Will there really be more photos on Facebook?

It's 2:30am now. Long day at school.

I like this particular video, this particular song. It's best seen on full screen. There's a certain element of inexorability in the song, and I think the video fits that well.

We are like lion cubs running across an open field. At some point, one of us is going to pull ahead, turn around, and ask if we should continue on. The lush green field ends here. A vast wasteland lies beyond us. We are breathless, we would look at each other, we would look ahead. We will be fearful, we will be excited. At least one of us will say, with gentle, hopeful eyes, come on. And at least one of us will collapse to the ground and say, let's take a rest here.

More photos will be on Facebook (II)

I spent the past 2 nights playing board games with friends. Simple supper at a coffeeshop after. I am glad I have found a stable, spontaneous group of board games-loving friends who are both generally competent in games and generally committed to having fun: eating, drinking, making jokes and of course playing all sorts of board games, from party games to the strategic sort. Things could be better, but things could be worse too. This is fine.

I've got to go school in 10 hours time. 2nd week of school. I am continuing with German this semester, though I was quite ready not to - I wanted to spend more time on my research and creative writing. I decided to go ahead with it in the end because I heard not so good things about learning German in other institutions, where the standards are less rigorous and where I have to pay. Learning the language in school currently is free, the teaching and students are good (or at least comparatively good), and I'm not graded for it, but can still obtain a formal certificate. So as much as I don't have a particularly strong desire to learn it now, given that I have other more pressing things to do, like playing board games regularly, I think I would regret it years down the road, if I don't take it now. I'm also tutoring 2 classes and taking an independent study module with my thesis supervisor, just like the previous semester.

It's quite a heavy workload. I can already feel the noose tightening on me, and in the past week I had already been trying my hardest to relax as much as possible on the days I don't need to go down to school.

 I find that the best board games sessions are the ones in which we play in an enclosed area, without any outsiders around. It's like creating and living in our own world. That's the best kind of experience. It doesn't matter that sooner or later you've got to return to the real world, whatever that may be. It just matters that you've escaped once, and once again.