Whispers and Whimsy

The weather this week was so refreshing. One or more cold fronts rolled through town with some storms in tow, knocking the temperatures well below the 35-60⁰ days we’ve had during the last few months. With apologies to all the southerners and coastal-ites, a 5⁰ night followed by a 14⁰ day felt wonderful. I’m like those seeds that don’t start opening in spring until they’ve been good and frozen. Now when spring comes around, I’ll feel like we’ve actually had some winter first.

Plus, it snowed. [Sigh of contentment.]

That meant (this being Virginia and not Utah) classes were canceled. The storms managed to coincide almost exactly with my class schedule. Monday night: cancelled. All of Tuesday: canceled. Thursday morning before 10:00: canceled. I spent Tuesday morning shoveling the driveway.

Also, my Wednesday night class was replaced with a 20-minute Operating Agreement conference with my professor. So except for one make-up class that took place Friday morning, the week was like an extra winter break.

For me, it was also about as productive as winter break. I simply did not want to tackle the homework, reading, and research in my “to do” pile, so I didn’t get much done.

In a way I was feeling like the weather: cold, white, and closed in. By Saturday night, I was wrapped up in an icy layer of stress-and-care-avoidance (with a touch of stir-crazy) and in need of some melting.

Almost by instinct, I turned on a talk from General Conference and pulled out a book of artwork by James C. Christensen.

The Conference talk was a small way to reach out for some perspective; a means of melting the stiffness that was skewing my view of my current situation and correcting my focus. The Gospel is good for that.

The book of artwork was for humor.

A friend of mine recently shared her thoughts on the use of humor as a means of easing stress and releasing pressure. That’s what humor does for me. When I’m feeling stiff and cold, humor reminds me not to take things too seriously.

So, melting accomplished. It’s amazing what some whisperings from the Spirit and a little whimsy will do.

Chutes and Ladders

Last semester I thought I was getting the hang of law school. I felt I had finally achieved a sort of balance and I expected this semester to be much the same.

Little did I know how precarious that balance was.

It took less than a week back in school before I felt the informal arrangements of my life tumbling around me. My class schedule was inconsistent, my sleeping was erratic (late night, early morning, nap, inability to sleep that night because of my nap, sleeping in late because I couldn’t sleep earlier . . .), and my other activities (exercise, grocery shopping, laundry) were on an as-needed-to-scrape-by basis.

It felt like I had missed a ladder somewhere, slipped into a chute, and ended up all the way back at square one.

And, just as if I were a young kid playing Chutes and Ladders, I was frustrated. It’s no fun to feel, as I did this week, like you’re in 10th grade again, surrounded by a lot of people who seem to know what’s going on and how to navigate life while you feel like you’re still trying to grow up.

I’m not saying my circumstances were bad. I’ve learned enough about the ugliness in the world to know I live my life on very easy terms. Even for a middle-class American I have things pretty good. But I was in a dark place.

I now feel like I’m dragging myself back up the ladders. I’ve managed to keep up with homework (mostly). I’m starting to catch up on research (Spring Break next month will help with that). I’ve taken care of a few household chores. And I’m going to make a batch of no-bake cookies in a few minutes.

Life is slowly balancing out again.

Plus, a big snowstorm is supposedly rolling into town this week. If that can’t make my winter feel more normal, nothing can.

* * *

Tidbits:

• An article we read for Property Theory discussed the “doctrine of confusion”. Yes, that is a real thing.

• Property Theory also brought up the issue of neurotic beavers. Apparently their dam building tendencies can be a little extreme.

• Speaking of wildlife, I saw a squirrel sunbathing on the roof of the shed the other day. (I myself was sitting in the sunbeam shining through the window, so I considered the squirrel rather smart.)

• In Employment Law we discussed defamation related to obtaining references from former employers. That prompted my professor to read some thoughts from the Lexicon of Intentionally Ambiguous References (or LIAR). Ah, the joys of ambiguity.

• That topic also gave us a case reference wherein the plaintiff was described as: untrustworthy, untruthful, disruptive, paranoid, hostile, disliked, a classical sociopath, a zero, and a Jekyll and Hyde personality that lacked scruples, “but otherwise a nice guy.” Frank B. Hall & Co. v. Buck, 678 S.W.2d 612 (Tex. Ct. App. 1984).

• Finally, I walked into my Religion Clauses class one day to find the school’s music group, Law Capella, serenading a student with “Hooked on a Feeling.” Can we have music at the start of every class?