Day 849: Strange without a countdown

I remember my first four semesters of law school I went all kinds of nuts having a countdown during finals weeks. This semester there has been no such thing. Mostly I've been abjectly lazy and full of cabin fever and crazy about it, and also crazy about finals, but the tension hasn't been the same as in semesters past. Sure, I was freaked out about M&D because I had no clue what was going on in that class, but the terror and tension hasn't been the same.

I spent most of Wednesday being a terrible sad no-good Merlin fangirl once I got my outline done (and I did totally get my outline done) and then I watched Criminal Minds, which was seriously intense. It was about Hotch and, oddly enough, Prentiss. The actual case was kinda lame, but it was fun to see Reid a) off his crutches and b) back in genius mode. I dug seeing more about the characters. I want to give Hotch hugs.

Apparently Jordan pinged me a text message about studying on Wednesday, but my phone of all phone lameness apparently isn't getting messages from him either, so I missed it. Sad. Jordan is cute and the studying might have made me feel less insecure about M&D.

Thursday I also did a whole lot of nothing and felt very, very bad for it until the evening when I called my parents to review my M&D outline. Of course, calling your parents and saying, "let's have talk about marriage and divorce" is perhaps not the best way to start a conversation. Especially since my dad answered the phone - I hadn't realized he was back from China - and started to offer me reassurances that his marriage to my mother is fine.

Dad also didn't realize how long a review session can last, so he and mom took turns. Since both of my parents have been divorced previously, they could ask really intelligent and interesting questions and also offer personal insight into how the system works de facto instead of de jure. (However, both of them got divorced in California, which, like New York, has some screwy divorce laws.) I forced myself to go to bed early because I knew I'd be getting up early.

Twice now my poor neighbor Stacy had knocked on my door while I'm in my bathrobe brushing me teeth, and yesterday morning she knocked and we talked, exchanged mutual concerns about the exam, and agreed to carpool over since she's from Colorado, better at driving in the snow, and has four-wheel drive. So we set off at 6:30, got to school at 6:45, and there was only one spot left in the middle garage. Seriously. I spent an hour reviewing my outline one more time and then using my shiny phone to goof around on the internet and facebook until the exam.

It's been a while since an exam has taken me that long. I always tackle the essays first because I know I'll need at least the full 90 minutes for those, and this time the essays actually took the full 90 minutes (twelve pages of facts, and call of the question in block caps so I felt like I was getting yelled at), and by the time I was done with the multiple choice, I only had half an hour left, so I ducked out early and waited for Stacy to get done. Whatever happened, I'm pretty sure I got at least a C, and now it's done.

I went home, geeked out a little on Merlin, and then called my parents. I opened a Christmas present, and, oooh. All five seasons of MI-5. I was so, so excited. I love that show a lot, and not just because it's Matthew McFayden with a gun. I took a short nap, and then worked on crocheting some Christmas presents and making a late lunch while some of the first season episodes ran (so I could get back in with the characters), and then I took off for ninjitsu.

None of the adults showed up tonight, so it was just the kids. Apparently the week after testing was hell, so this week was fun. We rolled off of the boxes and mats (I need to work on my rolls a lot) and then we grappled. Sensei Green actually dragged in some of the dads to help us bigger kids with the grappling. I didn't tell the dads how old I was lest they feel awkward. My second-best moment of the night was when I locked up with Chris and then I took him down really quick. I hooked an arm around his neck and then just swept his legs out from under him. I felt pretty good about it since he's a little more advanced than me. My best moment of the night, though, was when I found out that I passed. It made me so, so happy. I passed! They didn't have my new belt there, so hopefully I'll get it next week, and I'm crazy excited.

Afterwards I went to Wendy's with Sensei Tomie and we talked about...life. Because apparently I was the only one at D&D who didn't know Kile had a crush on me. According to Tomie, pretty much all of the older guys flirted with me at least once in the beginning...and I totally missed it. (Which kinda sucks, because with at least one of them, I might have flirted back. If, er, I knew how.) Tomie laughed a whole lot at my confusion. Apparently the fact that I understand guys like food and video games does not mean I understand guy speak at all. Grrr. I'm kinda screwed. Tomie thinks it's pretty hilarious how clueless I am. In retrospect, it's funny. Apparently what seems rational to me is not rational to the XY of the species.

Good to know.

I swung by the institute and found out that today was Jordan's birthday, as there were balloons and treats (cake and ice cream) down in the basement. But...I am tired. And a little sore.

Still, hanging out with Sensei Tomie was a lot of fun. It's pretty sad, but seriously, the four men in my life who are nicest to me are my dad, my bishop, my sensei/DM, and my home teacher.

Although I went on a date with said home teacher, so that's probably not too pathetic.

Still. D&D tomorrow night. Whee!