One of the reasons I dislike holiday breaks is I dislike spending money. Sure, I’m somewhat of a miser, and in the spirit of being miserly I’ve stopped smoking cigarettes (well, I have snuck a few). The days of smoking are pretty much over. I don’t want to be unhealthy, either financially or physically. Rather, I’m looking forward to several months of the everliving hell of quitting.

The holidays are filled with strange hypocrisies. On the one hand, tis the season for spending lots of money and more debt accrual. On the other hand, though I’m not sure which hand it is, we’ll be hearing a lot in the next few months about how people don’t save enough, thus digging holes under future balloons and bubbles.

Another reason I dislike the holidays is that I forget what I should be doing. There’s a lot of work to do. I have clearing to do out back, woodwork around the house, and other house projects. I also disremember what I told myself I should be preparing for: new media program work, exam writing, course development. Oh, and then there was Rails.

I have been working on the courses, yes. In doing so, I’m already prepping for a redeploy of World Literature in the Fall with a strong redosing of Chinese history and study of intellectual traditions. Fritjof Capra has been helpful, as I can snag a few birds in his Tao of Physics volume. I’m not done with the book so I don’t want to make hasty assertions about what teleos might mean when we compare Relativity Theory and various elements of Taoism or Buddhism. One of the critical elements of Taoism is the notion of complementarity, hence the thrust of this post must be taken with complementarity.

I’m also reading Jason Shiga’s Meanwhile, a interesting path-choice comic, given to me by my step son. (Smokelessness, however, makes it hard to concentrate.)

I’m also working my way into Nicholas Carr’s post on interactive narrative. I think he’s right about the importance and potency of storytelling, but I find that the entryway into the interactive arts is unconvincing. Considering storytelling from the point if view of the critic and the apparatus is limiting. Again, I make the assertion that we need more readers and writers in the variety of forms. The “death of the author” meme is not, I don’t think, what writers are thinking about when they’re considering links, branches, and decisions.

Lastly, the worst thing about holidays is the fact that they end and that their liminal periods are difficult to pin down. Question then: are they particles or waves or both?