The Bar (*cue ominous music*)

February will mark my third bar exam since 2010. In the continuing quest for rewarding employment and in the hopes of returning to the land flowing with milk and honey (or at least excellent guacamole and sunshine) I will be taking the California bar. For those of you who have not yet taken the bar, or who will never take the bar, here are a few of the basic things you need to know:

•  The bar is a soul-sucking nightmare. In my experience the first bar was the worst due to the sheer terror of not knowing what I did or didn't know. The second bar was fine, if tedious. And this, my third bar, is a wonderful mix of terror and been-there-done-that.  The 35% passage rate for California is the terror element.
  
• The bar is LONG. Most bars are two days long, California and a handful of other jurisdictions are three days long.  Again, this is the soul-sucking part.
  
• The bar is expensive.  To take my first bar cost me about $3,000 for the prep class and about $250 for the test. This time around (discounting alumni tuition for Barbri) it would cost approximately $4,000 for the prep class and $1,500 for the bar alone.  Good thing we aren't in an economic depression . . . oh wait.

Aside from my general displeasure at going through this again, there is one significant upside: I have a goal in life. As a person who has spent a significant portion of my life attending school and moving toward various set goals (finals, project deadlines, graduations, etc.) looking at my life as one continuous, featureless, land of work, commutes, and self-loathing is a frightening prospect. For now, at least, I have a set goal to move toward, and a mini-vacation as well, on February 27, 28, and March 1.

So, this ought to let you know what kind of blog this will be.  It will likely be a smattering of observations about the bar, the legal community, the law, politics, etc., interspersed with anything I find interesting -- which, frankly, is anything and everything.