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Dec. 21st, 2011
A sort of belated Happy Hannukah and a not at all late wish for a blessed Solstice to all who celebrate either/both! Somewhat annoyed that I'm spending my Longest Night on the road instead of with my sweetie, but honestly way I've been lately there'd be more sleeping than celebrating going on. Sorry, baby, I'll make it up when I get back. :D
I had noble intentions of slogging my way through a half or 3/4 day at the store today and from there leaping on the B43 to catch the megabus at the mall. I came to my senses sometime last night, especially since due to a total spoon crash it was a wash, productivity and pre-trip preparation-wise. So I'm staying home, making sure I have everything I need for my almost a week away, and took the opportunity to grab some extra sleep, as I'm pretty sure one of the more stressful bits of the upcoming week is gonna be my entire family freaking out about how thin I've gotten and me frantically handwaving away their expected concerns about my health. Least Dad and Faye have seen me reasonably recently so they'll be fine about it; the rest of them... erm. That is not going to be fun. I don't need to look exhausted on top of gaunt, so extra sleep is something of a bonus. I also plan to spend much of the bus trip unconscious as well.
I've been following the news out of North Korea rather avidly the past couple days. That place is so messed up and with the death of Kim Jong-il, it's only going to get more so. I've made plenty of snark on Twitter about it, but I really do find the whole thing fascinating*; the cults of personality that surrounded the Eternal President, the Dear Leader and no doubt will be fashioned around the Great Successor** as well, the entire propaganda mill of the country charged with covering up any negative press anyone gives this country. I've seen quite a few documentaries about what it's like over there and I can't even wrap my brain around any of it. I find the footage of all the people weeping and pounding the ground and having the vapors surreal. How much is that is genuine? (Probably most of it, seeing as North Koreans are indoctrinated into this Kim Il-sung/Jong-Il as God the Father and his only begotten son idea from the time they can walk if not before.) How much of that is "oh shit, if I don't cry enough they will shoot me?" And Kim Jong-Un? A bit terrified by the fact that he's six years younger than I am and still looks like a sullen teenager in the official photos.*** This is gonna be an... interesting transfer of power.
Also damn, 2011 has been a bad year on the Wacky Dictator With Interesting Fashion Sense and Hot Henchwomen front.
...unrelated, but I don't entirely hate the new LJ comment interface. Titles weren't really necessary anyway and tended to fuck up the google threading of comments in gmail anyway so I'm not gonna miss them. Not sure what the latest storm of brouhaha, tantrum and "THATS IT I'M SWITCHING TOGEICO DREAMWIDTH" is all about other than LJ people liking their biannual dose of complain and flounce.
* I came to my fascination with North Korea by way of my obsession with skyscrapers - from 1989 until recently a huge looming trangular and fantastically ugly structure that would have been the the world's tallest hotel, squatted, unfinished, over the Pyongyang skyline. The government was so embarrassed by it that no one was allowed to get near it, it was photoshopped out of all official pictures of the city, and if you asked any North Korean about the GIANT FUCKING CONCRETE PYRAMID RIGHT OVER THERE they would deny knowing what you were talking about. Yeah. About two or three years ago an egyptian cell phone company restarted construction on the Ryugong Hotel, wrapping all the ugly concrete in glass so while it's still kinda terrifying in a blinding sort of way, it's at least less of an eyesore, and apparently there are still plans to make it into some kind of hotel and office space.
** next three MacOSes anyone?
*** Also kinda imagining a creepy Baron Harkonnen/Feyd Rautha dynamic between him and his now dead father; I think it's mostly Herbert's description of Feyd as full faced and constantly pouting that does it. But imagining Kim Jong-Il muttering "LOVELY JONG-UN" under his breath while making evil mastermind hands... I'm gonna stop now.
I had noble intentions of slogging my way through a half or 3/4 day at the store today and from there leaping on the B43 to catch the megabus at the mall. I came to my senses sometime last night, especially since due to a total spoon crash it was a wash, productivity and pre-trip preparation-wise. So I'm staying home, making sure I have everything I need for my almost a week away, and took the opportunity to grab some extra sleep, as I'm pretty sure one of the more stressful bits of the upcoming week is gonna be my entire family freaking out about how thin I've gotten and me frantically handwaving away their expected concerns about my health. Least Dad and Faye have seen me reasonably recently so they'll be fine about it; the rest of them... erm. That is not going to be fun. I don't need to look exhausted on top of gaunt, so extra sleep is something of a bonus. I also plan to spend much of the bus trip unconscious as well.
I've been following the news out of North Korea rather avidly the past couple days. That place is so messed up and with the death of Kim Jong-il, it's only going to get more so. I've made plenty of snark on Twitter about it, but I really do find the whole thing fascinating*; the cults of personality that surrounded the Eternal President, the Dear Leader and no doubt will be fashioned around the Great Successor** as well, the entire propaganda mill of the country charged with covering up any negative press anyone gives this country. I've seen quite a few documentaries about what it's like over there and I can't even wrap my brain around any of it. I find the footage of all the people weeping and pounding the ground and having the vapors surreal. How much is that is genuine? (Probably most of it, seeing as North Koreans are indoctrinated into this Kim Il-sung/Jong-Il as God the Father and his only begotten son idea from the time they can walk if not before.) How much of that is "oh shit, if I don't cry enough they will shoot me?" And Kim Jong-Un? A bit terrified by the fact that he's six years younger than I am and still looks like a sullen teenager in the official photos.*** This is gonna be an... interesting transfer of power.
Also damn, 2011 has been a bad year on the Wacky Dictator With Interesting Fashion Sense and Hot Henchwomen front.
...unrelated, but I don't entirely hate the new LJ comment interface. Titles weren't really necessary anyway and tended to fuck up the google threading of comments in gmail anyway so I'm not gonna miss them. Not sure what the latest storm of brouhaha, tantrum and "THATS IT I'M SWITCHING TO
* I came to my fascination with North Korea by way of my obsession with skyscrapers - from 1989 until recently a huge looming trangular and fantastically ugly structure that would have been the the world's tallest hotel, squatted, unfinished, over the Pyongyang skyline. The government was so embarrassed by it that no one was allowed to get near it, it was photoshopped out of all official pictures of the city, and if you asked any North Korean about the GIANT FUCKING CONCRETE PYRAMID RIGHT OVER THERE they would deny knowing what you were talking about. Yeah. About two or three years ago an egyptian cell phone company restarted construction on the Ryugong Hotel, wrapping all the ugly concrete in glass so while it's still kinda terrifying in a blinding sort of way, it's at least less of an eyesore, and apparently there are still plans to make it into some kind of hotel and office space.
** next three MacOSes anyone?
*** Also kinda imagining a creepy Baron Harkonnen/Feyd Rautha dynamic between him and his now dead father; I think it's mostly Herbert's description of Feyd as full faced and constantly pouting that does it. But imagining Kim Jong-Il muttering "LOVELY JONG-UN" under his breath while making evil mastermind hands... I'm gonna stop now.
I have a thing for unusual instruments. Especially collaborative ones. This should be a duh, since I play handbells. But holy shit how have I not heard of GlassDuo before?
....O_o
....O_o