blatherings

blatherings
the shallow side

Oh the testosterone!

Last night as the King of the Cage match that I took Jim to as a thank you for the training.  I'm torn about it - on one hand, I know it was lame - the fights ended quickly, most of the fighters seemed to be pretty mismatched and the girl fights were canceled - actually, pretty much all of the fights Jim wanted to see had been canceled.  That being said, IT WAS SO COOL!  I've never seen anything like this before and have nothing to compare it to - I understand his and other's complaints, and could list off things that would have improved the experience for me, but watching a couple guys fight was strangely fascinating.  The things they can do with their bodies - not just in a lustful, look how ripped that guy is sense - but When one guy has wrapped his thighs around another's neck only to have the guy stand up - but the first guy keeps holding on with his legs and then they start punching each other - okay, it sounds awful.  But it wasn't. 


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It was fun being there with Jim as well - having someone who can explain much of what's happening, in between being greeted by a bunch of guys he trained with was kinda neat.  But damn do I hate big crowds.  There were too many people for my tastes, even though the place wasn't close to sold out.  We had wicked cool seats though - if we do this again I may well request these seats - the floor would be hard to see much I think, and we were in the first row of the raised seating - essentially a little higher than the ring itself.  I could hear the exhalations of the fighters, esp when they were being hit.


 


It wasn't as brutal as I expected - there was very little blood, no more than at a hard mosh pit, but the fighting also wasn't as good as I expected.  Mostly it makes me want to learn more.


 


Earlier in the day, after working out, Jim showed me a bunch of the stuff that I saw that night.  Wile I didn't necessarily recognize what I saw till he talked me thru it, it did give me an idea of the kind of pain and how tough some of this shit is.  Of course, I couldn't do a lot of it without giggling - there was a lot more of me on my back and him straddling me than I was really ready for.  I'd like to learn more and he suggested looking into a jujitsu class - although I think I want to focus on kick boxing till I have some sort of usefulness there before adding in something new. 

3.10.05 04:25


why am I so easily influenced?

This is uber cheesy but when we were talking about why I have to do preacher curls even though I hate them beyond belief, Jim mentioned a couple movie references that were supposed to inspire me - Terminator Two  and the scene where Linda Hamilton is doing chin ups and something from GI Jane - which I haven't seen.  But now I wanna.  And I feel dumb about that - there's the voice in my head screaming about what a DUMB movie it is sure to be.  But I also wanna see how tough Demi Moore looks… 

3.10.05 04:32


Any ideas for a name?

Popped by B&C’s tonight.  They had to pay us for the work we did for them over the summer (shudder) and C wanted to convince S that it’s time for a new kitty.  There has been a stray lingering around their place – which of course they started feeding.  She’s about a year and a half old, has lived thru one winter – she’s missing most of one ear and part of another from frostbite.  Very friendly with lots of purring.  Is one of those cats who places her head under your hand when she’s ready for attention.  I sat in the downstairs bathroom with her for about half an hour – at one point I provoked her to see her reaction – for those of you who knew Gav, there was a damn fine reason for this – she held my hand in her paws, claws in and gently nipped my hand without breaking skin.  And a minute later she was curling up in my lap.  I’m a little hesitant – I don’t know much about her, and S is even more so – every cat he’s lived with since he left home has been crazy.  I told B&C to take her to the SPCA and see if she has a chip or there is any chance she belongs to anyone.  From there, I will take her to my vet and get her checked out. 


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I’m really excited about having something furry running around here again.  Esp. with S gone so much, I really like to have something around to keep the mirror monsters at bay.
5.10.05 08:17


Really, I find you all quite strange.

The only reason for the sudden jump in my stats is that you are all biting your nails with anticipation over the new cat’s name.  In hopes you will all sleep better tonight, we are calling her


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Bella Sook


 


Pictures to follow.  Now seriously, get off the computer and enjoy your day.
12.10.05 03:33


I just can't get over these stats. What is with you people?

Tuesday I met with my adviser about my thesis. The timeframe he’s looking at is much harsher than I originally thought so yesterday was my last day of slackassery. I’ve been really busy the last six weeks since school started, and I clearly need to figure out what is important and what I’m just wasting time with.

I’m off to make lunch and prepare my day’s readings.
12.10.05 21:25


and so it begins

While the Western world is hitting its stride in terms of providing employment, a high standard of living and more freedoms than most people choose to exercise, we are still beset by numerous social problems. We have prosperity that leads to consumerism which leads to a throwaway culture which in turns results in our viewing relationships as being just as disposable as razors.

We have comodified relationship to the point that in Houellebecq there is a sense of consumerism, hedonism and some unchecked scientific advancement in EP, but there are no relationships built on trust and shared joy – lots of sex sure, but no love. The reason; we don’t think anyone (including ourselves) has any worth because of the disposable culture. This feels like existentialism gone awry – there is no joy in making the right decision because it is the right
decision, – here there is simply no god, no culture, no family relationship that means anything. Nothing means anything, nothing has any worth and whatever decision is made appears to be the wrong one if only because there is rarely a right decision.

For Womack, depending on where you are in the Dryco Chronicles, you either have no worth in society because the world is falling apart, or you only have worth in terms of how useful you are to Dryco itself – the result in both cases is an extension of ‘a dog eat dog world’ that leaves those with any social standing drowning in the knowledge that they could be homeless, killed or otherwise made non-existent or viable with utter randomness. As much sex as there is in Houellebecq’s novels, there is violence in Womack’s. Corporate takeovers are decided through gladiator style combat, women unable to give birth naturally in a world dying due to environmental degradation display works of “fetal art” where their offspring become an expression of their anger at the world rather than an expression of love. A person’s worth is measured directly by their use-ability by Dryco, including those who believe they are in control of the company.

Both writers present a world where human relationships are essentially economic and empty. The result is a satirical look at the materialist society we have now. They poke at the belief that we have moved past materialism into a post-materialist existence, in that our values (the PMT pursuit) have been transformed into a commodity, happiness derived through consumerism - be that prostitution, wife swapping, or the primacy of the corporation. We have excelled past Marx’s commodity fetishism and simply comodified our relationships and ultimately ourselves.
13.10.05 20:09


just one of those days

You know, when you wake up at a decent time but don’t wanna get out of bed and then all of a sudden its hours later? And you don’t feel depressed per se, you just don’t really see the point of doing anything ‘cause where is it really going to lead anyway? Even going to the gym didn’t perk me up, like it usually does. All I can think about is how everything ultimately leads to death. Typically I find this a rather emancipatory feeling - if we all die anyway, why not have some fun and be goofy? Today I just don’t see the joy in anything.
14.10.05 21:04


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