Why I'm writing this instead of going to bed, I cannot tell you.

[bironic]

I don't think I mentioned this yet, but I'll be in Washington, D.C. for the summer, doing the internship we're required to complete in order to graduate. I did the math and found out that with my tax return I can totally afford the studio apartment I'm subletting, along with things like food, my phone and a parking space. Even TV if I want it; and I might, because I'm not sure what else I'll do with my evenings. Actually, because I'm lucky enough to have snagged a paid internship, the financial problem isn't those things so much as the fact that I have to pay tuition, too. MIT charges for the privilege of not having helped us find our positions. Go figure. But in five months it will have to call me Master. Mm hm.

Other than the fact that D.C. is hell in summertime weather-wise and I really like being here in Boston, I'm looking forward to the job, being near [LJ friend] and her family, possibly meeting a couple of people, having time to read books for fun (just when I'll be moving hundreds of miles away from the sci fi library), and … no, maybe that's it. Visiting museums again, I suppose. I've never toured the White House. Having my car down there also means I could pop over for some sight-seeing in Virginia or Baltimore or wherever and OMG Google Maps says if I take a long weekend I could drive to Asheville and see synn or meet her halfway or something.

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Saw a documentary on PBS called Milking the Rhino. It was about conservation efforts in Namibia and Kenya where some local tribes are figuring out how to profit from wildlife and plants they'd traditionally considered pests or just ignored. Seeing different tribes struggle with different values toward a common goal was interesting. The film did a respectable job of showing the political complexities not only of that but also tribes' relationships with tourist ranches renting their property, government preservation efforts, warring neighbors, doubt about whether conservation is worth the effort, reappropriation of the myth of "wild Africa", and of course a heritage of imperialism. It was beautifully shot, too. The website shows all kinds of independent and international film awards.

Before that there was something on TLC about a young woman from England with something akin to Proteus syndrome. Imagine having legs that weighed 200 pounds and sucked all the fatty tissue from your upper body.

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I worked a lot this weekend, and now I am tired. Tiiiired. On the bright side, I was given a dyed egg this morning (picture! there is a fish sticker), which I ate, and on work breaks yesterday and today I made chicken soup and a much-too-large pot roast. My week will be full of animal.

Comments

[perspi.livejournal.com]

I watched that documentary about the woman with the giant legs! Although I was somewhat concerned at her ultimate decision--wouldn't waiting simply make the chances of success less likely?

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I guess if you accept that amputation might kill you, you'd want to put that off as long as possible, even with the smaller chance that the surgery might help (and not leave you permanently immobile). I wondered if it might make sense to amputate at the hip and wait for a prosthetic to be invented that wouldn't leave her so debilitated. Maybe that's much too far down the line at this point.

[firestorm717.livejournal.com]

The Milking the Rhino documentary looks gorgeous. Wish I'd caught it on PBS. It's always interesting seeing these traditional tribes and how they interact with foreigners on their land.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

It was really a impressive show. If it airs again (this was the second time in a week, I think the site said), I'd definitely recommend it. It did a good job presenting many gray areas.