And howdy, sorry for never posting anything. Been busy. Some highlights before I begin some regular posting (I am aiming for one thing a day, I know I can do it!).
First, my dad got cerebral malaria, and so the past two weeks have been... hectic. He did not die, he should be straight, he has some other complications but nothing major. Yay! Of course, considering that malaria still kills about half a billion people in the world, his health and well-being must be balanced with the knowledge that a whole lotta people are going to die of something that is preventable.
Second, I have been playing through Baldur's Gate II. I dunno why, I got the itch, and I absolutely pulverized BG and its expansion but never got into BGII (I think the second chapter was too large and intimidating, a problem I had with, like, all of Morrowind). It is a ridiculously awesome game, but christ I cannot stop getting all grad-skooly when I play it: I look for the racial implications of having most of your potential party members as human, or whether I can court big, burly Minsc as a human monk myself (I admit it, I only play as humans!), or how come basically EVERYONE in authority is a man (and all the in-game books, which I read cover to cover because I am a dork, only reference kings and male heirs), or how are poor and rich are represented, or the way history functions in the game. I CANNOT turn it off, and I am trying desperately to do so. If you have any suggestions how to deprogram yourself from this stuff, please let me know!
Third, I am going to purchase all the books by my favorite professors AND read them. This is not to score brownie-points, because I am already a graduate, so I do not owe them anything, but that these people were straight intellectual pimps and I want to see the stuff they wrote. And not enough people read their books, so I gotta show them some love in the ol' Amazon list.
Fourth, I have been reading a lot of stuff I have meant to read/never heard about but found out I should read. So I got through the Bluest Eye, The Brief and Wonderous life of Oscar Wao, Shadow and Act (Ellison's badass collection of essays), etc, and I realize something: I am a horrid writer. These people can string words and sentences together like... well, its their job. Nothing makes me feel more inadequate than when I read some really good prose... which is also why I love academic history, because a lot of people are not that good at writing, so I look GREAT in comparison!
Meh, more random thoughts to come. Thanks for tuning in!
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