Zihuatanejo

I was writing an email to a friend today, and I had to say something about what I planned to do post-PhD. I started to say something about "the great beyond" and the image that came into my mind whilst thinking of what it will be like to be finished was that of Morgan Freeman's character walking away from prison when he is released at the end of The Shawshank Redemption (which is numbered amongst my absolute favourite films).

I told my friends this and we all laughed, and we made various jokes about failing to adjust to life on the outside. Deep down though it worried me for a little while, that this imagery was what I had subsonsciously associated to finishing my PhD.

And then I remembered Red's ultimate destination in the closing moments of the film, and now things don't seem that bad at all.

"You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory. That's where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory."

More tomorrow, the start of National Novel Writing Month. Tonight I need to plan.