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Cosmopolitanism revisted, some Serenity, birthday greetings, stuff
As an aside and before I forget, because I always do, not online often enough to keep track of this stuff - sorry guys : a HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dlgood Yes, I have finally discovered the "MY LJ" category on livejournal. It only took me a few months. Did they always have it? Don't remember seeing it before this month, but it is more than possible. This nifty category makes it possible for me to read the latest entries on my flist, without flipping to my flist, see the latest responses to my journal without looking at email, and responding to them without flipping to my entries. It also, drumroll, allows me to see people's birthdays - explaining how the heck everyone on lj always seemed to know whose birthday it was and I never had a clue.
Via nifty "My LJ" - I read three people's entries and was moved to nod and smile in complete understanding/comprehension tooyceter - who wonders why she seems to revert back to old selves around family and certain friends, then back to work self afterwards. Felt much the same way over the holidays. As if I have multiple personalities or selves and different ones come out depending on who I am with. (She didn't quite put it that way of course, but that's what clicked.)
Writing this as my radiators gradually hiss to life, hopefully bringing me some heat. Fingers are cold. So are feet. Rest of body is fine and dandy, thank you.
Day not so bad. Was in a decent mood, maybe a shade or too on the tired side, but decent, until I opened up my credit card bill and discovered much to my dismay that a local video store had charged me $14.50. Okay, granted it is only $14.50. But, I have not rented any videos from any video stores since I joined netflix last year. Trying now to remember exactly when I joined netflix. Sometime around June or July, I believe. At any rate one of the reasons I joined netflix, was a local video store was going to charge me a $14.50 dollar late fee for two videos that I not only turned in on time, but turned in "early". Way back in May or July, I told the owner about this and after apologizing profusely, he promised to make the correction to my account. Months go by, I trust the owner has done this, and merrily join netflix. Then today, open up bill, and discover much to my shock, that vidoe store has charged my credit card $14.50 on 11/29 (haven't rented a video at this place since they screwed up in May, at least I think it was May, the months, they blur). I call the store, get a dumb clerk who knows zip and proceeds to tell me to drop by before 5pm on Wed when the manager is in. (Uh, don't get home from work until 5:30, you dolt.) He assures me there's an explanation, I guess it probably is that charge the owner promised me he'd correct.( Stupid me. Should have made him do it in front of me and give me a receipt.) So now what? Do I fight them on it? Do I deal? Ugh. I hate conflict. Hate pestering people. Hate fighting. Have decided to call the nitwits tomorrow while at work and try to hammer the whole thing out on the phone. It is only $14, after all.
Just want to make sure they don't charge me again. What a nifty New Year's Present. Did do one thing though it reminded me of why I joined netflix.
Outside of that and the weather - cold, dreary, constant rain...not that bad a day. Did run into a weird woman in the bodega, coughing up a storm, not covering her mouth, soaked in a warm-up outfit, buying pet food. Couldn't decide if she was homeless or just a crazy person from my neighborhood. Felt guilty for wanting to get as far away from her as possible, which was impossible in tiny bodega. Stringly blond hair, splotchy red face, and bulging eyes. This experience and the bill, made me sort of wish I stayed at work.
So, you are no doubt wondering - okay, how was it a good day? All you've done so far is whinge.
True. Moving on.
1. Finished work I did not imagine I could get done (you should have seen my desk this morning, could barely see any of it, stacks of files and paper everywhere - then when left, clean and clear, just one small stack next to computer and one small stack in in-box. Hee. Oh well, at least I'm busy and cannot complain about being bored. Would much prefer to be busy at work than bored - since not really allowed to play on internet and when I'm bored, I get tempted to take undue risks.)
2. Accepted new work assignment without any flack to boss. (Just gave puppy dog expression, which did not work, okay not sure that counts...)
3. Came out ahead stock option wise on merger (which is good, considering job may or may not exist in a few months, we shall see... One of the pluses about working for huge company merging with bigger company is well, stock options.)
4. Meeting was dreading for Thurs, was cancelled. YAY!!!
5. Kidbro asked how much money I owed him for theater tickets - so do not have to follow-up with him after all. (YEs, one last person to bug. Thank heaven!)
6. Actually wrote a little in my book tonight, writer's block gone! Yay!!! (Hmmm...can undue amount of stress be a potential cause of writer's block? Ponders.)
M
Oh, watched the film Serenity last night. Second time for me. Interesting film. Hit on the whole hogomony (or is that hegomony? God, no clue how to spell this word. I can think it, but the spelling just does not look right somehow...so substituting weaker word - globalization), globalization issue. Which I also discussed at length with my mother last night, because it is bugging me. Why? Well, I recently joined small state health care company that is about to become a part of the largest health care company in the US. Big merger. Feel a bit like a tadpole being swallowed by a whale. Also there's all this talk about integration and conversion going on.
So the topic is more or less in my subconscious 24/7.
At any rate, during phone discussion - mother responded very well to a question I posed in my lj - ie: "What evidence can you supply of globalization/hogomization? I don't see it."
Momster:"Well, in clothing, people in other cultures used to wear different types of garb, now everyone more or less wears the same thing no matter where they are on the globe. Granted, some muslims and people in India may wear traditional dress due to religious reasons, but most wear jeans and Western clothes."
Me:"But they chose to."
Momster:"Did they? There's a pressure to conform, to wear what others wear, what the media, movies, tv shows show you. Advertising. Or company attire. How about cell phones and computers? That's another example."
ME: "How so? Not everyone has one..."
Momster: "But it is getting to the point in which everyone must have one. Soon we won't have a choice but to use a cell phone over a regular telephone or to have a computer in order to communicate with someone. I hate computers and cell phones and would prefer not having to use them, but in order to get plane tickets, get supplies, even communicate - I have to use them. I have less and less choice."
Me (pondering this a bit):"Wales is the only friend I have that still does not have a cell phone and she doesn't want one. I don't want one. I barely use mine, but I'm afraid not to have it. I don't feel I have a choice..."
Momster:"Exactly. That's evidence of globalization."
ME:"But cell phones were invented by the Japanese not Americans.."
Momster:"True. But the idea was most likely a Western one. The Western Culture's use of marketing and advertising to permeate every corner of the globe. " (Okay she didn't say it exactly like that, memory isn't perfect).
"Also as for keeping the original, while I agree that there should be more than one variation of a theaterical performance, that is after all what theater is all about, movies...not so much. No problem with more than one variation of Pride and Prejudice, enjoyed those as well. But I don't want them to remake Gone with The Wind or
Casablanca or Wizard of Oz, the originals should stand untouched."
ME:"Why? You still have the original. It's not like you'll lose it."
Momster:"No...but...you can spend time and money on something else."
And I think on it a bit more and think, okay, she has a point. I'm not sure I want to see Gone with The Wind or for that matter Casablanca remade - although both have had lousey TV productions based on them. Further proof that they shouldn't be remade. Nor would I want BTVS or ATS redone.
Momster: "I don't think you can be definitive about this. Some things should stay pure, some not. It's not black and white."
Watching Serenity - I more or less saw the same theme. You can control people. Make them fit a little slot.
Define them. Categorize. Classify. Nor can or should you make everyone the same. Take away the very thing that drives people, makes people unique. More than one sci-fi story discusses this idea - from Philip K. Dick to
well, Ayn Rand. So, I'm not sure Cosmopolitianism fits me either - if it is about globalization and hegomonizing things. I want and crave balance. I want to live in the area in between - the gray. I do not wish to be order or chaos, black or white, pure or impure, preservationist or globalizationist, but in between, walking a tight rope between extreems. I tell this to Momster. Her reply? "We all want a perfect world. But it's not one. Unfortunately."
dlgood Yes, I have finally discovered the "MY LJ" category on livejournal. It only took me a few months. Did they always have it? Don't remember seeing it before this month, but it is more than possible. This nifty category makes it possible for me to read the latest entries on my flist, without flipping to my flist, see the latest responses to my journal without looking at email, and responding to them without flipping to my entries. It also, drumroll, allows me to see people's birthdays - explaining how the heck everyone on lj always seemed to know whose birthday it was and I never had a clue.Via nifty "My LJ" - I read three people's entries and was moved to nod and smile in complete understanding/comprehension to
oyceter - who wonders why she seems to revert back to old selves around family and certain friends, then back to work self afterwards. Felt much the same way over the holidays. As if I have multiple personalities or selves and different ones come out depending on who I am with. (She didn't quite put it that way of course, but that's what clicked.)Writing this as my radiators gradually hiss to life, hopefully bringing me some heat. Fingers are cold. So are feet. Rest of body is fine and dandy, thank you.
Day not so bad. Was in a decent mood, maybe a shade or too on the tired side, but decent, until I opened up my credit card bill and discovered much to my dismay that a local video store had charged me $14.50. Okay, granted it is only $14.50. But, I have not rented any videos from any video stores since I joined netflix last year. Trying now to remember exactly when I joined netflix. Sometime around June or July, I believe. At any rate one of the reasons I joined netflix, was a local video store was going to charge me a $14.50 dollar late fee for two videos that I not only turned in on time, but turned in "early". Way back in May or July, I told the owner about this and after apologizing profusely, he promised to make the correction to my account. Months go by, I trust the owner has done this, and merrily join netflix. Then today, open up bill, and discover much to my shock, that vidoe store has charged my credit card $14.50 on 11/29 (haven't rented a video at this place since they screwed up in May, at least I think it was May, the months, they blur). I call the store, get a dumb clerk who knows zip and proceeds to tell me to drop by before 5pm on Wed when the manager is in. (Uh, don't get home from work until 5:30, you dolt.) He assures me there's an explanation, I guess it probably is that charge the owner promised me he'd correct.( Stupid me. Should have made him do it in front of me and give me a receipt.) So now what? Do I fight them on it? Do I deal? Ugh. I hate conflict. Hate pestering people. Hate fighting. Have decided to call the nitwits tomorrow while at work and try to hammer the whole thing out on the phone. It is only $14, after all.
Just want to make sure they don't charge me again. What a nifty New Year's Present. Did do one thing though it reminded me of why I joined netflix.
Outside of that and the weather - cold, dreary, constant rain...not that bad a day. Did run into a weird woman in the bodega, coughing up a storm, not covering her mouth, soaked in a warm-up outfit, buying pet food. Couldn't decide if she was homeless or just a crazy person from my neighborhood. Felt guilty for wanting to get as far away from her as possible, which was impossible in tiny bodega. Stringly blond hair, splotchy red face, and bulging eyes. This experience and the bill, made me sort of wish I stayed at work.
So, you are no doubt wondering - okay, how was it a good day? All you've done so far is whinge.
True. Moving on.
1. Finished work I did not imagine I could get done (you should have seen my desk this morning, could barely see any of it, stacks of files and paper everywhere - then when left, clean and clear, just one small stack next to computer and one small stack in in-box. Hee. Oh well, at least I'm busy and cannot complain about being bored. Would much prefer to be busy at work than bored - since not really allowed to play on internet and when I'm bored, I get tempted to take undue risks.)
2. Accepted new work assignment without any flack to boss. (Just gave puppy dog expression, which did not work, okay not sure that counts...)
3. Came out ahead stock option wise on merger (which is good, considering job may or may not exist in a few months, we shall see... One of the pluses about working for huge company merging with bigger company is well, stock options.)
4. Meeting was dreading for Thurs, was cancelled. YAY!!!
5. Kidbro asked how much money I owed him for theater tickets - so do not have to follow-up with him after all. (YEs, one last person to bug. Thank heaven!)
6. Actually wrote a little in my book tonight, writer's block gone! Yay!!! (Hmmm...can undue amount of stress be a potential cause of writer's block? Ponders.)
M
Oh, watched the film Serenity last night. Second time for me. Interesting film. Hit on the whole hogomony (or is that hegomony? God, no clue how to spell this word. I can think it, but the spelling just does not look right somehow...so substituting weaker word - globalization), globalization issue. Which I also discussed at length with my mother last night, because it is bugging me. Why? Well, I recently joined small state health care company that is about to become a part of the largest health care company in the US. Big merger. Feel a bit like a tadpole being swallowed by a whale. Also there's all this talk about integration and conversion going on.
So the topic is more or less in my subconscious 24/7.
At any rate, during phone discussion - mother responded very well to a question I posed in my lj - ie: "What evidence can you supply of globalization/hogomization? I don't see it."
Momster:"Well, in clothing, people in other cultures used to wear different types of garb, now everyone more or less wears the same thing no matter where they are on the globe. Granted, some muslims and people in India may wear traditional dress due to religious reasons, but most wear jeans and Western clothes."
Me:"But they chose to."
Momster:"Did they? There's a pressure to conform, to wear what others wear, what the media, movies, tv shows show you. Advertising. Or company attire. How about cell phones and computers? That's another example."
ME: "How so? Not everyone has one..."
Momster: "But it is getting to the point in which everyone must have one. Soon we won't have a choice but to use a cell phone over a regular telephone or to have a computer in order to communicate with someone. I hate computers and cell phones and would prefer not having to use them, but in order to get plane tickets, get supplies, even communicate - I have to use them. I have less and less choice."
Me (pondering this a bit):"Wales is the only friend I have that still does not have a cell phone and she doesn't want one. I don't want one. I barely use mine, but I'm afraid not to have it. I don't feel I have a choice..."
Momster:"Exactly. That's evidence of globalization."
ME:"But cell phones were invented by the Japanese not Americans.."
Momster:"True. But the idea was most likely a Western one. The Western Culture's use of marketing and advertising to permeate every corner of the globe. " (Okay she didn't say it exactly like that, memory isn't perfect).
"Also as for keeping the original, while I agree that there should be more than one variation of a theaterical performance, that is after all what theater is all about, movies...not so much. No problem with more than one variation of Pride and Prejudice, enjoyed those as well. But I don't want them to remake Gone with The Wind or
Casablanca or Wizard of Oz, the originals should stand untouched."
ME:"Why? You still have the original. It's not like you'll lose it."
Momster:"No...but...you can spend time and money on something else."
And I think on it a bit more and think, okay, she has a point. I'm not sure I want to see Gone with The Wind or for that matter Casablanca remade - although both have had lousey TV productions based on them. Further proof that they shouldn't be remade. Nor would I want BTVS or ATS redone.
Momster: "I don't think you can be definitive about this. Some things should stay pure, some not. It's not black and white."
Watching Serenity - I more or less saw the same theme. You can control people. Make them fit a little slot.
Define them. Categorize. Classify. Nor can or should you make everyone the same. Take away the very thing that drives people, makes people unique. More than one sci-fi story discusses this idea - from Philip K. Dick to
well, Ayn Rand. So, I'm not sure Cosmopolitianism fits me either - if it is about globalization and hegomonizing things. I want and crave balance. I want to live in the area in between - the gray. I do not wish to be order or chaos, black or white, pure or impure, preservationist or globalizationist, but in between, walking a tight rope between extreems. I tell this to Momster. Her reply? "We all want a perfect world. But it's not one. Unfortunately."