I finished reading the Iliad today in the original Greek. It's taken about year to do with a year of prep work beforehand. What advantage was there in reading a book that I've already read in several English translations? First, there's the sound of the Greek and it's original meter. Second, the slow pace forces you to consider each section and even each sentence with greater care. Third, you begin to notice repeated words and phrases that don't carry over well in translation. Fourth, you begin to understand more fully what scholars and other readers of the language are talking about when they discuss the Iliad or Ancient Greek writings more generally. Finally, I just scratched one thing off my bucket list. Hip, Hip, Huzzah!
I got my Super Nintendo Entertainment System when I was eleven years old. That's a couple years after it first came out. The occasion was a little dramatic: to celebrate the end of a two-and-a-half year course of treatment for cancer. I had no idea that it would be waiting for me at home after the final doctors visit. It was a nice spring day, the trees were waving gently in the breeze outside the bay windows. With a cup of tea resting on the coffee table, I set down to play. What was that first game? It was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past . Around twenty years later, my SNES still works as does that Zelda cartridge. It's been a long way from boyhood in Southern Connecticut to manhood in North Houston, but I'm still playing. Why am I still playing? There were stretches when I didn't. Many times, I've just been too busy. There were also seasons when it felt embarrassing to still be playing video games....
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