Beyond Selidor

Day 24 – Something that makes you cry
A lot of things make me cry, but the two things absolutely guaranteed to turn me into a sobbing mess are stories about the relationships between fathers and children, and stories about the passage of time. Because I've got daddy issues, and passage-of-time issues, you know?

The first film I can remember causing me to bawl my eyes out (aside from The Land Before Time, which traumatised me, as it traumatised all 90s children) was A Little Princess. For those of you who don't know, the film takes some liberties with the book's original plot. ( spoilers )

Hook caused a similar reaction. As did any scene involving Iroh and Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Certain songs ('After the Gold Rush' and 'Heart of Gold' by Neil Young,* 'Graceland' by Paul Simon and 'Deeper Water' by Paul Kelly) also induce floods of hysterical tears, including one memorable occasion in a cafe in front of a whole bunch of people.

Yeah, I'm aware I have issues. But, to be honest, I quite enjoy crying, so it doesn't bother me too much.

*These songs elicit the same reaction from my father. When I was living with him in Canberra, there were numerous occasions when we'd drink a bottle of wine, put on Neil Young and cry.

( The other days )

Day 25 – Your sleeping habits
My sleeping habits are, quite frankly, horrendous. They've been getting progressively worse over the years, and because I don't live at home, I don't have anyone besides myself to make me got to sleep.

Up until recently, I was in a long-distance relationship with someone who works nights, which further screwed up my sleep patterns, as I would tend to stay awake until late on his days off (since his awake hours are nights, even when he's not working) or get up early to talk to him in the hours just after he got back from work. While I'm not doing that any more, my sleep patterns could be a bit better.

Ideally, I should go to bed at 11pm and wake up at 7am. In actual fact, what tends to happen is that I go to bed any time between midnight and 3am, and wake up at 7am or 8am. I probably need more sleep, but I seem to be able to function at least intellectually on only five hours of sleep. Psychologically it's probably doing all kinds of terrible things to me, though.

( The other days )

Have I got links for you!

Nanaki was browsing this amazing site of photos the other day, and I will share the links to two of the most amazing entries, here and here.

Abigail Nussbaum's response to Elizabeth Moon's ill-informed rant about the Islamic centre being built near Ground Zero is absolutely spot-on. Some of her commenters say interesting things, too.

_menthapiperita linked me to this excellent food blog written by a friend of hers who now lives in Sydney. It made my mouth water, and also made me incredibly homesick. Thank goodness I'm going home on Wednesday!

Couple of posts about Daria, which are making me yearn for my own copy of the DVDs more and more. Daria, along with Buffy and eurodance, defines the 90s to me.

The good folks at OMG Squee transcribed Joss Whedon's Melbourne Writers Festival speech. I wish I'd been there.

I love everything about this post by kateelliott. (Post is on her reasons for writing her character Hugh in Crown of Stars as being stunningly gorgeous and utterly cruel.)

These two posts sum up why I love John Scalzi's blog so much.

I haven't got any more links, but I'd also like to take the opportunity to wish losseniaiel the best of luck for her upcoming PhD at Leeds, and thelxiepia the best of luck for her upcoming undergrad degree at Bangor. I hope that both of you have an amazing time, and that your degrees are everything you could possibly hope for.