Feeling like Sex

Procrastination has taken a new turn with me. It used to be things like surfing the Internet, reading an interesting news article, going on facebook etc - not now though. Obviously, with imminent exams, I have to be a little more creative. When I'm not studying or revising, I need to be conserving my brain energy, usually until the evening, which seems to be my peak time for getting work done.

This week and last, I have been spending most mornings doing different things. All very, very unusual. After I have finished reading the Times each morning, I have been doing the crossword, the three Sudoku puzzles and the other word puzzles. All tolled, that's a good 2-3 hours of procrastination. I'm hoping that whilst doing these tasks, I am still engaging my brain - keeping it warmed up - because, it is, after all, a muscle, like any other.

In revising for Jurisprudence, I have been thinking a lot about sex. Too much about it, in fact. I think I am seeing the world now in terms of sex - Freud could not do better. The reason for this, of course, is that the jurists that I am reading about can't stop talking about it; so I can't stop thinking about it. I am sure that its affecting my hormones too - it can't be good - I want to go back to my old self.

Anyway, the reason that I am posting now is that I've got my first exam in a few hours and, in trying to prepare for it, I decided to play Snake. After about my 6th go, I managed to achieve the respectable score of 176 on level: WORM. Can anyone, hand on heart, say they can beat that? I'd love to hear if you could. Until later, best get on with preparing for my exam...

Update on Revision

Why does revision seem so tough and impossible now? This is my third set of university exams and whilst there have been some definite improvements in my preparation style etc, I just can't understand why I can't motivate myself more. I mean: these are my last university exams and then, fingers-crossed, I am going to have an amazing summer doing lots of relaxing things.

Revision is tiring of me. There have been times, when sat in the last lectures of my subjects, that I have felt energised and encouraged by the opportunity to do well in the up-coming exams, but all those feelings just seem to go down the gutter shortly thereafter.

I must acknowledge though, that having started revision early, I have already covered a lot. I am comfortable with both Trusts law and Employment law; for my other subjects though - Jurisprudence and I.P. Law - I am not nearly as comfortable.

I have not taken the time to enjoy Jurisprudence this term. The topics that we have studied are absolutely dreadful; they are: Feminist perspectives on law; Foucauldian analysis of Law; Globalisation & the Law and a few others.

For all these areas in Jurisprudence, I have found my lecturers to be completely boring. These subjects have only a few interesting things to say and these can be easily summarised in a few short sentences. The lecturers at my university seem to have decided that lectures were going to be used to repeat and repeat those few senteneces. Its just so uninteresting. On top of that bore, I have had to work through the most disproportionate reading list imaginable. A lot of the reading is centred around trying to understand what, for example, Feminists think of the Law on rape; or, what somebody thinks Foucault would think about the law on privacy. It is not possible to miss a single element of the reading - not a single bit. A cursory glance at past examination questions demonstrates that although there is a choice of question, all the questions are really narrow in focus and so are very demanding in the knowledge that you are required to use. It is rumoured that each year the lecturer spends more time lecturing on a specific case-study that will be of much use in the exam. I don't know whether any of my peers have managed to detect any guidance in the aforementioned repetitive streaks of the lecturers, but I certainly haven't, which is worrying.

I have tried to interest myself in the reading and in parts that has been possible to the extent that I have finished reading a piece and thought it comprehensible. Most of the time, though, I can't even begin to understand what is being said and why. My lecture notes for the Foucauldian analysis on law and Globalisation & Law are slightly more readable than the same for Feminist perspectives on law. My lecturers were so bad that it took until well into this term to be able to put their thoughts to paper.

In terms of doing the reading. Some of it is more engaging than other areas. I have absolutely no interest in anything to do with Family law. Its an area of law that I would absolutely detest studying. But Feminists have picked-up on a lot of Family law areas to demonstrate gender-bias in the law. Rape, on the other hand, as a crime, is something I am far more interested in. Some of the reading in this area by some Feminists is very enjoyable. Feminists fall into different categories: Radical Feminists, Liberal Feminists, Difference Feminists and Post-modern Feminists are some of the ones I have read about. My favourite, are of course, Radical Feminists. I will share with you one particular quote by Catharine MacKinnon, a Radical Feminist, which made me sit up and take notice:

"man fucks woman: subject verb object"

Finally, and fittingly, I should end with mentioning I.P. law. For revision, the challenge that I have with I.P. law is that I have a tremendous amount of rote learning to do. There is very little in the way of controversy or difficult areas of the law that I need to spend time upon; instead, I need to familiarise myself with many many many statutory provisions and case names and details, that I seem to have forgotten all about. Its because, I find, that much of the I.P. law syllabus is relatively uncontroversial that I have spent so little time on it, in comparison to subjects like Employment law.

So, I am feeling the heat of revision, but it is hoped that I will manage to prepare myself sufficiently for the up-coming exams and then find something more interesting to share with you. Until then, spare a thought for Gordon Brown and recognise that no matter how hard you work to achieve something, sometimes its just not good enough.

Tort Law anthem

Revision has progressed steadily thus far this week. I am finding it quite difficult to concentrate on revision when my dissertation deadline is so soon. My attention has also been diverted by a YouTube clip on Tort Law that was recently brought to my attention. Its absolutely hilarious and so I thought I would share it with my blawg-readers.
The actual clip starts at about 1min 20secs if you want to skip right to it as there are a lot of acknowledgments at the beginning. Enjoy.

My Week.

What a great week it was! We British were conquered by the French and felt good about it! A very unusual situation, non?! Whilst Beckham and the boys were getting beat at the Stade de France, Monsieur and Madame Sarkozy enjoyed a kiss and a cuddle at Windsor castle (and a few other public places).

I have to say though: I watched highlights of the England match and I thought France were lucky and that England, on the whole, performed rather well. As is customary after the England team lose a match, the national press go after the manager (for no other reason than he’s the manager) or the manager (because he used the wrong players). Well I can’t find fault in Capello to be honest. I think he’s doing his best to learn about English football and England’s players. Any lack of effective preparation that may have been demonstrated during the match, for me was only because there was not enough time for the team to train together as a whole. Some parts of the press chose now (out of all times) to bring up the language barrier that prevents Capello from effectively communicating with his team. A load of tosh if you ask me.

In an earlier entry on this blawg, I listed some important tasks that I wanted to complete before the end of the holidays. Revision hasn’t gotten off to a fantastic start which is quite disconcerting as I am now (officially) half way through my Easter break.

With respect to my dissertation, on the other hand, there is good news and there is bad. The good news is that I am feeling quite confident about the arguments that I am making and am pleased with how my dissertation could shape up. The bad news is there is very little of that feeling on paper – which is what matters. I received some comments from my tutor from an earlier draft that I had written of quite a substantial section of my dissertation and, on the whole, they were very positive. Some parts of it were ‘excellent’ (hurray!) other parts of it were….well…..lacklustre.

In other bad news: I am actually pretty ill at the moment. I haven’t been able to get an appointment with my doctor until late next week (by which time I’ll be able to tell you what it feels like to ‘hang’ with your GP because I’ll have recovered by then). A lack of medicine therefore may prevent me from adequately being able to perform my work. Although, more likely, I will ‘rough it out’ which will make it more painful and tiring.

Oh…by the way…I can confirm that I have been successful in gaining my first mini-pupillage (hurray!). This will take place during the summer. With this under my belt, I am considering applying further-a-field. Whilst the chambers that I am considering are geographically less convenient, I am adopting the: ‘what the hell, I’ll bunk on the streets’ mindset – something which Legal Lass says is very important for all pre-BVC students.

Earlier this week, in an entry on this blog, I argued that the American news outlets should go after Clinton for ‘misspeaking’ about the brief period that she spent in war-torn Bosnia as First-lady. My prayers have been answered. The following clip on YouTube has been played endlessly on the news networks in America:




During the course of this week, there have been growing calls for Clinton to step aside and let Obama go on to win the Democratic nomination. She hasn’t and probably won’t. But to top it all off: Obama is adopting the ‘bring it on’ approach and has actually called for her not to step aside. Good on you Obama – kick some Clinton ass!

Elsewhere, my university has confirmed when my graduation ceremony is due to take place. Before university, graduation seemed like such an important landmark in time. It seemed like a time that would mark the end of my official education years. And, it seemed like a big deal – an opportunity to party. To be perfectly honest: I feel quite deceived and not in the mood to party. I feel that just as I am getting to grips with something (the law) it doesn’t seem worthwhile anymore. My family has really been looking forward to my graduation. All of them want to attend – that means 5 people in total. However, I have had to inform some of them that this may not be possible because of university regulations that limit the number of people who can attend. Obviously, parents are to be given priority over siblings who have less valid reasons for wanting to attend!