Medusa has been replaced but Clytemnestra is hanging on

I've never been rich, but also I've never been poor. I've never really struggled with money but that's because of circumstances that have always been out of my control. In effect, whatever I did when I was the 'before me' made very little impression on the world in any way.

Now I am a devoted Christian, everything is so difficult.

Now my relationship with the world is much more important than the relationship with myself. I am no longer the centre of my own universe, my own feelings and desires are subsumed by those of God and my husband to be. I now have an external locus of control, I exist to please first God, and then my husband in everything I do, and soon God willing, I will extend that to include my own children.

The before me was satisfied that my life was a reflection of what I desired, but the now me feels a gnawing guilt about everything I have when so many have so little.

The brain is no friend to its host people!

Luckily what seems in the dead of night to be an insurmountable problem, appears to have realistic alternative answers to the doom and gloom of one's processing unit in the bright sunshine of the morning.

In fact on my fifteenth birthday we went en famille to the 100th anniversary of that day, which is known as Bloomsday. It is celebrated around the world as such, particularly among Joycean scholars and fans, and named for one of the two main protagonists. Leopold Bloom.

Therefore I spent that birthday in and around Dublin at the then, largest cultural event to be held in Ireland. I was even allowed my first Guinness, which I hated, but also had my first taste of black pudding which I loved.

I know everyone says they want to read the book, but can't cope with the dense stream of consciousness, language, and structure. But I absolutely believe if you persevere the rewards are definitely commensurate with the effort.