I started typing on another subject when I realized the next California Bar Exam is held this week. In fact, tomorrow is when many students swarm into hotels around the test centers and commence the rituals of their own choice for one last day before the first day of the test–Tuesday.

It would be such a big lie if I do not say how proud I am that I passed the first time, but having said that–for those of you who are repeat offenders–I want to just remind you how good a company you are in:

…Not to mention (from what I have heard or read) John Kennedy, Governors Wilson and Jerry Brown, and many more…

For some of you it will be the first time, but as it is the case usually for February, many are repeat takers. This is one of those rare events when “once bitten, twice shy” does not apply. Those bitten once nearly always come back–again; reaching for that holy grail.

Good luck to you all. Do not fault me for feeling so grateful that I do not have to be amongst you. May whatever force you believe in be with you.

I give up! The blog is back as it was before; open access. I will just have to monitor traffic and moderate. In the end I decided it is worth a few minutes of my time, because judging by search terms report I get, there are quite a few people who have relevant questions and find something useful here. So, I will invest the time to sift the spam away, as long as I see number of visitors warrants leaving the blog up. Again, good luck on the Bar Exam…and Boy! I am sooooo happy not to be in your shoes..:-P

I took my blog off line for a while. It was a good move; just a bit of time to reflect. I had realized that search engines were pointing here under my name and I am not so sure that is something desirable. The blog was a diary of my law studies, and also here to be helpful to other law students–if at all. Luckily, I fixed that issue. Now, only regular feeds lead to this site–which means other blogs usually and my friends who know about this blog.

I wish all the California Bar Exam takers luck. I am just very happy not to be in your shoes.

Happy New Year! Now get to work!

Pretty much this is what usually our lives amount to, try as we might to alter this course. I must say, I do steal moments, hours, even a day or two here and there–successfully. That is a cause for pride. Otherwise, but for these stolen moments, minutes, hours, days–of reflection or fun–old age–really old–the kind that tells you time is up–sets in much faster when all we do is work. Unless, we are one of the few who love what they do and do not feel it is “work” anyway!

May we catch a glimpse of what it feels to absolutely love your work–maybe even this new year!

Cheers to that!

December 30th; one more day before we start marking a new calendar. Successions of life’s moments–even when they pass to our liking–still leave us with a constant and steady passage of time that signifies the very common nature of our existence.

Is this mundane or profound? It is both. There is nearly nothing we can think of that is not the product of some inherent contradiction. As I celebrate whatever success now behind me, I am reminded that the only way to keep the mundane in perspective is to look for some new and interesting things to achieve and experience. Put in those terms life becomes meaningful and simple to understand. Basically, one can accomplish nothing significant and still live out the allotted days and nights, and surely–and eventually–run out of time like everyone has, and everyone will. One can also spend the time transforming the self, some other, or some of what is around us in positive ways. Granted we cannot all agree what “positive” is, but like Emerson, I believe in the inherent good will to be part of our instinctive human manuscript. We can act on what we call loosely our “conscious”.

My resolution for next year is the same as for any other; I want to not regret where I have been by the time I get to end of next December. I want to reflect back and think I did “something worth doing”; again. As always, I only pray for health of body and mind; happiness and prosperity are always subject to that wish without its grant one cannot be happy, or enjoy any amount of prosperity.

See you in a couple of days. I wish you all health, happiness and prosperity; in that very order.

” Just a perdy picture for the Holidays!”
Have been very very busy. In fact so much so that I have not posted here for a few days. Days go by fast–very fast. Hard to believe in a couple of days it will be a month since I heard the good news of passing the Bar. It is less than two weeks since I was sworn in, even fewer days since I made my first appearance, and a couple of days ago I provided consultation for my first potential client. My small office is nearly ready and I will officially be open in January.

Now, as for the title of this post, I get a copy of search terms that leads people here to my blog. One of them reads, “in memory of Farzin”–ha?…I was laughing. Sounds like I died and someone forgot to tell me! Just thought it interesting; will not try to understand or analyze it.

Ciao for now…

 

“Not the exact courtroom I appeared in, but don’t it look perdy!?”

Wow! I am so happy to report my first appearance went very well. I did not break any eggs, got a great deal for my client, learned a whole lot about the particular court I appeared in–they are all different–and, felt great. I also had the most dramatic case on the calendar. My client was in custody–serving time on unrelated charges. He had to be transported into the Family court, hand-cuffed, chained and wearing the orange jump suit. I felt bad for him, but had to get over it quick. I was there to work on the family issue, and could not spend time on his obvious protestations about how he should not have been given the sentence he had been. You will find out soon that all prisoners believe they got a raw deal!

I first made a B line for the bailiff–which is the best advice anyone gave me. They know the court better than anyone. He congratulated me for having passed the Bar, told me where to go, where to sit and stand, and what to expect would happen. He also told me who were the OPs, in this case, the DA was the OP representative.

Then I went to introduce myself to the DA, was humble enough with the her, no chip on my shoulder, told her it was my first apperance, and I did not even have my bar number yet. (I checked with the State Bar. Once you are sworn in, you are IT. The number does not keep you from working). Result was a friendly discussion, and I got for my client more than what the client’s attorney of record had asked me to shoot for.

All this takes place before the judge even takes the bench.

By the time we had to stand and deliver, it was predicatble and I had nothing to worry about. I did make a mistake by not stating on the record my client’s name. judge asked him..:-)…problem solved; awesome judge. I was very lucky. To my client, I appeared as if I had done this sort of thing for years. To the attorneys in the court, the judge, the clerks and the bailif, I appeared competent and pleasant; the sort of attorney you want to work with more often.

I am grin from ear to ear. I love this job; pressure, stress, responsibility and all…not much else in the world is like it. Stepping into the “well”, passed that “bar”–was something I will remember forever and hope to do many many times.

Darn proud of myself; and I barely had to say more than two sentences on the record!

I was sworn in last evening. Awesome few words, which believe me, I personally take very seriously and was proud of reciting very deliberately, and carefully. There is good and bad in every profession, but Attorneys are under such scrutiny, and deservedly so. Honorable Linda Condron, Judge of the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, and a distinguished alumni of my own law school, swore in my classmates and I. Among other words she mentioned how from this point forward what we do in our professional and personal capacity affects individual lives as well as how the profession is viewed in the eyes of the public, and what an awesome responsibility–as well as a privilege–it is.

    Soon after my registeration was signed by the judge–and before I had a chance to mail it in–I was asked to make an appearance for an attorney I work with tomorrow morning. I figure so much the better. No time is better to start than now!So, tomorrow morning–Wednesday, Dec. 6th, 2006–I will make my first appearance in a court of law. It will be a short and sweet few words, but it will take me beyond any apprehension I might feel, before I have time to even consider apprehension. I look forward to it. By the way, I already have two potential clients, and with the help of my mentors, I know I will take care to do a great job. Besides all else, this is very exciting. I am almost reaching my professional home; no more trial and error. I am an Attorney-At-Law; and no more long explanations about what it is I do. It is one of the few professions well known enough, at least anecdotally, to need no descriptive footnotes.

Now that I have passed the Bar, what should I do with this blog?

I will not delete it to be sure, but question is do I just leave it behind like an artifact, or do I still have anything useful to post here? Certainly, I will not make it to be anything except for what it was intended for–a California Bar Exam journey chronicled; that is all.

I loved having this blog. It has served its many purposes. will list a few:

1. I had a place to vent and get the myriad of California Bar Exam associated pains, chills, jitters, nauseations, and other assorted ailments which manifest themselves while you torture your mind–and train your body–into handling the “boot camp”, which is the requisite to attempting and–in my case thankfully–passing the exam.
2. I wanted to help my future fellow law students by leaving behind a sort of roadmap–the “X” marks the spot, and here is how many steps you take in each direction before you start digging–kind of map. Even though I may have only created a labyrinth, it still hopefully has some guides to light your path.
3. I love to write. This was not “War & Peace”, nor “The Red and the Black”; but it was fun; it still is.

I did start another blog, but I did not like it much and deleted. So for now, I will just linger here and see what gives. I will just visit once in a while, and maybe make the more useful posts–the ones informational as to Bar exam and so on–more accessible. We’ll see.

By the way, had a great first post-Bar results week. It is going well. Celebrating is easy; I love it..:-)

Just wanted to post that I love the euphoria associated with this experience: Passing the Bar Exam? First Try? Right before all these lovely Holidays?–Awesome!!

My wife and kids are so excited. Obvious thanks to my wife for just letting me be myself; not an easy task–when you come in one night, you are forty-two, and you say, “by the way, I want to leave my Masters program in English Literature–a few months before I am done–which I was doing purely for personal pleasure–and instead, I wanna go to law school–while working full time–for four years–at night”–Enough said?

Especial deal with the kids is how they have been with me every step of the way, from first night of law school, to passing the Bar. I have taught them by example what it means not to be mediocre and do the tough stuff; how not to settle and push and test the limits that either you, or the society impose on you; how convenience, expediency and “taking it easy” can be set aside to taste much better long term rewards…and God knows how many other small or large lessons. When I make a comment to my kids about their schooling, they take me seriously, because they have seen their father be a “good” student (if not darn right a great student..hehe..:-). Time to let ourselves be proud; even the letter from the State Bar says, “Congratulations; you may justly be proud of your achievement.” I think I will.

I will enjoy this Turkey Day in an extra especial way. As a very conscious and deliberate immigrant, I love Thanksgiving and all it represents. It is the one Holiday that belongs to all Americans–even the natives who in the end can be remembered for their spirit of generosity and charity, despite the fact that they did not see that spirit extended back in kind.

Life is what we do before we die, simple really; when put in those words it is easy to see the poignant quality of how precious this passage is for each of us; fragile, priceless, and amazingly unique for each and everyone of us–all. Do not take it for granted. I try my best not to. This is not a dress rehearsal; it is the live performance; lives played out on as many stages as there are souls born into this world. Go find your game and play it hard. As for me, I will never stop till I am no more. There is always a next game. Now, I know what I will do with my days–being an Esquire; thank you! I am thinking about what I will do with all that free time now that law school is over…:-D

Happy Thanksgiving!