Tuesday, March 04, 2008

3L-itis, and boy have I got it bad

I think something magical, and sort of counter-productive (down-right evil actually) happened to me on March 1. For starters, it was nearly 60 degrees that day. Nothing like a little spring fever to kick the 3L-itis into overdrive. I have officially had the "one foot in the alumni door and one foot stuck to the floor of my law review office" moment.

We've had notices about 3L luncheon's for "what's next", graduation caps and gowns, 3L graduation pictures being taken next week, forms to fill out if we want our name to appear a certain way on our diploma (note to self: must get on that!), graduation day details, graduation dinner details, and the announcement of our commencement speaker--and this was all since March 1. So I think it's their way of saying, it's okay to check out now--why else would they remind me at every moment that I'm ALMOST DONE.

The problem comes when I awaken in the mornings and think: kill me now, I have to go to my clerkship; or kill me now, I've got an edit for law review due today--let the idiot professor get sued for his sloppy work; or kill me now, I actually have to read for a class. I drag through the days, getting markedly happier by Thursdays. When I work on stuff for the judge, I remind myself that this is actually related to real life and if I fuck it up, he will certainly remember me. And when I work for law review, well, I try to remind myself that personal integrity used to be a something that I strove to maintain. But that reminder now has to be verbal to have any effect, and I have to say it to myself about every 15 minutes that I work on some rubbish article. Reading for class is actually the easiest because 1) I like it and am interested and 2) it's a 5-person class--there is no hiding that you didn't read.

Any ideas for staying motivated for another 5-6 weeks?

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