Folkloric

The Wardrobe Refashion Pledge

2006-05-15T14:55:00.000-04:00

I, Jenn,

Pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 6 months.

I Pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recylcle pre-loved items for myself for the term of my contract.

I Pledge that I shall create and craft items of clothing for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract.

I Pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoated, recylcled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftyness brings!

Wardrobe Refashion

Finally finished

2006-04-09T15:12:00.000-04:00

For months now I've had a pile of half finished books on my nightstand, and apparently absolutely no time to read. Today, that has changed.

I've been doing a lousy job of taking care of myself recently, and one thing that I've wanted to get back to is reading for pleasure at least a little bit everyday. So, this afternoon I took a break from my online research (I'm in the process of writing a few term papers and prepping for an oral exam), settled in bed under the covers, and finished "All The Names" by José Saramago. There wasn't that much left to read but I'm happy that I finished something...even if finishing did mean going back and having to reread a little bit to make sense of the ending. But I feel better, somehow, now that I've done that, and I'm looking forward to trying to turn reading for pleasure into more of a habit.

Silly, perhaps

2006-04-09T14:51:00.000-04:00

This coat is too large for me. It's not huge, but it's decidedly too big, especially around the chest and waist, even with a big sweater on. I suspect it may live out its life on my also-too-large dressmaker's dummy. Why did I buy it? Because it's lovely, and I love having it around. I love the material and the style, especially the bias panel at the front with fringe at the bottom. It came from the local thrift store, has only a small fixable tear at the bottom hem, and cost all of $5. Most of all, it's 100% angora and so incredibly soft that I keep hugging the dummy, which is probably a little odd. I saw it once, and kept thinking about it until I went back to get it. It's lovely on it's own, just hanging there (even if the photo shows it at an odd angle.) But I still wish I could wear it.

Does anyone else buy clothes like this, even if they don't fit? If so, what do you do with them?

(Not the best photo. I don't have a window that gets good light, so it has to be positively radiant out for me to take a good photo. I'll have to work on this.)

Poetry Friday

2006-04-07T17:10:00.000-04:00

I wasn't able to find Red Rising, one of my favourite poem by Edward Brathwaite, but I offer up this one instead.

Timbuctu, by Edward Brathwaite

Whose gold you carry, camel,
In this cold cold world?
Whose pearls of great price?
Whose cinnamon, whose spice?

Your world of walls, o city
Of my birth, rise so certain
So secure; the plains
Of dust surrounding us.

So kept away ,so distant.
Whose gold you carry, camel,
On your hill-top back?
To what far land you now

Transport our wealth?
And what wealth here, what
Riches, when the gold returns
To dust, the walls

We raised return again
To dust; and what sharp winds,
Teeth’d with the desert’s sand,
Rise in the sun’s dry.

Brilliance where our mosques
Mock ignorance , mock pride,
Burn in the crackled blaze of time,
Return again to whispers, dust.

Victory for Vogue

2006-04-01T18:11:00.000-05:00

It's sad, but I have never bought a Vogue Knitting magazine before, preferring instead to photocopy the few (very few, in some cases) patterns that I wanted from a library copy. I couldn't justify speanding $10 on a magazine with so little that I was interested in.

But all that has changed.

The latest Vogue Knitting has come out, and there are no less than 15 patterns that I would consider making. Some have even got me drooling. I can't find photos of all of them yet, but so far these have he all worked up. I can't wait to get started on this:

And this...

And a little of this...

And some of this...

And I have also dicovered a new obsession. Malabrigo Yarns. Very similar to Manos del Uruguay...merino wool, hand spun, kettle dyed, and the colours are amazing. At $17 a skein, it was a bit much for the scarf that I wanted to make (I'm a student - $60 scarves are just not going to happen right now), but it's truly lovely, especially in the indigo/navy colourway. Incredibly intense, incredibly rich, and so very soft and lovely.

Nifty news

2006-03-27T20:03:00.000-05:00

A while ago I filled out a survey about the University's grad student society. I found out today that, for my efforts and with a bit of luck, I've won myself an iPod shuffle. I have an iPod already (a 30 gig photo one), but this might prove to be rather handy for running and working out. It was nice moment in a not-so-nice day.

Poetry Friday

2006-03-24T15:36:00.000-05:00

Apparently I was wrong and it is not Poetry Thursday, but Friday instead. One day, I'm convinced, I'll get something right.

In any case, a lot of people seem to know this poem. It was turned into a lovely children's book a number of years ago, despite it's slightly macabre subject matter, and I'm still looking for a copy.

Annabel Lee - Edgar Allan Poe, 1849

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;--
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
She was a child and I was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love--
I and my Annabel Lee--
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud by night
Chilling my Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me:--
Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of a cloud, chilling
And killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we--
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in Heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:--

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea--
In her tomb by the side of the sea.

What a relief...

2006-03-19T18:31:00.000-05:00

I'm sure this is a huge relief to many people...

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

Hodgepodge

2006-03-18T12:17:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to post more, but keep confusing myself as to what, exactly, this blog is (or should, or could be) about. It seems I have all of these things that I want to talk about, but they're all so varied that I don't necessarily see this blog being of interest to...well...anyone, really, other than me. Even barring my academic interests, which I don't tend to talk about all that much, I still have a lot different that I find myself talking about, and while there are links between them that I see, it feels like this blog doesn't really offer that much in the way of cohesion. As it stands, I find myself wanting to talk about:

- crafting (sewing and knitting, especially)
- environmental issues
- thrifting
- fashion, and especially as it links to the three previous topics
- grad school, in general
- food
- social justice

I guess, somehow, that there's a unified way in which I approach these topics that links them together. I have a definite tendency to think of all of these things in terms of social justice and sustainability, even if it's not always at the front of what I say, and these issues come up in my life a lot. And maybe, in all of this, I'm just being a little too hard on myself for a blog that doesn't need to be anything more than what I want it to be, and that expresses me however I want to at any given point in time.

Poetry Thursday

2006-03-10T01:46:00.000-05:00

I'm a teensy bit late on the Thursday part of Poetry Thursday, but I think this is worth waiting a bit for.

I love this poem, and have loved it for a long time. The whole thing is wonderful, even in translation, but there's one line that just catches me and throws me every time I read it. It seems to encapsulate something that I can't even really express, or something that I wanted to say but couldn't, which I suppose is one mark of good poetry, at least for me.

Here I Love You - Pablo Neruda

Here I love you.
In the dark pines the wind disentangles itself.
The moon glows like phosphorous on the vagrant waters.
Days, all one kind, go chasing each other.

The snow unfurls in dancing figures.
A silver gull slips down from the west.
Sometimes a sail. High, high stars.
Oh the black cross of a ship.
Alone.

Sometimes I get up early and even my soul is wet.
Far away the sea sounds and resounds.
This is a port.

Here I love you.
Here I love you and the horizon hides you in vain.
I love you still among these cold things.
Sometimes my kisses go on those heavy vessels
that cross the sea towards no arrival.
I see myself forgotten like those old anchors.

The piers sadden when the afternoon moors there.
My life grows tired, hungry to no purpose.
I love what I do not have. You are so far.
My loathing wrestles with the slow twilights.
But night comes and starts to sing to me.

The moon turns its clockwork dream.
The biggest stars look at me with your eyes.
And as I love you, the pines in the wind
want to sing your name with their leaves of wire.

Late night lovelies

2006-03-07T00:49:00.000-05:00

I don't shop much, but if I did I'd consider some of these (found in a late-night 5 minute study break.)

Marking 0, Me 1

2006-02-19T02:03:00.000-05:00

I'm done marking all but the three assignments I need to mark on campus Monday. But getting to this point was vaguely hellish - I started at 9 this morning and finished at 8:30 tonight, with only brief breaks for doing some dishes and taking a shower. But oh, the relief of having that done.

My favourite part is when they make stuff up. Just out of nowhere. It makes me laugh. And laugh. And stop laughing when I actually have to assign a grade. Like the paper on semiotics that went into a huge explanation of how squirrels are self-aware and most animals lead their lives in silence.

My second-favourite part is their punctuation, and especially when they use colons and semi-colons more in one paper than I've used them in my life: to break up perfectly good sentences (like I just did - clever that, eh?)

But it's done, and tomorrow I get the thrill of working on my own research, namely a presentation for Tuesday, set up in a Socratic/interrogative style. It's a step up from marking, but wish me luck, I'd rather be knitting.

No words

2006-02-18T00:34:00.000-05:00

This article has me not really knowing what to say right now, but I'm working on it.

Things I love

2006-02-17T23:57:00.000-05:00

I tend to be disinclined towards constructing lists just of things, but I've been feeling somewhat icky, and I sat myself down to think of all of the things that I really love, and to hopefully pick some things on the list that I could work with to make this weekend feel a little better.

- thrifting
- vintage clothing, especially pre-1960s
- Indian food - mmmmm...papadums
- velvet
- sushi
- books by Nick Bantock
- knitting scarves
- vintage cookbooks
- medical knowledge
- thrifting (yes, it’s here twice)
- dresses over jeans
- tall leather boots
- cotton yarn
- World of Warcaft
- cozy blankets and pillows
- Anthropologie
- anthropology
- denim
- novels by Barbara Hodgson
- hot tamales (the candies)
- reading in bed, late at night
- Pablo Neruda
- studying video games
- psychogeography
- protest music
- Project Alabama
- handmade goods
- mushroom anything
- Toast by Post
- novels by Barbara Kingsolver
- Waterman pens
- ravioli
- Moleskein notebooks
- dark chocolate
- big sweaters

Looking for me

2006-02-17T23:45:00.000-05:00

Too much work to do, too little time. But it'll all get done. It always does.

The problem right now is that I haven't been taking very good care of myself. I've been under a lot of stress, and I haven't really had time to go grocery shopping. Nor have I been able to sleep all that well. But...I've been feeling pretty icky recently (tired and stressed and generally a basketcase), and I'm making changes to try to feel better.

Despite killing my shoulders hauling groceries home, I got lots of good food to cook with, and I've been watching what I've been eating a lot more. So much good food - milk, V8, fish, fruits and veggies - I feel better every time I open my fridge. Tomorrow I'll be making a big crockpot dinner with leftovers for the week to take to school with me.

I've been going to bed a little earlier, and trying to sleep better. I'm also turning off the TV earlier so that i can read before bed, which seems to relax me more and helps me to sleep better. This also has the added benefit of letting me feel like I'm not doing work-related reading all of the time (just most of it, now.)

Tomorrow I have plans for some yoga to stretch out and relax before bed...maybe some free weights if I'm up to it. Ideally I'd like to get out jogging or biking again soon, but the weather has yet to cooperate with me. But I think something smaller and stretchier is a good start for now.

I've been cleaning my apartment just to feel better in general. It's not horrible, but I feel so much better when it's cleaner and feels more like home than a dumping ground for books and marking and me in the evenings.

I'm really looking forward to feeling a little more like me again.

I would like to be here right now

2006-01-22T15:12:00.000-05:00

I'm reading this afternoon. After an extremely late night last night, my afternoon is feeling a little painful, especially keeping track of readings for class this week. And while I love sitting on my little love seat and reading my window, I'd really love to have a place like this to curl up.

It's not that cold here, and not that grey (which would be what would normally inspire me to visions of fires and coziness and curling up), but somehow I find this very appealing. I like warmth like this anyway - very much, in fact - but somehow this seems especially appealing today.

Busy, busy, busy...

2006-01-21T12:15:00.000-05:00

I suppose it's only fitting that a busy end to the last semester is followed be a busy start to this semester. I guess it's not so bad, getting all this work out of the way, but it's been a little crazy right off the bat. Thus far, I've:

- taught four tutorials for two groups, one really chatty, one like pulling teeth
- lectured on mass society critis and Raymond Williams to aforementioned tutorial groups
- presented on some foundational texts in advertising and consumption
- written and submitted a paper for grad student conference back at MA University
- established marking scheme for student presentations
- met with two presentation groups to offer sage presentation advice
- written response paper on sensuousness

In non-academic news I have:

- filthified my apartment
- made a rather brief but successful thrift store run
- provided health services with a medical history, so they will provide me with pills
- tried to book a physical, but apparently the wait is two months

That's the basic rundown now...stay tuned for exciting posts on thrift store shopping (maybe I'll learn how to post photos soon!) and why I think the computerized medical history program at student health services is stupid and makes me potentially look bad.

Apparently...

2006-01-01T12:03:00.000-05:00

...my New Year's resolution is this:

In the year 2006 I resolve to:

Spam a monkey a day.

Get your resolution here

Um...sure. I'll get right on that.

Happy New Year

2006-01-01T11:50:00.000-05:00

...It's been a long December
and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I can't remember all the times
I tried to tell my myself
To hold on to these moments
as they pass.

Adam Duritz

Making change

2005-12-28T12:12:00.000-05:00

This year I've done less than I wanted to, especially in terms of social justice, working for change, and generally trying to make the world a better place. I've slipped into feeling like a poor student and, more than that, a poor student who's so wrapped up in work and getting things done for class that there's no time left for any of the other things that are not only really important to me, but an expression of my worldview and how I want the world to be.

I still don't have a lot of money - PhD school doesn't exactly pay well - but I feel like I need a change this year for me in order to affect change for others. It hasn't been a priority, but it should be, and I want it to be. While I have a paper in the works on social justice as it relates to my research, it's just not enough. In part, I've been inspired by a prof who does similar work to what I do, but splits his time between video games research and social justice work, which I really admire and hope to emulate. But, I'm looking for some active ways to get involved, either through the school or, more likely, with a local organization.

I was thinking of volunteering time with some of these organizations. If anyone wants to weigh in with comments or suggestions (especially of organizations in London or generally in Ontario), that would be great:

Humane Society - dog walking, cat grooming, and bunny cuddling without a huge time committment to start.

Big Sisters - seems like a good choice, but I don't know that I'll always have 4 hours a week, especially in weeks when I have marking for my students and my own work/writing/presentations to get done.

Food Bank - either sorting food or communications work (which I have a background in, and which seems to be appreciated.)

There will likely be more on this later - both on the hanging my life in the new year end, and on my personal worldview and social justice leanings and such, because it's something that's been on my mind a lot lately. Stay tuned...

"The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice." - M.L.K., Jr.

Happy Holidays!

2005-12-26T11:03:00.000-05:00

The best gift this year is having my papers done and being able to b-r-e-a-t-h-e once again for at least a few minutes. In the last month of classes I had three presentations and five papers, with four of those five papers all due on the 15th of the month. Getting them done was sheer madness, and certainly didn't result in my best writing ever, but I am glad that they're done now.

Christmas was pretty nice this year. I got into town later than I normally do, so it's been a bit of a rush, and I don't know if I really feel like it's actually hit here yet, even though it's over. Everyone seemed to like their gifts, which is always a nice feeling. At this point, for me, it's more about seeing other people open their gifts than what I get, and even my relatively late-in-the-season shopping seems to have worked well.

But, with that said, I got some lovely gifts as well, and am considering venturing out into the madness of boxing day to get some yarn with which to knit, since I got both Weekend Knitting and Handknit Holidays and am now completely inspired. I also got a lovely book on people who use their journals as art, plus a lovely leather case for my beloved Moleskein notebooks and a Waterman fountain pen (which matches the Waterman rollerball that I bought a while back.) Add in a few novels, some folky CDs, and a whole mess of chocolate, and I'm set to relax for the next little while.

In some ways I've found it to be a hard Christmas, for reasons that I might get into later. In simple terms, I sometimes have a hard time with the "peace, joy, and goodwill message" of Christmas when, even though I know a lot of wonderful people who are working for change, it's sometimes hard to see such messages with all of the disparities and ugliness in the world. But, rather than rain on anyone's parade, I'll hold back for now, because I too am enjoying being home and just taking a bit of a break for a while.

Good and frustrating

2005-12-06T00:19:00.000-05:00

The good: I have a neat-o idea for a new paper, and some possible avanues to explore. It's really interesting, and I'm excited about it.

The frustrating: I have no time at all to work on it right now, other than to fantasize...

I am such a geek sometimes.

Trapping

2005-12-06T00:16:00.000-05:00

Thus far my mouse traps have caught a spider.

Only a spider.

Strangely, this makes me kind of happy, even if there's still mouse poop on my counters and I can hear them scampering in the kitchen sometimes. I know they're bad for me in a lot of ways, but I still kind of find myself rooting for the little guys.

Crap.

2005-11-28T14:54:00.000-05:00

Literally.

I came home from Toronto today to find a nice selection of tiny wee mouse turds on my kitchen counter.

Goody.

I'm not afraid of mice, and certainly don't freak out about or around them. However, they do unfortunately tend to carry disease, and their dander is very bad for respiratory systems and so on, and so they must go. Preferably now, before they start to breed and things get much, much worse.

However, I think the only thing worse than having mice is having to kill them (I'm such a softie.) So, with that in mind, does anyone have any suggestions about humane ways to take care of them, either to catch and release or (gulp!) kill them. I'd rather not kill them, but dealing with them long-term tends to do very bad things to my lungs.

I've heard that breaking their necks is kindest for them, so long as it's instant. I wouldn't leave traps out in case I was out so that, if they didn't work properly, I could take care of it quickly. But I don't know that I could even stand to see them, empty the traps, and resnap them if they didn't work properly the first time. Poison isn't that nice, and means dead mice inside walls and other less than nice places. And, if possible, I really, really would rather not kill them, but does anyobe have any suggestions? I'll listen to anything...

On the go

2005-11-21T15:04:00.000-05:00

Well, now that I've firmly established that I am an inconsistent and sporadic blogger (with many, many unfinished, unposted posts to my name), I though I might offer up a list of all that I'm working on right now that's sapping my online time.

Academic:
- presentation on my doctoral research, including methods
- paper on the relations of production surround the spectacle of virtual commodities
- paper on the development of radical feminism (and the radical feminist project) from Firestone onwards as it relates to the development of online/Internet technologies
- two review papers
- research proposal for doctoral work
- presentation for class to "show seeing"

Non-academic:
- attempting to knit five scarves (thankfully, not all for Christmas)
- attempting to knit two sets of fingerless gloves for me
- trying, in what little time I seem to have, to relax by working on my lousy drawing abilities (I now doodle in class more than I take notes, I think)
- knitting some (lace-y) edging for future projects, and generally experimenting because I find it relaxing in the midst of all this stress

Most of my research is now focused on technology and it's social effects, but I've been thinking more lately around a few different issues, and how they might be incorporated into some of my research interests: social justice, the need to create, more traditional pursuits such as those above (knitting, sewing, etc.), how these pursuits are being used and redefined. I don't exactly know where I'm going with this, and I'm not about to embark on any sort of research on it at this point, but it's been an interesting thought process, at least for me. More on this later...

The things I do to thrift

2005-11-03T17:15:00.000-05:00

I admit it. I'm addicted to thrifting. The rush of finding something unexpected, the laughter at finding something silly, the eleation at finding something coveted - it's all great.

I am now carless. And recently I've been feeling slothfull and out of shape and just generally rather like a sack of potatos. So, in an effort to get moving, I made myself a deal. I can go to the thrift stores if I bike there. Obviously, this won't be possible in the winter. However, as long as it is nice and I want to go thrifting, I must bike there (or walk, but that would take a very long time, I think.) So I biked it today. Got out my bike, found my locks, loaded on the paniers, grabbed a water bottle, and took off. I chose one that wasn't the closest, but wasn't that much farther than the closest. Still, it took me over half an hour to bike there. And over half an hour to bike back. But I did it, I feel good, and I figure I can't be in too bad shape since I managed to survive the whole ride.

And how far did I actually ride? I figured it out when i got back today, and it surprised me a little. Roundtrip, I biked 11.39 kilometres (or, 8.04 miles.) Wow - that's not too shabby, but I suspect I will need some yoga time tonight if I actually want to be able to walk at all tomorrow.

Bye-bye car-car

2005-10-28T23:47:00.000-04:00

After just over two years, I’ve given my (well…kind of my…) car back to my parents (somehow that sounds better and, to be fair, is more accurate than saying that they reclaimed it). They bought it for me to use while I was doing my MA in Toronto, and it had come time that I either had to buy it or give it back, and they've been more than generous in letting me hang onto it while I get settled in London. But, given that I’m a student and, y’know, don’t actually have any real money, and certainly not enough for a car, I decided to pass on the car overall. It’s a ’99 honda civic, teal blue, very nice, and now named Stella, much to my father’s chagrin.

It really makes sense in a lot of ways. My environmental sensibilities don’t like me tooling around alone just because it’s easy. The price of gas is insane. I have a free bus pass, and there’s no reason why I should pay for a car and maintenance and gas and insurance (so expensive!) when I can take one bus to class, and another to the grocery store. It’s not like I really do that much either, so transit isn’t a huge deal. And I hate relying on an expensive piece of machinery to get me around.

But, I have to admit, even given all of that I’ll miss the convenience and the knowledge that it’s there and an easy form of transit, if I need it. It’s funny how attached I’ve grown to it. I’ll get by without without too much trouble, but I will miss it.

Now how am I supposed to do my weekly rounds to the thrift and fabric stores?

Ashes to ashes...

2005-10-09T22:17:00.000-04:00

My grandma died yesterday afternoon, and I am sad. Sad that I didn’t know her better. Sad that I hadn’t visited in a while. Sad in general, as I suppose is frequently the case in these things. But, although it sounds like a cliché, I am glad that she’s no longer ill and having a difficult time of it.

I actually think that I was sadder earlier in the week, knowing she was ill and being uncertain about what was going on. Although I still get upset when I think about it, I feel much more peaceful about the whole thing than when we were waiting for something to happen, and wondering if it would.

I hope, most fervently, that wherever she is she’s happy.

The pros and cons of being Internetless

2005-09-15T08:13:00.000-04:00

I am Internetless. I am so bored and disconnected that...well...I don't really know what I'm going to do. I've moved in most of my furnite, and soon will come the fun stuff (pottery! non-essential books! pretty things for my shelves!). But, in the meantime, I won't have Internet access for another week because Bell is backed up, and so if I want online I have to use the fairly weak signal available to me on campus. In some ways it's rather convenient, though, especially since I always have my laptop with me since I don't have tenant insurance and don't want to leave it there.

In the meantime, I've been spending time on campus, reading a lot (both texts and the odd novel that I have with me), setting up some stuff, and exploring the new local terrain, and especially its thrift stores. I've actually been combing them with a project for a course in mind, but I'm always open to all the other things that I tend to be attracted to in such places - neat housewares, cool (and especially vintage) clothes, sewing patterns, crafty stuff, and the like. Actually, one of the local thrift stores was the source of new loveseat and nightstand, as well as the fun globe currently sitting on top of it.

Although I wasn't sure that I would, I'm loving my new place quite a bit. I haven't had to buy huge amounts of stuff for it, which is nice. Really it's just been moving in piles and piles of my existing stuff. It's been hard work, and everything aches from the dozens of trips I've made up and down stairs carrying bits of ikea furniture. But it's been nice. I love the feeling of being a little more settled. I love the quiet in my new place, and despite my disconnection, the fact that I'm getting some good work done. I love the fact that my apartment is 5 degrees cooler than it is outside, without air conditioning. I love how comfy my old bed is, especially with its new bedding and the lovely bright new quilt that I got for it. I love that everything I have there right now is stuff that I really want and love, and I may even use this as a bit of a purging exercise to see if I can't offload some things that I no longer need.

And so it begins...

2005-09-09T09:25:00.000-04:00

Although I've had this site for ages, I've done nothing with it. Nothing.

Nada.

Zilch. Zip. Zero.

Jack squat.

And I'm okay with that.

Why, you might ask?

Because in the last month I have written most of a master's thesis, defended said thesis, started a PhD program, rented a new apartment, and started moving my things, little by little, from Toronto to London. While writing might have been nice, and while I've written many, many posts in my head in these hours before I have Internet access in my new place, it's been rather low on my list of priorities.

I don't know that I've ever been this stressed before.

But I feel somewhat elated at the same time. This is new, and exciting. I feel like I've found a great university with a real feel of community in my department. Almost everyone has been really nice, which I very much needed after everything else that's been going on. And it's gosh-darn-fun setting up a new place (which almost, but not quite, justifies the fact that I've made more trips to local thrift stores than to the university campus.) And I guess, now that I'm actually doing this, I'll be sharing the whole kit and kaboodle with whoever cares to read about it.

Hi, y'all.