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Friday, December 31, 2010

Prologue


He sat there by the river, slowly stroking the smooth surface of the stone and tried hard to remember good times, or at least better times.  Things were different. He was different. The world was different. Everything he thought he knew was wrong.  He turned the stone over and over between his fingers and paid no attention to the hard rain that bombarded the back of his head. He didn’t care. That was the least of his worries. The battle that raged inside his mind was all that mattered to him.  He softly hummed a melancholy song.  He knew the tune well, but could not recall a single lyric.  He never could.  He had listened to that song countless times when he needed to think, but had never actually listened to the words.  It was the intensely solemn and sobering composition that constantly drew him back in when his mind decided it was time to contemplate life.  He had become so conditioned by this that it took him some time to even realize he was humming that tune.  It was this realization that made him remember what he was trying so hard to forget… he was alone.

I'm thinking about continuing this... what do you think?

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Imaginary Reading

I have this issue where I talk about and imagine myself reading a lot more than I actually do. What are some good techniques you use to quiet your mind and focus on reading?

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Hipstamatic HumpDays #5: The Fallen and the Falling...

Recently my uncle posted some photos of a cemetery in the fall, which always makes for stunning photographs. Autumn cemetery photos seem to evoke a certain emotion that's difficult to convey with words. The thought crossed my mind that perhaps it's the subconscious connection of the combination of the season in which arboreal and floral life seems to be fading away and the marble memorials that remind us of our own mortality.
These photos are nothing special. Danielle and I decided to stop by and take a walk through a cemetery by my house when we got out of class. I decided to snap a few quick photos with my iPhone because it's currently the only camera I own. My 35mm SLR is still a fantastic camera, but film is rare these days and I don't have the money to spend on the film or the processing, so I'm using this 3 megapixel camera in my phone until I can afford a digital SLR.
I really enjoyed the colorfulness of the leaves
on this tree...
I'm not big on taking photos of people, but I liked
this one of Danielle...

...and this will probably be the only photo of
myself that I'll ever post...


Monday, October 25, 2010

Bibliophile's Paradise

Well, this weekend I attended a "Friends of the Library" book sale at an expo center.  It was a monstrous building with wall-to-wall books lined up on tables... hundreds of thousands of books calling out my name. It truly was a bibliophile's paradise.  We went on Saturday because it was half-price day on all the books, so most were around $1.50! So, being the bibliophile that I am, I went all out.  Below is the list of books I acquired... in case you're interested... 

1.                  Mycenae – Dr. Schliemann

This weekend's book sale haul... seeing something
like this in front of me makes me smile...

2.                  Seven Pillars of Wisdom – T.E. Lawrence
3.                  The Concise Dictionary of Classical Mythology – Pierre Grimal
4.                  The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Religion, Literature, and Art – Oskar Seyffert
5.                  The Works of Oscar Wilde
6.                  Moby Dick – Herman Melville

7.                  The Portable Cervantes (Don Quixote, 2 “Exemplary Novels”, & Cervantes’ Farewell to Life) – Samuel Putnam
8.                  The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
9.                  Robin hood and His Merrie Men
10.              The Analects – Confucius

11.              Classics Greek and Romans­ – Meyer Reinhold
12.              History of the Peloponnesian War – Thucydides

13.              Tom Jones – Henry Fielding
14.              The Trojan Women and Other Plays – Euripides
15.              Voyage of the Beagle – Charles Darwin
16.              The Mutiny of the Elsinore – Jack London
17.              The Sea Wolf – Jack London
18.              White Fang – Jack London
19.              The Theban Plays – Sophocles
20.              The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives – Plutarch
21.              Rob Roy – Sir Walter Scott
22.              On the Nature of Things – Lucretius
23.              Rubaiyat – Omar Khayyam
24.              Essays, Poems, Addresses – Ralph Waldo Emerson
25.              Essays and New Atlantis – Francis Bacon
26.              Utopia – Thomas More
27.              Selected Poems – Walt Whitman
28.              Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne
29.              Bulfinch’s Mythology – Thomas Bulfinch


Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Hipstamatic HumpDay #4: Sunrise... Sunset...

I don't have much to say, so I'll just add the photos... Is that okay? Good...


Just a sunrise... no clouds, just pure light... I liked it.








I recently purchased these books from a lady in a farmhouse
in the middle of nowhere... I paid $50 for them and,
after some research, my suspicions were confirmed...
all the books you see here have a combined selling price of
$450! War & Peace alone is worth $250!
It's a rare 1st edition Inner Sanctum edition..
Needless to say, I was quite pleased...


 
Quarry near Sparta, MO... Autumn is certainly in full swing!

 

I began with a sunrise, so naturally, a sunset seems fitting
for the final photo of this Hipstamatic HumpDay...


Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Hipstamatic HumpDay #3: Miners Rising

These photos have absolutely nothing to do with the miners...
I am, however, sitting here, watching the miners in the San Jose Mine in Copiapo, Chile being rescued. As of the writing of this, 3 miners of the 33 have been pulled out.  The capsule used to bring them to the surface is called the "Fenix", named for the mythological bird rising from the ashes... very appropriate for such an occasion.  Two months in the bottom of a mine, with no sunlight... I can't imagine how I would respond to that. It makes me wonder, when they get back home, what their mental state will be... I'm sure there will be sentiments of not taking things for granted anymore, enjoying being outside, etc... but what other sorts of feelings will they experience in the coming days?  Either way, it'll be good to have them out...

Now for the photos:
This is a bit of a random collection of my shots through this week, but here ya go:

John Q. Hammons Fountain from the
Duane G. Meyer Library at Missouri State University


Reading Herodotus and enjoying some hot tea on my
balcony during a perfect autumn rainstorm

I recently bought a new corner bookshelf and,
as I was going to bed tonight,
I was quite taken with the way the light
shone through the curtains,
illuminating the books and my guitar






I have no idea why I took this, but I thought it interesting
the way the Hipstamatic app made my comforter look


Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Hipstamatic HumpDay #2 Strong Hall

This is a collection of a few photos of Strong Hall at Missouri State University. I took these while waiting for my philosophy class to start. They were taken with the Hipstamatic app and arranged with the Diptic app, which allows you to arrange several images into one image. The second photo is the same location, but with color. I thought they looked neat, so I decided to share them.
I'm still plugging away at Herodotus (yes, I'm an excrutiatingly slow reader...), but I have to have it finished before Tuesday.  Then we'll start reading The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault. Luckily, next week is Fall Break, so I'll have plenty of time to read it comepletely before it's even due!  Then, in a couple weeks we start Plato's Republic, which I'm very excited about!

Please don't forget to watch the new Cup of Jon video! And subscribe to this blog if you'd like! It helps me know I'm doing something right.
And if you think I'm not doing anything right, you can let me know that as well! 
Well, I'll leave you all alone now... Have a great day!
 Peace!