Remember me?

Hmmmm, I've been so negligent about updating this thing that I'm not even certain I have a readership anymore, which would mean that I'm just blogging to myself at this point, which I think would make one even more crazy than speaking to oneself, which has become surprisingly acceptable since the advent of bluetooth handsfree earpieces.

Well, I find myself back in Canada and out of Saudi, out of the Middle East, and out of a job. It's a bit funny how defensive I am about being back here, whenever someone asks if I'm "back for good" I'm always quick to snap back "No! Only for a year!" when they usually were just wondering if I was back on a holiday or not. I think this says a lot about how I feel about being here, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, let's go back to leaving Saudi and leaving work.

I left Saudi. I left work. Now, I sound thoroughly ungrateful when I complain about my job. It was, by my own admission, one of the cushiest jobs on earth, and probably one of the most intellectually stimulating desk jobs one could have hoped for. All of this notwithstanding though, I still hated it, which just confirmed in my mind what I've known all along: academia is the only thing that will make me happy.

I have been so monumentally happy ever since leaving work. I arrived in London from Saudi at the crack of dawn on July 12th (my last day of work having been July 11th) and went straight into the office, filed my final expense report, did some housekeeping, and waited for the IT department to get in so that I could return my work laptop. It was like returning an iron ball that had been chained to my ankle for almost a year. Walking out of that building for the last time, now an unemployed man, I felt such an overwhelming sense of lightness. Unemployed bliss.

I spent the next ten days in London, but for a brief interlude in Paris for a few days with some friends from Cairo. As previously mentioned, I was staying at my old graduate halls of residence in London, and it was remarkably less weird and a lot more natural than I had anticipated. Got a bunch of the gang together and we got up to our usual antics in the garden (involving copious amounts of alcohol of course). All of you Paul Robesonites who weren't there were sorely missed. Attended the graduation ceremony on the 19th, so I'm now officially the holder of an MA degree.

And here I am, back in humdrum Southern Ontario looking down the barrel of a second Master's degree and giddy as a schoolgirl about it. Have been assigned the courses I'll be TAing and I'm very pleased with them. Incidentally, I was also very pleased to receive my invoice for tuition from the university and see a positive balance on the tally line. The school owes ME money due of my scholarship. Money which will undoubtedly be fastidiously saved and invested...or something.

Now I'm just biding my time until school starts. I don't think it's normal to be this excited about it though.

Salaam from the now very green pastures of the Bedouin Project...