Straight Convenience

So last week I was a little hormonal. Actually quite profoundly hormonal. In between (strictly medicinal) chocolate, tea, and celebrity gossip magazine binges I tried for some productivity, working on the first draft of the first bit of the first bit of my dissertation. It's happening.
Anyway, for a bit of light reading and in a bid to asuage my hormonal flip-flopping I decided to hit the library up for some good old self-indulgent self-help readin'. I'm highly cynical about much of this but suspect myself of using this cynicism as a front to retain some semblance of cool. One of the books I lugged home in the oversize bag I've been using lately (a bag given to me by the ultra-chill Olivia when she left Taiwan) was called Grow: The Modern Woman's Handbook by Lynne Franks. Franks admits straight up that she was (apparantly) the inspiration for the Ab Fab Edina character which sparked my interest. The book is all about getting in touch with your inner goddess, eating right, meditating etc... I'm tempted to try the meditation stuff because I reckon I could really benefit from it. Thing is...I think I'm so self-concious that I would feel funny about meditating. Makes no sense, I know - who is self-councious about doing things in front of themselves? Me it would seem.
Anyway, then I got to the part of the book where Franks talks about relationships and this happened...

"At this point, I would like to apologize to any gay women reading this book - for the sake of convenience, I'm going to focus and refer to the woman/man partnership..."

It's not that Franks actually focuses on straight relationships only that bothers me so much as the use of the word 'convenience'. I kept reading it over and over and thinking - 'that is just so wrong'. Whether she intended to or not - and I suspect she didn't - Franks' association of the word convenience with heterosexual relationships *really* reinforces heteronormative practices and places lesbian relationships firmly in the realm of 'other'. It pissed me off. But it did take my mind of my own chocolate-smeared self-pity.

A night at the movies

From reading other blogs I'm figuring that it appears to be 'correct' to blog individually on different topics rather than to write one big update on several topics. I'm going to make an effort to keep the entries on topic then, and open myself up to blogging more than once a day (perhaps I should say once a week if I'm being true to past form).
Last Sunday night I saw the new Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith. LJ is rather more keen on Star Wars than I am as evidenced by the fact that I have only seen the other installments once each, on video all, and the first three for the first time about four years ago. So, while he was speed walking in fear of missing the first ten seconds, I was mildly amused as it is usually me in panic-mode and frustration at our inability to get to the cinema on time. I was also thinking how our financial status is reflected in the frequency and nature of our cinema attendance: in Taiwan we went pretty much every week, hit rock bottom on standards (we even paid to see Torque), and always bought snacks and drinks at the theatre. Flash-forward to the present day and we have been averaging one visit every month or two, limiting ourselves to 'must sees' and stealthing chocolate and ice-tea in my purse. It's kind of depressing in a way but it does filter out a lot of crap that I really don't need to see (like Torque).
So, with the disclaimer that I am not a Star Wars fan and probably miss a bunch of the references and finer points that would excite those more in tune with 'the force' than I, I thought it was very average. The opening sequence was fantastic and I was reminded of how blown away I can be by special effects (Lord of the Rings (until the hobbits on the bed frolicking) made me catch my breath the same way) and there were space ships and planets everywhere looking so realistic and the action was fast and it was all rollercoaster-ish and cool and then .... Well then there was a fair amount of what I thought was shoddy editing, like they had a lot of footage and just cut it up and slapped it together, and the special effects weren't so awesome throughout - the scenes in amongst the lava were pretty weak and went on for a long time so what started out being 'oh that lava isn't so great' ended up being 'this looks really ugly and kind of crap'. I don't know - if I were Randy on American Idol I would certainly be saying "It was just alright for me dawg." Yoda was really cool and the Wookies were huge and hairy and but they couldn't make it pop for me (there I go sounding like Randy again). I was frustrated by the passive, pregnant (and probably barefoot too) Princess Amidala. By the end my sugar rush from the chocolate and ice-tea had worn off and I was restless and getting bored and didn't really care by then that it was the birth of Darth Vadar. Added to which, everytime I saw Jar Jar Binks I felt sad for him, like 'Nobody liked you so you just get a couple of background shots buddy'. I think that part of my reaction did stem from a general apathy towards the series so I feel badly about being off-hand about it because I know it means a lot to a lot of people. Just not me I guess.

I miss Taiwan

I'm really missing Taiwan today - here's a top ten.
1. The heat. And not the watered down version that we get here in the UK. I mean the hot hot hot humid, move and you're sweating, heat.
2. The iced green tea. Particularly with a shot of lemon.
3. Making enough money to live as opposed to survive, which is what we are doing here. I know I know...I'm a student so it's to be expected, but the cost of living here is just so expensive.
4. My scooter - being mobile, being able to tootle around the city and watch everything going by, even the crazy traffic.
5. The food. I miss inexpensive, delicious food available late into the night. Especially seafood and tofu - it just ain't the same...
6. Okay, I kind of even miss teaching. Quite a lot if I think about it. I could go for a game of sticky-ball right now.
7. The weekends out of town. Hitting the beach or the moutains for some exploring or just some chillin'.
8. The night-market. Shopping at midnight for stockings or sushi - sights sounds and smells a go-go.
9. The feeling of cool tiles under hot feet.
10. The people...both Taiwanese and 'foreign', I made friends for five-minutes and friends for life that opened my mind and touched my heart. If that sounds cheesy...so be it.

I'm waiting for a friend to stop by to practice her Reiki skills on me. Wonder if she'll pick up on the vast amounts of nostalgia rushing through my system?

The girl with more ideas than time

So...I was away in the land of essays and headcolds and visitors for a while there. I'm super-glad the first two are done with and I can actually enjoy LJ's friend's visit rather than feeling like my head is about to explode and shower all and sundry with a mucus/Uncle Tom's Cabin mixture. I'm pretty resigned to getting not so great grades on the essays. I was rushed, I didn't think things through in the way I like to, I really don't feel like I established a feminist stance on either paper but especially not the second. For a few days I thought I was going crazy and had left my brain on the bus or in the Topshop changing room. Then I got a scratchy throat and I realized that I wasn't getting stupid, I was just getting sick. Funny how snot interferes with brain activity.
Anyway...I say that I'm struggling with a multitude of ideas because I am. This is a recurring problem but particularly annoying at the moment because I feel pretty strongly that these are good ideas and I want to put them all into action right now! LJ has wisely cautioned me against getting too overloaded what with the big aul' dissertation staring at me and all. He's right. Much as I hate to, I'm shelving a lot of the action until after September when I can get down to it. Having said that...one of the things I'm hoping to do next year is to do some kind of sponsored event. Possibly a running kind of sponsored event. I'm not going to say the 'M' word but it has emerged as a possibility. Anyhoo, whatever extent I push myself to it's going to be a push because I am one verrrrrrrrrry unfit lady. So...perhaps it's time to get in training. Which is something I can do now.
As for the others. I'm keeping them under my hat for now.
Oh and I am going to stop with the small talk and start with the intelligent stuff soon. Honest.