Inspiration

Alright, alright, I'll accept your flattery, Bjorn and Diana, and keep posting. Honestly though, thank you for the kind encouragement.

I'm making some big life-changes while I figure out a way to do something that I actually enjoy in life, and I've had some good sources to help me figure that out, no matter how cheesy it may seem.

First, I've watched this commencement speech by Steve Jobs many times over the last month.



It is highly inspiring, and Jobs, as a very successful and admirable man, is worth listening to (plus, I'm a Machead, so what Jobs says, goes).

Here are my favorite quotes from the speech:

Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later. Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in the future. You have to trust in something: your gut, Destiny, Karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect somewhere down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.

I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is gonna fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking, don't settle.

"Stay hungry, stay foolish."

Another site that's helped me a lot is one that I linked to a whileback, Barely Legal: The Blog. They've been recently running a hilarious/serious series called "Bad Reasons for Attending Law School", and sadly, I qualify for almost all of them. To all you who are thinking of law school, read these links, and please take them to heart.

Bad Reason for Attending Law School #1: “I don’t plan on ever practicing law, but having a JD looks good, right?”

Bad Reason for Attending Law School #2: “I have a worthless undergraduate degree”

Bad Reason for Attending Law School #3: "I want to work in a genteel profession"

Bad Reason for Attending Law School #4: "Law School is Prestigious"

Bad Reason for Attending Law School #5: "I got a good score on the LSAT"

Bad Reason for Attending Law School #6: “My parents pressured me into it”

Bad Reason For Attending Law School #7: “I want to make a difference in this world”

Numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 (especially 6), and 7 were all essentially the reasons I went to law school. You may as well put those together and you'd have my personal statement for going to law school. Now I think it's time to make my own way, and take some roads a little less travelled.

Also, apparently I've had Mono for the latter half of this semester, which explains my recent total lack of energy or motivation. I assumed I was just depressed. At least it's good to know that I wasn't just being a slacker (although that's what I am right now while writing this entry).

Update

Flickr Update: The BBQ/Chris's Birthday Party

Final

I'm coming to the general conclusion that my blog is pretty boring, and honestly kinda pointless anymore. I don't really have much interesting to post about anymore, and honestly, blogging in general is becoming a bit old. Reading friends' blogs and knowing what's going on in their lives is nice and all, yet in some ways it seems so impersonal. What happened to phone calls and personal e-mails? Not only that, but the only blogs that I really read are funny blogs. And this blog just isn't funny. I can tell the occassional one-liner or whatever, but I wasn't granted the ability to tell a really funny story. Lately this blog has only really been a forum for complaining about my life, and in fact, it began that way about a year ago, while I tried to recover from all the difficult things happening in my life at the time. It's not really fun to post anymore, so after this post, I think that will be it for me for quite a while, and I may even soon kill the blog entirely if I so decide.

However, here are a few of the things I've learned in the last year:

- Being single can be very, very good for you.
- Being in a healthy relationship can be very good for you, and help you through some incredibly difficult times.
- Don't ever, ever choose a career (or for that matter, what type of graduate school to go to) because your parents recommend it, and your dad did it, and you don't know what else to do with your life. Be very sure of what you're doing before you do it. Be sure it will be a good investment of your time and possibly money, and if possible, find something that you will love doing, or at least find interesting.
- I am not my father, nor will I ever be.
- Be careful with your heart, and don't let others use it, yet love completely when you choose to.
- Ironically, non-Christians can often behave more Christian that Christians.
- No matter what the vaunted career services department at Hillsdale College may claim, a Hillsdale degree isn't the "preparation for all that you may choose to pursue" that it claims to be. Granted, I received a wonderful education, I'll admit that. Yet, in some ways a Hillsdale degree leaves one unprepared in many ways for dealing with the stresses and work-demands of the real world (or at least, law school), while also making it difficult to enter other possible career alternatives. Hillsdale College, compared to law school, seems now like a nice, pleasant, enjoyable stroll through the woods coupled with intellectual, high-brow conversation with friends. It is very much a place unto its own, yet in some ways its very limiting.
- Don't go to law school.

Update

I realize I haven't posted in a while...I suppose I don't have much to talk about. I could do the normal old complaining about school, but that doesn't really accomplish much (nor is it very interestting). I have come to a conclusion though - I now know that I will most likely not be an attorney. Perhaps I'll still finish my JD, although lately I've been considering cutting my losses and doing something else. Of course, perhaps if I can find some summer legal work I'll get a chance to change my mind. I know that I would love being a professor of a subject that I enjoy, yet I also know that having a JD would probably help me in getting into a decent doctoral program somewhere, and would be a good thing to fall back on if I ever needed it. Decisions, decisions. Now though, I just need to focus on finishing up the semester.

Ha, I see that Mark has linked to my blog on his website. He's right, this blog isn't very exciting, is it? Yea, must be because I'm in law school...I swear though, I used to be an interesting person! I must thank Mark though, for making some hella good turkey burgers on Saturday night. Anni and I attended a dinner party at Simone's apartment with all our Germans/French buddies who live here in Owen. It was the first time I'd been out in a long, long time, and I really needed it. It was a good evening...lots of food, and I brought lots of beer. I was also excited because, in going to buy beer at Goodrich (the first time I'd been there), I was ecstatic to see that they had Frankenwein (Wine from the Franken region of Bavaria, where I spent a month of German summer school). I happily bought a bottle of Silvaner, which I hope to enjoy at some point soon. I sincerely miss German wine, and always buy some if I see a decent dry variety.

Otherwise, I'm just trying to survive, and trying to remain human, as opposed to the best efforts that school may throw my way.