angst, environmental angst, and elfsex
Oct. 13th, 2004 10:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ciroccojFirst off, thanks, guys.
***
My day started out really really neat - I checked my e-mail, found a really, really nice review for a story I wrote ages ago, and had a big smile on my face for the rest of the morning. It was like finding an unexpected slice of pie in my lunch box :)
***
My angst tastes like...
Vanilla
Simple and true, your angst is just the amount of any normal person. What's more, you exercise an extremely honest and healthy way of dealing with it. Many people could use maturity and wisdom like yours. Your angst may be that you don't get along with your boss or a family member is having health problems, but either way it's always something transient and survivable that you cope with and use as a step on your way to becoming a better person. If there's one problem with your angsting, it's that you may tend to take this matter-of-fact, dutiful approach to all things. Maybe you should cut loose a little now and then so you can have some wild fun and adventure to balance out your angst. Remember that life needs its up as well as its downs and treat yourself to a little reward for your work.
Find your angst's flavor
??
O... K...
I must have picked the wrong Romanji word ;)
***
Busy day, but it's all little niggly stuff.
***
I am starting to hate my EnvLaw text. It's wonderful and well-written and clear and interesting, but I'm getting more and more angsty the more I read and that angst is not vanilla-flavoured at all. More like PCB-CFC-crude oil-flavoured. Ick.
It also doesn't help that it's an American textbook, fairly US-centric, and the authors are overwhelmingly critical of America's environmental track record so far. As if I didn't have enough reasons to hate Dubya already, we're currently reading through the Kyoto mess. The authors keep popping up with little tidbits like the fact that the US has contributed 30% of historic CO2 emissions, that it has 4% of the world's population but currently emits 25% of greenhouse gases, blah blah blah. It's mind-numbingly depressing. Especially considering the fact that it wasn't always like this - historically, the US may have polluted more than any other country, but it was at the forefront of many environmental advances in the past. Notsomuch lately. Now it's the biggest stumbling block to any kind of progress, at least according to the authors.
Argh. And Dubya is going to be re-elected.
I so fervently wish that the election of the head of state of one nation didn't have to have such a huge impact on the entire rest of the planet.
***
To counteract the above drear, here's two snippets from a very cute article, What Tolkien Officially Said About Elf Sex:
Ever since the movie of the book Fellowship of the Ring came out, there seem to be two popular ideas about Elves' sex lives. Either they are radiantly asexual, or they are all screwing each other madly, along with any dwarves, hobbits, and men who happen along. Whichever you prefer is usually based on how attractive you think Orlando Bloom is.
I'm there, sister :)
The good news is that elves like sex. "The union of love is indeed to them great delight and joy." (LACE)? The bad news is that elves tend to lose interest in sex after they've had kids. "With the exercise of the power (of generation), the desire soon ceases, and the mind turns to other things?they have many other urges of body and of mind which their nature urges them to fulfil."
Doh :(
***
Today's agenda
My day started out really really neat - I checked my e-mail, found a really, really nice review for a story I wrote ages ago, and had a big smile on my face for the rest of the morning. It was like finding an unexpected slice of pie in my lunch box :)
Vanilla
Simple and true, your angst is just the amount of any normal person. What's more, you exercise an extremely honest and healthy way of dealing with it. Many people could use maturity and wisdom like yours. Your angst may be that you don't get along with your boss or a family member is having health problems, but either way it's always something transient and survivable that you cope with and use as a step on your way to becoming a better person. If there's one problem with your angsting, it's that you may tend to take this matter-of-fact, dutiful approach to all things. Maybe you should cut loose a little now and then so you can have some wild fun and adventure to balance out your angst. Remember that life needs its up as well as its downs and treat yourself to a little reward for your work.
Find your angst's flavor
??
O... K...
I must have picked the wrong Romanji word ;)
Busy day, but it's all little niggly stuff.
I am starting to hate my EnvLaw text. It's wonderful and well-written and clear and interesting, but I'm getting more and more angsty the more I read and that angst is not vanilla-flavoured at all. More like PCB-CFC-crude oil-flavoured. Ick.
It also doesn't help that it's an American textbook, fairly US-centric, and the authors are overwhelmingly critical of America's environmental track record so far. As if I didn't have enough reasons to hate Dubya already, we're currently reading through the Kyoto mess. The authors keep popping up with little tidbits like the fact that the US has contributed 30% of historic CO2 emissions, that it has 4% of the world's population but currently emits 25% of greenhouse gases, blah blah blah. It's mind-numbingly depressing. Especially considering the fact that it wasn't always like this - historically, the US may have polluted more than any other country, but it was at the forefront of many environmental advances in the past. Notsomuch lately. Now it's the biggest stumbling block to any kind of progress, at least according to the authors.
Argh. And Dubya is going to be re-elected.
I so fervently wish that the election of the head of state of one nation didn't have to have such a huge impact on the entire rest of the planet.
To counteract the above drear, here's two snippets from a very cute article, What Tolkien Officially Said About Elf Sex:
Ever since the movie of the book Fellowship of the Ring came out, there seem to be two popular ideas about Elves' sex lives. Either they are radiantly asexual, or they are all screwing each other madly, along with any dwarves, hobbits, and men who happen along. Whichever you prefer is usually based on how attractive you think Orlando Bloom is.
I'm there, sister :)
The good news is that elves like sex. "The union of love is indeed to them great delight and joy." (LACE)? The bad news is that elves tend to lose interest in sex after they've had kids. "With the exercise of the power (of generation), the desire soon ceases, and the mind turns to other things?they have many other urges of body and of mind which their nature urges them to fulfil."
Doh :(
Today's agenda
call plumberEnv readings- ADR readings
- ADR feedback for students
cancel apartment appointments- groceries with Daniel
call re. Gatineaus- blood test
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Environmental Woes
Date: 2004-10-13 11:56 pm (UTC)I once did a small editing job for David Estrin, a prominent and sincere environmental lawyer here in Ontario, but I always thought the environmental issues missed the boat. I find it hard to get worked up over toxic soil from a dry cleaning plant, when we have no affordable housing. If we took care of ALL people's needs I think the environmental problems might solve themselves, because our attitudes towards consumption would change.
I am not saying big business and industry are innocent, I am just saying they are getting a lot of help in raping the environment.
It is important to remember that in law, a lawyer is not helping her client become a better steward of the environment. She is keeping protecting the client from law suits. In my experience governmental environmental lawyers are clueless about the situation. Some of the solutions they have advocated to promote better stewardship have included requiring mortgagees to require in their terms of the mortgage appropriate environmental protections. But the mortgagee's assumption of these responsibilities opens them up to so many liability risks, they would not go near it.
This is an odd area of law where I honestly think there are no solutions. The solutions require us to think of the world differently and our standard of living differently. It will be interesting to see how this all turns out!
I would not worry too much about Dubya being re-elected, I doubt Kerry would do anything differently.
Take Care
Re: Environmental Woes
Date: 2004-10-15 06:59 am (UTC)Oh, I think you're absolutely right. There's not much point, IMHO, in trying to get factories to pollute less if our insane greed keeps telling us that we need to build more and more factories to make more and more stuff we don't really need.
But I also think there's not much point in trying to tackle the problem of over-consumerism without also trying to do something about emissions from factories, vehicles, etc.
And unfortunately, a big part of why we can't be more effective when it comes to dealing with emissions is that we're so bloody greedy. The US and Canada, two of the richest nations in the world, are full of people who are virulently opposed to the Kyoto Accord because in order to reduce emissions, factories may need to spend extra money, which will result in higher prices for the goods they make. And we just can't have that, because we need lots and lots of stuff, cheap.
The richest citizens of the world, throwing tantrums because they may have to pay a little more for that third car or for gas to fill up their SUVs. And loudly ascertaining that they have a god-given right to cheap cars and gas, no matter what kind of environmental devastation that causes to the rest of the planet or to the world their own children will inherit. It's bewildering.
I would not worry too much about Dubya being re-elected, I doubt Kerry would do anything differently.
That's not the most hopeful thing I've heard lately...