With a view like that...

Its been hard to get some work done. After spending some time on the coast of Prince Edward Island, my brain should be refreshed and rarring to go. Instead, it has settled into vacation mode, making my to-do list grow faster than summer grass after a week of rain.

The submission deadline to our upcoming symposium has passed, and the response has been good. The selection has been made and I am crossing my fingers that those who have been selected will confirm their attendance. We are looking at a nice two days of interesting topics, methods, challenges and creative solutions. With only 20 presentations over two days, there is alot of room for debates and interaction. Now to start planning the details...

I have also decided to expand on a presentation I did last spring on identity and identification for an edited collection and conference CFP on Videogames & Cinema. Although I have over 4,000 of the 5,000 word limit done (but not edited of course) I seem to be struggling with writting a 1,000 word abstract for it. I know that you are supposed to have a paper written prior to the abstract, but it has rarely worked that way for me. The abstract has always been something of a vague introduction to something that I want to do. With such vagueness, I have been able to let it take any direction once the writting has begun. I know that technically, it should be easier to write this abstract, since I already have an introduction, middle and conclusion - it just seems hard to figure out what to leave in and what to omitt in the abstract when the final project is already (relatively) finished. Guess the first step is to splash my stark white canvas with red paint and work on covering that up.

Summer Holidays

Summer is here, and I have made my annual pilgrimmage eastward. Although with more work on my plate than past years, it is still nice to be out of the city - smog and humidity - to be able to breath dry, fresh air. I am working on a book chapter and my thesis proposal, not to mention tying up loose ends of research I have been doing and working on preparing the Trials & Tribulations symposium from a distance - so hopefully with all of that, I'll get a chance to blog a bit about some of the things I'm working through.