Showing posts with label Maine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maine. Show all posts

Monday, August 25, 2008

News...

...from what seems, at times, like a distant star.


I am so please to see this coverage of the PUSL. The league really deserves this coverage. I hope this will generate some more interest for next season, as well as more revenue.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

So much for the Transition period

This would seem to be the time to be blogging like a crazy person, yet I have not written here for over a month. With so much going on, I am generally a bit to frazzeled to put finger to keyboard. Well, enough of the excuses...

So much for the transition period indeed... I remember Dr. B said that the summer might be tough for me. I would be transitioning out of academics, into unknown, with periods of inactivity. Blessed be this inactivity...

After a two month vacation, including time in France with E and all of my old High School friends, I am off to Serbia for the next 6 months. An amazing opportunity presented itself rather suddenly, and gave me a total of 4 weeks to pack my bags, sell everything, and get on a plane. Buy the ticket, take the ride, a la Thompson. So with my soccer boots over my shoulder, a few suitcases, and a tender heart, I'm leaving Maine on July 15th.

With that, and the fact that I completed my Thesis (with high marks!!), this blog will transition into a travelogue of my future adventures. I'll still be seeking out soccer games, and the office where I work is only one block from the Partizan Stadium, so soccer will still feature.

This is an amazing feeling. But its positive and its painful. I leave much behind, many people and memories with deep emotional connections. And I leave behind a beautiful state. but so it is.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

La depression, la réhabilitation

"Isis, o Isis, you're a mystical child. What drives me to you is what drives me insane. I still can remember the way that you smiled on the 5th day in May, in the drizzling rain."

This is probably not the best time in the world to revisit my Bob Dylan collection, but so it goes... Sadly my copy of Bring It All Back Home (my personal fav) has gotten lost somewhere. I guess Blood On The Tracks and Blonde on Blonde will have to do for now.

~~

Today's snow day is a major blessing. If it hadn't been called, I would probably have called out of work, then dragged myself down to Math class, felt increasingly depressed as a result, then debated going home and back to bed, or trying to get work done at the library. Most likely bed would have won.

Between the anxiety provoked by math and the thesis, the failure of a personal relationship has been too much to carry. But last night I rediscovered the restorative properties of Amnesty, wine and cashew chili. The potluck at Eileen's place was so relaxing and fun, I almost forgot how broken I feel. I have been wondering around on auto pilot this last week, worried that I will leave Maine and USM without ever having created lasting relationships. But I had forgotten the good people at Amnesty. They are all so positive, caring and engaged. I always get the feeling they really want me to succeed. Its almost like having family around, family without baggage.

Leo asked me why I had a picture of Ché on my Gmail account. I had a moment of panick, how the hell could I justify this to a group of Human Rights campaigners. The Che shirt I was wearing was burning a hole in my chest... Well, I gave it to them strait up: I was attracted to his charisma, his commitment, his desire to erase geographical, economic, and psychological borders. I loved the fact that he was willing to put the cause above his own life, and that he was uncorrupt, willing at all times to do the work he himself demanded of others. But I could never reconcile all this with his bloodlust, his abuse of human rights, his advocacy of war as the mechanism of change, and his failure as a father and husband.

To my relief both Leo and Liz had just read Anderson's Ché bio. They agreed with my opinion. My caveat is that I also associate Ché with my uncle, someone I respect immensely. Well, any way... At least I have the first chapter of the thesis written, and the second chapter is being penned this, and next week (almost two weeks ahead of schedule I might add...). So today I will recover a bit of energy and direction by sitting in the window, reading up on nationalism and racial identity, looking out the window, and contemplating. The Dao will be close at hand of course:

"Gaining or losing - which is the greater scourge?" Dao 44