It's (Not) the End of the World As We Know It, And I Feel Fine
I didn't know about the Large HardonHadron Collider test today. This alarms me. I'm...glad the world didn't end? Although torra's post made me think that it's not quite safe to come out of the bunker yet. I know that the experiment is probably safe and that a lot of the public anxiety about the project is based on a misunderstanding of what CERN is actually doing, but still. People thought the world could have ended today!
I probably should make some profound statement about the fragility of life and how important it is to seize the moment and live every day like it's LHC day, but...I got nothing. So instead, have a meme.
Five Regrets, and Five Sources of Profound Relief and Accomplishment
Had the world ended, I would have been happy that I managed to:
5. Hold down an adult job and do okay at it. After so many years of studenthood and working really terrible and demeaning minimum-wage jobs, it feels good to have a purpose.
4. As a result of said job, I was given a chance to improve the confidence and increase the skills of a few students. Even better!
3. Visit Washington DC. And Boston. And Seattle. And do it all in the midst of FANGIRLS!
2. Pull a Canadian hat trick and see Paul Gross, Callum Keith Rennie and Hugh Dillon in person. Even if I only actually spoke to Callum. (Plus! Enrico Colantoni totally smiled at me!)
1. Love and be loved by someone who accepts me and understands me. (Not Enrico Colatoni, obviously. Although he wishes!)
Had I perished I would have regretted:
5. Never managing to improve my spelling. I still have to depend on spellchecker when I use words like "genius" or "receivership" or "success". It's like I have a very specific learning disability. Or I'm profoundly lazy. Either way, had I died I would have mourned the fact that I continue to misspell common words.
4. Never having seen San Francisco. Or London. Or Paris. Or Cairo. Or Chicago. Or Montreal. Or the Caribbean. There are so many beautiful places in the world, and I want to visit them all.
3. Not being nicer to plants. I keep killing them. I really do want to successfully nurture one houseplant before the end of the world.
2. Failing to attend a concert (aside from the BB King debacle when I was 15, the Dave Matthews "Tribute" band I saw in Washington with omphale23 and pocketmouse). But! I'm going to see Swell Season on the 20th! So I will correct this oversight, albeit slowly and with slightly random band choices. (Dudes! Swell Season! The guy/girl (and another girl) combo from Once! I am very excited! )
1. Missing out on a chance to say goodbye to family/friends/loved ones, because I was totally ignorant of this major event. Science!
Anyway, that's my list. I leave the profundity to you guys. Tell me 5 things you would have regretted doing/not doing had the world ended today, and 5 things you would have been happy you've done. And feel free to repost this meme in your journals! I like reading about people's world-ending thoughts.
ETA: I want to write Roger Ebert an email and ask him why he didn't mention Passchendaele in any of his Toronto Film Festival articles. He was at the Premiere! He mentioned the "Fund the Arts, Not War!" protestors! But he didn't say a word about Paul's film. And this leaves me puzzled. I can usually depend on Ebert to profile non-US films; he's been a champion of independent and foreign flicks for years. It seems like a film that opened TIFF and is the biggest domestic movie ever produced in the Great White North deserves at least a mention, even a negative one. I find the silence slightly suspect. And so, I email.
I probably should make some profound statement about the fragility of life and how important it is to seize the moment and live every day like it's LHC day, but...I got nothing. So instead, have a meme.
Five Regrets, and Five Sources of Profound Relief and Accomplishment
Had the world ended, I would have been happy that I managed to:
5. Hold down an adult job and do okay at it. After so many years of studenthood and working really terrible and demeaning minimum-wage jobs, it feels good to have a purpose.
4. As a result of said job, I was given a chance to improve the confidence and increase the skills of a few students. Even better!
3. Visit Washington DC. And Boston. And Seattle. And do it all in the midst of FANGIRLS!
2. Pull a Canadian hat trick and see Paul Gross, Callum Keith Rennie and Hugh Dillon in person. Even if I only actually spoke to Callum. (Plus! Enrico Colantoni totally smiled at me!)
1. Love and be loved by someone who accepts me and understands me. (Not Enrico Colatoni, obviously. Although he wishes!)
Had I perished I would have regretted:
5. Never managing to improve my spelling. I still have to depend on spellchecker when I use words like "genius" or "receivership" or "success". It's like I have a very specific learning disability. Or I'm profoundly lazy. Either way, had I died I would have mourned the fact that I continue to misspell common words.
4. Never having seen San Francisco. Or London. Or Paris. Or Cairo. Or Chicago. Or Montreal. Or the Caribbean. There are so many beautiful places in the world, and I want to visit them all.
3. Not being nicer to plants. I keep killing them. I really do want to successfully nurture one houseplant before the end of the world.
2. Failing to attend a concert (aside from the BB King debacle when I was 15, the Dave Matthews "Tribute" band I saw in Washington with omphale23 and pocketmouse). But! I'm going to see Swell Season on the 20th! So I will correct this oversight, albeit slowly and with slightly random band choices. (Dudes! Swell Season! The guy/girl (and another girl) combo from Once! I am very excited! )
1. Missing out on a chance to say goodbye to family/friends/loved ones, because I was totally ignorant of this major event. Science!
Anyway, that's my list. I leave the profundity to you guys. Tell me 5 things you would have regretted doing/not doing had the world ended today, and 5 things you would have been happy you've done. And feel free to repost this meme in your journals! I like reading about people's world-ending thoughts.
ETA: I want to write Roger Ebert an email and ask him why he didn't mention Passchendaele in any of his Toronto Film Festival articles. He was at the Premiere! He mentioned the "Fund the Arts, Not War!" protestors! But he didn't say a word about Paul's film. And this leaves me puzzled. I can usually depend on Ebert to profile non-US films; he's been a champion of independent and foreign flicks for years. It seems like a film that opened TIFF and is the biggest domestic movie ever produced in the Great White North deserves at least a mention, even a negative one. I find the silence slightly suspect. And so, I email.