i find myself inspired by kate and her blog, though it may be on xanga and not blogger, and by sarah's posts on facebook. the idea that i can post sporadically or often (i will try for often but make no promises) and all of my faraway friends can read it makes me happy, because i am sure you all know i am terrible at writing emails and keeping in touch the conventional way. so i am hoping that this will help make my life accessible to my globe-trotting/living friends. right now i am done with work, so this is to be a short post, but i plan to write more tomorrow when i have tons of time to waste at work.
the explaining also covers the blog title and url, those being 'to love a vehement love' and detainedbytheworld.blogspot or whatever (i haven't learned it yet, haha). 'to love a vehement love' comes from a story my ancient greek teacher (that is, teacher of ancient greek, not an ancient teacher of greek) had us read in my second year. it didn't really have a title, but it's commonly (hah, cause obscure ancient greek stories are common) referred to as an ephesian tale or as xenophon of ephesus' tale of romance or .. you get the idea. xenophon wrote it, though not the famous xenophon (again, because ancient greek writers are famous), and it took place (or at least began) in ephesus. either way, the story is about habrocomes and anthia, two star-crossed lovers that endure terrible tragedies -- including gay pirates -- and throughout it all, they love a vehement love for each other. it repeats often, usually because in the time it was "written," most stories were told and they were usually in a certain meter, ie, iambic pentameter. in order to make them easier to remember, the "writers" often used recurring phrases (which, side note, is often why in the iliad and the odyssey people are referred to with epithets -- gray-eyed athena, brave odysseus, etc). "love a vehement love" was one in this particular story, and i just loved it, so i decided to call my blog that, because i am forever in love with people and the world. or, i am forever in hate, but either way, it's a strong emotion, haha.
the actual web address comes from a book kate introduced me to, 'stardust' by neil gaiman, in which they leave a note at the end that says "have been unavoidably detained by the world.. expect us when you see us" because they decided it would be better to wander off and travel instead of stay in one place and be boring. this ideal has always appealed to me, and lacking anything better, i made it my blog address.
and now, it is 11:30, so i am going to leave work. until tomorrow, when i have a monumental post. (ooooh, the teaser!) the truth is i am considering a pretty big life-changing decision and i am hoping for input from any of you who may read this, because i am going to send the url to those i care about the most, my dear far-flung friends. (holy alliteration, batman!)
2 comments:
i've read neil gaimon's American Gods and really enjoyed it-i'll have to keep an eye out for Stardust. also, e-mail me your thoughts on YOU+US=YAY! it's early, I'm going to make a pot of coffee just for me. I like learning of your greeks and such.
I am so glad that you are doing this. I miss you like crazy and you are still one of my best friends--and I too, am terrible at keeping in touch with people. So I applaud this idea, and maybe I will take a page out of your book. Anyways--I really hope that we can catch up soon--Also about your life-changing decision You don't have to tell me if you dont choose--just know that I am there for you! Love you!
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