I have two exams this coming Wednesday and another next Tuesday. I'm trying to navigate between two instincts--the instinct of slack and denial vs. the law student instinct to study a subject to death. I've been putting in several hours a day of solid work, and I'm not going crazy with stress, worrying if I have every little duck in a row; I think I'm onto something.

The last two nights I've been to two movies as part of the program of relaxation. I'd recommend either one--two of the best films I've seen in a long time. Word of warning: I haven't seen very many movies in a long time. Neither one is exactly the feel-good movie of the year, and I knew I wasn't exactly with my normal crowd last night when I made the "it was really sad when A-Rod died" joke, and no one got it. I'd write something long about Syriana if it weren't finals week--suffice it to say that I thought it was a lot like Traffic, in that widely dispersed characters were treated fairly and with respect, while the movie maintained a tone, a voice, and a point. Great stuff.