twas the day after christmas

Well, it's over. Least the official part of it all. Seeing the family again, reunited with estranged relatives, engagement announcements by cousins younger than me, presents and too much food. Tomorrow I'm off to find some snow in the mountains (not those wussy coastal mountains). 5 more days till 2006.

In a muddy brown wonderland

I've escaped from the island, though I think that it's become more of a home than I thought it was because I miss it already. Spent an interesting day being one of the kids at Science World in Vancouver, and around the concrete jungle of Simon Fraser Uni before embarking on a 13 hour journey across two mountain ranges (thanks for driving J) to the barrens of Edmonton. Very little snow, even in the Rockies, only a few days before christmas. At home here, there's two patches of snow - on our three arce lot. Not quite the snowy christmas that I was expecting. It is home, but things have changed. My room is now the guest room, there's new appliances and new vehicles, and new neighbours. But my dog still loves me so I guess it's not all bad. Time to go photograph the prairies now...

Twas the week before christmas

Twas the week before christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Course that could be because the neighbourhood cats here ate them all! I'm going to Van. tomorrow and then to Edm, so I'm not sure when I'll be posting again. It seems odd that its christmas time, mosly because as you can see from these pictures I took yesterday - it's not winter here. I remember there being so much build-up to christmas growing up, though I'm not sure why. I've done the christmas things here, from trees to lighted trucks and boats, yet it still seems surreal. I'm looking forward to going home and seeing University friends. Not really looking forward to an entire week with the family and relatives - answering questions about a lifestyle that they don't understand. I'm a private person, and I don't deal well with prying questions somtimes. Maybe I'll be more tolerant this year, but I doubt it. Anyway, merry christmas to all and to all a good night. Don't eat too many cookies!

Life Decisions

Quite possibly, I will graduate from yet another degree in less than 6 months. After my BSc, it seemed inevetible that I would do a MSc. But now thats almost done...and here come the choices.

1. Do a PHd
2. Find work, ideally with a government geological survey
3. Work for a consulting company

My goals: I want to continue with academic research, travel, work in new places, gain new experiences, so on and so forth.

Chances of me getting a job with a geological survey - pretty much zero. Might get lucky with occasional contracts, could mean moving around a lot. Could probably get hired with a company, but I'd risk getting stuck with mundane work (till sampling, terrain stability analysis). Would work for a year or so, but I'm not sure it would be easy to get back into the academic world after being out of it. Easiest choice would be to get a PHd. Might run the risk of getting too specialized, and what would I possibly do after that? (though the GSC only hires phd's as research scientists).

I think what I'm going to do is, well, finish this degree first. Then find a job, hopefully a good one involving research, for a year. Meanwhile, I'll watch for phd positions, with funding and interesting locations, that come available. Sweden appeals the most, though England has some really good professors. Ahh, how do people deal with this indecision! Any advice people? Tom, you must be graduating soon too....

Thoughts of the Day

-I should have been in bed several hours ago
-Dentists are mean people, though somewhere inside they must have a bit of good
-People should open more sock stores. I mean, what could be more sexy than warm fuzzy (holeless) socks?
-When the politicians say they're not 'trying to be a politician' it scares me a little.
-We need snow. Lots of it. I want to make a snow angel.
-It's thursday...then it's friday and saturday and sunday and monday...at least some things stay constant in life.
-I haven't been in a forest in four days...must escape to wilderness soon.
-Have you hugged a tree today?
-Have you been hugged today? People should give out more hugs.

From formals to Caves, we do it all

This weekend was the first ever outdoors club christmas formal. Started the evening with 18 people at a very classy apartment (not everyone lives the student life out here). Full christmas dinner, complete with turkey and a chocolate fondue. Everyone exceeded my expectations for attire - ball gown and suits with no jeans in site! We may be the outdoors club, but everyone cleans up so well! Then we moved over to my house for a cocktail party - at least $200 worth of alcohol. Tried some dancing, though people just aren't as excited about it as I am. Will have to find people who like ballroom before I lose all my skills completely!

After a pretty amusing night, woke up after a mere 3 hours and got ready to go to caving up island. Meet with six other very sleepy people, and hoped in cars for a 2.5 hour drive. Kristen, a friend working here, came as well, which was awesome cause she's fun to have around and she's also my only connection left to Fort St John. We got to the caves eventually, and having donned our lamps and hemlets headed for the caves. A small entrance, and a very skinny start, but then it opened up. It's a different feeling, when you can't really see anything except exactly where you point your light, and there's new things in every direction to explore. Caves are one of those mysterious environments usually hidden from public eye. But it's geologically very interesting, an environment on a certain equilibrium that's easily broken. Plus you get nice and muddy, which is always fun.

Reflections

I always find it interesting how the mind can wander. One minute to happiness, one minute to sadness, to joyful memories and back to how those are only memories now. Laughter, tears, regret, loneliness, smiles...they're all there just beneath the surface. Some people hid it better than others. Some replace it with an impenetrable shield devoid of extreme emotion. What does it truely take for people to connect? Should we hide emotions, think of only the good in every situation. Or is it okay to acknowledge when we feel lost or lonely. Society seems to prefer an emotional maze, where everything is cheerful on the surface and things never go beyond that. "So how are you today" could be so much more in-depth than it ever is. But no one wants to be burdened with the problems of others, or the happiness for that matter. Every thing, every thought, is a reflection of ourselves and whether we measure up to the standards contrived for us and by us. Sometimes I wish we could go back to the days of childhood innocence, when the little things truely mattered and nothing was hidden behind a mask.

Time for an update

I like that everyone has an opinion about social dynamics. It's good that I have friends that actually pay attention to things :-) Sometimes people don't look around them enough. That said, of course nothing is decisive. Hanging out is cool, but usually more comfortable after someone has made a (usually unsaid) decision about dating. It's not something that people are willing to talk about, especially if it's not a 'good' decision. I have some faith in guys - they don't want to sleep with every girl they meet, no matter what they pretend to say (please don't contest me here, if I'm wrong I'd like to pretend I"m right). Still though, I wish I could figure out how to keep everything friendly and fun without having to consider the dating issue - at least before you really know people. It's not that I want to discount it - just that it shouldn't have to be there right away.

Anyway, I haven't done anything terribly exciting lately. Last weekend we had a games night of sorts. It was a large group, which sometimes can be fun, but also sometimes pointless when people only sit in small groups and talk to the people they know well anyway. I try never to exclude anyone, but sometimes it's nice to have a smaller group where discussion can actually take place. Saturday, our house celebrated T's completion of the LSAT, with a night of drinking, cookie decorating and a christmas lighted truck parade. That's right, a parade of about 30 large trucks decorated and glowing all christmassy. Sunday was another family night dinner, though for the first time not everyone was home.

Early yesterday morning, I hoped on a plane, then another plane, and ended up in Calgary. Stayed at a house with a 2 year old and a 6 year old - amusing but so tiring! I came back early this evening - don't think I've ever flown somewhere for just one night before. I could get used to this jetsetting lifestyle! Anyway, I went to see a geologist at the GSC who's been helping me with my air photo interpretation. As much as I'd like to think that I know it all, I still have a lot to learn. So it was really nice of him to help me, and I think that I proved I'm at least somewhat competent. Calgary was a bamly -22 degrees, though I did feel at home again. Open roads, prairie grasslands, sunlight snow, real mountains and foothills. I love Victoria, but there's something odd about coming home that makes any 'dull' place exciting again.

The complexities of social behaviour

A question for y'all. When there's something you want to do/go to/see, and you happen to invite a member of the opposite sex, at what point is it considered a date? Can't we all just be friends? Does there have to be a certain amount of sexual tension first? Why is it conceived to be different things to different people? Do motives matter? Is going somewhere with someone, with the intent to get to know them better, considered a date by default? Does every situation have to undergo a decision to this affect before people can relax?