Carpe Diem!

It is now Feburary 28th, Thursday, 7.47pm.

I feel nervous (and excited!) for a friend.
Tomorrow will be the first day of Faan Jin's three-day-long moots at UIA.
I'll be going as a supporter tomorrow (along with a troop of classmates! :D).

Wish her & the rest of her team the best!! :]

It's a moot on International Law, about Jurisdiction & Immunity.
Cheryl and I (mostly Cheryl! haha) helped out with half a dozen cases today.
And after, like, 3 hours, I only did 1 case - which I'll never forget, by the way: "The Arrest Warrant Case (Belgium v. Democratic Republic of Congo)" tried in the ICJ.
Cheryl did the other five cases. Omg. I'm so sorry! hahahaa.
They included Pinochet (No.3) (ok I read a wee bit of this case but it literally frightened me so I couldn't handle it!! Haha!), Fzinjudira (?? spelling? Fjindzura? No idea), Tadic, and 2 more cases I can't remember the names of.

'Twas interesting. This tiny teeny weeny bit of work made me realise & appreciate how freakin' difficult mooting must be!!

Can't wait for tomorrow! :] The plan for Cheryl & I (& me?) is to go to UIA in Shaun's car, then come back in Wei Jie's car. I wish I could drive by myself! Rachel was like, "Hey tomorrow you just take your car, then follow behind mine to Gombak okay". I didn't know whether to laugh or cry in response. But a word of warning: I'm honestly a danger to myself and other people on the road hahahaha.

On other news, we had yet another workshop today - this time short & sweet, on How-to-get-a-job, by JobStreet.com 'people'. :] It was quite interesting, but to a horde of hungry and tired students, I don't think we could appreciate it to the fullest. But anyway, I picked up some cool tips - like what sort of questions I should prepare myself for in a job interview, etc. :D

Of one of the more thought-provoking, however, was when a First Year student asked if it makes a difference, taking a gap year after finishing law school! :] I mean, I'm sure a lot of us would tremendously appreciate a gap year - imagine just BUMMING around for months and months! I'd probably become a bit like a "lotus eater" (see: Greek mythology or Form 4 English lit), but still!

Unfortunately, it turned out to be inadvisable to take a gap year. :( The best thing for us to do, apparently, is to get a job a.s.a.p...................

I swear this hyper-competitive world just wants to work us to death! What happened to the good ol' post-World War days when all women had to do was get married, have children, and host backyard barbecues? But critics say women could've been abused back then and not have the power/rights (?) to retaliate. Pros and cons of modernisation, eh.

But anyway - "Carpe diem" is one of my favourite quotes, but I don't seem to practise what I preach. The Taylor's Language Centre is holding an elocution competition early next month - I swear my heart leapt a little when Ms Thaatch announced it in class yesterday. But I'm not joining it. :(

I miss public-speaking/orating/elocution/story-telling/choral-speaking. I miss the high of getting up on that stage. I miss the thrill of the audience actually understanding what you're saying and applauding happily for you with broad smiles on their faces, and your friends/teachers/family members cheering you on. And the best part: winning! I miss winning! Winning gives you a euphoria unlike anything else. The material prize doesn't even matter when you have the sheer honour of being recognised for your effort and whatnot.

Initially, I thought being a lawyer was the refined version of that thrill. I thought being a litigator in a courtroom was going to be just as pleasant and exciting. But for some funny reason, all the (horror) stories I have been told seem to indicate otherwise! I mean, I know the shit I'm about to say must have been common sense from the start, but: judges actually aren't always nice to you and you don't get to bluff your way through if you don't know the law and there is no jury to supply hearts to win over! Imagine my horror.

So, with litigation having lost its appeal (for now), I've turned to looking at a future in corporate law. I'm pretty sure I can do that well too - where better to place a hyper-organised perfectionist? Hahahahaha! Funny story - I went to the Law Careers Fair a couple of months in January, right? (that's not a question for you to answer, btw HAHA)

And when I got to this one law firm's booth with my friend, the lawyer talking to me laughed and turned to my friend and said, "Oh wow she has a really good future in corporate." He said that because of a reason I choose not to disclose here. :P But it remains one of my favourite 'law-related' moments! :D

I wanted to say "Really?? Do you really reaaallly think so?"
But for the sake of not sounding whiny and irreversibly immature, I didn't.

The question remains as to whether I can get the grades to qualify (friends, wish me good luck!! :]).

:] Good luck to Faan Jin, Aarthi, Yen Ne, and Alex!! :D We're all rooting for you!!