It's Jan 2008 and I've not seen my family for almost a year. I told them I'd have to get a job before I could bring them over here to Boston. Only hassle is the financial happenings of Aug 2007 have put a slight spanner in the works!
Fortunately, I managed to snag a job in these dull times! Despite this load off my back, I feel incomplete. It's probably because my wife and kids won't be here till Feb end. I'm really looking forward to being part of a family again! Let's do the right thing!
That’s how it feels like when my youngest one comes rushing into the room, requesting/demanding to be carried, using that same shrill tone of voice as the seagull flock in Finding Nemo (can anyone say “miNEmiNEmiNEmiNEmiNE”!)
I love him but he’s often a handful. He just keeps going…or coming, depending on whether you’re the witness or the victim of the run-by. Sometimes, when I imagine that he’s an overactive kid, I only have to recall how much madness I brought my mother as she was raising my siblings and I. Fortunately, my ‘tot’enator makes up for it with his frequent wily smiles and cheeky grins. I just wish he wouldn’t be probing the kitchen child gate and bathroom door every so often like a velociraptor waiting to spring on unsuspecting prey.
Well, as any trip with kids goes, we did half of what we wanted!! :P
Friday
I'd gone ahead to the Bus Terminal with the bags because there'd be no way I could have carried the bags with the kids around. I got stressed when I saw that my family had not arrived with 20 minutes to the bus' departure. Fortunately, the Greyhound ride to NYC was quite smooth. My younger one slept most of the way, which was heaven!!
At the Hyatt (again, thank you Priceline!), we got a free upgrade to a bigger room. Must have have been a slow week but who're we to complain! :D
We walked from the Hyatt to the Rock where we took a few photos below before heading inside.Top of the Rock - very nice view and minimal waiting time! Sure beats the queues to Empire State Building. No skyride as we were short of time. I especially love the glass walls all around that allows you to see all the surrounding cityscape without being hindered by pillars, walls and other visual blocks.
After the Rock, my wife, Aarya and her friend went to the Guggenheim to have a look see while I went to Penn Station to pick up their Amtrak tix for Sunday. They were off to upstate NY while I'd be returning to Boston for my week's work. After picking up the tix, Aadhi (3.5 yrs old) and I walked back to the hotel. It must have been a good 8 blocks or so and the kid was riding on my shoulders some of the time after a brief subway ride. Along the way, we saw a bunch of B-boys doing their dance thing. Aadhi wanted to show off his own moves but I kinda held on to him because I have seen wandering kids accidently kicked by such dancers before. We also stopped by some of the green slices of parks in Manhattan to have a good ol' sit down and chitchat...for a three year old, it mostly involved superheroes (Ironman was in vogue), Barney and Babybob, Power Rangers and how he wanted to be treated...yes, he was quite specific about that last one!
That evening we were all exhausted from all that walking and just crashed!
Saturday
My wife's friend, J, called up her nephew, Bas, who was living in Queens. He graciously came down to pick us up to see the Statue of Liberty, saving us the hassle of moving through subway and bus to get to Battery Park. As luck would have it, J was not feeling well at first, so Bas brought us for breakfast to the Ganesha temple in Flushing, where the South Indian food was to die for. Priced really well too! Finishing that, we picked up J to head on for our Statue visit when it began to pour. Boo!!
For whatever reason, Bas suggested we try the ferry service to Liberty and Ellis islands from the Jersey side. As we were heading over from Manhattan, the rain seemed to get progressively worse. The logical side of me kept thinking, "There's no point, let's just head back!" However, the gods were kind to us. Just as we arrived to Liberty Pointe Ferry Terminal (I think that was the name), the rain slowed to a super light mist and the sun started to peek out. As the ferry arrived, the bright sunny weather totally hid the rainy reality that we'd had 10 minutes before.
The ferry ride was smooth and breezy. It was especially nice because all the deckhands were polite and friendly. Must be something in the Jersey water because NYC-based staff we'd met later were sullen and standing around without a hint of assistance.
We had the mandatory walk around Liberty island. Because it was the evening, the sun was already behind Lady Liberty so alot of the photos ended up over-exposured. Regardless, the park staff were trying to sell the chance to take a 'photo of a lifetime'...yeah, right! :) We still had a good walkabout. It was refreshing, especially in the mild weather and slighly crisp seabreeze.
The ride back to Jersey and the drive back to the hotel was quiet as the kids were relatively worn out. The adults were too but we still had to pack for "Escape from New York" the next day. I was very grateful to Bas for taking time out to bring us around. Fact is, it's hard to find folks like that in the US. Everything has to be organized, to be scheduled. Though he was given some notice by J, he didn't have much info till the day before our arrival. I'll definitely have to send him a nice thank you card afterwards!
Before the day was completely over, I took J over to Times Square to have a look at the neon fixtures and broadway boards illuminating the entire area! Though I'd been to Times Square various times before, it was always an interesting place to stop by. The way people looked, the way people talked, how every other person appeared to be a tourist with a camera or a NYC denizen trying to make some tourist dollars! I'm only sad that she didn't get to see the most famous Times Square resident: the Naked Cowboy!
Sunday
Early wake up call to pack and send my family on the train. As I brought their bags onto the train and settled them in, I was hit by a bit of nostalgia and sadness. I was going to be away from my family again. Sure, they would only be 8 hours away by car but the fact that I wouldn't have my older son trying to pry my sleepy eyes open, my younger one trying to throw the ball he liked at my head or my wife asking me for the nth time if I was going to get out of bed for dinner/breakfast!
All in all, the weeekend stay in NYC was pretty fruitful, despite the fear of wet weather and having to keep two young kids occupied with something other than Spongebob and Mickey's Disney Club. However, I'd only ever do it again if I'd managed to get as lucky as I did with everything on this trip! :)
I've been to the Big Apple a few times. I've had my share of fun as an individual, a bachelor (sans hanky-panky, of course!) However, this time's going to be different! My wife's going to be around! Our two beloved, loving, tyrannical tots are going to be around!! My wife's friend is going to be around! It's going to be a crowded trip and I pray that the weather holds it's good humor.
We'll be 'bus'ing it (Greyhound and Fung Wah), 'train'ing it (Amtrak), 'subway'ing it, walking, running and just plain standing around. It will be fun, will be exciting, will be frustrating, will be tiring but I'm sure it'll be one helluva trip! Manhattan's not the most child-friendly place so I guess I'm going to discover what I've been missing all this while.
Itinerary includes:
Top of the Rock (view atop the Rockefeller Building at the city's skyline)
Empire State Building Skyride (Virtually swooping around Manhattan)
Bronx Zoo
Central Park
Guggenheim Museum
Broadway show (hopefully, for wife and friend - I'll be taking the two boys for a walkabout)
Let's see how this little trip goes. If I come back with the same amount of hair, then I guess I'd consider the trip a success! :D
Finally!! Road trip!! I'm starting to feel as excited as the passengers arriving to FantasyIsland.
We're going on a trip at the end of the month. This is something I've looked forward to for a long time. While my family was still waiting to come over, I kept dreaming of many road trips to visit friends and family, on the open highway, windows down, cool breeze in our hair, stereo blasting away...unfortunately, I've learnt that when a family travels, it's not quite like that.
I had to arrange for hotel stay in NYC ($$$ - thank you Priceline’s Quote Your Own Price), bus tix for all (from Boston to NYC), train tix for the others (wife’s visiting a friend) and a rental car for me (for later). It’s not pretty but I’m hopeful. It may not be as sexy as a ‘normal’ road trip with the windows down and music blaring (more likely windows up and kids blaring!) but it sure beats staying in one place when the world is still our oyster!
As much as I love my two boys, they can get me so worked up at times that I either feel depressed or about to blow my top. The younger one is only 1+ so I am able to explain away any exasperation because he's too young to understand and is naturally curious. As the older one is 3+ now, he's quite coherant and seems to say the smartest things in a situation.
Unfortunately, that also makes me think that he's able to act older than he is all the time - which is not possible considering he's still a 3 year old kid.
An example of his 'older' behavior: my wife was asking him if he'd finished brushing his teeth (after he'd been in the bathroom for over 5 minutes). As she walked into the bathroom, he was up on his perch and looking a little pensive. He said, "I'm still thinking about it." Nothing mindblowing but what would a kid sent to brush his teeth have to be pensive about at 9pm?
An example of his age group's usual behavior - Me, "Aadhi, don't put the rice you're eating on the table!" Aadhi, "But I want to." Me, "You want to?!" Aadhi, "I have to...". Me, "You have to?!?!"...etc
When such contradicting behaviors present themselves to me, I'm often tickled but I'm just as often wringing my hands, wondering why I get so worked up when I know that this kind of interaction and communication is only reflective of his emotional and intellectual maturity. Yes, sometimes it feels like I'm already dealing with a teenager but without the hormones yet(THANK THE GODS!!)
Perhaps what scares me is that when they do have their cute, cuddly moments, my wife turns to me and says, "So, when do you want to have another one?"
Bare, naked trees are suddenly green and red and other colors of the rainbow!
There are more people walking around as I go to work at 1AM!
Increased sightings of breasts and legs again...and I'm just talking about the returning red-breasted Mergansers and the occasional Great Egret!
More playground time as I take my kids to the nearby park after work, giving my wife about 1-2 hours off.
I don't have to dress like an eskimo anymore when stepping out at night.
Motorcyclists are out on the road again, revving their engines at all hours of the night...and these are the ones riding the hogs (with that loud, distinct 'dek-dek-dek').
When my kids and I are only wearing our underwear around the house...I pity my wife cos she still has to dress modestly infront of our kids! :)
I'm drinking cold drinks more than hot drinks again...for that matter, I'm actually having drinks again!
My friends can't give the excuse that it's too cold to travel out to where I am anymore!
I'm getting Monday blues everyday because the weather's finally needing me out and about!!
I've been away from this blog a wee bit too long. However, it's taken alot out of me just to get used to my new schedule of work, breakfast, playground, lunch, sleep, dinner and back to work. All this while trying to teach my kids the right way to behave and not lose my own sanity as I deal with their childish inanities. Sometimes it makes me pretty mad but, overall, I'm pretty much happier to have my kids and Viji with me again!
I'd rented a car for the last 2 days, to help with the final moving items. It's been fun driving around Boston, especially since I don't have to follow everyone else's hours. I'm always going against the traffic, clear highways for me while the rest of the world has it's gridlock!
Anyways, today all that changed - I woke up at 9pm, looked out the window and went ****! It was white outside and that would have meant that I would finally experience that American tradition of knocking the snow off of my car!
As I got down to it, I was rueing the need for indoor parking and warmer climates! Ah, Singapore, I miss you for this reason!! :D
I got going and immediately came to the conclusion that I didn't have snow tires - this bore itself out as my first turn almost saw me oversteer and slide along to the kerb. Fortunately, things got better, I became more cautious and the drivers around me started giving me a helluva lot more space!! *grin*
Driving up to Boston itself was pretty quiet. I guess alot of people were happy to stay in on a night when the snow was lightly pounding on my windscreen, making it a little harder to see far ahead. I will admit that I was pretty happy I was driving, cos the walk up to the train station would have been something I would have dreaded!
I'm only glad that the next few days' awful weather is going to be interrupted by a blissful sunny day on Thursday - that's the day that I fly out to India to see my family again!!! YEAH!!!!
So, without further ado, here's the weather advisory for Massachusetts.
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 AM EST WEDNESDAY...
SNOW WILL FALL HEAVY AT TIMES THIS EVENING...BEFORE CHANGING TO FREEZING RAIN BETWEEN 11 PM AND 1 AM ACROSS NORTHERN CONNECTICUT AND RHODE ISLAND AND SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS...AND BETWEEN 1 AM AND 3 AM ACROSS NORTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS. A PERIOD OF FREEZING RAIN IS THEN EXPECTED JUST INLAND FROM THE COAST.
BEFORE THE CHANGEOVER...SNOW WILL GENERALLY ACCUMULATE 2 TO 4 INCHES. A LIGHT GLAZE IS EXPECTED ON TOP OF THE SNOW.
THE FREEZING RAIN WILL CHANGE TO RAIN BETWEEN 4 AM AND 7 AM AS TEMPERATURES RISE ABOVE FREEZING...HOWEVER POCKETS OF FREEZING RAIN MAY PERSIST IN THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY THROUGH 8 AM. PERIODS OF HEAVY RAIN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. URBAN AND POOR DRAINAGE FLOODING WILL THEN BECOME A BIG CONCERN.
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS ISSUED WHEN SNOW AND/OR ICE IS FORECAST TO DEVELOP IN THE AFFECTED AREAS...BUT ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BE LIGHT. ANY SNOW OR ICE WOULD MAKE DRIVING AND WALKING DIFFICULT BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE ON UNTREATED ROADWAYS AND SIDEWALKS. WHEN TEMPERATURES ARE BELOW FREEZING...MOTORISTS NEED TO BE ESPECIALLY CAREFUL ON BRIDGES AND OVERPASSES WHERE SLIPPERY SPOTS CAN EASILY DEVELOP.
I had an earlier trip to bring half my stuff over. This trip was to bring the big ticket items (like my mattress). I still have my suitcases, etc to bring over but they're all kucing kurau (small fish) compared to what we had to move.
For anyone who's watched Fever Pitch (with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore), this is the office building featured. Well, now the John Hancock Tower is my office too! I gotta say that's pretty cool!! :)
Vlad and Marat had made plans to leave Boston - Vlad to Michigan, Marat and his wife, Irina, possibly back to Russia. So the vodka came out to celebrate with us!! And the food! THE FOOD!!! :D
Sometimes, you just have to wonder!! What kind of parents need instructions like these! I've got a whole bunch of them but it was taking too long to upload, so here's a small taste. More to follow.
For those who don't know, I now work the night shift at State Street, here in Boston. From 11pm to 7am, I work alongside fellow newbies like myself as well as veterans who've been doing this for almost 2 years. Some have alternative timings like 3am to 11am - it doesn't make it easier but I guess it does make rushhour a very infrequent event!
What's really tough about the night shift is that our bodies are not designed to function like this. Enough literature out there suggests that it's pretty bad for our bodies to keep this up long term. I agree with them and expect to get out of this in the next 6 months.
However, small discoveries like what DARPA has come up with do leave me excited and nervous. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have found a drug that eliminates sleepiness with a nasal spray of a key brain hormone. The spray has worked well in lab experiments, with no apparent side effects. The hope is that the hormone will serve as a promising sleep-replacement drug in humans.
One person wrote in to mention a recent book that addressed some of the issues with missing too much sleep. Dr Timothy Walters, in REM Illumination Memory Consolidation, posited the basic idea that sleep allows us to index our memories for access in normal function. In this case it makes sense that sleep deprivation, even while not "sleepy", would prevent the formation of memory indexes and thus make a person eventually loose time or stunt the formation of long term memories.
I have noticed that I'm starting to forget simple, innocuous bits of activity and the occasional smattering of dialogue and ideas. If that's not a precursor of sleep deprivation, I don't know what would be.
Have a read. Whether you stay a fan or a nay-sayer will depend on you! Cheers!
For anyone who knows Singapore’s political scene, you’ll know S. Dhanabalan, who was amongst the early PAP cadre and now holds the position of Chairman of DBS Bank (whose 2007 income totaled $4.7bn) was said to have never sat at working meetings. It was claimed that he felt he could produce better ideas when he was standing up.
Additionally, we’ve seen many a movie where the protagonist or the consulting professor is often seen pacing around while thinking about an idea or contemplating a solution. Somehow, they seem better off moving about than simply copying the habits of The Thinker.
As things go, someone’s done a study and here are the results. This was published in the Wall Street Journal on Jan 15, 2008 and now I’m sharing it with you. For your reading pleasure:
Thinking With Your Limbs Via WSJ.com's ever-fascinating blog "Informed Reader" comes today's kicker on the long-established therapeutic benefits of pacing. The blog picks up on Boston Globe reporter Drake Bennett's story on the emerging field of "embodied cognition," which explores how behaviors such as pacing or talking with one's hands could do as much to sort out your thoughts as anything that goes on in your actual gray matter. The story cites a study led by Arizona State University psychology professor Arthur Glenberg, which found that arm movements can have an impact on the comprehension of language and that children are more likely to solve math problems if told to gesture with their hands as they think it through. Other research has found that unconscious eye movements assist people trying to untangle some types of brainteasers. No insight was offered on whether kicking over garbage cans and weaving together a lacework of four-letter words helps out or not. But I happen to think the research just hasn't gotten there yet.
Well, I'm not much of a follower of religion (other than leading my kids through acts to establish a basic sense of community and social belonging) but I cannot shake off the notion that there is something out there bigger than us. Sometimes, I feel it is a god-like entity; other times, just plain luck or misfortune.
Either way, I'm set on hearing and reading whatever I can (within the capacity of my MTV influenced attention span) so that I understand more, think deeper, wonder seriously and be happy that I won't do wrong because I'm told to.
I'm attached the content of the html page that's inspired this little blog entry:
1. Religion easily has the best bullshit story of all time. Think about it. Religion has convinced people that there’s an invisible man…living in the sky. Who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn’t want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you and he needs money. George Carlin
2. Atheism: A non-prophet organization. George Carlin
3. I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death. George Carlin
4. Which is it, is man one of God’s blunders or is God one of man’s? Friedrich Nietzsche
5. Faith means not wanting to know what is true. Friedrich Nietzsche
6. Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies. Friedrich Nietzsche
7. What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of “humility.” This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism. Albert Einstein
8. It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. … Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death. Albert Einstein, “Religion and Science”, New York Times Magazine, 9 November 1930
9. If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. Albert Einstein
10. The most henious and the must cruel crimes of which history has record have been committed under the cover of religion or equally noble motives. Mohandas K Gandhi, Young India, July 7, 1950, quoted from Laird Wilcox, ed., “The Degeneration of Belief” Gandhi
11. I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. Gandhi
12. “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.” Mark Twain
13. A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows. Mark Twain
14. What God lacks is convictions — stability of character. He ought to be a Presbyterian or a Catholic or something — not try to be everything. Mark Twain
15. Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer. Mark Twain, quoted from Curmudgeon-Online
16. “In God We Trust.” I don’t believe it would sound any better if it were true. Mark Twain
17. Shake off all fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God, because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear. Thomas Jefferson
18. We are afraid of the known and afraid of the unknown. That is our daily life and in that there is no hope, and therefore every form of philosophy, every form of theological concept, is merely an escape from the actual reality of what is. All outward forms of change brought about by wars, revolutions, reformations, laws and ideologies have failed completely to change the basic nature of man and therefore of society. Thomas Jefferson
19. The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason: The Morning Daylight appears plainer when you put out your Candle. Benjamin Franklin, the incompatibility of faith and reason, Poor Richard’s Almanack (1758)
20. Lighthouses are more helpful then churches. Benjamin Franklin
21. If God has made us in his image, we have returned him the favor. Voltaire
22. Those who believe absurdities will commit atrocities. Voltaire
23. Black holes would seem to suggest that God not only plays dice, but also sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen. Stephen Hawking, NATURE, 1975
24. We could call order by the name of God, but it would be an impersonal God. There’s not much personal about the laws of physics. Stephen Hawking
Jiddu Krishnamurti
25. Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay. Jiddu Krishnamurti
26. The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear. Jiddu Krishnamurti
27. What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof. Christopher Hitchens
28. Christopher Hitchens On Jerry Falwell: If you gave Falwell an enema, he could be buried in a matchbox.
29. Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires. Sigmund Freud
30. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. Karl Marx
31. The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. George Bernard Shaw
32. Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions. Blaise Pascal
32. You’re basically killing each other to see who’s got the better imaginary friend. Richard Jeni
34. With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. Steven Weinberg
35. The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike. Delos B. McKown
36. Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. Edward Gibbon
37. Our ignorance is God; what we know is science. Robert Ingersoll
38. The foolish reject what they see and not what they think; the wise reject what they think and not what they see. Huang Po
39. Where knowledge ends, religion begins. Benjamin Disraeli
40. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime; give a man religion and he will die praying for a fish. Unknown
41. If there really is a God who created the entire universe with all of its glories, and He decides to deliver a message to humanity, He will not use, as His messenger, a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle. Dave Barry
42. Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? - Epicurus
43. The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not. Eric Hoffer
44. I think flying planes into a building was a faith-based initiative. I think religion is a neurological disorder. Bill Maher
45. There’s a phrase we live by in America: “In God We Trust”. It’s right there where Jesus would want it: on our money.
46. If we go back to the beginning, we shall find that ignorance and fear created the gods; that fancy, enthusiasm, or deceit adorned them; that weakness worships them; that credulity preserves them and that custom, respect and tyranny support them in order to make the blindness of men serve their own interests. If the ignorance of nature gave birth to gods, the knowledge of nature is calculated to destroy them. Baron D’Holbach, cited in Jonathan Miller. (2004). A Brief History of Disbelief [TV-Series].
47. If I thought the Jews killed God, I’d worship the Jews. Bill Hicks
48. Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. Isaac Asimov
49. A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition. José Bergamín
50. One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion. Arthur C. Clarke
I'd watched Stranger Than Fiction a few times. Each time I do, I find myself getting fonder and fonder of it because of how people react to each other, how they react to circumstances (sometimes beyond their control) and how just enjoy their cookies!
For those who've not seen the movie, it's a story of an IRS agent called Harold Crick (played by Will Ferrell of SNL's More Cowbell fame) who finds a voice narrating his actions to him like in a story (voice played by Emma Thompson) and slowly finds himself beginning to lose control of it. It's a light-hearted comedy dealing with mortality and of how much control we actually have over our lives.
I'm adding some lines from the movie because they tickled me and I hope you'll be able to enjoy them too even if you've not watched the movie. There's the protagonist, Harold Crick, the narrator, Kay Eiffel, the heroine, Ana Pascal, and the professor trying to help Harold understand what's going on, Dr Jules.
Kay Eiffel: [narrating] This is a story about a man named Harold Crick and his wristwatch. Harold Crick was a man of infinite numbers, endless calculations, and remarkably few words. And his wristwatch said even less. Every weekday, for twelve years, Harold would brush each of his thirty-two teeth seventy-six times. Thirty-eight times back and forth, thirty-eight times up and down. Every weekday, for twelve years, Harold would tie his tie in a single Windsor knot instead of the double, thereby saving up to forty-three seconds. His wristwatch thought the single Windsor made his neck look fat, but said nothing.
Harold Crick: [on bus, and sees Ana get on the same bus] Miss Pascal! Miss Pascal! Ana Pascal: [she sees him and moves away so that she is standing in the aisle] Harold Crick: It's Harold Crick from the IRS. Ana Pascal: [embarrassed] Hi. Harold Crick: Hey, do you want a seat? Ana Pascal: No. Harold Crick: Because there are 11 empty ones. Ana Pascal: No. I'm fine. Ana Pascal: [Ana tries to fit, hanging onto a pole that is already full of people. The bus jolts, and she is flung into a seat that is next to, Harold. Embarrassed, she stays there and tries to ignore him] Harold Crick: So, how are you? Ana Pascal: I'm lousy. I'm getting audited! By a real *creep*, too. Harold Crick: Miss Pascal, I think I owe you an apology. IRS agents... we're given rigorous aptitude tests before we can work. Unfortunately for you, we aren't tested on tact or good manners. So... I-I... I apologize. I o-ogled you. Sorry. Ana Pascal: Apology accepted. But only because you stammered. Harold Crick: So, are you a frequenter of the Metropolitan Transit Authority too? Ana Pascal: No. I'm just late. Harold Crick: Big flag burning to get to? Ana Pascal: Actually, it's my weekly evil-conspiracy and needlepoint group. You wanna come? Harold Crick: I left my thimbles and socialist reading material at home. Kay Eiffel: [narrating] So Harold began to engage in small talk. Harold Crick: [to Ana] You have very straight teeth. Ana Pascal: Thanks. Kay Eiffel: [narrating] *Very* small talk.
Ana Pascal: Listen, I'm a big supporter of fixing potholes and erecting swing sets and building shelters. I am *more* than happy to pay those taxes. I'm just not such a big fan of the percentage that the government uses for national defense, corporate bailouts, and campaign discretionary funds. So, I didn't pay those taxes. I think I sent a letter to that effect with my return. Harold Crick: Would it be the letter that beings "Dear Imperialist Swine"?
Ana Pascal: [Hurt and annoyed that Harold refuses to just take the cookies and has offered to buy them] Go home Harold. Harold Crick: Okay. [starts for the door and realizes he's dissappointed her] Harold Crick: Did- You made those cookies for me, didn't you. [She looks at him sadly] Harold Crick: You were just trying to be nice, and I blew it. [reaches into his briefcase and retrieves the little black book where he's tracking his comedy vs tragedy tallies, and there are a lot of marks under tragedy. Sadly] Harold Crick: This may sound like gibberish to you, but I think I'm in a tragedy.
Dr. Jules Hilbert: Hell Harold, you could just eat nothing but pancakes if you wanted. Harold Crick: What is wrong with you? Hey, I don't want to eat nothing but pancakes, I want to live! I mean, who in their right mind in a choice between pancakes and living chooses pancakes? Dr. Jules Hilbert: Harold, if you pause to think, you'd realize that that answer is inextricably contingent upon the type of life being led... and, of course, the quality of the pancakes.
Kay Eiffel: As Harold took a bite of Bavarian sugar cookie, he finally felt as if everything was going to be ok. Sometimes, when we lose ourselves in fear and despair, in routine and constancy, in hopelessness and tragedy, we can thank God for Bavarian sugar cookies. And, fortunately, when there aren't any cookies, we can still find reassurance in a familiar hand on our skin, or a kind and loving gesture, or subtle encouragement, or a loving embrace, or an offer of comfort, not to mention hospital gurneys and nose plugs, an uneaten Danish, soft-spoken secrets, and Fender Stratocasters, and maybe the occasional piece of fiction. And we must remember that all these things, the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties, which we assume only accessorize our days, are effective for a much larger and nobler cause. They are here to save our lives. I know the idea seems strange, but I also know that it just so happens to be true. And, so it was, a wristwatch saved Harold Crick.
I hope you watch the movie sometime. You might start humming "I'd search the whole wide world, I'd search the whole wide world, just to find you!" too!!
Amidst the traffic jams, pedestrians trying to maintain their balance on heavily covered pavements and idiots like me blocking their way while ogling at the snowfall and angling for better photos, I just got the impression that it's finally feeling like winter!!
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Pics to follow! :)
PS - just saw some firemen with Shareena...they looked like they couldn't drive out of their station (snowed in?) and had to walk to their destination with pickaxes...I guess someone's cat is really going to fly out of the tree tonite!! *grin*
Cidade de Deux (City of God) It's a violent movie where built up rage and misguided aggression end up with kids killing kids. One scene was seared into my brain. It was where Lil' Ze and his older boys went looking for the 'Runts', whose oldest member looked about 7. As the Runts were being set upon, most managed to run away except for 2 of the littler kids. They looked about 4 & 6. They were then told by Lil' Ze to choose whether they wanted to be shot in the hand or the foot. As anyone who's had kids will know, they began to cry in that pitiful way only little kids can manage. It was pretty painful to watch as Lil' Ze swung his revolver between the two of them, trying to decide whom to shoot and where. He ended up with shooting both the kids in the foot. They obviously began to cry from fear and from pain. One of them ended up with mucus streaming out of his nose as he cowered with one arm over his face.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
Lil' Ze then pulled out one of the boys in his entourage. That little kid had been picked up along the way, to be 'introduced' to the gang's way of life. He was given a pistol and told to choose one of the little kids for his initiation - he had to choose which kid he wanted to kill and do it infront of everyone.
It was pretty heartbreaking to watch that scene...it was beautifully directed to show every emotion possible. Amusement, anger, fear, sadness...and the utter lack of compassion by children! Though there have been movies and literature covering the breakdown of decent behavior by kids in a lawless situation (e.g., Golding's Lord of the Flies or the Japanese Battle Royale), there has been little that has come close to the reality portrayed by City of God. I had to catch myself as the kid undergoing initiation finally picks a kid, looks away and then pulls the trigger. His crushed spirit was quickly silenced by the raucous encouragement of his new 'friends'.
What scared me as I watched that scene was that I could imagine my own son being in a similar position if our own situation wasn't what it was. Towards that, it brought me much pain and fear to think that many children don't have any chance for a childhood where they can be children...instead, they're smoking pot and cigerettes, shooting guns and killing people. Whether it's in West Africa with its many soldier-children bondaged into war and drug addiction for diamonds and other resources, any non-first world country with under-educated, under-privileged, under-nourished street children (think India, Cambodia, Indonesia) or first world country where politicians are so busy doing large, stupid things (like fund wars with taxpayers money to help their friends running big businesses supplying such wars) to large, good things like more funding for education, social services and medical aid (the example I can clearly quote here is the US because so much of their news is a self-critique that's often ignored by its own masses because it may not fit to their pointed views).
But where does this leave me and the people I want to protect? There are always going to be evil-doers and misguided miscreants around. Do I fight them? Do I ignore them? The latter is not an option. However, short of running for office on the platform that I want to "Heal the World", I can only begin to influence those around me...unfortunately, I'm one more fella who's got ideas but no steam for the dream. But I recognize that this has to change and change in a hurry - the lack of time may be my incentive to get going. It all starts with the first step...
Just read your trail ;) it is freaking hot in NJ/NYC now..95+.....The sun has been toasting me well. hardly log on to Multiply...you could find me in facebook. Saw your blog that you were here just around NYC recently. I just sent off Yee Ling this morning. She was here over the weekend in NYC. How is everything up north?
