When Doctor Elwin Ransom went on a spontaneous walking tour of rural England, he wasn’t expecting to be kidnapped by a mad scientist and taken to Mars. He soon escapes, only to find himself lost without any way to return home. Fortunately, the native Martians soon take him in, teaching the otherworldly stranger of their… Continue reading Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
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Hello internets! I’m back (sort of)
So today I said goodbye to my village and moved out to Tbilisi, where I’ll be spending the next week. It was emotional. My host mom cried. It was raining, too, which pretty much reflected the way I felt. Goodbyes are tough when you’re going halfway around the world. The last few days have kind… Continue reading Hello internets! I’m back (sort of)
Some thoughts on internet access, self-discipline, and productivity
As many of you probably know, for the past four months I’ve been living in a small Georgian village in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. It isn’t as remote as some places in this country (like Tusheti, where some people still practice pagan animal sacrifices), but my internet access has been limited, especially compared… Continue reading Some thoughts on internet access, self-discipline, and productivity
Some new thoughts on productivity
I’ve been thinking a lot about writing and productivity, mostly because I seem to be struggling a lot with it lately. With nanowrimo just starting, this is a pretty topical thing to blog about, but I also want to look at it from a long-term career perspective, since that’s what I’m personally more interested in.… Continue reading Some new thoughts on productivity
Still here, wherever that may be
Wow, it’s been forever since I’ve been active on this blog. I guess living in the developing world will do that to you. It’s not that I don’t have good internet access, it’s that the places where I can get it are often noisy and crowded, with a fair amount of cigarette smoke. By the… Continue reading Still here, wherever that may be
Updates and a book blurb
So I probably won’t do a Trope Tuesday post this week, just because today is going to be kind of busy. One of my coworkers in a neighboring village has a birthday, and Georgians tend to go all out with birthday parties. I’m currently blogging from one of the government offices in the village center,… Continue reading Updates and a book blurb
Trope Tuesday: Well Done Son Guy
So the hero gets the call to adventure, initially turns it down, meets a mentor figure who gives him some sort of supernatural aid, crosses the threshold of adventure, faces a series of tests and trials, loses his mentor, experiences the power of love…and then what? Well, if we’re playing the hero’s journey straight, the next… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Well Done Son Guy
Trope Tuesday: Supernatural Aid
Getting back to our discussion of the Hero’s Journey, I think it’s important to briefly touch on one of the earlier stages: supernatural aid. At some point between refusal of the call and crossing the threshold of adventure, the hero typically encounters a mentor figure from the unfamiliar world who gives him something supernatural or… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Supernatural Aid
Trope Tuesday: Mentor Occupational Hazard
Being a mentor to the hero can be a pretty tough job. Don’t believe me? Check out the tvtropes page: If you don’t have to convince The Chosen One who just wants to be normal to grow a spine and accept the Call to Adventure, you have to convince your blindly excited and dangerously eager young pupil that You Are Not Ready to learn the Dangerous… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Mentor Occupational Hazard
Sairme to Abastumani
So last week was the first week of school here in Georgia, but before I blog about that, I thought I’d do a post on the short backpacking trip I did with a friend of mine the week before. It was a lot of fun, even if our plans did change about a dozen times… Continue reading Sairme to Abastumani