Trippitaka's blog: "Nightmares from the Mind of Trippitaka"

There's something weird that I do... I haven't always done this although it has been going on several years now. I just can't decide if it's "dude, wtf?" weird or if it's just slightly eyebrow-raisingly odd. If ever I'm watching a movie which is more than a few years old then I'm sitting there wondering which of the cast members are still alive and which are dead... and if they are dead then what happened, etc, etc. Obviously if it's someone really famous then I sometimes know, but with most actors/actresses then I tend not to. Often this kind of pondering is nearly enough to distract me from the movie. When the movie finishes then I go straight to imdb.com to get the lowdown on each actor's current status. If feels almost like an obsession. A prime example is when I was watching Coccoon a couple of weeks ago. That movie, of course, is just filled with old people and it was made more than twenty years ago, so I just had to know if any of them from the old folks home were still kicking. It isn't like I wish bad things on anyone. I let out a little cheer when it turned out the guy who played Ben (one of the three main old guys) is still alive and well. The latest one was when I was watching Disney's Jungle Book. I thought I was going to be disappointed with this one, but joy of joys - the voice of Mowgli is still alive and making movies. You get the picture I guess. I know it's a slightly random topic, but I think my blogs all are. I suppose I'm just hoping someone will make me feel more normal by saying "hey we all do that", haha!

I was on the bus today and I couldn't help but notice there was a big advertisement / poster type thing up. It was from Oxfordshire County Council I think and it stated in big friendly lettering: "If you are 60 years old after 1st April 2008 then you are entitled to an old age concessionary bus pass." So I was thinking that surely I fit into this category as I will be 60 AFTER 1st April 2008. I'm going to put in my application in the morning... Discounted public transport here I come!

I was watching Indiana Jones today and I considered how integral the theme music is to the story. I'm a fan I'm not ashamed to admit and as soon as that little bit of music kicks off and you know that means Indy is about to do something incredibly cool and daring, I feel that adrenaline rush and feel like I'm there swashbuckling alongside him, willing and capable of accomplishing anything. James Bond instills exactly the same emotions in me. It occurs to me that these feelings wouldn't be half so powerful without the music. I then consider that if this story was real - if Indiana was actually out there doing these things - then he probably couldn't hear that music. It makes me think he must be a greater man than I just to keep on saving the day without hearing a soundtrack. The point of all this, even though it isn't really much of a sane point, is that I'd like to think that in some alternate dimension someone is watching my movie right now - the movie about me. If this is the case then I'm willing to bet that I have some pretty damn cool theme music and if I could only hear what that sounded like then I could probably be inspired to go out and do all kinds of life changing things and probably save the world. As it is, my movie is a pretty dull drama... It's currently doing no good at all at the box office. I mean to find out what my music is.

I don't know if this indicates some sort of mental problem in me, but whenever I see a spider's web, especially if it is a big impressive one, I have an overwhelming urge to cut a couple of the supporting guy ropes so that the whole thing collapses. Maybe subconsciously I just like to piss spiders off.

Recently I seem to be getting more and more annoyed with TV advertising. I don't know if this is because I'm getting much more old and cynical or if it's because the standard of commercials is rapidly dipping, but these days I find myself providing a running commentary through each advert break on why I hate each advert. Anyway, to come to the point, I've just seen one which really takes the biscuit: It's a commercial for a supermarket over here. The details are not important, but the tagline at the end is "because everyone deserves quality food." What an outrageous statement, I thought. I can think of a whole host of people that don't deserve any quality food... It got me quite riled.

This, most likely, is not news to anyone, but I find it fun to think about now and again, particularly if I'm in a philosphical mood which leads me to start pondering the meaning of it all. The earth on which we live is 8,000 miles in diameter. Putting this in its place, our solar system alone and the only part of the universe we even have a vague idea about, is almost 8 billion miles across its span. It's pretty hard for me to comprehend what 8 billion of anything looks like and yet this pales into insignificance if we consider that our galaxy, the Milky Way, contains more than 200 billion stars and potentially solar systems. Travelling at the speed of light it would take 100,000 years to get from one side of the galaxy to the other. The known universe encompasses only a proportion of what is theorised to have been produced by "the big bang" and yet we are aware of the existence of over 100 billion galaxies. I say the "known" universe as many people hold with the theory that our universe was just one of billions of similar other big bangs, leading to the existence of billions of universes. In a previous blog I was troubled by the idea of the universe being either finite or infinite as I find either option impossible to accept, but when I start considering the enormity of the universe in the way I have here then I get dizzy long before I can entertain any comprehension of its possible boundary. It boils down to this: We live, on average, around 80 years, confined to a planet which is 8,000 miles across. I don't know what ever made me assume that I could even attempt to understand any of the secrets of the cosmos even if I did have only 1% of the brain power of the likes of Stephen Hawking. I have decided that it's time for me to either stop thinking or turn to religion. I realise this blog serves no purpose. Apologies.

Two questions have bothered me today:- 1) Why? 2) Is this a question?

It seems that some people are still using that antiquated system of naming the days of the week, ie: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I thought I would set any confusion to rest by setting out the definitions of the real days of the week. They are as follows:- Monday: Any day that you are at work, but you weren't at work the previous day. Tuesday: Any day that you are at work, you were at work the previous day and you will be at work the next day. Friday: Any day that you are at work, but you won't be working the next day. Saturday: Any day that you are not at work and you won't be working the next day. Sunday: Any day that you are not at work, but you will be working the next day. You should find that these definitions encompass any given day. Any claims as the existence of a Wednesday or Thursday are purely circumstantial. They were both discontinued.

It's been a while since the BBC News has made me laugh. Check out this link... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7390109.stm When I saw the headline I figured it'd be something entirely different, I'm sure you can imagine.

As you will no doubt be aware, one of the most exciting things that can happen is if you are out mowing the lawn a bouncy ball is uncovered. No doubt it was once the property of a small child who shed a tear before going on with his/her life after accidentally throwing it the wrong side of the fence. This unexpected treat then provides hours of fun and the mere anticipation of the possibility of finding such a treasure makes the gardening seem worthwhile as otherwise it would be one of the most unpleasant jobs going. So get a load of this; Today I was out cutting the lawn and by the time I had finished I had uncovered the following bounty: 4 tennis balls 2 frisbees 1 mini football 1 mini rugby ball 1 stressball football 1 stressball basketball 1 rubber 'power' ball As I am sure you can appreciate I am almost beside myself with joy and can barely contain myself. I thought this sort of day was just confined to dreams. My only problem is deciding what to play with first.