Date: 15 April 2008 02:16:37
Bah. I've been laid up in bed since Sunday, thinking it was a cold. I dragged myself off to the doctor today, to find it is a throat infection. I now have some antibiotics [not penicillin, as I am allergic to it] and, God willing, I'll be back to work tomorrow.
I do hope to return to work. I don't bounce out of bed every day singing the praises of my job, but I do like it. I do even enjoy it. There are frustrations, as there are in every aspect of life, but work is an important part of my life and I think I would be rather lost without it -- it challenges the brain, gives social relationships and simply occupies my time. I love my holidays, don't get me wrong: but work [in whatever form: I feel housework is one of the most undervalued aspects of work in today's society: how much would we have to pay for someone to clean our clothes, cook our dinners, mind the kids, etc.?], is something I believe we are, as much as we can taking into consideration health and family responsibilities, called to do -- Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden to work: it is part of who we are. And I am rather thankful for it. Though I will say I have, to some extent, enjoyed staying in bed listening to the radio, watching TV or DVDs and reading.
Two movies I have seen while in bed were Babel and La Haine (Hate). La Haine was a confronting film to watch -- it dealt with the actions of 3 friends after a riot in Parisian housing project that left one of their friends hospitalised. As the name indicates, hate is the main theme -- the hatred, a strong word but an apt one, of the police towards youth in the projects and of the youth towards the police. Hate, violence and the 'ghettos' were shown openly and honestly: there was no glorification of such violence or the actions -- they were shown as reactions, sometimes bad and uncalled-for reactions, and in a brutally honest way. It was extremely confronting: especially to me in my safe middle-class world. I cannot claim to understand it, but it showed to me that the issues that lead to such violence, and such deep and bitter hate, are extraordinarily complex. The cinematography is also well done: particularly the film being in black-and-white -- it fits well with the subject matter.
Babel was an altogether different film, but one I felt was equally as interesting. As the name suggests, the story has to do with communication: as God confused the languages of those working on the Tower of Babel, the film shows how destructive the lack of communication, and in particular the lack of listening, can be. Four stories take place in four countries [Japan, Mexico, Morocco and the US], which, by some strange turns, were interconnected. The movie does not show these in a real time sequence, so poor me got confused at first [blame the sickness...or my brain!], but once I realised I thought it all made sense. I thought the performances of all involved were superb, particularly the character of Chieko, a deaf-mute Japanese teenager played by Rinko Kikuchi. And, flying the flag for the Aussies, Cate Blanchett [who had a baby boy yesterday: many years!] is always wonderful. It can be a hard slog at times, and a bit slow moving, but I found it very satisfying.