And what are YOU doing with your life?

Last night I went to a dinner party and was the youngest one there. I also felt like the youngest one there, which is new for me, because usually I feel like I can hold my own, but here, amongst people already working in government, in university departments, or working on their second, third, gajillionth degree, I felt a bit lost. Admittedly, these women were not THAT much older than me -- however, they do have it figured out, and when that all important question came my way, "And what do YOU do?" and I answered with my perennial "I'm a film student," I got the expected resulting reaction that this statement always induces: "Oh, well... gee... THAT'S completely useless."
Of course, they never come out and say exactly that. What they do do is widen their eyes slightly, look a bit perplexed, take a moment to recover, prepare the appropriate response and then say, "Oh, how interesting." Yeah lady, pull the other one.

Never mind. I'm comfortable with my label. If it doesn't exactly cover what it is I do as nicely as I'd like, it at least speaks to the fact that above all, my creativity is a ruling force in my life, and therefore leads the things I choose to study. Film is not as pigeon-holing as you might expect.

Speaking of creativity, every day I walk through the art school's courtyard and peer in at the people working in the glass studio. It's fascinating, the doors are always open, you can smell the materials people are working with, and cute little people with dreadlocks and smocks sit swinging their legs and smoking. It makes me miss Guelph summers, and daydream about that huge canvas I have in the attic at home. I miss my paint, I miss my calligraphy pens, I miss my pastels and markers and sketchbooks. Sometimes I just can't wait to get home. Sometimes I don't want to come home at all. Always I look forward to the next stage.