oyceter | (no subject)

Saw Sky Captain today, and was immensely entertained by the sheer retroness of it all. Also, the opening scenes set in 1930s, sort of Art Deco-y New York were gorgeous. I ogled and ogled and spent half the movie trying to figure out what was CG and what wasn't, and then decided I didn't care because it was so spiffy. Must go see again. And it was unexpectedly funny! I actually liked Joe and Polly, which I was not expecting to -- I was more there for the aforementioned retroness and I had figured the characters would bee sort of place-holder characters who only exist so that someone can act out the plot. But they were funny, which was nice. And Polly was amazingly not the incredibly annoying intrepid reporter that I thought she would be, all spunky and the like. Well, she was, but everyone was aware she was, so it was all ok. And, and, flying airships! Backpack rocket propellers! Doomsday devices! Squee! Must watch again. And again. Because me, so prey to the prettiness.

I feel really strange being back -- completely out of the loop on LJ and feeling too lazy to catch up. It's strange wandering back into society here after having been in the company of my parents for so long. I don't miss Italy. It was absolutely wonderful being there, but by the end, I wanted to stop living in hotels and to be in a place where everyone spoke English again. But despite the occasional annoyingness, I miss my parents now =(. It probably helped that I got the job offer prior to the trip so there was no job stressing, which would have led to grumpy, snappy me and an unhappy trip.

It's also frightening because my parents are getting old. I don't like thinking about it, but we were eating at some restaurant one day, and I looked at them, and suddenly they were old. Their skin is sort of losing elasticity and assuming a different texture; I spotted grey hairs on my dad and age spots. And I've known this for a while -- hard to avoid when the big topic with them and their friends is health and medicine, but it just struck all over again. And it doesn't quite seem fair. I want to keep being a big baby forever who can just run home and be petted over by my parents (or yelled at, given the circumstances). And of course, there's the whole mortality thing, which I don't like thinking about at all because it scares me, because they're my parents and they really aren't supposed to grow old. Thinking that, I feel like I should somehow be there, except I'm in California with no family nearby at all. Still attempting to lure my sister over after she graduates.

Sigh. I miss my family and the utterly strange yet completely familiar dynamics, even when they drive me absolutely batty.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's also frightening because my parents are getting old. I don't like thinking about it, but we were eating at some restaurant one day, and I looked at them, and suddenly they were old.

I so know how that feels. I don't see my parents v often, so my mental picture of them is very out-of-date -- not even accurate to the last time I saw them, which was my mother's birthday several years ago, but almost more when I was a teenager or before that -- my dad always has lots of thick curly black hair, my mother's fair and trim, they both have sparkling green eyes and are always ready for a party. When I see them now, they look so....frail. (They're in their seventies.) My mother still has blonde hair, but my dad's gone entirely chick-out-of-the-egg fluffy fragile white. Even his beard stubble is white. And I often don't feel any older in relation to them (I'm always their child, after all) when I see that then I remember, oh yeah, I'm grown up, I pay my own rent, I cook my own meals, whatever...it's a v odd feeling.

Yeah... I see my parents every half a year or so because of the whole separated by the Pacific Ocean thing, although I see my dad a little more often because he has business trips around here. But it's so startling seeing them not as they were back in high school.

It's funny that seeing THEM get older makes me realize I'm getting older, too. I mean, I don't usually think of it that way. But it's like, if they look old I must be a grownup....it's a v weird feeling.

Yikes. I'm trying very hard not to think about supposedly being all grown up right now ;).

But yeah, and then there's the strange idea that sometime down the line, I'm supposed to be the one taking care of them.

THAT is absolutely totally freaky. I can afford to be really selfish because my parents are in their late 70s and in excellent health, and I don't want to think about anything like putting one of them into some kind of home (HORROR), which is what both of them had to do with at least one parent. Not thinking about it lalalalala....

Hee, right then, we shall both bury our heads under the sand ;).

Hail fellow ostrich! I'm just going to ship my parents off to Tir-na-n'Og myself when the boat train arrives.

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older parents

Re: older parents

Re: older parents

Re: older parents

Re: older parents