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.

Friday, January 02, 2004

Sherry over at Stay of Execution has an excellent post which she says is about how to get a job as a lawyer in a small market, but I think it's really pretty applicable to anyone looking for a job doing anything. There's nothing either law-specific or small-market-specific so much as it's small-world-specific -- applicable to anyone looking to do something in an industry that's relatively small, where connections help. It's about networking and informational interviews and all that fun stuff. Okay, I'm going to stop talking about the post; just go read it if you think it's relevant to you. You can thank me later.

Since I'm heading back to school tomorrow, I'm ending the "e-mail me if you want my Vault Guide" contest I posted about last week when everyone was home for break and not reading my weblog. I got three e-mails from interested people. One of them will soon be the owner of a Vault Guide. I'll offer up another piece of law-student-paraphenalia I once needed but now find useless sometime in the near future. You can one day benefit from crap I bought because I was nervous about law school. LEEWS, anyone?

And, finally, I'm a couple of days late here, but FINALLY, here are some New Years resolutions. For real. I owe you some raw honesty if you've decided to come back and read after the holidays. My counter graph looks like a terrifying roller coaster drop over the last couple of weeks. So... in no particular order:

1. Less Internet. I read too much junk. I waste too much time. I reload my counter too often. I check my e-mail too compulsively. I'll keep the sites I really value, but I really am going to make a conscious effort to stop the random stuff. Other people watch too much TV. TV I have under control. But six sports sections to find all of the articles about the Mets is simply unnecessary. Amazon.com recommendation engine, I'm looking at you here. Banished to the cellar, sorry.

2. More focus. This is related to #1. I want to make better use of my time so that I get more things done. I'm pretty productive once I'm doing something. The problem is forcing myself to do it without stopping after ten minutes to check e-mail, go to the bathroom, eat lunch, or relace my sneakers. This may mean more library time without the ethernet cord. But whatever it takes. Taskmastering. That's my new made-up word for 2004.

3. More risks. I wanted to do a less-more-less-more pattern here, but that's not working out. Anyway. I don't take enough risks. I don't drink milk past its date (or anywhere close to its date, really -- three days after it's been opened I start to get concerned) even though rationally I know it's probably fine. That's probably not going to change. And I really can't think of any risks I don't take that I really want to take. But maybe that's the problem. I don't know what this resolution means. I don't know if I'm actually resolving anything. Nevermind. This one doesn't count.

4. More songwriting. Not these parody songs that appear on here every so often. Real songs. I've been woefully unproductive on that front lately.

5. More people. I like the friends I have. I've met a lot of great people at law school, to add to the great people that I met before law school. But as a 2L you meet less new people because the friends you've made as a 1L are still around. So it's harder to make the effort. I want to make the effort. There are lots of cool people here, I'm certain, that I don't know at all. There have been a good number of times in my life when I've met someone and we click and it's cool. I like that. I don't want to have to strain to think about when the last time that happened was. It takes me some effort sometimes. I'm quiet sometimes. My new years resolution is to make the effort more.

6. More appreciation. I'm pretty fortunate, or lucky, or something like that. I should give more quarters to homeless people.

7. More vitamins. I keep forgetting to take them.

OK, I'm degenerating into trying-to-be-funny when I don't mean to. That means I should stop. Happy 2004. And thanks for reading. Hope I continue to be worth the effort.