New Directions...

And...we're back.

While I had planned to take a small hiatus, I'd hoped to be back much sooner than this, regaling you all with witty anecdotes from my summer classes. Thanks to budget woes in my home state, however, my class got the axe, and I got an impromptu and elongated summer vacation. But now I'm back, and while I'm not necessarily better than ever, I'm going to have my work cut out for me this coming semester.

A little background, if you will.

I've been teaching for about 11 years. And despite the rants and raves and visions of disillusionment held within this blog, I love my job. But I also love to learn. I often look out at my students, envious of the opportunity they have to expand their educational horizons. I think back to my own undergraduate career and wonder how we survived without smart phones and the Internet. I remember having to physically go to the library. Many of my current students can barely locate the structure, let alone claim to have set foot inside of it. If I had then what my students have now...hell, who knows. Maybe my office would be a shape other than a square.

Well, okay. That's a bit of an exaggeration. And after the drama of late, I don't want that job anyway.

Flash back to about two years ago. A friend of mine mentioned in passing that she was thinking about taking the LSAT. For those of you who aren't versed in the alphabet soup of academia, that stands for Law School  Admissions Test, the gateway to acceptance to Law School. If you're not a fan of standardized tests, look away now. This one is a doozy, complete with nearly incomprehensible reading comprehension sections, logic skills, and my personal torture device--the deadly Logic Games section.

Games. The most tragically misnamed element ever.

When I think "games", I think of something that is mildly entertaining at the least. Logic games--no so much. Imagine a word problem, like the ones from your middle-school math class. Joey leaves San Francisco going 30 miles an hour at the same time Mike leaves Los Angeles going 50 miles an hour. In logic games, not only do you have to know when they're going to meet, you have to know what they're wearing and what they've had for breakfast for the last three days.

And if you're thinking, "hey, that DOES sound like fun...", the next LSAT is being administered in December. I still have my study guides if you want to borrow them.

Despite the horror of taking yet another standardized test, I told my friend that I would take it with her. This action  was not necessarily a whim, or a polite action to support my friend. The classes I teach are closely related to the legal profession, and I've knocked around the idea of attending law school for many years. I just needed a good kick start, and my friend's offer was exactly what I needed to gear up for the next chapter in my own education. To that end, I studied for, and ultimately completed the LSAT. Ironically, my friend who spurred me on has yet to take the test, as she fell victim to a collection of career and personal obligations. 

I knew I wanted to keep my teaching job, so I applied for part time status at several local law schools. My LSAT scores were good enough, but not great--a category a dear friend of mine calls "meh". With 'meh'-scores and the constraints of homeownership, a career, and the like, I wasn't optimistic about getting in.

To my surprise, I was accepted at my alma mater, which happens to also be my current employer. I remember turning the acceptance letter over and over in my hands, vacillating between excitement, delight, and abject terror. Just like that, I was going to be a student again. Class of 2014--or whenever my part-time status gets me out the door in a cap and gown.

Here's where this blog comes in.

I originally named this blog the way I did because I've taught these classes for many years, and teaching them comes naturally. Now, however, I'll be juggling not only a full time teaching schedule, but life as a "1L"--the common designation for first year law students. You'll be happy to know the terror has subsided a little. I expect, though--at least for a little while--that teaching in my sleep is going to take on a whole new meaning as I tackle the university from both sides of the desk.

So don't be surprised if, from time to time, you see a smattering of my own experiences within this space. Although, I make no guarantees on the frequency or coherency of blog posts to come. If nothing else, they should be fun to read.

Wish me luck. Something tells me I'm going to need it...