Odd Weekend...
Man it was nice having that extra day off on Monday. Got a lot accomplished this weekend, and even managed to squeeze in 18 h0les of golf and the new Star Wars movie.
Regarding the Star Wars movie, I thought the movie was entertaining. But I did have a few problems with the movie. I thought the end was rushed. They wasted a lot of time in the beginning and middle of the movie then seemed like they rushed to tie it all together at the end. Dave had mentioned that Chewbacka's attire was a bit dated. I felt the same way about Darth Vaders uniform. It seemed kind of cheesy. By the end of the movie, I was quite tired of all the light saber duels as well. I think they are a little played out too. I wasn't all that bummed out at the end, though I did feel sorry for Yoda. The movie didn't really feel like it had an ending. I guess the whole chronology of the movies attributes to that feeling. But it did leave me wanting more. I think Ewan McGreggor did a great job as Obi Wan. He seemed a lot more like the Obi Wan from Star Wars, Empire and Jedi. His mannerism's and way of speaking was very close to Alec Guiness. Made it very believable that he was a young Obi Wan.
I have a question for those who have seen it. At the end Yoda tells obi wan he has training he needs him to do. Who did he ask to train or train with? We couldnt hear because some idiot next to us was talking. I thought I heard him mention Qui-Gon, but I thought he was dead.
On Sunday I got an odd calll from an old aquaintence. They were going through a 12 step program for alcohol abuse. Aparantly one of the steps is making amends with people from your past. I was never particularly close to this person, but apparantly they felt the need to contact me. Talking with them, made me really angry. Im not sure where the making amends part falls in line with the rest of the steps, but they took no responsibility for their actions. They blamed everyone but themselves for their alchol abuse. Past relationships, their parents, work, their friends. I've never believed that alcoholism or any kind of addiction is a true illness. Cancer is an illness. Noone says they want cancer, but people who abuse drugs and alcohol are making a conscious decision to abuse a substance. Sure someone may have a screwed up childhood, but noone is forcing them to pick up a bottle or to pop a pill. They could stop if they realy wanted to. Millions of people can have a drink or two socially and go about their lives normally. But then there are these pathetic people who choose to have drink after drink, after drink. Night after night, after night. Most people would probably go on drinking or abusing drugs if they didnt get in trouble with the law. A judge ordering a 12 step porgram is a quick fix. But most of these people who are addicted to a substance don't really want to quit, they like being a drunk. But of course if you are given a choice of going to jail or going to AA meetings, most will chose the later. But can we really expect them to quit cold turkey? I certainly didn't get the sense that my aquaintence truely wanted to stop drinking. They sounded kind of bored and pissed off about the whole process they had to go through. I wished them good luck, but didn't offer them much sympathy.
Regarding the Star Wars movie, I thought the movie was entertaining. But I did have a few problems with the movie. I thought the end was rushed. They wasted a lot of time in the beginning and middle of the movie then seemed like they rushed to tie it all together at the end. Dave had mentioned that Chewbacka's attire was a bit dated. I felt the same way about Darth Vaders uniform. It seemed kind of cheesy. By the end of the movie, I was quite tired of all the light saber duels as well. I think they are a little played out too. I wasn't all that bummed out at the end, though I did feel sorry for Yoda. The movie didn't really feel like it had an ending. I guess the whole chronology of the movies attributes to that feeling. But it did leave me wanting more. I think Ewan McGreggor did a great job as Obi Wan. He seemed a lot more like the Obi Wan from Star Wars, Empire and Jedi. His mannerism's and way of speaking was very close to Alec Guiness. Made it very believable that he was a young Obi Wan.
I have a question for those who have seen it. At the end Yoda tells obi wan he has training he needs him to do. Who did he ask to train or train with? We couldnt hear because some idiot next to us was talking. I thought I heard him mention Qui-Gon, but I thought he was dead.
On Sunday I got an odd calll from an old aquaintence. They were going through a 12 step program for alcohol abuse. Aparantly one of the steps is making amends with people from your past. I was never particularly close to this person, but apparantly they felt the need to contact me. Talking with them, made me really angry. Im not sure where the making amends part falls in line with the rest of the steps, but they took no responsibility for their actions. They blamed everyone but themselves for their alchol abuse. Past relationships, their parents, work, their friends. I've never believed that alcoholism or any kind of addiction is a true illness. Cancer is an illness. Noone says they want cancer, but people who abuse drugs and alcohol are making a conscious decision to abuse a substance. Sure someone may have a screwed up childhood, but noone is forcing them to pick up a bottle or to pop a pill. They could stop if they realy wanted to. Millions of people can have a drink or two socially and go about their lives normally. But then there are these pathetic people who choose to have drink after drink, after drink. Night after night, after night. Most people would probably go on drinking or abusing drugs if they didnt get in trouble with the law. A judge ordering a 12 step porgram is a quick fix. But most of these people who are addicted to a substance don't really want to quit, they like being a drunk. But of course if you are given a choice of going to jail or going to AA meetings, most will chose the later. But can we really expect them to quit cold turkey? I certainly didn't get the sense that my aquaintence truely wanted to stop drinking. They sounded kind of bored and pissed off about the whole process they had to go through. I wished them good luck, but didn't offer them much sympathy.
6 Comments:
I think that Qui Gon's ghost much like Obi Won's(with Luke) come back to assist Obi Wan in training.
Ahhh ok that makes sense. Thanks guys!
And that training with Qui-Gon makes Obi-wan age forty years in 19.
Do I know this acquaintance???
I think with the drug thing there is a chemical reaction in the body that is very very difficult to break. Everyone has problems, some of those problems are more severe than others. And who knows why some try drugs instead of other means to work out their problems. Some do not try drugs and get hooked but do other negative things instead of helping themselves. Like drinking, over eating, emotionally, sexually or/and pysically abusing others. I do think it is a chemical thing that is very hard to cure. I think this is why some call it a disease, even though they brought on the disease to themselves. Unlike a person with Cancer, or Parkinsons who unfortunelly became ill. My cousin who grew up very well off is now a drug addict. The once curly haired smart allecky cute little kid my brother and I would visit every so often is now gone. Instead there is this addict who can't control himself. It's very sad. Who knows why he turned to drugs. And for me to say that wow he was raised in a very well to do household and why would he do drugs is for me banging my head against a wall. Drug users and dealers didn't just pop out of thin air. They were young, bright, full of hope children like my cousin Cornell. It's sad and I'm sorry you didn't get the reaction you wanted but maybe that call was more for him/herself to try to get back into being a positive member of society.
Yeah I agree Ani, that certain drugs like heroin cause people to develope a chemical dependency. But what makes someone feel the need to try heroin in the first place?
As far as your cousin goes, it's not surprising that someone who grew up very comfortably is an abuser of drugs. I don't know what kind of drugs your cousin is/was taking, but drug abuse isn't just about people in big cities or the ghetto anymore. I think housewives popping vicoden, fat headed talk show hosts abusing Oxycontin and rich suburban kids swallowing the latest designer pills is just as big of a problem. I think people who smoke crack or shoot heroin get more attention because they are generally the ones out there robbing old ladies and knocking off 7-11's to get money for their next fix.
As far as your cousin goes, the people I really feel bad for is his family. They have to watch him self destruct, his parents have to feel guilty wondering if they didn't raise him the right way. Unless your cousin has a pill forced down his throat, or a needle forcible jabbed into his arm, he made a conscious choise to try that drug. Whether he did it to be cool, to mask some pain, or to fit in, he chose to do it while others make the wise choice and say no. In todays society, just about everyone knows the dangers of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, yet people continue to try them. That is just unbelievable to me. It's demeaning to all of us who choose to live clean lives.
I guess what bothers me most about substance abuse or any real rash decision is that people don't think about the long term effects of their actions. When a drunk driver gets behind the wheel, all they are thinking of is getting home. What they should be thinking about is how they can go to jail the rest of their lives if they hit someone while driving, how they can end someone elses life prematurely. But they don't think about that.
There is no personal responsability anymore. Someone gets lung cancer, it's Philip Morris's fault, or the tobacco farmer in North Carolina's fault. Jack Osbourn grows up to be a drug addict, and it's his parents fault. Robert Downy Jr gets arrest for the 10th time, and everyone feels sorry for him. He goes on Oprah and cries and says how hard it's been. It's all bull and I find it very hard to be sympathetic with substance abusers. Instead of sympathising with them, I think people like you and I who made a CHOICE to live a clean life should be commended. Noone ever says, hey Ani we think its great that you choose to go to work and mainatin a clean lifestyle. Hey Mike, thank you for earning a paycheck so you don't have to robb an 80 year old of her social security check. Thank you Ani for not doing IV drugs and sharing needles and spreading disease. Take a minute to think about how substance abusers make things that much worse for good people like you and I. We have to suffer because of THEIR mistakes.
There are a lot of things we all can do to be better.
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