I was getting sick of having that little bit of freetime

Looks like I may get to be a research assistant! One of my favorite professors is writing a second edition of her book on adoption law and - long shot as it was - I wrote her expressing interest. I'm not work study eligible right now, so I'm awfully expensive compared to other students, which is why I've usually not bothered applying for these sorts of jobs. My hours will have to be limited to stay under budget, but this might not be a terrible thing, considering I'm already pretty swamped and honestly I'd take the position for free for the learning op. I'm also doing some volunteer research for the QLaw foundation on a similar topic regarding what effect the new domestic partnership laws have on adoption, custody, etc. What can I say, family law just keeps getting in between the cracks.

This mostly makes up for the floundering state of my big mediation (we each get one EEOC case and have mostly free reign with it). The details comprise a long, confidential story, but both parties have reached an unexpected impasse regarding the shape of the table before the scheduling has even been taken resolved - time to ask the teacher for help and bring out the BAT(NA - as in best available alternative to a negotiated agreement testing, which mostly involves asking loaded questions to encourage people to re-evaluate the strength of their cases and wear down their resistance to mediating/negotiating with the other party and not necessarily as in large blunt object). That frustration compounds with some scheduling difficulties we've encountered dealing with various small claims court calendars. I specifically left Thursday afternoons open based on the expectation that this would when we were mediating, but complications inevitably arose and now this isn't always possible and sometimes we just have to miss other classes, a prospect that makes my stomach churn with piss-drunk butterflies. I'm hoping that gets back on track soon, because it's been so valuable when things are moving a little more smoothly.

The research assistant thing also compounds nicely with my occasional work on the files in my mom's office. Many of them are in a state of chaos in my absence, so I've taken up the mantle of grand-organizer, at least sometimes. After two weekends, I've only managed to get through 2/3 of the alphabet of the new files, not even considering the closed files. It's actually quite peaceful - I lock myself up in an empty office with my music and my thoughts and impose order on the world. And eventually I get a few extra bucks for having done so.  Of course it means more commuting and the time that I don't always have to spend, but fortunately the work is of the unpressing enough sort that I can work at my leisure and not miss out on too many other opportunities for happy-fun-time.