Thursday, September 21, 2006

It's been a roller coaster week and tonight is the first time I have been home before nine o'clock. I haven't slept well this week due to my schedule which included back to school night on Tuesday. The week of back to school night is always hectic because I have to travel back and forth to school twice that day which includes about 150 miles of driving. I generally don't get back home until after nine o'clock and it generally takes me until midnight to wind down. And, then I am back at it again six hours later....

Wednesday I bought one of those flashdisks and decided to download all my stuff so I could take it back and forth to work....and....while going through all my floppies I found some old yahoo discussion group entries that I had kept...which...in turn, inspired me to go back to the various discussion groups archives and download some of the more memorable entries and discussions. This is going to be a big project but I think it will be worth the effort since it will give me an opportunity to reread some of memorable discussions I have encountered over the years. I also intend to go at a slow pace so it won't be a burden or additional stressor which is something I don't need at this time in my life.....I have decided to start with the old Postmodern Christian Archive discussion group which I found is still listed. The group is no longer active as far as I can tell but this is the first group I joined back in 1999. I have many fond memories of this group and found the discussions incredibly stimulating, in large part, because it was the first time in my adult life I had ventured outside of my conservative Christian sub-culture to "engage" folks who saw the world much differently than what I had grown accustomed to for the past twenty three years. And, at times, the whole experience was surreal and sometimes overwhelming as I tried to keep up pace with a group of folks who were often more educated and informed than I was on numerous subjects. I soaked it all in though and it marked a radical new beginning in terms of what I thought and how processed information. It will also be interesting to go back and reread some of the discussion threads now that I am at a different place in my life.....Well, that's it for now. If I can get motivated I would like to do a series of blog entries on the topic of Jungian archetypes. I have been reading some books on the subject over the past couple of months and find the whole subject fascinating and relevant to my current situation in life. But, we will see. I don't want to start the series if I don't think I can finish it. I have done that too many times before......

2 comments:

David Blakeslee said...

Bilbo, I did a project similar to what you describe a few years back. I have files with all of my own emails from Postmodern-Christian, Faithmaps and NKOC, up through like 2002 I think. From that point, I figured everything I'd want to save is now archived on PoMoXian. If you are interested, I would be happy to send you my files. I know it's "only me" though I also included the quotes from others that I responded to. These files get very large!

But let me know how it goes. I have found it quite interesting and stimulating to revisit some of the old threads from time to time.

All that aside, sounds like you are quite a busy hobbit. All that driving would wear me out, good sound system or not!

Bilbo said...

Hi Dave,

It would be greatly appreciated if you sent me what you have...I like revisiting the discussion group postings from time to time because of the "engagement" and interaction aspect which is something you generally don't get in reading books, listening to sermons, watching scripted/edited television, or talk radio. Talking head radio has gotten so bad these days I can't bring myself to listen to more than two or three minutes without wanting to puke. At least Jerry Springer realizes what he is doing is for the most part an entertainment show.