might as well

i really thought that going back to school would help solidify my notion of what day it is, but i have found that not to be as entirely true as one might think. today really felt like monday for some reason. no matter, one day closer to thursday, since my spoiled ass doesn't have to go on fridays, which might play into my day-identification. also means my research cites are due tomorrow, but that is all in the bag. i feel really good about what i've turned up. i compared notes with a guy from my original group whom i've assessed as being pretty with it, and we were on the same path, and that's always comforting. i was pretty nervous going into it, but i should have had more confidence in my own research capabilities and more so in the prof not handing us more than we could handle. the whole assignment has really turned out to be more interesting than i really hoped it would be. at the outset we were handed a mock note from a senior partner requesting a memo. the question revolved around whether somebody filing for bankruptcy could have her student loan discharged as a part of those proceedings. personally, i was kind of surprised that educational loans have a special status wherein they don't go away with all the other debts discharged in bankruptcy; there is actually a section of a statute declaring that student loans may not be discharged unless repayment of them would constitute an undue hardship. the law itself, of course, remains silent on exactly what the hell undue hardship means and left that up to the courts to decide. i'm here to tell you while sparing the gory details that the situation has been a total mess for the most part, with different jurisdictions developing different standards and tests for meeting them. looking into it has truly been an enlightening experience and i really appreciate that out of a kick-off assignment. this second part has been even better working solo and getting a little trickier. turns out a couple years ago some courts started giving partial discharges of student loans. in many instances this has worked out to be just plain bad, nonsensical law. one circuit i looked at was applying this widely-adopted test to determine whether a loan was dischargable in full and giving partial discharges with horrible inconsistency. i'll admit i have plenty of skepticism about the state of laws in this country, but i was really taken aback at how ridiculous this particular situation was. if it doesn't seem that way to you, it is only because i didn't feel like writing the memo in this blog post and citing eighteen different cases you would easily be able to look up by paying the small fortune required for a lexis or westlaw subscription. or perhaps the thomas m cooley school of law will let you use their library as a member of the public.
so i wrote all that yesterday and decided it just wasn't enough to publish. i wavered over whether or not to include a lengthy meditation on the grateful dead. but in all honesty i don't think anyone's opinion would have been swayed; best result would have been people looking closer at 1973. the one point i really wanted to bring up was that i didn't see a single dead shirt at that tea leaf green show. i don't know if the dead are considered trite or if people just don't get into them like they used to. i have no doubt that many people into "classic rock" (70s) are not well versed in the oldies (60s), and i wonder if the wide proliferation of phish tees on people too young to have seen them (they quit more than three years ago already!) is a reflection of a similar trend. anyway, '73 first sets should convert anyone frightened off by the prospect of a half hour dark star. lots of great tunes packed tight together.
but like i was saying, i wrote that whole law school bit yesterday. today, i would have gone one and on about what a pain in the ass it is and how it can just swallow your whole life and still leave you feeling hopelessly inadequate. such is the nature of the beast. but not the number. recent scholarship indicates that the number of the beast is not 666, as traditionally thought, but rather 616. i'm not making this shit up, and if my internet connection was more reliable i would try and track down some proof. but if you don't believe me, use your fancy-ass connection to do some research. 616, of course. the devil lives in the 616, don'tchaknow. no better place to go than church capital, america. BANG! that was the gunshot i just herd, onomatopoeia inclusion for you there. usually they don't sound so nearby. i heard a bunch when i woke up for no reason at 5 am today. what a shitty time to be awake; almost no good could possibly come of that. 7:30 is bad enough as it is. after ironically self-censoring a long piece on self-censorship, that's all for now.