(Note post-writing but pre-post...wow, was that convoluted: Everyone talking about this topic has gone on at some length and now I see that I have, as well. Apparently, we all feel pretty passionate about our blogs!)

One of the reasons I'm really glad I decided to blog the bar exam is that following other peoples' emotions and feelings has been awesome. Others have clicked when I have, watched their PMBR scores rise as I have, and been completely intimidated by the idea of actual human contact with others not taking the bar.

Well, today, the bar-exam-taker-blogosphere seems to be awash with the realization that this hellish experience will be over. And we're all wondering the same thing: What will happen to our blogs?

This is interesting because I'd been planning an entry anyway telling others I hoped they wouldn't go away. For one thing, if anyone walks outta the blogosphere and forgets to leave details on their passage of this thing, I'll be mightily ticked. For another, I've really enjoyed getting to read some peoples' blogs and I'd like them to hang out.

I think this all got started with a NY Times article over the weekend by a woman named Helaine Olen whose nanny gave her the nanny's blog's address, which was, as she admits, not her brightest of ideas. Olen went to the blog, and was upset by reading about some of the nanny's off-hours activities, as well as wondering if she was blogging on the job. (Turns out she was, when the kids were asleep, on one or two occasions.) Hence, the article. But, when you read the nanny's rebuttal, Olen comes off looking as a paranoid woman who has no compunction about twisting words not written about herinto her. (GG, who has a great synposis of the whole thing in her non-related barzam blog, calls Olen narcissistic. Because I'm fairly familiar with the traits of a narcissist -- no, I'm not one myself, thanks for asking -- I'm not sure I can join in her, but there are traits there.)

Anyway, I think this got people worried about the fact we'll soon be employed (we hope) as lawyers (oh, God, do we hope.) With (pray, pray, pray) clients who will be (drops to knees and crosses self) paying us actual money. And we'll have to keep confidences. And some of us will have senior partners we'll be worried about.

Eve is a little worried about what employers will think about how she dealt with the whole process of the bar exam. (I suggested that every lawyer I've talked to assures me the process is hellish and I don't think anyone she'll be working for will have had a different experience.) GG (also the owner of The Fifteen Minute Hipster and A Girl Walks Into A Bar -- which is the Mother Of All Bar Exam Blogs, if you ask me) seems to think the fear engendered by this whole thing will make her planned life-after-the-barzam blog sterile. (Yes, she has a THIRD blog. I have fear and respect for people who can handle two!)

Well, I can tell you a few things. One, this blog, and this blogger, is not going anywhere after the bar exam. Not just because the days and weeks after the bar exam are part of the process -- and they are -- but because I do plan to continue to blog in roughly the manner I have been. I'm already involved in public service somewhat, and hope to continue to be, and so I am keenly aware of the need to keep from spilling those parts of one's guts one does not want to see splashed all over hell's half-acre. But, I think the positive part of blogs, for anyone but especially for those who are in elected office, is that they can give you a good idea of who the person is you're considering voting for.

I also have a plan for what I'm going to do with this beyond passage of the barzam, but, that blessed event must, and will, happen first. I can tell you this will continue to be a blog about me, about the law, about how the law intersects with life, and various other items.

I've also made a suggestion, which so far I have one taker on, but I'd like more. As we the bar exam bloggers become bar exam veterans, I think we could have a real contribution to make to next year's class and future classes by doing a joint blog with practical, survive-the-bar type tips. Some sort of, I dunno, resource center.

Crud, I'm feeling like I should do things to help others. I'm apparently not ready to take the bar yet.

Anyway, if any other fellow bloggers are interested, leave me a comment here. I'm not looking ot start it August 1 or even September 1...maybe around September 15. Just a thought...discuss amongst yourselves...

Now. As to preparing for the bar today. I was up at 5:45 AM this morning after going to bed at midnight, so I could get to a 7 AM school board meeting. (This was done to give us our evenings back during the summer, but frankly, this board member could stand to lose his evenings and keep his sleep.) So, anyway, I've been sort of tired all day. I got back around 1ish or so and, in this somewhat tired state, chose to review a fairly easy subject -- personal property. My goal is now to work for a while on some essays and multichoice, all the while preparing for W's 9:00 announcement. Perhaps this will be the one area of his presidency where he doesn't completely foul things up.

Come on, it's a week before the bar exam. I need some hope in my life.

OK, and to close things off for now, here's how I described my state of mind to my dad last evening:

"I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. I haven't heard a choo-choo coming from that end yet, so I think we might be in decent shape."