Tags
Work
a long pause
It’s been a long time since I’ve written, and a lot of things have happened in the meantime. The rest of my time in Europe was WONDERFUL. It was so good to be with Carl, and the traveling was a lot of fun. I flew home (that was an ordeal) at the beginning of September and started my job a week later. I was excited about my job before I started, and it has turned out to be even better than I thought it would be. I work with great people who support and challenge me, the subject matter is surprisingly interesting, and I get to do things that big firm associates don’t see until their third year. Also, I went to Miami this last week for a conference on asbestos medicine. Six of us went from the office - I only went because one of the attorneys couldn’t at the last minute - and it was a nice combination of educational lectures (including a video of a extra-pleural pneumonectomy - yuck), networking, and relaxing (mostly on the day before the conference actually started). I had a great time, and I felt really lucky to go. Asbestos is a complicated area, and so getting the chance to learn more in a focused context was really good for me. In other news, Carl moved home a few weeks ago. It’s so good to be back together. Wedding plans are gearing up, though there is still a lot to take care of. We’re also just trying to sort through the house. Between the two of us, who lived alone for three and four years, we’ve accumulated a lot of things, many of them duplicates. We have more tupperware (in a generic sense) than anyone should ever need. I also picked up the vestiges of my youth from my mom’s house about a month ago, meaning all of my childhood books, yearbooks, journals, stuffed animals, my baby blanket and baptismal blanket, and assorted items like a music box from my grandmother and a salt-covered rock from the Dead Sea. That is all now added to the pile of things to sort through. It is literally a pile, similar to a small hill, though much more fragile. I started to go through things today, but I didn’t get very far, because I started reading my journals from high school. Oh my goodness, those were drama-filled years. I’m very glad I’m past those years. So in closing, life is good, and I’m enjoying this journey into real adulthood. Oh, and Carl and I got Motorola Droids a week and a half ago. Awesome. We love them.
Sep 2008searching for a job
We’ve entered the job-search phase, which is an immensely terrifying thing. I alternate between a sense of optimism and hopelessness. Legal areas that interest me include intellectual property, criminal law, immigration law (refugee/asylum), public international law, and litigation generally. A clerkship would also be lovely. If anyone actually reads this, and anyone has any sort of job opening, let me know. I’m writing three papers this semester (yay!). My topics are: enforcing immigration law using criminal law, specifically aggravated identity theft, where the mens rea requirement is disputed and conveniently massaged to include more immigrants in its scope; whether children with disabilities can sue under sec. 1983 when their rights are violated under the IDEA; and international copyrights (using international treaties and individual national laws) protecting composers and performers of folk songs and contemporarily composed music. Fun, no?
Aug 2008disastrous interview
I had two interviews today, one of which wasn’t really an interview, and the other of which was a disaster. I started talking and then I started thinking, “Shut up, shut up, for goodness’ sake, Rachel, shut up,” but I kept talking. He asked all sorts of questions that I didn’t know how to answer (e.g., “Why didn’t a law firm hire you last year?”), and he told me that my writing sample is on a topic that make people’s eyes glaze over (Burmese refugees are terribly boring, I guess). He seemed like a great guy, and I would love to work for him, but I don’t think the feeling was mutual. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get a job there.
May 2008ICE
We all know ICE has done terrible things to people, even US citizens and LPRs. And so I think the rallying cry should be: “Ice ICE, baby.” I came up with this while I was sort of listening to a conference call in my boss’s office. I started to giggle and then had to stop myself. More on my job later. Suffice it to say, I’m loving being in DC and working for LIRS and using all sorts of acronyms. The learning curve is amazingly steep. That’s all for now. If anyone should go hang out with my cats, tell them hi from me and tell them I miss them. :)