"Through me the way to the City of Woe,
Through me the way to everlasting pain,
Through me the way among the lost.
Justice moved my Maker on high.
Divine power made Me.
Wisdom Supreme, and Primal Love.
Before Me nothing was but things Eternal,
And Eternal I endure.
Abandon all hope, you who enter here."

The words written above the gates of Hell.

The first 15 lines of Canto III in "Inferno" had me weak in the knees when I first read them. After reading the Italian to myself I have decided that at some point in my life I will learn Italian (or find a woman who speaks Italian and have her explain the subtle nuances to me) just for the sake of reading the original manuscript of "La Divina Commedia." I cannot believe it has taken me this long to begin reading Dante's "Divine Comedy." Only five Canto's in and I am already hooked. Dante and Vergil just made it across the river Acheron and have only just begun seeing the horrors that Hell has to offer. I am actually worried that I won't get my actual required reading done for my cIasses because of this... but as long as I only read it at work I think I should be fine.

~

As for "teh kittehs" I have an announcement to make. I am going to be getting a cat in the near future. Our family already has a dog who is exceptionally adorable and loyal to all of us but I want I pet that I have to personally take care of and love unconditionally. Dogs are affectionate yes but they can, for the most part, just be "blindly loyal" to their owners. Cats are extremely intelligent animals and I've always wanted one. I love how they jump up into your lap and just beg to be loved and shown affection. That and I am a sucker for the purring, I can't get enough of it once I get a cat started.

My plan is to go to an animal shelter and find either a kitten or adult cat to adopt. I don't have any desire to get one from a pet store, they just seem "odd" to me. I decided that I wanted a cat because I really don't have the time in my life right now to go out and find a woman let alone devote time to her. It would be most unfair to her. With a cat I can have companionship without having to sacrifice a large portion of my life devoting myself to a woman, a cat just moves right in from the start. Don't get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against giving up everything I have right now for the woman I love but I have to be realistic, I need to build my career in order to set myself up for having a family in the future. Having a pet cat is far more realistic.

I will keep it as an indoor cat since I fear it either running away and/or getting seriously injured or killed. Plus, it is extremely low maintenance compared to a dog (and you don't get dead mice and birds brought as "presents"). You just keep the water and food dishes full, the litter box spiffy and the pats on the head and belly rubs frequent and the cat will remain happy all day long. I want to get a female cat since I've always connected better with female cats and dogs in the past. Naming her will be something of a challenge for me as much as naming a child would be. I am leaning towards Isabelle though, for personal reasons I will not mention here.

I hope that I will be able to get a digital camera as well so I can keep a record of all the events of me getting my kitteh. Plus, I'd love to make some funneh kitteh pictures with my own cat so there is at least SOME original content left on the internet.

...and so begins year number four of my journey through post secondary education. I normally have a certain "feeling" about when things like this happen; like I am excited about it, or I am bummed about it; but right now I really don't know what to say. I am not excited about it because it is the beginning of another eight months of academic school work that I am beginning to dislike because all I am doing is learning how to learn. On the other hand I am excited about it because it is nearing the end of my career as a "student" of the art of learning and that will hopefully begin my career as a "student" of the art of teaching.

If you didn't already know I am planning on entering (after completion of my Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies) the Faculty of Education and spending two years learning how to teach, instead of how to learn. That of course I am extremely excited about. Not only do I stop having to write thousands of words of papers every year but I stop learning how to learn... which is what school for the most part does. Sure, it may teach you how to do things that help you in finding a career as an adult but for the most part, all the years you spend learning are just spent learning how to learn in later grades.

Being a teacher is something I've always had at the back of my mind as a career path ever since I was little. It was never my first choice, always behind other things like the typical stuff children come up with, but it was always there. I always had an appreciation for what my teachers did and how they were always willing to help me and other cIassmates do their work or just with personal issues. In high school I was leaning towards (at the beginning at least) going into Medicine. Helping people has always been something I have taken to heart, whether it be helping someone find where they need to go, helping other cIassmates with work or helping anyone with anything. The problem is/was that my grades were never good enough to even consider me entering the Faculty of Medicine in my province.

I hate to sound conceited but I am a very selfless person (an odd irony), I give of myself to others more than I ask of others to give to me. As I've been told by my teachers who I've talked to about going into Education, the one thing they've always brought up is that being selfless and giving of yourself, even when you are "not on the clock," is key to being a great teacher. All of the teachers that I have had have been incredibly self-giving to me and all my cIassmates, they spend time after school helping people, spend loads of time at home, not being paid, marking all the work assigned and just as an overall measure of character, never put themselves before the students.

I love kids. I've loved them ever since I was one myself and cannot wait to care for my own (whether being financially able to or not). When I was five and my younger sister was a newborn I would help take care of her to help out my mom, even though at the time I hardly even knew anything about the outside world. Ever since deciding that Education would be my current goal for university I've been leaning heavily towards early years education, in the grade 2-5 realm. Plus, those were my favourite years in public education. The practicing of times-tables, spelling and everything else we did I was eager to do and do it well.

~

As for my first day back to university... everything is looking like it is going to be a great year so far, probably the best so far. Unfortunately the work-load I will be saddled with while taking my intermediate Japanese course is going to be hectic. I already have a kanji quiz coming on Tuesday from the kanji I learned in first year when I took the introductory course. On top of Japanese I am also taking a history course (offered through the Faculty of Asian Studies) that deals with "South Asia," being India, Pakistan, Tibet, Bhutan, Cambodia, etc, etc as well as an analytical course on "evil in world religions" that uses a non-presupposed position to look at what different secular and religious views of "evil" (and good) are and how they came to be.

For the Evil course I get to read Bram Stoker's Dracula, which will be more about the assessment of a perception of "evil" than actually reading about the badassery of Dracula himself... unfortunately. But on the other hand I was able to drop by my university library today and pick up a copy of Dante's "La Divinia Comedia" or as most people call it "Inferno" without referencing the two other books, "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso." I've always been wanting to read it for the longest time but was spurred into reading it thanks to Davidson's "The Gargoyle." Oddly enough I will be using one of the greatest pieces of literature in the history of humanity as "light work reading" because I won't be able to read my university readings there because I need a focused atmosphere and just want something "simple" (haha, riiiight) to read at work.

~

I still may end up being a doctor at some point in my life but that all depends on what happens over the next year of my life. I am looking forward to attending all my courses this year and have a vested interest in actually doing well (getting A's, not just grazing by with B's) for some reason. For the first time in a while I am actually motivated and feel great about it.

When it comes to dicussing the great pieces of literature in the history of humanity most people generally tend to just say what everyone else says. The Iliad, The Aeneid, The Divine Comedy, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Moby Dick, etc, etc. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not claiming anything of the sort but I truly do think, given enough time, Andrew Davidson's "The Gargoyle" may go down in history as something special. Perhaps not as a piece of "benchmark literature" but something nonetheless.

Admittedly I cry, more often than most males do (go ahead and poke fun if you must, it's who I am), probably because I am "in touch with my emotions" or for those people who don't think men can feel emotion, "being overly sensitive." But until reading "The Gargoyle" I haven't flat out cried, multiple times, while reading, watching or playing anything in my life. Sure, Schindler's List and Taegukgi had me in tears and Shadow of the Colossus, Max Payne 2 and Okami saw me get misty-eyed but not for the same reasons.

Those points were out of either sadness, empathy, or just simply because they struck me emotionally more than I had expected. Every time I cried while reading "The Gargoyle" was due to the fact that what I was reading struck me as close to my heart and as beautifully as anything put onto paper ever has (hopefully to be replaced with poetry from a lover).

Davidson's debut novel was obviously a good investment for Random House. After reading it I have found it quite obvious to why they paid him well over a million dollars up front for publishing rights. It is the epitome of a romance novel and cIassic tale of love rolled into one... but without falling into the trappings of cliche that have generally polluted the genre. It is completely unorthodox in presentation and unlike most every love story in history doesn't have the "happy" ending where everyone "lives happily ever after." It isn't sad or depressing but it isn't "flowers, candy and rainbows." It just ends like a "real" love story, one like what we humans experience, even if fictional and somewhat over-the-top.

Being a raving romantic myself I can appreciate the writing a lot more than those who don't fancy themselves the romantic type. I can't recommend it to everyone, it requires a certain mental nature to connect with... I can understand why some people dislike it. As it stands it is a fantastic romance novel and will hopefully help reinvigorate how people tell love stories from now on.

What I enjoyed most about the book is how it has instilled a belief in "eternal love" in me and that I should always seek to find it and when I do nourish it for as long as the universe will last.