Archai

This is the beginning of a project that I'll be undertaking for (at least as a goal right now) the duration of my time residing on the eastern coast of Connecticut. The grades for the 2011 Spring Semester are due by 4pm on 23 May, 2011. My Studio Apartment lease expires on 31 May, 2011, and it is my intention to move out during the week between those two dates. Setting 31 May as the absolute end-point, from today (inclusive), that leaves a maximum of 268 days. My project will be to post something for each of those days, though I am not sure yet as to what those "somethings" might include. At the very least, I'll use this as a diary or daybook of sorts, and I suspect that I'll probably use it for much more, at least occasionally.

A few explanatory remarks:

1). Blog Title. For anyone who doesn't know, I have a lifelong appreciation of, and affection for, Greek mythology (though as time goes by I'm more and more strongly opposed to both words in that phrase - I prefer "Hellenic" to "Greek" and think that "mythology" as a category obscures far more than it clarifies). Despite that lifelong affection, there are very few specific stories that are near and dear to my heart. One exception to this is the story of Endymion (the version, first attested in Sappho - or, as she would have written her name, Psapfo, which became canonical). Endymion was tending sheep at night near Latmos in Asia Minor, laid down to sleep, and dreamed that he held the full moon in his arms. He smiled in his sleep because of the dream, and Selene, the moon, knowing his dream and seeing his smile, fell in love with him. She asked Zeus to grant Endymion eternal life while sleeping, and so Endymion is allegedly still asleep in a cave somewhere, dreaming about loving the moon and, unbeknownst to him, actually holding her in his arms during the daylight hours.

So how does that align with blogging? In the past 2 months I've begun coming to grips with the reality of separating from my wife and going through the process of divorce. I had a respite staying at my parents' house for 6 weeks (originally supposed to be 4), near to many of my friends and literally down the street from my niece and nephew. All of those people being nearby helped me tremendously, but now I'm back in Connecticut, living completely alone for the first time in 3 years, under vastly different circumstances than any since I graduated from college. Over the past week and a half, as I've begun settling in here, I have sometimes had the distinct feeling that "I'm definitely going to wake up sometime soon." But I don't. It's very easy to go through entire days here without speaking to another person, which can increase the feeling of unreality. And, as the opening paragraph's calendrical orientation indicates, this school year feels like an interlude, rather than a proper chapter, in my life. I know that there are major changes going on and more coming, but for now, I'm still caught up in the interstices, not quite awake nor quite asleep. Hence the blog title.

2. Geographical and biographical referents. On the off chance that anyone reads this who isn't part of my extended family circle (which I draw around my friends as well as biological relatives), I'm going to be using pseudonyms for where I live and the people to whom I'll refer. This will also provide some sort of buffer if I should blog about events or issues pertaining to my job.