While I’ve been away, I’ve started knitting. It’s just basic things at the moment, but it’s keeping the fingers nimble and is distracting from the big black dog that sits in the corner.
I’ve found a few podcasts that keep my brain very well occupied. The first one I’ll talk about is The History of Rome (Spotify Link).
As we all know from my blog posts around Europe, I am a huge fan of Rome. I studied the history in high school Classics, and went on to University continuing papers in Ancient Roman and Greek History. The episodes are on average 20 minutes long, and while short and sweet, are in depth enough at 179 episodes that you feel like you get a really good picture of Rome. Their history puts their arrogance on display, but for a kingdom that ruled for 2000 years across multiple era, why wouldn’t they be arrogant?
I was also recommended a book to read while I’ve been away. It’s called First, We Make the Beast Beautiful. It’s a story about anxiety, and the writer, Sarah Wilson’s, journey through it. At first it was interesting to me, and I got about halfway through. Of course, having a gorgeous book to read required I make a bookmark for it, so off on a cross-stitch adventure I went. I do believe the cross-stitch was what I enjoyed most about reading the book, and I returned it half read.
It was a a book that held some really important wisdom and I did enjoy the first half, but I just stopped reading it and couldn’t bring myself to pick it up again. In some weird way it felt like I already knew the rest of the book and had gotten from it as much as I would. That doesn’t make sense, considering I’ve no idea what’s in that second, unread half. I suppose it made sense to me.
I’m now using my bookmark in another borrowed book, Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness. Peter Godfrey-Smith, a philosopher of science, explores the origin of consciousness and how it seems to have appeared in ourselves, and in other creatures separated by billions of years on the evolutionary chain. I love octopodes, which is probably the main reason I started reading this book, but it’s turned out to be really interesting overall and I’m looking forward to finishing it.
Another book that is soon to be on my borrowed shelf is The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. I’m looking greatly forward to reading this, as a lot of my depression isn’t so much about caring too much – but pretending not to be bothered by things that do really bother me. Maybe this will help me actually not be bothered, maybe it’ll help me cope with being bothered, and maybe it will do nothing but be entertaining, and that’s okay too.
I have a lot of poetry saved to my Amazon wish list, which I haven’t read any of in years and am keen to get back into.
On that note, I’ll leave you with my all-time favourite poem. Why is this my favourite? I don’t know. It just is.
Regards,
Alex
Stealing – Carol Ann Duffy
The most unusual thing I ever stole? A snowman.
Midnight. He looked magnificent; a tall, white mute
beneath the winter moon. I wanted him, a mate
with a mind as cold as the slice of ice
within my own brain. I started with the head.Better off dead than giving in, not taking
what you want. He weighed a ton; his torso,
frozen stiff, hugged to my chest, a fierce chill
piercing my gut. Part of the thrill was knowing
that children would cry in the morning. Life’s tough.Sometimes I steal things I don’t need. I joy-ride cars
to nowhere, break into houses just to have a look.
I’m a mucky ghost, leave a mess, maybe pinch a camera.
I watch my gloved hand twisting the doorknob.
A stranger’s bedroom. Mirrors. I sigh like this – Aah.
It took some time. Reassembled in the yard,
he didn’t look the same. I took a run
and booted him. Again. Again. My breath ripped out
in rags. It seems daft now. Then I was standing
alone among lumps of snow, sick of the world.Boredom. Mostly I’m so bored I could eat myself.
One time, I stole a guitar and thought I might
learn to play. I nicked a bust of Shakespeare once,
flogged it, but the snowman was the strangest.
You don’t understand a word I’m saying, do you?
Regards, Alex 