(no subject)

Never let it be said that bad nights bring no good. Last night's endurancefest (high pain - all night) caught me up to where I needed to be in my dissertation today, plus I did a bunch of reading for various work things this morning. The cause of this productivity was nothing I ever want to reproduce, but at least I didn't stay in bed all night thinking about the things I thought about (which were none of them good) and at least one of the causes of physical pain* may well be sorted tomorrow.

I'm sorry I didn't make any jokes in honour of my father's birthday yesterday. A friend died on Christmas Eve and everywhere around me yesterday people were talking death and sorrow. It was not a day for making light of life.

I don't know how, but somehow, yesterday, I managed to undo all the housework I did in advance for today. I spent a large chunk of last night and this morning re-doing it. This means that I've entirely run out of steam and can't sweep the patio, which means my friends today will be inside, which may be a bit challenging for the under threes (or maybe for the parents of the under threes). I feel as if I've failed, somehow, when I haven't - I've done more this festive season than any in recent years.

I'm not as much of a blight on the landscape as I usually am at this time of year, but I'm still not a ray of sunshine and joy. I will give you my Zombie Ancestry Theory of History when I meet my next set of deadlines (since I have promised it) - that will change the tone of things...




*The bad tooth is bad enough so the emergency dentist is fitting me in tomorrow morning. I did explain that the pain wasn't too bad and that was a matter for great concern. I suspect that we're talking a dying tooth.

(no subject)

I'm reading an analysis of the role of preaching in education in the Middle Ages. It struck me that the sources that this study is using still exist for modern preaching. So why don't I automatically assume that those who go to church get this extra source of education?

I do, actually, but only in specific circumstances and I don't tend to think of it as a part of peoples' standard education - whereas in this study, it's definitely part of the standard education. Some of the boundaries between me and the Middle Ages may be of my own making. It's not the past that is foreign, sometimes, it's the way I see the present.