torchwood, episode 11 of season 2

I watched season 2 of the Doctor Who spinoff today. This particular episode was about people who lost their humanity when they went through a rift in space and time and returned to earth. Jonah, a 15 year old boy, was sent to a fiery planet in the solar system of a dying sun. The burns he experienced drove him mad, as well as scorching him into something reminiscent of Mask's troubled boy. He aged almost 20 years, and was left with a terrible tendency to scream in pain for 15-20 hours out of each day. As if still feeling the pain.

What got to me was the meeting between the young boys mother and her now disfigured son. She exclaimed in horror, "Thats not my son!" I thought about it, and in actuality, they shared little relevant experience. Learning to drive, Having his first drunken stupor, these things were all vacant from their relationship. Do they still feel the connection? He justified their relationship with vague memories from his pre-rift days. But what relationship can they sustain? In these cases, of missing children returned home 30 years later, what should a parent do? All the things that encouraged them to nurture the child, and feel a bond are gone. The child is profoundly different from the experience. Could he be said to be the same person at all? A person can be described from their personality, their physical appearance, both of which are no longer happy go lucky and smiling.

If we are to mark a person solely by their dna, then what becomes of twins? Twins can be polar opposites in personality, and disfiguring burns have a way of scorning both the skin and the demeanor of a person. What makes these guardians feel connections for their long lost relatives? If the reason is guilt, what makes this a healthy relationship? If the relative is in a mental institution, what reason does the guardian have for banter? Comfort is the only thing I can muster. Its an extremely unsettling train of thought.

“Hate the sin, love the sinner.”

Translation: “I’m a flaming fundamentalist.”
Acceptable Response: “Amen.”
Unacceptable Response: “That’s a relief, because I’m a homosexual transvestite in an interracial relationship.”

http://unreasonablefaith.com/2008/05/29/a-guide-to-christian-cliches-and-phrases/

Its been a while, but Ive been busy with finals. I got A's miraculously! Even from the teacher who hates me with a passion for being too outspoken. She has taught me an all powerful hate for semantics in the English language.

Who in their right mind puts "Captures the authors true voice" as a 4/4 goal on a rubric? And even after that, marks papers down for being "vague". How does she know what my true voice is? Maybe she hates my true voice and wants it to be something different! I'm listening to Seether "Truth" right now, and waiting for my doctor who episodes to download. I would feel bad for illegally downloading TV episodes, but I don't get BBC 2 here in America, so I cant watch it until 3 weeks from now when it finally airs on BBC America.

My back still hurts from Summer Theatre work today. I built a cabinet, hung lights, paint sprayed, built walls, and got some nasty ass splinters along the way. The theatre is outside, so sunburns are a definite issue as well, next time I'll bring sunblock.

Back to finals. I was worried about my Honors Chem final, but as it turns out that was my best score of all my finals. Combo (the teacher that hates me) was on a hangnail, but my slick talking during our Paideia must have saved me. Apparently my ideas on universal pursuit of happiness not including sadist oppression really struck a cord with her. My ideas never really brought on any interesting conversation though. The teachers( 2 of them since its a combo class) seperated me from the people I would like to have an intelligent conversation with in hopes that I wouldn't dominate the discussion. After I spoke my mind the group couldn't really grasp my concepts and chose to take them at face value. It was at this point that I realized that Honors English Lit will be a break from the norm of sharing English class with people who have no command of the language.

Gossip, I guess.

I guess I should explain a bit before jumping right into a storyline. Theres this chick, lets just call her Susie Bollinger. I should probably give one of those "Names and Location have been changed for protection" speeches, but Susie Bollinger is a pseudonym I gave her while making a roundabout joke during 8th hour Honors Algebra 2. Anyway, I have a fondness for this girl. She's beautiful, intelligent, humorous in all the right ways, but worst of all shes a close friend of mine. My friend Matt, I'm not going to change his name, finally convinced me last friday to ask her out. Matt has just recently obtained a girlfriend of his own and wants me to be happy as well. Well, reality isn't all that kind. As it turns out, Susie is bisexual and currently dating a senior girl that I also know rather well. Awkward. Susie and this other girl can't tell their parents, for fear of prosecution. I should have mentioned I live in the middle of the bible belt. Susie still wants to hang out, but its still a bit awkward. I'd never say it, but I seriously doubt the usefulness of an inevitably depressing relationship. This other girl, I should probably give her a name, so how about Betty, is graduating in 4 days. The summer will be fun I guess, but any inevitable breakup within 6 months would be on my mind most of the relationship. I can deal with a 2 year relationship, but a senior is always thinking about their graduation. Why a senior wants to share this short amount of time being depressed about their love life is beyond me. Worst of all is that before I learned the truth about Susie's love life I often talked about senior-sophomore relationships and their lack of validity. Susie often agreed with me, which is even stranger. I'm so taken with her, I think I might pursue her junior year, after Betty has graduated and Susie needs a shoulder. That's it for recent history.