The Mid-Semester Itch

One of the things that I’ve begun to realize about law school is that each semester, I’m going to have a miniature mid-life crisis. This is like a regular mid-life crisis, except instead of going out and buying a sports car, I just get depressed. I like to think of this as the “Mid-Semester Itch.” It’s sort of like the “Seven Year Itch“, except my XBox 360 plays the part of Marilyn Monroe. The minute the Mid-Semester Itch strikes, I start behaving like an undergrad, ignoring my school work, and my in-class attention span plummets to hyperactive-11-year-old levels.

I’ve tried to figure out exactly what it is that causes this Mid-Semester Itch, and I’ve got a couple of theories:

1.) The new semester has worn out it’s “newness” – Like the day you realize that your new car doesn’t have that new car smell anymore, once the glamor of the new semester has worn out, it’s just not as fun to come to class anymore. This seems to be the most rational reason to explain the doldrums of mid-semester life in law school. You’ve gotten over the excitement of a new book and new areas of the law, and you’re back to the same old drudgery. Reading, outlining, rinse, repeat.

2.) You realize that you’ve still got over half the class left - I think this phenomenon is probably just Property centric, but when I sit in that class and realize I’ve got to listen and read this crap for another three months, I really want to commit a tort. Like right in someone’s face.

3.) Once again, you begin to question why you’re doing this - This seems to be a ubiquitous question amongst law students, especially us evening students with careers and families (theoretically, anyway.) I usually don’t bother asking myself this question when the semester starts because of reason #1. But this is where things start to hit the fan, with the major writing and research assignments coming due and the level of reading in other classes starts to pick up.

In any event, when this time in the semester hits, I invariably have a discussion with my fiancee in the car on the way to work that goes something like this:

BigShow - “I think I’m bored with school again.”

BigShow’s Fiancee – “Rub some dirt in it, wuss.”

Of course, she says this very nicely and in a supportive way, but I can read between the lines.

Here are two quick ways that I can tell when I’m getting hit with the Mid-Semester Itch:

• Procrastination is my friend. (right now, I should be working on revising a paper)
• Anything becomes more interesting than class. For example, I was reading reviews of mortgage lenders during Property last night. And I’m not even trying to buy a house.

Now, the bigger question is how to get rid of it. Last semester, I just powered through and realized that if I didn’t do well this semester, it would be difficult to get my grades up to where I wanted them to be. That, coupled with my competitive streak, seemed to help. Hopefully, this will be enough to get me through the rest of the semester.

And, of course, I still have this paper to revise. But that can wait – I’m only two notes away from getting a perfect 100% on “Talk Dirty to Me“.

No related posts.