I really ought to keep this journal updated... but there isn't much to say!  I am whiling away my days by reading as much on Homer's 'Odyssey' as I can.  At least, I have started with Homer, but I am rapidly being sidetracked by floral epithets, lyric poetry, Greek perception of colour...  Then, of course, life has a habit of getting in the way of reading.    In any case, I need to come up with a topic for my Honours thesis before the semester starts in March.  It's somewhat restrictive...  The classics department is in a state of flux, so I haven't met my supervisor, a new lecturer, yet.  Even though I spoke to my favourite lecturer about topics before he left for the year, I never really came up with anything definite.  And even though there are so many Greek authors about whom I am wildly enthusiastic, my choice is limited by the time, specialities and research interests of my supervisor.  I'd like to write a thesis on Plutarch or the lyric poets, but apparently it would be more convenient and more traditional to do a study on one of the two authors we'll be studying this year, Homer and Xenophon.  It doesn't really matter.  I love Homer, but it's difficult to find a topic that sufficiently piques my interest and about which I am wholly passionate.  Also, while I'm aware that an Honours thesis does not have to be ground-breaking or perpetuate new theories in the same way as, for instance, a Masters thesis, I'd still desperately like to write something original.

It's lovely to get back into reading and research!  Inordinately hot, though, which makes concentrating rather difficult.    Still, it's perfect weather for iced chocolates and the kind of late afternoon sun that I love.  

Also, Homeric reading group has started again after our Christmas break, which gives me something to anticipate every week.

All in all, after much contemplation, analysis, letter-writing and many meetings with friends over the last few weeks, I have become a bit more content and accepting of myself.    I've been neglecting deviantART and my Takarazuka obsession horribly, but sometimes it's good to step back from things that consume a lot of time.



'The feeling that men and plants share a common fate is the perennial theme of lyric poetry.'  (quoted in Kawabata Yasunari's 'Jojoka' )

'Spake full well, in language quaint and olden,
One who dwelleth by the castled Rhine,
When he called the flowers, so blue and golden,
Stars that in earth's firmament do shine.'
(Longfellow's 'Flowers' )

Clubs