Yogurt

1. YoPlus is totally better than Activia (even the one with fibre)

2. When yogurt goes bad, doesn't it just become, like, yogurt?

VC

Freaky Coincidence

I was just looking back at my blog from when I got back from Istanbul to see if I said anything about meeting Murat (having just posted the long Murat post, below). I typically keep anything that even resembles romance off the blog, and of course when I met my last bf I stopped blogging completely, so I was not surprised that nothing about it was there.

What DID surprise me was the post I made about my dream, just after getting back, in which I describe being engaged in a complicated game with a love interest named Robert and my mother remarrying...kind of weird that both are coming true (although my mother is, unfortunately, NOT in Dubai lol).

VC

Murat

[Originally an email that I composed to a few friends, today, at Starbucks in Istanbul and ended up not sending, kind of going back on what I say in paragraph two about soliciting advice!]

I wanted to send a mini update from Istanbul and just let everyone know that I have learned that I won't be able to legally go to Kurdish Iraq in the time that I have on this trip (I could get in with the blessings of the KRG, but it's not the same thing, especially for people staying more than 10 days). Disappointing, but I knew that this trip wouldn't be as seamless as most of my exceptionally well-planned (if break-neck pace) travels, since I did ZERO planing this summer while preparing for the bar. I am going to expand my travels in Southeastern Anatolia to see more of Kurdish Turkey, although I don't really know what this means for the paper I need to submit at the beginning of November on Kurdish identity for the Morocco conference in January.

I was also originally emailing you guys ("you guys" being just a few people, actually, for reasons of this paragraph), because I am totally conflicted about something here in Istanbul and, trying out something new for me, I'm actually soliciting advice! As some of you may know, although I've been to Istanbul five times, now, my very first trip was a trip I made off the cuff to get out of Cairo during my 24th birthday back in February 2006. I had an amazing trip and totally fell in love with Istanbul. The city was cold and almost empty, so I was literally alone, at times, in Aya Sofia and some of the other places I visited, and I also met someone really special who I spent my birthday with.

There was a guy, Murat, who was a lawyer out in a town called Izmit who I met and who, to this day, is one of the few perfect memories I have (along with sleeping on a rainy rooftop in Byblos, Lebanon, eating berries picked by the river in the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan, etc.) -- like, it's a "happy place" I go back to to remind myself that I can be content, trusting etc. (even if I seem to only be capable on vacation, which is another story). Three months after meeting Murat, with whom I had been in touch online through the website where we met and, after that, by text after deleting that online profile, I went to India, left my phone at a party in Delhi, and totally lost Murat. Because I left Cairo right after getting back from India (and because Vodafone Egypt is a MESS), I couldn't get my old phone records from my Egyptian SIM card to get his number, and had long since forgotten his online profile name since we weren't communicating that way anymore. Now, this will sound a little crazy, but every 3 or 4 months since then (3.5 years now!), I go back online and look through all the profiles in Izmit on all the big dating websites and try to find Murat...I have even asked other people if THEY know a Murat, and I've always failed. I think no one knew that lol, so now you know :)

Long story not any shorter: Yesterday I found Murat. Actually, he found me :) And now I'm terrified! I totally don't think he's the love of my life or anything, because I know we don't know each other well, and I also think there are multiple loves we all have, so I'm not viewing this through a "now or never" lense, but I have wanted, for so long, to find him again, and now that I have I'm like...feeling like I don't want to destroy that memory. A lot of this is tied to sense of self-rot a lot of us experience in law school and the feeling like "everything right now is sucky and ruined," which is just kind of a funk I'm in (not depression, but let's say pessimistic and a little negative), in part because of some family drama in California that some of you know about. Part of it is also the fact that there are so few (SO FEW lol) examples I can think of of guys who I've met and just thought were amazing, kind, wonderful people, and who I didn't know long enough to have that impression destroyed by the inevitable flaws we all have. I kind of want to tell him that I'm really busy leaving for Diyarbakir and will try to see him when I'm back (knowing that I won't), but otherwise may have to wait until the Fall when I can make a short trip from London. I'm telling myself that, in that time, I will continue to recuperate from law school and can get a slammin' bod before I come back lol (although he met me post-Afghanistan sedentary hi-security summer/Cairo emotional eating), and also just work on getting back to the positive, shiny person that probably attracted him in the first place. I'm just not at my best now.

[Just decided to not send this email and turn it into a blog entry, so we'll see what happens!]

Ending One Year, Beginning Another

La noche es hermosa

Y estoy tan sola

Mi deseo no es morir

Es mejor cantar, bailar, reir

Como voy a morir,

Morir sin saber que es amar

Vivir solo por amar

Amar mas que el mismo amor

Dar sin a cambio esperar

Libre, de vivir mi vida

Sin un anatema

Sin pedir perdon

Libre, sin pais, ni Dios

Basta que la lluvia el de su bendicion

Vivir solo por amar

Amar mas que el mismo amor

Dar sin a cambio esperar

Los dos mundos que nos alejan

Tal vez un dia se uniran

Porque yo creo de verdad

Hasta mi vida puedo dar

Si al final la historia cambiara

Vivir solo por amar

Amar mas que el mismo amor

Dar sin a cambio esperar

Amar como la noche ama el sol

Amar y morir de tanto amor

Y morir de tanto amor

Vows

Dear Husband,

I vow that (so long as you want it) I will always come with you to the doctor, even if you are just getting some antibiotic for a cold. No one should have to be at the doctor's office alone.

Yours,

VC

Putting Business in Perspective

I thought I had been pretty busy, recently (although I ran 16 miles this week, so I can't be THAT busy, right?), but check out this note I just got from a friend I worked with this summer (REALLY like her -- she's a 3L at Columbia):

in the past 8 days I: argued my first case in district court, got a decision from the bench, wrote a moot court brief, did 6 hours of phone banking for election protection, went to a crazy election party, got a job interview with staff clerks office at the seventh circuit (which will happen next week), left like 3 voicemails for nicole, got an infection in my eye because i wore my contacts for too many days in a row, took the MPRE, and went to a bday party.

Guess I really was NOT that busy!

VC

Rocky Day

I am blogging just briefly to say that I had the WEIRDEST experience last night/this morning. I had a super vivid dream (like the kind where you wake up and think it was real) that today was daylight savings time and I had an extra hour to sleep. When my alarm went off and I reset it for an hour later, thinking that the time was wrong, I then slept for an extra three hours and totally threw off my work schedule for the morning before Persian class (although I did manage to get my homework for Persian done and email one of the other students the 30 sentences we had to translate from English to Persian, since she couldn't pick up the assignment yesterday).

Now I'm working on grading some papers, but am freezing, which is the second thing I'm writing about: I can't say how many days I am cold from 9:25am to 6pm. It makes me MISERABLE. I hate it that the A/C is still blasting everywhere here (not just at Yale) even though it's cold, now. I'm wearing a sweatshirt and eve just having my hands exposed makes me cold :(

Ok that's enough whining for today. Oh! I also left my phone at home, so I can't wish Desi a safe trip to Madison, schedule my dinner with Nicole, or schedule my trip to Home Depot to get a light bulb for my torch lamp (not the crappy Ikea one in the photo from two posts ago, but the super energy efficient and bright one that I really need work that I posted about a year ago when I ordered it, but that I promptly put out of use when I knocked it over and the super special energy efficient bulb broke, which I thought I would have to reorder from the website where I bought the lamp, but which I just realized, yesterday (after a year) can probably be purchased from Home Depot).

Trivial trivial.

--VC

My Midterm

I just drafted this for the class I'm TAing :)

You should spend about 15 minutes reading the following fact pattern and about 60 crafting your reply.

FACT PATTERN

The Democratic Republic of Golestan is a tiny island republic situated in the Arabian Sea between Oman and Pakistan. Golestan has roughly 120,000 inhabitants and covers an area of about 248 sq miles (this makes it about twenty times the size of Wasilla, Alaska, but just smaller, population-wise, than New Haven). Most of Golestan’s adult population engages in subsistence farming, although a significant portion of the country’s north coast is used for flower growing, which has proved extremely lucrative for Golestan and has allowed it to survive without significant foreign assistance. Golestan prides itself on being an economically independent flower economy, and sees its independence from its powerful South Asian and Gulf neighbors as tied to its status as the region’s leading flower exporter.

Golestan is party to the ICCPR, including the First Optional Protocol, the ICESCR, CAT, CEDAW, the CRC, and the Rome Statute of the ICC. In ratifying each of these treaties, the Golestan legislature issued the following declaration:

“The Government of the Democratic Republic of Golestan will comply with the provisions of the treaty, except those that the Government may consider contradictory to its ability to ensure the economic stability and autonomy of sovereign Golestan.”

On 1 September 2008, an unexpected tropical storm decimated the north coast of Golestan and all of the flower farms located there. On 2 September, Hamid Kasif, the president of Golestan, implored Golestan’s legislature to declare a state of emergency and activate the broad police powers of the executive. The legislature passed the Golestan Emergency Law (“GEL”), which declared that:

“In order to guarantee the economic stability and autonomy of sovereign Golestan in a crisis that threatens the survival of the Republic, all citizens of Golestan are immediately required to convert their crops into flower farms and join in collective flower growing. All persons who fail to comply with this law shall be executed or forced to work on government farms, and their property shall be seized.”

The month of September marked unparallel violence in Golestan, with soldiers from the Ministry of Agriculture engaging in neighborhood raids, either killing entire families on the spot if their land had not been converted to flower farms or forcing the strongest family members to work in chain gangs on government flower farms. Many of those slain or forced into labor camps hold dual nationality, including some with the United States and Belgium.

Last week, Columbia University invited President Kasif to be a guest speaker, and in introducing the President of Golestan, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger said that Kasif was “starting to exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator.” In response, Kasif made the following statement:

“The actions we have undertaken in Golestan are in conformity with the understanding our legislature has consistently expressed of our international treaty obligations, as modified by our Emergency Law. In addition, nothing we have done to protect the economic integrity of Golestan violates customary international law. The people of Golestan cannot enjoy their civil and political liberties in a state of poverty or enslavement to the World Bank and multinational corporations. The measures taken to ensure Golestan’s economic independence are well within the margins of acceptable state action to preserve public order, and are consistent with the strongly-held values of this great people.”

QUESTION

You are an associate researcher with a New York-based international NGO, Lawyers Heart Human Rights (“Heart”). You have been asked to draft a memo that Heart can use to brief reporters about Kasif’s claims concerning Golestan’s treaty obligations and customary international law, as well as the justifications he provided for the state’s repressive actions. Your memo should also present what you consider to be the best option for brining someone kind of claim against the state of Golestan or its leaders.

Has Anyone Seen My Missing Pile?

Saturday spent reviewing documents for my human rights clinic.

I Think I Am Back

Only time will tell, I suppose.

**********************************

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemies eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing:
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt, and pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can not explain
Once you know there was never, never an honest word
That was when I ruled the world

It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in.
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People could not believe what I'd become

Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be king?

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field

For some reason I can not explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

(Coldplay, Viva la vida)

Reagan on Bush

Historical Quote of the Day (AP)

"A moment I've been dreading. George (Bush Sr.) brought his
ne're-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the
kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida . The one who
hangs around here all the time looking shiftless.

This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real
job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if
they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That
looks like easy work."

-- Ronald Reagan in his recently published diaries, written
May 17, 1986.

Shi'a Iraq Cheat Sheet

If you can't remember anything else, remember this:

1. Party
Islamic Supreme Council in Iraq
Leader
Abdulaziz al-Hakim
Militia
Badr

2. Party
Sadrists (informal)
Leader
Moqtada al-Sadr
Militia
Medhi Army

For the conflict, what is important to know is that the US has backed al-Hakim and the form Shi'i party as both part of its debaathification processes and as part of its fight against Moqtada al-Sadr and the threat if perceives from the Medhi Army.

A recent report by International Crisis Group questions the wisdom al-Hakim's alignment with the US. Read it...it's pretty interesting.

The al-Hakim family is a powerful shi'a line from Najaf and looks towards Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani as its Supreme Religious Leader (the place Sistani occupies in Iraq is comparable to that of Khamanei in Iran, except they have different opinions about the relationship between the Supreme Religious Leader and the government, which is why in Iran everything has to be approved by Khamanei, and in Iraq not everything goes through Sistani...this difference relates to their views of the leadership or guardianship of the jurist, velayat al-fakih).

VC

Defragmenting

I think there's something paradoxical about defragmenting my computer, which I'm doing now because I got a notice that my computer is running "1.11 times slower" than it should: If you add up ALL the extra wait time I encounter as a result of this 1.11 times slower slowness, I think it's still less than the EXTREMELY LONG TIME it's taking my computer to defragment itself (like more than an hour).

VC

Why Europe is Better than the US

The women's season ending championships are in Madrid, one of my favourite cities, and I'm cracking up because the ball boys, who are actually hot men (sometimes they have adults do it), rather than wearing the usually-frumpy uniforms, are wearing tight, sleeveless Hugo Boss tank tops lol.

Good bless Europe!

VC

Pierre Krähenbühl

HOT HOT HOT lol

Go to the ICRC page now.

You can also see him in the article on Burma.

VC

Catching Up: La Vie, Spiegelworld

Curie is asleep on my couch, taking a nap after having seen the law school. We're going to what is supposedly the best Indian restaurant in the area, tonight, in Branford (her and two other transfers who I should nickname and will explain later: Nichole and Ellen).

Since I've been catching up with Curie, today, I thought I should also catch up with some of the stuff I've done and photos I've taken.

The first thing I want to post are some images I took while at the South Street Seaport for the final performance of La Vie, by Spiegelworld.

The show was fantastic, and it was really nice getting to see a friend I met through Curie who (we joke) is my Chinese half-sister. She's really a sweet person, and some of her friends were great.

As I said, the show was fantastic. You can check out the website for an idea of what it's all about. I think the best parts were the dance scenes between the MC and a woman (who, in the show, is a Russian femme fatale). You know the man is probably gay, and that they are just performers in a cabaret under a circus tent in Manhattan and are not really tormented lovers, and yet when they danced it was so passionate and so believable. I think the entire audience was impressed with the others (contortionists, ropeworkers, etc.) but we were just blown away by the dancing. IT WAS HOT lol

Most of my photos are of the ships and the actual seaport itself. I really like the effect of the cell phone photos sometimes.

VC

Wall Street

Like I've been saying, there's NOTHING about Manhattan that says that Wall Street has to be there. If we were smart we'd move to Shanghai, or Dubai, or Paris.

VC

The Bravery, "The Ocean" (song lyrics)

I climbed up a mountain, and looked off the edge
At all of the lives that I never have led
There's one where I stayed with you, across the sea
I wonder do you still think of me

I carry your image always in my head
Folded and yellowed and torn at the edge
And I've looked upon it for so many years
Slowly I'm loosing your face

Oh the ocean rows us away, away, away
The ocean rows us away

Sixes and sevens we live on jet planes
So many faces I don't know the names
So many friends now and none of them mine
Forgotten as soon as we meet

All of these moments are lost in time
But you're caught in my head like a thorn on a vine
Took forever to mend me and I wonder why
Do I wish I've never known you at all

Oh the ocean rows us away, away, away
The ocean rows us away

The sun and the moon
An ocean of air
So many voices
And nothing is there
But the ghost of you asking me why
Why did I leave

Oh the ocean rows us away, away, away
The ocean rows us away

And I loose your hand through the waves

Taking Chances

I guess it should be announced that I'm officially in a relationship now. A lot of my friends at Yale have met him, but I'm excited for my NYC friends and family to meet him, too.

Really worth the wait. That's all I can say :)

More Celine. I love the chorus.

VC

PS: The woman sang more than 500 shows in Vegas (I think it was maybe closer to 900) in just a few years and her voice has not suffered at all. Now THAT'S healthy technique!

Things that Make VC Happy: Celine Dion's Air Guitar

I sent this clip to my mom a few weeks ago, but I was just watching it again and wanted to post it. The talking part is boring, but watch for 2:20-2:30 when she vocally mimics a guitar. This woman can SERIOUSLY sing. It's also cute when she's banging on the hallway walls talking about what good acoustics they have lol.

VC