throwback

as time goes on, the more convinced i get about being born in the wrong era. or at very least, perhaps i’m a throwback from a bygone timeframe that has long since lost its relevance. (translation: that’s how depressed i feel these days.)

i stumbled into this conclusion the other day when i realized that most of the things that really interest me are either things that dwell too much in the past or topics that have some sort of ‘history’ attached to them.

take, for instance, my inordinate fondness for fantasy books. well, of course, i do like science fiction too, but if i were to choose which of them appeals to me more — it would be the Fantasy genre hands down. (i’m a fan of JRR Tolkien, Tracy Hickman & Margaret Weis, Susannah Clarke, Neil Gaiman, Piers Anthony, etc.). somebody once equated Science Fiction = Future, Fantasy = Past (because of its heavy use of medieval settings), which should give you a clue about what i’m driving at.

another sign would be my fascination for well-preserved historical buildings (although this could be mostly due to my course) and landmarks. and then there’s my general fondness for history itself (well, certain parts of world history, anyway) and several historical figures.

the more i see about the current situation, the more pessimistic i get. it’s like the whole world has passed me by, going through changes that have somehow left me isolated and curiously detached. sometimes i get the feeling that i’m stuck in a time warp or something.

or — as an irreverent friend had suggested — it could just be a form of arrested development. perhaps after hitting a certain age, i had suddenly stopped growing and instead of going forward, i kept yearning for the past. sheesh. now, that’s depressing.