debbie is on vacation for the week. (read: has 102 fever). in an attempt to keep this forum true to its title - and a real representation of what it's like to be twenty-something in the twenty-first century - today's blog has been provided by deion. and the letter p.

The night was cold. A few handsome young men were walking down the street. The air carried a faint smell of American brewed lager and parliament light cigarettes. Perhaps the young men had consumed a few alcoholic beverages that night. As one of them sifts through his pocket for a lighter, he turns to his friend. They realize that two of their companions are missing. Across the street is a darkened gym apparently closed for the evening. But something doesn't appear to be right. As the two walk closer to the gym, they hear noises from inside. The door is unlocked. As the two walk into the gym, they notice their lost companions. One is trying to ride an exercise bike as the other pretends to lift weights. One of them attempts to throw a dumbbell at the other. All four fall on the floor in laughter. One looks at his watch. It is 2:34 am. On a Thursday.

Perhaps this is simply high school or undergraduate debauchery. Maybe it's part of a frat hazing. Grown ups certainly don't behave in such ways, do they?

Amazingly they do.

I present to you the future legal minds of America, courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Breaking and entering? Attempted battery? Public intoxication? Not only do we learn what these offenses are in Criminal Law by day, but by night we actively break them.

At least when we're finally arrested we'll be able to save money and defend ourselves.

At some point we're simply going to have to grow up right? I thought that my six years of undergraduate studies would have flushed this immaturity out of my system or at least purged me of the fun of binge drinking. After three months of law scool, I realized something: that's not going to happen. I still got three years of this. Law school is the shit. My job only consists of spending a few hours a week in classes learning about stuff I think is interesting. I'm going to be 25 in a month and my parents still make weekly deposits in my checking account which predominantly gets spent on alcohol.

This is the life.

Of course that all changed when I took my finals but beforehand and since, I've gone with the above mentioned theory.

As you readers are aware, Debbie is planning on going to law school next year, and she's been picking my brain daily about my experiences through my first year. Since she enjoys my insight, she suggested that I author some "guest columns" for her blog. This is all cool with me because sharing my thoughts with others serves my egotistical intentions in a way. Furthermore, I'm way too anti-commitment to actually blog myself. So if this goes over well, then I'll throw her some columns periodically.

Luckily, this time, the police were not aware of the law students breaking into the gym facility. In fact, I've yet to see cops bust anyone in Pittsburgh. The city is broke and can barely afford to pay what officers they have. I guess this works in my favor as I'm going to be doing this law school thing for the next two and a half years. I guess it's just up to me to determine what my friends are going to break into next drunk in the middle of the night. If it continues, we could even be charged for a continuing criminal enterprise or conspiracy. But those sound cool. It would be a good story to tell in a bar. We can make this happen. See, this law school thing is going to be the shit.

All we have to do now is return the 15 pound dumbbells we stole so we can compensate our victims and make them "whole" again.

It's what our torts professor would want us to do.