| My Mother, The Witch | 11:18 PM |
My mother...jeez. I wonder if it's her way of communicating with me -- run out of things to say or can't say the things she wants to say so she says something unpleasant. Like, "make sure you work out regularly", which my little brain immediately translates into you're looking overweight and/or unhealthy. And, "You should put on some makeup -- why's your face look so dark?". Dark? What does it mean that my face looks dark? Is that purely a figuratively worded question? Or does she literally mean my skin looks darker than normal? Figurative or literal, I know it means something like you look unhealthy and unattractive.
Maybe she's punishing me for not being the daughter she wants me to be -- the sweet, listening, attentive, and obedient daughter she was perhaps hoping for. Though I've been making a concerted effort to be more patient with her, to listen to her go on even when it's emotionally difficult because I know she just needs someone to listen. I'm trying, I really am.
Luckily I have a pretty decent sense of self, but it's still frustrating to hear her say these things. Not to mention the fact that it brings back loads of emotional dry heaves from half my lifetime ago -- mornings prepping in the bathroom mirror, 14, 15 and scared to be a girl that age anyway and having to deal with the running commentary of a not so sympathetic mother. Loquacious and vitriolic is how I remember the mother from my youth. Is it any wonder, then, that I have to work so hard to be sympathetic to her?
| Robot Powered by Heart | 5:21 PM |
A silicon robot half the width of a human hair, powered by the thud, thud, thudding of a human heart. The "first time muscle tissue has been used to propel a micromachine."
Picture a little rainbow shaped piece of silicon 50 micrometers wide. Underneath it now picture some heart muscle fibers -- the contraction and relaxation of the heart muscles cause the piece of silicon to bend and stretch.
I have fantasies about wetware/hardware hacks and we move yet closer to this end. Sci fi fantasies aside, though, the practical applications of this new discovery include assisting patients with phrenic nerve damage to breathe on their own -- rhythmic flexing to generate a slight electric charge to stimulate the phrenic nerve (the phrenic nerve supplies the diaphragm; the diaphragm is the main muscle in breathing).
| Aeon Flux in the Flesh | 2:23 PM |
There's been interesting news lately, but I haven't had much time to blog...however, this I could not pass up. Aeon Flux, that amazing, short-lived, animated series on MTV by Peter Chung, is going to be adapted into a live action, feature length film starring Charlize Theron.
"...[T]he project would find Theron playing a futuristic assassin known for her extreme style, cool attitude and tight clothes."
I only hope Theron can do her justice...but oh man, just imagine the merchandising! Little Aeon Fluxes loitering on all the shelves...
