Life is a Cabaret

Okay, I actually have a lot going on in my life right now. At some point I do intend to do a catch-up post, but right now I have a minorly-urgent request.

So this summer I mentioned I was in Uganda. My boss at the NGO I worked for was also a United Nations Special Rapporteur. Next week she is presenting at the UN General Assembly, and she invited me to attend her speech. And I am going! I just bought my train tickets. But it was cheaper to go to New York on Monday and come back Tuesday than to go up and come back on the same day. Which means I need a place to stay Monday night.

Is there anyone in New York City willing to let me stay on your couch/floor for the night of Monday, October 29? I promise I'm quiet and should not be a hassle. Or, failing that, recommend a cheap hotel/hostel?

So it's been about two and a half months since I updated. I think that might be the longest I've gone without updating. There's been a lot happening. The most significant of which is, I'm in Africa. I've been living in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, for the past month and a half, working at a human rights organization. I do like Kampala, and East Africa (a couple weeks ago I went to visit my younger sister in Tanzania), but I am sort of homesick. Living in a country's capital city is not quite the amount of culture shock as if I were in a rural area, but it is still very different. Mostly I'm at the point of appreciating the different while starting to really miss the familiar. Also, I am so done with all the mosquitoes, and I still have five weeks left here. I finished my first year of law school. I didn't do as well grade-wise second semester, but I honestly don't really care all that much. I'm mostly just looking forward to starting my second year, now that I'm taking classes I've actually chosen. I finally finished my ksbigbang fic. I wanted to have that done back in May, but it didn't really happen. It took me until now partly because of work and Africa, but also partly because I decided to see the Avengers before I left for Africa. Which might not have been a good choice. I have no urge to write any Avengers fic, and no urge to go read the comics, so I think it's not going to be a lasting fandom. Part of the reason I knew Doctor Who and Star Trek would be lasting fandoms was because I started going back and watching old episodes because I wanted to be familiar with the whole universe, not just the reboots. So far, with the Avengers, I've been fine with reading fic based on both the movies and comics universes, and picking up anything I need to know about the comics from context and Wikipedia. Also, Tony Stark is my guy. I probably could have predicted that -- I have a deep weakness for angsty genius. Also, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark as OTP, which I also could have predicted. I just love the complementary opposites, particularly if they're also best friends (as apparently they were in the comics, even if Joss Whedon decided to emulate JJ Abrams and STXI's K/S dynamic with RDJ's Tony and Chris Evans's Steve. What is it with reboots turning the best friends dynamic into antagonistic-until-forced-to-work-together?). I think those are all the things of significance right now.

I know I've not been posting much recently, but I promised myself I would post today. So have a big long update. :p

i. First, Remix! The fic I received was Full of Grace (the human wisdom remix) by NEStar, West Wing, a remix of "All Human Wisdom." It's Josh-centric and about his relationships with some of the women in his life, so of course I loved it. What's funny is that the person last year remixed the same fic, but in a very different way. It's really, really interesting to see what two different people will do with the same fic.

I wrote The Camera Steals Your Soul (The Leading by Example Remix), Narnia, Susan-centric Pevensie sibling gen. I really enjoyed remixing this one. I knew as soon as I read the fic how I would remix the story, and I ended up quite happy with it.

That was the only fic I wrote for Remix this year. I wasn't quick enough for a pinch hit and nothing in Remix Madness really called to me with the amount of time I really had. That week happened to be the week of my Legal Research and Writing final brief. Speaking of...

ii. Law school! It's exams season. My exams are all on Tuesday and Friday this week and next. I'm...sort of having a hard time caring? I mean, my first one this Tuesday is the only in-class exam -- all the others are take-homes where I'll have an extra five hours to spend on them. Of course I've been studying, but I'm not really stressing about it. I've been far more interested in making up a schedule for next year. XD

What really makes me excited is that I got into the legal clinic I wanted for next spring. It's called the International Women's Human Rights Clinic, and from what I understand, what I'll be doing is in-depth research on another country's laws regarding women, actually going to that country during spring break for fact-finding, and then writing a report on our findings. There might be some drafting legislation in there too. It's going to be so cool! And speaking of other countries...

iii. Uganda! I need to send in my visa application this week, but otherwise I'm pretty on track. I am so looking forward to this. I can't believe I'm going to be spending three months in Africa, working on human rights. Wow.

iv. Okay, so...how do people find places to live that are not student housing? XD I've only ever lived with my parents or in dorms, but I need to find a place for next year. It's complicated by me not being in the country for the summer, so my parents are on my case about doing it now. I've just never done it before, and don't really know how it works. Hmm. I think I might just check out one of the apartment complexes nearby.

v. Writing! I've been doing it. I finished another fic in the Start Infinity Again series -- the planned final fic, in fact. That means it's not going to see the light of day for a long time, and it's probably going to change a lot between now and when I can finally post it, but it's a big relief to have it done. It ended up about 9000 words, and I actually still quite like it. :p

Now this means that I only have two more stories I have to write in order for this to feel like a complete and coherent universe. Both stories are chaptered with plot, so I'm probably going to have to save writing them for this summer. I don't anticipate having regular internet access at home, so that will leave me with little to do but write. :p

Also, I signed up for ksbigbang. My second Big Bang! My story is fleshing itself out in my head more -- I know the basic plot trajectory of the story, and last night I thought up several key scenes. Once I've got all the scenes basically plotted out, I can start writing, and it will go a lot quicker.

Hmm, think that's about it for now. I'm...going to try to be better about updating. :p

Okay, so I have lots of news, and have actually had lots of news for a while, but never really felt like taking the time to update. So...here we go, in no particular order.

i. Today I went to see an argument at the Supreme Court. Law school in DC for the win! Also I never want to do appellate advocacy.

ii. I am going to New Orleans for spring break! I am excited. I've never been to New Orleans, and I've always wanted to go. It's for a school-sponsored trip, so I will actually be working at the public defender's office, but I will be in New Orleans and also gaining legal experience so awesome.

iii. Speaking of travel, I have a summer job already and I will be going to KAMPALA, UGANDA to work in human rights. I am also really excited about that for multiple reasons. I'd really like to work in international human rights after I graduate, so it will be great to get some experience. And also my younger sister is in Tanzania again and will still be there this summer and she's already said she'll come visit me. This means I'll actually get to see her before next winter break. :p

iv. I started volunteering for the OTW. As a first year law student, I feel rather out of my depth and like I don't have much to contribute right now, but it's really nice to see people doing actual legal work, particularly related to fandom. I think I'm going to learn a lot.

v. I finally edited the first sequel to Start Infinity Again, one of the ones I wrote last summer. Hopefully I can get that to my beta soon, but first there are some other fics (shorter fics) in the series I want to write. I keep being hesitant about posting my chaptered sequels because, while they're complete, I want the universe to also feel complete whenever I post something. The third fic especially needs more story to round out the universe, but the second also raises some questions I would like to answer before I let it see the light of day. I just really don't want to post another universe that feels incomplete.

vi. Every so often it hits me that I actually am at a religious school. First with the birth control debate (which has been of particular interest for many reasons, one of which is that I sort of know Sandra Fluke. Not well, but we're in some of the same organizations.), and then today people were walking around with dark marks on their foreheads and then I realized oh, it's Ash Wednesday.

vii. More probably (hopefully) later. :p