hallelujah!

people, we have been through a lot this year...

we've spent hundreds of hours in class, and even more hours in the library. we've spent hundreds of dollars on books, and after paying tuition, have put ourselves tens of thousands of dollars into debt. we've taken eight exams, a blue book quiz, and written a client letter, a memo about some crazy chick with a paintbrush, and a brief about an even crazier chick who just wanted to return her nutrients to the earth.

lord knows, we've been through a lot.

we've read every kind of case imaginable, and sometimes we've been called on to show what we've learned. gora, poser and nan handled us gently. sebok had us doing mental gymnastics. and pitler hit us with all the subtlety of a socratic shotgun.

we've had pointless scavenger hunts in the library, and tedious scavenger hunts in the westlaw lab.

and let's not forget the moot court tryouts. some of us were so good, we had to do it twice. others of us were even dumb enough to sweat through an additional trial ad tryout.

man, did we put ourselves through a lot.

we worked into the wee hours of the night. as the rest of the city slumbered, we wrestled with the commerce clause and the dormant commerce clause, utilitarianism and retributivism, claim preclusion and issue preclusion, proximate cause and but-for cause, IRAC and CRAC and IRA and IRAP, the statute of limitations and the statute of frauds, the FRCP, USC, & UCC, reversions and remainders, impleaders and interpleaders. apparently, there was even some sort of capability problem in contract law, though i still am not sure what that's all about.

hell yeah, we've gone through a lot.

the crazy-ass time crunch during question #4 on an exam. the late nights worrying about class rank and summer jobs and whether there would be a "+" or a "-" next to a class grade. entire weekends spent outlining, and i'm talking about beautiful, sunny weekends where you can hear the children laughing and playing outside. long train rides with sullivan & gunther on our backs. calculating how many more classes until we were on call. realizing that we've only got two minutes left to proofread an entire exam, or discovering, to our horror, that beryl was working her way down our row, and we're next.

people, we've been through a lot. it was enough to shatter the soul of a lesser man or woman. yet somehow we have survived. they threw everything they had at us, yet we are still standing: exhausted, bruised and battered, but somehow even stronger, smarter, and tougher than before.

congratulations to all my fellow 1L's for surviving one of the toughest rites of passage imaginable...

we made it through a year of law school!

i hope that everyone will be out in full force tonight, this weekend, and all summer. it's obvious that next year could very well be even tougher than this one, so let's live it up while we can.

so now it's time to get down, to wang chung, to shake our groove thangs, or perhaps even to rock out with our cocks out (or with our vaginas out, as the case may be).

i'll see you all at union bar tonight. it should be a night to remember, or at least to struggle to remember. the first round's on me...

***

before i go take my pre-celebration disco nap, i just want to give a quick update on the state of menlovian.

you all should pretty much figure that i won't be revealing my identity until the day after our final grade is posted. until then, feel free to keep floating your theories around on the message board. i enjoy it very much. it makes me feel all tingly in my swimsuit areas.

and to anyone who believes that they have figured me out beyond a reasonable doubt, shoot me an email at menloveBLS@hotmail.com, and tell me who you think i am. if you're right, i may give you special mention in the final entry, credit where credit is due, and all that.

speaking of the final farewell menlovian entry, since you guys went the extra mile, and gave so generously to BLSforGood, i want to make sure you get your money's worth out of the final blog.

as i've mentioned before, in the final entry, i'll be answering questions such as: how did i publicize menlovian without giving away my identity? what sneaky subterfuge did i employ to maintain my anonymity? which two professors very nearly blew my cover during class? which of my classmates came closest to figuring out who i am? is there really a princess strawberry margarita, and if so, who is she? who are the truly wonderful people i've gotten to know this year? am i really so crazy about the cosby show? what actually goes on in the 8th floor men's room? who is the person (or perhaps the people) whom i've already told about my identity? and finally, of course, who is menlove?

however, you all deserve the best entry i can write, so what i want to know is what you'd like to see me talk about in those final lines. i'm will to share almost anything, within reason, so let me know what you's enjoy reading about, and i'll do my best to oblige.

you probably won't hear from me too much between now and then. i'll likely write a little somehthing after the law review competition, and maybe the occasional hello or random update, but otherwise, it's pretty much finished!

i think i just had my first actual sigh of relief since august! it's over!! it's fucking over!!!!

you guys rule, and i hope that everyone feels as relieved, exhilerated and proud as i do right now. see you tonight, and hopefully i'll be seeing you all summer.

much love,

-menlove