a momentary lapse of zen (aka Panicking!)

[SplitFinger]

Oh, I am so there as well.  As I sit here in the house that my wife and I bought just before our wedding, which now has blank spots on the walls where all the pictures used to hang, and two rooms that are essentially wall-to-wall packed boxes, I can't help but be slightly depressed about the whole thing.

And like everyone else, I'm nervous as hell about the debt.  Between buying a new house near my law school and "choosing" to attend to most expensive school I got into with no scholarship, in the course of the next three years I will be borrowing well in excess of HALF A MILLION DOLLARS!!! 

But the way I choose to look at it is that plenty of lawyers that I'll be working with at the firm of BigLaw Debt Reduction, LLP, will be living in houses that they'll have borrowed nearly that much to live in, so if they can afford the loan repayments, then so can I.  I'm perfectly happy to stay in the house we're buying for the next ten years - that's part of why we bought the house we did.

The funny thing in reading the last few posts is that right new we're in the process of moving - we closed on our new house a couple of weeks ago, and my wife and I spent the night after the closing in our new house.  The only - and I mean the *only* - piece of furniture in it is our new bed, which we bought and had delivered that day. 

[Monarch heels]

The funny thing in reading the last few posts is that right new we're in the process of moving - we closed on our new house a couple of weeks ago, and my wife and I spent the night after the closing in our new house.  The only - and I mean the *only* - piece of furniture in it is our new bed, which we bought and had delivered that day. 

Ah, but the bed is the most important piece of furniture

[SplitFinger]

True, but unfortunately we were very tired. 

Gotta say tho, the new bed is verrrrrrrry comfortable!  Even if right now it's just a mattress and box springs sitting on the floor...

[Momo09]

Oh, I am so there as well.  As I sit here in the house that my wife and I bought just before our wedding, which now has blank spots on the walls where all the pictures used to hang, and two rooms that are essentially wall-to-wall packed boxes, I can't help but be slightly depressed about the whole thing.

And like everyone else, I'm nervous as hell about the debt.  Between buying a new house near my law school and "choosing" to attend to most expensive school I got into with no scholarship, in the course of the next three years I will be borrowing well in excess of HALF A MILLION DOLLARS!!! 

But the way I choose to look at it is that plenty of lawyers that I'll be working with at the firm of BigLaw Debt Reduction, LLP, will be living in houses that they'll have borrowed nearly that much to live in, so if they can afford the loan repayments, then so can I.  I'm perfectly happy to stay in the house we're buying for the next ten years - that's part of why we bought the house we did.

The funny thing in reading the last few posts is that right new we're in the process of moving - we closed on our new house a couple of weeks ago, and my wife and I spent the night after the closing in our new house.  The only - and I mean the *only* - piece of furniture in it is our new bed, which we bought and had delivered that day. 

How did you get 1/2 a million?

[aerynn]

Factor in the house.

[SplitFinger]

Exactly.   

[mobo]

i had the same OH *&^% moment when i got the bill from school about a month ago. it was one thing to think about the debt in abstract, but seeing all my personal information at the top of a sheet with a 63K total at the bottom made me choke. for more than a week. i am still a little freaked out about it, but my close friends keep reminding me that:

a. it is an investment, not just debt.
b. it is an investment in ME.
c. and if i believe enough in my future to go through the ls app process at 37, and get into a t14 with a 2.83 gpa, then those same skills and drive and focus will help me figure out how to repay $150K and still save the world.

[repeat until fully convinced]

the good news? going to law school means that i can buy my own bed. i have been sleeping in beds that don't belong to me since jan 2004. (don't get all pervy, i wish it were that much fun. rather it has been travel and volunteering and crashing at friends' houses so i don't have to pay rent.) i cannot WAIT to have my own bed again. a bed that no one else has slept in. a bed big enough to turn over in. a bed that has enough pillows on it. a bed that, if it smells, or creaks, or has a valley in the middle, i know why and from what and whom.

[Monarch heels]

Ok, second wave of panic for me.  I don't know why, but it hits me the hardest at about 10pm, when I'm sitting on my comfy couch watching a movie in my lovely apartment. I start thinking ohmygod ohmygod what am I doing?!?! 

Yesterday I got an email from a grad school buddy who still doesn't quite "get" that I'm going to LS- he keeps saying "hey, there are some great positions opening up in the company I work for- you'd be great for them!"  His company IS a great company- the pay, benefits, and all, but the kicker is that it is a non-profit student loan management company.  How ironic is THAT?!  This is the same guy who took 6 years and $60K in student loans to get through undergrad at a state school where he was a resident.  So, I know I'm of a more financially-sound mind than he is, and that I'd probably go crazy thinking "I should have gone to law school" if I were helping other people go through school (working at a student loan org.) but damn!  Any seeds of doubt just send me off the deep end!

So I had a major wave of doubt last night, and it is lingering this morning at work.  So much that I had to get out of the building and walk around outside (deep breaths, deep breaths) after I did a stupid Google search for "Should I go to law school."  Sheesh.  Nothing like picking at wounds.

I'm going, no doubt about it.  I think this might have just gotten to me last night because I've had one of those whopper summer colds all week and am starting to get nervous about yet another sticky intercontinental move 2 weeks before I start school.  On the bright side, I think I finally have a clean, quiet, cheap place to live within biking/bus/walking distance to school (did I mention I have no car?)

Just wanted to post this rant in case anybody else is going through something similar.
 

[Momo09]

Ok, second wave of panic for me.  I don't know why, but it hits me the hardest at about 10pm, when I'm sitting on my comfy couch watching a movie in my lovely apartment. I start thinking ohmygod ohmygod what am I doing?!?! 

Yesterday I got an email from a grad school buddy who still doesn't quite "get" that I'm going to LS- he keeps saying "hey, there are some great positions opening up in the company I work for- you'd be great for them!"  His company IS a great company- the pay, benefits, and all, but the kicker is that it is a non-profit student loan management company.  How ironic is THAT?!  This is the same guy who took 6 years and $60K in student loans to get through undergrad at a state school where he was a resident.  So, I know I'm of a more financially-sound mind than he is, and that I'd probably go crazy thinking "I should have gone to law school" if I were helping other people go through school (working at a student loan org.) but damn!  Any seeds of doubt just send me off the deep end!

So I had a major wave of doubt last night, and it is lingering this morning at work.  So much that I had to get out of the building and walk around outside (deep breaths, deep breaths) after I did a stupid Google search for "Should I go to law school."  Sheesh.  Nothing like picking at wounds.

I'm going, no doubt about it.  I think this might have just gotten to me last night because I've had one of those whopper summer colds all week and am starting to get nervous about yet another sticky intercontinental move 2 weeks before I start school.  On the bright side, I think I finally have a clean, quiet, cheap place to live within biking/bus/walking distance to school (did I mention I have no car?)

Just wanted to post this rant in case anybody else is going through something similar.
 

At least you're not giving up a 6 fig salary.

[Monarch heels]

At least you're not giving up a 6 fig salary.

That's very true.  Thank you for the perspective- I'll quit bellyaching now.