Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

Yes, I'm still here, though I've been playing hermit for the past week, both electronically and (for the most part) physically.

A few updates:

I don't yet have a completed chapter, or even very many pages to show for my dissertation, but I have somehow managed to re-read all the later Miles Vorkosigan novels over the past couple of weeks (Mirror Dance, Memory, Komarr, A Civil Campaign and Diplomatic Immunity . . . as well as the short story about Miles and Ekaterin's wedding, "Winterfair Gifts", of course). I guess I needed a 'safe' but still growth-provoking place to retreat to for a while, and I gained a lot from finally re-reading Mirror Dance and Memory especially.

I'd been reluctant to re-read those two novels, alone out of all the novels set in that universe, previously, because I remembered them as "challenging" (in terms of the set-backs and struggles undergone by Miles and his whole family in those two stories) rather than "comforting", from my original reading of them. However, at this point in my life, they hit the spot, no matter how difficult things got for people I cared about and identified with. This second time around, I was surprised at how much I identified with Miles in Memory, especially, struggling to discover who Miles Vorkosigan was when he wasn't being Admiral Naismith.

And I haven't yet told my parents about my difficulties with the university, even though my Mom called Sunday afternoon and gave me the perfect opportunity (nobody else in the family was currently going through a major crisis, apparently, so perhaps it was my turn?). However, I did tell my sister when she called me on Monday morning, wanting to know what had happened on Prison Break the week before, so she'd be caught up for that evening's episode. Sister's reaction was completely supportive and actually quite comforting, and her very sincere offers of any and all assistance in my time of need actually brought tears to my eyes.

Meanwhile, my five wonderful students have turned in their term papers (or have promised to do so before tomorrow morning -- what a wimp I've turned into!) for our New Testament class, and tonight was the most fun I think I (or possibly, anyone) have ever had talking about the last chapter and a half of the pseudo-Pauline (probably) letter to the Ephesians! I love that class.

On the TV-watching end of things, I missed slightly more than the first half of Bones last night, in spite of taping the whole two hours of the Fox primetime lineup, because the local Fox affiliate was doing non-stop coverage of the POSSIBLY dangerous storm front moving through the state, and talking about where tornados MIGHT form, for the entire first 33 minutes of my show. However, the rest of the show seemed quite good to me, continuing to build my interest in the characters on Bones, and House was as obnoxious and intriguing as usual, when I got around to viewing my tape this morning.

Happily, I was actually watching the WB line-up last night, and the WB affiliate (unlike ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX) felt no such need to show off its expensive blue screen and radar equipment ad nauseum, so I got to watch ALL of Gilmore Girls in peace. Still loving my Luke and Lorelai, and liking Rory much better now that she's "come to herself" once more. And Supernatural didn't suck, either.

Tomorrow, I absolutely MUST work on my dissertation some more, rather than spending most of my prime working hours doing blessedly impersonal paperwork at the publishing house, as I have done every other day so far this week! I am resolved. The lure of money will NOT be permitted to lead me astray, again . . . unless, of course, they really need me. Wait! . . . No! No, no, no -- no escaping to pleasantly mindless clerical chores tomorrow! I must and I will work on MY stuff, for a change, even if nobody's paying me for it or giving me pats on the back for it. I must be strong!

We'll see how that works out, come tomorrow morning. Arrgh!