Junk and old friends.

I have a lot of stuff. But it's mostly paper stuff. Tonight I decided---in lieu of grading, of course---that I would go through some of this stuff. And I got rid of a bunch of it. There's still lots more to go through. I am a bit of a pack rat, but a pack rat that purges every once in a while. Because I am also a purger by nature.

Doing this sorting and purging reminded me of some of the people I went to undergrad with. And so of course I googled the ones whose full names I remembered to see if I could find them. I then proceeded to send messages to two of them on facebook. I hope they don't think me a stalker! I know it's potentially wrong to do what I did, but heck, either this---very noninvasive---or simply forget about them. I liked them quite a lot back then and sounds like they're doing awesome things actually related to our education. Anyways, it was something I wanted to do, and now I've done it, and will have to put up with the consequences.

Speaking of old friends, I met up with a small handful of them on Thursday evening for dinner at our former haunt. We worked together at the Chapters bookstore in Gloucester (part of Ottawa). It was lovely to see them all, and get updated on their lives. I'm sure that we'll see each other again.

But while I've been keen and happy to get in contact with some of my old Ottawa friends, I am finding myself unmotivated to meet up with a couple of the people I've been better at keeping in touch with over the years. It's just such a pain being out in the countryside. I don't like driving---especially not when it's snowing or freezing raining---and I am not confident I could park my parents' car somewhere downtown. The thought of having to do that freaks me out a bit. So I may have to just blow my friends off, explaining to them my lameness, but inviting them to come see me in Toronto any time! Being out here is kinda like not being in Ottawa at all, at least for me. It makes me antisocial, pretty much the opposite of who I am when I'm at home in downtown Toronto.