Procrastination

...is what's enabling me to write this post. That and my guilt over not posting for almost five months. I don't imagine anyone's been waiting on tenterhooks, but I do feel like I should say: I'm not dead!

So, what's happened since July? In August I quit my job (of thirteen years) in order to concentrate on my last year of undergrad studies. I'm almost...mostly almost... finished applying for grad schools to study history at a Master's level. (Clemens, thank you very much for your advice in that regard, I will e-mail you back some day, I promise!)

Anyways, that's one thing I'm procrastinating from right now, sending in documentation for my grad school applications. I also should be writing papers about: South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Beyers Naude, a Dutch Reformed clergyman who broke with his church in order to fight apartheid; and sanitationist ideology (public health stuff) in mid-Victorian England.

I can't say I have much to report on the science fiction/fantasy level. I did read most of The Master and Margarita. Beautifully written in many respects but I'm not sure I understood it. Much of the book's power and reputation seems to come from its thumbing its nose at the Soviet regime. I got some of that but I'm sure a lot went over my head. The Pilate storyline, along with various quotations in the accompanying material, gave me the feeling that Bulgakov had an unorthodox but genuine reverence for Christ. But I don't think I understand what he was getting at there either. Pilate's psyche seems to be the main focus and that probably ties in with the critique of Soviet bureaucracies. I ended up skipping the last few chapters about Margarita, the Devil and the Master because I had to return the book to the library. I admit that it was probably not the best choice for light summer reading. I do want to revisit it at some point, though.

I did finish Reynold's House of Suns - it was enjoyable, with an intriguing moment of transcendence towards the end. On the recommendation of the friend who gave it to me I also read Greg Bear's novel City At The End Of Time. It was thought-provoking. It's a bit too long but interesting regardless: an eschatological, metaphysical, multiverse mashup of William Hope Hodgson's The Night Land with sprinklings of Borges, Philip K. Dick and possibly Wolfe and Tim Powers. Probably there were other influences too but those are the ones I noticed. It definitely contains some theological symbolism, mainly Hindu and Greek but some Christian too. (Meanwhile, I got my friend to read Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun and he quite liked it.)

Mostly I've been reading books for school. I just finished a short paper on the Know-Nothings, nativism and anti-Catholicism. The run-up to the American Civil War was remarkably interesting - how was a Canadian to know this?! The best-written and, well, most entertaining book we've read in that class has been David M. Potter's The Impending Crisis. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone interested in American history. The other standout book of this term has been Antjie Krog's The Country of My Skull, a poet/journalist's account of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It's searing and gripping: it's painful to read about so many atrocities but I couldn't put it down. Whatever you do DON'T watch the horrible Hollywood adaptation, In My Country. That was painful too but for all the wrong reasons.

Last but not least, in mid-November I received my shodan in Goju-ryu karate. The training and grading process was somewhat stressful but very rewarding. Of course, it only marks the beginning of serious karate training. It's a bit like graduating from high school. I look forward to the challenge.

Anyways, back to work! Let's see... Just how do you spell Gobodo-Madikizela...?