What happened? I blacked out.

Test #1, finished. I thought the quotation from Old School was appropriate; I looked up and 2 1/2 hours had passed during the exam! Panic, panic. I have this weird whole-body reaction to stress before an exam. I had to choke down my oatmeal this morning. I didn't even finish it! And I always feel ill right before my first exam. It usually lessens as the week goes on. I don't remember being that nervous before the LSAT, and I had a lot more riding on my score from that exam.

After I finish a day of studying, I usually let myself unwind a little while reviewing the main topics of a class. While going over joinder rules last night, I watched part of I Can Make You Thin on TLC. I'm iffy on it; while I applaud making people more conscious of what they're eating, I think telling them to eat "whatever they want" sends the wrong message, too. We're so far out of touch with what we should eat that I don't think our bodies will necessarily be able to bust through years of eating processed foods to say, "Roast some beets! Mmmm."

On the other hand, the tips are basic, appealing and not intimidating. The host--some British self-help guru--breaks everything down in concrete rules. He is introducing them slowly, week by week. That's particularly useful for people who have a hard time reinforcing habits on their own. I particularly liked his tip about eating consciously, which is something that I forget to do when I'm eating "healthy" food. Instead of savoring, I speed through meals. I'm almost always studying while I eat, and I'm shocked that I've finished my food already! I tried out his tip of chewing more and setting my fork down between bites at lunch. I still finished my (small) plate of quinoa, sliced apple and a bit of Greek yogurt, but I felt satisfied.

I have another early morning exam tomorrow. Time to get back to studying! I've barely made a dent in the caselaw, and a lot of it is crazy and somewhat contradictory.

Four days...

And I will have completed this quarter. The light at the end of the tunnel is a beautiful thing to behold. Let's just hope I make it through the damn tunnel. It is looking a little treacherous.

Yesterday, my back hurt so much that I didn't work out. I think being hunched over books and my laptop has finally taken its toll. I have started taking breaks to stretch. Too bad I won't have time to do that when I'm in my marathon exam-typing sessions this week!

This morning, I was going to try putting the banana in my oatmeal (really, I swear!) but the banana was rotten in the middle. Gross! I ended up doing my normal pear & honey oatmeal breakfast, and it was delicious like usual.

I think I'm going to take a break from the thrilling world of issue and claim preclusion in order to work out. Don't worry, I'll be studying on the cardio machines!

Rules

I have rules on my mind: Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Rule Against Perpetuities (RAP!), personal rules...


I broke a few last night. I like having a plan, and I was going to eat the Roommate's black bean soup (healthy!) with a mini-panini. I returned from kickboxing high on endorphins, showered, and headed downstairs to find little dots of blue all over my mini panini rolls! So I ate my soup and felt vaguely unsatisfied. I then proceeded to eat some greek yogurt with FiberOne, chocolate chips, Kashi crackers...it was bad. Then I had a glass of wine. Stress eating at its finest, ladies and gents!

For the first time ever, I read the comments on a post at KathEats.com . I was a little taken aback! People were rude. I was shocked! I think of personal blogs as being a part of a person's home, and to me it seemed a lot like walking into someone's house and mocking their furniture and possibly even their children. The complaints seemed to come from a few people who were either upset about 1) Kath's focus on food 2) Kath's devotion to exercise or 3) her posting ONLY about her own life.

Well...it's a blog about her lifestyle of healthy eating and activity. DUH. There were many layers to what was going on--some of the comments were made by people in recovery from eating disorders, and that's a sensitive topic--but eating disorders or not, people were just mean. If that ever happened here, I would immediately make this blog private. But since I'm an attorney-to-be, I'm sure that no one would ever mess with me! I love litigation, and I'm not afraid to beat the crap out of someone in a courtroom.

Today's breakfast: more pear oatmeal! I am going to grab a banana this weekend to see if I like it with oatmeal. If not, I think I might try some frozen berries just to mix things up. Or maybe a Rome apple since they end up being so soft when cooked.

Anyway, I have to get back to studying. We're going over stuff from the beginning of the quarter in Civ Pro II today, and I only have a vague memory of what is going on...

Apple Harvest Oatmeal (tweaked)

1/2 cup quick-cooking oatmeal (NOT those packets of instant)
3/4 cup water
1/4-1/2 Tbs. butter
One medium apple, cored and diced
1/2 Tbs brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Dried cranberries, golden raisins, whatever is on hand

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add the diced apple and cook until soft, about 2 minutes.
Add the cinnamon and brown sugar; cook until dissolved.
Add the water and cranberries/golden raisins; bring to light boil.
Add the oatmeal and cook for two minutes.
Remove from heat.

For extra protein, you can add almonds. I usually add a little bit of nonfat milk.