Mishaps and other haps

Since I have been left to my own devices for the first half of the week, I finally managed to watch the three new Miyazaki DVD releases I purchased a few weeks ago “The Cat Returns” (which he did not direct/produce, but he developed the project concept for this film– so I guess it is a hybrid of sorts), “Porco Rosso”, and “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.”

If I had to recommend one of the three above the others, it would be “Porco Rosso”– it is just absolutely the best of the three. The characters are well-developed and interesting, it’s a multi-faceted love story, and it has the best and roundest storytelling (if you have a good story, you must try to tell it the best way possible). Besides, I always like it when an artist’s obsessions and passions shine through in his work and, well, if you have watched enough Miyazaki to know what kinds of things he is obsessed with, you’ll see most of them in this film.

I was perusing Westminster Abbey’s website and came upon mention of Thomas Parr, who apparently lived to the ripe old age of 152 yrs. 9 mo.– NOT a typo. I would link to it, but the exact URL was not displayed. Contemporaries tried to explain this by the following biographical facts: he had a very consistent diet and lived out in the country. He moved to London, though, and that “done him in” in a matter of days, according to Dr. Harvey (i.e. William Harvey, right).

I will probably not live to see the results of any “experimentation” that may currently be happening, but I am curious about the small numbers of people who are choosing to practice drastic calorie reduction diets because of the extended life spans that have been seen in laboratory rodent experiments.

Mr. Parr seems to have done pretty well with buttermilk and bread, but maybe he had good genes or a challenging exercise routine. Maybe plague skipped his neighborhood, too– that always helps. He seems to have been a bit of a ladies’ man, though, and I’m not sure that bodes well– but if it made him happier, maybe it means something.

We are expecting storms tomorrow, possibly tonight from the sound of it– I hear thunder. It is so weird to live in a place where there is no thunder for half of the year.

So the clever, practical, mischievous rogue girl has a thing for the happy-go-lucky, silly, pretty bard boy. Who would have thought it?

I attended Easter Mass this morning, which was interesting and relaxing in many ways, although I am shy about the singing. It was a very sensory-oriented experience– and I generally like things that involve all of the senses at once. There was a lot to look at and listen to– people, flowers, church art, people, bells and brass, singing, metaphorical comparisons, prayers and explaining and a little bit of scripture. It all smelled very good, also. Some hand-shaking and hand-holding, so touch was a component. For taste, there was Communion and jellybeans– and people seemed to enjoy these things, so I watched them. And then that spiritual thing that is all of the above, combined with the faith component. I am not Catholic or even a Christian, but it was moving to see how belief in some sort of transcendent goodness makes people feel and to sort of be a part of that.

It was an especially good thing for me since my previous religious experiences have been predominantly negative and I have not set foot in a church in years (except to vote) until today.

So I am grateful for that.

Then I had lunch with a family I like and enjoy– and later I hung out with more friends and watched movies. It has been a good day and I should go and sleep so that I will be energetic tomorrow.

The fire alarm went off at 3 AM this morning, so there was about 20 minutes of standing outside in pajamas and an overcoat. Then the fire fighters came, determined that everything was fine, and gave the all-clear. It took about ten minutes longer before the alarm was shut off.

I will have to call the office later and find out what happened– whether it was a real fire or some random triggering of the alarm. The last time we had an alarm, it was caused by a small fire in one of the apartments– someone caught a paper towel on fire or something– and that’s the only other fire alarm incident I am remembering right now. I have been living in this apartment for over a year and a half now, so I guess that is not bad.

A little while after I posted, we started celebrating the birthday of the Sapling (Explanation: that is how he translates in my head– in the three years or so that I have known him, he has been growing at an astounding rate, so maybe that is why this name has stuck in my brain).

The birthday celebration involved Laser Tag. I discovered that I am very possibly the world’s worst Laser Tag player ever. (No dex. I would be much more useful hard-wired to a mainframe– unfortunately, I am a portable unit, but not a sleek one.) Also, there was shopping, dinner, cupcakes and a lengthy game of Apples to Apples.

::posting from the Bunny house (perhaps this is appropriate, considering that it is Easter weekend)::

I took off this morning for a follow-up physical therapy appointment and am off this afternoon for a company half-holday. So no work today! Yay!

I waited half an hour for the physical therapist, only to discover that I am invisible. She was very apologetic. Then she punched me repeatedly in the shoulder and prodded my bits a little to loosen me up. Then she apologized some more and sent me on my way. However, she said that I am doing very well and have my normal range of flexibility back and should continue with the exercises I have been doing.

I shopped for a bit, met people for lunch at Maharaja, and now I am hanging out with people. We all seem to be a bit sleepy and one of us is sleeping.

I think I’m gonna be lazy and sleep in tomorrow. Maybe it will be a pajamas day– at least for a bit

It was kind of neat to be listening to music inattentively today and very suddenly identify it as Mendelssohn. Granted, it was Op. 61, so I would have kicked myself if I hadn’t recognized it (especially after seeing the ballet last year). But I don’t really know how Mendelssohn *sounds*. I think that at a certain point of familiarity you can pretty easily identify a composer by how a piece sounds, rather than actually being familiar with the piece itself.

And my background is not that practiced, so I do not trust myself most of the time. The one music history class I took in college helped to make me interested, but apart from that I just listen (inattentively most of the time, unless I really like something– Haydn cello concertos most recently).

So I was really screwed up a few weeks back when I heard something completely odd. It was a Beethoven piece mangled (actually, I forget the right word– maybe transposed? Transfigured? Transmogrified?) by Liszt– or something along those lines, but I was trying to identify it as one composer or the other and I was about to go CRAZY because it didn’t sound quite right. I was actually arguing with myself outloud– and then I was WRONG, but I was sort of right.

I need to start listening to more jazz and blues again, though. A couple of years ago, a friend was lending me a lot of that sort of stuff and I really enjoyed borrowing from his collection, but I no longer have access since we have sort of drifted in different directions in life. I am forever grateful to him for the experience because it piqued my interest. I should consult other resources.

We were sitting around the table at Brunch* on Sunday and Mlitiagrl exclaimed,
“Your wrists are tiny!”

Since I received a bracelet for admission to the Shedd Aquarium later that day, I have evidence to measure to see exactly how big or small the circumference of my (left) wrist is. It is 5.25 inches.

*Capitalization as suggested by Mlitiagrl