Coming Home

I’ve been back for little over a month now, and while I’m not even up to date on blog posts of my travels, I’ve got to say that it feels good to be back.
Yes, the full-time job hunting gets depressing. But having some freelance writing to do fills the days (and the bank account) a little.

A lot has changed in a year and a half, but a lot has also stayed the same. I came across one of those sappy pictures on Pinterest one day while I was away and sent it to one of my closest friends, but I’ve realized that it applies to all of them.

I’m in the home stretch… and it’s kind of terrifying

I feel like I’m in the home stretch. The final month before classes officially end, the final lessons, the final goodbyes. March is going to be an awkward month. I’m still not sure if I’ll be working until the end of my contract considering that there will no longer be a summer camp. I don’t know if that means that I’ll be finishing up within the first week, and then spending a few weeks hanging around waiting for the vacation portion of my home stretch to start, or if they’ll find work for me to do and I’ll work up until the end.

People are going to start leaving. That’s going to be really hard: saying goodbye to people who were strangers a year ago that I’ve become so close with that I now consider my Thailand family. My roommate is going to be the first to go, planning on shipping out to Germany to live with her boyfriend as early as the 19^th of March. My little heart is going to break.

The group, with a couple exceptions, at our Anything but Clothes Themed post-halloween party

Toronto’s Mysteries

Doors Open Toronto is coming back again. This always elicits feelings of exploration and a desire to learn more about my city. Ever since I visited a broken and dilapidated home near my friend’s cottage when I was younger, and especially after I transferred pictures onto my computer, I’ve been in love with urban exploration photography.
Now, I know that Doors Open doesn’t really take anyone into broken down or forgotten buildings in the city, but exploring always makes me think about taking it to the furthest possible extreme.
Constant reading of BlogTo doesn’t help very much, especially gems like these: Portraits in Toronto

Or even the regular trolling of groups like these.

Despite the fact that the buildings explored by these intensely interesting explorers are not likely safe, and it’s completely against the law, I can’t help but continually be attracted to these ideas of exploring, excitement, and beauty in Toronto’s forgotten places.

I worry that something tame like Doors Open might actually prove disappointing compared to beautifully staged and miraculously accidental photos by urban explorers.

Hopefully someday I’ll be able to feed my fetish through more than just other peoples pictures.
What I would want the most, however, is to not only walk through some of these places, but to have portraits of myself in these places.