[Most Recent Entries] [Calendar View] [Friends View]
Tuesday, March 16th, 2004
| Time | Event |
| 7:34p | Taboo. Laura (one of my colleagues) and I were talking (quite a lot) today. We managed to end up talking about cancer, and I had said something along the lines of "I'm sure there are worse ways to die". The two of us were silent, both thinking the same thing, but neither wanted to say it. Eventually I gave in and said the word: "Aids". How weird that now, so many years after it was first waved in our faces, it's still a taboo subject. Even saying the word causes ripples of disapproval. We then started talking about death, and I mentioned that Rat always says he wants to die of a heart attack because at least that would be quick. Quite quickly Laura found the conversation too morbid and we stopped talking, slightly uncomfortable at the situation. Why, oh why? I hate living in a society when such things are taboo. I want to live in a world where you can broach a subject with anyone. I understand that with certain people, certain subjects shouldn't be raised. My mum is racist - not seriously so but she's the person who would say something along the lines of "I don't have anything against blacks" (although I can't remember her ever saying those words). Even worse, she's incredibly homophobic (my dad is too, but he at least has hinted at reasons that could sensibly explain it). I have to watch what I say about these subjects, but that's more because I don't want to have an arguement than I feel the subjects totally unapproachable. Why can't we all speak our mind? Even here, in this journal of mine, I find myself restricted. I don't want to offend anyone. Written words are so easy to be misconstrued. And so I keep my opinions out of my writing to prevent any comeback. In another conversation today, I proved how totally out of it I am when it comes to music. I've probably mentioned it before, but I just don't understand all these music classifications. When I was at school you could safely categorise modern "popular" music into three rough genres (although there were, admittedly, subgenres): rock, pop and rave. Nowadays rave is just a small segment of the type of music that I still call by the all-emcompassing word "rave". I perhaps understand a little better now that Bon Jovi is not really rock, and that Guns 'n' Roses would probably be considered "soft rock" by todays standards. I'm aware of the ideas of "alternative" or "indie" music. But I don't know how you'd classify much of the music I listen to - emo probably, and how I cringe at that terminology. And put anything in my hi-fi that involves rapping, or some heavy beat beneath something other than rock, then I'll think the terms "rave" or perhaps "dance". I don't understand music genres I suppose. For me, music is either good music, bad music, or it's just plain noise. And yet, but a piece of "classical" music on, or name a composer, and I could probably at least guess whether he was from the romantic, baroque, renaissance, modern or classical music. Am I getting old? Is this what it's like to not understand "youth"? I'm open-minded in many of my opinions, and yet my taste in music is fairly closed. I'm eclectic, incredibly eclectic, but there are some things that I just won't even contemplate listening to. As I grow older, lyrics are of increasing importance, and the weirder the better. Play some good 80s pop and I don't give a damn whether it's a soppy lovesong or if it makes no damn sense. But with more modern music, I want deep complicated lyrics that I don't understand. I want Anna to begin1 to say something about the Karma police2 coming to Save my Soul3. Am I just so incredibly weird? I'm going to finish pondering random things and go and make some food. I might make a more substantial update. Plus there is a meme I want to gank from  theferrett1. Counting Crows. 2. Radiohead. 3. Jewel. Current Music: Evanescence - Going Under |
| 8:56p | Can I make it a hat trick? Two days in a row. Two nice meals. Am I on a roll? Last night I cooked a bolog. Very simple. Turkey mince, a clove of garlic and half a large onion. Fry (in olive oil of course, and not too much) for a little while and add Passatta (sp?). Simmer for fifteen minutes and serve with a small amount of pasta. Salad on the side. Yummy. Tonight was "curry". The remainder of the turkey mince cooked with two dessert spoons of mild curry powder and a clove of garlic. Add the remainder of the onion from yesterday and a leek. Two "mild" chilli's chopped up and added for a little bit of bite. Add some of the Passatta from yesterday to ensure it's not too dry. Add a little more curry powder (I think it was one and a half spoons) and then mixed it cooked rice. Perhaps a little too hot for me, and a little dry, but still quite nice. And there's a whole load left for Rat to have for lunch tomorrow. Yesterday Carole (my boss) more than suggested that she should be able to get me a casual contract at the end of March. She's been able to get some more funding to extend the project she's working on. She doubt she'll be able to get a whole year. But it's really good money (better than DEFRA). And, on top of that, I think there are better long term prospects. I keep saying this don't I? Perhaps I'm just trying to convince myself. But I have a gut feeling about this place. I had the gut feeling when I was interviewed for the job a month or so back. Work is, however, driving me mad right now. It's mainly because I'm not familiar with the work and at the moment only have a limited number of jobs I can do. So I'm often twiddling my thumbs, or doing really annoying jobs. At the end of March Carole and Laura (and Nikki, the girl who I'm covering for) are going to be in Scotland. What will I do for two days on my own? I'm worried it'll drive me mad. We apparently had a power-cut today. It must have been a long one. We realised about an hour ago that we had no heating, and when I checked the boiler, the timer was over an hour behind. So it's quite cold right now. Brrrr. Just been listening to the "groundhog day" episode of SG1. I love that episode. Next is Angel, and then Nip/Tuck, which I might have to listen to whilst washing up. I'm reaching for things to say, and yet life hasn't been dull. Not that I've done much but I've not not done anything, if you know what I mean. Talking of hat tricks, I have managed to go on IRC for three days running. I'll probably go on later tonight as well, but that will only be for a short amount of time. Current Music: Angel starting |
| 11:02p | Meme time. I intended just to post the one but hey, who's counting? The first one (and the extra one) was posted by Rat in his Blurty, so I had to do it. It's not like he does memes every day. ( Which famous feline am I? ) And secondly, a meme more in my usual style. It's one of those lists of a hundred films/books/etc that you bold the ones you have seen/read. This one is a films one. The unusual thing about it is that it's not the top 100 grossing films, but actually the top 100 grossing films accounting for inflation, which makes it a little different. There are also a few questions tagged onto the end. (Italics means probably but so long ago I can't be certain). ( From theferrett ) |
| << Previous Day |
2004/03/16 [Calendar] |
Next Day >> |