Thursday, June 9, 2011

First Day In Melbourne and Eaten by Introspection

I had been going through a cache of old photographs on my computer. I rarely do this. I rarely look back. But to kill away some time while waiting for my flight connections from San Diego to Los Angeles, then to Sydney and finally Melbourne I fell into the trap. Started off looking at photos of my kids when they were competing in taekwondo competitions. Then there grew an interest in the past...past friends, past loves, past homes, past events. Just past. And it is fortuitous that here I am diving head first into the future--in a place I have no attachments, no firends--and yet I voyeuristically began attaching myself to the past. My kids are especially evocative of my past.
The end result is that I am oscillating. I am in a new place, that I have never experienced before. And yet, I have. I relate Melbourne to a cross between London and Seattle. Could it be that my future is a combination of my past experiences? Or will I limit experiencing "new" events only an amalgam of past experience. Nothing is new. Hence my kids, and the emotions that they evoke. Will they determine what I will feel in the future. Have I really ploughed myself a new path, or simply changed the scenery?

The cold weather does not help with this introspection. Tomorrow I will take some photos of the contrasting old and new architecture that make up the University of Melbourne.