A while back, I read a book by Lionel Shriver called 'We need to talk about Kevin'. I think it's a brilliant book - go to the wikipedia link to get more detail on it if you haven't read it - but in brief it's a fictional work written from the point of view of a mother of a Columbine type killer. Not an actual Columbine killer, but a kid who took his crossbow to school and killed a bunch of his classmates. While not easy reading, it was a very thought provoking book, asking the question: Is it all bad parenting, or are some kids just born evil?
I'm not trying to jump on the bandwagon and just score extra page hits with this post, I'm just wondering if anyone else noticed one similarity between the book and the shootings at Virginia Tech that stood out for me: Kevin chained the doors of the gym where he staged his massacre; and the doors to Norris Hall were chained shut. I don't think it's been established if Cho Seung-Hui chained the doors, but this did give me something to think about.
Enough times in the media I have read about kids getting bad ideas from movies/music/video games and acting them out, but I've given little thought to those claims. I've blown most of that off, saying that if the kid was that way inclined, he could get his motivation from anywhere. How I have proved my point here, and with consequences that feel far more real to me than the initial argument ever did. If a prize-winning novel written to provoke thought could inspire an educated young adult to do something like this (I'm not saying it did, I'm just theorising), then we couldn't be safe for banning kid's from playing all the video games in the world!
This is not a new thought by any means. Some people reading this will think 'well duh!'. It's just that it hit me with force today, and I'm wondering what exactly we can do about this? Censorship and Gun control can only go so far. People who really want to wreak havoc will find a way.
"It's a mucked up world" a favorite preacher of mine likes to say, and boy do I agree with him today.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
Doh!
Well, I just read my post from Friday (after a suggestion from a friend) and well, I obviously didn't read it through before I posted it. Sorry folks, it spell-checked fine but what I need is an 'is this the correct word?' check. I could go and edit that post, but I think I'll leave it up as a reminder.
A little piece of happiness for Monday: I've been visiting Doug Savage's blog the last couple of weeks. Savage Chickens gives you cartoons on Sticky Notes, really funny stuff, go see for yourself.
A little piece of happiness for Monday: I've been visiting Doug Savage's blog the last couple of weeks. Savage Chickens gives you cartoons on Sticky Notes, really funny stuff, go see for yourself.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Relief feels weird
I'm always amazed how your body knows what's going on in your brain. I shouldn't be amazed anymore, I have one if the most communicative bodies out there, it never lets me get away with ignoring my worries. this morning though, I got a different communication... relief.
I can't at this stage go into too much detail, but a situation in my work has had me rather anxious for a little while now. My body's reaction has been to dry hurl every weekday morning. Not pleasant. What makes the situation unhappily messy is that it needs to be kept under wraps until certain things came about. I wasn't to comfortable about this because a fair amount of deceiving has been done. On party in particular I felt aught to know what was going on, and this week I got the go-ahead from my management to say I could let this party know.
I sent of one very carefully crated email this morning and immediately felt a burden lift off my shoulders. That wasn't the new experience though. When I received the response to me email this afternoon it was exactly the response I wanted & needed to the situation. I felt what must have been 4 weeks worth of held breath leave my lungs, I felt at least a little dizzy and my ears blocked up. Now that was weird.
It's not at the top of my list of best physical feelings ever but that had to be one of the most unusual. My left ear is still blocked.
I can't at this stage go into too much detail, but a situation in my work has had me rather anxious for a little while now. My body's reaction has been to dry hurl every weekday morning. Not pleasant. What makes the situation unhappily messy is that it needs to be kept under wraps until certain things came about. I wasn't to comfortable about this because a fair amount of deceiving has been done. On party in particular I felt aught to know what was going on, and this week I got the go-ahead from my management to say I could let this party know.
I sent of one very carefully crated email this morning and immediately felt a burden lift off my shoulders. That wasn't the new experience though. When I received the response to me email this afternoon it was exactly the response I wanted & needed to the situation. I felt what must have been 4 weeks worth of held breath leave my lungs, I felt at least a little dizzy and my ears blocked up. Now that was weird.
It's not at the top of my list of best physical feelings ever but that had to be one of the most unusual. My left ear is still blocked.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Aaaaah! (a rant)
I like consistency. It's not mandatory, but I do like it, especially with the small things. If my work Webmail is at a specific address, I like it to stay there. Don't move the link around while you apply 17 more layers of security to something that was working and securing just fine.
A couple of other things I expect: my outlook Webmail will remember and use the email signature that I created in my outlook desktop app. My outlook Webmail will allow me to change the font size and colour of the text in the email I have just created. And finally my outlook Webmail will allow me to paste text into my email without first asking me if it's okay to transfer data from the external program: clipboard. Of course I friggin want you to paste from the clipboard! I said paste didn't I?
Why do folks have to go and complicate stuff when the simple version worked just fine? I don't think I'm cut out for a life in technology... the small things bug me waaaaay to often these days...
A couple of other things I expect: my outlook Webmail will remember and use the email signature that I created in my outlook desktop app. My outlook Webmail will allow me to change the font size and colour of the text in the email I have just created. And finally my outlook Webmail will allow me to paste text into my email without first asking me if it's okay to transfer data from the external program: clipboard. Of course I friggin want you to paste from the clipboard! I said paste didn't I?
Why do folks have to go and complicate stuff when the simple version worked just fine? I don't think I'm cut out for a life in technology... the small things bug me waaaaay to often these days...
The whole horse
I have some issues posting pics of myself, I think it's a little like blowing your own trumpet, and especially in the action shots I tend to look like a real idiot. But I haven't posted in ages, and I needed to post something to break the blogger's block. As the horse-riding thing was what I spent most of my long weekend doing, I thought I'd give you some shots of my whole horse (I did the half a horse a short while back)
Dartmoor (my horse) is a bit of a nervous character and I love this photo of him because it really captures his nature and what I imagine is going through his mind at the time. Something along the lines of "Oh crap oh crap oh crap open space oh crap oh crap". If you you were wondering what he's looking at with such wide eyes in the picture, it's probably the photographer, he finds them quite suspicious.
This is another of my favourites. This is Dartmoor doing what he does best, and looking at least a little like he's enjoying it :-)
I'll post something a little more meaningful later...
Dartmoor (my horse) is a bit of a nervous character and I love this photo of him because it really captures his nature and what I imagine is going through his mind at the time. Something along the lines of "Oh crap oh crap oh crap open space oh crap oh crap". If you you were wondering what he's looking at with such wide eyes in the picture, it's probably the photographer, he finds them quite suspicious.
This is another of my favourites. This is Dartmoor doing what he does best, and looking at least a little like he's enjoying it :-)
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
A picture is worth a thousand words
If you read my post about being an anti-supporter, you'll know I watch WWE wrestling, and I enjoy it. You will also know that I'm pretty specific about the people that I support. This dude (The Undertaker) is one of of the select few that always makes my list.
It made my day this morning when my Hunny sent me this pic with the text: "Taker is 15 - 0 at Wrestlemania"
Given that he's got this unbeaten record, he's probably a top-dog, right? But I don't care, I dig him... he has his wife's name tattooed across the front of his neck, who wouldn't respect that? ;-)
(and yes I know it's all rigged, but I'm living the moment anyways)
Sunday, April 1, 2007
A great sense of humour
It is finished
March has come and gone. So here is the update on my March resolutions:
1. While last week I did not post 3 times, I did notch up 17 posts for the month of March. That averages more than 3 posts a week across the whole month, so I think I'll give myself a pass on that one.
2. 9 gym visits. Well, two of those visits (the last two) were more a swipe card and leave experience, but it's Discovery's scoreboard that counts, and according to their records, I have pulled off my nine visits. Yay! I vow never again to leave things like this to the last minute. Last week was busy enough as it was without having to show my face at gym 5 times!
With the passing of March do you realise we are now a quarter of the way through 2007? Time sure flies, but I'm not complaining. I'm holding out for 2008. Big changes planned for 2008, but nothing I dare reveal just yet.
I have a small printed calendar of the present month and the forthcoming month taped to my PC at work. I started this as a countdown to a holiday I took in 2004. I crossed off the days past en-route to the much anticipated vacation. When we got back from holiday, I just kept going with it. It's like I need to mark the passing of time, especially on bad days, to ensure myself that I'm not just reliving the same crappy day over and over again. It's a comfort then. It's a little more sad when anticipated days, vacations and events are crossed off. It makes it more final that yes, my birthday / anniversary / Christmas is gone for another year.
Either way, it's a comforting ritual for me when I get to work in the morning and I cross of the previous day. Mondays are a double bonus, if a little sad, as I get to cross off Friday, Saturday & Sunday in one go.
Ah well, no-one can accuse me of not noticing time passing. I think it's gonna be a blue Monday folks, but at least it's a 4 day work week - Enjoy!
Alex
1. While last week I did not post 3 times, I did notch up 17 posts for the month of March. That averages more than 3 posts a week across the whole month, so I think I'll give myself a pass on that one.
2. 9 gym visits. Well, two of those visits (the last two) were more a swipe card and leave experience, but it's Discovery's scoreboard that counts, and according to their records, I have pulled off my nine visits. Yay! I vow never again to leave things like this to the last minute. Last week was busy enough as it was without having to show my face at gym 5 times!
With the passing of March do you realise we are now a quarter of the way through 2007? Time sure flies, but I'm not complaining. I'm holding out for 2008. Big changes planned for 2008, but nothing I dare reveal just yet.
I have a small printed calendar of the present month and the forthcoming month taped to my PC at work. I started this as a countdown to a holiday I took in 2004. I crossed off the days past en-route to the much anticipated vacation. When we got back from holiday, I just kept going with it. It's like I need to mark the passing of time, especially on bad days, to ensure myself that I'm not just reliving the same crappy day over and over again. It's a comfort then. It's a little more sad when anticipated days, vacations and events are crossed off. It makes it more final that yes, my birthday / anniversary / Christmas is gone for another year.
Either way, it's a comforting ritual for me when I get to work in the morning and I cross of the previous day. Mondays are a double bonus, if a little sad, as I get to cross off Friday, Saturday & Sunday in one go.
Ah well, no-one can accuse me of not noticing time passing. I think it's gonna be a blue Monday folks, but at least it's a 4 day work week - Enjoy!
Alex
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