Tom Leslie
Toronto, Canada

Spending my weekend studying lecture notes on my own in a classroom in a small town in Illinois. Why did I volunteer for this again? This makes my normal social life seem bouncy and extroverted, which I guess is a useful perspective to gain, but I'd rather not have gained it at the cost of a perfectly good weekend. The greater Chicago area got socked by snow last night but my flight down from Toronto was uneventful and St. Charles hasn't changed at all, despite the fact that Accenture is now a client instead of an owner of the facility. We still use it more than A*th*r *nd*rs*n. What's a little depressing this weekend is that 90% of the other attendees are new hires and they're all really young. I feel old.

Not as old as my co-faculty guy though: he's been with the firm for 12 years. I can't imagine... On the other hand, he's done some work in Northbrook (near here) so while I'm studying he's setting off to meet old friends. To be fair, he got here the night before last so he's already had a full day studying the materials, whereas I have some catching up to do (which I'm not doing right now).

At least it's a bright sunny day outside, and I don't have to cook the lunch I'm about to go enjoy.
posted by Tom Leslie at 1:28 PM | link

Back in the airport in Toronto. Seems like just yesterday I was here last. Oh yes... It was just yesterday. D'oh!

So I've started Thirty Nothing and it is indeed just like High Fidelity, except written by a woman instead of a man. In the genre of angst-riddled 30-something relationship novels, this distinction is important both for the things that are different as a result -- clearer-headed analysis of messed-up teenaged muddles from the girl's side of the picture, of course -- as well as for the things that are the same. In both novels the central thesis is that we 30-somethings are just about getting old enough to figure out ourselves and behave sensibly towards one another, for the first time in our lives, even though we're (of course) incurably messed up inside. Everybody's incurably messed up inside, so we're ok.

I don't know if this thesis holds up to stringent analysis, and I certainly know a few very happily married 30-somethings who've never seemed messed up at all to me, but I do know that reading these books, while entertaining, is hard on me personally as a 31-year-old single man with no current prospects. Are the authors trying to make me feel bad, or was that just a lucky side effect? Yes, I know, I'm avoiding the issue day to day by travelling across the continent for work and not looking for any relationships anywhere in particular. But I was taught (by my peers and my own experience) that the best relationships are those which are not planned, that just happen through good chemistry and lucky circumstances, and I'm not sure that my recent run of no circumstances at all puts the validity of the overall strategy in doubt. (It definitely puts the wisdom of my short-term tactics in doubt, but that's another question entirely.)

Anyway, this rather rambling post is dedicated to any single romantically inclined 30-something women who should, by some bizarre chance of fate, ever come to read it.

Back to Thirty Nothing. I sure hope the author is single, because if someone wants to point out the pain of single life to me, I'd rather they were in the same boat. No offence, mom.
posted by Tom Leslie at 4:09 PM | link

It is so cool to be able to update my web site from the airport lounge. I am waiting for a connecting flight back to Toronto in Vancouver. It's a warm beautiful day on the west coast and the view on the hop up from Seattle was gorgeous.

I finished the new Orson Scott Card Bean novel yesterday, Shadow of the Hegemon. Quite good, I thought. He's still never really equalled the brilliance of Ender's Game, but this latest is considerably closer than the last one, Ender's Shadow.

Next up is a quirky-looking book from England called Thirty Nothing. It looks as though it will be in the same style as High Fidelity, but I'll let you know when I've read it.
posted by Tom Leslie at 6:13 PM | link

Oh my GOD my schedule is getting busy. Here's a quick overview:

S	M	T	W	Th	F	S
21 Toronto	22 Seattle	23 Seattle	24 Seattle	25 Seattle	26 Guelph	27 Chicago
28 Chicago	29 Chicago	30 Chicago	31 Chicago	1 Chicago	2 Chicago	3 Snyman Cottage
4 Snyman Cottage	5 Toronto	6 Toronto	7 Colorado Springs	8 Colorado Springs	9 Colorado Springs	10 Toronto
11 Toronto	12 Toronto	13 Toronto	14 Seattle	15 Seattle	16 Seattle	17 Whistler
18 Whistler	19 Seattle	20 Seattle	21 Seattle	22 Seattle	23 Toronto	24 Toronto
25 Toronto	26 Toronto	27 Toronto	28 Toronto	1 Toronto	2 Toronto	3 Toronto
4 Toronto	5 Seattle	6 Seattle	7 Seattle	8 Seattle	9 Toronto	10 Toronto

posted by Tom Leslie at 2:29 PM | link

Here are some of the specific things that are important to me:

Singing. Exultate, Consort Caritatis, and, yes, SMM. The joy of cooperative artistry and the release of emotional energy through the voice.
Intellectual challenges and puzzles. A lot of technical challenges at work are strictly left brain which is why I enjoy them. Most games are obviously left brain as well. In the last couple of years, I've enjoyed expanding into the right brain area with increased resposibility to figure out and fix interpersonal challenges, and more social multiplayer games.
Pets, specifically my cat Hoover. (I'm looking forward to getting her back; she's been an unwitting casualty of my travels as a guest at my parents' and my friend Patrick's).
Images and sounds. One of the appeals of computer games is the sheer beauty of some of the graphics.
Travel. See images and sounds.
My family. We may not communicate very well, but we definitely love each other.
My friends. Where would I be without you guys?

Not in that order, of course. :-)
posted by Tom Leslie at 2:05 PM | link

Back in Seattle. Weather foggy.

This damn 7 Habits book is starting to get me thinking about who I am and what I want to do with my life. Don't get me wrong; this is hardly the first time I've been led into a navel-gazing introspective self-diagnostic basic principles step-back-and-take-in-the-bigger-picture frame of mind. Since it hasn't made a significant difference all the other times I've tried it, I doubt it will this time either (which Covey would argue is a self-defeating attitude). Anyway, I can't debunk the guy without giving him a shot, so here are some thoughts around a personal mission statement:

To be dependable.
To be someone friends and family choose to turn to in times of need.
To be a person of integrity, knowing that while I am far from perfect I can be comfortable that I have tried to support truth, honesty and justice.
To love and be loved.
To know that while accumulation of goods is a reflection of success, it is not success itself.
To strive to be physically fit, and help my body to keep me healthy.
To seek out new challenges.
To get more sleep.
To support the goals and careers of people I work with as I would like my goals and career to be supported by others.
To understand and achieve the objectives, both stated and hidden, of the clients who pay for my work.
To respect and understand my fears.
To overcome my fears.

This list will clearly require revision before it becomes something I can work from. Expect more navel gazing to come.
posted by Tom Leslie at 1:25 PM | link