I'm a delinquent!

So, clearly not staying on top of the whole one post a week thing, am I? ooops.

First and foremost... and HUGE congrats to Greg and Laura! That's beyond exciting. And it makes me wonder - Is this the beginning of a trend? hmmm....

I've got four more weeks at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. I love saying that! A month-long vacation is just around the corner... and I cannot wait. While having an income is good, so is lounging around! haha... Speaking of which, I had to make a pretty rough decision recently. I passed the interviews for the Foreign Service hiring process. Yup. Totally didn't want that, because it made me choose between school (passionate work, pitiful pay, new city etc...) and work (pay, same city, bureaucracy). Both clearly have advantages, one clearly makes me more of a contributing member of society than the other. Well, depends on how you define contributions! Anyways, I've pretty much decided that I'm going to withdraw myself from the competition process for the FS. Breaks my heart. I think that I've been on the brink of tears, oh, everyday for the last week now. But, really, it's probably the best thing for me. No matter which one I chose, I would have ended up with some sort of regret and would have wondered what if. Now I'll just be wondering what-if in Montreal! :)

Please consider this your official invite to come crash at my place in mtl whenever you wish. I have a double pull out couch and all you'd have to bring are ear plugs. Turns out my neighbour is a wee bit of a metal-head and my walls aren't super thick. Sweet. My first "meet-and-greet" with him was me knocking on his door to tell him to turn down his tunes. Yes, I'm 80. But, dude, it was 11pm and my 60 year-old dad was trying to sleep!

Aaaanyways, aside from that, apartment is sweet, cute and full of light. And I've got a WICKED desk from (wait for it...) Energy and Mining Resources Canada circa 1950. It makes me SO happy, you can't imagine. It's going to make work all the more fun!

ps - if any of you are in Ottawa on September 8th, my exhibition is opening at Carleton and you should come!!!!!

pps - Did you know that grand and toy charges the government OBSCENE rates to purchase from their catalogue? Something listed as $33 online is $65 in the gov catalogue. Craziness...

Rationality is back in the house

Ok, it's the morning and I have been able to think of all the reasons why I chose McGill. Phew.

What's on my mind now? My next door neighbour's dog, Penny. She's the cutest and most rambunctious lab. Don't get me started on talking about how she spends the entire day in a studio apartment... Anyways, she has become friends with dogs in a nearby building. The two dogs spent about an hour last night howling back and forth at each other. I wonder what was so important that they had to talk about it at 11pm and couldn't wait till the dog park this morning?! *grumble*

Indecisively yours...

Wow.... this is really annoying. I'm totally going through waves of confusion with this PhD thing. Should I be in art history ... or in pure Canadian Studies? Should I be in Montreal... should I have chosen Ottawa? The annoying this about this indecision is that I've already made a decision, and it's just doubt and second-guessing that is eating away at me. And the solution is quite obvious. Try McGill, see what it's like.... if it really isn't a fit, then I can just transfer, right? Right. Right? Ack...

Ok enough with this! Definitely not productive thinking...

Go Flyers Go.

pop goes the (blogger) cherry!

It's a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon in Ottawa and the city is positively teeming with super slim and athletic people. Mais pourquoi? It's Ottawa race weekend! Go runners go (especially our local Roberts)!


I've never had a blog before, and I'm not really sure how to start one off. Wait... did I attempt one in Japan? Well, either way, it didn't stick. So, let's call this my first shot at one.

.....

At the moment, I am sitting in my beautiful kitchen. It's my favourite room in this apartment. It's like a cozy bedroom for my food. It's tall and narrow, but there is enough room for a kitchen table by the window and a radio on top of my fridge. What else do you need? I get my CBC every morning over breakfast while staring out my window to the beautiful view of a brick wall and vents. Perfection!

Why am I feeling so nostalgic about this room? Pretty much because I only have four weeks left in this place (single tear). And looking at how time has suddenly decided to up and drive into supersonic mode, it's going to go by so quickly. In case you didn't know, I am moving to Montreal in August/September to start my PhD in art history at McGill. I was awarded a Fellowship with the McCord Museum, which is pretty rockin'. I think it still slides me in just under the poverty line, but it's a reliable and steady income. A lot (too many, in my opinion) PhDs in the arts do their whole 5 years scrambling from grant to bursary to scholarship. It can be tough!

I'm going to do the ol' doctoral research on cultural race politics in Canada. I can see the quizical looks already. Essentially, I'm looking at Canada's history of race relations, nation-building and identity complexing. Although I think that Canada is truly a strong model for other countries, I also think that we have a long way to go when we talk about race here. And I think that it all comes down to the way we speak about issues like immigration, refugees, illegal aliens, diaspora etc... ... the kind of language we use and silent/overt stereotypes we unquestioningly rely on.

I've been really worried that I wasn't "passionate" enough to do a PhD. That I don't have it in me to study for another 5 years and (most likely...?) forego the nicer things in life until I'm in my early 30s. But... then, I spent about an hour sitting alone on a patio this afternoon, drinking a daquiri and reading the results of the Bouchard Taylor Commission on reasonable accomodation in Quebec. That kind of dorkiness can only lead to more school. Let's be serious! haha.... le sigh.


Ok... that's probably enough for my self-indulgent first go at this, eh? Thanks for reading!

AND - - - GREAT idea on the blogs Simon...! :)