I'm technically off of work for the summer, but today I am filling in for a co-worker. The previous three days of this week, however, have been stupendous. Things aren't exactly getting done with the reckless abandon I had hoped for, but I have enjoyed the slower pace of life.
I've managed to get my house (mostly) in order (although it could always fall apart again at any moment), go on a couple long walks/runs (well, I ran for a couple minutes; it was mostly fast walking), read a book, learned a new song with Derrin on our guitars, and go on a mom/daughter date with Kloe.
We are going camping/motorcycle riding this weekend, so Derrick and I finally went out and bought some safety gear for Derrin and myself (to share, since we also share a motorcycle). For once we won't look like the only redneck riders in the bunch. I'm relieved to have finally spent the money on the gear. I had some gnarly wrecks the last time we did a moto trip, and I was very fortunate that I didn't end up getting really hurt. This time I'm planning on NOT trying to keep up with the big boys, and mainly just trusting Derrick to take me out on the trails so I don't end up over my head again.
Kloe and I went out for sushi and shopping for our mom/daughter date. The boys went to see Iron Man 3, us girls did our own thing instead. After we went home and Kloe went to bed, I started thumbing through Netflicks, trying to find shows that I would normally only watch if Derrick isn't around (chick flicks and documentaries). I watched one PBS documentary about what successful relationships have in common. I enjoyed it, but it's light fluffiness made me feel like diving into darker documentary terrain.
It had been awhile since I'd watched a serious documentary. I tend to go a little crazy over anything more serious than about what crap our food supply is, and even those tend to make me wander around the grocery store picking up items, putting them down, and then leaving with nothing but (organic) bananas and (organic) milk. I was looking through some of my older blogs, and found this one about the time I watched a documentary called "Collapse". Because of that documentary, that summer I convinced my poor father to plant tons of potatoes in his field. Waaay too many potatoes for any one family to eat unless there was, in fact, the widespread famine they were intended for. Clearly, documentaries are not my friend. Sometimes, I just need to depend on my more informed and calmer type friends.
Anyways, I found a BBC documentary about Hiroshima. It called to me; we all grow up knowing that the bomb was dropped over there, and of course we all know intellectually that it was horrible, but I'd never really taken the time to find out the whole story. The documentary told the story with old movie footage, and first person accounts with reenactments. The escalation of events was intense. It might as well have been a horror movie. By the time the bomb actually dropped out of the plane, I was following several experiences of what regular Japanese people were doing on that day, including a doctor, a nurse, a bank teller, and a husband and wife having breakfast and playing with their two young children. These were all just normal people who had absolutely nothing to do with what their wacked out powers-that-be were up to (and the powers-that-be were truly mad), and yet they were the ones to pay a truly nightmarish price.
The portrayal of the city going through the annihilation was so incredibly realistic. The people who vanished instantly in the eye of the bomb were the fortunate ones. For the survivors on the edges, the sky was black, and everything was completely blown to bits and on fire. I watched it as long as I could. The story that finally made me burst into tears and frantically turn it off, knowing I'd have never be able to scrub it out of my brain, was about the young family who'd been having breakfast together. The last scene was of the mother stumbling out of her crumbled house, screaming for her children, only to discover that one of them was half buried in the rubble, and there was no way she'd be able to get her out before the oncoming flames consumed her. Even in my worst nightmares I have never thought of something so horrible.
The whole thing made me think of North Korea. I read a lot of the articles about their leader's big talk and threats, but beyond the articles I always read the reader's comments below. There are so many people think that preemptively nuking that country is the answer. It makes me sick. I hate how easy it is for humans to strip others of their own humanity. It makes the whole "might making right" so much easier when you don't have to think about all of the babies and innocents that get fried so you can dominate whatever wack job is threatening you. Man, I hate this world sometimes. Once again, yes I know that this isn't how it is always going to be, but sometimes I can hardly take the present. And that is the end of that rant.
Until next time....
I've managed to get my house (mostly) in order (although it could always fall apart again at any moment), go on a couple long walks/runs (well, I ran for a couple minutes; it was mostly fast walking), read a book, learned a new song with Derrin on our guitars, and go on a mom/daughter date with Kloe.
We are going camping/motorcycle riding this weekend, so Derrick and I finally went out and bought some safety gear for Derrin and myself (to share, since we also share a motorcycle). For once we won't look like the only redneck riders in the bunch. I'm relieved to have finally spent the money on the gear. I had some gnarly wrecks the last time we did a moto trip, and I was very fortunate that I didn't end up getting really hurt. This time I'm planning on NOT trying to keep up with the big boys, and mainly just trusting Derrick to take me out on the trails so I don't end up over my head again.
Kloe and I went out for sushi and shopping for our mom/daughter date. The boys went to see Iron Man 3, us girls did our own thing instead. After we went home and Kloe went to bed, I started thumbing through Netflicks, trying to find shows that I would normally only watch if Derrick isn't around (chick flicks and documentaries). I watched one PBS documentary about what successful relationships have in common. I enjoyed it, but it's light fluffiness made me feel like diving into darker documentary terrain.
It had been awhile since I'd watched a serious documentary. I tend to go a little crazy over anything more serious than about what crap our food supply is, and even those tend to make me wander around the grocery store picking up items, putting them down, and then leaving with nothing but (organic) bananas and (organic) milk. I was looking through some of my older blogs, and found this one about the time I watched a documentary called "Collapse". Because of that documentary, that summer I convinced my poor father to plant tons of potatoes in his field. Waaay too many potatoes for any one family to eat unless there was, in fact, the widespread famine they were intended for. Clearly, documentaries are not my friend. Sometimes, I just need to depend on my more informed and calmer type friends.
Anyways, I found a BBC documentary about Hiroshima. It called to me; we all grow up knowing that the bomb was dropped over there, and of course we all know intellectually that it was horrible, but I'd never really taken the time to find out the whole story. The documentary told the story with old movie footage, and first person accounts with reenactments. The escalation of events was intense. It might as well have been a horror movie. By the time the bomb actually dropped out of the plane, I was following several experiences of what regular Japanese people were doing on that day, including a doctor, a nurse, a bank teller, and a husband and wife having breakfast and playing with their two young children. These were all just normal people who had absolutely nothing to do with what their wacked out powers-that-be were up to (and the powers-that-be were truly mad), and yet they were the ones to pay a truly nightmarish price.
The portrayal of the city going through the annihilation was so incredibly realistic. The people who vanished instantly in the eye of the bomb were the fortunate ones. For the survivors on the edges, the sky was black, and everything was completely blown to bits and on fire. I watched it as long as I could. The story that finally made me burst into tears and frantically turn it off, knowing I'd have never be able to scrub it out of my brain, was about the young family who'd been having breakfast together. The last scene was of the mother stumbling out of her crumbled house, screaming for her children, only to discover that one of them was half buried in the rubble, and there was no way she'd be able to get her out before the oncoming flames consumed her. Even in my worst nightmares I have never thought of something so horrible.
The whole thing made me think of North Korea. I read a lot of the articles about their leader's big talk and threats, but beyond the articles I always read the reader's comments below. There are so many people think that preemptively nuking that country is the answer. It makes me sick. I hate how easy it is for humans to strip others of their own humanity. It makes the whole "might making right" so much easier when you don't have to think about all of the babies and innocents that get fried so you can dominate whatever wack job is threatening you. Man, I hate this world sometimes. Once again, yes I know that this isn't how it is always going to be, but sometimes I can hardly take the present. And that is the end of that rant.
Until next time....
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