Is it possible to talk about reading the Odyssey - on my own, without any impetus other than my own enjoyment - without sounding either pretentious, snobbish, boring or like braggart?
I am really enjoying reading it and thinking about things like, "so why does Odysseus tell his nursemaid he'll make the observations and decisions about which serving maids are loyal, and then turn around a couple books later and ask her to rat out the trampy and disloyal ones? What would it be like to be talking to your spouse who you hadn't seen for twenty years and either not realize it or not be able to reveal your identity? Why does Laertes stay in retirement after Odysseus goes off to war? Why doesn't he take more of a role in the government of Ithaca, especially since Penelope doesn't seem to have the power to do all that much?" While I realize that it is probably impossible to either have an original thought about the Odyssey or to answer some of these questions, I have a lot of fun thinking about things like this when I'm awake in the middle of the night. (Darn insomnia - I think Hannah sleeps better than I do most nights.)
So, what do you think. Am I pretentious, a snob, or a braggart? All three? Or just boring?
Is it even worse that I'm thinking about reading the Odyssey in a different translation next?
I've adopted
Sarah's loop scheduling idea for getting to some of the subjects that used to be part of our weekly coursework but hadn't been added back into the schedule post-baby. It is working beautifully, and my planning side is pleased that we're actually doing this stuff and that there's a plan for doing it, and my post-partum self is so happy that I'm not trying to keep up the kind of schedule that would be required to do all these things in the course of a week.
Just for reference (and laughs?), here's my rotation list.
Science Experiment (
Happy Scientist Geology videos and experiments)
Shakespeare (Merchant of Venice)
Shakespeare (in twice so we do it a little more often)
Nature Study & Music (Beethoven)
Art Project (I want to do a couple Van Gogh inspired projects - maybe this and this?)
Did you know that in order to get a Social Security number for Hannah I had to drive an hour each way to the Social Security office with Hannah, her insurance card, the PKU form, a letter from my midwife, her birth certificate, the request for the birth certificate form (which took a visit to a county office with the whole family and more paperwork), my ID, and the Social Security number request form? All you women who give birth in the hospital have a distinct advantage when it comes to getting the government paperwork completed!
What makes it worse is that I took all of that except the PKU form and the insurance card (as I didn't need them to get a number for Justin) yesterday, waited an hour with Justin and Hannah in their waiting area, then was told I needed more documentation. Ahh!!! I asked my parents to take the kids this morning and went back with the additional paperwork and thankfully it was enough. It was really nice to bring in some substitute teachers for the morning. Perhaps I should do that more often!
Am I the only person who compulsively prices out what it would cost for me to attend the
CIRCE conference? Yeah, I thought so.
