"Light at the end of the tunnel"

There are 2 weeks left in my current core course that explores critical thinking, and 4 weeks left in the two electives I undertook at the same time. It’s been a grueling pace since September 6, but worth every moment. No details, but suffice it to say volumes of reading, endless online research, keeping my thoughts from wandering or tuning out, writing, and more writing. My secret? Lists. The good ol’ pieces of paper with lists and list of list. I regularly update the lists, rewrite them and check them frequently. Love making checkmarks when a task is done. Prioritize from most important at the top of the list and things that can be “carried forward” at the bottom. Make a short “to-do-today” list and crumple it up when done. Great therapy. By Christmas I will be just over half-way through my graduate program. Then there’s a big break till the next courses. Ah, the studio is calling me! Be encouraged those of you who follow this blog. If I can do it so can you.

“Whales and Porpoises,”

Why I live and study on an island, and my university is a province away. A glorious moment amidst the chaos of life. The other day, my wife Alice and I went to Berry Point, a favourite place on the island just a couple of minutes away. It affords a spectacular wide-angle view of BC’s mainland and coastal mountains, Johnson Strait, and Vancouver Island. Suddenly! A commotion in the distant water. A mile long school of porpoises were chasing each other through the ocean, many flashing bright as they jumped out of the water. Another visitor to the Point, yelled, “whales!”. Three pairs of large Orcas, each about a half mile apart, came cruising past us. Spectacular. One pair came so close who could hear ( and see ) their blowholes. Somehow it put a kick in my step again to go back to my study and work on that Cloud Computing paper.(Not my photograph. Courtesy Google Images but a close match to what we saw).