Parting thoughts

I finished packing. It's almost 3am. In spite of my rather pointed dislike of packing, I seem to have done a fairly decent job of it. Everything has been carefully placed in one of two suitcases, neither of which is too heavy, and the remainder stored in a plastic storage bin for shipment in a few months. I even managed to include my heavy winter coat, three pairs of shoes and one pair of winter boots!

There are a few knicknacks left that I'll offer to friends or simply throw away. My one unaccomplished task was to find someone who'd like an extra-long single bed with mattress. It's made of solid wood, quality stuff, and I got it from a guy who supplies surrounding universities. Friendly fellow as I recall. Anyhow, I figure a posting to the international listserve ought to take care of that.

I suppose I should have something more interesting to say as my seven weeks on the American continent come to an end, but the lateness of the hour has drained me and I really ought to catch some zzz's before tomorrow. If you'd like to follow along, I'll be reading three of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh letters, "The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh", "The Goal of a New World Order" and "The Unfoldment of World Civilization," all by Shoghi Effendi, in preparation for the Changing Times conference. Some excellent speakers on the program this year, including Mr. Glenford Mitchell, member of the Universal House of Justice, and his wife, Dr. Bahia Mitchell.

Home sweet home

My first full day at home. I'm more tired than I would have believed. After getting a haircut (picture yet to be posted) I went to International Grounds for a few hours (a Stratford coffeeshop owned by a very young couple who happen to be good friends of ours) and had a double shot latte (perhaps that's why the picture's shaky... not). Revised my abstract for the German Physical Science Conference in Regensburg in March. Then Dad came and met met me. Also bought two new pairs of shoes: winter shoes from Merrell and a beautiful pair of brown leather Hush Puppies. I can't tell you how long I've wanted a pair of brown dress casual shoes. Now if only I had somewhere to wear them... I do have the outfit though. Bought it at the Gap outlet store in Waterloo on the way home yesterday. Let's hear it for outlet stores, yeah! We actually stopped at outlet malls in Waterloo anddd in Niagara Falls. Pretty sweet. I had a burger from Burger King and I've decided to forgo all fast food burger joints. Their food is only marginally better than that stuff you buy in vending machines and heat up in a microwave, and they charge you way too much for it. So bye-bye to bad food and good riddance. I won't miss you at all.

Artist of the...

As I was perusing the web, I came across some pretty glowing reviews of this new artist, Ferraby Lionheart, (you gotta love the name) and, well, he rocks. Actually, he folks, pops, and rocks. I'll give credit to bahaiblog.net for pointing him out to me. You can follow the links there to check out some of his songs and buy his CD (only 7$ for 6 songs, + 2$ for shipping). So if you have a minute, head on over and check him out. Oh, and the music video of him serenading an old lady is classic.

Taking photos is FUN

I've been having a lot of fun today taking pictures outdoors. I've posted a number of them to my Flickr site. (see link on the right) No guarantees that the posting streak will continue but I'm having fun so far. Please visit and leave comments.

Hmm... think I'll do some personal reading today. Need to catch up on my reading for the online course I'm taking on the Ministry of the Shoghi Effendi (he was the head of the Baha'i Faith from 1921 to 1957) and also prepare for the Changing Times conference I'm attending between Christmas and New Year's. Should be lots of fun, plus I'll get to see some old friends.

Enjoy the sunshine everyone!

First snow

Yesterday was the first day of proper snow in Ithaca. Surprising how much I miss this white stuff. It made me really happy. Though admittedly I was watching it blow around from a warm 7th floor window. Too bad I didn't take a picture right then. (I just took a few that I'll post on my Flickr site a bit later.)

The air today is cold and crisp, just the way I like it. Walking back from lunch with Andrew I managed to avoid the temptation of getting a Gimme! coffee. Instead I made my own cappuccino back in the lab. Amazing how happy that makes me. My man Gabe is home alone this weekend so we're gonna hit up Gimme! tomorrow morning and perhaps check out the new Denzel Washington movie, Deja Vu. It's a fun-filled weekend ahead of me. Woot.

Back to reality

Another day, another night. Sitting in Starbucks sipping a Chai Latte (i've decided to reduce my consumption of coffee) and randomly surfing the web. Tonight was the second dance show I've seen in three days. Friday evening was faculty choreographies, which were complex and intellectual. Tonight's were mostly student choreographies, simple, beautiful, creative... I loved it. The purity of spirit expressed through dance, through voice, through gesture. One piece in particular touched me by the harmony she maintained among the three dancers. That, and it was the only piece that was racially diverse. Yeah, every student chose dancers of their skin colour to be in their pieces except this one black girl, Paige I believe was her name, who had a white, a brown and a black girl in her piece. The girl next to me (who I'd met at the interfaith dinner a few weeks back and was in Friday's performance) noticed the same thing. I wonder...