Don't follow the shadows

I’ve been keeping up with my friends page, too. I have just spent the past week using my free (and not-so-free) time keeping inventory of all the activities I did each hour as part of a tedious anthropology assignment about time. Now I get to spend the rest of my Spring Break taking field notes for another week, reading roughly 150 pages, and writing a paper on top of all my other classes’ homework. That, and I really haven’t had much to say. (Do I ever?) ;)

I’ve been making the time over break to pick up the flute and guitar again, and I’m glad I haven’t lost my chops after not playing for months. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I played a bunch of traditional Irish tunes on flute and Pogues songs on guitar. Nothing else was really out of the ordinary, since I listen to Celtic music regularly anyway. I’ve also been enjoying the unseasonably warm weather outside with my cat, despite constantly having to chase her out of the dirt. This was also my last sober St. Patrick’s Day at home. Next year, it’ll be me and a pint of Guinness, granted I’m still alive of course. On a side note, is it weird that whenever I consider a future event, I bring up my mortality? I guess I don’t want to jinx anything, since it seems that whenever I’m hopeful about something happening, it doesn’t, and vice versa. I mean, accidents do happen.

I’ve been waiting to see Coraline over break, but it’s no longer playing at the theater in town. For the past several months, I feel like I’ve been missing out on everything that happens, only to experience it well after the fact, after everyone is done caring or wanting to hear about it. Such is life in the Midwest outside of the metropolises, I suppose. However, I did see The Reader with Catherine today. ( Read more... )

I have also been dealing with a few irresponsible people lately, and it’s really starting to get on my nerves. They think because they have very involved social lives and I don’t, it’s expected for me to get back to them in a timely manner, but they don’t bother getting back to me until the last minute or simply not at all. I think it will end up being the latter of the two come Friday, so I’m expecting those half-made plans to completely fall through. (The few previous entries allude to what that’s all about.) I’m just sick of these people putting everything and everyone before me, after I’ve made contact with them repeatedly, trying to arrange things. It’s not just that one person, either. Just because I don’t have a bunch of friends or have a job right now doesn’t mean I don’t have a life too.

My dad also recently announced that he wants to move back in, after leaving us a year and three months ago. Long story short, he’s not going to, since he just wants to do it because he’s sick of paying rent for his apartment and is lonely. He’s never apologized to us, says he still loves us, or makes any kind of an effort to do things or talk. Until he does these things, agrees to go to counseling, and gets on medication for his depression, we’re moving on without him, and it’s really for the best.

First of all, Lughnasadh is here! Today is the halfway point between Midsummer and Samhain, and with the heat we’ve been having, the prospect of fall is looking promising about now. There will also be a full solar eclipse, which I will unfortunately not be able to see due to my location. Those of you who can, enjoy it!

Secondly, it isn’t often that I become perturbed at something in pop culture or the media because I can usually ignore it. Right now, there are two things that won’t stop popping up and are driving me insane: Heath Ledger as the Joker in the new Batman movie the Dark Knight and Brett Favre. I don’t know if it’s the fact I live in Wisconsin or what, but everyone getting all upset over the separation of their OTP (Brett Favre/Packers) and the possibility of them getting back together is getting really annoying. American football isn’t serious fandom business, guys. It’s just a game. Think about the meaning of the word here. He should do what he wants, as well as the Packers, and all the fans need to stop being butthurt about it. You can’t blame the Packers for not taking him back if it’s going to be a big inconvenience to the team. As for the Heath Ledger Joker, I am sick to death of seeing pictures, macros, icons, etc. of the actual character and otherwise with their MS Paint-scribbled out eyes and mouth with “why so serious?” hastily scratched somewhere on the image. Obviously, he wouldn’t be getting this kind of attention if he were alive. Yes, he was one of the few actors I actually liked and was unhappy to learn of his death, but there have been dead celebrities featured in films that were being filmed or already filmed at the time of their death, and there will continue to be. It’s just getting really old. I don’t really care if I’m the only one who hasn’t seen the movie. I’m not going to pay $10 for a three-hour movie about Batman.

In other news, I decided I’m going to wait on handing my two weeks’ notice in for another week because I will need the extra money and will feel very guilty for sitting around the house for two weeks. One week is plenty, especially since I will be packing during that time. I need the money because the 20% off associate sale at work starts tomorrow, and know I’m already buying around $200 worth of merchandise. More on that later…

I know I’m going into controversial territory here, but I feel like I should mention something on the subject. My cousin Kyle has Aspberger’s Syndrome (a kind of autism), and he is now in driver’s ed and behind the wheel of a potential killing-machine. I say this because he doesn’t have good control over his anger, and my aunt and uncle do not know about it because it’s Catherine’s brother who tells me what he’s doing while he’s in school. Well, he had only been out driving with my aunt once and she had him simply park the car in the garage. He got flustered, didn’t break, and smashed into the back wall. He annihilated his sister’s scooter and all of the shelving, where the contents fell onto the hood of the car and all over the floor. The car is damaged, as well as the house. I honestly don’t think he should be driving. You can’t freak out in more serious situations on the road, let alone parking at your own house. I’ve spent a lot of time with Kyle, so I know what he’s like. Whenever he is angered by something, his reaction is very violent, and Catherine’s brother also agrees that he could very easily use the car to purposely hit someone in a car or a pedestrian. He knows this first-hand as the two of them actually got in a fistfight a few years ago. I hope this parking incident opens my aunt and uncle’s eyes and they evaluate the situation. They already have the poor kid going down the path of juvenile diabetes and heart disease because they go against his doctor’s orders and let him have all the sweets he wants, and now he’s morbidly obese. Although I’m no longer close with my cousins, I do drive around town and simply don’t feel comfortable with him on the road, which is what motivated me to mention this in the first place.

ETA: I found out that Kyle's driver's ed instructor does not think he should be driving either, so I guess I really wasn't out of line by saying what I did.