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  • Anat Tales: November 2006

    Sunday, November 26, 2006

    "Never thought that trust was such a fragile thing" -- Devil's Feather.

    and all the King's horses and all the King's men, couldn't put humpty together again.

    "Not all those who wander are lost" -- Tolkien

    So much snow, covering the contours of the world. Placing one foot in front of the other not knowing where it will land. Run and slide like a child not knowing how steep the hill is.

    Thursday, November 23, 2006

    Mad World


    Alienation Central - the saddest song with a violent computer game....

    All around me are familiar faces
    Worn out places, worn out faces
    Bright and early for their daily races
    Going nowhere, going nowhere
    And their tears are filling up their glasses
    No expression, no expression
    Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
    No tomorrow, no tomorrow
    And I find it kind of funny
    I find it kind of sad
    The dreams in which I'm dying
    Are the best I've ever had
    I find it hard to tell you
    'Cos I find it hard to take
    When people run in circles
    It's a very, very
    Mad World
    == Tears for Fears, Mad World

    This sticks in my head like nothing else. Not even "Swinging on a Star" can beat it, and no, I don't want o be a fish. Or a pig. (I knew it! Song writer Van Heusen, has to be Dutch :-) )

    Mad World indeed. Spent all day crunching numbers, now time for explosions with Mr Bond. James Bond. In with the new, out with the old.

    And.... 190cm base on Cypress!!!!!! *goes off to find all the bits and pieces of skiing gear* :-)

    Thursday, November 16, 2006

    I Love Cookie


    Bomb Long
    and how did jeanne not kill you?
    Jet (Anat)
    Jeanne didn't kill me because i didn't tell her :-)
    I may be an idiot but I have no death wish :-)
    Bomb Long
    lol
    see, no good can come of this.
    Jet (Anat)
    how so?
    Bomb Long
    hiding things from friends is bad
    Jet (Anat)
    I wasn't actively hiding
    Bomb Long
    uh-huh
    Jet (Anat)
    hmm
    maybe a bit :-)
    Bomb Long
    ya
    maybe
    Jet (Anat)
    if I tell her she'll lock me up
    Bomb Long
    I doubt it, she'll probably tell you the same things I just did, and then hit you with a phone book
    Jet (Anat)
    rofl
    tough love, eh?
    Bomb Long
    you betcha
    Jet (Anat)
    lol
    shit
    Bomb Long
    ya
    Jet (Anat)
    what the hell was I thinking
    Jet (Anat)
    <-- idiot Bomb Long
    nope
    human
    welcome to the race
    Jet (Anat)
    lol
    I''m not human
    I'm a night elf
    Bomb Long
    you're dutch
    so yeah, I can see that
    Jet (Anat)
    lol
    k, I'm off to pick up the kids and buy three boxes of oreos



    I could feel it go down
    Bittersweet, I could taste in my mouth
    Silver lining the cloud
    Oh and I
    I wish that I could work it out

    And the hardest part
    Was letting go, not taking part
    You really broke my heart

    And I tried to sing
    But I couldn’t think of anything
    And that was the hardest part
    == The Hardest Part, ColdPlay

    Tuesday, November 14, 2006

    Oreos FTW


    It seems that even Warcraft III has cheat codes, can you believe it? :-) "Allyourbasearebelongtous" guarantees an immediate win of that level. Caelan is all for the liberal application of this code, and proudly annouces each win as if he himself had a hand in it.

    Would we wish for cheatcodes in life? For shortcuts? A friend said that he immersed himself in work after his divorce - to come back up for air after a year and find that time had softened the pain. Another friend tells me he partied his brains out for 3 months and then realized he had emptied himself and needed to regroup.

    We all have our escape hatches. I know I have mine, and WoW is one of them. I sometimes wish we could skip this phase. I know my friends tell me it is a time of healing. But at times it feels more like the Spiderman DNA resequencing. Yes, he came out stronger, but...
    he also spent a lot of time afterwards hanging upside down, and what does that tell you? :-)

    There's a difference between a plaster to help the healing and a pill to pretend the wounds aren't there. A bandaid gets lost in the swimming pool, its absence barely noticed. I'll take the Band-Aid any time - provided, of course, it comes with a Barbie or Scoobie-Doo design. I do have my standards.

    Woot! Level 50! :-)

    From the cruel sun
    You were shelter
    You were my shelter and my shade
    == U2, Wild Honey

    New Moon


    Last year's leaves litter the lane
    Furtive footsteps falling in the night
    Left-over drops tear the pane
    Red Orange glow; the embers' last light

    See the face of fear
    Love's long lost lament
    Rooting my feet
    Spurring me on

    Friday, November 10, 2006

    iPod shuffle

    Some days the iPod shuffle saves the day. Here is this morning's selection; awesome driving through the sheets of rain blanketing the streets. Hey! 32 cm of new snow on Cypress, and -2C at base!!!!!! Can't wait! :-)

    1. She Sells Sanctuary, The Cult
    2. Meeting in the Aisle, Radioheat
    3. Stealing Society, System of a Down
    4. Rock Star, Nickelback
    5. Therapy, Finger Eleven
    6. Locked Out, Crowded House
    7. Good Times, Stone Roses
    8. Idle Life, Catherine Wheel
    9. Cup of Coffee, Garbage
    10. The Rockafeller Skank, Fatboy Slim
    11. To My Own Devices, Soul Asylum
    12. Deep Kick, Red Hot Chilli Peppers
    13. Everything Will Be Alright, The Killers
    14. I Can't Be With You, the Cranberries
    15. Crumbs From Your Table, U2
    16. End Of The World, Great Big Sea
    17. Bed's Too Big Without You, Police
    18. One Man Army, Our Lady Peace
    19. Shelter Me, Train
    20. Drown Me Slowly, Audioslave

    Kev says, look at any Flickr site, look at the pictures in sequence - and there's a story.
    Look at the song titles. There's a story too. A different story for each person who reads it. We are our own narrative.

    So - who reads this? Tell me your story.

    Wednesday, November 08, 2006

    Falling in Snow


    It steals my glance
    Behind a spiralling chorus of pairs
    A single snow speck rehearses its stride.
    Slow-step-step-slow
    Spinning slowly, imperceptibly following
    Sharply turning as I twist
    - The snow forms a layer on lilac bushes
    Still-slip-slide
    The flake dances beside me
    The wind whirls its song in my ear
    - They collect into a palpable pile
    Swivel-stagger
    Slips through my cradle hold
    Silently settling under the rose-coloured sun
    - Into the embracing pool of snow I fall
    Softness
    == Renbo Huang

    Tuesday, November 07, 2006

    Go Forth


    Went to this great lecture yesterday on "Post-colonial Islam and Ironic Citizenship" by Salman Sayyid, author of A Fundamental Fear and research fellow in sociology and anthropology at the University of Leeds. He put our understanding of community in the context of the narrative that surrounds us...

    Our narrative, he says, is the continuity from Plato to Nato with a tiny blip in there for the muslim empire, whose only purpose was as 'mail carriers' to deliver the ancient Greek thinking back in the hands of Western Europe before the Renaissance.
    Western culture, in this narrative, is contrasted with the colonial culture: lawlessness against violence, democracy against tyranny, progressive and modern against traditional. Our thinking is so based on the notion of nation-states, and our idea of citizenship is so based on integration within the narrative, that we struggle to include people outside the narrative (Jews, Muslims, Roma) in our definition of citizen.

    The narrative defines our presentation and interpretation, especially in the media, which in turn reinforces the narrative.

    An article in Macleans lights the old Darwinistic spark around fertility rates... We decadent Westerners with a declining fertility rate, the vibrant and fertile Muslims multiplying and being fruitful. Are we sure we are not, yet again, ascribing a fearfully high sex drive to the barbarians assuming Modernity will suffer defeat because of self restraint?
    Maybe Edward Gibbon's narrative "Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" and Darwin's narrative have become our truth?

    And I wonder, since it is the narrative that defines who we relate to in terms of community, how we can rewrite a myth that is so institutionalized...
    Not just on the topic of muslims. But on the topic of so many items. Progress. Women. Religion. Our non-human fellow occupants of this planet. And yes. The lowly cockroach.

    Talking about cockroaches... interesting discussion on CBC last week about the use of animals to describe a female -- womanwords. The signifier, having been assigned negative qualities, being used to confine and colour our perception of female behaviour. Vixen. Cow. Bird. Bitch. Dog. Chick. Shrew. Cat.

    So. In my next life as in this. I want to be sexy, smart, sleek, cuddly, smooth and wild. I wonder what animal that is.

    Monday, November 06, 2006

    Better?

    It is better to quest and die, than never to have quested at all
    == Blizzard after Tennyson

    But to die over and over again? Flaunt the laws of physics and hope that this time, the brick wall is built out of soft, fluffy, sweet and sticky marshmallows?

    Those Bloodpetal Lashers... I found I couldn't solo them. Watched my health bar go down and down until there's nothing left. Running on empty, fleeing them, only to be crushed by the very next mob I run into. Armour reduced to red glowing embers, even a soft touch pierces.

    And of course, then there's the elite T-rex.... Guess it doesn't really matter how fast you run if one hit kills, does it :-)

    Sometimes you can't make it on your own
    Sometimes you can't make it
    What more in the name of Love
    Pride (in the Name of Love)
    == U2

    Burn in the Rain

    Made a meal and threw it up on Sunday I've
    Gotta lot of things to learn
    Said I would and I'll be leaving one day
    Before my heart starts to burn

    So what's the matter with you?
    Sing me something new...don't you know
    The cold and wind and rain don't know
    They only seem to come and go away
    Times are hard when things have got no meaning
    I've found a key upon the floor
    Maybe you and I will not believe in the things we find
    Behind the door

    So what's the matter with you?
    Sing me something new...don't you know
    The cold and wind and rain don't know
    They only seem to come and go away
    == Oasis, Stand By Me