Making changes.

There must be something in the air. All around me my friends are changing up their lives. One has moved far away to begin her PhD; one is pregnant and preparing to start a full-time teaching job; one is planning to move to Europe to work and play for several months; one is going to be living alone for a bit, and then will join her partner in another city; one has just bought himself a condo; one is moving to Halifax to start law school. I could go on. In my case—apart from saying goodbye to friends who have moved away (or will shortly)—the new thing is friends. The new friends are quite new, but I hope they stick. I’ve become quite fond of them. Most of these people I’ve known for a while, but have only recently come to consider them more than just friendly acquaintances. And I’m including historians, Masseyites, and indie kids (for lack of a better term) here.

It’s interesting how friendships evolve, disappear, or suddenly appear. It can take a while to build up closeness, or it can take no time at all. Fascinating. Just when you think you know someone, he or she surprises you. Life is never dull. People: they are great.

But I digress. Let’s take this back to where this blog usually lingers: my daily life.

Today (meaning Monday) I’ve been getting back into work mode and running necessary errands. When I went to buy groceries, I of course saw someone I knew. My magician friend was sitting outside with one of his friends tying rope. I said hello and then quickly looked away. (I don’t want to know the secret to any of his magic tricks!) He strikes me as a lovely guy.

Now back in my pyjamas, I am making ever-so-excruciatingly slow progress on all things dissertation. I’m a bit scattered, though, going back and forth between reading notes, jotting down chapter ideas, reading secondary sources, and looking up important things (yes, for my dissertation) on the internet. Maybe this is just a scattered time in a dissertator’s life. More likely I’m just being unfocussed and need to get a plan and stick to it. Maybe that will be my next change.