Grades are in

Good news.  Our final grade came in for this semester.  It was the first and only grade in which I performed better than the average.  This means my overall GPA is exactly .01 higher than it was last semester!  Hoorah!!!  Or something to that effect!

Seriously, though, my goal was to raise my GPA and, failing that, to at least remain constant.  Assuming the rest of the class holds steady, I should remain in the top 1/3 or so.  With my .01 increase, I might even jump up 2 or 3 people!  Or not.  You know, depending on how these things work themselves out.

What this means in terms of job searching remains mildly unknown.  A quick scan of the big local firms suggests that I need to be in the top 10% if I want to have any kind of shot.  As that seems unlikely, I guess I'm going to have to start looking at mid-sized firms.  I'm certain that I'll still try throwing my hat in the ring, particularly with firms I feel I might have a vague in with (e.g. Foulston, Ogletree, and Lathrope), but I don't have high hopes at the moment.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on how that works out, once rankings are released.

In other news, we appear not to have a boss at work anymore.  The head student clerk is now, for all practical purposes, in charge.  I'm not really sure how to handle or define that, but I think I'm ok with it.  Hopefully this won't lead to my spending all of my time playing spider solitaire.

politically correct

So I'm having a good time with both of my jobs. I can't get into many specifics with either one, because I think I swore that I'd keep private matters private at some point, but I won't mind talking in generalities.

In both of my jobs, I'm actually writing opinions. I take whatever case is being appealed or argued or discussed, I research all of the claims of whatever parties there are, then I write however I think the case ought to turn out.

With traffic court, I have 1/3 of the ultimate say. With the clerkship, I have zero of the ultimate say. My power is more like that of the president when he proposes the national budget. He makes the proposal, but the congress is the one to actually decide on it.

On the other hand, the president has veto power, so I guess my power is even less than the president's in this case. Regardless, it feels like I have an awful lot of power for a guy who just finished his first year of law school. I guess they think I'm some kind of "adult" now, who will actually try his best at things.

FOOLS!!!

I've had a few moments lately to think about how poor a public figure I'd be. I can imagine that various members of the media who might not like me could twist my words, because I tend to make little sardonic jokes that would play pretty horribly out of context.

It makes me wonder a little bit. That guy in Texas who screwed over the various Native American tribes in the area. I forget his name. I'm sure he was not a great guy, but I wonder if some of the things he wrote weren't nearly as bad as they sounded.

I could see a few conversation between myself and my old ndn roommate coming out REALLY poorly.

Anyhow, I guess that's a random collection of thoughts. Maybe I'll come up with something more focused next time.