Taken

Well, the FridayFive person is still being cranky and has now shut down the archives, which I find rather rude. Maybe I won’t go back. So instead I’ll review Taken, a mini-series I watched during my recent snotandfeverfest.

First of all, I highly recommend checking this out from your local library – and if you haven’t figured out how to order videos/DVDs online from your library branch it’s high time you did. Personally, I never watch series. I just don’t have the patience to sit still through even a half hour of one and certainly not to schedule the time to follow it week to week. And I don’t Tibo (I don’t even know how to spell Tibo). So I have discovered watching series all in a row because the library boxes them up all in one box that you keep for 3 weeks plus. In that way, I watched the first four years of the Sopranos and found I could stomach the violence in order to get the very smart script and great acting. So I checked out Taken a little dubiously, having seen a few glimpses as I remoted past them from time to time and not been particularly intrigued. Taken all in a row though I found it quite redeeming. It’s not that the acting is so fantastic – the actors are all relative unknowns who tend to overact frequently. It’s not the special effects – we’ve all seen as good or better many times at the cinema. Even the aliens are the standard stick figure type folks when they’re appearing as their real selves. It’s not even the plot, which is basically that since Roswell the aliens have been taking humans repeatedly to try to get at their essence and use it to better themselves. But all together it somehow keeps you turning the video pages relentlessly as you follow three generations of two families – one part alien and the other tracking them down. The standout is the little girl who is the final fruit of the alien/human blend and she is played by a child star you will probably recognize as she has been getting more and more roles lately. This child is clearly an old soul and not just acting like one. I predict she will have a fantastic career if she can make it through this phase. The other standout to me was that in the script the child gets little narrative moments in which she kind of sums up what’s going on and they are absolute poetry. Wish I had them written down for future reference. It’s all an allegorical tale about people’s fear, greed, curiosity, kindness, and love. In light of the current state of world affairs it’s well worth watching. But get it from the library and give it the respect of watching it all in a row. You won’t be disappointed.
Deep Thought: I remember the first time I ever saw a shooting star I said, “What the hell is that?” But nowadays when I see one I just say, “What is that?” I leave off the “hell” part. Maybe when I’m old I’ll just say, “Whazzit?”
Today I am grateful for: Public libraries

Sharing another lovely found poem today by Literature_Chick

On Blake, Late April

innocence and experience.

this child’s fingers

eyes ears intuition

gravitated early on

to gnarled hands

offering individual histories

moth ball smelling sweaters

long kept silent regrets

joys demons angel-saviours

watching always with suspicion

worms on sidewalks after the rain.

Deep Thought: Many people do not realize that the snowshoe can be used for a great many things besides walking on snow. For instance, it can be used to carry pancakes from the stove to the breakfast table. Also, it can be used to carry uneaten pancakes from the table to the garbage. Finally, it can be used as a kind of strainer, where you force pancakes through the strings to see if a piece of gold got in a pancake somehow.

Today I am grateful for: Sidewalks

P.S.  For those who wonder, thanks for the kind thoughts.  My heart checked in sound.  It was a combo of 80-degree heat in my office, work overload, and not being over this chest cold quite yet.  Maybe I’ll describe the ER saga one day – or maybe not.

Psychodrama

Well, I was going to tell how I spent 8 hours in the emergency room yesterday having a cardiac work-up because I had fainting spells all morning at work, but that drama is far overshadowed by what I see on TV this morning. The photo was taken just this morning. Mark my words. Now the flags are going to start appearing everywhere again and it’s going to become dangerous to say you don’t like war and you don’t believe we should be in Iraq. Countless more young men and women from our country are going to die for Bush and their parents will say how proud they are of them. Terrorists everywhere will be even more determined to attack us at home and abroad in all the myriad ways people have figured out to destroy each other. And I suppose it would be just like a peace lover to wonder if the children in Fallujah (those too young to carry weapons) wish they could live and die anywhere else in the world this morning.
Deep Thought: They were a proud people. In fact, some said they were too proud. If you asked them why they were so proud, they’d just laugh and say, “We’re not even going to answer that.”
Today I am grateful for: Still being alive

I just have to share this poem I stumbled on by denofearth. It sounds the universal note.

Faith
  
Jesus
Buddha
and Mohammed
sat in the park
playing
Chinese Checkers
on the lawn.
Mohammed
spread out
a carpet for
them to sit on,
Buddha brought
out a pot of tea,
and Jesus
passed around
a loaf of bread.
People passing
seemed not
to notice, they
only saw
a black man
an oriental man
and a hippie.
The few that
did notice
recognized only
One.
And even then,
each person had
Faith
that it was
just an illusion,
nothing more.
It was only
just a trick
of the light.

Deep Thought: Maybe it’s my imagination, but food seemed to taste better when I was a kid. Also, food would sing and dance and play musical instruments. But that could also have been my imagination.
Today I am grateful for: One

Time Out

OK, jury duty fans, I’m not there, I’m still home sick. I know this is a photo of a cat with a cold, but you get the picture. It started Friday and I haven’t complained one bit till now. Killer sore throat 2 nights in a row so very little sleep. Some fever yesterday every time I tried to do anything but lay on the couch and watch Taken the miniseries (which is pretty good – thank god I had it on hand when this hit). I felt Taken 2 or 3 times too and having long wires poked down my nose like in the video. By this morning it’s retreated to sneezing, coughing, and feeling generally weak but returning to my former self. I guess the gestapo isn’t going to show up at my door and ask me why I’m not at jury duty since I checked this out Friday and they said just write a letter and reschedule. But in case they do I’ll give them all the names and addresses of the many of you who sent news of your strong wishes to serve. OK, I’m a little cranky. Well look at the photo.
Deep Thought: I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I don’t pretend to even know what the questions are. Hey, where am I?
Today I am grateful for: Handkerchiefs

THINGS THAT REFRESH MY SOUL

Individualism

The individualists I like are not just good at their chosen path (in this case music, a random choice), they come at it from a different direction than anyone expected. They jar us out of our boredom with the status quo. They blaze trails that we can choose to follow – or not. Sometimes they are dangerous. Sometimes the world is too dangerous for them. But we remember them today and tomorrow and forever.
Deep Thought: Instead of a bicycle built for two, what about no kinds of bicycles at all for anybody, anymore? There, are you happy now?
Today I am grateful for: Temporary solitude

Friday Five
1. What was the last TV show you watched?
I rarely watch a TV show all the way through – I kind of surf. Mostly, I watch videos because I can put them on pause to go do other things. In the morning I watch news while I’m getting ready for work. In the evening I usually linger at talk shows. It takes going out to the movies for me to sit all the way through something.
2. What was the last thing you complained about?
Being called for jury duty next Monday and Tuesday. OK, I know it’s my civic duty, but it’s WAY out of my comfort zone. It means I won’t get home till evening. I’ll have to ride the bus to a scary part of town. I’ll have to sit all day with a bunch of strangers on hard benches. I’ll have to miss work, so my work will pile up. And there’s the chance I’ll get picked for something that will require longer than 2 days. It’s stressing me out so much I’m feeling like I’m coming down with something this morning.
3. Who was the last person you complimented and what did you say?
I told someone who joined my forum for Women in Our 60′s that I admired that in her 50′s she was going back to school to learn how to do counseling to help people learn to negotiate peacefully. Life skills stuff. I think it’s fantastic when people find it in themselves to be concerned about the world around them while they are struggling with their own daily existence.
4. What was the last thing you threw away?
An Eskimo Pie premium wrapper.
5. What was the last website (besides this one) that you visited?
Google images to get the picture for this blog.
Deep Thought: I only played hooky one time, so I’ll never forget it. I hid in the bushes right outside my classroom. And since the window was open, I could hear the teacher, so I went ahead and took notes. When the teacher asked a question, I raised my hand, but she couldn’t see me.
Today I am grateful for: Shelter from the storm

Deep Thought:
There is one question that probably drives just about every vampire crazy: “Oh, do you know Dracula?”

Today I am grateful for:  Spain

(copied from a Delphi forum)
Self-care Steps While in Transition or Stress…
Sometimes transition is something we seek, sometimes it comes upon us unawares. Even if we seek it, it may not be what we expected. The green grass on the other side of the fence sometimes turns out to resemble a trackless desert without signposts once we get there. This is not the time to neglect our well-being, for poor self-care is likely to lead to poor decision-making. Most of these steps are part of basic physical and emotional self-care at all times, but during times of transition their importance is even greater than usual:
1. Sleep regularly but not excessively.
Keep your body in a routine that will allow it regular sleep. When it is sleep-time, practice letting go of your need for decisions and action. If you regularly have difficulty falling asleep, try getting more exercise, at least two hours before your sleep-time. Do not go excessively in the other direction and sleep your life away… your life awaits!
2. Exercise.
Not only will exercise help to rid your body, including your nervous system, of toxins that accumulate during stressful times, but a tired body is a body that is more likely to sleep well. There is also the bonus of better physical well-being, improved health, and the self-assurance that better physical tone can bring.
3. Eat healthily.
Junk food is the staple of the stressed. Unfortunately, it leads to imbalances within the body that result in further feelings of stress. Information on healthy eating is available in almost every magazine and newspaper, not to mention every web portal, so there is no reason not to know what foods are good for us. In times when extreme stress is causing stomach upset, some say that for a short while a “white” diet can be soothing to the digestive system… bananas, rice, cottage cheese, not too much fiber… just until things calm down – not for the long-term.
4. Journal.
In a time of transition we may lose touch with ourselves, focusing intensely on outside circumstances… those that led to our transition, those that we believe will bring us through it. A daily journal can help us to stay anchored to who we are, and what is happening within us. A gratitude journal (five things you are grateful for each day, not the same things each day) can help to focus the mind on the positives.
5. Stay in touch. In times of stress and change many of us allow our friends and acquaintances to drift away. We stop communicating, they feel useless, drift happens. Don’t let it. Call at least one friend, relative, colleague every day. Keep the communication positive, try to avoid whining. Know that people care about you, and hold on to that.
6. Don’t focus on misery.
You may feel at a loss, without direction or connection, but know that there are many people who feel they have no options and who believe they would dearly love to be in your shoes. Know that you are at the centerpoint of your life, for, in transition, there are options open to you in many directions – rejoice that you have choice!
7. Meditate.
Your mind may be running in circles, chasing its tail like a purposeless puppy. Make it stop! Focus on silence, on calm. Go within. There you will find your strength, and your peace.
8. Remember that previous downs were followed by ups.
Think back to the high points of your life. Then, for each one, think of a low point that preceded it. Remember… that low point was followed by a high point. That’s how life is. It can be so again.
9. Plan your vision.
So now you have open options. This is the time to decide again what you really WANT your life to look like. Perhaps in the past you have drifted into things, followed the wishes of others, taken whatever offered itself. Now is time to seek the direction for which you were born. It is already a reality in your heart – now is the time to uncover it and create it in your physical world.
10. Focus on new possibilities.
What have you wanted to do that life did not place before you in the past? Can you imagine them coming into being now? If you can imagine them, you can create them. The possibilities that you had to reject in the past because they were on the fork in the road that you did not take… how many of them are still awaiting you? These are your new pathways and your new signposts that turn the trackless desert back into greener pastures.
Deep Thought: Isn’t it funny how one minute life can be such a struggle, and the next minute you’re just driving real fast, swerving back and forth across the road?
Today I am grateful for: Power steering