When I was around 6 or 8, I had a doll named Chatty Cathy. My sister had a fancy-pants doll, too, hers did tumbling exercises - somersaults and stuff. both of them were very hard, and not cuddly, and weren't really that much fun after the first day of ownership.

Anyway, I'm writing my fourth post of the day!!

This week I conducted a Great Experiment -- I left my laptop home. It started on Thursday. I had bought paper, and notebooks, and lots and lots of pens. I love buying pens. And I left my laptop home. Partly due to the whole "shopping during Corporations" issue, and partly due to the fact that a few weeks ago, my a/c adapter broke, and I was forced to take notes by hand. I felt like I was doing a better job, and was more engaged. I type about 100 wpm, so typing my notes really seems to make sense. And while typing notes, I've done pretty well in school. When I first considered skipping the laptop, Beloved was against it - he was like, "zuska! this is working for you, i don't know why you would try to change it!"

My thinking is -- when I write, I learn. Sometimes, copying notes over by hand is how I study. It puts things into my brain - almost photographically. This way, I can write my notes, then later, type them into the computer - already in outline form! I feel like the distillation process will help me to be outlining as I go, and help me to organize my thoughts and my notes better.

I also did feel like I was processing more in class in order to be more efficient with my poor, sore hand.

Then the next DAY was when the news came out about that law professor banning laptops from her classroom. I don't think I'd like a professor telling me that I *can't* take notes on the laptop, if I want to - but i do think she was right.

The final reason - my back. My laptop is a freaking elephant. And when I ride the bike, I don't feel it. It rests on my back, isn't pulling on me, and all is well. But this year, the girls have things after school, and I walk them to school while walking the bike, and the bag is pulling pulling pulling. We also have crappy classrooms with aisles that are so narrow that everyone has to take their bags off before getting through to their seats. It's a pain in the ass.

It's working out so far.

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In other news .... I just spent my afternoon (in between blog posts) working on this project for my judge from last summer. the trial on the issue is this coming week. it is on an island. he invited me to come and observe, b/c i will be drafting the decision, but made it very clear that it is in no way required.

If I go, I will miss 3 days of classes. The parties are paying to have a court reporter transcribe the entire 3 day trial. If I were to observe, I would be in the lobby conferences and would know who looked like a slimeball and who seemed like they were lying, and all these other things that trial transcripts can't tell me - but I don't want to lose 3 days of classes. Actually, I couldn't go for all of Wednesday, b/c I scheduled parent teacher conferences for that day, and I can't reschedule. I thought he meant it when he said I didn't have to be there, but now he keeps saying things like, "I'll call your professors and get you a protective order!" Of course it's not about my professors saying yes or no -it's about me getting behind, and not wanting to get that far behind. Especially in Federal Courts. I missed one day when I had the flu-thing, and I felt like I was drowning. When I'm there, I can keep up, and feel okay - but missing a day is like pulling the rug out from under my feet. (yes, I'm a nerd).

Also, it's not easy for a girl who doesn't own a car to get to an island. i could fly commercial, or i could drive to a ferry. i do not have a car. i could rent a zipcar for the day, but that will cost $70, on top of ferry fare. for 3 days? Well, 2, since Weds. isn't an option.

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I have approximately 70 pages to read for Federal Courts tonight. Isn't that a lot? For one class? I think it is. I prefer 20 pages per night. That feels manageable. But 70? And the ABA is at our school tomorrow for our 7-year check in, and the professor informed us that our class will be observed, and she needs us all to wear our brilliant faces to class.

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I believe I neglected to mention on here (b/c I left my laptop home, and therefore actually did WORK between classes, instead of writing blog posts) that Beloved poisoned himself last week. He made us a fantastic paella for dinner on Tuesday night. On Thursday, he said, "sweetie, we have leftover paella that you can bring for lunch!" I thought "oooh, left over shrimp? yuck." and then "forgot" to bring it to school for lunch. He, however, did not "forget" to bring his to work. He ate it. He stopped throwing up at approximately 2 a.m. the next morning. It was really really horrible, and I was incredibly worried about him - at least I started worrying at 9 or 10 - before that, i was mad at him. for saying he was sick. my old impatience with sick people reared its ugly head, and I didn't believe him. we were on our way out to a pot luck for Thing Two, and I just thought he didn't feel like coming. Thing One had called me and said she didn'tf eel well, and I had to pick her up early from her theater group, and i had called beloved to let him know, and he said, "yeah, i don't think i feel so good either" - i just thought that seemed too convenient. I mean, seriously, we were both just sick last week, and the week before. So this was the third week in a row.

didn't i feel like shit the next day when he had burst all the capillaries in his eyes and had lost 10 pounds within 6 hours? Yeah, I did. He really went through a miserable night. I thought I was going to have to take him to the hospital. he's almost back to normal now.

Really, I am a truly horrid person. Truly, truly horrid.

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Thing Two just came home from a birthday party - it was at a swimming pool. Thing One is at a circus with a friend, and then is going out to dinner, and won't be home before 8. Beloved did the transportation of Thing Two so I could finish up with the judge, and we let Thing Two pick dinner - something her sister doesn't like, since she is eating out with her friend. We couldn't think of anything, b/c typically Thing One is the one who will eat anything, and Thing Two is slightly picker. But Thing Two knew right off the bat - Tomato Soup. So we're having grilled cheese and tomato soup. And I have a lot of cleaning up to do before tomorrow. I wonder if that will happen before or after those 70 pages .....

posted by Zuska @ 6:07 PM

1 Comments:

At Sunday, April 02, 2006 10:12:00 PM, Mieke said…

There have been studies which have come out (I wish I could link to them, but I don't remember where I read it) which said that writing engages the brain in a way that typing does not and that people who hand write things learn them better than people who type.

Sorry about the illnesses.