So what is my deal? Meh; I don’t know. I’ve been busy doing other things lately, and my blog has been pushed into a dusty corner. I’ve been busy with language learning, where my list of target languages has grown rather large – perhaps unbearably large. As of right now, I’m actively studying German, Russian, French, and Spanish. Oh, and I have materials on the way for Dutch, as it seems like a pretty easy target knowing English and German.

I’ve been gardening a bit (gardening, great gods), and quite enjoying it. Not only is it relaxing, the fruits of it shall be wonderful on homemade club sandwiches (we’re growing tomatoes, among other things). The one thing I’m not so fond of: the bits of dirt that I can’t get out from my hands. Scrub as I might, I can’t get it out.

I’m still chugging along with No-S and shovelglove. I had to climb back onto the No-S wagon after falling off of it during holidays, but I’m back on now and holding on for dear life. Shovelglove never fell off my radar, and I’m actually considering upgrading my sledgehammer to a slightly heavier version. While I still break a sweat, my arms are no longer burning by the time I’m done; I daresay swinging the hammer around has become routine. That’s a Good Thing (TM), but I think I need to kick it up a notch (two T.V. star phrases in one sentence, that must be worth a gold star or something).

While shovelgloving, I generally watch a bit of a Stargate SG-1 episode; sometimes only 15 minutes, but sometimes I go ahead and finish the episode when I’m done exercising. With such a steady rate, I’m now up to episode 4 of Season 6. Just over halfway to the end; when I’m done with it, I’m going to be rather sad. Shovelgloving and SG-1 are like peanut butter and jelly for me at this point…

I guess all of that was a roundabout way of saying: I have plenty to blog about, I’m just not doing it. I’ve been too busy doing the whole, um, life thing to blog about it. But I do miss doing so. I may try a post schedule, say 3 posts a week, or something like that. Cas went for a daily post, Monday through Friday, but I know I wouldn’t stick to such a thing, so I won’t even bother attempting it. Maybe I’ll even take a look at some memes; I used to do Friday’s Feast (which is either dead or just not working right now).

Quick, someone motivate me!

In either case, a regular, more substantive post shall be forthcoming relatively soon. I promise. If nothing else, I’m going on a day long Viking boat voyage on the Ohio river this Saturday, which should give me something interesting to write about. Hopefully it amounts to more than “damn, do I have a bad sunburn!”

In the meantime, I hope all of you stay well!

I realized that while I was very familiar with the tale of the Viking’s attack, I wasn’t sure where exactly Lindisfarne Island was. I had it in my head that it was on the west coast of the England, but this ended up being wrong. Wikipedia informed me that it’s actually on the northeast coast of England. The article also told me that Lindisfarne is a tidal island. I wanted to get a better overall feel of the area, so I looked up the island on Google Maps, and in playing around with the zoom, I realized that one shot that was in use had caught the island during high tide; the other, during low tide. It’s actually pretty neat to see:

Lindisfarne at high tide

Lindisfarne at low tide

While you can see the differences here, it’s actually easier to see it at Google Maps, where you can zoom in and out to see the transition. Just punch in these coords at Google Maps: 55.679°N, 1.808°W (or just click here).

This semester is proving to be more difficult than the last one, or at least more time consuming. I’m not struggling with any of the course content, there’s just so much course content to take in. I feel like I’m running on a treadmill, and if I try to take a break, I’ll just slip off into the abyss (or at least, my GPA will drop like a sack of rocks). I don’t want to drop into the abyss, and I really don’t want my GPA to drop like a sack of rocks. I know it’s “just a number”, but it’s a number I’ve worked hard on keeping where it is now. And so, I guess for now, I have to just keep running.

So, despite metric tons of assigned reading and schoolwork, System 13 isn’t going anywhere. Expect posts to continue to be a little sporadic for a while, but expect them nonetheless. If no new posts disappear for say, a month, it’s more likely that I’ve been abducted by aliens, rather than I’ve given up blogging.

I’m getting ready to go to a board meeting for the Viking boat group I’m in. The meeting is a few hours away, and with travel time plus meeting time factored in, I probably won’t be home until this evening, so certainly, I won’t be writing anymore today. So, I’ll leave you with this: MacroHistory. Lots and lots of history articles, spanning everything from the Stone Age to the present. There are maps and timelines, too. Enjoy!

For anyone who was keeping track, I fell woefully short of the 52 book mark, ending the year having read 36 books (and started 4 others, which weren’t completed when my clock clicked over to 2008). I think I ended up not reaching 52 total because I got hung up on some of the books near the end – specifically, the books for classes, most of which were history, which typically take me longer than a week to read. I suppose it goes without saying that the time and mental effort it takes to read a Harry Potter book is a bit less than that needed to read A History of India.

Am I going to do it again? No, I don’t think so. It made reading for pleasure too much like work for me. With school, I have enough deadlines to meet without creating more for myself. As can be seen by looking at the 2007 list, I skipped writing posts for quite a few books, and most of those ended up being books I read for university courses. For most of those books, I had to write responses / papers on them for class – the last thing I wanted to do was turn around and write a blog entry for them. But more importantly, like I said, the 52 books in 52 weeks thing just made pleasure reading too much like work. If I fell behind, I felt crappy about it, which generally just made me fall more behind. The more I fell behind, the more nasty the idea of rushing through a dozen books to “catch up” sounded. I didn’t want to rush through books I was reading for fun – I wanted to take them at whatever pace seemed appropriate.

Perhaps – indeed, I’d say almost certainly – I’ve taken this, and blown it out of proportion. But ultimately, I didn’t like setting myself a goal – even if it was as silly as reading 1 book a week and blogging about it – and then falling short of it. I’m going to obviously continue reading books, and I’ll continue to blog about them. But no more scheduled reading for me, unless the schedule is handed to me by someone I usually address as “professor.”

Incidentally, while I don’t plan on forcing myself to stick to a reading schedule, the 52 books in 52 weeks experiment did lead to me seeing how many books I can read, if I stick to (mostly) one at a time, and focus on getting through it. Certainly, 2007 is the year in which I’ve read the most books thus far.

• June: 28
• July: 22
• August: 10
• September: 9
• And October, counting this post, thus far, I’ve posted six times.

I’m not at all happy about this, and it has certainly not been intentional. So, what gives? That’s a good question; I don’t really know.

I haven’t lost the desire to write here; I hit the WordPress administration frequently with intentions of starting drafts, of writing about things that have been going on in my life, and… nothing happens. I look at the blank editing window for a bit, type a word or two which I don’t care much for, and then go on to other internet abodes. I’ve even taken up the oft-recommended habit of writing down my ideas on paper while away from the computer, so I’ll “have” them when the time comes to write up a post. That just adds another step in my currently broken routine: I stare at the editing window, look at my notes, type a few words, sigh, and bail out.

Yesterday I turned to those who are smarter and sexier than myself, my fellow 9rules members. They gave some good advice. Cas recommended that if I need a blogging break, make it official; put up a “gone fishing” (or in my case, probably “reading”) sign and let readers know I’ll be back in a week or two. Others recommended that I relax a bit. Beating myself up over the fact that I’m not blogging doesn’t help; it probably just exacerbates the problem. Perhaps I’ve also been overly hard on myself on what I’m writing about; I suppose not every post has to be a masterpiece. I also think that, in the back of my head, I’ve been really wanting to write lengthy posts about history; when those didn’t come to me right away, I felt that I couldn’t write anything at all. This being my personal blog, I thankfully have the freedom to write about whatever I want; mentally boxing myself in in regards to what I can write is more than a little silly. Special thanks in particular must be given to Kamigoroshi, who rightly pointed out that, on a personal blog, the very problem of not being able to write anything can be turned into a post; it was this advice which gave me the impetus to write this.

My plans, then, are pretty simple: relax, experience life, and not be so damn nitpicky about my own writing. I think I really need to focus on that last one, because I think being my “own worst critic” has been a major factor in my writing (or, lately, the lack thereof). I’m also going to relax on swinging the beat-stick; if I find that on a given day, I can’t write something, so be it. Hopefully putting these mindsets into place will help things run a bit more smoothly around here, and the number of posts will raise again. I’m sure, though, that if it does nothing else, it’ll help me feel a bit better. I’ve been positively bummed about my blog here lately.

Cheers to those who gave advice. You guys rock.

So, what have I been doing? Well, naturally, going to class, for one! I’ve also been reading an awful lot – just a lot less of stuff I “want” to read, and more stuff that I “have” to read. I’ve not written posts about them yet (obviously…), but I finished Myne Owne Ground about a week ago, and The Odin Brotherhood at about the same time. (If you’re curious about the latter: I’m in an alternative religions and cults class.) I’m halfway through The Indians’ New World, which I’ve got to have finished by Monday. I’ve also been slowly working through A History of India, going slowly simply because we’re only covering a chapter a week, and I have enough other things to read without plowing on ahead in this book. A World of Art is also on my reading plate, along with Politics and Culture in the Developing World. I’ve still two books for my alternative religions class that I have to read, as well as two more books for history of the American south. In short, since classes started, my life has become even more book filled than it was previously.

While on the topic of books, I’m sure some of you are wondering: “Are you still readingthe Potter series? It’s been forever since I wrote about one!” In answer, yes, I’m still reading the series. The going has just been a lot slower, what with most of my reading time being devoted to school stuff. I generally only get to visit Harry and Co. at bedtime, for 10 or 15 minutes, before going to sleep. I’m now about 375 pages into the Order of the Phoenix. I’ll certainly finish the series, but at this rate, it may take me the next decade. At least Rowling isn’t putting out anymore; if she were like Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time series, I’d probably never finish.

A few more of my precious hours have been taken away by work. I started working at the university libary during the summer, and continue to do so. It’s a nice job – they let me read and do homework while at the reference counter, or browse the net, or – ahem – blog. Having a bit of extra money is always nice, too…

I suppose that those things really sum up what I’ve been doing lately: going to class, reading (and reading and reading…), and work. Thankfully, besides response papers for the chapters we read in my ancient Indian culture class, I’ve had little to no homework outside of reading. If I did, I’d probably have to hunt down a time machine, or perhaps a Time Turner.

1. I have a slight fear of having birds close to me, due to their fast and sporadic movement. If one was wanting to take a poke at me, I doubt I could dodge it.
2. I’m incapable of singing along with a song without copying the singer’s accent. If I sing along with Blind Guardian, I have the German accent; if I sing along with the Cranberries, the Irish.
3. As a kid, I actively developed this “skill” – I’d listen to a song repeatedly, singing along with it until I could match the singer’s intonation exactly. I’ve no idea why I did this.
4. I used to really hate summer, because I sweat so profusely. This summer, I realized that sweating is okay, and is quite natural. Since that rather simple realization, I’ve enjoyed the summer much more. (I am not, however, very fond of the weather we’ve had recently – hot is okay, but a heat index of 110F? Ow.)
5. I love cargo pants. I wear them almost exclusively.
6. As a child, I apparently despised taking naps. When my mom was able to get me to take one, it was a hard fought battle. However, I stopped taking regular naps at 3 or 4 (I think the former, but I’m not sure). My dislike of naps continues to this day. I’d rather be drowsy than take a nap.
7. I can’t blow bubbles with bubblegum. I’ve never been able to. When I was younger, I was quite distressed about it – it seemed everyone could blow bubbles with their gum except me. I have since reconsidered my position and have decided that if there were one skill in the world that I couldn’t learn throughout my entire life, it’d be blowing bubbles.
8. I decided a few years ago that when I started losing my hair – and I knew I would, because my dad was bald from 20 or so on – that instead of letting myself have the Homer-look, I’d shave my head. I’ve not started losing much hair yet, but I’ve been shaving my head for a while now, and I like it anyway – so I know when the time comes to keep it that way all the time, I won’t have a problem with it.

I’m supposed to tag 8 bloggers who I want to do this, but I’m not one to tag, so consider this an invitation: if you want to do this meme, feel free, and act as if I tagged you.

System 13 ranks pretty high for some other… “interesting” searches. A few examples:

• I’m #4 on Google for “rotten shark.”
• #6 for “ninja penguin.”
• #7 for “hardwood floors and dogs.”
• #10 for “I can has cheezburger.” (Heh…)
•  #3 for “stargate languages.”
• #2 for “stargate everyone speaks english.”

Don’t take this post the wrong way. I’m not being narcissistic (at least, no more than any other blogger…) – I just find a lot of those funny. If you could dig into my stats, you’d probably be surprised at just how much traffic I get from searches like that. In particular, I seem to get at least a few hits every day by someone who’s looking for information about Icelanders eating rotten shark meat which has been soaked in shark urine. I’m not kidding.

You internet folk… you’re some weird people!

Some of the answers that Lorelle proposed were:

Irving Stone, Issac Asimov, Tolkien, Mark Twain, and Agatha Christie? Or philosophers and scientists like Plato, Socrates, Newton, and Einstein? Famous kings, presidents, rulers?

I have to admit – these answers don’t excite me much. The benefit of having access to a blog written by someone from the past would be that we would gain access to their thoughts and ideas, right? If that’s the case, why would you want to have access to a blog written by someone who is already widely published? From someone who is already known throughout the world? Granted, not all famous kings, presidents, and rulers have left written records of their thoughts (although many have); but Tolkien? Plato? Twain? We know many of the thoughts of these people – it’s why they’re famous! None of them wrote blogs per se, but quite a few of them published copious amounts of material. And, while I can’t speak for the rest of them, there is indeed a “blog” of sorts by Tolkien: the Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. The vast majority of the letters in it would not seem strange at all as blog posts. I realize that it’s not exactly a blog, but I think it’s close enough to make the comparison.

I am, of course, not saying that I wouldn’t enjoy reading blogs written by already famous people. I think having blogs from leaders throughout history would be fascinating. I’d pay a pretty penny to read blogs by various kings throughout the medieval age, not to mention a few key leaders during the 20th century. I think a blog written by FDR would be interesting, and one written by Hitler useful, simply to see just exactly what he was thinking as the war went on. It’s clear that the gears upstairs started breaking down as things progressed.

I think, however, what would be more interesting to read, would be blogs written by people who have been swallowed up by the  proverbial ocean of time. Blogs written by people who might have had important or intriguing things to say, but never had the chance. People who took part in great projects, but never were able to leave their opinion on it. People that we don’t know a great deal about.

Take, for example, one of the thousands of Egyptians who helped build the pyramids. What was it like? How many hours per day did they work? Were they paid? Did they enjoy the work, or hate it? What was their home life like after they’d finished spending a day moving enormously heavy blocks of stone?

Or how about some nameless peasant during the middle ages? Wouldn’t it be interesting to get his take on his village? His country? The world (as he knew it)? Or how about one of the countless men in the medieval hierarchy, but not at the top of it (i.e., a king or the Pope)? Say, a knight, halfway up the totem pole? Or, you could even seek out a military view. Blogs written by men and women in the military are pretty normal today, and provide a look at things from their point of view. Wouldn’t it be interesting to read a blog written by some English fellow serving as a longbow-man in a king’s army?

I personally think that those blogs would be more interesting than a blog written by someone the world already knows about, because those blogs would provide new information and new views. We have plenty of examples of the view from the position of a king or President, of a great writer or a famous thinker. It would be nice to be able to jump back in history and get a detailed view, complete with opinions, ideas and emotions, from someone who wasn’t at the top of the ladder. The “average Joe” of an ancient society.

So, in answer to Lorelle’s question: I want to see a blog written not by someone we know about, but someone we know nothing about. The man or woman who lived their life and died without leaving so much as a note saying, “Hey, this was my name”, let alone a journal, a book, a piece of art. I think that would be far more useful and interesting than a blog written by someone that we already have heaps of information on.