It tends to be the same: we review the year, rave about the wonderful people, the unimaginable twists and turns, and pursuit of new ventures with great hopes but no expectations of particular outcomes or returns. Many of the things I anticipated for 2010 came to pass, and many more that I did not expect. It was indeed a “good madness”.

For 2011, things shift again as I work towards the completion of my thesis, and celebrating the accomplishments, great and small, that has brought me near the end of a journey that I began with no expectations, except that I could pursue knowledge and bring together what appears to be disparate parts of myself to the onlooker. Yet it has been nothing short of a miracle to find myself in the midst of a professional field that does not ask me to compromise my musical, creative or academic inclinations. Rather, it sees strength and value in the diversity of background that I bring, and encourages me to synthesize them in ways that have practical implications for how music is traditionally conceptualized in information and library science.

I will be blogging less as my writing efforts will be focused on data analysis and my actual thesis (for which, I am recruiting still at margaretlam.ischool.utoronto.ca). So expect less from here in the next few months, and much more to come once I have pass this milestone. The support from various individuals who have been mentioned in this space has been what’s kept me going, and I will continue to value the new people and friendships I have made on this journey, as well as those that seem to have been around forever.

Here is to new bouts of good madness, unexpected turns of fate, and a strength of heart as 2011 unfolds.