I've been neglecting this blog a bit recently, which is regrettable. Unfortunately schoolwork had been taking up a good bit of my time, sapping my energy for writing anything that wasn't absolutely essential to complete my courses. Nevertheless, I'm back in the cockpit, this time to explain something that my faithful readers (both of you) have been wondering.
Long, long ago, I read somewhere about the Terracotta Army in the tomb of Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang, best known as the first emperor of a unified China and for laying the foundations for its Great Wall. Upon his death, his subjects prepared an elaborate mausoleum for his remains, including an "honor guard" of thousands of meticulously hand-crafted terra cotta soldiers.
I don't remember the exact thoughts that went through my head when I first read about this, but I'm sure that one of them was something along the lines of "What exactly compelled this man to expend so much time, effort, and manpower on making all of these statues that no one was supposed to see ever again?"
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
On Grandparents
I have two surviving grandparents; both of them are my grandmothers. My Dad's father - the one whom I am, in part, named for - died before I was born, so I never got the chance to get to know him. According to the rest of the family, though, I take a lot after him. I can't honestly say I miss him, per se, at least not in the conventional sense; certainly I would have loved to get to know the man, but I suppose that since I never actually met him, I can't say he really left a void behind in my mind.
Things are different with my other grandfather - the one on my mother's side, who served in the Air Force. Speaking honestly, he was a hard man to get along with - his gruff demeanor and occasional hot temper often made him seem distant and unapproachable, as did his somewhat caustic sense of humor. He was one of only a few people who, when I was younger, I was genuinely afraid of making angry. He didn't open up easily. Nevertheless, in those moments when we bonded - such as when I was listening to his stories about his service, or when he was sitting across from me at a chessboard and utterly massacring my defenses (he didn't believe in going easy on novices) - you could tell that he was a man who genuinely cared for his family, even if he didn't always express it outright. I respected him, I looked up to him, and in some respects I always wanted to emulate his intelligence and firm character. He passed away in his sleep about three years ago, just a few days before Halloween. It wasn't exactly unexpected; he had been battling health issues for years, but he never gave up on living; he was just too tough to let himself die. There's a lot of things I regret not being able to ask or tell him anymore, but I'm grateful for everything I did learn from the man.
Possibly because I only have half of my grandparents left, I try to treasure my moments with the ones I have left.
Things are different with my other grandfather - the one on my mother's side, who served in the Air Force. Speaking honestly, he was a hard man to get along with - his gruff demeanor and occasional hot temper often made him seem distant and unapproachable, as did his somewhat caustic sense of humor. He was one of only a few people who, when I was younger, I was genuinely afraid of making angry. He didn't open up easily. Nevertheless, in those moments when we bonded - such as when I was listening to his stories about his service, or when he was sitting across from me at a chessboard and utterly massacring my defenses (he didn't believe in going easy on novices) - you could tell that he was a man who genuinely cared for his family, even if he didn't always express it outright. I respected him, I looked up to him, and in some respects I always wanted to emulate his intelligence and firm character. He passed away in his sleep about three years ago, just a few days before Halloween. It wasn't exactly unexpected; he had been battling health issues for years, but he never gave up on living; he was just too tough to let himself die. There's a lot of things I regret not being able to ask or tell him anymore, but I'm grateful for everything I did learn from the man.
Possibly because I only have half of my grandparents left, I try to treasure my moments with the ones I have left.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
In the News... (and other articles)
I'm going to try to make this a weekly or semi-weekly thing. It's kind of sparse now thanks to absolutely everything being due this week, but in the future I'll try to include some commentary as well.
In Pictures: Police clear Occupy Wall Street protest (BBC News; image roll) (related article)
Is Iran Already Under Covert Attack? (BBC News)
Profile: Mario Monti (BBC News) (replacement for Silvio Berlusconi, former Italian PM who just stepped down)
Ruins of Oldest Protestant Church May Be at Jamestown (NY Times)
More Findings, Uncertainty about Emperor's Birthplace (Discovery News)
Rethinking the fall of Rome's republic (MIT)
5 Tiny Computer Glitches that Caused Huge Disasters (Cracked)
4 Kinds of People (And What You Can Learn From Them) (Cracked)
Friday, November 11, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Blame It All On My Roommate
Seriously, he's the guy who convinced me to start this thing. It's all his fault.
Actually, that's not entirely true. I do recall that long, long ago, I started a blog for some unfathomable reason back in high school, but I never updated it and it never got any readers. It has since been lost to the mists of time. (I didn't post it under my real name, so it's likely you'll never find it, either.)
At any rate, my name is Eli, and I'm a senior in college. I count among my interests history, archaeology, science fiction, music of various and sundry genres, games of many kinds and layouts (though I've had less time for games of any sort recently), writing (when I can overcome my seemingly interminable writer's block), Latin, neologizing (especially when Latin is involved), and others. I've been involved in other things on the Internet for a while now, but I prefer to keep that low-key except among a select group of friends.
As for my aims for this particular blog: I might end up using it to review stuff I like, and maybe to comment on various ideas and things that run through my mind. I probably won't use it as a personal journal so much; I don't like talking about my emotional state to complete strangers.
Consider this blog a work in progress for now. I'm still figuring a lot of things out.
Actually, that's not entirely true. I do recall that long, long ago, I started a blog for some unfathomable reason back in high school, but I never updated it and it never got any readers. It has since been lost to the mists of time. (I didn't post it under my real name, so it's likely you'll never find it, either.)
At any rate, my name is Eli, and I'm a senior in college. I count among my interests history, archaeology, science fiction, music of various and sundry genres, games of many kinds and layouts (though I've had less time for games of any sort recently), writing (when I can overcome my seemingly interminable writer's block), Latin, neologizing (especially when Latin is involved), and others. I've been involved in other things on the Internet for a while now, but I prefer to keep that low-key except among a select group of friends.
As for my aims for this particular blog: I might end up using it to review stuff I like, and maybe to comment on various ideas and things that run through my mind. I probably won't use it as a personal journal so much; I don't like talking about my emotional state to complete strangers.
Consider this blog a work in progress for now. I'm still figuring a lot of things out.
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