Here's a little bit of what I'm interested in these days...
"Numerous studies in fields ranging from social psychology to magazine cover design have proved that nothing grabs people's attention more than other people, especially other people's faces. We are hard-wired with a desire for congenial places to gather. That's why it's particularly surprising how much we overlook the importance of public places today."
http://www.pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16107485&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6
And how about this:
"In 1930, the United States had 262,000 school buildings. Today, there are 90,000. Sometimes called "sprawl schools," these facilities then require more bussing and more car trips, because the school is now too far away for students to walk or ride their bikes. This is an added factor in the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic -- one in three American children are overweight, and the additional car trips increase auto emissions, increasing air pollution."
http://www.alternet.org/story/31951/
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Friday, February 17, 2006
Slaphappy Nonsense
The underemployed geographer and kayak guide is soon to be unemployed and on the move. A trip to Central America is in the works...only 2.5 weeks away! Pretty soon I'll be relaxing in the sun, snorkeling, scuba diving, hiking in the jungle, and hanging out with Jenny. And the bakery will be without their sales team leader and will have to look for someone else to work their way up to sales manager. I am sad to have let them down, but this is definitely the right thing for me.
So I have been perusing the multitude of guidebooks that I borrowed from the library, and came across some useful, if not hilarious advice about handshakes in Belize. I can't even try to paraphrase, so here it is in its entiriety (minus the diagrams, so you'll have to use your imagination)
"The Beliezean handshake comes in a bewildering variety of forms and, unless you're meeting your bank manager, may not even closely resemble what you are accustomed to.
"The foundation of all streetside hand-based greetings in Belize is the gentle horizontal fist punch, as used by many sporting celebrities mid-game. This one is particularly effective if you meet someone on the street who wants to shake your hand, but you don't want to commit emotionally. Give them a tap, they'll be happy and you can be on your way. The puch on its own is also quite acceptable for gretting people who you already know, and for farewelling people who you've been talking to for a while. It's a casual gesture that implies familiarity.
"From here things start to get complicated. Many Belizeans shake hands in the soul-brother, thumbs upward style, but convert their shake for tourists to the more conventional thumbs downward, meeting-your-girlfriend's-father style. It takes a keen eye to glean what your shake partner has in mind, and a certain speed of reflex to adjust to changing conditions.
"However you start, this will not be the end. From the initail shake, there is often a slide into the monkey grip, grabbing fingertips posture. Pressure here should be firm, but not hard. Make sure your nails are properly trimmed before attempting this.
"From here all sorts of slaphappy nonsense can ensue, but a perfectly legitimate maneuver at this point is to segue into the gentle punch (see step 1), and once that's completed, you can actually start the conversation."
So I have been perusing the multitude of guidebooks that I borrowed from the library, and came across some useful, if not hilarious advice about handshakes in Belize. I can't even try to paraphrase, so here it is in its entiriety (minus the diagrams, so you'll have to use your imagination)
"The Beliezean handshake comes in a bewildering variety of forms and, unless you're meeting your bank manager, may not even closely resemble what you are accustomed to.
"The foundation of all streetside hand-based greetings in Belize is the gentle horizontal fist punch, as used by many sporting celebrities mid-game. This one is particularly effective if you meet someone on the street who wants to shake your hand, but you don't want to commit emotionally. Give them a tap, they'll be happy and you can be on your way. The puch on its own is also quite acceptable for gretting people who you already know, and for farewelling people who you've been talking to for a while. It's a casual gesture that implies familiarity.
"From here things start to get complicated. Many Belizeans shake hands in the soul-brother, thumbs upward style, but convert their shake for tourists to the more conventional thumbs downward, meeting-your-girlfriend's-father style. It takes a keen eye to glean what your shake partner has in mind, and a certain speed of reflex to adjust to changing conditions.
"However you start, this will not be the end. From the initail shake, there is often a slide into the monkey grip, grabbing fingertips posture. Pressure here should be firm, but not hard. Make sure your nails are properly trimmed before attempting this.
"From here all sorts of slaphappy nonsense can ensue, but a perfectly legitimate maneuver at this point is to segue into the gentle punch (see step 1), and once that's completed, you can actually start the conversation."
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Brokeback Mountain
You must see Brokeback Mountain. You must. I just got home from the theatre, and even though it's almost 1 am I just can't go to bed yet. To be honest I'm an emotional wreck. I feel like I've just been through a devastating break up or something similarly emotionally taxing. It is a story of forbidden love. Yes, it is a "gay cowboy movie" but the fact that they're gay isn't the point, or at least not the whole point. I won't say any more. You can read this good review if you want to, but I would recommend seeing the movie first.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Courtney's potentially original stir fry sauce
I say this is potentially original because it is so easy I figure it's likely someone else has already thought of it. It's a great sauce for a small stir fry, or even just a new, more exciting way of eating vegetables. Here's what you need: equal parts oil, honey and soya sauce and a bit of chopped ginger and garlic. For a 1-person stir fry I'd probably say 1-2 tbsp each of oil, honey and soya sauce, and the spices just to your liking.
Step 1. Heat pan, add ginger and garlic
Step 2. Add onions if you're using them
Step 3. Add rest of sauce
Step 4. Add rest of vegetables
Step 5. Fry until done.
For added excitement, roast some seasame seeds and sprinkle them on top. Yummy!
Step 1. Heat pan, add ginger and garlic
Step 2. Add onions if you're using them
Step 3. Add rest of sauce
Step 4. Add rest of vegetables
Step 5. Fry until done.
For added excitement, roast some seasame seeds and sprinkle them on top. Yummy!
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Rebar for Christmas
Christmas was very lucrative for my kitchen. She now has a pastry cutter, a cookie sheet that doesn't look like it's been through a bombing, the Rebar cookbook, and a hand blender/food processor! You can be sure there will be lots of chopping and blending happening from now on.
This week's undertaking was Rebar's black bean soup. If you're asking "how complicated can black bean soup be?" then you've never made anything from the Rebar cookbook. The preparation began on Tuesday with Rebar barbeque sauce and chipotle puree, both ingredients for the soup. After simmering spices in apple cider vinegar, straining them, making an emergency trip to the liquor store for "1 bottle dark beer" because the pub across the street doesn't do offsales, and using my wicked hand blender that doesn't splatter, the BBQ sauce was done. And my apartment only smelled like vinegar for three days.
Last night Megan came over for a mexican party bearing gifts of tortilla chips, la cerveza mas fina and black beans and we boiled, spiced and beat this soup into existence. It was delicious. Just as good as I remember from Rebar night in Saskatoon last year when Lindsay made it. Worth the effort? Well, if you think of cooking as a hobby rather than simply a life-sustaining activity, then why not?
After supper we went on an expedition to the Gladstone Market, one of the many sketchy corner stores in Fernwood, and bought coke and ice cream for movie night. We watched The Thomas Crown Affair that I borrowed from the library (new excitement in my life) and it was most excellent, even thought I'd already seen it but didn't remember until a few minutes in. Well, like Megan said, I might be smart in some things and not in movies, because I didn't even remember how it ended.
This week's undertaking was Rebar's black bean soup. If you're asking "how complicated can black bean soup be?" then you've never made anything from the Rebar cookbook. The preparation began on Tuesday with Rebar barbeque sauce and chipotle puree, both ingredients for the soup. After simmering spices in apple cider vinegar, straining them, making an emergency trip to the liquor store for "1 bottle dark beer" because the pub across the street doesn't do offsales, and using my wicked hand blender that doesn't splatter, the BBQ sauce was done. And my apartment only smelled like vinegar for three days.
Last night Megan came over for a mexican party bearing gifts of tortilla chips, la cerveza mas fina and black beans and we boiled, spiced and beat this soup into existence. It was delicious. Just as good as I remember from Rebar night in Saskatoon last year when Lindsay made it. Worth the effort? Well, if you think of cooking as a hobby rather than simply a life-sustaining activity, then why not?
After supper we went on an expedition to the Gladstone Market, one of the many sketchy corner stores in Fernwood, and bought coke and ice cream for movie night. We watched The Thomas Crown Affair that I borrowed from the library (new excitement in my life) and it was most excellent, even thought I'd already seen it but didn't remember until a few minutes in. Well, like Megan said, I might be smart in some things and not in movies, because I didn't even remember how it ended.
Excellent selection of Oreos at the Gladstone Market with my hot pink shoe posing for the camera.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Bean Cakes
Tonight was the ever popular quinoa salad from the Rebar cookbook and bean cakes from allrecipes.com. Yum. Now I must sleep.
Friday, December 09, 2005
15 Things About Books
I have been tagged by Lisa, and this means that I have to reveal to the blog world 15 facts or personal preferences about books. This should be interesting, particularly if compared to Lisa's.
1. "Some books are meant to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested" - Frances Bacon
2. I enjoy both the fast paced not-so-brilliantly-written (such as "The DaVinci Code") and the sometimes harder-to-get-through (such as "Midnight's Children").
3. I've never read a romance novel. (But recently read a book about a romance novel writer, Margaret Atwood's "Lady Oracle", which was very good.)
4. Some people would say I have a lot of books, other (like Lisa) would say I don't have very many. I occasionally go through purgings of my book collection, getting rid of ones that I didn't really like or don't think I'll read again.
5. Last year I got rid of my Babysitters Club collection and there wasn't a used bookstore that would take them. The kids of today aren't buying them, apparently. How sad.
6. I can't part with my Ramona books, "Samantha's Secret Room", "My Side of the Mountain", or my Lucy Maude Montgomery stash (I think I have every book she ever wrote, including a book of her poetry).
7. I love the Harry Potter books because I can lose myself in them and feel like I want to be part of that world. I simply don't understand people who don't love them.
8. I respect my books, don't crack the spine or fold over pages as a bookmark and get annoyed when others do that to my books that they borrow. But not as annoyed as I used to get.
9. I was a serious bookworm when I was a kid. It was common for my parents to knock on my door when they were going to bed saying "Is your light still on Courtney? You can't read all night you know. You'd better put that book down and get to sleep".
10. I rarely re-read books.
11. I will re-read Salmon Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" sometime.
12. I don't own any books with the "Oprah's Book Club" seal, but I have read a few that others have owned. My Mom thinks that the books Oprah chooses are always depressing and about people who have screwed up lives. I'd have to agree to some extent.
13. I have read the entire Bible, some parts several times.
14. When I was about ten I submitted the manuscript of a short story "Lost in the Outback" to Kids Can Press and got a very nice reply stating that they publish books for children, not by children, but that I should keep writing.
15. I love the smell of musty old books.
1. "Some books are meant to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested" - Frances Bacon
2. I enjoy both the fast paced not-so-brilliantly-written (such as "The DaVinci Code") and the sometimes harder-to-get-through (such as "Midnight's Children").
3. I've never read a romance novel. (But recently read a book about a romance novel writer, Margaret Atwood's "Lady Oracle", which was very good.)
4. Some people would say I have a lot of books, other (like Lisa) would say I don't have very many. I occasionally go through purgings of my book collection, getting rid of ones that I didn't really like or don't think I'll read again.
5. Last year I got rid of my Babysitters Club collection and there wasn't a used bookstore that would take them. The kids of today aren't buying them, apparently. How sad.
6. I can't part with my Ramona books, "Samantha's Secret Room", "My Side of the Mountain", or my Lucy Maude Montgomery stash (I think I have every book she ever wrote, including a book of her poetry).
7. I love the Harry Potter books because I can lose myself in them and feel like I want to be part of that world. I simply don't understand people who don't love them.
8. I respect my books, don't crack the spine or fold over pages as a bookmark and get annoyed when others do that to my books that they borrow. But not as annoyed as I used to get.
9. I was a serious bookworm when I was a kid. It was common for my parents to knock on my door when they were going to bed saying "Is your light still on Courtney? You can't read all night you know. You'd better put that book down and get to sleep".
10. I rarely re-read books.
11. I will re-read Salmon Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" sometime.
12. I don't own any books with the "Oprah's Book Club" seal, but I have read a few that others have owned. My Mom thinks that the books Oprah chooses are always depressing and about people who have screwed up lives. I'd have to agree to some extent.
13. I have read the entire Bible, some parts several times.
14. When I was about ten I submitted the manuscript of a short story "Lost in the Outback" to Kids Can Press and got a very nice reply stating that they publish books for children, not by children, but that I should keep writing.
15. I love the smell of musty old books.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Variations on the Squash Cookie
I have made two more batches of squash cookies, one with chocolate chips, the other with cocoa. Both quite excellent. I think the chocolate chip one comes out on top. It almost tastes like a normal cookie, but you know it's healthier so you can feel better about eating it.
In other news, the Spicy African Yam Soup from the last post was a hit. Super easy and uses up that can of chick peas you've had in the cupboard for months.
In other news, the Spicy African Yam Soup from the last post was a hit. Super easy and uses up that can of chick peas you've had in the cupboard for months.
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Squash Cookies review
Batch 2 (with sugar) disappeared pretty quickly, and all that was left today for Megan and Caitlin to try was slightly bland batch #1. Despite my disappointment with the cookies, they liked them and Megan even had a second so I know she wasn't just saying they were good to avoid hurting my feelings.
Tonight I am making "Spicy African Yam Soup" for supper. I'll let you know how it is.
Tonight I am making "Spicy African Yam Soup" for supper. I'll let you know how it is.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Editorial
The last sentence in a Monday Magazine article by a First Nations writer:
"It's hard to justify educating the dominant culture about our practices when for so long we were not allowed to pass our own teachings to ourselves"
Yes, good point. But were you or I involved in these past injustices? And what will refusing to share teachings accomplish?
In the article the writer describes how Joni Mitchell was a guest speaker to her university music class and ended up talking about the native american medicine wheel instead of music. The author took offence:
"That is the final phase of successful colonization. Columbus met the savages, denounced them as non-human and slaughtered and enslaved them for their heathen ways, but 513 years later things had mellowed out so that a white musician/painter could name-drop the spiritual wisdom of "Native America".
I think that the real issue here is intellectual property rights. And I'm not the first person to throw this term around. I would rather learn about First Nations culture and not be allowed to pass it on publically than not learn about it at all. I hope this is or can become preferred to First Nations people as well.
"It's hard to justify educating the dominant culture about our practices when for so long we were not allowed to pass our own teachings to ourselves"
Yes, good point. But were you or I involved in these past injustices? And what will refusing to share teachings accomplish?
In the article the writer describes how Joni Mitchell was a guest speaker to her university music class and ended up talking about the native american medicine wheel instead of music. The author took offence:
"That is the final phase of successful colonization. Columbus met the savages, denounced them as non-human and slaughtered and enslaved them for their heathen ways, but 513 years later things had mellowed out so that a white musician/painter could name-drop the spiritual wisdom of "Native America".
I think that the real issue here is intellectual property rights. And I'm not the first person to throw this term around. I would rather learn about First Nations culture and not be allowed to pass it on publically than not learn about it at all. I hope this is or can become preferred to First Nations people as well.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Squash Cookies version 1.5
The second attempt is in the oven and I have a good feeling about it. I added sugar and changed around a few other things. I should probably only change one variable to make the process more scientific with more predictable results, but I got too excited. I figure that baking is both a science and an art (kind of like geography) and it's okay to go with hunches and intuition.
And the taste test...THEY'RE WINNERS! They're still on the low sweetness side, so if you're a real sugar fiend you'll probably want to add more. They're sweet enough for me though. And I love 'em! If anyone has ideas of how to make these cookies even tastier, let me know.
1/2 C squash puree (with a tiny bit of oil added so that it my blender would be happy)
1 egg
1/2 C lightly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 C flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 C chopped raisins
1/3 C chopped waluts
And the taste test...THEY'RE WINNERS! They're still on the low sweetness side, so if you're a real sugar fiend you'll probably want to add more. They're sweet enough for me though. And I love 'em! If anyone has ideas of how to make these cookies even tastier, let me know.
1/2 C squash puree (with a tiny bit of oil added so that it my blender would be happy)
1 egg
1/2 C lightly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 C flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 C chopped raisins
1/3 C chopped waluts
Squash Cookies Experiment
Squash is in season and really, really cheap right now, so in an effort to eat in season, keep the grocery bill down and experiment with food, here's what I'm doing today.
I have 12 experimental morsels in the oven as I write this and I don't know what the result will be. Here's the recipe (as well I as I can remember it. I tend to do a lot of approximations)
1/2 C butternut squash puree
1 egg
1 C flour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 C raisins
1/3 C walnuts
Method: First you have to roast the squash. To do this, cut it in half, scoop the seeds out and lie cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven at about 450 F for about an hour (depending on the size of the squash). Let the squash cool, scoop out of the skin and puree in a blender. (you can store the roasted sqaush in the fridge for a few days.) If your blender is like mine and won't do anything without a bit of liquid, you can blend the egg with the squash. Mix the spices with the flour and add to squash and egg. Then stir in the raisins and the walnuts. Drop the cookies on to a baking sheet and bake in a 375F oven for 10-15 minutes.
Notice that there is no sugar or oil in this recipe. Keep your fingers crossed and this might be a good healthy snack option.
Okay, just took the cookies out of the oven. They look okay and smell pretty good. I'll just let them cool for a few minutes.
Well, I'd have to say the cookies are a modest success. The consistency is good, they are moist and hermit cookie-like, and the spice mix complements the squash. They are a bit lacking in taste, however. Unfortuately, I think they need sugar, but probably not too much since the squash is already quite sweet.
I have 12 experimental morsels in the oven as I write this and I don't know what the result will be. Here's the recipe (as well I as I can remember it. I tend to do a lot of approximations)
1/2 C butternut squash puree
1 egg
1 C flour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 C raisins
1/3 C walnuts
Method: First you have to roast the squash. To do this, cut it in half, scoop the seeds out and lie cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven at about 450 F for about an hour (depending on the size of the squash). Let the squash cool, scoop out of the skin and puree in a blender. (you can store the roasted sqaush in the fridge for a few days.) If your blender is like mine and won't do anything without a bit of liquid, you can blend the egg with the squash. Mix the spices with the flour and add to squash and egg. Then stir in the raisins and the walnuts. Drop the cookies on to a baking sheet and bake in a 375F oven for 10-15 minutes.
Notice that there is no sugar or oil in this recipe. Keep your fingers crossed and this might be a good healthy snack option.
Okay, just took the cookies out of the oven. They look okay and smell pretty good. I'll just let them cool for a few minutes.
Well, I'd have to say the cookies are a modest success. The consistency is good, they are moist and hermit cookie-like, and the spice mix complements the squash. They are a bit lacking in taste, however. Unfortuately, I think they need sugar, but probably not too much since the squash is already quite sweet.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Yoga for dummies?
I like to think I'm fairly "good" at yoga, although a devout yogi would shake their head disapprovingly at the use of this word. You're supposed to allow your body to do what it can and be happy with that, and not compare yourself to others, yada yada yada, which is part of the appeal for me, but if you're falling over all the time you can't help felling like you're "bad" at yoga. And I'm not falling over all the time, generally feel like I have all my body parts in the place they're supposed to be in, and I can do a headstand no problem. So I think I'm pretty "good". That is until last night. Hatha 2. Not for beginners. I was falling over. A lot. It's always good to be humbled. It was a night of twisting postures, and this and this are no easy feat. They may not look too hard, but when you're twisted around like that your balance is all off. And my poor hamstrings. Will they ever become more flexible?
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
The mid-week weekend
The life of this under-employed geographer involves working weekends and having obscure weekdays off. At least I have two in a row. The result is that today, Tuesday, is my Friday, and tomorrow, Wednesday, will be my Monday. So what is a girl to do with a Tuesday that is a Sunday? Noone else has the day off, there are no weekend festivities to attend, and the weather is dismal.
This morning I had another crack at my SSHRC funding application for grad school next year, had a minor flip-out when I realized that I really don't have a chance because I don't know exactly what I want to study so I can't write a convincing research proposal with literature cited. If I had more time I could do it, but it's due in week. It might be alright if it wasn't for the reference letters I also have to get. I'll sleep on it but I think I'll abandon the pursuit until next year.
After the minor flip out (thank my lucky stars that Lisa was on MSN to hear my distress) there was a period of self-pity and "what the heck am I doing with my life" that is an almost daily question. Then I got my hair cut...for the first time in almost a year. It looked so good I had to go to the grocery store to show it off.
Now I'm putting in some time before yoga, and am looking forward to Gilmore Girls tonight. Rory has finally come to her senses and has been reunited with Lorelai, but OMG, Luke has a 12 year old daughter that he didn't know about until last episode! Will he still marry Lorelai, what will she do when she finds out? Will Christopher come back and ruin everything again? Addicted? I'm not addicted! I'm not!
This morning I had another crack at my SSHRC funding application for grad school next year, had a minor flip-out when I realized that I really don't have a chance because I don't know exactly what I want to study so I can't write a convincing research proposal with literature cited. If I had more time I could do it, but it's due in week. It might be alright if it wasn't for the reference letters I also have to get. I'll sleep on it but I think I'll abandon the pursuit until next year.
After the minor flip out (thank my lucky stars that Lisa was on MSN to hear my distress) there was a period of self-pity and "what the heck am I doing with my life" that is an almost daily question. Then I got my hair cut...for the first time in almost a year. It looked so good I had to go to the grocery store to show it off.
Now I'm putting in some time before yoga, and am looking forward to Gilmore Girls tonight. Rory has finally come to her senses and has been reunited with Lorelai, but OMG, Luke has a 12 year old daughter that he didn't know about until last episode! Will he still marry Lorelai, what will she do when she finds out? Will Christopher come back and ruin everything again? Addicted? I'm not addicted! I'm not!
Halloween pics
Red is Best, Pirate Megan, Super Girl and Metamorphose
Apparently I managed to keep up the superhero pose all night. Maybe it was type-casting.Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Happy Sanhaim!
Saturday was Halloween party night and I partied it up with Super Girl, a Pirate, and "Red is Best" (anyone remember that kids book?). I was a French superhero named Metamorphose and my super power was that I could transform myself into a cat. (meow) The costume was great, if I do say so myself and pictures will come soon.
Monday was the real Halloween and the night of Fernwood's "Parade of Lost Souls", a totally bizzare but very cool march through the middle of the streets led by a drumming group dressed as skeletons. We went along Fernwood St to the Pumpkin House, then back to the community centre for a bonfire and hot chocolate. The drummers danced around the fire and were joined by a woman on stilts with fire coming from her fingers. Very cool, and also symbolic of the orignial celtic celebration of Sanhaim on the night of October 31 that marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter. I felt very pagan. And very connected. Connected to what? Other people, and the earth...I think.
Monday was the real Halloween and the night of Fernwood's "Parade of Lost Souls", a totally bizzare but very cool march through the middle of the streets led by a drumming group dressed as skeletons. We went along Fernwood St to the Pumpkin House, then back to the community centre for a bonfire and hot chocolate. The drummers danced around the fire and were joined by a woman on stilts with fire coming from her fingers. Very cool, and also symbolic of the orignial celtic celebration of Sanhaim on the night of October 31 that marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter. I felt very pagan. And very connected. Connected to what? Other people, and the earth...I think.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Live to work or work to live?
Most people fall into one of two categories when it comes to work life: those who live to work and those who work to live. The idea is that if you live to work you are passionate about your job and it becomes integrated into your life so that the lines between work and play become blurred. If you work to live your job is something that you tolerate in order to finance the things you do in your completely separate life away from work.
Aside from a brief period in high school when I considered being a bus driver, I have always thought I'm the type to live to work. I'm all for following passions and having a meaningful and fulfilling job that you want to talk about at the supper table. I think that I have subconsciously attached virtue to this perspective, while mentally accusing those who work to live of selling out. If you're true to yourself you have to follow your dreams, even if it means being destined to a life of low-paying jobs, otherwise you can't really achieve true happiness and fulfillment. Or can you?
As I am desperately trying to figure out what to do in post-degree life and not having any luck finding a relevant job, I have to ask if the work to live camp might just be on to something. Money really does make the world go 'round whether we like it or not. Maybe it would be better to have a well paying job that we can tolerate rather than a poorly paying job that we love. If we're lacking fulfullment at work, then we can buy it after hours. Depending on what our passions are, we could use our money to travel, buy equipment for a hobby, or take time off to volunteer. We could buy that dream home with a view and retire early to follow passions that we couldn't while we were working. What's so bad about that?
I look around at my peers and both camps are well represented. However, I don't think that people always choose the camp that they are in. There are the underemployed who would gladly take a tolerable, well paying job if they could find one, and there are the lucky ones who have landed a well paying job that they may not necessarily be passionate about. I think that these people are faced with the most difficult decision of all: whether or not to give up their job in favour of a lower-paying one that they love.
It was after quite a lot of thought that I realized the choice isn't really this black and white. Why do I have this perception that great jobs don't pay well? Perhaps it's a product of my environment for the past 5 years. I have been surrounded by fellow geography students whose idea of "great jobs" are often grassroots, save the earth, get back to nature kind of things that are definitely on the low end of the salary scale. But (get ready for the revelation of the century) great jobs really don't have to pay poorly! (Thank you Captain Obvious.) If I pursue a well paying job it doesn't mean that I'm selling out and signing up for a life of drudgery and sorrow!
It's amazing how important revelations can seem so obvious once they're made and how our minds can resist these realizations for so long.
Aside from a brief period in high school when I considered being a bus driver, I have always thought I'm the type to live to work. I'm all for following passions and having a meaningful and fulfilling job that you want to talk about at the supper table. I think that I have subconsciously attached virtue to this perspective, while mentally accusing those who work to live of selling out. If you're true to yourself you have to follow your dreams, even if it means being destined to a life of low-paying jobs, otherwise you can't really achieve true happiness and fulfillment. Or can you?
As I am desperately trying to figure out what to do in post-degree life and not having any luck finding a relevant job, I have to ask if the work to live camp might just be on to something. Money really does make the world go 'round whether we like it or not. Maybe it would be better to have a well paying job that we can tolerate rather than a poorly paying job that we love. If we're lacking fulfullment at work, then we can buy it after hours. Depending on what our passions are, we could use our money to travel, buy equipment for a hobby, or take time off to volunteer. We could buy that dream home with a view and retire early to follow passions that we couldn't while we were working. What's so bad about that?
I look around at my peers and both camps are well represented. However, I don't think that people always choose the camp that they are in. There are the underemployed who would gladly take a tolerable, well paying job if they could find one, and there are the lucky ones who have landed a well paying job that they may not necessarily be passionate about. I think that these people are faced with the most difficult decision of all: whether or not to give up their job in favour of a lower-paying one that they love.
It was after quite a lot of thought that I realized the choice isn't really this black and white. Why do I have this perception that great jobs don't pay well? Perhaps it's a product of my environment for the past 5 years. I have been surrounded by fellow geography students whose idea of "great jobs" are often grassroots, save the earth, get back to nature kind of things that are definitely on the low end of the salary scale. But (get ready for the revelation of the century) great jobs really don't have to pay poorly! (Thank you Captain Obvious.) If I pursue a well paying job it doesn't mean that I'm selling out and signing up for a life of drudgery and sorrow!
It's amazing how important revelations can seem so obvious once they're made and how our minds can resist these realizations for so long.
Why pisaster?
If Megan had a blog she'd call it "The benefits of porridge", but mine is called "pisaster" and she assures me that's just as cool. Pisaster ochraceus is a common species of sea star on our coast, also known as the ochre star. There's no particular reason why I chose this name except that I think it's a cool word and I am fascinated by the ocean and everything in it. Oh yeah, and all the other ideas I had for URLs were taken.
Here goes my latest blogging whim. I have lots of plans to make this really interesting so that lots of people will read it. Enthusiasm is worth something, right?
Here goes my latest blogging whim. I have lots of plans to make this really interesting so that lots of people will read it. Enthusiasm is worth something, right?
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