Boredom, books, and blogging
It's cold in Lubbock. The air is dry and the wind is raging against anyone who can't get around with the insulation of a vehicle. My debit card was supposed to be in the mail today. I suppose I will be here for at least a few more days.
I am bouncing back and forth between a book on ancient Babylon I have been picking through for some time, Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler, an interesting piece on the rise of neo-Paganism in America, The Art of Shen-ku, a rather whimsical reference book for the most random of subjects, and The Well Fed Writer, more or less a how-to on starting a free-lance copy writing business. I am debating diving into Isaac Asimov's Understanding Physics, a book I have had for a few years but have never really given the attention such a work deserves. I have also found my copies of Still Life With Woodpecker, The Mists of Avalon, Modern Magick, Crowley's Book 4, and my text books from the historical archeology classes I took when I was a student at Texas Tech.
I wish I could find my copy of Bertrand Russell's The Principles of Mathematics. I also need to give Richard Feynman's Six Easy Pieces another go-over before I try out Six Not So Easy Pieces. I do need to be reading more hard science right now; I've been filling my brain with some rather fruity, saccharine goop the last few months and I feel it's time to balance all of that out with a proper injection of objective reason.
I've been poking at some ideas for essays of late as well. I realized the other day that I have somewhat accidentally become an anarchist politically, and after reading a very well written blog by my friend Rodrigo on the evolution of his political views, I feel a bit inspired to explore my own politics in a similar manner. I am also considering writing a proper essay on a discussion regarding how the mythologies of a culture can be effectively manipulated for political ends and whether any mythologies are immune to such manipulation. Emails on such subjects from me tend to be more stream-of-thought than well-reasoned argument; I miss being able to discuss such subjects in person with people whose minds I respect.
Recent activities also put me in the mind to write something explaining just how exactly a woman who has been an ardent atheist for ten years now can also give credence to the ideas and principles of neo-Paganism, modern hermeticism, and magick. (The short answer is that I am also a pantheist and I like to play dress-up.)
I may write something inspired by all the reading on Mesopotamia and Babylon I've been doing over the last few months. They were really such fascinating peoples; I often wonder how many folks realize the incredible irony of the location of the war. I also have several books waiting for me back in Austin I plan to read for the sake of refuting several widely-held misconceptions about the Maya and the so-called 2012 prophecy.
In general, I am keeping myself occupied with being a disenfranchised intelligentsia, writing the sorts of things I would be writing if I were paying someone to tell me to read the books I am reading, and wanting to go back to work in Austin to get the money for my passport and a plane ticket to some of the places I read about.
I am bouncing back and forth between a book on ancient Babylon I have been picking through for some time, Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler, an interesting piece on the rise of neo-Paganism in America, The Art of Shen-ku, a rather whimsical reference book for the most random of subjects, and The Well Fed Writer, more or less a how-to on starting a free-lance copy writing business. I am debating diving into Isaac Asimov's Understanding Physics, a book I have had for a few years but have never really given the attention such a work deserves. I have also found my copies of Still Life With Woodpecker, The Mists of Avalon, Modern Magick, Crowley's Book 4, and my text books from the historical archeology classes I took when I was a student at Texas Tech.
I wish I could find my copy of Bertrand Russell's The Principles of Mathematics. I also need to give Richard Feynman's Six Easy Pieces another go-over before I try out Six Not So Easy Pieces. I do need to be reading more hard science right now; I've been filling my brain with some rather fruity, saccharine goop the last few months and I feel it's time to balance all of that out with a proper injection of objective reason.
I've been poking at some ideas for essays of late as well. I realized the other day that I have somewhat accidentally become an anarchist politically, and after reading a very well written blog by my friend Rodrigo on the evolution of his political views, I feel a bit inspired to explore my own politics in a similar manner. I am also considering writing a proper essay on a discussion regarding how the mythologies of a culture can be effectively manipulated for political ends and whether any mythologies are immune to such manipulation. Emails on such subjects from me tend to be more stream-of-thought than well-reasoned argument; I miss being able to discuss such subjects in person with people whose minds I respect.
Recent activities also put me in the mind to write something explaining just how exactly a woman who has been an ardent atheist for ten years now can also give credence to the ideas and principles of neo-Paganism, modern hermeticism, and magick. (The short answer is that I am also a pantheist and I like to play dress-up.)
I may write something inspired by all the reading on Mesopotamia and Babylon I've been doing over the last few months. They were really such fascinating peoples; I often wonder how many folks realize the incredible irony of the location of the war. I also have several books waiting for me back in Austin I plan to read for the sake of refuting several widely-held misconceptions about the Maya and the so-called 2012 prophecy.
In general, I am keeping myself occupied with being a disenfranchised intelligentsia, writing the sorts of things I would be writing if I were paying someone to tell me to read the books I am reading, and wanting to go back to work in Austin to get the money for my passport and a plane ticket to some of the places I read about.