First Day of Spring

My friend, don't just there and ruminate
With your navel to contemplate
It's a beautiful day outside
Time's passing you by...

Anyone out there (mainly Canadians, although I'd be impressed if someone from another country knew of them) remember the Gandharvas? Their song 'First Day of Spring' popped into my head as I was writing today's entry title and I started wondering whatever happened to them. I mean obviously they got sucked into the indie blackhole and never clawed their way out again, but really... in high school that song was on the radio ALL THE TIME. Anyways, given that today at 1:15pm, the first day of spring starts, thinking of the Gandharvas is somewhat appropriate. They are known in Hinduism as the male spirits of the air, forest, and mountains, as well as mates to the female Apsaras - spirits of nature. All kind of fitting for today and the coming weeks when hopefully this part of the world will start shaking off it's winter gloom. The days are already noticeably longer and sunnier, so I'm happy.

On Friday I realized that I've developed a habit of dozing on the TTC during my commute home in the late afternoon. For the most part I stay awake on the Bloor and Yonge lines, but something about the Sheppard line just makes me sleepy. I suppose if there were any time to close your eyes on the subway it is at least on the line that I travel to the very end so I never miss my stop. It's also weird how you can close your eyes for 30 seconds on the subway and you might not even be at the next station yet but when you open your eyes again it feels like you were just passed out for half an hour. I've got to stop hanging out underground so much...

In the past ten days, I've developed an obsession with Flickr. I've always wanted to find a public domain to post my photos for friends to see, but never got around to finding one I've liked. Then I took notice of Flickr after hearing some co-workers and friends rave about it, and I saw all the beautiful photos that people post on it and it's like a giant celebration of creativity. I can't help but check out the site everyday to see what photos have made the 'Interestingness' category. I also browse random words to see what comes up and save my favourites to a folder... perhaps someday I will create a collage out of the ones I like best. One girl here at work creates a Flickr collage for her desktop wallpaper and I think she may have made herself a calendar as well. Maybe that is someone else...
Anyways, if you're a friend of mine, at some point I will email you the link to my stuff when I have finished posting the photos I want to put up. I just love the overall community of it... there's a contacts page to add your friends to, Flickr mail for messaging people, forums where people can post photos and talk about them or discuss camera types and different photography/editing techniques. It's kind of educational in a way...
I'm also trying to be proactive and learn more about manipulating my way through Photoshop, which is not at all intuitive by the way. I really like the idea of getting creative with editing photos and designs, but sometimes the thought of sitting down for hours to play around is a bit daunting. Maybe someday this blog will become a reflection of my untapped artistry rather than using this bland template. It's something to consider.

Well, here in Toronto, British invasion week begins today. Michaela and I are off to see Oasis and the Arctic Monkeys tonight. Tomorrow James Blunt is in town (still don't have a ticket and likely won't get one since it's a sold out show and people are trying to make profits by selling them above face value on Craigslist and Ebay), Wednesday and Thursday is the Coldplay-a-thon with Richard Ashcroft as the opener. I am not going to see Coldplay because I saw this tour last June, but I suppose the exciting thing is that they are recording one of the concerts for a DVD release. It never seems like Canada gets chosen for music DVD venues... so I suppose at least that is something new. I imagine that if you walk around the right parts of town this week, you won't be able to walk for tripping over the invading Brits. We'll see though... I don't get out much during the week. I'm taking my camera to the show tonight... pics to be posted at a later date... I kind of feel obligated to bring the camera when I have 10th row seats. It's really a wonder the Gallaghers haven't killed each other yet.

On a completely different side note: UBC has attracted a Nobel laureate to its faculty... very impressive. I suppose UBC would be quite pleasant if you had millions of dollars of funding, but if you belong to a poor department, forget it. You're just slogging through the rain with the rest of the down and outs.