Dear God

Sorry to disturb you
But I feel that I should be heard loud and clear¹

I flew down to Ontario² today. I got to Oakland a bit early so I figured I'd ask about the 4:15 flight because I'm not checking anything in. I start looking for my Driver License³, but it's nowhere to be found. Just then I hear the loud speaker lady (the one who says you can't leave your luggage unattended) say, "Mr. Armen Adazahamenayan please dial the operator from a white airport courtesy phone." I dial, turns out my DL is with the Alameda Sheriff's Deputy at the metal detectors. Great. I can enter the bar exam. I go to get it. Before he gives it to me, he runs a quick warrant search.⁴

I get on the early flight and get to Ontario. At the enterprise counter, the lady tells me she decided against law school because as a bank teller, all the lawyers who used the bank told her the profession is not family friendly. I still don't know what to make of it, I just found it a bit awkward.

At the hotel, they said that my reservation has been canceled.⁵ There was maybe 3 minutes when I felt like throwing a shitstorm, but I just remained calm and tragic. The manager found a regular room for me and even charged me the normal rate for the room (less than the suite I had reserved).

So, what adventures await us during the bar exam?<sup>6


1</sup> Dear God, by XTC.

² Not Ontario, Canada. Several Boalties have asked, "Why are you going to Canada for the bar?" On the flight, a mother was traveling with her two children. The young son stopped the flight attendant and asked, "Where are we going?" The flight attendant politely replied, "Ontario, then Phoenix, then Chicago." The kid began crying, "BUT I DON'T WANT TO GO TO CANADA!!"

³ In California this document is a Driver License, not Driver's License.

⁴ Can you say issue spotting? Plain view? No privacy interest? Probable cause? Airport search exception? Armen's bar beard is enough to rouse anyone's suspicion?

⁵ Offer? Check. Acceptance? Check and check. Consideration? More than mere peppercorns. Luckily these were only internal thoughts and I never resorted to hitting them with my bar/bri...both physically and metaphorically. See, assault.

⁶ Not to freak anyone out, but a former co-worker of mine took the bar last year on a Fujitsu. She qualified for ExamSoft and all, but then on the day of, ExamSoft did not work. She had to write the whole bar exam. Turns out Fujitsus have some loophole where they pass all the tests for ExamSoft but don't work on the actual thing. She passed.