Jeremy's Weblog

I recently graduated from Harvard Law School. This is my weblog. It tries to be funny. E-mail me if you like it. For an index of what's lurking in the archives, sorted by category, click here.

Sunday, May 25, 2003

Linking to a weblog over at Sanction Films that was kind enough to link to me. Their film project, "In the Bathroom," a spoof of "In the Bedroom," sounds pretty funny just from the title. I'm been meaning to link to them for a few days now, but was waiting for a weblog post that gave me something to say in response so I could combine the link with something substantive to say. And today, there's a post that's awfully sad, but I think conveys feelings that we all have some of the time, when we're frustrated, or lonely, or just scared of the future out there unknown. He writes, in part:

"I am 23 years old, and the more I go through life the more I realize that no one cares. No one cares if you go to work. No one cares if you don't wake up today. No one cares if you don't pick up your dry cleaning this Tuesday. No one cares about what happened to you on the way home... No one is going to make you become something. You have to do it yourself or it is just not going to happen."

He sounds like someone who needs some good old-fashioned graduate school. :) I'm actually completely serious. One of the great things about law school -- and one of the reasons I decided to go, really -- is that no matter how meaningless the day seems, how useless you feel, how little you get done, at the end of the day, in the back of your mind, you know at least you're getting a degree at the end. That you're working towards *something.* That you won't wake up in three years and find that you're three years older and have nothing to show for it. You've wasted all of this time and what for? At least you have a degree. Maybe it's not a degree you want, but it has value. It can get you a job. It can make your wall more crowded, and your resume look prettier. And even at its worst, it fills the day with classes to sit through and surrounds you with people your own age to interact with, and fills your weeks with activities and assignments and a feeling of purpose. The two years I spent in between finishing undergrad and starting law school were often interesting, often enjoyable, and often worthwhile. And there were also days that I came home, sat on my bed, and wondered "What in the world am I doing? Where will this lead? Why am I here?" Those feelings simply don't exist at law school. Vanished. Gone. I'm in school, I'm getting a degree, it's fun, there's stuff to keep me busy, I'm never stuck sitting in my room doing nothing, it's great. No complaints. Lacking a sense of purpose? I don't say that law school is necessarily the answer, but find something -- anything -- with a carrot at the end of the journey. So you're building towards something and no day can ever truly be deemed a complete waste of time. Or at least that's an idea. I don't know. Writing at one in the morning is never a good idea... this entry needs a meaningless top ten list to balance the melancholy. And so...

Top Ten Classes Not Offered by Any Law School. Or at least not any ABA-accredited law school.

1. The Law of One-Celled Organisms
2. Extraterrestrial Legal Regimes
3. Torte Law (the pastry kind)
4. The Law of Oligarchy
5. Prison Law
6. Fungus and the Law
7. History of Traffic Court
8. Law and Breakfast Cereal seminar
9. Clinical Workshop: Influencing the US News Rankings Through Subterfuge
10. Uncivil Procedure