Barzillas...

Weezy commented that many use bar prep as license to become unbearable, and simply blame bar study for their bad behavior.

I love this term, Barzillas. It's SOOO true.

The first time I actually caught that show Bridezillas on TV was actually a few days ago. I stared at it like the scene of an accident. I couldn't NOT look at it. Big J, my seven-year-old came in and started watching, too. After about ten minutes, she said, "Why is that lady acting like that? She's mean."

Exactly. I said, "Well, I guess people forget what they look like to others sometimes when they are thinking about getting what they want." She looked unconvinced.

The analogy has occurred to me before in law school. I mean, really, anything with the words "law school" or "wedding" attached to them seem to be cause to jack the price up a gazillion percent. The money I forked over for law school prep materials still depresses me, and I bought most things used.

Why should the bar be any different? Except now it's the state bar extracting money from us, instead of our law school. And, like the wedding day many women dream of their entire childhoods, women who are driven to succeed can allow the bar exam and the admittance day to become the single-most-important-day-of-their-lives, forgetting everything else in the process.

Sad. Very sad. I used to be the type who took lines very seriously. If I waited in line, it really annoyed me when someone would walk up and cut in front of me. I can understand the irritation with saved seats, because it's kind of the same thing. First come, first served, and if I got here first, I should be able to sit first.

But... and here's where I have actually gained some maturity. (Wow, when did that happen?) There are so many more important things in life than getting irritated over the little things. I have consciously tried not to become annoyed by stuff. Having toddlers is a great exercise for that. Oh no, the one-year-old had an explosion of poop while we are travelling and we are on our last outfit. Well, we can deal with it or we can laugh about it and stand in the parking lot of Claim Jumper trying to baby-wipe our kid clean while other parents walk by and snicker. (True story.) That's life, people. Try to enjoy it just a little bit. The good AND the less enjoyable.

Whenever I feel like this is unfair (the whole f***ing the bar stuff, twice no less) (yes, fail is the unmentionable word!), I think of this....

When Big J was about two, I was still trying to have her take naps, even though she had decided she didn't like naps. She was tired, but would stay awake in her crib, playing and singing, until I gave up and got her up. One day, she was singing and playing in there, so I went in to check on her. Well, apparently she had pooped, and in her two-year-old mind, thought, "I will be an artist!" She had fingerpainted with her poo all over the crib, all over the wall, all over her bedding, some had spread to the carpet area near the crib... We're talking disgusting. And it smelled awful.

So, I got the pleasure of spending the next three hours scrubbing mostly-dried poo off the kid, every spindle and nook and cranny on the crib, the wall, the carpet, etc. I think I gave up on the bedding and just threw it away. The whole time, I was thinking, "No one told me about THIS when I decided to become supermommy."

I was pretty happy to go to class that night. I think it was contracts. Contracts was never so fabulous as when I was learning it instead of scrubbing poo.

So, now if I feel life is unfair, I think back to that experience, and realize, "This is not so bad."

And that's why I vow never to become a Barzilla. Taking the bar is way better than scrubbing poop fingerpaint. Even taking it over.