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Sleep is a weapon.
This is a concept that has been around for generations. First time I heard this statement, it was in Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity (the book not the movie). I have since latched onto this concept. It speaks to me on many levels. This is never been more true than last night at the Magic Castle. As my previous blog entry mentioned, I went to the midnight showing of Wall-E (once again I mention that this is a must see). If you do the math is easy to figure out that I didn't get to sleep much before 3: 30 in the morning. So when my alarm went off at 7:30 in the morning, I woke up (against my better judgment).
So.......... sleep is a weapon.
My family was invited to go to the Magic Castle in Hollywood. It is essentially a dinner club with several Magic shows. Never enter any place called the Magic Castle on four hours of sleep. This is my little piece of advice to anyone out there who's thinking of going to some place called the Magic Castle on four hours of sleep because you too will be mystified as to how they are doing the things that they are doing. Generally, I give the place a rank of 7/10. It was fun. The food was exceptional and the entertainment was fun. And, in one of the shows they chose my brother to go up on stage. Unlike myself, my brother is rather reserved and quiet. Despite this, there he was, on stage, playing it up and playing along with the magicians. For me, that was the best part of the evening. Well, maybe the second best part of the evening, my filet was awesome (cooked to perfection).
Have I mentioned that sleep is a weapon?
This morning, I got home around 1 a.m. and despite my exhaustion, I was unable to get to sleep until after 3 a.m. I was then up again at 7:30 in the morning. This time it was an opportunity to go see Wall-E at the Disney employee screening. Since I enjoyed the movie so much, and I was seeing it for free, I, of course, went and saw it again (yes, it really is that good). For the rest of the day I've been running around taking care of little odds and ends. And now it is 11:30 p.m.. I'm so tired it hurts, but I promised my friend I would blog more often.
So here it is, my sleep deprived blog. If I hadn't been lacking sleep, I might have had the weapon I needed to make a profound statement about blogging under the influence of exhaustion. As it stands, I'm going to bed!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Wall-E Totally rocks
Last night I saw Wall-E at the midnight showing. It was funny, poignant, a little sad, and visually AMAZING. I will avoid spoilers in this because you just have to go see it.
We went to the El Capitan theatre in Hollywood and if you have never been there it is worth the price of admission. Because we had to be there early to stand in line to get seats, they had pre-show entertainment.
There was a radio station there giving out t-shirts, blankets and other toys (all Wall-E of course). They had the audience yelling and screaming. It was fun and a reminder of the level of stupidity people will stoop to in order to get a stupid t-shirt. We had a blast. I was glad for the external stimulus because I am not really a night person.
The theatre was built in the thirty's and was refurbished several years ago by Disney. It has a stage as part of its construction and when they refurbished it, they restored it to its former glory. Theatre is amazing. There are all these ornate touches on the sconces, pillars, and ceiling. It is a gilded wonder.
Before the movie began they had a stage show that is a Disney character review. They guys next to me were just as enthusiastic about singing along as I was. This really made me happy. We happily sang along at the top of our lungs and giggled like little kids. It was great fun.
I was really worried that the movie would not stand up to the hype or that I had seen all the good parts in the previews and commercials. I had nothing to worry about. The movie was amazing, and they manage to keep the best bits in the movie rather than in the commercials. And I really liked the commercials too. So if the commercials and previews have you thinking that you might want to see this movie, I recommend that you do.
We went to the El Capitan theatre in Hollywood and if you have never been there it is worth the price of admission. Because we had to be there early to stand in line to get seats, they had pre-show entertainment.
There was a radio station there giving out t-shirts, blankets and other toys (all Wall-E of course). They had the audience yelling and screaming. It was fun and a reminder of the level of stupidity people will stoop to in order to get a stupid t-shirt. We had a blast. I was glad for the external stimulus because I am not really a night person.
The theatre was built in the thirty's and was refurbished several years ago by Disney. It has a stage as part of its construction and when they refurbished it, they restored it to its former glory. Theatre is amazing. There are all these ornate touches on the sconces, pillars, and ceiling. It is a gilded wonder.
Before the movie began they had a stage show that is a Disney character review. They guys next to me were just as enthusiastic about singing along as I was. This really made me happy. We happily sang along at the top of our lungs and giggled like little kids. It was great fun.
I was really worried that the movie would not stand up to the hype or that I had seen all the good parts in the previews and commercials. I had nothing to worry about. The movie was amazing, and they manage to keep the best bits in the movie rather than in the commercials. And I really liked the commercials too. So if the commercials and previews have you thinking that you might want to see this movie, I recommend that you do.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Sex talk and Occupational Therapy
I learned in class last night about creating online surveys. These are trickier to design than you might think. Take the simple act of requesting demographic information. Researchers really benefit from getting demo info. (Nielson makes a ton of money on demo's alone) Anyway, in my pursuit of developing the best Occupational Therapy focused website, I will need to know about the demographics of my constituency (my prof keeps insisting I call it the frame, but that is just confusing to me... so I am sticking with constituency).
So we were sitting in class discussing the development of an online survey that includes demographic information. So, the first think we talk about is sex (ahem, gender). This one should be easy right... wrong (mind you we were getting a bit punchy) but he said there are only two genders so the type of question should be nominal (where you just name stuff) and have a setting where you can only choose one. Someone then pointed out (correctly so) that there are some people who are both sexes. Then another person said, 'oh like cross dressers'. The conversation shifted to discussing how there is a difference between gender and sex. (um... yeah, one is way more fun than the other... ---oops must maintain G rating... anyway I digress) The conversation explored how people are born with a sex and they choose a gender. That is all well and good until you recognize that some people are born with all the mm... 'parts'. The class continued to banter on this distinction and I lost interest in what they were saying.
My mind started to wonder and I found myself having an internal discussion about how people focus much of their lives around how they define themselves. We are sexual beings and anyone who denies this is just not thinking in broad enough terms. As an occupational therapy student, we had a class session devoted to the discussion of how we can help our clients with needs that arise around sex.
Not only to we as OT's have to be sensitive and responsive to our client's needs we need to also recognize that as an OT we might need to help someone say for example a transvestite re-learn dressing. This population may have a few very different needs than a traditional male/female dressing components. I don't know much about this, as I don't have any friends who are transvestites. But if I did, I might ask them about the challenges they might face if they were hurt in such a way that would make dressing difficult. I see the topic of transvestitism occasionally on TV, but that is my only experience and we all know you can't blindly trust what you see on TV. Regardless, I think that there are other sex/gender issues that may be at issue for a client/patient of an OT. We as OT's need to be aware that these are real issues that real people face.
As for my class... we then moved on to culture/ethnicity... you guessed it... we then had a half hour discussion (where some very good points were made) about defining culture vs. ethnicity…
And I was already tired and a little sad from the sex (or is it gender... I am still confused) talk.
So we were sitting in class discussing the development of an online survey that includes demographic information. So, the first think we talk about is sex (ahem, gender). This one should be easy right... wrong (mind you we were getting a bit punchy) but he said there are only two genders so the type of question should be nominal (where you just name stuff) and have a setting where you can only choose one. Someone then pointed out (correctly so) that there are some people who are both sexes. Then another person said, 'oh like cross dressers'. The conversation shifted to discussing how there is a difference between gender and sex. (um... yeah, one is way more fun than the other... ---oops must maintain G rating... anyway I digress) The conversation explored how people are born with a sex and they choose a gender. That is all well and good until you recognize that some people are born with all the mm... 'parts'. The class continued to banter on this distinction and I lost interest in what they were saying.
My mind started to wonder and I found myself having an internal discussion about how people focus much of their lives around how they define themselves. We are sexual beings and anyone who denies this is just not thinking in broad enough terms. As an occupational therapy student, we had a class session devoted to the discussion of how we can help our clients with needs that arise around sex.
Not only to we as OT's have to be sensitive and responsive to our client's needs we need to also recognize that as an OT we might need to help someone say for example a transvestite re-learn dressing. This population may have a few very different needs than a traditional male/female dressing components. I don't know much about this, as I don't have any friends who are transvestites. But if I did, I might ask them about the challenges they might face if they were hurt in such a way that would make dressing difficult. I see the topic of transvestitism occasionally on TV, but that is my only experience and we all know you can't blindly trust what you see on TV. Regardless, I think that there are other sex/gender issues that may be at issue for a client/patient of an OT. We as OT's need to be aware that these are real issues that real people face.
As for my class... we then moved on to culture/ethnicity... you guessed it... we then had a half hour discussion (where some very good points were made) about defining culture vs. ethnicity…
And I was already tired and a little sad from the sex (or is it gender... I am still confused) talk.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
This is my first blog in a while. I am sorry to those who have let me know they were waiting for a post with baited breath. To those I say... BREATH
It is funny. There was a day several years ago when I was preparing to take my first karate test. I was very nervous because I had no idea what to expect. A friend who was a brown belt at the time, came to me and asked if I wanted some advice for the test. I was eager to obtain his words of wisdom. He then quietly leaned over and whispered very seriously into my ear, "When everything seems to be hard and everything is all confused and you can't remember which way is up, remember to breathe! Just BREATH!"
I've remember those words and applied them to my life on more than one occasion. Now for instance, as I quickly tried to finish my paper before it's due tonight, I keep telling myself to just breathe. It's funny how something so simple can be so meaningful. This little tidbit of advice is useful in lighthearted situations as well as very serious situations.
As occupational therapist. I hope to apply this little gem to my practice both in reminding myself, as well as helping my clients. as is true of a lot of occupational therapy, it's reminding people of the obvious things that are so difficult to see.
So I send you for with this little piece of advice, "when everything seems to be hard and everything is all confused and you can't remember which way is up, Remember to breathe! Just Breath!"
It is funny. There was a day several years ago when I was preparing to take my first karate test. I was very nervous because I had no idea what to expect. A friend who was a brown belt at the time, came to me and asked if I wanted some advice for the test. I was eager to obtain his words of wisdom. He then quietly leaned over and whispered very seriously into my ear, "When everything seems to be hard and everything is all confused and you can't remember which way is up, remember to breathe! Just BREATH!"
I've remember those words and applied them to my life on more than one occasion. Now for instance, as I quickly tried to finish my paper before it's due tonight, I keep telling myself to just breathe. It's funny how something so simple can be so meaningful. This little tidbit of advice is useful in lighthearted situations as well as very serious situations.
As occupational therapist. I hope to apply this little gem to my practice both in reminding myself, as well as helping my clients. as is true of a lot of occupational therapy, it's reminding people of the obvious things that are so difficult to see.
So I send you for with this little piece of advice, "when everything seems to be hard and everything is all confused and you can't remember which way is up, Remember to breathe! Just Breath!"
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