Mediocrity

The moot court competition is over. I'm relieved. I also had more fun on the trip than I could have possibly imagined. I owe the fun much more to the strong alcohol and stress-induced connections with the people on my team than the legal experience itself. Yes, it has been the most useful learning experience of law school thus far, but the friendships I made are college-like in their strength. I know these people way better than just about anyone else at law school. And I really like them. And the trip was fun--dancing, eating well, going out, long alcohol-infused discussions--it was all great!

As for how we fared--middle of the road. Top half. Not too shabby, but nothing to write home about. I wasn't able to argue as many times as I would have liked, nor did I do as well as I wanted to do when I did argue. But, I did better than I did at the beginning. I got over issues that I didn't even know I had. I'm much better at this than I was when I started and that's enough success to justify the effort.

Over the years, I've gotten quite comfortable with being somewhere in the middle. When I'm honest with myself, I care more about exposure to new things and quality of the experiences than being the best. Yes, I'm competitive, but I'm not only competitive in one area--I can't compete at the top of my game in one area at the expense of my game in another area.

So, I'm happily average in a lot of ways. And my moot court experience, which was simultaneously AMAZING and disappointing fits in with the rest of my life quite well--I'll always choose amazing food, wine, and conversations over the esoteric randomness of some particular judge's idea of "better." And I did.

It's good to be back. I look forward to reclaiming my life.