Today is a strange day. It’s Shabbat in the middle of finals. I don’t work on Shabbat, although I am willing to use my computer (obviously). There’s no work going on here. I’m just entertaining myself really. Anyway, here I am taking a full day away from the final exam freak out. Last night, I enjoyed some lovely wine (La Posta Bonarda from 2004 only $15. Seriously, if you’re a wine drinker, go get some.) Today, I slept late, spent the day with my children, and we’re getting ready to go to a friend’s house for a dinner party.  It’s a strange sensation to be enjoying myself so much in the middle of finals, but this observance of not working on Shabbat has saved my sanity from slipping away into the black hole of obsessive studying/life without balance.

Speaking of finals, some of you may be wanting to know how that went. Well, I’ll tell you - I don’t know. Seriously, I can’t tell even a ballpark of how I did. I could’ve flunked. I could’ve gotten A’s. Who knows? More importantly, it doesn’t matter. Whatever happened I’ll find out in January and move on from there. Actually, I will have moved on already - professors are already posting assignments for Spring Semester. Anyway, finals are no time to stress out. If there is a time to stress out, it’s during the semester when you’re trying to stay on top of everything all the time. By the time you get to finals, it’s time to relax, clear your head, and focus on the questions in front of you.

The tests are long. I always go in feeling fine, and I leave with bloodshot eyes and an almost desperate hunger. Seriously, they take a lot out of you. That’s why I say relax, clear your head, and focus. You can’t magically have more knowledge in your head by going short on sleep and long on tension. Hopefully, you’ve been studying all term, so just put down your best answer and move on. The path is the goal. If you’re enjoying studying and you’re learning a lot of law, what’s the problem? Grades? To hell with grades, I’m here for my education, and I’m definitely getting my education, so I feel successful regardless of anyone’s arbitrary yardstick of my performance. Uh-oh. I better stop before I go on a rant about the problems with grades as a measure of student performance. If you want to hear that, you’ll have to ask.