Crashed and Burned
I knew that I'd be called on today in Legal Process [aka Civil Procedure] - and I knew that because the assigned case is so confusing, and I was totally not ready to go under Prof. Buchele's firing - hence, there was no way that I would get away from that. As Prof. Buchele walked in, he said - "I've recieved three passes today [we're entitled to one pass in the whole semester, for three people to exercise them in the first 6 weeks shows how daunting this particular case was], and two of them were on my list." His first victim was Hamid who held his own pretty well I thought, and I was in two minds - Hamid's last name is a mouthful - would Prof. Buchele take the plunge and go for two tough names in the same day? Well, he did - right after Hamid sat down - he says, I know I'm slaughtering this name, so forgive me - and I'm like - ok, thats me. "Ms. Iqbal" Sure enough it was.
I haul myself up, and can feel the blood rushing from my head down to my feet ... taking any knowledge that I had with it. Forgot to mention - Prof. Buchele makes you stand up when you answer his questions. I barely even heard his first couple of questions, and basically was flipping pages furiously to find his answers ... to no avail. Alhamdullilah, I did settle in an was able to look him in the eye and give my answers ... with alot of ums, buts, and what is that words in between ... but I'll say this, as FREAKED out as I was standing there with nothing to say, Prof. Buchele's really cool - I definately got the vibe that he recognized my nervousness/fear and was trying to convey that it was ok, and his demeanor is very comforting ... regardless of how cool Buchele is, and the fact that I managed to rescue some [although very little] of my self dignity - I definately crashed and burned.
Good that came out of it - at least I'm done for the time being, and I don't have to worry about being called on for at least a week, and my buddies [Brandon, Jeff and James] really rallied around me to make me feel better, emphasizing that they were tough questions and it was a tough case, AND that showing up is half the battle ... but, I still maintain that I definately crashed and burned.
Interestingly enough, it took me back to the basketball days - back in the day, back in the homeland - when I started to play "competatively" I sucked big time ... and the first two months worth of games were HORRIBLE - constant calls for travelling, missed shots, getting the rebounds pulled out of my hands. I could barely pick myself back up, was SO disappointed in myself. However, I worked at it and it all culminated in one moment, one morning during practice where I probably had the best practice of my life ... and it was all worth it. InshaAllah this will turn out to be as successful as my short lived basketball career [hopefully not as short lived!], if I put in those hours of practice ... no mercy, all sacrifice - this is it.
~~ treat practice like its the real thing ~~
Approximately 75 days.
And go ...
I haul myself up, and can feel the blood rushing from my head down to my feet ... taking any knowledge that I had with it. Forgot to mention - Prof. Buchele makes you stand up when you answer his questions. I barely even heard his first couple of questions, and basically was flipping pages furiously to find his answers ... to no avail. Alhamdullilah, I did settle in an was able to look him in the eye and give my answers ... with alot of ums, buts, and what is that words in between ... but I'll say this, as FREAKED out as I was standing there with nothing to say, Prof. Buchele's really cool - I definately got the vibe that he recognized my nervousness/fear and was trying to convey that it was ok, and his demeanor is very comforting ... regardless of how cool Buchele is, and the fact that I managed to rescue some [although very little] of my self dignity - I definately crashed and burned.
Good that came out of it - at least I'm done for the time being, and I don't have to worry about being called on for at least a week, and my buddies [Brandon, Jeff and James] really rallied around me to make me feel better, emphasizing that they were tough questions and it was a tough case, AND that showing up is half the battle ... but, I still maintain that I definately crashed and burned.
Interestingly enough, it took me back to the basketball days - back in the day, back in the homeland - when I started to play "competatively" I sucked big time ... and the first two months worth of games were HORRIBLE - constant calls for travelling, missed shots, getting the rebounds pulled out of my hands. I could barely pick myself back up, was SO disappointed in myself. However, I worked at it and it all culminated in one moment, one morning during practice where I probably had the best practice of my life ... and it was all worth it. InshaAllah this will turn out to be as successful as my short lived basketball career [hopefully not as short lived!], if I put in those hours of practice ... no mercy, all sacrifice - this is it.
~~ treat practice like its the real thing ~~
Approximately 75 days.
And go ...
posted by zai5h at Tuesday, September 27, 2005
3 Comments:
oh dear,
sounds like you got pimped... that's the medical school term for getting put on the spot and asked questions 'til your brain bleeds. i'm sorry :( but i know that you did better than you think, just because i know you're harder on yourself than anybody else could be on you (sounds like a lot of people i know!). you're right- you stood up there and took it and i'm sure you learned something. and i bet you'd even find out that Buchele thought you did pretty well.
i know, i wasn't there, and anyway i don't know -><- that much about law or law school... but you're a smart kiddo and a tough cookie and i'd hate to try to argue a case against you!
do something nice to treat yourself and then keep on doing it (the law school, i mean) :). you're going to be great.
lisa
in retrospect it really wasn't that bad -- I was definately calculating the distance to the door, but the circumstances under which I was called on were pretty extreme so I've gotten over the trauma. ah, and I am pretty melodramatic! :)
lol, if your basketball career is any indication, i'm sure you will be a law school PRO very soon! let's just say i think your story sounds familiar to every law student!
aly
Post a Comment
<< Home