Frusterated Fingers

I haven't posted in a couple of days, mostly due to my studying schedule which has been occupying most of my time as of late. Finals are coming up in a couple of weeks, and I'm trying to keep on top of my classes as much as possible, in the hope that I can do better on my finals this term, and thereby at least marginally increase my job marketability. I've been coming to school on the weekends, something that I never did during most of the semester, and staying late in the library after classes. I can't say that I make the absolute most of my time while I'm here. I waste alot of it playing online games, im-ing with friends, and mindlessly, almost desperately, surfing the net, but I do get more work done here than I would if I tried studying at home. It's not just that there's no chair in which to sit at the lovely new desk positioned in the corner of my living room, barely two feet from the ever constant glow and murmer of the tv, but that the endless distractions which present themselves the minute I walk through the door are almost impossible to avoid, much less, ignore. So against the inchoate protestations of my inner laziness, I drag myself here in the hope that after exhausting myself online trying to find somthing, anything, that might distract me from my task at hand, I might actually buckle down to do some work, at least for a couple of uninterrupted minutes.
I also haven't made my final decision yet on whether to take my exams by computer, or to handwrite them. And just so that the reader doesn't think that I'm some kind of hopelessly atavistic troglodyte who couldn't tell a mac from a toaster, I happen to have many computer savvy friends who, value my old world affectations, when they're not mocking me for my hopelessly backward ideas about the obsolescence of social relationships and the computer game driven disintegration of one's personal identity, much less of the unusability of last years ipod. Last year I performed better in the first semester when I handwrote, than when I tried my hand at typing for the second semster. Now while that's not an ironclad proof that my skills at typing are inferior, it does give me pause now when I'm supposed to make that possibly monumental decision again. A decision which will unbelievably, given its extraordinary banality outside the current context, have a significant impact on my future. Should I maintain my commitment to improving my typing skills, or should I admit defeat at least temporarily and handwrite? I probably won't end up making my decision until close to the last minute. But here's wishing me well, regardless of which method I end up choosing.
Last night I received the first three disks of the third season of 24, which I've become addicted to during the past month. I get them three at a time from netflix. And I think i'ts a really good service, for its value, and I haven't had much problems with them aside from the occasional scratched disk. I do sometimes visit the local video shop to rent something on the spur of the moment when I want to see something that I didn't have on my list or at home. And I feel bad for the imminent demise of the institution. I dont think that in five years from now there'll be such a thing anymore of your local neighborhood video rental store. But that's the price of progress. Much like how I bitched and complained last year about how it wasn't fair that all the other students, who I viewed as essentially nothing more than glorified secretaries, given their incredible proficiency with Microsoft Word, had a distinct advantage during finals, when despite their perhaps shortcomings with a firm grasp of the subject material, could nevertheless bob and weave themselves a semi-decent answer by dumping a barrage of words on the professor in the hope that he values length over substance, an attitude expressly adopted by my Contracts professor in the last day before the final. I still don't think it was fair, anm am to this day concededly bitter given that my Contracts grade had a hugely disproportionate impact on my future legal career, but at some point you just have to accept that this is the way of the future, all standardized tests having for the most part by this point gone digital, and learn to type well enough to function with the rest of society. Life just isn't going to slow down to accomodate those who can't keep up. I still think that I write and think better using pen and paper, but I'm aggressively trying to improve my skills witht the keyboard so that I can remain competitive amongst my peers. Interestingly, as a last word on the topic, I happened to catch a short interview on tv the other night of John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and he happened to mention in response to a question about whether he types or writes his opinions, that he still handwrites all of his responsa, including all drafts and revisions.
But my frusterated fingers obstinately soldier on.