A Public Diary Entry from Corey LeBlanc
The start of a new school year can always be a stressful time. Doubly-so in the high-pressure environment that is law school. And so further in the COVID-era. Consequently, the fact that my September was going to be a little rocky was to be expected. However, the extent to which my little karmic ship was hammered by the proverbial open-and-stormy waters that are life’s journey, was not.
I began the month ill, with an outbreak of shingles. Yes, shingles – the adult form of the “chickenpox” virus, which presents itself as deep, painful, unsightly blister-like sores. I, like you dear reader, was also completely unaware that someone as young as myself was susceptible to an outbreak of shingles. Yet, here I stand as proof. And with those shingles – located across my neck and jaw – came trouble sleeping due to the pain, and the location of said pain. And so, the downward spiral began.
Next, my laptop “died.” I will be honest – and I do not mean to offend – but I had long questioned whether computers “dying” was really something that actually happens, or just something that conveniently “happens” when one is late on homework (wink, wink). But, as is often the case with assumptions, my assumptions left me a fool, and feeling quite silly as I watched, in real-time, halfway through a work-assignment, my computer “die.” Kaput. Zoinked. Done. Heck, it even made a very sad (very funny in retrospect) dying noise as it went down! So sad.
However, life was not finished with me yet. You see, not only was I beginning a new school year this September, but I was also preparing to physically move my home at the end of the month. So, as would only be thematically appropriate, karma would have its way with me on moving day as well.
Almost immediately the day went south. My U-Haul rental was nowhere to be found that morning, and nearly every U-Haul in the province was completely booked out. Once I was able to secure a truck – two hours later than expected – I returned to my home to start frantically moving my belongings, only to subsequently slash my hand open on a piece of glass, and begin draining blood at an alarming rate. It would not stop me though – one of the few positives of the COVID pandemic is that sanitizing gel is widely available, and so after cleaning the wound and wrapping a t-shirt around it, I soldiered on.
Not so easy, I would later find. Bleeding while moving is an exceptionally stupid idea, and it creates both an exceptionally costly, and exceptionally gross mess to clean up in a rental vehicle (not to mention, unfair for those who clean the vehicles). Ugh.
But you know what? It is all alright. September is over, and a new month has arrived. With a new month, comes a new opportunity to move forward and move on. I suppose if there is any take-away from this published diary entry, it is that.
In life, and in law school especially, things are bound to go off the rails from time to time. It happens. The real determinative is how you move forward from it. While my tribulations have been mostly trivial, I know many of you are really and truly suffering, and so we should all know that we are in this together. Perhaps that does not mean much, but I hope it at least means something.