I arrived back into the U.S. late into the night 14 February, and back onto Waldron the following afternoon. Three months is not a long time ( Read more... )

I could always easily relate to those who require detaching themselves from others into complete solitude, or near enough to it, for some stretch of time in order to put themselves into a certain kind of mental state or attitude needed to do the kind of work they do, usually creative / intellectual. I can relate because I am like this, too. ( Read more... )

Skip ahead to 1:40. Priceless (few seconds) conversation between Wittgenstein and Lady Morrell.

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If there’s one thing I’ve fought with my whole life, it’s a rabid case of perfectionism, inherited from my father in its most destructive forms, whether more from genetic predisposition or how he treated me it really doesn’t matter. I do think it’s ( Read more... )

For some time now, I've felt an urge to [re]read Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. I have often felt, more so over time, that we ought revisit, again and again, the Ancients. There is more wealth of wisdom there than most people today seem to appreciate. And perhaps the above named work has a particular importance to the current ( Read more... )

This was from an email correspondence a couple of months ago, and I had intended to expand upon it further, but simply haven't gotten round to it. Since I doubt I will do so anytime soon, there is no sense in waiting to post it.
In particular, the person remarked that I seemed to be contradicting myself by labeling myself a misanthrope while at ( Read more... )

"Cheryl, have I ever told you that you have nerves of steel?" says my housemate who's been to Iraq and fought the first time around, was in actual combat, shot at, and almost killed ( Read more... )

Well, that's not all it is, but the way a person moves is highly visible; make one slightly odd move, and everyone notices, and then they're watching you, waiting, first to be sure it wasn't some fluke, then to critically analyze every breath you take, finding as much as possible about you that is somehow humanly wrong.
"You're broken."

"if I told ( Read more... )

I was reminded of how rather frighteningly accurate of me this description is, including the follow up. I'm fairly certain I would be hard-pressed to find a single sentence there that was only roughly half-true of me ( Read more... )

I have come to realize something about myself again and again the past few months: I have built myself of solid stone, unbreakable, impenetrable, completely resistant to impact. ( Read more... )