Fade To Black II

"And On That Note I'm Leaving After This Song"

2008-03-10T02:47:00.006-05:00

Fade to Black is a 2004 documentary about the career of US rapper Jay-Z. This live concert at Madison Square Garden was Jay-Z's swan song, as he announced his intentions to retire from the industry.

so i'm officially done with law school and all my commitments in minnesota, and i have one more week before my fade to black tour ends before heading back to toronto, my home, my heart. at the time when i left toronto, i never saw this time coming so fast, 3 years seemed like an eternity, but here it is. i don't think its possible to sum up everything thats been part of the journey over the time, but i leave having made great friends, fond memories, and many valuable lessons learned. actually, they should rename law schools to "the school of hardknocks" because i think that might sum up what the experience is, and if follow along and look back on posts i've made along the way, its a decent representation of it all. excited, not jaded, scared, eager, lots of action and activities in your first year. second year, being jaded creeps in, long periods of inactivity, randomness of everything. and year three, leaves you wonder why you came to law school, and what happened to those feelings you had when you applied, when you got accepted, and when you started. in the end, being out of law school for the last two months and having some time to reflect, i can easily say that i really enjoyed my time at law school (except for taking exams) for the 3 things mentioned above, the friends, the memories, and the lessons learned. i could have gone through life doing whatever it was i would have been doing without meeting so many great people, doing and learning new things that i probably would have never been exposed to, and have a tonne of pictures/stories that will forever be memorialized through facebook, and picking up a j.d. along the way, that's a pretty sweet deal to me. but like listening to your favourite song, watching your favourite movie, or going on the best vacation, eventually these things have to come to an end, and you're left with feelings of sadness for the things that you are leaving, but excitement for the next one. but after hanging out with some of my closest this weekend and saying a first round of goodbyes/goodnights, i'm definitely on that side of sadness like jay-z thinking that this is his last album and last concert ever...

and with that and the wrap on law school and minnesota, i'll be retiring this blog (a term that i hated from the start). but like jay-z, i enjoy writing too much to be away from the game, so i expect my version of "kingdom come" and "american gangster" to drop sometime soon. in fact, it might already be in the works.

"grand opening, grand closing"

Memory Lane: April 22, 2006. Last post for first year.

2008-03-10T02:38:00.001-05:00

a week before final law school exams for first year students at the university of minnesota. oh yeah then we get to petition for journals. hype.

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by people who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." --Muhammad Ali

Memory Lane: March 29, 2006. Legendary Legal Writing Assignments

2008-03-10T02:37:00.002-05:00

our first round of oral arguments is this week for our made up case of mr. chet harper who some would claim distributed some liquid cocaine. anyways, the cops didn't read him his rights, tricked him into confessing then beat his ass (well everything except that last part is true, but it might as well be).

on a side note i'm surprised that are no rapping lawyers, because oral arguments seems to be a lot like freestyle battles. lawyers from each side battle each other with words and the ones that can spit nothing but hot fire get the decision from the judge or jury instead of the crowd. infact i may even site to some well known drug related lyrics in my own argument. check it.

why was your client in possession of cocaine?

"We sell, crack to our own out the back of our homes
We smell the musk at the dusk in the crack of the dawn
We go through "Epidodes II," like "Attack of the Clones"
Work 'til we break our back and you hear the crack of the bone"

Talib Kweli - Get By

why do you think the police arrested your client?

"F**kin with me cuz I'm a teenager
With a little bit of gold and a pager
Searchin my car, lookin for the product
Thinkin every brother is sellin narcotics"

N.W.A. - F**k Tha Police

can you tell us a little about your client's history with drugs?

"I need money, I used to be a stick-up kid
So I think of all the devious things I did
I used to roll up, this is a hold up, ain't nuthin funny
Stop smiling, be still, don't nuthin move but the money
But now I learned to earn cos I'm righteous
I feel great! so maybe I might just
Search for a 9 to 5, if I strive
Then maybe I'll stay alive"

Eric B and Rakim - Paid In Full

closing argument, my client is...

"Not guilty, he who does not feel me is not real to me
Therefore he doesn't exist
So poof...vamoose son of a bitch"

Jay Z - Izzo (h.o.v.a.)

Memory Lane: February 23, 2006. The Contest that never happened.

2008-03-10T02:34:00.003-05:00

so i get back from chicago and i see the following email in my inbox:

Congratulations! You have been nominated to be a candidate in the first ever Mr. Law School Competition. The Mr. Law School Competition (or pageant, if you prefer) will be held on Wednesday, March 8th at 5:00PM in Room 25. A nominal fee will be charged for admission with the proceeds benefiting the Asylum Law Project.

The competition will consist of a short opening musical number in which the candidates will perform a simple dance/routine. There will be a talent portion. Each candidate will have to present a talent. As we will be in Room 25, we won't have access to grand pianos and such, so the talent can be pretty simple. If you can sing, tell jokes, do magic tricks or something really neat, that's great. If not, playing a tambourine, doing somersaults or something equally humorous would be acceptable - be creative! Next, candidates will model their "interview wear." Finally, each candidate will be asked a few impromptu questions in order to let the judges and the audience get to know them better.

The competition will be judged by a panel of faculty/staff members on the basis of some combination of talent, speaking ability, quality of answers, crowd appeal, entertainment value etc. The winner will then be crowned and get to bask in the glory of being the first ever Mr. Law School.

In order to participate in the competition, candidates will be required to attend a meeting over lunch as well as participate in a rehearsal the week of the competition. We will try to find a time for those practices that will work for everyone involved and we will send you the dates ASAP. We do not have much time to prepare, so it is very important that each candidate be committed to participating.

If this sounds like something you would like to do, i.e. you are a good sport and want to provide some much needed entertainment for your colleagues while benefiting a worthy cause, please respond to this email no later than NOON on THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23RD! In your response, please include the following information:

1) Your Name

2) Your Class Year

3) What talent you are thinking about performing

4) What activities/organizations you are involved in at the Law School

5) Any interesting jobs or other activities you participate in

6) Your Hobbies

7) Any unique bits of information about you that make you a great candidate for Mr. Law School

Thanks so much and we look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Mr. Law School Selection Committee

i'm not hating on the event, and i appreciate whoever may have nominated me for such a prestigous award, but i have to wonder, what would someone actually do with such an accolade? i guess i could put it on my resume before my grade 4 art award for student best able to color within the lines and right after my grade 8 diploma (with honors). maybe for the talent portion i could kick a little rap, after hearing that terrible laffy taffy song, nothing could be as wack.

yo yo

check it

i spit hot fire

a UMN student for hire

mr. law school

i ain't no fool

i passed my l-sat

and my briefs are phat

in the court room, i pull a rabbit out a hat

i don't even get bad luck from a black cat

when i get called in class

i never say pass

when i'm doing legal writing

i'm never citing

it takes too much time

but i will bluebook my rhyme

if get a good grade

i hope to to get paid

and be like special ed, so i got it made

when i'm thirsty i drink gatorade

and when i go to the barber i ask for a fade

oh no i'm late for class, i hope it's delayed.

yo and it's like that

and i am out.

holla.

(i can't be serious, i'm done)

Memory Lane: February 9, 2006. An Unforgettable "wedding pants" moment

2008-03-10T02:34:00.002-05:00

pretty much the whole class booing a fellow classmate for asking a question = my new all time favorite class moment at the university of minnesota.

truly one of those you have to be there kind of moments. i'm so glad i didn't skip class today.

i wished the school kept stats for categories like most questions asked per 48 minutes. only right now, like canada men's hockey team at the olympics, the gold medal is wrapped up, and we just have to find out who is going to come second.

Memory Lane: January 31, 2006. Bad Roe v. Wade jokes.

2008-03-10T02:32:00.000-05:00

after many months we finally were finally assigned the case i've been hearing so much about but knew nothing about, roe v. wade. and maybe i was living under a rock, but like i said i knew absolutely nothing about it. actually when i first heard about it, my first reaction was dwyane wade versus who? i don't know who roe is, but i'm pretty confident dwyane wade would be able to take most people in a game of one on one.

so i started thinking...why don't they just decide all court cases in a simple game of one on one. it's as easy as moving from the courtroom to the ball court. on a side note, since most professional basketball players are well accustomed to the court room, it would save them the trip. it would be a lot more entertaining, and you wouldn't even need lawyers or referees for that matter, because defendants would have to call their own fouls. to top it off, each of the parties would get an introduction onto the court with the music and all. i can picture it now..

"and now, the defendant, he's a 6-4 guard, coming out of marquette university, number 3, dwyane "flash" wade"

followed by cheers or boos if that is your preference.

"and your plaintiff, hailing from parts unknown...roe"

"alright folks, standard rules apply, game up to 11, all baskets count as 1, and call your own fouls"

"what time is it? game time, whooooo"

do i think this would work? of course i do, because in the words of my role model rasheed wallace "the ball don't lie, the ball don't lie"

and now i can't wait till we get to the patriot act because right now i don't think its constitutional to favor one nfl team over the others. just because new england has brady and billichek and have won 3 of the last 4 superbowls doesn't mean they should get their own act. steelers act? seahawks act? maybe i'm just out of touch and should have stayed in canada, where i would be learning canadian federal rules of civil procedure, which is also known as the NHL rulebook. don't sleep on it, those two line pass rules are tricky.

Memory Lane: January 1, 2006. First trip back home.

2008-03-10T02:31:00.001-05:00

briefing my winter break

-waking up the day after i finish my last exam, the first term as a law student felt like a blur, or maybe that was just the after effects of the section b party. its a forgotten feeling to be able to wake up without an alarm, not having some case on the mind, or wondering if today is going to be the day i'm called on when it just so happens that was the case i didn't get to. of course i haven't packed yet, and my flight back to toronto is only a few hours away.

-i like it how me, being an "international student" i'm supposed to get to the airport 2 hours before my flight. i'm pretty certain that my flight time back to the foreign country of canada is shorter then most people going home. i basically sleep through the hour and 45 min flight, declining the stale orange juice and dissapointed that they don't even give the headphones out anymore. can i even get a pillow?

-my first strange moment, i'm given one of those customs cards to fill out. i can't figure out if i'm a resident of canada or a visitor to canada (i don't know if i can use the domicile test from civil procedure). ah who cares, i fill it out like i normally do, putting the good ol markham address.

-upon landing the customs agent ask what i was doing in the united states, and with confidence i can say i'm going to law school (i wore my newly purchased minnesota golden golphers sweater just to prove it). she seemed impressed and then showed me how to correctly fill in the custom card "visitor" section, as i will only be visiting canada from now on. interesting...

-after four months in m-town (aka minneapolis, i don't know if anyone calls it that), i suddenly realized i was going to have to adjust back to the canadian culture (more on this later). its not exactly like when i came back from south africa and thought it was totally acceptable to run red lights (because i might get hijacked) or making sure i locked the doors, not once, twice, but three times, and made sure i tucked my money in my socks. no i didn't have to go to these lengths. but it took me a few days to get used to the things i used to be used to.

-getting picked up from the airport, i'm handed the keys to the black lexus (aka. 1994 pontiac sunbird). mind you, i haven't drove in over 4 months, sure no big deal when you're the self proclaimed michael schumacher of milliken. but driving around here is kind of like going through daily obstacle courses, only all the drivers are playing bumper cars, and you are not. i still know the toronto streets like a human version of mapquest and rip home in record time. in my mind, i'm thinking if any local cops try to test me, i'll tell them that their canadian law doesn't apply to me, quote them something from marbury v. madison, then show them my minnesota law school sweater as my id. maybe i'll try that next time.

-i get home and i begin telling the first story of what would become many resposes to "so how is law school in minnesota?

Memory Lane: December 11, 2005. Bad law school raps.

2008-03-10T02:30:00.001-05:00

first law school exam tomorrow for all the first year students at the university of minnesota. i don't really have a pre exam ritual or any special way to prepare. but i'm thinking since it worked for B Rabbit in 8 Mile, i'm thinking tomorrow i'm going to get ready for my exam like this.

i'll get up, throw on my hooded sweater and sweat pants, put on my beanie (or tooque as we say in canada) put my ear phones on, starting jumping up and down. then i'll stare into the mirror, just like slim shady did. i haven't eaten any spegetti, so i know there won't be any vomit on my sweater already. but then i'll start rapping out the law to get myself pumped up.

yo yo check it,

summary j, don't pay, cause you don't win in the court that way

i'm all about diversity, give me 75K

cause the feds are after me with their questions

but if it ain't the right court, i won't even hear their suggestions

i just learned that in my last lesson

if i don't know the answer, then i'm just guessing

i catch cases from pennoyer v. neff to raekwon the chef

cause i'm all about the cream

and like martin luther king jr, i have a dream

that i can drive a vw, and eat burger king

and what state i'm in, won't mean a thing

and once again i wish everyone the best.

that they do well on their test.

(i can't believe i just wrote that)

i should ban myself from writing anything ever again

s shady

Memory Lane: December 07, 2006. More bad law school jokes

2008-03-10T02:28:00.002-05:00

less then a week to my first exam. of course i should be studying right now, but as the lovely dean keyes constantly reminds us, it is important to maintain a balance lifestyle even when heading into finals. don't forget to eat, sleep, find new ways to procrastinate (the last one is my own addition). i still have a couple days for everything to come together, but just in case they don't, i've been putting together some back up plans about how i might freestyle my way through exams. for this my outline would look something like this.

model exam question approach

1) what would johnnie cochran do?

a) chewbacca defense

b) race card

c) wear a fancy suit (this is acceptable while writing the exam)

d) refer to your study group as the dream team

e) actually bring in a real life dna expert and have him complete any parts on the exam that would require expert testimony

2) citing cases and examples

i) cases that you know but might not even studied in class

a) See OJ Case (holding that if you could not squeeze the juice then you cannot hold our Defendant liable in tort)

ii) personal cases that people you know might have been involved in (maybe even yourself)

b) (insert milliken mills high school student name here) v. york region police (holding that P should not be liable for possession because 3rd party was negligent in not providing adequate warning when the 5-0 rolled up)

iii) legal related movies and tv shows

a) legally blonde

b) law and order

iv) base your precedent on cases you seen on judge judy, the people's court and be sure to make it clear that it holds more weight then the supreme court because its on tv.

3) in the event that you know the actual law just can't remember where, be as general as possible.

a) "See Constitution Art 1-4" then adding the comment, "it's in there somewhere"

4) take home exams tips

i) pay strict attention to word limits and be creative in getting around that

a) torts is 2000 words so it is equivalent to drawing 2 pictures, preferably in crayon (because a picture is worth a thousand words)

Memory Lane: November 29, 2005. Pre-Exam Thoughts

2008-03-10T02:28:00.001-05:00

my first set of law school exams are only two weeks away. but as i get ready for exams, by preparing for exams, outlining for exams, preparing for outlines, making outlines to outline our outlines to prepare for exams. i thought i'd take a timeout and in the spirit of terrel owens, think of how i might celebrate the completion of each exam

at the completion of exam #1:

this being the first of four, there is no need to overdo it at right now. so i'm thinking that just as i'm about to hand in my exam paper, i will spike it on the ground. follow that up with a heisman pose in the doorway. if i'm really confident about the way i answered all the questions, i will take the sharpie out that i put in my sock, sign my name at the top of the paper and give it the professor.

at the completion of exam #2:

this is our halftime so i think it is only right that i conduct a halftime like interview with professor charles, where i constantly refer to myself in the third person and use several cliches after another. it would go something like this.

professor charles: "so how did you feel about that exam"

mr.k: "first off all, mr.k would like to thank mom, dad, brother back in toronto, and all mr.k's friends back home. mr.k would also like to thank all the fellow students, professors, faculty, ssg instructors that made it possible to understand all the concepts of the law. mr.k gave the exam 110% but also just took one exam at a time. mr.k approached the exam with the understanding that infact half the exam preparation was 90% mental. we just have to come out in the second half with the same intensity and leave it all on the field, i mean paper. by the way, there is no i in team, and defense wins championships and lawsuits."

at the completion of exam #3:

this is a opportunity to get creative. now only 1 exam to go in the term. hopefully i've built some confidence in my exam taking. i really like chad johnson's marriage proposal to the cheerleader a few weeks ago, and if will help me get an a, as i hand in my exam you might see me ask for prof. sigman's hand in marriage. if that doesn't go as planned, i'm thinking of shooting a video montage like kevin garnett did, which shows him training on the beach barefoot, doing drills wearing a muhammed ali robe and constantly putting up his index finger saying he is number 1 after each drill. i'll do something equivalent to that showing me studying in the library, answering hypotheticals, and doing practise tests all while wu-tang's triump plays in the background. on a side note i recommend that anyone in minneapolis check out a t-wolves game just to see that video, its great.

at the completion of exam #4:

this will mark the end of the term. and i could go all out, but i have decided to go with an o.b.g. (oldie but goodie). at the completing of my final exam, i have decided to celebrate in a classic, tried and true style. when i hand in my final exam, i will celebrate by pouring gatorade over my own head like bill parcells, michael jordan, etc. i will then throw out a couple of whooos, who knows, i might even say i'm going to disney world (or the minneapolis equiavlent, which would be what the amusement park at the mall of america?)

all the best to all my fellow students.

Memory Lane: November 19, 2005. Bathroom v. Restroom.

2008-03-10T02:27:00.000-05:00

how does that saying go, "old habits die hard"? well i've officially lived in the united states for 3 months, and before that i've vacationed and visited several times but there is just one thing i can't quite seem to get over.

the simple fact that americans don't call a washroom a washroom. you ask someone in a public place where the washroom is and they look at you with a funny face like i'm speaking another language. "oh you must mean the restroom, or the bathroom" i guess its just a habit, because i make this same mistake in seattle, new york, las vegas, miami, charlotte, atlanta, basically any american city where i've ever had to use the washroom. i've done this a few times since i've been in minneapolis, and it always seems to provide a chuckle for my american counterparts.

i just have to ask, why would you not call it a washroom. i'm not looking to rest when i go a public restroom. i'm not looking to take a bath when i go to a public bathroom. then i remembered, a good friend once told me that americans don't say washroom because most americans don't wash their hands. and that's all i needed to know and more then i ever wanted to hear.

Memory Lane: November 2, 2005. Too Early To Be Jaded.

2008-03-10T02:25:00.000-05:00

this morning i woke up, i didn't feel brand new, but i did think it was going to be one of those get by days. nights of sleep are shorter, days are colder. i knew i had to get about 25 hours of work done in a 24 hour day. but as i'm about to call it a night on this november 1st day, i'm feeling a true sense of accomplishment.

just as i'm about to step into my 9am contracts class, i receive great news from home (the t-dot o dot) that one of my great buddies received a much deserved promotion. a few you had to be there type of exchanges later, and i'm ready to get on my grind couzin, ain't no time for frontin. contracts class goes well, i come out of class without one of those cloudy bubbles over my head with a ?.

next up the break from about 10:15 to my next class at 2:30. in my first few weeks during these times, you could find me in the lounge napping, in the library napping, in the common room napping or in one of many rooms catching up on my zeds (coincidently, i was once referred to mr. nappy roots himself). but since nas said he never sleeps cause sleep is the cousin of death, i have decided i should be more productive during this time. so i turn up the ipod, crank up the wu tang clan and get to the legal writing (which is anti-creative writing at its best) and on this day wu tang clan isn't the only one who ain't nuttin to f' wit, cause i once i stepped inside, whoa damn. things are going well.

then torts rolls around, and torts goes well, tortingly. i follow along nicely the first 59 minutes, a couple amusing comment from my classmates that are always good for a laugh, a couple questions from people that like to ask questions. then i remember tonight is opening night in the nba, let me take a quick look who is playing tonight (special thanks to the laptops and wireless internet) and before i can even load up the page..."mr k..." yes maam. now although i had read the case i was caught in a momemt of unclarity. so although i considered making a witty comment to buy myself some time which usually seems to work for some of my classmates, i thought i would freestyle my thoughts on the case (no i did not actually drop a rhyme) but clearly this was no jay-z lacing a takeover at summerjam, because after a decent first 8 bars, my flow was off beat after that. but like jay-z did after he was hit was ether, i picked myself got back to the legal writing, and some 6 hours later completed work on the blueprint. 5 mics? let me just say judgment n.o.v.

so as they say your attitude determines your latitude. so if that's the case, then i'm trying to touch the sky. i feel very blessed to be in this position right now. i think every student in this school has a reason to be pumped up. i look it at like this. there are around 250 people in first year. university of minnesota is a top 20 school in the nation, so say there are 250 students at each of those schools, that means we are among the top 5000 students in all the nation in 2005. if i was stone cold steve austin, i'd ask for a hell yeah. but then i might also stone cold stun the 4750 students at the other 19 schools. but life at the U is good, so good that i decided i would capitalize it. how can you not be excited?

how can you not be excited about it when right around 2008 about 250 of my classmates will be lawyers all around the world. some will be trading in their student loans for a benzo, maybe someone will help get michael jackson in/out of jail whichever you prefer, but promise me you'll take r. kelly with you too. i'm sure there are going to be some politicians in this crowd, poli-tricking as usual.

how can you not be excited when you 2L's, 3L's who are like your older brother that makes your life easier cause they already took all the punishment, now they can tell you about it. i wouldn't even be shocked if they stood up for you and kicked that bully's ass that was stealing your lunch money. this is clearly not degrassi junior high, and there are no scooters (milliken's own) being locked in the janitor's office.

if i may point out that an interesting dynamic about law school is that you can have first year students that are older then 3rd year students. in fact you can have first year students that are older then the professors. so in reality you can go from being a freshman at law school to the old guy in the club, all in the same night. i respect that.

how can you not be excited when you have professors that are engaging not to mention funny and got jokes. i almost forgot that teachers are actual people. after going through years of high school where you could tell that some people were there because they couldn't be anywhere else. then to university of toronto, where aside from a few standouts, you basically had hacks read out of the textbook. now i got professors that take students out to lunch to get to know them. you have professors inviting students over for dinner on the weekend. you got professors who just know how to ask that right question just when you think you got it all figured out. you got a dean that celebrates opening day of the baseball season with a party in the library with free beer and hotdogs. what's not to love about that? and just because, if i was an american citizen i would nominate and vote for prof. charles for president, and i don't think you'd even have to ask yourself why?

so i'm excited, and before i fade to black on this day, i leave a few other signs of the times, that can only make me laugh

a friend asked me today if i tried using the golden gohpers on ncaa football 2006 for the playstation 2, i said i'd probably just wait till ncaa 2008 comes out cause that might be when i have some free time

in all my years at school, i use to make comments to students that carried big backpacks whether they were going camping that evening, or had a parachute in there. now i have to carry around two bags, so i can carry all my books with me.

in my undergrad i used to see people highlighting basically every line in the textbook, so i would comment, why don't you just highlight the parts you don't think are important (cause atleast you would save your highlighter from overuse). fittingly, i am now one of those that feels the need to highlight almost every line in the textbook.

since i've been here i've served some heavy hours in law school library, and i regulary see the same cast of characters. how can i not be proud of myself, when i consider the only time i ever went to the library at high school was to put books in the bags of students that were not looking then laugh at them when the alarm off.

respect to nk and tk back in to for making it possible to wake today feeling brand new.

shout out to all my classmates who might stop by here and make everyday brand new.

difficult only takes a day, and this day is over.

impossible? it only takes a week.

now if i could only do it in my sleep.

Memory Lane: October 18, 2005. Life as a broke ass student

2008-03-10T02:23:00.002-05:00

12 years ago i was told, "cash rules everything around me, c.r.e.a.m get the money, dollar dollar bill ya'll" and although that may be true for the wu-tang clan, that's definately not how things go for a canadian studying in law school in the united states, paying in us dollars

i do admit, during my first couple of weeks i was mentally converting all my purchases to canadian dollars. the canadian dollar exchange rate to the us dollar is around .84 so right off i was out 16 cents for every dollar i spent. but i've quickly gotten over that, however i have been led to believe that the exchange rate applies to my citizenship as well, so currently, i would qualify as 84% american. so that officially explains why i have forfeited the use of the metric system, even though it is conceptual superior. on the plus side, i can say "it's all about the benjamins" and actually mean it (i don't even know who canada has on the $100 bill, but i'm sure it does not sound as cool) however, if the rate fluctuates any more, i might even have to decide if i'm a republican or a democrat. but, by this logic, i would be 700% south african, which means i would probably have been hijacked, and shot atleast 6 times already.

anyways back to my point. so i'm officially a student again, and that means no income (i went from brokers to broke). but that is not to say that my credit is so pathetic that i couldn't afford a debit. rather with these thoughts, i went to the mall of america this past weekend (with a crew of minority students i may add...its like playing where's waldo, only the 4 of us are pop up characters amongst the flat pages) get it?

anyhow, my first question, who was it that decided to build this big ass mall here of all places. i really doubt this is the fashion or shopping capital of the country. its not like i hear ralph lauren or donna karen saying "hey minneapolis that's the place to show off my winter collection" so i don't really get it. i'm sure there were several deserving cities that would have appreciated this mall, especially madison-wisconsin (then maybe they wouldn't outnumber the number of locals)

when i was deciding if i should attend the university of minnesota, a friend of mine said, well they do have the mall of america, the biggest mall in all of the us. well that's great i thought, that would be the best place on earth....if i was 13. i don't know if you and your friends did this where you are from, but when we were around that age, we would hang out at the mall for hours. and inbetween playing games of street figher 2 and nba jam in the arcade, we would crush over the girls in the food court. this was goodtimes. now i'm a little older (only in age, not in maturity as you can see) and i really don't have the urge to hop on the rollarcoaster after strolling out of macys.

speaking of the amusement park inside (which is an oxymoron on its own, since i don't find it very amusing). if i want to go to an amusement park, i will go to disney world, but i go to a mall to go shopping. so here is where the problems begin. the whole amusement park is part of a silly gimmick that is the mall of america. sure there are some good stores there, but honestly, a cheesefactory, an oxgen bar??? now really. who goes to the mall and thinks, "i really need to go by the oxygen bar and get some air" the whole world is an oxygen bar, paying for it is ridiculous, going to a mall to get oxygen is even down right ludacris. the amount of useless stores in the mall is astounding, what were the people that open these stores even thinking. i think it went like this "lets open a store that only sells cheese related merchandise, there are lots of people from wisconsin here, so we can even sell some greenbay packers stuff" guess what? bad idea. if i was in charge of financing, and i got this idea thrown on my desk, i would write in big red crayon no less, "fuck off" fact is, i would probably have to tell about 45% of the stores in the mall to fuck off. that would include the piano store (that is always empty), the store with the airplane simulator (what can i even buy there) and the seventh and eight store that sells only sells minnesota related merchandise (i'm sure to the first guy, this was a good idea). but this is not to say, that the mall is not any good, there are actually some great stores, its just an effort to get from one to the next. but anyways, i guess when you are a law student and your big event for the weekend was going the mall, i shouldn't be complaining at all. (i could have been at the golphers game and watch them choke away the game to border rivals wisconsin in the dying seconds, for something known as paul bunions ax (what's next, playing for johnny's appleseeds?) respect if you remember what that was about.

but i will close all these thoughts with alittle story about being crafty with your dollars. i'm sure you know people like this.

there was this guy, the type of guy that would never have bills in his wallet. he was the type that would have about $10 in quarters. and you're probably thinking, this guy needs to stay home, you just don't go out with $10 in quarters. but let me tell you about this guy. this guy was determined to get around, on the bus no less. but he would never even cash in those quarters to pay to get on. rather, he would get on the bus, pretend he was looking for his change, wait for the bus driver to drive off, acting like he was about to pay, for like 5 stops. then when it became obvious, he would get off the bus (but try and find a transfer on the way out). and he would get on the next bus on the same route, do the same thing for about 5 stops. then keeping doing it, till he got whereever he was intending to go.

money ain't a thing

respect

Memory Lane: October 13, 2005. What I Thought About Minnesota Diversity (at the time)

2008-03-10T02:23:00.001-05:00

i meant to write about the following issue alittle while ago but i wasn't able to, because it took a little more mental capacity then my usual useless pieces of work. everynow and then (like only once) i feel that rather then waste your time and mine by writing about something without saying anything, i should actually try and get a real point across. so here i go.

a few weeks ago, i had the amazing opportunity to have dinner at the dean's house. that's right the dean of the law school. i don't think i can really describe how cool i felt that was, considering that the only time i ever came in contact with the dean of university of toronto was during the convocation of what would be considered the very last day of my undergraduate career. to be cracking brews and talking about sports at the crib of the leader of the law school (not the leader of the new school) is something i did not take for granted...but if you are wondering what the scenario is... i was afforded this great opportunity by default of being a minority student. and on this day, that was the only qualification i needed to get through the door.

the university of minnesota is doing its best to improve the diversity of the school. but im not sure i understood exactly what it is that made me a minority. in its simplest terms, i guess that would be the color (no more u) of my skin. but isn't that just a product of where i was born. would a chinese person in china be a minority? i'd say probably not, but what about a white person in china, now is that person a minority? if the answer is yes, then you can essentially change your status as a minority citizen by moving country to country taking advantage where you see fit. but i kind of figure it has to be something more then that. maybe my background is what makes me a minority. and that usually leads me to more confusion. when i get asked this question, my usual response is that i'm south african, being that my parent were born there, their parents were born there and i think their parents were born there. but i was born in canada, so that has to come into play. fact is, very few canadians actually consider themselves canadian, rather people describe themselves as greek, italian, chinese, indian, etc. so therefore, why should i not be south african. so thats fine, but then the next question usually goes something like "oh i thought you were indian" that poses another issue of sorts, cause i'm sure my ancestors from way back when were from india. i guess my skin tone makes me indian color, but other then that, my ties to india, and my awareness of indian culture amounts to the double zero.

what i take from any of this is that i figure being a minority comes down to shear numbers. but in that case, why say a person is a minority based only on skin colour/background? are males or females the minority, and doesn't that change depending on where you are? what about things like religion, culture, ethnicity, so on and so on. if you please, label by label, you can break it down into majorities and minorities. what i'm basically saying is that we are all minorities and we are all majorities, it just depends.

growing up in a multicultural city such as toronto, you don't really think about it much. infact, spending the last year in south africa, the former home of apartheid, i didn't wake up one day ever thinking, "hey i'm a minority" so its interesting to have to consider all these things. coming from a place such as south africa, which was home to a blantantly racist government, got me thinking. it wasn't all that long ago, that people were separated and treated solely on their skin color. in south africa, stores, schools, hospitals you name it, were built separately for white people that would display signs on the outside that say "whites only". some would have entrances around the back, with a separate entrance that stated "blacks and coloreds allowed" interestingly enough, during my last trip to south africa, my cousin took me to the south african apartheid museum. i found it interesting, because it is clear that apartheid was a problem that they were not trying to act like it never happened.

i tell this little anecdote, because there was something that caught my attention. there was an official document on display during the time of apartheid that went something like this: 18 blacks are being reclassified as indians, 8 indians reclassified as colored, 5 asians as colored. to some degree the race that you were classified gave you more or less rights (but obviously still not equal rights to whites) and here, it is not like a person actually woke up one day and their race changed. rather, some government official for whatever reason decided to change the status of someone's race. for those that might not know, people were required to carry identification (something like a passport) that clearly listed what race you were, and that was as common as listing if you were male/female. so to see things like that, you do hope things get better. but really one would hope that all this is something that ceast to becomes an issue.

the other day while taking a small break from the abundance of law school reading, i turned on the television and caught an interview with thierry henry, arguably the best footballer (soccer player for the americans) in the whole world, and he was discussing the disgusting aspects of racisim in europe. i'm not going into the details of the interview but i was actually shocked when i heard him say some of the things that go on. so clearly this is not a north american problem, its something that extends worldwide, but i guess i was a little shocked that a superstar athlete such as this experiences these kind of issues as well. as a quick side note, mr. henry and other soccer players have since established a campaign "stand up, speak up" against racism. if you see black and white rubberbands intertwined, its in support of this cause. check it out.

i guess some people just don't know any better. so i understand why there is a concerned effort by the school to increase diversity and awareness. i've been fortunate, i've been in a situation where i've been able to learn from my asian friends, learn from my white friends, learn from my black friends, etc. and i have learned that we are all as similar as we believe we are, and we are only as different as we are led to believe...let me know if that makes sense to you. we are all equals, but i guess for now i'm a minority.

but i think what everyone is really trying to say with this whole diversity issue can best be summed up by chris rock "i don't think i should get a job over a white person if i get a lower mark on the test, i don't think i should get into a school if i got a lower mark then a white person...but if there is a tie, then f'em..cause you had a 400 year head start"

peace (cause that is what i mean, when you see me throwing up the deuces)

Memory Lane: October 6, 2005. Law School jokes that seemed funny at the time.

2008-03-10T02:21:00.000-05:00

so i've been in law school for a month now. i've read through a 1000 plus pages in this time and accumulated a wealth of knowledge in contracts, torts, constitutional law, civil procedure and lets not forget legal writing. and you may ask, how do you feel about all the stuff you have learned?

well, i will tell you. i feel like a superhero that just got his powers. only my super hero name will be something along the lines of captain advocate (captain a, for short), or sir sue-a-lot. maybe its just the initial enthusiasm as a law student, and i don't know any better, but i'm slowly starting to see everything as a potential lawsuit, and like a true superhero i am out to save the world (well sort of). but before i can even do that, i think it will be necessary to take applications for my new super hero law student team, who will fittingly be named the supreme (court) team. has a nice ring to it don't you say. the justice league was taken.

using my ever evolving super hero powers, i plan on going through the mean streets and first tackling the following issues.

*disclaimer* (should be in big print, in bold)

the following might not be the correct application of the law (what can i say, it has only been one month), therefore, i am not liable for you applying any of the following concepts and them not working for you, ya dig?

i. i will be suing the toronto raptors for many things. firstly, rob bobcock for consiparcy to have the franchise relocated. i don't think the iraqi army would let you draft for them, and they'll take anybody right now. as well, your ability to make poor trade after poor trade... i know somewhere in there, you are violating my constitutional right, and even though i'm in minnesota right now and your in canada, i'll figure out the jurisdiction rules. count on it

ii. sucker mc's beware. under the uniform commercial code S-420 (also known as the run dmc clause) all sucker mc's will be hated on at will by all members of the public. this includes those that download your album for free and think it sucks (cause it wasted our time, and takes up space on our hard drive) as well it includes excessive playing on the radio or tv (you are doing a diservice to the public by influencing the youth of today with your wack music). the comments in the code specifically list the following artists as violators of the code: lil jon, ludacris, fat joe, the whole cash money and no limit crew, 95% of all artists on mtv right now, and any rapper that brags about how much cheese, whips and bling they have in their first video (first of all, we know those are rentals, and how are you a millionaire when you haven't sold 1 album yet??)

iii. i'm going after every bouncer that ever threw out my friends and/or i from a club for no reason, or even if they had a reason. when you put your steroid filled arm on my back, tort, tort, tort. when you got that beer bottle smashed on your head, well that was self defense on our part, you were clearly charging at us. oh and to the bouncers that insist on keeping us out in the cold to hold the line when you know its dead inside, you are going down by my new found belief in the constitution. i think its amendment xxvi that protects my right to keep warm, and if not, to whip your ass.

iv. unfortunately to anyone that i ever made a gratuitous promise to, i'm sorry to inform you that i can not be held to that. so i f i said, i'll get you back next time, or i'll take you out for dinner sometime, even i'm i stamped it and said no erasies and pinky swore, i'm sorry to tell you, but you lose. now i might only have to fullfill these things, if i actually like you.

v. all poor drivers in milliken and for that matter anywhere in north america will be made guilty under negligence, trespass, case you name it. bad drivers know they are bad drivers. if not, they should be able to tell by the big ass dents on their bumper, fender and their door. i don't care that when bad drivers leave their house that they don't intend to harm someone, just their actual presence on the road, causes us apprehension.

vi. any movie, tv show, sports event, or concert without a disclaimer before it starts stating, that it has a potential to suck (on a scale of 1-10) is subject to rewarding damages on the basis for wasting anywhere from 30 mins to 3 hours of my life that i cannot get back. there is nothing worse then having to sit through an event half way hoping that it is going to get better, only for it to never turn around. for this, i expect to receive atleast $100 from the makers of napolean dynamite, million dollar depression, and double that for my attendance to any toronto raptors game.

vii. any job interview that you ever went to and thought you were really going to get, only to be hit the so-called "sorry, f off" letter that states they had too many qualified applicants, and they will be keeping your application on file for a year. guess what? if i find out that you don't have my application on file, and if a friend who is working at the company tells me they hired someone after you that is a total hack, your company will be held in breach of your own written correspondence. and if that doesn't work, there is always the race card. same goes for any university that you applied to and didn't get into.

viii. no more frustrating weather reports that state the wrong forecast day after day. i wake up, check the forecast and see sunny skies ahead, only for it to be raining by noon. next time you do that, i'm suing you for your lack of forseeability. and things like "there is a chance of rain", well that is unacceptable. you know what there is a chance that i might win $10,000,000. there is a chance that i could be dating jessica alba. there is a chance for many things, and saying there is a chance of rain, doesn't really help in the grand scheme of things. f you, pay me.

iX. dirty looks, screw faces are grounds for an ass whipping. we understand your right to get into a brawl every now and then, that is clearly not your fault. don't worry the shoot first, ask questions later defense is totally acceptable in this jurisdiction, and in south africa it is actually encouraged. so go for it.

x. last but not least, coffee too hot? burger too cold, dope count too small? drinks too watered down, we'll take the case, and find it somewhere in your constitutional, jurisdictional, contractual right, whatever to get what is yours.

"f the judge, f the jury when you're rolling with me, it's people's court, we hold court in the streets..."

Memory Lane: September 24, 2005. MN State of Mind

2008-03-10T02:18:00.000-05:00

today i went to my first college football game. i thought i'd take a moment to share my experience. this week was homecoming week, being from canada, i had no idea what that meant. but i learned that today's game of minnesota vs. purdue would be an integral part of homecoming. of course, it took me till today to even find out what homecoming is. i believe homecoming is for the alumni of the school to come back, and basically celebrate their fondness for the university of minnesota. i guess that explains the number of old people in university of minnesota t shirts from the 1970's that were atleast 2 sizes too small for them.

tickets were only $15. in toronto we pay $15 just to park to go watch a game. in toronto you would have to pay $15 to go clubbing some nights, if you don't have links. so this is what i consider a deal.

great game. minnesota defeats the #11 ranked purdue boilermakes in double overtime. the golphers controlled most of the game, and looked like they were going to blow out the boilermakers with a solid running game. purdue's offense was struggling so much, i thought they were going to have to call in mr. big dogg glen robinson himself to get some points on the board. but they came roaring back thanks to a series of poor decisions by qb #3. he did redeem himself in the end, but i have to wonder about a quarterback that showed no ability to throw downfield and find open receivers. it reminded me of playing john madden football 93 on sega genesis, where there were only about 6 plays. and you always go to the sweep right with barry sanders cause it works, and maybe to change it up, you do the screen pass to barry sanders. then everynow and then you try the play action. but that doesn't work too well, so you go back to the sweep right. which brings me too...

university of minnesota running back, laurence maroney, is the truth. he's so much faster then the other guys on the field, it is like he enabled a cheat code for unlimited turbo and the coach is pressing r1 on the controller all the time.

i'm so proud of my golden gophers collectors cup. its my first piece of university of minnesota memorabilia, well second if i count the extra large t shirt the law school sent me. thanks for that.

just before the 4th quarter, we were enlightened to see the 3 time national dance team champions...what honestly??? i found that title in itself amusing. these aren't even the cheerleaders, competing in bring it on. then after watching their "dance routine" my first thought was how terrible were the other schools competing in this "national championship" to not be beating minnesota. some squad must have been disaqualified for an illegel roger rabbit or running man. needless to say, i don't think we will be seeing this dance squad in the latest kanye video.

and can someone answer me this. we from canada, have heard that cheerleaders and band geeks can get full scholarships to attend us universities. okay, maybe i can understand cheerleaders (only female), as there is a level of skill or something like that involved. but band geeks seriously??? how would that even work. does a recruiter come to the high school and say "wow, that guy there, he is clearly way better then everyone else at banging the drum, we need him in our starting lineup."

on another note, i don't know how i feel about the smiling stuffed golden golpher as our mascot. how intimidating can a stuffed alvin the chipmunk lookalike be. i don't even know what a boilermaker is, but atleast he carries around a hammer with him. seminoles, wolverines, trojans, i believe those things are about to do damage. a golden golpher, i kind of expect them to stick their head out in february, see their shadow and let us know if winter is going to be 6 weeks longer before going back in their hole and hibernating for the winter. (i know that's a groundhog, but i hope you get my point)

despite that, going to a game, its impossible to not get in the spirit of the university of minnesota even ifyou are mr. player hater himself, and just came back from the winning at the player haters ball. whats not to love, about high fiving random strangers, a sea of maroon and yellow, heckling the one purdue fan in your row, and instigating the old guy to drink more beer and cheer louder. another favouite moment of mine, how about the guy two rows up, that insists that he's the reason the golphers scored the two point conversion because he was telling us to be quiet otherwise the quarterback wouldn't be able to call the play (mind you we were about 100 yards from the play) but he was sure that he did that. and when the golphers batted down that last pass, that was because of him too telling the db to "stop that guy". yeah bud, you did that, your voice was the only one heard out of the 48,000 plus.

minnesota is cool.

still getting used to central time and being one hour behind

still getting used to farenheit rather then celcius.

shouts out to sarika and kara (as promised)

peace.

Memory Lane: September 16, 2005. My First Law School Post.

2008-03-10T02:15:00.001-05:00

i've officially completed my second week of law school at the university of minnesota. to say that it has been interesting is an understatement. before i go into some of those interesting things, check this...imagine that two years ago, you decide you are going to apply to law school. you start the process. you do your lsat. get reference letters. you apply to a couple of schools. other schools send you stuff. months pass by. you get some letters from your not so favorite canadian schools saying you are on their waiting list. they'll let you know. thanks. how considerate. you get a rejection letters from said canadian school. you get accepted into the university of cape town in south africa. you think about. you think long and hard. you accept. but you think "let me get my south african citizenship and passport first". its january, it's three weeks before school starts in south africa. you find out that home affairs has lost your passport application. you can still go. but you have a "feeling" so you decide not to go. a couple weeks pass by. another rejection letter from a canadian school. you waiver on that feeling. one day, a letter comes from the university of minnesota. legal sized envelope. pretty thin. you think "another rejection...oh well, it's a top 20 school, how could i get into there, if i couldn't get into windsor" you open it. the first line reads...congratulations.

excitement. joy. is this a joke. is ashton kutner upstairs with the punk'd camera crew? you accept. time goes by. you start getting ready. you think you have lots of time. you don't. its 5 days before you have to leave. you say your thanks and goodbyes to your employees at work. you get this new "feeling". bbq bashment part 1. bbq bashment part 2. that "feeling" becomes stronger. you realize that "feeling" is that you won't be seeing those people that you see everyday,weekend, etc. for sometime. wow. goodbyes to all your great friends. feeling of sadness. leave for minneapolis. 1519km. 15 hours. you find a place. set up shop. parents leave. feeling of sadness. orientation is tomorrow. you try and get some rest. you can't. orientation. your first thought. "what if my name is not on the list, and they made a mistake and i'm really not supposed to be here" uh oh. enter the building (see walter f modale school of law pic). "Mr. Karolia, welcome to the University of Minnesota Law School" smile.

so incase you didn't know what the midwest is...here it goes

-the univeristy of minnesota is the "big 10" conference, but there are 11 schools in the big ten "11"...ok next

-in my class, i've been fortunate to meet interesting people from places such as maryland (hurting them in the home of the terrapins), california (i don't think they really know how cold it is going to get), wisconsin(cheeseheads) , iowa, michigan, nigeria, sweden (hey mats sundin, he's swedish..) and many more...whereas at the university of toronto, i met people from scarborough and missisauga. see the difference

-upper year students (known as 2Ls and 3Ls) are extremely helpful and pleasent. the midwest has this reputation for friendliness which i really have to say is true. as my duty as a former torontonian, i make sure that i inform everyone who has the perception that canadians are friendly, that, this is not true. where and how that rumour ever got started, i want to know.

-law school is just like regular school. if everyday at regular school consisted of what it was like way back in grade 4, of your first day of french class. remember that. make sense? you know english, then your first day of french comes along, and sure some words are the same, you just add a le or la in front of it. then remember the confusion when you get into all those rules, femine/mascaline, plural, singular with femine. that's sort of what law school is like, except everyday of class, is like the first day of french class.

-you actually enjoy going to class, you wish class was longer so you can learn more....but you kind of fear of being "called on" by professor charles

-imagine this, you do reading for a class, you take detailed notes, you think you have an understanding of the concepts and ideas, then out of a class of say 100 students, the professor calls randomly "mr...why shouldn't the supreme court review political decisions??" and you, whether you were the person picked or not think "what, was that in the reading?" and if you were picked, you ask for the question to be repeated to give you more time to put together a reponse that makes no sense. welcome to the socratic method ladies and gentlemen...but you go back and re-read what you just covered, and its like you see things in a whole new light. its like a revolution every day. i like that.

-you look back at your undegrad, and realize what a joke it was. kind of like remember when you were in high school, oac, and you used to study the night before for your calculus exam, and you thought that was tough. then you got to university, and you might have studied for a couple of days for your finance/english literature or whatever class, and you thought that was tough, and you might have had a paper due for another class. and you looked back on high school, and said, wow i can't believe i used to complain about studying for one whole day, and if you could go back, you think you can get 100%. that's basically the feeling i have about my undergrad right now.

-it appears that most of the undergrads here know that being an undergrad is a joke. sure there are some engineering students that are serious. but you know the stuff you see on american tv shows, where the kids on campus are partying it up, having a good time, skipping class cause they are too hung over from tailgating...that is exactly what goes on here. then realize that the legal drinking age here is 21, and that college freshman are around 18. then ask yourself if you really think that matters.

-flip flops, shorts, and a sweater??? honestly, does this even serve a purpose. yeah you keep your arms warm, but don't your legs and feet get cold. you can't tell me, you don't feel the cold, cause i'm from canada, i know what cold is too. i'm beginning to wonder if most law students, and all students for matter even own a pair of shoes (i could have swarn i seen a student with a suit and flip flops on friday), because all i seem to see is people's toes wiggling around.

-you really start to see things differently. i saw a guy push a lady on the bus last weekend, and rather then thinking..."is that lady ok", i was thinking "hey that's a tort, is there a lawyer here? hey am i' one (well not yet)

-i've heard that there is no such thing as a free lunch, well i've had about 6 of them on campus already. so obviously the person that said this was never s a student accumulating massive debt. this is like winning the lottery for a small sum, and who doesn't love that?

-there is such a thing as law humor, and yes i find it amusing. i could try and tell it right now, but its one of those things where you would have to be here to get it. trust me. (but you can look up "chewbacca defense" on google)

-the word "reasonably" takes on a new meaning (see that's some law humor)

-i'm spelling the word "humor" without the u (canadian humor)

-cooking is not so much about making great filling dishes, and more about the time and effort it takes to make something, and clean up. (i could make some grilled chicken in pan, but wow, that peanut butter sandwich, that only makes a dirty knive and plate to clean up...peanut butter sandwich 1, grilled chicken 0.

-i know, that i never knew that a fridge could look so empty. that everything in that fridge is something that you put or did not put in it. think about that. compare it with the fact, then maybe when you are at home, you eat something, or you have some dirty clothes lying around. usually you are a good kid, and you pick up after yourself. maybe every now and then, you forget or you get lazy, and your parents harass you to clean up. sometimes its just an oversight, and you still leave it, or you might even know that eventually one of your parents are going to pick it up for you. well, that will never happen here anymore. if something is there or not there, its staying there or not going to be there, unless i get off my ass and do it.

-u.s tv. what can you really say about a nation that brings you countless amusing reality shows. from celebrity blackjack featuring warren g and the host of survivor to showing girls sweet sixteen birthday parties where they are spoiled to death then led to tears about how much they hate their life, to reality shows about killing reality shows where they put former reality tv stars in a house and let them go at it, to tommy lee going to school as an undergrad in nebraska, and my favorite of them all, teradise featuring human hangover tera reid. the whole show is basically about her getting hammered all over the world, exposing herself, and looking like an idiot, so basically, they just put cameras on her, and let her live her regular life..if i didn't have school, there isn't anything i would like to do more then watch people live in a train wreck that is their lives

-its such a simple formula and it works so well. take the surreal life for example, the new season here has jose canseco, the guy from perfect strangers, etc. take a look at each season. you have a has been rapper, a washed up rockstar, a realed washed up c list actor, a reality tv show star, a former coked up model, a freak of somesort, put them in a house, and you have instant issues and drama. then use that formula and apply it to every possible situation possible. great tv.

-hearing from family and friends on the phone, email, text messages, msn, etc. takes on a whole new level of importance. good looking out, i appreciate it

-you start using a blog to write about your life as a law student in minnesota, and less about the toronto raptors.

it wasn't all a dream, and i didn't have to read word up magazine...done

I Woke Up Early On My Born Day 28 Years Of Blessin'

2008-01-19T05:50:00.001-06:00

big tings are gwaning. super pumped up for 2008. to be honest, at this age i would have never thought that I would have just finished law school after spending 3 years in a random midwest state. according to facebook i have 124 friends from MN, so that means i've somehow connected with at least that many people over that time that i would not have otherwise. i went from broke to brokers, from brokers to books, and from books to...possibly out in minneapolis, toronto, joburg, london...tanzania, lunch with mandela, dinner with cavalli (big lyrics, i had to go that way).

2007 on its own stands for some big tings. started out the year being in london, amsterdamn, paris all for the first time. and then over the year, managed to make it out to san fran, los angeles, and indianapolis (all for the first time), then trips to vegas( twice, i don't know why since i don't gamble), new york, chicago, and my first summer in minneapolis which had me out on a boat for the first time, and other random flexes, great times. threw down in some nice and grimey places. along the way i also ended up in the court (for good reasons), and learned a lot of lessons. of course there were some battles, some hard knocks along the way, but now that i'm here, it was all part of the journey. and that's pretty much the corniest i can get, but then again so is writing about myself and random things on blogs, and some people have managed to make a life out of it thinking that other people care what they have to say...so respect.

My Big Brother Was Big's Brother

2008-01-13T02:44:00.001-06:00

by far the best show on tv, and a classic comic. reminds me of my brother and i in so many ways.

Smile For Me Now

2008-01-12T20:22:00.001-06:00

i'm in love with art again, i didn't do these, but i really like them so i thought i'd share. i'm going to do my best to get back into the game myself. these are just because some 'tings' just make me smile. it feels good to be home.

Song Cry

2008-01-09T05:32:00.000-06:00

just got some sad news from one of my best friends. makes me realize how fortunate i am to be surrounded by family and friends.

graduation day

2007-12-20T01:55:00.000-06:00

"this morning i woke up feeling brand new"

I got my jd swag going on. I still can't believe on my way to being a lawyer, but for now, no more law school exams ever.

Like jay-z said "I aint passed the bar, but I know a little bit"

wu-tang forever

2007-12-17T01:26:00.000-06:00

I would have never thought that 14 years later after I first popped proteck your neck in the tape deck (radio raheem styles), that I would get to see the wu live on stage...in minneapolis at first ave at all places. To be honest, when I heard they were gping to be in MN I thought mybe it was going to be a few members, you know like u-god, and masta killa, and up until the lights came on and the killer bee sounds started I was unprepared to see every member (minus the rza) in full wu mode. The whole show brought back memories of 93 and me, and my bro and my old school friend kd drawing wu symbols on anything and everything. For me seeing the wu, is like seeing that one band or artist that pretty much defines your childhood, where everysong brings back some sort of memory. I'm sure for some people that maybe someone like nirvana, or 2pac, spicegirls, bob dylan, or whoever. But for me the wu pretty much sums up everything about the 90s and the way me and my crew rolled back in the hood in the tdot.
I wish my brother could have been here, he would have lost it.

Da Art of Storytellin'

2007-12-16T02:13:00.000-06:00

Dear law school,

When I started I thought I knew you. Those first couple weeks was probably the most exhilerating learning experience of my life. And then after about two months of learning and getting a feeling of all the different subjects, it was contracts that caught my heart. And the more I got to know contracts, the more I liked it. And after first year, I had this feeling in my heart that I wanted to get involved with contract law.

And then year two started and my fondness for contracts morphed into corporate law, and I was pretty certain that corporate law was where I wanted to be. But then shortly after year two began, intellectual property came on the scene and caused my focus to waiver. But after trying ip for a while I knew it was something that I didn't see myself in, so I went back into focusing in corporate law. Unfortunatly ip never really left me alone and even though I thought corporate law was cool, the first signs of being a confused law student came to light around Feb. Corporate law which had transitioned to securities law ended up being more difficult then I had prepared for. And even though I studied as hard as I could and put forward my best effort, I had to question if securities law was really what I wanted to do.

So after my second year I decided to take a look at litigation and to my surprise it was something that I kind of liked. It offered new challeneges and experiences and even though I still liked corporate law I thought that I should at least give litigation a chance. But then just when I thought I had it all figured out, my new found love for litigation came to a halt, all while my previous confusion between ip and corporate law came back to light.

So then as law school was coming to an end and taking some days off to go skiing and play some hockey to see if I could figure it all out. I came to the conclusion that I pretty much hate IP, my heart was never really in litigation, and corporate law will always be cool, but that's about it.

In the end, it turns out that my heart was with international law all along.

champion

2007-12-13T21:39:00.000-06:00

Throughout my life I can point to the people that have made a significant positive impact on the way I think or do things. Ofcourse that includes family and close friends, but every now and then there are people that come into your life at a certain time and it is like they show you something that isn't there.

Today was my last official day working for my judge who I consider one of those people. Simply just an amazing person who I learned so much about the law and more importantly about myself.

And of course seeing all the behind the scenes action from the chambers...unbelievable...but you have to be there to appreciate, and its probably confidential.

I Was Young, I Was Surviving The Times

2007-12-10T21:49:00.001-06:00

The Heart Gently Weeps

2007-12-04T12:45:00.000-06:00

So today was officially my last day of class barring some sort of unexpected event that brings me back for another term. The whole day left me with this weird feeling, knowing that this is really it for my academic classroom career. A lot of people asked me if I was excited. And no doubt I am but its kind of a bittersweet moment. I think it has to do with the fact that I'm done early and its like I'm leaving all the people that I've grinded it out with over the last 2 and a half years but we can't share those same anxious feelings about graduation just yet.

So as I sat there in my last class (a seminar) with about 5 minutes left, I kept thinking to myself this was truly it. And although the last year of law school is actually pretty underwhelming, I enjoyed my time here. Still, I got 3 deadly exams and a paper, so I'll be seeing all my library friends for atleast 2 more weeks.

Its like zack morris said "school is great, it's too bad classes get in the way"

This Is Family Business, And This Is For The Family That Can't Be With Us

2007-11-23T22:53:00.000-06:00

over the last 3 years american thanksgiving has been one of my least favourite times of the year. not because i don't enjoy the days off, but because it is way too quiet around here as nearly everyone takes off to celebrate with their family. too bad canada has already celebrating thanksgiving in october, and as much as i like to go home, northwest and aircanada have somehow convinced themselves it is ok to raise the price to toronto to $500 for an hour and a half flight. i'm especially not a big fan of air canada, who with a stronger canadian dollar could have decided to lower the price in canadian $, instead they chose to raise the us $ price which has always been lower. not cool. so heading into thursday, to say that i had the holiday blues is an understatement. plus with all this extra time around here to do nothing, it can pretty much drive you crazy. add that to the fact that over the last month i've managed to get into fights with two of my favourite people around here, i miss having my laid back roommate around, and my life adviser is no longer around either...sad.

but for thanksgiving, one of my friends still in the city, opened his house and invited me over for thanksgiving dinner with his family. i was extremely appreciative for the gesture, and had a real great time. it made me realize that i've been very fortunate to have met such great people, where if i had decided to never leave toronto, i would have never met and shared such great experiences. i can't lie and say that over the last few weeks, i have wondered whether i should have stayed in toronto because i miss all my family and friends back there. but it is times like these when i realize that the last 2 1/2 years, i have met some amazing people and have seen and done things that i would have never done otherwise. for that i'm extremely thankful.

"This is family business
And this is for everybody standin' with us"

I Promise I'm So Self Conscious, I Have No Idea What I'm Doing In College

2007-11-22T01:53:00.000-06:00

i basically retired from writing anything of substance on here about a year ago, and took up posting pictures with random hidden messages. but just like jay-z retired after he released the black album and fade to black the movie (ie. where i stole the name to theme of this useless site) and then subsequently released two new albums in the last year, i decided to comeback like jordan wearing the 45.

in reality i was actually inspired to write again after reading gilbert arenas's blog on the nba.com website. i never really care much for what celebrities or athletes write or say because it's usually just one cliche after another. checking out agent zero's blog, you can see a clear honesty that comes across in the things he writes. it's refreshing, and extremely amusing, and it's the same reason that i am always amused by the things that kanye west says. in gilbert's (first name basis) post today, made just shortly after it was releaved he has to miss 3 months of playing, he acknowledges the difficulty in trying to stay positive after he just came back from injury but then goes into his girl problems, and i feel bad for him...son(i don't think lebron would ever do that). check it.

You know what? When stuff goes bad it goes bad. I just broke up with my girlfriend and I don’t get to see my kids for a while because of the breakup. That happened right before those two games last week. I was so happy, went out and performed well with 30 and 11 and came back the next night with 28 and I was thinking, “Oh yeah, it was her that was bringing my spirits down…” Now she’s back in California. You ask for space, you know, because everything feels closed in … the house is dirty, the kids are drawing on the walls and on the couches and you’re thinking, “Oh man, I can’t do this. I’m not playing well and I’m coming home to all this.” So you ask for space and now you got clean walls, clean furniture and you’re lonely. And now you got to sit out three months. Oh man. I guess it has to get bad so it can get good. I’m not talking to my girlfriend. There’s a thing, “Watch what you say,” sometimes. She said, “I don’t want you to call me. I don’t want you to ask me about the kids. We’re going to do this on our own.” So, I decided, “OK.” Some things, if you don’t mean them, don’t say them. Now she’s mad that I’m not returning her calls. I guess she’s mad actually, I don’t know. Me and her brother are very cool so he goes, “Why don’t you just talk to her?” “Well, she just told me last week not to call her.” She told me I needed to start paying attention and listening from now on, now I’m paying attention and listening. - Gilbert Arenas, Nov. 19.21.07

if you didn't know the title of this post, is based on lyrics from kanye west - all falls down, off the college dropout album. (if you're somewhat of a hip hop head, you'd probably notice that every post title is something hip hop related...if you figured that out, deadly). anyways, the reason i titled this one the way i did, is that the reason that i stopped writing is that somewhere along the way i became self conscious of the things i wrote. i remember when i first started writing basketball newsletters to friends, and then used this to update my friends back home about life in law school, words would just flow like i was writing some dope rhymes. but then like a rap artist releasing his second album, you overthink everything you write, and everything goes downhill (i can't think of one example, where a second album was better then the first).

but today was one of those days where i had a little too much time, and started to think back about the things i wrote when i first started law school, and all the excitement and goodtimes that surrounded that. i'm going to try and repost some of those things when i get a moment, but i'm glad i have something like that to look back on and see how i was feeling at the time. as my law school career is coming to a close and i feel like i've already checked out, i can look back and remind myself why i came to law school, why i came to minnesota (of all places?)...because right now i'm not so sure, but i'm glad i did (or so i keep telling myself). i keep it real.

I Wonder

2007-11-20T08:22:00.001-06:00

Made some big moves yesterday.

I've been waiting on this my whole life
These dreams be waking me up at night

Stronger

2007-11-19T16:25:00.000-06:00

Why is it easier to complain about others then it is to check yourself (before you wregigity wreck yourself...in the words of das efx)???

Regardless, some jokes are just not funny, even when I think they are, but that's because i'm so immature.

I'm done.
31 days.

I'm Back to Vegas

2007-11-15T11:39:00.001-06:00

Whether you broke or rich you gotta get biz
Having money's not everything, not having it is
I was splurgin on trizz
But when I get my card back activated
I'm back to Vegas cause (Welcome to the good life)
I always had a passion for flashing' before I had it
I close my eyes and imagine, the good life

Everyday I'm Hustlin'

2007-11-13T14:16:00.001-06:00

November has been busy.

Class Is Back In Session So I'm Upping The Grade, In Two Years Duayne Wayne Became Dwyane Wade

2007-11-13T14:11:00.000-06:00

Dwade letter to basketball.

Pretty much how I feel about law school.

(What's The Story) Morning Glory?

2007-11-12T14:14:00.000-06:00

A young warrior traveled abroad to learn the rules of fair………..
His teachings and travels were disrupted by a glorious winged angel, the warrior intended to give her an apple but mistakenly she received a rose.

The warrior tended to the rose which made the others realize his wonderful workings of the land…..suddenly the rose bloomed another head.

The warrior now had to tend to two roses both on the same stem.
The more he watered the one, the dryer the other grew…..soon his time was spent between both roses and he eventually decided to simply feed and water the flower by pouring nutrients in between the two rose blooms, causing both of them to be fed, and fight for survival…..each bloom needed more.

Soon the two rose blooms grew closer and closer and began to conspire against the warrior. Before long the warrior could no longer distinguish between the blooms, they were becoming one.

Remedy was achieved by a trip to a Northern region where the tears of frozen angels filled the sky in the month of 12.

The young warrior spoke to a Wizard who lived on the 31st branch of an Elm Tree, the fog began to settle and by the time of his return……….. the ides of spring had taken control of the two headed rose and one of the blooms had withered up and given up on waiting for nutrients…………..the other stayed the course and garnished the attention of the warrior for the months to follow.
-tk

It Was All A Dream

2007-11-11T20:45:00.000-06:00

more like a nightmare.

Out in Minneapolis When It's Cold In The Winter

2007-11-07T22:48:00.000-06:00

it hit 0 degrees celcious today. still don't know what that is in Fahrenheit.

The Life and Rhymes

2007-11-07T11:49:00.000-06:00

killah cam's lyric book...i wish i had a rhyme book this dope.

i'm focused...man

2007-11-06T19:47:00.000-06:00

sums up pretty much every law student's ability to get work done.

Homecoming

2007-11-06T00:17:00.000-06:00

Do you think about me now and then, cause I’m coming home again...

Outtaspace Ballin'

2007-11-04T17:29:00.000-06:00

even my trashbags are lv.

'Ballin

2007-11-04T15:48:00.001-06:00

Let's Go Raptors!

Graduation

2007-11-03T12:58:00.000-05:00

less than 1 month of class left, less than 2 months till my law school career is over.
crazy.

Sucker Free Sunday

2007-06-10T20:59:00.000-05:00

good times in minneapolis.

Dear Summer

2007-06-10T20:55:00.000-05:00

chicago to minneapolis. good times

Big Things Poppin

2007-05-22T00:10:00.000-05:00

it's going to be a hot summer.

What More Can I Say

2007-05-21T01:12:00.000-05:00

Hard Knock Life

2007-05-05T11:32:00.000-05:00

(one more time)

Take the baseline out, uh huh
Jigga uh huh uh huh uh huh

It's the Hard Knock Life for us
It's the Hard Knock Life for us
Stead of treatises, we get tricked
Stead of cases, we get kicked
It's the Hard Knock Life

From standin’ on the corner, Boppin’
To writin’ some of the hottest briefs Minnesota has ever seen
To droppin’ some of the hottest analysis law has ever heard
From the coffee shop, to the court that's mock
Fleein’ the Mondale Hall, you know me well
From nightmares of hearing Charles yell, my only hell
But since when ya'll professors know me to fail? F**k Naw
Where all judges with the opinions spilt, bus shots
And if you in T.O.R.T, put on a skit, and what not
I'm from the school of the hard knocks, we must not
Let William Mitchell violate our blocks, and my plot
Let's do the outlines and split it 50-50, uh huh
Let's take practice exam and stay real jiggy, uh huh
Let's make flash cards and get pissy pissy
Flow charts infinitely to help my memory like a little kiddie, baby!
You know its hell but I come through
The life and times of law student Volume 2
Ya'll 1L's get ready

(chorus)

Fever

2007-04-19T00:25:00.000-05:00

it's that time of the year again.

Player's Ball

2007-03-28T22:20:00.000-05:00

law school prom march 31.

Poison

2007-03-21T13:13:00.001-05:00

shear poison

You Gots to Chill...

2007-03-17T11:54:00.000-05:00

snowboarding in collinwood

Ballin'

2007-03-16T00:26:00.000-05:00

ncaa sweet 16 minneapolis 2006

My Block

2007-03-10T14:17:00.000-06:00

some people go to mexico, florida or vegas for spring break, i go back to my block.

Going Out Gunz A Blazin

2007-02-23T12:04:00.000-06:00

I Make It Rain...In San Fran.

2007-02-22T02:55:00.001-06:00

Award Tour

2007-01-02T02:27:00.000-06:00

from minnapolis to toronto off to london, amsterdam and paris. hollaback!

I Wish My Brother George Was Here

2006-11-04T01:25:00.000-06:00

del tha funky homosapien - oct 29, 2006 first avenue

mistadobolina

A Plus - Souls of Mischief

It Was All Good Just A Week Ago...

2006-10-22T22:07:00.000-05:00

Me And My Crazy World

2006-10-18T01:44:00.000-05:00

So Sick (Law School Remix)

2006-10-09T00:02:00.000-05:00

And I'm so sick of law school.
So tired of tears.
So done with wishing I was a lawyer for a career.
Said I'm so sick of law school so sad and slow.
So why can't I get out of all the debt i owe?

Just Draw Off Inspiration

2006-09-15T02:01:00.000-05:00

retired from the writing game, picking up the art game again. tru dat.

What Happened To That Boy?

2006-09-10T02:04:00.000-05:00

jam done bredren.

School Spirit Skit #2

2006-09-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

"They say your attitude determines your latitude
I'm high as a motherf----r - fly as a motherf----r"
Kanye West - Brand New

brand new school year.
first day of class.
like my old finance professor used to say, as of right now everyone is getting 100%.
enjoy.

Pon De Replay (remix)

2006-09-03T23:24:00.000-05:00

(i had written this much earlier in the year, and everything in it basically applies again, except now replace the "oh i think he like me" with "im bringing sexyback" sad i know but it's a lot better then me singing "promiscuos girl")

my brother use to do this thing where whenever we would drive somewhere if there was a song he would like, he would play it over and over. it was a lot like radio raheem in do the right thing where he would only play public enemy's "fight the power" and when someone asked him why he only plays that one song, radio raheem responded, "because that's the only song i like" well the only problem was that we never had a cd player in our car, we would be stuck with a tape deck and that means when you rewind the song, you have to wait like 30 seconds. then sometimes he would rewind it too far, and instead of letting it play till the song came back on, he would fast forward, going too far forward. and this process would go back and forth, until we finally just got it right, but we'd spend most of the trip with no music, because we were either rewinding or fast forwarding. i once suggested that i could just make one tape with the same song about 27 times, but he said it wouldn't be the same.

anyways, this has nothing to do with that, i just thought i would bring that up. instead, today was one of those days where you hear a song in the morning, and it's in your head the whole day. you find yourself humming the tune, maybe you even do the robot to the beat in your head, which i guess is fine, except when the song is a totally corny weak ass song, and you can't get it out of your head. i hate that. and that happened to me all day, and i'm even too embarrassed to say what song it is. but "oh i think they like me"

School Spirit Skit 1

2006-08-23T21:42:00.000-05:00

hey i just realized today marks a whole year that i've been in minnesota. time flys when you're having...um, i'm not going to go there.

"Back to school and I hate it there, I hate it there
Everything I want I gotta wait a year, I wait a year
This brother graduated at the top of my class..I went to Cheesecake, he was a motherf--king waiter there"
Kanye West - School Spirit

happy anniversary to everyone else that has been here a year. it's picture time. word.

You Must Be High Smoking Dust Wit Chris Tucker

2006-08-21T14:15:00.000-05:00

when i heard smokey was coming to minneapolis to do a live comedy show, i thought there was no better time then to see my first comedy show. i remember seeing him back in the day on the arsenio hall show and def comedy jam doing stand up when i was just a youth, killing it. sunday night's show, totally classic.

i'm not going to try and re-tell any of his jokes or try and explain how spot on his impressions are of michael jackson, jesse jackson, bill clinton, eddie murphy or prince were. but i will leave it with once piece of information that he dropped that i always wondered.

chris: "people always be asking me why i didn't do next friday...cause cube still never paid me for the first. the brother tried to pay me in weed and cd's. i want money, maaaaaaaan."

People thinkin MC is short hand for Mis Conception

2006-08-08T01:33:00.000-05:00

for some reason i thought it would be a good idea to check out busta rhymes here at the myth in minneapolis, wrong.

the guy shows up on stage at 1:35 am, when the doors opened at 9 pm, and he only performs to 2 am, because minnesota has some law that the place has to close at 2 am. so after waiting nearly 4 hours, we get a 25 minute show, where spliff star was the real highlight. totally wack. busta is classless.

glad to say that i've never paid for a busta album, and out of protest i think i'm going to delete all his tracks off my ipod.

busta rhymes, you suck. who haaaa.

Move B**** Get Out The Way

2006-08-05T19:48:00.000-05:00

moving is officially my least favorite thing to do, ever.

the people at the melrose apartment on the east bank, sharp as cueballs as ac would say.

the worst.

Souls Of Mischief

2006-07-28T20:52:00.000-05:00

life as a law student can have the mysterious ability to reduce the fun factor in many a student's life. if it's not painfully studying for an exam or hacking through another legal memo, then it's engaging in some sort of political issue debate with someone else that is never going to admit you're right, because after all that is what law school is about.

unfortunately daily shenanagans seem to be a thing of the past, so when the opportunity arrises, it becomes extra fun. last week, after my roommate and i finished our last class at the university of western cape, we took it upon ourselves to get into some good ol fashion mischief. we had some of the students take us on a tour of the campus, which we quickly started to realize seemed to be quite segragated. anyways, we were taken to the "indian" part of the campus, only to our surprise the indian part was segragated as well. it seems that over the years, the students have staked out their own territories on campus and cleverly named it bombay, kashmir, and get this, the neutral u.n. territory. and what seemed like a joke to us at first, was really true and that the people in their territories do not get a long and do not hang out socially. so of course, me and my roommate saw this as a perfect opportunity to cause some mischief, so we decided to we do interviews with some of the students and conduct surveys with them. after approached a group of girls and asking them if they belonged to bombay or kashmir, they quickly interjected and said they would never be a part of bombay, and told us to just look at the way that they dressed. when we looked over, it appeared to us as outsiders that they on the bombay side were dressed exactly like these girls, but when we mentioned that to our focus group, they clearly were not impressed. anyways, the rest of the story, is once again filled with you have to be there type of moments, but let's just say that me and my roommate did our best to start peace talks with the neighbouring areas, but came up empty, but we did have a blast doing it.

which brings me back to toronto, where mischief has reigned supreme for an entire week. i'm not going to go into details, because after all i am a "law student." but a sample of mischief in the low end has been as simple as going into the apple store in eaton centre and finding the only rap song, wycelf - party to damascus, and playing it on every ipod stereo system they have on full blast to "test it", and having the security following us around so he can turn it down. seeing his annoyed face after the tenth time, outstanding. as for mischief on the highend, well i've got to run, but let's just say, twins, tattoos, and gold wrapped chocolate coins.

safety

Jo'Burg/Cape Town State Of Mind

2006-07-27T21:49:00.000-05:00

coming back to toronto after 2 months in south africa has once again been an adjustment. first of all driving home, i've forgotten how it's like to not have to enter a gate, surrounded by a perimeter wall, topped off with electric fencing. i guess i'm still in that south african state of mind, because today i was sitting at home with my mom and like normal she leaves the front door open, and i couldn't help it but to close it and lock it up. i noticed that the car was parked in the driveway as usual with the windows down, which is unheard of in south africa, and while i was about to roll them back up, i realized there was absolutely nothing that could be stolen (see old school whip below) , i'd even welcome it, if someone tried to jack my broken tape dock.

also coming back to toronto means no more jags, mercs or bm's to roll in, but the old school 94 sunbird joint with the 12 black fake bbs, with the tape deck on full blast. but it's not even that, it's getting used to driving on the other side of the rode. i got so used to the right handed side drive, that when i got back here and the first time i was in the car, i had to actually think about which side to drive on. then not having to deal with crazy south african taxis, or people on the street selling stuff like coat hangers, dvd's, cell phone accessories, soccer balls, fruit, world maps, mirrors can be a little disorientating to say the least. plus not having to pay parking guards, for not breaking into your car. also being back in toronto, i almost forgot that you can't under any circumstances run red lights, which in south africa at night is the norm. if i could count on one hand the number of times i was told that the area we were in was a high highjack area, i would need about 8 hands. but here blazing down the street at 200km's then telling the cops that i thought i was being followed by hijackers, would not fly. these are just a few things that the streets of toronto and just about everywhere else in the world are missing

safety

I Got A Story To Tell Part I

2006-07-24T06:45:00.000-05:00

"this is africa jack"
the tag line of the whole trip. and an unforgetable moment if there ever was one. as i mentioned before, one of the coolest most laid back guys in the program, lets call him flordia, just totally lost it on his roommate, oklahoma, but you had to hear the guy tell the story to really appreciate it. a quick version goes like this. now i guess it's not uncommon for people in close quarters not to get along when personalities clash (as extremely evident by some of the girls in the program). we were randomly assigned roommates, and most of us shared rooms. well one night a bunch of people went out, and as expected we got back late. when florida went back to his room, oklahoma must have been sleeping, but anyway the rooms have really massive doors, so it's virtually impossible to close them without making some sort of a noise, but not even a big noise. anyway, florida was as quiet and respectful as he could be. well the next morning at 6 am, florida is awakened by the sounds of christian rock blaring from a lap top by none other than oklahoma. when florida ask what he is doing if can turn it down. oklahoma responded, something along the lines of: "well, last night when you came in, you were banging doors, being all inconsiderate, so it's only right that i be inconsiderate now" now most people in the program were not big fans of oklahoma already, because lets say he can say things that could be considered offensive, and when you're situated in a country such as south africa, with a history as it is, that's probably not a great idea. anyways, florida, clearly upset from all that was going on, decided to just blow it off, and go back to sleep. that is, until he just recollected what had just happened. so in his words, after about 5 minutes of thinking it over, florida jumped out of his bed, went into the main room where oklahoma had gone and proceeded to let it all out, and somewhere what was being said, florida ripped off his shirt hulk hogan style, and let oklahoma know: "if you got a problem, this is africa jack, we can settle it right here"

"that's a cold deal"
table mountain is some 3000 feet high and about 3 km wide. most people go up table mountain on a nice day using the cable car which takes around 20 minutes to see the spectacular view. of course a couple students decided they would do the 3 plus hour (for fit people) hike up the mountain. sure, they were sucessful, but what they didn't realize is that cable cars stop operating around 6pm when it gets dark, and the workers and staff that are up there, take the last cable car back. so by the time these students got to the top, everything was closed and it was getting dark fast. hiking back down the moutain at this time was not an option, one of the students hurt their ankle. cell phones don't work at top, so calling emergency was out of the question. the only solution, one of the students had to hike down the mountain as much as she could, until she could get reception and call for help to get the others down. all this, on the day before our constitutional exam. after hearing about this, me discussing this with my roommate.
me: "hey did you hear about those girls who got stuck on top of cable mountain?"
roommate: "yeah, that's a cold deal"

"would you let me finish, you might learn something"
i've met many characters in my life, but none can compare to the man known as supurb. picture an older cat, already a lawyer, in ny no less, coming as an alumni on a trip with a bunch of mid-twenty year olds, in cape town, surrounded by beautiful women, then compare that to the greaziest person you know, then times that by 10, and that is approximately how supurb is. now supurb is not a bad guy, i actually got a long with him extremely well, but the sh-t talk that can come out of this man's mouth is priceless. and the thing is, it's not like that he doesn't say interesting stuff, but it's like having to use a filter to get through all the nonsense and extra junk before getting to it. supurb to a liking to room 302, because he said we were on his level, what level he meant i have clue. most evenings after class, he would come up to our room uninvited most times, and make himself at home. we would kick it out on the balcony and start talking about whatever, and this is where it would begin. now most times, i would sit back and laugh myself silly, but my roommate he would constantly question some of the things supurb would say, bad move. but not only does supurb talk a lot, he talks loud, like loud as in the neighbours from across the canal complain. and anytime we would ask him to tone it down, just a little bit, before we could even finish, supurb would interupt us by saying: "would you let me finish, you might learn something" classic.

"man that's hateful"
imagine a situation, where your options are as follows: you have just found out that you have been kicked out of your room, and you are now left with a situation where you can either stay in the apartment of people you like and sleep on the couch, or you can room with someone you hate, and would probably argue with everyday. you'd probably select the first option right. not supurb, in his own words, it went something life this.
supurb: "you think i'm going to let that motherf--ker get a room to himself, f--k that!
302: "but supurb, if you stay on the couch, you could still be cool, and yeah so what he'd be good, but if you both stay in the same room, you know you can't stand him..."
supurb: "nah man, i'd rather f--k things up for the both of us, it's the principle behind it"
302: "man that's hateful"

"you lack composure"
a friend of mine from cape town was out for a night on the cape town with lady friend of his, doing it big as many south african's do. when it came time to going home, it's not uncommon for south africans to blaze down the streets in an effort to get home as fast as you can. but on this occasion, the young man, was pulled over by the south african fuzz a few blocks away from his house. the girl, already histerical from the fast driving, urged my friend to be cool. but when the cops approached the car, my overconfident friend proceeded to tell the cops to "f--k off" asking why the pulled him over. the police than asked him to get out of the car, and asked him to hop around on one leg suspecting that maybe he had something to drink. my friend, an excitable young man, started hopping around, and started gaining in confidence, and started hopping in a straight line, just to show he could do it, and continued to yell at the police. the girl in the car by this time, had totally lost it, and by then all you could hear was "what's wrong with you, you lack composure." the cops sensing that this girl was about to lose it, than actually felt sorry for the guy, told him to get back in the car, and drive home safetly right away.

"son, your only job is to call heads or tails"
i went to go watch some of my south african friends play a league soccer game at mitchell's plain in cape town as i mentioned sometime back. when it comes to playing soccer in mitchell's plain, the level of skill is quite high, but so can the level of physical play. on this occasion "mr. referee" was not interested in anything anyone had to say. because here, players were being fly kicked, and he would not even pull out a yellow card, but when one of my friend's teammates swore at the referee for not making a call, "mr. referee" proceeded to give him a red card. my friend, the captain for the game, then went up to the referee and was like:
captain: "mr referee, as captain can i speak to you for a moment"
mr. referee: "son, your only job is to call heads or tails, your job is done"
captain: 'but, they're fly kicking us..."
mr. referee: "i said your job is done...yellow card"

The Documentary

2006-07-24T04:58:00.000-05:00

Welcome to South Africa
Table Mountain from the Waterfront
Otherside of the Mountains, when someone says they live in a house on the hills, it ain't no joke.
One of many beaches, note that this is the winter time
Penguins in South Africa, it's true
Where the Indian and Atlantic Ocean meet. If you look closely you can actually see the line in the water where they meet. It's true.
Devil's Peak from our ship in Hout Bay.
Up the mountains for sunset
The mean streets of Cape Town
Room 302 is in the building. Student living in Cape Town
Where the magic happens
Our balcony.
The view from our place
I almost forgot, we did have classes to attend to. Justice Zak Yacooub, our comparitive constitutional law teacher.

Not everything is all good in South Africa. Shacks in a township. About 20 minutes from where we stayed, it looks like this
These are some of the nicer houses in a township
Lady selling crafts in the township
South African police. Definately not the safest place in the world.
How most people protect themselves. Note the electric fencing and steel gate to get into the house.
Signs from the Apartheid Days.
Park Benches from the Apartheid Days

See Me In Your City Sittin Pretty Know I'm Shinin Dog

2006-07-24T03:53:00.000-05:00

back "home" in toronto after a long flight from my "home" in south africa (where i sat on the same plane as manchester united from jo'burg to london). i decided i needed a holiday from my vacation so my return to minneapolis has been delayed. lots to do in the mean streets of tdot.

but for now i have tonnes of celebrity gossip i need to catch up on. did you know that paris hilton hacked into lindsay lohan's blackberry, that never made the news in south africa.

Award Tour

2006-07-21T19:16:00.000-05:00

like tribe i'm about to begin my award tour. over the next 48 hours i'll have gone from cape town, to johannesburg, to london to toronto to minneapolis (guess which one doesn't belong). so if everything goes according to plan (which i prefer it not too), i should be back on the grind in m-town on monday night.

holla at your boy

I'm Leaving On An Aeroplane And I Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again

2006-07-21T18:51:00.000-05:00

it's a wrap on the 2006 howard law school summer program in south africa and cape town definately let us know it was going to miss us because it rained today like it has no other day since we been here. it's like the world knew we were leaving and it cried for us (i can't remember what the name of the literary device is used to describe that, but i remember learning it when we studied shakespeare, oh well). to say it was a good time would be an understatement, especially for room 302. although at times classes did get in the way of our vacation here, we couldn't even complain about that because it was actually interesting (ie. easy). lots of great memories, lots of great people, and a great setting, i don't think you could ask for anything more. though i do wonder how much fun did everyone who stayed in minneapolis for the summer have, i'm surrrrrre they had an even better time...we could compare pictures, really.

falconier 302 out. sk out.

Heard 'Em Say

2006-07-18T02:34:00.000-05:00

my brother says the best thing about south africa is that the slang never changes. although this mihgt be true, the south african way of words is classical. some examples.

if someone tells a story about their past and refers to "being on holiday", and this "holiday" was fpr a period longer than what you would consider a holiday, say like 5 years, this really means they were in prison.

to give someone a good hiding is to give someone a hellava beating.

my bru - my brother, but used after nearly every sentence in cape town, by a capetonian when talking to another capetonian. for example:
capetonian #1: howzit my bru? did you watch the the france-italy game?
capetonian #2: yah my bru. did you see zidane slanag the owen my bru?
capetonian #1: yas sis my bru, the owen deserved it my bru

vie to the garage is to go to the gas station.

slaang the oak/owen is to knock/beat the guy

yas sis - is like saying oh wow, oh really

do you smaack her? - do you like her

cherry - girl (i remember this one from when i was 8)

quai - cool (i also remember this one from when i was 8)

yoh - wow
lekker - great. everything can be lekker. you have to be here, to realize how many ways it could be used though.

something is hectic - south africans love to say this, but it could be good or bad. for example, that constitutional law exam was hectic (bad), or, did you see the kanye west concert in jo
burg, it was hectic.

This Is How We Do

2006-07-18T02:18:00.000-05:00

true south african stories

a friend of my uncle was looking for a cheap exterminator to kill ants in his house. so after looking for a period of time, he saw a place in the phone book called really cheap exterminators. he called the place up and they said they would send someone the next day. the next day, a guy came with a newspaper and asked where the ants where. he then started swatting all the ants he could he in about an hour. he then wrote up a bill, and charged for the price of the newspaper, and 1 hour of labour, total cost 15 rand (about $2.50 us). only in south africa

i was set to play golf with my uncle in cape town. we arrived at the greens and just before we started, my uncle pulled out the scorecard, and filled out all the holes with scores he "believed" he was going to get (of course he gave himself par or nearly par for every hole). he said it's much easier because then we don't have to waste time counting how many shots we hit, and we can just play. after the game was played, and although he clearly hit nearly double what he wrote on his scorecard, when anyone asked how he played, he showed them the scorecard and acted like he really hit that well. only in south africa.

a friend of mine wanted to make sure i saw the real south africa, since i had been spending so much time at the waterfront in cape town, which is home to many-a-baller. so went to mitchell's plain for a game of soccer, an area that makes compton look like boardwalk. unfortunately i'll have no pictures of this to share, because i was warned before hand that what you take with out, may not be coming back with you, if you know what i mean. still it was such a great game, that i went back the following week, and as indicated by my typing here, i'm still on the move.

holla

Diamonds From South Africa

2006-07-13T16:55:00.000-05:00

chalk it up to being a little delayed as my south african friends like to say, but i just realized i never fully explained what i've been doing in south africa all this time. certainly being south african helps. but what i may have failed to mention, is that this time i'm here as part of the howard law school summer program in south africa. i guess it's similar to what university of minnesota law school set up in china this year, but this program has been running for 10 years, and is total first class all the way.

there are about 60 students from different law schools across the states and about 30 south african law students from the university of western cape law school. as part of the program in cape town (which i say is the finest city in the world and i dont think any of the other students here will disagree), they put us in 5 star apartments in the waterfront marina for the 6 week program. when i'm talking luxuary apartments, i'm talking about million dollar apartments, right on cape town's waterfront, prime location, so we're balling like jay-z right now. we get maid service everyday, fresh towels, dishes washed you name it. i'm fortunate enough that i have two cool room-mates, and we all get along real well, and how could you not being in cape town in these kind of conditions. room 302 is definately in the building. but true to fact, some of the other students have not faired so well in their living conditions (what is it about girls not getting along together). there are some truly outstanding stories in there, but they are of those you have to be there kind of moments. but picture one highlight where there was this one guy, probably one of the coolest most calm seeming person you met, going ballistic on his revren like roommate, ripping off his shirt and screaming "this is africa jack". needless to say, these two do not talk to each other anymore. and then there is this old school cat, let's call him superb, and let's just say he is a habitual line stepper, as charlie murphy would say.

anyways, as part of the program, a bus picks us up from our apartments every morning at 730 to take us to campus. and when i say 730 i mean like 7:29:59 because time waits for no one here. when they say they leave on time, they leave on time, and people get left behind all the time, and we can only afford to miss 2 classes. it's been pretty classical, because some of the other american students thought they could stroll in a few minutes late and that the bus would not leave without them. wrong! on more than one occasion, they've had to run down the street, chasing the bus. classes usually end at 1 if there are no additional tours, or trips to the court or parliament. then some students go for internships at some of the law firms in the city, while others go back to the waterfront and kick it, and i mean kick it.

then as i mentioned some time ago, we are doing a comparitive constitutional law class, taught by one of the supreme court justices, who just happens to be blind and deaf. there is also an international business transaction class, and finanly an international human rights class (which i elected not to take, because of what i call strategic reasons, again something you would understand if you were here). but anyways, classes here have been great, and being here, i realized that there is something clearly missing from our class discussions back at the u. part of it, might have to do with having students from south africa and from several different schools, but it's even more simple than that, and again if you were here, you would know exactly what i'm talking about. but the only thing i will say, is that we are definately missing out.

there have been so many other highlights in there. on july 4th, some of the students organized a huge july 4th celebration, and had a braii (bbq) and invited all the south african students as well, total class. parties have been great. tours have been outstanding. some of the students went shark diving (with real sharks), you better ask about it. i don't know how other summer programs may be, but if you want to really enjoy yourself, and see and do stuff that you have never done before, then i recommend the howard law school summer program. and for me, knowing people here, makes it all that, and a big bag of chips with the dip. mrcanadian holding it down. best time ever. coming back to minneapolis, is going to be like getting dropped from your record label and having to move back to the hood after this.

holla.

Touch The Sky

2006-07-13T16:23:00.000-05:00

mr. college dropout himself kanye west arrived in johannesburg on tuesday, and guess who got to see him live in concert. mr. west puts on a hectic show, and he even brought an orchestra to play the music to all his songs, making it probably the best live show i ever seen. south africa has once again been way too kind to me. if you don't see me back in september, you know where to find me. you can just call me the law school dropout. holla.

Out In The Streets They Call It Murder, Welcome To Jo'Burg

2006-07-13T16:19:00.000-05:00

back in johannesburg. still alive and well...

Can I Kick It??? Yes You Can

2006-06-28T04:04:00.000-05:00

futeball fever is running rampant here in south africa (or soccer for you americans). of course south africans are pumped up about getting the world cup in 2010. but again true to south african nature, most south africans are not exactly how things are going to turn out when the world cup does arrive. crime is obviously a problem here in south africa, and not just petty crime, so that is going to have to be addressed. so as one of the locals here told me, the rest of the world is not going to know what hit them when they get here. he suggest that they put electric fencing to keep the fans in on the grounds, because otherwise south africans will try and steal the grass, the balls, the white lines off the field, and the kits right off the players.

anyways, maybe someone can fill me in on what the world cup coverage is like in the us, but here we get everygame, and two channels dedicated to 24 hour soccer coverage, which i love being that i grew up on soccer thanks to my dad and my brother. but i was shocked to learn that many of my fellow students from america here had never watched a soccer game and some never even knew all the rules. we have been getting together to watch the games featuring most of the african nations and those with the united states, and the interesting thing was that most of the americans were rooting for ghana when they took on the united states. i think that had something about being in africa, and that publically cheering for america against an african team, is probably not a good idea.

but i have to say that the best thing about the coverage here is the commentary, even the americans love it, because the british and african guys that cover the matches are ruthless and tell it like it is. for example, when the united states were headed into the final game against ghana, the main commentator asked the assistant how the americans should prepare for the game. he responded in totally seriousness, that they should prepare by packing their bags, and booking their flights home for the next day, because their world cup is done. priceless.

I'm Shallow, Because I Never Learned To Swim

2006-06-27T03:18:00.000-05:00

it has been over a week since i started working at "the firm" here in capetown as an intern. and i'm not sure how they do it over in the us, with summer interns and associates, but i'm guessing there is some sort of training program. but true to south african nature, my first couple of days were like being thrown in the deep end of a pool when you have never learned to swim (which i never did). my first project went something like this. "what do you know about competition law?" but fortunately these were not shark infested waters, and even though i didn't really know anything specifically about competition law, i kind of worked my way through the south african law system, where as i mentioned before, there is no westlaw or lexis nexis to save the day.

but the first thing i realized, after all the cases we read during the year and all the hypos, nothing prepares you for the first time you are asked to do something. because as i quickly realized, all our cases deal with when they go to court and need to get something ruled on. where here i was basically asked if the contracts were tight or not, according to south african law nonetheless. it turned out all right, plus they got a full stocked bar in the office. the people here are real cool, and includes some real stunners. i can get used to this.

holla.

Destroy and Rebuild

2006-06-27T02:57:00.000-05:00

my brother has this motto, that the reason that he went to school and on to get his cfa was so that he did not have to do any physical work. so whenever my dad used to try and get us to help fix the drive way, or to paint, or some sort of physical activity, my brother would say he went to school so he could pay someone else to do that.

this past weekend here in capetown, my good friend sp signed me up for a habitat for humanity build to help build houses in a south african township. it's true that it was the first time in many years that i have had to get my hands dirty, which some of my fellow builders could tell by what they said were soft, non-calouses hands. but it was a great time, and i met a lot of cool people. there were a group of about 60 irish people that were some of the craziest people i ever met. and they got even crazier when we went out to party that night.

if you have never seen a south african township, i'm sure you'd be shocked by the type of living conditions that millions of south africans live in, i know most of my classmates were shocked when they first saw one. (i'll post some pics when i get back over there). but anyways, the way this program works is very interesting so let me just explain that. the whole group was building six houses in the township for six families. they are chosen from a list, based on certain criteria that they can meet, such as being able to earn a certain amount of money. they must also do a course in home owning, because most of them have never owned a real home, they must learn how to pay for electricity, that they must fix things when broken, etc. as well they are required to help others in the community when other homes are being built. in addition, groups such as ours will only continue to build houses in the community if the community as a whole has a repayment rate of 70%. the way it was explained to me is that the community then learns how to look after and work through their own problems, because if one person decides they do not want to pay, then the whole community will suffer by not getting any more houses built. this fosters a self policing community.

this was most evident by a real south african moment #2.
while on the build, one of the kids was walking through the township, when he was approached by a stranger and mugged. it turns out that the stranger was not from the community, so a group of locals to the township chased him down, and beat his ass. and i mean beat his ass. and after that, they took him to the police station, where i'm sure he got his ass beat again.

welcome to south africa.

What You Know About That

2006-06-23T07:57:00.000-05:00

real south african moment #1

today as we were aboard the bus on the way to campus, as we were stuck in traffic on the streets of capetown, we were all witnesses to a real south african experience. as any vistor to south africa soon finds out, it is not unusual to see people walking and crossing the streets and highways at even the most odd times of the day, but here in the morning, initially it didn't seem any different. as we sat in the bus, two guys were walking through some of the stopped cars, when suddenly they stopped infront of an old toyata tazz (like an one of those old honda civic hatchbacks). before we could even realize what was going on, the one guy distracted the driver on one side by knocking the window, while the guy on the otherside smashed the window, and grabbed the lady's purse, and the two strolled off leisurely into the township to the side. the whole episode took about 20 seconds. and true to the nature of south africa, none of the locals blinked an eye lash, or responded. from what we saw, the lady carried on stuck in traffic, driving to wherever she was trying to go. now my american classmates here have a south african story i'm sure they will not forget.

welcome to south africa.

Damn, Why They Try And Stick Me For My Papers

2006-06-22T02:55:00.000-05:00

a quick update of how the summer abroad program through university of western cape is going

our comparitive constitutional law class is being taught by one of the supreme court justices, so its basically like the equivalent of having cardozo, scalia, or one of those other chaps teaching us south african law. but the real interesting part is that he is blind and hard of hearing. amazing

i thought our exams were hard, but talking to a few of the students here, there exams are on a whole another level. first of all they have negative marking, that means for every wrong thing you say, or wrong answer to a multiple choice you lose a mark (it is possible to get a negative exam). you are also responsible to the remember the facts, holding and dissent of every case you read in class, but also the exact citation. they read about double the amount of cases per week, per class. although they have similiar exam formats and lengths of questions, they have to get everything they want in, in 1 and a half hours. there is no such thing as westlaw or lexisnexis, and certainly no reward points, but they have to do research in the library with actual books.

I Got A Lion In My Pocket...I'm Lying

2006-06-22T02:53:00.000-05:00

some of the reasons why south africans don't particularily like americans

1. they are loud

2. because they come here surprised that there is actual civilization here, and no one looks like the tribe people from national geographic

3. because they talk so much about coming to their motherland, but their mother is not from this land

4. too many of them really think the are lions and elephants running around everywhere

5. they are really loud

6. they are surprised when they see indian and even asian people here

7. south africans are tired of having to explain what a "coloured" is

8. american football

9. south africans are tired of hearing "well in the states we have...(fill in the blank)"

10...this list goes on an on

Half A Mil For Bail Cause I'm South African

2006-06-19T04:08:00.000-05:00

yebo/howzit? (that's two of the many ways that south africans greet each other)

lack of internet access has meant a lack of updates, none actually. my bad. but just a quick update of things because using ol school 1997 like internet is not hype.

flying over here.
i've never had any issues with flying. but after someone recommended that i watch lost (which i did when i should have been petitioning) i could not help but think about what would happen when if the plane i was on happened to get lost somewhere. so i started looking around at who my fellow cast members might be, and what their roles might be. it just so happened that there was a real doctor behind me, so he would obviously be jack. there was a middle-eastern vixen two seats infront of me, so she could play the role of kate. the lady next to me was totally useless, she even tried to steal my pillow from me, so i decided she wouldn't even be worthy of the cast. i couldnt decide what role i may play even though the most likely would have been sayeed since we are both brown, but since i have no expert communication skills or much survival skills that may be tough, and in a lost-like sitution being a lawyer would be even less useful as me being a rapper.

reading non-law books
on another recommendation i also picked up the book the devil wears prada to do some non-law reading on the air plane. and when they said law school changes the way you think, i didnt realize it until i started reading. because from the get go, i had the urge to pull out my highlighter and start highlighting in different colors what i thought were important parts in the book, and even considered writing notes in the margin. but after i got to like the 5th page, and couldn't find any holding and realized i didnt have to read the same paragraph 8 times before i understood it, i came back to normal.

capetown, south africa
being back in capetown has been great. but since i have to get back to class, i'll have to leave that for another time. but i will say one thing. south africans surely do hate americans...good thing i am not american.

Take It Back To Africa

2006-05-30T01:39:00.000-05:00

"When you go to Africa, especially your first time, you have this overwhelming feeling like you're home," "I had a feeling of `man, this feels like home.'
and
"I think I felt that way because there was a McDonald's in the airport." -Dave Chappelle

today i am packing up my dubs and taking off for south africa, but of course it is not my first time being that i am a south african (feel free to say something along the lines, that i didn't know you are south african).

don't forget to holla. check back here once in a while, you might just see some ish.

Guess Who's Bizack

2006-05-30T00:52:00.000-05:00

no i didn't retire this site. but i've been oh so slightly busy with those things called final exams, and oh yeah law journal petitioning, and i did my best to try and convince myself that if i was not writing anything productive then i was not going to be doing it at all (i guess we will see in a few weeks how well that turned out for me).

so i will not say much about my petitioning experience (because those that know me know that i like to focus on being positive), but if you, like me thought that a whole year of legal writing was painful, then i'm sure you can imagine what it feels like doing a whole years worth of legal writing in less than 2 weeks. in other words...not good times at all.

on a positive note, i can officially say that year 1 at university of minnesota law school is finished. and maybe other than these last two weeks, i thoroughly enjoyed the all around good times that law school brings. infact, the only thing i could say if there was anything that i didn't like about law school, it would have to be those backpacks with the wheels that some people choose to pull around that make a constant noise in the hallway. i hate those things, honestly, what is up with that? are people that that lazy that they can't carry a backpack on their back or does it make people feel that they are going on vacation by pulling around some fake ass carry on luggage. so yeah that's it, that's the only thing i didn't like about law school. sure there was a lot of reading, and it's obviously not easy, but what fun would it be, if it was. it's not like i go buy nba live 95 for super nintendo and put it on the rookie level so i can win the nba championship. no i put it on all star where things are a bit more challenging.

and now i'm about ready to kick off the summer. so shout outs to everyone that has made it such an enjoyable year. it's a new day. holla!

Hard Knock Life (Law School Anthem) Verse 1

2006-05-10T00:03:00.000-05:00

Take the baseline out, uh huh
Jigga uh huh uh huh uh huh

It's the Hard Knock Life for us
It's the Hard Knock Life for us
Stead of treatises, we get tricked
Stead of cases, we get kicked
It's the Hard Knock Life

From standin’ on the corner, Boppin’
To writin’ some of the hottest briefs Minnesota has ever seen
To droppin’ some of the hottest analysis law has ever heard
From the coffee shop, to the court that's mock
Fleein’ the Mondale Hall, you know me well
From nightmares of hearing Charles yell, my only hell
But since when ya'll professors know me to fail? F**k Naw
Where all judges with the opinions spilt, bus shots
And if you in T.O.R.T, put on a skit, and what not
I'm from the school of the hard knocks, we must not
Let William Mitchell violate our blocks, and my plot
Let's do the outlines and split it 50-50, uh huh
Let's take practice exam and stay real jiggy, uh huh
Let's make flash cards and get pissy pissy
Flow charts infinitely to help my memory like a little kiddie, baby!
You know its hell but I come through
The life and times of law student Volume 2
Ya'll 1L's get ready

(chorus)

Leaders Of The New School

2006-05-09T21:17:00.000-05:00

it is exciting to be a 1L here at the university of minnesota this week because come this friday we'll have wrapped up our final exam, the ever exciting civ to the pr-izo. but in some ways it is sad, because then after that, we won't be able to call ourselves 1L's anymore, and basically our status becomes regulated to the equivalent of saved by the bell: the new class. all that attention that we know and love will be gone. so where we basically thought we owned the school this year, next year we'll be the ones complaining as we try and get out of the classroom but are rand sacked by over eager rookies trying to get to their seat. even better, during those first few weeks when the rooks ask us for guidance, we'll be the ones responding, "oh it's not so bad, hang in there", and "getting called on doesn't mean anything", and "yeah i know he assigns way too much con law reading, don't worry no one does it", and "she kind of is crazy, but just tell her what movies you saw on the weekend" and my personal favorite "don't worry most 1L's didn't have a firm job their first summer"

and surely during the year, we'll be the ones that 1L's point too after about 2 months and say "does that guy even go here, i never saw him the whole year" and come exam time, they'll realize that they'll be a whole another group of faces that they'll have never seen, but that will now be us. but i guess there is one distinguishing factor, we're this year we could tell the 2L's from the 3L's because the 3L's were the ones carrying around the non ibm laptops, you know the ones that looked more like desktop computers because they were usually so much bigger.

but i'm sure they are things to look forward other than getting super wasted this friday. but for now...

jam done bredren

Memory Lane

2006-04-25T22:55:00.000-05:00

tomorrow is officially the last day of school for all first year law students at the university of minnesota (i'm pretty sure it's also the last day for second and third also, but it's not like they come to school anymore, so i'm not sure it counts). of course, there are stil finall exams left, but i feel like this year has gone by real fast. from the very first day that we entered mondale high for orientation where every seat was filled to our very last day of class tomorrow which i'm guessing is going to have about a 60% turnout rate, to everything in between.

some highlights

i. orientation, where all we really cared about was getting our laptops. those 3 days proved to be a test of how long we could pay attention without having access to wireless internet. and i still can't believe they had they brought in the reps from lexisnexis and westlaw like anyone really knew what they were talking about or even cared, but i did learn i can get 25 points for answering some trivia questions.

ii. my very first 'brief' was actually longer in page length than the case in the book. i basically highlighted every line in the case except the date, then copied the text straight into my document, and appropriately named it brief. in retrospect, that really wasn't a brief. and i'm still confused how we could write a 15 page paper for legal writing and call it a brief. 15 pages? that's a "long". i wouldn't write a 500 page novel then call it a short story. it just doesn't add up.

iii. the first day of con law with professor charles. no introduction, no let's use this class to discuss what we will cover during the year. it was more like...chucky opening the casebook, "okay...mr so and so...what was the holding of marbury vs. madison???" (me thinking to myself, wtf is a holding?? marbury who? stephen marbury?? please don't call on me, oh man i'm going to fail this class). then when someone could not answer his question, having the class wait 5 minutes so someone could read the case. welcome to law school ladies and gentlemen.

iv. but things weren't so bad, the first time i found out they give you free lunch to going to lunch meetings, good times. i don't even have to care about what they talk about or if i really support the organization (not that i don't). if you're really smooth you don't even have to go to the meetings, you just kind of walk in take a few slices or pizza, and kind of walk out the door. on the other hand, i never thought i would ever get sick of quizno's or pizza. i now hate both.

v. the first time being called on. after the fourth question (none of which answers came from the reading), my only thought was..."why you stressing me? you ain't my mom" . next

vi. the first of many section b parties. by far the best section. good times.

vii. legal writing at 8 am in the morning. so you're telling me it's pass/fail and no one fails? awesome, it can't be that bad...no it is that bad. oh wait, then they hit you with the bluebooking. which goes something like this "my comma was italicized?" how could you even tell (and why does it matter?)...oh it matters.

viii. outlining. it goes something like this.
me: so what you're telling me, is that i have to take all my notes, and then make notes of them?
2L: well only the important stuff.
me: you mean that everything that i took notes on is not important
2L: haha, you have so much to learn

ix. study guides. wtf? they go something like this.
me: so you mean we have to pay for books, we pay for tuition and then we have to buy supplements to help us learn the material?
2L: well the study guides will help you learn the law
me: the law? isn't that what i'm here to learn in the first place
2L: haha, you have so much to learn

x. all the other great/painful experiences such as the malpractice ball (aka law school prom), T.O.R.T musical, bar review, the 24 hour library, 100% finals, minnesota winter...i'm sure i'm missing some things. i know i am, but i have to get back to outlining my outline.

law school is alright, it's too bad class gets in the way.

Grand Opening, Grand Closing

2006-04-20T22:50:00.000-05:00

year 2... it's a new day.

this is dedicated to all the hardworking individuals whether it be in law school or in the office grinding away while the sun shines brightly outside.