The biggest trap for the unwary is overestimating how much you’re actually able to handle. In Spring 2009 there at least a dozen courses I am highly interested in taking. Realistically, I probably can’t take more than four of them and still able to absorb anything that I’m supposedly learning. But the temptation to load up is strong. I’ve seen many other people do it, and by this point in the semester, they almost always regret it.

I have until December 1 to “pre-register” through Columbia’s rather Byzantine system. Until then, I’ll be playing with my course-selection spreadsheet..

Tomorrow’s Professional Responsibility final exam will be my last of the semester. I also have one short essay to write, but there’s not really a set deadline for that.

Now, most semesters, I yearn to stay around school over the break and verify the accuracy of the footnotes in my casebooks. I’m not in the mood for that this semester, though - it’s been a fairly exhausting few months, between the transfer, job interviews, moot court, and normal school stuff.

I’m going home on Saturday. Bright and early Sunday morning, my family and I leave for San Juan, the departure port for our cruise.

* Image - My disgraced childhood hero.

I have my moot court brief due on Friday. I’m pretty far behind schedule on it (not surprisingly), and I’m wondering why I signed up for this. Maybe it will be good for me to be humbled, though.

On a completely unrelated note, I absolutely love Guitar Hero. If you have a Wii and want to face-off, be a dear and let me know.

I’m giving blood on Tuesday and getting a flu shot on Wednesday. What kind of sanguinarium is Columbia running?

UPDATE: The brief was finished on time, and it is not abysmal.

Friday we saw our friend Marnie perform in the musical, The Yellow Wood. She was excellent, as was the rest of the cast - you should go. I love legitimate theater.

On Saturday Becky and I again ventured onto the island to see the documentary, In the Shadow of the Moon. Needless to say, I eat all this space stuff up. I didn’t really learn any new facts per se, but there was plenty of footage I hadn’t seen before, and hearing about Apollo from the astronauts’ points of view was fascinating. I was struck by how understated many of them were. Becky was so excited that she avoided falling asleep. A few notes:

• Becky excoriated me for giving up my childhood (and teenage) dream of becoming an astronaut. I replied by saying that, in a strange way, being a lawyer is perhaps a direct route, insofar as the easiest way to become an astronaut in the coming years will be to pay as a tourist.
• Watching Kennedy’s speech where he sets the famous goal of putting a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth before the end of the decade, I got really pissed off at President Bush. After September 11, he had a golden opportunity to push this country to do great things. Kennedy understood that America excels at solving big problems that other countries can not, or will not. He could have challenged us to become energy independent, to build universities throughout the world, to put New Orleans up on stilts - whatever. We know what happened. He’s a greedy, intellectual lazy man who will eventually have to face up to what he’s done.

Then on Sunday I went to the Mets game. It’s fun to be able to take a subway to a baseball game, at least if you hate paying for parking as much as I do. The game was a joke, Glavine didn’t escape the first inning, and I was able to go home to follow the Phillies game (sadly, I had to keep clicking “Refresh” over at Yahoo! Sports because the game wasn’t on TV). I can’t really communicate how special the Phillies’ winning the NL East is. I’m still worried I’m going to wake up.

Anyway, I’ll be done with my callback interviews on Friday. The whole process has been pretty painless, actually. I hope to say the same of the rest of this semester.

Just after my last final of 1L year, I flew home for a week of catching up with family and friends. I also got several new pairs of pants, and instruments for maintaining my new goatee. The morning after returning from that whirlwind, I started working for Judge Wilson in the Central District of California. The job so far has been great. Aside from working on a habeas petition, I’ve been watching this trial. I’ll post more about that later. For now, you can read my (tragically unsuccessful) law review write-on competition comment from last semester… if you dare.