I’m due a post on events for the rest of term and plans for the vac in detail but now I’ve got back home and I’m at my desk I thought I’d write a few thoughts down. Right now I’m waiting for my e-mail to sync up to my desktop, after syncing all my files and configs and doing a system upgrade. It’ll be interesting to see if I have X after a reboot, or indeed a window manager, since I found this one on a different one on arrival which is disconcerting when I had my laptop and desktop on at the same time; the new one’s installation process is a pain so I don’t know if much will be working after a reboot. I’ve had the odd experience of looking over at my shelf of stuff and not really caring about most of it. All the reading backlogs and bits and pieces don’t seem very important because the philosophical works I have with me are more important (more on this later too — the real world (i.e. current affairs and popular intellectualism) just doesn’t seem important to me at all anymore, which is probably a bit worrying). This is one thing I will try and bring out soon: my enthusiasm for and commitment to Philosophy has gone through the roof in the past three weeks or so (though my ability to do it is still greatly hampered by the ongoing adversary I have described at length before). All I care about (materially!) is the stuff I’ve brought with me: the data on my laptop, the paper in my folders and the piles of books. This is a nice feeling and an encouraging one.

Tomorrow I’m taking the day off to finish unpacking and to clear my organisational backlogs so that everything is clear and ready to go before me for the next five and a half weeks (time in France and time in Oxford after that before full term starts a whopping eight weeks away) and the nice thing is that I know that I will get it done. I’ll make a quick list when I get up of the various backlogs that I am to clear, get them cleared and then I will feel legitimately free for the rest of the day. Perhaps I’ll write on here. I’ll try to get my diary filled in (got four days-worth of rough notes that lose meaning every hour I delay writing them up). And on Tuesday one of the hardest tasks I have ever faced will be before me, as I will write about properly. But this evening I am contented. I am concerned about how much I have to motivate myself to do, and I am guilty that during my insane 8th week of many conflicting academic and social pressures I have neglected my contact with people I care about; I’ve got to try to fix this, but it’s okay for now. Because I’ve got Blame’s Essential Mix on and Nu:Tone’s Balaclava is incoming, and I feel the challenges I face are solidifying into things I can hack at, and I’m starting to really believe my frequently proferred views of what’s important in how I am to spend my life.

Come on offlineimap…