Column for MSFC fanzine, Ethel the Aardvark
The Librarian's column. March 2007
Hi everybody,
Recently my work had a Spirituality Day for staff. I quite enjoyed the morning's light yoga session, but what was really interesting was the hour and a half silent session of journal writing after lunch. There I was, sitting at a desk, with a notebook and biro. Now I thought that writing a journal entry would be easy-- after all, I write various stuff, including this column, on a regular basis. What I found was that I was writing about the usual things and being repetitive and dull. The silence reduced my sources of inspiration and after about 45 minutes, I really wanted a large coffee. This was more of challenge than I thought. I thought about all the usual things I do with this column; thank members for donations to the library, talk about the current state of the roof (fine, kept the recent rain out), mention re-shelving and the duplicates for sale at meetings, write about what I have been reading (borrowed Gibson's Burning Chrome for a teacher at work--she enjoyed it and I revisited a few favorite stories like Dogfight and Fragments of a Hologram Rose, when I got it back). I even had a go at speculating what Fragments of a Hologram Rose may look like as a film, if it ever gets out of Development Hell in Hollywood. None of this was at all exciting writing. By now I would have usually split off into something about computers or collecting or even fanzines, but sitting in a silent room with a notepad and biro, it didn't come out that way. I felt uninspired and it has been a busy term one at our school and I was quite tired and looking forward to the holidays.
Now writing about the experience, I am being annoyed by the ads on the TV behind me. My wife and I are watching a repeat episode of supernatural on channel 10. Not a bad show, has a few scares in there. Ultimately we humans all end up writing about ourselves, but right now I am quite deflated. (Oh ghod, a Big Brother ad--there is a show I don't watch, so exploitative, although I do like visiting the zoo) I hope all the members out there are well, I am OK. I do not recommend Michael Moorcocok's Behold the Man--I read this story of a time traveller searching for Jesus in AD 28-33 and I finally understand why my father thought it blasphemous. It was the only book I ever saw him burn--he had been a non-combatant in World War Two; he wouldn't lightly burn books. An uneven book, although I do think Moorcock's The blood red game is actually a worse book. Here's hoping you have a happy and meaningful Easter. for me, the spiritual search continues. I am trying to live right, may you do so also.
Jocko.
Hi everybody,
Recently my work had a Spirituality Day for staff. I quite enjoyed the morning's light yoga session, but what was really interesting was the hour and a half silent session of journal writing after lunch. There I was, sitting at a desk, with a notebook and biro. Now I thought that writing a journal entry would be easy-- after all, I write various stuff, including this column, on a regular basis. What I found was that I was writing about the usual things and being repetitive and dull. The silence reduced my sources of inspiration and after about 45 minutes, I really wanted a large coffee. This was more of challenge than I thought. I thought about all the usual things I do with this column; thank members for donations to the library, talk about the current state of the roof (fine, kept the recent rain out), mention re-shelving and the duplicates for sale at meetings, write about what I have been reading (borrowed Gibson's Burning Chrome for a teacher at work--she enjoyed it and I revisited a few favorite stories like Dogfight and Fragments of a Hologram Rose, when I got it back). I even had a go at speculating what Fragments of a Hologram Rose may look like as a film, if it ever gets out of Development Hell in Hollywood. None of this was at all exciting writing. By now I would have usually split off into something about computers or collecting or even fanzines, but sitting in a silent room with a notepad and biro, it didn't come out that way. I felt uninspired and it has been a busy term one at our school and I was quite tired and looking forward to the holidays.
Now writing about the experience, I am being annoyed by the ads on the TV behind me. My wife and I are watching a repeat episode of supernatural on channel 10. Not a bad show, has a few scares in there. Ultimately we humans all end up writing about ourselves, but right now I am quite deflated. (Oh ghod, a Big Brother ad--there is a show I don't watch, so exploitative, although I do like visiting the zoo) I hope all the members out there are well, I am OK. I do not recommend Michael Moorcocok's Behold the Man--I read this story of a time traveller searching for Jesus in AD 28-33 and I finally understand why my father thought it blasphemous. It was the only book I ever saw him burn--he had been a non-combatant in World War Two; he wouldn't lightly burn books. An uneven book, although I do think Moorcock's The blood red game is actually a worse book. Here's hoping you have a happy and meaningful Easter. for me, the spiritual search continues. I am trying to live right, may you do so also.
Jocko.