1. A blessed Feast of the Sacred Heart to you all.

May our hearts spare Our Lord nothing in return.

2. My next step in bring order to my inner kingdom is trying to establish consistency, which I’ve so far completely failed at. I tend to binge-purge cycles in all things; last week I wrote over 6,000 words one day on a certain project, then had a couple days of only a thousand, then fell off entirely for a few days. Psychologically and productively speaking, from what I understand, it’s almost always preferable to have a consistent, manageable, and balanced amount of work that you can reliably do each day.

As an example, I’ve read that when Roald Amundson was trying to reach the South Pole in 1910, he kept his men on a strict schedule of moving about 5-6 miles a day, no more, no less. This had two advantages; it prevented the men and dogs from wearing themselves out on a good day, while providing extra motivation on a bad day, and it allowed them to, as it were, watch themselves advancing across the map in a steadily consistent fashion. It’s a matter of making the amount of work completed into a habit, not just the attempt.

As I say, I’m very bad at this at the moment. Feel like I’m trying to step off of one moving train onto another without Joseph-Cottening myself.

3. Finally completed Silver Spoon the other day after having first read it years ago, then stopped because the ending wasn’t done, then re-reading the whole thing. I have to say, the ending was a little unsatisfying. It’s a happy ending, but there’s not really a sense of closure. It feels like the characters are still struggling and will be for a while, though we leave them with bright prospects. I think it ought to have ended a few chapters back, with the graduation (apparently, that was the original plan), since that leaves us at a high point and settles a few long-standing threads.

What I think we needed, after all that, is at least one chapter where the characters are able to more or less rest together. Yes, it’s about farm work, and farmers don’t really get days off, but you can’t run ragged non-stop; there needs to be emotional release at the end of a story, and I didn’t really get that here. It’s still a really good series, just I think it should have cut off a few chapters back.

4. I was delighted to discover recently that the great nation of Turkmenistan has the inspiring motto “The motherland of neutrality.”

5. Moderns most readily manifest their own arrogance and gaucheness through describing the arrogance and gaucheness of their ancestors.

6. Shakespeare this week was Macbeth, which I want to say is one of my favorites. That gloriously gothic atmosphere with the three witches and the cold, misty lands of Scotland (which somehow comes across even just through the dialogue), Macbeth’s spiral into evil while his instigating wife is driven mad with conscience, it’s all just great stuff.

7. Actually, one of my favorite parts is Macduff’s meeting with Malcolm, who tests him by cheerfully elaborating on how horrible a king he would be until Macduff’s ready to cut his head off, then admitting that it was all just to make sure he wasn’t another of Micky-B’s spies.

Malcolm:
But I have none: the king-becoming graces,
As justice, verity, temperance, stableness,
Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness,
Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude,
I have no relish of them, but abound
In the division of each several crime,
Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I should
Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell,
Uproar the universal peace, confound
All unity on earth.

Macduff:
O Scotland, Scotland!

Malcolm:
If such a one be fit to govern, speak:
I am as I have spoken.

Macduff:
Fit to govern!
No, not to live.