From the end of April to about the end of May, I had final examinations for law school. It was a miserable time. They always are. I had a thought though. With all the examinations I've taken since age 6, this may be some of my last ones. I have one year left, that is two more rounds of finals. Then the BAR Examination. That may be the end of my testing life.
Now, that I'm writing in retrospect, I can't really remember how painful it was. I think my mind's blocking it out. But I do, clearly remember staying in the library from 10am - 11pm every night. I had a permanent seat. It was here in the library tower:
I had two written exams this semester.
When I took one of them, I definitely had the thought: I can't believe that )(*&)( P*&UY@#$ PO*&U@#$, put that on the exam. I hate her!
On my second exam, it was criminal procedure. All multiple choice. That was a four hour exam. I thought the same thing - I hate him! I ran 7 miles home that day to keep myself sane.
I made finals a fasting, spiritual time. Your mind is focused. Your miserable. I gave up drinking for four weeks. I even took up running long distances. I started running 5 miles (8 kms) every other day. By the end of finals, I was running 12 miles (19.2kms) a day.
I thought, why not? In my New Year's resolution post: http://alchemistcook.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-years-resolution.html
I told myself I'd retake up martial arts. What that really meant was that I wanted to be healthier physically. What that really meant was I wanted my high school 6 pack of abs back. That was 13 years ago!
I failed so often at this goal. I wasn't fat when I started. And I knew I was actually not that far away from having awesome abs. But, I always failed at getting this. I tried several types of diets, but at the end of the day, it never worked. Dieting books don't really target my audience, an athletic guy who is at plateau at about 15% bodyfat.
But when you fail at a goal, you gain new insights and information about yourself. I was finally in a position to put it altogether to reach my goal. I sat down with a calculator, pen, and paper. I loved doing the math.
Alright, Paul, I told myself. You're at about 15% bodyfat. A 6 pack requires 10% or less. You are at 143lbs. 5% of bodyfat to you is 7.15 lbs of fat. You need to lose 2 lbs a week. If you lose less than that you'll probably go crazy from enduring at your program. At 2 lbs a week, you have about 3.5 weeks. That coincides with finals - not too bad of a time to suffer even more.
Every week, you need to create a deficit of 7,000 calories. You burn 1,500 calories a day. If you take away 500 calories a day, then you would be creating a 3,500 calories deficit. That's one pound. To lose the second one, you need to run. Your running schedule also changes as you need to burn more calories the less weight you are. Week one, you need to run about 30 miles, then 35 miles, then 42 miles a week. Yes, losing weight takes effort and work - despite what all these miracle dieting books tell you.
Week one, I lost 1.7 lbs. Week 2, I lost about the same. Ok, the math was working out. Your theoretical assumptions were right in practice. At the end of finals, I had my desired goal. it took lots of work and focus. And now, I want to lose the last four pounds to be super healthy.
The doctor took a blood sample and said, "Your blood level is at athletic levels. Keep up the fitness." So, that's good.
For the rest of my finals, I had three bloody papers.
In one, I looked at the nature of sexual abuse in male juvenile detention centers. It's sad. 1 in 8 male teenagers will be sexually abused. And it's 90% likely to happen from staff! It's the first research of its kind - so I thoroughly enjoyed doing it.
In my second paper, I wrote a brief to the Appeals Court on why Arizona should not be allowed to pull Mexican school children out of their schools and isolate them from the rest of society.
In my third paper, I wrote on the flawed approach in fixing our terrible public high school education.
I finished my brief on a Thursday. I was exhausted. I had finished two finals and three papers. A few moments after finishing my last paper, the City of Los Angeles served me in a nasty fashion. They moved to dismiss my case. It was a reminder that my break and rest would be short.
Then my editor of the Journal of Business and Strategy writes to me and says, "Get your article in."
I then had to start work four days later. This was all so much work.
But in any event, I still attempted to enjoy my few days off.
My friend Pierre and I ate some yummy food to celebrate me being done and his bday.
Notice the champagne sort of ended my fast.
And here's me driving in my toy through Beverly Hills. So much fun!
Work has started. I wear a suit. I can't stand wearing such formal attire everyday.
I finished a draft of my opposition motion against the City. I have a hearing on it June 16, 2011. I told my father about it. He said in Korean, "Fight the good fight."
So besides, fighting this law suit, writing this journal article, I wonder where should I go on holiday? It's between Indonesia or Belize now. What do my readers think?
Until next time. . .
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