Sixteen Weeks ... and counting

Strange space to be in ...

Residency is in a few short days, and while that's awesome and fab, it's also mad intense.  I have had a pre-reading list longer than my cumulative bibliography (well, not quite, but you know what I mean) and the pressures of trying to sell my stuff, figure out my move, declare my critical thesis, work on my creative work and maintain my training schedule has been ... overwhelming.

Usually, I go to Lexington to visit with my spiritual mother, Anya.  This term, my work schedule requires me to be at the office on Friday morning, so the trip was nixed.  I'm sad to be missing my time with her, and know that the send-off to which I'm accustomed (usually includes good home-cooked Hungarian-esque food, copious amounts of grapes, a fresh breakfast, and a packed lunch) won't be a part of this trip makes me nostalgic for res' past.  I can't believe it was a year ago that I started my MFA journey, even more so - can't believe how far life has led me.

This is a photo of the gift that Anya gave me to commemorate my first term at Spalding.  It's a window that she re-purposed, sanded and cleaned ... and took the time to make into art.  It's been hanging in my studio (in Columbus, and now in Cincinnati) and is gentle, albeit constant, reminder of where I've come and where I'm going.

If a perfect stranger told me this time last year that I'd be sitting in a lopsided flat near Xavier in the middle of Cincinnati while prepping for a move to Japan, I would've laughed.  Life has a way of presenting beautiful circumstances at the most interesting times.

So. While I'm anxious and excited for residency, reconnecting with friends I only see twice a year and the wonderful community that Spalding fosters, in the back of my mind, I am thinking of Japan and the life that awaits me in three short months.

Tonight I said "See ya later" to the lackadaisical attitude I've had toward my writing,  I say that somewhat in jest, seeing as I'm in my lab at least an hour a day ... But it's been without focus, I've just been tapping away because I want to.  Now comes the work.  I have to declare my thesis, begin crafting a critical essay (fifty pages of what?) that suggest and either refute or dispute a claim.  Argh.  It seems daunting to just tap it out.  But, it's a means to an end.  Soon, it won't be Nati streets I maneuver, but Jappa, and then, Germany.