The weird and the more-weird

Indonesia's veined octopus 'stilt walks' to collect coconut shells

Scientists grow pork meat in a laboratory

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas......

It's snowing! A lot.
Sledging tomorrow maybe.
I'm definitely not driving home tonight. Getting the bus.
Is this a sign of climate change? Colder winters are predicted. I don't remember this much snow in December for years. Though it was much more common when I was little.

My response

Answers to the previous post....

1. Unfortunately my toilet seat doesn't stay up. So mind you don't get a rather severe circumcision.

1. Watching sports on tv does not count as being sporty.

1. Try carrying all these bags in these heels and then tell me it's not a sport.

1. Don't do anything that might make me cry then.

1. If I ask for what I want, are you going to pay for it?

1. Don't phone me when you get man flu then.

1. Have you ever wondered why I only get a headache in bed?

1. Here's the deal - YOU wear the Victoria Secrets get-up for a day, and THEN I'll consider it.


If you like to camp, how about camping in the garden for a week?

what men wish to say

I was browsing through my old emails, as I often do when I'm avoiding work, and came across this. It made me laugh, so hopefully it'll make you smile too.

Apparently, these are all numbered "1" on purpose.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday = sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.

1. If you won't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like soap opera guys.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one..

1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine. Really.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or monster trucks.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I AM in shape. Round is a shape.

Thank you for reading this; Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight, but did you know men really don't mind that, it's like camping.

Gundam

Is it really that strange that I like to have Gundam models instead of Hello Kitty or Sailor moon? I like the building part, and the end product looks cool as well. At least, I think so.

Anyway, my Gundam models are finally out of their box and starting to squabble over squatters' rights on my table. A good sign that I'm starting to settle into this flat.

Less sensitive, or less selfish?

It’s said that as people get older, we become less sensitive to the things around us. As children, we can be entranced by very simple things, and even in our teens, the smallest thing can send us over the moon, or feel like a tragedy. I remember the tears on my school bus (not mine) when Take That split up. I wonder whether it would have been less devastating, although they weren’t really my thing, if we knew that they would be back in a decade. Perhaps not. Ten years is literally almost a lifetime when you’re only 14 years of age.

I feel though, as if I’ve become more emotional over the years, rather than less. I certainly find myself crying much more than I used to, for no apparent personal reason. There were a few stormy outbreaks during my teens, and some secret tears shed in the privacy of my own bed, but these days I can start crying when an accident is reported on the news, or I see people visiting at a hospital, even though I don’t know them or the patient being visited. I never used to cry watching films, even those Japanese dramas where the main actress inevitably died of some wasting illness, where cancer is made to look like consumption. Now, I’m like a leaky tap. I cried whilst watching Atonement. And during Coco before Chanel (!).

I still glance up and feel my breath catching when the light shines through the clouds, or when I walk through a particular picturesque scene. I still get the urge to stand still and capture the moment, wishing that I could do so with a photograph, but knowing that a) it won’t be the same and in any case b) I don’t have the patience.

True, I’m much less intense than I used to be, more calm and content. I no longer jump from one subject to another with the attention span of a flea in a poultry battery-farm. Rather than becoming insensitive, it’s more as if I’ve become MORE sensitive to other things, but in a more rational way. I’ve learnt to appreciate things more, to take in the finer details and letting them sink in. There are times when my thought processes leap around and take a running jump into randomness, but I’m more aware when it happens and rein them back before they go wild.
I think as we get older, we become less intense, because we are more aware of the events and people around us. We are less inclined to classify our own personal disappointments and upsets as tragedies, even if they might be, because there is always something else worse. A bad hair day isn’t the disaster of the year when you know someone who has had chemotherapy and lost all their hair that way. The flip side that comes with this coin is no longer going into ecstasies because you got the present you wanted, or you get to have chocolate and raspberry ripple ice cream (in a cone, with a flake and jelly tots). We remember to count our blessings, and our joy might be tempered by other stresses and responsibilities lurking in the background, or the guilt that others aren’t as fortunate. But these responsibilities may be what keeps us going when things go wrong, the fact that we need to consider other people as well as ourselves.

I guess what I feel is that I’m more aware of feeling happiness when it’s there, and less despairing when it’s not. Sometimes I wish I was a child again, living so much in the moment. But usually, I’m quite happy as I am now as well.

(Image from http://www.kesher.org.uk/)