not a lot to say

The weather has been cold enough to convince me I need to plug my car in. Trying to work through a bunch of Bronte books. Finished up 'Jane Eyre' (why do I keep forgetting that it ends happily for Jane and her Rochester?) and am spending time in the town of Villette with Lucy Snowe and everyone else she encounters. Trying to finish up with New Order this evening and will follow up with Enigma. Lately I have not had a lot to say; neither have I maintained much of an online presence beyond lurking. Something to make me seem even more ephemeral than usual. Reminds me of the R.E.M. song 'Disappear'. Been thinking about impermanence more than usual as well. Was there ever a time when I thought I was invulnerable? Nothing like it has come up during searches through past diaries. I keep running through 'what if' scenarios these days. "What if I drop dead while at work?" I guess the corpse I'll leave behind won't care much what happens once the essence moves on, and I doubt the essence won't care once it moves on, either. So why should I care all that much now?
For someone constantly beset with raging anxieties, this is a pretty interesting statement. Speaking of diaries, I'm revisiting my Red Book (RRC years). Tons of turmoil and new discoveries to be found in those pages. Awakenings and epiphanies, one might say. It's too soon for me to save the Red Book to computer file. That's about all I have for the time being. BYE.

Long absence and

I've been pretty busy with literary stuff and tons of reading. This week my Internet connection gave me nothing but grief, so I wasn't really able to post much on here. I think I need a new modem or this one tweaked. Did some laundry this morning. Thursday I filled the last page of the 11th incarnation of my diary and today I'll probably get started on the 12th incarnation today. I also finished typing out Diary #5 this week, which got me thinking about my past (what else is new?). There's been lots of snow lately as well, so I have no reason to complain. I'd love to have more to say, but there's nothing really fascinating happening with me these days. Work's great and I've been very busy with InterLibrary Loans (novel studies and lit. circles rock!). I'm also helping students prepare for the upcoming Spelling Bee at my school. Very good stuff.
Now for a glimpse into the past.

November 26, 2000 afternoon
“Seek the truth come whence it may, cost what it will.” I just finished reading this fantastic book “Why Christianity Must Change or Die” by John Shelby Spong. ***** without a doubt. This book has spoken to me, dear diary. It contains the tiny seeds that will create a ‘religion’ of the future. A church for future generations. This is quite a seed that must be planted. Thanks be to God that Spong came to us. One more quote from Spong. “Religion is, rather, a human attempt to process the God experience, which breaks forth from our own depths and wells up constantly within us.” This was quite the book. If I could connect with the Pope and his cardinals, I would tell them about this book. I believe nearly everything about it, dear diary. Souls like Spong will live for all time in the hearts of the exiled. He and others like him awake people like me and leave us enriched. Five stars without a doubt! An incredible book! Now, onto a book about the Shah of Iran (well, the late former Shah, at any rate). I’ll return to the “The Soul’s Code” too. But there are things I need to do first. SYS!

"Why Christianity Must Change or Die" remains one of my favourite books of all time. So, that's about it. Xmas in less than a month. AUGH. BYE.

Wanted: SNOW

Pardon the gripe, but without snow on the ground, I cannot get into the Xmas spirit and cannot start shopping or making my Xmas list. The sky taunted me the other day with a little bit of snow that quickly melted to naught. Now it's pleasantly grey outside but still no snow to make me smile. I understand that I'm part of a very small minority and I'm damn proud of myself for that. Meanwhile, I haven't done much with this blog for a while. For that I apologize, although nobody really has anything to say about my blog. I'll start with my obedience to the written word, and talk about 'Dialectics of Isolation' by Terdiman (the name makes me chuckle for purely childish reasons). This book is not really anything to write home about, but it did create a craving for works by Proust, Flaubert, and some guy named Stendhal. 'Dialectics of Isolation' is a study on the French novel before, during, and after the Revolution. I've read 'Madame Bovary' and I did come away with a few thoughts concerning the cruelty of love but not much else. Maybe it's time I picked it up again.
As for Proust, his 'Remembrance of things past' is a complete classic that I have yet to read. I think it's time to get reading. And I know less than nothing about that dude Stendhal, but Terdiman (snicker) champions him as one of the writers of depressing material from that period in French history. What would the emo kids think of such fellows? Of course, this adventure will have to wait until I've gotten through the likes of "England's lost Eden" by P. Hoare. Utopia seems a pleasant place, doesn't it? I don't think I'd be content with it for long, though. At least some folks are still looking for it, and in the dark reaches of New Forest, some folks thought they had found it. That's what "England's lost Eden" is about.
My transcribing Diary #5 to file is almost done. About a month's worth of entries to go. I'm pretty pleased with the progress I've made, and once I have finished with it, I can focus on other literary projects. Of course, once I get started, some things will have to fall by the wayside. Part of me wonders if I can ignore the call of "Diablo 2" for a long while. "Sims 3" is causing me some grief (par for the course) so ignoring that call will be easier (I think). Okay, that's about all. BYE.