Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Not a Kafka Dream

So, I had spring break. Sort of. I worked every day, I have a contract I need to finish drafting for review by the Contracts department, I have to apply for the position for which I'm interviewing on Thursday, and I have not been sleeping as much as I'd like. Over spring break, I had over 150 pages I was supposed to read for class on Monday and Tuesday, plus a licensing agreement and a joint venture agreement that I had to start drafting, plus I was selected to be the attorney for the pretrial hearing on a motion to suppress for class today, when I entered into spring break thinking I'd finally get a week off (I've been lawyer 6 of 9 weeks, more than anyone else in class except one, who also has 6), so I had to draft a bench brief - I finally got one done, but it's not very good and I didn't rely on it for my argument. I had to draft questions to interview my client and to conduct the direct on her and the cross on the police officer, and I didn't fully understand what we were doing, and didn't get much guidance in the support materials.

After 10 hours at school yesterday, I got home and started writing. I wrote and I drafted, and I swore and I hit the table and the chair and the computer and the c- well, I couldn't catch the cats to hit, but I would have (note to PETA people, I'm joking). Anyway, I got to bed at about 11:35 last night, too tired to fall asleep and too stressed about the case for today to be able to relax enough to drift off. So instead, my subconscious goes into overdrive.

I dream that I'm having a conversation about work and contract drafting with a dead bird. It looked like an Amazon bird, very colorful, but without the big Toucan beak. It was laying flat on its side, and (someone?) was holding it so that it was a straight line from the beak to the feet. (They?) were going to cut its head off for some reason, and I kept trying to stop them from doing so because it was the only thing that could guide me through my contract issues and prepare me for trial the next day.

Then I realized I was going insane. And I tried to relax, but I couldn't, because all I could think about was why I was thinking about some dead talking bird.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Because even a talking dead bird is more interesting than a contract?

By the way, within four years of graduation, it will be irrelevant how well you did in law school. What will matter is how well you do at work -- and it's surprising how often law school performance and work performance do not correlate. (Although I will say that most people who were good students are also good workers. It's usually the other way you get surprises: mediocre law students can become absolutely stellar lawyers.)

Since I have no idea how you are as a student, but have read your blog all through law school, I have absolutely no worries about your future performance. You're going to be a great lawyer.

Anonymous said...

Bookworm, it's nice for a mom to read that kind of encouragement. I know what a fine man my son is, but it's wonderful, better, different, to hear it from someone who has familiarity with the subject matter.

Steve, I suspect that your dream is suggestive of the state of your nerves. Look at the emotion you felt in your dream, that's your key. (For example, I have dreamt that I am screaming at people because I know the solution, only to be ignored--usually when I'm feeling helpless about something in my life.) I believe that dream analysis hinges on the emotions one feels in the dream, not the subject matter.

And listen to Bookworm...you'll be excellent. You already are.