selene_13: (Labyrinth)
Yesterday it was World Alzheimer’s Day, and with 2 colleagues I went to see a documentary about Alzheimer’s (called “Lost down Memory Lane” and shot in Belgium) at the nearest movie art house.

It truly is a horrible disease and I feel for everyone who has experience with it in their lives. My grandfather passed away suffering from this condition, and seeing it so detailed in the movie just again emphasised its tragedy.

I have to say that I would be ecstatic to get the chance to grow old (and not die young, which is a great fear of mine); but getting truly old, whereby everything you do – getting up out of bed, getting dressed and washed, eating and drinking, walking, going to the bathroom – becomes an extremely difficult chore, that takes time, and you need help, and it probably hurts, and you have no privacy, is not something I look forward to obviously.

But to lose your mind until you are alone in a home, where you cannot remember your children, or your life and accomplishments, or your dead husband, or even what you did yesterday or how you got where you are today, until you forget how to eat and drink, is a nightmare.

One lady in the film, who was still aware enough that she knew was in a home and had Alzheimer’s, and could be quite laconic about this fact, was most terribly upset about the fact that society had written her off. That there was no more use for her. It was incredibly sad.

Ramblings

Sep. 17th, 2010 02:41 pm
selene_13: (Default)
I'm glad that week's over: Frustrating days at work when others aren't doing their work as they're supposed to (as in, I tell them we need promotional material at an important conference I'm going to, I even tell them what they can do, but have to trust they will do it because I don't have the time to do their job for them, and then they deliberate over it, and a little more, hem and hum, la di da, and 2 weeks later tell me "oh we actually haven't got anything yet, and now it's too late to send over any shipment so we'll just drop it", leaving me with nothing to show for when I go meet these important people... gah!).

Anyway, I sort of sabotaged myself by leaving a big pile of manuscripts on my desk that I was going to check today (free day, but I'm two weeks out of the office soon so need to finish this stuff), and then getting into my car home without them. So, now I do have a free day after all. Oh well! :D

This week I saw the movie Four Lions, a British farcical satire about four jihadists in London. The guys are thick as bricks and have an ideology that's ridiculous (disparaging Western consumerism even while recording their (blooper) threats on camera, referencing Mortal Kombat and playing with their cell phones in Pakistan), but the film manages at the same time to carry a message that shows how far people, even people who hardly have a clue what they're doing or getting manipulated into, will go. In the end, it was quite tragic - tragi-comic I should say.

The subject is of course a touchy one. During the film five people walked out of the theatre, but I really enjoyed it. It had me in stitches, but it's message in the end was clear, and you have to accept that for what it is. It's a very sensitive topic, and some people might feel it's one too serious to toy with, but in reviews I've seen it compared to Charlie Chaplin mocking Hitler, as in mocking that which is fearsome, to disempower it. And I like that analogy.

I remember reading about a similar anecdote, where a guy infiltrated a white rights supremist group in the US whose membership was on the rise, and then what he'd pick up at their meetings was publicly mocked on the radio: All the ridiculous nick names and safe words and rites and rituals were made fun off, and that caused their popularity and membership to drop. People couldn't take them serious anymore because their little club was exposed as intrinsically silly (despite the terrible things they did besides that). And so by mocking what is threatening, you disempower it.

It doesn't take away the threat per say, but maybe disparages some people from joining what's been exposed as destructive ideology. And anyway, better to laugh than to cry at life.

(I'm pretty sure that last anecdote was from Gladwell's The Tipping Point).
selene_13: (Labyrinth)
Came home from Zumba class and am zonked on the couch with a kitty against my side. My brother is playing Sigur Ros, a blast from the past. They had this beautiful video of two boys coming out. The music is hauntingly beautiful:



Another wonderful video is Glosoli. I really want to visit Iceland, there's something magical about it.

I'mma going to read some h/c meme fic with this as my background. See if I can write anything. But I can't take another 3 am late-nighter. :) These memes will be the death of me (sweet and glorious!).
selene_13: (Labyrinth)
OhmygodIsuckIscoulndn'thelpmyselfandsawthepromopicsforepisode1 here andspoileredmyselfagain.

I suck.

Now this I don't get (and I link a Dutch site because the English is down due to massive traffic, so if you want to see the pics you can see some here): Apparently some guys are going to go public with a bigfoot body tomorrow (oh my god so cool though it will be a scrurvy bear or a movie hoax), and this bigfoot site that I found says:

"Preliminary photos show something gorilla like; but this is NOT the body of the North American Sasquatch... more like a misidentification?"

I can't believe it. They find your Bigfoot and apparently they bring DNA, and you say, weeellll naaaahh!

Go with it people. The truth is out there.


ETA: In the form of a Gorilla suit. Bwah!

Random

May. 16th, 2008 04:00 pm
selene_13: (Default)
All the bus transportation was on strike yesterday, so I had to ride my bicycle to the train station these past 2 days to get to work (I commute close to 3 hours everyday, it’s driving me nuts, but I love my job and I’m looking for a car to shorten the trip).

Whilst cycling along, a huge bug flies down my shirt! I’m shoving my hand down my front to get rid of it, grabbing apparently at my boobs, and cars are driving along besides me, ogling.

I am so psyched to see the Supernatural finale that I really just wanna be running around in circles. I have to go out tonight (yeah, sorta hafta wanna), but I’ll be watching it after midnight. Best time for SPN viewing anyway.

(Am NOT spoiled except for the promo! How hard it is to stay away from the online ruckus…! Am in retreat).
selene_13: (Dean)
I haven't written anything for quite some time now. Last time was a ficlet after HBP, trying to make something out of that story (bit of a failure, that). Since then I've been meandering too much between fandoms, sometimes inspired but never so that I actually sat down to write the ideas down. Fandoms switched on and off too fast: I was watching and reading Heroes, Smallville, Gilmore Girls, HP, some favourite oldies from assorted fandoms, but none of these fandoms particularly drew me in (and HP had lost me), and, as far as I could find, Heroes and Smallville didn't have much fic to read either (not of the sort I wanted, anyhow).

But now, I've been immersed into Supernatural for quite some months, and faced a different problem: The ammount of fanfic was so astounding and varied, that 1) I could not stop reading; there was just more and more to go through, and I'm still not finished!, and 2) So much has been written that I felt there was hardly any niche left to snuggle into - I'd just be writing more of the same. But I've decided, screw that. If I write more of the same, who cares? I'm writing for myself anyway, and as long as I actually feel the need to put things down, just do it already!

Mostly I've been fighting my own apathy. I was very productive when I was in VampChron fandom: I wrote several hundred pages of fic and was very happy in the community. Since then (and that was like 7 years ago), I've not written so much: A few little fics here and there in HP mostly, certainly no long fic. I've always wanted to be a writer, but now I can't even push myself to write short fic in fandom and I'm despairing at my ability to ever get going again. When I was in Uni, I always figured I'd have more time once my evenings were free and I had no thesis to write. Now that I work full-time and commute to and from work for 3 hours a day, I am mostly too tired in the evening to do anything but conk out in front of the telly or read fic.

If you really love writing though, you'll do it. And I do love it. So I'm going to simply ease myself in with writing some short fics or challenges and see if I can jumpstart myself back into the game (be it good or bad). This weekend I sat most of my way through a "Five Times Dean Was..." type fic, just to think of some different ways to handle one theme and start with some very short concept fics. Then, I want to do some Dean whumpage. I don't care how repetitive it's going to be. Hell, can there ever be enough h/c or angst anyway? Not in my book.

/self-indulgence
selene_13: (Seasoning)
I’ve had one of those weeks…

Tuesday I went to apply for a job in Amsterdam. I wore a neat little skirt and took the train. But stepping up into the compartment I felt this tearing at my back. My skirt had ripped at the seam, all the way up to my bum!

Luckily I wear a coat which reaches my thighs, so I could still walk around in public, but I was going to have to take that off for the interview! Naturally, I was freaking out. What if they wanted to show me around or take my coat at the door?

I turned my skirt so the rip would be at my thigh, not my ass, and ended up taking off my coat and sitting down very quickly while tea was being fetched, and was surreptitiously back in my coat at the end of the interview. Luckily nobody noticed my Bridget Jones moment and they actually called me the next day that they selected me for the position!

So yay for my new job at a publisher’s!

I told the story of the ripped skirt at work Wednesday. The men were peaking their ears at that one, the dirty pervs, telling me I got the job because of my promiscuous skirt! :) Oh, and one guy dropped his coffee in his lap.

Wednesday night I set my hair on fire in the bar. I caught the flame from the corner of my eye (I was carelessly leaning forward into a candle) and quickly patted it out. I lost some hair (which isn’t visible at all though, so no biggie), but worse was the smell! Ugh. Then people kept coming up to me asking me if I was okay and that I gave them a big scare, but all they did was make me feel extremely embarrassed. Oy. ;)

Saw the Prestige yesterday. A great movie, where the suspense builds and builds and manages to deliver at the end, which is always a rare treat. It has a great cast, and also, Jackman, Bale and Johansson ain’t bad to look at either.

Here's to a good, accident free, weekend!

Randomness

Feb. 12th, 2007 05:56 pm
selene_13: (Labyrinth)
Last week I very, really, incredibly stupidly knocked a glass of juice over my brand-new, awesome, beloved laptop. Needless to say, it is now broken. I could kick myself in the teeth. It was so random and careless. *rolls eyes at self* I hope the people in the store can fix it. And I hope it won't be too expensive, either... :/ Arrgh, I miss my computer!

However, in a strange reversal of fortune, I picked up a book to keep myself busy and have now read two novels in six days. This is the way I used to be, before I became addicted to being online, reading fanfic and downloading my favourite shows. I miss reading like this, but I know that as soon as my comp is fixed I'll revert back to my addictive ways... Oh, well!

Last year I had the plan to read a book a week. I managed about a book every two weeks. I'll see what happens this year (prob. same old).

I spent the weekend at my father's (about a 3,5 hour trainride away). He and his partner have been together for around twenty years now and it shows. I found it very amusing to hear them bicker and fuss about little things in their own caring (but somewhat irritating) way. "We have to turn right here, Tom." "I know, Hank." "Just thought to mention it, Tom." "We pass here every day, Hank." "Just saying so, Tom." "I'm taking a short cut here, Hank." "If you go left here you'll go through Baker street, Tom." "Yes, Hank." etc. etc. They really do sound like an old, married couple. They took me around the country, very eager to show me all the sights and beauty of their rural surroundings. It's just that there really isn't much to do there, the country is winter barren, there are endless fields in the middle of nowhere (which is non-existent in the busily populated area where I live), you pass a "town" in twenty seconds, and the empty fields look rather desolate. It was also raining. I didn't bring the right shoes which meant my feet were wet, I was cold all the time (even in the house), and being inside was boring. On the other hand, they tried so hard to make me feel welcome, they stuffed me with food and tea, and were so happy that I came to visit, that I'll have to visit again come spring (we'll see everything again, in bloom and hopefully warmer, which will lighten my mood).

My father's house is so white and proper, that I feel like an intruder just stepping inside it. Everything is exactly in place and so crystal clean! I just sit on the couch and try not to move too much. I like my house cluttered, imperfect and looking lived-in. It doesn't matter if something is nudged or if the cat comes in muddy-pawed or if I have people over. But I did get to take a nice, warm bath before bed. Heaven!

I get frustrated with my dad complaining though. He just hasn't got much to keep him busy, so he cleans and minds the little things. He moved to the country because the city was giving him stress, but he always finds something to complain about. The neighbour's barking dog, for instance, or the threat of a kindergarten getting built nearby. But then he'll turn around and say he's bored because there's nothing to do and he's lonely. I swear he doesn't know what he wants. Really though, he'll never be content until he's happy with himself, and he's far from there. He's looking for perfection, but that's just never going to happen. I wish he would settle for acceptance. It would make his life so much more comfortable! And mine easier. :/

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