Iiiiiiiiiiii'mmmmmmmmm BAaaaaaaaccckkk!!!!

So, a lot has happened since my last post. I went off to OCS to become an officer in the United States Marine Corps. Well, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. I graduated and accepted my commission on August 8, 2009. That leaves me with one more year of law school, then I have to take and pass any state bar (leaning towards: GA, AL, VA, or TN right now). Once I'm licensed to practice law, then I ship back up to Quantico, VA off to The Basic School (TBS) for 6 months of officer training. I will be there with all the other Military Occupational Specialties (MOS). Then, I ship up to the Naval Justice School in Newport, RI.

Back to OCS. It was by far the hardest thing I've ever done. Everyone always asks, "why was it so hard? what was the hardest part?" etc. Well, there really was no one thing that I can point to. I prepared myself pretty well physically, so that wasn't the hard part. The classes weren't too hard, the tests were written on a high school level (allegedly). Being away from home and doing what you're told 24/7 for 10 weeks sucked, but was bearable. Getting yelled at, yelling back and strictly adhering to your superior's orders was tough (voice was gone w/in three days and didn't come back til week 6). But the coup de grace was most likely the sleep deprivation. I averaged probably 3.5 - 4 hrs a night...FOR 10 FREAKING WEEKS!!! Yes, I do not exaggerate. There were certainly nights where I slept 6 - 7 hrs (never 8 though, that'd be ridiculous). And on liberty I'd book a hotel with my rackmate Ricky Benning from Texas A&M and we'd sleep 10 - 12 hrs on a Saturday night. But for the most part, there was somewhere around 2-5 hrs every night for weeks and weeks on end. Everyone gets what's called "The Candidate Crud" for the first 4-6 weeks. Everyone is coughing, sniffling, sneezing, our voices are gone, you have a pounding headache for the first three weeks from yelling at the top of your lungs. You're pretty much broken down in every way possible. The idea is to strip you down to your core, your bare bones self and see if you have the fortitude it takes to succeed as a United States Marine Corps officer. So, while it absolutely sucked to go through it, I'm proud I finished. I'm proud to call myself a Marine.

Immutable Rule of the Universe #107

Every time Jaws comes on t.v. I cannot not watch it.

Subsection (a): Whilst watching, I daydream and aspire to be nothing more than a drunken New England fisherman.

Sorry, It's Official: My Life Rules

This whole economic meltdown thing has been worrying me for awhile (my IRA account lost 20% of its value from Dec. '07 - Dec. '08; luckily I'm only 27), not least of all b/c I have to find a lawyerin' job for this summer pretty soon, and, well, for the rest of my life 18 months from now. Prospects are bleak. Even top-tier students are having a difficult time, so where does that put a mediocre chap like me? Crapsville.

But, it doesn't really bother me right now. I chalk it up to my latest hobby/obsession. My calm has been enhanced. I mean, I still worry. I'm not apathetic to the situation, but it doesn't destroy me from the inside out. Ever since I was 19 years old, I started pushing to do well in school all with the eye toward getting into a good law school. Then landing a top corporate law firm position.

My LSAT score completely changed the likelihood of that plan manifesting itself. And now my grades in law school have all but put the nail in the coffin of that "dream." It's forced me to think about it (and I very well could just be justifying it to myself so I don't feel like a failure), but I'm not sure I wanted an 80 hr. per week job anyway. Yes, the money would be fantastic, and I appreciate the finer things in life, but I'm happiest when my life is simple. The salaries for those positions are high precisely because the lifestyle required to fulfill that position is utterly horrendous. Not to mention, I've effectively been weeded out of obtaining such a job. My skills lay elsewhere. I probably would struggle in a high-stress job for a lifetime. Eff that.

I feel the most fulfilled when my life is simple and I can apply 100% of myself to something. I'm on that track now. It's simple and I'm giving everything I have towards a goal. I'm happy.*





*Well, there are some snags. Like today for example, I was putting the dishes away and I realized: I absolutely hate how the water sits on top of plastic cups in the dishwasher, so you have to dry each and every one before you stack them and put them away. In a house of 4 dudes that has company nearly every day, we use plastic cups a lot. Drives me bonkers.