The life you dream of
The life I dream of, the one I tell myself I'll live when I'm travelling and then proceed to abandon when I return, is one of extraordinary variety and culture. I hoped that moving from student to full time worker would give me some more free time, and it has. So there. I think there are 2 broad schools of thought on the work vs study debate: 1) It's better being a student coz you can sleep in and your schedule is way more flexible; 2) It's better working because your free time is really your free time. I think I'm firmly in the second camp.
I went to a concert tonight with 2 of the people I live with, one of whom is an artist and works in the school of arts at Canberra Institute of Technology. The concert was in a house in Canberra, probably an audience of about 25 people. The group was a string trio; violin, guitar, and altered double bass. Listening to them play made me remember how much depth there can be to music, easily forgotten if you don't usually get past gym and pub music. Like reading Shakespeare after Twilight maybe. Being invited into a stranger's house, being able to close your eyes and feel the music right there, resonating in a way recorded music doesn't, this is the stuff of the life I've dreamed of. A life of culture, of beauty. And best of all, there was no niggling concern over papers I should be reading, no trace of guilt over having a great time on a weeknight. Thank you to The String Contingent for the beautiful music, thank you to the house owners for their initiative and warmth, and thank you to my housemate and her partner for sharing Canberra's cultural scene with the household. Hopefully tonight will be the first of many such evenings.