One of my favorite Mark Twain pieces is "Answers To Correspondents." This was from a time when people actually wrote letters. Now, we leave comments on people's blogs and search them in search engines. Fortunately, through the wonder of StatCounter, I know what people who come here via search engine are looking for, and tonight, I thought I'd try to give them what they are looking for.

"MBE." - If you are not familiar with it, count yourself lucky.

"blog july mbe bar impossible." -- Yes, everyone agrees, the afternoon was horrid. It may have had to do with the Feinberg lawsuit. Everyone nearly went to sleep around 2 or 2:30. You are not alone. It is done, and none of your tears nor your piety will change the answers you gridded. However, there's still time to work on your capitalization.

PMBR & "Alaska bar exam." -- At first I thought this might have been an igloo-bound Barzam taker; then I realized that part of the reason the MBE was impossible was Feinberg was caught trying to take notes out of the Alaskan bar exam a few years ago. Thanks, Alaska.

"Illinois bar july barbri disappointment." -- I am unsure whether you were disappointed by Illinois, a bar in Illinois, the bar in Illinois, a bar in Illinois in July, or BarBri. Thus, I fear my blog was of little to no help to you.

"Steve Palmer" & PMBR. -- Please tell me why in the world you were searching for Steve Palmer, and then assure me this is not a sexual attraction of any kind. Thank you.

"post bar exam depression" -- If you are depressed over your perceived performance on the bar, this is understandable. If you are depressed over the bar being OVER, then please, by all means, seek help immediately. If you're sitting home crying over the fact you don't get to study for ten hours a day, write practice essays and take practice MBEs, this could be a cry for help.

"Eve." (OK, you didn't leave me any comments and you haven't searched me either, but it's been too long since I left you an embedded commnt.) -- I have no doubt, as a loyal reader of your blog and a follow of your MDs, both M and M, that you will have no problem being gainfully employed until you receive your positive bar results in NOVEMBER. And if, by chance, the dog ate your barzam, you will make things work until you pass the February bar. But that will not be a problem.

And last, but not least, Losingit, who commented thusly:

Ohio Bar Property Question: I have a question that has been driving me nuts all day and last night. I know I shouldn't even be thinking about this stuff anymore. But I cannot remember for the life of me what the property question was about. I'm starting to think I didn't answer the thing! I mean, I know there was a property question, but my mind goes blank after that basic knowledge. In your post about the bar you called it quasi contract. Even that did not trigger any memory. I've been reading your blog and it sounds like you did well. Good luck to us all. I thank you so kindly in advance if you can tell me the answer to this burning question.

I'm hoping to start feeling better about all of this real soon. Or I'm in for a long three months.

"Losingit" -- I'll first answer your question, so that you can findit again.

As I said, it was a contract/specific performance type thing. It involved a plumber's lien where the plumber had gone out of business and never recorded his lien on the one parcel; and the fellow who was buying the second parcel for a playground for kids and started putting playground equipment up there. The question was really a property question that badly wanted to be a Contracts question. I threw in a little estoppel and a lot of specific performance.

And that's all I'm going to say, because as I start to discuss this, I begin to feel like I'm taking the barzam again. The room gets slightly woozy and I feel like I am in a maze I will never get out of. In other words, welcome to my life from June 1-July 29.

And I won't go there. Neither should any of us. The bar exam is over. Done. Our answers are sealed away and being graded as we speak. The die is cast. We've passed or we've failed; we just don't know the answer.

But this is Ohio; where something like 70% of people pass the bar exam in July. You read this blog; ergo, you are smarter than at least the other 30% of Ohioans taking the bar. Relax. Breathe. Your being nervous before the bar was useful; your being nervous after the bar will simply drive you, your friends, family, coworkers, pets and houseplants nutty. Instead of being a nervous Neil (or Nellie, as the case may be), you might consider filling your time between now and October 28 by

• reading a good book
• going on vacation
• spending some time with your long-neglected significant other, if one exists
• volunteering for Habitat for Humanity or some other worthy cause, which will remind you there are plenty of people out there who have far worse problems than whether or not they passed the bar
• doing some writing
  
• learning to cook
• cleaning your long-neglected abode
• memorizing the oath of office for lawyers which will be administered November 7
  
• listening to "Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5 and admiring the exquisite accompanying music behind it
• thanking those who have suffered through this awful process
• memorizing and being able to spit out the first stanza of "Nothin' To Lose" by Josh Gracin without taking a breath
  
• figuring out the identity of Deep Throat (oops, scotch that; already been done. In the alternative, could you tell me where Jimmy Hoffa is?)

Seriously. Be proud of yourself; you've worked hard and deserve a break. So take one!

PS: I hope you are not offended by this post, but it's worth a peptalk for all barzam takers who are starting to worry. And I assure you, by October 15, I'll be a Miserable Michael waiting for those exams to come down.

PSS: Thank you for saying it sounds like I did well. I'll gladly recommend you for a position grading bar exams in Ohio, so long as they are this July's and you get mine.