Sometimes, memories are just that

As I was approaching Chicago's iconic public library last week, my camera battery died. I was devastated. I learned a hard lesson that day: it was the first time in ages that I was just taking in the sights for myself, rather than documenting them to show to other people. It reminded me of an article I read a while ago about creating our 'virtual shadow':

"My concern is that we seem more and more focused on creating these anchors of memory – FourSquare check-ins, status updates, and so on. Unfortunately, the tools we use to create our modern anchors of memory, like the smartphone, require a level of multitasking that takes us away from the very experience we’re trying so hard to capture! It is the ultimate irony."

Sobering words and definitely worth remembering when you're travelling. Sometimes, memories are just for the traveller. 

It happened, we promise

I'm in the USA at the moment for two and a half weeks of lectures and library tours. 

A few friends and I were touring DC on foot a few days ago when we came across a fox. Having walked for hours, we were fairly hysterical with exhaustion, so at first we thought that our eyes were deceiving us. You don't see foxes where we come from. You surely shouldn't see foxes in the city in the US? Who knows. We decided to document the evidence by taking a pic. 

This is the result:

Appreciation

Today's pic taken with my Blackberry.

I spent three mornings last week attending a training course on middle campus. I work on upper campus, so I took the opportunity to walk there and back. I think everyone at UCT should be required to do this once in a while. I studied here and I've worked here for almost 20 years, but I'll never get tired of just how stunning it is.