cloud age symphony

Having just finished watching the twelfth episode of the twenty six episode anime series Last Exile, I have to admit that I am somewhat confused, but at the same time very excited by what might happen next.  Claus and Lavie seem to be caught up in something far larger than themselves and that makes for some exciting storytelling as far as I am concerned.  It also has a classic ring to it.  I might go so far as to call Claus and Lavie the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of the story.  They seem somewhat important to the story, but in the end they are just characters on the fringe of the action.  Perhaps that is a stretch, but I could see and have read that the focus of the series does shift away from them.

To keep things simple and to keep my attention focused, I decided to watch all seven discs of the series without interruption.  Usually I like to stagger an anime episode with a foreign or independent film in my Netflix queue.  In the past when I tried that approach it felt as though I were cheating myself when I limited myself to just one genre.  Now I no longer feel that way, plus I can devote all of my attention to the story without any distractions.

Keeping focused seems to be my problem of late and that probably explains the bad dreams where I am either lost in a dorm or unprepared for final exams.  My mind seems to be all over the place, be it work, planning for the wedding, trying to organize a trip or relaxing by reading comic books and watching anime.  Simplification or narrowing my field of interest is probably what is best for me now so that I can feel like I am accomplishing something.  Otherwise nothing gets completed and I feel frustrated.  Quite often there are times, when I wish that I could press the pause button on my life.  I need to take a break and examine what is best for me, before I lose control.