Shell shock

Holy moly it is 2009. I feel like I have been MIA since around Thanksgiving. See, I heavily indulged in the art of procrastination last semester and put off serious studying until just a month before finals. "Just a month?" you ask wryly. Yes, I understand that I am absolutely out-of-my-mind when it comes to exam prep but I know I should have done WAY more to be ready for finals than I was. At least I am pretty sure I passed all of my classes, even Federal Taxation, which was the absolute bane of my existence for a good four months of life.

As soons as the pressure of finals let up, I had to sink my teeth into one of the nastiest bits of legal writing I have ever done. See, last year I competed in our 2nd year law student moot court competition and won the award for the best "brief" (which is the name for a legal document used by courts that is between 40 and 50 pages long). That meant that I earned the right to be one of two "Brief Writers" on BYU's national moot court team. Long story short, every day of Christmas break, including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, I have been working on this blasted problem about how far a President can go under the U.S. Constitution in his efforts to make war against terrorists. Most days I spent at least 10 hours on researching, writing, and revising the brief. What is wrong with me, seriously?

But as of 35 minutes ago, I am free!! Happy-happy-joy-joy!! I passed off the brief to my teammates (who have been amazing by helping me throughout the process with rewrites and brainstorming sessions, etc.), and it is time to relax. I have a couple of books on my list that I have been itching to read, I am not going to think about the Constitution for at least a week, and I plan to spend lots of time with Paul (who has been a trooper and hasn't complained once about my insanity during his break - even when I made him go stay at his parent's house so that I could focus on my paper).

Anyway, I thought about typing up my New Year's Resolutions (which I am completely in favor of setting), but I think that I will just keep that all to myself except for this one, very important resolution for 2009: RELAX more. Slow down. Breathe. This will not be an easy one to keep given the fact that I plan to spend this summer studying for the California bar. But I promise to try my best.