(no subject)

[camwyn]

Remind me to thank my parents for saving the Jersey City special section the Star-Ledger did up the other weekend. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have known there was a teahouse that sold bubble tea within walking distance of the Pavonia/Newport PATH station.

On another note, add the movie Fahrenheit 9/11 to the list of movies I will never in all my life see, or at least not sit through. daniidebrabant and I went into a shop near BaBo (the tea house that sells the bubble tea) yesterday that sold books, movies, and video games. It looked quite promising, but they had what I think was Fahrenheit 9/11 on the monitors; if it wasn't, it was some other 9/11 related documentary. Doesn't really matter, though. Whatever it was, it flashed me RIGHT back to the way I felt four days after 9/11- when I was eyeball deep in computer geek work for the Red Cross, but also kicking myself for no longer being there and not being able to make a difference 'on the ground', not being able to do anything...

I don't need that. I really don't. Regardless of political or historical importance, I won't be watching the Moore movie, and I sure as hell don't intend to watch any documentaries or retrospectives on Monday. I know where my limits are. That's one of 'em.

Might buy some bubble tea and go watch The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances back to back, though. "Just this once, Rose, everyone lives!"

Comments

[quintus.livejournal.com]

They're reshowing the Naudet brothers film over here and that tore the guts out of me the first time.
There's stuff that I think I can only handle watching once, Shoah was one and I think that might be another.

I've not seen Moore's film, I find him a little too rabid on occasion. He should stick to satire, even if he does have a point a lot of the time.

Mug of tea and a Firefly DVD will do me... Normality is as good an f--k you to the bad guys as you can think of I reckon.

[daniidebrabant.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to let you know? I didn't notice what was on the screens. At all. I thought you'd been weirded out by the "erotica" section, which is why I gave you Confused Look #4. Sorry, hon.

...I would have told you this last night had I not PASSED OUT LIEK WO.

[daniidebrabant.livejournal.com]

On another note, that bubble tea place is FAR too tempting to be so close to the PATH station. ...and I'm curious about their almond flavor.

[camwyn]

Oh, god no. If it weren't for what was on the monitors I would've indulged in my usual pastime when confronted with movie store erotica sections: finding titles to make fun of. They're usually pretty entertaining for that. No, this was the Sept. 11th stuff on the monitors, which I noticed pretty much as soon as we walked in. It just sort of built up after a bit.

Feeling more awake this morning, I hope?

[daniidebrabant.livejournal.com]

Which is where #4 comes in.

And yeah, rather awake. Trying to figure out what I want for lunch. You?

[deepfishy.livejournal.com]

...bubble tea?

I'm now imagining some Lovecraftian brew that simmers squamously in the saucer. What is it really?

[camwyn]

nothing nearly so grand. Bubble tea is also known as 'boba', which is Taiwanese slang for breasts if I recall. This is because the distinguishing feature of bubble tea is the tapioca pearls of a centimeter or so across that are heaped into each serving of the drink. Supposedly the texture of breasts and pearls is similar. However, the difference here is that your bubble tea generally has some sort of fruit or other flavour in it (in addition to fruits, things like taro root, sesame seed, or red bean are quite common as additives) and milk, and is nearly always served iced, plus you are expected to schworf up the pearls through a big damn straw and eat them while you are drinking the tea.

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Taiwanese slang for breasts if I recall.

Actually?

It's nipples!

-- Lorrie

[deepfishy.livejournal.com]

Ooh, sounds tasty!

Have fun with the Doctor and his infectious grin :)

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

You know, what with all the stuff on television nearly every week the rest of the year, plus the frenzzzzy of rolling in it the anniversary produces (The z's were a typo, but I'm leaving them) I keep thinking that most of this is merely for propaganda purposes, keeping the wound raw and open, so to speak. It does nothing for the survivors, nothing for the bereaved, and nothing for those who were exposed to Ghu-knows-what in the salvage and clean-up. It resolves no bad dreams, soothes no pains, and is now, from what I've heard about the ABC not-really-a-documentary-'cause-they-made-shit-up-for-political-purposes, being ever more blatantly used for political purposes. Which shows no respect whatsoever for the victims, IMO. SO I'm boycotting it all, and watching an opera instead. Because I don't need reminding, and I don't appreciate the effort to distract me from important questions like "what next?" and "How about that ol' US Constitution, anyway?" and all the rest.

However--a bubble tea outlet on the way to and from work--child, you'll turn into a great big tapioca pearl by Christmas!

[camwyn]

The day one of those documentaries is capable of making me forget the change in the smell coming from the site between the first day and the second day, that's the day I'll watch.

Because the first day, it smelled like fire and airbag. The second day, it smelled like fire and airbag and B.O. gone sour. I turned to the former EMT I was driving with and asked, "That smell- is it-"

"YES," he said, and neither of us said anything else after that.

I think, as I said, that I will stick with the bubble tea and the Doctor Who, and since I have a century bike ride on Sunday, possibly a bathtub full of ice on Monday.

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

Yes, the ice sounds like a plan, and the Doctor Who and bubble tea could do nicely as well.

As the Corpuscle (http://www.thecorpuscle.com/2006/09/all_right_alrea.html) says, the best memorial is going forward with your life. To quote him:
"I Was There That Day, as Those Of Us Who Were There That Day solemnly affirm to each other at our secret meetings. I remember just about everything I saw and felt. I carry all of it with me wherever I go, but I almost never think about it anymore. It just sits there inside me, the memories of it influencing the way I live every moment of my life these days.

The way you honor the dead is to not repaint the thing into something resembling a national group hug. You honor the dead by going forward with your life and carrying with you the truth of what you, personally, experienced that day.

Those photographs... the ones that shook me up... they work as an honorable memorial because they bring to the surface all the stuff I'm still carrying around inside me. All the rest of it... the speeches... the moments of silence... the reading of the names... everybody just cut it out. Please. It's grotesque.

The way to honorably remember a lost life is to live yours as if you could likewise lose yours at any moment. Cut this shit out, already. Fill up the hole with something useful. Put up a plaque and let us get on with living our own lives with some sort of purpose."

[camwyn]

I'll give 'em this- the WTC PATH station isn't a half-bad design, at least by my estimation. It's pretty open and well-lit, and I seldom if ever feel like I"m inconveniencing anybody by the fact that nine times out of ten, I'm in that station with a bicycle at my side. They've got quotes and pictures up on the walls but nearly all of them are just about New York City in general, and they do keep the memorial stuff pretty tastefully isolated near the front entrance. You get a lot of people lining up to stare out the side that opens onto the view of the Great Big Hole, but that's about it once you're actually inside the station.

The surface is a bit different, but a lot of the problem there has more to do with tourists and vulturesvendors. I just pause once in a while to find the only name I knew personally on the list of the dead, and then I go back to working out how to get the bike down the stairs because the *!(&)& escalator's stopped for maintenance.

[lasa.livejournal.com]

I'm totally not planning on watching TV, listening to the radio, ANYTHING on Monday.
My husband was in the Pentagon on 9/11 and I didn't know for three hours if he was okay. We lived close enough that I heard the explosion. He spent the entire day until the next morning there tracking names of people that were in the building at the time and who got out. I will never forget going to pick him up at the Metro the next morning - lines and lines of exhausted, filthy people coming down the escalator to their families who just hugged and hugged them.

I was in a theater when they showed the previews for Flight 91, and I couldn't even watch the previews. It's still too raw and real and horrifying. Perhaps for others who didn't see their cities attacked, it's not the same gut-tearing reaction, but it's my limit as well.

[camwyn]

I should probably call the WTC health registry and update them on my current status, what with the study coming out and all.

Also, if Mayor Bloomberg persists in insisting that he doesn't think the health problems of 9/11 responders can be tracked to any one particular event, and does not clarify this by saying "the air in New York City was so horrible that they probably got the same stuff in their lungs beforehand", I am going to punch him in the mouth.

[blackswanevent.livejournal.com]

It's really sad how Americans are so easily swayed by some dark and depressing images and some R. Kelly, fluffy gospel music, and "brave words" turning a national tragedy into a Hollywood cry-your-eyes out piece when it was a real tragedy.

My objection to movies about the disaster can't measure up to your guys-I mean-New Yorkers and things-It's more "I'm secure in the knowledge that you aren't really making these movies to honor the people who died, you're doing it to further your left/right wing agenda. By Recruiting more people to the military/Our version of events."

...Part of the reason I was kinda glad that WTC movie stayed at number 3 before knocking off the charts-

But that's just me IMHO. Bubble Tea sounds really good right now.

[batyatoon]

Word.

[mephron]

I think the TV is staying either off or watching stuff the TiVo recorded that I haven;t caught up with. I have a half-dozen episodes of House, a bunch of CSI and Law and Order.

All of which are less likely to make me want to yark madly.