2005 Already? And 3 weeks into it? Where does the time go?

Well, mine's of late been spent overwhelmingly behind a computer screen, typing applications for possible future endeavours and doing research for this new Foreign Affairs Canada contract I'm starting.

That and being sick for the past week - I finally caught that nasty bug that's been circulating that places you firmly on your back for a full 24 hours and leaves you wallowing in the aftermath with your sinuses and lungs both full of yummy reminders... Just in time to enjoy some of the coldest kinds of cold (around -35 with wind chill factor Friday) along with a storm in store for later today (Saturday).

But winter in T dot isn't all that bad. New year's was wonderful. In fact, I hadn't even dared to try to manifest the night that eventually turned out to be exactly what I would have hoped for: good friends, good vibes, sacred space...

Since then, I've quite enjoyed being in my own space for the first time since Mexico. I've bee subletting a room in a house by Honest Ed's from a film student who's gone to the East Coast for a month, and next month I'll be subletting Yukkun's room at Halden & Gaja's place near Bathurst (Augusta) and Queen. So, that'll be 2 months of official, rent-paying, non-couch-surfing downtown Toronto living. Not that geography makes too much difference in these stay-inside-and-hibernate-cuz-it's-f-ing-freezing-out days, anyways ;)

We'll see what happens next, but I'm definitely still entertaining fantasies of the finish the Foreign Affairs Canada contract and take off for South America variety. I mean, -35 degrees?? That's close to where the F meets the C on the mercury metre...

Today I braved frostbite and went with Tiffany to a panel event at U of T's Munk Centre for International Studies about Dilemmas of Maintaining Equitable Development in the Global South. We stayed and talked with Judith Teichman, one of the presenters, for quite a while after the lecture. I'm seriously starting to consider returning to the academia for a post-grad degree, maybe in 2006-2007, but the disparity between academic theory and practical reality is something that's really hard to stomach at times. I mean, it's as if the passing mention or acknowledgement of some barrier is enough to justify simply ignoring it and moving on to the next point, when in the real world that obstacle is really enough to halt the whole process in the first place (i.e., the problem of dealing with corruption in Latin American governments when trying to move towards social democracy). Oh well, we'll cross that bridge... For now, to put on 3 layers of sweats and fleece and wool and go to sleep, lucky to have calefaccion.