The Good Life... a weblog about life, technology, and the Opera web browser

I'll be leaving in just a bit to head over to Camp Jeep until Saturday. Then, I'll be leaving for a one-week service project with ASP. In other words, y'all won't be hearing from me for a while.

Whenever I talk with my dad on the phone, he always ends the conversation with something like We'll talk to you soon. Now, last time I checked there was only one of him, so I'm not sure where the we is coming from. I guess it's just one of his idiosyncrasies. Oh well.

My site is currently down, but I'm still doing updates. My school is again having problems with permissions, thus the password prompt when you try to access my page. Hopefully this will get worked out before I leave on vacation....

For the first time since I started this journal, I had to ask someone to stop reading it. It really hurt me to do that, but I supposed she shouldn't have been reading it in the first place. Some of my posts spoke directly of her, if not to her, and it wasn't appropriate for her to read them. Sometimes it's just not right for another to know what's on your mind, however innocent and loving it may be.

...from Neil Gaiman's Stardust:

I am the most miserable person who ever live, he said to the Lord Primus, when they stopped to feed the horses feedbags of damp oats.

You are young, and in love, said Primus. Every young man in your position is the most miserable young man who ever lived.

There is a proverbial saying chiefly concerned with warning against too closely calculating the numerical value of unhatched chicks, pointed out Quintus.

He found his hands twining, almost of their own volition, into the star's wet hair. He wondered how it could have taken him so long to realize how much he cared for her, and he told her so, and she called him an idiot, and he declared that it was the finest thing that ever a man had been called.

I watched Boston Public again tonight. I was, yet again, impressed with the scripting and acting. An especially good part was related to a teacher talking about suicide with students.

One of the teachers brought some of his students to the morgue to see a student who had just committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. Many of the students' parents were mad at the school and the teacher for allowing this. Their rationale was that the mere mention of suicide puts it into the minds of students and makes them more likely to commit it.

The teacher very effectively dismissed this fallacy by informing the parents that suicide is already on the minds of students. The parents' fear of talking about it was the real problem. The teacher said that he brought the students to the morgue to overcome the stigma that suicide is glamorous or a better alternative to life. He showed them what suicide is really like. The scene ended with his powerful words: I only wish there was somewhere I could take them to show them what real parents are like. Ouch.

I'm very impressed that this came up on primetime TV, especially with the truthfulness of the issues: people are scared to talk about suicide because they think talk is going to put the idea into a teenager's head. This particular episode also addressed the problem of a student having a hit list filled with faculty and other students. Both issues were dealt with tastefully.

Back to the issue of suicide. I think part of the reason I found it so effective is because I find it truthful from my experiences in high school. I'll admit that I thought of committing suicide. Thankfully, I was blessed with enough sense to know that it wouldn't solve any problems, only really make things worse for all parties involved. I can't recall a single occasion when my parents talked to me about suicide. I know that my experiences aren't unique. The truth hurts, but hiding from it doesn't make it go away.

M.R. Ducks
M.R. Not
O.S.A.R.
C.M. Wangs
L.I.B.
M.R. Ducks

This is just a note to all those inclined to drive long distances with groups of wacky persons: laughter and yawns are contagious, especially for those considered over-tired. And, apparently, household appliances are very funny.

I found out today that my grandfather on my father's side is having health problems. On Wednesday, he went in for an MRI and a mass was found in his kidney. He's going in for a biopsy this week. He's been unexplainably tired for several weeks now.

I don't know him very well, just like I didn't know my grandmother on my father's side well. I found out after she died how much I missed by not knowing her. I hope it won't be the same with my grandfather. Unfortunately, I don't think I have much of a chance to get to know him. He and my father haven't had good relations for a long, long time (it's not surprising my dad and I have problems, eh?). My grandfather has pretty much cut communication to my family and I really don't think he'd care to hear from me. I'd really like to be proven wrong.

Happy Birthday, Helen!