Thank you so much for all the responses!
To answer a few of the questions I've seen in the responses:
1. I am a 2l, and no where near top 5-10% Somewhere under top 50, with a constant upward trend. I absolutely bombed the first semester of law school (about 3.0 average on a 3.3 curve), and have basically been killing myself since then to change that. My LSAT was also terrible (162)...I think I got in based on my essay alone. I do go to a top 20 law school in the area I want to practice, and have been networking furiously since 1l. Am on good terms with about 10 attorneys, 3 of which I've worked for and know me well.
2. Law was not *the thing I've always wanted,* but now that I've read MMM maybe FI was the thing I always wanted, and early retirement. I remember in college my first counselor asked me what I wanted from a career, and I answered her something along the lines of: "a separation between work and play. I want to work enough to pay expenses, and then eventually do what I want to do." I could have gotten to FI with a much cheaper degree, but too late now, I have to work with what I've got.
3. I began taekwondo last year, so its been 1.5 years at about 5 hrs a week. I teach the ultra beginners in our club because I enjoy it, but I'm not good enough to teach for any pay. Ideally, I would teach taekwondo or do personal training after FI.
4. Photography, especially nature photography, is my other "hobby" that I would love to pursue more often. My favorite memories are from a family trip to rural Yunnan, where I would wake every early morning and walk around with my SLR, capturing daily life. I have no practice with posed models though.
5. Finally: I appreciate the concern about burn out, but I am more hair on fire at the prospect of unemployment and no way to dig myself out of my loans. I would rather risk extra work during law school and while I'm young enough to handle it, rather than be an unemployed, overqualified oaf. Furthermore, as my parents are housing me rent/expenses free, and have refused my repeated offers to contribute expenses, I feel even less entitled to take it easy.