Calligraphy with The Fozzy Book and Craft MNL

I have always loved writing - writing content and the writing act itself. I guess I have pretty decent writing and handwriting skills because my classmates borrow my notes since high school. (Or maybe they were just darn too lazy to take notes and I wasn't.)

Calligraphy piqued my interest because, well, it's so pretty. And maybe I want to say sorry to all of daddy's fountain nibs that I used to drag across paper when I was younger. I first admired the posts of Leigh Reyes (@leighpod) but she doesn't hold workshops. Then I discovered the account of Fozzy C. Dayrit (@thefozzybook) I first "met" Fozzy when I read her posts in the weddings@work group. Fortunately, Fozzy held workshops and I signed up for the one held in Craft MNL last October 21 at The Collective.

Hubby dropped me off and I felt like it was the first day of school. I was alone and some of the participants knew each other so I was kinda shy and quiet haha. Fozzy said we were a bit "intense". I, for one, was very frustrated with my blobby first attempts. I wanted to take more pictures but the pages of the notebook had stuck together haha.

 

 I'm on a mini-vacation at home so I have all the time to practice.

 

Throwback Multiply: Bar 2007 Memoirs IV

Bar 2012 tomorrow (technically on Sunday, but Bar activities i.e. Send-off commence tomorrow)! Good luck bar examinees! 

Bar Memoirs #7 and 8: Remedial Law and Ethics

Tapusin na ang kaguluhang ito! :D

So makapal-ang-mukha-me (refer to previous memoir) decided to finish the Bar exams. According to statistics, around 200 of those who filed the petition to take the Bar didn't finish it.

Anyhoo, one of the first questions a barista asks when he/she starts to draft a reading schedule is, "To read books or not to read books?" And by books, I mean the thick annotated ones, not the reviewers. My answer is: it depends.

When I was drafting my own reading schedule and checking the books I had on hand, I realized that other than Criminal Procedure, I haven't read an entire book for Remedial Law. Since it has the greatest weight of the subjects, I decided, books it is, despite the fact that it has the longest coverage, too (yep, I believe it is longer than Civil Law even if the former has more  subjects). I also consider Remedial Law as one of my "weak" subjects so go, go, go books! I read Feria Noche for Civil Procedure, Regalado for Special Procedure and Criminal Procedure and the Albano reviewer for the second reading, then Beda notes for pre-week. The first reading took me two to three weeks, and there were days I just stayed in the apartment. There was a time that I realized that the only words I've spoken for the past three days were "Take-out po," after pointing to my desired viand at one of those turo-turos in V. Con. No wonder I was a wreck by September haha!

As for Ethics and Practical Exercises, I failed to follow my game plan. A topnotcher advised that to study legal forms without really studying for legal forms is to try to write at least one pleading before going to bed. Alas, by 10pm, I was comfortably hugging my pillows. So for five days before second reading, I read up Ethics and tried to memorize legal forms (at the same time praying there won't be ridiculous forms like Articles of Incorporation, saksakin niyo na lang ako with my 0.5 Pilot pen kung ganun!)

 The exams were fair and graded fairly. (Syempre nakita ko na ratings ko haha!) The questions about global injunction in Rem and the arbitration clause and clause stipulating a right of first refusal in Ethics had me scratching my head though (I feel those were inserted by the Chairman, di ba he said he had to make the Ethics exam difficult? Hmp!). I encircled the word "clauses" and proceeded to write. Later on, the proctors said it was alright if we would only give the clause itself... turns out the others have written entire contracts. Buti na lang I wasn't that masipag! I don't think it made a difference though as everyone got a line of 9 in Ethics. We love you, lady Justice!

Moral of the memoirs: Be masipag and read books and don't be too masipag to write an entire contract when the question calls for a clause. :D

Throwback Multiply: Bar 2007 Memoirs III

Bar 2012 in a couple of days! In the meantime, my Bar 2007 Memoirs continued:

Bar Memoirs# 5 & 6: Merc and Crim

Can you tell that I want these memoirs over and done with? My exact sentiment during the 3rd Sunday.

I think I could safely say that everyone was in low spirits the eve of that Sunday (except for a chosen few). Roomie Daye was worrying about her Tax while I was still worrying over Poli (stuck in a moment talaga ako nun). That night, roomie and I were doing this strange dance wherein we'd promise not to talk about the previous exams, talk about it a bit, ask about answers, then promise yet again we won't talk about the previous exams.

I've decided to lump the two exams in one memoir because they were extremes.

Merc was, in Areiz's words yet again, "Because the questions were fairly and logically crafted in a manner that you can more or less approximate a bar candidate’s knowledge of the subject." I concur, but I think I kind of messed up my answers to the first questions because I was feeling a bit light-headed that morning. I promised I'd sleep every Saturday night, and my target sleeping time was 5 hours. I'd *try* to sleep by 10pm, 10:30pm if need be, then wake up at 3am so Daye and I would have ample time in using the bath room. But that Saturday, I think I dozed off around 11:30ish, with Prof. Catindig's reviewer still propped up on my lap.

But yes, the exam was fair. The reviewer of Dean Sundiang was, in law students' words, "Patok." I read that reviewer, and that of Prof. Catindig's, but somehow, you've got to battle memory gap.

Come lunch time, I didn't know what to feel about Merc, should I be happy about it or not? But then, there was Crim to tackle. When the proctor announced that there were only 5 pages (including the cover page) of 10 questions in Crim, we thought it was a happy sign. But the smiles quickly turned to sighs as we read the questions. I read in someone's blog that she cried during the Crim exam. I didn't cry, I even laughed to myself when I saw the questions. I thought, "Wala na 'to. Bahala na talaga." Throughout the exam, I kept shaking my head as I tried to list down the elements of crimes I could remember. Yes, you could write on the questionnaire but please, no identifying marks. The proctor told us to write our seat numbers at the back of the questionnaire so it could be traced back to the owner. I was playing elimination with the crimes... Theft? Robbery? Grave coercion? Light coercion? Teka, ano na nga ba pinagkaiba ng threats and coercion? Grrr, kain na lang ako ng Cadbury.

As TL, Sol and I walked out of La Salle that day, we mused that if some people didn't come back after the Poli exam, then there would be people who won't come back after the Crim exam. It was that bad. We even joked, "Siguro next Sunday, yung mga tao, sisigawan na tayo, "Hoy, bakit pa kayo bumabalik???" " :P

Moral of the memoir: Although this journey is the journey of many, it is the battle of one. Sleep well before the exam. And do go back and finish the battle, because "you just can never can tell."

Throwback Multiply: Bar 2007 Memoirs II

Bar 2012 starts this Saturday. Good luck bar examinees! And now, a continuation of my Bar 2007 Memoirs:

Bar Memoir #3: Civil Law

After Labor, I hitched a ride with Atty. Sol and his sisters and went home to an empty and silent apartment. After talking to my parents and E over the phone, the tears came. I had no strength to go out and buy a "proper" dinner, so I just ate some of the goodies given by friends and classmates. I promptly fell asleep and woke up the next day... still wearing yesterday's clothes. Eww, I know.

I resolved not to attend any pre-week sessions and just read na lang. After my bath, I took out my Civil Code codal and started reading, occasionally fighting back tears. I broke my resolution though and attended Dean Aligada's lecture on Property and Wills... which would have helped a lot if I remembered it as there were questions on such subjects.

Persons and ObliCon are considered the "major" areas in Civil Law so I was preparing myself for such questions. Again, expect the unexpected. The questions came from Property, Trusts, and LTD. I think I answered the second question last, I found it hard to argue if "a floating platform made of wood and metal, upon which was permanently attached the heavy equipment for the petroleum operations and living quarters of the crew" was an immovable property or movable property. At may follow up pa na: "The floating platform likewise contained a garden area, where trees, plants and flowers were planted. Q: Are the trees, plants and flowers immovable or movable property?" Trick question, kaw ba yan? I remembered Atty. Domondon telling us that in answering, chances are, the first answer that comes to mind is not the right answer. So I was all set to answer that the floating platform was an immovable property (because floating = movable) but racked my brain for the legal basis. For Wills, the last question, I forgot the rest of the iron curtain rule, the codal provision kept popping in my head but it was incomplete... memory gap!

Moral of this memoir: Codal codal codal. Brush up on distinctions. Drink/eat something that would remedy memory gap.

N.B. My lowest score was in Civil Law - which is why I now hate civil cases at work haha.

Bar Memoir #4: Tax

I used to hear the same words from professors and former-bar-examinees-now-lawyers: "stock knowledge ang Bar." I used to reply (in my head anyway), "Paano kung wala akong stock knowledge"? A couple of weeks ago, I saw some of my classmates-now-bar-examinees and I found myself telling them: "stock knowledge." Predictably, most of them replied, to my face, "Paano kung wala akong stock knowledge"?

I digress. Is "stock knowledge" a Pinoy concept? I tried Googling for its uhm, academic meaning, but all I saw were sites pertaining to shares of stock. Or maybe I wasn't Googling hard enough.

I believed in the power of "stock knowledge" after the Tax exam. I was one of those people, who, when he/she failed to read the assigned cases would assure his/her self, "Bawi na lang ako sa bar review." To quote a prof: "Oooh boy." Bar review isn't for catching up but, to quote a former-bar-examinee-now-lawyer, for "polishing."

So, let's backtrack a bit... I had a hard time with my Tax Review class. I received a line of 6 in our prelims exams and I cried right there and then inside our classroom. Coupled with Crim Rev, there was a *huge* possibility that I won't graduate. When Revalida schedules were posted, I was first for Tax. Great. So for two straight days before Revalida, I locked myself in the apartment, ordered in a large Yellow Cab pizza and memorized memorized memorized. I abhorred memorizing ever since I was... a fetus. For my journalism course, it was okay, but I soon sadly realized it wouldn't fly in law school. So I memorized when it was absolutely-life-and-death necessary. I memorized as much as I could for Tax Rev, I went through 2,000+ pages of my tax books and our prof's notes in two days.

It would have been nice to say that I aced my Revalida, but I didn't. So back to memorizing and to praying that I'd get 90 and above in our final exam so I'd graduate.

Fast forward to bar review: When the week came to review Tax, I would take my Tax books and gag reflex would kick in. In short, nasusuka ako. I read short short books by other authors but I could not go back to my previous Tax books.

Come exam time, "stock knowledge" came in the form of me visualizing our dear professor in class, visualizing the pages I read while reviewing for Revalida, all those suggested answers our prof gave us in his notes which I "memorized" while fueled by Yellow Cab pizza. It wasn't the stuff I read during bar review that I remembered, it was those stuff I read for Tax Review.

Moral of the memoir: Believe in the power of "stock knowledge."

 N.B. Ang dami kong tsamba sa Tax - yey! :)