Time is of the Essence

There just aren't enough days in the semester, and the problem is the mid-semester break. Due to the date of Easter, instead of 7 weeks of instruction and then a 2-week break, this year it's only 6 weeks of instructions. That means that some assignments have significant portions of their research or writing time within the break. As I'll be away in New Zealand for the entirety of the break it means that I've had to make some choices. The first is that I've had to disregard the optional assignments, although this also has to do with the due dates of other assignments. Property is difficult and I'll be going in to a 100% exam, meaning I'll have to know everything cold. The second choice is whether I'll be able to finish the components I can prior to the break or take my laptop to New Zealand and have a working vacation. I'll have to see how I go. My New Zealand trip was planned before all these assignments were promulgated.

In relation to my assignments, I've been reading several scholarly articles and I've quickly come to a realization, legal scholars suffer from a complete lack or want of a sense of brevity. As with history or other arts topics, legal scholars are erudite, linguistically well-rounded and capable of using language that non-experts would understand but seem unable to succinctly express their theses. Scientists, on the other hand, use technical language that requires years of study to decipher but have the ability to be brief; ironically, legal documents given to a lawyer are called "briefs". The ideal would be someone with the expressive abilities of an artist coupled with the brevity of a scientist. I think Bill Bryson comes closest to this level of perfection but would someone please tell me if they ever find legal scholar like that?

This weekend a university cross-country tradition called Inward Bound took place. Teams from all the residences are blindfolded and driven out to various locations. From there, they have to make their way to a designated end point using only compasses, maps and their wits. I wish everyone safe success, especially the Fenner teams.

And in local news, a fellow Roman was appointed Police Commissioner of Canberra. Roman Quaedvlieg was appointed to the post a few days ago promising to focus on alcohol-related crime and dangerous driving. I include this news only for the fact that he and I share our first names. I'm sure the ACT is all the richer for having a Roman in charge of something.