Why have I been silent so long you ask? Well… I haven’t been! I’ve been babbling along for the past 4 months writing a Master’s dissertation. Yep, and I had no more words for you. In fact my tweeting has ‘gone dark’ and my Facebook messaging intermittent. Writing 12,000 words for the capstone of your academic career leaves few words for anyone else. And not just creating words, but taking words in. There were times I just needed silence.
So now what? My dissertation is handed in (’Donate Now’ and Save the World: A proposed methodology for researching the stories of international development fundraising) and I’m free and clear from most any responsibility in life! Save those pesky student loans that will be scratching at my door come next month. 
But for now there is nothing, absolutely nothing. Yesterday I went to lunch with a friend, took a nap, ate dinner, and made popcorn for a movie night in with my sweetheart. This morning I slept in then puttered around the kitchen baking vegan Chai cake and Emmeline-is-a-muffin chocolate muffins. Some Facebook updates and now this blog… its just after noon and I’m thinking about a shopping trip and a visit to the neighbourhood coffee shop. Ahhhh…. stay-cation.
Of course this will not last, but oh wait – first a real holiday. I’ve got plans to visit Scotland by bicycle starting next week. My gear is nearly in order and my maps from amazon should be here shortly. I’m thinking to train north a ways then got on the bike and just go wherever. I don’t want a plan or agenda or expectations. When I feel I’m done I will come back… hopefully that will be after at least a week due to all the effort I’m putting forth to make this happen. The weather has dried up a bit down south, so fingers crossed we’ll get a blast of summer that we were missing out on all year.
That’s the update, I’ll probably write a few more blogs now that I have time and words… though not so much to write about!
