One More Week and I'll Be Through

"Here we go again... same old shit again...."

The cadence we used to sing in the Army (and when I say sing I use that term in the loosest possible way) were usually geared towards counting down until some shitty thing was over and life got better.

This is so because the thing that we were consumed by was usually rather shitty.

I think the key is that if you cannot change the shitty things then you have to not be consumed by the things so shitty.

I am off to Sacramento tomorrow for the week. For three days of that week I will be writing the bar exam. The bar exam is not going to consume me because at the end of the three days I will walk out still being the same person I am right now. The bar exam is not shitty because I can do anything for three days.

Besides, I am going to a certain Wine Piazzo to taste, enjoy, and acquire some of the most wonderfully grown old world grapes this side of Italy.

Now that my friends is something I will allow to consume me.

Who Is Counting Anyway?

Its not like I'm really counting down the days until Cal Bar Exam III. But its just under two weeks away.

I have my pencils, pens, admission ticket, ear plu.... shit I still need to get ear plugs.

Guess I need to make a list and check it twice?

Well, I'm really not counting.

Its not like I'm a hundred points short of passing. Just 5 raw points.

Feedback from BarBri has been helpful and I am thinking differently about the essays. I see the facts differently. I organize differently (and I didn't really even organize on Cal Bar Exam I). I IRAC - which is different.

I feel more prepared than I have been in the past.

But don't get me wrong. I'm not arrogant about this thing in any way.

I need more coffee ....

In celebration of Independence Day

I am the Infantry.

I am my country's strength in war, her deterent in peace.

I am the heart of the fight, wherever, whenever.

I carry America's faith and honor against her enemies.

I am the Queen of Battle.

I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained soldier in the world.

In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win.

Never will I fail my country's trust.

Always I fight on, through the foe, to the objective, to triumph over all.

If necessary, I fight to my death.

By my steadfast courage, I have won 233 years of freedom.

I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, for I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight.

I forsake not my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty.

I am relentless.

I am always there, now and forever.

I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!

Building

Hi. I'm Brook Davis. Not really, but thats the name we'll use here. I am in the process of populating this blog with past blogshit from another location. I am not editing anything (aside from spelling errors) and the dates will reflect the orogonal post dates.

Today I am in the process of preparing to take the California Bar Exam for the third time. More about that later....

What a long strange trip ....

One year ago I was, inter alia:

1) "studying" (read - panicing) for the July 2008 bar exam; and

2) supressing my bitterness and anger about my (soon to be ex) wife's 'sudden' decision to move to Texas.

A lot of my blogging then was laced with that bitterness and panic and most of my faithful readers seemed to rather enjoy my angry prose. It seems that as my anger has subsided, so has my readership and kudos. I don't know if it was the FML flavor of my blogs or the underlying disposition that no matter what, I was not going to roll over and take it.

Whatever it was my life is tempered and calm now. No drama. Really, I mean no drama. Nada.

We are all moved into the new apartment now and have unpacked enough of the boxes that we can walk from room to room, see the furniture, eat dinner at the table, and relax a little.

For all the moving I have had to suffer through in the past year this move was different. Everything really just fell into the right place at the right time. I am rather accustomed to having things just fall into place in my life and I suspect I have reached a turning point.

So it seems I have no bitterness, no anger, no jaded outrage to share with you. All I have is a smile, a warm heart, and the calm that only comes with knowing that someone has your back no matter what comes along.

Bar preparation is progressing and I start the essay course this coming Sunday. I am excited and determined, happy, and I wouldn't change a thing....

Clap Clap V2.0

I received my scores from the February 09 Bar Exam and I was 15 points away from passing, closing the gap halfway from last July.

I enrolled in Bar/Bri's EssayAdvantage and PerformanceAdvantage courses via iPod in order to get the more 'hands on' writing instruction for each tested subject. This way I am modeling my essay writing on passing essays rather than mythical "model answers" that were written over several months instead of an hour.

"Everyone takes Bar/Bri" is a mantra long repeated in the halls of law schools and bar exam centers from coast to coast, and I want my essays to look like the essays written by those who pass.

I have a reasonable study schedule in place and already have all the substantive law lectures reviewed. I am still focused from last time and daily my focus is sharper.

I am absolutely determined. I'm not sure I can say that about July 2008. I was still responding to my sudden life changes and, quite honestly, I was being a bit dramatic, and a complete asshole.

As fun as it was, I'm not going to rinse and repeat what has almost worked. I have a new system, new materials, a fresh start and renewed purpose.

I am calm and happy actually. The only stress was money related and that issue is moot.

I took five minutes and revisited why I was taking the bar in the first place and my perspective was refreshed. I'm happy and I know it.

Clap Clap

Whatever it takes...

I was a casualty of the 33.5 % overall pass rate for the February 2009 California Bar Exam.
But don't tell me "I'm sorry" or "That sucks" because its nothing but a thing.

When I started this "thing" I pre-determined I would finish. No matter what. And I will Whatever it takes.

For the last couple of months I have been listening to all the substantive law lectures in my car driving back and forth to the office so I already have reviewed 'The Law.'

Thanks to the very generous (and often unwarranted) support of my Mom I am enrolled in a extensive (and frankly expensive) intensive essay writing program. I know the damn law. I just haven't been able to produce the writing model in my essays that gets the passing scores.

The nice thing about the essay course is its delivered via iPod so I can do it twice or even thrice before July. Whatever it takes.

I am not distressed, or even disappointed. I did the absolute best I could do in February - not something I can say about July 2008. I prepared as strongly as I could have and I fought all three days. I got my teeth kicked in by some of it and I knew it then but I fought on. Whatever it takes.

I am not sad or depressed. I have the strongest and most supportive group of friends and family in my life - the likes of which I have never before experienced. They remind me that there is a big picture and there is life after the bar exam. There is even life during bar review.

I am calm, determined, focused, and intelligent enough to know I cannot simply repeat the incorrect writing style over and over and expect passing results. I am fixing the problem (not so much what I write, but how it is delivered - "a clear, concise, lawyer-like manner"). Whatever it takes.

I will pass the bar exam. Whatever it takes .....