Monday, April 21, 2003

My advice to First Year Law Students that I made 2 years ago... seems appropriate as I am ending my law school career to re-publish this...

To the Entering class of 2004, Congratulations on making it this far. I
have one piece of advice. You are, no matter what your LRW Prof says, free
to use Westlaw. The benefits of such use have been well documented by
Judicial Doctorates. The rest of what I have to say has no basis other than
my wandering experiences through the first half of the first semester here
at Law School, which I will dispense now.

Enjoy the people and social activities of your ACE; oh nevermind; You will
not understand the joy of the people and social activities of ACE until it
has ended.
Trust me, people will look back at your behavior and never forget, or
forgive, it. If you place yourself in a position where people can notice
you, they will rip on you. Don't forget how fabulous you really are.
Your actions are not as reprehensible as others imagine.
Don't worry about what other people say about you for worrying is as
effective as trying to answer a question from Vetri with pure logic.
The real problems in your world will be those that you never considered when applying, but rather those created by the Law School teaching strategy where you only learn after the fact.
Do some reading everyday, even if that idea scares you.
Laugh.
Don't be limited in attendance to social functions, and don't forget how to spell ReNNies.
Play sports.
Don't waste your time with grudges. The year is long, and in the end, your grades are stacked up against everyone else's.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how, for I am a bitter, bitter man.
Keep your old notes, throw away students@law e-mails.
Introduce yourself to those you don't know.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what kind of law you want to go into.
Some of the most interesting first years I have met don't know, and the most interesting thirds years had no idea.
Get plenty of sleep, you'll need it.
Take care of you laptop. You'll miss your e-mails when its gone.
Maybe you'll study, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll date a second-year, Maybe you won't. Maybe you'll get drunk in the lobby, Maybe you'll sing Karaoke at a Thunbar. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, because your choices will be scrutinized by everyone around you, but so will everybody else's.
Enjoy your lobby. Use it every way you can; don't be afraid of using it, or what other people think of you using it, it has the comfiest chairs you'll ever sit in.
Dance, even if it is at Brewfest and you are dressed as HuggyBear from Starsky and Hutch.
Read the cases, even if you don't brief them.
Do not read the Dissent thinking its a paper, it will only make you feel libeled.
Get to know your pre-law school friends, you never realize that soon you'll be "gone."
Be nice to your classmates, they are the best link to you at your best and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Be aware: friends come and go, and you MUST make an attempt to hold onto your old one's as well.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and parking spots because the further you get, the more likely you will need to move your car every two hours.
Study in the Library once, but leave before it makes you bored; study in the Lobby once, but leave before it makes you distracted.
When playing basketball 3-on-3, don't travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, tempers will rise, someone you don't know will raise your dander, you too will get involved, and when you finish your first year you'll fantasize that when you were a First Year you were reasonable, your class was the coolest and you respected your Professors.
Respect your Professors.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a true friend, maybe you have a cool class; but you never know when either one might run out. (So far, they haven't yet!)
Don't mess too much with an entire class, or publicly scold several members of a class.
Be careful whose Outlines you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.
Outlines are a form of cliff-notes, dispensing it is a way of fishing the precious kernels of knowledge from pages and pages of notes, typing it up, explaining the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the Westlaw.

My big, fat GERKE wedding This last weekend I had the best time that I have had in such a long time. On Saturday, my cousin Wade got married. He was the first grandchild in the Gerke family to get married. There are eleven of us and most of us are getting close to thirty or have passed it, so it was a big deal when one of us finally tied the knot. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let's start with

Friday. Friday I drove to Bend after work and got home about 3:30. I called my dad and found out he, my uncle Fred, my cousin Mary and her friend Dane were out shooting shotguns, so I drove out and joined them in some clay pigeon hunting. Typically, me shooting a shotgun is just a waste of ammo, but this time I was actually hitting the targets. I had some streaks of five in a row and that really felt good. After that, we drove home and my mom had made dinner. This, for those of you unfamiliar with my family, is an oddity. She made a lot and it was ready at 5:00. I mention this for two reasons. First, she wasn't hungry, so there were going to be leftovers. Second we didn't get home until 5:30. After dinner we went to the Bowling Alley to play some video poker. We lost, and lost quickly so we went back home to await the phone call from my uncle about what we were doing later that night. We got a call saying we were going to the bowling alley, the same bowling alley we had just been at. We all (me, my mom, my dad, my uncle, my aunt, my cousin, and Dane) went bowling. However, when we got there, the gutter bumpers were up so we played bumper bowling, where every shot had to hit the bumpers and the first shot had to incorporate so oddity, such as between the legs or use your foot. It was a blast. Afterwards we went to my uncles to play liar's dice. Again, a fun time. Then I went to bed, as I had an 8:30 tee time.
Saturday was a good day. It was a bit chilly so the golf got off to a late start. This time a different uncle was with us to witness my worst golf game in years. I had 3 pars and no bogies on 18 holes. You do the math. The game was delayed because of a frost warning, but it quickly warmed up. Then we went home and changed for the wedding. I wore Khackis and a blue button up with a tie. The day was very nice and sunny. Wade looked very handsome and his bride looked stunning. I saw all of my cousins there at the wedding, except for Steve who is over in the Middle East right now as part of the Air Force. I saw all sorts of relatives that I hadn't seen in a long time. Back to the wedding... The preacher was Dusty Flegel, who was a family friend and grew up with my dad and his brothers. He gave a very personal ceremony and that was very cool. He made jokes about how large our family was and the kind of people we are (noting that any or all of my uncles could have been commedians). After the wedding came the fun part, the reception. There was music, a few kegs and food. We all danced and had a great time. There was later attempts to recall another time which the family got together and danced, but none could be recounted. We stayed there for a long time and then had a mass clean up. With such a large family, it was a quick process to break down the reception hall and get it cleaned up and emptied. Afterwards, we went to the grandfolks place and played cherades. I was invited to the motel to join the wedding party but I was exhausted, which surprised people the next day. Speaking of the next day...

Sunday was the First Annual Gerke Olympics. This is the kind of day that I remember growing up with and is typical of a Gerke family gathering. There was a frisbee golf course, a bb gun shoot, a duck race in the ditch behind my grandparents house, wacky golf played with soft-ball sized whiffle balls, and horseshoes. In the end, there was a medal ceremony and prizes for all. I got a pepporoni stick, but I left it in Prineville. After saying my goodbyes and collecting my stuff, I headed back to Eugene, where I am now, sitting in class, biding my time until graduation.