Top Ten Ways to Wait Out the Waiting Game

I thought that it was high time for me to address what I and everyone else is thinking, “Did I pass the California July 2010 Bar Exam?” given that I and every exam taker is on pins and needles. . .

A personal event, while our family and friends are supportive, we don’t need to hear platitudes (“Don’t worry, you’ll pass!) or (“Well, if you don’t pass, you can always take the exam again.”) It is better to avoid addressing this issue with us and to leave silent dogs where they lay.

Of course, we worry. One never knows if one passed or not when one walks out of the exam. The MBE’s in the afternoon of the July 2010 exam were particularly rough and where did the questions on civil procedure and wills come from? These questions were not supposed to be on the exam!

And, our friends and family don’t know what they are saying when they state, “Well, you can always take the exam again!” True. But, after five-months of study, and after balancing a paralegal job with enumerating for the U.S. Census Bureau, and barely able to pay the rent. . .after living  in a room with mold in the closet and ants in my cat’s food. . .and another nearly 4-months of waiting. . .how many times does one expect that I, or anyone, can do this over again?

Someone wrote that they pitied poor Paula Bandy who took the California Bar exam 14-times before she passed, moving from a house to a garage converted into an apartment, penniless, and still intent on passing. Ms. Bandy is now tutoring bar exam takers; for all that, she is not now a practicing attorney.

And, yet, I am lining up 2010 version of Strategies and Tactics and taking out my sharpened pencils. For, after 10-weeks in the final coursework of a paralegal program, providing good grounding in criminal law and procedure, constitutional and family law, I’m on my game. And, my study buddy is waiting for me in California. For yes, I’ve decided to go back home. I’m a California gal through and through. . .I’ve moved on from the prairie state. I’m turning my little car in a westerly direction and, after clerking for a judge in Illinois (pro bono), after Christmas, cat and I will take the southern route on the long trip home to the Golden State.

So . . . now to the Top Ten. . .

1. Study for another bar exam and don’t look back.

2. One of my friends avoided the results. Her husband awakened her on Sunday morning, and exclaimed, “Honey, you passed the bar exam!” She rolled over and went to sleep.

3. Bake bread, cookies, cakes, croissants . . . and feed them to your friends.

4. Work out with a vengeance. Develop the body that you had before the bar exam!

5. Begin drinking and don’t stop. (But, don’t drive!)

6. Look for gainful employment . . . anything that pays the rent . . . (and, good luck finding a job!)

7. Clerk for a judge.

8. Fill your life with endless details . . . only think about the exam in your dreams.

9. Concentrate on finding a new man (or woman) . . . being in love is a great escape. . .or, keep the one you have if you are both in love.

10. Pour your heart out into a blog. Although comments may be rare, you periodically receive one or two notations that let you know that you are in good company.