Putting Things in Perspective

Putting Things in Perspective

What I'm listening to: Crosby, Stills and Nash-entire album on record.

Every day in this grad school life is a learning experience. I find from time to time I have to wake up and put things in perspective.

One thing that I've come to realize is that it's fallacious to look for 'authentic' connections. In fact, I'm finding discussions of the 'real' to be exceedingly boring. Everything is discourse anyway so why look for some kernel of truth? I like people, I like hanging out with people and I like to have fun. If a bond forges over time, great!

The other thing is that there will always be an abundance of applications out at different times. Being in limbo is a big part of this field-grad school, sessional lecturer, grant applications, trying to get things published, etc. Worrying about them won't solve anything. I've learned to enjoy this field for what it is-love it for what it is, actually. Being in limbo allows for a lot of play.

In short-play, laugh, have fun, and enjoy the transitory space that is grad school. Enjoy it because one is not tied down.

More from the archives

More from the archives

What I'm listening to: Quality Control-Jurassic 5.

I really miss having my scanner in Montreal. When I come back to my parents' place, part of the enjoyment is going through old photographs. This time I decided to look through some of my own images and found a few that I still like, after a few years have passed.

I call this one Lenore:
If I ever got a cat it would be jet black with green eyes, named Lenore after 'The Raven' by Edgar Allan Poe.

This is somebody who I used to hang out with in undergrad.
We've lost touch and I have no idea where she is now. I hope that she's well. I generally try to avoid posting pictures of people on my blog, but I like this portrait enough that I'd like to share it with the few readers that I have. I won't mention her full name, in case somebody googles her and ends up here. Her name is Ginger-I'll say that much because her name fits the image.

I was spending the day in the National Gallery of Canada during one of the worst snowstorms in recent memory-a real blizzard.
I found the look of the whiteout to be quite striking, when placed behind the gallery's pillars and glass windows. I do often wonder how much Windex it takes to clean all those windows....

One evening I was on my way home from work and just happened to have the camera in the passenger seat. A violent thunderstorm had just stopped, and the sky started to clear in the dusk.
This is a Dairy Queen from the 1940s, just on the edge of what used to be CFB Rockliffe, on the corner of Hemlock and St. Laurent Boulevard in Ottawa. Light reflections on wet pavement is probably one of my favourite things to look at. Such pretty patterns and colours, flowing into abstraction...