I decided not long ago to stay in Windsor for a year to sort my life out.

So tonight I officially began the job hunt. I won't be free full-time until mid-April, when I defend my thesis, but I'm looking for part-time for now. I could live on part-time here with decent hours, so ending my term with a part-time position would be a relief. Even if it means near-hell during the semester. (I've had worse, I'm sure.)

Otherwise, I had to decide to let the viola go. The sheer impracticality of having zero time and eight instruments -- yeah. I can't afford it, financially or time-wise (I haven't touched some of my instruments in years). It saddens me, but I just can't be the person I was in high school who had time to songs and compose string quintets and write novella-length works and play four sets of instruments and etc. Reality time is now.

(I think I take for granted sometimes how much I did in high school. How much I still do now, with a lot less spare time.)

That said, I can focus on saving up for moving costs and the two big ticket items I've decided I want to work towards: a Macbook Pro and the Canon Rebel T2i. Looking a lot forward to both, as the battery life in the new Macbooks is outstanding and about doubles what I have, which would make my frequent long trips a lot less awful -- and I'm getting excited about photography, as I feel it's a visual mode of expression I understand a lot better than most, and that integrates (for me) extraordinarily well with writing.

Also, though lots of time commitment to photography = obvious improvements in my photography, it doesn't atrophy quite as horribly as my musical skills do when I don't have time to practice, nor is it dissatisfying to do if I only have a few minutes for it each day. In that way, it's nice. With writing as my current form of "work", having a creative medium to turn to that doesn't indirectly trigger more stress is lovely.

Things that seemed to need to break have broken and are being mended or set aside and now my life is a series of to-do lists being gathered up and prioritized. I hope to catch up with you soon, somewhere along the way. Once I've caught up with myself. Until then, I ought to go to bed, as tomorrow I will be working freelance, running errands, and trying out this thing called a date with my boyfriend. 

Not to mention the list of tasks that come after tomorrow, that seem to stretch on indefinitely into the horizon until I finish this degree, and thus also my steady work contract, and thus also six years of my life. 

I alternate between really looking forward to that day and being absolutely terrified of its arrival.

ETA: Goddamnit I'm too soft. I'm keeping the viola.

Here are some things I have gotten better at in the last undetermined amount of time. I'm not perfect at them; I'm still learning. They've been long processes with long explanations, but I feel I've become better at being concise. 

Maybe next year I will write a similar list, before 2012.

1. Socializing. 
2. Giving (and accepting) relationship advice.
3. Having physical self-esteem. 
4. Eliminating stress.
5. Sleeping more (less insomnia usually, yay!).
6. Spending time and money on myself.
7. Accepting (and appreciating) values different than my own. 
8. Not avoiding things.
9. Diplomacy.
10. Taking life less seriously.

Those are the most important things that come to mind. I am hoping these will help me think of what I want to improve about myself by next year, so that I can resolve things that are useful.

What have you gotten better at, Internets?

It seems stupid to make a post just to say "Sorry I'm not around much lately, I'm bad at balancing my time and I've been spending a lot of it working on my real life relationships" but that's pretty much it.

That and I've been practicing my instruments a lot lately. Guitar and the newly rented viola, mostly. A friend told me she has an ensemble I can play a Christmas concert with, which would be pretty awesome.

And of course, having spent so much time on that stuff, I'm mightily behind on schoolwork. I imagine it'll be a hell of a winter. My advisor wants my thesis done in January.

Anyway. I'll catch up with you. Promise. And I hope you're all well.

( The Meme. )

Being new to Dreamwidth, now's as good a time as any. (LJ, I will repeat my life at you!)

So. I'm Jasmine, or Jazz. I don't know that I have a specific preference, only that certain people sound right saying one or the other, and if you can get away with calling me "Jazzy" you're probably either very cute or one of my parents.

I live in a southerly region of Canada with two boys I met in school and two girl-cats -- one stray who followed me in, and one kitten who came out of her.

I'm a twenty-something graduate student doing an impractical Creative Writing degree. I also work at a literary magazine and do freelance editing. I am a workaholic of sorts, so I usually take on more work/academic/life projects than I should at a time. When I'm not doing that, sometimes I write poems. And songs (with my guitars and keyboard). And cook for people. And take photographs, lately.

( A few more paragraphs. )

Also I'm absolutely typical in terms of my astrological chart, which I find hilarious and is probably why I like astrology. So I suppose if this doesn't give you a clear picture, you can look up my birthday and know exactly how I am. Ha.

That is all.