The random ramblings thread

[Saturn]

How I wish I could be as pragmatic and optimistic as you Malia.

You're all reason and good sense while for me the heat is everything and damn everything else.

[Malia]

How I wish I could be as pragmatic and optimistic as you Malia.

Honey, it's not about wishing--it's all about *willing*

[adonais]

Well, I challenge you to think of Valentine's Day in a new way this year... On Valentine's Day, I celebrate all kinds of love--not just romantic love. Love for family, love for friends, love for pets, love for the Earth, for great literature, love as gratitude. . . love is SO much more than just a romance between two people. So, this year, I challenge you to celeberate love in all its myriad forms. Send a valentine to your best mates, have a valentine's theme tea party (I did that last Sunday and my gal pals and I had a fabulous time!), smile at a stranger--just spread that love, folks. . .it'll come right back to you

That's a lovely thought....but be careful what you wish for, or we might start sending all our cards to you (I guess that doesn't sound very scary though) Well I'll try to take your advice - and you have a good one too!

(that teapot looks like something out of Endymion, btw)

[Credo Buffa]

Meh, I don't "believe" in Valentine's Day. When I was a kid, it was all about giving and getting little paper cards from people in your class because they had to, not because they wanted to. If only I'd had the foresight as a kid to realize it was all just a symbol of how fake it was. If you really love someone, why do you need a special day of the year to show it? It's not really special if you expect it anyway.

Case in point: last year my friend was all upset because her boyfriend (now fiance) didn't send her flowers on Valentine's Day, even though he said in advance that he wasn't going to, because he was at the time dividing his time between a job out East and Milwaukee, where she lives. The fact that she was with a guy who loved her enough to travel all the way from North Carolina every weekend for four months to be with her was completely overshadowed by the fact that he neglected (even though she knew he wouldn't because he explained it all to her) to send her flowers on a day when all the women of the world expect their significant others to send flowers. To say that I was disgusted by the whole thing is probably about right.

In any case, observing and appreciating love is wonderful. . . but shouldn't we be doing that every day, not just on February 14th?

Well, I had just about the best Valentine's Day--or as I prefer to call it, the Day of Evil in reference to 1) the way it (and smug people) has a tendency to attack single people, and 2) its being taken over by Hallmark and Hershey's and FTD--ever. I had people over for wine, pizza, and Snakes on a Plane (nothing says love like horrendously awful action movies about. . . well, snakes on a plane), followed by a night out with my roommates.

[Saturn]

Did you know about 99.7& of the thousands of members on the site are spambots

It makes my blood boil I wish I coudl delete them all but that would take forever and about twenty new ones join each day

[Credo Buffa]

Just remind yourself that karma will catch up with them, Saturn.

[Saturn]

They are randomly generated computer programs they obey no laws they have no soul

[Credo Buffa]

But those randomly generated computer programs had programmers at one point, did they not? If it makes you feel any better, I'm sure there's a deep, dark corner of Hell reserved for people who create spambots.

[Malia]

Hmm. . .a programmer losing his or her soul to produce spambots--sounds like the beginnings of a great epic poem or play to me. Maybe it could be the basis for an updated version of Faust

[Credo Buffa]

YES! Perfect comparison, Malia!

[Saturn]

Well I want to grab that programmer and kick the living s**** out of him

[dks]

Hello, my fantabulous forum-ite friends...just saw James McAvoy in "Last King of Scotland." If they don't cast him as Keats, I may just boycott the film.

[Malia]

Am I just the weirdest person on earth or does anyone else out there ever go through strange phases? For the last three weeks I've been really craving the story of 1960's Chicago Bears player Brian Piccolo and the movie Brian's Song--one of those "male tearjerker" movies. I get a real hankering for Brian's Song about every 2 years or so, so I guess the time is ripe. The good thing is I can order a cheap copy of either the original or the remake of the Brian's Song movie for 5 bucks on-line and Brian Piccolo's biography "Brian Piccolo: A Short Season" is only a $1.50 on-line, so at least this craving isn't *too* expensive.

My brother and sister-in-law think I get "into" the most random things. . .maybe they are right. Anyone else get cravings for random movies or other subjects?

[bard of passion]

Malia,

We have all experienced such odd urgings. I have always thought that it is related to some good memory or soothing experience and subconsciously we are seeking to replicate that mood (a la Proust and his madelaines)

[Credo Buffa]

Hello, my fantabulous forum-ite friends...just saw James McAvoy in "Last King of Scotland." If they don't cast him as Keats, I may just boycott the film.

Yay!

And you're not alone about getting into "random" things, Malia. If I see or hear of something I think is really spectacular, I'll go on a binge and absorb absolutely everything I can about that thing until a new thing comes along. For instance, after seeing Billy Elliot on stage in London a couple of weeks ago, I was all. . . "Dancing! Not that crap I do when I'm out clubbing, but real dancing! I know so much about the music of ballet, but what about the staging and the dancing itself? Must have more!" Now, I just discovered a Mozart biography I've been wanting to read for some time in our otherwise pretty crappy university library, and now I'm all. . . Mozart! Must read more, must listen more. . .

Although I have to say that I go on Mozart binges quite often, say a few times a year.

But anyway, you get the idea.