Two more weeks till classes start... two weeks from tonight I'll be trying to go to bed early, which I probably won't manage, and I'll be sleeping badly knowing that again I have to get up to an alarm and BE somewhere by a specific time. (It's amazing how quickly I get out of the habit of getting up to an alarm, even though I've only been done with work for a week!)
Thankfully, my schedule will be a bit nicer this semester than last year: on MW I don't have class until 1 p.m., TTh my first class is at 10:45, and on F, I don't have classes at all. Sadly, I currently go till 5:40 on TTh and 6:40 on W, which means I won't be home till relatively late (especially a bummer since I prefer working out in the late afternoon/early evening). I guess it balances out the later starts.
Of course, that's assuming I keep all my classes. I'm taking a slightly heavy load, and I did put in an application for an internship I couldn't resist (haven't heard anything back yet, but I think they were taking applications until the 31st). If I get the internship, I should drop my MW class, because it would free up the most time in my schedule, and would probably make my life the most manageable (it's 3 credits, there's a final). But the thing is, the class just sounds so INTERESTING. I'd rather drop the 2-credit, 1x/week on Wednesday night class I'm taking, but it won't free up that much time, it's only 2 credits, and it already doesn't have a final exam, so dropping it probably wouldn't really make my life that much easier. (Everything else either fulfills a requirement or isn't going to be offered again while I'm still in school or is in a subject that I went to law school specifically to study, so those are my only two real options for dropping.)
Even if nothing comes of the internship, I'm wondering if I should drop a class. I'm not very good at gauging how much work this courseload will be, because in both my undergrad and grad programs, every course counted the same and everyone took the same number of courses each semester (4 in college, I can't remember if it was 3 or 4 in grad school). Eh. We'll just have to see how it goes (with one eye firmly on the add-drop deadline).
Anyway. I'm looking forward to everything starting up again, just because I do REALLY BADLY without a routine. For instance, I went walk-running for the first time today since my horrific wipeout, two weeks ago last Wednesday (and it was more walking than running this time, although I think partly that was because I'd eaten crap all day so had little decent fuel in my body). That's partly because it was at least 10 days before my left knee stopped being too sore even to think about running (the scrape still hasn't finished healing, and it itches like a bitch), so I had to lay off for a while. But then when it started feeling better, I was done with work, and having nothing to do, I kept thinking, I don't have to go running NOW - I have plenty of time. I'll go later. Such thinking is the kiss of death; I never go later. Conversely, when I get off work at 5 or 6, and I know I want to eat dinner sometime well before 10 pm (I have the eating habits of a midwesterner, not a European), and I know that I don't like working out much later than 7:30 pm? Well, I know that if I want to run, I have to do it when I get home or I won't do it at all. So I suck it up and do it.
(Am not sure exactly how this will play out during the semester, but that's something else, we'll have to see how it goes.)
Okay, maybe I'll go answer the e-mails that I've been ignoring since finishing my job, since, after all, I have plenty of time; I can answer them later.
Do you think you'll have "structure" when you become an attorney? Many atts I know are more or less independent, doing desk work, at their own hours ... you say you don't want to work in a firm, yet a firm would certainly provide you with a lot of structure. Just curious.
Posted by: loyal reader | Monday, August 10, 2009 at 11:55 AM
Hmmm. Well, I don't plan on starting a solo practice, so even if I'm not working in a firm, I will still be working for *someone* (government, non-profit). It's not like I will be setting my own hours.
I'm not saying I have to have every minute of every day scheduled - working as a professor was fine in terms of structure, even though compared to a lot of professions the schedule is exceedingly flexible. It's just having NOTHING scheduled AT ALL that leaves me at loose ends.
Posted by: New Kid on the Hallway | Monday, August 10, 2009 at 12:19 PM
Am I the only one that likes morning classes?
Posted by: idwsj | Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 12:37 PM
Morning classes aren't so bad, but I live an hour's commute away from school, which makes early classes REALLY early. Plus later classes let me avoid rush-hour traffic.
(I do worry about falling asleep in my late evening class!)
Posted by: New Kid on the Hallway | Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 04:41 PM