I've got a Golden Ticket

Well, not really. What I do have is an orange admission ticket to the Texas Bar Exam for February 27. It comes with a letter stating how we are not allowed to bring in anything but earplugs, pencils, pens, etc., in a transparent ziplock bag. We also must be prepared to show our pockets are empty. No backpacks or bags. I'm typing the exam, so I guess I'll have to bring my laptop in without the case.

Today we covered elements of Texas Civil Procedure and I was pleasantly surprised that much of what I needed to know about that was stuff I became familiar with while working part-time for the Firm. I won't get cocky about it, though! Too much other material to worry about.

Just for Fun

Which person doesn't belong in this grouping, and why?
A no-prize to whomever can tell me! (By the way, it's more substantive than "One of them is wearing a hat!"

Consumer Rights

Monday we finished up going over the material for the multistate exam and now we are getting into the essay materials. Today we went over consumer rights, and from now on it's pretty much a new essay topic per day. Today was mostly about the Texas and Federal Deceptive Trade Practices Acts. It was all new to me, so I'll be spending the rest of the day going over it. The plan is to spend the evenings reviewing the lecture for that day and maybe doing one or two of the essays. That's the plan. I'll let you know how it goes. After my nap...

Say what?

After months listening to people talk who sounded like Boomhauer on King of the Hill, I started thinking either the whole world mumbes when they talk or else I've got a hearing problem. So I called around and the University of Houston has a Speech and Hearing Clinic. Normally the fee for a hearing test with them is $200, but since I am currently UNEMPLOYED while studying for the bar exam, I qualified for the indigents' discount.

Now the last time I remember having a hearing test was probably somewhere around 1977. We put on headphones and the school nurse asked us to raise our hands when we heard the tone. That's pretty much what I expected this time. I have absolutely no medical training or knowledge, here is my best attempt at telling you what happened next:

When I got there, the doctor had me sit by a big machine. It had small tubes and wires coming out one side. The doctor attached rubber bulbs to the ends of the tubes and then stuck them in my ears. Then she hit a button, and I could feel the bulbs filling with air. Then I heard a few tones being played. The doctor explained that she was monitoring my eardrums' vibrations in response to the tones and also measuring the physical characteristics of my inner ear. I thought about the eye doctors: "You're going to feel a tiny puff of air..." Pfft! "Ow!" A printout from the computer showed some incomprehensible charts and numbers that she looked over and said "Mm-hmm."

Then she put me in a sound booth and hooked up some mini-headphones to my ears. She gave me a small plastic dealy with a button and told me to press it when I heard a discernable tone. OK. Alternating high and low pitches, each ear. Then she played a recording of a man's voice saying "Say the word ____" followed by different words. I was supposed to repeat the words. I did pretty well; I missed two in one ear and one in the other.

At the end of it all she said I was well within the normal range in both ears, but my right ear doesn't hear higher registers quite as well as my left. I was pretty happy to learn I don't show signs of hearing loss. You know what that means, though? All of you do mumble! :-P

Bar-Bri

The big bad bar review class started today. "Bar-Bri" probably stands for something but I'm too burned out to know or care what it is. It covers every aspect of the Texas Bar Exam (unlike PMBR, which covers only the multistate portion). We had to go to the Bar-Bri offices downtown to pick up a box of books (42 lbs, no lie). Then we went to a Shriner's temple for the class. (Why not distribute the materials at the place where the class is held? Customer service, people!) I think I still have a fez; maybe I'lll wear it tomorrow for extra credit.

The instructor kept things lively and held our attention well considering the dryness of the subject matter (contract formation, acceptance, revocation, etc). This class will be my life for the next 6 weeks or so.