I have been asked on occaision to list the posts I felt best defined me in general and this site in particular. What follows is merely a list of links that seemed to fulfill that request. There is nothing new here, so feel free to ignore this.
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Posted on April 9th, 2005
Filed under: Miscellany | Comments Off on Definitive Postings

Dale from Weekend Pundit passed this meme to me. I nearly declined to respond, not so much out of reluctance to take part, but because honesty would force me to reveal a fact some might find… ironic.

You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?

This is fairly difficult to answer since most of what people might expect of me would fall under the category of plays or epic poetry. Instead I will opt for Elizabeth Wetherell’s The Wide Wide World, that being the first bit of “modern” fiction I recall reading. It is all well and fine to aspire to loftier tomes, but should not somebody care for the merely entertaining?

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

I do not have crushes. Ever.

The last book you bought is:

The Forbidden Lord by Sabrina Jeffries

The last book you read:

After the Abduction by Sabrina Jeffries

What are you currently reading?

Following the Equator by Mark Twain

Five books you would take to a desert island.

Well, let me assume I was there against my will:

Boat Building Manual by Robert M. Steward

A Star to Steer Her By… by Edward Bergin

Freedom From Fear: Overcoming Anxiety, Phobias and Panic by Liebgold (I harbor an abiding terror of the open sea)

The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?

Etherian, because I believe she would enjoy this.

Dean Esmay, because I am malicious.

Joseph Marshall, because I am curious.

Posted on April 4th, 2005
Filed under: Miscellany | 2 Comments »

From time to time I have been asked what I find amusing. My general response is that the last thing that reliably struck me as funny was The Three Stooges.

That said, this did indeed make me chuckle.

The Gods Are Pleased.

Posted on April 1st, 2005
Filed under: Miscellany | 1 Comment »

The genesis of the query I posed below is the confluence of events in my personal life. I find myself under pressure to take actions that contradict every rule I have chosen to live by since coming to understand the destructive nature of my existence. It has been my experience that when people come to know me and understand the reality of what I am they become irrational, some more so than others. I have often attributed this to circumstance, as it is so often the case that my only proof is the passage of years- by the time one becomes convinced of the truth he is facing the end of his days. It can seem unfair and even cruel to be faced with accepting that while death claims him I stand unchanging and unmolested by what he once held to be a universal fate.

In reading the answers given I can see that most do not fully comprehend the ramifications of the decisions I face. This is not an indictment, it merely reaffirms what I already knew: I am alone in this. I know what it means to make decisions and then live with the consequences for centuries afterwards. I take due caution when it is my own fate in question. What am I to do when it is the very future of Man that is at risk? Can I justify being less cautious when the consequences have the potential to be so very disastrous? Add to this the notion that should I simply choose to set this aside and take no action whatsoever Man simply carries on as he always has, none the wiser, making his own path through the centuries. No extra doom is upon you for my choice in that circumstance.

Given that last, I suppose the very fact I am torn over this is quite telling in itself.

Posted on March 26th, 2005
Filed under: Philosophy | 10 Comments »

On the occasion of my 3531st birthday*, I would like to offer up the following for your consideration:

First, regardless of your conclusions regarding my veracity, or lack thereof, I would like you to approach this with the assumption that I have been telling the truth, or as much of it as I can, regarding myself and my life.
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Posted on March 20th, 2005
Filed under: Philosophy | 5 Comments »

Consciousness returned slowly, with pain and nausea as unwelcome companions while confusion slowly settled into first fear, then anger, then cold rage. I was naked, twisted in an uncomfortable position, and my hands and feet were bound. My left shoulder and arm were in agony. Inside I was raw with a familiar and infuriating pain. There was tape over my mouth. I tried to focus, remembering only vaguely that I had been approaching my car in the parking garage… what had happened?
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Posted on March 14th, 2005
Filed under: The Past | Comments Off on Chicago, Summer, 1984

I noticed this quiz at Baby Troll Blog. For reasons I do not pretend to fathom these have become somewhat of an obsessive diversion for me. I must admit I had to look up the cartoon character, but once I saw the movie I was quite amused.

I also happen to own a dress quite similar to hers.
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Posted on February 22nd, 2005
Filed under: Miscellany | 1 Comment »

“It is so simple for you, isn’t it?” I snapped, “Brought up in this utopia of yours, ensconced in the bosom of a well-defined moral universe. You have your rules, your directions all laid out before you, easy to see, easy to follow… you have no idea what it means to not know what is right and what is wrong.”

“I don’t think it’s all as simple as that,” he shot back, “and I don’t buy this line of bullshit, either. I know you know right from wrong; it’s all through everything you’ve written, in your journals, on your web site. Or is that all a lie?”

“It is the end result of thirty-five centuries of fear, mistakes, loss, and horror. You have your moral certainty handed to you on the platter of a Judeo-Christian heritage, and you presume to judge me? I think not.”

He laughed, “Princess, I’m not even a believer…”

“No? Are you a hypocrite, then? Do you believe for an instant that this affected disbelief somehow erases a lifetime of conditioning? That it makes you a creature separated from all those about you? You asked me before what I see in you- I see a man who believes. You may have no truck with the churches built by men, but you have an intimate knowledge of the God whose laws form the bedrock of the nation you call your own. Deny it. Look me in the eyes and tell me that it is categorically not so. Do that, and perhaps I will believe you.”

He nearly shot that argument straight back at me, but then he hesitated. I could see the wheels working in him and I had to suppress my urge to smile. Instead I turned, taking my eyes from his face and looking out the window over snow-covered city streets. In our short time together he had learned how adept I was at guessing the thoughts of those whom I know. By looking away I was respecting his privacy

“I don’t believe in God,” he said, his voice firm, “but I do believe that there were great and wise men in the world, and that Jesus was one of them… This does not make me a hypocrite.”

“No,” I agreed, “it does not. But how did you come to know of Jesus? How did you come to know of the bible? Or these other great men you speak of?”

“I was taught, obviously…”

“Yes, obviously.” I turned to face him again. “I was taught nothing. What morality I learned centered on obedience and survival. Had I been in the Levant perhaps things would have been different, but mine was a world of pagan disciplines, if any at all. Try to imagine it, if you can, and then remember- that is the foundation of my beliefs. If you are going to fear me, that is the reason to fear me.”

Posted on February 18th, 2005
Filed under: The Present | 4 Comments »

Gunnō tig
Sloghan en pullan katois
Newudhrōstōdhlikan
Prijandan tēz galōjai

-Tiwazō

Bear in mind this suffers somewhat in translation-
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Posted on February 14th, 2005
Filed under: The Past | 2 Comments »

Being overwhelmed by unfolding events I shall be setting this journal aside for the nonce. Look for me to return in March.

Posted on January 25th, 2005
Filed under: Administrata | 1 Comment »