Can you frigging believe that it took me two hours and ten mins 2hrs 10mins 4 secs to get to school from my house today!!! Hello Metra!!!! This is just a lesson for me. I had better sleep in Chicago the night before my final or I will be huffing and puffing into my final just as the proctor says " 15 minutes more" I know I have to do mass transit next semester. My plan to take classes only on thursdays and fridays should work and I plan on staying home as much as possible to catch up on sleep and put some in reserve for when I start as an Associate.
I am glad I took a time-out and went to see a movie yesterday - "Get Rich or Die Trying" starring two quarters. It was a nice break from reality that is biting my behind.
Exams have started and I had Mediation first. I totally missed one question and saw it at the last minute. This semester has been a mix. I feel in some way that my body was fully here but my mind was on vacation at certain points. I think its because of all the things that are going on in my head. There is always the next thing to do or figure out. I did a mediation simulation and totally went "unneutral" on one side. I think my mouth was speaking faster than my brain was thinking (Isnt that the same as talking without thinking?) Anyway, I was mediating a landlord tenant dispute between an old lady and her landlord and I may have seemed bias against the landlord. I knew I was asking the LL too many questions but as I was asking, my brain was trying to figure out how to bring the discussion back to the two of them. Anyway, didnt work.
I think I may do better as an evaluative mediator when I really sit to think of it. If I did that, the mediation would probably go something like this:
That way, I could say, look get real, the lady has been trying to call you to help her fix her damn door that is broken and the window that brings in chilled air. Didnt you know there was a problem? She would say something like : Well, her apartment can't be perfect, everyones apartment is like that. My response would be to ask her what she thought a perfect apartment is? Besides the old lady wasn't asking for a perfect apartment, she was asking for a safe apartment. Whats your understanding of a LIVABLE apartment!!Gosh that darn word...I just introduced a word that the parties did not use (a mediation offense by the way). I guess I should at this point be asking what their ideas of an apartment is....but wait...what if we grab our pens and draw houses...then they could show me what the apartment looks like, what window and door is broken so I can ask the Landlord if she would swap houses with the old lady
....now that would be cool right...Well, this is just the craziness in my head...I would probably go to mediation hell for doing that. Okay, enough venting...I should be a party in a mediation. I think I should hire Lynn Cohn (my esteemed professor - let me tell you, she's the best and I would love to be like her) to mediate between me (the flumoxed wanna be straight-jacket mediator) and the Bobby Knight of Mediation trainers. That would be exciting. Although, knowing Lynn's style, she would probably convince me that I am in love with my trainer and should go clubbing with the trainer. Obviously, before we get to that point and before Lynn separates us, you will not witness the chair throwing and yelling frenzing that would be unleashed, all while yours sincerely is quiet!!! Guess whose throwing the tantrum!!!
Phew....I got that momentary overload off my brain...now back to Federal Rules of Evidence 407 which in the mediation context would say:
When, after an injury (Emotional damage) allegedly caused by an event (multiple mediation simulations) measures are taken that, if taken previously (certifying me in the first instance), would have made the injury or harm less likely to occur, (oh yeah!!!) evidence of the subsequent measures (Lynn's motherly love) is not admissible to prove negligence(not certifying me in the first instance), culpable conduct(losing mediator neutrality), a defect in a product(bad trainer), a defect in a product's design(Bobby Knight Trainer), or a need for a warning or instruction(This Trainer is bad for your Certification). This rule does not require the exclusion of evidence of subsequent measures (Lynn's motherly love) when offered for another purpose, such as proving ownership (My inability to learn a process that a 10 year old understands), control (mediation flash cards), or feasibility of precautionary measures (maintaining mediator neutrality), if controverted, or impeachment (Booting myself from the mediation practicum).
As one Wise Guy once Said...
"That the World gets wiser as it
gets older does not mean that
the world was foolish before!!!"
gets older does not mean that
the world was foolish before!!!"
