Things to whine about, I suddenly have them.

So. Finals. Yep. I find final exams extremely painful, which is no new sentiment, but that's what's going on. I reckon I deserve a little misery after four months of loving the shit out of life, but damn, like anything else that's really painful, you sort of forget just how miserable you were the last time you did this until you have to do it again. The first final went okay, better than expected really. But the next two will be soul crushers, so let's just all brace for impact.

I hate to disparage the law school here because this whole experience has been such an enriching little dish of life, but the law school here makes the law school at home look like a palace that geniuses built. Let's see:

1. First of all, I'll admit that I don't study very well at home. I'd much rather fix a snack. Or read a book for pleasure. Or watch a movie. Or have a nap. Or stare at the wall.

2. The law library has extremely limited hours compared to the library at home.

3. The wireless internet is weak and spotty, and that's before you reach your monthly quota of data, and then it's so slow it takes 10 minutes to check email.

4. There are only about 40 carrels for the whole law school population, and they work on a first-come-first-served basis, so there's no way to have a private, quiet space reserved for you.

5. A private, quiet space in which to study just doesn't really exist at school. The carrels are clustered together in the middle of the basement, so even if you get one, there's lots of foot traffic around, people stomping up and down the stairs, chatting and laughing. The law students here are undergrads, mind you. That sort of explains the whole thing.

6. We are not to have food or drink in the library (or the rest of the law school, for that matter). This is a chronic problem for caffeine people. Through the semester, I could live without being able to bring a travel mug of coffee up to class because I'd have coffee at home, go to class, and then just go home. Now, with the imperative studying coming to a head, this no-caffeinated-beverages-allowed rule is killing me.

7. Let's just say that I convince myself to study at home. My little studio apartment (which is fine and good and safe and all) is situated on the one corner of the building that gets direct sunlight from about 3pm to 8pm this time of year. There is no central air, only a column of slat windows. You may have heard that the ozone layer has a hole burned through it in my neck of the woods. The result? If I'm in my apartment in the afternoon, I'm a bug on the sidewalk being cooked by a magnifying glass.

Here is what I look like sitting at my desk in the evening, warmed by the glow of exquisite fluorescent overhead lights:

Everyone likes to have a home office, right? My apartment is just like an office. Literally. Small. Fluorescent lighting. Incomplete kitchen. Squirelly neighbors occasionally knocking on the door. The only difference is a bed.

And here's what I look like while the sun melts my face off and cooks the contents of my apartment/office to crispy well done:

Just shut the blinds, you say? Ho ho! You are so clever! The "blinds" are one big roll-down blackout vinyl curtain thing that no airflow can penetrate. Living on the top floor in the sun-shattered corner of the building makes my apartment hot no matter what, and if I don't get the windows open by about 5pm, the paint starts peeling off the walls it's so hot. But whatever. I'm moving out in just under two weeks, and my last final is next Thursday, so the world will right itself again soon.

Anyhow, the moral of the story is that I don't like finals, the law school isn't very conducive to studying, and my apartment gets hot in the afternoon. Aren't I insightful?