A Conversation with Elizabeth
1998
TGIF

From:          Elizabeth  
To:            LMixson@PEC.com
Sent:          Friday, July 31, 1998 2:08 PM
Subject:       TGIF
 
A little bit of a change today as one of the people in the Sleep Lab next door went out for fast food, so I ate Wendy's with them. I did it just for the company at lunch, which I never have, not so much for the food.
 
I finally got approval for the conference in Mobile, and I've mapped out some days to take off so I can go to Huntsville. I've started looking forward to it.  I'll go to the conference on Wed, Thurs. and Friday of one of my weeks off (Aug. 19, 20, 21), then come back to work.  Then the next weekend plus Friday and Monday Aug. 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 I'll go to Huntsville for the opera, the gardens, the museum, and the meteorite exhibit, swinging by the state park and staying there Sunday night, and walking the park Monday to see the Falls, etc. I'll come back to work Tuesday and my first law class is that night.  Then the following weekend before Labor Day I'll go to a retreat, Sept. 4, 5, 6.  The theme is "discernment" in every day life. Discernment is something I was introduced to at a previous retreat.  Spiritually it equates to attempting to know that you are doing (or attempting to do) what it is best for you to be doing at any particular time in your life (discerning your own individual "path" in life). In religious terms it roughly gets translated into "God's work for you here on earth."  Its an interesting concept and gets very much elaborated on within the Catholic reflective tradition. 
 
Now, if I can just pass my finals.  I am, in the short run, very burnt out, and am having difficulty buckling down.  Next week is the last week of actual classes.  Then I have a weekend, two finals that week, then one the following Monday (actually a good schedule because that leaves one whole weekend for one of the classes).  Fortunately this week I've gotten somewhat rested by not having class Wed. night.
 
I forgot about the Tolkien books.  I read them when I was in high school.  I still have all my paperback copies, but they are so yellow they are about fallen apart.  I don't know if I would ever have a chance to reread them, or want to, although I recall how immersed I was in them at the time.  I also had forgotten about Stranger in a Strange Land, which I think I may want to reread now that you've mentioned it.  I haven't read The Great Gatsby, although I got a copy a while back and started it.  It was on the 100 list. 
 
Your mentioning the Tolkien books made me wonder though.  I'm not sure I can phrase it right, and I don't mean to be offensive, just trying to understand.  Right now, for example, I can't understand why I found them so fascinating.  So, I wonder now what anyone else is getting out of them.  Maybe it's that I just don't read any type of "fantasy" anymore.  I guess the fiction I read is sort of "realistic" fiction.  So, I guess my question or wonder is about the value or pleasure or joy ? found in "imaginary" worlds.  I don't seem to have that anymore, if that's what it is about.  Enough.  Have a good weekend.  Elizabeth

I seem to be missing the email I must have sent Elizabeth before this one as she mentions my book list.  I’m not sure what all the books were on the list but Tolkien’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy were on the list as well as Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land and The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald. I’m not sure what else might have been on my list at the time, likely 2001: A Space Odessey by Arthur C. Clark although I think the movie was better than then book.

She also asked about 10 best albums which I’m sure Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, and Desire would have been on it, as well as Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album.

Tired-Busy