insider

and today is m's birthday. cunningly phoned the florist down the road and had flowers sent ... for future reference: flowers will get you out of most of life's problems.

posted by Joanna Ruth @ 9:27 PM

parents have gone home happy, and my life is back to the strange reality i like to call 'normal', though it's far from that right now. maybe it's something in the air ... the immanence of fall perhaps ... but things here are not as they should be. so many friendships up in the air and a sense that although we plough on through our days - because we can't stop the pace of life - there is something important which we are ignoring, and pretending not to see as we drive by. loneliness is hard to swallow.

posted by Joanna Ruth @ 9:24 PM

well the parental tour is nearly complete - they fly home on friday - and i have to say it seems to have been a success. oversized trucks, donuts a-plenty and many a beautiful fall afternoon seem to have done the trick. just back last night from a fantastic weekend in toronto, which is fast becoming my favourite city anywhere. there's something in the air. staying in a swanky hotel didn't hurt either. the whole thing was marred only by the absence of d. i know we would have laughed more had he been around. and somehow it is his city. but we managed all the same, and saw more in 3 days than is proper for any self-respecting british tourist. now back in town and struggling between a paper on simone de beauvoir, and a lack of friends available to lure me away from my desk. all of which resulted in my staying up till 4am last night trying to plan lesson material. it just isn't hip to be a grad student anymore. tempted to drop it all in search of my career as a recording artist. perhaps i'll wait until the end of the week though.

posted by Joanna Ruth @ 11:32 PM