Here we are again

Welcome to new visitors. We are old visitors, into our third residency now so should be experienced, but I arrive at RRU with apprehension and nervousness and unsure of how the week will unfold. I know I will learn, laugh, love and much more – such is the nature of the cohort experience – but there’s still a fuzziness about with only a few short days to bring it into focus. I have already determined that as ever, the best learning is not done in the classroom, with professors present, but rather in the pub, in the lounge, over dinner, walking along Library Road, lying on the grass, biking with the wind whistling by, taking the time while in this beautiful setting to only think about school – the reflection, the sharing, the openness and the sharing – and always the caring, that is the important stuff and what we lose sight of during the latter months of distance learning. Our collective confidence soars as we realize we are all in this together again despite the various camps of “Team December”, those ready to finish, and those on a longer journey. We strategize and sympathize and come together to re-ground ourselves in this place with these people. But, human and nature being what they are, I think we would become our family again even if we met in…the Caribbean (hey, there’s an idea!). We could walk along a different forested path on a different island and remember our forested path here, see a bird there and remember our bird here, and all would be good, because it’s the people that make the most meaning.

Our assignment this week (should we choose to accept it) is to reflect on our residency, thesis work, and program as a whole in terms of leadership, learning and change. These are powerful words, powerful concepts and complex to consider. For me, they are laden with bureaucratic overtones, abuse and misuse so first I must forget past meanings and misinterpretations and make them fresh again. I am thankful for many things, among them P and his emphasis on reflection which is finally making itself ingrained in my mind, and also for taking the time for myself to write these words over the past eight months as a reminder of my journey. Had I not done this, and merely arrived here hoping to remember the good, bad and ugly of the thesis journey, I would likely have had some lame-ass, plagiarized/eavesdropped, generic list of things I learned or lost. Instead I feel I have an honest documentation of my thoughts, victories and frustrations through this process, plus some ideas to help others in the future. Taking the time ahead of time and not procrastinating has proven invaluable - I would say this should be a lesson but with that exception, I rarely have learned that lesson despite how many times it’s been encouraged of me! Lifelong learning, they say...

July 20, 2006 July heat wave

Actually I don’t think it’s the first – but it’s hot, and it’s lengthy. Even the humidex has kicked in which for Vancouver is unusual. At 10pm tonight it was 21C outside but felt like 26C. Forecast to get hotter for days yet to come. Lovely, except when you’re sitting in an apartment on the top floor of the building with poor opportunities for cross breezes and large east and south facing windows. Fans are going constantly…drinks are regularly replenished. Plants droop. I droop. I seek shade and cool, and H’s basement may well do the trick this weekend. THIS is why I wanted to be finished before summer!!! Duh…now I remember…

In better thesis news, I bit the bullet and printed everything out at once that I have so that it can all be sorted before I launch into the final analysis piece this weekend. I have 3 days set aside but wanted to make sure what there was so far made sense, held together, and that I extrapolated all my prior commitments forward to be able to address them in the final bit. Sent P a copy of same, and electronically (unfortunately electronic not the edited version, will hopefully be able to receive email in China where he’s at until I leave for school). By end of weekend hope to send D something as he has likely already left for RRU. EEK.