As the semester winds down I, like many of my classmates, find myself exhausted and stressed most of the time.   With finals on the horizon, we’re spending most of our time outlining and studying for our exams, which are the sole basis for many of our grades.  Yesterday, my friend in the law school’s IT department remarked that it looked like I never left the computer lab all weekend because every time he saw me, I was sitting at the same computer, toiling away at my papers.

When I’m studying for hours on end, sometimes I need to take a short break to breathe, relax, and smile.  I am very grateful to certain persons and entities who post videos on YouTube who have made me smile during my law school career.  There is a common theme across all these videos:  the main characters are always doing whatever makes sense to them and it works out in the end.  I think along with making me smile, these videos give me hope that if I keep doing what my gut tells me I should be doing, that everything will work out in the end.

Here are my top four entities on YouTube that I watch during a study break:

1. The Yip Yips – These two martians always make me smile with their innocence and honest perspective.  I have memorized nearly every classic clip of  these two encountering objects for the first time.  If I am ever in Sesame Street’s neighborhood, I will seriously contact the show and ask if I could meet these little guys.  Happy happy happy boing boing boing boing!
2. Foamy – Jonathan Ian Mathers is somewhat of a genius for creating this cartoon squirrel that says what many of us wish we could say.  Foamy’s bluntness and honest perspective on everyday life validates many of my views.  He validates the fact that sometimes life sucks and that people often act in moronic ways.  I look forward to every new video of this creature and the rest of the cast.
3. Tom Green – I watched a lot of Tom Green videos during my 1L year and tried to pick out how many torts he was committing.  There was a lot of infliction of emotional distress.  I like him because he knows that he’s pushing people’s buttons, but it’s always done with an underlying sense that he means no harm.  It’s usually just to be funny and to see people’s reactions to the unexpected.
4. Where the Hell is Matt – Matt Harding is proof that the American dream is still alive.  He quit his job and took a trip around the world.  He danced a cheesy jig everywhere he went.  He made a video of his dancing.  Stride liked it so much that they paid for him to do it two more times.  One of the things I like about Matt’s work is that there is no underlying agenda.  He’s just a guy who likes to dance – and he does it in some of the most beautiful places in the world.

Thank you to everyone who makes studying for finals a little less painful.  To everyone who loves a law student – we’re not going to be completely human for the next few weeks.  Thank you in advance for being patient, loving, and occasionally giving us reasons to smile.

I’m pretty new to blogging, but I’ve been writing for other blogs besides my own:

Improv AZ – www.improvaz.com

• Silent Rave – http://improvaz.com/2009/10/silent-rave
• No Pants AZ 2010 Recap: No Trou For You – http://improvaz.com/2010/01/no-pants-az-2010-recap-no-trou-for-you

Unchaotic – www.theunchaotic.com

• My Wardrobe Is On Notice – http://www.theunchaotic.com/2010/01/14/my-wardrobe-is-on-notice

And besides writing, I have videos of my solo work on YouTube:

• Somewhere – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FrHDM5N-g4
• Frosting the Law from Ignite Phoenix 5 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJFUJmESTec  

And sometimes people like writing about me:

• Niche To Meet You: Tips for New-Breed Opportunity Makers in Law Practice Magazine – http://www.abanet.org/lpm/magazine/articles/v35/is6/pg46.shtml
• College of Law Announces Student Awards in Honor of Late Professor – http://asunews.asu.edu/20090504_DanielStrousePrize