hope

Over the last few months I've had a bit of the winter blues echoing the first few lines of this song Moving Pictures, Silent Film...

Oh wake me please when this is over
Oh when the ice is melted away
And the hunger returns...

I have to say that today, I feel awake and a hunger has returned. The ice is melting (even if I’m dreaming of the African sunshine). A new chapter-- I know it sounds cliché for the new year and all that, but somehow life seems more hopeful that it has in a while. I know I’m probably just swayed by feelings and tomorrow I may return to winter lethargy. But today I stand up and stretch, ready for all that is ahead. I can hear clearly the songbird of hope that Emily Dickinson talks about:

"Hope" is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops, at all

And sweetest, in the Gale, is heard
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest Sea
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb of Me.

And I know hope does not disappoint. So, here’s to 2008 and HOPEfully a new start to this blog’s ramblings…

why?

so, i've been thinking about why i started this blog...
1. i guess i could be really philosophical about it and quote socrates who said that 'an unreflected life is not worth living' and that i want to have a concrete place to think, to make myself reflect on life instead of just moseying thoughtlessly through life...
2. another reason is that i have time this week :) a week off before getting back to classes and the joys of student life...it's kind of that feeling before you're starting back afresh to classes (or anything new) when you make sure you're ready, you have new notebooks and new pens (ha, remembering 1st day of school at crest...) and maybe this is part of the process this time...
3. my sister just got on a plane yesterday to go 'home' and i'm wishing i was going with her...so this may merely be a distraction from wishing i was with her...
4. i'm anticipating the next few months to be quite busy, but still have a nack for procrastinating what i really should be doing at all costs...this may be prove to be part of my procrastination!
5. i think i actually can be quite opinionated about things, about how i see the world.. i love a good debate over a cup of tea, so maybe this will be another place to voice what i think, although realising i'm probably wrong about many things...
6. it's also a new year and i think at the start of the year, it's always a time to stop, think, readjust, try something new... it remains to be seen if it's just a fad/new yr resolution that will fade mid february :) or be something i actually keep up...watch this space!

i'm sure there are more reasons... but it's probably a mixture of all of the above.