2001-05-11 - 1:45 p.m.

I've registered to take the VA Bar Exam this July. The deadline was yesterday so I was proud of myself that I managed to get my application in the mail via Overnight Delivery on Monday. I had not planned on taking the exam this summer, however after my husband dared to complain of my "frivolous spending" of a mere $8.00 for videos, I realized that I had better be prepared should I WANT to go to work! He basically made it clear that all the money we have is HIS hard earned money and that if I want to spend it frivoulously I should get a job! I responded with, "Fine- I'll take the bar exam and you can stay home with the babies."

The exam is July 24th. I am pregnant with a due date of July 12th.

He apologized later and said "You don't have to take the bar exam now."

I said, "I know - but I WANT to."

I figure it will be much easier to study with one little person to care for than many! The two older kids will be going to see their Dad and Grandmother in NY for the summer; (I think- though no one has confirmed that with me yet.) "Baby girl" is now almost a year old-- no longer a baby really but a little toddler who is very expressive and unique. My sister in law is a teacher who will be working half days teaching over the summer and has agreed to babysit the little in the afternoon. I'm excited about that as it will give me about four hours of study time a day at the library. That will make a HUGE difference in my ability to learn the material needed for the exam. Finding babysitting in this area of VA has been a challenge.

Tommorrow I am taking the VA Driver Improvement Class as I received two speeding tickets last summer which resulted in convictions with 8 points on my liscense. VA is VERY serious about speeding! If I don't take the class by June 10th I would go on suspension and not be given the privalege of driving until I took the class. It is true that people often forget that driving is not a right, but a privalege that will be taken away if not exercised with care. VA is a place where you can't forget that! Unlike NY where if you get a speeding ticket it is almost routinely bumped down to a parking violation, or to the charge "falure to follow traffic control device" which I guess in that case means falure to follow the device of the SIGN that said 55 mph. I made the mistake of wasting my time showing up at the court in Leesburg to contest my traffic ticket. They nearly laughed at me for even trying to make the legal argument that I had just been following the custom of the area -- the custom being that EVERYONE has a hard time driving 25 mph here in Purcellville. There is a legal doctrine that if something has become custom and standard that it MAY be justified. Of course may is the key-- and here it was not seen as justified, though was seen as a humorous attempt by me at vindication of my behavior. To make it worse, the sheriff had to be really FRIENDLY! He even asked if I got the results back from the bar exam-- as he recalled I had rescheduled the court date as the inital one was the date of the VA Bar. So I embarassedly had to anwser- "Yes, but I failed."

Honestly though- I wasn't too embarassed as at the time of that court date I was holding a tiny baby in my arms who was born six weeks before the exam. She was exidence of the fact I had little time to study!

So this time as I filled out the exam application I had to answer the question regarding any legal convictions honestly and tell of my driving woe!

I really do have a hard time paying attention to the speed I am driving in my very nice Volvo wagon. Its such a smooth ride compared to the old clunkers I used to drive. (Though anyone looking at my NY driving record will recognize thats a lame excuse since I had even MORE tickets in NY when driving the clunkers...)

The reality is that I am likely ADD and can't EVER focus on more than one thing at a time. Subsequently if the kids ask me a question in the car, or I start listening to the radio or reading a sign I find I unconsciously accelerate.

Similarly, about a month ago when Westley and I were leaving our lawyer's office he was talking to me, and I was listening, and backed right into the garbage dumpter with the left corner of my car. I had been listening to him rather than paying attention to driving. NOT HIS FAULT AT ALL! However, I do wish he's understand that I can't talk, or listen and drive at the same time if I'm at all tired! Its a severe limitation I have! And talking to a lawyer will certainly make anyone tired!

The need for a lawyer is due to the Loudoun county dept of planning's objection to our proposed expansion of our house. Not actually the whole expansion- but specifically the fact we would DARE have modern architecture of lots of WINDOWS in our rennovation of our Quaker built stone house. That story is yet another full entry for another time as Criox has reported that the little girl spit up in her playepen so I must attend to her.

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