A serious entry...

It is pretty hard to figure out things to write. I have found myself in the conundrum of trying to please my audience without really focusing on why I started this blog in the first place…namely for maintaining my own sanity while I start this new part of my life. Allow me to apologize (again!) in advance if the entries are boring; I won’t take it personally if you tell me that this is so.

The weeks have been flying by. Before I knew it, over half of the semester has flown by. My life is pretty simple at this point. It consists of work and school. I try to fit in the occasional football game every once in a while and I still get my workouts in, but the monotony is starting to get to me a little bit. For those of you who don’t know, allow me to put my current life in perspective with my immediate past. Last year at this time, I was flying around 4 days a week. Most of these trips were overnight trips for the company I worked for, Bio-Rad. I was a field scientist for them (based out of Chicago, but covering around 14 states). The life was pretty fun. I was the consummate business travelers and knew where are the electrical outlets were at the most out of the way airports (Grand Forks, anybody?), ‘where the coolest restaurants were in most cities around the Midwest and Colorado (the Rio in Fort Collins is still tops), and access to some of the coolest science tools a geek like me could imagine. I had an expense account, a free car, a nice salary, and the support of my superiors. With this as the backdrop, many of you might wonder why I left it all behind. In all honesty, this move to law school is something that I thought about since getting my doctorate 5 years ago. I started my research into law school when I started my fellowship in Chicago. I knew that I wanted to work in intellectual property litigation, focusing on biotechnology, but I figured that the best way to get the experience that I need was by working in academia for a bit and then switching over to the private sector. With 4 years of this behind me (2 years for each), the time was right for me to make my move. Now, here I am, a 34 year old student. It is hard living on less than half of what I used to earn, but at this point I am thankful that law school take up so much time. There isn’t any time to go out and spend any money. I have many friends in law school, especially within my 2 study groups, but there just doesn’t seem to be enough time to socialize. I have forgotten how much energy 22-24 year-olds seem to have, as my fellow students can seemingly move from an evening of drinking straight into marathon studying. I have to recognize my limits in this regard.

So here I am, halfway through the first semester and beginning to feel it. I am thankful to have a great support system in place-my friends in Chicago. Over the last 2 weeks, the most important thing is that I have regained contact with 2 very close friends. My friend Mike and I have seen each other through thick and thin during these last 4 years, and due to a combination of my travel schedule and some stresses within his life, we lost touch. This is now behind us and we are speaking again. I have also regained contact with my friend Missy, a fellow law student and one of my best friends from my time at Northwestern. I tried to pull away from many of my friends as law school started just to keep my focus, but Missy has always been one of my closest confidantes. I screwed up royally by shutting her out. Now my sanity is returning, and I can’t help but think that it is more than coincidence that I am communicating with Missy again. So, to Mike and Missy, thanks for your patience with me.

The list is still long of people that I have been shutting out, but with these 2 lifelines intact again, I hope to work on the rest. Missy, Mike, my roommate Eric, and my older brother have been awesome in helping me through this first semester. I can almost see the end in sight. The thought of exams are not filling me with dread (yet), my classes are completely manageable, and I am getting a handle on balancing my life as a student with my life as the Artful Blogger.