Dominatio Per Malum

After looking through the reading materials for this semester, I have the “why the hell did i choose this course” epiphany. I hope class will be more interesting that the readings.

I have never had much luck with module allocation. So my joy at finally getting all of my 1st choice picks were naturally short-lived when they decided to void it and reallocate. So second time around, i got back the exact same stuff that was given to me initially at first. And naturally they had to burst my bubble and declare the results void again. And finally, with the third go-around, i got back the exact same thing that was allocated to me the first and second time. Now, barring divine intervention, i shall finally get all my first picks.

“Every reform, however necessary, will by weak minds be carried to an excess, that itself will need reforming.”

–Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Biographia Literaria ch.1 (1817)

An oblique reference to a recent faux pas by the school administration.

For the past 3 weeks, i had one of the best classes ever, so i am kinda sad that classes are ending. It’s an almost forgotten feeling but i actually looked forward to attending classes. Despite being a 3hr15min session, surprisingly i was able to pay attention throughout the whole period. I have taken a number of classes with 3 hr time slots. For good classes, that is classes i enjoyed, my attention span would normally last 2hrs++ before getting spaced out in the last 30 to 40 mins. For bad classes, which was what happened last sem, i would space out within 1 hour or so. So if my attention span is a barometer of how good the class is, then this has got to be one of the best classes i took.

Words fail me. I need to magically conjure a few thousand words. The classic “I don’t have the mood to write” syndrome. Bah, i need a muse.

The president crashed my class yesterday, causing a minor disturbance in the force.

1Ls gather in big groups
1Ls are generally noisy
1Ls talk loudly (related to previous point)
1Ls carry their texts around
1Ls actually look enthusiastic
Usually disappear by 6pm

3Ls form smaller groups, usually >5
3Ls generally quiet
3Ls are mostly jaded
3Ls print their texts
3Ls look very sian
Have night classes

For one of my modules, i am assigned 325 pages of text to read on the first week. I am supposed to cover 60+ pages by Monday. I have read a grand total of zero pages so far, not for want of trying but because i do not have the prescribed text. My plan thus far is to go to school early on Monday and hope to find that elusive text in the library and read 60+ pages before class starts. That is Plan A. Plan B is to go into class ‘cold’, meaning i have read nothing and pray that i will survive. Generally, i dislike going to class without having read a single thing because you are so dead if you are called upon. I can only hope that the tutor is the slacker kind, although i seriously doubt it. If you can bother to assign 300+ pages of reading a week, you are probably not a slacker prof.

And did i mention that that is only one module. The other modules have other stuff to read. Luckily my other modules are not that enthusiastic in assigning stuff to read. Yet.

This semester looks to be quite a killer. By some quirk of fate (and by that, i mean that the balloting computer hates me) i got my 3rd and 4th reserve choice. Basically that means my timetable sucks and my subject combination is killer. It also means that i inadvertently got the most difficult combinations of modules. I had initially planned to have 2 difficult (’xiong’) modules and balance it out with 2 slacker modules this semester. However, by bad luck coupled with poor strategic choices, i somehow wound up with 4 difficult and mentally draining subjects this semester. This is bad.

But since i’m so slack, i guess i shouldn’t worry too much. I’ll cross the bridge when i read it and i’ll read my text when (if) i get it.

I was initially happy to know that Chinese New Year (18-20 Feb) fell on a Sunday, which meant a really long weekend.

So i was horrified/disgusted/anguished to learn that the week of 17-25 Feb is the weeklong midterm break, which effectively cheats us out of our CNY holiday. And to add insult to injury, there is a Public Law Assignment to be completed during that period (due 26 Feb).

Early release of result = Bad mood.

Sianz.

today’s haze is really bad. The acrid smell of smog lingers in the air and its really beginning to annoy me.

today’s paper left me with a sinking feeling. Not only did i not finish writing (which is always a bad sign), i was writing out of point. I didn’t even have such bad vibes for Torts, which is my worst subject ever.

well, there’s always a silver lining on a hazy cloud i guess, and Battlestar Galactica (the best thing you could possibly watch on TV. Its better than Lost, Prison Break and Desperate Houswives combined) Season 3 starts today. No other TV series is even remotely as good or as anticipated as Battlestar Galactica. Its seriously good shite.

Every week, without fail, i learn something new at prop tutorial, which has absolutely nothing to do with law.

For example, i now know that ‘ten‘, as in tendril means ‘to hold’. So a tenant simply means ‘one who holds’.

“ius accrescendi inter mercatores locum non habet” means “the right of survivorship has no place among merchants”, a reference to the presumption in equity that partners do not hold the partnership property as joint tenants.

Today, i learnt that the longest running ‘temporary law’ that is anything but temporary was enacted during the napoleanic era. That law was the ‘income tax’, which was introduced as a temporary measure to help fight napolean. Apparently, we’re still fighting.

“You come to your new school, and like one comparing a new relationship to a previous one (with a good deal of baggage, like say a transcript), you constantly evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each. But the problem is, memory erases the flaws of the old, but throws into high relief the flaws of the new. I hate to compare my current school to my old law school, but I have to straight out say it–my old school was much nicer looking. Beautiful even. Modern, but nicely done in brick with nice touches like courtyards and towers. Perhaps a little lower in rank and prestige, but in architecture and layout–totally superior. Especially compared to my new law school.”-Law & Letters

Different context, same feeling. Going to the new school-cum-construction site, one gets the distinct feeling that this place is not ready. Maybe they should have waited till the end of the year to shift. The architechture for one, is jarring. Nestled amongst the quaint, colonial style relics of Federal, ETS and MM is Block B which sticks out like a sore thumb in the quadrangle. And if they don’t build a pathway between Block B and Federal, then there will be a mud path by the end of the year. Plus, the ‘new’ library feels claustophobic and is much smaller than the ‘old’ one.

Past the first week, and the readings are starting to pile up. Trying to read Glenn’s CLT text is like bashing your head against the wall. The material is dense, needlessly grandiloquent and numbingly boring. In fact, here is the first 3 sentences of Glenn’s text, quoted verbatim:

“The notion of tradition, after two or three centuries of neglect and opprobrium in the western world, has recently received renewed attention. This appears due in large measure to circumstances internal to western societies, notably that which a recent social science survey described as a ‘postmodern shift’ in the last twenty-five years from ‘rational-legal authority’ to ’self-expression’. Political and social theory has thus turned to tradition as a possible means of maintaining social coherence and identity in liberal, industrialized societies.”

Does this make any sense to you? It appears to me to be a mumbo-jumbo of words that sounds impressive but don’t actually mean anything. And its only taken from the Preface. Imagine reading 2 chapters of such writing. Your brain may melt by then. Mental Lobotomy would be preferred.

And other developments include the opening of a new law school at SMU. Now, as any economics student can tell you, increase in supply of workers will lead to decrease in wages, all other things being equal. That, however is a simplistic model of wages and assumes no change in demand, ceteris paribus. Given a current shortage of workers due to high barriers of entry, the lowering of barriers will move the labour market towards its natural equilibrium, rather than at its artificially high price level. This may also allow for an increase in demand, which had been previously stifled by lack of human resources. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, 90 additional grads from SMU will probably be lower than the natural attrition rate unless working hours become more humane.

Arrgh! Comparative Legal Tradition is a 3hr long class! And it streches till 6 on Thurs! Any hopes of getting a short wednesday have been dashed.

On the bright side, I have no Lectures on Friday! So i hope hope hope hope that i won’t get any tutorial slots on friday. There is actually a glimmer of chance to have a 4 day week next sem.

Got my sem 2 results last week, but was to lazy to write anything about it. Mainly because my grades were more or less within my expectation, so there is no OMG i got straight As or OMG i totally crashed and burned kind of grades. Another reason was because my expectations have dropped a notch since sem 1 made me realise that a CAP of 4.0 and above was not a realistic possibilty for me, even if it seems to be achievable for other faculties. So, i’m content to hover in the 3.0+++ range.

Anyways Sem 2 was much better than Sem 1, and my CAP increased by a whopping 0.75 points! This also shows that my Sem 1 grades were quite lacklustre. Also, i would like to majorly thank McKendrick’s Big Red Textbook for saving my ass. I think reading the red MCK (as opposed to muggers last sem) has singlehandedly bumped up my contracts grade by one. I was so so so so so so happy to see Chia Kok Leong/Panatown as the essay question this year.

On the flip side, i still haven’t seen a single A (for an overall module) all year long. On the bright side, i got the 50th percentile letter.