Environment

Due to an increasingly serious headache I can’t manage actual thesis writing (see other posts!) but thought I could describe some of my personal environment for thesis writing. If environment is food, water, shelter plus some other elements, I’ve generally got it covered. My habitat is simple, a one-bedroom apartment with a desk in the big bright living room. It’s a good setup, I like the southfacing window to my left, the light, and the art around me as I sit here. I write best when there are no distractions for me – so a fairly clean and tidy house helps. I don’t mind music or TV or even people (see Soundtrack of a Thesis) but I still find it really hard to just sit down and get started.

My food of choice this year has been…almost anything my parents bring me (soup, farm eggs, and spanakopita being the main items), salmon burgers, peanut butter, grilled cheese, and of course chocolate. Nurse Ratchet approves my choice of dark, often organic/fair trade, chocolate. Water is generally regular Vancouver tap water. Often I convert it into Moroccan mint-green tea, regular orange pekoe tea or various herbal teas. Sometimes I go all fancy and drink Pellegrino sparkling water with some lemon just for a different flavour. Do the bubbles give me more brain energy?

Two weekends recently I’ve been luckily enough to travel to a more natural environment – cabin in a forest by an ocean – which was amazing. Some friends I know are lucky enough to actually live a life like that, not just visit. It’s a nice change of pace from the city, and makes environmental education that much more relevant. And on one of the weekends I actually got some good schoolwork done.

Recently for work, I went to Ottawa for a week including skating on the Rideau Canal. Although not very productive from a thesis point of view, the change of scene was nice and a great chance to stretch my legs along this famous stretch of ice. My next travels take me to a different part of Ontario, southern Washington State, and aside from that, I'm pretty much grounded here. Good thing it's comfortable!