Sometimes the signs of happiness show themselves in simple acts:
Getting out of your way when you have so much to do, and attend a lecture by Dame Yani on Laura Mulvey and the gaze, and cinema and Paris Is Burning: One hour and she lectured to 80 students better than many professors you know, and you can't help but feel very proud of her, she being the closest friend you have in The Village... And you can't help but think: What a great career she has ahead of her, and gosh, she sure knows how to give back all she learnt so far...
And then you send out an e-mail to Dame Yani (and her husband), to Mr Halifax and Dr Hamilton and they all respond enthusiastically to your invitation for dinner/drinks like it was of the utmost importance. It was of the utmost importance to me: I hadn't met up with them in weeks. So there it was, after a month with no alcohol at all in your system, a couple of pints of the Wilde Ale (named after Oscar Wilde himself), the best nachos you had since you came back from Mexico, some spring rolls and wonderful company... A night at the Olde Stone, some pseudo-British pub in Peterborough. You come back home slightly tipsy, but tipsy from the fact that your friends here were there to listen to you, to listen to you brag about how proud you felt when Dame Yani lectured, proud that she was your friend and colleague; you feel tipsy because you discussed academic stuff in a non-academic way; you feel tipsy because Mr Halifax sure knows how to make you laugh; you feel tipsy because they all hugged you and hugged you again and said that they care; and you also feel tipsy because you know they are your friends and that you have a life out here with a family with whom you live and with friends who respond immediately to have a beer with you.
And when you think about how, just a year ago, you were trying hard to deal with the cold, to mend your broken-heart, to deal with the pressures of being a grad student... And now, when you see where you are, you cannot help but thank those colleagues who've been more friends than colleagues and read the sure signs of happiness! It still doesn't feel like home here but it sure feels like something special-- and that's thanks to the signs of happiness! :)
Getting out of your way when you have so much to do, and attend a lecture by Dame Yani on Laura Mulvey and the gaze, and cinema and Paris Is Burning: One hour and she lectured to 80 students better than many professors you know, and you can't help but feel very proud of her, she being the closest friend you have in The Village... And you can't help but think: What a great career she has ahead of her, and gosh, she sure knows how to give back all she learnt so far...
And then you send out an e-mail to Dame Yani (and her husband), to Mr Halifax and Dr Hamilton and they all respond enthusiastically to your invitation for dinner/drinks like it was of the utmost importance. It was of the utmost importance to me: I hadn't met up with them in weeks. So there it was, after a month with no alcohol at all in your system, a couple of pints of the Wilde Ale (named after Oscar Wilde himself), the best nachos you had since you came back from Mexico, some spring rolls and wonderful company... A night at the Olde Stone, some pseudo-British pub in Peterborough. You come back home slightly tipsy, but tipsy from the fact that your friends here were there to listen to you, to listen to you brag about how proud you felt when Dame Yani lectured, proud that she was your friend and colleague; you feel tipsy because you discussed academic stuff in a non-academic way; you feel tipsy because Mr Halifax sure knows how to make you laugh; you feel tipsy because they all hugged you and hugged you again and said that they care; and you also feel tipsy because you know they are your friends and that you have a life out here with a family with whom you live and with friends who respond immediately to have a beer with you.
And when you think about how, just a year ago, you were trying hard to deal with the cold, to mend your broken-heart, to deal with the pressures of being a grad student... And now, when you see where you are, you cannot help but thank those colleagues who've been more friends than colleagues and read the sure signs of happiness! It still doesn't feel like home here but it sure feels like something special-- and that's thanks to the signs of happiness! :)
Posts
2 insightful/less comments:
blushes
hugs and beer from me. i wish i coulda seen yani in action. i bet it was fiiiierce.
Post a Comment