Below are 20 journal entries, after skipping by the 20 most recent ones recorded in HawaiianSon's Blurty:

[ << Previous 20 -- Next 20 >> ]

Wednesday, December 15th, 2004
12:30 am	I can't go to sleep. It's 12:30am right now and I can't go to sleep. I finished my last exam today. I had enough beers with classmates after the exam to make me tired. But, I just can't go to sleep. Perhaps I'm anxious that I have no more exams for the semester. So, after the exam, I went to the parking office and slapped down $134.00 for next semester's parking pass. Afterwards, I walked down to Eastside Grill to meet my fellow Pre-Admission students and was surprised to see other law school students there. I'm glad I took the opportunity and time to eat and have a few drinks with my fellow classmates. OH MY GOODNESS! The Prime Rib there was unbelievable. For $9.95, they serve a very comparable dish to Stuart Anderson's. I actually think their prime rib is better than Stuart Anderson's. It's much bigger. Anyhow, going to Eastside Grill was an opportunity to hear their thoughts on different legal and social issues. When I first sat down with the general law first year law school students, a friend of mine I first met in April, during the new students orientation, left his seat to sit by me and talk. That was a very welcoming gesture I think. His name is Jeremy. He's a real cool guy. He's from Oregon and turns out he was college roommates with a guy I knew since elementary school. Anyhow, he married a part Hawaiian girl from Tumwater (a neighboring city from where I grew up) and they both live here now. Anyhow, other guys in the group that were sitting close to us were Liam, Brian, Jeff and Obrey. I was flattered by Jeff when later he asked, "You the same Derek who sends out the e-mails about Hawaiian history." I told him, "Yeah, that's me." He then said, "You know, I get a lot of e-mails in my inbox, I make sure I never delete yours. I've learned so much from those e-mails." He expressed a genuine interest in wanting to know my thoughts on various Hawaiian issues. Jeremy, who had previously not been very interested, seems to have developed an interest from our little discussion.... over beers. He said he was kind of dismayed by what he had seen on TV. At any rate, Jeff was pretty interesting and to my surprise, for someone I thought was merely a "hick," I thought he was somewhat quite knowlegeable about available Hawaiian ideas, issues, etc. At first, he seemed kind of shocked by some of the things I said, but eventually came to understand them. I think this is a crucial aspect to lawyering; being able to convince people to think otherwise and change their position. Jeff pretty much inflated my ego by saying, "You're the future man!" I adamantly stated, "I wouldn't say that. I'm definitely not that." It was quite an interesting semester this past one. I'm glad it's come to an end. Even though my civil procedure exam was a 24 hour take home, I feel more confident with my three hour, closed book exam. I hope I did well. I was able to remember an outline of the whole semester for my contracts class. I like to think that was able to help me do well. While at Eastside, I heard Obrey telling one of our female classmates that on our second essay question for Contracts, he wrote that there was a modification to the contract. The girls disagreed with him and began to argue that he was wrong. I told him, "Hey, I put down that there was a modification to the contract too. The young ladies were surprised and were like, "There was a modification? There wasn't even an agreement to begin with." I said, sure there was. There was an agreement to do the job for free. After that, there was new consideration between Robert and Jill. The second part of the essay question had the four parts of a modified contract. That was 1.) unforeseeable circumstances; Robert said the job was harder than he originally thought, which probably costed more, 2.) the modification was reasonable; Robert was going to charge $1,000 for a job that usually costs $5,000, 3.) both parties agreed; Robert and Sally agreed that Sally would pay $1,000 for Robert painting her house, and 4.) the job was still executory; because Robert hadn't finished painting before the contract was modified, the new contract could still be executed. The young women now understood why the contract was modified and appeared to wish they wrote that answer down. We're constantly reminded not to discuss our exams with other students after we're finished. This is because it only adds to the stress we have about it. I know too well the impact discussing the exam with others afterwards can have. I mean, it's really unneccessary to discuss the exam once you've completed it. By learning what other people put, I think it casts doubt on ourselves and we don't even know to an absolute certainty if those people are correct. For all those female students know, I could be wrong about the modification. oh well. I'm not stressin about it. I'm going to be on vacation for three weeks visiting my parents. That's a great stress reliever. The other day, I sent an e-mail to my former high school counselor and a former teacher of mine who was pretty supportive of Hawaiian culture. Anyhow, the teacher who, while i was in high school taught keyboarding, business English, information technology, etc. She now teaches Law and Justice and upon hearing that I will be in town, has asked if I would be interested in talking to her Law and Justice class about Law School and the LSAT. I think I'm going to accept her offer. I've always held in high regard my alma mater and I consider it an honor to be able to speak to high school students. Well, it's now a quarter past 1am and really should go to sleep, even if I'm not tired. Aloha aumoe (Comment on this)
Thursday, December 9th, 2004
7:12 pm	Whew! I can't believe I do some things backwards! What an interesting 24 hours. Because I've pulled 2 or 3 all nighters this semester, two friends bet me that I was doing to do an all nighter again for the 24 hour exam. Well, they lost the bet and I should be getting a free pint of Guiness. But, I should have done an all nighter. SO, this is the thing, I have a writing assignment that I have severals days to work on, yet, even though I work on them, I do an all nighter. I get one 10 page assignment and am required to complete it in exactly 24 hours and what do I do? I do the exact opposite of what I should have done. I should have stayed up until I finished it. Instead, i went to sleep at 12:30, woke back up at 6:30 and completed 7 pages. Even though it was the limit of 10, there was nothing that said we had to make 10 pages, but we could not by any circumstances exceed 10 page, I was only able to pull together 7 pages. A second year law school student said to me, "If you were concise, 7 pages is good." I'm usually a "straight to the point," type of writer so I just hope my professor thinks so. So, the good news is, I didn't lose any sleep over it. Oh well. One more exam to go and I'm pau. Looking forward to three weeks in Washington visiting my parents. THREE WHOLE WEEKS I can't wait. Yesterday before I picked up my exam,I went to the YMCA, that was cool. Man, I really need to start doing that regularly. My dorm room is such a mess now. I had my notes all over the place. The other night, I was talking with my friend Nam. We both want to study abroad for the summer. The program he wants to go through will take him to the Hague in the Netherlands, about 2 other places and Oxford. If he does the program, he'll be going to a different place every week. I, on the other hand, would like to just go to Oxford for a 5 week study abroad program they have there. My great-great grandfather went to Oxford and majored in Law. I think it would be nice to go there too. I don't believe though that they still have the school he went to at Oxford. I've looked at the names several schools they have there, but can't find St. Chad. I don't know exactly what's going on with my www.HawaiiansAbroad.com website, but it's not working. agh!!! (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 8th, 2004
11:05 am	exam day in a little less than two hours from now, I will be going to the law school office to pick up my Civil Procedure exam. It's quite an exam from what I've heard. I'll have 24 hours to work on it. From 2nd and 3rd year law school students, I've heard that they've spent anywhere from 16 - 20 hours working on that exam in the past. Whew! I guess I'm in for a day. SOmeone very nice, turned in my flash drive to the front desk at the library. I'm soOoO lucky we have such nice people at the law school. SOmeone could've easily have taken the flash drive for themselves. (Comment on this)
Friday, December 3rd, 2004
3:28 pm	Agh!!! I guess sometimes it's better to write down on paper rather to save on disk Today in Pre-Admission Seminar, I had my classmates play the game I designed, "Make My Law School SemesterTM Trivia Game." Everyone in the class seems to have liked it and they all expressed an interest in playing it again.... soon. So anyway.... prior to setting up my game, I came to realize that the flash drive my sister got for me was missing. what sucks about the whole thing is that I had a semester worth of notes for my Civil Procedure class and notes from my tutoring sessions. that sucks!!!! and i can't believe that flash drive is missing!!!! agh!!!! (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 2nd, 2004
3:02 pm	I've got to be the biggest dummy in the first year law class, the biggest procrasinator of the first year law class, or both. I had a 12 pager paper due today for my Legal Methods Seminar class. It was due at 9:30. While I had started the paper earlier, and made some revisions during the Thanksgiving Day 4 day weekend, I was at the law school working on my paper until 6 am. Yup. People were coming to the school to begin their day before I even left the school. The good news though is that I did finish it. I was able to get in a 30 minute nap approximately, went back to the school and proofread my paper before submitting it. The good news also, is that I didn't get sick yet. I wasn't tired during the day and I feel very fortunate and blessed. Of course, I had to thank Ke Akua for that. I don't know how I was able to endure the day with only 30 minutes of sleep. Usually, when I have very little sleep, I get sick and break out. That didn't happen, so I'm very VERY lucky and blessed. Also, I learned on Thursday that I was voted to be an "Alaka'i" of 'Ahahui o Hawai'i, which in addition to being the oldest and first student organization at the law school, "the Hui" as we affectionately refer to it as, discusses Hawaiian issues which recently have re-peaked my interest. The Hui hasn't met too frequently this semester and so, Hui members haven't really gotten to know me. But, I've sent several e-mails to Hui members about Hawaiian Kingdom history and I suspect that it was those e-mails that may have influenced people to nominate me and even vote for me. Someone else nominated me as a potential alaka'i and several people afterwards came up to me and told me the voted for me. I've always been passionately interested in Hawaiian issues but when I enrolled in law school, I wanted to diversify my interest and wasn't going to be actively involved. However, from going to the Doe v. Kamehameha panelist discussion I've felt compelled to do more than I originally intended. But one thing Professor Jon Osorio said about the case was, "This case is not a legal issue, it's a Hawaiian issue." While I don't completely agree with him, it has become a legal issue, I don't think Kamehameha schools should be a legal issue. Professor Osorio spoke about the human element the Hawaiian element of this struggle and I believe it put things into perspective for me. Hawaiians shouldn't have to endure many of these legal struggles, unfortunately, we have to. But I believe, that we have to and can settle these issues and return them to where they should be. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 24th, 2004
2:48 pm	Thanksgiving eve Whew......it's been a long long LONG time since I've written in this journal. It's been almost an entire month. I am going to try to re-cap a few things but, not necessarily in this individual post. Using my PDA I will have posted brief statements of things that happened on certain days. (Comment on this)
Monday, November 1st, 2004
3:34 pm	The FLoods! I went to the school library on Sunday, October 31, the day after the heavy rains. The library was VERY hot as it seemed like the air conditioning wasn't working. There was speculation among many of the law school students as to whether or not we would have classes. There was quite a bit of damage resulting from the floods around campus, but there hadn't appeared to be any significant damage done to the law school. It undoubtedly affected our cooling system, but other than that, there was no damage to our books, library nor class rooms. However, Hamilton library on the main part of the campus was affected. Check out this story by clicking here As it would happen, classes at the law school, in addition to the main campus was cancelled. (Comment on this)
Saturday, October 30th, 2004
3:18 pm	Delta Theta Phi initiation On this day, I picked up my suit from Macy's. It's a very nice suit and I like it a lot. Anyhow, I had my initiation into the law fraternity, Delta Theta Phi and a Halloween party shortly afterwards. The place the initiation ceremonies took place was at the Pink Mansion in Hawai'i Kai right off of Kalani'ana'ole Highway on the makai said. I had always assumed that the house belong to Henry kaiser because Henry Kaiser owned a pink mansion in the area. however, we were informed that the house was once owned by Dolly Parton. Anyhow, great brief ceremony. I am now an official member of the law fraternity. The Halloween party was great. I didn't go in costume which put me out of place kind of, but I think most of the attendees were too drunk to notice. It's a very VERY nice house. One of our frat brothers, who is no longer in school, owns the house and rents it out as a vacation home. He was very generous and the house was VERY nice. However, it rained very hard that night, no so much in that area, but it rained nonetheless. (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 28th, 2004
3:14 pm	Doe v. Kamehameha forum Today, we had a forum during lunch where Professor Jon Osorio Ph.D. of the Kamakakuolani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai'i did a history presentation. The basis for this lunch forum was to discuss the historical context of the Kamehameha schools due to the upcoming case of Doe v. Kamehameha. Later in the evening, we had a panel discussion that included Prof. Osorio, our law school's civil procedure Prof. Eric Yamamoto, a member of the Kamehameha Schools legal team, Crystal (i forgot her last name), and Kamehameha Schools trustee, Nainoa Thompson. It was a great forum i thought and very interesting. There were many people in attendance and dinner was provided. Nainoa was a great speaker who spoke from the heart. He explicitly stated that he doesn't know much about the law and what not, but i think every in the room sensed his honesty and integrity to help the Hawaiian people with the eventual hope that Kamehameha Schools would someday help all children. Kamehameha schools was described by the attorney as "remedial" program to correct the effects of injustices and unfortunate circumstances that plagued Hawaiians. She went on to say that AFTER and ONLY after Hawaiians were in a better place socially, economically and politically, could Kamehameha begin to education children of non-Hawaiian ancestry. Professor Osorio disagreed with that idea and made clear his opinion that Kamehameha should only be for Hawaiians. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 27th, 2004
3:51 pm	In the middle of week 10, 5 more weeks to go... Whew! Where to begin.... hmmmmm Well, I've purchased a suit for myself. I needed one for this Saturday as I am having my initiation into Delta Theta Phi. My friend Nam had previously told me that Macy's were selling them for $800 and that Sears had some for $300. Well, on Sunday, I went to Macy's and saw they had a sale. Then, I went to Sears and didn't really like the suits I saw there. At Macy's I had seen a nice 3 button suit. At Sears, I only saw 2 button suits and there's a noticeable difference between how nice they look. I asked the Sears employee if they had any three button suits.... and his reply, "Did you check?" Great customer service, huh? he wasn't rude about it, as someone who works in retail, how are you going to answer a customer's question with another question? Just tell them, yes, no, or I don't know. Anyhow, I told him, "Yes, I looked and the only three button suits you have are the two on display, but you don't have that brand anywhere in your store." What I didn't tell him right away is that I worked at Sears for the summer, and I know they didn't have the brand. He was a new guy in training. He asked if I could hold while he inquired why they had a brand on display that they didn't have clothes for. Anyhow, he comes back and says, "If you want any of those suits, I can bring them down for you." I declined. The suits simply weren't dark enough for court room attire. So, back to Macy's and to my luck they had a sale on several of their suits. I was very fortunate because, unlike most store sales, that particular sale was ending on Sunday. Most stores start their sales on Sunday and they end on Sunday. Not here at Macy's. The sale's last day was the Sunday I was there. It was a nice experience buying a suit. I walked up to one of the ladies working in the department and said, "Excuse me, I need help with getting a suit." They lady replied, "Well, you've come to the right place. Come with me." I then told her, "I never really bought one before." She took me to a rack and showed me some Alfani brand suits which, surprisingly, did not cost $800 nor was it $500. There's nothing quite like NOT, having to look for your pant size. Nope. When I tried on that suit, a tailor came to me and made her markings to determine how long my pants should be. Same thing with my jacket. She said it was the perfect length but I told her that when i was walking to Sears, I saw a young man with a suit and the cuffs on his collared shirt exceeded the length of his jacket sleeve by about a quarter inch. She said she would take care of that. So, I had some cash on me but n ot enough to pay for the suit in its entirety. It was questionable whether or not I had enough in my checking account so I asked the saleswoman if I could pay cash and use my debit card. She had also shown me a white shirt that I need in addition to a tie that would complete my court room attire. I told her I would come back to get the shirt and tie on Monday as I had to go to the bank. The weird thing though, when I was getting fitted was that I was told not to button the bottom button. Out of habit, I kept on doing it and the salewoman kept reminding me that the bottom button doesn't get buttoned. Being the logical person that I am, I don't understand why a person with a 3 button suit would not button the bottom button. Anyhow, later that night, when I was watching Boston Legal I noticed that the attorneys on that show do not button the bottom button on their 3 button suits! W'sup with that? Isn't that just a wast of a button? Oh well, I guess with court room attire, there are court room styles. I wasn't able to make it to Macy's on Monday, because I was so busy. But on Tuesday, after my contracts class, I went to the Credit Union, took out more money and went to Macy's and bought my shirt and tie that was on hold for me. Now, I plan on taking that shirt and tie back. Together they costed $80.00!!!!! How's that???? They were $39.99 each!!!! The tie cost just as much as the shirt!!!!!! It uses less fabric how can it cost just as much as the shirt!?!? Well, that was a lessen learned. Not only is social and economic upward mobility difficult, it costs money! This past Saturday, my classmate, Tia (Blankenfeld) Christiansen had a party at her house/property/compound/ranch/ahupua'a for her husband who is leaving to Afghanistan. Nice party. I learned that her father is Bruce Blankenfeld and her uncle is Hawaiian navigator and Kamehameha Trustee, Nainoa Thompson. Jennifer, Katey and I didn't stay more than 2.5 hours, but we had a good time. Had some ono foods and Katey fed the horses and played with some of the other younger kids. Tomorrow at the law school, we'll be having a panel discussion regarding Kamehameha v. Doe. This case has been appealed to the 9th circuit court of appeals by Doe and next week, the court will be conducting the hearings at our law school. Anyhow, we had to submit questions for the panelist. I submitted mine rather late today, but apparently it has made it's way tothe questions that will be sent to the panelist. My final decision to submit it was based on my meeting with my Civil Procedure Professor who will also be sitting as a panelist tomorrow. He's a recognized "guru" of civil procedure. Anyhow, I posed the question to him and he asked how long I had thought about the question. Here's the question I submitted, 5) Professor Kanalu Young recently wrote an article "An Interdisciplinary Study of the Term "Hawaiian" in the Hawaiian Journal of Law and Politics [available online at http://www2.hawaii.edu/~hslp/journal/vol1/Young_Article_(HJLP).pdf]. The article addresses and answers the question, "what is a Hawaiian?" It discusses the term Hawaiian as used during the monarchy and how it is used today. On page 44 of the journal, Prof. Young specifically discusses Kamehameha and its preference policy. ** "American courts have been used recently to adjudicate a case involving a Hawaiian Kingdom-established education institution known as the Kamehameha Schools. Its benefactress, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, was a Hawaiian subject. In the thirteenth codicil of her Last Will and Testament, she used language that indicates historicity with respect to the term "Hawaiian." Preference for funding a student's education at Kamehameha by the proceeds of the estate would go to "Hawaiians of pure or part aboriginal blood." The reference to Hawaiians in this phrase means Hawaiian nationals and identifies the generally eligible indigent group. Of this group, specific reference is made to those of aboriginal blood in part or in whole. Same country then as it is now. Why would we want to change this identity even if we could? The Hawaiian nationals of today are literally who we say the Princess was - a Hawaiian by nationality of aboriginal blood."** Basically, in this article, Prof. Young is stating that under the Will, admission was open to any Hawaiian national regardless of ancestry, but, that financial assistance is where preference is given to Hawaiians of pure or part aboriginal blood. Would it be preferable for Kamehameha Schools to adopt (re-adopt?) this policy and admit students on the basis that they descend from people with a distinctive political/legal identity, Hawaiian subjects rather than on the basis that they descend from people of Hawaiian ethnicity? My friend, Donavan Kealoha brought it to my attention that my question was added. He e-mailed me immediately and asked, "eh! no#5 is you ah?" I didn't know what he meant right away. But, back to Professor Yamamoto, he seemed surprised at my asking this question to him. He told me immediately though, that if Kamehameha Schools did base their admissions on this, that, it could not be argued that they were discriminating on the basis of race. Which, is what Doe is arguing. That s/he was discriminated against because they are not Hawaiian. It will be interesting to see how the panelist answer the question or if they even do. The panelists will consist of the Kamehameha legal team, Nainoa Thompson, Professor Yamamoto, and Hawaiian Studies Professor Jon Osorio. I got my grade back for my Legal Memo. I got it via e-mail today while sitting in my Civil Procedure class. It was quite distracting as it took away from my note taking. I'll write more about that later. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 20th, 2004
3:17 pm	Whew! Week 8 re-cap and week 9 update. Okay, so, last week Monday, my week got off to a bad start with someone hitting my car while it was parked. I went to State Farm Insurance the day after, (missing my 'Ahahui O Hawai'i meeting) to meet with the insurance company of the guy who hit the car. I also missed two days of doing community service hours, Monday and Tuesday. Last week Tuesday, I also received, via e-mail, my second draft for our legal memo assignment. I met with my instructor on Thursday to go over her criticisms and Friday I met with a writing tutor, Shawn. I was well prepared for my Contracts I class last week Tuesday and volunteered to answer the professor's questions after two students she called on didn't answer correctly. The first student she called didn't appear to have read the cases and then was caught off guard not knowing how to answer correctly. The bad part about Tuesday's contracts class is, even though it was fun I was invited into an internet chat room by Keoki who sits next to me in Contracts. When I entered the chat room, there were 20 other law school students in my class chatting with each other in the chat room. I can't begin to describe how distracting that was. It was fun and funny, with people cracking jokes online, but man..... I've been successful at staying out of those chat rooms, which is good. I don't know how those other guys can sit in class and chat for an hour and 15 minutes while retaining the information lectured to us. But then again, i don't understand how a lot of them can go drinking several times a week until the late hours of the night and still do well. I must be doing something wrong. So, I missed another outting again. yeah, On Thursday, several people went to Willow's for pupus and drinks. They chose Willow's because one of our first year classmates plays Hawaiian Music over there on Thursday evenings, until 8:30. From there, people went to Bed-Roq bar and grill and around 11pm, most of those people at Bed-Roq met up with some other law schools folks at Chico's Tavern. Another group of law school students went bowling in the evening and then went to Chico's afterwards. And where was I.....? I was in the library.... working on my readings for the next day and going over my legal memo. On Friday, I had to submit my application to Delta Theta Phi and $65.00 in dues. To check out the Delta Theta Phi website, click here. Delta Theta Phi is an international law fraternity. Saturday morning, I received an e-mail stating that initiation into the fraternity will be on October 30, and that I need to attend in court room attire. This kinda bummed me out, but it bummed me out even more when it was made known to me that court room attire is a complete suit and that current members of the fraternity recommend we go to Macy's to get the suit since they have an inhouse tailor. Those very same members however, did mention that buy having a suit ready to wear, we become more prepared than those not in a fraternity when firms, companies and organizations come to our school next spring looking to hire first year law school students for the summer. We have what they call "OCI's" which stands for On-Campus Interviews. Yeah.... how's that? Usually a job applicant goes to the company to be interviewed, here, the company comes to our school to interview us. Also, on Friday, we were privileged to have Prof. Iijima join us again. He really gave us some direction with our Civil Procedure exam. Our Pre-Admission Program Civil Procedure tutor gave us a practice exam and some of us were completely dumbfounded not knowing how the teacher wants us to respond on the test So, I'm now in Week 9. As of today, I've seen the tutor three times since last week Friday and the tutor thinks my paper is coming a long just fine. At today's meeting, it appeared as though I only have very minor changes to make to my paper. this is good news. A friend of mine who saw the tutor between his first and second draft told me that his grade went up significantly for his second draft. I hope to do the same. On my first draft, I received a B, on my second draft, even though the instructor said it was significantly improved, I received a B-. Go figure. I don't know how that happens. After my first draft, I was ecstatic thinking, "Alright! I get 'em, I get 'em." 'A'ole, my grade slipped to a B-. So, I hope all this time I am investing in it and with time I've spent with the tutor will make a difference. I'll be surprised if its not. Yesterday, I was able to attend the 'Ahahui O Hawai'i lunchtime brownbag discussion. Great, but brief. Before I came to law school, I told my good friend Noelani Fonoimoana that I was admitted. She told me that her husband of one year was in his third year of law school and that she would tell him to check on me and take me under his wing. His name is Kanale Sadowski and I just learned last night that he, like me, didn't grow up in Hawai'i. I was surprised, but I guess I shouldn't be. He grew up in Utah and came to Hawai'i around the same time I did. He said, "Yeah, I'm sure I came here for the same reasons you did, wanting to know 'who I was" as a Hawaiian etc, etc." So, we talked for a few minutes last night before he left the law school. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California will be coming to Hawai'i to hear a few cases. Among them is Doe v. Kamehameha. Luckily for us though, they will be doing the hearings in our moot court room. It should be exciting. Well, I better get going, I have a legal memorandum to work on and some case readings to do for my Contracts class for tomorrow. Last week Tuesday, after I spoke up in class, the teacher delivered a message in my message box that read, "Derek Thanks for your participation and preparedness in Contracts class when I called on you. You are doing a great job; keep up the hard work! Professor Beh" That was nice. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 11th, 2004
8:13 pm	Week 8 Well week 8 started with a bad start. Last night I stayed at Jennifer's. I fell asleep rather early. When I was leaving to go to school this morning, I noticed, upon approaching my car, that it had been hit by another car. There was a white scrape mark along the rear passenger side. Come to find out, the boss of the workers who are at the apartment to resurface the parking deck bumped into my car while reversing into a stall. I don't know how it could have happened, he obviously wasn't paying attention. My car was perfectly centered in the the stall and there was actually a little more than a foot between the parking stall line and the car. Nevertheless, he ran into the car anyway. Luckily for me, he didn't try to abandon or not own up to his mistake. Anyway, the boss/foreman insisted that I go with him to Mapunapuna to see his insurance company and to get a quote. I was like, "uh.... I'm on my way out, I have to go to school and don't have the time right now at 7:45 in the morning to go down there." I don't know why, but the guy seemed surprised to hear this. I mean, I wasn't surprised that he didn't know I had school, I mean, he doesn't know me at all. I was surpised though that he didn't seem to think I had anything else to do. so, we both took photos. I was forced to take photos with a digital camera whose package I had not opened yet and wasn't planning to open anytime soon. We exchanged information on our driver's licenses and insurance policies. So, I felt confident that I did everything I needed to do before going to school. Well, almost everything... I had considered sliding in the fact that I'm a law school student, but I didn't. So, i got to school a little later than planned and didn't get the chance to read what I wanted to read. Anyhow, I told one of my classmates, Nam what happened. His response was, "Dude, did you tell him you're a law school student?" I told him, "No, I didn't." Then he says, "Why not? Man! You should have. He'd probably get scared and want to give you money before reporting it to the insurance company." We laughed about it and that was that. I wonder though, how much of a difference it would've made. Well, I spent my lunch hour calling insurance companies and what not, so I didn't eat lunch either. Then, I noticed that I had actually forgotten my meal card. Luckily, Jennifer made chopped steak for dinner and I am at her apartment right now. After not eating breakfast and lunch, dinner was quite refreshing and filling. Week seven of law school took an interesting twist on Friday. Professor Iijima, is the director of the Pre-Admission Program for which I am a part of of. (click here to read about Prof. Iijima) The second and third year law school students who were/are pre-admission members constantly talk about how much of an impact he has had on them. Coming to our class, we could see how much of a toll his illness has had on him. Friday, was the first time we saw him this school year. I had seen him momentarily in April while visiting the law school. I had previously heard that he had some unknown illness and was hospitalized for 4 months at the Cedars Sinai Medical Center. No one was sure whether or not he would be coming to our class or not. At best, we heard there was a chance he would. He did and word spread quickly. Various staff members came, leaving their offices and coming to our classroom just to see him. Nobody had seen him for a while. Anyhow, you can tell the illness has taken a toll on his health, he looked weak. He spoke to us though and for someone who appeared so weak, he commanded attention and proved himself to be someone with strength. He knows the difficulty first year law school students face and he knew what to say to inspire and motivate us. One of the key things he told us is that, because of us being in the Pre-Admission Program, we will do well because we support one another. He said as long as we do that, he knows we'll succeed. To know that someone as sick as him, left his house, came to our class for 20 minutes, really meant something to the rest of us. He talked about how most of the first year class do not have a group like we do, and because of that, they're alone and have little if any support. Essentially, we're a small family. His presence brought tears to the eyes of some of the 2nd and 3rd year law school students, in addition to some of the faculty and a few first year pre-admission students. We also had a tutorial class on Friday for writing. On Wednesday, our tutor had e-mailed us and said that we would be taking a field trip on Friday for our class so we needed to bring paper and pencil. Well, she wouldn't tell us where we would be going for the field trip. Several of us made jokes that we would probably be going to the library and the tutor will tell us the library is where we need to spend more of our time at. Even when we walked out of the classroom, our tutor didn't tell us where we would go for the field trip. We walked into the parking lot and she said, "In my first year, Chris (Professor Iijima) took us for beer and Pizza. That's where I'm taking you today." We walked down to Magoo's on University Avenue and..... ate pizza and drank beer. It was great, but I had to leave earlier than anyone else because I had to do my community service hours. As first year pre-admission students, we are very VERY fortunate to have so much support. The third year law school students do what they can to make our first year as easy as possible. They strive to encourage us and constantly remind us that everything will be okay. Keeping in mind what Professor Iijima told us about having each other, I feel the best way to help keep our group cohesive is to spend more time with them. Not all of my remaining time, but I think it would be good for me to spend some time with other Pre-Admission students. They're going to be my support group at the school for the next few years and I'll be theirs. I feel as though the relationships we'll be building and solidifying will be best nurtured by spending time with them and I plan to do this. Well, I have some reading to do for my Contracts class for tomorrow. gotta go. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 7th, 2004
12:46 pm	I am soOoOoo tired I cannot believe that I was here at the school until 3am this morning. I am so tired and in need of a nap. My second draft for my legal memo was today at 9:30 am. I've made some drastic changes to my first draft and I think it looks significantly better than my first draft. I never thought I would spend 20 hours in one day at my school. I paid off though, but I began to feel like I was losing it at around 1:30 am. I didn't feel like working on my paper anymore and it became difficult to focus on my writing. I could see how certain paragraphs were coherent in some areas. Nevertheless, I finished this draft and it should be returned to me sometime next week. After that, I'll have my final draft for the legal memo and that will be due on 10/22/04. Later in the semester we'll have two more writing assignments to complete. I'm not really looking forward to it. I think it's time for me to get to sleep. I'm feeling a little warm and it's usually freezing cold in this library. It's normal to see people wrapped up in blankets walking around or people wearing hooded sweatshirts. I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt and I feel unusually warm. Last night, Jennifer and Katey came to campus to eat dinner with me at the dining hall. Funny thing. When we were debating whether or not to walk from the law school or drive, I said, "Let's drive, it's raining." Katey replied with, "It's not raining, it's Ka ua noe-ing." Meaning, it's not really raining, but rather, it's a misty rain that is falling. Well, off to my nap. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 5th, 2004
11:53 am	It's Tuesday I overslept by more than an hour this morning. Almost close to 2 hours actually. I was hoping to wake up around 5:45 - 6:00 am, but instead, I woke up at 7:20. That didn't give me much time to do much this morning. I even skipped breakfast. it's a good thing I bought some bottled waters, granola bars and apricots from Costco the other week. Well, in less than two days, I have to turn in the second draft to my legal memo, so I'll be busy for the next few days. As it turns out, I won't be having my Legal Methods Class, which is scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 am until 9:45 am, until October 28. How's that? Very convenient for me... that's how it is. What sucks is that I think I have to read.... wait..... I don't think that anymore,.... I came to the realization that I KNOW that's what I have to do. I have read our assigned readings more than once. I seem to be having a problem with comprehension of the reading materials and last night, I found myself dissecting a Hawai'i case that was assigned to us for Contracts class. i had never done that before and last night I realize, that's what I'm going to have to do. It sure does take a along time to do, but right now, that alone improves my comprehension. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 2nd, 2004
8:14 am	Week 6 is over. Today is Saturday. Week 6, as far as weekdays go, is over. But, calendar wise, today is the last day of week 6. I still have a lot of work today. I have a practice exam that is due via e-mail tomorrow by noon. I didn't get a chance to work on it yesterday/last night. Since beginning law school, it's almost been like I'm in a foreign country. American lawyers either won't or can't speak plain English. No, their language known as legalese (aka legal speak) isn't easily understandable, thus creating a language barrier. But, the good news is I am learning. I remember during our orientation, which preceded the beginning of our first year in law school, we were fortunate to have law school students and practicing attorneys share their experiences with them. A friend of mine, Lopaka Inciong also took some time from his schedule (in April) to discuss with me the rigorous study of law. Essentially, the most consistent theme shared among all people is that law school is very time consuming. An unfortunate result of it being time consuming is that it takes away most, if not all, of your time away from your family. Several of my classmates are having relationship problems. I think the one's who have it worst are the students who are in long distance relationships. It's very unfortunate to hear of their difficulty. I've been doing my community service hours daily at Kua'ana: Native Hawaiian Student Development Services. It's been great as we work on Hapai Pu, the financial aid fair for students of aboriginal Hawaiian ancestry. We're way ahead of schedule, which the Director of Kua'ana, Ku'umeaaloha Gomes says, is far different from previous years where people are running around last minute. It's great to know that I've contributed greatly to that. I've decided to become the liason between the Native Hawaiian Bar Association and the law school, through the 'Ahahui o Hawai'i organization. I think this will help me greatly in networking with practicing attorneys. Last week Friday, I missed a party that was at the law school. The only unfortunate thing about missing it was, that I missed the opportunity to network with 2nd and 3rd year law school students. As a first year (Pre-Admission) student, I am in classes with only first year students, so I don't really know many 2nd year students and I know only one 3rd year student. I need to get to know some 3rd year students because when I get out of law school, those guys will already have two years of working experience in the legal field on me. If I apply to a firm (or any other potential employer) those current 2nd and 3rd year law school students might make a difference on whether or not I get the job simply because they might have some idea of what my capabilities are, or whether or not I am a good litigator or easy person to work with, etc., etc. But of course, I am finding other alternatives such as serving as the liason between UH/'Ahahui O Hawai'i and the Native Hawaiian Bar Association. I'll indeed find some alternatives. Washing clothes at dormitory sucks. The washers take 38 minutes ($1.25) to wash and dryers take one hour ($1.00) to dry. At Jennifer's apartment it's only 75 cents to wash and that takes 30 minutes. To dry, you can go with 30 minutes for 50 cents. There's also only four washers and three dryers. I really have to do something about applying for more scholarships for next year. From a Kua'ana staff meeting I attended this week, I found out that one medical-school student received scholarships/financial aid in the amount of $38,000 for the school year. How's that?!?! That's more than what some people make at a full-time job! So, come spring semester, I'll be looking for additional merit-based scholarships to apply to. I'm not expecting to get that much in scholarships, but I'd like to get more than what I have right now. But, I do feel fortunate to have received the amount I have this year. Well, I'd better get started on doing some work. (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 30th, 2004
12:02 pm	Thursday.... almost pau with week 6 My two professors who were sick on Monday, are still sick. I hope it's nothing serious. Last night at around 6:45 pm, my friend from law school, Keoki, the Hawaiian from Iowa, called me. He told me that our other law school friends, Nam, Tony and himself were going to Bed-Roq for a few drinks and he wanted to invite me. I told him I was busy at the moment and that I would call him before going over. I was busy waiting for Smallville. After Smallville was over I called Keoki and walked to Bed-Roq from Jennifer's apartment. We had eaten dinner over there. She wasn't feeling well and so I picked up some chicken from Costco along with some salad and we ate. So anyhow, there were other law school students from school at Bed-Roq, all first year law school students, except for one. It was a good thing. i had originally intended on only being there for an hour to an hour and a half, then going to the library to finish studying. But, I met some people from my class I had never really spoken with and it was a great night. I ended up getting the library eventually, but I only had enough time to get my laptop and other books before they closed at 11. One of the people at Bed Roq was a fellow student by the name of Richard Lee. He's about 35 years old, socializes like he's only 25. He's probably the tallest Korean I've ever met, towering at about 6 feet. Cool guy. We discussed racism among other things and he shared some personal stories about how he was discriminated against. he doesn't look 35, but he is, which I guess when you factor in his age, he grew up around the time when racism and prejudice was more prevalent than it is today. He's had some very unfortunate experiences. It reminded me of some of the situations my dad told me he experienced when he, my mom and older brother were living in Alabama. Well, I've created for myself a schedule to help me manage my time better. I think it'll work. Actually, the schedule works. The question is whether or not I'll work with the schedule. With that in mind, I must go for now and study. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 28th, 2004
7:09 pm	would you believe???? Okay... so, as I wrote yesterday, I felt well prepared for class. My first class begins at 10:10 Monday mornings. Thirty minutes before class started, I was informed that two of my three classes were cancelled. More specifically, it was my two morning classes that are back to back. That would be legal research and civil procedure. Imagine that, i was prepared and my classes were cancelled. Both professors are apparently sick. I studied and around 11:15 I decided to go to the YMCA to work out. I couldn't work out for too long because my third class of the day begins at 1:30 pm. So, around 12:00 I jump into the YMCA's showers because, i also wanted to eat lunch before my last class of the day. Our teacher/tutor for this class was sick also. I get back to campus, read a little bit to review before my last class of the day. I went to the classroom and at 1:30, only four of the 12 students in the class showed up. We then found out that, that class was cancelled too. How's that? One of the best parts of yesterday though was getting the cookie's my mom sent to my dorm room. I ate dinner with Katelyn and Jennifer at a Vietnamese restaurant near the university. That was great too. I felt a sore throat coming on last night but it seems to be fine today. Luckily today none of our classes were cancelled. I feel very fatigued though. I think I'll be leaving here soon. I'm working on improving my time management. I think it will work. I'm implementing it tomorrow and I'll see how well it works by the end of next week. I expect I'll have to make some changes, but nothing major. Today, I met with my writing tutor Shawn. Shawn reviewed my legal memo I submitted for my Legal Methods Seminar class. I received a B for that paper which was a surprise. I was expecting a C. To my surprise also, Shawn said it's a very well written paper for a first draft. According to Shawn, who go the highest score in several of her classes, I've already got all the necessary elements of for an "A" grade paper. I just have to make it fall into the appropriate legal format. She said my arguments were well stated and that my writing style is concise, not wordy. That was very encouraging. (Comment on this)
Monday, September 27th, 2004
8:18 am	Week 6 begins So, today being a Monday, another week begins. Specifically, it's week 6. I'm ready for today. I'm a little bit ahead of schedule for my Legal Research Seminar class. I started on the assignment before it's officially been assigned. I'm practically finished. when I go to class, we'll get the details of what she wants us to modify or not do. I've read the case for our Civil Procedure class today. I'll review it again once or twice before we that class begins. Today, I plan on completing Tuesday and Thursday's readings for this week's Contract's class. About two weeks ago, I spent another $60 on supplement books that are supposed to help you understand the assigned cases. They kind of help you focus on the main issues and most of the time, they use regular language as opposed to legalese. We'll see how this week unfolds. I'm off to eat breakfast, then after that, my legal research class. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 21st, 2004
11:27 am	My 5th week of law school Okay, so I am in my 5th week of law school. Today is Tuesday. I just got finished with my Contracts class. I began this week, yesterday, very well prepared. Well, atleast I thought I did. I had read all my required due readings, had an understanding of them and felt confident with it. Professor Yamamoto though, my Civil Procedure professor, has a way of asking questions that raises doubts in other students. I've heard other students say same thing I've written here. "While I thought I understood the readings, I left the class realizing I didn't." Last week Monday, I, along with my 99 other classmates, submitted my legal memo for our legal methods class. there are several instructors for this subject. Apparently, I now have to re-submit mine via e-mail to my instructor because, as she says, "the housekeeper at the hotel she stayed at, threw mine and my other classmates legal memo assignments away." Last night, I wasted about an hour and a half or so, waiting to catch a bus in the evening to pick up my car from Lionel's 76, where they fixed it. Something about a relay switch needed to be changed. So, I waited at the bus stop on Beretania street for what seemed like an eternity. The highlight of that wait came when one of my best friends from "small kid time" happened to walk by. Yeah, my friend Juan happened to be at Magoo's for some drinks and was walking to 7-11. we talked and chat for a bit, he asked how I was doing, what i was doing at the bus stop. I grumbled about law school and having to wait for the bus. I asked how he was doing and he told me he was recently promoted to store manager. This past weekend though, was GREAT. A great relief from the mundane and monotony of my law school schedule. It also gave me a good amount of time to spend with Jennifer and Katelyn. We checked in at the Ohana West Hotel in Waikiki and found, to my surprise, that we had been upgraded from a standard room to a one-bedroom suite. That was very nice. Friday, evening we went to the Ho'olaule'a and when we came home, we rented a movie, Hellboy. Saturday, we woke up, at breakfast at Keoni's, took Jennifer to school for her Saturday class, and Katelyn and I lounged at the hotel pool until it was time to pick Jennifer up again. We both did some reading, lounged around the hotel, katelyn played video games. We ate at Chuck's cellar for dinner and that was great! The Prime Rib we ate was very ono and so was the steamed clams. Good thing we had a coupon for 20% off. After that, we went to watch The Magic of Polynesia Show. Very entertaining. On Sunday, we ate breakfast across the street at Denny's then checked out and hung out at Waikiki Beach for several hours. Very relaxing it was and nice, despite it being crowded. But, alas, as all good things must come to an end, so did our weekend. And now, I'm back at school. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, September 17th, 2004
12:51 pm	Week 4 completed! Alright, so the 4th week of law school is ending today. Right now, as I type this, I'm sitting in one of the classrooms waiting for the, "How to suceed in law school forum" to begin. It was supposed to have started 5 minutes ago. I don't know what's going on, but it doesn't seem like it's going to be starting in the next 5 minutes, so I'm going to take some time to post another entry. This week and last week has been very difficult, but from talking to some second and third year law school students, that's okay because, "everyone goes through that." I don't know about you, but that's not very encouraging to me. But anyway, the good news is, it's the weekend. Tonight is the Waikiki Ho'olaule'a of the Aloha Festivals. Me, Jennifer and Katelyn will be going and we're actually going to be staying in Waikiki for the weekend at the Outrigger's Ohana West Hotel. We're looking forward to that. The last few days have been pretty good. Not so stressful. I've already submitted my Legal Research Assignment this morning. Our first year law school class is putting on a party next week friday. All of us first year students had to donate $20, we're pretty much sponsoring the party for the entiry law school. There's approximatey 100 of us. In the coming months, the second and third year classes will have similar parties where they'll pay. While many of us aren't enthused about the country theme, we're sure the party will be a great one. well, the forum has begun. (2 Comments |Comment on this)