A bit of catch-up

Feb 05, 2004 15:36

Happy Birthday django24!!!

Year so far as condensed as I can...

Our new kitten, Charl II is evil. So much more mean than Charl I was, and with much sharper claws. I have too many scratches all over my hands and arms. I wish he'd be more nice. :)

I saw 86 movies in January, I've seen 10 this month so far. Most of them have been really good, JFK was my absolute favourite, Sorority Boys was probably my least favourite.

I've read four books so far, and am currently about halfway through the first Harry Potter book: really enjoying it. Of course, I've seen the movies, so it's not like I'm discovering this story for the first time or anything, but it's still wonderful.

I've not done any of the essays I'm supposed to write, and I really need to start. I've received one of the essays I did last year back and got a 2:1 for it. It was my least favourite of the essays I wrote, and I have no intention of following up on it or writing my exam essay on it unless I absolutely have to, so I was pleased with the mark that I got. Undoubtedly, the essays I had a better time writing will come back with far worse grades. *g*

Started a couple of new modules in uni. Aristotle's Social and Political thought: not bad at all, and once I finally get around to getting The Politics I should be able to write an essay for easily enough. Plus there are only 5 lectures and 5 seminars, so it's only added one hour to my week instead of two, though that one hour is on Tuesdays, when I didn't used to have any classes, so that is a bit of a pain. The other new module is French Philosophy, which I really enjoyed the first lecture for, and have already chosen an essay title that I'd enjoy writing about. It's a shame that Rhys didn't take this one, considering he has read tonnes of Sartre and Camus, while I have read none.

I've got into next to no music this year so far, and I've not been downloading the weekly Top 40 for a good few months now. I did hear Simon And Garfunkel's Sound Of Silence in The Graduate though, and have not been able to stop listening to it since. Plus there's Sesame Street. :)

I really want Mailbox Movies to send me the final two DVD disks of 24 Season 2 before Season 3 starts on Sky on February 12th, but I'm not hopeful. This is going to result in my TiVo space being taken by programmes I may have to wait months to watch.

I've heard great things about the 100th episode of ANGEL. I'll watch that as soon as I've posted this.

I think that's about it. A couple of opinionated polls to post first.

From sunlit5

Presidential Match

How I compare to the presidential candidates on the issues:

1 Kucinich Score: 100%
2 Sharpton Score: 90%
3 Kerry Score: 86%
4 Clark Score: 82%
5 Dean Score: 82%
6 Edwards Score: 73%
7 Lieberman Score: 69%
8 Bush Score: 4%

4% with Bush? That's too high for my liking. I must have accidentally pressed the wrong answer for a couple of the questions. *g* Interesting, since I didn't really have an idea of what the main differences were between the Democratic candidates on these issues. Anyone But Bush still applies as far as I'm concerned, but it was interesting to see who I'd be supporting if there were no Republicans running for president. Dream world or what? :D

Presidential Match

and...

From dherblay, buffyannotater, atpolittlebit and rahael:

The Belief Meme

Do I believe/approve of (depending on the question)...

In God? No. Though I don't believe we can know for sure, which is a shame. I believe so strongly that there is no God that I wish it was proveable. But it's not.

In ghosts? No. And I don't believe in the human soul, so I have no idea what ghosts would be if I were to believe in them.

In aliens? With the consensus on this also. Probably, given the size of the universe, but I can't see us ever having contact with any.

In Bigfoot? No.

In fairies? No.

In ESP? No.

In superstition? People are superstitious, and these superstitions do effect the way we behave, but I don't think they're justified.

In equal rights for gays? Of course!! Shouldn't need to be asked.

In equal rights for women? Ditto.

In psychics? No.

In appearance? When forming judgements based on appearance (I try not to ever do that, but still do it) they sometimes turn out to be accurate, sometimes not. That's a no.

In auras? Nope.

In true love? Honestly don't know. :)

In happy endings? Yes!

In abortions? Yes. I don't think the government has a right to control a woman's body, and I think that potential human beings are 'better off' Not entirely accurate, since they wouldn't exist, but I can't think of another way of saying it not being born at all, than to be born into a world/family/society where they won't be loved or won't have a chance of being happy. I also believe that a foetus is not yet a person.

That is not to say that I think abortions are good things, and considering how readily available birth control is, abortion should not be treated in that way. But where birth control does fail, or when mistakes are made, abortions are right. The "should abortions be legal or illegal" debate is completely different, and that they should not be made illegal is the obvious right answer, as making them illegal would lead to women seeking other ways of getting rid of their babies, or getting 'back-alley' abortions. A lot more harm would come to mothers if abortions were made illegal. So they should not be.

In Santa? No.

In soulmates? No soul = no soulmates. :) However, I do think there are 'matches' both in terms of friendships and relationships that go beyond common interests, and that the term soulmate would be fair to use for these people. But the idea that two people were literally 'made for each other', I don't believe in.

In magic? Nope.

In evolution? Yes.

In cloning? What Rahael said: "Cloning organs and human tissue? Yes. Cloning human beings? What's the point?"

In fraggles? *blank look*

In werewolves? No.

In vampires? No.

In miracles? No.

In existing thylacines? I have no idea. That the last known one died in 1936 suggests probably not. But who knows? (I had no idea what they were, by the way. Thylacine)

In Nessie? Nope.

In existing dinosaurs? Isn't being extinct part of the definition of dinosaurs?

In interracial marriages? Absolutely.

In adoptions? Yes!

In saving the rainforests? Duh. :)

In saving dying species? Definitely. I'm just changing the ways I'm saying yes in an attempt to make my answers less... repetitive. I know, I'm not succeeding. *g*

In the human race? At times.

In recycling? Yes.

In tattoos? *cringe* I would never have one, both because of needles and because they wouldn't suit me. They do sometimes look very cool though.

In plastic surgery? I think it's a shame that some people feel the need to use it to improve/change their looks, and I'd certainly never use it, but I don't morally disapprove of it or anything.

In love in general? Honestly don't know whether I believe in this one either. I use the term, but I'm not entirely sure I know exactly what I mean when I use it.

In animal rights? Maybe. I'm not sure 'rights' is the right term to use, but when I think about it, I don't think we have the right to treat animals as we wish, and so I don't think it's right for us to kill and eat them. Despite that, I eat meat, and I don't feel at all guilty while I do so. It's complicated.

In the death penalty? I did for a very long time, but now, absolutely not. Anger and a desire for vengeance is a natural human reaction, and I wouldn't criticise a parent for killing the murderer of their child, for example, but the legal system should not exist to satisfy people's passionate reactions. The state should have no right whatsoever to decide who lives and who dies. That's not to mention that tiny little factor of mistakes being made and innocent people being executed. I'm really ashamed that I used to support this.

All of the reasons I used to support it, such as "some people deserve to die", "the world would be a better place without some people", are still views that I hold. The world would be better without some people, and I do think some people deserve to die, we just don't have the right to kill them.

I want to babble about movies later, because it's been too long since I have, but I need to see the new ANGEL first. Hope it's as good as people are saying!

P.S. I think the lack of practice has harmed my typing. It took me over 10 edits to sort out all the HTML on this post.

Also, I just heard on the radio that someone bet £13,000 on Spurs to beat Man City last night at half time, while Spurs were 3-0 up. The odds were 1-25. He would have won very little, Man City ended up coming from behind to win 4-3, and he ended up losing £13k. Shocking. Some other lucky git bet some money on Man City to win at half time, with crazy odds, and won himself thousands and thousands. Fortune favours the brave? :)

ALSO Last time I swear, how do I make it so that the mood:happy, below, shows a smiley face. Or a mood:sad showing a sad face, and so on, like a lot of other LiveJournals seem to have?
Previous post Next post
Up