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GATTACA
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Family quarrels are bitter things. They don't go according to any rules. They're not like aches or wounds; they're more like splits in the skin that won't heal because there's not enough material. |
Friday, August 27, 1999
One year ago: How Did I Get Here?
Since my car is still being fixed by Jack's father and friend, over in Klickitat County, I took the Greyhound bus north to Bellingham. I was a bit concerned because the Metro bus from the East side got me to the bus station with not much time to spare, and the line was long at the ticket counter. I was relieved when a worker called out, "All those heading north, step up!" and took care of us expeditiously.
I was amused by a very cute little kid, with mom, sitting two rows ahead. I couldn't tell if the child was a boy or girl, since zir head was shaved with a little rat tail behind, and zir clothing was neutral. But I know zie was three years old; zie told the woman sitting right in front of me all about it. I enjoyed listening to their chat.
A woman boarded the bus at Everett and sat beside me; she was traveling about on her vacation, and would be sleeping in hostels. I thought about Darren Holloway, since that's his preferred place to stay when he travels. She was a long-term grad student, with a masters in creative writing, now working on an ESL concentration (teaching English as a second language). We talked quite a bit about the difficulties of a grad student's life. When I mentioned the personal writing I do here, she mis-heard "online journal" as "online journalism," and started talking about the editing she's done for various newsletters. I clarified the misunderstanding, but even so, she said she rarely ever "used the internet." Shocking!
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Jack was at the bus station to pick me up, but he was so engrossed in what he was reading (and the bus was behind another bus) that I walked right up to where he was sitting before he saw me.
A----, Jack's older daughter, was released from juvenile detention earlier in the week, and has been with him since. She's been yelling, swearing, stomping around and sulking during most of that time, but has stayed instead of running away again. That doesn't make it easier to take! Her major beef tonight: Jack had taken her along to a gathering of SF fans the previous night, and she hadn't stayed in sight (which had been the agreement) but had taken off out of bounds. Therefore, Jack wouldn't take her out ice skating tonight. She showed incredible energy and persistence throughout the evening, first talking about how Jack and I would have a lot of fun going ice skating with her, then screaming "I hate you! You never let me do anything!" and so on, then popping upstairs to regroup, then coming back and launching into tears and hysteria. (Repeat, ad lib.) Jack did incredibly well at not rising to all this bait, or arguing about decisions that he has already made. It's terribly tough for him, and this had been going on all week!
During this hoo-ha, Jack and I decided to do a stirfry chicken dish with brown rice. It really turned out good, despite the lack of fresh ginger and garlic, and the missing cornstarch. We ate it in bowls out on the back porch.
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After dinner, we decided to watch Gattaca on video. (Pronounced to rhyme with Attica? or attack-a ? I saw the movie, and I'm still not sure.) I'd missed this science fiction film when it was in the theater, but I'd wanted to see it. In the near future, Ethan Hawke is a non-genetically improved person in a world where job opportunity depends on being genetically superior.
I wasn't thrilled with the movie, and Jack liked it even less! It was slow enough that we were fast-forwarding through scenes near the end, just to get to the end. This helped with long scenes of people walking down halls, or dragging themselves up the stairs. This movie wasn't for the needle-squeamish! Catheters, finger-pricks and syringes abound. They do get credit for trying to treat issues of genetic discrimination seriously, and I didn't hate it a lot, but the plot holes did bug me. I just couldn't buy the commercial space-shot company because I couldn't understand what they were doing with their employees! Why were the actual astronauts (or astronaut-candidates) sitting at their workstations and typing day after day? Why did Ethan Hawke take up with Uma Thurman two days before he was supposedly leaving for Titan? If there was so much genetic knowledge, why wasn't it applied to injury repair? Was Hawke acting as personal care assistant to Jude Law, in addition to astronaut training?
Jack had quite a headache as we went to bed, probably stress-related, poor guy!
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