Today was a long afternoon of playing spider solitaire preparing my Crim Law notes at Starbucks. I feel like I'm pretty well prepared for my first two finals (Crim and Property) and not at all for my last one (Contracts). The problem: they are 3 curved exams, and 95 people feel pretty good about Crim and Property and not so much about Contracts.

Before I came here and then especially during orientation, people kept saying that living in a law dorm would be nice until finals approached, and then stress would cascade and everyone would be crazy. There's something to that, though I think doing most of my studying in coffee shops rather than the library helps. Mostly, social time has just dropped off the radar screen; all semester doors were open, people would hang out, work would be dropped to go get a beer or 17. Now it's a quick lunch or dinner and then back to the library. I think this is one place where grad school has helped me from a mental preparedness standpoint--a four-hour essay exam is less scary when you've been through Ph.D. exams, and I'm also conscious of my own limitations when it comes to diminishing returns and studying. Of course, the other possibility is I'm delusional and setting myself up for a big fall by not working 18 hours a day; I guess we'll find out when grades come out in February.

Oh, the other news is that I got my first ding letter today; one down, hopefully fewer than 36 to go.