Despair, or folly?

2004-03-03 - 9:26 p.m.

Today I finished reading The Fellowship of the Ring. I have to say, even though I wasn't liking it so much after the whole Tom Bombadil bit, by the end I was loving it. I couldn't put it down and I didn't want it to stop. I will definitely be reading the next two and I'm really glad I decided to give this one another chance. One of my favorite quotes from this book was something said by Gandalf. He says, "Despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not." So there you go, Gandalf says keep your chin up! Actually, I really like that whole passage, so I'm going to quote it here:

"Despair, or folly?" said Gandalf. "It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not. It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope. Well, let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy! For he is wise, and weighs all things to a nicety in the scales of his malice. But the only measure that he knows is desire, desire for power; and so he judges all hearts. Into his heart the thought will not enter than any will refuse it, that having the Ring we may seek to destroy it. If we seek this, we shall put him out of reckoning."

"At least for a while," said Elrond. "The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere."

Unfortunately, while reading this book I couldn't help but compare it to the movies. I wish now that I had read this prior to seeing the movies, but it's too late for that. I couldn't read about Frodo without images of Elijah Wood popping into my head. What really amazed me, though, was how everyone said that the movie was so similar to the book. It seemed to me that it was quite different! I kept thinking, "Wait, it's not supposed to happen like that!" and kept having to remind myself to stop thinking that way. I was also surprised that with all the emphasis that was put on songs in this book that there weren't more songs in the movie. There were two in the third movie, right? But that's it. And also with all the marvelous sets that were used in the movies I expected the books to be really detailed about surroundings, and I was a bit disappointed to find the details to be much scarcer than I'd anticipated. I loved the language used in the book, though. It was just plain fun.

Other than that...let's see...today I went to the gym twice. I went to the step class at 8:30. There's an Asian lady there who has befriended me and today she gave me a present. It was a crystal...a piece of glass and inside the glass there is some smoky glass stuff that is shaped like a ballerina. It's pretty, but I have no idea why she gave it to me! I've known her for a week now. But that was very nice of her. I decided I wanted to go straight to the grocery store after step class so I brought a pair of jeans and a windbreaker and changed after the class. Somewhere along the line I managed to mislay my gym membership card. Maybe I dropped it. I don't know. I thought I picked it up in the locker room but when I got to my car it wasn't in my hand anymore. Luckily, when I went back for the second step class with my mom at 4:30, they had my card at the front desk and they gave it back to me when I asked. I used an extra step today in both classes and I seemed to be able to handle it all right, although I could definitely tell the difference.

And finally, I got this from Cath and decided to give it a go:

"So, say you were meeting a new person--blind date, new friend, who knows--and you wanted them to have some idea of what kind of person you are, and who you are. But you can't actually tell them in so many words. Instead, you have to give them a box, with a dozen things in it for them to look at/read/listen to/taste/whatever. What would you put in the box? And a copy of your journal or a link to your journal would be the same thing as just telling them directly, yourself, so that's not allowed."

Here's what I came up with in the order they came to me:

1. a volleyball
2. my camera
3. my running shoes
4. my hiking boots
5. my favorite cookie recipe book
6. my lab coat
7. "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card
8. Garth Brooks' "Sevens"
9. my Eddie Bauer straight cut jeans
10. my Caltech sweater
11. my laptop
12. my car keys