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31 May 2007

balconies are dangerous

The air is thick and dreamy with humidity and mist .

A few days ago, I participated in a research project that a friend of mine is working on. As a participant, I was instructed to photograph two days of my life, and email my friend my favourite 5 or so photos. After sending them, we met to discuss the contexts of the pictures, my reasons for choosing the ones I did, and what themes arose from the collection.

The whole process was very interesting, self-reflexive, and mildly depressing. It was unfortunate that one of the days I photographed was clouded by a wicked hangover (from wine and pineapple spritzer, of my own making), as half the photos were of me lying melodramatically in various slumps around the apartment.

The other participant and myself noticed a several common themes between our photo collections: lying down, sitting, eating, reading, drinking, typing, and (the one redeeming theme) exercise.

And, thus far this summer, this is the simple life of a grad student. The pendulum of my life swings between books and booze; windows and tv screens are my portals to the world. I do love it, but I can't do this whole sedentary lifestyle thing for much longer. In the meantime, I sit on my balcony enjoying the night breeze, and watching as my dreams shift from academia and towards the yet-to-be-determined.

At least I am still dreaming.

Also, mother of pearl this is addictive.

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