Alumni Magazine Tasting

I’ve come to realize that the experience of flipping through the pages of an alumni magazine is something akin to the experience of wine tasting – there’s a complexity to the experience that you can savour – you can even become a connoisseur. In wine, there are layers of flavours that you can spend years distinguishing. Likewise, there are layers and depths of demoralization that I’ve just started to appreciate in my experience of alumni magazines.

The feelings blend so well – a fruity defensive disdain for lists of awards and achievements paired with a subtle but bold feeling of inadequacy. A nutty scoff at the smug smiles and rock-star poses of professors who’ve won scads of research cash or international acclaim paired with the vinegary taste of memory upon memory of disappointment. There’s that especially poignant juxtaposition between youthful feelings of potential and largess – one of the university’s best-loved products –and the cranky cynical feelings of disillusionment. The combinations are endless. And they all lead to a beautifully mellow feeling of vague, self-absorbed despair that can be achieved in no other way. I love to luxuriate in this drunken state, to magnify it as much as I can. Ah, alumni magazine, thank you for sounding out this hollowness and giving it such a wonderful texture – your glossy dreams are my glossy dreams.

On a happier note – I went out for a run today to test out my ankle. I did 8km in 30:15, maxing out with a 3:26 kilometre. There was plenty of pain, but it was manageable – and it didn’t get worse. It was also better than Tuesday night, so things seem to be progressing. As a result, I’ve given a final “yes” to the team, so one way or another I have to drag my butt across the 13k of leg 7. I had leg 8, but another guy is hurt worse than I am, so I got leg 7. There’s 8km of up and 5km of down – should be interesting.

One of our guys has been emailing with one of the Maine-iacs – they are going with only 14 runners as well (3 doublers), so they are going to be tough to beat. It’s going to be very close – very exciting. And who knows if some new team might come out of nowhere and school everybody. Only one way to find out!