fuel-for-flight

Does anyone now how to import entries from LJ? I've been writing there semi-exclusively for about a year now, and while I'm not opposed in any way to the old copy-paste technique, that's a hella ton of stuff to copy-paste. Advice?

So, I was thinking about God, and about the very concept of a supreme deity. I was also thinking about the His Dark Materials series. I haven't read the books in while, but they left an impression. Certainly they impacted the way I think about religion, faith, and supreme forces and how they affect humanity, or what humanity means.

Anyway, so I was having conversation with my sister, and we both agreed that the very existence of a "higher" power depreciates humanity. It diminishes our value, it makes us "lesser". Higher will always imply lesser. The idea of a king implies the idea of a subject. Being American, I don't like the idea of having a king and I don't like the idea of being a subject. I take umbrage at the thought that I could be subject to anyone, lesser than anyone. The "Kingdom of Heaven" is an evil concept, in my honest opinion.

But what about the "Republic of Heaven"? What about a democratically elected God? Philip Pullman introduced the concept in his HDM book. It makes sense to this American. Does it make sense to you?

(Also, we were also talking about the idea of an afterlife and how it diminishes the value of this life, but that's a conversation for another day.)

Civ Pro again. I really should make a bigger effort to pay attention, but I gave up after the first two weeks thinking I could keep up by just reading the book, and I'm still pretty certain I can. At least I think so.

I'm supposed to hear back from my legal writing professor about the open memorandum. We have to set appointments with her for a meeting to discuss the memorandum and defend our argument. I'm very nervous. I'm not sure that I'm satisfied with how the memorandum turned out, let alone what she might think of it. My argument petered out towards the end, it was nowhere near long enough, I couldn't find many relevant cases to cite, the format is still beyond me, and now I'm wondering if I can defend it out loud. She thinks I'm an imbecile as it is.

In other news, I'm behind on my shows. I missed the Dexter premier, for which I should be severely punished. I hear tell this season is going to be wonderful. I suppose now that Rita is dead, poor Dexter is going to go back to being an unfeeling sociopath who kills people because its the only thrill he can find, thus the only way he can fight off the emptiness. I love that Dexter. It's not that I didn't love that he loved Rita and was happy, it's simply that it's too soon in the story for Dexter to become so zen. Or as zen as Dexter can ever be, anyway. Perhaps Dexter is the vehicle through which I vicariously express my more violent inclinations, I don't know. I think it really works for people, though: violent entertainment helps us to satisfy our darker sides without giving into them altogether. Just look at football. Or boxing. Or Quentin Tarantino films. I enjoy those Tarantino films far too much, let me tell you.

I may go shopping this weekend. There are things I need now that I'm up north that I simply had no reason to buy in Texas. I seriously doubt that the coats and jackets I do have will get through sub-zero weather, though they probably will suffice for fall and early winter. Maybe I should wait? I don't know. I should start buy to sweaters now, in any case. Maybe scarves, definitely boots. I love boots.

Also, I'm craving Chinese food. Take-out tonight? Perhaps.

The Glee premiere was disappointing. Too much singing, not enough story. They need more character development, even if the producers are just getting back into the swing of things. I need to know how Quinn and Puck are dealing with the aftermath of the adoption, and how Quinn is doing now that she''s back with her mom, and what is going on with Finn's mom and Kurt's dad. Are they still dating? Have they reconsidered moving in together? And where is Ms. Pillsbury? Her absence felt weird.

I'm also upset that they're doing a theme episode so soon. I want to see a Britney episode as much as the next Gleek, but I could have waited a few weeks. The show still has too much to do, and all this singing and dancing is distracting. The music is supposed to add to the show, not take it over. I fell in love with Glee precisely because I thought it struck the perfect balance: a great story, and just enough music to give it some life. An overabundance of music and no story is sort of like whipped cream, with too much sugar and hardly any substance. I hope they fix, because I love.

Tonight I watch Bones. I'd watch TVD, but still no CW. That's okay, though, because I can always catch it on the CW website after a few days. I can wait. Impatiently, but whatever. In the meantime, I will happily watch Booth and Bones reunite and solve all kinds of icky murders, and possibly stare at each other with goo-goo eyes. Sexual tension, how I love it. I want them to boink, obviously, but I can't say I don't enjoy the want-you-can't-have-you scenario. It keeps things interesting. I wonder if a year is really supposed to have passed? I think so.

I've been sick this past couple of days. Gross sick. Greasy, sneezy, breathing-through-one-nostril kind of sick. I took the day off from school yesterday; my professors were alright with it, thank Tom Cruise.

Watched Boardwalk Empire. Good stuff. I never thought I'd find Steve Buscemi the least bit sexy, but there you go. And of course Michael Pitt did a fantastic job. It's infuriating that people are calling him "DiCaprio v. 2" when, frankly, the only things they have in common are coloring and build. And both are great actors, sure, but very different. Different delivery, different script choices, and, you know, stuff. It's unfair to both of them to compare them, I feel.

Also watched House. Worried about Thirteen, happy happy happy for Huddy. Oh Huddy, my Huddy. I hope the producers do what's best and end the show after this season. I love it enough to hope for that. Otherwise, they'll keep coming up with ways to make House miserable, all so so they can have a story to tell. Just let him be happy and end the show. It's reached its natural conclusion, and there's no point in putting off the inevitable. House was a miserable, nihilistic drug-addict, and now he's off drugs and happy and in love with a woman who loves him back. It was good story. The end.

Oh, and I'm now rooting for Chase/Thirteen. I feel little bad joining the team, especially as I've always been faithfully Foreman/Thirteen. But still. And am I a terrible feminist for writing Guy/Thirteen instead of Thirteen/Guy? I must think about this.

Did not watch The Town, sadly enough. Went to dinner with a girl from class---delicious Chinese place---and tried to make the film afterwards. And it was sold out, of course. So we tried to drive to King of Prussia to catch Easy A, which I've also been wanting to see, but we didn't make that either. Girl insisted on looking up the directions on her Droid, and Droid decided it wanted to fuck with us, so we ended up driving for forty minutes on creepy creepy dark highway. Why do highways on Pennsylvania have about two exits for every 100-mile stretch? It's ridiculous. You're screwed if you miss just one exit. I had to drive for fifteen miles on a toll way just so I could turn around and drive back.

It put me in a crap mood, let me tell you. I've been trying to do some mood-zapping, eliminating illogical and unhelpful emotions like road-rage, but to no avail. Simply not working. I can internalize the emotion, which is useful, but it doesn't go away, which is not. I have found I can jump back from bad moods easily enough, though, so that's good. I've been inspired by Luminosity, this fantastic re-telling of Twilight. (How would Twilight have been different if Bella had been a uber-logical self-awareness junkie with a far healthier dose of self-esteem? Bella engages in serious mood-zapping, and I thought my doing the same could be helpful.)

I love that I get self-help advice from fanfiction.

Fic found here.