (better food, lots of candles, goofy songs, and presents spread over 8 days).

but, I am looking forward to visiting with my sister and kids, I haven't seen anyone since school started. so, I still have to do christmas for my family every year, and they insist on doing christmas for me. at least they don't make it a religious thing, it makes it so much easier to be different. I like the idea of lighting the hannukia on christmas eve, because we can't light a fire in the fireplace (because you-know-who would not come down the chimney). nice compromise. no sacrificing one's values, no stepping on others'. respect is a two-way street.

so happy holidays to all, and I'll try to blog more often while I have some free time.