Old blogs never die, they just fade away.
Earlier this year, somebody started writing about the life of a patent examiner. I thought the blog was well written and chock full of interesting information, and that it shed some light on a process - patent examining and the inner workings of the PTO - that could use some illumination. The whole point of granting patents is to make information publicly available, and so it would seem to make sense to have the process of obtaining a patent more transparent and open than it currently is. Alas, Mr. Just A Patent Examiner ceased blogging about a month ago.
JAPE decided to end his blog and delete all the entries. That makes me sad. It doesn’t look like the wayback machine keeps track of live journal or blogger pages, so once somebody deletes their blog, it appears to be gone, only to live on in the hearts and memories and internet explorer caches of its loyal readers.
The patent examiner blog got me thinking about other professions that are underrepresented in the blogsphere. Here are some other jobs that I’d like to see blogged: customs agent suitcase inspector, airplane lavatory emptier, junior assistant boil lancer, animal husbandrist, toll booth operator, department store mannequin dresser, highway line painter and pickle slicer.
Now for the some beginning-of-the-year-advice for 1Ls from a 2L post.
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
That’s pretty much all the advice you need.
Seriously. I’m not simply saying that to be glib.
The above advice applies to all, unless you’re one of those annoying “smart” kids. In which case, you wouldn’t be reading this blog for advice on how to do well in law school, because 1) smart kids don’t need advice on how to do well, and 2) smart kids don’t waste their time reading stupid blogs. Instead, they study so that they can get good grades.
Keep in mind that the whole point of law school is to get a job. A job as a lawyer. Because lawyer jobs pay well. Really well. Really, really well. And lucky for us they do pay so well. With tuition so outrageously high, you’re pretty much required to have a job when you graduate, and that job must be as a lawyer in a soulless Biglaw firm. Otherwise, you’ll be paying off your student loan debt until you die. Not that law school will guarantee you a long life, I’m just saying…
So if you don’t want a job, and especially if you don’t want a job as a lawyer that pays really, really well, quit law school now, and quit reading this post. Use the time and money you would have spent on law school to travel the world, buy lots of beer, learn yoga, or live in a commune that weaves peace blankets.
I guess if you’re still reading, that means that you want a job as a lawyer. If you have that desire, and you were accepted to law school, then you don’t need any advice from me on how to succeed. You’re already successful, and you’ve already done all the heavy lifting you need to do until you start that first job. Sure, 1L year will seem like a lot of work, and there will be some stress about grades and finding jobs, but I’m sure that after a few years of 70+ hour work weeks, we’ll all look back on it fondly and chuckle at what foolish young whippersnappers we were to think that nothing could be harder and more stressful than law school.
I have a confession. I lied a little bit when I said the abandon hope thing wasn't meant to be glib. It totally was. I apologize for trying to mislead you. Law school is all about hope. Without it, you'll never get through. Hope that you won't get called on in class on the one day you didn't prepare, hope that you get that half-grade bump for class participation, hope that you pass the bar on the first try, hope that you get that sweet job you want when you graduate. In other words, please ignore the previous advice about abandoning hope.
I’ve know for a while that, as fellow blogger J.A.P.E. discovered, blogging takes a lot of time and energy, especially if you want to do it right. Even making a half-assed effort like mine is a lot of work. For example, this post took me most of the day to write, and look how it turned out. You may have noticed from the infrequency of posting over the summer that I was finding blogging too onerous. And we all know how much I hate to work. Fall semester is going to kick my ass. I worry that I’ve bitten off more than I can chew this semester, with my job, the drinking, the internship that requires work beyond my required forty hours, a research paper for the co-req, regular classes, more drinking, a real moot court competition, UT football, and the fall fashion season. My spiritual counselor advised me to cull the herd, and while blogging pays better than my internship and the drinking, and while I’ll miss the adulation of my legion of loyal readers, from the above list, blogging lost two-out-of-three in rock-paper-scissors to UT football, and has been unceremoniously kicked to the curb. I think the status will officially be near-permanent hiatus, because one never wants to rule out the possibility of new Hasselhoffian recursions that beg to be shared. I might keep a few of the good posts up, if I can remember which ones were good.
Peace out.
p.s. Thanks for reading. I do (did) appreciate it.
JAPE decided to end his blog and delete all the entries. That makes me sad. It doesn’t look like the wayback machine keeps track of live journal or blogger pages, so once somebody deletes their blog, it appears to be gone, only to live on in the hearts and memories and internet explorer caches of its loyal readers.
The patent examiner blog got me thinking about other professions that are underrepresented in the blogsphere. Here are some other jobs that I’d like to see blogged: customs agent suitcase inspector, airplane lavatory emptier, junior assistant boil lancer, animal husbandrist, toll booth operator, department store mannequin dresser, highway line painter and pickle slicer.
Now for the some beginning-of-the-year-advice for 1Ls from a 2L post.
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
That’s pretty much all the advice you need.
Seriously. I’m not simply saying that to be glib.
The above advice applies to all, unless you’re one of those annoying “smart” kids. In which case, you wouldn’t be reading this blog for advice on how to do well in law school, because 1) smart kids don’t need advice on how to do well, and 2) smart kids don’t waste their time reading stupid blogs. Instead, they study so that they can get good grades.
Keep in mind that the whole point of law school is to get a job. A job as a lawyer. Because lawyer jobs pay well. Really well. Really, really well. And lucky for us they do pay so well. With tuition so outrageously high, you’re pretty much required to have a job when you graduate, and that job must be as a lawyer in a soulless Biglaw firm. Otherwise, you’ll be paying off your student loan debt until you die. Not that law school will guarantee you a long life, I’m just saying…
So if you don’t want a job, and especially if you don’t want a job as a lawyer that pays really, really well, quit law school now, and quit reading this post. Use the time and money you would have spent on law school to travel the world, buy lots of beer, learn yoga, or live in a commune that weaves peace blankets.
I guess if you’re still reading, that means that you want a job as a lawyer. If you have that desire, and you were accepted to law school, then you don’t need any advice from me on how to succeed. You’re already successful, and you’ve already done all the heavy lifting you need to do until you start that first job. Sure, 1L year will seem like a lot of work, and there will be some stress about grades and finding jobs, but I’m sure that after a few years of 70+ hour work weeks, we’ll all look back on it fondly and chuckle at what foolish young whippersnappers we were to think that nothing could be harder and more stressful than law school.
I have a confession. I lied a little bit when I said the abandon hope thing wasn't meant to be glib. It totally was. I apologize for trying to mislead you. Law school is all about hope. Without it, you'll never get through. Hope that you won't get called on in class on the one day you didn't prepare, hope that you get that half-grade bump for class participation, hope that you pass the bar on the first try, hope that you get that sweet job you want when you graduate. In other words, please ignore the previous advice about abandoning hope.
I’ve know for a while that, as fellow blogger J.A.P.E. discovered, blogging takes a lot of time and energy, especially if you want to do it right. Even making a half-assed effort like mine is a lot of work. For example, this post took me most of the day to write, and look how it turned out. You may have noticed from the infrequency of posting over the summer that I was finding blogging too onerous. And we all know how much I hate to work. Fall semester is going to kick my ass. I worry that I’ve bitten off more than I can chew this semester, with my job, the drinking, the internship that requires work beyond my required forty hours, a research paper for the co-req, regular classes, more drinking, a real moot court competition, UT football, and the fall fashion season. My spiritual counselor advised me to cull the herd, and while blogging pays better than my internship and the drinking, and while I’ll miss the adulation of my legion of loyal readers, from the above list, blogging lost two-out-of-three in rock-paper-scissors to UT football, and has been unceremoniously kicked to the curb. I think the status will officially be near-permanent hiatus, because one never wants to rule out the possibility of new Hasselhoffian recursions that beg to be shared. I might keep a few of the good posts up, if I can remember which ones were good.
Peace out.
p.s. Thanks for reading. I do (did) appreciate it.
posted by idlegrasshopper at 12:04 AM
