I speak alienese

Or at least, that's what it seems like to me. I've really been noticing it lately. I'll explain something, or try to get an answer about something, and no matter how clear I think I'm making myself, things still get seriously misunderstood.

Maybe it's me. I have teased the English language a lot for being so thoroughly stupid over the years. Maybe this is it's way of getting back to me. By making my clear and specific explanations sound like gibberish.

Or maybe my English is too archaic for this new modern age where words no longer mean what they used to mean and people speak in acronyms and sprinkle liberally with net-speak.

I seem to have no problem conversing with people on the internet though, so maybe it is me. Have I lost the ability to be understood through the spoken word?

A Celebration of Life

A week and a half ago my dad passed away. He wasn’t my dad by blood. Not even by marriage. My mum and he dated and lived together for a few years when I was very young and ever since then he’s been my dad. Even after they separated.

Because there’s no blood between us and I don’t have his name, I’ve often felt like something of a fake trying to claim him as my dad. Especially as he was a publican and brewer somewhat famous amongst other brewers and beer connoisseurs. I always felt like others would see me as someone trying to jump on his bandwagon, trying to claim some sort of fame or riches through his name.

The thing is, I’m an introvert. Sure, I like acknowledgment for things I’ve done, but the limelight scares the crap out of me. To me he was just dad. There with advice, stories and good food when we visited for lunch. He’d help me out if I needed it, but I never liked asking him for help. I’d feel like I was letting him down.

Last Friday we had a celebration of his life. He never liked funerals. Too depressing. In his last days he said, “I want 0 funerals and 0 people there.” The amount of people that turned up to celebrate his life would have amazed him. He lived life without regrets and that was how he died. He’d done everything he’d set out to, not one opportunity was missed.

I heard some stories from his brother, nephew and college friend that I hadn’t heard before and they put a smile on my face. They reminded me of the crazy things he’d get up to. Like the impulse to fly a plane and convincing his mate to let him fly his plane. Dad managed to fly it and land it. After they landed, his mate asked if he’d like to fly again, get his licence. “Nah, I’m done.”

The smile would slip shortly after because I would feel like they knew him more than I ever did. People I never knew he knew. Places I didn’t know he’d been. Things I never knew he did. They make me question whether I ever have the right to call him dad.

This is just something I needed to get out of my system. I'm not asking for condolences, reassurances or whatever. Just wanted it out there...

Did you get taken in?

Yesterday was April Fools and as usual, many websites pulled some sort of prank. I’m not usually up for pranks and even less so on April Fools, but these do give me a chuckle. I especially like the ones that seem to offer something so completely and utterly ridiculous but somehow one that people fall for.

At most, the only thing I would probably do for April Fools (if I ever remembered to) is the dinner for dessert / dessert for dinner trick. Something like meat cupcakes or ‘spaghetti meatballs’. I believe the spaghetti is icing and the meatballs Ferrero Rochers dunked in raspberry jelly.

I guess that’s why I don’t mind the website pranks. It seems (to me anyway) the most harmless one out of any other prank I’ve heard about.

I’ve been called ‘too sensitive’ before, and I guess I can be, but pranks just seem hurtful to me. I don’t mean physically, although there are those ones, just the emotional side of it.

Are you sensitive to pranks? Or am I really being too sensitive?

Book movies

I took my daughter to see The Hunger Games on Thursday, and even though I haven’t read the books, I quite liked it (if you can ignore the whole ‘kill off 23 kids every year’ thing).

My daughter on the other hand devoured the books in the week leading up to opening day and was quite irritated with discrepancies and missing scenes (especially seeing as she was looking forward to seeing Josh Hutcherson take off his shirt). I reminded her, “Would you rather they didn’t make the movie at all?” The answer of course being, “NO!”

It took me back to when we avidly awaited each of the Harry Potter movies. If you treat them as movies in their own right instead of trying to bring a book to life, then they’re good movies. They’re not going to be able to fit every little detail in a movie.

First there’s the time factor. You just can’t fit it all in and have a reasonable length movie. Then there are the slow moving parts of the books which would make for boring viewing and lastly we have things that don’t come across well. In a book, reading about a character’s thoughts is alright. Constantly hearing a voiceover so you can hear what they’re thinking is entirely different.

Are there any examples that you can think of where you would rather they had just not done the movie at all?

Sci-fi love

Working, as I do, for an accounting firm, I sometimes feel like I’m the odd ball. I’m no accountant, I do the admin work so when they talk about audits and such, my eyes start to glaze over. I did once find a couple of fellow Harry Potter fans. Of course, they weren’t accountants either. Not to mention they didn’t seem as… enthusiastic* about the series as me. Then they went and left the company. Well, first they moved to other departments, then they left. So, here I am feeling like the oddball again.

Last week while skimming through the feed from our company's social network, I noticed that someone had made a… wait for it… science-fiction fans group! Honestly, I would have squealed in joy if I wasn't so self-conscious of the imaginary stares. Now, I am mostly fantasy, but there’s a good dash of sci-fi in me so I was thrilled that there are semi like-minded souls in our company. Most of them seem to be from Melbourne, but I don’t care!

I experienced double ecstasy as a couple of days before I had purchased the SFX Doctor Who fanzine. Now I was able to share that with others! (And of course my daughter could have some relief from her crazy mother).

What are some of the unlikely places that you’ve found fellow lovers of {Harry Potter, sci-fi, gaming, cheese}?

* enthusiastic being the nicest possible way I can describe my obsession 

Besotted Wednesdays 14 Mar 2011

Bringing you things that have me drunkenly infatuated. Or is it infatuatingly drunk? Either way, it's things and places I love. 

For (probably a long) while, some of the links may seem like old news. This is because I currently have a backlog of pure awesomeness to sort through.

What would you do if you hit a midlife crisis? I know they say that people generally try to recapture their youth, but I still don’t feel like I’ve lost it. I suppose each would ‘deal’ with it in their own way. Motorbikes, convertibles, you name it. What about gadgets though?

I’m not one for fashion. Especially fashion shows. I never understand how they can think it’s ‘fashion’. The models are far too thin and the things they dress them in look strange to me, but this is one fashion show I can get behind.

I’ve seen lots of different fitness applications. Never used them myself though. From what I’ve seen though, there’s ones to keep track of what you do either by you entering the information or by means of GPS/pedometer. I’m not sure what they offer in the way of motivation though. I’m sure this one would offer quite a lot of motivation though.

Polaroids seem like such a timeless classic when it comes to photography. Even with the advent of digital cameras, they’ve never lost their appeal. Whether it’s the classic Polaroid border, the instant photo, people never seem to stop loving the Polaroid cameras.

People seem to be really bored with regular ice cube... well, cubes. I’ve seen some good ones out there. Bored Panda have come up with a list of the best ones.

Know a graphic designer friend? Have you ever asked a favour from them? How’d it turn out? This guy learnt the hard way not to ask for freebies.

While I’m not a fan of the books – never having read them – I thought this was an absolutely brilliant idea. It’s a fan made interactive map for A Song of Fire and Ice.

New obsession

I seem to have gained a new obsession. Well, an old obsession. Well, a new, old obsession.

See, it’s the Doctor. 

When I was younger, I remember watching the fourth Doctor. Loved it. Don’t know why I never watched it after that. Then recently, quite by chance, I was flicking through channels and came across an episode of Doctor Who with the eleventh Doctor. Not bad I thought.

Then sometime after that, I came across another episode of Doctor Who. It was when the tenth Doctor had just regenerated. After that it became my new regular show to watch. And I have to say, I seem to be slightly obsessed. I can’t seem to get enough of David Tennant.

Matt Smith makes a marvellous Doctor as well, but for the moment, I prefer David’s take.

It’s fascinating piecing together bits and pieces. Not to mention bringing back old memories. Seeing what’s changed, what hasn’t much. New companions, new foes.

True to Timelord fashion, I believe the show is just a timeless one. One quote I saw said, ‘as long as humans have imaginations, they will never run out of ideas.’ And I’d have to agree. There is all of time and space to come up with a story for the Doctor.

Have you ever watched the Doctor? Have a favourite? Have other preferences?