Back to school

It's back to school for me. My eldest, a daughter, got her CPA license in October 2009 and was lucky enough to immediately find an auditing job. Yes, it is mostly a matter of luck. In fact, if you got the brains to ace the CPA or the Bar thank your lucky star for being  born out of the union of the right chromosomes. Which brings me to the point.

 I am aiming for the Bar once again. More than a decade ago I made the first steps by enrolling in the law course. It was very difficult but not impossible. But I dropped out eventually because I concluded that it was more feasible for me to finish a Master's degree than an LlB. Much of the reason was my membership in  a cult at that time. We were then strict followers of the sabbath and the Jewish holidays; as a matter of fact stricter than the Jews themselves. There was no way I could pass my Criminal Law subject because I was always absent every Friday evening.

When I finished my master's  I was already out of the church and anything that has got to do with religion. (Regretfully, many of my friends are still in the clutches of my former cult.) It should have been back to law school. But by then the children were also going to school. The money had to be prioritized for their schooling.

So when my daughter finished her studies, I found the siren call of the law  irresistible. But a lot of things have changed since I last read a ponencia. Back in the early 1990s you have to get early to the library in order to find the volume of SCRA you needed. And all of my books were not originals. (Read: xeroxed copies. This was before the intellectual property law, ok?) Now, with the advent of the internet you have "free access to law" as proclaimed by the Arellano Law Foundation resource site.  Another resource is  the Chan Robles site. Thanks, guys! You made my life easier. But I think your postings can profit from a lot of proofreading.

About a quarter of my classmates are bringing PCs - notebooks and netbooks - to the classroom. They have free access to the WiFi facility in the college. I wonder if anybody is having a free ride of the broadband connection while sipping beer in one of those drinking joints beside our school. I hope they are reading the same jurisprudence we have been assigned.

I still cannot decide whether to get a notebook now or wait it out until an affordable Ipad makes it to our shores. I am also considering the Barnes & Noble's Nook. But I wanted to really get my hand on a unit for a live demo before I decide. I'll be happy to have a simple e-reader which would allow me to make notes. Reading from an LCD screen is tiresome. Perhaps they can use the kind of screen of the Ipad on the netbook.

In the meantime, my notebook carries the brand of Cattleya.

P.S. The reason I did not have an entry since May is that I was busy preparing for my return to law school. The entrance exam was one of the hardest I have ever hurdled. The whole of June was spent acclimatizing myself to the rigors of researching and digesting dozens of cases each week and to measure if I have the guts to make it through. This is now July, so far so good.

P.P.S. If I'll make it to graduation I am expecting an award for being the oldest guy. :-)