[an update]

Have you ever felt like updating, but not had anything in particular to say?

I finished re-reading Mary Renault's The Charioteer while backing up my computer on Thursday and read more from Fire From Heaven today. Our Alexander textbook, believe it or not, doesn't have a map of Greece or Macedon in it, so I've been bringing Fire From Heaven to my Alexander class so I can consult the map inside the front cover.

It's amazing how many subtexts I missed while reading both these books for the first time. I finally understood what was happening in the last chapter I read from Fire From Heaven, which is one of Renault's more subtle ones. Her portrayal of Hephaistion gets to me every time. It's partly why I'm in such an odd mood right now; too much identification . . .

Seconds in silence, last half of forever
searching for glimpses lovers embraced
how close and how distant, we stand to each other
knowing that nothing here can ever be replaced