Am in the middle of 'We need to talk about Kevin', by Lionel Shriver. Highly highly recommend the book. it's taking me a surprisingly large amount of time to get through it, though. Not only because I come home too tired to read, but also because I can only read a little before I have to stop and digest.
It's written as a series of letters from a woman to her husband, talking about their son, who had locked 11 people up in his high sch gym, and shot them.
The book is making me confront several personal issues, including
1) My long-held belief that I never will have children, and that I Should Not have children.
2) What can happen if one becomes disaffected/depressed/desperate
3) finding purpose
It also made me think about general stuff like
4) Teenagers
5) Education
6) Expectations
So.. it's quite heavy reading, and taxing both cerebrally and emotionally. It's nice that it's in a book-- seems like the kind of novel just screaming out to be made into a movie. but during a 2hr movie everything moves so fast, and you can't stop to chew on it for a day or two, and pick it up again later.
--------------------
Was talking to Joanna about the state of the economy/world/social order etc. It's very comforting to know people who are optimistic and hopeful about human nature, and who are taking steps to rectify injustices and help others.
I guess it's so easy to feel like nothing you can do will actually make a difference, so why bother. Better to run around making money so at least you have the option to make a larger contribution in future. And it's even easier once you've taken that step, to sink into the never-ending vicious cycle of Not-yet-I-don't-have-enough.
But when I wake up everyday I don't instinctively think about the millions of dispossessed poor. Should I be?? Why and/or why not??
Joanna says that in history, whenever there's been income disparity and corruption of this magnitude, the civilization will collapse. I dunno about collapse.. and she also admits that she doesn't believe that what happened to the Romans will happen now, partly because this whole thing is happening on a global scale. You can't have other civilizations rising to take the place of the old one because right now the entire world is so connected and the US has such a hegemony that if it completely collapses it'll take everyone down with it. It's like Peiyee mentioned about small banks in Germany going bust because of this subprime issue in America.
I think that the crash is inevitable. The only thing that governments, financial instituitions etc can do is plan how best to minimise impact, pick up the pieces, and try to stop such events from happening again. I'm not sure if delaying the crash will increase or decrease its effect. But I'm not an economist. I don't understand a lot of this. And I don't know whether to be happy or sad about this heightened awareness I'm cultivating about the economy n etc.
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I really really have to sleep.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
A Spot Of Bother
just read the book by Mark Haddon. It's good. =)
He also wrote "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time" about a boy with autism.
A spot of bother is about a recent retiree who discovers eczema on his hip and becomes convinced that it is cancer and that he is going to die. However, he's an old dignified Englishman, who doesn't want to trouble anyone, least of all his wife, who he one day discovers is having an affair.
If I were a book reviewer I would call it "darkly funny" and "honest". [Although Lisa and I have learnt not to trust any film that is "darkly funny" because that is film critic code for "Not humorous at all. Just extremely weird and almost painful to watch."]
Anyways, the book made me think about
1) Retirement
This is jumping the gun a little-- even worse than Leonard's thinking about divorce.... But my goal has always been to retire early. Make $5 million dollars, then get out. Live off the interest. Yet... today at the supermarket I realised that inflation has reared it's ugly head... milk in safeway is $2.50/half gallon, $4.69/gallon. Insane. Used to be $2/half gallon. That's a 25% increase. Well... good thing my stipend has gone up to $2100/mth from $2000/mth. Truly, A*STAR makes me feel so loved.
Anyways. Moral of the story... I should raise my estimate to $10 million.
But I asked BS today what was his ideal retirement, and he said that ideally he would never retire-- that he'd be able to work a little forever and ever, and get paid for it too.
Yeah... I'm glad the world has people like BS. So the rest of us can slack.
2) Dying
In line with my early retirement plan is my early death plan. I've been thinking about Robert McGough's poem:
I totally disagree man. Especially about the living-till-104 part. Perhaps in 2080 living till 200yrs old will be commonplace. But perhaps not. Homo sapiens are not designed to live so long.
I wonder if there will be other species in the genus Homo after Homo sapiens.... But perhaps there will be another Ice Age soon, and we'll be wiped out all together? I've been watching the NBC drama "Heroes". It's very gripping. I don't agree with any of the science, but it makes for a great story--- people with super powers who want to do good, a pervading sense of destiny, a race to stop a foretold tragedy, powerful mysterious people who may be good or bad, husbands and wives and brothers and sisters and friends --- very addictive.
----------------
Back to 'a spot of bother': Like the protagonist in the book, I want to die a sudden death. None of this suffer-for-a-long-time stuff. Ever since I watched the movie 'Final Destination' (the first one, not the sequels), I've fantasized about getting hit by a bus.
He also wrote "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time" about a boy with autism.
A spot of bother is about a recent retiree who discovers eczema on his hip and becomes convinced that it is cancer and that he is going to die. However, he's an old dignified Englishman, who doesn't want to trouble anyone, least of all his wife, who he one day discovers is having an affair.
If I were a book reviewer I would call it "darkly funny" and "honest". [Although Lisa and I have learnt not to trust any film that is "darkly funny" because that is film critic code for "Not humorous at all. Just extremely weird and almost painful to watch."]
Anyways, the book made me think about
1) Retirement
This is jumping the gun a little-- even worse than Leonard's thinking about divorce.... But my goal has always been to retire early. Make $5 million dollars, then get out. Live off the interest. Yet... today at the supermarket I realised that inflation has reared it's ugly head... milk in safeway is $2.50/half gallon, $4.69/gallon. Insane. Used to be $2/half gallon. That's a 25% increase. Well... good thing my stipend has gone up to $2100/mth from $2000/mth. Truly, A*STAR makes me feel so loved.
Anyways. Moral of the story... I should raise my estimate to $10 million.
But I asked BS today what was his ideal retirement, and he said that ideally he would never retire-- that he'd be able to work a little forever and ever, and get paid for it too.
Yeah... I'm glad the world has people like BS. So the rest of us can slack.
2) Dying
In line with my early retirement plan is my early death plan. I've been thinking about Robert McGough's poem:
Let me die a young man's death
not a clean and inbetween
the sheets holywater death
not a famous-last-words
peaceful out of breath death
When I'm 73
and in constant good tumour
may I be mown down at dawn
by a bright red sports car
on my way home
from an allnight party
Or when I'm 91
with silver hair
and sitting in a barber's chair
may rival gangsters
with hamfisted tommyguns
burst in and give me a short back and insides
Or when I'm 104
and banned from the Cavern
may my mistress
catching me in bed with her daughter
and fearing for her son
cut me up into little pieces
and throw away every piece but one
Let me die a young man's death
not a free from sin tiptoe in
candle wax and waning death
not a curtains drawn by angels borne
'what a nice way to go' death
I totally disagree man. Especially about the living-till-104 part. Perhaps in 2080 living till 200yrs old will be commonplace. But perhaps not. Homo sapiens are not designed to live so long.
I wonder if there will be other species in the genus Homo after Homo sapiens.... But perhaps there will be another Ice Age soon, and we'll be wiped out all together? I've been watching the NBC drama "Heroes". It's very gripping. I don't agree with any of the science, but it makes for a great story--- people with super powers who want to do good, a pervading sense of destiny, a race to stop a foretold tragedy, powerful mysterious people who may be good or bad, husbands and wives and brothers and sisters and friends --- very addictive.
----------------
Back to 'a spot of bother': Like the protagonist in the book, I want to die a sudden death. None of this suffer-for-a-long-time stuff. Ever since I watched the movie 'Final Destination' (the first one, not the sequels), I've fantasized about getting hit by a bus.
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