First off, I am from Canada, and, based on what I've read, I think our bar admission exams may be a bit less time-consuming and stressful.

When I was 19 I quit university. I had no idea what I wanted to study, and I was paying my own way by working part time and taking student loans, while partying till I was a bit of a burnt out case. I moved accross the country, travelled, worked my way through a bunch of increasingly interesting and well-paid jobs, till I decided at the tender age of 33 that it was time to go back to school. Based on my relatively high-octane job experience, good uni grades, and a high LSAT score, I got into a prestigious law school.

In first year law school I got high grades - I also ground my teeth down to half their size, developed a bit of a drinking problem, and made exactly 1 friend. Law school students come in various shapes, sizes, and personalities, but they are uniformly stressed out, which is not fun to be around. Also, at least at my school, many law students come from a class background that is completely foreign to me. I was raised poor, and so were my friends. We are mainly from small, hard knocks communities, but have relocated to major cities on our own steam.

Many law school students are those bizarre people who never developed personality quirks because they were too busy studying, practicing piano, and playing field hockey. They don't watch Arrested Development, they don't read comics, they don't listen to TV on the Radio, they might see Juno on a date, but won't get the jokes, and, more importantly, they can be downright uncomfortable with diversity. They take themselves seriously, they vote conservatively, and they dress for success even on down days. I have heard many law students talk about how they knew from grade school that they would go into law - I don't think that I thought about what I wanted to do with my life in any serious way until I was in my late 20s (although I always worked, had to). I generalize, of course, but suffice it to say that I felt like an imposter.

In spite of this, I competed for and got a coveted job at a well known and respected corporate firm, and I am currently getting ready to do my articles (something you don't have to worry about). I don't think that I'll work there forever, but the pay is quite good, I've got massive student debt, and these guys hired me out of first year, so its somewhat familiar terrain. I actually enjoy the work, but I know that, eventually, I'll want to work with people with whom I've more in common.

But here's where I come to my rather long winded point: I worry every day that I will screw up. I sweat bullets over opinions that will only ever be seen by another associate. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking of angles that I should have addressed in a memo that I had 2 hours to complete. Is it good for the health? no. Do many other students seem to enjoy a measure of blithe tranquility that I lack? Yes. But my work is better that theirs. I am given serious assignments, and the partners and associates that I work with have high expectations. Because they were/are the same as me. Things mellow out with time and experience, but as lawyers we are paid to worry, fret the details. Some of the students who seem so cocky are actually just putting on a facade, and they worry just as much as you. Others really are cocky. And those are the people who keep the professional negligence claims business hopping.

Given your great writing and thinking skills, you are likely miles ahead of many of the confident law-jocks who seem never to have considered the possibility of failure. You've made it through law school man! Even if you never practice a day in your life, that's something that you need to congratulate yourself for. This self-doubt, as long as it doesn't become crippling, can be a friend to you, but remember to stop and admire yourself sometimes.

Best of luck.

And I like theatre. But maybe 1 out every 3 or 4 theatrical productions that I've taken in have actually been rip roaring good entertainment. Many plays I've been to have actually made me to cringe with embarassment for the actors and director. On the other hand, a really great play or musical will have me thinking, humming, and talking about it for weeks afterwards.

A few days ago my roomie and I were discussing young actors that we like, and, though Heath Ledger has never been at the forefront of my movie-going consciousness, I named him as the best of the bunch. I was really looking forward to the new Batman movie (I found the last to be ponderous and over-long) mainly on the strength of Ledger's Joker.

I know what it is to be stressed out, anxious, and insomniac. Mr. Ledger clearly took his career very seriously, I can only imagine what a pressure cooker he was living in. He just seemed like a decent, serious person, and it really saddens me that no one was there to catch him when he fell into whatever it was that led to his untimely death.

The loss of Heath Ledger will no doubt be heightened on the release of The Dark Knight. I've seen the trailer and it looks electrifying.

Some here have pointed out that an employer may sexually harass both male and female employees and it would still be sexual harassment. Point taken, but the harassment here did not seem sexual in nature. Then again, I've not read the decision.