Hoist by my own petard!

I’d like to admit that I was calm and collected enough to catch it the first time he said it, but, to be honest, even though I knew deep down that it was inevitable, when he called my name, I was slightly unnerved, and I wasn’t paying enough attention to what came immediately after to remember the exact wording. I was, however, able to reconstruct the intro from the remembrances of my classmates, some who had hazy memories, but others who may have transcribed word-for-word what was said. Apparently, it went something like this:

“So, Mr. X.”

“Yes sir.”

“I know you’ve been sitting up there idle in the grass the whole semester, and you may have thought that I tossed the seating chart into the hopper, but I haven’t forgotten about you.”

If you haven’t yet figured out what I’m talking about, let me be clearer. It happened today. Still not clear enough? Okay. PCP called on me today. Yep, I got cold called in CivPro. On the last day. The very last person to be called. But I wasn’t just called. Oh no. As you can see from above, PCP called on me in a way that let me (and a few select others that know my semi-secret identity and who were paying attention) know that he knows. About the blog. And about my identity. So I guess that makes this post an “I know that you know” post. Hmm. Maybe, if I’m lucky, the A on my final will show that “I know that you know that I know.” Or maybe that is what the C was for last semester. I think I may be getting off track...

I’m not sure how I feel, knowing as I do now, that PCP has been reading my blog. Part of me is…. intimidated? I mean, a practically tenured GW law professor, who worked at DOJ, who clerked for a Court of Appeals judge, who graduated from Harvard, and (according to our best estimates) who is not much older than me – those are some pretty impressive credentials that demonstrate how far qualities like knowledge, determination and hard work will get you. Qualities that I happen to have been seriously lacking lately. And by lately, I mean since birth.

On the other hand, how cool is it that one of the best profs I’ll have in law school (if not the best, but I’ve only had three so far, so the sample size is still too small) takes the time to not only read what I write, but also took the time to call on me in a way that took a tiny bit of effort to craft, while knowing that few, if any, of the class would find it humorous? Pretty freakin’ cool.

I’m sure by now you’re wondering about my in-class performance? Average, at best. Many in the class (at least my LRW and study groups who knew that I had yet to be called on) found it amusing that I was finally called on. Luckily, I remembered to listen to what was being asked of me, instead of thinking “Wow, I got called on!” I got the Anticipatorily Encouraging Head Nod once, but mostly what I remember was my inner Homer saying “Don’t say anything too stupid!” The saving grace was that I wasn’t asked specific questions about the cases from the reading, but instead about an in-class hypo. It’s always easier to sound intelligent when talking about an in-class hypo than when answering questions about a case, IMO.

So, all in all, while being called on last meant that I had to be prepared for class every day, the amusing manner in which I was called almost made up for having to read and ostensibly understand the cases each week. Almost.