How is it August already?

So, had an exhausting Aikido session this evening - mainly because of the heat, but it was a more energetic session than we've had in a while. We had a guest sensei from the Netherlands - he's a good laugh and a fun teacher, but his approach was different (as you would expect) as was his emphasis, so we were doing things we don't often do and we did things I'd never done before. He placed an emphasis on breakfalls I haven't seen in a while and we spent about the first half hour on those - my somewhat buggered shoulder got distinctly unhappy when I landed a few of them harder than was wise. I'll see what it's like tomorrow - same goes for a lot of other muscles I suspect. Still it was nice to see him and his wife and I enjoyed the class, however small it turned out to be (him, his wife, my sensei, me and a regular).

In other news, finished reading 1984 today, not sure why I decided I should read it, but I did and having started it I felt I really should finish it. It's boring as anything for the first two-thirds. The English is a bit... I put it down to Orwell being raised in South Africa (I think), but setting aside a few grammatical oddities there was a lack of clarity in places that had me re-reading to be sure. I've overlooked far worse in fanfic, but my biggest complaint is that the protagonist is a self-absorbed intellectual wannabe (and that's ignoring the casual misogynism of the era in which it was written), he was just... I'm not sure whether it was the self-absorption or the wannabe that bothered me most, but I didn't give a toss what happened to him. Or any of the characters for that matter. There was no point anywhere in it where I sympathised or empathised with a character at all (and I have a habit of liking villains and all sorts, so...). Someone told me the book was depressing (I was almost finished it at that point anyway), but to be honest I didn't find it particularly so - largely I suspect because I just didn't care.

I suppose if you were a bit fan of Orwell you could argue that the protagonist's character was a direct result of the environment and therefore you're meant to pity him as he was doomed from day one. But if that were the case why bother with the realisation and rebellion he does manage? Maybe again, that was the point like the doomed flutterings of a trapped moth. I don't buy it though, largely because if you can't make the reader at least care what happens to the characters then you've pretty much failed and you might as well have just written an essay instead.

So, all in all, won't bother reading it again, won't bother with any other Orwell books either. Overall, it was a good idea in principle and has been copied innumerable times since, but it would have been far better as a short story.