The Year of Emm: Part II

Okay, so last year was "The Year of Emm" because my life finally started to go the way I wanted it to... and, I would argue, the direction it was supposed to be going the whole time. (Yes, I am one of those people who believes that everything works out the way it's supposed to, regardless of where one screws up in the process. But I am also a strong believer that everything that happens to you, good or bad, happens for a reason, and we are supposed to learn something from it... and damn, I have learned a lot in the last 2 years!)

So, I have decided that 2008 is going to be "The Year of Emm: Part II" because this year is going to kick the ass of last year; last year was a bit of a rough start, but overall, I had some amazing experiences and worked hard to get back to doing work that I truly love. Very cool. But this year... well, this is what's going to happen this year:

1) Start and finish my comprehensive exams. Woohoo! Bring it on!
2) Interview for, and receive, a major (currently unnameable) scholarship that I applied for. :D
3) Publish my first academic article (which was submitted just before the holidays) after emotionally surviving the potentially scarring reviews I will likely get from journal referees
3) Reclaim my formerly svelte self after acclimatising to the stress of my first semester back at school
4) Create some more balance in my life by doing artistic things more often
5) Take better care of my poor joints and try some new form of low impact exercise
6) Make it a priority to go back west to visit my family and friends (sorry, but I had to go to Wales last year!)

And I'm sure many more amazing things are going to happen this year, but I'm going to stop there because 6 has been credited with numerical perfection (and it also happens to be my favourite number. :)

In the meantime, however, the year was off to a great start with a New Year's Eve party with friends Tara and Leo, and followed by a New Year's Day brunch with Leigh and Shane.

John and I went to see the Titanic Exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre in the afternoon, which proved to be an amazing (yet pricey) exhibition. The conservation work that was done on the artefacts recovered from the remains of the ship was impressive, as well as the quantity they were able to recover (I still have no idea how!). I think the really stunning part of the exhibition was how well they connected the artefacts themselves to the passengers on the ship - the human dimension they provided was really important, and I'm glad that they got it.

Back to teaching tomorrow, however, and then class on Monday. I wish I had more of a real break (I didn't finish my final paper from the semester until Dec. 31st), but I'm rather looking forward to getting back into things - and I'm especially glad to be done all of my coursework, aside from the mandatory PhD seminar.

Happy New Year!