I am behind on my writing, so I'll start where I left off last week--the weekend trip to New Orleans with taiko. We drove all night on Thursday and performed two sets on Friday afternoon and evening. The sets would have been exhausting for me with a full night's sleep, but it was especially hard after "sleeping" in a car. Let's see...we played 10 songs, and I played 6 of those on the oodaiko (big drum, punching motion, very tiring) and 3 of those on the chus (medium size, big motions, occasional jumping). Ha, wow. I'm kind of glad I added that up now and not beforehand. All things considered, everyone played pretty well.
It was a pretty good trip overall, too, even though there was a lot of taiko togetherness between myself and the other 8 girls (you know, the obligatory naked pillow fights, girl-on-girl action, [insert other male fantasy here]). It was a good chance to get to know some of the other taiko members better, and even if all of their...uh, I'll call it "geek speak" (anime-type things)...goes over my head, they're a good group. It's a whole other world that I know nothing about, and all I can do is laugh and share a glance with the few other members as clueless as I am. The members are all mostly sweethearts and I appreciate their authenticity, though.
The city itself? Eh, the voodoo history and flamboyant debauchery are entertaining, but too gaudy and phony for me to stomach on a regular basis. We randomly came across 3 parades on our rainy Saturday excursion, though--2 for St. Joseph's Day, an Italian thing. I got a garter, a kiss on the cheek, and a fake rose from a cute Italian guy! It's a tradition. Mmm Italians...okay so the place has it's perks, but I digress. Part of me wonders if they just made this holiday up to have another celebration, but it doesn't actually matter. Oh, and I bought a voodoo doll, so don't say I didn't warn you. ;) The verdict: excellent location for a crazy weekend a couple times in your life, but I wouldn't want to live there...Besides, they eat entirely too much seafood.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Sticking it to "the man:" Part II (a different one)
I normally hate watching the local news, but I was flipping channels and came across something that caught my attention. See, there is a Catholic Church in St. Louis, St. Stanislaus, that has been fighting with the archdiocese for years over ownership. The church has been around for 130 years and wants to continue to maintain it's independence from the archdiocese; the archdiocese wants them to join so they can get their money and own their property. The archbishop excommunicated the parish in 2005 and both sides have been fighting since then, but the parish is still up and running. Today, the pope dismissed the priest from the clergy, but the priest says he will continue to serve at that church.
So let me get this straight--molest little boys and the archdiocese might transfer you to a different church or suspend you, but do your priestly duties against greedy archdiocesan wishes and the pope will kick you out? Okay, someone's not thinking this through. Again. I think that's further proof that the Catholic Church is hurtling off track and becoming exceedingly self-absorbed. The fact that the priest is staying there anyway is awesome, though, and it kind of makes me want to go there, if only to make a statement. Take that, archdiocese!
p.s. Perhaps "sticking it to the man" should be an ongoing series within my blog.
p.s. Haha, I really like this!
So let me get this straight--molest little boys and the archdiocese might transfer you to a different church or suspend you, but do your priestly duties against greedy archdiocesan wishes and the pope will kick you out? Okay, someone's not thinking this through. Again. I think that's further proof that the Catholic Church is hurtling off track and becoming exceedingly self-absorbed. The fact that the priest is staying there anyway is awesome, though, and it kind of makes me want to go there, if only to make a statement. Take that, archdiocese!
p.s. Perhaps "sticking it to the man" should be an ongoing series within my blog.
p.s. Haha, I really like this!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Who cares for the caregiver?
I saw my grandpa today for the first time since he went to the hospital. He's home now and able to walk around, but I'm finding that every time I see him, I have to fight back tears a little. He still knows who we are, but he can't always navigate in his own home and he just doesn't know what to do with himself. Tonight he marched around the room a few times to strengthen his legs, he said, and he kept saying that he's trying to get better so he can be like he used to be...When he could take care of himself and keep up with conversations, he means. I just don't think that's going to happen this time, and the fact that he recognizes that he is slipping away makes it a little worse.
It's hard on everyone, but it must be especially hard my aunt, since she now lives with him. I'm still living in her house, but she's not. She loves taking care of people and she's perfect for that job, but I just wonder who is taking care of her. My dad and other aunts relieve her occasionally, but they don't have that much time. Who cares for the caregivers? (Geek alert: Or, "Who watches the watchmen?," if you will. :-/ )
I guess I'm thinking about my aunt a little more because I relate to that on some level. For example, my good friend put together a girls' night this weekend to take someone away from her problems for a night. Now, this person absolutely 100% deserved it and I am glad that we did it, but I have to admit, I'm a little jealous. No one bothered to do anything like that for me during last year's hell. I mean, I had to call up some friends to go out the night I found out for sure that my hand was broken...which also happened to be the night before my birthday. We celebrated my birthday with taiko, which I am grateful for, but I honestly think that was the extent of any special "big night out" all year that I did not personally plan. I really don't like being at the center of those kinds of things, normally, but last year would have been an exception. It just didn't seem to occur to anyone, and it didn't occur to me, either, until now. Maybe they thought I didn't need it because except to a select few, I didn't talk about it. Whining has to be my biggest pet peeve and I am very careful not to subject most other people to it (only the lucky ones ;)). (For the record, the person we went out for was not whining, so I'm not implying that.)
Sometimes I feel like I'm always so ready to help everyone else and put my own problems aside that people assume that I don't need help--like I have to be the strong one because some other people have it worse than I do and I don't want to burden them. Certainly, I have some amazing friends that are always there for me, too, but I don't always make it easy for them to be there, either.
I want to take care of myself while offering unconditional comfort and support to everyone else, and it just can't work that way. I intrinsically absorb their pain, almost as if it were my own sometimes. It's like I tend to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders, not because I choose to, but because I can't avoid it. I even care about the people that I realistically should not care about, but I am at least learning to cut ties with those that just don't appreciate or seem to notice my efforts.
That is the problem with an overly sensitive intuition--my empathy occasionally overcompensates where others lack, which has been known to lead to a disproportionate amount of give and take. Knowing that I might have helped someone makes it worthwhile, though. It's a double-edged sword.
It's hard on everyone, but it must be especially hard my aunt, since she now lives with him. I'm still living in her house, but she's not. She loves taking care of people and she's perfect for that job, but I just wonder who is taking care of her. My dad and other aunts relieve her occasionally, but they don't have that much time. Who cares for the caregivers? (Geek alert: Or, "Who watches the watchmen?," if you will. :-/ )
I guess I'm thinking about my aunt a little more because I relate to that on some level. For example, my good friend put together a girls' night this weekend to take someone away from her problems for a night. Now, this person absolutely 100% deserved it and I am glad that we did it, but I have to admit, I'm a little jealous. No one bothered to do anything like that for me during last year's hell. I mean, I had to call up some friends to go out the night I found out for sure that my hand was broken...which also happened to be the night before my birthday. We celebrated my birthday with taiko, which I am grateful for, but I honestly think that was the extent of any special "big night out" all year that I did not personally plan. I really don't like being at the center of those kinds of things, normally, but last year would have been an exception. It just didn't seem to occur to anyone, and it didn't occur to me, either, until now. Maybe they thought I didn't need it because except to a select few, I didn't talk about it. Whining has to be my biggest pet peeve and I am very careful not to subject most other people to it (only the lucky ones ;)). (For the record, the person we went out for was not whining, so I'm not implying that.)
Sometimes I feel like I'm always so ready to help everyone else and put my own problems aside that people assume that I don't need help--like I have to be the strong one because some other people have it worse than I do and I don't want to burden them. Certainly, I have some amazing friends that are always there for me, too, but I don't always make it easy for them to be there, either.
I want to take care of myself while offering unconditional comfort and support to everyone else, and it just can't work that way. I intrinsically absorb their pain, almost as if it were my own sometimes. It's like I tend to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders, not because I choose to, but because I can't avoid it. I even care about the people that I realistically should not care about, but I am at least learning to cut ties with those that just don't appreciate or seem to notice my efforts.
That is the problem with an overly sensitive intuition--my empathy occasionally overcompensates where others lack, which has been known to lead to a disproportionate amount of give and take. Knowing that I might have helped someone makes it worthwhile, though. It's a double-edged sword.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Superhero surprise
I just came back from seeing The Watchmen. Or is it just Watchmen? Well, whatever. Obviously, I knew nothing about it going in, except that it had something to do with superheroes and a pending nuclear war--typically, not my kind of movie, so I had pretty low expectations. Okay, it was pretty weird. Yes, I missed probably a quarter of it because I couldn't bring myself to actually watch all the gratuitous violence (luckily I saw it coming and looked away)...and yes, it was a little odd that the blue guy was naked basically the whole time, not to mention the fact that he was, in fact, blue (I'll let that one slide, sort of, now that I think about it. The guy's made of electricity, static cling would be a nightmare!)...and oh, it's 2 1/2 hours long.
Despite all of that, I was rather impressed. If you're paying attention, the entire movie is drenched in moral dilemma and intelligent social and political commentary! Now that is my kind of movie. It actually gave me new things to think about, which is always a good thing in my book. Bonus points for the bloody smiley face graphic and unexpected soundtrack, too (well, "unexpected" does not always mean good, though).
I've been going to an open philosophy discussion at Schlafly for a couple months (third Wed.), and I could picture an entire discussion based on this movie. Actually, the first talk I attended focused on morals and ethics, and it started with the moral and ethical implications in Dark Knight. It shares some similar themes with Watchmen, too. For example, sometimes a "good" guy has to become an "enemy" in order to unite everyone against a common cause.
I imagine some people viewed this movie almost entirely superficially--they appreciated it for the superheroes, the dramatic deaths, the cool special effects, and the full-frontal nudity (male and female)--and that's okay, but I was much more interested in the underlying themes. (Heh, go figure...) Will I watch it again? Probably once more, on DVD. Hell, maybe I'll even read the book (uh...once I catch up on the other books I've been trying to juggle). But that, in itself, is quite a feat for a mere superhero movie.
Despite all of that, I was rather impressed. If you're paying attention, the entire movie is drenched in moral dilemma and intelligent social and political commentary! Now that is my kind of movie. It actually gave me new things to think about, which is always a good thing in my book. Bonus points for the bloody smiley face graphic and unexpected soundtrack, too (well, "unexpected" does not always mean good, though).
I've been going to an open philosophy discussion at Schlafly for a couple months (third Wed.), and I could picture an entire discussion based on this movie. Actually, the first talk I attended focused on morals and ethics, and it started with the moral and ethical implications in Dark Knight. It shares some similar themes with Watchmen, too. For example, sometimes a "good" guy has to become an "enemy" in order to unite everyone against a common cause.
I imagine some people viewed this movie almost entirely superficially--they appreciated it for the superheroes, the dramatic deaths, the cool special effects, and the full-frontal nudity (male and female)--and that's okay, but I was much more interested in the underlying themes. (Heh, go figure...) Will I watch it again? Probably once more, on DVD. Hell, maybe I'll even read the book (uh...once I catch up on the other books I've been trying to juggle). But that, in itself, is quite a feat for a mere superhero movie.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Free spirit
My mom has been calling creative types like me "free spirits" for years, and I have to admit, this description fits amazingly well (well, I can only speak for myself here):
You're a free spirit
Key Traits: romantic, dreamer, fickle, communicative, eager, fun, sprightly. You're a free and creative spirit. Some people might call you a non-conformist, but you'd like to think of yourself as one who sees beauty where others might miss it. You are inspired and feel passionate about the little things -- the way the sun beams through a window, a memorable guitar riff, a sparkle in someone's eye. Face it. You're a romantic, and even a bit on the wild side when it comes to sex. Your friends and family enjoy your company and value the way you view the world through your own kaleidoscope. People love how imaginative and expressive you are. On the flip side, it takes a lot to keep your attention. But when you encounter someone who can pique your interest and complement your creative disposition, it will be rewarding and powerful!
:)
Monday, March 2, 2009
Split personalities
Okay, I was only planning on one post today, but then that little quote to the right sparked my memory. It says "Death may be the greatest of all human blessings." I point that out because it goes along with a play I saw yesterday. In the play, an old woman is in a coma on her death bed, looking back at herself through the years. The 26, 52, and 92-year-old versions of herself are duking it out, justifying their motives and explaining where they are in life. She has changed so much that each version of herself is at odds with the other two, trying to come to grips with how life panned out. In the end, the woman decides that her happiest moment is when it's all over and she can finally stop.
It makes me wonder. I suppose there is some truth to that statement, but how much? And how depressing. Of course, I identified with that 26-year-old in the play, still full of optimism and denying that things were mostly going to get worse instead of better. However, I also recognized pieces of my mom and my aunts in the middle-aged woman. Do we change that much over the years? Will life inevitably snuff out that spark?
I hope not. I already see the treachery in the world, but I try to focus on the good things. It takes constant effort, and part of me wonders if I will be able to keep those shadows at bay forever. I feel like I have already changed rather significantly over the years, also, and even now, there are parts of my earlier self that I would rather forget. I am in a constant state of change and growth, though, and I guess only time will tell what that really means.
p.s. Oh no! The Daily Show reminds me that I missed the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) convention. All my friends were there: Bush, Cheney, Limbaugh, Romney, Coulter...Now that's a party.
It makes me wonder. I suppose there is some truth to that statement, but how much? And how depressing. Of course, I identified with that 26-year-old in the play, still full of optimism and denying that things were mostly going to get worse instead of better. However, I also recognized pieces of my mom and my aunts in the middle-aged woman. Do we change that much over the years? Will life inevitably snuff out that spark?
I hope not. I already see the treachery in the world, but I try to focus on the good things. It takes constant effort, and part of me wonders if I will be able to keep those shadows at bay forever. I feel like I have already changed rather significantly over the years, also, and even now, there are parts of my earlier self that I would rather forget. I am in a constant state of change and growth, though, and I guess only time will tell what that really means.
p.s. Oh no! The Daily Show reminds me that I missed the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) convention. All my friends were there: Bush, Cheney, Limbaugh, Romney, Coulter...Now that's a party.
Public Service Announcement
Okay guys, listen up. Although I have denied it for years, it seems that the "nice guys finish last" thing is at least partially true. Well, it is in the early stages of a relationship, anyway. If the best thing you can offer seems to be flowers, dinner and compliments after a few dates, don't expect to win us over. Sometimes we stick around because we think we should, but sooner or later we realize that it just feels wrong. This has been the consensus among my single girlfriends lately. Hear me out, though.
See, it's not that we want you to be mean to us. We don't. We still expect to be treated well...It's just that we don't want to be treated too well at first. I'm talking, like, agreeing with everything we say, showering us with gifts, being too available, always opening the car door for us (okay, maybe that last one is just me...). Why go through all that trouble when you barely know us? Even if your intentions are good, it comes across as desperate, potentially clingy and suspicious. We wonder, are you buttering us up early so that we will be more forgiving of your bad behavior down the road? And who are you, really?
Now, I'm not saying that you should be a jerk and you should stop trying to be nice, either. Some girls do go for that, I'm not gonna lie, but it never ends well. Most of us just want you to be your own person, not the person you think we want you to be. If you're the right guy, the person we want you to be is who you are already, anyway (uh, stay with me here). What I'm saying is, don't let us think that we can walk all over you - not that we would, necessarily, but we shouldn't even have the option. Challenge us and continue to live your own life (while still making time for us, of course), and we will respect you. At least, that's how I see it. I think that all healthy, smart, secure women demand an equal, not a doormat. We expect healthy, smart, secure men to demand the same thing.
See, it's not that we want you to be mean to us. We don't. We still expect to be treated well...It's just that we don't want to be treated too well at first. I'm talking, like, agreeing with everything we say, showering us with gifts, being too available, always opening the car door for us (okay, maybe that last one is just me...). Why go through all that trouble when you barely know us? Even if your intentions are good, it comes across as desperate, potentially clingy and suspicious. We wonder, are you buttering us up early so that we will be more forgiving of your bad behavior down the road? And who are you, really?
Now, I'm not saying that you should be a jerk and you should stop trying to be nice, either. Some girls do go for that, I'm not gonna lie, but it never ends well. Most of us just want you to be your own person, not the person you think we want you to be. If you're the right guy, the person we want you to be is who you are already, anyway (uh, stay with me here). What I'm saying is, don't let us think that we can walk all over you - not that we would, necessarily, but we shouldn't even have the option. Challenge us and continue to live your own life (while still making time for us, of course), and we will respect you. At least, that's how I see it. I think that all healthy, smart, secure women demand an equal, not a doormat. We expect healthy, smart, secure men to demand the same thing.
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