You'd think I'd have learned better by now...

Well, I really embarassed myself today in copyright class - I totally forgot what the doctrine of "seperability" entails. (Basically, can you mentally seperate the copyrightable stuff from the useful article - like knowing the difference btwn a t-shirt and the design on it).
It's kind of depressing to embarass yourself like that in front of a visiting faculty member who's so respected in the IP community. And it's raining, so that's more depressing still... And I've been listening to some really depresing piano music today, so that's even MORE depressing... time for an attitude adjustment.
Even still, I'm glad Prof. Gordon was there today, because she said something that I think I really need to take to heart - that the whole point of being a lawyer is to explain something (the law, why the law supports you instead of someone else) in a clear, compelling, unmistakeable way to someone who couldn't care less (a judge or jury).
So, the bottom line is, unless I can do that in a class, I just need to stifle that urge to raise my hand, and keep my big mouth shut. ^.^' And I need to be able to do that in an exam, so that I can give my professors some assurance that when it comes to negotiating with others that I'll be able to explain myself that way. It's no longer about knowing the law - it's about internalizing it to a point where it becomes a framework for conversation. Can I do that? It's going to take a lot more in-depth involvement and commitment than I've shown to this point. Am I even capable of that?
Hell, yeah. I believe that anyone can improve. Someone once said "That which we persist in doing eventually becomes easier; not because the nature of the thing has changed, but because our ability has increased". And if anyone remembers where that quote comes from, please remind me. ;-)