two weeks until landing in us of a

OEWG

It's time for the 2 week conference on the Open-ended working group to take forward multilateral disarmament (OEWG). And what am I doing to prepare for it? Yes, that's right, nothing (other than some light reading). I'm currently blogging and procrastinating to epic proportions by watching Chinese dramas. Because my brain currently is mush and in order not to think outside work, I watch Chinese dramas. No thinking required. In fact, no brain required. I've sent off my drafts for the transparency and verification project I'm working on to my supervisor and waiting to get comments/feedback. But seriously, I need to get on with my life, like preparing for the new semester, application for jobs, among other things (and getting back to Lyon).

But, the open-ended working group. There are some that are skeptical about progress being made in the group while others repeat the same language over and over again. However, there are many approaches mentioned to help disarmament negotiations along. To find a list of all the working papers, look here. For the first time, an NGO submitted a working paper! To read Reaching Critical Will's paper on achieving a world free of nuclear weapons, click here.

The first meeting on Monday afternoon was characterized by...mic problems and a presentation of various approaches to nuclear disarmament. So many approaches, in fact, that my head felt like spinning when I left the meetings. Hopefully, I survive all the meetings this week and next. Let's see how many cups of coffee I'll have consumed by the end of the meetings. I may just have to catch up on sleep in the plane.

As much as I'm dreading returning to the States, namely to Monterey, there are some things I do look forward to:

1. Fall in all its glory

2. Running along the ocean

3. Finishing my studies aka GETTING MY MASTERS

4. While I'm going to miss the Fête des Lumières again, as always, I do look forward to the holiday season. As always.

5. Seeing some old friends in Monterey

Finally:

How can I ever leave this?? I must come back asap.

Who knows when I'll be back here to my beautiful city? I just know I'll be back soon. I don't know when, but I know it's soon. Like I said, the next time I'm back in Lyon, it's to live and make a home there.

I also realized I do need to cook more and put my cooking skills into use. Last year, due to my hectic schedule, I survived on couscous with vegetables, raw vegetables (lots) with hummus, bread, cheese, wine and of course, coffee. Because it was easy and quick to make. You boil the couscous, toss frozen or fresh veggies in a skillet and mix the two together. Et voilà, you get dinner for a week! No knives and no extra plates.

Let the OEWG engage mode and madness commence.