I recently saw a movie called Shades of Ray in which the writers tried to make a plight out of young americans of Paskistani and caucasian heritage trying to deal with traditional expectations while wanting to fit in. After watching it I would say there are more strongly held reservations preventing socializing to the point of commitment between caucasians and other races than I'd like to think but for some reason this movie felt it was ok to continue the idea and embellished upon it that somehow the main character should have been more acceptable being half white while he was told by his Pakistani father not to marry "Blacks", Chinese or Jews. The movie was funny as hell but maybe it was too lopsided in its views. Plus it addressed a minute group of cultural issues. Note I did not say insignificant. I did like the fact that in the end he embraced his pakistani side for monetary gain and career advancement because in the end capitalism wins out.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Shades of White Ray
I recently saw a movie called Shades of Ray in which the writers tried to make a plight out of young americans of Paskistani and caucasian heritage trying to deal with traditional expectations while wanting to fit in. After watching it I would say there are more strongly held reservations preventing socializing to the point of commitment between caucasians and other races than I'd like to think but for some reason this movie felt it was ok to continue the idea and embellished upon it that somehow the main character should have been more acceptable being half white while he was told by his Pakistani father not to marry "Blacks", Chinese or Jews. The movie was funny as hell but maybe it was too lopsided in its views. Plus it addressed a minute group of cultural issues. Note I did not say insignificant. I did like the fact that in the end he embraced his pakistani side for monetary gain and career advancement because in the end capitalism wins out.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Fakes
Humans are gross. That I have realized my short life so far but I realized it to a different extent when my "friend" from Washington visited me in February. She and her younger sister I had not seen for about a year but then only briefly did I know them when we met in Germany. I roomed with S (I'll just say S for the sake of saving her reputation) and noted then that she was a bit messy but even then I thought ' when you're on vacation and on the go, who cares about being really neat and tidy?' (Except for me of course) But when S and her sister came to my 3rd floor 2 bedroom apartment for the first time; let's just say after they left I felt the need to steam-igate my apartment. I washed everything that could be washed and sprayed and wiped and dusted and vacuumed - not in that exact order. I wish I could wash sofas but lint rollers and antibacterial Febreze and sunning sufficed for now.
I wish I took a picture of the scene I came home to one afternoon from work but then I'd be mean right? By some standards at least. S and her sister ran a business; a wedding guide business; and so when they are crunching ideas things are scattered everywhere and frankly I don't know how any ideas can flourish in the mess they made. Piles of stuff lined my dining table, boxes, papers and so on which are easy to neaten up and box up really but in the kitchen, bowls of half eaten food were left out on the counters spoons half sucked and left on the countertops next to them and dirty dishes sodden with food lay in the kitchen sink. I couldn't help it; I exploded and sent a barrage of texts to S asking if only they could just have left the dishes in soapy water at least. I don't mind washing dishes, it's always easy once the gunk has been rinsed off or soaked off in hot soapy water. I find it a pleasure to wash dishes dreamily rinsing them in scalding water. Just kidding about the scalding part. Although I do know someone who does that.
So really you can gather that I should have expected this from them having been privy to the experience in Germany, however the part that made me cringe lately was long after they had departed the east coast and settle back in their hometowns S announced via email the she was getting married to her fiance I met while they visited. Now that was expected and I sent my congratulations and was excited to find out all the planning details as they progressed blah, blah, blah. A few months into the planning I received an email of their first engagement photo and it was ultra gorgeous and believable. You always want believable pictures rather than the tense posing picture your great grandparents used to have where they never smiled. They made you think their marriage was a death sentence which it usually is but that's another article, on my theories anyway. So after viewing the picture I remembered that S had mentioned they would be keeping everyone abreast of the progress via her wedding guide blog so I looked it up to see what was going on. They had an interesting photo session of the wedding dress shopping experience and a nice little write up by S but once I was done reading and casually flipped through the blog for more content I discovered an earlier post in which S had a picture of her work station with a very neatly arrayed assortment of materials, practically polished without a speck of dust or a bowl of half eaten food.
I recoiled at that moment! the thoughts running through my head - was it all a mean cruel joke?! Were they just mean to me when in fact they are neat and clean in their homes? S had become a complete fraud in my eyes. I knew it wasn't true and so every bit of her business became a lie. Would you trust someone who could not organize themselves to give you advice on organizing anything?
I wish I took a picture of the scene I came home to one afternoon from work but then I'd be mean right? By some standards at least. S and her sister ran a business; a wedding guide business; and so when they are crunching ideas things are scattered everywhere and frankly I don't know how any ideas can flourish in the mess they made. Piles of stuff lined my dining table, boxes, papers and so on which are easy to neaten up and box up really but in the kitchen, bowls of half eaten food were left out on the counters spoons half sucked and left on the countertops next to them and dirty dishes sodden with food lay in the kitchen sink. I couldn't help it; I exploded and sent a barrage of texts to S asking if only they could just have left the dishes in soapy water at least. I don't mind washing dishes, it's always easy once the gunk has been rinsed off or soaked off in hot soapy water. I find it a pleasure to wash dishes dreamily rinsing them in scalding water. Just kidding about the scalding part. Although I do know someone who does that.
I recoiled at that moment! the thoughts running through my head - was it all a mean cruel joke?! Were they just mean to me when in fact they are neat and clean in their homes? S had become a complete fraud in my eyes. I knew it wasn't true and so every bit of her business became a lie. Would you trust someone who could not organize themselves to give you advice on organizing anything?
Saturday, May 28, 2011
I will live on islands
Would you leave a country where you can see this everyday in 75 plus degree weather?
It's been a long winter and nothing much else but a routine of working and working out. I have been contemplating whether I am interested in riding for MS again; which I don't mind because it is truly a wonderful ride down the cape but sometimes I just get the feeling that the team just doesn't go with my personality (uh...don't you have that problem all the time?) shut it!
Teams are a really great way to stay motivated and meet lots of people while keeping in shape physically and mentally but you need to choose a team that is just right for you. Think about it, would a 50 year old man enjoy riding in a team of slender 20 somethings who are bent on breaking every charity record there is? Ok, bad example, but you get the point, it's about what you want out of the team. When I joined TVR I didn't want anything out of the team. I just wanted a way to stay active and helping out a good cause just happened to be part of it. I was fortunate to meet some truly dedicated and interesting people with more heart than a cardiac unit and I guess that may be why I didn't get much out of it. I didn't have their motivations. Now that I've ridden with them I get more of a sense of my kind of team. For starters more diversity and I don't just mean black. Although I like charity work I am not bent on saving the world and curing all diseases. Last I checked only Jesus could do that. (Oops I said the word Jesus. There goes my blog!)
A bunch of people who are balanced and enjoy riding while having fun and occasionally fundraising where the word competition does not factor into the event, is my kind of cool. Age is not necessarily a factor. Every age has something to offer, but let's face it, if you're 16 you have less to talk about than that 50 year old guy. I may just be thinking unrealistically but it's not just because I can't keep up (I've managed clocking 50 mind you) but riding on a team should be enjoyable not intimidating. You should feel like one of the pack and not like prey being circled upon. Ok, that may be an extreme euphemism.
Teams are a really great way to stay motivated and meet lots of people while keeping in shape physically and mentally but you need to choose a team that is just right for you. Think about it, would a 50 year old man enjoy riding in a team of slender 20 somethings who are bent on breaking every charity record there is? Ok, bad example, but you get the point, it's about what you want out of the team. When I joined TVR I didn't want anything out of the team. I just wanted a way to stay active and helping out a good cause just happened to be part of it. I was fortunate to meet some truly dedicated and interesting people with more heart than a cardiac unit and I guess that may be why I didn't get much out of it. I didn't have their motivations. Now that I've ridden with them I get more of a sense of my kind of team. For starters more diversity and I don't just mean black. Although I like charity work I am not bent on saving the world and curing all diseases. Last I checked only Jesus could do that. (Oops I said the word Jesus. There goes my blog!)
A bunch of people who are balanced and enjoy riding while having fun and occasionally fundraising where the word competition does not factor into the event, is my kind of cool. Age is not necessarily a factor. Every age has something to offer, but let's face it, if you're 16 you have less to talk about than that 50 year old guy. I may just be thinking unrealistically but it's not just because I can't keep up (I've managed clocking 50 mind you) but riding on a team should be enjoyable not intimidating. You should feel like one of the pack and not like prey being circled upon. Ok, that may be an extreme euphemism.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Lovin Grouplove
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
After Lord of the Rings
"What about his legs? he wont be needing those" I woke up this morning with the idea of beginning a modern drama with those lines and set as the two actors playing orks and goblins in that scene complete their most poignant part to play in the whole movie and following their real lives off set to reveal not so exciting but somewhat interesting lives. Why? because it's what I wondered at that part of the movie whereas most of the movie I pondered how annoying Frodo is, how handsome Aragorn and Legolas are and how much I appreciate someone like Gandalf.
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