Spud

I started this great book, “Spud,” by John van de Ruit just before classes resumed, which is really poor timing. The cover says it’s a “wickedly funny novel,” and the cover is right. It is written as the personal journal of a 13-year-old South African boy who has gone off to boarding school.

Anyway, guess I’m in the mood for the journal format.

So yesterday, in my own boarding school life…

5:30am: Alarm goes off, which seems to mean nothing to me this week outside of the call to find the snooze button without having to open my eyes. I do notice that the Santa Ana winds are STILL going strong, but I don’t get up until six.

8:40am: I am back in Contracts class, and just like riding a bicycle I pick right up being freaked out about being called on in class.

8:50am: I look at the clock for the first time to see how much time is left in class. Eighty minutes. I must be doing better – last semester I usually first looked at five minutes into class instead of ten. It isn’t that I’m not interested – today we are talking about a business contract concerning bongs and roach clips, how could that not be interesting? Clock-watching is more a survival tactic.

10:30am: I am now in Legal Research & Writing class, and I am considering the class rule that tells people not to surf the internet in class because it may be distracting to fellow classmates. A girl two rows in front of me is looking at swimsuits on Victoria’s Secret models. I am distracted.

11:50pm: Criminal Law may be my new favorite subject. I wonder if watching “Law & Order” now qualifies as homework?

12:45pm: It is lunchtime, and since Property class is after lunch this semester I am relaxed enough to go eat in the cafeteria with everyone else (you see, Professor Nelson doesn’t call on us in class so I have no strong need for last-minute cramming). I sit with some fellow classmates – Claire, Kristie, Paul, and Erica – which is a nice change. I am old enough to be their dad, but they are nice to me anyway.

2:00pm: I am sitting in Property class now, relaxed. Professor Nelson is the only person I can imagine that would make a discussion of assignment & subletting in the landlord-tenant relationship entertaining. He writes OOPS on the board to make a point, which is entertaining all by itself.

4:00pm: I am reading more about assignments & subletting on my own. Now it is boring.

5:55pm: It is nighttime, but the sky above Zuma Beach has a layer of burning orange where the sun has just set. I remember I am lucky to be alive.

6:05pm: Hillary emerges from play practice with her “twin,” Sarah. Driving them home I begin to think about what it would be like to really have twin daughters. With Sarah it would be nice, but it’s probably best we will never know for real.

7:30pm: Doing my Contracts reading for Thursday in my favorite spot in the law library. Reading about prenuptial agreements and artificial insemination and wondering what it would be like to practice family law in California.

9:00pm: Reviewing my Torts reading for class Wednesday morning. Wondering how long it will take for Dean Gash to call on me in class. If it is Wednesday morning, I’d better be able to explain “trespass to land” in a case about invisible fluoride emissions.

10:00pm: Can’t go to sleep without reading more Spud.