WonL
The random thoughts of an architect-turned- lawyer from the deep south living in Washington, DC...
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
How far would you go?
Classes started on Monday and I let out a sigh when I found out which classroom my Trusts and Estates class is in. This room might be the worst in the law school. It's in the basement, so no windows and not much air flow. Furthermore, it is very long and narrow with no breaks in the rows. This means that the rows are about 14 seats long which is a whole lot of pushing and bumping to get to the middle seats. I got there early to pick a good seat.Upon arrival, I saw one of my bestest law school friends had arrived even earlier than myself and he had found an end seat. Fabulous. I plopped my stuff down behind him and we began discussing our breaks. As filtered into class, my friend was constantly having to get up and allow people with overly large bookbags to shove their way into his row. I, on the other hand, didn't budge. I didn't need to. You see, I'm on a row where the classroom starts to taper off so there is no seat behind me. This means no one has to squeeze by, bump, or knock me to get to their seats. I saw the frustration in my friend's eyes every time on of the chicks in his row changed her mind about sitting and got up to go chat with her friends. It was then that I realized what a golden seat I have.
Well, of course, as law school goes, the professor did not pass out the seating chart the first day. Instead, he said he would pass it out on Wednesday. My friend turns to me and says he thinks he is going to pick a different seat, like perhaps the one I am sitting in. I laugh it off and tell him no way, this seat is mine. He said he might just have to take it then. Now, let's pause for a moment and discuss the unspoken code of law school seating. Pretty much every law school professor waits until the second day of class to pass around the seating chart and make you decide which seat will be yours for the entire semester. Nevertheless, people usually pick their seats the first day. You get there early and pick your seat and it is pretty much "known" that is your seat and that on day two, you will again take up the same seat and put your name on the chart. Granted, there are plenty of jerks in law school who will take that seat knowing full well you laid claim. They probably figure they don't really know you and don't really care if you theortically claimed the seat because, really, it's not yours until your name is on the seating chart. However, true friends would never do that to each other. Or would they?
I wondered if this friend of mine would actually get to school early today and take my seat. I mean, we are really close and sure have been through a lot in the past few years. However, he is a competitive person and quite frankly, would probably do what he feels is best for himself. So, I did what any red-blooded anal-retentive law school student would do. I checked the classroom roster, found out there were no classes before ours and decided to come to school early to get my seat. As I walked into the classroom at 9:55 this morning I was happy to see it was empty. I claimed my golden seat and set up all my stuff. Now I have to go put on make-up, grab breakfast, and then do my reading for my Trusts and Estates class...which starts at noon.
By the way, to my friend (because I know you are reading this), I saved you the seat in front of me. Oh, and happy birthday.