Mid-Week Crisis

I know "Crisis" has such a negative connotation... but look! It actually is synonymous to words such as milestone, benchmark, even a cinematic climax:

[n] a crucial stage or turning point in the course of something; "after the crisis the patient either dies or gets better" (hyperdictionary.com).

So, on the eve of Wednesday, the very middle of what has been and what I anticipated to be an extremely busy week so far, I pause to update a seemingly abandoned, poor, old blog, having completed two personal milestones, and just a tad bit more over on the professional side of things (heh ;)).

2 Personal Milestones:
1. Finished re-reading His Dark Materials 1: The Golden Compass. I'm DYING to get my hands on the second installment, and will do this coming payday from Amazon :D Sucks the neighborhood Barnes and Noble doesn't have just the version I need to complete my collection (Chris has the 3rd, hehe). Ironically, HDM is my current obsession, despite the fact that HP 6 is about to go out (which I have pre-ordered, of course) this Friday. Weeeee. Must reread all HP books prior :D

2. Finished reading The Pilgrimage. Not as good a read as The Alchemist, but okay. It was a book I could put down, and maybe it's just my American-corrupted mind not being able to grasp the perhaps intended purity of two men, a pilgrim and his guide, diving into a hidden oasis naked and then climbing a waterfall. Perhaps it truly is to my detriment to have seen the movie Alexander (*Shudder*), or my mind is simply too wrapped up in too trivial things as work (heh) to be able to grasp the deep and profound message contained in this book. I'll be honest, I just wanted to finish the damn book - I wanted to know whether he'd get his sword back or not. I should have followed Petrus' advice - don't just focus on the goal; the road, the journey, how you get there matters. Maybe I'll re-read it again sometime. It had some really good lessons to impart, the most important of which, I believe, are similar to those I learned in the Alchemist, but I really do prefer the way he imparted them in the latter work.

I hate admitting this, but nothing has really prevented me in updating my blog other than the mundane things in life - work, house work, work, playing catch up with sleep, and yes, work. I've had some interesting dreams, lately, too. Probably to make up for the fact that all I have is yes, work ;) Or better yet, simply because my imagination has been rejuvenated and nourished by a steady diet of written words, as of late.

Anyhow, I hope to be back with a tremendous vengeance sometime again later this week. Our managers are all in Boston for their Bi-annual Manager's meeting, and then Nestle comes to town next week. So you can imagine how my life is as of late.

Thank God for books, thank God for blogs, and thank God for people like you.

Good night and see you at the tracks!

PS Interestingly, The Pilgrimage ends with something reminiscent of my favorite word, Serendipity: "And when I think about it, I guess it is true that people always arrive at the right moment at the place where someone awaits them." ~ Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage