12:41 a.m. | 2005-02-19 Is That My Lunch? My main study buddy (Huff) in law school was very sharp. And, he excelled at hypos. If you�ve been to law school, you know what that means. If you haven�t, it means that he was really good at creating hypothetical situations that challenged the theories we were learning at the time. (If you�ve ever been around people with law degrees and/or attorneys, you�ll notice that hypos abound in that world. It�s a learned trait. Trust me. And, often quite annoying to people who don�t have law degrees or who aren�t attorneys. Or in other words, to �laymen�. Yes, that is the term of reference that�s used. A lot.) Anyway, Huff and I were studying one Saturday and got hungry around lunch time. We decided to go to a local fast food place. However, Huff was in the throws of a very convoluted hypo at the time. No matter. We just achieved all the mechanics of all that without dropping a stitch. It�s like that in law school. You appear to be a normally functional person yet you�re caught up in this very cerebral cocoon. So, we went to this fast food place and I ordered first. I ordered while still discussing this hypo. I was multitasking. The order-taker had an issue with my order, so I was trying to clarify that while responding to Huff at the same time. I capitulated to the order-taker because it was finals time and I just needed food rather than a lengthy discussion about how I should order my food �this� way instead of �that� way. Really, I just wanted one ingredient added. I was told it was better to order food that came with a nasty ingredient but included the added ingredient but ask that the nasty one not be included. Yeah, trouble was brewing there. Having worked in fast food and assessing the order-taker's skills, I knew. My lunch was gonna include the nasty ingredient. Whatever. I was still in the midst of the hypo. It�s hard to explain but during finals time at law school? Hypos are very prevalent and hypnotic. They are a tool to test what you know, but you never know enough so it�s a panic time in which you try to cram all things relevant into your brain. Your lunch order at the time? Not relevant. Huff and I found a table and he continued with his fascinating hypo. See, Huff was really smart and I always learned a great deal from him. His hypos were great too. Except, he�s not one for the details. That always tripped me up. I can still remember the part I tripped on that day. It was like this: �Okay, so this guy is riding his bicycle down the street, he hits a pothole and goes straight through the windshield. He�s flipped up into the air and lands on the street and then is run over by a car. How would you figure out liability and allocate general and special damages? Oh, and it�s an �egg shell� plaintiff too, so every single bone in his body is broken because he has brittle bones.� I tripped right away, but I couldn�t get a word in edgewise. Plus, Huff got his lunch right away and I waited for over twenty minutes before I set out to find mine. When I went up to the counter, I spied it immediately. It was just sitting on a parallel counter. I kept trying to get someone�s attention, but it wasn�t working. I had a hypo in my head, was super hungry and I could see my lunch. That�s when I snapped, immediately demanded the attention of a worker and loudly asked: �Is that my LUNCH?! Can I have my LUNCH?! NOW! Please can I just have my LUNCH?!� It wasn�t my best moment. I�ll admit that. And, I will tell you that it was messed up. It didn�t include the added ingredient and it did contain the nasty ingredient I didn�t want. Plus it was stone cold. I ate it without complaint because I had more pressing matters. Mainly, I needed to ask Huff how a guy riding a bicycle would go straight through the windshield. your thoughts? seed flower