Ithaka

I continue to watch Firefly, and it continues to be great fun. (Up to Ariel so far.)

Also, started working on a new knitting project (to add to the other ongoing knitting projects) -- a rather nice poloneck top. So far I have completed 1cm of one sleeve. Or so. Go me.

Must do some cleaning tomorrow. Gah.

Am amusing myself by playing the Kingmaker module from Neverwinter Nights, which is not doing much for my productivity, but is great for working off tension by hitting things.

Incidentally, does anyone else ever have the daydream of for some reason (winning a competition or whatever) going into a shop selling lots of whatever your current enthusiasm of the moment is, and being encouraged to sweep the shelves clean and take it all away with you for free?

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Ithaka

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the journey is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon - you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope the voyage is a long one.
may there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbours seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind -
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvellous journey.
without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

-- Constantine Cavafy