april (!)

it's last week of classes, finals is around the corner, and summer is visibly hiding behind finals around the corner.

(i knew it. that this year would fly by. i am not sure i am ready to recap yet, but i can say that i definitely feel like i went through something.)

i'm just trying to keep zen in the middle of all the books i haven't yet read, all the cases i haven't briefed and all the classes i haven't outlined. i'm keeping off of coffee, as it disturbed me a bit that it was just getting blacker and blacker, until i seemed to be just taking multiple espresso shots throughout the day.

so i've been trying to drink green tea and eat apples instead, which results in me falling asleep in property class everyday at 2:15p.m. sharp. this little dozing off lasts about 5-10 mins, and an entire notebook page's worth of unintelligible scribbles that are apparently trails of unconscious note-taking attempts.

somehow in between all the half-conscious practical sleep walking through classes, i got two new jobs. one for the summer and one for the next two years!

the summer job is working with anti-human-trafficking NGOs in Nepal. I will be spending the summer in Kathmandu. two goals for this summer. One, do enough research to lead into my independent study next semester on the cultural aspects of human trafficking and the implementation of human trafficking law. and Two, bring a video camera along and hopefully visually document some aspects of human trafficking.

the other job is working as a legislative coordinator for Amnesty International. it's somewhat of a coordinator/lobbyist position, so while i won't be able to do any field work or anything, i will get to do some close work with various human rights policies, work with various activists and organizations in the area, and get to lobby our representatives to sign off on them.

doing extracurricular work like this reminds me of why i came to law school in the first place. helps me to clamp down on the stick and keep going. i know sometimes i talked about the dilemma of money and law firms, but i think that maybe i am subconsciously putting myself in a public interest hole. i have no skills i can really offer to a corporate firm, and all my background is in NGOs and civil liberties, etc. i don't think a firm doing securities or mergers would hire me even if wanted them too. perhaps this way, i am and have already been making the decision. well, there goes the $160K first year associate salary.


last week i followed jamie on his tour from North Carolina to NYC. We hit Greenville, NC, Norfolk and Richmond, VA, Philadelphia, PA, and finally Brooklyn. even that short trip made me realize how weird US was. Just a 30 mins drive, or even 3 blocks can make such a difference in the type of people, lifestyle, and culture. This is probably true for most of the world, but in US, people are so much stranger sometimes. US is Lynch-ian in ways that no other countries can be. (Europe can have their Kafkaesque. US has Lynchian.)

Along the trip, we got to stop by the Great Dismal Swamp. It was pretty darn dismal, to say the least. I wish i had pictures, but it was so dismal, i couldn't even take any. but we did take picture of the liquor store down the street. i will post soon.

as you will have noticed, i am obviously a little delirious and ranting. but updates are imperative in times like these. another soon, i'm sure...