Sorry for the lack of updates as of late. I honestly don't have a lot to report on these days since my biggest challenge (the LSAT) is done with and I'm just waiting on my score to be reported so that my application package can be transmitted to the law school. LSAC will e-mail me my score on March 2nd and will hopefully get the rest of my application to UMKc the same day. Here's hoping...
Everything else outside of my law school application process adventure is going pretty all right. There are only two games left in the current inline hockey season which, honestly, is a good thing since my team is having some serious issues in the "Winning Games" department. My dream of having a 15 goal season will not be realized this time around seeing as that I have less than 6 goals with two weeks left and I have been mostly relegated to playing defense since no one else on the team seems to grasp the concept of trying to stop the other team from scoring goals. We are, without a doubt, the weakest team in the league right now, coming in at last place with a 2-6 record. The "draft" this season wasn't the best since we're going to have a team go undefeated, everyone else in the middle, and then my team bringing up the rear without even a chance at having a .500 season. Hopefully the league will split up some of the better guys and add some parity to the game.
Kickball is going to start in a little over a month but I'm having a hard time getting excited about it after being thrown under the bus by the division president at the end of last season. I'll probably sign up anyway since Megan really wants me to play because it's the one "athletic/sporting" thing we do as a couple. I know for certain that I am retiring the newsletter and stepping down as the rules chair for the division. I would estimate that less than 5% of registered players actually read the newsletter and less than 2% actually cared enough to read the rules. It's not worth my time or energy to put together a weekly publication that no one gives a crap about. It's especially not worth my time to try and teach everyone the rules when everyone is okay with doing everything incorrectly. This year is absolutely going to be a "hands off" year for me; I have no plans to do anything outside of "showing up on Thursday for games."
Seriously, eff this noise.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sunday, February 08, 2009
NO MORE LSAT!
The "big day" has come and gone; LSAT day was yesterday. I have been preparing for the test for the last three months: practice tests, two prep books, working problem after problem after problem. I feel like all of my preparation was worth it since nothing took me by surprise on test day. I wish I had practiced taking multiple sections in a row during my practice exams; we literally had about 20 seconds between each section during the real thing. Other than that, though, everything went pretty much the way I thought it would.
I turned in really early on Friday to get a full night's sleep and got up at 6:30 on Saturday morning. My alarm didn't go off but fortunately I've trained myself to get up around that time anyway so I didn't over sleep (Boy, that would have sucked!). I rolled out before 8:00 and got to UMKC about 30 minutes before the final check-in time. The rest of the story is pretty standard: I stood around for 15 minutes waiting for check-in to start, then they checked us in, then I sat in the room for another 20 minutes waiting for everyone else to get checked in, then they read us the instructions for the exam. Something of particular note were all of the hoops that LSAC makes you jump through while taking the LSAT. It's not as simple as filling in your name on the answer sheet. Oh no, you have to sign EVERYTHING, date everything, give a blood sample, finger prints, the whole nine yards. They even make you copy a "certification statement" in cursive, a form of writing I haven't used since elementary school.
After we were finally allowed to start the exam, things went pretty much according to plan. 3 sections, 10 minute break, 2 more sections, then the writing sample. The LSAT's standard format is 2 reasoning sections, 1 reading comprehension section, and 1 games section. All 4 of those sections are scored. Then there's the 5th section which they call "experimental." You're not supposed to know which section is the experimental section, but you know which one it is... you know because IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND THE CORRECT ANSWER ON ANY QUESTION. My experimental section was another reading comprehension section. I did the best on the reading sections all through my preparation but this experimental section really worked me over. I didn't finish and wound up having to fill in B on the last 8 questions. That one hiccup threw me off a little since it was the second section of my test, but I think I recovered and pulled it out.
Normally I get really stressed after an exam, probably even more than i was before, because I worry about how I did on the exam. This time around, not so much. I'm pretty relaxed about how I did, mostly because I don't know how I did. I think I got a lot of questions right but I also know I got some wrong. I can't do anything about it now, so I'm just can't be bothered to worry about it.
Of course, I have nothing to do now that the test is over. I guess I'll start on my next IT certification, although I think I'm going to take a few weeks off of studying so my brain can have a rest.
Megan and I went up to the northland after the test to help Kerry celebrate his 34th birthday. He likes to have Rock Band parties every month or so and it just so happened that his birthday was this month. We hung out for the rest of the day playing Rock Band, meeting new people, grilling out on the deck, and just having a good time.
Highlight: Seeing a girl (Her being a girl isn't the point, I just don't know her name) play expert drums and get a 1000 note streak on pretty much every song. I don't know if she has drum experience in real life but she was tearing it up in Rock Band.
Here are some pics courtesy of Kerry:
The super awesome drummer who is also a girl is in this shot. Also, me rocking on bass.
Proof that Megan will play vidjya games.
Proof that I am infact, married.
Proof that I infact, rock harder than everyone.
I turned in really early on Friday to get a full night's sleep and got up at 6:30 on Saturday morning. My alarm didn't go off but fortunately I've trained myself to get up around that time anyway so I didn't over sleep (Boy, that would have sucked!). I rolled out before 8:00 and got to UMKC about 30 minutes before the final check-in time. The rest of the story is pretty standard: I stood around for 15 minutes waiting for check-in to start, then they checked us in, then I sat in the room for another 20 minutes waiting for everyone else to get checked in, then they read us the instructions for the exam. Something of particular note were all of the hoops that LSAC makes you jump through while taking the LSAT. It's not as simple as filling in your name on the answer sheet. Oh no, you have to sign EVERYTHING, date everything, give a blood sample, finger prints, the whole nine yards. They even make you copy a "certification statement" in cursive, a form of writing I haven't used since elementary school.
After we were finally allowed to start the exam, things went pretty much according to plan. 3 sections, 10 minute break, 2 more sections, then the writing sample. The LSAT's standard format is 2 reasoning sections, 1 reading comprehension section, and 1 games section. All 4 of those sections are scored. Then there's the 5th section which they call "experimental." You're not supposed to know which section is the experimental section, but you know which one it is... you know because IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND THE CORRECT ANSWER ON ANY QUESTION. My experimental section was another reading comprehension section. I did the best on the reading sections all through my preparation but this experimental section really worked me over. I didn't finish and wound up having to fill in B on the last 8 questions. That one hiccup threw me off a little since it was the second section of my test, but I think I recovered and pulled it out.
Normally I get really stressed after an exam, probably even more than i was before, because I worry about how I did on the exam. This time around, not so much. I'm pretty relaxed about how I did, mostly because I don't know how I did. I think I got a lot of questions right but I also know I got some wrong. I can't do anything about it now, so I'm just can't be bothered to worry about it.
Of course, I have nothing to do now that the test is over. I guess I'll start on my next IT certification, although I think I'm going to take a few weeks off of studying so my brain can have a rest.
Megan and I went up to the northland after the test to help Kerry celebrate his 34th birthday. He likes to have Rock Band parties every month or so and it just so happened that his birthday was this month. We hung out for the rest of the day playing Rock Band, meeting new people, grilling out on the deck, and just having a good time.
Highlight: Seeing a girl (Her being a girl isn't the point, I just don't know her name) play expert drums and get a 1000 note streak on pretty much every song. I don't know if she has drum experience in real life but she was tearing it up in Rock Band.
Here are some pics courtesy of Kerry:
The super awesome drummer who is also a girl is in this shot. Also, me rocking on bass.
Proof that Megan will play vidjya games.
Proof that I am infact, married.
Proof that I infact, rock harder than everyone.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Yes, I Finally Updated
Christ, we're only 4 weeks in to 2009 and I'm already slacking off on my resolutions for the year. I hate writing "here's what happened since the last time I wrote" updates when it's been 2 weeks since my last update, but sometimes that's the only way you can roll.
Law School
I have been going down this path since last November. Half of the process to getting in to law school is jumping through all of the hoops that LSAC requires to even transmit your application to the schools. The only real trouble I had with LSAC was getting my last letter of recommendation to register. I had initially set it up as a "general" letter that could be sent to any school, however, my recommender didn't know that (because I didn't mention it) so the name of the law school wound up in the letter.
I didn't think anything of it because I'm only applying to one school. LSAC didn't see it that way and instead of e-mailing me to tell me that I needed to change the letter type to targeted, they sent a letter via post that I didn't get for a week. Having to change the letter type wasn't hard; it literally took 10 minutes to change the form, print it out, and then fax it back to them. No, what annoyed me is that they have the capability to e-mail applicants but only choose to do so when it's convenient for them, like after you give them money for something.
After getting that straightened out last week, I submitted my application package to the law school on Saturday. I don't know how it works after that since I haven't taken the LSAT yet, which leads us to...
LSAT
I'm taking the LSAT on Saturday. I'm incredibly nervous. I'll be honest and say that I don't think I'm going to hit my target 158 and that I think I should really shoot for a 154/155. Of course I'm going to do my best but I've never really been a standardized test kind of guy, which is unfortunate because I always do really well in school despite my inability to take standardized tests. The highest score I got on the ACT was a 27 and that was after 3 tries, but I went on to graduate from OU with a 3.6 GPA. My weakest area is clearly the logic games. I'm struggling to get through 2 games in 35 minutes and I really need to consistently finish 3 in the same amount of time. My best section has consistently been reading comprehension. I get more questions correct on every practice test; on my last practice test I scored an 81% (22/27) in reading comprehension. I'm pulling around 52-55% in reasoning, which is pretty average.
Inline Hockey
Hockey started two weeks ago. My team from last season tried to stay together but we were split up during the "draft." I'm on the orange team this season. We don't have a ringer or anyone who can carry a team, which is annoying because every other team in the league has such a person. I have only scored 1 goal so far and it doesn't even really count because I was screening the goalie and my point guy shot the puck at me, hit me, and the puck deflected off of my arm in to the net. I have a feeling that this season is going to be a lot like my first season on the blue team...
Running/Gym
Haven't done one twenty mile week yet. I didn't even go to the gym once last week. I've been so caught up in studying that I don't have any motivation to go to the gym. I'm hoping to turn this all around next week.
Writing
Yeah... clearly I haven't been keeping up with this either.
Everything else is going okay, though. We started playing trivia on Wednesday nights with one of my buddies from hockey, so hopefully that will turn in to something regular.
Law School
I have been going down this path since last November. Half of the process to getting in to law school is jumping through all of the hoops that LSAC requires to even transmit your application to the schools. The only real trouble I had with LSAC was getting my last letter of recommendation to register. I had initially set it up as a "general" letter that could be sent to any school, however, my recommender didn't know that (because I didn't mention it) so the name of the law school wound up in the letter.
I didn't think anything of it because I'm only applying to one school. LSAC didn't see it that way and instead of e-mailing me to tell me that I needed to change the letter type to targeted, they sent a letter via post that I didn't get for a week. Having to change the letter type wasn't hard; it literally took 10 minutes to change the form, print it out, and then fax it back to them. No, what annoyed me is that they have the capability to e-mail applicants but only choose to do so when it's convenient for them, like after you give them money for something.
After getting that straightened out last week, I submitted my application package to the law school on Saturday. I don't know how it works after that since I haven't taken the LSAT yet, which leads us to...
LSAT
I'm taking the LSAT on Saturday. I'm incredibly nervous. I'll be honest and say that I don't think I'm going to hit my target 158 and that I think I should really shoot for a 154/155. Of course I'm going to do my best but I've never really been a standardized test kind of guy, which is unfortunate because I always do really well in school despite my inability to take standardized tests. The highest score I got on the ACT was a 27 and that was after 3 tries, but I went on to graduate from OU with a 3.6 GPA. My weakest area is clearly the logic games. I'm struggling to get through 2 games in 35 minutes and I really need to consistently finish 3 in the same amount of time. My best section has consistently been reading comprehension. I get more questions correct on every practice test; on my last practice test I scored an 81% (22/27) in reading comprehension. I'm pulling around 52-55% in reasoning, which is pretty average.
Inline Hockey
Hockey started two weeks ago. My team from last season tried to stay together but we were split up during the "draft." I'm on the orange team this season. We don't have a ringer or anyone who can carry a team, which is annoying because every other team in the league has such a person. I have only scored 1 goal so far and it doesn't even really count because I was screening the goalie and my point guy shot the puck at me, hit me, and the puck deflected off of my arm in to the net. I have a feeling that this season is going to be a lot like my first season on the blue team...
Running/Gym
Haven't done one twenty mile week yet. I didn't even go to the gym once last week. I've been so caught up in studying that I don't have any motivation to go to the gym. I'm hoping to turn this all around next week.
Writing
Yeah... clearly I haven't been keeping up with this either.
Everything else is going okay, though. We started playing trivia on Wednesday nights with one of my buddies from hockey, so hopefully that will turn in to something regular.
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