Juris what? Juris who?

This last Saturday was graduation. The fam all arrived in shifts, as it were. Mom had been in Dallas doing her Western Regional Examining Board deal in Dallas beforehand, so rather than heading back to Great Falls for one day before flying out to Minnesota, she just came out Tuesday, which also happened to be the day of my last final for all of time. Definite potential for a conundrum. Fortunately, she understood that I would be spending most of the day imbibing massive amounts of alcohol in celebration of our new found freedom. I told her it was a good thing, since I probably wouldn't even know my own name by 10 p.m. Meanwhile, Dad was flying in from Seattle on Thursday about two hours before Kendra and Kirsten would arrive from Montana. Then Grandma Cislo would arrive on Friday evening. Lea and I definitely put some time in at the airport.

The week was busy, but we all had a great time. Graduation went off without a hitch. The one thing that gets me is the outfits. They aren't your traditional square cardboard cap and polyester gown. They're all velvety with lots of purple. And see that hat? It's pretty sweet, but very old school. We came out of there looking like we'd gotten kicked out of a renaissance festival.

Anyway, this is me doing a quick grip-'n-grab on the stage with Dean Thomas "Tomkat" Mengler. That's actually not a diploma there (apparently they only give us those once they know we all actually graduated) but a nice double-frame with a picture of the law school on the right and the school's mission printed on the left. V. touching.

So now.....The Bar. That will be my ultimate nemesis for the next two and a half months. Then the waiting. It'll probably take until late October before we find out the results. These people take longer than law profs to grade this stuff. BarBri classes start on Monday...Which, by the way makes zero sense to me. I'm not even sure most people know this, but when you go to law school, you don't just graduate, study for awhile, and then take The Bar. You have to (if you're wise, anyway) take classes during the summer to teach you how to take The Bar. I tried explaining to Dad earlier in the semester that during the summer I would have to pay to take Bar classes. His response: "I was under the impression that was what I sent you to law school for." Yeah, me too. But you have to take the classes, right? How crappy would that be if you go to three years of law school, self-study all summer, and then FAIL The Bar? Having to endure the shame of waiting until February to take the sucker all over again? And wait until May or so for the second results? No thank you. We all want every advantage we can get going into the most important exam in our lives. So sure enough, businesses like BarBri set roots in our fear. Bastards.

Alright. Things to do...