When I started this blog about four years ago--I'm not certain how long anymore, especially now that my archives have disappeared--I was living in Whistler, BC, on my own for the first time at 18. My audience was only Janice at first, and a handful of other friends who wanted to keep tabs on me. When I travelled back across the country and then made plans to travel to Australia at 19, it was a great way for people to keep in touch with me, and I with them, without having to do the mass-email thing, and it worked out pretty good.Two things happened: I started university here in New Brunswick, and I became more aware of my audience. The first means that I'm now staying in one place, more or less, and spending a lot of my time writing essays and their ilk, so not only do I have fewer exciting adventures to chronicle, but I also have less energy to do the chronicling with. The second means that I realized more people than I thought occasionally drop by Huminbean's humble address, which has an effect on what I write about, or the content. This means sometimes I think a post is too personal, and sometimes a post is not personal enough. The same goes for political.
I'm not professing that I consider myself and my posts boring; I don't. And I think the level of reader commenting attests that I'm interesting enough that people stick around long enough to read to the end. I'm also not saying I don't like having such interest; I love having you here. I guess what I'm saying is that over time I've realized that my topics have become concentrated, due to either having written about something already or to not wanting to write about it because it's too personal and details will expose the guilty and innocent alike. And we couldn't have that!
Blogdom's an interesting place, to say the least. Where else do you have the confidence and confidantes of a personal journal, combined with the somewhat-widespread publication and the lack of control over readership of an actual publishing deal, besides in an autobiography? And aren't those usually published after the author dies? Yikes!
So if it seems quiet on this eastern front, it's only because I've either written about a form of what I'm doing right now, before, or because the real news is too personal to write about. This is what's going on in my life right now; if you're particularly interested in a subject, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do. And yes, that's a request for your interest.
- University. Third year--lots of work to be done! I'm studying Sociology--Modern Theory, Sociology of the Family, Statistics and Research Strategies--as well as English--American Literature. We're reading Walt Whitman for that at the moment, but I just finished a paper on Chaim Potok's "The Promise", which is all about Judaism in America after WWII. As for the Sociology, I'm gearing up to do my Honours Thesis next year, and I'll be planning the proposal in the Research Strategies class. I want to do it on food and the sourcing of that food, networks, and some other stuff I haven't quite sorted out yet.
- My relationship with the "soyfriend", Dan. This one falls into the category of "my own personal business", but I can tell y'all that it's good, he lives here now, and I think it's pretty rad. I get to see him nearly every day and I can't think of anything else I'd want more.
- Figuring out what to do next year/this coming summer, in terms of an apartment (I might have to move because my dear old landlord might need to live in a retirement home) and a job/potentially travel (for the summer). This is all up in the air right now, but I'd love to make it out West for Dan's graduation, and see some of the West coast again, and maybe even spend a little time on a WWOOF farm again. It would also be pretty cool to work with a professor and gain some experience as a paid lackey in academia. We shall see what we shall see.
- The Boost Your Eco film fest, being planned by a group of lovely/hilarious students, of which I am one. It's going to be on the 9th and 10th of February, and soon there'll be a website I can point you to.
- Staying balanced and happy and spending enough time on my own, too.
- Being in Fredericton in winter--mornings walking to class with longjohns on, watching your breath make clouds and come out your nostrils like a dragon's, hopping over and around snowbanks, having your boots make puddles on the floor in classrooms.
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