And breathe...just breathe...

I shall quote a song to begin this entry.

"Cause you can't jump the track we're like cars on a cable and life's like an hourglass glued to the table. No one can find the rewind button girl, so cradle your head in your hands...and breathe...just breathe..." - Anna Nalick, Breathe (2 am).

So. I realize I often mention in these blog entries the utter exhaustion that is being a law student. I mention this as a side comment, usually when mentioning my brief reprises from the exhaustion, such as spring break, flying home for a wedding, or going skiing. But I never explain the actual substance of the exhausting amount of work that I am taking a break from. So. Here's a list of what I have to do by next Thursday.

1. Write an introduction and conclusion for my group's section of a group paper that is going to an actual legal client. Yes, we're writing a paper for a real client, as first year law students who barely know the law. The kicker is that my particular class has ended up researching international law when we barely know how to research US law.
2. Do some last-minute research on Scottish laws and policies regarding homeless to add to my group's section. Oh by the way I switched from France to Scotland because Scotland's group had fewer members and more information to go through. So I've had about a week and a half to familiarize myself with the research that has already been done in Scotland and find out where the holes are and somehow understand enough to research for information in those holes.
3. Work on fact checking the Scotland section. This consists mainly of checking the information cited to ensure that it actually is on the page in the document that we say it is.
3. Help edit the final document with ALL the groups put together (the groups are: France, Scotland, United Kingdom, South Africa, and Australia) plus an introduction to the current homelessness situation in the United States. No, I don't have to edit the entire document myself, we'll have a "team," but the fact remains that since my group currently has 17 pages, multiply that by 5 and we're going to assume I'll have a great deal of editing even with it broken down between a few editors. And the entire 13 person class can't assist in editing because we also need a cite checking team and an appendix checking team and a separate fact checking team outside of just the individual groups checking their own document.
4. Write a portion of the argument section of a motion for summary judgment for legal research and writing class. This must be well-researched and supported with cases and facts from the "depositions" we were provided with in class. All fake facts, but we have to support with real cases. Luckily, however, I have already done the research so it's more a matter of putting it together in a sensible manner. Since I only have to write one of the two arguments that will go in the argument section, this will be roughly 6 pages of writing. Not too bad until you consider that I have to fit that in among the tasks I've already enumerated. Plus the ones following.
5. Read 286 pages out of casebooks for substantive law classes of Criminal Justice, Contracts, and Constitutional Law. Not only read, but understand.
6. Do all this while still managing to attend 17.5 hours of class.
7. Hopefully sleep at least 6 hours per night...which I usually do because I can't keep studying into the night when I get tired and I never get up early to study because every time I try I change the alarm clock and go back to sleep for another couple hours. Sleep and I have a very important relationship.

And breathe. Just breathe.

Time to get back to the items on the list.