The Return of the Blog

After a long lapse, I've decided to give this blogging thing a go again. If I am to stick with it, I think a few changes are in order - if the other blogs I've been reading are any indication, I think the keywill be writing shorter posts, more often. When it comes to photos, I will probably link to my facebook albums instead of embedding the pictures throughout the post. All in all, I'm aiming for something that's easier to write - i.e. less time-and-energy consuming - and, as a result, easier to read. Let's see how it goes - hopefully some people out there still have an interest in hearing about my life over here in Och Aye land (to steal a phrase from the teenage Bridget Jones-eque heroine of Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging).

I won't get into all the recapping of the last five unblogged months of my life just yet - baby steps, ok? For now, a State of the Union is in order:

• Officially, I am at the beginning of the third month of working on my dissertation. Actually, I took most of May off, spent June reading a researching, and have about 250 words written - out of 15,000. But - BUT! - my supervisor likes my ideas (upon which I will elaborate at a later date) and thinks I am on track. July is writing month - in other words, a perfect time to start writing my blog again....
  
  
• As I write this, thunder cracks outside my window amidst a sudden downpour. This past week we have had strangely Southwestern Ontario weather - warm, sometimes even hot, days, high humidity, sudden downpours, and even thunder - apparently quite rare in this neck of the woods. I suddenly realize that I am only on bullet point no. 2, and already I am talking about the weather. This is a bad sign.
  
  
• Yesterday, I said goodbye to my aunt, uncle, and cousins who had swung by Edinburgh as part of a larger Euro vacation (more on their visit to come). Now that they have come and gone, I am faced with a strange situation: no pending visitors! Though a few parties have expressed interest in coming to see me eventually, I currently have no booked-and-paid-for visits, for the first time since October. I also have no trips of my own on the horizon. Far from being depressing, I find both states of affairs strangely calming - what with my dissertation to write, and the fall to sort out, it's kind of nice to know I'll be in the same place for an uninterrupted while. And while I love having visitors, it is nice to have a bit of a break before I have to wear my tour guide hat again - especially since that break falls during a time in which the city becomes swamped with tourists.
  
  
• And lastly, speaking of the fall, it looks like I will be staying here after I finish up my Masters, as long as I can find a decent paying job and a decently priced apartment. Though I miss Canada terribly, I feel like I have yet to make the most of my time here - there are still many places in the UK and elsewhere which I would like to visit, and I'm interested to see what it's like to live in Edinburgh while earning some sort of significant income.

So that's my life-right-now in a nutshell - keep your fingers crossed that I follow through on my promises of more to come.